The CUNY Baccalaureate Blog

B.S. June 2006, A Sociological Approach to Human Services

• Thomas W. Smith Academic Fellowship

Raul Garcia started out at New York City College of Technology in computer science but felt unsatisfied. He eventually found his calling in human services; he says, “I believe that everyone comes to this Earth with a calling and that mine is to help others and be an asset to society, especially my community.” Garcia is now working for Alianza Dominicana, Inc. in the high school that he graduated from, providing recently arrived students the same help he once got when he arrived from the Dominican Republic not knowing English nor anything about this culture. Upon his graduation, he was promoted to after school coordinator. Before Alianza Dominicana, he worked in an AIDS program; among his many other extracurricular activities he directs the activities of the Youth Ministry in his church. Garcia has fashioned a unique area of study: “A Sociological Approach to Human Services,” and he is mentored by Prof. Justine Pawlukewicz in Human Service at New York City College of Technology (NYCCT) and Prof. Madeline Moran in Sociology at Lehman College. His courses include Human Services courses at NYCCT and such sociology courses “Social Movements,” “Population Problems,” and  “Race and Ethnicity” at Lehman College and, in Africana Studies, “Dominican Identity” at Hunter College. In addition to rounding out his perspective, he is taking electives at Hostos Community College: “History of Latino America” and “Hispanic Migration.” Garcia is applying to the Hunter College School of Social Work

B.A. June 2006 , Latin American Studies/Economics and Finance

• Summa Cum Laude
• Thomas W. Smith Academic Fellowship
• Belle Zeller Scholarship
• Goldman Sachs Scholarship for Excellence
• Diego Hidalgo Scholarship for Political Science/International Affairs
• Dean’s List

Ladylaura Simao has areas of concentration Latin American Studies and in Economics, mentored by two professors from Baruch, Myrna Chase, Dean of the Weissman School of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Professor of History, and Terrence Martell of the Zicklin School of Business. Her GPA in both areas is 4.0 and have mostly included honors and graduate-level courses.Simao’s choice of study was influenced by her early years in Brazil where she “saw the human faces of poverty and social inequality” up close. At Baruch she organized a chapter of Mercado Global, a fair-trade organization whose mission is to help rural, community-based cooperatives in Latin America benefit from globalization. In addition, she organized seminars with business leaders at Baruch to discuss corporate philanthropy and social activism. She did this with Net-Impact, a global network of business students committed to promoting ethical business practices, and in which Simao is a member. Simao believes “business can transform society through a social activism driven by an expanding sense of corporate social responsibility.”

Simao started college in Brazil, working toward a bachelor’s degree in Law. Prior to resuming college in the U.S., she worked as a paralegal at one of the top international law firms, Debevoise & Plimpton, LLP. There she was encouraged to do pro bono work which she did often with human rights organizations and agencies assisting low-income and abused women.

In Spring 2005 Simao completed an independent study with Prof. Alfonso Quiroz (History and Latin American Studies, Baruch and the Graduate Center), entitled “Economic History of Latin America in the 20^th Century.” That same semester, she was awarded the Goldman Sachs’ Scholarship for Excellence. She, along with a Baruch sophomore, were the first Baruch students to win that award. Simao was also given an offer to join Goldman Sachs’ internship program in the summer 2005; after an intense round of interviews, she was placed as a Financial Analyst in the Investment Banking Division where she learned how to develop financial models to perform business valuations and create client presentations and proposals. Simao was eventually given, and accepted, an offer to join the Legal Group of Goldman Sachs’ Investment Banking Division upon her graduation.

Simao completed a senior thesis that covered the privatization of telecommunications in Argentina and Brazil, the use of New Institutional Economics as a theoretical tool to analyze those transactions, and how the institutional design of privatizations may influence foreign investors’ perception of the credibility and bargaining power of the privatizing state.

Throughout college, she stayed active in extracurricular events, from being Vice-President of Baruch’s Corporate Responsibility, Ethics and Governance Association to being a student representative on the College’s Curriculum and Academic Integrity committees; for more than a year, she has worked as the Internship Coordinator at Baruch’s Weissman Center for International Business. Simao intends to go to law school and dedicate her career to the implementation of international fair-trade organizations in Latin America.