LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION commending Lisette Nieves upon the occasion of
being honored by Opportunities For a Better Tomorrow on June 6, 2012

WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body that individuals who
distinguish themselves in their profession and in service to their
community merit the highest commendation; and
WHEREAS, Attendant to such concern and fully in accord with its long-
standing tradition, this Legislative Body is justly proud to commend
Lisette Nieves upon the occasion of being honored by Opportunities For a
Better Tomorrow; and
WHEREAS, Opportunities For a Better Tomorrow helps disadvantaged youth
and adults recognize their own self-worth and to advance toward self-
sufficiency and financial security through job training, academic
reinforcement, improved life skills, job placement, and support
services; and
WHEREAS, Opportunities For a Better Tomorrow will proudly honor key
supporters who have done a great deal for the organization and for youth
in general at its First Annual Summer Soiree, to be held at Hudson
Terrace in New York City on Wednesday, June 6, 2012; and
WHEREAS, Lisette Nieves truly merits this high honor; two decades
after becoming the first Puerto Rican woman to become a Rhodes Scholar
and Brooklyn College's first Rhodes Scholar, Lisette Nieves '92 has
returned to her alma mater as a member of the faculty; and
WHEREAS, Lisette Nieves is teaching a new generation of students an
important lesson: no matter what their background is, they can still get
a good education, achieve success, and help others; and
WHEREAS, Lisette Nieves is the Belle Zeller Distinguished Visiting
Professor of Public Policy and Administration at Brooklyn College for
2011-2013; she teaches two courses: an undergraduate class on the Brook-
lyn College campus and a graduate-level course at the Graduate Center
for Worker Education in Manhattan; and
WHEREAS, Beyond her distinguished professorship at Brooklyn College,
Lisette Nieves remains active on many professorial fronts; she is the
Vice Chairperson of New York City's Panel for Education Policy, a Trus-
tee of the New York Teachers' Retirement System, a member of the
National Year Up Board, and a member of the Woodrow Wilson School of
Public and International Affairs Advisory Board at Princeton University
and, appointed by President Obama, she is a member of the White House
Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics; and
WHEREAS, Growing up as a child of the working class, Lisette Nieves
attended PS 181, IS 246 and John Dewey High School in Brooklyn, where
experience imbued her with a sense of social justice, which she
expressed by organizing a soup kitchen, tutoring special education
students, and revitalizing a feminist newspaper; and
WHEREAS, After graduating from high school, Lisette Nieves continued
her public school tradition at Brooklyn College, where she worked toward
a Bachelor of Science degree in political science and philosophy;
despite juggling two or three jobs, she was named a Truman Scholar in
1990 and a member of Phi Beta Kappa in 1992; and
WHEREAS, Then she went off to Oxford University in England as a Rhodes
Scholar; two years later, in June 1994, she returned to New York with
Greg Gunn, a Rhodes Scholar in mathematics and physics from the Univer-
sity of Chicago whom she ultimately married; they have a six-year-old
son, Gabriel, and reside in Brooklyn; and
WHEREAS, Five years after her return to the United States, she
enrolled at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International

Affairs at Princeton University to earn a master's degree in public
affairs and domestic politics; and
WHEREAS, Since then, Lisette Nieves has worked for a succession of
organizations dedicated to helping young people achieve success, most
recently as founding Executive Director of the workforce and education
program Year Up; and
WHEREAS, Despite all she has accomplished, Lisette Nieves remains
committed to the laudable goal of helping more Latino and African Ameri-
can students achieve their education goals; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
commend Lisette Nieves upon the occasion of being honored by Opportu-
nities For a Better Tomorrow on June 6, 2012; and be it further
RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to Lisette Nieves.