Category Archives: Workforce

Home, Student Stories, Workforce

Spotlight on Students: William Barron of Queens College

Spotlight on Students is a series in which we showcase the different pathways that students are taking through SLU. This is the first post in the series, featuring William Barron, a student in our Worker Education program at Queens College.

By Becky Firesheets

William Barron exudes passion, even over the phone. During our recent interview, Barron, a public school paraprofessional earning his bachelor’s degree at Queens College, would regularly become so enthusiastic that his sentences blurred together in one fast outburst of emotion. Yet his answers never felt off-topic or unfocused. On the contrary, his magnetic personality and fierce determination left me inspired and wanting to talk further, to see what life lessons I might be able to glean.

Barron’s CUNY story began at Kingsborough Community College where he earned an associate degree before planning to take a break from school in order to work. He decided last-minute to stop by a college fair and serendipitously met Francine Sanchez of The Murphy Institute for Worker Education at Queens College. Her advice was so compelling that he decided to keep going with his education. Continue reading Spotlight on Students: William Barron of Queens College →

Exciting Opportunities, Home, Workforce

A Threat Within: Cybersecurity Virtual Internship Case Study

SLU’s Worker Education in collaboration with the Tech Incubator at Queens College and iQ4 is offering a free four-session course “Threat Within: Cybersecurity Virtual Internship Case Study​” in summer 2019.

This cybersecurity applied learning course is a non credit course, free of charge, to the SLU students and staff. The course is not highly technical and is designed to introduce students regardless of their major to cybersecurity, as an academic discipline and a career alternative.

This is an opportunity for students to develop/enhance their soft skills using cybersecurity as the use case. Students will be working in teams and presenting their weekly assignments to iQ4 volunteer, industry mentors.

Students will receive an iQ4 Certificate of Completion, upon completing the four session course, along with a Skills Passport, and a online next gen resume from iQ4.

REGISTER HERE

Home, Workforce

Jumpstart Your College Career: Join Us for FREE Math & English Preparation Classes!

Are you an adult interested in college but worried your English and math skills aren’t quite up to par? Join us for an open house info session to learn more about Worker Education at the Murphy Institute’s FREE College Preparation Program!

This program, held at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies (SLU) in collaboration with the Consortium for Worker Education (CWE), offers FREE day and evening classes in both Reading/Writing and Elementary Algebra. One-on-one tutoring services, career advisement, and CUNY admission assistance are also provided at no extra cost.

Open House Dates

Thursday, April 11th, 11:30 am

Tuesday, May 14th, 5 pm

Thursday, June 20th, 12:30 pm

Thursday, July 18th, 6 pm

Tuesday, August 27th, 6 pm

Each open house will take place at SLU (25 West 43rd St, 19th floor) and will include information on the program, a meet-and-greet with the instructor, a Q&A, and assessment testing for interested participants. RSVP now by clicking here!

Classes begin on September 3rd, 2019 and run through mid-December. Participants must be 21 or older with a high school diploma or high school equivalency to participate.

Questions? Feel free to contact us at WorkerEd@slu.cuny.edu or 212-642-2040.

Learn more about all of Worker Education’s programs and offerings at slu.cuny.edu/worker-education.

Home, Labor Studies, Murphy News, Workforce

CUNY Days at DC37: Worker Education at the Murphy Institute’s New College Access Initiative

By Becky Firesheets

When adults are interested in returning to school, they’re often faced with multiple challenges — jobs, children, bills, aging parents — yet are expected to navigate this process alone. In contrast, high school students, who typically experience fewer barriers than adult learners, receive built-in guidance from trained counselors present in their schools. Worker Education at the Murphy Institute strives to change this reality by bringing college access services directly to adults within their communities.

Recently launched with DC37, Worker Education’s new initiative “CUNY Days” offers free, thirty-minute, one-on-one sessions with experienced pre-admission advisors held at the union’s headquarters. Our advisors begin each session by discussing participants’ career goals and recommending various academic pathways at the School of Labor and Urban Studies and/or greater CUNY that could lead toward achieving this goal. Depending on the individual’s needs, sessions might also include application assistance, exploration of various industries and local labor market data, guidance on accessing union tuition benefits and financial aid, and more. Continue reading CUNY Days at DC37: Worker Education at the Murphy Institute’s New College Access Initiative →

CWOP, Home, Labor Studies, Workforce

On Equity in Our Workforce

By Rebecca Lurie

As I read the latest paper by Steve Dawson on workforce, once again I am grateful for the principles and practices he describes so well. (And succinctly! So if you have time to read a one-pager, do it! And don’t bother to read my post!)

Dawson’s paper, “Class Dismissed Defining Equity in our Workforce Field” suggests we look deeper into meaningful work and consider, when we train and prepare for jobs, that we also train and prepare for the broader world of work. Exposing trainees to organizing, policy, advocacy and cooperative business skills all as means to improve lives even when job placement options are not great.

The full series can be found here. I highly recommend it for those aiming to do more than good work through workforce development, but for those who want to use the opportunity when engaged in workforce training to help raise the bar, and advocate for better jobs and better work in a world that demands us to make ready ourselves, our young, our disenfranchised, for work that will improve conditions through a wide range of strategies and approaches.

Workforce

Workforce Development

The Worker Education and Workforce Development (WEWD) Unit at Murphy serves as a gateway to higher education and all CUNY Colleges for adult learners.

WEWD equips workers with skills and training and provides career pathway programs. It matches the educational needs of workers and union members to academic programs by developing industry-related curricula and providing supportive services to students of the Institute and other units of CUNY.  WEWD is positioned to develop new programs that expand our portfolio to meet the changing needs of the workforce in both private industry and city and state governments. Learn more here.