MURRAY HILL INSTITUTE WELCOMES NEW BOARD MEMBERS
Last fall, two of our longstanding board members resigned from the Board of Directors:  Rosemary Kite and Rhodora (“Dory”) Dolores.  Dory and Rosemary have both rendered outstanding service to Murray Hill Institute in helping to guide it through its first decade, and we owe them a great many thanks for their hard work, creativity, and dedication to the goals of the Institute. 

We are pleased to announce the appointment of three new directors to the MHI Board:  Grace Perry is currently Vice President, Global Compensation and Benefits for Tyco Electronics, headquartered in Berwyn, PA.  Grace has been instrumental in helping us revamp Murray Hill Institute’s Mentoring Program, and has been a longtime supporter of the Institute.   Earlane Stanfield is Vice President at Neuberger Berman, a Lehman Brothers Company.  She holds the position of Manager, Private Asset Management Administration.  Earlane has supported MHI programs for several years, especially as a volunteer in promoting the Evenings of Conversation and other activities for young professional women.  Martha Tam is Vice President for Research and Administration at Marga Incorporate, a strategic guidance and research firm that assists institutions in realizing their philanthropic goals.   Previously, Martha served as Associate Director at Rosedale Center for girls, a volunteer outreach partner with Murray Hill Institute.  The current Board of Directors extends a big welcome to Grace, Erlane, and Martha, and we look forward to working together as we expand the programs and outreach of Murray Hill Institute to meet the needs of the future. 

COMING IN MAY  
Our final event of the 2007-2008 season is an Evening of Conversation for Young Professional Women.  Ronald J. Colombo, Associate Professor of Law, Hofstra University School of Law will speak on “Business Ethics as Applied Natural Law." Prof. Colombo has done extensive research on the application of non-economic principles to the fields of corporate and securities law. His presentation on the relationship of natural law to business ethics will provide valuable focus to the ongoing search for more effective ways to maintain ethics and integrity in the workplace.

We hope you can join us for on Wednesday, May 14, 2008, at Murray Hill Institute, 243 Lexington Avenue, for this event. As always, there will be ample opportunities for discussion.  A wine and cheese reception will follow the event.  Please RSVP to info@murrayhillinstitute.org to reserve a place.

Prior speakers who spoke at the Evenings of Conversation for Young Professional Women series earlier this season were Arisleyda Maldonado, Financial Advisor for Merrill Lynch, speaking on Women and Wealth:  Empowerment Through Work and  Denise Menelly, Managing Director and Global Head of Client Delivery at Citigroup, speaking on Women Helping Women Through Networking.   

EVENINGS OF CONVERSATION FOR WOMEN IN MEDIA
Murray Hill Institute’s Women in Media program hosted two Evenings of Conversation this season.  We are currently planning the 08-09 programs; please check our website periodically for updates.

On November 14, 2007, Alice Rhee, Producer for NBC News & MSNBC, spoke on “Media Ethics:  Managing the Essential Relationships between Reporters and their Sources.”  Alice shared with us experiences and insights that she had gained in over a decade of reporting and producing the news.  She discussed the delicate dynamic that exists among a reporter’s sources, the reporter, and paper or network for which the reporter is working. Respecting the needs of each element in this dynamic requires patience, tact, discretion, and persistence. An important theme running through Alice’s comments was that journalism is a public service and vital to positive social change.

Our spring guest on April 9, 2008 was Melanie Kirkpatrick, Deputy Editor of The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page and a member of the paper’s editorial board, speaking on “Opinion Journalism: Editorials, OpEds & Online.”  Melanie’s responsibilities overseeing the Journal’s international coverage have given her valuable insights on differing  understandings of opinion journalism in the United States and abroad. She gave us an in-depth look at how topics for the editorial page are chosen, and explained the variety of ways that opinion pieces are created, and how a newspaper’s overall policies, philosophy, and standards can affect the content of the editorial page and the objectivity of the reporting throughout the newspaper.

CULTURE AND CORE BELIEFS
Alice Ramos, Professor of Philosophy at St. John’s University, Queens, concluded the third season of the “Culture and Core Beliefs” lecture series on March 28 with a talk on “Art, Truth, and Morality.”  Alice contrasted the ideas of Plato and Aristotle on imitation in art with modern aesthetics as elaborated by Kant, to demonstrate how ideas about art have become separated from truth and morality.  This has led to a self-alienation as evidenced in works such as Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. Her presentation provoked a spirited discussion on the present state and possible future of art, music, and literature.