History of Lehman College
Lehman College was established as an independent unit of The City University of New York on July 1, 1968, following a decision by the University's Board of Trustees to create a comprehensive senior college in the Bronx with its own faculty, curriculum, and administration.
The College took over the campus that, since 1931, had served as the Bronx branch of Hunter College, known as Hunter-in-the-Bronx. Adjacent to the historic Jerome Park Reservoir, the first four buildings in the plan-Gillet and Davis halls, the Music Building, and the Gymnasium-were completed in 1931 by the New York State WPA. The original campus plan called for nine buildings, but the Great Depression delayed construction, and the ambitious plan was later abandoned by Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia.
For a decade before the entry of the United States in the Second World War, only women students attended, taking their first two years of study at the Bronx campus and then transferring to Hunter's Manhattan campus to complete their undergraduate work.
Shortly after U.S. entry into the war, the students and faculty vacated the campus and turned over the facilities to the U.S. Navy, which used them as a training station for the newly organized WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service). To commemorate this period, the Navy later installed a ship's bell from the U.S.S. Columbia on the campus.
In 1946 the campus won a niche in world history when it was made available to the United Nations at the urging of New York City officials. From March to August 1946, the first American meetings of the Security Council were held in the Gymnasium Building where intercollegiate basketball, archery, swimming, and other sports had been played. During festivities marking the 40th anniversary of the United Nations in 1986, the Southern New York State Division of the United Nations Association presented the College with a commemorative plaque, now displayed outside the Gymnasium Building. The College participated in the United Nations' 50th anniversary activities in 1995-96.
Normal collegiate activity resumed at the campus in 1947, but, in addition to women, the Bronx branch began accepting former servicemen, who studied in separate classes. In 1951 the campus became fully coeducational, and a four-year curriculum was introduced. The process of separating the Bronx campus from Hunter College into a separate unit began in 1967.
Dr. Leonard Lief, chairman of the English Department, was named provost and made responsible for overseeing the transition. On July 1, 1968, Lehman College began an independent existence, with Dr. Lief as president.
The Board of Higher Education named the new college after Herbert H. Lehman, in recognition of his commitment to public service exemplified by the four-time governor of New York State who later became a U.S. Senator and was the first director-general of UNRRA (the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration). The College was formally dedicated on March 28, 1969, the 91st anniversary of Governor Lehman's birth. Each year, on or about March 28, the College commemorates the double anniversary by inviting a distinguished speaker to deliver the Herbert H. Lehman Memorial Lecture.
Much has occurred at the colleges of the City University since 1968. A national leader in social mobility and the only CUNY senior college of SUNY in the borough and southern Westchester County, Lehman College has adapted to meet changing conditions and respond to new needs and challenges.
On the undergraduate level, Lehman's General Education Curriculum is designed to provide a broad knowledge of the achievements and methods of the liberal arts and sciences and to develop student abilities to participate responsively in informed inquiry into subjects of both public and personal concern. It requires a series of core courses in writing, mathematics, foreign language, and natural sciences and two designated Lehman (LEH) courses dedicated to improving critical thinking. Students must also complete flexible core courses; at least one from five areas: Individuals and Society; World Cultures and Global Issues; US Experience in Its Diversity; Creative Expression; and Scientific World. Major and minor fields of study are also required.
On the graduate level, the College has developed professional programs in a wide range of areas, including: nursing, teacher and counselor preparation, accounting, business, computer science, health services, organizational leadership, public health, social work, speech-language pathology, and more. The College also offers strong traditional liberal arts graduate programs in art, biology, English, history, Spanish and mathematics.
For half a century, Lehman has deepened its involvement with the surrounding community. The opening of the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts in 1980 and the Lehman College Art Gallery in 1984 has made the College a cultural center for the region. Together with Lehman Stages and the Department of Music, Multimedia, Theatre and Dance, every semester, they present dozens of concerts, plays, dance performances, and exhibitions that are mostly free for the whole community.
The Art Gallery is housed in the Fine Arts Building, which was designed by the renowned architect Marcel Breuer - as was Shuster Hall, which houses the College's administrative offices. The Center for Performing Arts, the adjacent Lehman College Library, and the two Breuer buildings offer a striking contrast to the Tudor-Gothic architecture of the original College buildings, providing an environment of considerable architectural interest.
Anchoring the campus on its northern end is the APEX, designed by the internationally acclaimed architect Rafael Violy. Inside are facilities for swimming, basketball, racquetball, weight training, track and field, and dance as well as new offices for security and academic departments.
Completed in 2012, the Lehman Science Hall is a $70 million science facility with updated, versatile classrooms, labs, and instrumentation; a rooftop teaching and research greenhouse; and environmentally sustainable technologies. The new building stands adjacent to Gillet Hall and is accessible from the older building through a third-floor catwalk.
Another facility, the Child Care Center, opened its doors in fall 2013. The center features six classrooms; a multipurpose room that can function as a playroom, after-school space or additional classroom; and a natural playground incorporating greenery, boulders and garden space, along with traditional playground equipment.
The newest building on campus, the Nursing Education, Research, and Practice Center opened in 2024. Designed by Urbahn Architects, the $95 million, award-winning design, houses 52,000 square feet of hands-on labs, a simulated hospital floor, ICU, Birthing Suite, Apartment for Daily Living and instructional and office space.
Lehman College also provides a variety of community services. The Institute for Literacy Studies sponsors classes to teach adults fundamentals of reading and writing, while the Speech and Hearing Center offers comprehensive evaluations and services for a wide range of hearing and speech-language disorders affecting everyone from newborns to senior citizens. Opened in 2025, the Bronx Telehealth Counseling Center, under the supervision of a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Licensed Psychologist, offers free counseling to people in the Bronx community.
The CUNY Mexican Studies Institute (MSI) and CUNY Institute for Health Equity (CIHE) are both housed at Lehman College. Both engage in numerous programs strongly linked to The Bronx, New York City and Beyond. MSI celebrate and supports Mexican and Mexican-American culture, history, research, and education, while CIHE supports and sustains research, health network building, and links to care that address health care disparities that impact New Yorkers.
There is close collaboration between the College's teacher and counselor education programs and Bronx school districts:
• The New York City Writing Project supports workshops for teachers of writing as well as research at all educational levels.
• The Center for School/College Collaboratives receives external funding for projects that focus on increasing educational success for Bronx students and their families and preparing the students to enter and complete higher education. The Center works with the entire school community - administrators, teachers, students, and parents - and collaborates with the Bronx Regional Offices of the New York City Department of Education.
• The Bronx Institute, funded with private and government grants, is helping more than 12,000 Bronx schoolchildren become academically successful.
In addition, in Fall 2003, the High School of American Studies at Lehman College opened on the Lehman campus. One of New York City's specialized high schools and the only one to focus on American history, the school represents a collaboration among Lehman College, the New York City Department of Education, and the Gilder-Lehrman Foundation. It is listed every year by U.S. News and World Report as one of the nation's top 100 public high schools, most recently (2024-25) as #8 in New York City and #76 in the nation.
After more than 20 years as President, Dr. Leonard Lief, the founding president of Lehman College, was succeeded by Dr. Ricardo R. Fernández on September 1, 1990. Throughout his more than 25-year tenure as president, Dr. Fernández affirmed both the College’s strong commitments to access to higher education for the economically disadvantaged and educational excellence.
On August 15, 2016, Dr. José Luis Cruz began his tenure as the third president of Lehman College. Almost three years later, on May 1, 2019, Dr. Cruz was appointed executive vice chancellor and university provost for CUNY. CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez appointed Dr. Daniel Lemons, a faculty member and administrator with CUNY for more 30 years, as interim president on July 1, 2019. Two years later, in July 2021, Dr. Lemons was appointed interim executive vice chancellor and university provost for CUNY.
On July 1 of 2021, Dr. Fernando Delgado was appointed as the fourth president of Lehman College. Dr. Delgado came to Lehman with more than 20 years of public college administrative experience in the Midwest and Arizona, including five years as executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, which serves approximately 10,000 students through its four academic colleges. Prior to that he served as vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. He has also held roles as an academic dean at Minnesota State University, Mankato and Hamline University in St. Paul. His academic career began at Arizona State University, where he also began his work as a university administrator.
The son of immigrants—his father is from Mexico and his mother from Spain—Dr. Delgado, like more than 60 percent of Lehman’s students, was also a first-generation college student. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from San José University and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in communication studies from the University of Iowa.