Student Success

Samuel Galloway

Assistant Professor of Political Science

This course looks at the politics of media ecologies. Learn media literacy, the ways political institutions and actors interface with media, and how to be a socially responsible media consumer and sharer.

Shaka McGlotten

Professor of Media Studies

Black Futures explores pasts, presents, and futures of Black Life, emphasizing the creativity, endurance, and resilience of Black peoples. Incorporating an eclectic array of source materials from ancient art and slave narratives, to music and blockbuster media, the course will cultivate global historical perspectives and critical thinking and reasoning skills,  grounded in the present, in the Movement for Black Lives in particular, as well as the ways ordinary people (including students) are creating the conditions for Black futures to emerge and thrive around the world. 

Melissa Rodriguez

Lecturer of Communications 

This course explores heterogeneous genres of personal documentary, essay film, and autobiographical or first-person media from film and video to photography. Drawing on traditions in literature, anthropology, commercial and independent filmmaking, and social justice activism and organizing, these works are opened up through texts from the disciplines of gender studies, cultural studies, disability studies, cinema and media theory, history, and critical ethnic studies.

Projects include both writing assignments, and creative exercises utilizing “personal media” such as simple voice recording software and digital photo capture and video recording via phones and laptops, in conversation with the works addressed.

This course is accessible and applicable across students’ majors, and is particularly useful for those who are undeclared.

Kerry Manzo

Visiting Assistant Professor of Literature

In this course, students will explore the many community resources that support and affirm LGBTQIA+ students and allies on our Purchase campus, including academic, health and wellness, and social advocacy resources. Hear guest lectures and panels from LGBTQIA+ community leaders beyond our campus borders, including those near home in Westchester and NYC and those working further afield in embattled states like Texas. Engage with the campus and local community through planning and hosting an event.  

Engage in volunteer work at Westchester’s LOFT LGBT Center and take a Purchase in the City trip to visit the Ali Forney Center for Homeless LGBTQIA+ youth or The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Community Center of New York City.

This course is suitable for all students, whether or not they identify within the LGBTQIA+ community, including for those pursuing careers in public service fields.

Mariana Carreño

Assistant Professor of Playwriting

Writing well can offer many ways to make a living, not only while students find their path to their professional lives, but also once they’ve found it.

Journey into different genres of writing from academic papers and journalistic pieces, to character profiles, marketing and advertising materials, grant writing, and even cooking recipes.

Explore Purchase history, including the cemeteries in and around the college, the immigration inflow from Central America to Port Chester and surrounding villages (and the amazing food they’ve brought with them), and on the way new media shapes the stories we hear and live every day.

Mark Jonas

Associate Professor of Biology

What makes us human? Why do we have sex? Why do we smile? How do pandemics emerge? Why should we care about climate change? Through a mix of in-class activities and hands-on projects, this seminar will explore the causes and consequences of biodiversity and evolutionary ecology. The seminar will also offer opportunities for students to explore the beauty of Purchase Campus and the various student services offered by the College.

Guadalupe (Lupita) Gonzalez

Assistant Professor of Psychology

This course will explore Latinx/a/o/e identity in the United States using a social
psychological approach. We will explore how Latinx identity has developed and evolved throughout history. Various topics will be examined including the development of ethnic identity, Latinx history and culture, social justice, activism, and the psychological processes associated with Latinx identity, among other topics. The course will incorporate a variety of learning materials including books, podcasts, videos, documentaries, social media, and guest lectures. Students will explore how Latinx culture has influenced New York City and its surrounding communities through trips, local events, and projects. Importantly, students will examine what it means to be Latinx
at Purchase College—a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI).

This course is suitable for all students, whether or not they identify as Latinx

Donna Cornachio

Assistant Professor of Journalism

This course will empower students to acclimate to their freshman year by taking an active role in the basic skills of reporting. Students will be introduced to the foundational elements of reporting, researching, interviewing and writing, and become active consumers​ of news from a variety of outlets, from The New York Times to Twitter to TikTok. Students will immerse themselves as reporters into the various areas of the college by interviewing members of administration, faculty, staff and other students to report on and explore issues related to all aspects of campus life. Students will learn how to approach subjects for interviews, conduct interviews and write articles that will be published in the student-run campus publication The Phoenix. 

No previous journalism experience is required; a curiosity and openness to stretch oneself is encouraged.

Jordan Shue

Assistant Professor of Practice in Entrepreneurship in the Arts

Using classroom discussion and interactive learning activities, this seminar explores the role of art in society through the lens of prominent themes that have influenced United States history. After reviewing the government and institutional support for arts that emerged in the 1940s and 1950s (i.e., Works Progress Administration, National Endowment for the Arts), students engage with contemporary questions related to art as a catalyst for change (e.g., social justice, community engagement, democratization of culture, free speech, etc.). The seminar ends with forward looking vision of what the arts and creative industries hold in store for the future.

Carlos Amado

Assistant Professor of Communications and French

The language you speak is an integral part of your identity. Like nationality, religion, and membership in a community (such as
Purchase College!), your native language and the language(s) you use in your daily life are part of who you are. For people who speak a language other than the dominant language of the country in which they live, issues of identity and belonging become critical. In this seminar, we will explore the complex issues related to language and identity, with a specific focus on non-native speakers of English.
We will discuss the meaning of various terms, including native speaker, bilingual, code-switching, pidgin, and creole to understand the ways language shapes a person’s sense of self.

Gaura Narayan  

Associate Professor of Literature

This First-year Seminar will empower students to acclimate to their freshman year via literary study. In this introductory course we will examine a variety of literary texts from various thematic perspectives such as love, gender, family, loss, and social critique. We will read both short works and selections from longer works in the hope that students will feel encouraged to read and examine the longer work on their own. No prior knowledge of literature is required. Bring your love of reading and your interest in discussion. Any student who wishes to introduce a text or texts that are outside the selection offered in this course is welcome to do so. We will also discuss and include topics such as time management, using the library, plagiarism etc. with help from our peer mentors

Emiliano Diaz

Associate Professor of Philosophy

In this class, we will explore philosophical approaches to questions of knowledge, existence, the good life, and moral action. Though there is a great deal of work in the history of philosophy to draw upon in treating these themes, we will focus on contemporary works written for a broad audience. Mainly, these works will provide tools for thinking about and discussing important questions as a class. Issues that are particularly relevant in our current age, issues involving misinformation, identity, rights, and equity, will be our focus. The aim is not to answer every question we ask, but to begin developing and cultivating the art of asking a question and the practice of rigorously interrogating the answers we give as a way of opening up new avenues of thought, avenues that can be transformative. The aim, then, is to begin something here that will continue in your other classes and throughout your college career.

Peter Polinski

Lecturer, Associate Director of Advising

This seminar explores the various ways in which music and art operate in our daily lives. Instead of analyzing music as passive entertainment, we will consider how great music flourishes, along with the potential inspiration that music provides us as artists of our own lives. After researching conceptual frameworks, we will attempt to answer questions such as: what does powerful art reveal to us? Can one encounter music akin to writing or reading great literature? We will explore music and discuss selections from Nietzsche’s Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music, Mann’s Death in Venice, and James Merrill’s poetry, to name a few.

Cat Munroe

Assistant Professor of Psychology

This course will explore and complicate what resilience is, and to whom it is available. We will discuss and challenge conceptualizations of resilience in the psychological literature; practices, interpersonal, and community factors associated with well-being; indicators of burnout; and the critical need to care for and preserve oneself when engaging in mission-driven work. An ongoing theme will be who is—and is not—able to access the resources and practices that support well-being, how each of us can contribute to and be a part of a more just world, and creating space for each other for rest and care.

Learning materials and activities will include empirical research and book chapters, podcasts, experiential activities, and visiting offices and resources at Purchase, and will be adjusted to the specific interests needs of our class community. Please note that elf-reflection on one’s own identities and life experiences will be a central component of this course; however, each person will have full autonomy over whether reflections are shared.

Ennis Addison

Visiting Assistant Professor of Global Studies

Purchase College lies in the back yard of one of the most dynamic urban spaces in the world. Indeed, the writer Edmundo Desnoes famously dubbed New York City, “an infinite city.” At the heart of its dynamism is the diverse array of stories and storytellers that have constructed it to be an iconic urban idea, brick by brick.At the intersection of urban and cultural studies, this first-year seminar will serve to explore a variety of literary, sonic, and cinematic narratives the have fashioned New York City’s novel imaginary—bound up with the utopic and the dystopic alike. Along with intriguing class discussions, innovative writing assignments and a multi-media centered classroom, students will take periodic excursions to the neighborhoods (e.g., The West Village, Spanish Harlem, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Flushing ) that inspired many of the narratives that they will study, as they begin to foster a meaningful relationship between Purchase and the Big Apple.

Dana Michelle Harris

Visiting Instructor of Gender Studies

This class explores the complex and interconnected nature of structural arrangements and how they shape individual and collective experiences. This course will examine the interplay of race, gender, sexuality, ability, and other axes of identity in specific social contexts. Through exploring Black feminism, students will examine how Blackwomen’s experiences and analyses have shaped our understanding of intersecting systems of oppression and privilege. We emphasize the importance of understanding these intersections to address issues of inequality and injustice effectively. Students will engage with case studies about social movements to analyze and develop strategies for social activism critically. By the end of the course, participants will be equipped with the knowledge and tools to advocate for equity and move towards reshaping society.

Enid Lotstein

Lecturer, Environmental Studies

Climate change is currently among the most pressing issues facing the world, and it is vital for each of us, as members of the global community, to understand its underlying principles and impacts. From fossil fuels, methane, and deforestation to sound policies that ensure we can adapt to and slow climate change, this course will explore climate justice on both the local and international scale and how to maintain hope in the midst of climate change.

Students will research scientific information, hone their critical thinking skills, develop their writing ability, and engage in lively discussion skills throughout the seminar.