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"Campus Update" is a weekly e-newsletter published by LaGuardia's Division of Communications and External Affairs to provide news and information to the college community.
| | The Division of Communications and External Affairs offers various additional resources to help you share news with the campus, including an event calendar, photography, graphic design, and more. | | LaGuardia Community Participates in Planning Forum for New Front Door Initiative | | On Friday, November 21, members of the LaGuardia community came together for "New Front Door: Expanding and Improving Students' First-Year Experience," a planning forum that focused on ways to help new LaGuardia students get their college career off to a strong start. New Front Door is a new initiative at the college that aims to build on the First Year Experience (FYE) by adding new milestones to a student's first year, re-working/ strengthening original FYE milestones, and developing ways to ensure that a greater percentage of students complete them in a timely manner. At the planning forum on Friday, attendees joined a series of different discussion groups, covering topics like recruitment, New Student Orientation and the First Year Experience. | | President Kenneth Adams Urges Mayor-Elect to Expand Workforce Training for Low-Income New Yorkers | | | | In a December 2 op-ed for Crain’s New York Business, President Kenneth Adams calls on mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to prioritize workforce training at CUNY community colleges so that New Yorkers stuck in low-wage jobs can gain the credentials needed for raises and promotions. “A lasting affordability agenda requires more than steps to reduce New York’s high cost of living. We also need policies that help poor people increase their wealth,” President Adams writes. “The key to personal income growth is education. At the same time, a well-educated, highly skilled workforce is essential for regional economic competitiveness.” He emphasizes that CUNY colleges like BMCC, Hostos, Kingsborough, and LaGuardia already offer flexible, affordable vocational programs in healthcare, IT, construction trades, and more—designed for working adults, with evening and weekend classes leading to industry-recognized certifications. President Adams concludes by urging City Hall to expand initiatives like CUNY Reconnect, ensuring education and training opportunities reach as many low-income New Yorkers as possible. | | The Student Government Association (SGA) at LaGuardia is composed of a diverse and dedicated group of student leaders who serve as the official voice of the student body. Together, they advocate for students’ needs, interests, and concerns while working closely with college administration, faculty, and staff. LaGuardia’s SGA includes first-generation students, international students, and aspiring public servants who are committed to enriching campus life through programming, collaboration, and student-centered initiatives. Their work helps ensure that every student enjoys a meaningful, supportive, and rewarding educational experience at LaGuardia. Read more about LaGuardia’s SGA members and the issues they care about here. | | On Thanksgiving Day, Madeline Marinez, a Human Services: Mental Health student, transformed a Bronx block into a celebration of community and gratitude. Her event, Thanks HOOD Giving, brought neighbors together with catered dishes and homemade potluck favorites—a milestone for Boots on Ground Inc. (BOG), a nonprofit she launched to combat food insecurity. What began as Marinez serving hot oatmeal and croissants from a small cart on Saturday mornings has grown into a full-scale operation. Today, BOG distributes 200–300 breakfasts every Saturday at 149th Street and 3rd Avenue in The Bronx. Her efforts have earned attention beyond LaGuardia, including a recent feature on News12 Bronx. Funded entirely by community donations and local support, BOG shares its outreach on TikTok, where Marinez’s videos caught the eye of Yanira Ortiz from LaGuardia’s Community Health and Wellness Department, sparking a partnership to expand aid to Brooklyn. Marinez’s past experiences fuel her mission. The mom of two and veteran speaks openly about overcoming substance use, housing insecurity, and survival sex work. “I know how easy it is to fall on hard times and need a helping hand. Everybody deserves a hot meal, regardless of their situation,” says Marinez, who will finish her degree after this semester and plans to transfer to Hunter College to pursue bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work. | | Save the Date: Closing Sessions is December 10 | | Join President Kenneth Adams for a look back at LaGuardia’s accomplishments in 2025 at Closing Sessions. The presentation will take place at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, December 10 in the Little Theater; ASL interpretation will be provided. This event will not be livestreamed; however, a recording will be shared shortly afterward. Closing Sessions will be followed by a reception and the Faculty Council Auction. | | The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) will commemorate its 25th anniversary with a celebration and faculty showcase on December 11 from 2 to 4 p.m. in E-242. Members of the community are invited to come connect with colleagues, discover highlights from faculty projects, and take part in meaningful conversations about the CTL’s lasting impact. To attend, please RSVP here; for more information, contact Ljubica Depovic at ldepovic@lagcc.cuny.edu. | | | |
| Last month, LaGuardia’s Alumni Association published the first edition of its newsletter; if you know a LaGuardia alumnus who’d like to begin receiving it, encourage them to join the Alumni Association. The association was relaunched to empower LaGuardia graduates through a strong network of support, resources, and opportunities. Membership in the LaGuardia Alumni Association is free and offers guidance and tools to help alumni navigate the professional world and fosters a spirit of community by encouraging alumni to give back through volunteer efforts that support current students and college initiatives. LaGuardia alumni members will receive an Alumni ID card which offers alumni access to campus services. To request an Alumni ID or to share an alumni story, please email alumni@lagcc.cuny.edu. To volunteer and get involved, call the Communications and External Affairs Division at (718) 482-5583. | | Sign Up to Add a Professional Headshot to Your Faculty Profile | | LaGuardia’s Communications and External Affairs Division is hosting a series of “Photo Days” for faculty and staff who need to update their professional headshots! Your headshot can be used for a variety of purposes and adds a personal touch to your Faculty Profile on the LaGuardia website. The last day to get your headshot taken this semester will be December 9. Book your timeslot here. For more information contact Anastasia Figuera, photographer, Ext. 7471. | | | | | The FY2026 Tax Levy October 31, 2025 Operating Budgets by department are available for viewing. | | GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS | | President, Associate Provost and President’s Society Students meet with Assistant Secretary Danielle McMullen | | Assistant Secretary Danielle McMullen visited the LaGuardia campus today to learn about academic programs and meet with students. During the Secretary McMullen’s visit, President Kenneth Adams and Associate Provost Eric Hoffman were joined by President Society students Tamoy Bloomfield, Paralegal major; Ian Patino, Business Administration major; Thinhinane “Tina” Zadi, Computer Science major; and Custodio “Bush” Cardoniga II, Film and Television major, who participated in a discussion about their learning experiences at LaGuardia. The meeting was followed by a campus tour and a visit to a Center for Immigrant Education and Training (CIET) ESL Class with Instructor Helene Sashin and Director of Programs Paula DaSilva-Michelin. The tour concluded with a visit to a Paramedics Program: Clinical Skills class taught by Lead Instructor Don Faeth. | | LaGuardia Community College Attends Thanksgiving Community Resource Harvest Fair | | | | |
On November 22, Hope Church of Astoria hosted a Thanksgiving Community Resource Harvest Fair. The church partnered with various Astoria non-profit organizations to participate in the event to share resources on education, career development, and health with Queens community members. This is an effort of LaGuardia's Communications and External Affairs Division to build and maintain connections with Queens communities and community-based organizations, and to increase awareness of LaGuardia's academic and workforce development programs.
Pictured at left: Luda Spajic with Donal Cogdell, Director of Hope Youth, Hope Church Astoria.
| | Thank You for Supporting LaGuardia During CUNY Tuesday 2024 and this Season of Giving! | | The LaGuardia Community College Foundation is excited to share that this year's CUNY Tuesday campaign was one of our strongest ever: LaGuardia raised close to $ 8,000. This achievement would not have been possible without the incredible support of our faculty, staff, alumni, donors, and friends. According to Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, this year had a record number of donors, with 5,200+ people donating more than $4.1 million to schools across the CUNY system. We are deeply grateful for the ongoing support from the LaGuardia community, which continues to make a lasting impact on the education and opportunities we provide to our students. If you didn’t have a chance to donate on CUNY Tuesday, it's not too late! You can still make a year-end gift to support our remarkable students. Click here to make a gift. | | LAGUARDIA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER | | Celebrate the season at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center with a festive double feature! On Sunday, December 14 at 4 p.m., enjoy a one-hour family-friendly performance of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker by the Joffrey Ballet School’s Children’s and Youth Ballet program, followed by a visit to Santa’s Toyland, a beloved LPAC tradition for over 20 years. Meet the dancers, snap photos with Santa, and let the kids leave with a special gift. Tickets: $30 General | $25 Faculty/Staff | $15 Students. Purchase tickets here or visit the LPAC website. | |
INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH AND EFFECTIVENESS
| | OIRE Shares Updated Retention and Graduation Rates | | The OIRE periodically updates information on Retention and Graduation Rates for first-time, full-time student cohorts. The office often uses Fall semester incoming cohorts who started as first-time, full-time (FTFT) as one group of students to monitor longitudinally for a variety of metrics. This allows for a consistent population to observe potential changes over time. The office recently finalized and updated the Fall-to-Spring retention information (1-Semester Retention rate) for Fall 2024 cohort. Of the 1,835 Fall 2024 associate degree-seeking students, 81.7% were retained from Fall to Spring (1-Semester Retention rate). These are students who started as first-time, full-time in Fall 2024 and who returned in Spring 2025. This is the highest rate in more than 10 years. The Retention and Graduation Dashboard includes disaggregated retention and graduation metrics for a ten-year span past the initial first semester. This and other dashboards are publicly available on the OIRE Institutional Dashboards page. Questions about terminology in the dashboard? See our Data Dictionary terms, especially: retention (1-semester), retained, cohort, and FTFT. | | LaGuardia Students Participate in National Model United Nations Conference in DC | | LaGuardia’s Model United Nations delegation recently attended the National Model United Nations conference in Washington, DC, where they represented the Republic of Ghana. Over the course of the three-day conference, 10 LaGuardia students practiced diplomacy and collaboration as they drafted resolutions and delivered speeches on issues ranging from disarmament and sustainable development to radioactive-waste management and sustainable tourism, among several other topics. LaGuardia was recognized for more than a decade of participation in the conference, and LaGuardia delegates Hellen K. Alexander Bolano and Miguelangel Guerrero received the Outstanding Position Paper award. The program extends its gratitude to the College Auxiliary for funding all conference and travel expenses; to colleagues in Business and Financial Operations for their support with procedures and purchase orders; and to numerous campus leaders—including Provost Billie Gastic Rosado, Vice President of Student Affairs Alexis McLean-McKessey, department chairs, and many faculty and staff—whose assistance made the delegation’s success possible. | | | | |
The Natural Sciences Department is partnering with the Center for Career and Professional Development to recruit students for the Life Science Institute and Summer Internship Program. The Life Science Spring Institute at LaGuardia Community College is a training workshop series designed to equip STEM students with hands-on experiences in essential laboratory skills, data analysis tools (e.g., pipetting, microscopy, R, Python), and professional skills (scientific writing and effective presentation skills). Students will meet weekly during the spring for unpaid training workshops, followed by a paid summer internship with New York City life sciences employers. If you know a student who you think would be interested in the program, please encourage them to learn more and apply here.
| | Brightspace Training Available | | |
A full schedule of ongoing Brightspace training can be found here. For technical questions, reach out to Brightspace Support:
- Office: B-127 (first floor of the B-Building)
- Phone: (718) 482-6121
- Email: LMS-support@lagcc.cuny.edu
- Hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
For more information and general questions, visit LaGuardia's Brightspace webpage or continue to reach out to the transition team at BrightspaceTeam@lagcc.cuny.edu.
Faculty are also encouraged to fill out this survey regarding their use of Brightspace. The insights and responses from this survey will inform the Brightspace Transition team’s plans for ongoing support.
| | Retrieve Your Blackboard Materials by December 15 | | |
Blackboard access will permanently end on December 18th across CUNY. We encourage faculty to retrieve any materials they would like to keep for their own teaching files (e.g., a personal export of your course package, specific files, or Collaborate recordings to keep outside institutional archives) by December 15.
The resources below were created by John Jay College to help faculty retrieve their materials before the deadline:
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To learn how to export course materials, read this guide. (Note: Once you export your course content in a Zip folder, you can opt in to store in OneDrive or Dropbox, both offered by CUNY). To see a walk-through, watch this video starting at minute 10:17.
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To learn how to download Collaborate recordings from your Blackboard courses, read this guide. To see a walk-through, watch this video starting at minute 22:15. (Note: Collaborate recordings are not included in course archives and should be saved to CUNY approved storage (e.g., Microsoft Office 365 and Dropbox) consistent with data/privacy requirements).
If you have any questions or if you need support, see the ‘On Campus Support’ section on the Brightspace website page. For more information regarding this, read CUNY’s full memo.
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Students looking for enrollment services support can now access virtual office hours every Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Virtual One Stop takes place on Zoom and allows students to drop in and meet with staff from the following offices:
- Admissions
- International Student Services
- Registrar
- Student Financial Services
- Student Information Center
- Transfer Credit Evaluation
- Testing
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The mighty Red Hawks invite students, faculty and staff to cheer them on at the following upcoming games and events. Show your school spirit and support the Red Hawks—and if you can't make it out to see a game in person, home games will be streamed live on YouTube. Check the Athletics website for full schedules.
Women's Basketball
- 12/4, 6 p.m. vs. Queensborough Community College
- 12/6, 1 p.m. at Suffolk County Community College
Men's Basketball
- 12/4, 8 p.m. vs. Queensborough Community College
- 12/6, 3 p.m. at Suffolk County Community College
| | | Updates from LaGuardia’s Library | | | |
- Did you know the Library offers credit courses? Take our 1-credit LRC103- Internet Research Strategies or our 3-credit LBN105-InfoCity: Informed Citizens in the Information Age. Find out more information about these exciting research classes!
- Can’t make it to the Writing Center in the B Building? Well, you’re in luck, because the Writing Center will be at the Library on Mondays for the rest of the semester! Check the schedule here.
- Want to know when the Library is open? Check our calendar before you make the trip.
- Check out the Library’s Book of the Week!
| | Meet with a TIAA Financial Consultant about Retirement | |
Register for a one-on-one session with a TIAA Financial Consultant to discuss your retirement planning on the following dates:
- Monday, December 8, 2025 – 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. – E-Building, E-407
- Thursday, January 15, 2026 – 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. – E-Building, E-407
- Thursday, January 29, 2026 – 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. – E-Building, E-407
- Thursday, February 12, 2026 – 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. – E-Building, E-407
- Thursday, February 26, 2026 – 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. – E-Building, E-407
- Thursday, March 19, 2026 – 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. – E-Building, E-407
- Thursday, April 2, 2026 – 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. – E-Building, E-407
Register here.
| | Enjoy Holiday Savings with Working Advantage | | Make this holiday season unforgettable with exclusive savings on gifts, travel, and winter essentials. Click here and use your LaGuardia email or Company Code 971240428 to login. | | LaGuardia Seeks to Fill Open Faculty and Staff Positions | | |
Current faculty and staff are welcome to share the openings below with individuals who they believe may be a good fit for the role or apply for the positions themselves. For all LaGuardia openings, visit Employment Opportunities.
| | DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (DoIT) | | Update Your CUNY Login Password Before It Expires | | CUNY/CIS has begun notifying users whose CUNY Login password is close to expiration; if you’ve received a notification that your password is about to expire, please change your password as soon as possible. Click here for an overview of how to change your CUNY Login password. If you are locked out of your account during the reset process, please be patient and wait up to 15 minutes for the automatic unlock feature to engage, and log in again. Do not call the DoIT HelpDesk. If you have further issues updating your password, please contact our HelpDesk at ITHelp@lagcc.cuny.edu, submit a HelpDesk ticket through the Faculty & Staff Portal, or call (718) 482-6134. | | Cybersecurity Awareness Training Now Live on Brightspace | | The 2025–26 LaGuardia Community College Cybersecurity Awareness Training course is now available on Brightspace. All faculty and staff must complete this mandatory, annual 40-minute training by April 1, 2026 to strengthen our cybersecurity defenses, and safeguard your own and university data. If you have any questions, contact Maritza Acero at macero@lagcc.cuny.edu. | | "Campus Update" is produced and published by the Communications and External Affairs Division. Faculty and staff who wish to submit items for publication can email CampusUpdate@lagcc.cuny.edu. Submissions must be received by 5 p.m. Tuesday to be considered for publication on Thursday. |
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