The College successfully managed the CUNY Board-mandated elimination of remediation from the senior colleges and a University-wide 25% tuition increase, two issues that were major concerns at the time of the last Self Study. Moreover, Lehman has assumed a leadership position within the University with respect to curriculum reform in general education, has achieved national recognition for the organization and delivery of its first year program, is the first of the CUNY schools to achieve national accreditation from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), and has continued to expand the scholarship and production of creative works by its faculty and now ranks among the top four out of eleven CUNY senior colleges in federally funded research and training programs. Three new undergraduate degree programs have been developed including new programs in Computer Graphics and Imaging (administered jointly between the Department of Art and the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science), Business Administration and Mass Communication. At the graduate level several new certificate programs are in place and new master's degree programs in public health and social work are in development. In addition, the College has significantly expanded its online course offerings, and has opened an off-campus site for adult education and work force development. A new Facility Master Plan was adopted and has as its highest priority the development of a new state-of-the-art science facility. New senior administrators have been recruited including a Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and a Vice President for Administration. A new administrative structure was developed, and the College has moved to an enrollment management model, which is led by an Associate Provost and Assistant Vice President. Finally, the College has incorporated planning and assessment programs in academic affairs, enrollment management, student affairs, and information technology that are providing guidance to the allocation of resources for the future development of the College. Chapter One: Introduction. The methodology and format for the preparation of the PRR are described. The principal working group consisted of a Steering Committee, which was chaired by the Provost and included representation of the administration, department chairs, faculty, senate committees, staff and students. The College's responses to the major areas of concern and recommendations from the 1999 Self Study and site visit are summarized. These concerns included: 1. inadequate funding and resources that resulted in over reliance on adjunct faculty, lack of middle management staff and essential student services and uneven distribution of technology; 2. the potentially adverse impact of the elimination of remediation on access for disadvantaged students and 3. the potential impact of an impending tuition increase on access for students from low-income families. Funding problems have been addressed, despite essentially flat State allocations, through revenues generated from increased enrollments, grant funding and other sources. Significant numbers of new faculty have been hired, including several in areas funded through the University's Flagship initiatives. These Flagship initiatives include both areas in which the University has strengths that it wishes to further develop and areas where there are critical shortages both nationally and regionally, such as teacher education and nursing. Concerns regarding the uneven distribution of technology have been addressed in part through new resources, totaling over $1 million per year, derived from a new Technology Fee, and through implementation of a new Information Technology strategic plan and faculty development programs. The elimination of remediation was ameliorated through concerted efforts to better prepare applicants to meet new admissions standards. The most significant of these efforts, with potential for immediate impact, is a highly successful Summer Immersion Program that prepares students for the three admissions ACT Skills Tests in Reading, Composition and Mathematics. The College is also heavily involved in outreach programs, including the development of small academically rigorous high schools in the Bronx, which over time will improve the academic preparedness of high school graduates. This chapter also outlines the significant developments and changes that have occurred at the College since 1999. These include: implementation of a new General Education curriculum; development of programs to improve the success of transfer students; NCATE accreditation for the Division of Education's teacher preparation programs; development of an off-campus workforce development site (CUNY on the Concourse); two new degree programs (Computer Graphics and Imaging, and a Bachelor of Business Administration) and development of a new administrative structure. Chapter Two: Overview of the Institution. This chapter provides a statistical overview of the institution as of Fall 2003, with respect to its faculty (308 full time, including approximately 20% who hold appointments in the University's doctoral programs, and approximately 400 adjuncts); administrative staff (approximately 445 individuals); student body (nearly 10,000 students of whom approximately 7,600 are at the baccalaureate level and 2,100 at the master's level); undergraduate trends reflecting a 31% increase in enrollment since 1999; graduate trends, which show a 46% increase in degree-seeking students over the last 10 years, and finally research and sponsored programs, which have been growing at an annual rate of 5% to 7% over the last 5 years. Chapter Three: Academic Programs. Lehman's baccalaureate and master's programs are delivered through its three academic divisions of Arts and Humanities, Education and Natural and Social Sciences, each of which is headed by a dean. The divisions are organized into twenty four departments (nine in Arts and Humanities, three in Education and twelve in Natural and Social Sciences). The department chairs are elected by the faculty of each department for a three year term. A fourth division, Adult and Continuing Education, is also headed by a dean, who oversees the Adult Degree Program, and credit and non-credit certificate programs that are part of the College's work force development initiatives. To earn a bachelor's degree requires a minimum of 120 credits including 47 to 54 credits in General Education courses, a major and a minor. A new General Education curriculum was introduced in the Fall 2002 semester and a new administrative structure for the administration of the curriculum was put in place. These developments are described in detail in Chapter Ten. Lehman continues to offer several alternatives to the General Education Program, including the Adult Degree Program, the Lehman Scholars Program, and a new CUNY Honors College. All incoming full-time freshmen are block scheduled as part of the College's Freshman Year Initiative, which addresses the problems associated from the transition from high school to college. This program was recognized in 2002 as an Institution of Excellence in the First College Year by the Policy Center On The First Year of College. Lehman also admits and supports approximately 1,000 students who need academic and financial support to complete college through its Search for Education, Elevation and Knowledge (SEEK) program and provides additional instructional support services for the general undergraduate population through the Academic Support Center for Excellence. Master's program enrollments have increased 3% since 1999, and graduate students currently make up approximately 22% of the overall student population. While most of these students attend part-time, the number of full-time graduate students in Education has increased significantly primarily through the New York City Teaching Fellows Program established in 2000 to address teacher shortages in the City. Lehman provides many opportunities for students to participate in faculty-supervised, funded research projects and internships. Sources of support for these programs include: The Minority Access to Research Careers (NIH MARC Program); McNair Scholars Program; Louis Stokes Access to Minority Participation in Sciences, Technology. Engineering and Mathematics (NSF STEM Program); Minority Research Infrastructure Support Program (NIH MRISP Program), and The Watson Fellows Program. Online course offerings, both asynchronous and hybrid (> 30% online), have increased significantly and currently include approximately 30 courses per semester across a broad spectrum of disciplines in the arts and humanities, sciences and education. In addition to the academic departments, Lehman houses several University Institutes and a highly successful College Center for School College Collaboratives. The University Institutes are major venues for community outreach and are supported primarily through extramural funding. These institutes include: the Bronx Institute, whose mission is to foster faculty research and leadership relevant to the improvement of education and quality of life in the Bronx; The Institute for Literacy Studies, whose mission is to reform and improve urban education, particularly in the areas of literacy and mathematics, and the Institute for Irish American Studies, which is devoted to the study of the history and culture of the Irish Diaspora in the U.S. Chapter Four: Faculty. The loss of full-time faculty over the late 1980s through the late 1990s was a noted concern in the 1999 Self Study. Nevertheless, the College has been able to maintain a very favorable ratio of undergraduate students to full-time faculty, which currently stands at approximately 25:1. With an improving financial picture, the College has brought on 21 new faculty in 2002 and another 27 in 2003. While the College continues to be heavily dependent on adjunct faculty, many of these have a stable, long term relationship with the College (close to 59% having taught at Lehman for 5 or more years). The quality of faculty teaching and scholarship remains at high levels and both are considered important factors in tenure and promotion decisions. Faculty teaching is evaluated both by peer observations and student course evaluations each semester. Faculty scholarship is strongly encouraged and supported through a variety of faculty development programs. Lehman's faculty is considered to be highly productive with respect to scholarly and creative works despite a teaching load of 21 credit hours per year. This teaching load is reduced for newly hired tenure-track faculty through a contractual provision that provides for 12 credit hours of released time, which must be taken within the first three years following appointment. Chapter Five: Admissions and Retention. The potential impact of the elimination of remediation and increased admissions criteria, which Lehman implemented in 2001 as part of the CUNY Master Plan for 2000-2004, was a serious concern in the 1999 Self Study. The data presented here, however, show that despite these factors enrollment of first-time freshman and transfer students each increased by approximately 40% from 2000 to 2003, with no discernable impact on the demographics of the student body. One of the effects of the elimination of remediation in the senior colleges is that many students, who previously might have started at Lehman, now begin college at one of the CUNY Community Colleges. Transfer students currently make up 55% of the College's new students and this number is expected to increase. Lehman has taken several steps to facilitate and improve the transfer process from the community colleges, including the development of articulation agreements across many majors. The College is also exploring the development of learning communities for transfer students, which are analogous to the highly successful learning communities in the Freshman Year Initiative. Chapter Six: Student Services. The 1999 Review noted several areas of concern in essential student services including: lack of an adequate counseling center; an antiquated registration process and inadequate staffing, particularly in academic advising and financial aid services. The College's response to these concerns is described in this chapter. In Spring 2000 the College established a new Counseling Center staffed by two full-time and two part-time professional counselors and located the Center in an attractive and appropriate space. The registration process was completely reengineered, and a new University-wide web-based system implemented. Virtually all of the transactions that students were previously required to conduct in person on campus can now be conducted by telephone or online. A new orientation program has been developed, following a review of best practices at other institutions and feedback provided by students. The new program is designed to increase awareness of the issues that may emerge for students and their families as a result of academic challenges and new responsibilities. The number of academic advising staff has been increased, in part through funds made available through a U.S. Department of Education Title V grant to "Improve Success Among Hispanic Students". The increased staffing includes a full-time graduate studies advisor. Financial aid services have been improved and a new specialized computer service established to facilitate web-based financial aid filing. The percentage of students filing online has increased from 7% in the 1998-99 academic year to 47% in 2002-03. The College has rebuilt the career planning and placement service staff, which was reduced by a financial crisis in 1995 to a Director. The Career Counseling Center staff now includes a Director, three full-time counselors, a part-time graduate assistant and a group of peer counselors. The hours of the Child Care Center have been expanded to include Saturdays and Sundays and, through a grant from the Department of Education, a toddler care service for 2-3 year olds has been implemented. The Center will expand into larger space in an adjacent building by Fall 2005. The Student Health Service was transitioned from an outsourced delivery model to in-house staffing by a full-time physician's assistant, who serves as the Health Services Director, a full-time health educator, a full-time medical administration assistant, a part-time GYN nurse practitioner and a part-time consulting physician, who serves as Medical Director. The College also maintains an Office of Special Student Services staffed by a full-time Director and ancillary staff to serve students with disabilities and an Office for International Student Services for prospective and enrolled international students. Chapter Seven: The Library. While the 1999 Review commented favorably on the Library's technologically rich environment, strong traditional book collection, leadership and quality of the professional staff, and bibliographic instruction program, questions were raised about budget, staff numbers, the transition to a new computer platform, space, and provision of off-campus research facilities. Since 1999, the Library's base budget has been supplemented by additional funding from a variety of sources and is considered adequate. Staffing has been evaluated and positions modified to meet current needs. Over the last three years, five full-time faculty-level staff have been hired, including a new Chief Librarian, an Evening and Weekend Supervisor/Head of Access Services, a Head of Reference, a new Internet/Reference Librarian and a Government Documents/Reference Librarian. The Library is currently staffed by 10 full time MLS librarians, 2 full time non-MLS professionals, and 7 adjunct librarians providing 12.5 total professional FTEs. A new full time computer technician has been hired to assist in the maintenance of the computer labs and to teach workshops. The overall support staff encompasses 20 FTEs plus 11 FTEs in work study and student aides. The Library is a participant in the nation-wide LibQUAL+ assessment project and has used the result of this assessment to guide program development. Chapter Eight: Facilities. Over the past five years, considerable capital funds have been expended on the upgrade, rehabilitation and preservation of facilities and systems. Completed projects include: a $7 million heating and cooling upgrade for Davis and Gillet Halls and the Old Gym Building; a $1.8 million emergency generator project for the same three buildings, as well as a $2 million interior rehabilitation project and a $0.8 million energy conservation project; a $5.6 million campus-wide fire, security and communication project that includes construction of a new central command station for Public Safety plus a $0.4 million site lighting project. In the past five years a $2.3 million CUNY capital roof replacement project and a $4.4 million structural and building envelope rehabilitation project, have involved ten campus buildings. Other completed projects include: the renovation and upgrading of laboratory facilities in which teaching laboratories have been re-configured into research laboratories; construction of a 46 seat multimedia lecture room in Davis Hall to service science programs; development of a computerized and fully interactive language laboratory for Language and ESL programs in Carman Hall; creation of a Fine Art Advanced Imaging Laboratory for the new Computer Graphics and Imaging degree program; a state-of-the-art speech pathology clinic in the Speech and Theater Building and the development of an on-campus high school, The High School of American Studies at Lehman College. Capital projects expected to enter construction in 2004-2005 include a $1.5 million expansion of the Child Care Center and a new Multimedia Center estimated to cost more than $13 million. Chapter Nine: Finances. The 1999 Evaluation Team reported that "funding is the most important issue affecting the organization." In 2001 the College indeed confronted a fiscal crisis from which it has recovered to the point in which FY 2004 finds the College in the strongest fiscal position that it has been in for many years. The most significant factor contributing to this recovery has been increased enrollments, which have allowed accumulation of over $2 million in reserves that can be rolled over into future budget years. An expanded summer program, which has approximately doubled its enrollment since 2000, has contributed significantly to enrollment revenues. Additional new revenue streams include a Technology Fee that is generating over $1 million a year for improvement of student access to technology, and revenues from programs at CUNY on the Concourse. Increased revenues from grant and contract funded programs have also contributed to the improved fiscal picture. Chapter Ten: Significant New Developments Since Previous Evaluation. After four years of planning and committee work, a new General Education curriculum was implemented in Fall 2002. The major features of this new curriculum include: the replacement of the generalized core courses in the first year with discipline-based distribution courses; the creation of four writing intensive courses that are taught in the disciplines, three of which must be completed prior to 60 credits and one after 60 credits, and the creation of two required upper-level (post 60 credits) interdisciplinary courses, entitled, The Humanities and the Sciences and The American Experience, respectively. Extending the General Education required courses beyond 60 credits and the inclusion of an upper level writing intensive course assures that all Lehman graduates, including transfer students, will experience some aspect of this curriculum. In addition to the changes in course requirements a new administrative structure for oversight and assessment of the curriculum was put in place. In April 2002, the professional education programs at Lehman earned national accreditation through the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education Programs (NCATE) and Lehman became the first of the CUNY colleges to achieve this distinction and one of only thirteen institutions State wide with this level of accreditation. The Division of Education also has been reregistering all its initial and advanced teacher certification programs with the State Department of Education. As noted earlier an Office of Enrollment Management was established in 2001 with the creation of the position of Associate Provost and Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management to coordinate recruitment activities with those programs addressing student support and retention. This structure has proven successful as judged by increased enrollments over the regular academic year and summers, and improved student performance indicators. The CUNY Honors College at Lehman is an important new development that is part of the Flagship Initiatives to improve the quality of academic performance across the University. The Honors College recruits high-achieving students with minimum combined SAT scores of 1260 and GPAs > 92, and provides them with a learning environment that combines the best features of a small liberal arts and sciences college and a major research university. Lehman admitted twelve students to its first Honors College class in 2002, added eight students in 2003 and is anticipating a class of approximately 15 students in 2004. Since the 1999 site visit, the College has opened an Information Technology Center that provides access to computing and related technologies in support of the College's instructional, research and administrative activities. The facility houses eight microcomputer classrooms, a classroom with high-end graphics workstations, an open academic center with over 100 microcomputers, printing facilities, a help desk, an auditorium and a faculty development laboratory. CUNY on the Concourse (COTC), an off- campus training site for worker development programs, was opened in 2002. COTC was developed in partnership with the two Bronx CUNY Community Colleges, Hostos and Bronx Community College, and with the New York Health and Human Services Union Local 1199. The initial programs delivered at COTC targeted the shortage of health professionals, particularly nurses, in the New York area but have since been broadened to include GED, GRE and GMAT courses as well as other professional studies such as accounting and bookkeeping and Spanish for non-Spanish-speaking health professionals. COTC's RN to BSN and Immigrant Nurse Program, which prepares foreign trained nurses for the NCLEX licensing examination, has attracted significant funding and national attention. One of the most important accomplishments in the past five years was the completion of the College's Facility Master Plan Amendment in 2003. The CUNY Board-approved plan recommends: the development of a new science complex; the creation of a new campus core facilities utilizing the Old Gym and Music Buildings for student life and student service functions; the renovation of Davis Hall into a mixed use building housing professional health programs and administrative offices; renovation of the Library; enhanced landscaping, and removal of all temporary buildings on campus. CUNY's current 5 year capital plan includes $60 million in funding for design and construction of Phase I of the Science Building, which will house a Plant Sciences Institute. Three new degree programs have been added to the undergraduate curricular offerings since 1999: a Bachelor of Science in Computer Graphics and Imaging, a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication. New graduate programs include seven advanced certificate programs in Education related to Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), English Education, Languages other than English, Mathematics Education, Science Education and Social Studies Education. Nursing received approval for two Post Master's Graduate Certificate Programs in Nursing Education and Nursing Administration and the Department of Environmental Geographic and Geological Sciences is delivering a new graduate certificate program in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Finally, a new governance structure was adopted by the Lehman College Senate, which created greater flexibility in amending the College Bylaws. Chapter Eleven: Evidence of Continuous Institutional Self Study and Planning. Lehman College has an active and ongoing process for self study and strategic planning. The two overarching strategic planning documents are the CUNY Master Plan 2000-2004, which is currently being updated, and the College's Strategic Plan, which was adopted in 2001. The College monitors it progress through an annual college-wide assessment, the latest iteration of which is included with the PRR. Strategic plans focusing on Academic Affairs, Enrollment Management and Information Technology also have been developed and implemented and are included with the PRR. Finally, as part of its ongoing assessment efforts, the College is participating in a new project to enhance student engagement and success, entitled, Building Engagement and Attainment of Minority Students (BEAMS). This initiative is supported by the American Association of Higher Education, and the National Survey of Student Engagement with support from the Lumina Foundation for Education.
Anthony J. Garro
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This Periodic Review Report (PRR) for Lehman College describes an institution
that has undergone significant positive changes since the 1999 Decennial
Report and Comprehensive Self Study. The College weathered a funding crisis,
which was foreseen in the 1999 Self Study, and through increased enrollments
and growing contributions to its funding base from extramural grants, contracts
and other sources has achieved fiscal stability. The improved fiscal picture
allowed the College to address many, if not all of the concerns noted by
the 1999 site visit team.