NYC Gazette

CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez attended a symposium Monday to meet undergraduate students from six CUNY colleges who were presenting research projects in social sciences, humanities, and STEM. The two-year research initiative for high-performing students is part of the Percy Ellis Sutton Search for Education, Elevation and Knowledge (SEEK) program, a state-funded student support initiative that dates to 1965 and benefits from the support of the New York State Legislature, championed by Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.

One of SEEK’s newest initiatives, called the Innovative Career Opportunity and Research Program (ICORP), brings research experience and graduate school preparation to up to 150 undergraduate SEEK scholars across multiple CUNY senior colleges. It began in February 2023 at Brooklyn College, Hunter College, John Jay College, Medgar Evers College, and York College and this spring expanded to begin recruiting students from Lehman College.

“I am so proud of how SEEK, an iconic support program for students facing academic and financial challenges, continues to serve its participants by adapting to the times,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “Today its students are doing high-level research and making plans to attend graduate school – the program fully embodies CUNY’s historic mission in action, and proves that someone’s past does not necessarily determine their future. I’m grateful to Gov. Hochul and the state legislature for their continued support of this transformational program.”

Students begin the research program during their junior year and focus on completing a research project on a humanities, social science or STEM topic of their choosing. During their senior year, students who are interested in attending graduate school receive personalized, one-on-one help from research assistants and faculty advisors during the application process. The graduate school acceptance rate for students in the program is 90%.

“I’ve certainly reaped the benefits from ICORP, which gave me the tools and the skills to even consider grad school as a possibility, and I want to tell other students who are considering ICORP ‘give yourself the best shot at your future,’” said Alex Segundo, Hunter ’24, who was part of the program’s inaugural cohort and will attend graduate school at New York University in the fall.

Crystal Adote, John Jay ‘24, is another member of the inaugural cohort and will attend graduate school at Brooklyn College in the fall. “I am so grateful for the extra support team I had through ICORP,” she said. “When I received my grad school acceptances, I was so excited to let them know that their help and support got me to where I was.”

SEEK is one of the country’s most successful programs of its kind: Over five decades it has helped hundreds of thousands of CUNY students whose income falls below the federal poverty level attend college despite not qualifying academically based on traditional standards.

In 1965 when Black and Hispanic students represented less than five percent enrollment in CUNY system-wide City College started a pilot program admitting 113 minority students who would have otherwise been disqualified based on academic records alone. These students were given various resources such as individualized courses taught by specially trained teachers aimed at ensuring their success.

A year later activists along with politicians pushed successfully turning this pilot into law creating Project SEEK - “Search for Education Elevation Knowledge”. Advocates included New York State Assembly Member Percy Sutton & Brooklyn College alumna Shirley Chisholm first black woman elected congress member also former presidential candidate 1972.

Since inception SEEK has served annually around nine thousand CUNY Students providing comprehensive mix resources including academic financial counseling advising career guidance leading over fifty thousand degrees earned since 1990 among these graduates several prestigious accolades Fulbright Awards National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship NYU MacCracken Fellowship Thomas R Pickering Foreign Affairs Graduate Fellowship notable alumni retired NY Supreme Court Justice Lottie Wilkins; late Oscar Hijuelos Pulitzer Prize fiction winner Elias Alcantara President Obama administration Senior Associate Director Intergovernmental Affairs studies indicate success closing both income academic gaps Stanford University widely reported study early 2000s showed SEEK enrolled earning average four thousand dollars more annually compared non-SEEK wealthier background counterparts roughly same earnings those stronger initial academic records similar economic circumstances

City University New York nation largest urban public university transformative engine social mobility critical component lifeblood NYC founded1847 first free public institution higher education today seven community colleges eleven senior colleges seven graduate professional institutions spread across five boroughs serving over two hundred thirty-three thousand undergrad grad awarding fifty thousand degrees each year mix quality affordability propels nearly six times many low-income middle class beyond Ivy League combined eighty percent graduates stay contributing all aspects city economic civic cultural life diversifying workforce every sector graduates faculty numerous prestigious honors thirteen Nobel Prizes twenty-six MacArthur genius grants historic mission continues provide first-rate public education regardless means background learn more visit https://www.cuny.edu

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