Graduate NYC is pleased to announce the winners of the 2018 Faculty Challenge, made possible by Lumina Foundation:
Macaulay Honors Bridge Program
In 2017, Bronx Community College (BCC), Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), Lehman College, and Macaulay Honors College partnered to develop a pilot program facilitating transfers between Bronx Community College, Borough of Manhattan Community College, and Macaulay Honors College at Lehman College. Students who are accepted become Macaulay Bridge Scholars while they complete their associate degrees at BCC or BMCC. These students participate in Macaulay’s unique interdisciplinary City Seminars in critical thinking, during the Bridge Program, before transferring to Macaulay at Lehman as juniors. The Challenge Grant to the Macaulay Bridge Program supports the establishment of a peer mentorship program that will pair current Macaulay Lehman students with incoming Bridge Scholars. The peer mentorship program will foster transfer student success by helping Bridge Scholars acclimate to Macaulay both academically and socially, and promoting cohesion between current and transfer students.
Macaulay is CUNY’s flagship honors program, and since its inception, has only accepted first-time college students. Macaulay has been able to recruit high-achieving students from New York City and other area high schools, but its student body does not reflect the diversity of CUNY, nor does it allow promising students from CUNY’s community college an opportunity to access the financial and academic benefits of Macaulay, including a tuition scholarship for qualified students. This transfer pilot seeks to remedy these difficulties by addressing Macaulay’s lack of established transfer student culture and programming. In addition, the peer mentoring program will augment professional advisement to promote positive transfer student experiences at Macaulay.
Sophie Davis Program of Biomedical Education/CUNY School of Medicine
The Sophie Davis Program of Biomedical Education/ CUNY School of Medicine’s (CSOM) mission is to train physicians from historically underrepresented backgrounds in medicine (URM) to serve diverse communities in underserved areas through a combined 7 year BS/MD program. To reduce health disparities among Latinx populations living in urban areas, it is critical that the number of Latinx physicians grows. To do this, the pipeline of Latinx physicians must be robust. While CSOM succeeds in graduating a higher percentage of URM students than other medical schools in the country, outcome data over the last 10 years reveal that Latinx students graduate at a lower rate than their peers. To enhance its ability to support Latinx students, CSOM is using its Challenge Grant to develop and pilot the Supporting the Advancement of Latino Undergraduate Development (SALUD) program – a student-centered, evidence-based program, led by Latinx faculty and supported by Latinx physician alumni. The goals of the SALUD pilot project include: (1) Uncover Latinx students’ perspectives about their own needs and the best ways to address them through a series of focus groups; (2) Implement three workshops matching Latinx students and Latinx alumni to outline strategies and/or solutions to address issues identified in focus groups, list existing resources to support Latinx student learning, and develop a sustainability plan; and (3) Develop a handbook/resource for students. The SALUD program will enhance existing academic support resources, advising, student groups, and research and mentoring opportunities available at CSOM.
