DSJ Welcomes New Co-Editors - Dr. Milena Cuellar & Dr. Ellen Quish
Dr. Milena Cuéllar is a Professor of Mathematics at LaGuardia Community College (CUNY), where she has taught since 2012. She holds a Ph.D. in Statistics from the London School of Economics and a degree in Physics from Universidad de los Andes in Colombia. At LaGuardia, she teaches Statistics and Differential Equations and has served as a STEM Learning Communities liaison, CTL seminar facilitator, and Q-STEM liaison for Computer Science.
Dr. Cuéllar co-leads LaGuardia’s participation in the Shared Equity Leadership initiative with the Pullias Center and chaired the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) pillar of the college’s 2024–2029 Strategic Plan. She is also a founding member of Casa de las Américas, which supports Latin American and Caribbean identities on campus.
A CUNY-wide 2025 Building Bridges of Knowledge (BBK) Faculty Fellow in AI, she currently co-leads LaGuardia’s team in the AAC&U 2025–26 Institute on AI, Pedagogy, and the Curriculum. She facilitates DEI seminars for higher education faculty and staff and has served as a senior data coach for the NSF-funded EQUINOX project. Her work centers on faculty development, equity-focused assessment, and project evaluation.
Nationally, Dr. Cuéllar has been recognized as a Carnegie National Faculty member and Leadership Award recipient, has served on the CUNY Math Innovation Team, and has consulted for the Dana Center at UT Austin. Internationally, she is President of ScienteLab, and its flag program Clubes de Ciencia Colombia. ScienteLab is a non-profit of a collective of scientists from the Colombian diaspora dedicated to advancing STEM education and community engagement.
Her work bridges research in dynamical systems, inclusive pedagogy, and educational equity. She enjoys traveling, knitting, and spending time with family and friends, always inspired by the transformative power of education in shaping lives and communities.
Dr. Ellen Quish is an educator with over three decades of experience as a faculty and staff member at LaGuardia Community College. She has taught a range of classes, developed ESOL and BENL programming for immigrant adults and youth, and led faculty development seminars. She is a co-author of The LaGuardia First Year Seminar Textbook (OER), “Critical Junctures, Professional Development in an ePortfolio Landscape” Catalyst in Action: Case Studies of High-Impact ePortfolio Practice”, the LaGuardia Community College Case Study in “What Makes the First-Year Seminar High Impact? An Exploration of Effective Educational Practices, Research Reports on College and “Advising Success Network’s Academic Advising as a Tool for Student Success and Educational Equity."
Dr. Quish completed a Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from the School of International Training and was the recipient of the first New York Times ESOL Teacher-of-the-Year award in 2007. Currently serving as the Director of First Year Programming and Student Success at LaGuardia’s Center for Teaching & Learning, Dr. Quish leads diverse student success initiatives at the college. Driven by her passion for advancing community college student success, she completed a Doctorate of Management in Community College Policy and Administration at the University of Maryland Global Campus.
Dr. Quish’s professional interests sit at the intersection of equity-minded pedagogy, student development theory and evidence-based practice in a community college setting. They include the role of social and academic integration in student success; the use of reflection to advance metacognitive awareness; open pedagogy; the effective use of digital tools in teaching and learning; and the impact of peer mentoring relationships on student success.
