ABOUT Robin
Photo Credit: George Kopp
Robin G. Isserles is Professor of Sociology at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, where she has been teaching for close to 30 years. Robin is a proud third generation CUNY student—her maternal grandmother attended City College downtown (later named Baruch College) and both of her parents graduated from Queens College. Robin earned her PhD in Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center in 2002, and is now a faculty affiliate in the program.
In addition to teaching Introduction to Sociology, Urban Sociology, and the Sociology Capstone course, Robin is actively involved in her department at BMCC, as well as her union, the PSC-CUNY. She also sits on the President’s Advisory Committee on Community College Research at BMCC. Robin takes great delight in mentoring her former students as they continue with their education.
With the 2021 publication of her book, The Costs of Completion: Student Success in Community College (Johns Hopkins University Press), Robin has spoken with audiences of Community College faculty, staff, administrators, college leaders, and graduate students on zoom and in person in CA, IL, IN, MA, MD, NJ, NY, and VA. The book has been positively reviewed in several publications and she has appeared on two podcasts. In April of 2021, Robin had an opportunity to meet via zoom with Dr. Jill Biden’s policy staff to discuss her book. She looks forward to more such opportunities in the future.
After the successful launch of an online series on community colleges for Teachers College Record (2022) that Robin co-edited with David Levinson, Robin and Michelle Ronda co-edited a special print issue on Community College, “Reimagining the Multiple Missions of the Community College” (2024), a project where all of the participants—authors and reviewers—have connections to community college.
Robin was honored to be selected as a 2024 recipient of the American Sociological Association’s Distinguished Contributions to Teaching award. The award ceremony took place at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, August 11, 2024 in Montreal. What’s so special about this award is that her mentor, Bob Alford, won this very same award back in 1997. She was in the audience cheering him on. They are two of three CUNY recipients of this award and the only mentor-mentee pair! And Robin is the 2nd Community College faculty recipient!
Here’s the blurb from the Graduate Center, CUNY: Read Here | And the one from BMCC: Read Here
Robin lives in New Jersey with her family and when not teaching, writing, or researching, she enjoys biking, trail hiking, listening to live music, and wildflowers.