On Friday, August 30, 2024, the incoming 2024-2025 CUNY Peer Leaders (CPL) gathered in the Skylight Room at the Graduate Center on Fifth Avenue to kick off the new academic year with a discussion about transformational leadership. 

CPL Director Lauren Melendez began with opening remarks welcoming the incoming Leaders into the program. 

This iteration of the CPL program began in Fall 2020 through the CUNY Humanities Alliance (HA) which is a project at the CUNY Graduate Center funded by the Mellon Foundation that connects doctoral students to humanities teaching and learning experiences at CUNY’s community colleges, including LaGuardia Community College, Hostos Community College, Borough of Manhattan Community College, and Guttman Community College. The Humanities Alliance exposes graduate students to the best ways to support humanities education in the community college context, while expanding access to the humanities for undergraduates. 

Thanks to generous support from the Mellon Foundation, we are delighted to welcome 45 undergraduates from 18 CUNY colleges into the CPL program. During this one day kick off CPLs learned about important resources that will aid them in their service as CUNY Peer Leaders. All of the skill shares and exercises for this program were designed by CUNY graduate students, faculty and staff. Participation in these activities is the first step toward a year-long effort to develop and strengthen undergraduates’ leadership and mentoring skills in order to seize new possibilities in their personal and professional lives. In their roles as leadership fellows, students will not only build on these newfound talents and strengths for their own advancement, but also share them with peers at their respective colleges and beyond, through their future careers and endeavors.  

The one-day kick off supports the Futures Initiative’s mission:

• The Futures Initiative advocates greater equity and innovation in higher education through student-centered teaching and learning, and to promote collaboration by difference.

After introducing the program and its supporting offices—the Futures Initiative and Humanities Alliance—Melendez guided the Leaders to introduce themselves with an engaging warm-up entry ticket. Everyone stood in a circle to face one another and passed the mic. In addition to the traditional introductions (name, campus, major), participants also shared either a pose or a word to describe their feelings going into the new academic year. This prompted students to share a little more about themselves as human beings and they are all such exceptional, remarkable leaders in their communities.

After a short break, Melendez led a discussion on conventional versus non positional and unconventional paths. Our new CPL Program Facilitator and Doctoral Fellow, Sunisa Nuonsy, guided students through a discussion of different models for leadership, including quotes by Audre Lorde, Gloria Anzaldua, and Yuri Kochiyama. CPLs explored the distinctions between transformational and transactional leadership as well as the idea of love as an action, inspired by Audre Lorde. 

Following our lunch break, Mellon Senior Researcher Dr. Christina Katopodis talked about professionalizing one’s digital identity and making the most out of publishing blog posts as part of the CPL program. Using the program’s professional camera, she took headshots for the CPLs so they can use these pictures in their professional profiles. The meeting ended with a few logistical items and palpable feelings of gratitude and mutual admiration among everyone in the room. We’re all looking forward to an inspiring year together. 

In addition to supporting Futures Initiative and Humanities Alliance goals, CPL supports initiative #4 of CUNY’s first strategic roadmap goal: “Increase the pipeline of students of color and other underrepresented groups entering graduate and professional programs to amplify equitable outcomes.” By encouraging students to engage in self-reflection, activities that foster self-actualization, and opportunities to explore both conventional and unconventional paths in this kickoff event and meetups throughout the academic year, the CPL program also contributes to Goal #2, initiative #3, preparing students for successful, authentic career trajectories.

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