Lehman College is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY) in New York, United States. Founded in 1931 as the Bronx campus of Hunter College, the school became an independent college within CUNY in September 1967. The college is named after Herbert H. Lehman, a former New York governor, United States senator, and philanthropist. It is a public, comprehensive, coeducational liberal arts college with more than 90 undergraduate and graduate degree programs and specializations.
History
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Hunter College in the Bronx was built during the 1930s. During the Second World War, Hunter leased the Bronx Campus buildings to the United States Navy who used the facilities to train 95,000 women volunteers for military service as WAVES and SPARS. One of the first of its graduates, Sgt. Miriam Cohen, died in 2009. On Feb. 13, 1943, Miriam graduated in the first class of WWII women Marines. At 35, she was one of the oldest women to ever join the Marines. When the Navy vacated the campus, the site was briefly occupied by the nascent United Nations, which held its first Security Council sessions at the Bronx Campus in 1946, giving the school an international profile. Lehman College's founding president was Leonard Lief and he was succeeded by Ricardo R. Fernández in 1991. In 2016, José Luis Cruz, a former Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at California State University, Fullerton, was appointed as the third president of the College.
Campus
Located near the Jerome Park Reservoir at 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West (250 West 200th Street).
Lehman has a 37-acre (15 hectare) campus with a combination of Collegiate Gothic and modern architecture. The school's architects were Kerr Rainsford, John A. Thompson, and Gerald A. Holmes; they had earlier designed the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity on New York's Upper East Side.
The campus was the main national training ground for women in the military during World War II. For a decade before the entry of the United States in the Second World War, only women students attended, taking their first two years of study at the Bronx campus and then transferring to Hunter’s Manhattan campus to complete their undergraduate work.
It was also the interim headquarters for the newly formed United Nations for six months in 1946. From March to August 1946, the first American meetings of the Security Council were held in the Gymnasium Building where intercollegiate basketball, archery, swimming, and other sports have been played. During festivities marking the 40th anniversary of the United Nations in 1986, the Southern New York State Division of the United Nations Association presented the College with a commemorative plaque, now displayed outside the Gymnasium Building. The College participated in the United Nations’ 50th anniversary activities in 1995â€"96.
Lehman College houses a state-of-the-art multimedia center in Carman Hall, comprising an acoustically designed recording studio, audio and video production control rooms, editing suites, student newsroom, media conversion room, graphics room, and "technology-enhanced" classrooms. BronxNet public access channel is also headquartered in Carman Hall, where many programs are produced including Bronx Talk and Open.
In 2012, Lehman dedicated its new $70 million Science Hall, a four-story building equipped with high-tech classrooms and laboratories, as well as a rooftop teaching and research greenhouse. In 2013, Science Hall was awarded a LEED platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council, the first CUNY building to earn the top green building rating. The structural engineers for this project was Leslie E. Robertson Associates (LERA).
The Lehman College Center for the Performing Arts is a professional theater which seats 2,310. The campus is also home to the Lehman College Art Gallery.
The Apex, Lehman College's post-modern style athletic and fitness facility, opened in 1994. Designed by the internationally acclaimed architect Rafael Viñoly, the Apex stands in contrast to the original Gothic revival buildings that define the campus.
Students
Students at Lehman College are from multiple ethnic and racial identities, multiple language backgrounds, various social classes, and diverse sexual orientations with many international students.
Enrollment (Fall 2012) Lehman College: Undergraduates: 9,663 Graduate Students: 2,289 Total: 11,952 students
Programs
Lehman College offers a variety of selective and distinguished undergraduate and graduate programs in the Schools of Arts & Humanities, School of Education, School of Natural and Social Sciences, School of Health Sciences, Human Services, and Nursing, and School of Continuing Education.
Macaulay Honors College at Lehman
The highly selective Macaulay Honors College at Lehman provides a full tuition scholarship, Apple laptop computer, and opportunities fund of $7,500 that can be used for various activities such as study abroad, reimbursements for internships or research, and service learning. Students in the honors college are required to take 4 seminars relating to New York City, maintain a 3.5 grade point average, and graduate within four years. They also must take four Lehman Scholars Program Seminars, or "LSP"s.
Lehman Scholars Program
The Lehman Scholars Program (L.S.P.) is designed for capable and highly motivated students who have the desire and ability to pursue a somewhat more independent liberal arts course of study. The program offers the advantages of a small, intimate college, including special courses, seminars, and individual counseling.
The Lehman Scholars Program offers several special features, first being that students are exempt from all Degree Requirements. They must, however, pass the CUNY Skills Assessment Tests to be admitted to the program and meet all course prerequisites and requirements for their major field.
The Lehman Scholars Program has its own requirements, which students must fulfill: a one-semester honors course in English composition and stylistics; two years of a foreign language at the college level or its equivalent; four honors seminars from any of four different academic areas: Fine and Performing Arts, Humanities, Natural Science, and Social Science; and a senior honors essay.
Students who enter the program with more than 30 credits may be considered for exemption from one seminar after consultation with the Program Director, Professor Gary Schwartz.
Mentors: Each student entering the program will be assigned to a faculty mentor in his or her field of interest. The mentor will advise the student in the areas of program planning and academic and career goals.
Application Procedure: Students who have earned 60 or fewer college credits may apply for either September, June, or January admission. They will be notified about their acceptance in time for the following semester's registration.
College Now
The College Now program allows selected high school students to take college courses.
Freshman Year Initiative
The Freshman Year Initiative is a program involving "blocks" of classes, similar to many high schools, which allows for new and first year students to get to know each other and become familiar with the college environment. All first-year students participate in the program, which promotes an interdisciplinary curriculum, faculty collaboration, and peer support. All students take mathematics and writing courses as well as a Freshman Seminar when they arrive to prepare them for the rest of their college courses.
Faculty
There are nearly 400 full-time faculty. Prominent faculty include:
- Michael Bacon, Distinguished Lecturer in Journalism, Communications, and Theatre, Lehman alumnus and Emmy Award winning composer and songwriter; performs with the Bacon Brothers with his brother Kevin Bacon
- Jason Behrstock, Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science, Sloan Fellowship winner
- Arline Bronzaft, environmental psychologist helped to write the NYC noise code in 2007
- Eugene Chudnovsky, Distinguished Professor of Physics
- Billy Collins, Professor of English, United States Poet Laureate 2001â€"2003
- John Corigliano, Professor of Music, Academy Award winner
- Serge A. Del Grosso, Noted playwright and OBIE award winner. Author of "That Island; A Drama in two acts" (University of Toronto Press 1972)
- Eric Delson, Professor of Anthropology
- Martin Duberman, Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus
- Maxwell L. Gordon, Musician and Composer, famous works include "3 Sugars" and "$11.83".
- Nancy Griffeth, Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science
- Linda Keen, Professor of Mathematics, Noether Lecturer
- Adam Koranyi, Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science
- Anabella Lenzu, Adjunct Dance Professor
- Irene S. Leung, Professor of Geology and Geography
- Melvyn B. Nathanson, Professor of Mathematics
- Victor Pan, Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science
- Rosalie Purvis, Avant Garde Theater Director
- Joseph W. Rachlin, Professor of Biological Sciences, Director of LaMER, Fellow of the Linnean Society
- Marjorie Rosen, Professor of Journalism and Film. Author of four books, including "Popcorn Venus: Women, Movies, & the American Dream."
- Katherine St. John, Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science
- Eleanore T. Wurtzel, Professor of Biology, AAAS Fellow
- Suzanne Yates, Associate Professor of Psychology
- Mardi Valgemae, Professor of English
Athletics
Lehman College teams participate as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III. The Lightning Bugs are a member of the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC). Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, soccer, swimming & diving, track &field, tennis and volleyball; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field and volleyball.
In 2012â€"13, the Lightning Bugs won CUNYAC Championships in men's swimming and diving and women's outdoor track and field. The school produced two All-Americans in women's outdoor track: Tobi Alli (100 m) and Jasmine Springer (Triple Jump).
Conference affiliations
- Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC)
Notable alumni
- André Aciman
- Michael Bacon
- Rubén DÃaz Jr.
- Rubén DÃaz Sr.
- Eliot Engel
- Ailene Fields
- Letitia James
- Ron Perlman
- Christopher "Kid" Reid
- Ivan Seidenberg
- José Enrique Serrano
- Bob Stewart
- Jeffrey Dinowitz
References
External links
- Official website
- Official athletics website