1. 1
LaGuardia Community College
City University of New York
Program for the First Annual
Social Science Student Conference
Sponsored by
The LaGuardia Psychology Club
The Social Science Department
The Peer Activist Learning Community
The LaGuardia Political Arena Club
May 21 - 22, 2012
Faculty Organizers: Student Planning Committee:
Lara Beaty
Mark Houston
Francisco Medina
Karen Miller
Jenlys Pimentel
Chris Rafinski
Eduardo Vianna
Kathy Violeta
Silvia Zigun

2. 2
Monday, May 21st
10:30-11:45 Keynote address
Little Theater
The Potential and the Challenge of Social Movement Research
Dr. Peter Sawchuk
Associate Professor, University of Toronto
Principle Investigator, Anti-Poverty Community Organizing and Learning Project
12:00- 1:00 Posters Presentations and Lunch
E-242
The Influence of Technology and Modern Day Genealogy.
Robin Fine
solrea@yahoo.com
Jew of Malta and Today’s Political System has not changed
Dayana I. Sanchez
DayanaIsabelSanchez@gmail.com
Birth Order
Charlene Dubin
charlene.dubin@live.lagcc.cuny.edu
Defiance
Shy Brownfield
althead2001@yahoo.com
Attachment
Reejan Shrestha
reejan.shrestha@live.lagcc.cuny.edu
Anorexia
Nadia Bonila
ndhita010@hotmail.com
Does thinking affect our learning?
Janera Angevine
janera.angevine@gmail.com
The Cost of Poverty
Qian Li and Ting Lin
qianqian.li@live.lagcc.cuny.edu and ting.lin1@live.lagcc.cuny.edu

3. 3
1:00-2:00 The Mind in Perspective
E-242
Moderator/Discussant: Michele Piso, mpiso@lagcc.cuny.edu, Center for Teaching and
Learning, LaGuardia Community College
Does Consciousness Overflow Cognitive Access?
Richard Brown, Humanities Department (Philosophy), LaGuardia Community College
rbrown@lagcc.cuny.edu
A Cultural-Historical Approach to Undergraduate Research: A Developmental Approach
To Education
Lara Beaty, Social Science Department (Psychology), LaGuardia Community College
lbeaty@lagcc.cuny.edu
Beyond Freud: Psychoanalysis in the 21st Century
Shara Sand, Social Science Department (Psychology), LaGuardia Community College
ssand@lagcc.cuny.edu
2:15-3:15 Performing Identity and Culture
E-242
Moderator/Discussant: , Humanities Department, LaGuardia Community
College
Ethnic Identity as an Empowering Tool
Francisco Medina
Francisco.Medina@live.lagcc.cuny.edu
Developing identity through a diversified curriculum
Venessia Graham
vendo926@gmail.com
There is a Spanish Rose in Sweet Apple, Ohio: Latinidad in ABC’s Bye Bye Birdie
, Humanities Department, LaGuardia Community College
jaramirez@lagcc.cuny.edu
3:30-4:45 Person In Context
E-242
Moderator/Discussant: Stacey Cooper, PhD Candidate, Developmental Psychology,
CUNY Graduate Center
From individualist to transformative activist stance: Collaborative reading of critical
theories in a peer-based learning community
Michael Rifino
Michael.rifino@me.com

4. 4
Internships As An Object Of Activity Systems
Mayra Vega
mayravega1015@gmail.com
Social Aspects of Motivation Reflected in the Membership of an Activist Learning
Community
Jonida Lepuroshi
jonida.lepuroshi@live.lagcc.cuny.edu
Contributing Factors to Students' Success at LaGuardia Community College
Danubia Matute-Aleman and Janet Michello, Social Science Department
danubiamatute@hotmail.com and jmichell@lagcc.cuny.edu
5:00 pm Bob Fitch Memorial Lecture
E-500
The Assassination of Politics
Doug Henwood, Editor and Publisher, Left Business Observer
dhenwood@panix.com
Tuesday, May 22nd
10:30-11:30 E-242
A Participatory Approach to Social Movement Research: Lessons from the Anti-
Poverty Community Organizing and Learning Research Project
Youssef Sawan & Sue Carter, Researchers of the Anti-Poverty Community Organizing
and Learning Project and Graduate Students at the University of Toronto
11:30- 12:15 Roundtable Discussions
E-242
Table 1:
Moderator/Discussant: Irwin Leopando, English Department, LaGuardia Community
College
Devil May Care, Soulful Faustian Beware
Valentyn Smith
valentyn.smith@lagcc.cuny.edu
Concealed Motives in Shakespeare's Work
Kristine Ventolora
kventolora@aol.com
A Woman's Place
Ysatis Llano
ysatisllano@yahoo.com

5. 5
Table 2:
Moderator/Discussant: Debangshu Roychoudhury, PhD Candidate, Developmental
Psychology, CUNY Graduate Center
Bandura’s Observational Learning
Lovina Shahid
lovina.shahid1@live.lagcc.cuny.edu
Undergraduate Research: Enhancing the Curriculum at Community Colleges
Francisco Medina
Francisco.Medina@live.lagcc.cuny.edu
College Preparation at LaGuardia: An Exploratory Study
Ligdamy Pena
pht516@gmail.com
Table 3:
Moderator/Discussant: James R. Walker and Miguelina Rodriguez, Social Science
Department, LaGuardia Community College
Relationship between Paleobiology and anthropology
Ahmed Alif
alifny@hotmail.com
Urban Street Vendors
Eduardo Morillo-Perez
eduardo.morilloperez@live.lagcc.cuny.edu
Gentrification in New York City
Travis Browne
travis.browne@live.lagcc.cuny.edu
12:15-1:00 Roundtable Discussions
E-242
Table 1:
Moderator/Discussant: Maria Entezari, Natural Sciences Department, LaGuardia
Community College
Cognitive Behavior Therapy vs. Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy: REBT Takes the
Lead
Mark Houston
mchouston@gmail.com
Student Difficulties Committing to School
Luis Natal
natalburga78@yahoo.com
Are Older Students More Committed to School?
Silvia Zigun
angel_harket@hotmail.com
Table 2:
Moderator/Discussant: Lauren Gardner, PhD Candidate, Developmental Psychology,
CUNY Graduate Center

6. 6
Exploring the dynamic links between learning and identity among community college
students contributing to a peer-based learning community
David Lembert and Allen Tillett
lambert@live.com and universalssj@aol.com
From Individualism to Collectivism in a Peer-Based Learning Community
Kathy Violeta
kathyvioleta@yahoo.com
1:00-2:00 Symposium and Lunch
E-242
Moderator/Discussant: Timothy Coogan, Social Science Department (History),
LaGuardia Community College
Political Repression in Modern America
Heather Cottin, Social Science Department, hcotin@lagcc.cuny.edu
Steven Sanchez
Donald Monaco, Social Science, dmonaco@lagcc.cuny.edu
2:15-3:15 Paper Presentations
E-242 & E-252
E-242
Moderator/Discussant: Eiko Fukuda, Social Science Department (History), LaGuardia
Community College
Zhou enlai’s Role in China’s “Geat proletarian Cultural revolution, 1966-1976.”
Martin Rivlin, Social Science Department
mrivlin@lagcc.cuny.edu
“Pricked by the spurs of love:” Marriage and Tyranny in the Chronicles of the Medieval
Veneto
Diana Silverman, Education and Language Acquisition
dsilverman@lagcc.cuny.edu
Research in the History and Theory of Economic Crises
Michael Frank, Cooperative Education Department
michael@lagcc.cuny.edu
E-252
Moderator/Discussant: Arianna Martinez, Social Science Department (Urban Studies),
LaGuardia Community College

7. 7
Crime & Jamaica: United we stand, divided we.... are criminals?
Fahad Anis and Jhoanna Kolhys
fahadanis25@gmail.com and jhoanna.kolhys@live.lagcc.cuny.edu
Rapid Ethnic Change within New York City
Aleksandra Karpova, Liubov Zakharova, Prativa Ghimire
liuba008@gmail.com, avkarpova05@gmail.com, and
prativa.ghimire@live.lagcc.cuny.edu
Segregation:Self-segregation is an Unconscious Tendency
Thuong Huynh, Junni Huang, Markus Liu, and Keiko Tobai
junni.huang@gmail.com, ivy_huynh07@yahoo.com, ktoubai@hotmail.com, and
liu.markus@yahoo.com
The Good, The bad and the Ugly: The impact of New Mega Developments on the City
Tom Leung, Pablo Navia, and Alvaro Polanco
TomLeung91@hotmail.com, Pablodaniel_ng@hotmail.com, and
AlvaroPolanco@gmail.com
3:30-4:45 Economic Crisis and Urban Redesign
E-242
Moderator/Discussant: Arianna Martinez, Social Science Department (Urban Studies),
LaGuardia Community College
Topic Vertical Farming: An Exciting New Approach to Urban Farming
Kandice Ramkarran and Synthia Rose
kandice.ramkarran@live.lagcc.cuny.edu and synthia.rose@live.lagcc.cuny.edu
Gentrification: Uprooting or Upgrading?
Johnny Lee, Freda Raitelu, Li Jang, and Eunhye Choi
johnny.lee@live.lagcc.cuny.edu, fredavanessa@gmail.com, li.jiang@live.lagcc.cuny.edu,
and eunhye.choi@live.lagcc.cuny.edu
Segregated by Invisible Lines: How Invisible Borders are Created and Decide the Fate of
Parties on Both Sides
Alex Cuevas and Rafael Tejada
alexie.cuevas@live.lagcc.cuny.edu and rafael.tejada@live.lagcc.cuny.edu
Has the U.S Government responded swiftly to the 2008 Financial Crisis?
Alexis Perez
alexprz01@gmail.com
4:45-6:00 Celebration: Food, Entertainment, and Fun
E-242

8. 8
Key Note Speaker
Dr. Peter Sawchuk is an Associate Professor at the Ontario Institute for
Studies in Education, University of Toronto. He has worked in the field of education
at the secondary, continuing education, labour education and university levels for
over 17 years. He has held posts at the University of Calgary and the Graduate
Department of Psychology at the City University of New York. He specializes in
cultural historical activity theory, Marxist sociology and the interrelations between
education and economy. His recent publications include The Future of Learning and
Work: Critical Perspectives (co-edited with K. Mirchandani and D. Livingstone,2008),
Challenging Transitions in Learning and Work (co-edited with A. Taylor 2009), and
Emergence, Expansion, Translation: New Approaches to EducationalResearch (co-
authored with T. Fenwick and R. Edwards: 2011).
Bob Fitch Memorial Lecture
Doug Henwoodis a writer and journalist. He edits and publishes the Left
Business Observer, is a contributing editor of The Nation, and hosts a weekly radio
program on KPFA (Berkeley). His most recent books include Wall Street (1997) and
After the New Economy (2003).
Special Thanks To:
Student Advisory Council
Academic Affairs
Lily Shohat