FY21 Highlights

PRESTIGIOUS TOP RANKING AWARDED TO MACAULAY HONORS COLLEGE
Macaulay Honors scored a perfect 5.0 rating from Public University Honors for the fifth consecutive year, earning the college top ranking as one of nation’s seven best honors colleges. “The first thing we have to say about CUNY Macaulay Honors College is that we love the idea of a citywide university system that has the vision and persistence to support honors education across eight diverse campuses that, all told, have more than 115,000 undergraduate students. The second thing: Somehow, in these hard times, the MHC manages to offer students a superior honors education.”

 

BRIDGE SCHOLARS TRANSFER PROGRAM EXPANDS
Funded by a $200K grant from GS Humane Corp, Macaulay recruited a second cohort of Bridge Scholars in partnership with the College of Staten Island. This pilot initiative identifies high-achieving community college students and provides them with a pathway to honors education. As one clear sign of the program’s success, three Bridge Scholars from the first cohort graduated more than a semester early, earning their bachelors degrees from Macaulay at Lehman College.

 

JUSTICE & EQUITY NETWORK ESTABLISHED
In partnership with the honors college at Arizona State University, Macaulay launched the Justice and Equity Honors Network, a certificate program that will engage honors students from both universities in an interdisciplinary exploration of issues related to justice and equity. To earn the certificate, students must complete at least 6 credits of coursework, participate in a weekly online synthesis session with their counterparts from ASU, and present their work at a culminating conference over the summer.

 

NEW PUBLIC EVENT SERIES LAUNCHED
The challenges of the pandemic inspired Macaulay to launch two new series of public events that would engage the broader Macaulay Honors community and showcase the talents & accomplishments of our students and alumni. @Macaulay Authors highlights writers from the Macaulay community (alumni, faculty, parents, students, staff). Inside Look @Macaulay gives viewers a chance to experience an upper level seminar, meet star faculty, and see the impressive work of our honors scholars.

 

$350K RAISED FOR STUDENT LAPTOPS
COVID not only forced changes in how we provide instruction to our students, it also required innovation in how we fund the honors enhancements that are core to the Macaulay experience. Faced with significant reductions in our tax levy funding, Macaulay launched a fundraising campaign to purchase laptops for all incoming students. Kicked off with a $100K challenge match from Foundation Chair Tony Meyer, the campaign has raised nearly $350K from over 300 donors, many of them first-time supporters.

 

RECORD-BREAKING APPLICATIONS FOR CLASS OF 2025
Online innovations drove Macaulay’s recruitment efforts to achieve a record-breaking 15% increase in applications. We quickly pivoted to expand our digital marketing efforts and create Open Houses delivered via Zoom that attracted more prospective students, from a greater range of high schools, and answered more of their questions than ever before. By the December 8^th deadline, we received over 7,300 applications for just 520 available first-year seats. Our applicants came from over 900 high schools, with 30% of the students identifying as Black and/or Latinx.

 

AWARD-WINNING STUDENTS
Macaulay Honors students continue to win an impressive number of scholarships and awards including Fulbrights, Jonas E. Salk Scholars, Jeanette K. Watson Fellows, Boren Fellows, and Salutatorians.

 

BARATUNDE THURSTON TO ADDRESS CLASS OF 2021
Acclaimed activist-writer Baratunde Thurston will deliver the Commencement address to the graduating Class of 2021 on June 3^rd. Thurston’s podcast series We’re Having A Moment was critically reviewed as “the most important podcasts of 2020” by CNET. Often humorous but always sharply insightful, his observations on race, civics, and society will provide Macaulay’s newest graduates with a timely reflection on the challenges and opportunities that await them.