Building Career Skills as a Member of Student Government Association

Dany Escolastico Minaya is a 22-year-old Film and Television major from Harlem. He is in his third semester at LaGuardia. Dany works as a peer advisor for the Humanities Department, mentoring students to achieve their academic goals. In addition, he serves as the humanities representative on LaGuardia’s Student Government Association (SGA). On SGA, he also serves as governor of political awareness, responsible for raising political issues that are important to students. Being on SGA has boosted his collaboration skills, says Dany. He expects to graduate in spring 2023 and then pursue a bachelor’s in film. Dany’s career goal is to write and direct feature films. 

CUNY Offers Reminder on Policies About Accepting Gifts

Please be reminded that The City University of New York’s (CUNY) Conflicts of Interest Policy and the New York State Public Officers Law prohibit the acceptance of gifts of more than nominal value from interested sources. Accordingly, as a CUNY employee you may not solicit or accept such gifts, either directly or indirectly, from any interested source, regardless of whether the gift was intended to influence or reward you. For more information, please see the Commission’s “’Tis the Season to Remember the Ethics Rules for Gifts,” available HERE. The CUNY policy and state law regarding gifts apply to all CUNY employees, including faculty. For more information, please see the CUNY website. If you have any questions regarding CUNY’s and the Commission’s interpretation of the law, I encourage you to ask before you act. Please contact your Campus Ethics Officer. If you receive a non-perishable gift, please send it back to the person/entity along with the sample letter. The Commission’s plain language guide to help state officers and employees navigate the gift restrictions. For additional information regarding gifts, please see the Commission’s website on gifts.​

Faculty Spotlight: Andrea Francis: Finance

Dr. Andrea Francis has been teaching finance at LaGuardia since September 2009. Before that she worked at Deloitte & Touche in New York and South Africa. Professor Francis says as an immigrant, and a woman of color from a challenging socio-economic background, she appreciates the connection she has with her students based on the similarities in our lived experiences. “It’s a privilege to work with students who are often overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds to earn their degrees. I am also fortunate to work in a department with excellent leadership and colleagues who are kind, intelligent, and collaborative,” she said.

Most recently, Professor Francis was a recipient of a CUNY BRESI grant to fund the Accounting Program DEI Accelerator so she has been focusing her efforts on her grant work and plans to share the progress and outcomes of that work at conferences in the future. She also plans to attend the CUNY Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access conference in March 2023.

As a professor in finance, she offers the following advice this holiday season. “For many, this past year has been one of the most financially grueling in recent history given a confluence of historically high inflation rates, interest rates, and persistent income inequality,” she said. “We also see our attention fractured and our time and energy drained by the many streams of stimuli that exist in our world. So the first place to start, in my opinion, is with self-compassion and gratitude that we have made it this far. For those who do plan to spend, and I’ll include myself here, let’s remember that a budget is not just about money in and out, it’s a reflection of our values. So perhaps this year provides a unique opportunity to reflectively hold the tension that exists between needs and wants. To let our love of family, friends, and self, perhaps mean spending time instead of buying things.”

Center for Teaching and Learning Seeks Proposals

The Center for Teaching and Learning and its Advisory Council invite faculty and staff to propose seminars, workshops or other professional development activities for the 2023-24 academic year. The deadline to apply is January 23, 2023. For more information contact Ljubica Depovic, Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at ctl@lagcc.cuny.edu.​

Join Mindfulness Meditation Wednesdays at 8 p.m. 

Curious to explore the possibility of generating greater well-being for yourself and others through mindfulness meditation? The LaGuardia Mindfulness Project, led by Professor Koun Eum, Ellen Quish, and Paul Arcario, invite all LaGuardia faculty, staff, and students to join Mindfulness Meditation Wednesdays at 8 p.m. via Zoom. Sessions include instruction, meditation, and discussion with Q&A. These sessions are here to support you, whether you have a practice or are curious to start one. Join sessions at https://bit.ly/mindfulnessmwed.