Prof. Leon Battista is Coordinator and Lecturer of Economics. He has been working full-time at BCC since 1994. For the first two and half decades at BCC, he was the lone full time Economist on campus.

Prof Battista was one of the first cohorts of CUNY Faculty to be trained for online course development/instruction (back in 2001). He developed the online courses for Eco 11 (Microeconomics), Eco 12 (Macroeconomics), and the online Microeconomics course (ECO 201) for the CUNY School of Professional Studies (SPS). Prof Battista has been the faculty advisor for the Economics Club for more years than he can recall. He has presented at multiple conferences on a range of topics including The World Trade Organization, Improving the Economics in-class Learning Experience, Economic Literacy, The Economics of Baseball, and Online Teaching in Economics.

Prof Battista fundamentally believes in three concepts related to higher education. First, that students learn best when they engage with the material through class discussions, real world applications of economics, and through expressing their ideas in written form. Second, the Economics course sequence of Microeconomics and Macroeconomics is the most powerful set of courses one can take in their educational career; they provide skills that alter life and career. As one BCC graduate once stated, “If more people knew Economics there would be a revolution.” Third, our entire population needs to become more financially and economically literate. We need to become more numerate, so we take active control of our economic lives; Understanding and managing loans, bills and budgets, our time, and retirement accounts. He works with his students to overcome their math anxiety, having overcome this himself.

Prof Battista was born in New York City and raised on Long Island. He is 1 of 8 children, has 3 grown children, 2 grandchildren, and has been married 39 years. He is a long-suffering fan of the New York Football Giants, New York Mets, and New York Knicks.

Education

Online Higher Education Teaching Certificate, Quality Matters (QM), 2022
M.Phil., in Economics, New School for Social Research, 2009
M.S., in Economics, New School for Social Research, 2009
M.A., in Economics, New School for Social Research, 1991
B. A., in Economics, and History, SUNY Cortland, 1984

Courses Taught at BCC

ECO 11 (Microeconomics)
ECO 12 (Macroeconomics)
ECO 31 (Labor Economics)
FYS 11 (First Year Seminar)

Fields of specialization

Labor Economics
Economic Forecasting and Economic Statistics
Economic History