Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez and Other University Experts Will Provide City Hall With Valuable Insight on Housing, Education, Workforce Development, Health and Government Operations 

Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer Hector Batista to Join Government Operations Committee 

Dean Fuleihan of CUNY Institute for State & Local Governance Will Serve as First Deputy Mayor 

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has appointed 20 faculty and staff from the City University of New York to his Transition Committees. They join more than 400 New Yorkers selected to provide critical personnel and policy guidance to the incoming administration. The committees will help prepare City Hall to address some of New York City’s most urgent challenges, including housing affordability, rising childcare costs, transportation access, economic development and emergency preparedness.The mayor-elect also named Dean Fuleihan, senior fellow for operations at the CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance, as his first deputy mayor.

CUNY appointees were selected across multiple committees, reflecting the University’s broad expertise and its commitment to public service and community engagement. Members will advise the transition on potential agency appointments and support policy development and implementation efforts for the administration’s affordability agenda. 

“CUNY faculty and staff bring unmatched knowledge to the issues that shape daily life in the city,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, who will serve on the Committee on Youth and Education. “Their service demonstrates how essential the University is to creating a more equitable and affordable New York, and we look forward to contributing insight and experience at this important moment for the city’s future. We also congratulate Dean Fuleihan on his appointment as first deputy mayor, a well-deserved recognition of his impressive record of service to our city and state.” 

Hector Batista, CUNY’s executive vice chancellor and chief operating officer, will serve on the Committee on Government Operations alongside Marc Shaw, senior adviser and chair of the advisory board at the CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance. Michael Jacobson, professor at the CUNY Graduate Center and executive director of CUNY ISLG, has been appointed to the Committee on the Criminal Legal System. And Brooklyn College Professor James Davis, who currently serves as the president of the Professional Staff Congress, the union that represents CUNY’s 30,000 faculty and staff, will serve on the Committee on Youth and Education along with the Chancellor. 

Mayor-elect Mamdani’s 17 Transition Committees span the city’s most pressing policy and operational areas. Below is a full list of the appointees from CUNY: 

Committee on Community Organizing 

  • Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele, adjunct lecturer, CUNY School of Professional Studies 
  • Celina Su, professor, CUNY Graduate Center and Brooklyn College 

Committee on Community Safety 

  • Maurice Vann, academic director of campus honors, Lehman College 
  • Alex Vitale, professor, Brooklyn College and CUNY Graduate Center 

Committee on the Criminal Legal System 

  • Michael Jacobson, professor, CUNY Graduate Center, and executive director, CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance 

Committee on Economic Development & Workforce Development 

  • Stephanie Luce, professor, CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies and CUNY Graduate Center 

Committee on Emergency Response 

  • Michael Partis, adjunct lecturer, Borough of Manhattan Community College 

Committee on Government Operations 

  • Hector Batista, executive vice chancellor and chief operating officer, CUNY 
  • Marc Shaw, senior adviser and chair of the advisory board, CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance 

Committee on Health 

  • Barbara Caress, professor, Baruch College 
  • Jen Gaboury, lecturer and adviser, Hunter College, and first vice president, PSC-CUNY 

Committee on Housing 

  • Nicholas Bloom, professor, Hunter College 

Committee on Legal Affairs 

  • Susan Chapman, adjunct lecturer, College of Staten Island 
  • Ramzi Kassem, professor and founding director of the CLEAR Clinic, CUNY School of Law 

Committee on Transportation, Climate, & Infrastructure 

  • Nancy Romer, professor emerita, Brooklyn College, and executive council retiree officer, PSC-CUNY 

Committee on Worker Justice 

  • Chaumtoli Huq, professor, CUNY School of Law 
  • Lorelai Salas, adjunct lecturer and leader-in-residence, City College of New York 

Committee on Youth and Education 

  • Evelyn Castro, senior adviser to the president for community engagement and dean, school of professional and community engagement, Medgar Evers College 
  • James Davis, professor, Brooklyn College, and president, PSC-CUNY 
  • Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, chancellor, CUNY 

The City University of New York is the nation’s largest urban public university, a transformative engine of social mobility that is a critical component of the lifeblood of New York City. Founded in 1847 as the nation’s first free public institution of higher education, CUNY today has seven community colleges, 11 senior colleges and eight honors, graduate and professional institutions spread across New York City’s five boroughs, serving nearly 240,000 undergraduate and graduate students and awarding 50,000 degrees each year. CUNY’s mix of quality and affordability propels almost six times as many low-income students into the middle class and beyond as all the Ivy League colleges combined. More than 80 percent of the University’s graduates stay in New York, contributing to all aspects of the city’s economic, civic and cultural life and diversifying the city’s workforce in every sector. CUNY’s graduates and faculty have received many prestigious honors, including 13 Nobel Prizes and 26 MacArthur “genius” grants. The University’s historic mission continues to this day: provide a first-rate public education to all students, regardless of means or background. To learn more about CUNY, go online.

(In photo: Dean Fuleihan, right, speaks after being named incoming first deputy mayor by Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.)

By CUNY Communications