Campus Life
2.
1. Dixon and Denise Kerr (‘15), along with other alumni, look at photos of the
Lehman’s Bollywood Club performance.
2. The Lehman College Jazz Ensemble, led by Allan Molnar, keeps the tunes
coming for the anniversary get together.
3. Nathaniel Gasque (’13), and David Charcape (’13), both assistant directors
in Campus Life, applaud one of the evening’s honorees (in front in jackets).
4. Ode Hoppie (‘05), the assistant director for leadership at Middlesex County
College in New Jersey, with Michael Sullivan, the director of Campus Life at
Lehman College.
5. Three proud members of Lehman’s Class of 2010 (from left): Evauna
Neville, Letricia Campbell, and Joanna Gomez, who are all teachers.
6. Idelsa Mendez (’08), who works as an employment coordinator at Hostos
Community College, center, along with fellow Lehman alumni.
7. Suzette Ramsundar, associate director of campus life, peruses old photos
with alumni, including Troy Thompson (’15), now the Sustainability Coordinator for Lehman College.
5.
Campus Life celebrated10 years of leadership this past September with a reunion of
graduates from 2005 to 2015. The celebration took place in the newly renovated Student
Life Building, home to many campus clubs, the leadership center, the school newspaper,
the campus radio station, and, naturally, the Office of Campus Life. “We only have five
full-time staff,” says Suzette Ramsundar, the organization’s associate director. “The rest of
our activities are student-led. The building is open from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. because we know
students are navigating trains, jobs, families. We want them to be able to come when they
can, to know that this is a place for them.”
Under the aegis of Campus Life, the highly-regarded Herbert H. Lehman Leadership
Program has grown to include more than 1,000 student participants. One alumnus, who
went on to work for the Obama administration, now regularly arranges for current Lehman
leadership participants to visit and tour the White House. What’s more, because the
Leadership Program is not for credit, it remains free to participating students.
Ramsundar points out that campus life activities provide students with real-world business
and leadership experience. Clubs, for example, can request funds from Campus Life to
stage an event. “They have to say, this is what we want to do and this is how we’re going to
spend the money. They are practicing doing a proposal, public speaking, pitching, asking for
money, then executing the event. We even have conference rooms that model boardrooms.
The building is not just a place to hangout.” For example, the National Black Engineers Club
held a hackathon in October at which representatives from Fortune 500 firms like IBM and
Goldman Sachs judged and recruited Lehman students.
As the following pictures can attest, the 10th anniversary event was a special night for
alumni—and for Professor Michael Sullivan, the director of Campus Life, who received an
award at the celebration. “He’s been a transformational leader,” said Ramsundar, who adds
that “one of the things that was so special about the reunion is hearing graduates say they
still feel like Lehman is home.”
Lehman Tod ^K