Guttman’s Exceptional First-Year Experience (FYE) Holds Annual Summer Institute for Integrative Learning
August 3, 2020 | Academics, Faculty, First Year Experience
The Guttman Community College First-Year Experience (FYE) hosted its annual Summer Institute for Integrative Learning, held virtually June 22-26, 2020. Organized by Professor of English and FYE Program Coordinator Dr. Daniel Collins and Dean of Academic and Faculty Affairs Dr. Nicola Blake and supported by Assistant Dean Lavita McMath, the Institute focused on the cornerstones of the FYE: inclusion, integration, and community. The Institute prepares faculty and staff to work in the FYE and promotes excellence in teaching and student support, with the ultimate goal of increasing student retention and success in higher education. As the Guttman community grapples with the persistent social inequalities that put our Black, Latinx, and immigrant students at risk, made starkly clear by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Promising Practices that the FYE espouses have become especially relevant.
Dr. Amy Beth’s Conference Session and Webinar on Environmental Design Research in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic
August 3, 2020 | Academics, Conference Presentation, Faculty, Research
Befitting the abrupt move of teaching, learning, and academic conferences to digital platforms as a result of the pandemic, Guttman Chief Librarian Dr. Amy Beth facilitated a session titled Environmental Design Research and CoVid: Brainstorming research approaches to understanding our new normal & EDRA-Socializing at EDRA51 – the Environmental Design Research Association Annual Conference – hosted virtually from Tucson, AZ, in April 2020.
Dr. Dara Pir Co-Author of Paper Published in Proceedings of the 45th Annual IEEE ICASSP 2020 Conference
August 3, 2020 | Academics, Faculty, Information Technology, Publication, Research
Assistant Professor of Information Technology Dr. Dara Pir has co-authored the paper, “Transfer Learning from Youtube Soundtracks to Tag Arctic Ecoacoustic Recordings,” which has been published in the Proceedings of the 45th Annual IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP 2020), held virtually from Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, May 4-8, 2020.
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Accepts Guttman Biology Lecturer’s Project
August 3, 2020 | Academics, Faculty, Global Guttman, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Research, STEM
Guttman Lecturer of Biology Derek Tesser’s project was accepted by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a federally funded research and development center managed by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA. Prof. Tesser describes his innovation: “I proposed to utilize Ecostress, an experimental NASA sensor recently placed on the International Space Station, for an integrative method to mapping Earth’s ecosystems from space. The approach will merge the thermal data acquired by Ecostress with information from Earth science radar satellites in orbit to characterize components of the carbon, water, and energy cycle in priority ‘hotspot’ ecosystems around the world.”
Dr. Alia Tyner-Mullings Applies Sociological Method to Studying Disney Films
August 3, 2020 | Academics, Conference Presentation, Faculty, Humanities and Social Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Publication, Research
In February 2020, Guttman Associate Professor of Sociology Dr. Alia Tyner-Mullings presented “More Than the Renaissance: Revisiting the Periodization of Disney Animated Feature Films” at the Eastern Sociological Society Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA. The presentation posits that, “if examining changes in popular culture,” the way a cultural artifact “is understood” must be contextually “defined [and] situated in a longitudinal analysis.” When the particular work “intersects with multiple social institutions, careful examination of the elements and their place in time is especially relevant.” Dr. Tyner-Mullings argues that “one example of this is the movies created by the Walt Disney Company. …They are not only a product of a media conglomerate and serve an entertainment function, but they, like other forms of media, also contribute to the education and socialization of children.”
Dr. Tashana Samuel and Dr. Sebastien Buttet Awarded Multiple Grants and Lead Various Presentations
July 30, 2020 | Academics, Conference Presentation, Faculty, Publication, Research, STEM
Dr. Tashana Samuel was awarded a PSC-CUNY Grant in the amount of $5994.50 in order to conduct Math Anxiety Reduction Research. She was also a part of the CUNY Research Scholars Program (CRSP) where she served as a mentor to 2020 CRSP Fellow and Guttman Graduate Clarissa Intriago for research assistance on a math anxiety research project entitled, “Reducing math anxiety in the classroom using a mindfulness and growth mindset approach (MAGMA).”
Dr. Nicole Kras Leads Nationwide Presentations on Self-Care, Animal-Assisted Therapy, Ecotherapies, and More
July 30, 2020 | Academics, Conference Presentation, Faculty, Human Services
Guttman Human Services Professor Dr. Nicole Kras presented a workshop and a poster at the National Organization for Human Services Conference in Anaheim, CA this past October. “During the workshop, Providing Urban Community College Human Services Students Opportunities for Engaging in Self-Care: Utilizing Art Experientials and Ecotherapy-based Activities, focus was on the importance of encouraging human services students to develop self-care strategies,” stated Dr. Kras.
Dr. Mary Gatta and Dr. Niesha Ziehmke Co-author Chapters in Harvard Education Press Book
July 27, 2020 | Academics, Faculty, Publication
Guttman Associate Professor of Sociology Mary Gatta and Associate Dean of Academic Planning Niesha Ziehmke published chapters in Harvard Education Publishing Group’s Teaching Students About the World of Work: A Challenge to Postsecondary Educators. Their co-authored chapter is titled “Ethnographies of Work: A Transformative Framework for Career Learning.” Dr Gatta also co-wrote another chapter in the book with Nancy Hoffman, titled “Social Capital and the Social Construction of Skills.”
Profs. Baines and Dickinson Lead Guttman’s Ambitious Online Course Development Training
July 21, 2020 | Academics, Faculty
Under the leadership of Dean of Academic and Faculty Affairs Nicola Blake, Area Coordinators of Academic Technology and Assistant Professors of Anthropology Kristina Baines and Maggie Dickinson have launched a bold, comprehensive approach to online pedagogy at the College. Rising to meet the unprecedented challenges of abruptly pivoting to remote instruction at the start of the Spring 2020 semester, the Online Teaching professional development course ensures that all faculty and interested staff are prepared to offer asynchronous, online courses on Blackboard that are in line with Guttman’s Instructional Principles and our commitment to teaching excellence.
Dr. Gracer Yung Publishes Investment Planning Book
July 9, 2020 | Academics, Faculty, Publication, STEM
This past April, Dr. Gracer Yung independently published her second book, Understanding Investment Plan. Shedding light on the often daunting process of navigating personal finances, Dr. Yung explains: “Investment plans can help investors to match their financial goals and objectives. They are also one of the tools to set money aside for retirement, emergency funds, and other financial needs.” Beyond helping enable financial stability as investors face a global pandemic or near retirement age, Dr. Yung further clarifies that, “in order to make an investment plan, it is important to figure out which choices are the most affordable based on your financial situation. You have to ask yourself the purpose of investment and define the timeline and risk you are willing to take to determine your investment or diversify your investment plan based on your goals.”
