Danny Ambrose comes to The NCC with in-depth experience developing and managing student life programs, advising student organizations, and training emerging student leaders. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Danny attended the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he studied psychology and discovered his passion for leadership development and civic engagement. Danny received his Masters in Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration from Indiana University and began his career working in Residence Life at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Danny joined the CUNY family in 2010 as Student Life Specialist for Civic Responsibility and Student Development at Borough of Manhattan Community College where he helped establish the Co-Curricular Transcript and the Safe Zone programs. When Danny isn’t working at the NCC he can be found playing volleyball, spending time with close friends or volunteering as a lifeline counselor with the Trevor Project, the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth.

Dr. Larian Angelo is the Vice President for Administration and Finance at Guttman Community College, overseeing Budget, Facilities, IT, HR, Enrollment Management and Communications. She brings to the College a deep commitment to public service with significant expertise in public finance and public policy and government and community relations.

Prior to joining the College in 2012, Dr. Angelo worked in New York City government for 21 years. She most recently served as the Deputy Director for Education, Government Relations and Community Boards at the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget. Among her responsibilities was direct oversight of the City University of New York’s budget.

Prior to serving in the Office of Management and Budget, Dr. Angelo was the Director of the New York City Council Finance Division where she developed budget strategies in consultation with the Speaker of the City Council. Early in her career she served as the Research Director for the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers union.

Dr. Angelo received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brooklyn College and a Ph.D. in economics from the New School for Social Research and has been an adjunct lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Hofstra University. An expert in public finance and economics, Dr. Angelo has written and lectured extensively and continues to advise city and state officials.

Nicola Blake, a CUNY alumna, completed her doctorate in medieval literature at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. Her research focuses on the role of narrators and narrative structure in medieval and modern literature. She specializes in dream theory and theories of memory and performance.

Nicola previously taught for more than 10 years at Rutgers and the City College of New York. She served as director of the Samuel Rudin Resource Center at City College, and she chaired and co-chaired various presidential initiatives on student success there.

Nicola has received several awards for her service and scholarship, including one for service learning from the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies. She has participated in national and local grants focused on high-impact practices to improve writing at the post-secondary level.

Joseph is responsible for ensuring the accuracy and confidentiality of student academic records. His office maintains student records, assigns classes to rooms, organizes registration and provides transcripts of student study.

Previously, Joseph served as university registrar at St. John’s University, where he developed online services for faculty and students and worked extensively on academic calendars, class meeting time patterns and the effective use of instructional spaces. Earlier as Columbia University’s registrar, he revamped the approach to student services, introduced early registration, and implemented telephone registration and online degree audit. Joseph has also worked at Queens College and the New York Institute of Technology.

In 1979, Joseph got a grant from the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers to write a guide to the Italian educational system for admissions officers. That began his lengthy participation in national, regional and local professional associations. Joseph holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in English from St. John’s University.

As Dean of Strategic Planning and a member of the Executive Committee, Dr. Cochran is involved in many of the day-to-day issues of building a new college. As a member of the College planning team since early 2009 and a Deputy to the Project Director Tracy Meade, he helped guide the process that led to approval by the CUNY Board of Trustees and the New York State Department of Education of the Application for Opening a New College and A Proposal for the Initial Programs of Study (January 2011). Since 2012 he has overseen the extensive work at the college in developing plans for assessment (both student learning outcomes and institutional effectiveness) and an accreditation site visit by NYSED that led to a vote in December 2012 by the Board of Regents accrediting the College for five years with an interim report after three years. He is the College's co-liaison of the Foundations of Excellence first year self-study, and as the Middle States Commission for Higher Education accreditation liaison officer, he is responsible for the submission of an Accreditation Readiness Report initiating the multi-year MSCHE process. Dr. Cochran is also the elected Secretary to the Guttman College Council.

Prior to his work at the College, Cochran served as the Director of Research and Evaluation for CUNY Collaborative Programs in the Office of Academic Affairs. In that capacity he helped design and oversee the conduct of quantitative and qualitative research on academic programs including College Now, the Middle Grades Initiative/GEAR UP, and CUNY Prep. He joined Collaborative Programs in 2000 as a co-director of Looking Both Ways, a professional development project for writing teachers at CUNY and New York City public schools. He earned his master’s and doctorate in English with a certificate in American Studies at the CUNY Graduate School and taught for ten years at Queens College at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Jason provides front-line support for all technology issues at the college.  He is involved in server administration, network management and support services.

Jason has more than 10 years of experience in the IT field at CUNY Computing and Information Services (CIS). He is mostly self-taught and proficient across a range of computer systems and environments. In his previous role at CIS, Jason undertook projects including securing the private network and rolling out a help desk system for staff use. Some of his current projects include computer imaging and asset management.

Tracy Daraviras completed her doctorate in English education at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. She is a former teacher for the New York City Department of Education.

After earning her Ph.D, Tracy was an assistant professor for the SEEK (Search for Elevation, Education and Knowledge) Department at Brooklyn College. She taught compensatory reading and writing classes to prepare freshmen for CUNY literacy tests and critical inquiry reading classes to prepare students for the demands of academic literacy. She actively participated in the department’s annual summer institute for incoming freshmen. She was also coordinator of the SEEK Tutoring Center, where her duties included recruiting, hiring, training and scheduling tutors; overseeing students on academic probation; and working with with instructional faculty and counselors. In addition, Tracy was responsible for organizing various philanthropic and cultural extracurricular activities each year.

Much of Tracy’s work has focused on first-year college students and the variables that positively affect student retention, success and persistence. Her research interests also include urban education, writing instruction methodology and academic literacy.

Scott joined CUNY in 2011 as Guttman Community College’s founding president. He served as professor of psychology and founding dean of University College at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis. He joined the psychology faculty there after completing his Masters' and Doctorate in Social Psychology at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Psychology at Indiana University at Bloomington. Scott has long been involved in designing, implementing and assessing programs for students in their first years of university study. He played a major role in various initiatives to support student achievement in Indiana, including efforts to keep students in college. He has given more than 100 presentations on serving students as they enter college, and he has written many articles and chapters on academic achievement and persistence.  Scott was a task force advisor for the Foundations of Excellence in the First College Year and a board member of the American Conference of Academic Deans. He has been a resource faculty member at the Summer Quality Academy of the Institute for Higher Education Policy and for the General Education and Assessment Institute of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. He served on the advisory board for the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, and as a faculty member for the Learning Community Institute of the Washington Center for Undergraduate Education. The National Learning Community conference recognized him with the lifetime achievement award. He has been on accreditation teams for three regional associations, focusing on general education, assessment and programs for entering students.

Johannes Familton received graduate training in the mathematical and physical sciences at Kings College, London University, U.K. He also did graduate work in pure mathematics in CCNY and the Graduate Center at CUNY. He is presently completing a doctoral degree at Columbia University. His dissertation is about the history of Quaterions and how these rotation groups developed in theoretical physics. At present he teaches Statistics at NCC, both the stretched and unstretched courses. Previously, Johannes Familton taught mathematics at BMCC. While he was there he was involved in various innovative projects in mathematics education. This included peer mentoring and quantitative reasoning. Johannes Familton is originally from New York City. He is well traveled within and outside the United States.

Karla holds a doctorate in biology from Purdue University. Her dissertation focused on regulating the MEN1 and RET genes and their role in hereditary cancers. While pursuing her doctoral degree, Karla was a recruiter of underrepresented students for Purdue’s life science department.

Later, Karla accepted a post-doctoral appointment at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center’s Science Park Research Division. She studied the role of p53 gene polymorphisms in cancer cell signaling while working as a supervisor and mentor in the undergraduate summer research program. Following her post-doctoral work, Karla became the first program manager of the Science and Math Institute (SAMI) at Bellevue College. She created programs, events and a Web site to encourage students from kindergarten through college to take an interest in science and mathematics as a career. Karla has taught a range of undergraduate level biology classes.

Verlene “Vee” Herrington is the Chief Librarian and Director of Academic Technologies at the Associate Professor rank at NCC. In this hybrid faculty position, Vee works collaboratively to lead the implementation and development of the Information Commons/Library and academic technologies in support of the NCC instructional program. Vee is part of the instructional team, focusing on embedding Information Literacy (IL) into the curriculum at the point of need. Using a student-centered pedagogy, students will learn to understand the social impact of information through discussion, peer learning and reflection—they will become critical and discerning in their use of information.

Vee brings broad and deep academic and information technology experience from her previous positions in academia, and the public and private sectors. She comes to us from Bronx Community College. At BCC, she managed acquisitions, collections, serials, and budgeting. Prior to that, Vee served as Chief Librarian for the US Army Military Intelligence Center (USAIC), responsible for all operations, including digital collections and web development, and a Corporate Library Director for Lucent Technologies where she specialized in Knowledge Management. For her work as the Command Librarian of USAIC, she won the Library of Congress Federal Librarian of the Year Award in 2008. Vee received a B.S. Degree from Ball State University in Psychology, two Master’s Degrees from the University of Cincinnati (School Psychology and Education), a third Master’s Degree from the University of Tennessee in Information Science, and a Ph.D. from Arizona State University in Education.

Rebecca Hoda-Kearse is Assistant Dean of Student Engagement and Success, and will lead the development and integration of co-curricular and engagement activities that prepare students to effectively work towards graduation and plan for the future. Reporting to the Provost, her responsibilities include overseeing the Summer Bridge program, first-year advisement, and co-curricular programs and events. As a member of the working committee that established the initial framework for the Office of Student Engagement, she is well grounded in the goals for the Office and institution. Ms. Hoda-Kearse comes to us from our sister institution, Hostos Community College, where she was the Director of Career Services working closely with faculty and staff to help students with course fieldwork, career planning and transitions. Among her many accomplishments, she has overseen several grant projects to provide supports for English language learners, providing professional development for faculty and staff on field-based learning and integrating career planning into enrollment management. Rebecca has a MS in education from Hunter College, with a focus in school and rehabilitation counseling. For her undergraduate degree she studied at Houghton College and received a BA in psychology with a concentration in Spanish.

Terry manages the daily operations of purchasing and receiving of goods and services for The New Community College and ensures adherence to various Federal and City guidelines. She also arranges and monitors compensation and reimbursement payments related to search committees, intra-University transfer, and honoraria.

Terry has more than fifteen years of experience in the nonprofit sector. Earlier in her career, she spearheaded community outreach targeting formerly incarcerated clients on behalf of Brooklyn's Fifth Avenue Committee and coordinated, promoted and taught youth and adult literacy outside of the traditional classroom.

Prior to joining The New Community College, Terry served as the adult literacy coordinator for Imani House, Inc. and helped many adults achieve their literacy goals. She also worked for the borough president's office in the community service department, serving as a liaison between residents and government officials to address constituent concerns. As a result of her dedication to community engagement, Terry received an award for "Outstanding Community Service" from the Bushwick Economic Development Corporation in 2003.

Terry has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Globe Institute of Technology and a master’s degree in urban planning from Long Island University.

LaToya assists the president with daily activities and projects, and she serves as the primary contact person for the president’s office. She has been part of the CUNY community for the past decade as both a student and professional. She previously provided administrative support to the vice chancellor for research at CUNY Central. She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from Hunter College and is currently taking graduate courses in business management and leadership at The CUNY School of Professional Studies.

Robert is responsible for the implementation and support of the new college’s IT systems and network infrastructure. He is also responsible for the technology services supporting the NCC’s administrative and operational functions.

Robert is a seasoned IT professional with over 13 years of experience in various IT roles across multiple industries and sectors. Prior to joining The New Community College, Robert worked at Public Health Solutions, where he was Deputy Director of Information Systems and Telecommunications. At Public Health Solutions, Robert managed the team responsible for all IT functions within the organization. He and his team implemented an Electronic Medical Records system for Public Health Solutions’ community based woman’s health clinics throughout New York City.

Previously, Robert held various technical positions at organizations throughout New York City. He worked in web development at Global Kids, a non-profit educational organization for global learning and youth development. Robert also worked in the Corporate Human Resources Business Technology Group at Pfizer, supporting their PeopleSoft implementation.

Robert holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and mathematics from Queens College and a master’s degree in management and systems from New York University.

Jennifer oversees student admission to Guttman Community College as well as pre-college preparation programs, and she helps students in their transition to the school. She served previously as the director of communications and partnerships for the college during its planning period.

Earlier, Jennifer was assistant to the superintendent of Bergen County Technical Schools and Special Services School Districts. In that capacity, she assisted with the daily operation of two countywide school districts and supervised their grants department, public information and marketing, and global education initiatives.

Jennifer has extensive experience working with New York City public high schools. She designed and supervised multiple academic outreach programs for high school students as director of College Now and collaborative programs at Baruch College and assistant to the director of field projects at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Jennifer has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the State University of New York at Oneonta and a master’s in social work from New York University.

Nate Mickelson holds a master’s in English from Hunter College and is a doctoral candidate in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY. He has taught Freshman Writing and Introduction to Literature courses within CUNY since 2007, most recently as a Graduate Teaching Fellow at Queens College. While at Queens, he developed a freshman writing course for a learning community on the topic of urban mobility and led workshops on using in-class writing as a teaching/learning tool. His research focuses on the poetry of American urban spaces and the rhetoric of urban theory, planning, and design.

Previously, Nate provided research support to Guttman Community College as a Project Associate. In that role, he contributed to the preparation of the Application and Proposal to Establish the College and supported the work of the Committee on College Effectiveness and the faculty teams developing the business administration, urban studies, and energy services management majors. Nate grew up in rural western Wyoming and earned a bachelor’s in English from Yale University in 2002.

Joyce supports the daily the daily activities of The New Community College. Previously she worked for several years in accounts payable for the marketing and communications companies Interbrand and Futurebrand. Earlier in her career, she held several positions, from receptionist to accounting clerk, for Wilhelmina modeling agency. She has taken classes in business administration at the Borough of Manhattan Community College and plans to pursue her bachelor’s degree in business and accounting.

Randy is responsible for ensuring the advisement of students throughout their first year at NCC. Prior to NCC, Randy worked as a Business Communications Instructor and Advisor for Year Up, a nationally recognized non-profit organization geared to helping bridge the “Opportunity Divide” by equipping young adults with the necessary tools to be successful in a corporate environment.

Prior to Year Up, Randy worked as an Operations Manager, for Computers for Youth, where he oversaw the procurement and imaging process of over 10,000 cpu’s annually, ensuring the training and delivery of the systems to low-income middle school students throughout NYC. Randy also has experience as an English/ESL High School Teacher in Miami, Florida where he worked with ELL (English Language Learners) and underperforming students.

Randy earned his B.A. in Communications at Wilberforce University and his M.A. in Bilingual Education/ESL K-12 from Adelphi University.

As Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, José Luis Morín, serves as the second highest ranking administrator at Guttman Community College with chief responsibility for instruction, curricula, and all other academic aspects of the college.

Prior to joining the College, he held administrative positions at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and CUNY-wide. At John Jay, José spent eight years as chair of the Latin American and Latina/o Studies Department. During the 2006-2007 academic year, he established a new initiative to assist in recruiting Latino faculty for the entire CUNY system and was its interim director. From 2007 to 2009, José served as interim dean of undergraduate studies at John Jay, helping to evaluate the college’s general education program, establish standards for writing intensive courses and strengthen pre-law advisement. He spearheaded new initiatives including the Vera Fellows Program, the annual Celebrating Student Research event and the John Jay Subway Series for incoming students.

José also was a member of the criminal justice doctoral program at John Jay. His areas of academic specialization include domestic and international criminal justice, civil rights and international human rights law, race and ethnicity in the United States, Latina/o studies, and Latin American studies. He is the author of Latino/a Rights and Justice in the United States: Perspectives and Approaches (Carolina Academic Press), and editor of the forthcoming book Latinas/os and Criminal Justice: An Encyclopedia (Greenwood Press).

Before joining the faculty at John Jay College in 1998, José was a visiting professor at the Center for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaii at Mânoa, and he worked for many years as a civil rights and human rights litigator and advocate. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Columbia University and a J.D. from New York University School of Law.

Andrea Morrell holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the CUNY Graduate Center. Prior to coming to The New Community College, Andrea worked as a College Writing Fellow at Kingsborough Community College where she collaborated with faculty to design and implement writing intensive courses across the disciplines. She has taught courses in anthropology and urban studies at Queens College, Lehman College, and Brooklyn College. Andrea earned her undergraduate degree in international studies from American University in Washington, DC. As a college student, Andrea was active in creating service learning opportunities for her fellow students and from these experiences she carries a strong commitment to experiential learning. Her current research focuses on prisons and urban inequality, especially on urban development in Elmira, a small city in upstate New York where there are two state prisons. Andrea’s research interests include prisons and the criminal justice system, race and racism, cities and urban inequality, labor, and the anthropology of work.

Rochel Pinder provides targeted educational support, academic advisement, and counseling assistance to incoming and first-year students to facilitate persistence and success.

Prior to joining The New Community College, Rochel served as academic internship specialist in the Cooperative Education Department at LaGuardia Community College. In that capacity, she worked closely with faculty and employers to facilitate internship and experiential opportunities for students across multiple disciplines. In addition, as an adjunct lecturer at LaGuardia Community College she taught the internship reflection seminar course and an introductory career development course designed to help first- year students evaluate career and education plans.

Rochel has spent the last 9 years working in college student services and academic affairs with particular focus on career planning and internships. Her accomplishments include, spearheading the development and management of the Cooperative Education Program and the Non-traditional Employment Program at Hostos Community College. Rochel has a MPA in Policy Analysis and evaluation from Baruch College, School of Public Affairs and a BBA in Human Resource Management from Baruch College, Zicklin School of Business.

Angie supports the daily activities, projects and special events of The New Community College. She was previously the coordinator and co-manager of public programs at the New-York Historical Society, where she developed and supervised evening lectures with notable historians, authors and public figures. She created and planned concert series and family programs for the Slavery in New York, New York Divided, French Founding Father: Lafayette's Return to Washington's America, and Grant and Lee in War and Peace exhibitions. Angie earned a bachelor’s in communication arts & sciences and sociology from DePauw University in Indiana and is currently taking graduate courses in psychology at Hunter College.

Nicole completed her doctorate in clinical social work at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice. Her dissertation involves stress, burnout, compassion fatigue and the use of narrative interventions with oncology professionals. After completing her doctorate, she received advanced training in narrative medicine at Columbia University. Nicole directed the narrative oncology program and served on the interdisciplinary narrative professionalism committee at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses on human behavior, communication, clinical practice and social research at UPenn and Temple University in Philadelphia. Nicole has experience in forensic psychiatry, child welfare and home health care. She worked in hospital social work at Penn Medicine on medical-surgical services, rehabilitation medicine and oncology. She serves as a peer reviewer on several health journals and has published and presented at conferences on narrative and health care topics.

Vera is responsible for ensuring that students at the college recieve the financial aid to which they are entitled. She will also provide financial literacy information to students.  Vera has almost 30 years of financial aid experience at various New York City colleges. Most recently, she was the program compliance officer at CUNY’s Office of Student Financial Assistance. Prior to that, she was dean of student finance at DeVry Institute of Technology. She also served as financial aid director at LaGuardia Community College and Marymount Manhattan College. She has worked at Fordham University and at the U.S. Department of Education. Vera has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and media studies from Fordham and a master’s in counseling from Fordham’s Graduate School of Education.

Naveen holds a doctorate in economics and international business from New York University’s Stern School of Business. His dissertation focuses on international capital flows, and his research interests include international trade, finance and labor migration.

Naveen has taught business, economics and finance for undergraduate and graduate students and chaired departments of liberal arts and management at different institutions. He has also led efforts in curriculum and program development and program accreditation at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Before earning his doctorate, Naveen attended institutions of higher education in India and the United States, including Baruch College. He received numerous fellowships and awards during his undergraduate and graduate studies. He has published and presented papers on economics and finance, higher education learning outcomes, assessment, and program accreditation.

Under the direction of the Director of College Admissions and Access, Sophea will assist in the development of a strategic plan that is aligned with NCC’s goals of recruitment, enrollment, and student success, as well as administer a social media strategy to engage and support students throughout the admissions and enrollment process and assist in the development and operation of pre-college programs.

Sophea has almost a decade of experience in recruitment, enrollment management and student affairs, primarily focusing on providing access to higher education for underrepresented students by assisting them beyond their first steps of college planning. Recently, Sophea worked as the Academic Coordinator for the Arthur O. Eve Opportunity for Higher Education Program at The College at Brockport, State University of New York, where she also received her Bachelor of Science and Master of Public Administration. As the Academic Coordinator, she coordinated the academic components of the Summer Program and First Year Structured Program, oversaw the Peer Tutoring Program, and managed a caseload of undergraduate students to prepare them to obtain a baccalaureate degree by assisting with academic, financial, social, career advisement and support. Ms. So also worked as an Undergraduate Admissions Advisor at The College at Brockport and as the Program Coordinator in the Training and Upgrading department with 1199SEIU Training and Employment Fund where she developed, implemented and evaluated adult education courses, continuing education programs and health related programs for 1199SEIU members in the Rochester region.

Jovanny Suriel comes to The New Community College from TCI College of Technology where he worked with students as a Career Advisor to provide the necessary guidance and tools needed to succeed as professionals in their careers. He also was as a Graduate Assistant at Teachers College and worked at Columbia University’s Office of Access and Services for Individual with Disabilities (OASID), assisting students with disabilities on a 1:1 basis with academic development, time management skills, and accessing the needed resources to be successful in higher education. Additionally, Jovanny served at Iona College’s Counseling Center and the Dean Hope Center for Educational and Psychological Services as an Extern Therapist and Counseling Intern, respectively. Jovanny earned a Master of Education in psychological counseling at Teachers College, Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Science in human development with a concentration in psychology at Binghamton University, State University of New York (SUNY).

Alia earned a doctorate in sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center, where she researched alternative educational models. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses on sociology, deviance, statistics and education. After finishing her doctorate, she was a post-doctoral fellow at Columbia University’s Teachers College in the sociology and education program and then an assistant professor at Morgan State University.

A former high school math teacher, Alia sits on assessment committees for two small high schools and has worked as a statistical or academic consultant for several colleges and universities. Her research interests include the sociology of education, communities, sports and cultural studies. She is in the process of co-writing a sociological textbook, co-editing a book of essays on small schools in New York City and writing a book about her research on Central Park East Secondary School.

Lori earned her doctorate in international education development at Columbia University's Teachers College with a focus on curriculum and teaching. Her dissertation research examined a multiethnic high school in Brooklyn and how both curriculum and instructional practices included and excluded students based on their racial and ethnic backgrounds. Lori’s research interests include urban student populations, immigration and education, secondary and post-secondary literacy teaching and practices, and urban fiction. She has presented papers on diversifying literature in the English classroom and the burdens of being undocumented for high school seniors entering college.

Prior to joining The New Community College, Lori worked for 11 years for the New York City Department of Education, teaching high school English in Brooklyn. She was a New York City teaching fellow and worked in various positions in her school including lead teacher, literacy coach and master English teacher.

Gia implements the technology to support the college’s adoption of CUNY's many computer systems.  Gia brings 14 years of information technology experience. She was the senior systems developer at LaGuardia Community College, where she worked in information systems, software development, and database and Web technologies.

Gianina holds a bachelor’s degree from NY College of Technology, an enterprise systems developer certification and a technology trainer certification from Microsoft.