Office of the President Blog

City College Update: Visa Revocation Concerns

Vincent Boudreau — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 16:06:16 -0400

Dear Members of the City College Community,

As many of you will be aware, several students on our campus—including graduate students working on the CCNY campus—have had their visas revoked. This is part of an escalation of similar visa revocations taking place nationwide. At this writing, it seems that most revocations have involved students on F-1 visas, although the media has reported some cases in which green card holders also have had their status challenged or changed. The situation is very fluid and we will all need to keep up to date on the latest trends.

CCNY is committed to making every effort to help students complete their studies and graduate, and to offer what support we can when they encounter difficulty of any kind, including on matter that involve their visa status.

I’m writing to urge students who receive similar notices to get in touch with student affairs, with the leaders of their academic programs, or with a faculty or staff member. Our Immigrant Student Center for Research and Resources (NAC 6/204) is another place to find help, support and information, and can be a good place for international students and allies alike to visit, so you may have the most up to date information.

CUNY has also developed a webpage that provides up to the minute information on the state of immigration law, enforcement trends and supports. The address is:

https://www.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/communications-marketing/citizenship-now/services/immigration_updates/

I would like to further urge faculty and staff to familiarize yourselves with the resources we have to help students and others who encounter visa difficulty. If you do not know the identity of the liaison officer in your school or division, please ask your chair, your program or office director or your dean. These liaisons will have up to date information on the resources we have to help students, and can connect students in need with those resources.

Most importantly: if you have been informed that your visa status is in jeopardy or has been, please seek out help on this campus. Know that we are committed to keeping the CCNY community whole and helping in every way that we can. We hold fast to the idea that students from around the world are an integral part of our campus, and our core values extend to promoting and defending your membership, status and respect in our community.

Sincerely,

Vincent Boudreau
President

The City College of New York 2025 Commencement Week Activities

Vincent Boudreau — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 22:15:10 -0400

Dear Campus Community,

We are on the brink of the academic year’s busiest days. The spring semester always seems barely to have begun when the rush of final ceremonies, celebrations, and exams are upon us—all leading inexorably to graduation and our commencement exercises.

I understand that there is some consternation on campus about changes we are making to the commencement programming this year. After some careful consideration, I have determined that in view of the college’s financial constraints and the limited human resources we have to mount 10 graduation ceremonies, we can no longer do so. Instead, we will revert to a commencement celebration consisting of one graduate student exercise and then a main commencement recognizing every graduating student at one time.

However, even as we move forward with these plans, we will hold fast to a second principle: that every graduating student will have their name called as they cross the graduation stage. At main commencement, students will enter the graduation arena and cross the stage while their name is announced. There, they will be congratulated by appropriate academic officials, and then proceed across the stage to take their seat in the audience. The ceremony will proceed from there until, in its culminating moments, I will confer degrees upon the class of 2025.

I know that many of you will be upset that we are not able to hold divisional ceremonies, which have been a source and a site of considerable pride over these past years. We simply do not have the resources to continue this aspect of our tradition. But I also want to remind us all that we instituted divisional commencements precisely because, at that time, we could not figure out how to allow each student to cross a singular graduation stage. Our new schedule allows for that aspect of commencement to take place in front of the college’s entire graduation assembly–and links that moment directly to the conferral of degrees, and so to the true moment when a student graduates.

With these principles in mind, we have developed the following commencement schedule, to take place on May 28th and May 30th. While these changes may seem like a break with long held tradition, I promise that this year’s commencement will be a joyful and celebratory affair, equal to our pride in recognizing your individual and collective achievements.

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

1:00 PM
The Great Hall of Shepard Hall
Graduation Event for All Master’s and PhD Candidates, including hooding for our PhD students
Each student will receive two (2) tickets for your guests to attend
Full Graduation Regalia to be worn
All names to be read out loud as each student crosses the main stage
This event will be livestreamed

Friday, May 30, 2025

10:00AM
South Campus Great Lawn
Graduation Event for All City College Graduates
Full Graduation Regalia to be worn
All names to be read out loud as each student crosses the main stage
Each student will receive three (3) tickets for your guests to attend
This event will be livestreamed

We look forward to seeing everyone at commencement but until then, wishing you a successful semester.

Sincerely,

Vince Boudreau
President

In Memory of Professor Andreas Acrivos

Vincent Boudreau & Alexander Couzis — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 12:47:17 -0400

The Levich Institute in the Grove School of Engineering at City College of New York is sad to announce the passing of Professor Andreas Acrivos, former Director of the Levich Institute and one of the foremost scientists in the field of rheology, chemical engineering and fluid dynamics. Professor Acrivos passed away peacefully in the early morning of February 17, 2025 in Stanford, CA. He was 96 years old. Professor Acrivos arrived at City College in 1988, when he accepted the position of Albert Einstein Professor of Science and Engineering at the City College of New York and where he became Director of the Benjamin Levich Institute for Physico-Chemical Hydrodynamics until his retirement in 2001.

Born in Athens on June 13, 1928, Professor Acrivos emigrated to the United States to pursue studies in chemical engineering. He earned his bachelor's degree from Syracuse University in 1950 and continued his graduate studies at the University of Minnesota, where he received his master’s degree in 1951 and his Ph.D. in 1954. His academic career began at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1954, where he was appointed Assistant Professor and promoted to Professor in 1959. In 1962, he moved to Stanford University, where he played a pivotal role in the development of the chemical engineering program and served as department chair from 1972 to 1975. His research contributions focused on studying the properties of suspensions, emulsions, and fiber-filled materials, significantly influencing the understanding of their microstructure and microrheology. His work, in collaboration with Frankel and Leighton, on concentrated suspensions and shear diffusion, remains a cornerstone of modern rheology. Furthermore, his mentorship was crucial to the development of many distinguished scientists, such as J.D. Goddard, L.G. Leal, D. Barthes-Biesel, W.B. Russel, J.F. Brady, D. Leighton, and E.S.G. Shaqfeh. Professor Acrivos was also advisor to the then graduate student, Andrew Grove, in his early years at University of California at Berkeley. Andrew Grove, founder and former chairman of Intel Corporation made a stunning donation to City College in the amount of $26 million in 2005. The City College School of Engineering was then re-named the Grove School of Engineering.

Professor Acrivos was honored with numerous prestigious awards and distinctions, including the National Medal of Science (2001), recognizing his contributions to fluid mechanics and chemical engineering, the Fluid Dynamics Prize from the American Physical Society (1991), the Bingham Medal from the Society of Rheology (1994) and the G.I. Taylor Medal from the Society of Engineering Science (1988). In addition to these prestigious accolades, two significant awards have been established in his honor that include the Andreas Acrivos Award for Professional Progress in Chemical Engineering by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), recognizing outstanding professional achievements in the field of chemical engineering and the Andreas Acrivos Dissertation Award, presented by the American Physical Society, to recognize outstanding dissertations in fluid dynamics. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2001, the Hellenic Society of Rheology recognized him as an honorary member, honoring his long-standing and significant contribution to the field of rheology.

Professor Acrivos is survived by his wife Juana, his sister, Acrivy Stavropoulos, niece Maria and nephew Andreas in Athens, sister-in-law Lily Crespo Vivó and family Armando and Antonieta Crespo their children, grandchildren and godchildren. He is also remembered by a host of graduate students, postdocs, fellow faculty and co-workers that benefited over so many years from his wisdom and mentorship.

We extend our deepest condolences to Professor Acrivos' family and to all who knew and loved him.

Sincerely,

Vince Boudreau, President

Alex Couzis, Dean

Update: Spring 2025 Town Hall

Vincent Boudreau — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 16:19:55 -0500

Dear Members of the Campus Community,

Thank you to everyone who attended the Faculty Town Hall yesterday. We will be changing the venue of the Student Town Hall meeting to NAC 0/201, a bigger space, in response to the high level of interest from our students. Please make sure you register using the Eventbrite link.

I look forward to speaking with you.

Sincerely,

Vince Boudreau
President

Update: Spring 2025 Town Hall

Vincent Boudreau — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 15:19:00 -0500

Dear Members of the Campus Community,

I have been informed that Thursday, March 6 will be operating on a Wednesday schedule, which means no club hours for students. In order to hear as many voices as possible, we will be moving the Student Town Hall to Tuesday, March 11 at 12:30pm in NAC 1/203.

The Faculty/Staff town hall is still scheduled for Tuesday, March 4 at 12:30pm in NAC 0/201. Both meetings will be in-person only, and we will require registration of all attendees using Eventbrite for these and future Town Halls. Please use this link to register for the Faculty/Staff Town Hall and this link for the Student Town Hall.

I look forward to speaking with you.

Sincerely,

Vince Boudreau
President

City College 2025 Faculty Awards

Vincent Boudreau and Tony Liss — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 16:39:55 -0500

Dear College Community:

The Provost and I are pleased to announce the nomination process for the 2025 Faculty Awards. The awards are one of the most important ways that we honor the accomplishments and contributions of faculty to students and to our campus life.

Please review the detailed descriptions of the award nomination guidelines available here and posted on the Academic Affairs website.

The due date for nominations for the awards is April 4, 2025.

The awards recipients will be honored at a reception at the end of the semester.

Sincerely,

Division of Science Dean Susan Perkins

Vincent Boudreau and Tony Liss — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 15:04:29 -0500

Dear Faculty and Staff,

We write to let you know that our Dean of Science, Susan Perkins, will be leaving City College after the spring semester to become the Provost & Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at SUNY Potsdam, her alma mater. We are of course always happy for our colleagues when their talents provide them with new opportunities, but we will miss Dean Perkins at City College, where she has led the Division of Science with vision in supporting the vibrant research effort and has been a tireless advocate for our students.

Dean Perkins joined City College on January 6, 2020 as the Martin & Michele Cohen Dean of Science. Her previous position had been in the Division of Invertebrate Zoology at the Institute for Comparative Genomics at the American Museum of Natural History. Dean Perkins had only been with us a few months when the pandemic hit and the College went remote. It was, by any definition of the phrase, a trial by fire, and she proved to be a steady hand leading the Division of Science through an exceptionally difficult period.

Dean Perkins’ tenure has been marked by her keen focus on student success, in particular in the introductory math and science classes that are a significant hurdle for many of our students. In particular, she has championed new pedagogical models in Math 190, 195 and 201, along with the use of Navigate in these classes that have resulted in significant improvements in pass rates.

Dean Perkins has been a driving force behind making our Gaming Pathways Program a reality and our College and our students will benefit from a new major and career path that would not have happened without her enthusiasm. We are also indebted to Dean Perkins for bringing the Post Bac Health Professions program to fruition, for recognizing that the way a certain previous Dean of Science had set it up was sub-optimal and fixing it. Thanks to her, we now have a flourishing post bac program for students who want to go into the health professions but spent their undergraduate careers with other goals.

In tandem with all the administrative work that Dean Perkins accomplished, she continued doing her own research and she taught a class in her specialty, parasitology, every year. Despite attempts to cap the class at 20 students, Dean Perkins proved too popular of a professor and the class typically filled to more than 30 students.

Finally, along with all of these accomplishments, funded research in the Division of Science grew on Dean Perkins’ watch, and the Division was a major contributor to the College, reaching $100M in research funding this past year.

We wish Dean Perkins the very best at SUNY Potsdam. We will miss her at City College.

Please join us in congratulating Dean Perkins on her new role.

Sincerely,

Spring 2025 Town Hall

Vincent Boudreau — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:38:00 -0500

Dear Members of the Campus Community,

I hope this note finds you well and you are settling in for our spring semester.

I want to set aside some time this semester to speak with you all about the recent federal and state updates, and the impact that they will have on our campus community.

The Faculty/Staff town hall is scheduled for Tuesday, March 4 at 12:30pm in NAC 0/201. The Student Town Hall meeting will be on Thursday, March 6 at 12:30pm in Marshak Lecture Hall 3. Both meetings will be in-person only.

I look forward to speaking with you.

Sincerely,

Vince Boudreau
President

Colin Powell School Dean Andy Rich

Vincent Boudreau and Tony Liss — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 11:07:05 -0500

Dear Faculty and Staff,

It is with mixed emotions that we write to announce that Dean Andy Rich will be leaving City College after the Spring semester to become President of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We could not be happier for Dean Rich as he makes this exciting career move, but he will be missed on our campus.

Dean Rich started his academic career as an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Wake Forest University in 1999 before moving to the Political Science Department at City College in 2003. After holding a number of leadership positions in the Colin Powell School, Dean Rich left City College to become President and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute in 2009 before moving on in 2011 to become CEO and Executive Secretary of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation where, still today, he serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Friends of the Truman Foundation. Six years ago, in early 2019 we were fortunate to lure Andy back to City College to serve as the Dean of the Colin Powell School of Civic and Global Leadership.

During his six years of leadership the Colin Powell School has seen growth in every measure, most obviously in the number of undergraduate students as the Powell School became the largest undergraduate division at the College, as measured by numbers of majors, and he has overseen a fundraising campaign for the division that has secured more than $85 million in pledges and gifts since 2020. Among other things, the funds raised have supported several new faculty hires and a number of new leadership programs including Leadership for Democracy and Social Justice and the Moynihan Center at City College. Most recently Dean Rich has overseen the creation of the Social Mobility Lab at CCNY dedicated to understanding how social mobility is created.

During his time with us, Dean Rich has built a strong and resilient division of social sciences, one that supports our students and carries out the mission of City College every day. The school has an extraordinary staff and faculty, and it benefits enormously from the guidance and support of a 28-person Board of Visitors, chaired by Linda Powell. It is a division we are confident is well positioned to attract its next dynamic leader. We will be announcing interim leadership for the division very soon, so that the interim dean will have the advantage of working side-by-side with Dean Rich between now and June 2025, and we will be beginning a nationwide search for the next permanent dean in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, please join us in congratulating Dean Rich on this exciting career move.

Sincerely,

Vince Boudreau
President

Tony Liss
Provost

Brendan Costello's Passing

Vincent Boudreau — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 16:01:05 -0500

Dear Colleagues,

I am sorry to share the news that Brendan Costello, who taught in the English Department for 17 years, has passed away after several months of health challenges. An alumnus of our MFA in Creative Writing and a winner of the English Department’s Irwin and Alice Stark Award for short fiction and Goodman Award for graduate essay, Brendan was a much loved part of the City College writing community. Beyond City College he was an active member of the James Joyce Society, organizing annual Bloomsday reading events, and of the Irish American Writers and Artists Association. Brendan was also host and producer of “The Largest Minority,” a disability affairs radio show on WBAI.

Brendan dedicated himself to fostering a welcoming, thoughtful learning environment for his students. He lived a life of service and meaning.

A memorial will be held this Saturday, February 8 (https://www.mchoulfuneralhome.com/book-of-memories/5544689/Costello-Brendan/index.php).

On behalf of the college, I wish to extend our deepest sympathy to everyone who loved and worked with Brendan, on this campus and beyond.

Sincerely,

Vincent Boudreau
President