Sophomore Year Initiative (SYI)
Welcome to the Sophomore Year Initiative (SYI) web page, SYI was a Title V Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) grant-funded program administered by the United States Department of Education (USDOE) from 2012 to 2017. SYI was a collaborative program between the divisions of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, including the offices of Undergraduate Academic Advisement, Career Services, College Counseling Services, and the Instructional Support Services Program (ISSP).
The mission of SYI was to provide support services and programming to first-time full-time freshmen (FTFTF) during their second, third, and fourth semesters of study as well as transfer students who enter as sophomores. The program aims to promote academic success, retention and persistence, increase rate of progress towards graduation, facilitate student early selection of a major area of study, and to encourage campus and community engagement. The SYI program provided students with academic and career advisement, personal counseling, and tutoring support for academic writing as well as the social and natural sciences. The program also cultivated faculty and staff collaboration in sponsorship of major fairs, career and major events and workshops, and opportunities for students to engage in pre-major clubs and other campus activities.
Effective Monday October 2nd, 2017, the programs and services of the Sophomore Year Initiative (SYI) are being provided directly by Lehman College. Over the last five years, the program has been very effective in enhancing retention and graduation rates for freshmen and sophomores at Lehman.
Our thanks to the SYI staff team for their dedication. We are also grateful to the many student leaders and volunteers who have supported the office and the many staff at Lehman who contributed to the work of the SYI over five years of the project.
