Past Features

May 22, 2006 (Vol. 3, No. 9)

Mayor Salutes Lehman's Largest Graduating Class in 30 Years

Michael Bloomberg
An address by Mayor Bloomberg kicks off the graduation ceremony at Lehman College. The Class of 2006 was the College's largest in 30 years.

Leading off Lehman's Commencement ceremony on June 1, Mayor Bloomberg told the graduates–almost one-third of them from other countries–that we should be making it "easier, not harder" for legal immigrants to come to the U.S. and for those who are already here to stay here.

With more than 80 nations represented in the Lehman student body, the mayor said, he could see "the bright future of America taking shape." He cited two graduates by name as examples of young immigrants who have already distinguished themselves:

  • Alice Michelle Augustine, who came to the U.S. with her family five years ago from the Caribbean nation of Dominica, is one of 30 students selected nationwide to receive a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, which she will use to help pay for law school. Ms. Augustine, the student speaker at the Commencement ceremony, worked full-time while attending college full-time.

  • Ratha Ry, whose family fled persecution in Cambodia, spent the first four years of her life in a refugee camp in Thailand. Graduating with an interdisciplinary major in anthropology, biology and chemistry, she assisted on two research projects, including one at the American Museum of Natural History, and helped her community by volunteering at both the Van Cortlandt Mansion and in Bronx schools. She will continue on for her doctorate.

"There's something that's true about all of you," the mayor said. "Whether you were born in Mexico or Morrisania, in Korea or right here in Kingsbridge, you all have the ambition and determination to make you true New Yorkers. This is your city; this is your time."

Dave Valentin
World-renowned jazz flutist Dave Valentin, who has lived in the Bronx all his life, says thank-you in a unique way at the Lehman commencement. Valentin, who was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree, responded by performing "Obsesión" ("Obsession") on his flute.

A total of 2,169 students received degrees at the ceremony, making this Lehman's largest graduating class since 1976. Honorary doctorates were awarded to world-renowned jazz flutist Dave Valentín, who expressed his thanks for the recognition by performing his work "Obsesíon" ("Obsession"), and Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr., executive director of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization and founder and executive director of Pastors for Peace.

Other speakers included Sen. Charles Schumer, Congressman and Lehman alumnus Eliot Engel and Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carríon. Lehman President Ricardo R. Fernández presided.

The principal speaker, Myrna Rivera, graduated from Lehman with a master's degree in mathematics and has become a leading figure in the world of investment consulting and management. She is the founder, president and chief executive officer of one of the first Hispanic investment consulting firms in the United States, Consultiva Internacional, Inc.

Ms. Rivera urged the graduates to remember the heroes in their lives, the members of their families whose stories "will fill your heart with pride and courage." In "your darkest moments," they can "point the way," she said, adding that "today, more than ever, your country needs you to restore the pride in its diversity and in its immigrant stories."

She urged the graduates to understand the world better by reading outside their own discipline and becoming involved in a variety of activities, from the arts to social issues. This will create "a lattice-work of mental models," she said, that will help them develop "knowledge, empathy and solidarity."

Alice Michelle Augustine, as the student speaker, told her classmates to "never give in to fear, never give in to excuses and never give up on your dreams."

Honored were Dr. Ira Bloom of the political science faculty, who received the "Teacher of the Year" Award, and Professor Michael Deas of the African and African American Studies faculty, who received the "Adjunct Teacher of the Year" Award.

Members of the Class of 2006 assemble on the South Field.
Members of the Class of 2006 assemble on the South Field.

Awards for Excellence in Research, Scholarship and Creative Works were presented to:

  • Dr. Linda Keen of the Mathematics and Computer Science Department, who has been compared to the top women scientists of our time for her research in complex dynamics and hyberbolic geometry;

  • Dr. Melvyn Nathanson, also of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, a leading authority on combinatorial and additive number theory who has published what is described as "monumental work" in this field;

  • Dr. José Luis Rénique of the History Department, the author of three books on Latin America whose work has transformed how historians will view the group in Peru known as Shining Path; and

  • Dr. Stanley Renshon of the Political Science Department, the author of 12 books whose most recent work, The 50 Percent American, led to his testimony before Congress this year on several immigration bills. (Dr. Renshon was not able to attend the ceremony; Dr. Bloom accepted the award on his behalf.)