Meet the Community Affairs Team
Surey Miranda-Alarcon
Assistant Vice President for Community Affairs
Surey I. Miranda Alarcón is a passionate Hatillana and Bronxite. Surey pursued higher education at the University of Puerto Rico, transitioning from Arecibo to Río Piedras, where she earned a Bachelor's in Political Science. During her last university years, she worked in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Puerto Rico House of Representatives. Her academic journey continued at The New School University, achieving a Master’s in Economics.
Surey's career, deeply influenced by her upbringing and education, has been dedicated to addressing inequality and enhancing access to information. In New York, she worked at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies with different Puerto Rican communities across the 50 states. She then worked in the New York Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, the New York City Commission on Human Rights, and the Mayor’s Community Affairs under the administration of Mayor Bill De Blasio. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Surey served in key roles in the Vaccine Command Center, ensuring equitable access to information and distribution of COVID-19 tests and vaccines. She led the distribution of over 3 million facemasks and PPE in the Bronx.
She is the co-founder and chair of the organization Diaspora for Puerto Rico, created after Hurricane María to support Puerto Ricans arriving in New York. She is a professor of economics at the State University of New York, and works as the Assistant Vice President for Community Affairs at Fordham University. At Fordham, Surey has been key in strengthening the institution’s commitment and partnership with neighboring communities, which led to the creation of Fordham in Community, a coalition of over 70+ organizations working in coordination to attract more resources and create capacity in the immediate vicinity. Thanks to partnerships and coalition efforts, Fordham University was able to receive a $50 million grant for environmental projects in EPA Region 2. Her greatest passion is building coalitions and uplifting the work of communities, and she strives to inform public policy to ensure equality of opportunities.
Amanda Caputo
Assistant Director for Community Affairs
Amanda Caputo is a Bronx native and first-generation college graduate of Fordham University, where she earned a BA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing. She is passionate about social justice initiatives and believes that open dialogue, solidarity, and thoughtful engagement are key to building strong, connected communities.
Amanda currently serves as Assistant Director for Community Affairs at Fordham, where she aims to strengthen connections between the University and local organizations through mission-aligned programming, student engagement, and collaborative community initiatives.
She previously served as the Program Officer for the Flourishing in Community Grantmaker Program, helping to manage community outreach and stakeholder partnerships for a $48 million EPA-funded initiative supporting environmental projects across New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and federally recognized Indian Nations in New York. Prior to this role, Amanda also has co-cordinated Fordham’s Urban Plunge program, an immersive pre-orientation experience focused on community engagement, social justice, and leadership development for students. She also supports the Fordham in Community Collective, helping to regularly bring together 70+ community organizations to share resources, coordinate initiatives, and strengthen neighborhood collaboration.
Outside of her professional work, she enjoys photography, writing, and spending time in nature.