Sending out Posses
Deborah Bial '87
Major: EnglishPresident and Founder, The Posse Foundation
New York City
Deborah Bial came to Brandeis to major in theater. But mentors influenced her thinking and sparked her passion for education and social justice.
“Professors,” she recalls, “wrote copious notes on my papers, prodding me to think better, write better and produce better analyses. Their feedback set the tone for my whole career.”
After graduating, Bial was working in the New York City Public Schools when a returning student said he’d never have dropped out of college if he’d had his “posse” with him. That casual remark caused her to zero in on the importance of peer support for underrepresented students. She established The Posse Foundation, which transforms lives by preparing and educating groups of students for success at the university level.
Later, while earning a doctorate in education from Harvard, she designed a new college admissions tool focused on non-cognitive traits not captured by standard entrance tests. Her thesis won $1.9 million in grant support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. In 2007, Bial was honored with one of the MacArthur Foundation’s so-called “genius grants.”
A climate of concern
Michael Ratner '66
Major: EnglishLawyer
President, Center for Constitutional Rights
New York City
In the social-justice arena, you don’t get much higher-profile than Michael Ratner. President of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, the Columbia Law School-trained attorney recently sued the Bush Administration on behalf of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, prompting the Supreme Court to rule the detainees have the right to challenge their detentions in U.S. courts.But Ratner wasn’t born a civil-rights crusader. As a kid, he planned to either become an archaeologist or work in the family building-supply business. But the climate of concern and ethical consciousness he encountered at Brandeis transformed his life.
“It was not yet the anti-Vietnam era,” Ratner says, “but it was the ban-the-bomb era, and Brandeis encouraged us to question everything from the political to the artistic. Marcel Duchamp, Malcolm X and Allen Ginsberg all came to speak on campus, and each opened me up to new ways of thinking; their words were like thunderbolts in my brain."
Making it in the movies
Caroline Baron '83
Major: EnglishMovie producer
New York City
From her earliest visit to Radio City as a child, Caroline Baron loved the big screen. But until a moviemaking course at Brandeis convinced her film was her element, she believed a motion-picture career beyond reach.After graduating, she cut her teeth on "The Toxic Avenger" — a low-budget feature that became a cult classic. But her career soared when a Brandeis contact — Hollywood producer Jeffrey Silver ’77 — tapped her to serve initially as his assistant; later, the two produced numerous films together, including "The Santa Clause" with Tim Allen and "Addicted to Love "with Meg Ryan and Matthew Broderick.
Baron produced the lavish romance "Monsoon Wedding," which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Five years later, she was nominated for an Oscar for producing "Capote," a biopic starring Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Today, Baron collaborates with husband Anthony Weintraub in their New York-based production company, A-Line Pictures. In 1999, determined to share “the wonder and power of movies,” she established FilmAid International, a nonprofit organization that offers movie screenings and video training in refugee camps.
Novelist breaks the silence
Matthew Aaron Goodman ’97
Major: EnglishAuthor, community activist
Brooklyn, N.Y.
As a boy, Matthew Goodman devised stories for his own enjoyment, never showing his creative writing to anyone. But when a Brandeis playwriting class helped him break the silence, his aptly titled "Silence’s Voice" won a student dramatist award and was staged at Spingold Theater Center.Goodman went on to earn an M.F.A. in writing from Emerson College and recently published his first novel, "Hold Love Strong." His powerful tale of a struggling black family in the inner city led Barnes & Noble to select Goodman for its Discover Great New Writers program.
Goodman says his Brandeis experience was key. “I grew up,” he explains, “in a small town where there were only a handful of Jewish families. At Brandeis, I began the journey of understanding the significance of my culture and ethnicity. Surrounded by brilliant people, I also became involved in discussions on all sorts of social, political and historical issues. It was a 24/7 education.”
Goodman’s exposure to Jewish values and his service as a community volunteer in Waltham also paved the way for future social justice work. Most recently, he helped create the Leadership Alliance, a community empowerment project that unites formerly incarcerated men and women with local leaders and volunteer partners.
Coach set the bar high
Boris Moyston '00
Majors: Philosophy and EconomicsInvestment banker
New York City
A Caribbean island is a long way from the corporate offices of Manhattan, and it’s a trip that has occupied Boris Moyston for much of his life.Raised in New Jersey, to which he immigrated as a child, the Jamaican native got a leg up through a Brandeis Presidential Scholarship, earmarked for students of high academic potential.
A Brandeis fencing teammate of Olympic silver medalist Tim Morehouse ’00, Moyston credits his successful climb up the corporate ladder to two mentors. Of philosopher Andreas Teuber, he says, “Professor Teuber helped me to think critically, write concisely and make a persuasive argument.” Of fencing coach Bill Shipman, Moyston recalls, “He said he had huge expectations of me after graduation and insisted I would be a success in the business world. Coach really set the bar high for me, and I have felt an immense need to live up to his expectations.”
Bent on paying forward Shipman’s lessons on dedication and teamwork, Moyston, formerly an investment banker with RBS in New York, today serves on the board of the Peter Westbrook Foundation, providing academic and fencing instruction to inner-city children, and is a candidate for the Duke University M.B.A., Class of 2011.