For the Borough of Manhattan Community College episode in NACCTEP Now's CUNY series we talk with President Dr. Anthony E. Munroe. As the largest undergraduate school in the CUNY system as well as one of the largest Hispanic Serving Institutions in the Northeast, BMCC is situated in lower Manhattan near Wall Street, the United Nations, and where the World Trade Center once stood. The location is "a prime position to develop educators with a global perspective."

Partnerships with local performing arts centers help future educators to learn how to incorporate art into the classrooms and lessons, the A in STEAM. On the STEM side, BMCC started a Women in STEM program to encourage and mentor women entering the field, as well as being a part of the New York HSI STEM Hub and the Pipeline Opportunity for Intercollegiate STEM Education with NYU. In BMCC's teacher education programs, integrated technology is emphasized so that future teachers can seamlessly incorporate new and future technologies into their classrooms. Some practicum and student teaching placements include co-teaching and designing lessons for both hybrid and fully online settings.

Additionally, Dr. Munroe shares that BMCC is "an environment where every student feels seen, valued, and supported, regardless of [their] background." Part of this includes programs specifically for first generation students as well as programs such as the New York State Opportunity Promise Program which provides free tuition for students over the age of 25 attempting their first college degree and the CUNY Reconnect Program which waives tuition and fees for students over 25 who are returning to complete a degree they had previously started and stepped away from.

This special CUNY series episode features Dr. Cocco De Filippis, President of Hostos Community College in the South Bronx sharing how Hostos' Associate of Arts, AA, and Associate of Applied Science, AAS, degrees help local students enter and advance in the teaching field. While AAS degrees allow students to directly enter the workforce or advance in their field, AA degrees lead to transferring to a bachelors program and 85% of the students from Hostos who transfer do so to another CUNY school.

One particular highlight of Hostos' education programs is a Bilingual AAS degree that is beneficial for their local community where over 50 languages are spoken. From their first courses, students in the education programs complete field experience hours. Some of these hours are completed by reading to children in the on-campus Child Care Center, others may include attending a local PTA meeting.

Dr. Cocco De Filippis is particularly proud of how Hostos' programs respect and honor the cultural differences of their students, especially with non-traditional students who may be parents or grandparents entering the teaching profession. Her passion for the profession and encouragement of those pursuing teaching is evident throughout this episode.

Dr. Christine Mangino, President of Queensborough Community College, and Dr. Anita Ferdenzi, leader of Queensborough's Education Academy, talk about the seamless pathway between Queensborough and Queens College for students in the education pathway. A grant from the Heckscher Foundation ensures that courses are transferred as courses rather than as a blanket transfer of credit hours. Curriculum and transfer meetings between the schools include the presidents of each school, showing the importance of developing seamless pathways for students pursuing transfer between the two schools. Queens College also has a new dual birth through 2nd grade and 1st through 6th grade degree which will allow even more courses to transfer.

Dr. Mangino also mentions the new child care center they hope to begin work on in the summer of 2026 that will include observation rooms that can be used by education students, psychology students, and nursing students. Ideally, the center will be available to both students and employees with small children.

The Drs. also discuss how the diverse student body at Queensborough reflects the diversity within the Queens community. Students from 120 countries who speak more than 80 different languages and dialects may one day have a positive effect on their own community.

In this episode, LaGuardia Community College President Kenneth Adams discusses the many successes at LaGuardia with rebounding enrollment in their teacher preparation programs. Chief among these successes is the linguistic and cultural diversity of the students in the programs that is reflective of the borough of Queens, New York. With roughly 125 different countries and 50 heritage languages in the community, LaGuardia's enrollment spans them all and includes an education associate bilingual child degree program.

President Adams also discusses the many critical resources that LaGuardia Community College has to assist students in overcoming any health care, food needs, and financial barriers to being both enrolled in and successful in their degree programs. Among these resources is the TEACH NY program that is a statewide collection of resources as well as a newly introduced program from New York Governor Hochul that allows for free tuition to any student aged 25-55 pursuing a degree in a high needs program, including the education field called the New York State Opportunity Program.

President Adams also shared how AI could help broaden the reach and engagement with students and families as they navigate the admissions process in higher education. He mentioned in their advisement area, LaGuardia is exploring the use of AI devices that can translate English into ten other languages to make students and their families more comfortable without needing to wait for a human translator to assist.

Kicking off this special series featuring the community colleges of CUNY is Dr. Larry Johnson, President of Bronx Community College. Dr. Johnson is also the Presidential Representative on the NACCTEP Executive Board.

Listen in as he describes his passion for community colleges and the vital role they play in shaping the future of teacher education. Dr. Johnson's first exposure to the value of community colleges stems from watching his own mother attend a community college while working to provide for her family. Becoming an educator himself was born from his experience in high school, one of not seeing teachers that looked like himself, and of finding a teacher who acted as a father figure and showed encouragement. Dr. Johnson turned these experiences into a desire to become a professor, to be able to encourage and change the course of others' young lives.

As the fall semester begins, we look forward to our annual chat with the IRIS Center. This year we talk with Darcie Peterson from the IRIS Center Technical Assistance team. Ms. Peterson relates her background in using the IRIS Center resources before joining their staff and training others to use those resources.

In addition to discussing the new functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and behavioral intervention plan (BIP) modules, she shares several other IRIS Resources, including the For Faculty section, which offers tools to help integrate IRIS Center resources into coursework and programs. Additionally, Darcie introduces our listeners to the IRIS Center’s website navigation videos as well as where to sign up for their newsletter. Links to resources and features mentioned in the podcast are below.

IRIS Center Overview

For Faculty Section

IRIS Top Tips for Faculty

Coursework Planning Forms

PD Certificates for Educators

Website Navigation Videos

Newsletter Sign Up

In this episode we hear from Sabrina Baptiste of the Pathways Alliance. She and Julie Ferin discuss the collaborative and supportive nature of the monthly Pathways Alliance video meetings where different partner organizations can share innovative ideas. On their website, thepathwaysalliance.org , there are numerous resources as well as the opportunity to sign up for email updates and their newsletter. The Pathways Alliance has also created national guidelines for K-12 registered apprenticeships and teacher residencies and has developed a compendium of the registered apprenticeships and teacher residencies across 48 states.

Next month, the Pathways Alliance will be hosting a webinar on funding for residencies and apprenticeships. How to get funding, what to do with it once you have it, and more. Register here

For more information or to discuss becoming a partner organization, you can reach out to Ms. Baptiste at PathwaysAlliance@Innovateedunyc.org.

Season 4 of NACCTEP Now kicks off with a discussion between NACCTEP Executive Director Julie Ferin and NACCTEP President Dr. R. Lennon Audrain. In this episode NACCTEP's plans for the 2025-26 academic year are shared. These plans include a special week of NACCTEP Now episodes with the presidents of the CUNY community colleges set for a September 8th launch.

Also, NACCTEP's annual Fall Institute will be in November featuring partnerships between high schools, community colleges, universities, and local school districts.

In February, NACCTEP will again host a pre-conference ahead of the AACTE Annual Meeting being held in New Orleans. For this pre-conference, NACCTEP is accepting presentation submissions through 11:59 on October 12th.

Spring 2026 will also include NACCTEP's 2nd Annual Spring Leadership Institute.