News & Distributaries

Celebrating the 2025 CUNY Adjunct Incubator Award Projects: Public Scholarship and Social Justice

May 6, 2026

We are proud to present the 2025 CUNY Adjunct Incubator Awardees final projects below. All of these projects reflect just some of the creative, critical, and community-engaged work that is happening right now at CUNY, and it was an honor to work with each awardee to bring their respective projects into focus. Our awardees created films, co-facilitated workshops on topics such as media literacy, developed educational games, hosted art exhibitions, created materials to support housing rights by leveraging resources on college campuses, hosted events sharing information about mental health and stress management, built projects focused on oral history and autoethnographic methodologies, facilitated participatory research projects, researched and wrote about culinary traditions, and more.

Awardees from across campuses created projects to support social justice initiatives, LGBTQIA+ rights, housing rights, projects to support ethnic and race studies, and so much more. We have been so excited to support these projects, and we continue to do our best to support adjuncts with funding and publicity to bring exciting, engaging, and creative projects to life.

Our awardees adjunct at nine or more CUNY campuses and departments: LaGuardia Community College (Film), Guttman Community College, John Jay College, Queensborough Community College, the Mina Rees Library at the Graduate Center, Queens College (Design), Lehman College (Languages and Literatures), Borough of Manhattan Community College (Department of Ethnic and Race Studies), and Hunter College (Urban Planning and Policy, and the Macaulay Honors Program).

Investigating the Intersection of Housing & Immigration

Hannah Weiss (Hunter College, Urban Planning and Policy, and the Macaulay Honors College)

City Hall, Downtown Brooklyn. Image by Bill Badzo.

This project examines how immigration status shapes housing insecurity and access to justice in New York City. Focusing on undocumented immigrants, Hannah Weiss’s public scholarship highlights the risks of unsafe or informal housing, as seen in fatalities during Hurricane Ida, and the barriers to accessing disaster relief and tenant protections. While programs like Right to Counsel improve eviction outcomes, many immigrants avoid Housing Court due to fear of exposure, surveillance, and immigration enforcement. This reluctance leaves them vulnerable to unsafe conditions and landlord abuse. Through research and firsthand accounts, the project reveals systemic gaps and calls for more inclusive housing policies that better protect marginalized communities.

Hannah Weiss is an adjunct lecturer in Urban Planning and Policy and the Macaulay Honors Program at Hunter College. She has worked on housing/homeless policy from different angles for 15 years.

Where Europe Starts: Interviews with Seven Migrants from Africa and the Middle East who Crossed the Białowieża Forest to Seek Asylum in the E.U.

Tusia Dabrowska (Design, Queens College; Film Studies, John Jay College)

This project documents the migration crisis along the Polish-Belarusian border, focusing on migrants crossing the Białowieża Forest to seek asylum in the European Union. Supported by the CUNY Adjunct Incubator, filmmaker Tusia Dabrowska expanded her work beyond aid volunteers to include firsthand migrant testimonies from Africa and the Middle East. Through interviews across multiple European cities, the project reveals the physical dangers, political barriers, and emotional toll of migration, as well as the limits of humanitarian aid. The resulting video essay combines these narratives with observations of local communities, aiming to deepen public understanding and contribute to the historical record of this ongoing crisis.

A still from the film based on the artwork by a recent asylum seeker, Ramah Abo Zedan. May 2025.

Tusia Dabrowska makes eco-social performances, experimental films, and digital projects. Tusia teaches courses in the Design Program at Queens College and in Film Studies at John Jay College.

All Is Not Lost ∞ Noguchi near Milton in Queens

Seth Fein (Film, LaGuardia Community College)

All Is Not Lost ∞ is a documentary essay exploring art, history, and gentrification in Long Island City, Queens, through the legacies of Isamu Noguchi and Joseph Cornell. This project, sparked by a fragment of graffiti quoting John Milton, the film traces connections between industrial pasts and cultural presents across four parts. It examines shifting urban landscapes, from factories to museums and commercial spaces, alongside contrasting migrations shaped by gentrification. Incorporating sites like LaGuardia Community College, the project reflects on memory, erasure, and documentation, arguing that fragments of the past persist through observation, interpretation, and creative practice.

Seth Fein is a historian and filmmaker. He operates Seven Local Film, which he founded in Jackson Heights, Queens, where he lives. Within CUNY, he has taught Film at Brooklyn College, including its Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema, as well as at LaGuardia Community College.

Well-being and Resilience: Mental Health and Stress Management Workshop Series

Naziat Hassan (Queensborough Community College)

This project presents a three-part Mental Health and Stress Management Workshop Series led by Naziat Hassan, designed to address anxiety, stress, and mental health stigma in diverse communities. Supported by CUNY partners, the workshops provided psychoeducation on the science of stress, symptom recognition, and practical coping strategies, such as breathing and grounding techniques. Hosted across community and campus settings, the series reached over 80 participants, including students and working adults. By promoting open dialogue, early help-seeking, and awareness of counseling resources, the project fostered community support and resilience while reducing stigma and encouraging proactive approaches to mental and emotional well-being.

A snapshot from the presentation in partnership with the Asian American Institute for Research and Engagement at Nanking in New Hyde Park, New York.

Naziat Hassan is a licensed mental health counselor at Queensborough Community College, with expertise in treating individuals, adolescents, adults, and families facing mood disorders, trauma, and substance abuse.

La Lotería Niuyorkina: A pedagogical toolkit to explore Spanish varieties through the Linguistic Landscape

Diana Higuera-Cortés (Languages and Literatures, Lehman College)

La Lotería Niuyorkina is an educational game developed by Diana Higuera-Cortés and illustrated by a Queens College junior student, Mateo Oldenburg, to support Spanish heritage language students in exploring New York City’s linguistic landscape. This project, inspired by the traditional Lotería, incorporates student-generated Spanglish terms, cultural references, and local experiences. Illustrated collaboratively, the game highlights Latinx identity, language diversity, and community knowledge. Designed as an open educational resource, it includes lesson plans and free materials accessible online, reducing costs for students and instructors. The project challenges traditional language hierarchies while fostering reflection on bilingualism, identity, and the longstanding presence of Spanish in the United States. Over 60 people came together to celebrate the game’s launch; check out a recap and photos from this wonderful event here.

Check out a few photographs from the launch event:

Diana Higuera-Cortes is a PhD student in the Latin American, Iberian, and Latino Cultures (LAILAC) program at the Graduate Center-CUNY. A former CUNY Humanities Alliance fellow, Diana teaches Spanish at Lehman College.

Ghost Notes: A Journaling Practice for Taiwanese American Autoethnography

Alex Ho and Joy Liu (Department of Ethnic and Race Studies, Borough of Manhattan Community College)

Ghost Notes is a collaborative project by Joy Liu and Alex Ho that explores Taiwanese American identity through autoethnography, oral history, and art-making. Drawing on themes of “haunting” inspired by works like Haunted Modernities: Gender, Memory, and Placemaking in Postindustrial Taiwan by Anru Lee, the project examines memory, diaspora, and intergenerational connection. Through dialogue and reflection, the authors developed a journaling practice using prompts framed as questions to ancestors, inspired by rituals such as joss paper burning. The resulting workbook encourages creative, tactile exploration of personal and collective histories, offering an accessible pedagogical tool for students and others engaging with race, identity, and diasporic experience.

An original collage created in response to workbook prompts, including “What Would I Ask the Dead?”

Joy Liu is a Clinical Social Worker. A former Museum educator, Joy now teaches in the Department of Ethnic and Race Studies and the Department of Academic Literacy & Liguitics at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC).

Alex Ho is an ethnic studies and media arts educator with ten years of education experience and a background in film and media. Alex teaches in the Department of Ethnic and Race Studies at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC).

Syrian Culinary Superstitions

Alice Kallman (Mina Rees Library, CUNY Graduate Center)

**The Table:** Kallman’s ceramic art displayed next to inspiration from books about medieval-era ceramic/metal art in the Middle East.

This project explores Syrian superstitions through interviews with a diverse range of Syrians living in diaspora, including Jewish, Muslim, and mixed-heritage individuals. Combining oral histories with textual research, Alice Kallman examines how beliefs, such as the evil eye, ritual uses of salt, and cultural practices around food and language, vary across religious and regional lines. The project also traces historical influences, including Ottoman and religious traditions, on these practices. Findings were shared through a multimedia dinner showcasing audio, art, and traditional dishes. Ultimately, the work highlights the complexity of Syrian cultural identity and aims to challenge simplified national narratives through ethnographic research.

Alice Kallman is an adjunct reference librarian in the Dissertation Office at the Mina Rees Library at CUNY Graduate Center. Over the course of her studies, she worked at the New York Public Library and then with an oral history project at the Queens Public Library. Alice also works part-time at the Queens Public Library in the Correctional Outreach department, doing reentry programming for individuals returning home from incarceration.

Participatory Research in Social Justice at Guttman Community College

Jerald Isseks (Guttman Community College)

This project integrates participatory action research (PAR) into first-year American Studies courses at Guttman Community College, culminating in student-led research addressing community issues. Supported by a CUNY Adjunct Incubator Award, Jerald Isseks‘ initiative strengthened program structure and enabled a campus showcase of student work. While PAR aims to center student voice and agency, its implementation in required courses raises questions about choice, authority, and authenticity. In response, the project emphasizes clear guidance, collaboration, and public engagement. Students produced work on topics such as migration, gentrification, and civic disillusionment, gaining confidence, critical awareness, and a stronger sense of purpose in their academic and community lives.

Jerald Isseks is a critical educational scholar, an organizer, and a writer who teaches in the First-Year Experience program at Guttman Community College.

(Dis)Placing Us On The Map: An Interactive Exhibition of LGBTQIA+ Spaces

Natalie Willens (LaGuardia Community College)

“(Dis)Placing Us On The Map” is an interactive exhibition showcasing photographs and oral histories created by LaGuardia Community College students documenting LGBTQIA+ spaces in New York City. Highlighting organizations such as Queer | Art, National Queer Theater, Queens Community House, and Callen-Lorde, the project explores themes of care, activism, and community resilience. Visitors actively contribute by mapping meaningful spaces and sharing reflections, transforming the archive into a living, participatory dialogue that honors past and present while imagining future LGBTQIA+ spaces.

Natalie Willens is an educator, artist, organizer, and Ph.D. candidate in Urban Education at the CUNY Graduate Center. They have published poetry, essays, and photography on the intersections of art and activism, and are working on a multi-year project with LaGuardia Community College students to creatively archive underfunded LGBTQ+ spaces in New York City.

View images from the event here and in the slide deck below.

Enhancing Media Literacy Skills in the Digital Age

Desislava Zagorcheva (LaGuardia Community College)

This project advances media literacy education through an interdisciplinary Faculty Seminar on Media Literacy Skills in the Digital Age at CUNY, led by Desislava Zagorcheva. Supported by the CUNY Adjunct Incubator Grant, the initiative brings faculty together to address disinformation, information overload, and critical thinking in the digital age. Participants develop classroom strategies, assignments, and resources to help students evaluate sources and engage responsibly with media. The project also fosters collaborations with experts and contributes to a forthcoming open-access media literacy website. Through conference presentations and partnerships with organizations like the Council on Foreign Relations, the work expands its impact on teaching, research, and public scholarship.

Participants in the Faculty Seminar on Media Literacy in the Digital Age. Photograph by Dessie Zagorcheva.

Desislava Zagorcheva (Dessie) is an author and educator with a Ph.D. in International Relations from Columbia University. She teaches courses in Global Politics and American Government and Politics at CUNY. Her research focuses on global challenges to democracy. She is passionate about using her expertise to educate and inspire students to engage more actively in politics.

The CUNY Adjunct Incubator 2025 awardee projects were managed, edited, and designed by Madeleine Barnes, Creative Communications & Design Strategist, & Co-Editor of Distributaries, at the Center for the Humanities.

The CUNY Adjunct Incubator is co-sponsored by PS2 at the Center for the Humanities through generous grants from the Sylvia Klatzkin Steinig Fund and the Gittell Urban Studies Collective at the Graduate Center, CUNY.