As a student, Michael LoPorto 鈥�04 became a peer tutor in the college鈥檚 Learning Center because 鈥渋t was a way cooler survival job than working retail.鈥�
He wanted to be a theater actor and director, but after graduating, getting married, and having a family, he thought about how challenging it would be to make a living in the field. He was also coming to an understanding鈥攁fter taking a job as an adviser in the Center for Academic Advisement and Student Success鈥攖hat he might have an additional calling.
鈥淭he more I worked in advisement, the more I realized that this was a job that could satisfy my soul and my need to pay for a mortgage,鈥� says LoPorto, now the associate director of the Student Success Unit.
In his position, he heads a group called the Transfer Student Success Team鈥攁 unit generously funded in part by 鈥攚hich offers personalized coaching, workshops, and a variety of other services to transfer students. He also runs the Student Success Connection Coach team, oversees DegreeWorks, and coordinates the college鈥檚 DegreeMaps.
You鈥檝e been in the 可乐视频 family for more than 30 years now! How did your experiences as a student here shape the work you do today?
I was a terrible student! I was grateful to be here because I had so many other things going on. I would not have succeeded were it not for a former 可乐视频 dean, Kathy Gover, who mentored me and showed me different opportunities.
So this idea of how transformative CUNY can be, simply by making college accessible, is very real to me. I get how important it is for the college to be as proactive as possible in our outreach. I get鈥攐n a personal level鈥攖he need for connection and catered programming.
The college received funding for your team of transfer specialists in 2020. What has it been like building that team?
We got the original grant right before the pandemic and told students, 鈥淪ee you in a couple weeks once this pause is over.鈥� Ha! Pretty quickly, we realized this had to be operationalized online, and funny how life works, but that turned out to be beneficial. That created a greater opportunity to engage with students that didn鈥檛 rely on them coming to our space at a certain time. It helped change the dynamics of how and when we engage our students. It changed the way we reach out to other colleges.
It鈥檚 been great building the team and seeing the satisfaction they get when a student graduates or finds that professor they were looking for. The team is made up of all CUNY graduates who understand that CUNY students live complicated lives. We鈥檙e here to smooth out the parts of their lives that we can.
You continue to work in the theater world. Do you see a connection between that world and your role in advising?
One of the pillars of theater-making is that everyone throws out ideas and you collaborate and respect everyone鈥檚 contribution. My experiences as a director leading casts and crews have helped me apply that here. I鈥檓 not afraid to tear something down and start again. That leads to innovation. We have to do that here sometimes to meet the needs of a new generation of students. It鈥檚 taught me the flexibility I need.
