The President's Letter

September 16, 2009

New deans, faculty, and administrators, as well as new grants and programs, mark the start of Lehman's 2009-2010 academic year.

NEW STRATEGIC PLANNING AND FUND-RAISING INITIATIVES ARE GEARED TOWARD BUILDING LEHMAN'S FUTURE

With the conclusion of the College's event-filled fortieth anniversary year, we can look forward this fall to building on that momentum in key areas of Lehman's development, including a stepped-up pace in fund-raising, ongoing improvements to campus facilities, exciting new program initiatives, and the positive impact of both new faculty and an increasingly high-achieving student body.

Despite the still-recovering economy and the effects of the recession on the Albany budget, I am convinced, as I begin my twentieth year as president, that Lehman College will continue to grow and excel in the months ahead. My optimism derives from the extraordinary dedication of our faculty and staff, who continue to put the needs of our students first, and from the commitment of our alumni and friends, who support our mission steadfastly and generously.

To guide that future, the College is now in the process of developing a new strategic plan. Last fall, the 2005-2008 strategic plan was brought to a close, and a new planning process was begun with the establishment of a Strategic Planning Council (S.P.C.), chaired by Professor Ira Bloom (Political Science) and including more than twenty faculty, administrators, and students. The Council met biweekly throughout the academic year to assess the opportunities and challenges facing Lehman College. As the fall semester progresses, opportunities will arise for the larger campus community to be engaged in the planning process in meaningful ways.

Our thanks go to both the S.P.C. members and to all those who helped ensure a highly productive visit last spring by an evaluation team from the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. At its June 25, 2009 session, the Commission reaffirmed Lehman's institutional accreditation for another ten-year period. We will report back to Middle States in 2011 on our efforts regarding assessment of student learning outcomes and institutional effectiveness and also submit our next Periodic Review Report in five years on June 1, 2014.

Ron Perlman

As we look ahead, one critical element in Lehman's future will be fundraising, with a focus on raising the $13 million that remains toward our goal of $40 million in the CUNY comprehensive campaign, which ends in 2014. These funds will be used to promote the College's long-term vitality and provide support for student scholarships, faculty research, and academic programs. Last fall, the Fortieth Anniversary Gala succeeded in raising $500,000 in scholarship funds, which represented a large step toward meeting that target. This fall, a Recognition Dinner on October 28 will again be geared toward support of the scholarship fund. Hosted by the Lehman College Foundation at the New York Botanical Garden, the event will celebrate achievements in three fields — the arts, education, and the corporate world:

• Film and television actor Ron Perlman (B.A., '71), best known for his roles in the films Beauty and the Beast and Hellboy, will receive the Alumni Achievement Award.
• CUNY Trustee and Executive Vice-Chair of Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Rita DiMartino will receive the Award for Community Leadership.
• Perkins + Will, architects of Lehman's new science facility, will receive the Award for Corporate Leadership, with Managing Principal Michael Kihn accepting on behalf of the firm.

Rita DiMartino


Michael Kihn

The festive event will include a reception, dinner, entertainment, and a video presentation.

Another asset in our fund-raising efforts this year will be Fredrick Gilbert, the College's new assistant vice president for institutional advancement, who will work with Vice President Mario DellaPina to secure philanthropic support for Lehman through major gifts, annual giving and special gifts, corporate and foundation giving, and charitable gift planning. He also will help to further build our Alumni Association, an effort so successfully begun by the College's recently retired Alumni Director, Barbara Smith (B.A., '92). Alumni participation in fundraising increased last year by 81 percent, which contributed to an overall increase in the total funds that were raised. Gifts can take many different forms. The Leonard Lief Library, for instance, recently received a generous donation of 687 fine arts books from the family of Lehman alumnus John Brickwedell (B.A., '77).

Divisions Welcome New Deans, Faculty, and Staff and Increase Academic Offerings

Dr. Timothy Alborn

Other new staff, faculty, and senior administrators are also beginning at Lehman this fall. Succeeding Dean Marlene Gottlieb in the Division of Arts and Humanities is Dr. Timothy Alborn, a ten-year member of our faculty whose academic interests include British history and the history of imperialism, science, and business. The author of Conceiving Companies: Joint-Stock Politics in Victorian England, Dr. Alborn also has written several book chapters as well as articles that have appeared in Victorian Studies, Journal of Modern History, History of Science, Journal of Victorian Culture, and other scholarly publications. His latest work, Regulated Lives: Life Insurance and British Society, 1800-1914, was just published by University of Toronto Press.

Dr. Stephen Cavallo

Serving as acting associate dean of the Division of Arts and Humanities will be Dr. Stephen Cavallo, who has been acting chair of the Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences and was previously chair of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Adelphi University. Other new, full-time faculty in the division include three new members of the Philosophy Department: Assistant Professors Anthony Jensen and Marie Zermatt Scutt and Dr. Massimo Pigliucci, who comes to Lehman from SUNY Stony Brook and is the new chair. Two new lecturers will also join the Division's faculty: Paul Carrellas in the Art Department and Francisco Montaño in Languages and Literatures.

Beginning this fall, the Division, in conjunction with the Division of Natural and Social Sciences, will offer a new minor in Middle Eastern Studies, while the History Department offers a new track in its M.A. program for secondary school teachers of social studies.

Dr. Edward L. Jarroll

The Division of Natural and Social Sciences is likewise welcoming a new dean: Dr. Edward L. Jarroll, who comes to Lehman from Northeastern University, where he was a member of the biology faculty since 1996. An expert on infectious disease organisms, Dr. Jarroll has received many grants from organizations such as the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Department of Education. His research has been published widely in a number of journals, including The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, The Journal of Biological Chemistry, and The Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry.

Dr. Sharon Freedberg

Serving as acting associate dean of the Division will be Dr. Sharon Freedberg, associate professor in the Department of Social Work, who has been at Lehman for twenty-five years and has held various administrative positions, including director of the interdisciplinary program in Women's Studies, interim director of the Social Work Program, and more recently, graduate adviser for the M.S.W. Program.

Associate Dean Marzie Jafari

The fall semester begins with these two new deans—and a search for another. After forty-one immensely productive years at Lehman, Dr. Michael Paull retired last June as dean of adult and continuing education. For the next two years, he will continue to help the College with the search for the new dean and work with his successor to realize the potential of the Division, including its international affiliations, such as the nursing program with Sungshin Women's University in South Korea. Associate Dean Marzie Jafari will serve as acting dean, while a search committee searches for a new dean whose appointment would begin next July.

This semester, Lehman also welcomes an ACE Fellow to the College. Eugene Chelberg, associate vice president of student affairs at San Francisco State University, will work on the campus until mid-December, learning more about our budget process, strategies for student retention, and other areas of Lehman and CUNY. Since 1965, hundreds of emerging leaders have participated in this program, run by the American Council on Education.

Elsewhere on the academic side, the Office of the Registrar welcomes new staff members, as well as staff members promoted into new positions: Deputy Registrar Yvette Rosario, Assistant Registrar for Course and Room Scheduling Jean Geiger, and Assistant Registrar for DegreeWorks and Transcripts Tavita Luckha. For the first time, the Office will offer online transcript ordering, via Credentials Solutions.

Online Services and Information Expand; College Launches Redesigned Homepage

The move to online ordering of transcripts is another expansion of the functions that can be completed online at the Lehman website, from buying concert tickets to registering for courses. New functions will be added in the months and years ahead, especially as additional phases of the University's CUNYfirst project are rolled out to the various campuses. More information on this effort will be forthcoming from Lehman's CUNYfirst team, which is headed by Associate Provost for Enrollment Management Robert Troy. This semester, tools developed through CUNYfirst are being used in human resources and budgeting, while others are being created for such areas as admissions, financial aid, and student services. One goal of the project is for students to "be online" and not "stand on line."

More information of use to current and prospective students, as well as the larger community, is also continually being added to the Lehman website. The College's reinvigorated Office for Veterans and Reservists Affairs, for instance, has launched a new webpage that provides informa- tion on the new post-9/11 G.I. Bill and other benefit programs, in addition to links to community resources and agencies. The Office, under the leadership of Merrill D. Parra, director of Student Disability Services, has planned a series of programs and workshops to support student veterans during the coming year.

This summer, in an effort underway for the past year by the Web Content and Policy Committee, the Division of Information Technology launched a redesigned homepage. The streamlined look organizes content more effectively and features a new audience-based navigation, in addition to the familiar primary navigation. As the homepage continues to be refined, the Committee welcomes comments and suggestions from the campus community, which can be directed to webmaster@lehman.cuny.edu.

Faculty Grants and Awards Highlight Excellence in Research and Community Programs

The semester begins with news of prestigious research grants won by both new and long-time faculty.

• In addition to the fellowships previously announced for Anthropology Professors Victoria Sanford and Christa Salamandra from the Guggenheim Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies, respectively, two members of the history faculty have been selected for fellowships. One, from the National Endowment for the Humanities, is being given to Professor Dina LeGall; another, from the Schomberg Center, to Professor Robyn Spencer.


• In the natural sciences, Professor Daniel Kabat (Physics and Astronomy), one of the new professors who joined our faculty last fall, has received a grant from the National Science Foundation ($120,000) for research in gauge theory, gravity, and string cosmology.


• In the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Professor Nancy Griffeth is part of a prestigious national consortium led by Carnegie-Mellon University that has just won one of approximately three highly competitive awards granted this year under the National Science Foundation's Expeditions in Computing Program. The researchers will combine Model Checking and Abstract Interpretation, two methods that have been successful in finding errors in computer circuitry and software, and extend them so they can provide insights into models of complex systems, whether they are biological or electronic. Areas such as pancreatic-cancer modeling, atrial-fibrillation detection, distributed automotive control, and aerospace control software all stand to benefit from this work, funded by a five-year, $5 million grant.


• In the area of education, Bronx Institute Director Dr. Herminio Martinez (Middle and High School Education) has received three GEAR UP grants from the U.S. Department of Education (one for $2,719,199 and two for $2 million each), while Dr. Anne Walsh, director of the Bronx Center for Teaching Innovations, has received a grant from Wal-Mart SEMILLAS ($50,000) through its Excelencia in Education program. The grant will enable the Center to work with about 100 Latino students in three of its top-performing schools, specifically on a high school transition course for eleventh-grade students.

Campus Continues to Modernize and Expand

The Multimedia Center opened last fall and will become fully operational this semester. Photo: John Graves

The College will expand its programs in other ways this semester, as well. In Carman Hall, Lehman's new Multimedia Center continues to be outfitted with state-of-the-art multimedia technology that will serve the entire campus community. Final installation is projected to be completed this semester. Classrooms located on the Center's "B" level have been in use since last fall, and the Journalism, Communication, and Theatre newsroom has been operational since last spring. Editing suites will be added this semester, as well as a high-definition video and audio studio, comparable to those at CNN or NBC. Joining the staff of the center as its new technical director is Spencer Firisen, who comes to Lehman from the corporate broadcast world.

Just north of Gillet Hall, construction is continuing at a rapid pace on the new science facility. Excavation of the site is nearly complete, and the building's foundation walls will be laid over the next few months, followed by the steel superstructure, starting at the basement and extending up through the roof. Contracts for the facility's general construction, which includes the curtain wall, rough and finished interior walls, ceilings and floors, laboratory furnishings, and equipment, are also being awarded. In order to proceed with work on the pedestrian tunnel that will connect the new facility with Gillet Hall, renovations to several labs and offices in the basement of Gillet were completed this summer.

Renovations also will take place in the Student Cafeteria over the next year, as the College's new food service provider, Nayyarsons Corporation, begins a five-year contract. Nayyarsons was the unanimous recommendation among the top three finalists by a committee comprised of faculty, staff, and students. From salad bars to an authentic deli station, the firm promises to provide a wide menu of high-quality dishes to please a variety of palates.

Art Gallery Celebrates 25th Anniversary As PAC Spotlights Artists from Many Cultures

On the schedule this season from the Metropolitan Opera is Puccini's Turandot. In this joyous scene from Act III, Scene 2, Turandot accepts the love of Calaf. Photo: Beatriz Schiller/Metropolitan Opera

One aspect of the College that is not changing is our commitment to the fine and performing arts. The twenty-fifth anniversary of the Lehman College Art Gallery will be celebrated on October 20 as the Gallery launches its Bronx Architecture website. Designed as a companion to its "Public Art in the Bronx" site (available online since 2002), the project will feature written entries and photographs of seventy-five buildings, along with background on architects, neighborhood architectural walking tours and maps, lesson plans for teachers, neighborhood histories, a resource section, and a glossary. Like the website devoted to public art, Bronx Architecture will serve as a national model for the educational use of the community's architectural resources. Fall exhibitions at the Gallery include "Beyond Appearances" (running through December 1), which will celebrate the Gallery's anniversary and offer a broad overview of contemporary portraiture.

The Lehman Performing Arts Center will host "The Nutcracker," performed by the Moscow Classical Ballet.

Lehman's Performing Arts Center promises to have an equally stimulating season this year. Programs include the Shaolin Warriors: Direct from China—Spectacular Masters of Kung Fu, Merengue Icon Johnny Ventura, "The Nutcracker," performed by the Moscow Classical Ballet, and Alonzo King's "Lines Ballet."

The Metropolitan Opera's "Live in High Definition" series will continue at Lehman with Puccini's Tosca (October 10) and Turandot (November 7), Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffman (December 19), Bizet's Carmen (January 16), and Rossini's Armida (May 1). Hosted by the Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music, the series is part of the Opera's efforts to increase music and art education in schools, and to make opera accessible to communities throughout the country.

A Strong Start for the New Academic Year

Competitive research, new programs, cultural and artistic offerings, improved facilities, and the strength of our incoming class all promise to make this a banner year at Lehman. As reported by the Division of Enrollment Management, applications to Lehman jumped by twenty-four percent this year—despite the announced fifteen percent rise in tuition—and, even more importantly, the College saw a nineteen percent increase in students who selected Lehman as their first choice. SAT scores were also higher, making the incoming freshman and transfer class our academically strongest class in many years. I urge all our students, both new and returning, to take advantage of everything the College has to offer. Whether it's programs at the Art Gallery, PAC, or the Leonard Lief Library—there is much to look forward to, and learn from, at Lehman College.

Ricardo R. Fernández, President
Herbert H. Lehman College
The City University of New York