Melanie Villatoro | Chair
Melanie Villatoro is Interim Chair and an Associate Professor in the Department of Construction Management and Civil Engineering Technology at City Tech. She earned her B.E. degree in Civil Engineering from the Cooper Union and an MS degree in Geotechnical Engineering from Columbia University. She is the Director of the Perkins Peer Advisement Program focused on increasing retention of female students in STEM majors. Her research focuses on developing programs that assist women, underrepresented minorities, and first-generation college students to retain and successfully graduate in STEM degrees.
Mery Diaz | Secretary 
Dr. Mery Diaz is an Associate Professor in the Human Services Department at New York City College of Technology/CUNY (City Tech). She holds a doctorate in clinical social work from the School of Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Diaz is a licensed clinical social worker and worked with children, adolescents, and families in a variety of mental health settings. She was a consultant in high-need, high-poverty, segregated New York City public schools where she supported the development of integrated mental health systems and trained school staff on child and adolescent development and mental health. At City Tech she teaches Introduction to Human Services, Health Issues of Children and Adolescents, Field Practicum courses, and Women’s Health. She is currently the faculty liaison for CREAR Futuros at City Tech, a peer-mentoring program grant funded by the Hispanic Federation to support first-year undergraduate Latinx students. She is a long-time faculty participant in City Tech’s First-Year Learning Communities Initiative, the “Our Stories” first-year experiences research project, and is a founding member of City Tech’s Hispanic Serving Institution steering committee. Dr. Diaz serves on the editorial board of Affilia: Feminist Inquiry in Social Work.
Pamela Brown
Pamela Brown, Ph.D., PE, is City Tech’s Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. Prior to this position, Dr. Brown served for eight years as associate provost and six years as dean of the School of Arts & Sciences. Dr. Brown has a track record of creating initiatives to improve the retention and recruitment of students interested in careers in STEM fields. As dean, she helped obtain and oversee five grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF). She was also co-PI of an NIH bridges to the baccalaureate grant, and is currently PI of an NSF IUSE HSI grant, in addition to overseeing an NYSED CSTEP grant. She founded the college’s Emerging Scholars Program, an undergraduate research program providing research opportunities and professional development skills to over 200 students each academic year.
Justin Vazquez-Poritz
Justin Vazquez-Poritz is the Dean of the School of Arts and Science at City Tech. He provides academic leadership in curriculum and instructional design, long-term academic and fiscal planning, enrollment and student success initiatives, and the development of a vibrant environment for teaching and learning. Prior to this position, he was the Director of Undergraduate Research and worked with faculty members across the campus to strengthen and expand student research activities. He became a faculty member of the Physics Department in 2009, and holds a BA from Cornell University and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining City Tech, he held postdoctoral positions at Texas A&M University, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Kentucky and the Universite Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium. He has authored and co-authored 66 publications on string theory and black holes, and has taught courses on the subject at the CUNY Graduate Center.
Ruth Garcia
Ruth G. Garcia is an Associate Professor in the English Department. She earned her Ph.D. in English from The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Dr. Garcia is currently one of the campus PIs for Core Books at CUNY, a three-year, multi-campus humanities initiative funded by the Teagle Foundation. Her scholarship focuses on the representation of servants and service in eighteenth-century novels, especially those written by women. Most recently, her work has been published in Women’s Writing and Lit: Literature Interpretation Theory.
Benito Mendoza
Ben Mendoza, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Computer Engineering Technology Department at City Tech. Prof. Mendoza is the (2020-2021) Chair of the Middle Atlantic Section of the American Society for Engineering Education. He has helped develop P-TECH (Pathways in Technology Early College High School), a successful program where high school students earn a college associate degree in technology. He has served as Co-Chair of the Assessment Committee of the School of Technology and Design and Chair of the CET’s Assessment Committee. His leadership in these committees included Middle States and ABET accreditation efforts in assessment.
Kim Cardascia
Kim Cardascia is the Administrative Executive Officer in the Office of the Provost at City Tech. She manages academic administration for curriculum, academic affairs responsibilities for the honors convocation and commencement ceremonies, and supervises the Adjunct Workload Management Office. She collaborates on many cross-divisional student success initiatives and is a member of the Academic Momentum committee. She joined the college in 2013, and holds a BA from the University of Texas at Austin and an MPA from Baruch College.
Marling Sone
Dr. Marling Sone is the Vice President of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs at the New York City College of Technology, CUNY (City Tech) where she oversees the Offices of Admissions, Registrar, the Scheduling, Testing, Advising, and Registration (STAR) Center, as well as CUNY EDGE, and the Student Success Center (SSC). For nearly three decades, Dr. Sone has provided visionary, innovative, and student-focused leadership to higher education programs. She brings extensive expertise in student development and in-depth knowledge of strategies for recruitment, admissions, onboarding, and retention practices that promote the persistence to graduation efforts of diverse student populations. Dr. Sone earned a BA and MA in Psychology from The City College of The City University of New York, and a doctorate in Education (EdD) from Northeastern University in Organizational Leadership.
John McCullough
John McCullough is an Associate Professor and the Chair of the Entertainment Technology Department at New York City College of Technology. As the coordinator of the scenery curriculum at City Tech, he is responsible for courses covering drafting, scenery construction, scenery design, technical direction, rigging, and welding. John earned his MFA in Technical Design and Production at the Yale School of Drama and in addition to his work at City Tech has done freelance technical direction work for companies including New York Stage and Film, Ars Nova, Yale Baroque Opera Project, Yale Repertory Theatre, and Pace University.
Juan Rivera-Correa
Juan Rivera-Correa, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Biological Sciences department at City Tech. He became a faculty member of the Biological Sciences department in 2022 and holds a BS from the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras and a Ph.D. from the New York University (NYU) School of Medicine. Prior to joining City Tech, he held postdoctoral positions at NYU and Weill Cornell Medicine/ Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS). He runs a biomedical research program at City Tech, where he studies the immune system’s role during different infectious diseases such as malaria and other tropical infections. Most of these projects are in collaboration with NYU and Universidad de CĂłrdoba in Monteria, Colombia. He is also a passionate bilingual individual interested in serving and mentoring minority audiences. Most notably, he has worked with the American Society of Microbiology (ASM) as a Young Ambassador of Science to Puerto Rico from 2019-2021. He is currently a mentor in the ASM Future Leaders Mentoring Fellowship (FLMF) program. He also administers the online community “MicrobiologĂa en Puerto Rico” about Microbiology education in Spanish for over 800+ members, where he shares weekly opportunities for career development.
Javiela Evangelista
Javiela Evangelista, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the African American Studies Department. As a public anthropologist, she engages in participatory research that counters inequalities, particularly at the intersections of citizenship and racialization in the Caribbean and the African Diaspora. At New York City College of Technology, Evangelista is the Co-Director of the Living Lab. She also serves on the Advisory Board for the Futures Initiative at the CUNY Graduate Center and as a Graduate Student Mentor for the Mellon Mays Foundation. Most recently her work has been featured at the Venice Biennale and in the Publication of Afro-Latin/American Research Association (PALARA), National Political Science Review. She received her PhD in Anthropology from the Graduate Center, CUNY and her MA from the Institute for Research in African American Studies at Columbia University.
Samanta Madariaga
Samantha Madariaga is a sophomore at New York City College of Technology, CUNY (City Tech). She will graduate in May 2023 with her associate’s in construction management and will go for her bachelor’s in construction engineering. Throughout her two years, she has worked hard, earning a scholarship and an internship with Skanska, “a world-leading project development and construction group, building for a better society.” Furthermore, because of her outstanding academic performance, she was invited to work in the Perkins program, being a peer tutor. She is also a first-generation Latina to attend college in her family. She wishes to influence other young girls to join the engineering/construction field.
Margarita PĂ©rez
Margarita PĂ©rez is a senior at CityTech, diligently working toward a degree in Biomedical Informatics. As a result of their upbringing, her mission to make a difference is driven by the values of unity and compassion. She extends a helping hand to those in need both locally and abroad during her journey. With a passion for service and academic commitment, she is becoming a unique and influential figure. Even in the most complex and dynamic fields of study and service, one person can indeed be a force for positive change.
