Mount makes new president official

Susan Burns was officially installed as the sixth president of the College of Mount Saint Vincent last weekend.

The formalities began with a chapel Mass offered by the Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, president of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, followed by the installation itself.

As part of the ceremony, Burns received the school’s presidential medallion —which is passed from one president to the next, evoking their role as stewards of an enduring mission.

Burns officially began her role as The Mount president back in January. Before that, she was the faculty dean and academic affairs vice president for Clarke University in Dubuque, Iowa. Before that, she was an associate dean for academic affairs at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, where she also taught psychology and statistics.

Lehman welcomes record-breaking class

Lehman College has welcomed new freshmen classes every year for more than a half-century. But the school has never said hello to a class this large before.

Lehman has enrolled 1,585 first-year students as part of its 2021-22 academic year — up nearly 30 percent from just two years ago.

It’s especially good news for Lehman since general enrollment for community colleges and public four-year institutions have declined in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Because many high schools in the city operated remotely this past academic year, CUNY waived SAT and ACT requirements for prospective students — a move that will continue through Spring 2023.

That gave the Lehman admissions office more flexibility on who it could welcome onto campus, officials said, while considering 20,100 applications received for the fall semester. That allowed more emphasis on English, social studies and math.