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Updated Food Pantry Information

The Food Pantry will be open this week on Wednesday, Apr. 14 from 10:30am to 1:00pm and on Friday, Apr. 16 from 10:30am – 1:00pm.   

The Office of Student Life would like to remind you that the CSI Food Pantry will continue to be an available resource on campus throughout the semester. If you or a student you know is having difficulties finding food to eat during this challenging time, CSI has a non-perishable Food Pantry that was created to help provide assistance for our students. Throughout the Spring semester, the pantry remains available to our campus community by appointment only.  ​

The Spring 2021 CSI Food Pantry appointment hours will be from 10:30am to 1:00pm on Wednesdays and Fridays for the Spring semester. If you need to make an appointment, please fill out the online form and someone from the Office of Student Life will contact you. Please note, if the dates and times listed above do not work for your schedule or if you have any questions, please feel free to email us at studentlife@csi.cuny.edu. 

All CUNY campus locations (including CSI) require that all faculty, staff, and students download and complete the Everbridge Health Checker app before coming to campus. This simple Symptom Checker can and should be accessed from your mobile phone each day before your visit to campus. After a brief one-time setup of the Everbridge app, the daily Symptom Checker takes less than two minutes to complete. It is an important reminder to consider whether you have symptoms of or have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 before you enter any CUNY facility. You will need to Login using your CUNY Login credentials: (Username: Firstname.Lastname@login.cuny.edu).  

For more information about CUNY’s policy on Campus re-entry or on the Everbridge App, please go online.

By Carol Brower

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Andrew Rathod Receives 2021 Vanguard Award

Andrew Rathod, graduate of the College of Staten Island’s Office of Workforce Development and Innovation Pharmacy Technician program, will be one of eight workforce students in New York State to receive the 2021 Vanguard Award, issued by the Nontraditional Employment & Training Program (NET), University at Albany, SUNY. Rathod will also be the first CSI program completer to receive the award.

The Vanguard Award is a prestigious honor bestowed upon students enrolled in Career and Technical Education programs that are not traditional for their gender. According to the NET Program, non-traditional professions are those in which one gender represents fewer than 25% of the individuals employed in that field.

Rathod was nominated by his Pharmacy Technician program instructor Carlos Linares, whose goal was not only to acknowledge Rathod as a nontraditional student by gender in CSI’s Pharm Tech program, but to also recognize him for excelling in a workforce development program and quickly attaining post-program employment by big pharmacy chain and pharm tech employer, CVS Pharmacy, all while pursuing his longer-term career aspirations in another nontraditional role for males, registered nursing. 

When asked about his pursuit of the non-traditional occupations, Rathod states: “The Pharmacy Technician Program was the first step towards pursing my long-term dream of a career in nursing. Nursing, like the role of a pharmacy technician, is a nontraditional role for a male, but I have confidently taken steps towards achieving my dream and not allowed anything to stop me.”

The Office of Workforce Development promotes all students’ successes, especially those in special populations, like nontraditional students by gender. To learn more about CSI’s Office of Workforce Development programs, visit its Website at https://www.csi.cuny.edu/continuing-education.

By Catherine McLaughlin and Lisa Spagnola

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For Her Relentless Commitment to Expanding Rights for Immigrants and Dreamers; the Around-the-Clock Care She Provided as a Nurse During the Pandemic; and Her Work to Help Underserved Communities, Hina Naveed is a CUNY Hero

CSI Alumna Hina Naveed (Photo: CUNY)

The City University of New York – Even as she cared for COVID-19 patients as a volunteer with the NYC Medical Reserve Corps at the height of the pandemic, Hina Naveed spent her nights studying law at the CUNY School of Law. A registered nurse, Naveed earned her Juris Doctorate on Jan. 14, her third degree from CUNY. Read more at the CUNY Website.

By The City University of New York

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Can New York City rescue its taxi drivers?

City & State New York – The taxi medallion crisis has left New York City taxi drivers stuck with underwater loans amid a year-long pandemic that has sent decimated demand for cab rides, which were already dwindling because of ride-hail apps. Calls for a bailout plan and other reforms to help owner-drivers – people who own a medallion and drive their own cab – started long before the pandemic, but they’ve intensified in the last year as COVID-19 has thrown drivers into even more dire financial straits. 

By Annie McDonough

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CSI/Verrazzano Student Anes Ahmed Selected Critical Language Scholarship Program

Anes Ahmed

Anes Ahmed of the Verrazzano School Honors Program and a graduating senior, has become CSI’s first student to be selected to participate in the Critical Language Scholarship Program, a nationally competitive program that provides students with the opportunity to study a critical-need language in an immersive environment.

This summer, Ahmed will spend ten weeks studying Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) via a language learning site based in Meknes, Morocco. Typically, students travel to the host country to engage in intensive language and cultural studies; however, due to the pandemic, the program will again be conducted remotely this year.

He applied to the CLS Program to further his fluency in MSA, as he aspires to be a professor of Arabic Literature as well as an author of his own creative works. After graduation with his BA in English Writing from CSI, he is seeking to enter an MFA program through which he will hone his creative writing skills. His eventual goal is to diversify literature in the classroom by exposing students to Arabic and Arabic American writers, as well as to translate the works of Arabic authors to help bring their works to a wider audience.

Ahmed has furthered his writing skills throughout his time at CSI by serving as a contributor and editor for the campus publication, The Banner. He has also authored poetry and short stories through his participation with PEN America, a non-profit organization that advocates for creative free expression, which led to performance of his poetry at the PEN World Voices Festival in 2019. He has additionally performed his work at the Tell It Slant Poetry Festival and the Poet’s Passage, and has published his creative writing via literary publications including Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine. Most recently, Ahmed was featured as a speaker at CUNY’s 2021 TEDx Talk.  

He has also served as a Junior Senator on the CSI Student Government, and was a Disaster Relief Participant in Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria via the CUNY Cultural Corps, where he aided communities in rebuilding homes. Over the past year, Ahmed has devoted his time to assist The Olive Writers in Casablanca, Morocco, an organization that provides disenfranchised youth with resources and training to develop their creativity through the literary arts.  

By Michele Callahan

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Ramadan 2021 / Religious Accommodations

This year, Ramadan begins this evening and is observed through Wednesday, May 12.  Practicing students will be fasting from dawn until dusk (approximately 4:30am to 8:30pm) and praying late into the night. As a result, these students may be tired, hungry, and/or dehydrated in your classes, especially if class meets late in the afternoon.

Please remember CUNY’s policy about religious accommodations, which allows for students to request and be granted an accommodation on the basis of religious belief. The policy is online.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

By the Office of the Provost/Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Office of Diversity and Compliance