Lehman College Strategic Plan
Lehman’s strategic plan, “Lehman 2025: Roadmap to the Future,” will guide the strategic direction of Lehman College as a catalytic institution and national engine of inclusive excellence over the next five years. Developed through collaboration with campus and external stakeholders, Lehman 2025 focuses on strengthening the College’s long-term health and enhancing its visibility as one of the most innovative public colleges in the U.S.
Lehman College Strategic Plan Town Hall (Feb. 18, 2021)
The strategic planning process is one of most important projects the college community undertakes, as the plan establishes Lehman’s academic, administrative and funding priorities at a critical time in the college’s history. It will have an impact on every member of the Lehman College community. The process is mandated by our Middle States accreditor, and we are required to have a plan in place at all times. That requirement has determined the timing of our planning process, which was completed early in 2021.
The completion of the plan was an important step along the transition to new leadership at the college during summer 2021. Lehman’s new president, Dr. Fernando Delgado, will be aided by the plan as he assumes his position and develops his sense of the college and its direction. It is important to remember that at their best, strategic plans are dynamic documents reviewed annually and modified in response to changing external and internal circumstances as the college evolves.
Because we intend for Lehman 2025 to be impactful, an implementation plan and timeline linked to budget followed the plan. Without those components, a strategic plan is likely to sit on the shelf and may not have much real impact.
Lehman 2025 includes a revised mission and vision, and defined values for Lehman College endorsed by the Lehman College Senate on February 3, 2021. The strategic plan is also anchored by our 90x30 challenge, setting Lehman apart as a catalytic institution and a national engine of inclusive excellence.
About Strategic Planning
On the heels of Herbert H. Lehman College’s 50th anniversary as the only senior college in the City University of New York system in the Bronx, as well as an anchor institution here, Lehman is at a critical point in its transformation.
In the last decade, Lehman has attained national recognition during a period of exceptional growth. In Spring 2019, Lehman College graduated 3,676 students--its largest class ever; generous funding from a combination of grants, city and state capital allocations, discretionary spending and individual donations has helped new investments in campus infrastructure; and this fall, the College is on track to host its largest enrollment since CUNY discontinued free admission in 1975 -- approximately 15,500 students.
To continue on this path of achievement and progress, Lehman embarked on developing a new Strategic Plan, a planning document that required the campus community to examine our present, our future and how we want to get there. Strategic Planning is, for Lehman, one of the guiding pillars that allows us to achieve so much when faced with inevitable social, environmental and funding challenges.
Historically, Lehman's strategic planning efforts have focused maintaining its focus on academic, scholarly, and creative excellence. That includes student retention, recruitment, and success alongside serving as both a catalyst for upward mobility and as a cultural hub. We look forward to developing a new Strategic Plan, building on a half-century of achievement and developing guiding statements that set the College on a continued path of excellence in the decades to come.
