CUNY Baccalaureate Degree in Dominican Studies
[Brochure in PDF]   [Dominican Studies Contacts]

Background

In 2002, Dr. Ramona Hernández, director of the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute, convened a meeting of all heads of Latin American, Puerto Rican, and Latino Studies departments and programs at the City University of New York whose curricula offered courses in Dominican Studies. The purpose of the meeting was to garner their support for the establishment of a degree-granting program in the emerging field of Dominican Studies.

Thanks to the work of the group, led by Dr. Daisy Cocco De Filippis, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community College, became the chair of the group, and Dr. Gabriel Haslip-Viera, former chair of Latin American Studies program at The City College of New York, became the vice chair. Through the effective leadership of Dr. Cocco De Filippis and the generous support of Dr. Haslip-Viera and the rest of the group, the CUNY B.A. in Dominican Studies, the first academic degree-granting program with a concentration in Dominican Studies was established in December 2003.

Program Content and Future

Organized under the CUNY Baccalaureate program through the CUNY Graduate Center, the CUNY B.A. in Dominican Studies was launched by articulating all the existing courses currently taught throughout CUNY campuses on matters pertaining to Dominicans. While, like with other CUNY B.A. programs it requires students to attend different campuses, it offers a unique opportunity to earn a Baccalaureate with a concentration in Dominican Studies like no specific college campus, neither in CUNY nor anywhere else in the United States, currently offers. The program is expected to grow and be strengthened with a wider range of courses as the level of awareness about the program expands among CUNY students of all backgrounds.

The CUNY B.A. in Dominican Studies marks a new era in the promotion of opportunities for learning about things Dominican among the general student population of CUNY, especially for the more than 25,000 students of Dominican ancestry enrolled at CUNY as of the 2006-07 academic year. The degree program represents a major achievement for CUNY Dominican Studies Institute, and for Dominicans in general, a people who had sought for decades the establishment of such a program. The CUNY B.A. in Dominican Studies is similar to others in CUNY dealing with the history and culture of a number of different ethnic segments of population who ---like Dominican Americans--- have become integral members of American society. The program is also expected to function as the main breeding ground for much needed researchers and instructors specializing in Dominican issues, as well as for a host of future professionals needing some level of acquaintance with the Dominican people's history, society and culture.