Counting More Than the Days: Matthew Junge's Journey through Prison Education

Prof. Matthew Junge with one of his classes.

Behind the confines of prison walls, the rare possibility of connection and purpose emerges through the efforts of college-in-prison educators like Matthew Junge, Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Baruch College. In a recently published paper in the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, written as part of the 2022-2023 CUNY Faculty Fellowship Publication Program, Junge reflects on his 10 years of guiding incarcerated students through probability, algebra, and partial differential equations on the inside, far beyond the conventions of the traditional classroom. Navigating four-hour commutes, metal detectors, pat downs, lockdowns, compressed schedules, and emotional vulnerability, he has found the work so fulfilling that he has threaded his way through five prisons and three college-in-prison programs in the United States. The experience has enriched his acumen as an educator and shown him countless examples of resilience, ambition, and the durable will to knowledge, he says.

"Prison education is a bright spot in a dark place. It creates a village of support and accountability inside the broader prison structure. This cultivates unexpected optimism," Junge reflects. When released, most students in the programs he has taught do not return to prison, he says. And expanding their knowledge of mathematics not only provides them with certifications, degrees, and paths to future careers, it may also have a resonating effect, positively impacting the communities they return to.

One resonant moment Junge shares is the emotional crescendo of the prison graduation ceremonies, where the air bristles with potential. "It surprised me how much math came up,” He recalls. “Each student speaker mentioned it like a badge of honor.” This underscores Junge’s relationship to math not as a mere exercise in abstract computation but as "the art of connection.”

Through his reflective lens, Junge highlights the unique challenges and rewards of teaching behind bars and calls for more mathematicians to venture into this arena. His narrative is a reminder to the apathetic of the profound difference education can make, offering a way to transcend a cycle of incarceration ridden with the inequality of race, culture, and class.

Baruch MFE Students Triumph Again at the 2024 Rotman International Trading Competition

For the fifth consecutive year, Baruch College students claimed victory at the Rotman International Trading Competition (RITC), besting teams from more than 40 universities in North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

The winning team—Gabriele Bernardino, Niccolo Fabri, Keving Griffin, Shawn Roy, and Gal Weitz from the Master of Financial Engineering (MFE) program—won five of the six cases and set an all-time scoring record at the event hosted by the University of Toronto. Jarrod Pickens, PhD, the team’s head coach, is a professor of mathematics at Weissman.

This year, the competition featured an innovative set of RIT Decision Cases—based on real-world conditions and delivered on the RIT Market Simulator platform—allowing teams to compete by identifying trading opportunities across a wide range of realistic simulated scenarios.

“This competition is incredibly rigorous and demands razor-sharp skills, rapid but precise decision-making, and unshakeable confidence,” said Prof. Dan Stefanica, PhD, co-director of Baruch College’s Master of Financial Engineering program. “Like professional athletes, the Baruch team is well prepared and shows up to win every time.”

Stefanica added, “After winning this year’s competition, the first reaction of our students was that they now want to help prepare Baruch’s next team for the RITC in 2025. That’s the Baruch MFE team spirit.”

Coming Soon: Mishkin Gallery Examines Aesthetics and Politics Through the Microscope

Silk moths leaving their stringed cocoons. Digitized scan of glass plate negative, attributed to Misha Mendelevich. Circa 1930s–1950s. Courtesy State Silk Museum, Tbilisi.

The exhibition Taxonomies of Power: Photographic Encounters at the State Silk Museum, Tbilisi will debut at Mishkin Gallery March 22, running through June 7, 2024. The exhibition has been co-curated by Alaina Claire Feldman (Director and Curator, Mishkin Gallery) and Mariam Shergelashvili (Exhibition Curator, State Silk Museum, in the nation of Georgia) and features a selection of black and white historical photographs from the State Silk Museum, alongside the film Raised in the Dust (2022) by Georgian artist Andro Eradze.

The exhibition centers on the ways in which scientific inquiry has long relied on artists to draw evidence and produce empirical knowledge. When an early 20th century collection of microscopic glass plate negatives from the State Silk Museum (formerly known as the Caucasian Sericulture Station) was digitized in 2022, the images exposed the many ways that the Soviet empire employed artists to extend itself into the molecular. A photography studio was set up in the attic of the science center so that artists could document the smallest living specimen that enabled the silk industry to thrive.

Forty-seven of these photographs, which detail the lifecycle of the Bombyx mori (commonly known as the silk moth), are presented and re-contextualized alongside Eradze’s film Raised in the Dust. This presentation marks its New York debut.

Samantha E. Williams: Recognized Leader in Corporate Communication

Samantha E. Williams, an alumna of the Weissman Graduate Studies Corporate Communication MA program, was honored as one of the 2023 U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. "Power 50 Under 40." This award highlights the achievements of young Black professionals who are making significant contributions in their fields and communities.

Williams's inclusion reflects her commitment to innovation and community engagement through her work in corporate communication.

The "Power 50 Under 40" is an initiative by the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc., a national organization representing more than 300,000 Black businesses and entrepreneurs.

Williams credits her education at Weissman Graduate Studies for providing her with the foundational skills necessary for her success.

Celebrating Weissman Math Students' Achievement in the 84th William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition

The Weissman Math Department is thrilled to share the success of its students in the 84th William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, showcasing the exceptional talent and hard work of it's participants.

Danyil Blyschak stood out with an impressive score of 30 points, securing a place in the top 500 students at rank 435. Blyschak was the only CUNY student to rank in the top 500.

Our other participating students, Nicole Froitzheim, Stephanie Pisarervskiy, and William Villacis, each scored 10 points, ranking 1,611 out of 3,875 competitors. The Weissman team ranked 95th out of 471 institutions.

Blyschak's achievement was notable: among New York area institutions, only NYU, Columbia, and Stony Brook had students in the top 500.