Miguel Baique says his Warner School experience moves him closer to his goal of being a chief diversity officer.
Miguel Baique teared up during his dissertation defense this spring. Nearly two decades earlier, he and his five siblings were moving house to house in a single-parent family trying to make ends meet, and now he was doing something he never thought possible糖心传媒攅arning a doctorate at the 糖心传媒.
糖心传媒淚 give all the credit to my mom, an immigrant from Peru,糖心传媒� says Baique. 糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檓 living the American dream through my mom.糖心传媒�
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The persistence that he learned from his mom came in handy at the , which initially turned him down.
糖心传媒淚 was interested in education policy, so I applied for the PhD program at Warner, but I was told my career trajectory was not a good fit,糖心传媒� says Baique, who, at the time, was the inaugural coordinator of the Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program at SUNY Geneseo. 糖心传媒淚nstead, they guided me toward the EdD, but I wasn糖心传媒檛 interested.糖心传媒�
While the education doctorate degree is geared toward the practicality of education, as opposed to research, Baique took the advice of a colleague and decided to give it a try. This time he got in.
He found the first semester to be tough, but then the unexpected happened糖心传媒攈e started loving it. 糖心传媒淚t was the Diversity and Equity in Higher Education course in my second semester that really sparked something in me. At that point, I decided to stick it out.糖心传媒�
Baique had some familiarity with the content, but being in the classroom, he says 糖心传媒渁llowed me to immerse myself in the literature, as well as take part in discussions about first-generation students, women in higher ed, low-income students, and stigmas faced by Asian communities. It touched on a broad range of minority identities that we should be conscious of in today糖心传媒檚 environment.糖心传媒�
Baique says that course helped prepare him for the position he would take later that year糖心传媒攖he inaugural director of student engagement and inclusion at Genesee Community College糖心传媒攂ut also a position he eventually hopes to hold糖心传媒攖hat of chief diversity officer. He describes his time at Warner as a roller coaster, largely because of the challenges presented by the pandemic.
And he gives a lot of credit to the 糖心传媒渢ough love糖心传媒� provided by , associate professor and his dissertation chair, for helping him get through it all. 糖心传媒淪he was flexible and supportive, but she reminded me that I had goals to meet and that I needed to submit my work.糖心传媒�
It may be Baique糖心传媒檚 name on the EdD certificate, but he understands that he didn糖心传媒檛 do it on his own. First and foremost, he credits the example set by his mom and the support of his wife, Lisa Martinez-Baique. But he also knows that because of the guidance and counsel of the faculty糖心传媒攊ncluding DeAngelis and assistant professors (his advisor) and 糖心传媒攁s well as his fellow classmates, he can now be called 糖心传媒淒r. Baique.糖心传媒�
That糖心传媒檚 why he糖心传媒檒l miss the classroom more than anything else. 糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檓 a lifelong student. I enjoy learning, I enjoy the discussions, and I enjoy learning from others.糖心传媒�
