A Message from President Lynch – September 25, 2026

I hope that you have been enjoying the brisk weather as we enter autumn. I write with information and updates about recent activities that you may find of interest.

This has been a particularly busy and rewarding week, marked by a series of events that demonstrate the impact the campus plays in the wider community. On Sunday, the College was well represented at an event where the local community commemorated An Gorta Mór: the Irish Hunger. I was pleased to serve on the planning committee of the Global Irish Famine Way. The committee, working with local elected officials and various cultural organizations in Ireland and the United States, unveiled a new memorial at St. George that commemorates the Famine (1848–1852) and resultant emigration. St. George was chosen as the first site in the U.S. as it was home to NY Marine Hospital (The Quarantine Station) where over 8,000 individuals were buried in unmarked graves, and Staten Island is the first of many planned installations throughout the global diaspora.

This week I also participated in a daylong retreat at the Viscardi Center (TVC), on whose Board of Directors I sit. We discussed the vision and goals of that organization, which seeks to educate, employ, and empower those with cognitive, developmental, and intellectual disabilities. We also strategized ways to integrate academic programs at CSI with their constituent organizations, including the Museum of Disability History, Abilities, Inc. and the Henry J. Viscardi School. As a campus that takes its legacy of place seriously, partnerships with organizations such as TVC make perfect sense. That evening, Provost Holtzman and I joined a few dozen other academic leaders at a dinner hosted by the American Council on Education and the Association of College and University Educators, where we discussed challenges and opportunities in the higher education ecosystem. It is always wonderful to share the work we are doing at CSI and to learn from others about their own initiatives and imperatives. I look forward to sharing best practices and reporting out on what we can scale up. These off-campus obligations prevented my attendance at the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development’s kickoff event, but I am told that the panels were well attended and even better received! Many thanks to Associate Provost Laxmi Ramasubramanian and CTLPD Director Lauren Bock Mullins for developing the agenda.

The week also saw the first meeting of the CSI Foundation Board of Directors, where we set the agenda for our 50^th year, assessed market performance of our portfolio, and outlined goals for engagement and growth. Like our other affinity groups (CSI Alumni Association, Association of Retired Professors, and Friends of CSI, who are having their annual fundraiser this Sunday), the Board leads by example and always foregrounds student success in their efforts. I am proud to have such dedicated partners for the hard, important work that we do. Speaking of wonderful partners, on Thursday I welcomed Dean Dara Byrne of the Macaulay Honors College to campus to discuss opportunities for enhancing our partnership and finding new ways to support the exceptional students who represent CSI so well through their participation in Macaulay activities. My week also included a meeting with representatives from the World Food Movement, who have been providing over 100 free, hot vegetarian meals to CSI students each week. We are proud to partner with them to address food insecurity and to provide healthy lunch alternatives for our students. You may also have noticed our CUNY ROTC students taking advantage of our sprawling grounds, offering a bit of greener scenery than the streets of Hamilton Heights, as they conduct their physical fitness runs and drills. I was pleased to make this space available to them and value the important role the ROTC program plays in developing leadership skills among its student participants.

My week ended with an event at the Makerspace NYC facility in Stapleton, where our partners from that organization were feted for their accomplishments and impact in the community. Their enhancements to our own MakerSpace lab have allowed us to provide additional opportunities to build, learn, and innovate, leading to tremendous gains for our students and our community (a forthcoming report will demonstrate and quantify the impressive impact of CSI on the local economy—more details soon). This impact can also be seen in our soon-to-be-launched WaveMaker Community Program that will offer students, faculty, staff and stakeholders discounts at local participating businesses, along with early access to campus events, reduced-price CSI-branded merchandise, Center for the Arts tickets, and more. With 2,000 employees, over 11,000 students, and more than 80,000 alumni, the College has connections to roughly one in every five Staten Island households. As the saying goes, “Although we are not a community college, we are a college for the community.” That was clearly on display this week!

Until next time,