News

A garbage innovator and a budding journalist: Joshua Goodman and Paige Oamek are both SLU graduates who were spotlighted recently in CUNY’s second annual 50 Under 50 Alumni Awards.

For some of SLU’s experiential learners, this fall’s internship was the first time they ever used an office phone. For others, it was their first time in an office, period.

SLU served as a vital academic hub and practical “laboratory” for scholars and students to engage in critical teaching and research over the past year.

Two major labor movement summer schools will be held at SLU in summer 2026—one as a new permanent program and the other as a cyclical hosting event.

A drivers’ advocate and former taxi driver, SLU student Mohammad “Tipu” Sultan has been named one of “The 2025 Unsung Heroes” by City & State New York. Sultan is a Labor Studies bachelor’s student and recent recipient of SLU’s Joseph S. Murphy Scholarship for Diversity in Labor.

SLU alum Joshua Goodman (Urban Studies M.A. Fall 2023), is featured on CUNY’s second annual 50 Under 50 Alumni Awards list. Goodman is Deputy Commissioner for Public Affairs and Customer Experience at the New York City Department of Sanitation, and credits SLU with inspiring his work.

How police should engage with people suffering from mental health conditions is a complex policy question that New York City has grappled with for decades. Due in part to the efforts of SLU master’s student Christina Sparrock, however, one piece of that puzzle was recently resolved.

The SLU Urban Studies faculty added two new members this fall, with the arrival of Assistant Professor Samantha Agarwal and Distinguished Lecturer Puya Gerami. They both will specialize in the Leadership for Democracy and Social Justice program.

Samantha Agarwal was an invited panelist at the Engaging Stuart Hall In/From the Global South Symposium at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, October 29-31. She participated in the 2025 American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) Dissertation-to-Book Workshop at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on October 22.

Two SLU students who are both in their final year of the Urban Studies Master’s program recently won CUNY-wide awards that provide financial support and professional experience.