I hope that you are well and enjoying the warm winter weather. I write with updates and information regarding activities on- and off-campus this shortened workweek.
In addition to my usual meetings with campus stakeholders, this week I attended the first CUNY Board of Trustees meeting of the calendar year, as well as my bi-weekly meeting with the Senior College Presidents. The main topic of our conversations was, as you might imagine, budget-related and we discussed options and strategies available to us as we move to close significant structural deficits. This theme continued into meetings with the College Council Budget Committee, the Faculty Senate, and other governance bodies. I believe that through increased revenue (achieved by recruiting and retaining more students), reduced expenditures, and continued efficiencies, we will continue to make sizable inroads into our structural deficit. I appreciate the effort and thoughtful conversation that is going into this effort and I commit to sharing news around our budget and financial situation with all of you.
I also had the pleasure of meeting with our friends from the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce at their annual awards breakfast. This year, they honored one of our own, feting Amy Posner of Hillel-CSI for her work in helping our students. I was pleased and proud to be able to celebrate Amy’s accomplishments, and to meet so many “friends of the College” at the event. The College is a vital member of the local community in ways that extend far beyond our academic mission, and it is wonderful to hear about our impact and to see one of our own recognized for her work.
Tomorrow, I will drive to Albany to participate in CUNY’s annual caucus of Black, Latino, and Asian Legislators, and will press for increased funding and support from our elected officials. It is the first of several meetings that I will have with local, state, and federal elected officials as we begin our lobbying campaign in support of CSI, CUNY, and higher education. It is important that we never let opportunities to sing the praises (and acknowledge the challenges) of our institution to those who are in a position to help. The highlight of tomorrow’s trip, however, is likely to be a presentation made by several of our current students from the Doctoral Program in Community Leadership, and I look forward to hearing about their work. Kudos to Professor Ruth Silverberg from the School of Education for shepherding this project, and to the students for their participation at this event.
This week also saw the long-awaited email migration to Microsoft 365. I can appreciate the challenges associated with this change and I am sure there will be issues during the transition, but I have every confidence that AVP and CIO Patricia Kahn and her team will be able to help us navigate these, and I wanted to publicly thank them for all the work that goes on “behind the scenes” to make this happen. I am sure nobody will enjoy the long holiday weekend more than them!
Until next time,
Timothy G. Lynch, Ph.D. (he/him/his)
