Office of Transformation

Current OT initiatives, aligned with major priorities in CUNY Lifting New York, are generally focused on career success as well as diversity, equity, inclusion, wellbeing, and campus climate. Examples include the Career Success Fellows, a new cohort of faculty who have been charged with embedding more career-relevant information into their courses and serving as leaders on their home campuses; the AAS Redesign Initiative, supporting the seven community colleges and three comprehensive colleges as they redesign over 25 Associate in Applied Science degrees in order to improve student outcomes; the systemwide Anti-Hate Initiative, which is providing funding to the colleges in order to address religious, racial and ethnic bigotry, including antisemitism, at the University; the Black, Race, and Ethnic Studies Initiative; and the CUNY CARES (Comprehensive Access to Resources for Essential Services) demonstration project in the Bronx, which will implement and evaluate a new approach to meeting the health and social needs of students on the three Bronx CUNY campuses beginning in September 2023.

From 2019 to 2022, Rachel served as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Strategy and Operations / Chief of Staff to the Executive Vice Chancellor and University Provost. In this role, she was a thought leader and partner who worked with senior leadership and affiliated administrative and deliberative bodies of the Office of Academic Affairs to advance the Executive Vice Chancellor’s strategic and operational priorities. As AVC, Rachel led the development and implementation of multiple University-wide strategic initiatives, including the Black, Race, and Ethnic Studies Initiative (BRESI) and the Graduate Education Task Force (GETF) as well as cutting-edge student-centered policies and programs. She supported the establishment of an intentional organizational culture focused on educational equity, empathy, accountability, and inclusive excellence. She also functioned as a convener, discussant, and servant-leader for chief academic, student affairs, and enrollment management leaders across CUNY’s 25 colleges as well as unit leaders within the 1,000-person Office of Academic Affairs.

Rachel served as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Strategic Partnerships from June 2017 through June 2019. In this role, she drove a range of University-wide priorities and initiatives focused on campus climate, diversity, equity and inclusion. She also played a major role in CUNY Health for Academic Success & Engagement (CHASE), an initiative urging University stakeholders to address the link between student wellbeing and academic success, as well as CUNY Service Corps Puerto Rico, a program that, in partnership with Governor Cuomo, has sent hundreds of CUNY students and staff to rebuild in Puerto Rico since summer 2018. In addition, Rachel facilitated projects aiming to serve undocumented students at CUNY, improve access to college for adult students and map the transfer process.

Prior to her role as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Strategic Partnerships, Rachel was the founding university director of the CUNY Service Corps (2013), TheDream.US Scholarship Program (2014), the Program for DREAMers at CUNY (2015) and the CUNY Cultural Corps (2016). She began her professional life at CUNY in continuing education and workforce development supporting the design and implementation of innovative and holistic programs, including Jefferson Houses Jobs-Plus (2009).

Before joining CUNY in 2009, Rachel worked as an educator and program director in NYC-based college-access, youth development, and community-serving organizations, including the Central Park Conservancy and Legal Outreach, Inc. She was also a language arts middle school teacher.

Outside of her recent work at CUNY, Rachel has written and spoken about grief after giving a TEDx talk called “Against Grieving in Silence” in 2015 in New York City. Rachel has a B.A. in English (summa cum laude) from Trinity University and an MFA in Nonfiction Writing from Columbia University. She lives in Queens, New York, with her husband and three daughters.