Hi everyone! I’m Alice Hunsberger, and I started with LiLY before it had a name. In the 1970s, Irene Zola was my friend, living in the same building. We both wanted more programs for our preschoolers, her son Danny and my daughter Adriane. So I jumped at the opportunity in 1981 to help Irene start the school, Learning Annex, that still operates out of the brownstone on 112th Street.
I hammered the wooden planks in the backyard fence and convinced the local carpet store on 106th street to donate carpet samples for the floor. Decades later, I was on the board of LiLY, helping with gala events and fundraising. Now, finally old enough to benefit from LiLY’s senior services, I’m a lucky member of the Cercle Francais/French Circle every Tuesday. This is my neighborhood ever since graduate school at Columbia, where I earned my PhD in Middle East Languages and Cultures, specializing in Persian and Arabic literature and religions. I lived and taught in Isfahan, Iran, under the Shah, and was there for the start of the revolution, with tear gas and soldiers on campus beating up my students. Professionally, I’ve had two simultaneous careers, one for money and health care –working as a fundraiser for international nonprofits, like Amnesty International and Asia Society, and the other my academic career, teaching at Univ. of Puerto Rico, Queens and Hunter Colleges, and in London, and now at SUNY College at Old Westbury on Long Island. While I love going around the world and giving lectures, I’m really excited about my new venture this fall, a Live Radio show, GLOBAL EXPLORATIONS, on SUNY student radio station, which is on the Internet. You can listen LIVE on your computer or phone every Wednesday, 6-7pm, when I talk about a different part of world culture. HOW to tune in – Visit OWWRNY.ORG on-line, click the big green &”LISTEN LIVE”; button, and press play.
