Westchester Community College, State University of New York

Professor Joanna Peters: One Classy Coordinator

by Beth Holden

Any student who has ever spent any amount of time in the Academic Support Center is sure to recall the smiling face of Joanna Peters, ESL/Reading and Study Skills Coordinator greeting them, helping them sign in and out, encouraging them to succeed in their studies, or just checking in to see how they were doing. She did this no matter how busy she was, and make no mistake, she was always busy. While managing the daily activities of the ESL/Reading and Study Skills Tutorial, she remained active all over campus, teaching as an adjunct in both the Reading and English Departments, serving on DEAC, Middle States, Title V, the WCCFT Union Executive Board, the Union Scholarship Committee, and others too numerous to list. No matter what, she always made time for the students. Students were drawn to her rare combination of mentor, mother, instructor, nurturer, you-can-do-it cheerleader, task master (only when necessary), all rolled together with a sprinkle of non-conformity and a dab of mischief.

Although soft spoken and petite in stature, Joanna, a powerhouse resolute in her ideas and in her staunch advocacy for students, was always determined to cheer students on and see them through to graduation. Recently, I had the privilege to reminisce with her about her career.

“I was hired part-time by Marilee Silverman, Chair of the Reading and Study Skills Department, to be an adjunct instructor. Towards the end of that year, she felt bad she couldn’t give me more than one class, so she suggested I go to the ASC to see if they would give me some hours so that I wasn’t coming all the way in for just one class. Andy Wainer was the Reading Coordinator at the time, and Susan Markman, the head of the ASC, hired me to be a reading tutor.” The following year, there was an opening for an overall Coordinator position. “Susan Arietta and I were hired on one line, so Andy, Susan and I shared one office on the 3rd floor of the old library. Susan and I always sat in the middle of everything, and we liked it.” She laughs, “I don’t know how we survived working out in the open all the time.”

And although Joanna was hired as an overall Coordinator, eventually there became a need for an ESL tutorial and a Coordinator to run it.

“ESL students really didn’t have a place to go and that’s how we established the ESL area. It wasn’t until later that reading and ESL were combined.” It was a perfect fit because Joanna could relate to our ESL students on many levels. She was an immigrant who came to this country as a baby in her parents’ arms after they fled the Nazis in Poland. My parents best way possible. We always talked about being ‘in loco parentis.’ You’re taking the place of parents in some ways. It puts a tremendous burden on kids who are living in two cultures. It does mold who you are.” Once settled in the Southeast Bronx, her parents had little means, but they made sure they had an Encyclopedia Britannica and Joanna and her sister had as much access to education as their parents could give them. Joanna tells me that for two girls from immigrant parents, they have fared well. “My sister is a geriatric endocrinologist, and I’ve had the pleasure of being at the college all these years. I understand what it means to come from nothing and work toward a goal, and I wanted to help students get to their goals, whatever they happened to be.”

And like a lot of our adult students, life’s twists and turns lead Joanna to a place where, as an adult, she had to go back to work full time to support herself and her small children. “It was scary, because I didn’t have any support.”

In true Joanna fashion, she figured out a way. “You always figure out a way. If you can’t have plan A you have to have a plan B.” Her plan B was to draw from her long teaching career. Prior to working at WCC, Joanna had put herself through school and had held positions as a nursery schoolteacher, an elementary schoolteacher, and an English Instructor at Hunter College. So, when the time came for her to go back to work full time and be the sole supporter of her family, she had the experience and education behind her to apply for a full-time position at WCC.

Once landing the full-time coordinator position, Joanna didn’t stop pursuing her love of learning. In her early fifties, she earned her ESL degree by taking evening classes, with her colleague, Susan Arietta, at the College of New Rochelle after work. And this experience helped her to relate to our adult returning students taking evening classes while holding down full-time jobs.

Joanna’s advice to students: “Never give up the pursuit of education, learn every day. Understand what’s most important in life. It might be if they understand the value of education that people can be transformed like those little girls from the Bronx. I think that’s a big deal, the transformative nature of our jobs. You’re watching a total transformation take place. I’ve seen that in students across the years, and I attribute that to education and the opening of minds.”

I hear the excitement in her voice as she recalls the countless student experiences she’s had over the years: there was the part-time evening student in her College Reading and Study Skills class who had four part-time jobs and was the father of four boys who went on to graduate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and started a career at IBM. There was the “huge six-foot, two-inch, booming man” in the Moms on the Move Program who enrolled in a doctorate program, and the student Joanna traveled to Pennsylvania with to watch her present her paper at the Beacon Conference. “I related to the obstacles and the challenges these students had returning to school. The fact that they were opening a door to a new life is what motivated me to spend more time with those students, because they were juggling a lot of balls.” And Joanna was no stranger to juggling. “I did two master’s degrees with a husband, two children, a dog, a home, and a full-time job, and I wondered how I did that in retrospect.”  She tells me she did it by putting one foot in front of the other. Not only does she instruct students to put one foot in front of the other, but she also literally puts students in a position to place both feet in the shoes of others by engaging them in experiential learning that takes place outside of the classroom.  I remember her running out of the ASC one night, a stack of books and papers under her arm. She was excited. “We’re going to a halfway house tonight!”  I looked at her quizzically.“We’re doing a paper on haves and have nots.” And with that she was out the door. Another time one of her students wanted to be a film writer, so she took her class to the Jacob Burns Film Center. She took students to scholarship meetings so they could see first-hand what was available to them and to motivate them to apply for a scholarship or to work hard so they could get one. “I loved doing these kinds of things. If you helped one person who was really struggling for whatever reason, then you’ve done some good with your life.” Nicoleta Rista, one student who was struggling just to walk into the door of the ASC, remembers Joanna’s kindness. “It was January of 2016 after I finished my first class. I was afraid to come into the ASC, and I just stood and looked at the entrance. I was thinking, ‘How can I ask for help? My English is not good enough. I think Joanna saw that I hesitated.

She was on her way out the door, but she came to me and said, ‘Do you need help?’ Then she took me to the ESL tutorial and introduced me to the tutors. She was the first person who helped me, and for me it was a huge step. Because of that, I am where I am today: working at the ASC and enrolled in my final year at Lehman College. I will always be grateful to her.” Aside from working with and inspiring students, Joanna says that one of the things that she really liked about working in the ASC was all the people she worked with every day and all the others that she met and collaborated with from various departments. “We were one Academic Support Center. We interacted well with the English, Math, and ESL/Reading Departments. All of them were a part of my job.” And then she stops to think about the tutors she’s supervised over the years. “How lucky we’ve been to have the quality and level of expertise that the tutors brought with them. They were pivotal in helping these students, too. The ESL tutorial started with one tutor four hours a week and then grew and grew. That was beautiful to watch.” She muses about the difference between a classroom experience and a tutorial session. “A teacher has 25 students or more in a classroom and they can’t possibly deal with every single student on the kind of level the tutorial can address. What an important thing it was for the tutor to bring out the student to develop the students’ ideas and help them see that once they had these ideas they could put them down on paper.” She pauses thoughtfully. “And that complicates things twice as much for an ESL student when they are not working in their native language.”  She believes tutorials are now more important than ever. “We want to give our students the best experience they can have. I think the tutors I’ve hired over the years have this innate desire to help others. You can’t quantify that. You get that through a conversation about why they came for this job. We are so lucky to have the kind of work we’ve had, because we are doing a good thing and not everyone can say that about their jobs. I’ve listened to so many people complain about their jobs, and I think how grateful I am to have had a job that I loved. I find it really hard to disassociate with something that’s been a great pleasure in my life.”

Joanna says one of the things she’ll miss is the energy of the ASC, “That hum of students busy doing positive things to improve their future. That’s the energy I will miss the most.” And we will most certainly miss Joanna’s energy, but after thirty years of unwavering dedication and service to the students, the Academic Support Center, the division, and the college, it is time for her to take time for herself. Please join me in wishing her well. Long may you run, Professor Peters.

Joanna Peters Keeps on Giving and Giving!

By Janet Knight

In fall 2020, three very conscientious and dedicated students—having used the ESL/Reading tutorial frequently—won the Joanna Peters Academic Improvement Award. Those three students shared portions of a $5,000 award that will help finance their education during the fall 2022 semester. Any full or part-time student with at least 2.5 GPA, showing great improvement because of using the ESL/Reading tutorial, was eligible and encouraged to apply. Subsequently, the three winners were selected, and enjoyed assistance to cover tuition, books, miscellaneous expenses, and fees.

This scholarship award was created by the ESL/Reading tutors in honor of Joanna’s retirement and her more than 30 years as Academic Support Center ESL and Reading Coordinator, constantly aiding and facilitating the needs of students. We will all greatly miss her big, bright, beautiful smiling face and warm welcome upon entering the Academic Support Center.

Congratulations to all three students, and thank you, Joanna!

The Reading/ESL/Study Skills Tutorial Presents

Workshop Weeks

Week of September 12th: Time Management
Week of September 19: Note Taking
Week of September 26: Building Memory
Week of October 10: Test Anxiety
Week of October 24: Predict, Prepare & Take the Test
Week of December 5: Review for Finals & Projects