Daniela M. Medina

Picture of Professor


Adjunct Lecturer
Social Sciences, Human Services and Criminal Justice

EMAIL: dmedina@bmcc.cuny.edu

Office:

Office Hours: By appointment* (usually after each lecture)

Phone:

Resume

Professor Daniela M. Medina was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, graduated with a BA in Communication at Baruch College. As a journalist worked @ CBS with international correspondent Arnaldo Duran and participated in a couple of TV shows ‘Inside Edition’ & ‘Good Morning America’.

In 2008, Medina decided to return to school for a master’s degree in sociology at St. John’s University. Since then she has taught over 200 undergraduate college courses in disciplines of sociology, criminology & psychology. To name a few of these former universities- Berkeley, St. John’s, LIU, SUNY, Brooklyn College, Vassar College and most recently BMCC.

Prof. Medina also enjoys traveling, she has visited about 90 countries and one of her trips she took students for an educational tour. She has also lived in the UK where she initiated her PhD studies and received ABD for her research proposal in migration.

In New York City she continues to curate projects to assist the less fortunate ones, and build partnerships with non-profit organizations like QCA, NYSCA, Bildner Center, Mundo Real & Cidadão Global and local businesses as well.

Her priority has always been to find innovative platforms to assist the NYC immigrant population. One of these former projects was helping to promote the diverse neighborhood of Queens along the 7 line train; thus hence the visibility of many immigrant business owners. For this project alone, Prof. Medina received an award by former mayor Bloomberg.

Her ideas for projects are always connected to the theme of social justice in helping local small businesses and immigrants. She is a big believer that transnational businesses have a huge financial contribution to a global city like New York City.

With this attitude in mind, Prof. Daniela has recently become involved with the Green Economy. Because she knows the importance as a sociologist – technology plays in modifying our behaviors to protect our planet.

Recently she has coordinated summer paid internships for her former SUNY students to work with local Westchester Green Businesses. In 2019 at WCC, she has curated Earth’s Day Events. She is also interested in racial justice issues and has organized an Afro-Latino which in return received an endorsement by the United Nations.

Medina definitely enjoys being part of events that create meaningful connections among people like her students, academics, businesses owners and community leaders.

Expertise

In 2017 she caught a virus on a trip to Southeast Asia. Unfortunately due to this incident Prof. Medina was paralyzed for weeks and she had to hop to several countries looking for a cure. And even before the pandemic happened, she decided to write a book in 2019 to help others heal from a traumatic experience of the virus.

With this book, she hopes by sharing her own experience she can assist others who are now facing a similar situation. Her wishes for this book that serves as a step stone towards healing. And a lesson she learned from this experience, is to always listen to her intuition & follow a passion in life.

She feels the sooner we recognize our bliss – the better lives we can have – because we add our contribution to the world and can change other lives as well.  And for Prof. Medina teaching is definitely one of her passions in life and she hopes in being a mentor she can assist others find their own bliss.

Degrees

  • Bachelors in Communication, Baruch College
  • Masters in Sociology, St. John’s University
  • ABD in Migration, Sussex University

Courses Taught

Research and Projects

  • Introduction to Sociology
  • Marriage and Family
  • Migration and Globalization
  • Minority Groups in the Criminal Justice System
  • Social Inequality
  • Social Institutions

Publications

Please see CV

Honors, Awards and Affiliations

UN Endowment

Bloomberg Award

Additional Information