Cynthia Lam
Associate Professor
English
EMAIL: clam@bmcc.cuny.edu
Office: N-768B
Office Hours: clam@bmcc.cuny.edu
Phone: +1 (212) 776-7822
Associate Professor C. Christina Lam is a teacher, scholar, and mentor. She has an M.A. in English from Stony Brook University, an M.S. Ed in Higher Ed Administration from Baruch College, as well as a Ph.D. in English with a focus on Latinx studies and a certificate in Women’s Studies from Stony Brook University.
Prior to joining BMCC as a full-time faculty member Professor Lam worked in various roles as an educational advocate for non-profit organizations serving low-income populations to access college. Her advocacy work informs her student-centered pedagogy. She thus invites students to write about and explore their professional goals in her Composition classroom, and is currently developing a service learning component for her courses.
Professor Lam’s primary scholarly interests are focused on contemporary operations of cultural memory and recovery in multi-ethnic American women’s literature of the 20th century to the present. Her interest in the ways that marginalized writers construct subjectivities to gain visibility in the body politic extends pedagogically to the way students come to see themselves as members of the academy. Her work has appeared in such journals as The Rocky Mountain Review, Label Me Latina/o, and Studies in American Culture.
Expertise
Latina/o Literature Writing & Rhetoric U.S. Ethnic Literature Career/Service Learning
Degrees
Ph.D. Stony Brook University, English
M.S. Ed Baruch College, Higher Education
M.A. Stony Brook University, English
Courses Taught
- Students placed in ENG 100.5 are offered extra support, afforded through additional instructional time. Students completing ENG 100.5 will have mastered the fundamentals of college-level reading and writing, including developing a thesis-driven response to the writing of others and following the basic conventions of citation and documentation. They will have practiced what Mike Rose calls the "habits of mind" necessary for success in college and in the larger world: summarizing, classifying, comparing, contrasting, and analyzing. Students will be introduced to basic research methods and MLA documentation and complete a research project. Students are required to take a departmental final exam that requires the composition of a 500 word thesis-driven essay in conversation with two texts. Successful completion of this course is equivalent to passing ENG 101.
Prerequisite: English Proficiency Index of 64 and lower or a score of 43-55 on the CAT-W and exemption from ACR 95 or successful completion of ACR 95. This course is not open to ESL students.
Please note: Tuition for this corequisite course is charged by the equated credit (hours) not per credit.
Course Syllabus - English Composition is the standard freshman writing course. The course introduces students to academic writing. By its conclusion, students will be ready for English 201 and for the writing they will be asked to do in advanced courses across the curriculum. Students completing ENG 101 will have mastered the fundamentals of college-level reading and writing, including developing a thesis-driven response to the writing of others and following the basic conventions of citation and documentation. They will have practiced what Mike Rose calls the "habits of mind" necessary for success in college and in the larger world: summarizing, classifying, comparing, contrasting, and analyzing. Students will be introduced to basic research methods and MLA documentation and complete a research project. Students are required to take a departmental final exam that requires the composition of a 500 word, thesis-driven essay in conversation with two designated texts.
Prerequisite: Pass the CAT-R and CAT-W or Accuplacer tests
Course Syllabus - 6 CRS.7 HRS.NULL LAB HRS.ENG 121 (English Composition & Introduction to Literature in Tandem)
- This course combines English 101 and 201 into a one-semester course. It is designed for students with a high level of reading and writing proficiency. Departmental permission is required.
Prerequisite: Pass the CATW and CATR tests
Course Syllabus - This is a course that builds upon skills introduced in English 101. In this course, literature is the field for the development of critical reading, critical thinking, independent research, and writing skills. Students are introduced to literary criticisms and acquire basic knowledge necessary for the analysis of texts (including literary terms and some literary theory); they gain proficiency in library and internet research; and they hone their skills as readers and writers. Assignments move from close readings of literary texts in a variety of genres to analyses that introduce literary terms and broader contexts, culminating in an independent, documented, thesis-driven research paper. By the conclusion of English 201, students will be prepared for the analytical and research-based writing required in upper-level courses across the curriculum; they will also be prepared for advanced courses in literature.
Prerequisite: ENG 101
Course Syllabus - Representative works reflecting the collective experiences of Asian American writers are analyzed. Fiction, poetry, drama, and non-fiction written from Chinese, Filipino, Asian Indian, Japanese, Korean, and Southeast Asian cultural perspectives are discussed. Prerequisite: ENG 201 or ENG 121 NOTE: ASN 339 satisfies requirements for a third semester of the English sequence.
- This course focuses on the contributions of women literary artists from a variety of cultures and ethnic groups. It examines how some writers have both reflected the prevailing female stereotypes of their age and background, and also imagined the "New Woman." Enrollment is open to both women and men.
Course Syllabus - In this course, works reflecting the experiences of U.S. Latino/a writers in English are analyzed. Students will read, discuss, and write about fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama by writers such as Julia Alvarez, Rudolfo Anaya, Gloria Anzaldua, Roberto Fernandez, Tato Laviera, Achy Obejas, Abraham Rodriguez Jr., and Piri Thomas. Note: Crosslisted with LAT 338
Course Syllabus
Research and Projects
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS
“Haunting the Archive: Decolonizing Memory in Ingrid Rojas Contreras’ The Man Who Could Move Clouds” Memory Studies Association, New-Castle-upon-Tyne, UK. July 2023
“Haunting the Archive: Decolonizing Memory in Ingrid Rojas Contreras’ The Man Who Could Move Clouds” MELUS: Society For The Study Of Multi-Ethnic Literature: Society for the Study of Multi-ethnic Literature, Indianapolis, IN, April 2023.
“Amplifying Student Voices: From Passive Learners to Active Knowledge Producers.” CUNY Faculty Diversity and Inclusion Conference: The Power of an Antiracist Academy: Reimaging Systems & Structures. April 15-16, 2021. Virtual.
“A Stranger Among Us: Belonging and Citizenship in Oscar Cásares Where We Come From. MELUS: Society For The Study Of Multi-Ethnic Literature: Society for the Study of Multi-ethnic Literature, New Orleans, LA, April 2020. Cancelled due to COVID.
“Alternate Archives: Latinx narrative interventions in Carolina de Robertis’ Perla and Alicia Partnoy’s The Little School.” John Jay Latina/o Literary Theory and Criticism Conference, New York, NY April 25-27, 2019.
“Alternate Archives: Latinx narrative interventions in Carolina de Robertis’ Perla and Alicia Partnoy’s The Little School.” MELUS, Cincinnati, OH March 21-24, 2019.
“Latinx Testimonio: Intersectionality in Raquel Cepeda’s Bird of Paradise: How I Became a Latina.” Latina/o Studies Association Biennial Conference. Washington, D.C. July 2018.
“The Assimilated Cubana’s Guide to Cuba: Narrating Womanhood in Cristina Garcia’s The Agüero Sisters.” 49th Northeast Modern Language Association conference. Pittsburgh, PA. April 2018.
“Writing My Way Out: Research as Me-Search in the Comp Classroom.” Transitions and Transactions IV at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. New York, NY. April 2018.
“Acts of Resistance: Identity as Bodily Performance in Esmeralda Santiago’s Almost a Woman.” 3rd Biennial Latina/o Literary Theory and Criticism Conference at John Jay. New York, NY. April 2017.
“Flipping the Script: Body and Belonging in Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa’s Daughter of Stone.” Latina/o Studies Association Conference on Deliberating Promiscuity, (In)Civility, and (Un)Disciplinarity. Pasadena, CA. July 2016.
Co-presenter: “When Access is not Enough: Engaging Students via Career Development in the Composition Classroom.” CUNY Coordinated Undergraduate Education Conference. Bronx, NY. May 2016
“Narrating Embodied Experience: The Body as Border That Feels in Cristina Garcia’s Dreaming In Cuban.” The 2nd Biennial Latina/o Literary Theory and Criticism Conference at John Jay. New York, NY. April 2015.
“Matriarchal Anxieties: The Maternal Body and Ethnic Production in The Agüero Sisters.” CUNY Latin@ Cultural Studies Conference. Long Island City, NY. April 2014
“Trauma and Testimony: Embodied Memory in Loida Maritza Pérez’s Geographies of Home.” 67th Annual Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association Convention. Vancouver, WA. October 2013.
Guest speaker: Celebrate Latina/o Culture! Latina/o Literary Studies Faculty Roundtable. LaGuardia Community College, Long Island City, NY. May 2013.
Publications
- “Careers Matter When Life is Precarious: Finding Freedom and Agency in the Composition Classroom” Dec 2021 issue of Teaching English in the Two Year College.
- “Bearing Witness: Alternate Archives of Latinx Identity in Raquel Cepeda’s Bird of Paradise: How I Became a Latina.” Studies in American Culture. Special Issue: New Approaches to Latinx & Caribbean identity. Vol 43.1 (June 2020), 26-42.
- Flipping the Script, Memory, Body and Belonging in Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa’s Daughters of the Stone (Summer 2017)2017, Label Me Latina/o Special Issue: Afro-Latina/o Literature and Performance
- Trauma and Testimony: Embodied Memory in Loida Maritza Perez’s Geographies of Home 2015, Theorizing Space and Gender in the 21st Century’ special issue of Rocky Mountain Review Volume 69, Number 1 (Spring 2015), 37-48.
Honors, Awards and Affiliations
Additional Information
Selected College Service:
Supplemental Instructor Liaison | English Department (2023-present)
A Supplemental Instruction (SI) Leader is a paid CUNY employee who promotes peer-to-peer learning. First and foremost, a SI Leader is a student advocate working directly with students under the supervision of a Professor (SI Faculty). SI Leaders work both in and out of the classroom and via social media to promote student success, increase attendance, and model what it is to be a great student. By working directly with students, SI Leaders also provide early intervention, time management advice, and assistance on specific assignments.
CUNY Career Success Fellows (2021-2022 )
I am part of the inaugural cohort faculty member that will form an interdisciplinary learning community across 2-year and 4-year colleges that will meet monthly and will include two interactive focus areas that work collaboratively to share experiences, research, and outcomes for ongoing improvement of the student experience around career development and success. The CUNY Career Success Faculty Fellows will create a CUNY Shared Practice Document which articulates the core principles and suggested structures (for example, faculty professional development focused on equity in the work-place, work-based experiential learning for students) for scalable implementation.
Chair of the ENG 100.5/Co-requisites Committee, English Dept. (Fall 2019-Spring 2020)
I oversaw the management of ENG 88 and 95 which included coordinating with the Testing Office for CATW exams. In this role, I developed methods to place students in the proper courses at the end of current class placement. I assigned students codes to allow for registration in courses once I had gathered faculty’s recommendations and served as a resource for faculty in teaching this course. I also delivered faculty training that included such topics as an introduction to growth mindset, and non-cognitive factors affecting remedial learning and college support, and teaching exercises.
Open Educational Resource (OER)Advocate, Borough of Manhattan Community College (2018-present)
An initiative where BMCC faculty have been leading CUNY in redesigning their courses with open educational resources (OER) and other no-cost materials available online and through the Library. As an OER advocate, I work to identify and address barriers to redesigning courses with OER/ZTC in the department.
Areas of administrative expertise:
- – Program Development & Management
- – Enrollment & Retention Services
- – Student Services Delivery
- – Staff Training & Supervision
