Message from Dr. Belinda S. Miles: Expanding Opportunities
April 20, 2018
This week we learned that Westchester Community College has approval to confer Honors-designated degrees in Humanities and Social Sciences. This approval from SUNY comes after three decades of offering individual honors courses and a more recent collaborative effort between faculty and the Westchester Community College Foundation to create a full-fledged Honors College, launched in fall 2017. Honors College Director and English Professor Dr. Mira Sakrajda has been a champion for honors students and creating advanced curricular and co-curricular programs for some of the highest achieving postsecondary students in the area. The Honors College is recruiting its next cohort of 18 students to start this fall. We are immensely proud of these students and echo Prof. Sakrajda’s thanks to Dr. Elise Martucci, Dr. George Keteku, and Interim Assistant Dean Amy Mozingo for their stewardship of the Honors College.
Initiatives like the Honors College help position Westchester Community College to meet evolving needs as demographics of prospective students change. An Honors College opens doors to new students who may not have previously considered Westchester Community College. It is a first-choice option for a range of students seeking a more intensive academic experience along the pathway toward a bachelor’s degree. It is a part of a deliberate effort to keep pace with trends outside of the college. We received responses from last week’s New York Times article on education trends, including a suggestion from Prof. Laurie Corey to distribute more of the articles that appeared in the Learning section. Here is the link.
A day after this month’s Board meeting, Trustees Andrew Spano and Dr. Norm Jacknis returned to the college for a discussion on imagining the future of work and education. It is part of our ongoing strategic planning processes to inspire discovery, creativity, collaboration, and innovation across the college. We are expanding opportunities to engage by establishing an online forum for exchanging information and ideas. We will announce more information soon. Thanks to Prof. Rebecca Steere, a member of the Faculty Senate Emerging Initiatives Committee, Dr. Jesi Godin, and others who contributed to the discussion.
Dr. Belinda S. Miles
President