Westchester Community College’s Peekskill Extension Center is offering a new non-credit Historic Preservation Certificate Program, the only such program at a community college in New York State. The program provides training for students interested in historic site management, fundraising, research, and building trades. The course of study is also relevant to working professional in these fields who seek to hone their skills and earn credentials in Historic Preservation.

The course of study totals 80 hours over 10 weeks, half in the classroom and half in directed historic preservation fieldwork. “Given the number of important historic sites in the Hudson Valley and throughout the state, a training program of this nature at the community college level is long overdue,” says Program Coordinator Alan Strauber,

Courses required towards completion of the certificate include Introduction to Historic Preservation, American Architectural History, and Historic Preservation Field Work I & II. Students will benefit from courses located in the heart of the Peekskill Historic District in the historic Hudson River Valley region. Fieldwork courses will be held at Westchester County historic sites as well as at related businesses in the County and beyond.

Registration is now underway for February classes. Those interested may call 914-606-300 to register or may email the college at peekskill@sunywcc.edu. For further information, please see details at www.sunywcc.edu/peekskill.

The Peekskill Extension Center’s gallery show with Liena Vayzman was featured in the news recently. Westchester County Business Journal’s ARTSNEWS supplement was among the media outlets covering the Dataism exhibition. Click here to see the articles

Liena Vayzman at the Peekskill Extension Center Gallery

The exhibition, Gaps and Fills, is comprised of panoramic photographs and unfold for the viewer over time. The photographer’s point of view shifts so that they do not give a unified or singular authoritative viewpoint. Vayzman exploits the digital decays and pixel dropouts, called slivers, and loss that occur by chance when digital technology (as with iPhone photography in this case) is pushed to its limit.  Vayzman incorporated these chance mistakes and errors in order to challenge a history of landscape photography that is associated with a straight patriarchal or Western colonial gaze.  Instead she leaves gaps and unanswered questions in the photographs.  She is inspired by her meditation practice of walking in nature, Japanese and Chinese traditional landscape aesthetics, as well as the process of forest decay and transformation such as fungus, lichen and mold.  The photographs capture a feeling of solitude while visualizing absence and emptiness.  The holes are also related to the photographer’s childhood experiences of migraine memory dropouts, and her research on mystic visions, while the rhythms in these photos relate to her video practice and music.

For gallery operating hours and other information, please see www.sunywcc.edu/Peekskill

This exhibition runs concurrent with the Dataism exhibition at ArtsWestchester: https://artswestchester.org/dataism-an-exhibition/

“Governor Cuomo’s proposed increase creates a fantastic opportunity for even more community college students to graduate debt-free within two years, including those who get a strong start on their pathway to a NYS public four-year college for the next two years. It’s a real win-win!”
– Belinda S. Miles, President, Westchester Community College

Governor Cuomo’s State of the State address on January 8, 2020, mentioned the expansion of the New York State Excelsior Scholarship program. Middle class families now have greater access to a SUNY education at no-cost thanks to the qualifying annual income threshold expanding to $125,000. View the full transcript of Governor Cuomo’s State of the State address: https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/video-audio-photos-rush-transcript-governor-cuomo-outlines-2019-justice-agenda-time-now

Learn more about the election process, why your vote matters, and our upcoming on-campus civic engagement events at the college.

Learn More

SUSAN GERRY NAMED TO WESTCHESTER COMMUNITY COLLEGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Westchester Community College is pleased to announce the appointment of Susan Gerry to the institution’s Board of Trustees.

She serves as Senior Vice President for Strategic Alliances and Partnerships at Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth), bringing extensive transactional, public policy, legislative and leadership experience to advance the network’s role in serving as a catalyst for health and well-being and bringing primary and advanced healthcare to families across the Hudson Valley, as close to their homes as possible.

As Senior Vice President for Strategic Alliances and Partnerships, she plays a pivotal role in the development and implementation of strategic relationships to advance the Network’s role as an anchor institution in the community by developing and implementing plans and programs that optimize the engagement of business and community stakeholders in alignment with the economic, workforce and healthcare access priorities in local communities.

She arrived at WMCHealth after successfully serving for six years as the City of Yonkers’ Deputy Mayor, where she managed the city’s major policy initiatives, economic development, the consolidated administrative functions of the city and Yonkers Public School system, fiscal planning and policy, capital programming, and labor relations. During her tenure at the city of Yonkers, she also served as Secretary to the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency, and as a member of the Yonkers Economic Development Corporation and the Executive Committee of the Westchester Municipal Officials Association.

She has also worked at the state and county levels, serving as a policy advisor for New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo’s first gubernatorial campaign, researching and writing policy positions in the areas of Affordable Housing and Community Development, Workforce Development, Small Business Investment, Education and Literacy, Healthcare Access, Obesity Prevention, Poverty, and the promotion of enhanced Public-Private Partnerships to support policy priorities. In addition, she served for 14 years in the Westchester County government, as both an attorney and as Senior Assistant to Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano, focusing on major transactional and regulatory matters for the government.

She is also a Member of the Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council.

On December 12, 2019 we celebrated our students who completed their degrees. We applaud you all for your dedication and cheer on your success!

See photo gallery

Students of the Pleasantville Lab School hosted a Cafe Experience as part of their Culinary Life Skills class. The Cafe was an experiential learning opportunity that provided students with unique experiences including growing basil, designing and creating menu cards, providing menu input, and working in a variety of hospitality positions. This applied learning setting links culinary and sanitation safety skills in actual practice.

See photo gallery

WESTCHESTER COMMUNITY COLLEGE RECEIVES SILVER SEAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN STUDENT VOTER ENGAGEMENT

At the 2019 ALL IN Challenge Awards Ceremony held to recognize colleges and universities committed to increasing college student voting rates, Westchester Community College received a silver seal for achieving a student rate between 30% and 39%. A full list of seal awardees can be viewed here.

Student participation in elections has increased from the 2014 midterm election to the recent 2018 midterm election. According to the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement, an initiative of Tufts University’s Institute for Democracy & Higher Education, voter turnout at the more than 1,000 institutions participating in the study increased by 21 points from 19% to 40%.

“We are excited to honor Westchester Community College with an ALL IN Challenge silver seal in recognition of their intentional efforts to increase democratic engagement and voter participation,” said Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, executive director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. “More institutions like Westchester Community College are changing culture on campus by institutionalizing nonpartisan democratic engagement efforts that are resulting in the incredible student voter turnout rates that we’ve seen across the country.”

The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge is a nonpartisan, national initiative recognizing and supporting campuses as they work to increase nonpartisan democratic engagement and full student voter participation. The Challenge encourages higher education institutions to help students form the habits of active and informed citizenship, and make democratic participation a core value on their campus.

More than 560 campuses, enrolling more than 6.2 million students, have joined the Challenge since its launch in summer 2016.

FORMER HOMELESS STUDENT NOW AT YALE LAW SCHOOL GIVES KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT WESTCHESTER COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION’S 50^TH ANNIVERSARY EVENT ON NOVEMBER 13

The Westchester Community College Foundation celebrated its 50^th anniversary at a gala dinner on Wednesday, November 13 at Tappan Hill in Tarrytown. The keynote address was presented by Wellington Mackey, a former homeless student who has gone on to Yale Law School. On the same evening,  the Foundation announced the launching of the largest fundraising campaign in its history. This historic, star-studded event included a guest list of local dignitaries who celebrate the contributions of the Foundation, which began in 1969.

“On this momentous occasion, I stand in proxy for all those students you have impacted in such a positive way over five decades. What you provide is absolutely integral to the continued success of this community and to the success of those who pass through its halls,” Mackey told the audience of donors and other friends of the college and the Foundation.

Now in his first year at Yale Law School, Mackey’s compelling story personifies the drive behind the mission of the college’s Foundation. The first in his family to attend college, he thrived here, becoming a 2014-15 Kathryn W. Davis Global Scholar, participating in the Cambridge Study Abroad program, and ultimately accepting the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Transfer Scholarship which enabled him to attend Yale University where he earned his B.A. last year. He also recently received the Osher Foundation Award for excellence in scholarship and was awarded a Yale Law School summer fellowship.

His story is an example of the way that the Foundation has supported students, and the entire institution, over five decades. In addition to providing millions of dollars in scholarships (nearly 20,000 students have received more than $24 million in scholarships), the Foundation has been responsible for raising funds for faculty support and infrastructure. Thanks in large part to donations from private citizens and corporate entities which came through the Foundation, the college was able to double the size of its library, open the $40 million Gateway Center, and construct the Virginia Marx Children’s Center.

Also, the Foundation manages the 600-member Volunteer Corps, the Native Plant Center, and the Alumni Association.

The Pathways Campaign, the largest fundraising campaign in the college’s history ($50 million), will raise funds for additional resources geared toward student success.

Click here for details on our weather delay and closing communications. We expect our students to be aware of how we get the word out during major storms.