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March 9, 2018

A Message from Lehman College President José Luis Cruz

I am pleased to announce that after careful consideration of the search committee’s assessment, the input received from the various constituencies that participated in the search process, and my own interactions with the finalists, I have recommended the appointment of Dr. Harriet Fayne to the position of provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs and Student Success, effective July 2, 2018.

Dr. Fayne has more than 30 years of experience in higher education, most recently as Lehman’s interim provost and senior vice president of Academic Affairs. Since her appointment to this position in August 2016, she has been instrumental in helping establish a strong foundation for the College’s third presidency.

In supporting her candidacy, the campus community recognized her as an “inspirational leader” who “embraces the College’s vision and has strategies for achieving it”; an “energetic, proactive, and realistic” leader “who has her ear to the ground”; an administrator who is “fair, scrupulous, transparent, collaborative, passionate, and forward thinking”; and a colleague who “is committed to continuous self-improvement.”

Previously, Dr. Fayne served for five years as the dean of Lehman’s School of Education. During her tenure, she provided strong leadership for the College in the areas of teacher preparation, practitioner inquiry, and has fostered both community partnerships and overall institutional growth.

Prior to joining Lehman, Dr. Fayne was dean of the School of Professional Studies at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio. Under her leadership, the School codified policies and identified opportunities across the campus to expand graduate offerings. Before serving as dean, Dr. Fayne chaired Otterbein's Education Department for 16 years.

Dr. Fayne is well versed in the fields of educational psychology and higher education administration. Her work has been published in The Professional Educator, New Directions for Teaching and Learning, Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research, and other professional journals. She earned a B.A. from Barnard College; an M.A.T. from Harvard University; an M.A. and M.Ed. from Teachers College, Columbia University; and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from Columbia University.

I am grateful to the campus community for your engagement in this search, and to the search committee co-chairs Vinny Prohaska, professor of the Department of Psychology and chair of the Executive Committee of the General Faculty, and Ronald Bergmann, vice president for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, and all the members of the search committee for their hard work throughout this process. The search committee included student representation, José Acevedo and Shovaine Singh, as well as the following faculty and staff representatives: Gaoyian Qian (associate dean, School of Education); Carl Mazza (chair, Department of Social Work); Paula Loscocco (chair, Department of English); Pamela Mills (chair, Department of Chemistry); Janette Tilley (chair, Department of Music, Multimedia, Theatre, and Dance); Eleanor Campbell (director of Graduate Program, Department of Nursing); Rosa Rivera-McCutchen (associate professor, Department of Counseling, Leadership, Literacy and Special Education Leadership); Stanley Bazile (dean of Students); Richard Finger (director, Graduate Studies); Bethania Ortega (director, Office of Budget and Planning); and Pam Hinden (director, Adult Degree Program).

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Harriet (Niki) Fayne. I am confident she will continue to have the support of the campus community as she doubles down on her efforts to help all of us advance the noble mission of Lehman College of The City University of New York.

Sincerely,
JL

Previous messages from President Cruz can be found here.