Syreeta McFadden
Lecturer
English
EMAIL: smcfadden@bmcc.cuny.edu
Office: N-751R
Office Hours:
Phone: +1 (212) 220-8278
Syreeta McFadden is a lecturer of English at Borough of Manhattan Community College, where she teaches writing, literature, and journalism. Syreeta’s work deals largely with gender, politics, race, and culture. Her work has appeared in the poetry anthology Break Beat Poets 2: Black Girl Magic (Haymarket Books) and in the anthology Indelible in the Hippocampus: Writings From The #MeToo Movement (McSweeney’s Books). Her essays and criticism have appeared in The Atlantic, New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Brooklyn Magazine, and BuzzFeed News. She was a 2013 CEC ArtsLink One Big City Residency recipient. Her residencies include SPACE at Ryder Farm and Ragdale. She holds degrees from Columbia University and Sarah Lawrence College. A former urban planner and housing development specialist, she holds degrees from Columbia University and Sarah Lawrence College. She is currently working on a collection of essays.
Expertise
Degrees
Bachelor of Arts, Columbia University, 1997.
Master of Fine Arts, Sarah Lawrence College, 2007.
Courses Taught
- English Composition is the standard first-year writing course. The course introduces students to the academic writing process through the study of culturally-diverse nonfiction prose. Emphasis will be placed on developing thesis-driven responses to the writing of others, practicing revision,
following the conventions of MLA style, and completing a research project. By its successful conclusion, students will be ready for English 201 and for the writing they will be asked to do in advanced courses across the curriculum.
Prerequisite: Writing PI 65+ - 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
- Fundamentals of Journalism offers an introduction to the practice, purpose, and history of journalism as projections about its future. The course addresses journalism in all its forms and media, e.g. film, print, radio, television, and Internet-based platforms, including Web sites, blogs, Twitter. It provides a foundation in journalisma??s professional code of ethics and the work of a free press to safeguard social liberty. Skills cultivated will include information gathering establishing credibility, writing, editing and dissemination. Prerequisite: ENG 101 and ENG 201
- This course provides further opportunities for students to explore journalism. Students conduct interviews, cover stories around the city and write journalistic articles. Opportunities are provided for specialized coverage in areas such as politics, consumerism, science, education, finance, the arts, social change and family life. Topics include layout, headline composition and basics of journalism law.
- This course focuses on the literature of urban America since 1950 and in particular on how contemporary writers use the images and themes of the city.
- This course will focus on a specific theme, concept, cultural milieu, or major author to be announced in advance. Topics for the following semester will be made available by the English Department during registration. Each section of the course will cover in-depth a single special topic, such as one of the following: the Harlem Renaissance, Literature and the Environment, Utopian and Dystopian Literature, Literature and Medicine, The Beat Generation, Literature of the Working Class, Satire in the 18th Century, Censorship and Literature, Literature of Immigration, War in Literature, Madness and Inspiration in Literature, Gay and Lesbian Literature, and Women in Shakespeare. Prerequisites: ENG 101 and 201, or ENG 121
Research and Projects
Publications
Selected Publications – Features, Essay and Criticism
‘I’m honoring these people’: Spike Lee on ‘filling’ the Brooklyn Museum with his creative sources | The Guardian US, October 11, 2023
The Exhibit That Reveals Toni Morrison’s Obsessions | The Atlantic, April 22, 2023
Gayl Jones returns after 20 years with a new novel | Andscape, September 30, 2021
Meet the Women Bringing Weed to the Deep South | Rolling Stone, July 1, 2021
“Black Lives Matter Just Entered Its Next Phase ”| The Atlantic, September 3, 2020
“The Violence That Shaped Our Nation” | Rolling Stone, July 18, 2020
“Where Are All the Black Women Pilots?” |AFAR, February 20, 2020
“Harlem’s Schomburg Center: Celebrating the History and Culture of the Black Experience” | The Carnegie Reporter. November 1, 2019
“Black Milwaukeeans Are Ready to Fight for Their Communities”| Zora, October 29, 2019
How To Survive A Lynching | BuzzFeed News, June 23, 2016
Black memoir in 2015: the year America broadened its canon | The Guardian, December 31, 2015
Teaching the camera to see my skin | BuzzFeed, April 2, 2014
Honors, Awards and Affiliations
SPACE at Ryder Farm Creative Fellowship, 2018.
BMCC Faculty Leadership Fellow, 2019.
Ragdale Artist Resident, 2022.
2022-23 CUNY Transformative Learning in the Humanities Faculty Fellow
