Forum on the Presidential Search for Hostos CC

Hostos Community College Presidential Search Committee Formed

Statement from Chancellor Goldstein

I am pleased to announce that a search committee to make recommendations for the next president of Hostos Community College has been formed. The committee will be chaired by Philip Alfonso Berry, Vice Chairman of the CUNY Board of Trustees. He will be joined by fellow CUNY Trustees Rita DiMartino, Hugo Morales, Freida Foster-Tolbert and Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, as well as President Ricardo R. Fernández of Herbert H. Lehman College.

Three Hostos Community College faculty have been appointed temporary committee members until an election by the Hostos faculty senate can be held in September: Professor Diana Diaz, Department of English; Professor Linda Hirsch, Department of English; and Professor Loreto Porte, Department of Instructional Technology. Student and alumni representatives are pending and will be in place shortly. Narcisa Polonio, Vice President for Research, Education and Board Leadership Services of the Association of Community College Trustees, will serve as the University’s consultant for this national search. more >>

Hostos Community College President to Step Down;
Ten Years of Service Lauded by CUNY Chancellor

July 7th, 2008. Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community College President Dolores M. Fernandez announced today that she will be stepping down from the presidency, following the conclusion of a transition process for her successor.

Noting her ten years of service as president in a July 1 letter to CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein she said, “Hostos Community College has come a long way from the institution that I inherited in 1998, but I believe that it is ready for a new administration to take it to the next level.”

Chancellor Goldstein responded with “deepest appreciation for all you have done over the past ten years to enhance and elevate Hostos Community College.” He continued, “You proved to be a dedicated partner of progress, lifting this vitally important institution to new heights and opening doors to new opportunities. You deserve our warmest gratitude and we will celebrate the decade of educational achievements attained through your leadership.”

Both President Fernandez’s letter and Chancellor Goldstein’s response are attached below.

During her tenure, President Fernandez led the creation and development of numerous programs, including the Hostos Honors Program and Honors Institute for the Associate Arts degree; the Serrano Scholars Program, and joint degree with Columbia University (named in honor of Congressman Jose Serrano); four engineering dual degree and joint admission programs with The City College of New York; the Collaboration Scholarship Program between CUNY, the Dominican Republic Government, and the Department of Higher Education; the Hostos Academic Learning Center; and the College Enrichment Academy.  more >>

Hostos Community College Holds
Thirty-Seventh Commencement Exercise
Political Anchor and Award-winning Journalist Dominic Carter
Addresses Class of 2008

Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community College held its thirty-seventh commencement exercise on the evening of Wednesday, June 4, 2008. At this event, Hostos President Dolores M. Fernández stated: “This is the fortieth year of this college’s existence, so in addition to celebrating our graduates’ accomplishments, we are also continuing our celebration of the ruby anniversary of our jewel in the South Bronx. Forty years ago, this area was an international symbol of urban blight; today it is a thriving, resurgent community, due, we believe, in part to having a college of excellence in its midst.”

The guest speaker at the ceremony was Dominic Carter, a political anchor, author, and award-winning journalist who hosts “Inside City Hall,” a public affairs series on NY1 News. Carter is also the author of No Momma’s Boy: How I Let Go of My Past and Embraced the Future, a memoir in which he reveals how and why his late mother, who endured a lifelong struggle with paranoid schizophrenia, abused him during his childhood.

In spite of his troubled past, Carter went on to attend the State University of New York at Cortland and became the first member of his family to graduate from college. After speaking about his experiences, Carter told the Hostos class of 2008, "Always believe in yourself and be willing to work for it, and then you can achieve."  more >>