The Strategic Growth and Investment Plan (SGIP)
The Strategic Growth and Investment Plan (SGIP) seeks to strengthen the long-term health and financial sustainability of Lehman College as the most mission critical institution of The City University of New York (CUNY). It builds on the awesome mix of leadership, inspiration, and value creation for which Lehman College has been known for many decades. Our promise to educate, engage, empower, and to transform lives and ignite new possibilities is the reason young women and men, and adults in the Bronx and beyond come to us. We are the only premier anchor public institution in the Bronx, a vital community of teachers, learners, scholars, and activists at the crossroads of that promise, dedicated to an ideal, etched in stone by our founders, of working together to “enrich the human spirit and offer to as many as [could] realize their potential, the opportunity to be so enriched.”
SGIP is informed by this promise encapsulated in our 90x30 challenge, and supported by the priorities outlined in our planning documents, in particular two most recent documents, The 2019 Self-Study and the 2019 Thematic Priorities from Direct Reports to the Provost.
The Self-Study identifies seven (7) short-term operational initiatives that the College should pursue to support and extend our overarching goals of promoting upward mobility through educational attainment and serving as a cultural and economic hub for the Bronx and greater region. One such initiative is “developing policies and practices that will allow for the responsible expansion of online, graduate, and continuing education programs in high-demand areas.” In pursuing these policies, Lehman will solidify its standing as a national model of a progressive urban public educational institution serving a diverse, dynamic, and engaged community of learners.
Furthermore, the thematic priorities that emerged from direct reports to the provost included six (6) key areas of focus for Lehman:
- Curricular Renewal and Innovation
- Enrollment and Student Success
- Research and Entrepreneurship
- Building and Developing the Team
- External Engagement, and
- Funding Support and Telling our Story
SGIP is also informed by CUNY’s current budgetary climate and the need for the College to be prepared to absorb any potential funding challenges arising from collective bargaining negotiations. At the moment, the College has sufficient savings in The City University Tuition Reimbursement Account (CUTRA) to carry it through the next two-three years, more so than a number of other CUNY colleges. However, projected expenses will increasingly exceed income over the coming years, so it is imperative that the College chart a new course that corrects this growing imbalance and that is sustainable into the foreseeable future. Rather than wait to do this, Lehman must plan for the future, and the strategies outlined in SGIP strengthen the College’s capacity to leverage existing opportunities to advance a growth and investment climate in support of our financial sustainability and long-term health.
While we have begun planning for the development of our 2020-2025 Strategic Plan, SGIP provides a framework for allocating new and realigning current resources to achieve strategic growth in support of our mission and vision. SGIP also calls for improving efficiencies and services without increasing costs. Other college divisions are also engaged in this process, which is coordinated by the President’s Senior Leadership Team (SLT), chaired by the Provost.
