CONFERENCE RECAPS

I attended the CUNY IT Conference on November 30, 2018. The first session that I attended was about a product called Commons in a Box OpenLab, which is a collaborative software program designed to enable users to install and launch their own communities for open learning. The software was demonstrated by CUNY professors and developers of the software. What was extremely interesting about this presentation session was how insightful learning communities are, and how helpful they can be for interdepartmental collaboration. This software functions in essence as a Wiki Commons—where a user, whether it be a student, or instructor, can upload his or her work, which can be accessed by other students and instructors within CUNY. Students and instructors can in turn access others’ work—which encourages wonderful collaborative learning experiences. While I work at Queensborough Community College, which offers “High Impact Practices,” which include interdepartmental collab

2018 PRSA Conference Recap Attending a professional conference was something I had never done before. So the PRSA Tri-State Conference was my first experience—and let me just say that it will most definitely not be my last! Just the simple fact that I was surrounded by people whom all have the same interest as me was a separate wonderful experience in itself. The talks covered everything that was public relations, marketing and communications. Unlike any other time before in my life I was able to have access to advice from experts in my fields of interest in different companies and freelancers.  Lisa Moehlenkamp, CTO of Fleishman Hillard , said something that stuck with me, when asked, “How do you balance work life and personal life?” she simply answered, “I don’t believe in the balance of the two. But I do believe in integration.” This really stuck to me as a working student, because it gave me a more optimistic outlook into what I am currently living. Instead of focusing on