A Message from President Delgado
November 30, 2021
As we come quickly to the end of the fall semester, I want to thank everyone for the outstanding job you have all done to get us through yet another semester impacted by COVID-19. As ever, things are complicated and somewhat in flux, but the finish line is just in front of us.

Simultaneously, we continue planning for a more robust return to campus for the spring 2022 semester. As you know, the Chancellor has established a 70 percent target for in-person classes. That also provides a baseline for staff returning to campus to support our teaching, learning, creative, research and scholarship activity. At the same time we are tracking the most recent variant; both following the most recent CDC updates and engaging state and local officials.

Lehman continues to work to make sure that campus is safe, resources and materials have been acquired, and up-to-date safety protocols for higher education are being followed. While I know there is trepidation, at the same time, I have seen students, staff, and faculty excited at the prospect of returning and finding some sense of normalcy. Of course, as the CUNY Central office monitors data around COVID-19 surges and variants, we are fully prepared to pivot as circumstances warrant.

I have also now had the pleasure of completing my fifth month at Lehman and I continue to be impressed by the excellence at our institution and the many markers associated with it. The external validation of our institution is also heartening and bodes well as our capital campaign goals come into focus. We are confident that we can move forward and will refine our campaign plan elements once external stakeholders have given us their feedback. I am excited about the prospect to invite greater levels of support and collaboration from our friends and supporters.

Speaking of external stakeholders, I had the pleasure of meeting Senator Luis Sepulveda, whose office is looking to hire Lehman students, and City Council Members Amanda Farias and Oswald Feliz, former SGA president. In addition, Senator Sepulveda was able to join us at meal giveaway event on November 18.

As we move through the hectic final quarter of our fall semester and into the holiday season, I am continually thankful that I was invited lead Lehman College. We will continue to strive to do better and stretch; for example, we will be moving further into our campus climate survey and consultation work with Rankin and Associates in the new year.


Celebrating Excellence

Lehman held its second successful annual Thanksgiving meal giveaway in the student parking lot on November 18th in partnership with Montefiore Health System and co-chair of our Food Security and Sustainability Initiative, Chef Kwame Onwuachi. The weather was beautiful and students were able to get Thanksgiving meals along with a sample of jerk broccoli and cornbread. It was great to have remarks delivered by Marcos Crespo, SVP of Montefiore, Onwuachi, who helped us announce our Food Security and Sustainability Initiative, and Suzette Ramsundar, Director of Campus Life, who has been a tremendous force for contributing to the health of students since the Herbert H. Lehman Food Bank opened its doors in 2017.

Ten Lehman College students working with 11 faculty and staff from Lehman’s Multimedia Center and School of Arts and Humanities have been working with the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) on a series of public service announcements about how New Yorkers have endured and adapted during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The partnership’s series is called “Shift NYC.”
The series can be viewed in its entirety on the Shift NYC website and the city’s website and will appear on NYC Life (Channel 22 on Cablevision and Channel 25 on other cable providers) and TV screens in New York City taxis.

Congratulations are in order for Bronx native and award-winning poet, writer, educator and activist María Teresa Fernández Rosario, better known as Mariposa, an adjunct lecturer in African Studies who was one of 20 Puerto Rican writers awarded $25,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as an inaugural Letras Boricuas Fellow.
 
The prominent Lehman College alumna, New York State Attorney General Letitia James will be awarded the Friend of CUNY Award at a December 8th Belle Zeller Scholarship awards event. Funds raised for the event support the scholarship fund. Recent Lehman College recipients of our scholarships have been Nathalie Thomas in 2017; Shaffiou Assoumanou in 2018; Beauty Kolade in 2019; and Ezekiel Olumuyide in 2020.
 
Shared Governance

December 1 Council of Presidents
December 1 Lehman College Senate
December 2 Cabinet
December 8 Cabinet
December 15 President's Advisory Board

Fernando Delgado
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