News

The City College of New York’s newly established Office for Experiential Learning (OEL) has received a five-year grant of $2,999,599 from the U.S. Department of Education’s (DoE) Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions (DHSI) Program to support the Career Awareness and Pathways at City College (CAPACity) initiative and its associated activities.

The Office for Experiential Learning will work collaboratively with three divisions, the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership, the Division of Humanities and the Arts, and the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture, by bolstering a team of program and career advisors so that, upon graduation, students can attain opportunities often missed by first-generation students and people of color. The pipeline will support over 5,000 students over 5 years in these three divisions.

Senior Associate Provost for Academic Affairs and Assessment Doris Cintron is the initiative’s project director, and the OEL reports directly to her. OEL Executive Director Francesca Anselmi is the Co-Project Director.

“We are thrilled for this opportunity to work with three of the main Divisions on campus to cultivate and promote the talent of City College students. We look forward to implementing structural changes that will allow City College to support our Hispanic, first-generation, and low-income students so they can enter the workforce as an important voice in shaping America’s future economic and social fabric,” said Cintron.

Benefits of the program will include improved retention, graduation, and post-graduation employment outcomes for Hispanic and low-income students. Integrating student services for social, academic, and career needs from the earliest stage of a student’s arrival at City College will create a streamlined approach that is inherent to the OEL’s goals. Increased communication between students, alumni, and faculty will create a sense of belonging for students both to the College and their area of study. Mentoring and internships will foster career awareness and create clear pathways to post-graduation success for students.

CAPACity aims to integrate advising for 1,000 students, to enroll 2,300 participants in career workshops, to near-peer mentor 450 students, and to professionally mentor and offer internships to 1,500 students. In addition, the creation of data tools and analytics will be used to track current students’ usage of advising and alumni post-graduation outcomes.

In 2020, prior to the creation of the OEL, the College received a DoE DHSI grant to fund the City College Initiative to Promote Academic Success in STEM (CiPASS) to support underrepresented minorities and experiential learning in the school’s divisions. The current Biden/Harris White House administration has prioritized investing in the DHSI program.