On March 3rd 2025, the City University of New York announced Richard Knipel as their first Wikimedian-in-Residence.
Wikipedia is an important step towards building public engagement and education, often acting as a preliminary search for quick, organized information, from key dates to reliable sources. However, the lack of information on CUNY limits accessibility, raising a variety of questions.
This initiative will utilize academic research to make CUNY’s valuable resources more easily accessible through Wikipedia, the world’s largest informational platform. Research papers, archived materials and studies from CUNY will be available for students, researchers and the general public, offering a comprehensive view of CUNY.
Knipel is well equipped to increase CUNY’s presence on Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons and other Wikimedia platforms. He has experience in digital archiving from various prestigious institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he transferred the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection to Wikimedia and Wikipedia.
Knipel is also a part of a two-year pilot program being funded by Craig Newmark Philanthropies, which is a partnership between CUNY and Wikimedia New York City. To guarantee the success of the Wikipedia page, Knipel will work on educating the CUNY community, including students, faculty and staff, on how to upload their research and academic content to the platform.
CUNY students are also excited about the program’s potential. Many are eager to potentially see their research and academic work make an impact beyond the classroom due to the skills they gained from Knipel.
For example, Trina Marcelline-Richmond, a freshman majoring in psychology at Queens College, said, “Adding that would be helpful. It’d be a great way to add genuine input from real student experiences.”
Knipel will be based in the Office of Library Services at CUNY, where he will work alongside a part-time documentarian to track the program’s success. This includes monitoring how many people engage with Wikimedia platforms through CUNY-related content. The documentarian will also assess growth in public awareness, content quality and gains in visibility and engagement.
“A key part of CUNY’s contributions to New York is its growing leadership in research that benefits the people of our city,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez in a March 3rd CUNY press release. “It makes perfect sense to leverage the incredible research expertise of our faculty and students, along with the archives that often don’t make it to the public, to improve and expand the information that is available to the public on Wikipedia,” Matos said.
Knipel will play a pivotal role in bringing Matos’s vision to life by increasing public access to CUNY’s extensive collection of research materials through Wikipedia.
CUNY’s success in this program is the result of many efforts. For example, LaGuardia
Community College has hosted several Wikipedia Translathon events, where students translate English Wikipedia articles into other languages. These events push for global accessibility and serve CUNY’s English as a Second Language student population. They also align with CUNY’s three-tier initiative, funded by the Mellon Foundation, to explore and raise awareness of archival collections across its 25 campuses.
Natalie Milbrodt, a CUNY University Archivist, believes that CUNY’s history connects deeply with New York City, saying, “The archival collections available to researchers across our 25 campuses are a treasure, and we are excited for the opportunity to share that treasure with more New Yorkers through this initiative.”
The Wikimedian-in-Residence program is making a significant impact on CUNY’s and New York City’s history. It ensures the public’s access to accurate information and creates educational engagement within the CUNY community. As students and faculty continue to collaborate, the program will ensure that Wikimedia platforms remain informational and accessible.
