Carlito Berlus
Carlito Berlus is currently the Academic Program Manager for the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at the the City College of New York. Over the last 15 years, Mr. Berlus has taught Applications of Psychology in the Modern World and Social Psychology. In addition to interacting with students in the classroom, he has also worked as an academic advisor to STEM and non-STEM students for over a decade. He has shepherded academically at risk students and developed curriculum to help them attain their Bachelor’s degree.
Antoinette DeLuca
Antoinette DeLuca is presently Assistant Professor, Instructor in the Department of Social Sciences, Human Services & Criminal Justice at BMCC/CUNY. In addition to teaching undergraduate psychology students, Dr. DeLuca has trained graduate students at New York University in Program Development and Evaluation and Assessment for Children and Adolescents.
A believer in the impact of media, Dr. DeLuca currently serves as the Chair of the Community Advisory Board for PBS Channels Thirteen and WLIW, helping to guide these stations programming and policy decisions to reflect the needs of the communities these stations serve.
Dan DePaulo
Dan DePaulo received both his Ph.D. and M.A. in Psychology from Rutgers University, and his B.A. in Psychology from The College of New Jersey. He has taught Psychology and Statistics at BMCC for the past 10 years. As a health psychologist, his research focuses on studying interventions (i.e. meditation/binaural beats/journaling) for improving both physical and mental health, along with increasing compliance to health-related protocols (i.e. COVID). Outside of Psychology, Professor DePaulo also has a background in Neuroscience, Biology, Chemistry, and Mathematics. In his free time, he enjoys anything to do with music and playing with his dog.
Laura Diaz Alarcon
Laura Diaz Alarcon has been an Adjunct Lecturer since 2018 for the Psychology Department at City College of New York. While teaching undergraduate students, she has recognized the importance of practicing collaborative learning. She incorporates students’ input and thus the curriculum reflects their interests. Currently, for all her classes, she continues to have asynchronous presence through Blackboard. In this way, students have the scaffoldings to continue learning at their own pace. Since last year, she has been dedicating more time to and taking courses about evidence-based best pedagogical teaching practices to increase her positive impact on her students. She was able to share some of this knowledge and experience with her peers this past November 2021, when she presented at the first CUNY Professional Development Conference. Her workshop was titled “Creating Rapport, Community, and a Sense of BelongingAmong College Students.”
Laura earned a Master’s degree from City College in Psychology in 2006 and a second Master’s degree from Alfred University in School Counseling in 2017. She was born and raised in Puebla City, Mexico and immigrated to the United States in 2000. Speaking and writing English has always been a challenge, but she is all for challenges.
Yana Durmysheva
Yana Durmysheva is an Associate Professor of Psychology at BMCC-CUNY where she has been serving as a full-time faculty member since 2008. She has earned her PhD in Experimental Cognition/Cognition, Brain and Behavior, and an MA in Organizational Behavior/Industrial-Organizational Psychology. Her areas of expertise include creativity, problem solving and expertise acquisition as well as psychology curriculum development. Dr. Durmysheva’s current research interests include using imagery in transforming emotional states and in understanding and treating psychological trauma.
Oksana Fagin
Oksana Fagin is a cognitive psychologist. She received her doctorate from The New School University (New York). She is a researcher with interest in visual perception and attention. Specifically, she explores hallucinations and induced phantom perceptions. Oksana has taught undergraduate and graduate courses of psychology in CUNY since 2018: Introduction to Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Research Methods, Statistics, etc.
Oksana holds master’s degrees in Spanish Linguistics and Research Psychology. She was born and raised in Belarus; she speaks 4 languages and is raises 4 children.
Joanna Giza
Joanna Giza possess a PhD in molecular, cellular and developmental biology with specialization in neuroscience field. Dr. Giza completed her postdoctoral training at Yale School of Medicine and Weill Cornell Medical College, where she worked on molecular basis of neuropsychiatric disorders including autism, PTSD, Alzheimer’s disease as well as cocaine addiction. She is currently performing research in the field of neuroscience analyzing mechanisms underlying dysregulation of synaptic plasticity important in learning and memory that can lead to a disease. Dr. Giza is particularly interested in how the growth factor prodomains can affect these processes on a molecular and cellular levels. She currently mentors students in the laboratory as part of the CRSP and Bridges to Independence program in collaboration with City College. Professor Giza teaches Biology classes including BIO210 and BIO220 as well as Anatomy and Physiology and Human Biology and is an advisor for the BMCC Neuroscience Club. Additionally, Professor Giza is a part of Academic Senate and a coordinator of the BIO220 classes.
Brittanie Jackson
Brittanie Jackson is an Adjunct Lecturer in the Social Sciences, Human Services and Criminal Justice department at Borough of Manhattan Community College, teaching primarily introductory and developmental psychology courses. She is also an Adjunct Lecturer at SUNY Empire State, where her focus is cognition and learning. At both colleges she centers her philosophy of teaching in her belief in the whole student, placing value on their existing knowledge, their personal experience, and their individual differences. Here, she works to encourage the curiosities of her students and guide their exploration.
Brittanie obtained her MA in Psychology with a concentration in developmental psychology from CUNY School of Professional Studies. During this time her primary area of interest surrounded the contributing factors of development and learning, specific to career decision self-efficacy, vocational identity, and mentorship of the creative mind. This interest has since grown and is now centered at the intersection of art and psychology.
Elisabeth Jaffe
Elisabeth Jaffe is an Assistant Professor at Borough of Manhattan Community College with two decades of teaching experience. Among other classes, she teaches Intermediate Algebra & Precalculus, and helps students to use the grit they already have to succeed. Dr. Jaffe earned her Ed.D. at Teachers College, Columbia University. Before becoming a professor at BMCC, she was a high school teacher in NYC for 16 years. She has won several awards in the field of teaching, among them the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics Teaching and the Sloan Award for Excellence in Teaching. Her current research is focused on academic mindset and grit. Dr. Jaffe has run workshops, presented at several local and national conferences, and published on the subject.
Sadaf Khawar
Sadaf Khawar is an adjunct faculty in Psychology at BMCC. She is a doctoral candidate in the Clinical Psychology program at Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ. She is a board certified behavior analyst and a New York State licensed behavior analyst. Sadaf’s clinical and research interests include individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities and their families (especially Autism), immigrant and minority mental health, evidence-based assessment and interventions for pediatric and adult psychopathology, and mindfulness-based interventions. Sadaf is student-centered and is passionate to teach undergraduate students using evidence-based teaching strategies.
Hawai Kwok
Hawai Kwok serves as Director of Academic Programs and as an adjunct lecturer in the Psychology Department at CCNY. She has 21 years of teaching and over 15 years of experience in supporting STEM students in experiential learning and placing hundreds of students in internships in NYC, Washington D.C. and internationally and. She supported REM students in STEM laboratories, some of who entered into PhD programs and continued research work post-graduation. She is currently the Program Director for a NIH T-34 Bridges to Baccalaureate Training Grant bridging the path for students from Borough of Manhattan Community College to a baccalaureate degree in a STEM field at The City College of New York.
Steven McCloud
Steven McCloud is an instructor in the Department of Social Sciences, Human Services, and Criminal Justice at BMCC/CUNY. During a typical semester, he teaches Introduction to Psychology and Developmental Lifespan. However, there have been some semesters when he has taught both Social and Personality Psychology. During the semester, he is not only an instructor but also a guide who offers suggestions and encouragement for students to explore learning outside of the classroom. Professor McCloud’s students are exposed to hands on activities that will allow each individual to explore both research and application in the field of Psychology. Each semester, Mr. McCloud starts the course with a quote and this semester for Developmental Psychology he quoted Nathaniel Branden, “The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.”
Shanique Y. Meyler
Shanique Y. Meyler, MHC-LP is an adjunct Lecturer at BMCC and John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a clinical psychology doctoral student at the Graduate Center. As an undergraduate student, the seed of intellectual activism and increasing marginalized group representation in higher education was planted which blossomed during her time at John Jay. Post-graduation, Professor Meyler worked as a research assistant, then as a senior research scientist at Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Her research interests include culturally responsive cognitive assessment battery, global mental health, the disparity in access to mental health care, and making treatment more accessible and personalized in public mental health facilities among patients with severe mental illness. For self-care, she enjoys hiking, painting, and learning kanji.
Sarah O’Neill
Sarah O’Neill, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at The City College of New York (CCNY). Dr. O’Neill runs the Attention and Neuropsychological Development (ATTEND) Lab, where her research seeks to identify predictors of trajectories of ADHD and its associated academic, psychosocial, and physical impairment in children. Her more recent work has focused on investigating how ADHD and impairment manifest in emerging adulthood, with the view to identifying neurocognitive, physiological, and psychosocial risk factors for poorer outcomes during this stage of development. Dr. O’Neill has mentored many undergraduate, masters and clinical psychology doctoral students over her years at CCNY. In addition, she is a mentor for the Translational Research Training in Addictions for Underrepresented Groups (TRACC) and for the Bridges to Baccalaureate Training Grant at CCNY.
Christina Oney
Christina Oney completed her doctoral and masters degrees in the Personality and Social Contexts area of the Psychology department at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Dr. Oney’s research interests focus on the relationships between racial identity attitudes, body image, and health outcomes.
Leticia Perez
Leticia Perez has been teaching for 16 years. She is an adjunct at CCNY and BMCC, in their Psychology departments. She teaches Introduction to Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Psychology of Human Sexual Behavior, Multicultural Issues in Counseling and Family Therapy. Professor Perez holds BA and MA in Mental Health Counseling. She is also a fully trained MST (Multi-Systemic Therapy) Therapist.
Dwight Pierre
Dwight Pierre is a full-time lecturer, in the Department of Mathematics, at BMCC/CUNY. A majority of his professional career is a dedication to teaching undergraduate mathematics courses and remedial/developmental courses for special summer programs. In addition his interests align with being a mentor to “non-traditional” students preparing for academic life after high school. As a consultant and advisor, he is a long-standing committee member for the College Board’s SAT (Quantitative Section), participates in the AP Calculus Reading each academic year and a current member of the College Board’s Academic Advisory Committee. These intimate experiences with assessment, from beginning to end, significantly contribute to his pedagogical style and the belief that it augments his ability to improve student learning and conceptual understanding. It also integrates new strategies of improving student’s reading comprehension, which in turn, allows them to develop advanced problem solving strategies that can be applied to a variety of contexts.
Dwight Pierre holds a B.S. in Applied Mathematics, Union College (minor in Africana Studies) and a M.A. in Pure Mathematics, SUNY at Albany (specializing in the psychology of students of African Descent). His interests include Assessment and Pedagogical ingredients that help develop the individual Growth Mindset of each student. He also continues to develop his Multiversity Project (Multiculturalism + Diversity) approach to teaching, with healthy doses of Edutainment (Education + Entertainment).
Jennifer Pinkney Pastor
Jennifer Pinkney Pastor is a tenured assistant professor of Psychology in the Social Science, Human Services, and Criminal Justice Department at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) of the City University of New York. Dr. Pastor has taught courses in General, Social, Cultural, Developmental, and Child Psychology and has held her current position for almost 16 years. Most recently, Dr. Pinkney Pastor conducted a collaborative research study with a professor of Biology at BMCC to establish the effect of Pranic Healing on genetically altered worms that were unable to lay eggs. Along with her colleagues, she tested whether Pranic Healing could enable the altered worms to lay eggs at a similar rate to the natural worms. The research was concluded in 2020 with hopes to expand to future studies on the effects of Pranic Healing on human subjects at BMCC.
Rajendran Pottayil
Rajendran Pottayil is a lecturer in psychology in the Department of Social Sciences, Human Services andCriminal Justice. Professor Pottayil has taught psychology at BMCC for the past five years, and has taught behavioral neuroscience at Binghamton University. Beyond a background in neuroscience research focusing on learning and memory using a rat model, he has also had a career in news journalism, during which he has interviewed Nobel laureates, Fields Medalists, and a variety of child prodigies, including Spelling Bee champions, andwinners of other contests, and been chased by a mother hippo. In his spare time, he manages Truly Curious (trulycurious.com), a site devoted to features about research and the people that do it, and goes flying around New Jersey.
Allison Pulizzi
Allison Pulizzi has a doctorate in Experimental Psychology from the CUNY Graduate Center. Her area of study was Evolutionary Social Psychology with an emphasis on female short-term mating strategy. She has taught a variety of courses at both CUNY and SUNY institutions. Among her favorite courses to teach are Experimental Psychology/Research Methods, Bio Psychology, and Psycho Pharmacology. Dr. Pulizzi uses charts and diagrams and other visual representations to demonstrate concepts and relationships to enhance comprehension. In all of her courses she guides students in the evaluation of evidence, critical thinking, argument development, verbal and written expression, and the application of general principles to novel settings. These competencies will equip students for a broad range of demands in future academic and occupational settings.
As City Research Scientist for the New York City Department of Health, World Trade Center Health Registry, Dr. Pulizzi had many opportunities to apply her theoretical knowledge regarding methodology and statistics to practical research settings. Her responsibilities included designing surveys, conducting in-depth interviews (IDI’s), designing and coordinating focus groups, conducting analyses, creating tables, figures and reports to present findings in a comprehensive format and writing grants to support core and ancillary research projects.
Chaim Tarshish
Chaim Tarshish is an Adjunct Professor, Cognitive Neuroscientist, and Licensed Psychologist. Dr. Tarshish has extensive experience teaching psychology courses in the areas of biology, clinical, developmental, experimental, neuropsychology, substance abuse, and statistics. His research includes working with diverse populations on federal- and foundation-funded grants in the areas of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Normal Aging, and drug recidivism in multi-modality treatment facilities. As a psychologist, Dr. Tarshish’s current work focuses on sub-acute and long-term care populations.
