Of Avrum Joffe's many activities, the one that gives
him the most satisfaction is that of founder and president
of Symposium House.
Joffe, a chemistry major from Wyckoff, N.J,
recently received the Frank Bailey Prize, presented to the senior, as
voted by the faculty, who has rendered the greatest service to the
College in any field.
In 1998, as the College began renovating homes on
Seward Place, Joffe and classmates Greg Fox and Alex Chase saw
an exciting possibility: “We had these great experiences with faculty
in the classroom,” he recalls. “But there was a lack of that
exchange outside of the classroom. We were looking for a social and
intellectual alternative that wasn't here,” he said.
So in the fall of 1999, they launched Symposium
House, which hosts weekly dinner-discussions with faculty
and students. Joffe estimates that over the last three years about half
of Union's faculty have been guests, some a number of times.
Among the most memorable dinners was one that dealt
with the issues of pornography and censorship that lasted well
into the night. Other topics – discussions about Union's house
system and the fate of civil engineering – drew crowds that nearly
spilled out of the house, he said.
Joffe also served as president of the senior class,
student representative on the Student Affairs Committee and
the Academic Affairs Council, coordinator of the freshman orientation committee,
president of Hillel's kosher kitchen, member of Campus Action, a member
of the Resources Allocation Sub-Committee, and president
and member of Idol Minds, an improvisational comedy
troupe. He also is a senior interviewer with the College's
admissions office, having been a Gatekeeper tour guide the last three years.
He has received the Robert Fuller Prize for his promise as
a chemist, the Harold and Ellen Nagorsky Memorial Prize to
the pre-med student who contributes to the College through
extracurricular activities, and was named to the Delphic Honor Society
for contributions to the College community.
Joffe, who minors in mathematics, has accepted
a position as a DNA cancer researcher at New York
University. He hopes to attend medical school after that, possibly
toward a career in pediatrics.