ADVANCING EQUITY AND INNOVATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION
WE
ARE
a diverse group of doctoral students, post-graduate researchers, faculty members, and administrators. We learn with and through community to build a culture of reciprocity and shared leadership.
WE
STRIVE
to support multiple sectors of learning, research, and mentoring, to help facilitate a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive academic institution and society.
WE
EMPOWER
the leaders of tomorrow through CUNY Peer leaders, our undergraduate leadership fellows program
WE
CONNECT
with scholars from around the world through our website HASTAC: Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory
WE
TEACH
team-taught, collaborative graduate classes at The Graduate Center
WE
RESEARCH
topics that reach beyond academia and create a positive impact while engaging the public in creative ways.
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GC PhD STUDENTS APPLY TODAY! CALL FOR FI GRADUATE FELLOWS, 2026-2027
>READ MORE: GC PhD STUDENTS APPLY TODAY! CALL FOR FI GRADUATE FELLOWS, 2026-2027Application Deadline: Friday, March 20, 2026 by 11:59pm The Futures Initiative advocates for greater equity and innovation in higher education. Housed at and supported by the CUNY Graduate Center, our programs, both graduate and undergraduate, reach throughout the CUNY Community, striving to empower the next generation of intellectual leaders with bold, public, and engaged teaching and learning.…
RECENT POSTS
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Webinar: Tradition, Creativity, and AI: Reimagining Culture in a Digital Age
An interactive webinar exploring the intersection of traditional arts and technology, featuring expert discussions and live demonstrations of VR-TeaRoom. Join the Futures Initiative of CUNY for our second webinar of the semester on October 15, 2026 at 1pm. You don’t want to miss this event! Thursday, October 15, 20261: 00 pm – 2:00 pm Description…
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Webinar: Smart Strategies for Graduate Students Navigating Immigration
This session will help international students understand how to navigate U.S. immigration status during and after graduate school. Thursday, October 8, 20261: 00 pm – 2:00 pm Description Join the Futures Initiative of CUNY for our first webinar of the semester on October 8, 2026 at 1pm for a discussion facilitated by Violetta Soboleva. You don’t…
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FI Spotlight: Sham Habteselasse
Fellow in Resident, Sham Habteselasse is a PhD student in Developmental Psychology at the Graduate Center and the 2026-2027, Fellow in Resident for the Futures Initiative. Sham Habteselasse is a first generation, Eritrean, Developmental Psychology PhD student hailing from Annandale, Virginia. She joins us this year for her second residency with the Futures Initiative; during her first,…
It has been inspiring to witness how FI Fellows and affiliated scholars are centering care in their academic, professional, and political practice.
Hilary Wilson
FI Doctoral Fellow
ANNUAL REPORT
We invite you to explore the pages of this 2022 Annual Report. See what we have done, but know that there is much more to come!
NEWSLETTER
Futures Initiative shares announcements, event information, and news from the community in a monthly newsletter. Read our past issues below and sign up to receive monthly updates.
EVENTS
The Futures Initiative is pleased to offer events that tie student-centered, engaged pedagogical practices to institutional change and social justice.
FI helped me – someone previously who thought of themselves as both unlikely and accidentally ending up in academia – to become more comfortable expressing myself as a public intellectual.
Allison Guess
FI Alumna/Assistant Professor, Williams College
Peer leaders
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HASTAC
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COURSES
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What if instead of centering self-care — limited to the private spaces of our lives — we actually created collective spaces of care? Many of us do. I think this is one of the most important values of our work at FI.
Coline Chevrin
FI Doctoral Fellow
RESEARCH
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GRANTS
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RESOURCES
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Working with the FI team has helped me feel confident bringing my whole self, with all its junctions, into everything I do – not just my scholarship or my work at FI.
Roderick Hurley
FI Doctoral Fellow
PARTNERS
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MEDIA
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FI SPOTLIGHT
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The Futures Initiative
The Graduate Center, CUNY
365 Fifth Avenue, Room 3313
New York, NY 10016-4309
+1 212.817.7201
info@futuresinitiative.org
