September 8, 2021
The fall 2021 semester has begun and Borough of Manhattan Community/CUNY is bringing educational opportunities to a variety of populations at its CUNY in The Heights (CITH) campus, located at 5030 Broadway between 213th and 214th Streets in Upper Manhattan.
Serving Inwood, Washington Heights and Northern Bronx communities, CITH, administered by BMCC, is creating multiple educational pathways to degrees and careers with family-sustaining wages. In fact, students who take classes at CITH can participate in a variety of Success Programs, including Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) and Math Start to help them navigate their learning experience and earn their degree. Students can also take courses offered through the Manhattan Educational Opportunity Centerand BMCC’s Continuing Education and Workforce Development.
This summer, BMCC renovated facilities and enhanced academic programs at the CITH campus. The expanded facility, which includes more classrooms, has been redesigned to meet the accessibility needs of all students, while creating a physical environment that is functional and aesthetically pleasing.
Most recently, BMCC hired Ingrid Renderos as the Director of BMCC/CUNY in The Heights. Renderos brings more than 25 years of experience in higher education and will lead programmatic and operational efforts for the CITH campus.
“I hope to bring to CUNY in The Heights my commitment to the communities that CITH serves, especially since I grew up The Heights, and my family continues to live here,” says Renderos, who was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and immigrated to the United States as a child. “As an immigrant and as the first person in my family to graduate from college, I feel I am an example of BMCC’s motto: ‘Start here. Go anywhere.’
Renderos joins BMCC/CUNY in The Heights with an extensive college access and student success background, having worked for 18 years at Rutgers University-Newark (RU-N). At RU-N, served as the Director of Academic Partnerships for the Office of the Chancellor where she managed academic partnerships with various educational institutions, to ensure that partner students received the support services needed to successfully graduate from RU-N. Since RU-N is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), she collaborated with Latin American General Consulates, as well as community-based organizations that were serving the Latinx community throughout New Jersey.
Throughout her experience in higher education and the public sector, Renderos has initiated leadership, strategic planning, corporate, academic, and community partnerships, advisement, educational training, and project management programs both in the U.S. and in Latin America. Her international expertise includes running large-scale micro-banking, economic, and international health programs overseas. Renderos also is a motivational speaker on the first-generation experience, growth mindset, as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Renderos earned a Master of Public Administration from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service with a specialization in International Administration, and a Bachelor of Science from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business with a double major in Marketing and International Business and a minor in Spanish. She has worked and/or studied in Mexico, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Spain.
Renderos envisions CITH being a busy education hub where community residents can be trained on various workfore development certifications and take advantage of credit bearing classes to earn their Associate degree.
“There is so much potential and talent in Inwood, Washington Heights, and the surrounding communities, and I want be part of telling the story that access to education is right here at BMCC/CUNY in The Heights,” Renderos says.
For more information about BMCC/CUNY in The Heights, email cith@bmcc.cuny.edu.
