The 2014 Hostos Teacher Training Study Abroad Program Collaborators And Participants Honored By The Ministry Of Education Of The Dominican Republic

On June 30, the Ministry of Education of the Dominican Republic celebrated National Teachers’ Day with an awards ceremony. At this event, the Hon. Carlos Amarante Baret, Minister of Education, recognized three outstanding educators who participated in this year’s Hostos Teacher Training Study Abroad Program (TTSAP). The delegation attended a series of events, including a mass in commemoration of National Teachers’ Day in La Catedral Primada de América, which was followed by an awards ceremony at the Hilton Hotel.  The honorees included Hostos alumna and day care teacher Maritza Rojas, Public School IS 52 teacher Santiago Namnun, and Salomé Ureña School teacher and Columbia University administrator Leyla Arbaje.

The Hostos’ Division of Continuing Education and Workforce Development and its Vice President, Carlos Molina played a major role in collaborating with Dean García Reyes to make the TTSAP a reality. “This international cultural exchange is an incredible opportunity for DOE teachers. By providing a more textured view of the mosaic student body that makes up the NYC school system, we help give them the skills necessary to be more effective in their classrooms. I look forward to continuing to working with Dean García Reyes and building exchanges in other countries,”
said Molina.
 
Hostos Community College Associate Dean Ana I. García Reyes was honored by the Instituto de Formación de Educación Superior Salomé Ureña (ISFODOSU) at a farewell event held for the delegation in the city of Santiago.
TTSAP participants received a certificate of successful completion from Professor Rocio Billini of Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD), who has been coordinating the TTSAP with Associate Dean García Reyes for nearly three decades.
 

This year’s TTSAP focused on the evolution of the educational system in the Dominican Republic and the educational reforms
implemented by Eugenio María de Hostos.  On Hostos’175^th birthday, the delegation visited the Panteón Nacional, where Hostos is buried.
 
 “This wonderful training program will celebrate 30 years of academic and cultural exchanges in 2015, and every year it gets better. The delegations of DOE principals and teachers always visit el Panteón Nacional. This is a sacred monument where all the national heroes, including Hostos, are at rest. Great leaders lead by example, and Hostos was one of the greatest,” said Dean García Reyes.
 
The delegation visited the following historical sites: El Museo Memorial de La Resistencia; Arcázal de Colón, La Fortaleza, Museo de las Casas Reales, Catedral Primada de América, Museo de las Hermanas Mirabal in Salcedo, Centro Cultural León Jiménez, and El Monumento de Santiago. Additional workshops, lectures, tours and cultural presentations were provided at the ISFODOSU of Santo Domingo and Santiago campuses. 
 
The participants also visited La Villa Heroica and plaza in the city of Moca, toured public schools in Santo Domingo and Santiago, attended a book presentation by Hostos alumnus and NYC DOE School Principal Juan Villar, and took additional field trips to the Aquino family’s Serapius Green resort and Las Terrenas beach in Samaná.

Left to right: Iván Grullón, Chancellor of UASD (center seat)
and administrators during the luncheon reception for the TTSAB delegation.

“Thanks to this immersion model, the expansion of our knowledge about Dominican history, culture and the educational system will enable us to develop curriculum that reflects of our student population and help us do a better job in the classroom,” said Maritza Rojas, who teaches at the Hostos Day Care Center.
 
TTSAP collaborators and educators included: personnel of Hostos Community College’s Office of Community Relations and the Division of Continuing Education and Workforce Development; Hostos’ Office of Legal Affairs, Rafael Torres; CUNY Trustee Hugo Morales; CUNY Dominican Studies Institute (Professor Sarah Aponte, Assistant Director Anthony Stevens, Chief Archivist Idilio Gracía Peña and Diversity Scholar Nelson Santana); Bronx Community College Associate Dean Fénix Arias; ADASA Executive Director Milady Baez; NYC DOE Network Leader Gilberto García; Executive Director of New Visions María Rodríguez; Consulado General de La República Dominicana en New York; Dominican Republic House of Representatives Alfredo Rodríguez; the Ministry of Education of the Dominican Republic; Asociación de Estudios Dominicanos; and Serapius Green.
 
ISFODOSU collaborators and educators included: the institution’s Vice Chancellor, Franco Ventura Coronado, Academic Director Martha Gabot, Sabrina Rivas-Pérez and the college’s faculty and staff.
 
The collaborators and educators of UASD included: Chancellor Ivan Grullón; Vice Chancellor of Extension Rafael Niño Félix; Prof. Rocío Billini; Prof. John Sheppard; Prof. Clara Benedicto; Prof. Dagoberto Tejada; Prof. Carlos Andújar; Prof. Mericles Romero; Prof. Bélgica Ramírez; Prof. Amelia Ricart Calventi; Prof. Carmen Durán; Prof. Odalis Pérez; Prof. Eleanor Grimaldi; and Dean Ana Dolores Contreras.
 
The following NYC DOE personnel participated in the TTSAP: Roseanna Ayala, Christie Carmichael, Amelia Castillo; Frances Cleary; Lizette A. García; Rashida Hilliard; Clare Masullo; Manuela Mora; Maritza Rojas; Elva Salcedo; Johnny Vásquez; Principal Alexandra Hernández; and Assistant Principal Russell Wasden. National Teachers’ Day honorees Leyla Arbaje and Santiago Namnun-Puigbó were also members of the delegation.
 
The closing ceremony for the 2014 TTSAP will take place at Hostos Community College on October 2, 2014.
 
Teacher Training Study Abroad Program
The Teacher Training Study Abroad Program (TTSAP) of Eugenio María de Hostos Community College of The City University of New York is an intensive cultural and language immersion experience that has been offered every summer since 1984.
 
In 2001the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Education, the New York State Department of Education, the Association of Dominican-American Supervisors and Administrators and Hostos Community College signed a formal memorandum of understanding for the TTSAP.
 
Today, the TTSAP is part of Hostos’ Division of Continuing Education and Workforce Development and it is organized by Vice President Carlos Molina and Assistant Dean Peter Mertens and by Associate Dean Ana I. García Reyes of the Office of Community Relations.
 
TTSAP provides opportunities for Hostos faculty members, Board of Education (BOE) personnel, Department of Education (DOE) professionals, and undergraduate and graduate students to have an intensive bilingual and bicultural learning experience in another country.
 
TTSAP has been offered in the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Italy, Spain and other parts of Latin America and Europe.
 
The program conducts classes in both New York City and the host country, and exchanges range from a minimum of two weeks to a maximum of one month, depending on the curriculum and staff-to-student ratio. By participating in these programs, NYC teachers can earn over a hundred hours of staff development credit.
 
TTSAP is designed to cultivate a broader understanding and greater appreciation of world history, art, education, culture, and society.
 
For additional information, please contact
 Associate Dean García Reyes at agreyes@hostos.cuny.edu
 
The 2015 Teacher Training Study Abroad Program dates:
June 28 - July 9, 2015.
 
About Hostos Community College
Eugenio María de Hostos Community College is an educational agent for change that has been transforming and improving the quality of life in the South Bronx and neighboring communities since 1968. It serves as a gateway to intellectual growth and socioeconomic mobility, as well as a point of departure for lifelong learning, success in professional careers, and transfer to advanced higher education programs. The College’s unique "Student Success Coaching Unit" provides students with individualized guidance and exemplifies its emphasis on student support services. 
 
Recently named one of the top 10 finalists for the 2015 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, Hostos offers 27 associate degree programs and two certificate programs that facilitate easy transfer to The City University of New York’s (CUNY) four-year colleges or baccalaureate studies at other institutions. The College has an award-winning Division of Continuing Education & Workforce Development that offers professional development courses and certificate-bearing workforce training programs. Hostos is part of CUNY, the nation’s leading urban public university, which serves more than 480,000 students at 24 colleges.