BCC English Professor Grisel Acosta has been appointed as a faculty member for CUNY’s new Black, Race, and Ethnic Studies (BRES) Ph.D. program, slated to launch in Fall, 2026. Of the 36 faculty members appointed, she is one of only a few professors selected from the community college level. 

When Professor Acosta adds the Graduate Center to her teaching mix, she hopes to impart her knowledge of Latino literature and oral history and help students understand different cultures so they may be more effective in the workplace and global economy. The BRES Ph.D. program – designed to prepare student scholars and leaders to address urgent issues of race and ethnicity and advance social justice –  is part of the broader CUNY-wide BRES initiative that began five years ago with a $10 million historic grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. 

Professor Acosta was a part of the launch of BRES and now will be involved with the introduction of cohorts and curricula for the Ph.D. program. “We are fortunate to have Professor Acosta in our ranks for this exciting new program. She was initially active in helping the BRES initiative get off the ground, and I am certain through her unique perspective and scholarship she will play a valuable role in helping to shape the immediate future of the Ph.D. program,” said Herman Bennett, Distinguished History Professor and Executive Officer of the Office of Educational Opportunity and Diversity at the CUNY Graduate Center. 

Aside from her busy teaching schedule at BCC, Professor Acosta is involved with an oral history project in her hometown of Chicago titled “Displaced, Not Erased: Oral Histories of Chicago’s Logan Square Latino/x/e Population,” which focuses on the experiences of the Latino population of Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood, where she grew up.  She explained that at one point, Logan Square was 80 percent Latino, but when you look at institutions that capture history – for example, the Chicago Historical Society or the Logan Square Preservation Society – they mention very little about the Latinos in Chicago or Logan Square.  

“I am honored to be able to provide input on the content that will be taught in the Ph.D. program, including the capturing of oral history,” Professor Acosta said. “The BRES graduate program is the first of its kind in the New York metropolitan area, positioning CUNY as a leader in the multidisciplinary scholarship of race and ethnic studies in the region and the country.”  

Professor Acosta has been immersed in Latino literature and culture in a variety of ways for the past 30 years. She began her career as a journalist in Chicago, working for Extra Community Newspapers, the only bilingual community newspaper company at the time.   

As Chair of BCC’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, Professor Acosta serves on many different diversity and inclusion speaking panels. She was previously member and Chair of the Modern Language Association’s Higher Education and the Profession (HEP) Executive Committee on Community Colleges, which was five year term. At a recent BCC College Senate meeting,  she was joined by Emma Antobam-Ntekudzi in presenting the College’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee statement regarding DEI and the current state of academia.  

This year, Professor Acosta and the DI Committee have brought back Multicultural Day (May 2) to BCC’s campus and they have developed an online diversity training which will be unveiled next fall.