To honor the achievements and contributions of our Humanities Alliance Fellows, this year we are featuring each fellow on our website, introducing them to our CUNY community and the public, and showcasing their accomplishments as fellows. 

Mehrnaz Moghaddam (she/her) was a 2021-2023 fellow based at the Hostos Community College while pursuing her Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology at the CUNY Graduate Center.

As a Humanities Alliance Fellow, Mehrnaz has been integral in enhancing the use of Learning Communities (LCs) and Experiential Learning (EL) programs at Hostos Community College that promote interdisciplinary knowledge and meaningful collaborations between students, faculty, and the local community. Building on Hostos’ mission, Mehrnaz’s research on existing programs (at CUNY and elsewhere) has opened the door to wider discussions on the benefits and opportunities in LCs and EL. This dedicated study of LCs and EL has been foundational for identifying Hostos-specific opportunities as well as laying the groundwork for a sustained and enthusiastic future of cross-curriculum engagement between students, staff, and faculty both in and beyond the classroom.

Reflecting on the fellowship, Mehrnaz says, “All the experiences of working with interdisciplinary cohort and faculty opened my eyes to many issues that had been invisible to me. A better understanding of higher education was one of my main reasons to come to this fellowship and it was all about whether higher education is where I want to target for my future career. And, this fellowship helped me to learn and figure that out to a great extent.”

We celebrate her brilliance and creativity, her tenacity and compassion, and the many ways she has been there for her colleagues during a pandemic and its aftermath. She showed both a willingness to learn and understand the systems and cultures that define these academic spaces and a generosity to contribute her own experiences and interests. 

Thank you, Mehrnaz!