News and Information Blog
2012 SCHOLAR-ATHLETES OF THE YEAR UNVEILED HIGHLIGHT 26TH ANNUAL MICHAEL STEUERMAN AWARDS ON MAY 16
May 15th
- The four main 2011-12 honorees: Staten Island’s Vladislav Romanov, Hunter’s Mallory Grubler (Women‘s Volleyball), Kingsborough’s Zenia George and Queensborough’s Gteni Mbeou.
On Wednesday, May 16, the City University of New York Athletic Conference will celebrate the 2011-12 academic and athletic year with the 26th Annual Michael Steuerman Scholar-Athlete Awards Dinner. Presented by Pepsi and Dell, the night is a tribute to our outstanding student-athletes, coaches, administrators and supporters. The honorees represent the very best the City University of New York has to offer in quality scholarship, athleticism, and pride in our community at CUNY.
Without further a due, it is with immense pleasure that CUNYAC highlights the top four graduating scholar-athletes from all across the CUNY system, one male and one female student-athlete from the community and four-year colleges. These men and women show us the true meaning of “student-athlete” with their ability to balance commitments in the classroom and on the field of play beyond any ordinary standard. Following closely behind our four top winners are the 29 honorable mention scholar-athletes whose efforts rank them among the uppermost achievers in our cohort of student-athletes. Their achievements have made the mandate of the selection committee a challenging endeavor.
The 2011-2012 winners are Kingsborough Community College’s Zenia George (Women’s Cross Country/Track & Field), Hunter College’s Mallory Grubler (Women‘s Volleyball), Queensborough Community College’s Gteni Mbeou (Men’s Soccer) and the College of Staten Island’s Vladislav Romanov (Men‘s Swimming & Diving). They each have a unique story, amazing athletic achievements and excel in academic endeavors. For their individual biographies, please read below.
This year has truly been the Year of the Scholar-Athlete, with nearly 300 scholar-athletes being recognized in the fall semester and an expected 750 total to round out this academic year. In addition, ten scholar-athletes have been selected throughout the year for the CUNYAC/Hospital for Special Surgery Scholar-Athlete of the Month, several of whom will be at the event on Wednesday.
Alongside our scholar-athlete awards, CUNYAC will also celebrate the amazing achievements of our All-American student-athletes. All-Americans are given by each sport’s National committee, recognizing the elite athletes in the country. As of Monday, May 14, CUNYAC’s count for 2011-12 stands at 24 prior to the dinner, but the Spring tends to be the most ‘successful’ season in terms of All-Americans, and that number will grow in the coming weeks with the NCAA Track & Field Championships in two wee. As always, the Conference is aiming to exceed last year’s record number of 32 All-Americans.
Also presented as part of the ceremonies is the Commissioner’s Cup, which will be presented for the 15th consecutive time to the most successful Four-Year and Community College athletic programs for the 2011-2012 academic year and finally, the “Friend of CUNY” special award will be given out to a very surprised attendee.
Community College Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year
ZENIA GEORGE, KINGSBOROUGH COMMUNITY COLLEGE
By Gregg Cohen
Focus. Sometimes the lens has to look at the big picture before the primary image comes into focus. Zenia George, the 2012 Michael Steuerman Community College Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year has been focused on academia, sporting a 3.65 grade point average in Community Health & Gerontology at Kingsborough Community College; even though that was not her major from the beginning.
ZENIA GEORGE, KINGSBOROUGH COMMUNITY COLLEGE
By Gregg Cohen
Focus. Sometimes the lens has to look at the big picture before the primary image comes into focus. Zenia George, the 2012 Michael Steuerman Community College Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year has been focused on academia, sporting a 3.65 grade point average in Community Health & Gerontology at Kingsborough Community College; even though that was not her major from the beginning.
“I am grateful that Kingsborough Community College was affordable and offered me a chance to have a college education,” said George, a native of the small Caribbean island of St. Lucia. “I wouldn’t have gotten the combination of affordability and the level of education elsewhere. At first I was not sure what I wanted to major in. I selected the major I’m about to graduate in when I was working in the recreation department and Professor [Karen] Goldman described to me about the benefits of being community health major. This caught my interest, and now I am about to graduate with honors.”
The big picture the first semester also included volleyball. In 2009, George played volleyball for the Wave and was an instant success; winning CUNYAC’s Athlete of the Week award twice and yielding a sportsmanship honor from the NJCAA Region XV coaches at the conclusion of the season.
But one person noticed her athleticism and determination and immediately went in for the kill. “I saw her focus,” said Cross Country/Track & Field Head Coach Dave Loobie, who was named the NJCAA Division III Women’s Track Coach of the Year in 2011. “The effort she gave playing every point. I knew she was a winner.”
So she switched from passing the volleyball to passing the baton, and made an indelible impact as a middle distance runner. At her first CUNYAC Championship, the 2010 Outdoors, George placed 5th, in what would become her signature event, the 800 Meters.
George made her mark at the 2010 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Championships, finishing fifth in the 800 Meters, and sixth in the Javelin Throw, making her introduction to the National stage a rousing success.
The following Fall, George went all in on her collegiate running career and immediately became KCC’s best cross country runner, winning a medal in her first CUNYAC Championship event, placing 15th overall. This past season, she made major improvements on her top five kilometer (3.1 miles) and six kilometer (3.8 miles) at grueling Van Cortlandt Park and took fourth overall in the CUNYAC Championship, topping 74 others from Community College and Four-Year Colleges, alike.
She did better the following week, at the 2011 NJCAA Region XV Championships, taking second overall and solidifying her chance at a top-8 finish at the National Championship the next week. She placed fourth at Nationals, against 108 elite runners from around the country, George slotted second among CUNYAC runners, and fourth overall, garnering her All-American status in Cross Country.
“Zenia doesn’t just walk around campus, she is constantly jogging,” said KCC Athletic Director Damani Thomas, a former All-American runner at Hunter College. “She is a student-athlete you can always count on heading to the library after practice. Whatever she puts her mind into, Zenia succeeds at it. This year she wanted to finish in the top ten at Nationals and she is well on her way to that goal.”
George earned two more All-American awards at the 2011 NJCAA Outdoor Championships, becoming a National Champion for the first time in the 4 x 800 Meter Relay with teammates Tia Gardner, Charlene Jackson and Deandra Nelson. The quartet raced home in 10:08.59, just over 11 seconds in front of second place. Also, George captured her own individual silver medal for second place in the Javelin Throw, for her second honor. Loobie’s team took home the National Runner-Up trophy from the event.
George finished her athletic career at KCC with the 2012 NJCAA Indoors, a meet against Division I, II and III Junior College runners and her star was shining brilliantly. George captured the silver medal with a sensational 2:20.09 performance in the 800 Meters and she even earned a seventh place finish in the 1000 Meters putting the Wave in 18th place all by herself.
“Zenia is the absolute definition of a student-athlete,” claimed KCC head Cross Country coach Dave Loobie. “She always puts her studies first. She is a leader by example and the younger runners definitely take her cue.”
“What’s fun to me during the semester is when my teammates and fellow classmates tells me how well they are doing in class with the resources I gave them,” said George. “Communication is very important to my relationship with my teammates, and I also consider it as my contribution to the team chemistry. Teamwork helps with building the team chemistry and come together away from our athletic life. Motivation to attend practice and doing the right things as an athlete helps with team work.”
As one should hope, George has had a number of full athletic scholarship offers over the last couple of months and unlike everything on the track, she is taking her time weighing the next step in her academic career. One thing we know is that the next school that is privileged to have Zenia George, a four-time All-American, on campus is inheriting a student-athlete who is determined in her academics, her personal beliefs and her ability to… focus.
KINGSBOROUGH ONE OF TEN COMMUNITY COLLEGES CHOSEN TO FORM NETWORK FOCUSED ON CIVIC LEARNING THROUGH THE HUMANITIES
May 14th
- Kingsborough Community College
Brooklyn, N.Y., May 14– Kingsborough Community College (KCC) is one of 10 community colleges, in the country competitively selected to take the lead in “Bridging Cultures to Form a Nation: Difference, Community and Democratic Thinking,” a new initiative focused on civic leaning through the Humanities. It is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and co-sponsored by the Association of American Colleges and Universities and The Democracy Commitment.
Teams from each of the 10 colleges will participate in the three-year curriculum and faculty development project designed to:
- infuse questions about difference, engaged community, and democratic thinking into transfer courses in the humanities;
- promote greater adoption of practices that advance important civic learning outcomes;
- create a series of humanities-enriched professional development opportunities for full-time and adjunct faculty; and
- expand the project’s impact through collaboration with additional community colleges and partnerships with state humanities councils.
“The community colleges chosen for this project are poised to lead the way in developing curricular and co-curricular practices steeped in the humanities and designed to prepare students to be active and engaged participants in the democratic process,” said Brian Murphy, president of De Anza College, one of the founders of The Democracy Commitment, and a co-director of the Bridging Cultures project. “The entire Democracy Commitment network will benefit greatly from the work these schools will do together over the course of this project.”
We are extraordinarily pleased to have been selected as a national leader for our unswerving dedication and commitment to making civic engagement an integral part of the academic experience at KCC,” said Regina Peruggi, president of KCC. “The preparation of our students to become engaged citizens and leaders of tomorrow is critically important and top priority at KCC.”
“The community colleges in this NEH Bridging Cultures project are answering the national call to action embedded in the recently released national report, A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy’s Future,” said AAC&U Senior Vice President and NEH project co-director Caryn McTighe Musil. “They are targeting high-enrollment humanities courses and adopting proven civic pedagogies that together will offer more students opportunities to increase their knowledge, skills, and commitments to making our multicultural democracy in the US stronger and more effective.”
Bridging Cultures was developed as part of AAC&U’s ongoing initiative on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement and builds on the recommendations issued in the report, A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy’s Future, released in January 2012 at a White House convening. The key recommendation in A Crucible Moment is to make civic learning in college expected rather than optional for all students, including all those in career and technical programs. Building from this recommendation, Bridging Cultures began in February 2012 with a call for proposals to community colleges across the country, leading to the selection of 10 teams composed of humanities faculty and administrators.
Team members will participate in an intensive summer faculty development institute in August 2012, as well as multiple other faculty development opportunities and partnerships with other community colleges. The project will culminate in a symposium planned for October 2014. Bridging Cultures’ impact will also be strengthened by a partnership with the New York Times Company education group, which is collaborating with TDC in their national initiative. Project participants will use the Epsilen online learning platform to develop forums and to share and co-create resources and course materials.
In addition to KCC selected institutions include Chandler-Gilbert Community College (AZ); County College of Morris (NJ); Georgia Perimeter College (GA); Kapi’olani Community College(HI); Miami Dade College (FL); Middlesex Community College (MA);Mount Wachusett Community College (MA); Lone Star College-Kingwood (TX); and Santa Fe College(FL).
About Kingsborough Com munity College:
Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn’s only community college, is located on a 70- acre campus in Manhattan Beach, on the southern tip of Brooklyn. The breathtaking campus overlooks three bodies of water: Sheepshead Bay, Jamaica Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. It serves approximately thirty thousand students per year, offering a wide range of credit and non-credit courses in the liberal arts, career education, and specialized programs.
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KINGSBOROUGH COMMUNITY COLLEGE NAMED AS ONE OF TOP 120 IN COUNTRY
May 8th
- Dr. Regina Peruggi, president, Kingsborough Community College
Kingsborough Community College Eligible for $1 Million Aspen Institute Prize Fund; Nation’s Signature Recognition of Excellence in More Than 1,000 Community Colleges, Which Serve Nearly Half of All Undergraduates in U.S.
Washington, DC, May 8, 2012 –Highlighting the critical importance of improving student success in America’s community colleges, the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program today named Kingsborough Community College as one the nation’s 120 top community colleges, challenging it to compete for the $1 million fund for the 2013 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. The Aspen Institute identified the 120 community colleges — 10 percent of all institutions — using a quantitative formula that assesses performance and improvement in four areas: graduation rates, degrees awarded, student retention rates, and equity in student outcomes. These colleges will now compete for the prestigious honor following a year-long research process into how well their students learn, complete degrees, and get jobs with competitive wages after graduating. A full list of the 120 community colleges is available at www.AspenCCPrize.org. Prize winners will be announced in March 2013.
The first inaugural Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence was awarded to the 70,000-student Valencia College (Orlando, Florida) in December 2011. It was the first broad national recognition of extraordinary accomplishments at individual community colleges.
Some seven million students – youth and adult learners – enroll in America’s nearly 1,200 public and private community colleges every year.
“The success of our nation’s community colleges is more important than ever before,”
said Aspen Institute College Excellence Program Executive Director Josh Wyner, who today announced the names of the 120 top community colleges at the annual convention of the American Association of Community Colleges in Orlando, Florida. “At a time when a college degree is essential to entering the middle class, community colleges like Kingsborough Community College offer the most promising path to education and employment for literally millions of Americans. This competition spotlights excellence and we encourage Kingsborough Community College to apply for the nation’s top community college prize to help raise the bar for all community colleges to improve student achievement and better prepare the next generation for the job market after college.”
Kingsborough Community College and 119 other community colleges will be winnowed to eight-to-ten finalists in September based on how much students learn, how many complete their programs on time, and how well students do in the job market after graduating.
Kingsborough Community College is now eligible to submit an application containing detailed data on these criteria. It must demonstrate that it delivers exceptional student results, uses data to drive decisions, and continually improves over time.
The Aspen Institute will conduct site visits to each of the finalists in the fall. A distinguished Prize Jury co-chaired by John Engler, president of Business Roundtable, former Michigan Governor, and former president of the National Association of Manufacturers and Richard Riley, former South Carolina Governor and U.S. Secretary of Education, will select a grand prize winner and four runners-up, to be announced in March 2013.
“American employers have jobs open right now but lack enough skilled, educated workers to fill them,” Engler said. “The job training programs at community colleges must play a central role in filling those gaps and preparing the American workforce. Community colleges’ success will help determine whether and in what sectors America will continue to lead in the global economy.”
While every community college faces challenges, particularly in today’s economic climate, Secretary Riley underscored the importance of improving outcomes for community college students, the majority of whom are underrepresented minorities, “Many community colleges across this country are doing an excellent job of boosting student success, but we need to encourage all community colleges to achieve excellence. When students learn more, graduate or transfer to four-year institutions, and get competitive-wage jobs after college, it helps everyone – students, employers and our nation’s economy as a whole.”
The Aspen Prize is funded by America Achieves, Bank of America Charitable Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Joyce Foundation, JPMorgan Chase Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and Lumina Foundation for Education.
The Aspen College Excellence Program aims to identify and replicate campus-wide practices that significantly improve college student outcomes. Through the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, the New College Leadership Project and other initiatives, the College Excellence Program works to improve colleges’ understanding and capacity to teach and graduate students, especially the growing population of low-income and minority students on American campuses. For more information, visit http://www.aspeninstitute.org/policy-work/aspen-prize.
The Aspen Institute mission is twofold: to foster values-based leadership, encouraging individuals to reflect on the ideals and ideas that define a good society, and to provide a neutral and balanced venue for discussing and acting on critical issues. The Aspen Institute does this primarily in four ways: seminars, young-leader fellowships around the globe, policy programs, and public conferences and events. The Institute is based in Washington, DC; Aspen, Colorado; and on the Wye River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It also has an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.
Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn’s only community college, is ranked as one of
the top ten percent in the country. It is located on a 70-acre campus in Manhattan Beach, on the southern tip of Brooklyn. The breathtaking campus overlooks three bodies of water: Sheepshead Bay, Jamaica Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. It serves approximately thirty thousand students per year, offering a wide range of credit and non-credit courses in the liberal arts, career education, and specialized programs.
Kingsborough Community College Students Now Have an Even Better Chance of Earning a Degree and Achieving their Dreams
May 8th
Kingsborough Community College selected into the Achieving the Dream National Reform Network; commits to rigorous student success and completion
Brooklyn, NY (May 8, 2012) – Signifying a strong commitment to student success and completion, Kingsborough Community College is one of 25 institutions selected, this year, into the Achieving the Dream National Reform Network – the nation’s most comprehensive non-governmental reform network for student success in higher education history. Kingsborough Community College will begin immediately to identify strategies to close achievement gaps and increase student retention, persistence, and completion rates.
“Joining the Achieving the Dream important network of community colleges will provide us an exceptional learning opportunity on many levels that will significantly enhance our work with students,” said Dr. Regina Peruggi, President of Kingsborough Community College.
“This new cohort of colleges will collectively help 270,000 students succeed,” said Beverly Fletcher, Senior Director of Organizational Development and Change for Achieving the Dream. “And the success of each student means much more than just a personal goal secured. It means improved skills, better employability, and economic growth for their community and our nation as a whole.”
As an Achieving the Dream Institution, Kingsborough Community College will develop and implement research-based policies and practices based on quantitative and qualitative analyses of its institutional strengths, problem areas, and achievement gaps. Kingsborough Community College is committed to assessing the effectiveness of these policies and practices, institutionalizing the approaches that prove successful, and sharing the findings widely. Through Achieving the Dream, Kingsborough Community College will have the opportunity to learn from other Achieving the Dream Institutions, and receive assistance from experienced practitioners in building a culture of evidence campus-wide, using data to identify problems, setting priorities, and measuring progress toward increasing student success.
The Achieving the Dream 2012 Cohort
“The work of closing achievement gaps and improving student success is extremely difficult and critically important,” said Beverly Fletcher, Senior Director of Organizational Development and Change for Achieving the Dream. “Being an Achieving the Dream Institution takes courage, discipline, and a tenacious institution-wide commitment to student success and equity. Kingsborough Community College should be applauded for helping tackle one of society’s most daunting challenges: success for more college students.”
The Achieving the Dream Model
Each new college will commit to the Achieving the Dream Student-Centered Model of Institutional Improvement. Based on four principles, the Model frames the overall work of helping more students, particularly low-income students and students of color, stay in school and earn a college certificate or degree. Each college will approach the work differently, but Achieving the Dream’s five-step process will provide practical guidelines for helping keep the focus where it belongs and building momentum over time. Throughout the process, Achieving the Dream Coaches will offer customized support and help each college’s core team implement data-informed programs and policies that build long-term, institution-wide commitment to student success. Learn more about the Model here.
Achieving the Dream is a national nonprofit leading the nation’s most comprehensive non-governmental reform network for student success in higher education history. The Achieving the Dream National Reform Network, including nearly 200 institutions, more than 100 coaches and advisors, and 15 state policy teams – working throughout 32 states and the District of Columbia – helps 3.75 million community college students have a better chance of realizing greater economic opportunity and achieving their dreams.
Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn’s only community college, is ranked as one of the top ten percent in the country. It is located on a 70-acre campus in Manhattan Beach, on the southern tip of Brooklyn. The breathtaking campus overlooks three bodies of water: Sheepshead Bay, Jamaica Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. It serves approximately thirty thousand students per year, offering a wide range of credit and non-credit courses in liberal arts, career education, and specialized programs.
KINGSBOROUGH COMMUNITY COLLEGE TO HOST AWARD-WINNING ECO-FESTIVAL APRIL 25-27
Apr 18th
- Bill McKibben
Brooklyn, N.Y., April 18 -- Kingsborough Community College (KCC), Brooklyn’s only community college, has announced that it will host its seventh annual Eco-Festival, April 25-27, 2012. The theme is “Our Earth Community: What is My Role?” The three-day event is free and open to the public. The opening session begins at 9:10 a.m., Wednesday, April 25.
Eco-Festival, the winner of the 2008 CUNY Sustainability Award for environmental education and advocacy, is designed to provide a unique opportunity for students, faculty, staff and members of the Brooklyn community to gather, under a common banner, and engage in a dialogue centered on environmental problems and challenges faced globally at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Eco-Festival will be held in the college’s Performing Arts Center and other near-by locations. The college is located at 2001 Oriental Boulevard, Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn.
“We are pleased to present our seventh Eco-Festival at KCC. It is a great opportunity to increase public awareness and inspire meaningful action regarding the serious environmental problems we face as a society,” said Dr. Regina Peruggi, president of KCC. “An environmentally centered dialogue among students, faculty, environmental experts and members of the community is fundamental to changing our environmental course.”
The keynote speakers for the opening session on Thursday, April 26, are Bill McKibben and Erich Pica. McKibben is the author of many books, from The End of Nature (1989), the first major book on what was then called the “Greenhouse Effect,” to Deep Economy (2007) and Earth (2011). Called by Time Magazine “the planet’s best green journalist,” he is also the creator of 350.org, “a global grassroots movement to solve the climate crisis.” Pica is president of Friends of the Earth, an environmental advocacy organization. Named by Washington Life Magazine as one of Washington’s “green city leaders,” he is a nationally recognized expert on energy subsidies who for more than a decade has worked to reform U.S. tax and budget policy in ways that reduce pollution and spark a transition to clean energy.
The goals of Eco-Festival are to raise ecological literacy, foster global citizenship, promote meaningful dialogue about environmental issues and inspire environmental action and stewardship. For program information, please visit http://www.kingsborough.edu/eco-festival. The 2012 Eco-Festival is sponsored, in part, by Con Edison, National Grid and The New York Times.
About Kingsborough Community College:
Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn’s only community college, is located on a 70-acre campus in Manhattan Beach, on the southern tip of Brooklyn. The breathtaking campus overlooks three bodies of water: Sheepshead Bay, Jamaica Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. It serves approximately thirty thousand students per year, offering a wide range of credit and non-credit courses in the liberal arts, career education, and specialized programs.
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Community College Times: The changing and growing needs of the marine industry
Apr 2nd
- Demand is growing for international business professionals trained in the maritime industry as commerce continues to expand in the Houston area, one of the world’s largest regions for international trade. Photo: Port of Houston
By Ellie Ashford, Published March 30, 2012
Increasing opportunities for skilled workers at the Port of Houston has propelled San Jacinto College (SJC) in Texas to purchase 13 waterfront acres for a new U.S. Coast Guard-approved maritime vessel operation training program.The new facility will have classrooms, advanced navigation and engineering labs, various radar and electronic systems and interactive mission ship, towboat and tugboat simulators, according to SJC.
When completed, the waterfront property will include a dock for lifeboats, fast rescue boats and visiting vessels that can be used for training. Students will also be able to observe container and cargo operations at the port.
The program’s growth is being prompted by the expansion of the Panama Canal in 2014 and an aging maritime workforce. A 2011 study of compensation reported that 60 percent of maritime workers are 50 or older and less than 1 percent are under 25.
So My Students Can Eat
Mar 27th
March 27, 2012 – 3:00am
This year, before I can address critical thinking and workforce skills, my students need to eat. I have a plan.
For Pell-eligible students, (poor), flip the $978 million Federal Work-Study Program (FWS) into the Study-Work Program (FSW). Pay students $10 an hour, ten hours a week to study in designated, supervised places at the community college or in a public library. The students swipe a card on the way in and out. They are paid electronically each week for their study time the previous week. Cap payments at $1,200 per semester.
Students have been crying in my office at Bunker Hill Community College every week since September and, some weeks, every day. Hungry. Often homeless. Often jobless.
One who was hungry and nearly homeless had an A in calculus. “Have you eaten today?” is a question I use more often than “Do you need help with your homework?” She wouldn’t say. As the student cried in my office and spoke with a gentle colleague, I bought a sandwich, some fruit, and a bottle of orange juice from the cafeteria. The student drank the juice and put the food in her bag to take home.
neatoday: Interview With Dr. Jill Biden: “Community Colleges Connect the Dots”
Mar 27th
- Dr. Jill Biden, second from left, and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, right, talks to Adam Dalton, an instructor at the center, at Roane State Community College’s Tennessee Technology Center in February. At left is Cheryl Stierwalt, a student in the program. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL)
March 26, 2012 by twalker
By Mary Ellen Flannery
Suddenly, it seems everybody, including President Obama, is talking about community colleges and their vital role in creating trained workers for American jobs in manufacturing, health services, education, and more. But Dr. Jill Biden, wife to Vice President Joe Biden, has known for years that community colleges provide a low-cost, high-quality education for millions of Americans. That’s because Biden has a front-row seat at Northern Virginia Community College, where she has taught English as an adjunct professor since 2009. Recently Biden, an educator with more than 30 years of experience, conversed with NEA Today on issues ranging from college accessibility to her summer reading list.
Q: When President Obama visited your campus (Northern Virginia Community College) in February, he told students, “The truth is that the skills and training you receive here will be the best tool you have to achieve the American Promise.” How is this true? What do you think your students aspire to – and how does the time that they spend in community college classrooms help them achieve those dreams?
Dr. Biden: For the last 18 years, I have seen firsthand the power of community colleges to change lives. I have welcomed students to my classroom from a wide variety of educational, economic, and cultural backgrounds, and I have seen how the community college system offers them the same path of opportunity.
I have students who attend classes on top of a full-time job. I teach moms who are juggling jobs and child care while preparing for new careers. I have many students working toward attending a four-year university.
Community colleges connect the dots – granting two-year degrees, providing new skills training and certification, and providing an affordable path for those who want to move on to a four-year university.
Arts Alive!
Mar 15th
- Kingsborough Community College media program students on location.
Arts Alive
Arts Alive, a 30-minute video, highlights arts and cultural organizations in Brooklyn, including Arts for Transit; Brooklyn Philharmonic; New York Aquarium; Brighton Ballet Theater and the Polar Bear Club. The video was produced by six students of the Kingsborough Community College Media Technology program. The Arts Alive project is a partnership between Kingsborough Community College, the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, Councilman Dominic Reccchia, Jr., in partnership with the Editors and Cinematographers Guilds, who provided mentors for the students.
The Kingsborough Community College students are Josephus Tudtud, Colleen Turner, Jon-Erik Mendez, Muneeb Hassan, Bennett Bennett and Maria Panskaya.
Arts Alive premiered on Sunday March 4 and March 11. The program can now be viewed on the NYC Media Website.
LSJ.com: Contraception key to boost grad rates at community colleges
Mar 14th
- A new campaign by community colleges to increase graduation rates encourages faculty members to incorporate material about pregnancy planning into academic courses. / Inside Higher Ed
By Paul Fain, Inside Higher Ed
Community colleges could improve their graduation rates by helping students avoid unplanned pregnancies. That’s the thinking behind a campaign to encourage faculty members to incorporate material about pregnancy planning into academic courses.
The project makes its point with edgy material, which is surprising because it’s led by the American Association of Community Colleges, with financial backing and other support from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. Major higher education associations are an unlikely source for an illustration featuring cartoon sperm and an egg, or of frank discussions about students’ sex lives.
Not so for the association’s “Make It Personal: College Completion” campaign. For example, its web portal includes a link to videos on common myths about birth control. In one called “Chronic Problems,” a young woman says in a voiceover: “My boyfriend smokes a lot of weed. Like a lot, which basically makes his sperm dead. So we’re not all that careful anymore.”
The video continues with a medical doctor, Eve Espey, who responds to that claim by saying that heavy marijuana smokers can indeed be fertile. She then jokingly cites population growth during the weed-plentiful sixties to bolster her case.