By: Elys Vasquez-Iscan, Ed.D, MPH; Assistant Professor, Health Education Unit Coordinator Aging and Health Studies Faculty Education Department, Presidential Fellow & ELEVATE Fellow
www2.gse.upenn.edu/cmsi/ELEVATE
Hostos Community College
718-518-4160
Abstract
The focus of this article is to discuss how Hostos Community College of the City University of New York, located in an underserved community such as the South Bronx, is gaining mastery in education technology and online teaching. The article aims to provide an overview of how Hostos compares to the national trend of community colleges and how its students, who mostly start as remedial students, are dispelling held beliefs in higher education that community college students are not able to succeed in online courses. The article also gives insight to an area that is largely unexplored, which is faculty perceptions of online teaching and what higher education administrators can do to support faculty in online teaching.
Assistant Professor
Health Education Unit
Hostos Community College, CUNY
Dr. Elys Vasquez-Iscan teaches online and hybrid courses in the Health Education Unit at Hostos Community College of the City University of New York. Her research interests entail analyzing HIV and its intersection with gender and violence and health inequities; online research to identify coping responses to stress among vulnerable populations; developing strategies for multicultural competence among health professionals; evaluating the impact of e-health on health disparities; capacity building for local and international disease prevention efforts; utilization of community based participatory research for health promotion and community empowerment. She has been the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship and an ELEVATE Fellowship from the University of Pennsylvania Center for Minority Serving Institutions. She enjoys teaching the diverse Hostos student population due to the wealth of life experience that they bring into the classroom.
