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Lehman Celebrates First EDOL Graduates
EDOL graduates and their dissertation chairs gather after the ceremony.
June 9, 2026
On June 2nd, Lehman College celebrated its first graduates of the doctoral program in Organizational Leadership, Development, and Change (EDOL).
Designed for working professionals, the primarily online program draws from education, business, health and human services, psychology, and public administration to help students learn to strengthen their organizations through innovation, problem solving and change-making. Its first graduates brought years of leadership experience to their studies and leave equipped with new scholarly tools to advance change in their fields.
Wendy Small-Taylor brought more than 25 years of higher education experience to her doctoral dissertation on transfer student success. “This degree affirms my growth as both a practitioner and a scholar, while strengthening my ability to use research to inform policy, practice, and institutional decision-making,” she said.
For commencement ceremony speaker Cynthia Franco, who has made child welfare the focus of her career with New York’s Administration for Children’s Services, earning the advanced degree signified a personal triumph and a professional evolution in her field. “With this doctorate, I am better equipped to champion psychological safety, challenge institutional roadblocks, and cultivate authentic accountability in the workplace,” she said.
The benefits of tight-knit relationships that developed among the student cohort and faculty members stood out to Suzette Ramsundar, director of Student Life at Lehman, who has herself been instrumental in strengthening the College’s student community. “By far the best part of this program,” said Ramsundar, “was the brilliant and supportive faculty and the way they cultivated a community of learning and care.”
“Building real community in an asynchronous doctoral program is no small thing,” she added. “That says everything about how they showed up for us.”
Sonja Prophete captured the ethos of the EDOL program in her reflection: "This degree has been transformative. It has provided me with valuable training , strong mentorship from incredible faculty and advisors, and a network of like-minded individuals whom I can continue to learn from and lean on in the future. I wasn't sure what this Lehman journey would bring, but I am so grateful for how far I have come because of it."