IN THIS ISSUE

Luminaria

Exploring Purpose-Centered Education

LEARNING

ENHANCEMENT

CENTER

METROPOLITAN

COLLEGE OF

NEW YORK

Designed and Edited by Nathan Schiller

Jinx Roosevelt on Audrey Cohen

4

Audrey Cohen on Empowerment

6

Kate Adler on the Audrey Cohen Archives

10

PCE In Action 14

PCE and Writing 18

PCE in the School for Business

21

PCE and Math 22

Experiencing PCE 23

Octagon Limit, Robert F. Kauffmann, 1995, on transparent background

V O L U M E 2 | I S S U E 2 | F A L L 2 0 1 4

WHAT’S

YOUR

PURPOSE?

[pp. 12-13]

W elcome to another edition of Luminaria. This edition seeks to simultaneously unpack and

explicate Purpose-Centered Education, our educational philosophy at Metropolitan Col-

lege of New York. As this issue began to take shape, I was pleasantly reminded of our in-

stitution’s long journey to excellence. Following the vast tapestry of educational commitment pat-

terned by Audrey Cohen and her trailblazing partners in 1964, our faculty and administration have

played the roles of tailors and seamstresses, ironing out the wrinkles and stitching in new pieces. Our

students first grappled with PCE in the early 1970s, and from then until now, each of them has used

the Constructive Action to chart a path forward, blending, in some poetic way, their classroom theo-

ries with real-world workplace environments to better the world. There is great pride in being part of

this legacy. We are all equal partners in the campaign to promote and expand PCE.

The PCE model, with its many nuances, can be seen as a complex superstructure. For some students

and interested parties, this can be daunting and even overwhelming. So think of this issue as a living,

breathing document. As you engage with it, jot down questions and highlight sentences or tidbits

about PCE. Did you know the idea for a CA comes from a bridge? (p. 4) Did you know the library has

Audrey Cohen’s written archives? (p. 10) Did you know you can read her work by twice turning the

page? (p. 6) Use your knowledge to gain a better understanding of why you chose MCNY. Find your

professor, your dean, your librarian, your LEC Specialist—the people who made this issue possible—

and ask him or her to tell you more about PCE. Start the conversation on campus.

Happy reading,

Dwight Hodgson,

Coordinator of the Learning Enhancement

Center (LEC) and Mentor Program (MP)

2

Welcome!

Meet the LEC Back Row, left to right: Russell Jenkins, Sandra Ariza, Nathan Schiller, Barrington Scott. Front row, left to right: Yasmine Alwan, Polly Bresnick, Parker Pracjek, Dwight Hodgson.

3

Left: Russell and Virginia Maldonado (B.B.A. Business, ’15). Lower left: Parker Pracjek in her office. Below: Polly and Olivia Carson (B.P.S. Human Services, ’16) at the LEC Outreach Table.

Dwight Hodgson on the phone. Yasmine and Shatisha Lyles (B.P.S. Human Services, ’15).

Nathan and Shoyan Gordon (M.S.Ed Dual Education/ Special Education, ’15).

Sandra Ariza at her desk.

Barrington and Kristina Collins (M.B.A. General Management, ’15).

4

The Birth of an Idea: Audrey Cohen, the Coronado Bridge, and the Constructive Action

By Jinx Roosevelt

“W here did the idea of a Construc-

tive Action come from?”

I was sitting in a well-lit confer-

ence room in the offices of Bernadette Smith,

Esquire, a long-term member of MCNY’s Board

of Trustees and herself once a student at the

college. We were discussing the book I had re-

cently completed on Audrey Cohen’s life story

and the college’s first fifty years.

Smith knows as much as anyone about MCNY’s

history, but she had never been told how Co-

hen and her colleagues had come up with the

idea that students every semester must com-

plete a constructive action in a field agency or

workplace and document that process in a the-

sis-like report.

To answer Smith’s question I had to think a

moment, but then I remembered. “The idea

came from a bridge.”

“Tell me about that,” Smith said with a smile.

Cohen herself tells the story, briefly, in an early

article she wrote about the college entitled

“The Service Society and a Theory of Learning

Linking Education, Work, Life.” She had been

appointed a member of the prestigious New-

man Task Force on Higher Education in the

late 1960s, the only woman to receive that hon-

or.

The group had a meeting in San Diego, Califor-

nia, and one evening she and other members of

the commission were driving back to their ho-

tel and passed by the Coronado Bridge that had

recently been built to connect the city of San

Diego with Coronado Island across the bay.

The two-mile-long bridge is famous for

being the first bridge to contain both a

curve and a slope: one side is high

enough for tall ships to sail under and

the other side is low enough to blend

into the shoreline.

Cohen was struck by the bridge’s struc-

tural beauty, its functionality, and its fit

into the natural environment. She not-

ed that the designer of the bridge

had “brought together theory” from

many different areas of study to pro-

duce a result that served the communi-

ty. “I saw in this bridge the embodi-

ment of the idea that an educated per-

son is one who knows how to use theory

for the benefit of other human beings,”

she wrote (1976, p. 11). For her, the de-

The Coronado Bridge.

5

sign of the bridge represented the kind of con-

structive action that all education should make

possible.

Cohen immediately related the notion of a con-

structive action to her own fledgling education-

al institution, the precursor to MCNY, which

was at that time named the College for Human

Services. Like the Coronado Bridge, “Human

service should call on a wide range of theory,”

she wrote.

In its planning it should show respect for

the person served. But it should also be

responsive to the needs of the service pro-

vider and the concerns of the community

and the larger society. Work that succeeds

in addressing these many concerns is the

true measure of professional competence.

(Cohen, 1976, p. 11.)

The lesson of the bridge, Cohen summed up,

“helped me conceptualize a teaching methodol-

ogy, the Constructive Action, which directs stu-

dents in the blending of theory and prac-

tice” (1976, p. 11). In her well-known essay en-

titled “The Citizen as the Integrating Agent:

Productivity in the Human Services,” Cohen

reiterated this idea. Performing a Constructive

Action, she wrote, gives students the chance to

“perform human services by applying theories

and research discussed in the classroom to the

needs of actual human beings—in short, to link

theory with practice” (Cohen, 1978, p. 14).

The Constructive Action as a way to “link theo-

ry with practice” has of course evolved over the

years since Cohen was first inspired by the

Coronado Bridge. But every time that MCNY

students apply what they learn in their dimen-

sion courses to their work in the field—every

time they engage in what the first director of

the LEC, Jaya Kannan, called “connective

thinking”—they are performing the kind of

constructive action that the college’s founder,

Audrey Cohen, first saw in the huge sweeping

curve of the Coronado Bridge.

References

Cohen, A.C. (1976). The service society and a

theory of learning linking education, work, life.

New York: The College for Human Services.

Cohen, A.C. (1978). The citizen as the integrating

agent: Productivity in the human services.

Human Service Monograph, 9. Project Share.

Grace (“Jinx”) Roosevelt first came to MCNY

in the early 1990s to work as a tutor in Stu-

dent Services. She taught for several years as

an adjunct and came onto the full-time faculty

in 1999. She teaches both in the undergradu-

ate Human Services program and in the Mas-

ters of Education program and has just com-

pleted a book entitled Creating a College that

Works: Audrey Cohen and Metropolitan Col-

lege of New York that will come out in 2015.

To read Audrey Cohen’s writing

about empowerment and the

five dimensions, please turn the

page. Following that, on page 10

Co-Director of Library Services/

Reference Librarian Kate Adler

contextualizes Audrey Cohen’s

archives.

6

By Audrey Cohen Empowerment as a Concept

Editor’s note: The following excerpt, “Empowerment as a Concept,”

is a chapter of Audrey Cohen’s larger text, The Citizen as the Inte-

grating Agent: Productivity in the Human Services, which was pub-

lished in September of 1978 in the Human Services Monograph Se-

ries. In the excerpt, Cohen outlines the eight dimensions of Purpose-

Centered Education as she advocates for empowerment and social

justice through service. Although the excerpt has been edited and

condensed for space, Cohen’s words remain unchanged.

E mpowerment as the Ultimate Service

Goal: To posit empowerment—the abil-

ity of people to manage their lives, to

recognize and meet their needs, and to fulfill

their potential as creative, responsible and pro-

ductive members of society to the extent com-

patible with the empowerment of others—as

the ultimate goal of human service: delivery

and to tacitly agree that it is a noble ideal to-

wards which we should strive are not enough.

It is necessary to

specify how the ideal

can be translated into

achievable action and

how education and

implementation can

be built on the same

base.

Implementing the

concept of empower-

ment involves five

essential elements or

“dimensions” which

remain constant: 1)

establishing and

achieving appropri-

ate purposes; 2) clarifying one's values and

dealing with value issues; 3) effectively under-

standing self and others; 4) understanding and

working effectively with systems; 5) developing

and using needed skills. These parameters pro-

vide a series of guidelines for the professional

to use in exploring the needs of particular

groups and defining appropriate outcomes.

Empowerment is measured in terms of out-

comes. We can tell whether a citizen is empow-

ered by his or her ability to set purposes, to

clarify value issues, to understand self and oth-

ers, to negotiate systems, and to employ rele-

vant skills. If the citizen can function in each of

these five dimensions, that citizen will have

developed the capacity to manage his or her

own life.

Within the human services, there is almost

universal agreement that effective service in-

volves an active client role in service planning,

delivery and assessment. The citizen viewed as

the integrator of his or her own services—that

is, the citizen who is empowered—is the logical

end of citizen participation. This person knows

when professional services are needed, where

to go for advice, help or treatment, and takes

an active decision-making role in determining

the course of his life.

We are, however, a

long way from even

the beginning of sig-

nificant citizen par-

ticipation in service

delivery. Real partici-

pation of citizens has

been easier to talk

about than to imple-

ment. It is my belief,

however, that the

goal of citizen em-

powerment and the

role of the client as

an effective integrat-

ing agent are one and

the same, and that we

must actively move toward its achievement. If

we do not do this, if there is no redefinition of

the citizen role—or client role—we will have

service delivery patterns and systems that will

continue to be fragmented and unsatisfactory,

as they have been in the past. Further, this re-

definition cannot be effected without concur-

rent changes in professional education, the

professional role, and agency service systems.

If we took at each of these components in turn,

and in relation to citizen empowerment, how

they relate to the basic concept and how each

contributes to its achievement should be clear.

Need for New Curriculum

Citizen empowerment as the ultimate goal of

the service relationship is not part of tradition-

al professional education or of the way in

7

We can tell whether a

citizen is empowered by

his or her ability to set

purposes, to clarify value

issues, to understand self

and others, to negotiate

systems, and to employ

relevant skills.

8

which education is assessed. More important,

it is inconsistent with the ever-growing empha-

sis on specialization and on administrative

work as the path to status and economic re-

ward. Let me outline a conceptual framework

which incorporates professional preparation,

assessment and practice, and could be the

foundation for achieving citizen empowerment.

All of its

components

stem from

the concept

of perfor-

mance and

are based on

the integra-

tion of theo-

ry and prac-

tice.

This blend

of theory

and practice

would pre-

vail through-

out profes-

sional prep-

aration. A

s t u d e n t

would spend

part of each

week in formal classroom settings exploring

theory from many disciplines for its relevance

to practice. The remainder of the week would

consist of an agency placement where these

theories would be applied, tested and evaluat-

ed, and where additional seminars, lectures

and other preparation would take place. In this

way, agencies would become partners in the

professional preparation and adjuncts to for-

mal educational institutions, having made

commitments to work towards empowerment

and to allow, and in fact demand, that student

practitioners structure their practice under a

new modality.

The first dimension relates to purpose, it un-

derscores the ability to establish goals and

work toward them. Many practitioners do not

work with this clear sense of purpose, but in

short-term, fragmented ways. This dimension

focuses on determining purpose, on working

toward it and on knowing if it has been

achieved.

The second

dimension is

the area

of values

and ethics.

It is the abil-

ity to know

our own val-

ues, those of

the citizen

with whom

one is work-

ing, and

those of oth-

er profes-

sionals. It

underscores

the relation-

ship of these

values to

a c t i o n .

Many of us

are very

much in touch with the personal value base

which we bring to a human intervention. We

may, however, be less concerned with the val-

ues of the person we are trying to help. The hu-

man service professional is conscious of both

and of the critical role which values play in ser-

vice delivery.

The third dimension, self and others, means

understanding oneself as a practitioner in rela-

tion to others. It requires a very conscious un-

derstanding of any human being with whom

one is working in a professional relationship,

both colleagues and persons in the community.

The fourth dimension, systems, focuses on the

Above: Audrey Cohen with the New York State Board of Regents as it formally approves charter for the College of Human Services. May 22, 1970. Opposite page, both: Audrey Cohen in the classroom in the 1960s.

9

micro- and macro-systems which the practi-

tioner must be aware of and able to utilize in

order to help the citizen.

Dimension five relates to skills—significant

skills that must be developed in each of the

eight performance areas. These are discrete

skills that one needs in order to be successful

in a service intervention. If one is working in

the context of groups, for example, one has to

be able to take process notes, to know when to

intervene in a group situation, or when to be

supportive of the group. These are all skills

which need to be developed in a group context.

These dimensions act as a frame of reference

for the total educational and practice experi-

ence. They describe classes students would at-

tend as they learn and are assessed from the

perspectives of these constants. In this way,

students would then develop a way of analyz-

ing performance. Work areas might shift, but

the dimensions would remain firm. They cut

through learning, professional development

and professional assessment.

Dimensions give us a concrete tool to help

identify theory for human service practice. By

using them, we can begin to see how we might

use major knowledge from the sciences, social

sciences and the humanities on behalf of hu-

man service work. For example, in the purpose

dimension, as-

pects of logic and

philosophy are

critical. For the

values area, phi-

losophy and ethics

are two major

b o d i e s o f

knowledge from

which material

ought to be ex-

trapolated and

brought to bear on

service. Self and

others includes a

great deal of psy-

chology, sociology,

and anthropology.

Systems draws

from political sci-

ence, public ad-

ministration, law, economics, and history. The

final dimension pulls together key skills from

various professional areas. Such a curriculum

can be called transdisciplinary, for it shows

learning and knowledge come from a wide

range of sources, not from self-contained disci-

plines. Organizing knowledge around areas of

ability and dimensions of performance is a to-

tally new, exciting and practical concept.

The intersection of areas of per-

formance or “crystals” and di-

mensions illustrates the general

concept of the human service

profession and of human service

practice. Whether one is work-

ing in a hospital, a day care cen-

ter, or a mental retardation fa-

cility, this concept would facili-

tate integrated service rather

than a fragmented approach.

Human service professionals

would perceive their work as a

totality not only meeting the

needs of the citizen but also as a

learning process which helps the

same citizen become empowered.

To show how such a design might function, let

us take one of the “crystals” of ability, “to func-

tion as a counselor,” and attempt to illustrate

how a student practitioner might move through

this area. Values and moral issues will be dealt

with, suggesting certain questions and areas of

discussion. To what extent is it possible or desir-

able for the counselor to remain neutral in as-

sisting people to recognize their feelings and

make decisions about their lives? To what extent

can values and behavior be attributed to cultural

influences? To deal with such questions, one

must know the underlying concepts relating to

mental and emotional development. One must

be familiar with major counseling constructs and

modalities, including their aims, assumptions

and value implications. Students must consider

the implications of cultural and role differences

for counseling processes, and examine argu-

ments for and against the thesis that counseling

is most effective when carried out in a compati-

ble cultural milieu.

Certain value premises are inherent in this di-

mension of the counseling crystal: by recogniz-

ing and dealing with their feelings, people en-

hance their ability to lead rewarding and produc-

tive lives; every person has both the capacity and

right to understand individual feelings and

needs, to find ways of working with them and to

contribute to individual growth and satisfaction

without infringing upon the rights of others; a

continuing effort to identify and deal with one’s

own feelings and needs is essential if a human

service counselor is to be effective; citizens have

a right and practitioners an obligation to make

social systems and institutions responsible to

their needs, as long as this does not interfere

with the rights of others.

To read the full text, visit:

www.mcny.edu/library/documents/

cohencitizena.html#empowercon

10

M CNY used to be called Audrey Cohen College.

Before that, it was The College for Human Ser-

vices. Before that? Before it was even a college? It

was the Women’s Talent Corps. The Talent Corps began as

an agency dedicated to empowering low-income women of

color in New York City by providing the training they need-

ed to find good jobs in human service agencies. These jobs

would not only pay bills but help to improve communities.

This was back in the 1960s, when changes were happening

everywhere in America. Dig into MCNY’s history a little, and

you’ll learn a great deal about “The War on Poverty” and

“The Great Society,” simple names given to complex efforts

by the federal government to invest in communities, in edu-

cation, in job training, and to fight poverty. Dig deeper, and

you’ll see how the goals

of fighting inequality and

inspiring change played

out on the ground. Folks

like Audrey Cohen took

advantage of the new

federal investment and

the energy of smart,

passionate individu-

als to build our

school.

MCNY’s life story is

intertwined with the

past 50 years of the

American story.

Committed to social

justice from the be-

ginning, community

activists and organiz-

ers and local politi-

cians have been in-

volved with MCNY

from its earliest

days. So our story is

also a story of the

HAVE YOU HEARD? Co-Director of Library Services/Reference Librarian

Kate Adler explains why they’re important, and why

you should check them out.

1

11

Audrey Cohen’s archives

are in the MCNY Library.

fight for Social Justice in America. It’s a story about individual

lives and about urban policy, about what creating a school,

built on vision of a more just world, actually means. The pro-

cess was messy and imper-

fect, but it was inspiring.

Where can you read those

creation stories? Archives.

The stories we read in

history books, we tell and

retell in movies and tear-

jerk television specials?

They start in the archives.

And we turn to archives

for the new stories that

contradict the old ones,

that surface voices that

had previously gone un-

heard, that require us to

confront the past we

thought we understood.

Archives are the building

blocks of our collective

memory.

MCNY’s archives tell our college’s story; they are filled with

letters from congressmen and activists, and personal inter-

views with all sorts of people. You might run into folks like

Albert Shanker, the influential president of the United Feder-

ation of Teachers and later the American Federation of

Teachers, and even Robert Kennedy. There are sources from

the outside, like radio interviews and newspaper articles.

There are sources from the inside, such as board minutes

that document the evolution of the school, and of a unique

curriculum, which would mature into Purpose-Centered Edu-

cation, built on the belief that a good education is driven by a

“commitment to ethical action” and “personally inspiring and

socially meaningful goals.” That’s according to Audrey Cohen

herself; you can read her writing in the archives, too.

According to Nick Juravich, a doctoral student in history at

Columbia University and MCNY’s Scholar-in-Residence,

MCNY and its unique mission have evolved over the

past fifty years, taking on challenges including the arrival

of new immigrant populations, the rise and fall of social

movements, changing federal funding regimes, and the

ongoing transformation of the city’s economy. As a con-

sequence, its archives contain valuable records of press-

ing historical issues in several eras. These include ability

of reformers and educators to respond to economic

change, the impact of federal and state support for such

campaigns, and the efforts of working-class women to

organize and educate themselves and their communities.

The evolution of MCNY is also of particular interest to

practitioners and historians of education, social work,

and public health.

Nick is currently writing his dissertation about paraprofes-

sionals in the New York City school system. MCNY’s ar-

chives have played a critical role in his research. What ques-

tions could they answer for you? Come to the library. We’d

be glad to chat. And if you want to get really jazzed about

MCNY? Read Audrey Cohen in her own words. It’s neat

stuff.

and online at

libguides.mcny.edu/archive

1 Newspaper articles from the student protests in the late summer of 1970. 2 A booklet introducing the Constructive Action to more than 75 national leaders at the College for Human Services’ international conference, held on June 19, 1974, at Columbia University. 3 The July 15, 1966 telegram stating that the federal Office of Economic Opportunity has awarded the Women’s Talent Corps a $314,339 grant, enabling the program to enroll its first students.

CAPTIONS

2

3

UNDERGRADUATE

Audrey Cohen School for Human Services & Education

1: Self-Assessment and Preparation

for Practice

Promoting Empowerment through . . .

2: Professional Relationships

3: Work in Groups

4: Teaching and Communication

5: Counseling

6: Community Liaison

7: Supervision

8: Change Management

FIND YOUR PROGRAM

FIND YOUR PURPOSE

CHANGE THE WORLD

1: Self-Assessment through Writing & Technology

2: Becoming an Independent Learner

3: Communicating with Others: Interpersonal Relations

& Conflict Resolution

4: Living and Learning in Groups

5: Communicating across Cultures

6: Promoting Empowerment through the Arts

7: Empowering Urban Communities through Civic

Engagement I

8: Empowering Urban Communities through Civic

Engagement II

School for Business

1: Self Assessment & Career Planning

2: Working in Groups

3: Market Analysis, Planning & Promotion

4: Entrepreneurship and Managing the

Small Business

5: Managing Information and Change

6: Human Resource Management

7: Managing Capital Markets

8: Long Term Planning

1: Self Assessment and Career Development in

Healthcare

2: Developing Professional Relationships in

Healthcare

3: Quality Management in Healthcare Field

4: Assessing Community Healthcare Needs

5: Marketing Healthcare

6: Managing Human Resources in Healthcare

7: Managing Fiscal and Economic Resources in

Healthcare

8: Creating an Innovative Business Plan for

Healthcare Services

1: Assessment and Planning

2: Professional Relationships in the Community

3: Negotiating and Promoting a Risk Analysis

4: Integrating Emergency Planning

5: Managing Information and Communication

6: Collaborative Identification of Disaster Needs

7: Initiating and Testing a Disaster Plan

8: Disaster Plan

School for Public Affairs

& Administration

Human Services

American Urban Studies

Healthcare

Systems

Management

Emergency

Management &

Business

Continuity

An educational roadmap.

Business

Administration

1: Identifying Opportunities for Organizational Change

2: Initiating and Managing Organizational Change

3: Long Range Planning for Organizational Improvement

School for Public Affairs & Administration

School for Business

1: Impact of Disaster on Cultures and Communities

2: Identification of Organizational Disaster Needs/Field Experience

3: Initiating and Managing a Disaster Recovery Plan/Field Experience

1: Strategic Industry Analysis

2: Strategic Planning

3: Strategic Management & Evaluation

1: Developing Effective Relationships and with Key Constituencies

2: Teaching Effectively

3: Meeting the Unique Needs of All Learners

GRADUATE

Audrey Cohen School for Human Services & Education

Emergency and Disaster

Management

MSEd Dual Childhood 1-6 /

Special Education

Public Affairs and Administration

General

Management

Media Management

Financial Services

As demonstrated to the right,

MCNY has one of the country’s

most unique models of

education. Every semester, your

Purpose has a different theme.

Each of your Dimension courses

connects to this theme. Thus,

your learning in the classroom

and in the workplace shape and

inform one another. Finally, to

practice and demonstrate your

learning in the real world, you

create and perform the

Constructive Action.

14

By Yasmine Alwan

T amu Arnoux completed MCNY’s under-

graduate program in Human Services in

2013. A year later, I sat down with her to

talk about her MCNY experiences as I thought

they might provide an interesting lens for Pur-

pose-Centered Education in action. I found her

story surprisingly resonant with Audrey Cohen’s

ideas.

Though Tamu (pictured right)

first attempted the traditional

college route—heading to un-

dergrad out in California after

high school—she didn’t find

the right match. She returned

to New York where she got

married and had four children

who proved a wonderful and

consuming distraction. When

she was in her forties, she first

heard about MCNY after read-

ing an ad in a newspaper. At

the time, she didn’t know that

MCNY’s pedagogy differed in

any way from the previous col-

leges she had tried out, which

included LaGuardia, Fordham, and an online

program with Kaplan.

When MCNY’s newspaper ad drew her to the

college’s admissions office, Tamu brought along

her mother as her “good luck charm.” She

walked out of the admissions office having

signed up for the next semester in a few weeks,

surprised at how quickly the process had leapt

forward. “Otherwise, I might not have done it,”

she confessed.

On the first day of classes, she found herself

anxious, but when she saw that the other nerv-

ous-looking students wedged in student chairs

looked much like her and seemed her age, she

was relieved. After professors explained the syl-

labi, she sat back in shock and questions surged

forward: Am I going to be able to handle this?

How am I going to do this? Am I going to fin-

ish? She was even more relieved to find that the

students surrounding her were rattled by the

same questions. It turned out that first CA

forced her to self-evaluate in a way she hadn’t

done before, prompting her to

question why she was at the

college and what she wanted

to achieve, profound ques-

tions which made this her fa-

vorite Purpose.

She began volunteering at a

friend’s nonprofit, a pantry

and transitional housing resi-

dence for men facing home-

lessness, and with her profes-

sors’ questions reflected on

how she would do things simi-

larly or differently. Her Pur-

pose 5 CA focused on a hypo-

thetical transitional residence.

After reading her CA, her professor gazed at her

and said, “This looks like a business plan!” And

her mind began turning; she hadn’t thought of

this before she had attended MCNY. That night

she talked it over with her husband who ex-

claimed, “I think you can do it!” and things be-

gan to fall into motion. She researched business

plans, tweaked her CA, and by the next Purpose

she had transformed her CA into a live project,

BEDS (“Because Everyone Deserves Shelter”),

located in Queens, offering transitional housing

for men facing homelessness.

As of August, 2014, BEDS has matured: Tamu

has purchased another building and opened up

PCE In Action

a second residence, which was one bed short of

full at the time

of our talking.

And she’s back

at MCNY for her

MPA. Other stu-

dents have con-

tacted her, ask-

ing how she

managed to set

up her business

while she was

still an under-

grad. She said to

them, “Just fol-

low the CA.”

“But what did

you do to get

started?” they continued to ask. “Just followed

my CA,” she replied with more laughter, seem-

ing still surprised and delighted that things

have turned out this way.

I appreciate the accidental nature of Tamu’s

story. It wasn’t as if she had sought out

MCNY because of its Purpose-Centered

Education system and she knew it

would be a match. Nor did she know

that she wanted to end up working in

transitional housing. All of these things

were unintentionally discovered along

the way. And looking more closely, I

can see some of Audrey Cohen’s foun-

dational ideas in Tamu’s experience.

During our conversation, Tamu de-

scribed her classes, internship, and CA

as helping her “know what I am doing”

in her work today. To “know what I am

doing” is a form of knowledge.

Knowledge is often associated with in-

formation. It is thought to be objective,

memorizable and consumable, but

Tamu’s knowing felt different, a knowing that

was drawn from experience. After my conver-

sation with Tamu, I turned to read Cohen’s

(1996) article, “Audrey Cohen College

System of Education,” in which Cohen

begins by talking about knowledge, and

how limiting our ideas of education to the

transmission of knowledge will lead and

has led to failure.

According to Cohen (1996), the point of

the educational process isn’t about gain-

ing and holding information; it’s not ac-

quisition of knowledge; rather, learning

is oriented toward an application of

knowledge. Or to put it another way,

knowledge is useful “as a tool,” rather

than an end in itself. But a tool for what?

Cohen asserts that the application of in-

formation is most powerful when its aim

is to meet a challenge, and is acting upon the

world with a positive intention to address that

challenge. A meaningful action can produce

“self-transformation and social empower-

ment,” and learning must remain connected to

this purpose. Emphasizing the role of interde-

pendence, she asserts that individualistic focus

has permeated our culture on many levels at

great cost. A holistic address of concerns and a

holistic

address

of the

p e r s o n

are es-

sential,

and all

of this

adds up

to the

role of

t h e

learner

as active

r a t h e r

t h a n

passive.

C o h e n

(1996) writes, “Education . . . should direct it-

self to teaching the higher art of responsible

application. Students should learn to think and

15

Tamu researched

business plans,

tweaked her CA,

and by the next

Purpose she had

transformed her

CA into a live

project.

Students contacted

her, asking how she

managed to set up

her business while she

was still an undergrad.

She said to them,

“Just follow the CA.”

Yasmine Alwan is a

Writing Specialist in the

LEC.

16

behave in such a way that they can take infor-

mation and perspectives from different areas of

life, synthesize them, and use them to achieve

positive social accomplishments” (p. 26).

In observing what was happening at her intern-

ship, Tamu analyzed the procedures, values,

and actions there, and made revisions according

to her own perspective and be-

liefs which she then integrated

into her proposals and actions,

which she then assessed. To

my mind, she was generating

h e r o w n k n o w l e d g e ,

knowledge in response to her

reading, drawn from her expe-

rience, manufactured by appli-

cation in the world, refined by

her assessments of these appli-

cations; all of these elements synthesized. She is

not working as a receptacle for knowledge. Her

role is not passive receiver, but active doer in a

responsive and creative process-oriented loop.

Learning isn’t consumption, it is creation hope-

fully with a few surprises.

When I asked Tamu what she valued about her

experiences at MCNY, she first mentioned the

support and in particular, her connection to

other students. This felt clear in her description

of her first day—she could see all her worries

and doubts on the faces of others and feel relief

at this normalization of her experience. But

more than that, she appreciated moving from

one class to another, one Purpose to another,

with the same group of people. Connection on

another level was had in the discussion-

orientation of the classes. The perspectives of

others could “change my mind,” she reported,

seeking a transformation of her knowing

through others. In previous lecture-oriented

learning circumstances, she had felt

“reprimanded,” she explained. I expect that she

could feel her role as learner diminished to pas-

sive information receiver. This brings me back

to Cohen’s assertion that the frame must be ho-

listic and interconnected rather than fragment-

ed. She writes, “Unfortunately, extreme frag-

mentation of knowledge cripples the capacity

for effective and responsible action” (p. 27). She

pulls an illuminating quote from Peter Senge

(as cited in Cohen, 1996):

From a very early age, we are taught to

break apart problems, to fragment the

world. This apparently makes complex

tasks and subjects more man-

ageable, but we pay a hidden,

enormous price. We can no

longer see the consequences of

our actions; we lose our intrin-

sic sense of connection to a

larger whole . . . [A]fter a while

we give up trying to see the

whole altogether. (p. 27)

It strikes me that Tamu’s experiences connect

many dots, and that she didn’t just “break

down” a problem into its constituent parts,

which is one definition of analysis and critical

thinking, but in a mode much opposite to break-

ing, she learned through building and connect-

ing, the whole often being larger than the parts.

The PCE model just sits there, but one’s doing it

is what makes it real in the world. Tamu’s open-

ness, her listening to the process, her willing-

ness to respond to what she heard is what made

it all work.

References

Cohen, A. and Jordan, J. (1996). Audrey Cohen

College system of education: Purpose-

Centered Education. Bold Plans for School

Restructuring: The New American Schools Designs,

S. Stringfield, S. Ross and L Smith Ed., Lawrence

Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, N.J.

AT MCNY, Tamu

most valued her

connection to

other students.

17

TAKE A LOOK AT . . . The MCNY

timeline mural, in

honor of the College’s

50th Anniversary, on

the 12th floor hallway

wall. Find out the

history of your

college, from its

inception as the

Women’s Talent

Corps, established

by Audrey Cohen

in 1964, until today.

Polly gives an APA workshop to Dr. Theodor Damian’s Purpose 1 CA (Human Services) class as part of the LEC’s Embedded Academic Support program.

18

PCE and Writing By Polly Bresnick

Y ou have brilliant ideas swimming

around in your head! The fact that you

are part of a scholarly community

proves your intellectual curiosity and engage-

ment. Ideas, however, are just the beginning of

being a successful professional. Fortunately,

written communication is available to anyone

willing to put in the time, thought, and focus.

The Purpose-Centered Education approach in

which you are currently participating at MCNY

provides an accessible action-based framework

that can be applied to the task of transferring

those inspired ideas from your brain to the

page.

Whatever your career

goals may be, an abil-

ity to communicate

effectively in writing

is essential. Whether

you’ll be writing exec-

utive summaries,

case studies, client

reports, emergency

plans, or even just emails, your written words

represent you. It’s important to develop writing

practices that work for you and writing skills

that accurately reflect your intelligence and pro-

fessional abilities.

How Can We Apply PCE to

Writing?

If the main idea behind Purpose-Centered Edu-

cation is for different learning situations to con-

tribute directly to a central purpose or inten-

tion, a good place to start is to position a goal or

desired achievement at the center of our learn-

ing. At MCNY, a different central purpose is

designated for each semester, and each semes-

ter’s classes contribute to the designated central

purpose—Self-Assessment, Relationships, and

Groups are some examples of these Purposes

that might sound familiar to you. In the same

way that these dimension courses cover specific

skills that, in concert, cohere into a holistic un-

derstanding of the central purpose (for exam-

ple, in order to develop strong professional Re-

lationships [Purpose II], it’s useful to engage

thoughtfully with your Values [Dimension Class

B]), your personal experiences can serve as the

building blocks for any goal you set out to

achieve—your Purpose-Centered Education at

MCNY has given you practice with this process!

OK, so you under-

stand how thinking

about Self and Others

(Dimension Class C)

can contribute to your

ability to Supervise

(Purpose VII), but

how exactly can your

life experiences trans-

late to confident, effective writing?

The core steps of the writing process are Plan-

ning, Generating Ideas, Organizing Ideas, and

Drafting. Here are some ways your everyday

tasks can serve as learning situations that con-

tribute to development of these writing skills.

Planning

Perhaps your internship requires you to plan

and produce an event. Perhaps you keep track

of your responsibilities at home or at work by

making to-do lists of tasks that you must com-

plete. Maybe you’ve written a shopping list to

help you remember what you’ll need to buy in

Whatever your career

goals may be, an ability to

communicate effectively in

writing is essential.

19

order to cook dinner for the week. Through

these practices, you’ve learned the skills of

breaking down, prioritizing, and preparing

for your tasks. These skills help you clearly un-

derstand how to unravel a large undertaking

into smaller, more manageable tasks, articulate

for yourself what needs to be done first (and

second and third and fourth), and identify the

resources necessary for completing each task.

This is planning—the first step in thinking

about a writing assignment.

Generating Ideas

Are you tasked with preparing dinner for your

family? How do you decide what to prepare?

You may not even realize it, but your decision

process is a form of brainstorming—exploring

what’s in the cupboard or what you’re in the

mood for, and weighing your options, and

throwing around different ideas before finally

landing on chicken with lemon and herbs, gar-

lic broccoli, and rice. What about last Satur-

day? What did you do? How did you come up

with what to do? Whether you spent the day

alone, with your family, or with friends, there

may have been a process of idea generation at

play before the plan was put into action. The

wonderful thing about trying out different ide-

as is that anything goes in this initial stage—we

could go to the beach (Coney Island? Rocka-

way? Fort Tilden?), we could go to the park

(Prospect Park? Van Cortlandt Park? Central

Park?), we could have a barbecue (at home? at

Aunt Sally’s? in the park?), we could go to the

movies (for an action flick? a romantic come-

dy? an animated movie?), and the initial sea of

ideas could go on and on.

It can be valuable to spill out all the ideas at

first, so you have a sense of the options availa-

ble, then you can start narrowing things down

to what’s realistic, what’s appropriate, what

you’re in the mood for. The same goes for pre-

paring to write—give yourself time to get all

your ideas out (by making a thought-map, do-

ing a free-write, or recording audio of yourself

talking through your ideas)—the good ideas,

the great ideas, the ideas from left field, so that

you have a clear sense of what’s in your brain.

Organizing

Most adults have naturally developed basic

systems of organization in their lives—

otherwise, it would be difficult to function. You

might be someone who keeps all your pants in

one drawer and all your shirts in another. May-

be you spread out different tasks throughout

the week—do the grocery shopping on Monday,

do the laundry on Tuesday, go to class on

Wednesday and Thursday, go to the gym on

Friday. Maybe at your job or internship, it’s

your responsibility to categorize and properly

file a number of client reports. These systems

may feel like basic no-brainers, but they pro-

vide experiential practice in organization. Sep-

arating things into categories (pants in one

drawer, shirts in another, socks in another;

laundry on one day, gym on another, class on

another; reports for clients whose last name

starts with A-M go on one shelf, clients with N-

Z last names go on another shelf) is something

you already have experience doing and can ap-

ply to your writing process. Once you’ve spilled

out all your ideas and chosen the select few

you’ll use in your paper, you’re ready to organ-

ize those ideas into categories and sub-

categories. This part of the writing process is

sometimes called outlining, and it’s a skill that

will really add to your ability to write well-

structured essays, papers, and reports.

Drafting

Before calling a friend, family member, co-

worker, or professor to break some important

news, chances are, you try to carefully consider

what you’re going to say. If you’ve been asked

to make a speech at a wedding or at a work

event, perhaps you’d prepare by saying it si-

lently to yourself a few times or aloud in front

20

Polly Bresnick is a Writing

Specialist in the LEC.

of a mirror. Maybe you jot out some initial

notes, then shift the order around until you get

it just the way you want it. In the process of

thinking over what you’ll say, you probably

change things a bit—taking out certain parts,

adding information, swapping out one word for

a synonym that fits better. This process is won-

derful practice for drafting your written work.

Realistically (and guiltily speaking from experi-

ence), time constraints sometimes (or maybe

often) tempt writers to dash out a quick first

draft and turn that in with fingers crossed,

hoping it will get an OK grade.

When we’re honest with ourselves, though, we

know deep down that it isn’t our best work,

and it could have really benefitted from a few

more read-throughs and revisions. If you truly

want to improve your writing, drafting is not

only an important part of the writing process,

it’s an essential step. Maybe you’re great at

speaking off the cuff, and so you don’t always

need to practice before saying something im-

portant, but there are (thankfully) no typos in

spoken word. Furthermore, anyone who writes

something down has the opportunity to re-read

it (and re-read it again and again and again),

and not taking that opportunity immediately

puts you at a disadvantage. Even if you’ve dili-

gently planned and mapped and organized

your paper, there’s always room for improving

it once you’ve put it all together. Making time

for drafting, revising, and rewriting will, at the

very least, relieve you of some doubt when you

turn your paper in. Better yet, it’ll also help you

find opportunities for improvements that you

may have missed if you’d turned in your first

draft.

Reading

Whether it’s assigned reading for class or inde-

pendent reading for pleasure, exposing your-

self to as many models as possible can improve

your writing by introducing you to new vocab-

ulary, new approaches to arguing a point, and

new ways of expressing ideas. Some reading

may not only offer concrete tools like these, but

may also inspire you to try a new mode of writ-

ing that you didn’t realize was “allowed.” For

example, while Junot Díaz’s harsh, slangy lan-

guage may not be appropriate for academic or

professional writing, you might be inspired by

reading his work to use a conversational tone

when you brainstorm, explore your ideas, and

pre-write before honing and polishing this cas-

ual writing into a more concise and audience-

appropriate draft. Maybe the romance or fanta-

sy or sci-fi novels you love to devour cover ma-

terial that doesn’t directly apply to your writing

for class or work, but the vivid, detailed de-

scriptions in these books have the incredible

effect of transporting you from your living

room to a completely different universe. Being

as clear and specific as possible about your ide-

as is a must for writing engaging academic

writing.

Remember that life offers you many opportuni-

ties to learn skills that you can apply to your

scholarly and professional goals. Stay engaged,

and you’ll find that your experiences have pre-

pared you for academic and professional en-

deavors that may seem completely new.

Junot Díaz’s Pulitzer Prize-

winning novel The Brief

Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is the subject of the first-

ever First Year Experience

campus-wide read.

DID YOU KNOW?

21

B usiness education at MCNY employs the PCE

Constructive Action educational model on

both the graduate and undergraduate levels,

but with the addition of profit incentives and compe-

tition, which are defining elements inher-

ent in business. In the School for Busi-

ness, we were faced with the challenge,

therefore, of integrating these elements

of business into our educational ap-

proach while being true to the original

model contemplated by our founder.

Additionally, the traditional disciplines

such as finance, marketing, economics,

accounting, human resources are studied

with purpose, and this can be either

entrepreneurial and/or intrapreneurial.

The Purposes in the business curriculum represent

areas of knowledge necessary to acquire proficiency

and be marketable in the business world. While at

first glance the addition of profit and competition

may seem antithetical to making a positive difference in

the world, we have refocused

the Dimensions and adapted

the application of the model

to the business education we

provide by infusing discus-

sions of business topics with

ethics and social justice. In the

School for Business, that

means that our students re-

ceive all of the necessary core

business competencies through the PCE Construc-

tive Action model to ensure that we are creating

successful socially responsible and ethical business

leaders. In fact, incorporation of the Constructive

Action into our teaching methods was cited as part

of our successful completion of the ACBSP accredi-

tation process in record time and our demonstration

of adherence to the Baldridge Standards of Excel-

lence in providing students with instruction in neces-

sary business competencies.

Audrey Cohen was at the forefront in realizing that

the Constructive Action is one of the best tools for

both the objective and self-assessment (by the stu-

dent) of whether a student has mastered the Pur-

pose. We have found it

particularly applicable in

business education, where

much of what is entailed is

the transfer of knowledge

into skills for problem solv-

ing, which is fundamental in

business, whether pursuing

corporate, management or

entrepreneurial endeavors.

As such, every Purpose,

whether undergraduate or

graduate, presents students with business concepts

that involve the assessment or strategic analysis of

situations and problems, and developing Plans of Ac-

tion to address or solve those problems by engaging

in Constructive Actions, as well as assessing their

success or failure and learning by completing an eval-

uation of their progress. On the graduate

level, this usually entails MBA students

identifying their own entrepreneurial busi-

ness venture or intrapreneurial project that

they then research, plan and implement

over three purposes facilitated by their

instructor.

Over the years, numerous CA projects

begun in school have grown into successful

businesses or even films. For example, Preserve Our

Legacy, a not-for-profit organization focused on in-

creased awareness among people of color of the

importance of registry for the bone marrow, began

as a CA project to increase celebrity involvement in

philanthropic efforts in our Media Management MBA

program.

PCE in the School for Business By Dr. Tilokie Depoo, Dean

In September of 1983, the College unveiled a new B.P.S. in Business Administration.

I n traditional education, students are apt to

complain that they don’t know why they

take math. In Purpose-Centered Educa-

tion, math is not isolated from other elements

of the curriculum, but used in conjunction with

them, so as to add value to the student’s practi-

cal development. How does this work? Let’s

look at two examples.

Pauline Fiddler (M.P.A. Public Affairs, ’14) did

her CA on autism awareness. She dedicated her

CA to Avonte Oquendo because she was in-

spired by his tragic

death. Paulette was con-

vinced that the tragedy

could have been avoided

if staff members were

properly trained to fore-

see signs and behaviors

of potential runaway au-

tistic children. She did

her internship at the

Young Adult Institute

(YAI). With an arsenal of

statistics skills, she de-

signed survey question-

naires to collect data

about the training and experience of staff

members handling autistic children. She uti-

lized statistical tools, such as mean, median,

mode, and standard deviation, to analyze her

data. Paulette’s next endeavor was to convince

her bosses to implement a training program for

staff on how to monitor autistic children in an

effort to avoid another incident like the Avonte

Oquendo tragedy.

Ivette Vazquez (B.B.A. Health Care, ’14) had a

lifelong dream of starting a health and fitness

center. She wanted to contribute to the wellbe-

ing of her community by getting people not on-

ly to maintain proper eating habits, but also to

exercise and lose weight, lowering the commu-

nity’s cholesterol and blood pressure levels.

Armed with her accounting skills, in her CA

she prepared financial statements: a balance

sheet illustrating her assets, liabilities, and in-

vestment; an income statement showing the

selling price of her exercise packets, variable

cost of each packet, and fixed cost for running

the business. She used the contents from her

income statement to emphasize the breakeven

point; like any businesswoman, she wanted to

know how many exercise

packets needed to be sold

for her operating income

to be zero.

In both examples, the

students established ide-

as for their CAs during

the planning phase, and

then they chose the ap-

propriate math concepts

that correlated with their

ideas and goals. Ulti-

mately, their CAs showed

their competency in iden-

tifying problems and manipulating numbers.

Pauline and Evette used the math concepts

they were exposed to in quantitative reasoning

courses in the Skills dimension of Purpose-

Centered Education. Mastery of these skills

prepares them for the numerous problem-

solving situations they will encounter in the

real world.

22

Barrington Scott is a Math

Specialist in the LEC.

PCE and Math By Barrington Scott

To analyze the data

in her CA, Pauline

utilized statistical

tools, such as mean,

median, mode, and

standard deviation.

I am currently a full-time Purpose 5 stu-

dent in MCNY’s Business Administration

program. I am amazed that my time here

has melted into a true sense of accomplish-

ment I had not considered or imagined. When

I started this program, I was concerned that

math and writing would be essential. I knew

that gaining research skills and investigating

the aspects of the business community in NYC

would be challenging. However, my math skills

were weak-to-nonexistent, and writing essays

was something I had done little of recently.

I remember my first

Purpose and, spe-

cifically, my first

writing course, an

introduction to Pur-

pose-Centered Edu-

cation. It was also

my first time in a

college class; every-

thing was over-

whelming and ex-

citing all at the

same time! Our professor was organized,

friendly, and enthusiastic. She began by asking

us if we had heard of or knew about PCE. Un-

surprisingly, not one of us had the courage to

lift our hands. (Perhaps we had not the faintest

idea.) On the board she drew a large circle with

five segments extending outwards and ex-

plained what each one represented, the center

being the Purpose, or main learning goal, with

five corresponding Dimensions, or courses, in

support. It seemed an organic and interrelated

design meant to encourage a harmonious part-

nership among all its parts. Each Dimension

represented different courses as structures for

learning through acquiring new skills, under-

standing various systems, integrating values

and ethics, and heartily assessing ourselves.

The professor finished by stating that we were

all going to be nourishing the goal of purpose

as a central theme throughout our coursework.

The design seemed easy enough to understand,

but, still, what did it all mean?

I fully realized PCE at the start of my third Pur-

pose. The texts, classroom sessions, and re-

search incorporated are really about practicing

creative problem solving, communications, ne-

gotiation, new skills, and about implementing

change. Plenty of research is involved in most

my classes, and I

consciously polish

my critical thinking

skills daily. But the

real gem of my ex-

perience within this

educational model

is that I realized I

deeply enjoy taking

an active role in my

educational pro-

gress. I now get in-

volved with my learning by interacting more

with my classmates, professors, and peer men-

tors and with the MCNY staff and the LEC pro-

fessionals. I have stronger insights and direc-

tion with many aspects of my life as a student

and in my personal and professional relation-

ships. I pay closer attention to how things can

relate and become more dynamic, efficient,

and, ultimately, productive. I came to college

for many reasons, but mainly to be a better me.

23

Experiencing PCE By Roberta Cooper

Roberta Cooper is an MCNY

Peer Mentor.

The gem of my experience

in this educational model is

that I realized I deeply

enjoy taking an active role

in my educational progress.

Coordinator

Dwight Hodgson ext. 2437 dhodgson@mcny.edu

Office Manager

Sandra Ariza ext. 2438 sariza@mcny.edu

Writing Specialists

Nathan Schiller* ext. 2418 nschiller@mcny.edu

Yasmine Alwan ext. 2416 yalwan@mcny.edu

Polly Bresnick ext. 2429 pbresnick@mcny.edu

Math Specialists

Barrington Scott ext. 2449 bscott@mcny.edu

Russell Jenkins* ext. 2446 rjenkins@mcny.edu

*Available in the Bronx

About the Learning

Enhancement

Center (LEC)

The LEC, which publishes this news-

letter annually, offers a wide range

of services, at our Manhattan and

Bronx centers and online, to help

students develop their writing, math

and other skills necessary for aca-

demic success at MCNY. All MCNY

students can receive FREE one-on-

one tutoring in math and writing.

To schedule a session,

call, email, or visit us in person.

Website and Blog: www.mcny.edu/academic_support/lec.php

www.mcny.edu/student_serv/lecblog/

Hours Locations Phone Email

Manhattan Campus: Manhattan Campus: Manhattan Campus: lec@mcny.edu

Monday-Friday: 9-7 Room 1293 (212) 343-1234 ext. 2438

Saturday: 10-4

Bronx Extension Center: Bronx Extension Center: Bronx Extension Center:

Hours vary by semester Room 508 (212) 343-1234 ext. 4011

Staff

About the cover

The octagon of

Kauffmann’s

serigraph

represents

the

eight

Purposes

envisioned by

Audrey Cohen.