Community colleges were a relatively unexplored space for graduate students. Humanities Alliance Fellows, supported by Faculty mentors, entered this space to know about students’ specific needs and opportunities, to learn from the work of committed faculty and staff in generating spaces for humanistic inquiry, and to contribute from their experience, professional, and personal trajectories. In Phase 1, Fellows learned and adapted existing courses, impacting students from the classroom. In Phase 2, Fellows held academic support roles for specific projects connecting to various humanities classrooms. With training and support from core HA staff and campus partners, fellows helped plan, scope, scaffold, and support innovative opportunities for teaching and learning in the humanities.
Phase II
Click on the accordion items below to learn about some of the key projects and program structures at each of the partner campuses that the fellows engaged in during Phase II of the HA grant.
Judy Anderson, Associate Professor of Ethnic and Race Studies, met regularly with the fellows assigned to BMCC and helped them to connect to ongoing projects at BMCC. Below are a few examples of the kinds of projects the BMCC fellows undertook.
Fellow: Luis Escamilla Frias (LAILAC)
Some of Luis’s work was assigned to him, some was self-directed. He contributed to Black Studies Across the Americas (BSAA) (6 hours per week); Open Educational Resources (4 hours per week); and organized lectures and events (2 hours per week).
Projects: Luis worked at the Black Studies Across the Americas Program led by Professors Judith Anderson and Lissette Acosta. Luis focused on Open Educational Resources and Creative Commons resources for faculty and students, as well as organized lectures and events for the BMCC community with an emphasis on Latinx- and Latin American-related projects. Luis ran a series of workshops and events for both faculty and students, including on community college culture and philosophy and Open Educational Resources (OER) for the Garifuna, Haiti, and Puerto Rico Cohorts. Luis was instrumental in co-organizing a series of events and collaborative discussions at the intersection of politics, art, and higher-education, including: Unlearning Chile: commemorating the 50 Years Anniversary of the Coup through the Visual Arts, High-Ed Access for All Immigrants: Know the Opportunities Waiting for You, and Let’s Talk About Ungrading: Unpacking Our Experiences over a Coffee.
Fellow: Tom Leutheusser (Comp Lit)
At BMCC, Tom designed and led a series of workshops in collaboration with both the Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship (CETLS) and their peer HA fellows. The workshops have encouraged and facilitated intentional discussions between faculty as well as programs geared toward undergraduate students to target some of the campus’s pressing needs, including topics such as mentor-mentee relationships, expanding asset-based learning in the classroom with audio assignment design and implementation, and insight for students considering graduate school. Complementing the audio assignment curriculum workshop, Tom worked with faculty members individually to consider and design podcast assignments and their potential role in expanding asset-based learning. Tom also worked to create and implement experiential learning opportunities for the Open Educational Resource (OER) faculty-student research project Black Studies Across the Americas, involving trips to the Museum of Food and Drink (MoFAD), the New York Historical Society, and The Tenement Museum.
Fellow: Janelle Poe (English)
Some projects were assigned to Janelle, and she initiated a self-directed project.
Projects: Black Studies Across the Americas (BSAA); Race, Equity and Inclusion; African Heritage Events; Hip Hop Commission (self-directed)
At BSAA, faculty and students work collaboratively with Afro-descendant activists from across the Americas to create educational materials that insert Black Studies into disciplines where it is not traditionally the focus. Janelle worked directly with individual students through BSAA and co-authored an article on “Using OER to promote cultural competency, student engagement” for Community College Daily about the BSAA program.
Ria Banerjee, Associate Professor of English, led biweekly 90-min meetings with all fellows assigned to Guttman, and helped them play a role in the campus-wide Big Read, select courses related to their interests that they could be embedded in, and lead self-directed projects based on their interests. Below are a couple key examples of the many projects the Guttman fellows undertook.
Fellow: Greg Hartmann (Music)
Who Supported Greg: Nick Fortier (professor teaching a course Greg was embedded in); another faculty member who asked Greg to serve on a panel; Greg’s peers—other fellows from different disciplines who were also placed at Guttman; Meagan Lacy, head librarian
A course was assigned to Greg, and Greg developed a self-directed project.
Course (2-3 hours per week): Greg was embedded in a Philosophy 103 course, where he led in-class listening activities centered on hearing songs, poems, and other texts aloud and engaging in small-group discussions. As a part of Guttman’s Big Read Series organized by the GCC library director, Greg led some of the discussion sessions. He also created an academic skills workshop focusing on “study hacks” and participated in a poetry panel.
Project “Deep Listening: Composers of the New York Scene” (up to 15 hours per week, depending on the week): The program was also in partnership with a nearby branch of the New York Public Library, which offered space to hold seven free afternoon sessions, open to participants at all levels of interest and expertise. Greg’s experience as an accomplished musician, performer, and scholar of music theory shaped this series. For each session participants were invited to meet composers, hear their work, and listen to other musical examples and influences. Greg envisioned the series, coordinated with the NYPL event team, invited composers, and tried to pay the composers honoraria through the Budget Office. Greg’s series focused on making classical music more accessible to a wide range of listeners by presenting contemporary composers and their works in an approachable educational context.
Fellow: Rosalia Reyes Simon (LAILAC)
Who Supported Rosalia: Meagan Lacy (Chief Librarian) mentored fellows on the Big Read project; Rosalia’s peer fellows at Guttman.
After she was asked about her interests, Ria Banerjee offered several relevant options and Rosalía selected all her projects from the range of choices offered to her.
Projects: Participant in the Organizing Committee of the Pulitzer Center Student Reporting Fellowship (5-10 hours per week) & Co-organizer of the Campus-wide Big Read (2 hours per week): Rosalía drew on her experience as a journalist to mentor a student in developing a multimedia news piece in 2022 that shed light on a social justice issue that has been underreported in the mainstream media. The student documented how immigrant Latinx women were learning to fight for their labor rights as cleaning workers in New York. Rosalía accompanied the student to all the interviews and sessions she did in the field. She published a blog post about the project. Rosalía also helped GCC faculty organize readings with Pulitzer Center journalists who visited the campus. One of the lessons designed by Rosalía was on racial justice and human rights for the talk given by the filmmaker and photographer Eli Hiller, who shared his experience covering the mass protests triggered by the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis in 2020. Rosalía also supported Afro Latinx Heritage Month events such as a bilingual poetry reading. Separately, in a hands-on workshop, each student created a “Cartonera”-style cardboard book in which the overarching theme was the diversity of Latin American cultures. Rosalía also formed part of the Guttman Big Read Series, a project organized by the GCC library director that encouraged the building of community and critical thinking through guided literary discussions. The GCC provided free copies of the book to students, faculty, and administrators. In 2022, participants read a memoir by Cathy Park Hong, Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning and in 2023 participants read Faces in the Crowd by Mexican writer Valeria Luiselli.
Kris Burrell, Associate Professor of History, Social Sciences Unit Coordinator, met with fellows assigned to Hostos Community College regularly. He invited guests from across the college to meet with the fellows and help them to understand Hostos before contributing to the college with their self-directed projects.
Fellows reviewed the school website, got familiar with the departmental structure (i.e., majors, departments, units), and identified potential faculty or programs to reach out to. Fellows secured campus email accounts, met training requirements, and gained the skills and familiarity with technology tools necessary to develop online resources regarding ArtsConnect at Hostos. Fellows visited a classroom and gave feedback on student work, met with Provost Drago, and with the advisory committee and prepared a presentation on EL and LE for the CCD meeting. Fellows also began developing a wordpress website. Through further meetings, the logo of ArtsConnect was chosen from among students’ work.
Most biweekly fellows’ meetings were also attended by the Dean of Academic Affairs and Institutional Effectiveness who provided additional guidance and support. In the spirit of promoting experiential learning (EL) and learning communities (LC) at Hostos CC, fellows needed to first get a better sense of the institutional culture, the bureaucratic procedures, and the organizational structure of the college. To achieve this, it was understood that fellows should attend meetings whenever possible that are related to various college committees and programs engaged in EL and/or LCs in some regard. After acclimating to meetings and making connections with faculty and staff, fellows could follow up with individual faculty, staff, or program leaders to get a more detailed understanding of the work that is already being generated at Hostos. Fellows met with chairs and members of various committees at Hostos, including: Hispanic Serving Institutions Committee; Affirmative Action, DEI Committee; Continuing ed and workforce development; and Middle States Council on Higher Education. After learning about different possible projects at Hostos, the individual projects were chosen and added to the regular weekly workload [approximately 8-10 hours per week].
Fellow: Jenna Queenan (Urban Ed)
Who Supported Jenna: Much of Jenna’s support came from returning graduate fellows who had spent a year already at Hostos and could give her advice and guidance; Kris Burrell was a supportive presence on the campus; and her mentors at the GC who did frequent check-ins.
Structure: Day 0 and Spa Day, two annual professional development days hosted by the Office of Academic Affairs and Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) (6-7 hours per week); Junior Faculty Orientation (6-7 hours per week); Faculty Interviews (6-7 hours per week). Everyone on the CTL council participated in Day 0 and Spa Day, but Jenna was able to choose which parts she contributed to. For the faculty interviews, Jenna had suggested two different possible projects to the CTL council that she could do and this one was the one they picked as more useful.
Projects: Jenna supported faculty with service learning and worked closely with the Center for Teaching and Learning Advisory Council at Hostos. With other members of the CTL council, Jenna planned and facilitated sessions at Day 0 and Spa Day, two annual Hostos professional development events for staff and faculty. She also developed programming materials for a new junior faculty orientation, including developing questions to ask, reviewing those with the CTL directors, scheduling interviews, interviewing and facilitating discussions with tenured faculty about supports and challenges with the tenure process. CTL directors helped with outreach and identifying people to interview.
Fellow: Diana Higuera Cortés (LAILAC)
Who Supported Diana: Kris Burrell on the Hostos campus and Luis Henao Uribe at the GC who led biweekly group and individual check-in meetings with all fellows.
Structure: Diana chose her projects based on her interests and prior experience working with community organizations. She organized an event [3 hours per week] at the GC for native Spanish speakers on continuing education and created a booklet of information in Spanish [3 hours per week]. After the event, she created a website in Spanish as an open resource available on the CUNY commons [4 hours per week].
At Hostos, Diana worked with the CLIP (CUNY Language Immersive Program) and Continuing Education offices to build new bridges with the newly arrived migrant population in New York City. As many asylum seekers struggle to learn English and to find new forms of employment, the Continuing Ed Programs offerings result in a crucial opportunity for adaptation and dignified occupations. Diana concluded the project by elaborating a handout for the migrants and coordinating an outreach event explaining the program benefits/procedures at Hostos with Hostos members, student organizations at the GC, and community leaders. She coordinated with both CLIP and Continuing Ed offices to schedule the event, designed the event flyer and a Commons site to centralize information, and conducted outreach via social media and reached out to former ESOL students to advertise the event. She connected with community organizations such as Mixteca, Violence Intervention Program, and Worker’s Justice Project. 80 people attended. For the booklet, Diana drew from research and personal experience to offer resources on navigating academic institutions. She reached out to CUNY Admissions to learn about the process and used Canva to put everything together. She reached out to the library to learn about Creative Commons licenses.
Fellow: Mehrnaz Moghaddam (Anthropology)
Who supported Mehrnaz: Kris Burrell; the faculty on campus who she worked with; staff from the Center for Teaching and Learning
Structure: Mehrnaz researched, compiled literature, and presented on Learning Communities and Experiential Learning at the Hostos Chairs Coordinators and Directors Meeting (CCD) [10-15 hours per week]; compiled materials, visited a class to discuss student projects, and created a webpage and a website for the Arts Connect Project [10-15 hours per week].
Mehrnaz’s interest was to learn about initiatives at Hostos for immigrant students and the role of English as a second language. She attended relevant class meetings and noticed most of the students in this class were bilingual, and English was not their first language. Her class observations helped her to write a proposal for the CIES 2023 conference along (CIES. Washington DC. 2022) with others in the Humanities Alliance. And, further helped her to write two blog posts: one on Specialized Language and Jargonism in Higher Ed, and another on Experiential Learning.
Pablo Avila, Associate Director of ePortfolio and Digital Learning at the Center for Teaching and Learning at LaGuardia Community College, and Ljubica Depovic, Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning. Below are a couple key examples of projects the fellows undertook at LaGuardia during Phase II.
Fellow: Francisco Medina (Urban Ed)
Who Supported Francisco: LaGuardia faculty he engaged with listened to him, especially because he had prior experience at LaGuardia, asked about his dissertation, and advised him.
Structure: Initially, Francisco intended to “sit in” on meetings and then he was invited to engage more and weigh in on conversations based on his interests and prior experiences teaching at LaGuardia (he is also a former LaGuardia student). He spent up to 10 hours per week on LaGuardia projects.
Projects: Francisco collaborated with faculty to update the Liberal Arts Core ePortfolio and make it more relevant to community college students. This included adding videos, quotes, questions, and creating a new assignment inviting students to share videos and/or images of where they see/hear the liberal arts in their communities and neighborhoods. Francisco also contributed to a faculty seminar focused on the creation of a new course at the college and led efforts to reorganize the My Liberal Arts Journey section of the ePortfolio by course. Moreover, Francisco presented the changes to faculty and administrators, including facilitating a faculty training workshop. In his second year, Francisco developed this project further by creating surveys for faculty and students as well as holding focus groups with students and presenting the findings to faculty and administrators. Francisco also worked on submitting an IRB proposal to officially administer surveys and conduct focus groups, and will potentially use the findings for an academic article and conference presentations in the future.
Fellow: Oriana Mejías Martínez (LAILAC)
Who Supported Oriana: Professor Olga Aksakalova, and librarians Thomas Cleary and Ian McDermott for support with OER materials.
Structure: Professor Olga Aksakalova offered Oriana the opportunity to find a couple of candidates to partner with LaGuardia Faculty for their Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) projects. Time commitment: COIL program (5-7 hours per week); embedded in two COIL projects (3-4 hours per week).
Projects: At LaGuardia Community College, Oriana has strengthened the pivotal Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) program by contributing to its multilingual curriculum and experience for students and faculty. She participated in three online synchronous sessions where she facilitated language translation for student communication when needed and for faculty in terms of instruction if needed. She also observed COIL sessions. She researched and identified the best candidates, and then emailed at least 3 people for each of the projects to look for partners. She presented one of her COIL projects at the June 2022 COIL showcase. For one of the courses she was involved with in Spring 2022, a final product was an international recipe book created by food anthropology students and their instructors at LaGuardia Community College and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. The following year, she supported the technological spaces two professors were sharing for their pedagogical COIL project and she was able to brainstorm a critical approach regarding racial inequalities surrounding Simón Bolívar’s life. In collaboration with a colleague, she created an assessment rubric for the COIL projects that would follow Global and Experiential Learning (GEL) guidelines given by the community college. After her fellowship and thanks to the work of the COIL program coordinators, the institution finally created the GEL office at LaGuardia.
