Macaulay Connections

By James Airozo, Director of Student Academic Awards and Honors

The second annual CUNY-wide Honors Opportunities Conference was once again hosted by Macaulay Honors College.  This year's theme was "Fostering Collaborations, Forging Alliances" and drew more than 70 administrators, directors, students, faculty from both the senior and community colleges as well as foundation representatives to share ideas on how CUNY can better serve its most talented students.

The responses to the on-line survey of participants were overwhelmingly positive. Highlights included a session on Research and Internship Opportunities Beyond CUNY which featured C. Gita Bosch, Associate Dean of the Gertsner Sloan-Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Francoise Freyre and Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences.   Both Deans oversee 10-week summer research programs and urged the Conference participants to encourage qualified students to apply to these exceptional programs.  They stressed that they are eager to have CUNY students participate in these enriched programs but that traditionally few CUNY students apply.  Participation in these intensive and competitive programs greatly enhance the chances of success for national scholarship candidates.

The panel also featured CUNY students who have participated in special research programs or internships,  They included Yelena Leitman, Hunter College, Goldwater Scholarship recipient who participated in the Marine Biological Laboratory Summer Fellowship Program, Casey Detrow, Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College who was an intern at the Economist, Lauren Nassimi, Queens College who interned at Time Warner STARS and Forest Ray, Hunter College, who was a participant in the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Summer Undergraduate Research Program.  All students reported that these special experiences empowered them, built their confidence as they competed successfully with students form elite private institutions and clarified their career and graduate school goals.

Another session that received high praise was the one focusing on the Memorandum of Understanding between Kingsborough Community College and Hunter College to facilitate the transfer of Kingsborough Honors Students to Hunter. An important component of the agreement is that Honors students who meet certain criteria will have the benefit of also becoming part of the federally funded McNair Scholars Program.  The McNair Program prepares talented low income and minority students for doctoral studies through involvement in research and scholarly activity.   The MOU also provides for a wide range of support services including GRE preparation and students will receive a stipend. This agreement was an outgrowth of the first Honors Opportunities Conference in which representatives of these two institutions began preliminary discussions.

This collaborative trend is continuing with preliminary discussions being entered into between LaGuardia Community College and Hunter College for a program to facilitate the transfer of LaGuardia Community College Honors students to Hunter.  Both of these collaborations seek to provide an alternative for talented community colleges students who are routinely recruited successfully by area private colleges and universities.