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One of our favorite summer rituals is to update the college fact sheet — the one-pager that summarizes key data about LaGuardia Community College. While not exactly a cookout in Flushing Meadows Park or surfing in Rockaway, the exercise of turning dog days into data days is deeply satisfying – at least to Nava Lerer, our Dean of Institutional Effectiveness, and me – like a cold beer on a warm summer night at Citi Field.
A few examples of new findings at your favorite community college:
In 2022, we served over 23,000 students. They came from 130 countries and spoke 54 heritage languages. Eighty-eight percent were ethnic minorities; 57% were women; 29% were over the age of 25; 48% were Hispanic. Seventy-three percent qualified for government financial aid. Forty-nine percent attended part-time. Sixty-nine percent lived in Queens. You can get the complete fact sheet here.
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A Summer of Physics Research for Alvin Grullon ’23
Alvin Grullon, 31, who recently earned his Associate of Science in Physics, is working on a nuclear physics project this summer at Michigan State University through the Research Experience for Undergraduates program funded by the National Science Foundation. In 2022 Alvin transferred to LaGuardia to take honors physics courses. He participated in the CUNY Research Scholars Program (CRSP), collaborating with LaGuardia physics professor, Dr. Roman Senkov. “The CRSP program changed my life. It made me a more disciplined and efficient student,” said Alvin. He continued working with Dr. Senkov in the Physics Club, setting up telescopes for students to examine the moon, Jupiter, and Saturn. This fall, Alvin will continue his studies in physics at Stony Brook University.
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LaGuardia Welcomes USDA Liaison to Work with HSIs in the Northeast
In June the United States Department of Agriculture selected LaGuardia to serve as the Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) host campus for its Northeast Region liaison. As a result, on August 8 we will welcome Herminia “Mina” Gomez to the college. From her new LaGuardia office, Mina will build partnerships for the USDA with HSIs in the region, and work to attract Hispanic students from Queens and beyond to careers with the USDA. Her collaboration with LaGuardia will enhance our associate degree programs in Sustainable Urban Agriculture and Nutrition and Culinary Management, the former recently recognized by a $4.5 million multi-year grant from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
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LaGuardia Student featured in New York Times Photo Series
Hosbel Hernandez is a recent graduate of LaGuardia’s commercial photography program, and has already had his work published in the New York Times. In a series about “what community looks like,” the Times featured images captured by seven students around the country and Hosbel was the only community college student in the mix. The series sought to “create a fuller portrait of diversity in higher education in America” by capturing these varied perspectives. Hosbel’s pictures remind us of the challenges faced by many of our students as they balance the demands of college academics and family responsibilities.
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Casa de las Américas Celebrates its First Birthday
On July 7 we marked the first anniversary of the founding of LaGuardia’s new Casa de las Américas. Over the last year, La Casa’s co-directors, Dr. Ryan Mann-Hamilton and Dr. Sonia Alejandra Rodríguez, organized more than three-dozen events to celebrate the rich and varied traditions and histories of Hispanic, Latin, and Caribbean heritage from across the Americas. So far, more than 3,000 students have engaged with La Casa, including those serving as La Casa Art Fellows (who created the mural that brightens the office walls) and our terrific La Casa Student Ambassadors.
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LaGuardia Receives $350,000 to Expand Training in Renewable Energy, Building Trades
State officials recently approved a grant to LaGuardia of $350,000 to expand our job training programs for unemployed and underemployed New Yorkers in renewable energy and construction. The funding – secured by Hannah Weinstock, Senior Director of Workforce Development in our ACE Division – will enable us to install an Offshore Wind Training Tower and to convert under-utilized space in the basement of the M-Building into new electrical, plumbing, and HVAC classrooms. (Currently, we hold our electrical, plumbing, and HVAC programs off-campus.) The new classrooms will enable us to serve more students and offer additional day, evening, and weekend classes. Big thanks to Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Office of Strategic Workforce Development at Empire State Development.
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ASL-English Interpretation Program Hosts Graduation Ceremony
In late June graduates from the ASL-English Interpretation Program (AIEP) celebrated their academic achievements with a commencement ceremony in the Little Theater. Garrett Zuercher, deaf stage and screen actor, and founder and artistic director of Deaf Broadway, a collective of deaf actors who make iconic works of the American canon accessible for the Deaf community, gave the keynote address. AIEP is a bachelor’s level program offered in collaboration with SUNY/Empire State College. This year’s graduates are well-prepared for the national certification exam and to enter the growing field of ASL-English interpretation.
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PTA Student Represents LaGuardia at Statewide Assembly
Just weeks before graduating from LaGuardia’s Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA) program, Meredith DeVore was elected to represent students at the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) New York Chapter Delegate Assembly. At the annual assembly, held in Saratoga Springs, Meredith was an active participant as a student delegate. The APTA New York Assembly is the highest policy-making body of the statewide Chapter and consists of voting and nonvoting delegates. Meredith is pictured with Dr. Clarence Chan, PTA professor and program director at LaGuardia.
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Training the Next Generation of Food and Ag Professionals
Did you see the third item in this month’s newsletter about the USDA opening up an office at LaGuardia? Well, there more to this story… We may not have chapters of FFA or 4-H (yet), but LaGuardia is giving students the opportunity to experience all aspects of urban farming and management through “Project SEMBRAR”. The experiential learning program, funded by the USDA, includes a three-week paid internship in which students visit and volunteer at urban farms in Queens and Brooklyn (you read that right) and then complete a week-long residency at SUNY Cobleskill, in beautiful Schoharie County. (Consider: Cobleskill has 6,000 residents; Queens 2.3 million.) Project SEMBRAR (“to sow” in Spanish) was the brainchild of Dr. Preethi Radhakrishnan, Program Director of LaGuardia’s Environmental Science Program, who co-taught the courses in the program with Dr. Holly Porter Morgan and Dr. Nicolle Fernandes. In Cobleskill, the LaGuardia group met with NYS Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets, Richard Ball, at his Schoharie Valley Farms and students were able to ask him questions about the future of the agricultural workforce. “Our partnership with the community-based farms and SUNY Cobleskill was an affirmation that students come alive and apply their passion to a project when it is born of their own direct experience, interest, and direction,” Professor Radhakrishnan observed.
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