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Some of you will have noticed that I often use this newsletter to describe special services for our students that are made possible by the LaGuardia Foundation. Think scholarships for undocumented students, emergency aid for housing and food, internship stipends, on-campus employment, general scholarships, last-dollar tuition assistance, Merit Scholarships, and more. Measured by funds raised, program innovation, and impact, our Foundation stands out among its community college peers. Indeed, it is unique in the CUNY system. For example, ours is the only Foundation to provide scholarship support to students in non-degree workforce training programs, and to students in English as a Second Language and GED programs. Ours is one of the few that will help students partially reduce their tuition debt (under certain conditions) if that will enable them to get back in class and on a pathway to graduation.
With this in mind I want to take a moment to salute Suzie Scanlon Rabinowitz, who served as our hard-working, committed, unflappable, and enthusiastic chair of the Board of Directors of the LaGuardia Foundation from 2018 until last December, when she passed her baton to our new chair, Charles Boyce. Suzie, who remains on the board, led the Foundation in collaboration with three college presidents (Gail, Paul, and guess who); she kept things moving all through the pandemic (Zoom helped her keep everyone engaged); she guided me through my transition (I tried to be a good student); she led the board through the incredible $15 million Tomorrow Campaign; and, she championed the innovations cited above so long as she was convinced they would help our students in meaningful ways. Thank you, Suzie, for all that you have done to help LaGuardia and our students. We will always be in your debt.
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Air Force Vet, Stand-up Comic, Tour Guide, LaGuardia Student
Kim Lonzo, age 54, has served in the military, worked as a comedian and a tour guide, but now spends his days as a Paralegal Studies major with dreams of becoming a lawyer. “For me the pandemic was a great time of reflection. I decided I’d done everything I could to build a career without a college degree, and that now was the time to pivot,” Kim said. (According to the Center for an Urban Future there are more than 700,000 people in New York City like Kim – individuals that started college but never finished, potential students that are a huge opportunity–if not an obligation–for LaGuardia.) Kim arrived here last year. Daryl Griffin, who runs our Office of Veterans Services, helped him through the enrollment process. As an ASAP student Kim is guided by his advisor, Jenny Lugo, who has helped him map out a plan to graduate by December 2023. After earning his associate degree, Kim plans to pursue a Bachelor’s degree–most likely at a CUNY college. Then he hopes to attend CUNY Law School where he wants to work in its pro-bono legal clinic. “There are a lot of people who cannot afford legal advice, and I want to help those people.”
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Archives Exhibit Recognized by The Gay & Lesbian Review
I encourage you to take a moment to check out A Seat at the Table: LGBTQ Representation in New York Politics, produced by the LaGuardia & Wagner Archives. This virtual exhibit is comprised of interviews of LGBTQ elected officials conducted by Stephen Petrus, Archives historian and LaGuardia faculty, accompanied by photographs taken by LaGuardia students. Recently, The Gay and Lesbian Review gave the project an enthusiastic salute. A Seat at the Table examines the personal lives and political experiences of New York City LGBTQ elected officials in the City Council and State Legislature from the 1990s to the present. Many of these leaders helped to shape LGBTQ rights in New York State through policies that then influenced national reforms. The Gay and Lesbian Review critic emphasizes the importance of documenting these stories and struggles as well as the value of the exhibit as a source of curriculum for educators.
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Professors Receive Grant in Support of OER Textbook Project
Natural Sciences professors Dr. Allyson Sheffield and Dr. Joshua Tan were recently awarded a $12,000 grant to work on an Open Education Resources (OER) textbook to complement LaGuardia’s “Life in the Universe” course. According to Dr. Tan, OER materials are generally free to use, reuse, repurpose, and distribute. For most LaGuardia students the cost of traditional textbooks is prohibitive. According to CUNY, almost forty percent of the system’s students come from households with annual incomes of less than $20,000. How are these students supposed to afford some $1,200 per year for books and supplies? Enter OER, a system of free, accessible, online instructional materials that faculty procure or create for their courses. In this example, the “Life in the Universe” OER, along with a free collection of homework and lab materials developed by Drs. Sheffield and Tan, will provide a zero-cost option for their introductory Astrobiology course.
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Julian Poli Joins LaGuardia’s Student Success Mentors to Guide New Students in Spring 2023 Semester
February is crunch-time Student Success Mentors (SSM), like civil engineering major Julian Poli —they’re gearing up for the start of the spring semester. In addition to welcoming new students, there is also a new cohort of SSMs to train.
"The primary role of an SSM is to be a mentor for new students and teach them how to be a successful student at LaGuardia,” said Julian. “We work to set them up for success—make sure they know about college resources and help alleviate their nerves about starting college by relating to them by sharing our own experiences and what we learned from them.” While other CUNYs may have something with some similar attributes, LaGuardia is the only college with an SSM program. SSMs are paid positions, and typically work 10-16 hours per week.
SSMs play a big role in new student orientation. “We lead one section (about an hour long) where we talk to new students about what to expect at the college. We go through tools such as My LaGuardia, Degree Works, Blackboard, and programs like ASAP,” said Julian. “Basically, we tell the students about things they should be thinking about now, if they haven't done so already.”
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LaGuardia’s COIL Featured at CUNY-wide Global Learning Event
Dr. Olga Aksakalova, coordinator of LaGuardia’s Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) program, recently led a “Celebration of Global Scholars Achieving Career Success (GSACS) and Other Global Learning Initiatives at CUNY.” Dr. Aksakalova organized the event that offered an opportunity for CUNY campuses to showcase their programs to help facilitate students’ global awareness, cross-cultural and cross-linguistic communication through interactive online practices. The event included GSACS faculty and student presentations and an information session about the developments at Ibrahim Program and Malave Leadership Academy. In addition to LaGuardia, other participating CUNY schools included Guttman Community College, Hostos Community College, Queens College, and Borough of Manhattan Community College.
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Professor and Fine Art Program Director Arthur Simms featured in International Exhibition
On February 18, “I Am The Bush Doctor, One Halo.”, an exhibit featuring the work of LaGuardia Art Professor Arthur Simms, opened in a 17th-century deconsecrated church in Cremona, Italy. Simms’s sculptures, which is on exhibit through May 9, 2023, are created from found and natural materials, and are often bound with rope or wire. His work connects Surrealism with folk cultures of Jamaica, America, Haiti, and Aboriginal Australia. The resulting entanglements, constructed from materials such as bedsprings, empty bottles, bicycles, and worn-out toys, resonate with narratives of belonging, playfulness, and psychic energy. Later in March, Simms will open another exhibition, “The Miracle of Burano,” at Karma, in Los Angeles, CA.
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