Guttman Community College
Stella and Charles Guttman Community College is an urban public institution that offers associate degree programs in an environment that nurtures student success. Based on extensive research, Guttman Community College integrates excellence in teaching, proactive and responsive student supports and external partnerships. Our primary objective is to increase the number of students, especially those not effectively served in higher education, who persist in their programs of study and attain a degree in a timely manner. We offer a clearly defined educational pathway including an integrated first-year curriculum that is inquiry-based and majors that prepare students for careers and baccalaureate study. Guttman programs are academically rigorous, multidisciplinary and experientially based.
Initial Mathematics Placement
CUNY has historically determined initial placement into math classes based on scores on Regents scores, SAT or ACT scores, and ACCUPLACER Scores. As part of the PRIME project we have added a placement criteria that is based on the student's high school GPA. Our first year of results showed that students placed in a more advanced class based on GPA were as successful as students placed based on standardized test scores.
First Year Quantitative Course Revisions
We are considering how we can better align our first year courses with student needs and also have considered how we might streamline them. We have slightly decreased the meeting time of the Statistics Course for some students and are looking at how we might rethink the Quantitative Reasoning component of the First Year City Seminar courses.
Meet the Team
Provost
Howard Wach
Howard M. Wach joined Guttman Community College as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost in April 2017.
A passion for excellent teaching and a passion to learn have been the guiding principles of Dr. Wach’s professional life. He knows that demanding, attentive, humane, and honest teaching can transform students’ lives. At a time of vast inequality, there is no more important task and no more powerful engine of social mobility. He brings to the Provost’s job a deep conviction about the administrator’s core role: to create the everyday conditions and environment that lead to student success, and to help faculty and staff work together to meet that vision.
Mathematics
Marla A. Sole
Marla A. Sole received her doctorate in Mathematics Education from New York University. She is currently an Assistant Professor at Guttman, CUNY. Sole’s research focuses on statistics and mathematical pedagogical practices and their intersection with educational policies. Sole has published numerous articles in statistics and mathematics education journals including Journal of Statistics Education, Mathematics Teacher, PRIMUS: Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies, and Journal of Mathematics Education at Teachers College. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have frequently published her letters on a range of educational issues. Dr. Sole is the recipient of Guttman's Provost's Award for Outstanding Scholarship. To read her bio click E-Portfolio and for publications click Academia.edu or Researchgate
Campus Director
Rebecca Walker
Rebecca Walker is currently a Professor of Mathematics at Guttman Community College. She received her Ph.D. in Mathematics, with a concentration in teaching undergraduate mathematics, from Western Michigan University. She has been working in the field of mathematics education since 1985. Her current work is focused around creating innovative mathematics curriculum materials to increase student success in mathematics, student understanding of basic algebraic concepts and how that understanding impacts student success in algebra, and assessment of student understanding of mathematics. She is also interested in how students navigate the transition from high school mathematics to college mathematics.
Natural Sciences
Ji Kim
Dr. Kim, who is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Guttman, received a B.Sc. in Chemistry from Ewha Women University, Seoul, Korea and her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Dr. Kim did her postdoctoral studies in Breast Cancer at Lombardi Cancer Center, Georgetown University Medical Center, and she was a Susan Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Fellow. Prior to joining Guttman, Dr. Kim have taught all areas of Chemistry at the City University of New York, William Paterson University and Ramapo College of New Jersey. Her research focuses on developing eco-friendly chemical processes to reduce or eliminate toxic chemical wastes.
Social Sciences
Alia Tyner-Mullings
Alia R. Tyner-Mullings earned a doctorate in sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center, where she researched alternative educational models. A former high school math teacher, Tyner-Mullings' research interests include the sociology of education, communities, sports and cultural studies. She has publiched in education journals and has four books on education and writing. Critical Small Schools: Beyond Privatization in New York City Urban Educational Reform is a book of essays on small schools in New York City. Writing for Emerging Sociologists is a co-written sociological textbook on the types of writing needed to be a successful social scientist. Enter the Alternative School: Critical Answers to Questions in Urban Education is a case study of the alternative educational model, Central Park East Secondary School. The Sociology Student's Guide to Writing is the second edition of the writing book with a focus on undergraduate writing.