CUNY presidents talk college & COVID-19
BY JACOB KAYE
The newly appointed presidents
of four CUNY schools
in Queens sat down with Schneps
Media last week to discuss
their backgrounds and
the challenges their respective
schools face in the coming
months — and potentially
years — as a result of the
COVID-19 crisis.
With a spring semester to
learn from and a summer of
planning under their belt, the
presidents see the challenge
as a chance to move the CUNY
system into the future and to
provide opportunities to students
they may have not otherwise
been able to provide.
But prior to being appointed
as college presidents,
Dr. Berenecea Johnson Eanes,
the president of York College;
Dr. Christine Mangino, the
president-designate of Queensborough
Community College;
Frank Wu, the president of
Queens College; and Kenneth
Adams, the president-designate
of LaGuardia Community
College, each had interesting
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careers that led them to
their current roles in university
leadership.
Kenneth Adams, who will
soon begin to serve as LaGuardia
Community College’s president,
has spent a majority of his
career focused on economic development,
which isn’t the “traditional
background” of a college
president.
However, when serving as
the commissioner of the New
York State Department of Economic
Development, Adams
worked closely with the presidents
of CUNY and SUNY
schools. He saw that state and
city schools were serving an
incredibly valuable economic
role for both its students and
its community.
But becoming the leader of
a major institution during the
COVID-19 crisis will have its
challenges.
“I don’t think anyone
planned it quite this way,” Adams
said.
For all four presidents, the
focus of the fall will be providing
a quality education and a
Dr. Christine Mangino, Kenneth Adams, Frank Wu and Dr. Berenecea Johnson Eanes were all recently appointed
as presidents of CUNY colleges in Queens. Photo via YouTube/Schneps Media
vibrant student life through
an online platform.
The vast majority of classes
will be exclusively online at
CUNY colleges, with handful
of courses taught in a hybrid
format, with most instruction
online and some instruction
taught in person.
Despite the hardships of
being forced to change the
way in which college instruction
is taught, Wu, Adams,
Mangino and Johnson Eanes
see the challenge as a great opportunity.
“There is nowhere but forward.
We can’t go back,” Johnson
Eanes said. “I think we
have a fantastic opportunity
at York and we’re ready.”
This story has been edited
for length. For the full story,
visit QNS.com.
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