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Hard to believe that commencement is just a few weeks away. (Yes, the LaGuardia celebration comes late because of our unique 12-6 academic calendar.) This means we have been busy interviewing student speakers, which got me thinking about an amazing commencement speaker we had two years ago. That was the first live and in-person graduation we had since the pandemic. In June 2022 students and their families were so happy to be outside, all together on that classic Queens College quad, that it could have rained and no one would have noticed. Lucky for us it turned out to be a beautiful day. That amazing student speaker was Talha Islam. After graduation Talha was on his way to study business at Cornell. The other day we came across a video clip that let us know how he is doing in Ithaca. Have a look.
Please consider joining us on June 21 at Queens College for our 2024 Commencement. We’ll have some VIP seats roped off for friends of LaGuardia. You can get more information about the event here, and let us know if you'd like to attend.
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President Reviews Highlights of 2024 in Year-in-Review Address | |
Your author delivered his year-end stem-winder on Friday. In my “Closing Sessions” talk I offered an update on the first phase of our 2029 strategic planning process as well as highlights of important work happening across the various divisions of the college. True, combining lots of good news with my enthusiasm for LaGuardia makes for a lengthy report. You can see for yourself here. It’s okay, the fast-forward icon is your friend. Questions/comments to Kenneth.Adams@lagcc.cuny.edu. | |
LaGuardia PTA Students Achieve 100% Pass Rate for 2nd Year in a Row – Best in State! | |
LaGuardia's Physical Therapist Assistant students achieved a 100% pass rate on the national PTA licensing exam for the second year in a row. This outperforms the national average first-time pass-rate of 80% and makes LaGuardia’s PTA the top performing program in New York State. Notably, LaGuardia has one of the largest PTA programs – routinely graduating between 60-65 students (other NYS programs graduate an average of 34 students per year). According to Clarence Chan, PT, DPT, professor and director of LaGuardia’s Physical Therapist Assistant Program, these results are “especially significant considering those were challenging years for PTA programs around the country. They are a testament to the hard work of the students and the commitment of the PTA faculty.” | |
Friends are surprised when I tell them that LaGuardia is ranked #3 overall in STEM graduates in CUNY. That among twenty-five community colleges, senior colleges, and graduate schools we are right behind City College (CCNY) and CityTech (in Downtown Brooklyn) in producing STEM scholars. Critical to our students’ success are internships that help them apply their classroom learning in workplace settings. We recently celebrated a new partnership with City Hall that will enable us to increase the number of internships we can tee up for LaGuardia STEM majors. On May 20 we cut a ribbon for the CUNY 2X Tech Academy. Supported by $3 million in funding from the Office of Mayor Eric Adams, the Academy provides career readiness coaching, academic advisement, professional development seminars, job placement, and paid internships and apprenticeships for students in computer science and related majors. Currently, more than 1,100 LaGuardia students are pursuing associate degrees in Computer Science, Computer Technology, Cybersecurity, and Programming and Software Development. We followed the ribbon cutting with a Careers in Tech panel discussion that included Dr. Billie Gastic Rosado, Provost and SVP for Academic Affairs; Brian Shoicket, AVP of Emerging Tech Initiatives for the NYC Economic Development Corporation; Brendon Collins, Executive Director of the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline; Dr. Abdel Belkharraz, faculty and chair of LaGuardia's Mathematics, Engineering and Computer Science Department; and yours truly. | |
LaGuardia Student-Faculty Teams Rock CUNY Research Event, Grab Prize | |
CUNY held its second annual Undergraduate Research Day on May 24 at John Jay College in NYC. Sixteen LaGuardia students presented their faculty-mentored research projects. The projects represented a variety of topics and disciplines. They were presented by Johnny Ceballos (Dr. Midas Tsai, Natural Sciences), Pauline Felize, Ansha Kahn, Adriana Rampershad, & Gamze Alken (Dr. Lara Beaty, Social Sciences), Aakash Gurung (Dr. Malgorzata Marciniak, MEC), Timothy Halley (Dr. Praveen Khethavath, MEC), Rebecca Kane (Dr. Preethi Radhakrishnan, Natural Sciences), Nang Kham Hsi Liang (Dr. Na Xu, Natural Sciences), Jiale Lin (Dr. Tao Chen, MEC), Khalid Mabchour (Dr. Daniel Capic, Natural Sciences), Manuela Portugal, Rahnuma Janoshi & Keven Nguyen (Dr. Lara Beaty, Social Sciences), Amena Shamia (Dr. Claudette Davis, Natural Sciences) and Marina Zazian (Dr. Lucie Mingla, MEC). Amena Shamia, Biology major, won a best poster award at the event. | |
Field Trip: Community College Presidents Visit City Hall | |
On May 15, six of the seven CUNY community college presidents descended on City Hall in Lower Manhattan for a meeting with Councilmember Justin Brannan, Chair of the Finance Committee, and Councilmember Eric Dinowitz, Chair of the Higher Education Committee. With the NYC Council in the heat of negotiating the City’s FY 25 budget with the mayor we shared on-the-ground stories of how city funding impacts students on our campuses. While Albany provides much of the support for CUNY’s senior colleges, The City of New York is a major funder of the system’s community colleges. The city’s new fiscal years starts on July 1. Cross your fingers for us. | |
In our January installment we profiled the new Hydroponics Lab that we set up for students in the Sustainable Urban Agriculture program. (Did you know we had Aggies at LaGuardia?) With summer on the horizon the ag action moves outside. In May, students began planting in the new LaGuardia Urban Farm and Research Laboratory behind the “C” Building, just east of the Loading Dock. By mid-June, the “farm” will be fully planted with tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and other vegetables. This field of greens includes two dozen raised beds, three of which are ADA-compliant. There is a rainwater collection system, irrigation, a compost heap, and a hoop house greenhouse—enabling the growing season to be extended into the fall. There is even a sensory garden for children in our childcare center. And plenty of mud. The farm is a working lab/classroom, with opportunities for students to get involved in research on topics such as growth patterns of specialty crops in urban environments. The LaGuardia Urban Farm and Research Laboratory was conceived by former provost and avid gardener, Dr. Paul Arcario, and is led by Dr. Preethi Radhakrishnan, professor and director of LaGuardia’s Environmental Science program. The project is made possible by our partnership with the USDA who support LaGuardia because of our role as a leading HSI (Hispanic Serving Institution) in the region. Special thanks to SVP Shahir Erfan and members of the college’s Facilities and Buildings and Grounds teams who designed and built the farm. | |
Bangladesh Student Association Celebrates Bengali New Year | |
 |  | On May 8, the Bangladesh Student Association (BSA) celebrated the Bengali New Year festival known as Pohela Boishakh. Professor Sada Hye Jaman (Business & Technology) shared remarks and expressed gratitude to the current BSA members, alums, and guests. The event featured singing, dance performances, and other fun. Zahara Mutebi, LaGuardia Humanitarian Initiative (LHI) club president, described opportunities for students who participate in LHI. Shubra Datta, from Queens Borough President Donovan Richards’ office, shared information about resources for international students living in Queens. BSA president Tuhin Akand and the association’s leadership team -- Arpa Acharjee, Kaniz Fatema, Mehedi Sijan, Abu Hasan Rifat, and Alief Khan – encouraged students to celebrate the diverse and inclusive LaGuardia community. Your author was unable to attend the event because of a scheduling conflict but had he been there he would have reminded the audience that Bangladesh is the third largest country of origin of LaGuardia students, following the US and Ecuador.
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Gerstner Philanthropies Gives LaGuardia CARES Largest Grant in CUNY | | |
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LaGuardia was recently awarded a $235,000 grant from the Gerstner Philanthropies Helping Hands program to support LaGuardia CARES, the college’s emergency student support program, which offers housing assistance, food, technology, healthcare, clothing, and other emergency aid to students in need. "We are excited to partner with LaGuardia Community College and the CARES program as they provide crucial support for students in crisis to continue their education without interruption," said Alice Goh, Program Director at Gerstner Philanthropies. | |
Atrium Event Showcases Faculty Research, Projects | |
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The LaGuardia Research Committee held the Faculty and Staff Research and Scholarship Showcase late last month. The event featured displays of more than 35 collaborative research projects, scholarly activities, and creative works from LaGuardia faculty and staff. This is the first time this event is being presented in this format to honor the work by faculty and staff. “We have all departments represented at this event,” said Dr. Rejitha Nair, Associate Director of Assessment and Research, HRPP Coordinator and Research Integrity Officer (RIO) and Co-Chair, CUNY Assessment Council. “We wanted to do this event this way is because we wanted to make this inclusive. Research does not get enough attention and we have so much here at LaGuardia.” In addition to the works displayed at the event, more than 90 faculty and staff shared their scholarly works in a digital collection.
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LaGuardia Hosts CUNY-Wide Neurodiversity Conference | | |
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On April 19 LaGuardia welcomed the 6th Annual CUNY Neurodiversity Conference. It was our first time hosting this important event. The conference invited experts from CUNY, as well as other institutions and organizations from the region, to share programming, best practices, and other college-based approaches to supporting neuro-diverse students, and student with mental health needs. Big thanks to Dr. Alexis McLean, vice president of student affairs, and Dr. Regina Varin-Mignano, health and wellness grant development manager and director of LaGuardia’s neurodiversity program, for their hard work to get this event to LaGuardia and then pull it off so successfully. | |
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LaGuardia in the News
NASA: Noah Alayon, LaGuardia Computer Science major, is one of 40 undergraduate students selected by NASA for its Europa ICONS (Inspiring Clipper: Opportunities for Next-generation Scientists) internship program.
NY1 NEWS: Silvercup Studios donates lighting and grip equipment to LaGuardia for the college’s Film and Television program.
QUEENS LATINO: LaGuardia Gets $150K to Offer Media Internship Program.
EL DIARIO: LaGuardia offers English-language learners free test preparation for the National Council for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) exam, funded by NYC SBS.
PIX11 NEWS: Dozens of job seekers flocked to the annual career fair at LaGuardia Community College, organized with the Hispanic Federation.
NEW YORK POST: LaGuardia Community College is partnering with Building Skills NY to help New Yorkers gain the skills and certifications necessary to enter and advance in the construction industry, which is currently booming with job opportunities.
SCRIPPS NEWS: Shakur Burden, Human Services: Mental Health major, is featured in a story about the struggles and triumphs of student parents. Shakur is an aspiring social worker who grew up in foster care and group homes. He’s raising his 6-year-old son, Syann in Staten Island. For Shakur, getting to school at LaGuardia required taking three subway trains and a ferry. He will graduate in June.
JEWISH TELEGRAPHIC AGENCY: Ari Richter, professor of Fine Arts at LaGuardia, is honored by New York Jewish Week for his contributions to NYC and its Jewish community. Prof. Richter will make his debut as an author and illustrator when his book, “Never Again Will I Visit Auschwitz: A Graphic Family Memoir of Trauma & Inheritance,” is published by Fantagraphics this summer.
QUEENS GAZETTE: LaGuardia Students Begin Cultivation of New Urban Farm on Campus.
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