Fall 2010 - Lehman College

campus walk
Lehman Ranked as a Tier 1 College
US News & World Report’s 2011 rankings of colleges and
universities placed Lehman in Tier 1 for Regional Universities
in the Northeast and also as one of the Top 50 Public Colleges
in this area of the country. The ratings were the highest scored
by Lehman to date.
New Vice Presidents and Dean Named
VP Ronald M.
Bergmann
Dean Marzie Jafari
2 Lehman Today/Fall 2010 – Winter 2011
Lehman added three new
senior administrators in
July: Vice President of Information
Technology and
Chief Information Officer
Ronald M. Bergmann,
who was previously first
deputy commissioner of
VP Vincent W. Clark
New York City’s Department
of Information Technology and Telecommunications;
Vice President of Administration
and Finance Vincent W. Clark, who had been
the New York City Department of Education’s
senior chief executive for field services, as
well as chief executive officer for its Community
Learning Support Organization; and
Dr. Marzie Jafari, dean of the Division of Adult
and Continuing Education, who had previously
been the Division’s associate dean.
Lehman Welcomes Visit by US Supreme
Court Justice
U.S. Supreme
Court Justice Sonia
Sotomayor paid a
return visit to Lehman
in August, this
time as the guest of
honor for a day-long
program sponsored by
the Bronx Children’s
Museum. The event,
which concluded the
Museum’s “Dream
Big” initiative, began
with five literacybased
art classes for
Justice Sotomayor reads a story to a group of
children during the Bronx Museum’s “Dream
Big” program at Lehman.
six-to-ten-year-olds from two Bronx community programs, who
had the opportunity to share their artistic creations with Justice
Sotomayor. Their work focused on her life and journey, as well
as their own experiences. The Justice’s last visit to Lehman was
in 1999, when she delivered the Commencement address and
received an honorary doctorate.
A Rock Star? No, a Writer Draws Hundreds
of Students
Every one of the 500 seats in the Lovinger Theatre was taken—
as well as another hundred in an overflow room—for the visit on
October 4 of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Díaz, acclaimed
for his short story collection, Dream, and novel, The Brief Wondrous
Life of Oscar Wao.
Both works are read in
many classes on campus,
including FYI courses for
freshmen. Díaz fielded
questions from a group
of twenty-five majors
representing African and
African American Studies,
English, and Latin American
and Puerto Rican
Studies and then read
from one of his short
Students wait for author Junot Díaz
to sign their books.
stories to the packed crowd in the Lovinger. More than 300
students lined up afterward for a book-signing.
Campus Tennis Courts Renovated
With DecoTurf
College officials cut a ceremonial blue ribbon on September 23
for Lehman’s five refurbished tennis courts—the latest in a number
of improvements and upgrades taking place on the campus. The
courts, resurfaced with DecoTurf, will be instantly recognizable to
tennis fans as the same surface used at the U.S. Open’s Arthur
Ashe Stadium and in the building of facilities for the Summer
Olympic Games in Beijing and Athens. “Nothing is too good for our
athletes, and we want you to play on a surface that is really commensurate
with the kind of effort you put in year-in and year-out,”
said President Ricardo R. Fernández at the ceremony.
Lehman President Ricardo R. Fernández (center), other College
administrators, and the varsity tennis coach and teams help cut
the ribbon on the newly resurfaced tennis courts.