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Alumna’s Memoir Recounts How City Tech Helped Change Her Life
Janet Avery When Dr. Janet Avery recently submitted an application to serve on the board of directors of the City Tech Alumni Association, it was because she wanted to do more for the college that had done so much for her. She had already done a lot, as it happens, through her memoir, The Power of Hope, published by Star Cloud Press in March 2007.
According to Matthew Goldstein, chancellor of The City University of New York, “Janet Avery’s story is a testament to the power of two-year colleges – in her case New York City Technical College – to change a young person’s life for the better.” Now a senior-level institution, the college was renamed New York City College of Technology in 2002.
And this from Ron Gross, author of Socrates’ Way and co-chair of the University Seminar on Innovations in Education at Columbia University: “Your soul will not be the same after reading this piercing memoir; your soul will be enriched by the voice of a courageous, profound, and newly discovered friend. The book brims with gratitude, but it is we readers who will be grateful to the author for sharing what it means to be an ‘interdependent’ woman in our time.”
The Power of Hope bookcover Janet Avery’s The Power of Hope is “a brave and heart-felt story that evokes inspiration and joy,” according to the publisher. “Life is fraught with challenges, obstacles and adversities, and each individual’s response is a measure of personal courage and grace. [The book] recounts her various life struggles, from securing an education, to extricating herself from a dysfunctional marriage, and finally to her near-death experience and debilitating paralysis in 2001.” The testimonial goes on to add that her “enduring belief in God is manifested in the courage and determination that subsequently allowed her to complete her PhD and also to participate in the 2006 New York City Marathon.”
Dr. Janet Avery is an assistant adjunct professor at the Bernard Baruch School of Public Affairs. She is also the founder of VEHICLES, INC., a not-for-profit corporation based in Harlem that provides life skills, career planning and workplace training for people who want to enter or re-enter the job market. She is a member of Columbia University's Seminar on Innovation in Education, which meets monthly to discuss creative efforts in the field of education.
As a result of her achievements, she received the AVON Women of Enterprise Award in 1997, and served a two-year term on the National Advisory Council of the U.S. Small Business Administration. She was a member of Leadership New York Class III, a part of the Coro New York Leadership Center.
Prior to founding VEHICLES, Avery was vice president/human resources at Citibank. Her earlier career included administrative positions with the law firms of Davis Polk & Wardwell and Carter Ledyard & Milburn.
She has developed and/or taught courses at Columbia Business School’s Institute for Not-for-Profit Management, Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, Nyack College and Baruch College. She graduated from City Tech in 1969 with an associate’s degree in secretarial science and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Fordham University and an MBA in management and human resources development from New York University's Stern School of Business. She later earned a PhD in public policy from the Union Institute & University.
She received a Fitness Instructor's Certification from Marymount Manhattan College, is certified by the American Council on Exercise and a member of the IDEA Health and Fitness Association. She was an amateur competitive bodybuilder. In her spare time, she volunteers at the Rehabilitation Department of Mount Sinai Hospital and the DeWitt Nursing Home.
