CUNY Humanities Alliance

Bridging Teaching and Learning through the Humanities

Graduate Center

The CUNY Graduate Center is located in the heart of Manhattan and set within the large and multi-campus City University of New York. It fosters advanced graduate education, original research and scholarship, innovative university-wide programs, and vibrant public events that draw upon and contribute to the complex communities of New York City and beyond. Through a broad range of nationally prominent doctoral programs, the Graduate School prepares students to be scholars, teachers, experts, and leaders in the academy, the arts and in the private, nonprofit, and government sectors. Committed to CUNY‘s historic mission of educating the children of the whole people, we work to provide access to graduate education for diverse groups of highly-talented students, including those who have been underrepresented in higher education.

HA Team at the GC

  • Monica Varsanyi (she/her), Principal Investigator
  • Luke Waltzer (he/him), Program Co-Director
  • Adashima Oyo (she/her), Program Co-Director
  • Luis Henao Uribe (he/him), Humanities Director
  • Christina Katopodis, Senior Research Associate
  • Miranda Fedock (she/her), Program Coordinator
  • Lauren Melendez (she/her), CUNY Peer Leaders Director and Administrative Specialist, The Futures Initiative
  • Jacqueline Cahill (she/her), CUNY Peer Leaders Program Coordinator

Graduate Fellows

Zoe Alexander

Francine Almash

Jayson Castillo

Mehrnaz Moghaddam

Patryk Tomaszewski

Key Partner Offices

  • Futures Initiative (FI): The HA was founded out of a collaboration between FI and the Teaching and Learning Center The FI oversaw the CUNY Peer Leaders, supported the work of the Senior Research Associate, and participated in strategic oversight and partnership with the HA. FI’s executive director, Adashima Oyo, also served as co-director at HA.
  • Teaching and Learning Center (TLC): The TLC supports GC students’ development as educators in CUNY and beyond. The HA and the TLC had close ties throughout the life of HA. The HA & the TLC were both created in 2016, and have expanded and flourished in partnership with one another. The TLC’s director, Luke Waltzer, also served as co-director of the HA, and Humanities Director Luis Henao Uribe was based in the Teaching and Learning Center from 2018 to 2025. In addition to sharing staff, the HA and the TLC often drew from each other’s resources and work collaboratively on projects and programs aiming to support the pedagogical development of GC students.
  • Provost’s Office: Our first Principal Investigator, David Olan, was formerly the Associate Provost and Dean for Academic Affairs. He was also the PI for the PublicsLab, a past project also funded by the Mellon Foundation. Our second Principal Investigator, Monica Varsanyi, served as Associate Provost and Dean for Academic Affairs after David Olan retired.

Visit the Graduate Center’s website.