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Articles by Jamilah Simmons
Hess Week 2026: Three Days of Dialogue, Reflection, and Community - Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College welcomed students, faculty, and community members for Hess Week 2026, a three-day series of public events that explored Asian American lives, rights, civil liberties, faith, storytelling, mental health, and movements for racial justice. At the heart of this year’s program was the 2025–26 Robert L. Hess Scholar-in-Residence, Professor Russell M.
Building on Belonging
Before stepping into his role as director of the Black and Latino Male Initiative (BLMI), Christopher Rodriguez Hernandez spent a decade helping students thrive through the ASAP program at Kingsborough Community College (CUNY). That experience—along with his own journey through foster care—shaped his deep commitment to student success.
A Long Road Back - Brooklyn College
When 44-year-old Melissa Plush returned to Brooklyn College as an English major more than two decades after first enrolling, she brought with her not just determination, but a story shaped by loss, survival, and rediscovery. Having just completed her coursework in December, Plush reflects on her journey back to higher education and the unexpected moments that made it possible. You first came to Brooklyn College in 1999. What brought you here originally?
Beyond His Wildest Dreams - Brooklyn College
Luis Lucero-Tacuri ’22 first thought he was in trouble when an administrator emailed him early in the semester asking to talk. The school counseling student and newly installed president of the Graduate Student Organization (GSO) figured he must have run afoul of some rule or other in the position he was still getting acquainted with. Then came the ask: Will you give the opening remarks at an upcoming rally that Sen. Bernie Sanders was hosting on campus? “My heart left my body,” he recalled.
Running on Passion - Brooklyn College
Undergraduate Student Government (USG) President Cyle Paul is a finance major with a deep love for Brooklyn College. A USG senator since his sophomore year, Paul takes the helm determined to make student voices heard, strengthen ties with administrators, and build community on campus. He reflects on his journey to student leadership, his plans for the year, and the lessons he has learned along the way. You’ve been part of USG since your sophomore year. What inspired you to run for president?
Like a Free Electron - Brooklyn College
Senior Megi Murati grew up in Albania with parents who did not take education for granted. Her father could not pursue higher education despite his good grades because his uncle was executed for protesting the communist system. When her mother was about to go to college, the transition of the political system created a dangerous climate, particularly for women. “They were forcefully taking girls and escorting them to Italy,” Murati explains.
VP for Student Affairs Recognized for Contributions to Higher Ed - Brooklyn College
Ronald C. Jackson, the vice president for student affairs, has been named a 2025 Diamond Honoree by the ACPA—College Student Educators International, an association of student affairs professionals.
Renaissance Woman, Hear Her Roar - Brooklyn College
Cynthia Leung grew up in an enclave of the Gravesend neighborhood that has one of the largest Chinese American populations in New York City. The daughter of immigrants from Hong Kong didn’t encounter many White people until she got to middle school, where they were suddenly a majority of her peers. “It was the first time in my life where I felt like I didn’t really belong somewhere,” she says.
Statistically Speaking - Brooklyn College
Michael Ayers grew up mostly on Long Island on the border with Queens. He was headed for a career as an academic, but when he entered graduate school, he realized that being a professor is a “full-time, 365 days, 24 hours, every waking moment” kind of job, he says. Additionally, data analysis was more instantaneously gratifying than theoretical or historical analysis, and—used correctly—so, too, was its impact.
Performance for the People - Brooklyn College
Dena Beard was forever changed the day, in her late teens, when she rode three public buses from the small surf town where she grew up in Carpinteria, California, and wandered into the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. There was an installation by the pioneering artist Nam June Paik, who is widely credited with founding video art. “It philosophically changed the way I saw the world,” she says.
Big Plans | Brooklyn College
If the acronym AANAPISI (pronounced ah-nuh-pee-see) rolls right off of Christopher Won’s tongue, it’s due to an occupational hazard. The new director of the Brooklyn College AANAPISI Project, known around campus as BCAP, has traveled in social justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion circles for most of his career.
An Educational Content Creator - Brooklyn College
On a recent late-winter afternoon, Nathaniel Samuel ’10, the manager of the Brooklyn College Library’s Faculty Training and Development Lab, is sitting in the director’s seat in a dark corner studio with a white-hot light focused on Myles Bassell, deputy chair of the Management, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship department.
Going Up? | Brooklyn College
Over the summer, Madonna Charles ’95, M.A. ‘11, the director of procurement and contracts, completed a set-aside procurement, resulting in a multi-million dollar contract award for campus elevator maintenance with a service-disabled veteran-owned business, commonly known—in the knotty parlance of state procurement officials—as an SDVOB.
Global Ambitions - Brooklyn College
Graduate student Gerard Placide was inspired by the 9/11 terrorist attacks to join the military. He wanted to give back to a country that he said had given him so much. Placide first served in the Army National Guard and then in the U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia. He was nominated to the U.S. Veterans Hall of Fame by New York State Sen. Zellnor Myrie. But even before his time in the service, he had already lived quite a bit.
Molding Futures | Brooklyn College
Angela Auriti was born to be an artist. In elementary school, she hit notes on her trombone. In her teenage years, she brought blank canvases and other objects to life with paint. In her freshman year at Brooklyn College, she studied film. Between then and now, she switched her major to art. Whether she’s in the studio or the classroom, the Ceramics Club president uses her expertise and talents to support others on their creative journeys.
Serving with Humility - Brooklyn College
Randall Clarke was planning to go to seminary to become a youth pastor. But the child of Barbadian immigrants, who grew up in Elmont, New York, received some divine intervention when his high school class was invited on a trip to Queens College (CUNY). None of his friends wanted to go, but he saw a day off from classes and thought, why not? He ended up with a full ride to study at Queens to become a math teacher.
A Tale for Retail - Brooklyn College
You could say one of the first big life lessons for Shaira Frias ’13 came when she was a toddler helping out in her grandmother’s healing store in St. Croix. “What stuck with me since I was young was that my grandmother was a hustler,” says the former journalism major who now lives in Los Angeles.
From IG to the Industry - Brooklyn College
Lorenzo “Renny” Cromwell has stayed busy since his Brooklyn College days.
A Peabody and More - Brooklyn College
The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks (Beacon Press, 2013), a best-selling book by Distinguished Professor of Political Science Jeanne Theoharis, has been hailed by critics and historians as compelling scholarship that flipped on its head the narrative of one of the most well-known names in civil rights history. In 2022, it was made into a documentary of the same name, produced by award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien for the Peacock network.
It Ain’t Easy Being Green - Brooklyn College
There’s an agricultural paradise in the middle of bustling Queens complete with a barn, greenhouse, orchard, and poultry house. It’s land maintained by John Bowne High School, which boasts a nationally recognized agricultural program. It was there, as a student, that Christopher Arias nurtured an interest in nature that blossomed into a serious passion for urban sustainability and the environment. Arias is now a senior at Brooklyn College, where he majors in urban sustainability.
Best of BC Staff Spotlight: Estefanía Ponti
The associate director of student success shares how EAB Navigate is one part of a collaborative care model. /web/new_2022news/EstefaniaPonti_94x84.jpg By Jamilah Simmons Estefanía Ponti, the daughter of Argentinian immigrants who grew up in Staten Island, didn’t know exactly how to do it, she just knew she wanted to get a doctorate in cultural anthropology.
Best of BC Staff Spotlight: Monique Ngozi Nri ’21
Monique Ngozi Nri ’21 was the “little girl who went to parties and read books under the table while the others were playing,” she recalls with a laugh. So it was no surprise that she grew up to be a woman deeply passionate about literature and poetry. She is currently an adjunct English instructor and the director of the college’s CUNY EDGE program, which helps students receiving public assistance achieve academic excellence, graduate on time, and find employment after college.
Filling in the Gaps
One recent morning, Jean Eddy Saint Paul was listening to the public scholar/media personality Melissa Harris-Perry on her WNYC show discussing with a guest the problem of hunger in Haiti. He was bothered. “If I was the guest on that show,” says the sociology professor, shaking his head, “I would explain the impact of neocolonialism, starting from the presidency of Jimmy Carter. We cannot understand the problem of famine in Haiti if we do not analyze what imperialism did to destroy the creole pig.
Vive Haiti - BC Magazine
Cerat already had experience with Brooklyn College. She had worked for the School of Education’s Haitian Bilingual Education Technical Assistance Project for half a dozen years, training city teachers and administrators on the cultural, linguistic, and academic needs of Haitian students. And over the last two decades, she has taught several courses in the Africana Studies and Modern Languages and Literatures departments as an adjunct instructor.
The Impact of War
Clockwise from top left: Political Science Professor Janet Elise Johnson, a volunteer effort at Tanger Hillel, and History Professor Brigid O’Keeffe. In the waning days of February, as Russian troops began their assault on neighboring Ukraine, a Brooklyn College student e-mailed his professor. He would be missing some classes, he wrote. He had been attending courses online but was currently in a Ukrainian city under siege and had to focus on trying to get to safer ground with his fiancée.
Coming Back to Pay It Forward
Dr. Eugene Shenderov ’05, renowned oncologist and Chernobyl survivor, visited with Brooklyn College students hoping to inspire the next generation of cancer scientists. It was clear when Dr. Eugene Shenderov ’05 was a student that he was destined for the stars.
MLK, LBJ, and the VRA
In the wake of a new wave of concern over voting rights, History Professor KC Johnson remembers when two momentous leaders forged past a fragile relationship to advance landmark legislation. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. talks with President Lyndon B. Johnson in the Oval Office, White House, Dec. 3, 1963. Photo credit: LBJ Library photo by Yoichi Okamoto.
2021 Year in Review at Brooklyn College
Despite the ongoing pandemic, there was a lot to celebrate in a year that saw new institutional alliances, big initiatives, prestigious awards, and a safe and successful partial return to campus. President Michelle J. Anderson welcomed back students on the first day of the fall 2021 semester, marking the first time many students, faculty, and staff were back on campus in more than a year. 2021 was another year in which the COVID-19 pandemic cast a large shadow over everyday life.
She Goes in Peace
Daniela Alba Ramirez '21 Daniela Alba Ramirez ’21 has some deep questions tugging at her. How did she land in “a privileged spot in the hierarchy of immigrant experiences” (she’s a U.S. citizen)? What should she do with that privilege? Why is it so easy for many of us to turn a blind eye to suffering? Why do some people have “unwarranted wealth” while others are doomed to a life of working twice as hard for a fraction of the rewards?
Finding Her Focus
An alumna was inspired by a class assignment to make a documentary on the Young Lords. Now it’s being shown on The New York Times’ Op-Docs. Check the link at the end of the story to watch "Takeover." So much crystalized for Emma Francis-Snyder ’15 at Brooklyn College. She was a child of the upper-middle-class haven of Westchester, New York, born into a politically engaged family, including a British mother who constantly decried the American health care system.
Fighting the Tide
Associate Professor Brett Branco, left, with Hamilton Beach resident Roger Gendron. A multidisciplinary team of researchers—powered in large part by citizen scientists—joins city agencies and other prominent climate organizations on the front lines of urban coastal resilience planning. Roger Gendron, president of the New Hamilton Beach Civic Association, stands in the middle of a dead-end street on a recent October afternoon.
Lila Hassan ‘16 Earns Investigative Reporting Fellowship
The former Brooklyn College Scholars Program student will spend a year investigating ICE arrests and accountability. Lila Hassan '16 was in the 11th grade, living in Cairo, and had just gotten a Blackberry when the uprising began in late January 2011. She quickly realized that what she was seeing on Egyptian state television was the complete opposite of what was unfolding on the streets. So she did what came naturally—she documented the Egyptian revolution one tweet and blog post at a time.
College Group Launches Asian American Faculty and Staff Association
The officers of the newly-formed Asian American Faculty and Staff Association. From left to right: Yung-Yi Diana Pan, Mobina Hashmi, Rhea Rahman, Vinit Parmar, Sau Fong Au. About a year ago, a few faculty and staff members of Asian American and Pacific Islander descent started to have some discussions around the fact that they did not have much representation on campus.
Brooklyn College at Your Service
As New York City Battles the COVID-19 Pandemic, Many Among the Campus Community Have Leapt Into Action Art by M.A. student James Cox saluting COVID-19 first responders and essential workers. The COVID-19 crisis has prompted various responses from members of the Brooklyn College community. For many of our staff, faculty, students, and alumni, that response has meant running to the front lines or rushing to assist or support those who go there every day.
Brooklyn College Authors Make 2019 Best Books Lists
From left to right: Ben Lerner, Helen Phillips, and Ocean Vuong. Lerner and Vuong photos courtesy the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Brooklyn College and its writing programs have been a wellspring for a number of award-winning novelists, playwrights, poets, and authors. Three have made the distinguished year-end best books lists in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Time magazine.
Enriching Education Through the Art of Play and Wonderment
Kimberly Trapani â15 â18 (center), head teacher in the Early Childhood Centerâs 'fours' class, sits with students as they work on a craft project. Photo by David Rozenblyum. On a recent morning with a fresh spring breeze wafting in from a cracked door, Kimberly Trapani '15, '18 M.A., the head teacher in the classroom for four-year-olds at the Brooklyn College Early Childhood Center, sits in the belly of a white tulle-skirted teepee.
New York Philharmonic Commissions Distinguished Professor Tania León for 100th Anniversary Celebration of the Ratification of the 19th Amendment
Conservatory of Music Distinguished Professor, Director of Music Composition, and award-winning composer Tania León conducting at the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Photo by Craig Matthews.
Brooklyn College | Vive Haiti!
In 1803, Haitian rebel forces won their country’s independence from France during the Battle of Vertières, a scrappy scrimmage during which former slaves defeated Napolean Bonaparte’s powerful army and reclaimed their freedom. In so doing, Haiti became the first modern state to abolish slavery and the first state in the world to be formed from a successful revolt of the lower classes.
Prom Redux: Pride Edition
There’s a convivial kind of energy in the air as sophomore Daniel Vázquez Sanabria dashes back and forth between a bathroom vanity and the adjacent bedroom. Ariana Grande radio is playing softly on an iPhone's Spotify app, and Sanabria is grabbing an assortment of ointments and powders that he is using to beat back the lustrous pair of eyebrows that stand in the way of the broad palette he'll need for his eye shadow tonight.
Staff Spotlight: From Work-Study to Studying the Way We Work
The executive director of strategic initiatives is determined to make an impact on student success by helping ensure that every unit in the division of finance and administration stays focused on the college’s mission. Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives Marcus Richardson '08 '10 M.F.A. Marcus Richardson ’08 ’10 M.F.A. knew when his college acceptance letters started to file in—from SUNY Binghamton, Penn State, Ithaca—that those $30,000-range price tags would mean one thing.
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