• I am pleased to announce that our new Institutional Effectiveness (IE) website is up and running, thanks to the terrific work done by the Office of Academic Programs and Educational Effectiveness. The site will serve as our campus repository for system-wide performance management plan, college strategic plan, institutional accreditation, disciplinary accreditation, assessment, and program review information, among others. Please see: https://www.lehman.cuny.edu/institutional-effectiveness/ Having our IE work in one location assures ease of access, ensures continuity in our quality improvement protocols, aligns with our IE plan, as well as institutional accreditation expectations regarding national best practices. Associate Provost Victor Brown has presented the new website and the associated work to the Provost’s and Deans’ Council, the College Senate, and the Faculty Personnel and Budget Committee.
• I am also pleased to report that the College has begun work on implementing its new Assessment Management System (AMS). The new system, Watermark, approved through the CUNY procurement process in September, replaces Taskstream, which was suspended by the college two years ago. The new AMS is expected to fuel a culture of engagement, reflection, and data-informed decision-making, and will allow the college to better document, track, report, integrate, and align its planning and assessment activities in a centralized platform linked to the IE website. Full implementation of the new system will commence in fall 2022 following completion of the customization process that has now begun, and campus-wide training scheduled for spring 2022.

• The 2021 Lehman Student Success Summit (LS3). Planning continued for the annual student success summit scheduled for October 15 to celebrate our accomplishments, showcase some of our faculty and staff champions who work in practical ways to improve the student experience and accelerate student success outcomes, and learn more about what other colleges in the nation are doing to improve student outcomes that could inform and help expand our commitment to increasing educational attainment in the Bronx. This year’s focus is on transfer students, with Dr. John Gardner, Founder and Executive Chair of the Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education as keynote speaker. The Provost appointed Dr. Olena Zhadko, Director of Online Education and Alison Abreu, Faculty Development Specialist to co-chair the planning committee.
• Academic Momentum (AcMo). Planning continued for Lehman’s participation in the system-wide Academic Momentum Campaign 2.0 (AcMo 2.0), the Chancellor’s initiative on student success to be launched in spring 2022. The initiative builds on AcMo 1.0 and will focus on improving the transfer student experience at CUNY. Lehman, Brooklyn, Queens, BCC, QCC, BMCC, Hostos, and KCC Provosts are on the system-wide planning group, along with staff from CUNY Office of Academic Affairs led by Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Donna Linderman and Senior University Dean and Vice Provost for Academic Programs and Policy Lucinda Zoe. Draft goals and strategies for implementation over the next three years have been developed for presentation to the Council of Presidents later this fall. 
• AASCU and ELE Faculty Development Program. Planning continued for Lehman’s participation in an 18-month faculty development on digital learning, with technical support from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and  Every Learner Everywhere (ELE), a network of 12-partner organizations that collaborate with institutions of higher education to improve equity-minded student outcomes through innovative teaching strategies, including the adoption of adaptive digital learning tools. Developing effective teaching strategies to meet the needs of our diverse student population, 93% of whom are students of color, remains a strategic priority for Academic Affairs. By providing professional development opportunities such as ACUE and ELE training to more faculty, we will be able to scale out and scale up to more innovative pedagogies that will help accelerate our 90x30 challenge and our efforts towards increasing social mobility.

• I am pleased to report that Lehman played host to the inaugural class of the CUNY Leadership Institute (TCLI) for Urban-serving institutions, which began on September 30, 2021. TCLI is a 5-month intensive leadership program designed to strengthen the higher education leadership pipeline for emerging leaders from the Arts and Humanities discipline and is funded with generous support from the Mellon Foundation. Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez was on our campus to welcome the 18 TCLI Fellows selected for the leadership program. Former University Provost and Interim Chancellor Vita Rabinowitz, Interim University Provost Dan Lemons, and 13 of the 18 CUNY Presidents and Provosts, who serve as TCLI mentors, were also at our campus to welcome the TCLI Fellows. The presidents and provosts are serving as TCLI mentors through the five-month duration of the institute. President Fernando Delgado is one of the mentors. Provost Nwosu serves as the Director of the Institute, along with Dr. Annemarie Nicols-Grinenko, University Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs. Over the last 18 months, Provost Nwosu worked with a planning team, which includes Dr. Nicols-Grinenko, Dr. Joseph Zoelner from Harvard University School of Education, Dr. Marcia Kiezs, former President, York College in Jamaica, Queens, who serves as TCLI Inaugural Chair, and Maria Camaj, in the Office of the Provost, to plan, develop, and implement this important national leadership opportunity. A number of CUNY provosts and other leaders, including Vice President of Enrollment Management and Vice Provost, Reine Sarmiento and Provost Nwosu, helped develop the original case studies for the institute and serve as the institute’s faculty. Dr. Karen Beck, Associate Dean, School of Arts and Humanities, is one of the inaugural TCLI Fellows. Others selected for the institute are from the following institutions: Rutgers University, Roosevelt University—Chicago, California State University—Fullerton, Borough of Manhattan Community College, Brooklyn College, CUNY School of Professional Studies, Hunter College, John Jay College, Kingsborough Community College, LaGuardia Community College, Lehman College, Medgar Evers College, New York City College of Technology, and Queens College. 

• It has been a very busy September with multiple meetings and discussions in the division and beyond as we worked together with the pandemic still with us to ensure a successful fall semester, mindful of the expectations from the Central office. We also began planning for the upcoming winter and spring semesters and continued our efforts with key initiatives to advance other strategic priorities. These initiatives included discussions and meetings on external funding priorities, proposal for creating a School of Business at Lehman, Fall convocation planning, 9/11 remembrance-day event, academic affairs’ staffing, departments’ scholarship statements, CUNY PMP, and our College strategic plan, among others.
• Internal meetings and discussions included the following: President’s Cabinet; President’s Advisory Board (PAB); College Senate and Governance Committee; Faculty Personnel and Budget Committee (F P&B); Provost’s and Deans’ Council (PDC); Senate Joint Committee on Budget and Long-Range Planning; General Faculty; Deans; Chair, Department of Africana Studies; Strategic Plan Implementation and Budget Work Group; Lehman Vacancy Review Committee; Academic Affairs Senior Leadership Team; and Provost’s Staff. 
• External meetings and discussions included the following: Bronx Transfer Affinity Group (BTAG); Institute for Higher Education Board (IHEP); Bronx Social Justice Matters Film Festival (with Bronx Community College and Hostos Community College); CUNY Academic Council; Digital Learning Initiative with EVC Lemons, Senior University Dean and Vice Provost for Academic Programs and Policy, Lucinda Zoe, University Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Annemarie Nicols-Grinenko, and University Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Innovation and Effectiveness Jonathan Gagliardi; CUNY Mexican Studies Institute (MSI) Board; American Council on Education (ACE) Fellows’ Professional Development Committee; CUNY Academic Momentum 2.0 w/CAOs; Teagle Foundation on the ATLAS initiative on General Education; Petrie Foundation for funding support for our Bronx Recovery Corps (BRC) Program; Hecksher Foundation; The CUNY Leadership Institute (TCLI) Planning Group; CCS Fundraising on College funding priorities; NYC-CUNY-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) in STEM Program; and National Association of Chief Academic Officers (ACAO) Board.
• Also, presented with Laura Nielson-Abruna, Provost, York College of Pennsylvania, on “Leading Institutional Change: The Academic Leader’s Toolkit” at the September 21 ACAO Town Hall.

• Continued the searches for the following: Associate Dean, School of Health Sciences, Human Services, and Nursing; Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students; and the Director of Strategy, Planning, Assessment, and Institutional Research (SPAIR).
• Yaswantie Persaud, School of Education, was approved for reclassification from HEA/ Manager, Academic Assessment to HEO/Director, Academic Affairs in the School of Education.