My first Hispanic Heritage Month with Lehman was auspicious. I was delighted to be invited to present on my scholarship and experiences as part of the CUNY Institute of Health Equity’s Hispanic Heritage Month Speaker Series on Dia de la Raza. My panel was chaired by director of the CUNY Mexican Studies Institute, Dr. Juan DeLa Cruz, and Dr. Tailisha Gonzalez, co-director of Lehman College’s Health Services Administration program. I was also invited by Congressman Jamaal Bowman to participate in a Hispanic Heritage Community Conversation in New Rochelle in mid-October. Both events were great opportunities to reflect on how far the Latinx community has come and the work that is still left to do.
Another opportunity to measure progress closer to home was during the Lehman Student Success Summit, which drew more than 100 participants online and at the Lovinger. The high-impact panels and the keynote speaker, Dr. John Gardner, offered helpful ways for us to frame what works well and what can be built upon for improvement.
I had very productive conversations with elected officials throughout October, including City Councilman Kevin Riley, Assemblymember Karine Reyes’ office and conversation with Assemblyman Jose Rivera about his support of Lehman College, the Performing Arts Center, which reopened to great success in October. In the latter conversation, I discussed our ongoing efforts to encourage vaccination in the Bronx, particularly among our students.
Speaking of vaccination, CUNY-wide, 92 percent of students are vaccinated, a number that we hope will only increase. I wanted to mention a quick note about students who have remained unvaccinated.
Students taking in-person and/or hybrid classes this Fall who did not comply with CUNY’s vaccine mandate will be withdrawn from those courses and receive a grade of WA (withdrawn administratively). As of last week, unvaccinated students without a medical or religious exemption are no longer issued Cleared4 passes and are not permitted onto campus until they have successfully uploaded their vaccination documentation. The number of students who fall within this category is very small and they will receive an email with more information from Student Affairs. Faculty will also receive an email from the provost regarding WA assignment and grading.
As we begin to think about spring, you may have noted that CUNY has outlined a plan for Spring 2022 setting a target of 70 percent fully in-person courses and 30 percent online or hybrid courses. The 70/30 mix of course modalities makes it likely that most students will need to register for at least one class that has an on-campus meeting during the Spring 2022 semester. Therefore, students who plan to enroll in an in-person or hybrid class for Spring 2022 will have to be fully vaccinated, and their documents uploaded and approved in CUNYfirst.
Celebrating Excellence
I’m very proud to note that Lehman College has been recognized by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs as one of 35 Fulbright HSI Leaders based on the students and scholars at our institution and their noteworthy engagement with the program. This announcement comes as part of the Fulbright’s 75th Anniversary commemoration.
Record freshman enrollment this year was noted by The Bronx Times, which is an encouraging trend as we continue to make progress on our 90x30 goal.
Congratulations and many thanks to Dr. Scott Calvin, Pre-Health Program Director for ensuring that Lehman College students made both lists of undergraduate schools from which the most first-degree Latinx and Black students apply to allopathic medical schools from the American Association of Medical Colleges. Dr. Calvin said that Lehman "joins CCNY and Hunter as the only other CUNYs to appear on both lists. The only SUNY to appear on both lists is Binghamton."
As the Provost noted in his recent report, Lehman hosted the inaugural class of the CUNY Leadership Institute (TCLI) for urban-serving institutions at the end of September. TCLI is a five-month intensive leadership program designed to strengthen the higher education leadership pipeline for emerging Arts and Humanities leaders, funded with generous support from the Mellon Foundation.
Lehman College is partnering with the national mentoring organization iMentor to launch a new program, The Alice Griffin Scholars Program, named in honor of Dr. Alice V. Griffin, a Lehman professor for 42 years. The program will provide 260 freshmen and transfer students enrolled in one of iMentor’s high school programs with one-on-one mentoring and support.
The Lehman Center for the Performing Arts has reopened to wonderful reviews and has also continued to receive rescue grant funding from the State Arts Council. The Bronx Tech Incubator at Lehman also recently received $450,000 in funding from City Council.
Shared Governance
November 3 College Senate
November 12 Cabinet
November 18 President’s Advisory Board
Fernando Delgado
