D’Orazio’s new memoir, A Shot in the Dark (Blackstone Publishing, 2025), traces his journey from growing up in ���ճԹ� to working at the top of his profession in the fashion field. Here, D’Orazio reflects on his early influences, his evolution as a photographer, and the experiences that have shaped his perspective and his art.

Photographer Sante D’Orazio’s memoir of life in high fashion and Hollywood.

You grew up in ���ճԹ�.

I was raised in Flatbush and went to Erasmus Hall High School. The area is now called Kensington, but back then it was just Flatbush to me. I still have family there, though most have moved away.

In your memoir, you say you got into photography early because of a man who lived around the corner.

I didn’t know much about him except his name—Mr. [Lou] Bernstein—and that he lived around the corner from me when I was about 10. He became my mentor in photography and life. He’d been part of the old New York Photo League, with photographers like Robert Frank, Walker Evans, Weegee, and Berenice Abbott. He never worked commercially; he shot on weekends and worked at Willoughby Peerless, the equivalent today of B&H Photo.

Six-year-old Sante D’Orazio playing stickball in his ���ճԹ� neighborhood.

You started at a junior college and then transferred to ���ճԹ�.

After my father passed away, I went into survival mode. I studied commercial art at a New York Community College, thinking I might become an art director. I hated it. I was already painting nudes at the ���ճԹ� Museum and the Art Students League, so I transferred after researching the ���ճԹ� faculty. was teaching there, he was a leading Realist painter concentrating on the nude. I also discovered how strong the faculty was in the fine arts and the humanities. I’m grateful I wasn’t at a full-time art school; the humanities helped round out my aesthetic education through literature, philosophy, history, and widened my scope of knowledge of the Arts. And I loved the campus.

Your cousin, who was a hairdresser, suggested you get into fashion photography.

I went into the city with my portfolio—no appointments, no experience. I tracked down Avedon, Penn, Scavullo. I didn’t get past the front desk at Avedon’s. Penn didn’t open the door. Scavullo told me to get out. I eventually got a job as a second assistant, doing gofer work and building a portfolio.

Model Helena Christensen in Leningrad for British Vogue, 1990

You eventually made your way to Milan.

Italian Vogue was down the street from my hotel. I brought my portfolio expecting rejection. Instead, they gave me a two page-spread assignment of “Beauty” nudes, which translates to skincare, makeup, and fragrance. I was 25.

What was it like photographing the supermodels and rock stars of the 1980s and 1990s?

There was a whole new zeitgeist in the 80s. I had my first assignment with Italian Vogue, soon after my first Vogue cover with German Vogue. In Rome, while shooting the collections, I met a 15-year-old Christy Turlington with her mom in the hallway of our hotel. I became friends with Cindy Crawford, Tatjana Patitz, and Stephanie Seymour before they became the new generation of superstars, they were the first to be termed supermodels. Our careers rose in parallel.

By the 1990s, Hollywood glamor had waned and needed revitalizing. Bruce Weber, Herb Ritts, and I brought glamour back to the movie industry through the magazine world. Once we put actresses like Michelle Pfeiffer and Kim Basinger on a Vogue cover, sales shot up, and fashion magazines shifted to celebrities.

Model Tatiana Patitiz on British Vogue

And famous people like Prince.

I took this assignment because it was Prince. I was early to the studio; Prince arrived early too, with fedora, makeup, and no entourage. Though the client hadn’t arrived, he asked if we could shoot. We finished in about 20 minutes. He left before the client showed up. They weren’t happy, but I was thrilled, we got some great shots.

You have an unnerving story about taking a photo of Mike Tyson with his tiger.

I went to shoot Mike at his home in Las Vegas for Esquire magazine. I was looking for a place to shoot; he directed me out to the backyard. What he didn’t tell me was that he had pet tigers!

Heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, 1996

When I walked out, I thought a dog was running at me from behind—it was a tiger. It jumped on me. Mike came out laughing and said, “She’s just a puppy.” So I took it in stride and acted like it was nothing, though it wasn’t the case! I asked him to take off his shirt, and he started wrestling with the 200 lb. puppy. That’s the shot.

So you’re also a painter. How do your photography and painting practices relate?

I paint images on film that become small abstractions, scan and print them large, collage them, and paint over them. The mixed media feeds itself.

What do you think about art and artificial intelligence?

AI can only remix what it’s fed. It can’t produce the true idiosyncrasies that only the human mind can create. Perfection is machine-made and meaningless, soulless. That energy from hand to paper—AI can’t replicate that.

There’s a growing interest among young people in film and analog processes. Have you seen that?

My son used to make fun of me for not understanding digital manuals. Now he asks me about film. I like that people are going back to handwriting and notebooks. I wrote my memoir by hand. I believe in that process, it extends your sensory perception.

What advice do you have for today’s young photographers and artists?

Know your history, or you’ll copy people without realizing it. Have chutzpah—knock on doors. Show up, even if you’re mopping floors. That’s how artists always learned and grew, from the past, and the bottom up! Most of all take criticism, if you can’t, you’re not ready.

Anything else you want students to know?

If you spend your time trying to satisfy the right and the left, you’re stuck in the middle—that’s the definition of mediocre. Reach inside yourself, fail and get up again. Don’t be afraid of who you are, as long as it’s real to you. And study, always study. ���ճԹ� is exceptional when it comes to the quality of education, it’s the best kept secret in the N.Y.C. school system. But then I’m biased—I have a real soft spot for my alma mater

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At the center of this year’s conversation is��Alexandra��Juhasz, an acclaimed filmmaker, scholar, video activist, and Distinguished Professor of Film at ���ճԹ�. A pioneering voice in queer media studies and independent filmmaking, Juhasz has spent decades exploring how film can document, preserve, and amplify marginalized voices.��Known for her influential work on��The Watermelon Woman,��widely recognized as the first feature film written and directed by a Black lesbian and a landmark of Black queer cinema,��Juhasz brings both scholarly insight and personal experience to a discussion on the importance of queer narratives in film.

As part of the showcase, Juhasz shares��I Want to Leave a Legacy, a deeply personal documentary created with her late friend Juanita Mohammed Szczepanski. The film is a moving reflection on friendship, AIDS-era activism, and the enduring importance of community memory. Through intimate storytelling, it demonstrates how film can preserve histories that might otherwise be lost and ensure that future generations remain connected to the struggles, resilience, and achievements of queer communities.

Joining Juhasz in the conversation are two accomplished CUNY filmmakers whose work highlights the diversity and creativity of queer experiences.

Samantha Alvarez, an award-winning filmmaker and painter and a two-time graduate of City College of New York��(CUNY), returns to��Frame by Frame��as a featured filmmaker for the second time. A fellow of the Bronx Documentary Center Films Fellowship, NBCU Academy Fellowship, and Third World Newsreel Workshop, Alvarez earned widespread recognition for her experimental documentary��In the Body, which received six awards, including the 2022 Outstanding Female Content Creator Award from New York Women in Film & Television. Her work explores family healing and intergenerational trauma while pushing the boundaries of documentary filmmaking.

Also featured is��Eden Martinez, a Nuyorican queer filmmaker whose work centers women, LGBTQ+ communities, and people of color through a joyful and visually rich lens. Martinez’s film��In & Out��examines themes of identity, vulnerability, and intersectionality, celebrating the complexity and beauty of underrepresented experiences.

You can watch the��full showcase on CUNY TV and��on��YouTube from June 5��to��July 2. Featured films include��In & Out,��Cutting Room Floor #1, Make a Declaration, Voces Transcendentes, Candy’s Sun, Las Olas, NY Counterpoint, In��the Body, I Want to Leave a Legacy,��and��The Animal in You.

More information, including the schedule, is available��.

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The Broadway revival of Ragtime won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, while Liberation captured the Tony Award for Best Play, two of the evening’s most prestigious awards. The productions were recognized during the 79th Annual Tony Awards ceremony at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

Michael Page outside Radio City Music Hall on June 8.

Page, a longtime producer and educator who teaches in the Department of Theater, has built a distinguished career that bridges the classroom and the professional stage. His involvement with award-winning Broadway productions offers students a direct connection to the highest levels of the theater industry.

Ragtime, the acclaimed musical based on E.L. Doctorow’s novel, was among the night’s standout productions, earning multiple Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical. Liberation, playwright Bess Wohl’s Pulitzer Prize–winning drama exploring the legacy of the women’s liberation movement, was awarded Best Play. It also won the 2026 GLAAD Media Award for Best Broadway Production.

Page was also nominated for his work as the executive producer on �վ��ٲ���í��ܱ�, nominated for Best Musical; as well as the co-producer on Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York), nominated for Best Musical; and Oedipus, nominated for Best Revival of a Play.

“Having faculty members who are contributing to award-winning productions on Broadway enriches the educational experience for our students,” said Theater Department Chair Kip Marsh. “Professor Page’s success demonstrates the powerful connection between professional achievement and arts education.”

Throughout his career, Page has managed and produced more than 100 pieces of live entertainment that have appeared on and off-Broadway, in regional theaters, and on international stages, and that have won or been nominated for Tony, Obie, Drama Desk, Outer Circle, Lucille Lortel, Audience Choice, and Drama League awards.

The recognition highlights the continued impact of ���ճԹ� faculty members beyond campus and underscores the college’s commitment to connecting students with working professionals who are actively shaping the future of the performing arts.

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Written and directed by Calleran, Caity is an atmospheric coming-of-age drama set in upstate New York. The film follows 16-year-old Caity, who helps run her family’s haunted house attraction each Halloween while quietly carrying the emotional strain of her father’s fragile sobriety. When he relapses, Caity is forced to take on even greater responsibility, seeking escape through a new romance and increasingly risky choices. As the season unfolds, she confronts the consequences of growing up too quickly and the lasting shadows within her family.

Lindsay Calleran ’20 M.F.A. studied directing at the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema.

The film is also a testament to the collaborative spirit of the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema with a crew that includes fellow alumni Joe Stankus ’20 M.F.A., Directing; Jack Davis ’20 M.F.A., Cinematography; Malcolm Thorndike Nicholson ’21 M.F.A., Directing; and Alley Leinweber ’20 M.F.A., Directing.

Calleran’s selection to Tribeca highlights the creative excellence fostered at Feirstein and underscores its mission to cultivate bold, resonant, and diverse storytelling voices.

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Data analytics students

By fall 2023, about one-quarter of all students—and a significantly higher share of graduate students—were studying fully online. In response, colleges and universities are redesigning degree offerings with adult learners in mind, expanding fully online master’s programs, hybrid course models, accelerated and stackable credentials, and year‑round scheduling that better fits work and family responsibilities.

For ���ճԹ�’s graduate students, college is not a beginning, it’s a return.

Students arrive with résumés, responsibilities, and a clear-eyed sense of urgency. They want education that respects their time and opens the door to meaningful work. To meet those realities, we have created a variety of flexible pathways that help adult learners reinvent their careers without putting the rest of their lives on hold.

Across business, education, journalism, and urban sustainability, the college has rolled out and expanded programs that can often be completed in a year, taken online or in the evenings, and closely align with workforce demand. Together, they reflect a strategic shift rooted in ���ճԹ�’s long-standing mission of access and rigor, updated for a world of nonlinear careers.

Credentials Built for Working Lives

“We’re seeing students who already have careers, or who started one path and realized it wasn’t right,” says Professor Seungho Baek, who directs the M.S. in Finance program. “They don’t want to start from zero. They want something efficient, rigorous, and directly connected to opportunity.”

That thinking drives the M.S. in Finance, which can be completed in as little as one year and is offered both online and face‑to‑face. Students choose between specializations in quantitative finance and risk management or investment management and asset valuation. The program’s in‑person courses are held at 25 Broadway in Lower Manhattan, a deliberate decision intended to bring working professionals and industry experts into the classroom.

“We wanted to make it easy for people who are already working in the financial sector to participate,” Baek says.

Professor Seungho Baek leads the new finance master’s programs at ���ճԹ�.

Industry professionals teach select courses, grounding theory in real‑world practice. Beginning next fall, eligible undergraduates will also be able to opt into a 4+1 pathway in finance, earning both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in five years by taking graduate‑level coursework during their senior year.

The business school has applied the same model to accounting, launching a fully online M.S. in Accounting that can also be completed in a year, an especially appealing option for professionals seeking a credential with clear licensure and career outcomes.

Meeting a Citywide Need, One Teacher at a Time

In education, many graduate students are working professionals for whom flexibility can be the difference between persistence and attrition.

According to María R. Scharrón-del Río, dean of the School of Education, ���ճԹ�’s approach has been shaped by both student realities and the urgency of citywide need.

“New York City Public Schools is facing a massive staffing challenge,” she says, pointing to that will significantly reduce class sizes by 2028. “That means thousands of additional teachers will be needed, far more than the current pipeline can provide.”

���ճԹ� has long partnered with the city through Teaching Fellows programs, but in recent years those pathways have expanded and evolved. New alternative‑certification initiatives, including , are designed to help paraprofessionals and substitute teachers—many already working in classrooms—become certified teachers of record while completing their degrees.

“These are adult learners who know exactly what they’re getting into,” says Roberto Martínez, who oversees the Teaching Fellows and Ed Prep programs. “They’re already in schools. They’re parents. They’re career‑changers looking for stability and meaning.”

A key factor in ���ճԹ�’s success, Scharrón-del Río notes, is modality. ���ճԹ� was the only CUNY campus to offer its Ed Prep programs fully online (with required in‑person fieldwork), a distinction that quickly translated into demand.

“By word of mouth and because of the quality of our programs,” she says, “we received more applications than all the other CUNY campuses combined.”

The School of Education has also launched a new online advanced certificate program in reading science, designed to be completed in a year. The program responds to growing demand for teachers trained in evidence‑based literacy instruction, particularly in early grades—another area of acute need.

Katie Pace Miles, director of the Reading Science program, which addresses the growing demand for teachers trained in evidence‑based literacy instruction.

The Fast Track to a Master’s

Beyond education and business, ���ճԹ� has expanded accelerated options in fields tied to civic life.

A 4+1 in journalism allows students to earn a master’s degree in one additional year, while a newly launched 4+1 partnership in city planning with Baruch College creates a streamlined pathway for ���ճԹ� urban sustainability majors to earn a master’s in city planning.

“A lot of our students are returning students,” says Professor Tammy Lewis, who heads the urban sustainability program. “They’re here because this work matters to them. The master’s degree opens up more opportunity.”

Tammy Lewis shown here with students participating in the Tow Mentorship Initiative.

While each program is distinct, the common thread is intentional design: online delivery where possible, evening schedules, accelerated timelines, and curricula shaped in conversation with employers and communities.

Taken together, these programs signal an evolution in how ���ճԹ� understands its role—not just as a place of first chances, but of second and third ones, too.

“People are reinventing themselves multiple times now,” Martínez says. “���ճԹ� has always made that possible. We’re just building clearer, more flexible routes to get there.”

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Jolie Tong

At the center of Jolie Tong’s current research lies the guiding question: How can directors build community and support the agency of collaborators so they may realize their highest artistic potential?

Influenced by scholar Amanda Rose Villarreal, the theater professor’s work explores the principles of consent‑based practice—an approach that weaves the concept of consent into every layer of artistic creation.

She explains that “the cornerstones of consent-based practice are recognizing and dismantling power dynamics, open communication, informed choice, and setting and respecting boundaries.” These principles offer a framework that challenges traditional hierarchical rehearsal norms and encourages shared ownership among collaborators.

Jolie Tong working with a student during rehearsals. Photo credit: Isidora��Farias

Tong’s interest in this methodology emerged during her training in intimacy direction with Theatrical Intimacy Education, an organization that specializes in “researching, developing, and teaching best practices for staging and filming intimacy.”

The experience was a turning point.

“I realized that a lot of the core concepts and skills they were teaching could be applied not just to intimacy directing, but to directing theater in general,” Tong recalls. This realization marked the beginning of a broader shift in her artistic practice.

Students perform in Wolf Play.

That shift became especially meaningful earlier this year as she prepared to direct��Wolf Play��at ���ճԹ�. The production offered “the perfect opportunity to take what I was learning and apply it to the practice of directing.”

Written by South Korean playwright Hansol Jung, Wolf Play follows a Korean child adopted by a queer couple through an online “re-homing” forum from his adoptive parents. Through the process of adapting to his unfamiliar environment, the young boy unwittingly brings about issues of identity, societal expectations, and familial norms that both families must grapple with.

Drawn in by the play’s “scope of the imagination” when she first saw it at Soho Rep, Tong found a powerful alignment between the story’s exploration of self‑determination and her own interest in agency‑centered rehearsal practices.

In Tong’s rehearsal room, this alignment took on a new form. She describes the space as a laboratory in which “the students that I work with are active collaborators in the research. They engage with the skills and principles I am experimenting with, alongside me. I can’t do the work that I do without them.” This collaborative ethos shaped the entire creative process, inviting students not just to perform but to participate.

Student actor Josabeth Simisterra ’25 performing in Wolf Play.

One such collaborator was actor Josabeth Simisterra ’25, who portrayed Ash in the production and was among the first students to work with Tong as she introduced these practices. “Wolf Play was one of the most challenging and rewarding productions I’ve ever worked on,” Simisterra reflects.

Simisterra describes feeling, for the first time, a true freedom to explore her artistry—an experience she attributes directly to Tong’s consent‑based approach. “I loved the elimination of hierarchy. Every actor, stagehand, designer was on equal footing, and it created an environment that felt very communal. It wasn’t just Jolie’s show and we were helping; it was our show that we were building together.”

For Tong, this kind of transformation is exactly the point. By centering consent not as a limitation but as a catalyst, she aims to cultivate rehearsal rooms where collaboration feels both empowered and ethical. Ultimately, she hopes students who engage in this work will carry its principles with them—into future productions, artistic endeavors, and creative communities.

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Their final presentation comes from this year-long, two-part, thesis course, installed and on view to the public at the end of the academic year. This uniquely thoughtful and earnest display of paintings, printmaking, collage, sculpture, and various forms of mixed media practice features the work of the following artists.

2026 Exhibition Details

May 12–26, 2026
Opening reception: May 12,��5 p.m.
Gallery hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Thursday from 12:30–5 p.m..
The Art Gallery at ���ճԹ�

Meet the Artists

Nazanin Ashorzadeh

I am a multimedia artist working across painting, sculpture and photography to conjure the complexities of romantic and familial love. Born as a first-generation Iranian American, my practice explores the realities of womanhood and cultural diaspora by focusing on expressing the ideas of failed love and obsession. I aim to merge these concepts through the physical connection of steel and canvas. My acrylic paintings allow the fusion of steel to be an unlikely connection that represents a string which tethers nostalgia and romance to experiences recorded through memory and photographs. Whether large-scale acrylic paintings or small steel renditions of keepsakes, the goal of these works is to stir a discussion around the unintentional shortcomings of our loved ones and our willingness to treasure that which is in the past.

Raffell Bailey

I am a multimedia artist. My practice is rooted in the belief that personal growth is a continuous dialogue between the mind and the body. I am deeply interested in how discipline, self-awareness, and lived experience shape an individual over time, gradually molding identity through both intention and endurance. Through my art, I explore transformation not as a fixed destination, but as an ongoing practice. Each piece embodies moments of strain, balance, and adaptation, reflecting how the body strengthens through repetition and how the mind evolves through reflection. The textures, marks, and structural compositions within my work act as visual records of this process. They capture both control and vulnerability—the tension between stability and uncertainty that accompanies meaningful change.

Tomas Benincasa Reade

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I am a painter and draftsman. I see each artwork I create as a window into an imagined world, and thus I define my general practice as world building. My world building is informed by artists like Moebius, Hieronymus Bosch, or James Jean. These artists create works that are both otherworldly and unmistakably their own.

My art style is informed by my upbringing and heritage. I am a first-generation American with two Brazilian parents, and I was born and raised in New York City. Both cultures—whether it be the untamed nature and color of Rio de Janeiro, or the endless array of cultures and personalities in New York City—are brimming with energy. My artworks are similarly maximalist. When I create, I ensure that every inch of canvas is imbued with rich color, every ounce of paint is applied in an equally delicate manner, and every stroke is made with intention.

As such, my work draws upon the various types of art to which I was exposed throughout my life. It features the color saturation and defined forms found in Brazilian graffiti. It has the same simplified dimension seen in the Mayan, Egyptian, and Medieval Western European art I saw while exploring the Metropolitan Museum as a child. The warped physical proportions are reminiscent of the classic American animation style I grew up watching in cartoons. By grounding my art in these myriad influences, I create subjects that feel completely unique, yet vaguely familiar to the audience. While my artworks feel otherworldly and vast, the stories told within each piece are extremely intimate. Each piece focuses on a single person, relationship, or place. By rooting my work in real stories, I have the freedom to manipulate any aspect of my world without sacrificing the relatability of its message.

My own visual language is carefully designed to help viewers to investigate my imagined world. My painting technique revolves around a rather unorthodox layering of watercolor paint. By using meticulous glazes of paint atop vast washes of color, I create palettes that are both rich and delicate. By combining that with application with rounded forms, my works adopt a gentle, comforting atmosphere that is easy to explore.

David Cespedes

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My focus in my art currently has been the issues of colorism and self-identity in the Dominican community. It’s been a creative process where I’ve been using a lot of symbolism— where I’ve been pointing out certain aspects of these ideas of colorism that I’ve witnessed and tackling the root of these ideas. I use masks in these paintings to reveal the subjects’ true lineage and to not shy away from them, although the subject may participate in the realm of colorism. Although masks are usually shown as someone hiding their true identity and performing another, I do the opposite.

My artworks also identify where this idea comes from. I would usually show a skeleton wearing a Spanish conquistador armor set to essentially display what this idea is rooted in and also display that these old ideas still exist—and with that in mind, I create pieces rejecting that idea. As a person coming from a Dominican background, I’ve always wanted to shine some light on this topic. I do believe that it is important to talk about this topic in various ways and I believe that by painting these figures of colorism being rejected in these works, by adding a creative expression to a serious topic, it helps elevate the conversation. When it comes to self-identity, it is a more personal side that shows in my artwork because it has to deal with a lifelong battle of acknowledging your lineage and what group you belong to in the Hispanic/Latino community—whether you refer to yourself as an Afro-Latino, Mestizo, someone of mixed race, etc. These works are more inclined toward how it felt, and being experimental about how I felt, in those moments in time of being confused about the idea of having to identify yourself as a particular group, other than being Dominican.

Melissa Cosentino

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As a visual artist working with paper and oil pastels, I create work that is an honest yet playful defiance of the rigid expectations artists often hold themselves to, to make “perfect” art deemed worthy by others. I see my characters as a microcosm of my internal world—they are their own independent beings, yet are simultaneously reflections of my stream of consciousness. They act as a visual diary for my ongoing journey to break away from my harsh inner standards of worthiness; rediscovering art as an act of self-fulfillment rather than a source of external validation. My pieces are authentically and unapologetically themselves, with purposeful marks and imperfections visible as evidence of intention rather than of inadequacy. Through my artistic exploration, I seek to use my vulnerability as a source of strength, to reclaim creation as an act of self-acceptance rather than self-judgement, and to show that worthiness is our own to define.

Mars Harris

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Every day, thousands of items are discarded without the thought of being reused. I have made it my mission in my art practice to be as resourceful as possible. I utilize found materials such as magazines, cardboard, old canvases, and fabric. A huge part of everything that I do revolves around reusing and repurposing items that most people would ignore or even throw out. Art to me is about experience and experimentation, about expressing my joy and my fear, about living with the objects around me and finding a way to make something out of nothing. Due to this, my work takes form across many different mediums, from charcoal drawings to paintings, from paintings to sculptures made from scraps and newspaper.

My art also revolves around themes of connection, mental health, and growing up in a complex environment. The main focus of my work has been a series of works that follow a mother and daughter, Connor and Jen, over the course of their lives and through the struggle between Connor and her mental illness and drug addiction. There is a large range of emotions that come with a parent being addicted to drugs, and I hope to show that through my paintings. My goal is not to demonize those who are addicted to drugs, nor is it to exploit the themes of addiction, but it is to show the way that addiction affects a whole family, not just the person who is trapped in that cycle. These characters have grown up beside me, developed as I have, and have helped me through things that most people in my life haven’t heard the details about.

Shira “Adora” Kenny

I am an artist who aims to capture my human identity through self-reflections in gouache, ink, and watercolor combined with expressionism and comic abstraction. I think of my own art practice as an act of presence, a depiction of in-the-moment ideas and purpose through fast mark making and sporadic color. I find the most satisfaction in life through creating tangible works of art and feeding into my own fascination with the body and what it means to be present.

Kisha Landais

As a Black non-binary artist who finds community development and belonging through craft, I especially value clay. It’s a medium that always grounds my practice and body. As I’m using clay as a therapeutic practice, I feel this connection to the earth and the communities that I deeply care about nurturing. Slowing down, listening, and building relationships is what clay allows me to do. The sense of safety and familiarity is an invitation for viewers to use clay themselves through repetitions of patterns, shapes, textures, and colors. My vessels and sculptures are an open gesture to encourage others to imagine themselves working with clay, reconnect with their hands, find their own moments of grounding and belonging, as it’s a place of connections.

Ashley Lord

My work explores the human experience as a journey toward holiness, navigating the temptations that can hinder spiritual growth. This collection presents a spiritual experience, exploring the interaction between misalignment and divine guidance. Through my work, I examine moments of indulgence and temptation as part of the journey, while showing that God’s presence and grace are always available.

I believe that spiritual awareness holds the potential to foster personal transformation and deepen our understanding of the world. While a relationship with the spiritual realm can sometimes feel overwhelming, exploring it is most meaningful and safest when guided by God. There are always forces that threaten our peace, joy, and identity, yet hope endures through faith. I often reflect on how I can become a better person for myself and others, and turning to scripture guides me toward honest, intentional reflection. I believe meaningful change begins within the individual, rather than hoping the world will change on its own.

This perspective influences my artistic practice, as I value how artwork can reflect an artist’s inner thoughts and emotional landscape. My work often begins as a simple visual idea, but over time, it develops into something more layered and meaningful than I first imagined. I trust the role of intuition in my creative process. I typically begin by imagining what would be visually compelling and then gather a diverse set of materials, ranging from pen, pencil, and paper to magazines, acrylic paint, air-dry clay, wire, books, and cardboard, to bring that vision to life. I welcome interpretation and find it meaningful to hear what resonates with people and what they take away from the work.

For the Redemption collage, I used images from a free library book about the production of an old Christian film called King of Kings (1961). The book included photos of actors and filming locations, which turned out to be perfect for the piece. I had been looking for free material for my next work, and I hope that, as viewers spend time with this particular piece, they continue to discover new details and meanings. In the collage, I cut and reshaped Mary into the form of an angel’s wing, symbolizing protection, hope, and divine presence. Even in times of suffering, doubt, or confusion, guidance is always present.

The collage with the woman and money falling around her is meant to depict her desperation and the moment where someone wants more than what they need. Focusing on what you lack rather than what you have can be destructive. The collage with the man and suggestive images around him serves as a sibling portrait, portraying lust. He’s an extension of the moral tension explored in the collection. I hope viewers find it relatable, whether through their own experiences or personal observations. In a way, he mirrors my own experiences as a woman encountering social advances, just as the piece about greed reflects the lure of excess. Together, these works explore temptation and the ways such impulses can challenge the pursuit of a spiritually mindful life.

These pieces are intended to capture moments of reflection, providing space to consider human impulses, choices, and perhaps their relationship with God and the world. Overall, the collection serves as a meditation on the human experience, offering awareness of the state of the world while affirming the enduring presence of God and His encompassing love.

Brithanie Lugo

When words aren’t enough, sometimes art is. The warmth of a sunrise, the unnoticed sorrow, or the quiet moments no one else sees. I strive to capture fleeting moments through illustrations and paintings, experimenting with light, color, and form. My instincts guide my hands, helping me turn what I see and feel into something palpable to others; through abstract pieces or detailed ones, exploring ideas and emotions that are difficult to express with words. The process of creating also forces me to address every feeling and thought that comes from it. A constant cry demanding to be seen. My work invites conversation—occasions where I can share private moments and what matters most to me: my emotions, my perspective, my faith in Jesus Christ and the journey He’s taken me on throughout my life. My creative work allows me to bring those thoughts to life and share them with others.

Samantha Martinez

Samantha Martinez is a multimedia artist creating from the nostalgia of her home and memories. Born and raised in New York City in a very immigrant community, she has found herself surrounded by her Mexican roots all her life. Painting became a big part of her creative practice, especially in college through taking an oil painting course and being pushed to create her first 5-foot painting. Her ideas came naturally through themes and prompts she was given but outside of that she was always creating on her own. Her Mexican culture and connection to New York City fueled her ideas in many ways. Many pieces started off through childhood photographs and nostalgia. Others are based on loved ones and memories. Now a mix of it all is in 6-foot paintings as a love letter to her view on New York City.

The thesis is composed of acrylic paintings on raw canvas, hung from the ceiling to create an installation—recreating the illusion of being on the train with the addition of recordings from train travels. Each panel tells its own story. One is her love story. Her first long-term relationship and support system for the past four years as their intimacy is shown in closeness and eye contact. Two, an ode to her CUNY education and current-day politics with a campaign poster and CUNY ad. Three, an homage to immigrants of New York City and the damaging government use of ICE in the country. Four, a family portrait celebrating her Mexican heritage and close familial relation.

Her father, Jesus Martinez, was always known to be the source of her creative being and spirit—a man who worked hard to provide his family with everything he did not have as a child, such as a home where a family could simply eat together as one. He brought her up to use her hands in crafts such as making pinatas or holiday decor for the home. Paper, glue, and scissors were the basis of all their projects. It was not until high school that she started to paint and experiment with a diverse number of mediums, one of those being video and editing. Her passion for video came from film and online media. As an addition to the installation, short videos have been created as an attachment to each panel, telling the story of how each panel was conceptualized and created.

Hideka Minami

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Painting is primarily used to further the discussion of how care moves through repetition and depends on the systems it operates within. Exploring the space of care that isn’t performative but rather repetitive, mundane, and habitual, it is practiced quietly, unnoticed, over time. Through delayed recognition, the past begins to reorganize itself. Actions that once appeared unified shift and fragment, taking on different forms of significance. Using the medium as a language model, it aids and dictates my visual storytelling. The work inhabits the space where recognition arrives, revealing the fragility of the structures we operate in.

Kevin Molina

Through the means of multimedia and experimentation, I explore a variety of topics—such as icons, my culture, and political issues. I’m influenced by different art periods and the usage of photography to incorporate into my works, to create new objects through storytelling. The mediums and subjects I explore are repeated throughout my works, referencing my past pieces to create new ones and deepening the meanings of the works when approaching from a new angle.

Xinia Okoren

Through oil paints and printmaking, I visualize my experience of acculturation and the idea of home. Utilizing the time and repetition required for these media allows me the space for introspection within the composition. Sifting through memories, I navigate the nuances of nostalgia and the following emotions to create a tangible image of how I reconstruct my life within the country I was raised in, with distinction from the one I was born in. Accepting the divergence from the expectations brought upon the firstborn daughter of an immigrant family, these works resolve the internal conflict that came from such fragmented worlds into intricate textures woven together between the cultures that raised me.

Maliq Ruffin

The work that is being created is a comic book project idea. What sparked this idea was my motivation for drawing fictional characters. This is due to my fondness for animation as it has always inspired me to do art. Originally, I thought about becoming an animator and I would always draw fictional characters from existing media that I liked growing up.

The materials used for this project involve watercolor paint and pencils, mixed media paper, graphite pencils, stumps, color pencils, markers, and sometimes crayons. The process of this project involved cutting out the mixed media paper as evenly as possible, creating smaller pages. The scaling for the pages is approximately 9 inches by 12 inches, but the comic panels are each different in size. I would try to cut the mixed media paper as best as possible to make each page equivalently within the same size.

This comic book idea is solely based around my original characters. During my spare free time, I like to draw these characters and put them in different scenarios. The story for my project mostly focuses on two main characters named Z (full name: Zaquary) and Q (full name: Quebella), who are the male and female protagonists of the story. Both characters will be working together to save one of their planets from an up-and-coming threat, but will also be expecting assistance from an unexpected adversary. A villainous character will be teaming up with them after his own planet is taken over by the same monstrous threat that is attacking one of Z’s and Q’s worlds. This universe has two Earths, with one being the original and the other planet under a different name.

In regards to the different settings throughout the story, I would use still-life images from online as references for my work, in order to convey some realistic expectations when it came to incorporating trees, vehicles, roadways, and other elements into backgrounds.

Many of the color choices for certain backgrounds were sometimes based off of the image references that I used. However, in terms of the characters of the project, most of the color choices and designs of them are based on my original ideals.

Melissa Sanchez Cabanas

As a multidisciplinary artist, I create my artwork using various mediums, ranging across painting, screen printing, ceramics, fabric, and textile manipulation to create sculptural pieces. In the process of making my work, I use recycled fabric and materials to keep it sustainable and encourage this practice among others, communicating that art is accessible and relatable. Using anything, including old T-shirts, knitted scarfs, bed sheets, lace, sequin fabric, and discarded clothing scraps, I arrange my work to create a balance between texture and colors that complement each other, enhancing the properties of the material. Staying within the bounds of my Mexican culture, color is a prominent aspect that I focus on and portray in my work. The use of bright and striking colors in my choices of textiles also translates within my other mediums of work.

These selective mediums allow me to be and feel connected to my artwork, creating and using my hands to bring my ideas and emotions to life. Preferably working on a larger scale, I want my pieces to be relatable and to captivate viewers. Each piece created represents a part of myself and my community as a first-generation Mexican-American artist.

For my series, my parents are my biggest inspiration in my creation of art. They inspire me to pursue my abilities and raised me to grow and love my Mexican culture. Along with the beauty of the culture, there is pain and suffering deeply rooted in many generations. I wanted to highlight not only the struggles my parents faced but the dreams and experiences they have missed out on growing up—emphasizing their dreams and aspirations from a young age that have been put off and sacrificed in order to provide themselves and their children with a better life, a selfless act of love many parents wouldn’t hesitate to make.

Using textile to create a quince dress my mother never experienced and making sculptural representations of the shoes my father wore when crossing the border to the United States are some works that emotionally resonate with the majority of the Hispanic immigrant population. Bringing forward tribute to all those parents, and that thanks to their humble sacrifice and dedication to their kids, brought a new generation of grateful, hardworking, and generous people.

Elizabeth Sanni

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I am a Haitian–Nigerian American artist born and raised in ���ճԹ�, New York. Growing up in an immigrant household, I was given responsibilities at a young age: caring for my younger siblings, taking them to and from school, and managing tasks such as cooking and cleaning. While these duties are often normalized within Caribbean and African households, they shaped my early understanding of care, duty, and self. As the oldest daughter in a family of five siblings, my work emerges from the lived experience of becoming what I call the Haitian–Nigerian American parentified adult, a role shaped by responsibility, cultural expectation, and emotional translation. If I were to connect a film to the experience of my family and upbringing, I would reference Crooklyn. Like the film, my work reflects the rhythms of a large, tightly knit family growing up in ���ճԹ�, where responsibility, humor, and care coexist. This influence appears in my work through layered compositions, interconnected forms, and multiple figures that echo sibling dynamics and shared space.

Working across oil painting, digital art, and textiles, I create layered compositions where color and form carry emotional weight. Thread-like lines bind forms across the surface, symbolizing relationships, care, and responsibility. Influenced by the vibrancy of Haitian and Yoruba visual culture, I use saturated color, patterned surfaces, and layered materials to reflect memory and cultural heritage. In one work, I reference The Breakfast Club, reimagining its iconic composition as a moment of emotional release and connection. The piece reflects vulnerability, identity, and the shared experience of being seen by those you love. In another, a wood panel painting depicts my childhood self transitioning into adulthood, beginning with myself, skateboarding into life. Titled Where Your Flowers Grow, the work explores growth, movement, and the passage of time, capturing the ongoing evolution of self within my environment and family structure.

These threads and connections represent both tension and care. They reflect the bonds within diasporic families, where community and responsibility are deeply intertwined. The act of holding, supporting, and navigating these relationships becomes central to my visual language. Rather than centering trauma, my work focuses on the balance between pressure and softness. Moments of joy, humor, and play emerge within layered compositions, reflecting the childlike energy that persists within responsibility. Ultimately, my work explores how identity is shaped through care and one’s sustainability of self. Within that exchange, something enduring is created: resilience, perspective, and quiet joy. I remain rooted in gratitude despite complexity. I am still here, navigating, becoming whole, and that is enough.

Adelaide Snow

Dreamlike, playful, and abstracted works are created between written word and multimedia. These various landscapes explore emotionality and interior experiences. Working quickly is a tool to express emotionality, as the process is as important as the final project for me, with painting feeling instinctual. Starting from a phrase or even a simple word, I express how this idea makes me feel, and the images it creates. The paintings become “word-scapes,” abstracted with new formal qualities, quiet expressions of interior and loved experiences.

Tia Turner

My work is about the deeper meaning and view of fantasy. I created my project based on Dark Fantasy for reality. Many people may say nature is beautiful and fulfilling, but I say it gets darker than that. My view of nature goes both ways; it’s like life, there are expectations and reality. One minute you’re living life to the fullest, then one wrong move can change everything. It’s like trees: when staring at them for too long, you start to see something else. For my world, I incorporated materials such as cardboard, aluminum foil, and faux plants to create a fantasy place no one would imagine. Creating art has always been scary for me because not everyone will agree with or like what you make, since it’s not something they would make themselves or even buy. I told myself that you were not born to please other people, but to show them what you can do. The theme of Dark Fantasy is for me a place to put my version of thoughts about what I believe really happened.

I want to showcase how it feels to be in my world—starting with large trees on each side that should give you a dark, eerie feeling, as if someone or something is watching. I do want my audience to have their own meanings and views about my work, but I still want them to understand the original story behind it. Adding bright colors to the world of darkness still shows the beauty within it; that’s why I fused it, because yes, it can be scary at times, but try to explore and see the beauty through it.

Khan Vongjalorn

My art tackles and creates a space for me to express myself, similar to street and graffiti artists, who claim spaces through their art. I create and carve ceramic figurative sculptures using the visual language of graffiti. Common motifs in my works are faces, sea creatures, and phrases that express my emotions.

Despite being born and raised in Guam, and growing up Filipino and Thai, I’ve always lacked the space and voice to truly express myself within these communities. I use ceramic sculptures to claim and create a space for other people who feel rejected by their community. I point to the human figure in my sculptures through expressive faces to convey a multitude of emotions. I use animals from my homeland to create a parallel between their relationships within their ecosystems and my experiences within my society.

The significance of graffiti in my work is to assert my presence, to express my desire to belong. I use various graffiti styles as a means of conveying emotions that come with not being granted space in my community. I choose forms based on the sense of placement they evoke. Although they may seem random or out of place, that very feeling reflects where I belong.

Anthony Zhang

I am a visual artist who works primarily with digital illustrations with an appreciation for animation. My passion for art is largely in part thanks to the support from my peers and I think my art is a reflection of my admiration for them. My goal is to pursue the feeling of excitement and gratification from the pieces I make; its process and the steps it takes towards improvement. Self-reflection is not something I’m interested in exploring, as I don’t consciously use my art as an outlet for deep or thoughtful contemplations; I just want to draw, improve, and learn. I think at the end of the day, I just want to say to myself that I’m happy with what I drew.

Li Zhi Zheng

I am a mixed-media artist who uses soft sculptures to explore nostalgia and hoarding. My works revolve around self-portraits placed in a sea of recreated childhood toys. I believe that each piece holds a treasured childhood memory and connects with my inner child.

These sculptures are made of various types of felt, such as needle and paper, as well as papier-mâché and beads. Felt is a big representation in my sculptures because I want them to feel soft and look dreamy. In contrast with trinkets, which are usually made of plastic, I want to show how comforting they are to me in my personal space. They are a reflection of myself and how I visualize nostalgia. I embed clustered beads as a symbol of fragmented memories in my mind. As a whole, I created a space for how my memories are stored and memorialized. My art seeks those who resonate with their childhood memories the same way.

Encountering certain toys, I reminisce about memories of my siblings, who collected and shared them with me. I often envision a time when I had no struggles or worried about my future. These are the feelings I get when I collect; they become a fresh breath of air that clears my mind for a moment. I would purchase them in hopes of filling my room with memories of others.

Coming from an East Asian immigrant household, collecting and hoarding becomes a blurred line. My family would hoard due to low income and the fear of losing everything. Growing up, I have become adapted to a dad lifestyle where everything is a necessity. Although hoarding is often perceived negatively, I see it as a way to fill myself with happiness and an internal connection.

To this day, I still collect a lot of trinkets, which shows in a way there’s a part of me that travels back to my inner child. The desire and obsession to have a peaceful place to go back to, to rest from adult life, and to cheer myself up.

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Lee is a��theater maker, educator, screenwriter and community steward based in ���ճԹ�. Lee’s plays are often an urge to honor their mother’s broken English, to translate experiences despite the gulf of cultures, to know their own psychic blood and guts, and to give up on words entirely and commune through epic imagery and ritual.

Lee is a recipient of the Creative Capital Award for��DADBOT��(2026), the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Finalist and Special

Haruna Lee (Photo: Heather Sten for The New York Times)

Commendation for��49 Days��(2025), the Steinberg Playwright Award (2021), and the Obie Award for Playwriting and Conception for��Suicide Forest��(2019).��For TV, Lee has written for Apple TV+’s��Pachinko��and HBO Max’s��The Flight Attendant��and has developed multiple projects across television, film, and podcast.��Lee’s writing has been published by Broadway Licensing, Yale’s��Theater��Magazine, Table Work Press, and 53rd State Press.��Lee helmed the ���ճԹ� M.F.A. Playwriting program between 2021 and 2023 and is currently teaching at Hunter College (CUNY) and Yale University.

Lee is in the early stages of the project DADBOT, a hybrid technology-performance piece where Lee’s deceased dad will be resurrected by using conversational AI to simulate the iconic father-child conversation.��The performance will be a mix of scripted and nonscripted improvisation between Lee and the AI that will feel a lot like a low-budget talk show where Lee receives the proverbial “fatherly advice.”��At the heart of this piece is Lee’s yearning to understand the ties between fatherhood, rebelliousness, and romantic love. The ���ճԹ� alumna hopes to capture a spiritual levity in “raising the dead” while interrogating AI’s application in grief work.

Rosenfeld��is a composer and artist based in New York. Her works have been presented by institutions including the Park Avenue

Marina Rosenfeld (Photo: Veronique Kolber)

Armory, the Museum of Modern Art, The Kitchen, the Serralves Foundation, and Portikus Frankfurt; festivals including Wien Modern, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Ultima, and the Holland Festival; and the Whitney, Montreal, PERFORMA, Son, and Gwangju biennials, among many others. She was awarded the Alpert Award in Visual Art in 2024.

Her project “Nulls” is hybrid in nature, linking work with generative sound and recorded media. It deals with research into the sonic and sculptural aftereffects of sound inscription. Thrilled to receive the honor, Rosenfeld��added she will use the fellowship as an open-ended time period for research and production.

Karen B. Stern Gabbay

Stern is a respected scholar, educator, and award-winning author who has earned widespread recognition for her interdisciplinary work bridging history, material culture, and religious studies. She is author of Inscribing Devotion and Death: Archaeological Evidence for Jewish Populations of North Africa (Brill 2007) and Writing on the Wall: Graffiti and the Forgotten Jews of Antiquity (Princeton University Press 2018; 2020); winner of a 2020 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award; and co-editor of With the Loyal You Show Yourself Loyal (SBL Press, 2021). Her current book project considers Jewish history through the senses.

Her Guggenheim Fellowship on the topic of “Sanctity: An Archaeology of the Senses in the Ancient Synagogue” will support ongoing field and scientific research overseas, which aims to transform understandings of Jewish history through new interpretations of ancient objects and inscriptions associated with archaeological remains of synagogues, further solidifying her reputation as a leading voice in her field.

Thien has taught literature and fiction in Canada, Hong Kong, Germany, Nigeria, the United States, Zimbabwe, and Singapore. From 2018 to 2024, she was a full professor of English at ���ճԹ�, teaching primarily in the M.F.A. Program in Fiction.

Madeleine Thien

Over the past 25 years, she has written about music, neurology, mathematics, physics, and philosophy, and about totalitarianism, protest, survival, and mourning. Her five books include the Booker-shortlisted novel Do Not Say We Have Nothing (Norton, 2016) and The Book of Records (2025), in which a girl and her father live in a building where different centuries wash in like the sea. She has been shortlisted for The Women’s Prize for Fiction, The Folio Prize, The Climate Fiction Prize, The Tadeusz Bradecki Prize, and longlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and a Carnegie Medal. She is a recipient of the Governor-General’s Literary Award for Fiction, The Writers Trust of Canada Engel-Findley Award, and an Arts and Letters Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Her current project, A Kind of Beginning, follows two sisters who leave Hong Kong and whose lives diverge. The novel is partly about the incandescence��of talent, how brightly it can burn, and how its light dims and transforms. Thien continues to teach as an adjunct professor and remains deeply connected to ���ճԹ�’s English Department and its students.

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Merriweather, the inaugural Tania León Chair of Music in the School of Visual, Media and Performing Arts, is a Grammy-nominated artist whose influence spans the global stage and the classroom. At ���ճԹ�, he serves as director of choral studies and coordinator of the vocal studies program. Beyond campus, he is director of the New York Philharmonic Chorus and music director of New York City’s Dessoff Choirs and Orchestra.

(Left to right) Malcolm J. Merriweather with Martin Luther King III.

(Left to right) Malcolm J. Merriweather with fellow inductee Keith Boykin.

The induction marks a significant milestone in Merriweather’s career, affirming not only his artistic excellence but also his dedication to using music as a vehicle for community engagement and social impact. The ceremony offered a particularly meaningful moment, as Merriweather had the opportunity to connect with members of Dr. King’s family, including Bernice King and Martin Luther King III.

“This honor is profoundly humbling,” Merriweather said. “To be recognized in the name of Dr. King, and to stand in community with scholars and leaders committed to justice, compassion, and service, is both a privilege and a call to continue using music as a force for connection and change.”

You can read more about Merriweather and his impact on ���ճԹ� and the arts world in this interview in the ���ճԹ� Magazine.

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Spanning disciplines from business and computer science to the arts and education, the projects reflect a campus-wide commitment to preparing students for a rapidly evolving, AI-driven world. Funded initiatives extend across the Koppelman School of Business as well as programs in English, film, art, mathematics, education, academic affairs, and Student Affairs.

Integrating AI Into Business Education

Several faculty from the Koppelman School of Business are launching an interdisciplinary capstone course titled “The Integrated Edge: AI, Decision-Making, and Business Strategy.” The course will pilot in summer 2026.

The course addresses a long-standing challenge in business education: the “silo effect,” in which accounting, finance, economics, and management are often taught separately. The Integrated Edge instead requires students to apply all four disciplines simultaneously to analyze complex business problems—mirroring how decisions are made in real organizations.

Students will gain hands-on experience with professional AI platforms used in industry, including tools for forecasting, auditing, and financial analysis. The course also emphasizes a “human-in-the-loop” approach, teaching students to critically evaluate AI-generated outputs, identify potential biases or errors, and apply professional judgment.

Structured in four modules—economic forecasting, led by Professor Merih Uctum; AI-assisted auditing, led by Professor Frimette Kass-Shraibman; corporate finance, led by Professor Sunil Mohanty; and strategic integration, led by PI and Professor Carol Connell—the course culminates in a capstone project in which students analyze a real company using both traditional business frameworks and AI-supported insights.

By combining interdisciplinary thinking with responsible AI use, The Integrated Edge aims to equip students with the analytical, technological, and ethical skills needed for tomorrow’s business leadership.

Koppelman School of Business Interim Dean Myles Bassell is leading nearly 400 students from the Koppelman School of Business in “IBM’s AI Experiential Learning Lab,” a hands-on, 10-week program designed to immerse students in real-world artificial intelligence applications. Through the program, students work in multidisciplinary teams to design and develop AI-driven solutions using IBM’s enterprise technologies, including watsonx. Supported by IBM experts and industry mentors, students move from concept to prototype while tackling authentic business challenges.

Throughout the lab, participants build practical skills in generative and agentic AI, as well as responsible AI design, while producing portfolio-ready projects that enhance their career readiness. By the program’s conclusion, students will have completed AI solutions they can present to employers and will earn IBM-recognized digital credentials to showcase on LinkedIn and resumes. The initiative reflects Koppelman’s commitment to experiential learning, industry collaboration, and preparing students to lead in an AI-driven economy.

Bassell is also spearheading the broader “AI Literacy in Business Education: From Classrooms to Careers” initiative, which is being implemented in phases beginning in Fall 2025 and continuing through Spring 2026, with expansion planned for Summer 2026 and beyond. In Fall 2025 alone, Koppelman students completed approximately 700 IBM AI-related certificates, followed by more than 1,000 additional certifications in Spring 2026. These credentials were integrated directly into coursework through collaboration between Bassell and business school faculty.

Students earn certifications through IBM SkillsBuild in areas such as AI Literacy, Artificial Intelligence Fundamentals, Generative AI, Agentic AI applications, Enterprise Design Thinking, and Cybersecurity Fundamentals, among others. Each certification includes a verifiable digital badge, allowing students to clearly demonstrate their AI competencies to prospective employers.

Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship Associate Professor Ngoc (Cindy) Pham is leading the “The semester-long weekly boot camp is designed to build applied and ethical AI fluency while preparing students for the evolving workforce.

The initiative combines hands-on workshops, industry perspectives, cross-institution collaboration, and digital badge recognition to help students develop both technical confidence and critical thinking skills.

Program highlights include weekly AI boot camps at ���ճԹ�, guest speakers and industry experts from IBM and other national AI practitioners, and a joint CUNY–NYU Tandon session hosted at NYU that helped launch a long-term collaboration. Students also take on leadership roles as moderators and event facilitators. Designed for scalability, the model aims to expand across CUNY while maintaining a strong focus on equity, access, and workforce readiness.

Matt Lentz, vice president at Monks and founder of the Enterprise Consulting Practice, speaks at an AI bootcamp hosted by NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering on March 12. The event was a part of the CUNY AI literacy and professional readiness series led by ���ճԹ� Associate Professor Ngoc (Cindy) Pham and focused on AI in enterprise consulting. (Top photo) In February, guest lecturer Conor Grennan—CEO of AI Mindset and New York Times bestselling author—headlined a lecture titled, “Artificial Intelligence & the Future of Work” that drew 118 participants.

Expanding AI to Student Support: Addressing Food Insecurity

���ճԹ�’s AI initiatives also extend beyond the classroom, applying emerging technologies to one of the most pressing challenges facing students: food insecurity.

Led by Associate Professor of Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship Laura Rifkin and building on the human-centered work of the campus food pantry staff—including Assistant Director of Student Support Services Nicole Cohen and Student Affairs—this effort will explore how AI can expand access to nutritious food in ways that are both practical and dignified. One approach under consideration is a smart vending system that would serve as an extension of the pantry, offering discreet, flexible access outside of traditional hours. By reducing barriers such as stigma, scheduling conflicts, and transportation challenges, the system could significantly broaden its reach while generating anonymized, real-time data on usage patterns and unmet need.

The initiative also examines how agentic AI can support pantry operations behind the scenes—analyzing trends, anticipating demand, optimizing inventory, and improving coordination of donations and purchasing. Guided by principles of transparency, human oversight, and bias mitigation, the work builds on the college’s strong track record of student-centered support while introducing scalable, data-informed solutions.

The effort comes at a critical moment. Food pantry use has grown fourfold in recent years, reflecting both rising need and the extraordinary commitment of staff working with limited resources. Across CUNY, approximately 110,000 students—about 40% of the system—experience food insecurity, yet only a small percentage access available support, often due to stigma or administrative barriers. By integrating AI thoughtfully into these services, the college aims to close that gap by strengthening student well-being to support academic success.

AI-Supported Professional Preparation for Early Childhood Teachers Working With Dual Language Learners

In the School of Education, Associate Professor Lulu Song is addressing a critical need in early childhood teacher preparation. Her project integrates AI into coursework to support future educators working with dual language learners, a population that represents nearly half of young children in New York State. Through structured assignments, students will use AI tools for research and problem-solving while learning to critically evaluate outputs for accuracy, bias, and credibility.

Additional projects include AI-supported learning studios in mathematics, interdisciplinary minors linking computer science with writing and finance, and research on ethical design and decision-making. Collectively, these initiatives highlight ���ճԹ�’s holistic approach to AI—one that blends innovation with responsibility, and technical skills with human insight.

Understanding AI: A Foundational Series for Faculty

Led by Karen Stern-Gabbay, professor of history and director of the Roberta S. Matthews Center for Teaching and Learning, and James T. Eaton, associate dean in the Provost’s Office, this workshop series will bring expert speakers to campus to guide faculty through key topics such as technological disruption, ethics, and curriculum design.

Open to both full- and part-time instructors, the program is designed to build confidence and shared understanding around AI in the classroom.

Faking It: A Global Workshop Series

AI’s cultural and creative implications are also a focus. Distinguished Professor of Film Alexandra Juhasz, in collaboration with filmmaker Nishant Shah, is leading “Faking It,” a global workshop series examining questions of authenticity, knowledge, and human connection in an AI-mediated world. With sessions planned in New York and Hong Kong, the project will explore how emerging technologies reshape storytelling, perception, and social relationships.

You can see all the projects listed here.

• Myles Bassell (Management, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship) – AI Literacy in Business Education: Scaling a Proven Model at the Koppelman School of Business.
• April Bedford (Academic Affairs) – Faculty AI Bootcamp: Developing Critical AI Literacy, Course Policies, and Pedagogical Innovation.
• Hui Chen (Computer and Information Science) – Human-in-the-Loop Just-in-Time AI Auto-Tutoring: A Pilot for CUNY Pathways Courses.
• Carol Connell (Management, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship) – AI, Decision-Making, and Business Strategy Integrated Capstone.
• James Eaton (Academic Affairs) – Understanding AI: A Foundational Series for Faculty.
• Alexandra Juhasz (Film) – Faking It: AI Education and Literacy.
• Devorah Kletenik – (Computer and Information Science) Designing With Ethics: Exploring AI-Enhanced Dark Patterns.
• Swan Kim (English) – Critical AI Literacy for the Public Good: A CUNY-Scalable Ethical Foundations Module Reaching All Incoming Students.
• Sandra Kingan (Mathematics) – AI-Supported Math Foundations Studio.
• Anjali Krishnan (Psychology) – Promoting Responsible AI Use in Skill-Based and Writing-Intensive Courses.
• Jennifer McCoy; Jonathan Zalben (Art, Conservatory of Music) – AI Initiative in the Arts.
• Martha Nadell and Hui Chen (English, Computer and Information Science) – Writing For the Future: An Integrated English/Computer and Information Sciences Minor.
• Hyuna Park and Katherine Chuang (Finance, Computer and Information Science) – Using AI Tools to Create Synergy Between Finance and Computer Science Education.
• Ngoc (Cindy) Pham (Management, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship) – CUNY AI Literacy and Professional Readiness Micro-Credential Series With Global Expert Partners.
• Laura Rifkin (Management, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship) – Addressing Food Insecurities.
• Lulu Song (Early Childhood Education/Art Education) – AI-Supported Professional Preparation for Early Childhood Teachers Working With Dual Language Learners.

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