FIT history
Subject
Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
Found in 36 Collections and/or Records:
Jean Ellen Giblin interview, 1994 November 21, 1994 November 21
Item
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.4.17
Scope and Contents
Jean Ellen Giblin, the Vice President of Academic Affairs at the time of this interview, explains how she came to FIT as an economics professor in 1970. She was later Chair of the Social Science Department as well as the curriculum committee. After a time, she was asked to work on the development of the new upper division program which had a marketing option in international trade. She talks fondly of that creative work and how it led her to become the acting Dean of the Business and...
Dates:
1994 November 21
Jeanette Jarnow interview, 1994 December 20, 1994 December 20
Item
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.4.15
Scope and Contents
Jeannette Jarnow, former Chair of the Fashion Buying and Merchandising Department (FBM), discusses the small and intimate nature of FIT when she joined in 1956. She discusses the founding of the school by Morris Haft, Virginia Pope, and a handful of fashion industry insiders. She then describes the birth of the FBM department thanks to an endowment by Bergdorf Goodman as well as close relationships with Lord & Taylor, Abraham and Strauss, and Bloomingdale's. Jarnow touches on influential...
Dates:
1994 December 20
Jeannette Jarnow interview, 1984 November 1, 1984 November 1
Item
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.12.2
Scope and Contents
This interview is with Jeannette Jarnow, the first chairperson of the Buying and Merchandising Department at the Fashion Institute of Technology (New York, N.Y.). Jarnow describes her professional ascent at the department store, Abraham & Straus, up to 1944; when she took a brief break due to her first pregnancy. Jarnow describes the path that led her to seek out a teaching post at the Fashion Institute of Technology (New York, N.Y.). Instead of offering Jarnow a professorial post,...
Dates:
1984 November 1
Jeffrey Buchman interview, 1995 March 13, 1995 March 13
Item
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.4.1
Scope and Contents
In this interview, FIT professor, Jeff Buchman, talks about how he came to work at FIT. He then discusses the successes students in the advertising and communications department have experienced, such as their high employability and their scholarly and extracurricular activities. He also discusses emerging technology with a focus on videography; and how it relates to advertising, marketing, and communications.
Dates:
1995 March 13
Judith Parkas interview, 1994 November 10, 1994 November 10
Item
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.4.20
Scope and Contents
Judith Parkas, the Executive Vice President of FIT’s union, discusses her many roles at FIT. In addition to her union work, Parkas was a professor of Biology and Physical Anthropology as well as the project director of the Tech Prep Grant. Over the years, she helped develop and evolve FIT’s curriculum. She discusses the inception of the union and their early contentions with the Board of Trustees. There were also initial difficulties in unifying adjunct and full-time faculty, but Parkas...
Dates:
1994 November 10
Lou Zaera and Aaron Schorr interview about the role of computers at FIT, 1994 December 8, 1994 December 8
Item
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.4.32
Scope and Contents
This is an interview with Lou Zaera and Aaron Schorr. Zaera is a professor in the economics department with a background in engineering. He discusses early work at FIT with word processors and the growth in demand for computer labs. At the time of this interview, Schorr was a professor in the manufacturing department and was the college’s first academic computer coordinator. Schorr talks about learning basic programming through keypunch cards. The two discuss their hopes to network the...
Dates:
1994 December 8
Marty Zelnik interview, 1995 April 4, 1995 April 4
Item
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.4.35
Scope and Contents
Professor of Interior Design and Chair of the Faculty Association at the time of this interview, Martin Zelnik was hired as a full-time professor in 1969. Zelnik received his BFA from Brandeis University and an MFA of Architecture from Columbia University. He discusses changes in student demographics, noting that students are less traditional and often older than when he started. He talks about how most faculty remain practitioners in their fields, and discusses the linkages between his...
Dates:
1995 April 4
Marvin Rippy interview, 1994 November 23, 1994 November 23
Item
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.4.23
Scope and Contents
Marvin Rippy, a classroom technologist, basketball coach, and recreation supervisor at FIT, graduated from the school in 1967. Though he majored in Textile Administration and Sales, physical education was always his first love. Rippy discusses his start as the assistant basketball coach to Raoul Nacinovich in 1971 and how he took on the mantle of head coach in 1973. He discusses the competitive recruiting push that followed shortly thereafter. At the time of this interview, the team was...
Dates:
1994 November 23
Newt Godnick interview, 1994 November 1, 1994 November 1
Item
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.4.5
Scope and Contents
Newton Everett Godnick, 18 year Chair of the Fashion Buying and Merchandising Department (FBM) at the time of this interview, discusses his introduction to the school and its close-knit nature. He describes the 1965 groundbreaking for new buildings and various delays in their construction. He goes on to comment on how the student body and departments have evolved over the years in positive and negative ways. He mentions FIT’s former dress code and then goes into the history of the buying and...
Dates:
1994 November 1
Oral History of FIT, 1967-1985, bulk 1984
sub-sub-sub-series
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.12
Scope and Contents
This subseries is part of the first collection of oral history interviews conducted in the 1980s, mostly conducted by Mildred Finger, this series is comprised of interviews of people who were affiliated with the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Dates:
1967-1985, bulk 1984