Jermaine Wright

Jermaine Wright has over 20 years of experience in public higher education and workforce development, with a career defined by his commitment to access, equity, and student success. He currently serves as the Vice President for Student Affairs and Strategic Initiatives at Lehman College, a senior liberal arts college in the Bronx, New York, part of the City University of New York (CUNY). In this role, Wright provides visionary leadership and strategic oversight of a comprehensive portfolio of student-centered programs and services that align with Lehman College’s mission to advance equity and foster student achievement. Under his leadership, Lehman has cultivated impactful collaborations with the Hispanic Federation, Office of Addiction Services and Supports, and the U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women, while advancing key initiatives such as the Constructive Dialogue Institute, CUNY Academic Momentum 2.0, CUNY CARES, and the CUNY Inclusive Economy. Most recently, he led the implementation of the CUNY Beyond College to Career initiative at Lehman College, embedding career-readiness across undergraduate programs and strengthening pathways from college to the workforce.

Before joining Lehman, Wright served as the Associate Vice President for Student Affairs at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) in New Haven, CT. There, he oversaw a broad range of engagement and retention programs and delivered measurable gains in student success and persistence. As chair of the Structured Enrollment Management Plan Hispanic and African American Working Group, he strengthened recruitment and retention strategies for Black and Latinx students. Among his key accomplishments at SCSU were the creation of a faculty mentoring program for underrepresented students, a commuter student success initiative, and the development of a comprehensive student success framework to boost retention and 4-year graduation rates. Wright also played a critical role in institutional planning, serving on the President’s Strategic Planning Committee and contributing to the New England Commission on Higher Education (NECHE) accreditation process. 

Earlier in his career, Wright served in several senior leadership roles at the CUNY Central Office, including Interim University Associate Dean of Special Programs, where he managed a $42 million budget supporting more than 25,000 students through the Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge (SEEK) program, College Discovery program, CUNY Black Male Initiative (BMI), TRIO, and the Foster Youth College Initiative. He also served as Director and founding University Associate Director of CUNY BMI, advancing one of the nation's largest student success initiatives for men of color. His work prior to CUNY included serving as Regional Program Manager for the Urban Youth Empowerment Program at the National Urban League, a historic non-profit civil rights organization, where he helped expand workforce opportunities for underserved populations nationwide. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses as an adjunct faculty member at Mercy University and Rutgers University–Newark, and currently teaches in the Political Science Department at Lehman College.

Wright earned a B.A. in Political Science from Binghamton University, a Master of Public Administration from John Jay College of Criminal Justice-CUNY, and a Ph.D. in Public Administration with an emphasis on performance measurement and improvement from Rutgers University-Newark. He is also a graduate of the Institute of Higher Education at Harvard University Management Development Program, and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Millennium Leadership Initiative.