Header wording: Provost's Monthly Report
December 2020 and January 2021


Dear Colleagues— 

A few weeks ago, we began the spring 2021 semester, continuing with the virtual modality we utilized for most of 2020 to educate, engage, and empower our students and advance our mission in the face of a challenging pandemic. With the ongoing vaccination efforts in New York and the nation, we now have a more optimistic outlook for a safe and gradual physical return to the College. Discussions have already begun with campus stakeholders to evaluate what is feasible concerning a plan for fall 2021 reopening. As part of this effort, we will administer a Campus Readiness Survey to faculty and staff in the coming weeks to solicit additional input to help guide and shape our planning. I encourage each faculty and staff to complete this survey when they receive it. 

In the last two months, the College has been engaged in several initiatives and activities to advance our mission and strategic priorities. This combined Provost’s Report for December 2020 and January 2021 from the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Student Success highlights progress on a select number of these initiatives and activities within the division of Academic Affairs and Student Success. For more updates and announcements from the Office of the Provost, along with past monthly reports and emails to the campus community, please visit the Provost's Corner. For updates on COVID-19, please visit Coronavirus (COVID-19) Updates and Resources.

CREDIT/NO CREDIT (CR/NC) FLEXIBLE GRADING POLICY 

  • The College implemented the Credit/No Credit (CR/NC) Flexible Grading Policy for the Fall 2020 semester from December 24, 2020 – January 12, 2021, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The policy, approved at a December 16 Special Meeting of the College Senate, allowed students the option to convert eligible letter grades (B+/B/B-/C+/C/C-/D+/D/F) earned in most courses to Credit/No Credit (CR/NC) grading. A list of courses was excluded from this policy, and information was widely shared with students.

MACAULAY HONORS COLLEGE – LEHMAN SCHOLARS PROGRAM

  • I am pleased to announce the appointments of Dr. David Hyman and Dr. Olivia Moy as interim Director and interim Associate Director of the Macaulay Honors College – Lehman Scholars Program correspondingly. Both appointments, which I concluded in November 2020, are for Spring 2021. I am grateful to David and Olivia, both faculty in the Department of English, for accepting to serve in these roles. As interim Director, David reports directly to the Associate Provost for Academic Programs and Educational Effectiveness and receives 6-credit hours of release time to manage the program. As interim Associate Director, Olivia receives 3-credit hours of release time to assist the interim Director with the overall management of the program. David replaces Dr. Gary Schwartz, who served as Director of the program for many years and announced his retirement from the College in fall 2020. Please join me in thanking Gary for his 40 years of service to the Macaulay Honors College – Lehman Scholars Program. He has mentored and guided many honors students under his tenure as Director, for which he will always be remembered and recognized here at Lehman.  

CURRICULAR RENEWAL AND PEDAGOGY 

  • The CUNY Board of Trustees approved Lehman’s proposal to offer an Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership, Development, and Change at the Board’s final meeting held on December 14, 2020. Final approval is expected from NYSED for the College to officially begin the program, which will help address the need for leadership in the educational and non-profit sectors in the region and beyond. We anticipate additional revenue to the College as a result of the program. The Ed.D. will be housed in the Department of Counseling, Leadership, Literacy, and Special Education (CLLSE) in the School of Education. The Department has a decade-long history of successful leadership programs that include the Master of Science in Organizational Leadership (MSOL). The 52-credit hour program will take three years to complete and will be the first such interdisciplinary online Ed.D. (with a residential component) to be offered by CUNY.

  • Work continued on proposal development for fourteen new programs to meet regional labor needs at the certificate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate levels. This includes the following: B.A. in Digital Music; BA-MA in Speech Pathology; BS-MS in Dietetics, Foods, and Nutrition; BS-MS in Health Education and Promotion; and a Doctorate in Social Work, among others. 

  • Continued implementation of our Student Success Course Redesign Initiative (SSCRI); pilot launched in early fall 2020 for ten redesigned courses; involves 16 faculty across seven departments and two schools.

  • Fifty-one faculty continued a year-long professional development on effective teaching with the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE), with funding support from the National Association of System Heads (NASH) and CUNY.

APPLIED/EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

  • Began implementation planning for a spring 2021 start for the Bronx Recovery Corps (BRC), a blended program of applied/experiential learning opportunity for Lehman students through LEH courses. The program integrates academic credit, career participation, and community engagement through fellowship placement for students, including paid internships. It is a partnership between the College and HERE to HERE, a New York City-based talent development organization, and funded through multiple grants from such groups as the Deutsche Bank Foundation. 

ACCREDITATION AND INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS-RELATED MATTERS

  • CAEP SPA Review: Pleased to report that all five programs submitted for CAEP’s SPA review by the School of Education are now nationally-recognized for the next five years. The programs are Educational Leadership, Mathematics Education 7-12, Mathematics Education 7-12 Accelerated, Mathematics Education 5-9, and Mathematics Education 7-12 (undergraduate level). Congratulations to the chairs and the faculty in the School for this accomplishment. 

  • Assessment Management System (AMS): In my November Report, I indicated that the New York State’s Comptroller Office placed Improve by Nuventive for competitive bidding, a decision that brought us closer to a robust assessment management system for the College. Improve is the digital portal identified through campus discussions for documenting and tracking planning and assessment activities. Unfortunately, Nuventive withdrew its interest in going through this bidding process. We are working with our Purchasing Department on an alternative digital platform, Watermark. In the meantime, we ask that you continue to utilize the DropBox provided by the Assessment Office to document all academic and AES assessment activities. If additional information is needed, please contact the Manager for Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness at assessment.office@lehman.cuny.edu.

  • Assessment: 89% of Administrative and Educational Support (AES), 93% of Academic, and 100% of General Education (GenEd) units submitted assessment plans for the 2020-2021 academic year. Efforts are underway to ensure 100% compliance. 

CUNY/EXTERNAL ENGAGEMENT

  • December 1, 4, 8, 11, and 18 – Participated in the CUNY Strike Force Meeting established by EVC Cruz to identify strategies for increasing spring 2021 enrollment across the 25 CUNY colleges. The 19-member group was chaired by CUNY Interim Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Denise Maybank.

  • December 2 – Participated in the Association of Chief Academic Officers (ACAO) Monthly Board Meeting. 

  • December 2 and 15 – Held the monthly NYC-CUNY-LSAMP update meeting with program coordinator Laura Oliveira and Dean Pamela Mills and hosted the LSAMP Co-PI meeting with Dr. Gustavo López (Lehman), Dr. Sarah Bonner (Hunter), Provost Lester Rápalo (BCC), Provost Pamela Brown (NYCCT), Dean Mills (Lehman), and Ms. Oliveira (Lehman) respectively. 

  • December 3 – Participated in the 250th Virtual British Bash, a fundraising event of the St. George’s Society. The society is a major benefactor of Lehman and has provided scholarships to several of our students. 

  • December 4 – Participated in the American Council on Education (ACE) Council of Fellows Professional Development Committee. The committee develops programming for the annual meetings of the council.

  • December 7 – Participated in the AASCU Quarterly Call with Lehman focused on Student Success. Lehman is one of 11 colleges/universities selected to participate in a national initiative on student success sponsored by AASCU and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  


  • December 9 and 10  Attended the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) New Board Members Orientation and the full Board Meeting, respectively. At the Board meeting, I was elected Board Secretary. IHEP is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization focused on promoting access to and success in higher education for all students. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization develops policy-and-practice-oriented research to guide policymakers and leaders in addressing our nation’s most pressing education challenges. 

  • December 14 – Joined President Lemons in a meeting with Braven CEO & Founder Aimée Eubanks Davis to discuss Lehman’s partnership with the organization. 

  • December 14 and January 26 – Attended the Executive Leadership Academy Virtual Holiday Celebration and the webinar on Leading Comprehensive Academic Change, respectively, hosted by the American Academic Leadership Institute (AALI).

  • December 16 – Convened and chaired the Deans’ Council meeting of the twelve (12) CUNY participating colleges of the NYC-LSAMP Program. Lehman is the lead institution on the $4.2m multi-year program designed to increase minority participation in the STEM disciplines. 

  • December 16 – Held meeting with HS2N Dean Harrison, University Dean for Education and Health Services Patricia Simino Boyce, and Juvanie Piquant, chair of the University Student Senate and CUNY Trustee, to discuss Lehman’s MS-FNP Program Accreditation. 

  • December 16 and January 13 – Participated in the Presidents’ Student Success Roundtable of four CUNY Colleges: Lehman, John Jay, Queens, and CityTech. 

  • December 17; January 14 and 15 – Participated in three convenings of the Provosts’ Student Success Initiative-Design Cohort meeting sponsored by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and funded by the Gates Foundation; one of 25 chief academic officers in the nation selected by AASCU to participate in this 8-month leadership initiative focused on advancing equity-based approaches to student success nationally. 

  • December 17 and January 19 – Held meeting with Dr. Tammy Evetovich, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, University of Wisconsin, Platteville, as part of AASCU’s Academy for New Provosts. 

  • December 18 – Attended the Academy for New Provosts 2020-2021 Virtual Holiday Gathering.

  • January 12 – Met with Jill Wierbicki Abrahams, Executive Director at the Francine A. LeFrak Foundation, to continue discussions begun in September 2020 on potential funding opportunities for the College. Dean MacKillop, VP Sarmiento, VP Ebersole, and CUNY University Dean for Continuing Education and Workforce Development, Angie Kamath, participated in the meeting. The subsequent planning meeting was held with the Lehman team on January 22.
 
  • January 12 – Participated in CUNY’s meeting of chief academic officers hosted by EVC Cruz to discuss alternative strategies for global education in light of the pandemic. 

  • January 12 – Participated in the AALI Becoming A Provost Academy Webinar Planning Meeting with Nancy Niemi, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore; Karim Ismaili, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts; and Linda Bleicken, AALI President. 

  • January 13 – Participated in the CUNY Academic Council meeting of chief academic officers. 

  • January 13 – Participated in the CUNY Academic Council Committee on Academic Policy Sub-Committee meeting looking at best practices to improve student evaluation teaching across the system. 

  • January 19 – Joined the ACAO chief academic officers’ group to plan the January Webinar Town Hall involving students in a discussion of their experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic. Also participated in the Town Hall titled: Attending College in a Pandemic: A Student Perspective, held on January 26. Lehman student Lamount Evanson, who recently earned a Bachelor's in Chemistry, and a recent recipient of the prestigious Schwarzman Scholarships for Study Abroad, was one of the three student panelists. 

  • January 20 – Participated in the CUNY Academic Council Committee on Academic Policy (CAP) meeting. 

  • January 26 – Presented at the Mentor Collective’s Executive Roundtable Webinar titled: The Road Ahead: Leading in Crisis, Reimagining the Future. 

  • January 26 – Presented at York College’s Chairs’ Professional Development Workshop on leading and managing change. 

  • January 27 – Participated in the AASCU-EAB (Educational Advisory Board) Symposium on Student Success.

  • January 28 – Presented at the Becoming A Provost Academy (BAPA) Webinar on the topic: How Provost’s Make Tough Decisions.

  • January 28 – Held meeting with York College Provost Derrick Brazill and a potential donor to explore gap funding to cover emergencies for students from both Lehman and York. 

SHARED GOVERNANCE

  • December 1, 2, 7, 8, 17, and January 11, 12 – Held individual 1:1 meetings with divisional Vice Presidents, Executive Counsel, and President’s Chief of Staff.
 
  • December 1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, and January 12, 13 – Held individual 1:1 meetings with School Deans, Chief Librarian, and direct reports to the Provost from the Division of Academic Affairs and Student Success.

  • December 1 and January 19 – Participated in the FP&B meeting and provided the Provost’s Report; joined by VP Sarmiento, Senior Registrar Rosario, and Chair Levy for the January 19 meeting to discuss enrollment updates, college schedular, and bell schedule, respectively.  

  • December 2 – Attended the meeting of the College Senate.

  • December 2 – Participated in the Lehman Vacancy Review Committee Meeting.

  • December 3 – Participated in the President’s Budget Working Group (BWG) meeting. 

  • December 3, 17, and January 14 – Convened Provost’s and Deans’ Council (PDC) Meetings. Agenda items included Provost’s updates, Enrollment updates, Mobilizing for Possible Learning Loss, Enrollment Scheduling Calendar, Bell Schedule, CR/NC update, Pre-Health Program and Health Bridge, Fall 2021 Planning, Fall 2021 Online Student Experience Survey results, among others. 

  • December 4 – Participated in the President’s Advisory Board (PAB) Meeting. 

  • December 4 – Co-chaired (with Dr. Anne Rice) the 2020-2025 Strategic Planning Steering Committee Meeting.

  • December 7 – Participated in the President’s Labor-Management Meeting with PSC. 

  • December 8, 15, and January 11, 26 – Held 1:1 meetings with President Lemons.

  • December 10 – Convened Academic Affairs and Student Success (A2S2) Executive Leadership Team meeting.

  • December 14 and January 14 – Participated in the President’s Cabinet meeting.

  • December 15 – Met with SGA President Jada Quinland and Vice President for Legislative Affairs Sumana Ali.

  • December 16 – Held meeting to review further and refine the draft Guiding Statements (Mission, Vision, and Values) developed by the President’s Advisory Board for the 2020-2025 draft Strategic Plan. The meeting was informed by additional feedback from the Strategic Plan Steering Committee and the President’s Cabinet. 

  • December 19 – Participated in the College Senate Governance Committee meeting.

  • December 28 – Convened the Deans’ Joint meeting with the Provost.

MEETINGS AND EVENTS

  • December 2, 8, and 14 – Held individual 1:1 meetings with the following Department Chairs: Bertrade Ngo-Ngijol Banoum (Africana Studies); Ryan Raaum (Anthropology); and Kevin Sailor (Psychology). 

  • December 3 and 17 – Participated in the President’s Briefing to the campus community.

  • December 4, 7, and 11 – Participated in multiple strategic meetings to discuss Lehman’s approach to the proposed CR/NC policy.
                               
  • December 5, 18, and January 20 – Participated in the meetings convened by President Lemons to discuss Lehman’s proposed School of Business. 

  • December 7 – Participated in the Enrollment Meeting with Academic Affairs, Enrollment Management, and Administration and Finance. 

  • December 18 – Presented update on the State of Academic Affairs to the Lehman College Foundation Board of Directors.

  • January 11 – Met with Elias Alcantara, a member of the Lehman College Foundation Board and Lehman alumnus.

  • January 27 – Participated in The Bronx Recovery Corps (BRC) formal launching and spoke at the special event attended by more than 70 participants that included students, faculty, staff, community organizations, and members of the mediaAmong those who spoke at the event were President Lemons; Abby Jo Sigal, Founding CEO, HERE to HERE; Judy Dimon, Founding Chair, HERE to HERE, and Chair, The James and Judith K. Dimon Foundation; Rubén Díaz, Jr., Bronx Borough President; Professor LaRose Parris, Africana Studies, and Professor Teresita Levy, Executive Director, Office of International Programs and Community Engagement and Chair, Latin American and Latino Studies.

  • January 29 – Met with the Lehman College Re-entry Committee led by Professor Penny Prince and received updates on the committee’s work in advancing access and opportunity for previously incarcerated adults in the Bronx and beyond. 

  • January 29 – Met with the Bell Schedule Committee and formally charged the committee to review Lehman’s current Bell schedule, which was developed in 2007, and make recommendations for enhancing our academic schedule based on current realities. The committee, co-chaired by Chair and Associate Professor Teresita Levy and Senior Registrar Yvette Rosario, has sixty days to complete its work. Other members include Ronald Banks, Melissa Brown, David Charcape, Cecilia Espinosa, Milagros Gonzalez-Gallardo, Pamela Hinden, Gabrielle Kohler, Naphtali O’Connor, Jada Quinland, Lynn Rosenberg, Rene Rotolo, Ediltrudys Ruiz, Reine Sarmiento, Carole Weisz, Suzanne Yates, and Nadine Zerphey.
 
ACADEMIC AFFAIRS' SEARCHES AND APPOINTMENTS

  • January 1 – Samira Bahrami  transitioned from RF to a HEO series appointment as Director of CUNY on the Concourse.

  • January 29 – Tailisha Gonzalez was appointed as an Instructor in the Department of Health Sciences.

  • January 29 – Dr. Steven Holochwost, Associate Professor, joined the Department of Psychology.

I wish everyone continued good health and a productive semester. Please remain well and be safe. 

-P
Peter O. Nwosu, Ph.D.
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Student Success
Lehman College
The Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Student Success is the College's chief academic and student success officer and senior member of the President's Cabinet. The Provost is responsible for all educational and student support programs, as well as academic issues that relate to the faculty including appointments, promotions, and evaluations. He also is responsible for preparing accreditation reviews, program reviews, campus strategic planning and the review of division and departmental budgets. If you have questions or comments, please e-mail us at provost.office@lehman.cuny.edu or call 718-960-8222.