I hope this late-April note finds you well. I write with updates as to recent campus events and activities.
This week was all about celebrations! On Sunday, I joined our Recruitment and Admissions team — and over 90 of our colleagues from various academic and student-support departments — in welcoming more than 600 guests to our campus for the Accepted Students Conference. I was amazed by the engaging tours, interactive presentations, and informative sessions. Your hard work helped us convert over 75% of these prospective students! I heard from many of these students and their parents, who applauded the faculty and students with whom they met and interacted. Thank you, all! I want to thank AVP Alex Scott and his staff—and all those who made the day possible—for their commitment and dedication. It was inspiring to see such activity and energy on our beautiful campus (and thank you to the Building and Grounds and Facilities teams for making it look so inviting).
It’s not surprising why students would choose CSI, especially if they saw the activities on campus associated with “Spirit Week.” With pep rallies, food trucks, carnival games, and more, our campus truly came alive this week. This is important on a number of levels: students who are engaged are students who are happy…and happy students are returning students, so this was as much about student engagement, which drives enrollment. I am convinced that increased campus activity will lead to increased student success. Many thanks to Director Carol Brower and her team in Student Life for organizing the week. Here’s to hoping we can have more such in the future!
This week, we also celebrated Administrative Professional’s Day. Members of the administration met with our colleagues from Local 384, DC-37 to acknowledge and recognize their daily contributions to CSI. We also honored the memory of one of their former members, and our colleague, Debbie Mahoney, with a bench dedication and memorial service, where folks shared their memories of a beloved pillar of our community. It is clear that what makes CSI so special are the people who put in the effort every day, and we are grateful for these contributions, which allow us to serve our students in meaningful ways.
Speaking of effort, on Thursday we saw the result of considerable time and talents at the annual Undergraduate Conference on Research, Scholarship, and the Arts, truly one of the highlights of our academic calendar. Students from virtually every department and program presented their scholarly and creative work via performances, poster presentations, and in other venues. I was blown away by the breadth and depth of activity on display, and want to acknowledge the conference organizers, especially Lynne Lacomis, Associate Provost Dante Tawfeeq, and Professor George Vachadze, for the work that went into this event. Special thanks, too, to Professor Ellen-ge Denton of the Psychology Department for her inspiring keynote address. Thank you to all the faculty members who mentored the students in their various projects. It truly was an amazing day, and in speaking with two of our external event sponsors—Con Edison and Northfield Bank—we discussed how we can better support student activities across a broad range of disciplines. This event shows how we provide both access to transformational educational opportunities while simultaneously producing outstanding examples of academic excellence, thereby fulfilling—in partnership with our community partners—our central mission.
That evening, the Provost and I attended a virtual “fireside chat” with members of the Chancellery, where we lauded faculty research and scholarship. CSI’s research portfolio and impact are growing, as is our grants activity, a testament to the hard work of our faculty colleagues. This was again on display Wednesday at The Graduate Center, where Professors Christina Hagedorn and Leora Yetnikoff were feted as Henry Wasser and Felix Gross recipients, respectively, for their ongoing research activities. Today, we will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of CUNY’s Faculty Fellowship Publication Program, currently directed by our own Professor Matt Brim. As this week’s activities show, CSI is truly a place where inspiring and transformational activity takes place: our mission of access and excellence, and a campus that is welcoming to new and returning students, is testament to that. I am proud to play a role in all that we do at CSI.
Until next time,
Timothy G. Lynch, Ph.D. (he/him/his)
