CUNY Newswire

The BMCC Organization of Student Veterans hosted a recent holiday luncheon and about 30 veterans and friends sat in a circle introducing themselves: former Army, now criminal justice major; former Navy, now accounting major—and so it went around the room.

BMCC students Ronald M. Burey, Maruf Hossain and Shamail Shahid, led by Acting Director of College Discovery Pedro Pérez, joined Hurricane Sandy disaster relief efforts alongside the CUNY Coalition for Students with Disabilities, the University Student Senate, United Leaders of CUNY, the Ernesto Malavo Leadership Academy, and other CUNY-wide groups.

Students, if you were asked to take an academic exam—outside of the classroom—would you? Probably not.
What if you were told the test wouldn’t be graded—and there would be an incentive?

“Latinos are shaping the future of this country, and education is paving their way,” said Professor Rosario Torres, highlighting the theme of Hispanic Heritage Month—Paving the Way for Tomorrow—and introducing guest speaker Ofelia Garcia, Professor of Urban and Latino Education as well as Hispanic and Luso [Portuguese] Languages and Literatures at the CUNY Graduate Center.

“Everyone has a story.”

As New Yorkers continue to come together after Hurricane Sandy hit the city the weekend of October 27th, members of the BMCC community have been sharing their “Where were you during Hurricane Sandy?” experiences.

Students in Writing & Literature Professor Holly Messitt’s “Fiction Into Film” class are impressed with their new digs in Fiterman Hall.
“These chairs are nice, right?” a student asks, twirling for affect, and sliding up to his desk. He barely has time to unload his backpack, when Professor Messitt strides to the front of the room and announces, “Let’s have a quick quiz,” reading aloud questions related to their homework reading of the 19th-century classic Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë.

In September of 2012 a statement on the college’s and my own commitment to diversity and equal opportunity was distributed. If you have not already reviewed the statement, it may be found: http://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/aac/upload/president_letter.pdf

BMCC is such a popular college that even non-students want to come here—well, at least for a weekend.

For the second consecutive year, BMCC hosted the Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) New York Region Leadership Conference. PTK students and regional members from all over New York State attended.

BMCC’s Mathematics Major Committee recently hosted a Welcome Orientation, where math professors provided new students with graduation and career advice.

“We’re here to help you become mathematicians,” said Annie Han, Chair of the Mathematics department.

“I started before my sister did, and I kind of knew the ropes at BMCC, so when she came here, I was like ‘Little Mother Hen’ over her,” says Francisca Campos, BMCC alumna and Deputy Chair of the college’s Business Management department.

This semester, all 37 CUNY and SUNY community colleges participated in Completion Day, which encourages students to utilize campus resources in order to expedite their graduation requirements.

“We are teaching you standard Italian,” modern language professor John Means told a packed audience of students in Richard Harris Terrace.
From 400 to 1400 AD, he explained, “Italy was a collection of city states; the ‘Kingdom of Florence’, the ‘Kingdom of Pisa’ and so on,” and their inhabitants spoke what became dialects of Italian.

October 11, 2012 was National Coming Out Day, which in turn, made it the perfect day for BMCC to kick-off its celebration of LBGTB Awareness Month.

This year’s theme is “Evolving Toward Equality,” and BMCC staffers, faculty members and students attended the Opening Day Luncheon in Richard Harris Terrace.

Daughters of the American Revolution, or the DAR, is a non-profit women’s lineage organization founded in 1890, with 170,000 current members. There are over 3,000 chapters across the United States and the world, and new members are inducted all the time.

Recently, BMCC’s Office of Career Development and ASAP program teamed up to host a Retail Career Fair in the college’s gymnasium.
More than 30 companies seeking part-time employees set up booths, and hiring managers met with BMCC students, all dressed in business attire.
Many students engaged in practice interview sessions with staffers from the Office of Career Development before attending the fair.

BMCC has moved on up—and it’s a cause for celebration.
Right on the heels of the opening of BMCC’s The Miles and Shirley Fiterman Hall, on September 23rd, a ribbon ceremony officially launched BMCC’s other new building.
Called ‘CUNY in the Heights,’ the unveiling of 5030 Broadway is exciting news for students who reside in Upper Manhattan, giving them the option to take classes closer to home.

U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis visited BMCC on Monday, observing a Health Information Technology computer lab in the campus’s main building at 199 Chambers, and holding a press conference in Fiterman Hall.

Fiterman Hall’s path from Point A—when it first opened in 1993, to Point B—when the new Miles and Shirley Fiterman Hall officially re-opened on August 27, 2012, wasn’t an easy one.

However, Fiterman Hall would have never been rebuilt after 9/11 if it weren’t for New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and the Community Advisory Committee, who willed Fiterman Hall to thrive.

On September 19, students, staff, faculty and friends of BMCC gathered in Icarus Plaza at the entrance to the college’s main campus building on Chambers Street, donned cobalt-blue BMCC T-shirts and walked in a procession down Greenwich Street to The Miles and Shirley Fiterman Hall.

BMCC continues to proudly offer classes uptown, at a brand new location: 5030 Broadway (Inwood), also known as “CUNY in the Heights” (CITH).
“‘CITH rocks with energy and is the shining star of learning on Upper Broadway,” says Professor Golda Solomon, who teaches speech courses at CITH/Inwood. “Our new building is testament to the fact that CUNY cares, and is on par with private colleges where updated classroom technology is a given.”