Category: CUNY – SPS

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Starting a new semester at CUNY SPS

As I embark on another academic year at the CUNY School of Professional Studies, I thought I would share how I’m kicking things off with my students. Since my courses in digital media are fully online and asynchronous, I created a video introduction highlighting my background, the passions that fuel my teaching, and the interests that will drive the journey with my students.

This semester I am teaching courses in Visual Communication and Social Media. Both classes are recently redesigned courses I created for the program to help bring the curriculum more aligned with industry trends. I restructured the course content of both classes to a greater project-based method of instruction. I hope that a more practical and hands-on focus will benefit the students.

Over the summer, while redesigning these classes, I concentrated heavily on implementing effective pedagogy. My teaching approach fosters meaningful connections and a dynamic learning environment. As I begin my 24th year of teaching within the CUNY system, I look forward to guiding my students through this semester and learning alongside them.

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Graduation Day at CUNY SPS

The perfect way to end an academic year is to celebrate the accomplishments of our amazing students. It has been a genuine honor to serve as the Interim Academic Director of the Communication and Media Program at the CUNY School of Professional Studies (SPS) this year.

This was a role I previously served in from 2013 – 2016. Due to my previous experience with the institution, the administration at SPS asked for me to serve in an interim capacity while the current Director was on research leave. I am happy to say that I will be staying on through the Fall while the current Director puts the finishing touches on a completed manuscript.

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It is good to be back at CUNY-SPS!

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Dean Jorge Silva-Puras for an interview on my role as the Interim Academic Director of the Communication and Media program at the CUNY School of Professional Studies (SPS). During the session, we discussed what it is like to head up one of the only fully online four-year degrees within CUNY. The talk ventured into how the asynchronous nature of the program benefits students wanting to earn a degree, and what it takes to break into the field.

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The new SPS website!

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The new website for the CUNY School of Professional Studies (SPS) is now available. I am very proud to be associated with this organization. The site sports a beautiful new design that highlights the amazing direction of the college.The marketing statement, “Education that works as hard as you do”, is a perfect description of SPS.

On a personal note, I have to admit that I love the new section dedicated to the Communication and Media program. I also need to remember to ask the marketing director for a high quality version of the headshot that was used on my bio page. It was the best photo of me I have seen in years.

https://www.sps.cuny.edu/

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CUNY IT Conference 2015: Online Learning

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We had a great session yesterday at the 14th annual CUNY IT conference held at John Jay College. The subject of the session I participated in was “Online Learning: What’s in it for CUNY”. The panel featured some of the most knowledgeable people within the City University system on the topic of how online education can best be implemented to the benefit of our students, faculty, and individual institutions.

The session was well attended and the discussion section of the panel spark a number of interesting debates on how CUNY needs to proceed with online education. In November of 2014 CUNY Chancellor James B. Milliken, speaking at a meeting of the Association for a Better New York, proclaimed Continue reading “CUNY IT Conference 2015: Online Learning”

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CUNY Career Opportunities for NYU-ITP Students

I was approached a few months back by the folks at NYU to be a part of an academic career opportunities event for students of the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). I was asked to to introduce ITP students to the teaching opportunities available within the City University of New York (CUNY) system. My presentation highlighted the two schools I represent, the CUNY School of Professional Studies and LaGuardia, and how current students and alumni can work as adjuncts, teaching assistants, tutors, workshop organizers, application writers, interns, etc..

This felt very much like a homecoming for me. It was the first time I had formally presented at my old Alma Mater. I had forgotten how much I had enjoyed my time at ITP.

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The CUNY Excellence in Leadership Awards

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Yesterday Kristal Reyes, one of the top students in the Communication and Media program that I lead at the CUNY School of Professional Studies was honored with the CUNY? Vice Chancellor’s Excellence in Leadership Award. Every year for the past 22 years the award has been given to exceptional student leaders through the CUNY system. I was humbled to be a part of a program and a school that has helped to foster a student as impressive as Kristal.

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Black Males & Learning to Swim Upstream

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I had an opportunity to participate on a faculty panel at LaGuardia Community College to discuss the topic of Black Males in Adult Education this week. I was invited to sit on the panel and critique “Swimming Upstream: Black Males in Adult Education” by my LaGuardia colleague, Dr. Joni Schwartz. The book was the first volume in a series of books that Joni and her colleagues are writing to give voice to important social and pedagogical topics issues facing Blacks in America.

The turnout for the faculty panel discussion was fairly large and it appeared Continue reading “Black Males & Learning to Swim Upstream”

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Webinar: Creating Engaging Content

Here is the video from my recent webinar on “Creating Engaging Content for the Web and Social Media”. This was the second in a multi-part series of online seminars to educate potential students at CUNY School of Professional Studies about the field of new media. I decided to conduct the webinar because attracting users to build a sustainable social media presence for themselves or their organizations requires the Continue reading “Webinar: Creating Engaging Content”