Hostos Celebrates Inaugural Industry Summit to Discuss the Future of Nursing

On November 18, President Daisy Cocco De Filippis, with support from the divisions of Continuing Education and Workforce Development (CEWD) and Office of Academic Affairs (OAA), kicked off the first Hostos Industry Summit focused on Nursing. The Hostos Industry Summit will be a twice-annual opportunity to convene employers, government, faculty, staff and students, each to be focused on a different industry sector and is emblematic of the President’s commitment to supporting career and academic pathways that lead to family-sustaining wages.
  The value of such a meeting cannot be understated: bringing stakeholders together provides opportunities to strengthen programs and pathways to employment. It creates an organic space in which stakeholders listen and make connections on a human scale that lead to improved opportunities for students.
 
Elías Alcántara, the Hostos Community Advisory Council Chair, co-sponsored the event with President Cocco De Filippis. Mr. Alcántara served as master of ceremonies at the event, which drew more than 80 participants from Montefiore-Einstein and Sun River Health. He also facilitated the speech delivered by Dara Kass, MD, the Regional Director for Region 2 of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Dr. Walid Michelen, ArchCare, the son of Dr. Nasry Michelen, Hostos’ first president.

The conversation elicited a number of recommendations and action items shared by employers, students and faculty in attendance:

• Hostos should continue to formalize Nursing graduates’ opportunities to transfer (immediately) to four-year colleges.  
• Industry partners emphasized the importance of developing students’ career skills including: communication skills, person-centered care (aka customer service), critical thinking skills, cultural competency, and leadership skills.
• Hostos could provide more opportunities for Nursing students to practice and develop basic skills (in a lab, and in the clinical setting) to help students learn what it feels like working in the clinical environment.
• Hostos should consider providing students with opportunities to learn about the financial aspect of medical facilities/operations. A number of employers offered their time and expertise, demonstrating their commitment to Hostos students’ career success. For example, a representative from Montefiore’s Human Resources offered to mock interview students and help them write their CVs. Another representative from Montefiore offered to provide resources and speakers to address cultural competency.

Hostos students praised the faculty’s support and rigor and alumni cited the strong foundations provided by training received at Hostos. In all, it was a successful, informative and engaging event that reminded us all of the many resources available to our students at Hostos and from the community around us.

The Nursing program will continue to build on the success of this event. In Spring 2023, there will be a Summit focused on IT subsectors, including cybersecurity and data analytics.