Herbert H. Lehman Lecture Series
The Herbert H. Lehman Memorial Lecture is held annually to celebrate the birth of the College’s namesake, Herbert H. Lehman, a former New York State governor and senator, who dedicated his life and career to public service and social justice. The lecture is delivered by an individual who embodies these same qualities.
| 2023 | Derek Luke | Celebrated Hollywood Actor |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Hon. Fernando Ferrer | CUNY Trustee Bronx; Borough President (1987-2001) |
| 2021 | Letitia James | New York State Attorney General |
| 2020 | Lecture Postponed | |
| 2019 | Alessandra Biaggi | The 50th Annual Herbert H. Lehman Memorial Lecture: New York State Senator Alessandra Biaggi. |
| 2018 | John King | The 49th Annual Herbert H. Lehman Memorial Lecture: The former secretary of education and nationally renowned advocate for educational equity, John B. King Jr. |
| 2017 | Adriano Espaillat | The 48th Annual Herbert H. Lehman Memorial Lecture: U.S. Representative Adriano Espaillat New York’s 13th congressional District |
| 2016 | Ban KI-moon | Secretary-General, United Nations |
2015 |
Francisco Marmolejo | Lead Tertiary Education Specialist, World Bank
|
2014 |
Dr. Anthony P. Carnevale | Director of the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce |
2013 |
Dr. Arthur E. Levine | Former President of Columbia University Teachers College; President of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship |
| 2012 | Esmeralda Santiago | Author of critically acclaimed books including When I Was Puerto Rican, Almost a Woman, and Conquistadora |
| 2011 | Dr. Margarita Cedeño de Fernández | First Lady of the Dominican Republic |
| 2010 | Ambassador John L. Loeb, Jr. | Chairman, John L. Loeb, Jr. Associates, Inc., Investment Counselors; Former United States Ambassador to Denmark |
| 2009 | Jill Abramson | Managing Editor, New York Times |
| 2008 | Jonah Triebwasser | Educator, Lawyer, and Actor |
| 2007 | Richard N. Haass | President, Council on Foreign Relations |
| 2006 | Jody Williams | Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (1997); Founding Coordinator, International Campaign to Ban Landmines |
| 2005 | Fritz Stern | University Professor Emeritus, Columbia University |
| 2004 | Michael Beschloss | Presidential Historian & Author |
| 2003 | Herbert H. Lehman Symposium | Several Lehman family members participated in the event |
| 2002 | Raúl Yzaguirre | President & CEO, National Council of La Raza |
| 2001 | James M. McPherson | Pulitzer Prize-winning author; Edwards Professor of American History, Princeton University |
| 2000 | George J. Mitchell | U.S. Special Envoy for Northern Ireland; Former US Senator (D-ME) |
| 1999 | James Appleberry | President, The American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) |
| 1998 | Bill Richardson | U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; Former U.S. Congressman |
| 1997 | Geraldine A. Ferraro | United States Ambassador, to the United Nations, on Human Rights; First Female Vice Presidential Candidate; Former U.S. Congresswoman (D-NY) |
| 1996 | Sir Brian Urquhart | Former United Nations Under Secretary General for Special Political Affairs |
| 1995 | Norma Cantú | Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the Department of Education |
| 1994 | Albert Gore, Sr. | Former U.S. Senator (D-TN) |
| 1993 | Meyer Weinberg | Professor in the School of Education and Professor in the W.E.B. DuBois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; First Chair of Multicultural Education at California State University, Long Beach |
| 1992 | Maristella De Panizza Lorch | Founder and President of the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University |
| 1991 | William Wayne Justice | U.S. District Judge, Eastern District of Texas |
| 1990 | Vartan Gregorian | President, Brown University |
| 1989 | Irving Howe | Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English, Hunter College and the Graduate Center of The City University of New York |
| 1988 | Robert F. Wagner, Jr. | President, New York City Board of Education |
| 1987 | Albert Shanker | President of the American Federation of Teachers; Founder and Former President of the United Federation of Teachers; and a Vice President of the AFL-CIO |
| 1986 | Reverend M. William Howard, Jr. | Executive Director, Black Council of the Reformed Church in America; Former President, National Council of Churches |
| 1985 | John V. Lindsay | Former Mayor of the City of New York; Former U.S. Congressman; Former Executive Assistant to the Attorney General of the United States |
| 1984 | Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. | Albert Schweitzer Professor In the Humanities, The City University of New York |
| 1983 | Jonathan B. Bingham | Former U.S. Congressman (D-NY) |
| 1982 | Reverend Timothy S. Healy, S.J. | President of Georgetown University |
| 1981 | A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. | Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit |
| 1980 | Kitty Carlisle Hart | Chair, New York State Council on the Arts |
| 1979 | Joseph Papp | Theatrical Producer & Director, The Pubic Theater. Also founded the New York Shakespeare Festival |
| 1978 | Daniel Patrick Moynihan | U.S. Senator (D-NY) |
| 1977 | George McGovern | U.S. Senator (D-SD) and former Democratic Presidential Candidate |
| 1976 | Tom Wicker | Associate Editor, New York Times |
| 1975 | Abba Eban | Former Foreign Minister of Israel |
| 1974 | Joseph P. Lash | Biographer of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt |
| 1973 | Barbara Ward Jackson | Schweitzer Professor of International Economics, Columbia University |
| 1972 | James MacGregor Burns | Woodrow Wilson Professor of Government, Williams College |
| 1971 | Stuart Symington | U.S. Senator (D-MO) |
| 1970 | Ramsey Clark | Former Attorney General of the United States |
