Susan Phillip: Teaching Students about Urban Tourism On The Waterfront

Students in Professor Susan Phillip’s Urban Tourism class at the Highline

Students in Professor Susan Phillip’s Urban Tourism class at the Highline

The knotty issue of gentrification is one of many issues that students address in Professor Susan Phillip’s upper level Urban Tourism course (HMGT 4987) in the Department of Hospitality Management. Field trips around New York City are incorporated into the course that investigates tourism as an engine of urban renewal and economic regeneration. Class lectures, discussion, and research projects let students examine the roles of government, business, and community along with issues of development, environmental concerns, and social equity.

Following lectures on historical Brooklyn, students observe first hand the contrast of two neighborhoods in guided tours of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Brooklyn Heights. Students broaden their place-based experience with research projects that identify tourism resources and media perception of Brooklyn neighborhoods, in which they evaluate the roles of public and private sectors in urban tourism and in the revitalization of less affluent neighborhoods. Professor Phillip’s emphasis on helping students connect to the history of social change of local neighborhoods aligns with many General Education objectives that highlight ethics in learning and civic engagement. During field trips, residents have been known to interact with her class, pointing out local spots, recounting local lore, and even inviting the group into their residence. One group assignment is the development of a walking tour. You can see an example of a student walking tour of Downtown Brooklyn here: HMGT 4987 Student Downtown Brooklyn Walking Tour

Viviana Vladutescu: Making Sense of Remote Sensing

Viviana Vladutescu and CityTech group at Brookhaven National Lab

Viviana Vladutescu and CityTech group at Brookhaven National Lab

For students in Professor Viviana Vladutescu’s EET 3132 Remote Sensing class, a visit to a “real” lab vividly brought together theory and practice.  In the classroom and university labs, students learned the principles of remote sensing techniques, acquired new software knowledge, and gathered and interpreted data as well.  As part of their coursework, Professor Vladutescu’s students participated in a departmental field trip to the impressive Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island.  With the objective of expanding awareness of the field and encouraging further study in the applied sciences, engineering, and physics, students had the opportunity to observe firsthand the work of technicians, engineers, and scientists.  One student noted how unexpected it was to hear a Brookhaven physicist cite the “right hand rule method” that was taught in class, a technique that the student thought was used to “dumb down” content in class when in reality it was a practical trick of the trade.

Students in Professor Vladutescu’s course are enrolled in the Associate or Bachelor degree programs in the Department of Electrical and Telecommunications Engineering Technology (ETET).  For many, meeting active professionals helped validate their own academic choices in the ETET programs.   Several students were inspired when they learned that some of the Brookhaven lab technicians graduated with associate degrees too, thus giving them a better sense of the end goals of graduating with a degree from City Tech.  To encourage students to be proactive in their academic and professional careers, Professor Vladutescu’s class website on the OpenLab included links to internships and job opportunities as well as newsfeeds to stay up-to-date on current technology.

Click here for reflections on one of Professor Vladutescu’s field trips.