Research Institutes and Community Resources

Bronx Data Center

The Bronx Data Center collects and analyzes demographic material related to the Bronx and adjacent areas, in order to provide service to the Lehman community, as well as to cultural, social service, civic, media, and other organizations. The Center focuses on data for very small geographic units (down to the city block), as well as the Bronx as a whole. Historical data going back several decades complement the latest census information. The Center specializes in the graphic presentation of data through computer-generated maps. See: www.lehman.edu/deannss/bronxdatactr/discover/bxtext.htm

The Bronx Institute

The mission of the Bronx Institute at Lehman College is to foster faculty research relevant to the improvement of education and the quality of life in the Bronx; and to provide a forum to discuss, analyze, and identify potential solutions to contemporary educational, social, political, cultural, and economic challenges facing the Bronx community, in particular, and other urban areas at large. As a community resource, the Bronx Institute is committed to act in cooperation with other academic institutions, community groups, and organizations to develop joint projects, especially those that enrich the educational needs of all Bronx students. The vision of the Institute is to foster and promote equity and excellence in the education and learning of Bronx students in grades K-16 by involving administrators, teachers, parents, and the students themselves in high-quality programs that support and enhance the educational opportunities of the students.

The Center for School/College Collaboratives

The Center for School/College Collaboratives designs and implements programs, in partnership with Bronx schools, to enrich student learning and ensure student readiness and motivation to graduate high school and enter college. Programs offered by the Center primarily emphasize student outcomes and achievement. These programs encompass: student and teacher enrichment in mathematics, science, and technology; recruitment of middle and high school students for careers in teaching; intensive work with at-risk students to prepare them for educational transitions from middle to high school and from high school to college; pre-service teacher preparation for bilingual students and paraprofessionals; in-service professional development in technology and interdisciplinary teaching; and close working relationships with over twenty Bronx schools.

Programs focus on working intensively with students and teachers from particular schools and on building pipelines for students since these efforts have been shown to have greater potential for success than programs that draw students from a wide range of schools.

The Center subscribes to several Principles of Collaboration: all partners are equal; planning and implementation involve school administrators/teachers/staff/students/parents; broadening student/teacher contact in informal, hands-on, project-based settings; activating parent and family involvement; focusing on integration of student learning experiences; developing a plan of action; establishing linkages among projects; and encouraging high school students to qualify for, and take, college credit courses while still in high school.

The Center also houses Lehman's well-regarded, CUNY-sponsored College Now Program. The goal of the program is to insure that all students meet and exceed the performance standards required for high school graduation and that all those who wish to pursue postsecondary study are prepared to do so. Lehman has had a version of College Now or Bridge to College since 1985, when qualified students involved in the College's various funded programs were invited to enroll in college-credit courses. The College Now eleventh- and twelfth-grade program offers a variety of college-credit courses depending on student interest and ability. These include courses in psychology, studio art and art history, calculus and pre-calculus, education, biology, English, history, computer science, economics, geology, philosophy, speech, and sociology.

Funding for Center programs has been provided by the New York City Department of Education, U.S. Department of Education, National Aeronautics and Space Agency, New York State Education Department, the City University of New York, Fund for Improvement of Post-Secondary Education, Aaron Diamond Foundation, and others.

Center for Human Rights and Peace Studies

The Center for Human Rights and Peace Studies advances social justice and human dignity in an interdisciplinary fashion through active involvement of faculty, students, and community in research and teaching. The Center builds on the College's unique history: the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights began at Lehman College when the United Nations met at the College. Lehman College students, often immigrants and the first in their families to access higher education, engender a broad understanding of human rights. The Center unites student and faculty engagement on local and global rights issues in New York and the greater world community. Currently the Center offers a minor in Human Rights and Peace Studies.

Center for Theoretical and Computational Sciences

Director: Daniel Kabat (Gillet Hall, Room 131A)

The Center for Theoretical and Computational Sciences is an interdisciplinary research center drawing on faculty engaged in theoretical and/or computational research in the departments of Math and Computer Science, Chemistry, and Physics and Astronomy. It serves to facilitate faculty research, foster interdisciplinary collaboration, and provide opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to engage in faculty/student collaborative research. A major part of the Center's mission is to provide outreach, mentoring and training to scientists at the early stages of their scientific careers.

CUNY Institute for Health Equity

The CUNY Institute for Health Equity provides a home for interdisciplinary population-based research and training across CUNY campuses, and with community organizations in The Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn. Faculty affiliates from other campuses, and student interns, are actively engaged in applied research and programs to address the social determinants of health, and health equity in under-served communities of color. Collaboration with CUNY public health programs and school, and external organizations support the goal of achieving health equity and social justice within neighborhoods where CUNY campuses are located.

The Institute for Literacy Studies

The Institute for Literacy Studies, founded in 1984, is a research unit of The City University of New York. The Institute's mission - reforming and improving urban education - has deep significance in its home borough of the Bronx as well as throughout New York City and the nation. The Institute defines urban education in its broadest, most inclusive meaning to comprise the complex web of systems, settings, and relationships that foster learning. It works to advance research, articulate theory, and implement effective practice in literacy and mathematics education through initiatives in a variety of educational settings K-16, including schools, community-based organizations, adult literacy programs, and CUNY campuses. Through its Adult Learning Center, the Institute offers basic education, English language instruction, and preparation for the high-school equivalency exam and college transition to members of the community who are not enrolled in school or college. See www.lehman.edu/literacy-studies.

The Institute for Irish American Studies

The CUNY Institute for Irish American Studies was established by the CUNY Board of Trustees to focus on the Irish-American Diaspora and its impact on American culture and society. The Institute, first and foremost, serves as a clearinghouse for research opportunities in Irish-American studies for students, staff, and faculty on all of the campuses of the City University of New York. Current projects being undertaken by the Institute include Publishing in Irish America 1820-1922, Great Irish Famine Curricula In-Service Training, Documenting Return Emigration, Curriculum Design: Teaching the Irish Language in America, the "New Irish" and Film, Mapping Irish America, and the Irish in the Americas.

In line with the current research projects of the Institute, an extensive program of public lectures and events is sponsored each semester. The Institute invites researchers and leaders in the community to present at its Wednesday evening lecture series. The Institute also sponsors day-long symposia on specific topics, Irish language conversation circles, and celebrations of the arts. The Institute additionally makes a number of distance education courses arising from its research areas available to students at CUNY campuses and throughout the country. These courses make use of online software as well as tours and lectures in the U.S. and abroad.

The Jaime Lucero Mexican Studies Institute at CUNY

The Jaime Lucero Mexican Studies Institute at CUNY is comprised of all the faculty, students, staff, and affiliated community-based organizations working on research, advocacy, and services related to Mexico and Mexicans in the United States. Among the goals of The Jaime Lucero Mexican Studies Institute at CUNY are promoting the creation of courses, majors, minors, and programs of study in campuses across the CUNY system; promoting enrollment, retention, and graduation of Mexican and Mexican-American students in CUNY; sponsoring an annual academic conference as well as film series, lectures, workshops on Mexican topics; serving as liaison, resource, and epicenter for the coming together of Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) for the promotion of cultural, educational, and social programming for the larger Mexican community and all of New York City; supporting undergraduate and graduate students through internships, research assistantships, and other service-learning opportunities with cultural, diplomatic, social, and economic institutions working with the Mexican population in New York City. For further information visit http://www.lehman.edu/mexican-studies