LaGuardia Community College Hires Jennifer Jensen as Director of Archives
LONG ISLAND CITY, NY (March 10, 2025) — LaGuardia Community College/CUNY has hired Jennifer Jensen as its new Director of the LaGuardia & Wagner Archives. Jennifer officially begins her role on March 17, 2025 and comes to LaGuardia with extensive experience in cultural and educational institutions.
In her role, Jennifer will oversee the management of the Archives’ collections and develop strategies for building and expanding them. Jennifer will lead strategic planning, operational, and financial management activities for the Archives, which is part of the Office of the President.
“I am thrilled to be joining the LaGuardia College Community as the new Director of the LaGuardia & Wagner Archives,” said Jennifer. “My hope is that the archives will become more accessible to students, faculty and staff as a resource for research, curriculum, and exhibitions and become a center for both formal and informal learning opportunities. I want to share my passion for local New York history, focused on the Queens community and the college. I look forward to meeting the community in the coming weeks and months.”
Reporting to Chief of Staff Nayelli Valencia Turrent, Jennifer will also set priorities for the physical organization and preservation of collections and engage with gift prospects toward cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding gifts, including acquisition of collections of enduring value relating to social change.
Prior to joining LaGuardia, Jennifer served as Inaugural Curator and Vice President for Collections and Exhibits at the Jackie Robinson Museum, where she oversaw the organization and execution of all exhibits, interactive experiences, and associate projects from the initial stage including research, content development, and writing, scheduling, design development to production and installation. Jennifer has also worked at the Cincinnati Museum Center and National Underground Railroad Freedom Center; the Skirball Museum Hebrew Union College, the Boston Children’s Museum, and the New York Transit Museum.
Jennifer earned a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Barnard College/Columbia University and a Master of Arts in Art History from Boston University. Jennifer also earned an Interior Design Certificate from the Parsons School of Design.
We would like to thank Soraya Ciego-Lemur for serving as our interim Director of the LaGuardia & Wagner Archives for the past two years. We appreciate Soraya’s dedicated leadership as our interim Director and her thoughtful and supportive leadership of the Archives team. Soraya will continue as Deputy Director of Archives.
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LaGuardia Community College (LAGCC), a Hispanic-Serving Institution, located in Long Island City, Queens offers more than 50 associate degrees and academic certificates, and more than 65 continuing education programs to prepare New Yorkers for transfer to senior colleges and rewarding jobs and careers. An institution of the City University of New York (CUNY), the College reflects the legacy of our namesake, Fiorello H. LaGuardia, the former NYC mayor beloved for his advocacy of the underserved. Since 1971, LaGuardia’s academic programs and support services have advanced the socioeconomic mobility of students from Queens, NYC and beyond.
The LaGuardia and Wagner Archives at LaGuardia Community College/CUNY chronicles the past 150 years of New York City history, with a growing focus on Queens and the outer boroughs. Housing more than two million documents, and with 100,000 photographs digitized and accessible on its website, the Archives serves students, scholars, journalists, policy makers, and exhibition planners. Collections include the records of the New York City Council and the New York City Housing Authority; explorations into Queens local history and LGBTQ activism in Queens; as well as selected documents from the administrations of Mayors Fiorello H. LaGuardia, William O’Dwyer, Robert F. Wagner, John V. Lindsay, Abraham D. Beame, Edward I. Koch, David Dinkins, and Rudolph Giuliani.
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