Kerri-Ann Anderson
Kerri-Ann Anderson is a determined student. The mother of two young boys is a Biology major and Psychology minor, member of the National Society of Leadership and Success and currently maintains a 3.7 grade-point average. Additionally, she works part time. Next month she will graduate from Medgar Evers College in just three and a half years. “Not only did I want to show my kids, look mommy can do this but I was determined to get it done.” said Anderson. Anderson said she had a lot of support along the way. She is a part of the Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP). ASAP assists students in earning associate degrees within three years by providing a range of financial, academic and personal supports. After earning an associate degree in two years, she said she decided to push for more. “I wanted to continue with this support for my bachelor’s degree.” she said. Fortunately, Medgar Evers College is one of the City University of New York (CUNY) Colleges that offers the Bachelor’s Extension Program for current ASAP students. Once Anderson knew she had the continued support from ASAP, she began to design her path to graduate with her baccalaureate degree in three and a half years. “They [advisors] said I was about to commit academic suicide and I said I am going to prove you wrong!” She added, “I doubled and I tripled up and last semester I took ten classes, this semester I am taking seven.”
During the semester she took ten classes her sons, ages six and 10, were hospitalized on two separate occasions. Anderson said her family filled in the gap. “Throughout it all I’ve had a great support system. My mother, other family, friends and their father; they all stepped up.” Anderson’s accomplishment is extraordinary when you consider the statistics. According to CUNY’s Office of Institutional Research, only 22 percent of students in associate degree programs at CUNY earn a degree in three years. The graduation rate for a baccalaureate degree at CUNY’s four-year colleges is at 55 percent, and that is after six years. CUNY STATS HERE Anderson said she never thought much about those statistics but rather on pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor. Now, she said, she is ready to move on to medical school using the same determination. “I’m on to the next journey but I will never forget this institution. There are so many good people here.”
IDENTIFYING ENTREPRENEURS
Medgar Evers College’s Entrepreneurship Society recently met with a team of faculty from across the College to help students who are interested in entrepreneurship turn their ideas into action. Micah Crump, Ph.D., Professor of Entrepreneurship in the Department of Public Administration, said the society would serve as a place where students, faculty, and alumni can meet, share resources and exchange ideas. The Society plans to catalogue each business owner and their business and showcase them to the MEC campus family, said Crump. The Society also seeks to identify faculty and staff experts who are interested in joining new startup teams related to their expertise. In addition to Crump, several faculty members serve as advisors/mentors to the students involved. They include Dean JoAnn Rolle, Dean Terrance Blackmon, Miles McAfee, Onyema Osuagwu, Christopher Boxe, Dereck Skeete, Alicia Reid, David Alm and John Lauerman. Crump said the society also hopes to serve other College stakeholder groups such as community members, faculty, staff, alumni, future MEC students, and family of MEC people. Interested people should visit the Entrepreneurship Experiential Lab, Room 405A in the Carroll building, Saturdays at noon.
You can view a video from this meeting here
FACULTY/STUDENT MENTIONS
David Orenstein, Anthropology Professor and Deputy Chairperson of the Social & Behavioral Sciences Department, and Rawan Alhaj, a senior at MEC, co-authored an article that was published in the online journal, CounterPunch. Alhaj, who is a Psychology major, took Orenstein’s Anthropology class last semester. You can read their article, “Person-to-Person: A Professor and Student on the Recent United States Jerusalem Decision,” .
Jo-Ann Rolle, Dean of the School of Business, and Wallace Ford, Public Administration Department Chair, have been invited to speak at the International Conference on Management, Business and Leadership (ICMBL) The conference will be held at Sindh Madressatul Islam University (SMIU) in Pakistan, May 10 -11, 2018. According to the program, Dean Rolle and Professor Ford are the only US speakers invited to participate. Wallace Ford, Chair of the Department of Public Administration, was a guest on Fox 5 News at 6 last Wednesday. Ford was invited to discuss racial segregation in New York City schools. Additionally, on Friday he appeared on Arise America TV to weigh in on the continuing election law issues faced by President Trump.
The Following faculty members received the Best Track Presenter award at a recent conference held by the Academy of Business & Retail Management (ABRM).
1. David Ahn
2. Wallace Ford
3. Micah Crump
4. Christian Waterman
5. School of Business Dean. Jo-Ann Rolle
The ABRM-MEC International conference on Business & Economic Development (ICBED), which was co-sponsored by the School of Business, was held April 9-10, 2018.
