• Responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, planning for summer and fall 2020, as well as managing academic continuity and student support remained our number one priority during the period. Some specific action steps taken in this regard included:
  
  
  • Finalized budget plans across all units in the division in light of the 10% budget reduction instituted by the College to deal with the fiscal impact of the pandemic on college operations. As of July 1, 2020, we still do not have a budget for FY21.
  
  
  • Instituted the College Vacancy Review Committee and the Ad-hoc Committees on Academic and Administrative Exceptions to deal with hiring requests in response to the hiring freeze placed on CUNY campuses by Central Administration.
  
  
  • Finalized Phase 2 Re-opening on Academic Continuity and Student Support for fall 2020 as part of the Return to Campus Plan to be submitted to CUNY.
  
  
  • Completed and received CUNY's approval Plan for Research Lab Reopening and Ramping Up of Research at Lehman College. The plan allows fifteen of our research faculty to return to their labs and includes protocols for assurance of safety and health of faculty, staff, and students.
  
  
  • Continued to provide additional professional development opportunities in online teaching and learning to both faculty and students to further enhance their ability to engage in the virtual teaching and learning environment. Professional development opportunities are key objectives of the Guidelines for Preparing for Summer 2020 and AY 2020/2021 developed in spring by the Provost's and Deans' Council (PDC) and shared with the campus community. An additional 121 faculty (79 adjunct and 42 full-time) received the Just-in-Time Online Training.
  
  
  • President Lemons, Provost Nwosu, and Vice President Rotolo continued to provide periodic updates through campus-wide "President's Live Briefing" as well as through various MS Teams and Zoom meetings (e.g. Cabinet and PDC) on summer and fall 2020 plans. The live briefings were moderated by Ms. Joshunda Sanders, Communications Specialist, Office of the President.

• We ended Summer 2020 with a successful enrollment drive, thanks to the great work done by our campus community, especially our enrollment management team, our deans and department chairs, among others. More than 6,100 students enrolled in summer classes, reflecting an 11% increase from last year; 12% undergraduate and 5% graduate students.

• We are proud to be included on the list of U.S. colleges and universities that produced the most 2018-2019 Gilman International Scholarship students. Nine Lehman students were selected for this award by U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). The award enables students of limited financial means to study or intern abroad, providing them with skills critical to the national security and economic prosperity:
  
  
  • Top Producer Overall: Medium Colleges and Universities – 1st Overall
  
  
  • Top Producer: Race and Ethnicity - Medium Colleges and Universities
  
  
  • Top Producer: Diverse Destinations - Medium Colleges and Universities
    
    
  • Top Producer: Greatest Growth Overall - Medium Colleges and Universities
  
  
  • Category (A new category developed to better recognize campus accomplishments; Lehman also ranked 1st in this category).

• Fredy Valladares
  Major: Art
  Program: History, Archaeology, and Geology on the Island of Crete Term: SU 2020 Country: Greece


• Priscella Castillo
  Major: Anthropology
  Program: Summer Senegalese Studies
  Term: SU 2020
  Country: Senegal


• Gregory Olin
  Email: greg.olin@lc.cuny.edu
  Major: History
  Program: History, Archaeology, and Geology on the Island of Crete
  Term: SU 2020 Country: Greece


• Audri Kranwinkel Gonzalez
  Major: Communications
  Program: History, Archaeology, and Geology on the Island of Crete
  Term: SU 2020
  Country: Greece


• Miguel Olivares
  Major: History
  Program: History, Archaeology, and Geology on the Island of Crete
  Term: SU 2020 Country: Greece
  


• Emily Willen
  Major: Anthropology
  Academic Standing: Junior
  Program: History, Archaeology, and Geology on the Island of Crete
  Term: SU 2020
  Country: Greece


• Denise Ramos
  Major: Psychology
  Program: University of Roehampton International Summer
  Term: SU 2020
  Country: England


• Genesis Duran
  Major: Psychology
  Program: CIEE Summer Language & Culture
  Term: SU 2020
  Country: Spain


• Elijah Alston
  Major: Undeclared
  Program: Japanese Language & Culture at Seinan Gakuin University
  Term: FALL 2020 Country: Japan


• Adela Colon
  Major: History
  Program: John Cabot University
  Term: Spring 2020
  Country: Italy


• Andrew Shillingford
  Major: Math
  Program: Seinan Gakuin University
  Term: Spring 2020
  Country: Japan


• John Lang
  Major: Art BFA
  Program: Seinan Gakuin University
  Term: Spring 2020 Country: Japan


• Bilal Suraj
  Major: Health Services Administration & Computer Science
  Program: CIEE Business Ethics & Leadership
  Term: Winter 2020
  Country: Brazil


• Ashly Huerta
  Major: English Literature
  Program: CIEE: Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Popular Culture
  Term: Winter 2020
  Country: Netherlands


• Nicole Diaz
  Major: Psychology
  Program: CIEE: Culture & Reproductive Health
  Term: Winter 2020
  Country: Ghana


• Deborah Ofosu
  Major: Chemistry – Pre-Health
  Program: Spanish Language & Civilization
  Term: Winter 2020
  Country: Spain


• Ramata Fofona
  Major: Biology
  Program: Spanish Language & Civilization
  Term: Winter 2020
  Country: Spain


• Sheavonnie Wright
  Major: Chemistry – Pre-Health
  Program: Spanish Language & Civilization
  Term: Winter 2020
  Country: Spain

Well-deserved congratulations to these scholars!

• We are pleased to be featured in this year's Excelencia in Education report titled: How Hispanic Serving Institutions are preparing Latino Students for the Workforce. The report, released on July 9, 2020 features colleges that utilize evidence-based practices to advance Latino student success outcomes for the workforce. Provost Nwosu attended the national webinar held on July 15, 2020 by Excelencia to discuss key findings in the report.

• The Strategic Plan Steering Committee met on July 7, 2020 to continue work on the development of the 2020-2025 College Strategic Plan. The meeting focused on revising and refining the goals and objectives of the plan in light of the changing health and fiscal climate facing higher education and the nation. The next phase of the draft plan will involve development of strategies and metrics, and divisional heads have been charged with this task. They will draw from recommendations that emerged from various stakeholder groups during our campus-wide conversations last year. Members of the steering committee are: Provost Nwosu and Dr. Anne Rice (co-chairs), Ron Banks, Ronald Bergmann, Haiping Chen, Dawn Ewing-Morgan, Alicia Georges, Dene Hurley, Paula Loscocco, Jane MacKillop, Gladys Maldoon, Carl Mazza, Pam Mills, Reine Sarmiento, Gaoyin Qian, Rene Rotolo, Donald Sutherland, Elin Waring, and Zoila Morrell. We anticipate completion of the draft plan in fall 2020.

• On June 25, 2020, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) notified the College of its acceptance of our Supplemental Information Report (SIR) submitted on February 27, 2020. By this positive action, no further report is requested of the College to address the concerns raised by the Commission during its decennial review. The Commission also re-confirmed 2027-2028 as the date for the next evaluation visit.


• Began work on the development of the college's MSCHE Annual Institutional Update (AIU), an annual requirement for all accredited MSCHE institutions. The annual update provides information on three key areas: enrollment, finance, and student achievement. The AIU is due to MSCHE in mid-August.


• Completed the 2019-20 Performance Management Process (PMP) Report, which was submitted to Central Administration by President Lemons. The report highlights Lehman's progress on its PMP goals and the college's strategic priorities, such as its largest enrollment (15, 143) since CUNY discontinued free tuition in 1975 and some 3,500 graduates, nearly replicating the record number of the previous year, in line with Lehman's 90x30 challenge. As the President noted in the report "Expanding Lehman's student body and graduating class concretely demonstrates its values and mission as a catalytic anchor institution in the Bronx."

• Proud to note that we continue to make progress on the proposed online Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership, Development and Change, the first Ed.D. to be offered at any college in CUNY. The proposal has now been submitted to CUNY for review and approval. The proposed interdisciplinary online Ed.D., will be offered through the department of Counseling, Leadership, Literacy, and Special Education, in the School of Education. Also held two meetings on June 23, 2020 and July 15, 2020 with CUNY officials and Baruch's academic leadership team respectively to discuss the Baruch proposal for an Ed.D. in Higher Education leadership to ensure that the program was not duplicative of Lehman's program and to explore areas for collaboration.


• Work continued with the President's Advisory Board (PAB) on the development of Lehman Extension (LeX), a program designed to address the needs of the region for flexible educational pathways. LeX is intended to bring new and existing programs in many disciplines to students whose needs are not met by current programs, scheduling or delivery mode. LeX degrees and credentials will be fully attainable through evening and weekend courses and hybrid/online offerings. LeX will advance the 90X30 initiative and expand our impact on the Bronx. Launch of a pilot is planned for Spring 2021.


• Work continued on the establishment of the proposed School of Business at the College. Lehman alum and former Chairman and CEO of Verizon Communications Inc. Ivan Seidenberg, met virtually with a select group of faculty and students on June 4, 2020 to discuss emerging trends in business and opportunities for the proposed school. President Lemons, Provost Nwosu, Dean Mills, Associate Provost Brown, Economics and Business Chair Hurley, and Vice President Ebersole joined the meeting, which was organized by Ms. Tara Tomlinson, Director of Advancement Initiatives in the division of Institutional Advancement. On July 14, 2020 and 27, 2020 Provost Nwosu and Dene Hurley, Chair, department of Economics and Business, met virtually to finalize a draft implementation plan for the proposed school. The draft implementation plan is informed by a viability review for the proposed school completed in early spring 2020 by Dr. Willie Hopkins, founding dean, School of Business at Brooklyn College. Further discussions on the draft plan with stakeholders are planned for fall 2020.

• Provost Nwosu was appointed to the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) Advisory Committee on Academic Innovation and Transformation. He will serve on the committee from 2020-2023. Provost Nwosu will join other national thought leaders in higher education to help advance four key areas of AASCU's work: Civic Engagement; International Education & Global Initiatives; Student Success; and Teacher Education. The group will also provide guidance on the design of AASCU's biannual academic affairs meetings and other convenings, webinar topics, and the structure of its academic leadership development.


• Participated in meetings of the national Association of Chief Academic Officers (ACAO) held on June 3, 2020 and July 1, 2020 as a member of the Board of Directors. Also participated (as a committee member) in meetings of ACAO's committees on Academic Innovation; Digital Learning, and Membership and Communications.


• Facilitated ACAO national webinar on CAO's Role in Leading Anti-Racism held on June 30, 2020 and served as a panelist on the national webinars on Budgeting under uncertainty (June 9, 2020) and What will the fall semester look like? (July 28, 2020) respectively. Participants at the national webinars are chief academic officers.


• Provost Nwosu continued planning work on the implementation of The CUNY Leadership Institute (TCLI) for Urban-Serving Institutions. TCLI is a five-month initiative funded by both CUNY and the Mellon Foundation to build a pipeline of academic leaders from faculty in the Arts and Humanities for our nation’s urban-serving institutions.  The program will begin in spring 2021 and will utilize a combination of experiential and case-study approaches focusing on 11 key areas in higher education leadership and administration. CUNY colleges and the Central office will serve as learning sites. Executive Vice Chancellor Cruz is the PI on the grant, while Provost Nwosu and University Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs Annemarie Nicols-Grinenko are Program Directors.  Key action items completed during this period:
  
  
  • Annual Report to Mellon Foundation
  
  
  • TCLI website completed
  
  
  • Presentation to CUNY Council of President's (COPS) Committee on Academic & Student Affairs, Enrollment Management & Research (CASAEMR) (June 1, 2020)
  
  
  • Survey of CUNY Presidents and Provosts
  
  
  • Application and Selection Criteria Templates, and
  
  
  • Outreach and Marketing Plan.
  
  
• Continued work as a member of the Steering Committee of the Chancellor's Taskforce on Academic and Student Support, (representing CUNY Provosts). The task force was created to recommend instructional modality and support services to ensure successful 2020 summer and fall terms in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participated in meetings of the steering committee held on June 11, 18, 2020 and July 2, and 16, 2020.


• Participated in the CUNY Academic Council meetings for AY 19/20 held on June 10, 2020 and July 14, 2020. The agenda item focused on fall reopening plan (June 10, 2020) and CUNYfirst adjunct search platform (July 14, 2020). Another meeting was held on July 16, 2020.


• Participated in the last CUNY Academic Council meetings for AY 19/20 held on June 10, 2020 and July 14, 2020. The agenda item focused on fall reopening plan (June 10, 2020) and CUNYfirst adjunct search platform (July 14, 2020). Another meeting was held on July 16, 2020.


• Joined President Lemons in participating in the CUNY President's Student Success Roundtable held on June 17, 2020.


• Participated (with President Lemons, Vice President Ebersole, Dean Mahon) in a conference call with Dorothy Dunn of the Sara Little Turnbull Foundation on July 8, 2020 to discuss the foundation's grant to the College for a pilot program in design in the Department of Art.


• Participated in the American Academic Leadership Institute (AALI) Executive Leadership Academy (ELA) held on June 25, 26, 2020 and July 16, 2020. ELA is a leadership program for experienced provosts and vice presidents co-sponsored by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and the Council for Independent Colleges (CIC).


• Participated (with Vice President Sarmiento, Associate Provost Brown, and International Programs Executive Director Levy) in a meeting with Bronx Community College Provost Lester Rápalo and his team on June 16, 2020 to continue discussions on new partnership opportunities for seamless articulation and transfer acceleration. Also held regular 1.1 meeting with Provost Rápalo on July 7, 2020.


• Met with Abby Jo Sigal, CEO of Here to Here on June 23, 2020 to explore opportunities for establishing the Bronx Recovery Corps that would create experiential opportunities and enhance career skills and pathways for Lehman Students. Subsequent meeting was held on June 30, 2020 with the Lehman team to discuss a joint concept proposal for this initiative that would seek external funding support.


• Met with Derek Lewis, CEO and President, Bronx Community Foundation (BCF) on June 30, 2020 to discuss partnership opportunities with Lehman and explore the formation of the Bronx Education Leadership Council (BxELC) as a consortium of the twelve Colleges and Universities in the Bronx. BxELC will promote advocacy for member institutions, enhance opportunities for student learning through implementation of a student cross-registration program among member institutions, implement a faculty research collaborations' program across member institutions that will bring in research dollars to the Bronx, and strengthen community investment and economic development, as well as promote social justice issues in the region.
  

• Convened Provost's and Deans' Council (PDC) meetings on June 4, 10, 18, 25, 2020 and July 1, 16, 30, 2020 and discussed the following agenda items: Enrollment strategies; considerations for Budget and Resource planning implementation; College Assistants in A/Y 2021; accreditation program review; NASH-ACUE national initiative on faculty development implementation; NYS Guidance Update on Returning to Campus; Lehman's fall 2020 re-opening plan phases 1 & 2; US government regulations and F-1 visas for international students; Media Relations presented on College's website; among others.


• Participated the President's Budget Working Group (BWG) meetings held on June 4, 11, 15, 25, 29, 2020 and July 2, 2020 to discuss and finalize the College's FY 21 Budget that was submitted to CUNY. BWG was established by President Lemons to guide campus conversations regarding the College's FY21 Budget in light of the fiscal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Members include: President Lemons, Provost Nwosu, Vice President Rotolo, Vice President Ewing-Morgan, Chief of Staff Maldoon, Special Counsel Barbera, and Budget Director Ortega.


• Participated in the Budget Committee meeting of the Lehman College Auxiliary Enterprises Board held on June 18, 2020 to discuss and approve FY21 budget.


• Met with College Re-entry Taskforce to discuss the group's work for AY19/20 and proposed plan for AY20/21. Task force members include: Penny Prince (Chair), Jane MacKillop (Co-chair), Anne Rice, Carl Mazza, Gregory Harvey, Stanley Bazile, Peggy Conner, Elin Waring, Bascillia Toussaint, Jaye Jones, and Shauntrelle Conde.


• Convened the Re-Opening Plan Phase 2 Task Force meeting held on July 9 to review submissions from academic units regarding return to campus for virtual and onsite instruction and support services. Task force members include Teresita Levy, Mary Phillips, Rene Rotolo, Rene Sarmiento, Victor Brown, and Stanley Bazile.


• Chaired the Ad-hoc Committee on Academic Exceptions meeting held on July 13, 2020 to discuss faculty hiring requests in line with the CUNY guidance on system-wide hiring freeze.


• Participated in the President's Cabinet meetings held on June 4, 11, 24, 2020 and July 14, and 28, 2020.


• Participated in the President's Advisory Board (PAB) meetings held on June 5 and 12, 2020.


• Continued regular 1:1 meeting with President Lemons; Deans, and members of the President's Cabinet. Agenda items included strategic and operational issues regarding the strategic plan, budget, curriculum and pedagogy, student success, technology, COVID-19, external partnerships, fundraising, and personnel, among others.


• Held regular 1:1 meeting with Associate Provost for Academic Programs and Educational Effectiveness, Victor Brown regarding accreditation, assessment, curricular, pedagogy, faculty development, and related matters.


• Convened meetings of the Academic Affairs and Student Success (A2S2) Leadership Team on June 2, 2020 and July 8, 30, 2o2o. The team consists of direct reports to the Provost in non-instructional units within the division. 

• Continued regular 1:1 meetings with Director Brandon Begarly, Research and Sponsored Programs, to discuss college progress on research and creative activities, and other related items. 
  

• Participated in the College Vacancy Review Committee meetings held on June 15 and July 27, 2o20.

• Met with Dean Mills and Project Director, Laura Oliveira on July 15, 2020 to discuss progress and expectations regarding the LSAMP program. Lehman is the lead institution on the multi-year $4.2million grant involving 12 CUNY institutions to increase minority participation in STEM. Provost Nwosu serves as PI on the grant with Professor Gustavo Lopez as co-PI, while Professor Oliveira is program director. Dean Mills manages the budget.


• Held OTPS/Temp Budget meetings to discuss FY21 budget with administrative units reporting to the Provost on June 1 and 2, 2020.


• Held conference call with CUNY Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Dr. Farida Lada, on June 1, 2020 to discuss research issues at Lehman.


• Joined President Lemons, Vice President Ewing-Morgan, Dean of Students Stanley Bazile and the faculty in the department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences to discuss curricular matters.


• Participated in the kick-off meeting of the Presidential Task Force on Campus Climate and Inclusion held on July 15, 2020. The task force is co-chaired by Joseph Fera, Chair, Department of Mathematics and College Senate Governance Committee and Gladys Maldoon, Chef of Staff to the President.

• Completed the searches for a permanent dean for the following schools: Natural and Social Science, and Health Sciences, Human Services, and Nursing. 


• Completed the searches for the following HEO series positions: Director, SEEK and Associate Director, Athletics.