We are pleased to announce that Elena Rivera-Himmelstein has been selected as Program and Operations Manager for the Ignite Summer Launch Program within Experiential & Engaged Learning.

In this role, Elena will provide support for our Spark Mentorship program, student advisory board, data collection efforts as well as aid in further developing and improving our communication and recruitment strategies for our incoming first-year students. 

Elena’s educational background includes a Master of Science in Education with a focus in Counseling and Personnel Services from Fordham University and a Bachelor of Arts in English Language Arts from City University of New York (CUNY) Hunter College. 

Elena is joining us from John Jay College of Criminal Justice where her responsibilities focused on the recruitment and onboarding of 100 incoming transfer students as well as providing academic guidance and support to 75-125 at-risk students per semester. Additionally, Elena served as an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Psychology where she taught a 3-credit, first-year seminar section of Psychology 141 titled, “Memory: Imperfections, Injustice, and Improvements” in online synchronous and hybrid modalities. The course centered around the psychological basis of memory and how it operates in everyday life, as well as examine the constructive nature and malleability of memory and how this relates to phenomena such as forgetting, false memories, and the reliability of eyewitness testimony.

Welcome, Elena!