It is a reflection of his own multicultural, multidenominational family’s passion for philanthropy and community—and their deep, foundational belief that there is but one family of man.

A Multicultural Family Legacy

“I could tell you from being in healthcare my entire life, that we’re all the same. The more we could bring people together from different religions, cultures, and disciplines to show we are all exactly the same, the better the world will be,” Achan insisted. “It’s meaningful, peaceful, and it can heal a lot.”

Achan is proud that his wife, pediatric speech pathologist Kimberly May-Achan and children Lenny III and Katherine, agreed to establish the Center. In fact, they collectively signed their generous donation letter.

He hopes that by representing his family’s own diverse cultural legacy, the Achan Family Interfaith Center “speaks to the generations before me and hopefully to the generations after me.”

A First Generation Student from the Inner City

For Achan, a son of immigrant parents and a self-described inner city youth from Queens, college was an aspiration, rather than an expectation. “Opening that acceptance letter from Adelphi was like a spark of light,” he recalled. “I never thought I might go to college—and Adelphi became a beacon for me.”

Enrolling in the College of Nursing and Public Health gave Achan his first glimpse of how he might achieve his dream of helping people in need.

After graduating, he continued his education by earning a master’s degree in advanced practice nursing and a business degree, as well.. His leadership in health care has been recognized with awards from Crain’s New York Business and Healthcare Leaders of New York.

Today, the ÿ�մ��� board of trustees’ secretary is president and CEO of , a nonprofit organ procurement organization, as well as the founding chairman of a digital health organization. He is also a generous benefactor to his alma mater.

An Interfaith Center for All

With their significant gift, Achan Family Interfaith Center shines as a beacon of light for the entire Adelphi community.

“This donation is going to allow students to have deeper, more meaningful experiences with one another,” promised Michael Hoffner, coordinator of ÿ�մ���’s Mindfulness Center and Leonard Achan Family Interfaith Center.

According to Hoffner, the Center will enable students to attend retreats, and bring programs to campus that will connect them with their spiritual, faith and religious traditions—while fostering the sense of belonging and purpose that is at the heart of the college experience.

Gifts Honoring His Father, and His Grandmother, a Holocaust Survivor of Auschwitz

Supporting the campus Interfaith Center is not the Achan family’s first major gift. In 2017, the memory of Achan’s father, Leonard Achan, Sr., was honored by a .

In 2024, a second gift from Achan and his wife endowed a scholarship for future mental health counselors studying at the Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology. The scholarship memorialize Kimberly Mayo-Achan’s grandmother, Zosia ‘GiGi’ Levine, a Jewish survivor of Auschwitz during the Holocaust, who went on to live a long, fulfilling life as a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.

When the family considered how they might address a deepening and challenging mental health crisis and shortage of mental health professionals, they were inspired by Gigi. Achan has described how “My family exists because she survived. Helping others create a legacy was the thought behind how we could be supportive.

“Helping even one person makes a difference.”

Fulfilling Dreams for Future Adelphi Students

According to Achan his role as an Adelphi trustee gives him a unique perspective. By remembering his own experience and dreams as a first-generation student, he recognizes how seemingly impossible student dreams will be fulfilled because of the foundation Adelphi provides. And he has committed himself to doing everything he can to help them realize their dreams.

“I feel blessed to give back to Adelphi and blessed to have a career in helping people,” he admitted. “Adelphi gave me a platform and opportunity that is the foundation of everything I do today in my community and with my family.”

He uses this platform as a trustee, to champion the goals of Adelphi’s strategic plan. By establishing the Achan Family Interfaith Center, he has directly supported the university’s commitment to its inclusive community.

This is, for him—and his family—the right time to create the Center. “When you look at our faculty and students and alumni, when you look at the contributions we are making to society and the world, it’s a moment to scale impact.”

Achan believes that as a place for the Adelphi community to embrace differences, discover commonality, and celebrate and explore individual faith and purpose, the Leonard Achan Family Interfaith Center is doing just that.

The post Trustee Leonard C. Achan ’99, and Family Establish the Leonard Achan Family Interfaith Center as a “Beacon of Light for the Adelphi Community” appeared first on ÿ�մ���.

The brand-new program is being led by Diana Damilatis-Kull ’10, MA ’12, MA ’14, director of the Bridges to Adelphi program. Their new efforts build upon the University’s long-standing mission of supporting neurodiverse students, this time extending that support beyond senior year and into the seemingly alien territory beyond graduation.

Connecting Neurodivergent Students With Employers

Bridges to Adelphi alumni, left to right: Nick Troiano ’21, Hannah Schultz ’22, Scott Schiff ’24, Declan Carey ’23

Bridges Board of Advisors member Nicholas Hagedorn ’19 describes the program this way: “It helps connect Bridges graduates to employers to gain employment, and then, just as importantly, it helps them maintain that employment by helping them by training employers to understand the nuances to managing a neurodivergent employee.”

“We’ve seen that about 85 percent of neurodivergent college graduates are unemployed or underemployed,” said Damilatis-Kull. “That statistic alone shows us that our alumni still need guidance and support after college. Bridges From Adelphi was created to help fill that gap.”

A New Network of Career Advocates

Bridges From Adelphi will soon form a corporate advisory board, inviting representatives from businesses such as Northwell Health and other local employers to collaborate directly with Adelphi. The goal in mind is to establish a strong network of advocates committed to creating inclusive hiring pipelines for neurodivergent graduates.

“We’ve seen such a positive shift under [Interim President Christopher Storm, PhD’s] leadership,” she said. “He’s been vocal about embracing neurodivergent students and ensuring they’re valued at every level of the University.”

She emphasizes that Adelphi’s broad culture has been instrumental and vocal in supporting these advances and commitments. This dedication was especially evident at the recent ÿ�մ��� Gala, which focused on neurodiversity and where all funds raised went directly to the Bridges program and its new initiatives. For many families, the expansion of support into postgraduation life brings a new sense of relief and reassurance.

What Comes Next? Adelphi Offers an Answer.

Diana Damilatis-Kull ’10, MA ’12, MA ’14, director of the Bridges to Adelphi program, at her desk in the Bridges office (photo credit: James Beamer)

“When a student graduates, parents often worry: What comes next?” Damilatis-Kull said. “We want to give them peace of mind knowing their child has continued guidance—that they’re not alone after college.”

While Bridges From Adelphi focuses on alumni, the current students in the Bridges community are already feeling its impact. One student, Giovan Bertuccio, shared how much the program has shaped their college experience.

“I find it very helpful because you can get better as you go to the meetings, or you can make more friends by going to the events they offer,” Bertuccio said. “I’d recommend it to future Adelphi students because of all the things they offer.”

Career Pathways

Looking ahead, the Bridges team plans to launch the program officially in the coming year, with the hope that at least half of the alums who enroll will secure meaningful employment soon after. Future goals include developing a high school preparatory program to help younger students explore college readiness.

“Each student’s success is going to look different,” said Damilatis-Kull. “But if we can help them find confidence, independence and belonging beyond Adelphi, that’s what success truly means.”

With Bridges From Adelphi, the University continues to build not just career pathways, but a community that supports neurodivergent individuals every step of the way, from the University’s classrooms to their offices and workspaces.

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For many who dedicate their lives to others, pursuing advanced education often takes a backseat to long hours, other financial obligations and everyday responsibilities. But thanks to this landmark partnership, the dream of going back to school for a degree has become a reality for a select group of social service professionals across New York City.

Three Grants Empower Students to Create Change

Three grants were awarded to the School of Social Work, including $200,000 for the Dowling Adelphi Reimagined Education (DARE) program. This initiative supports Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) staff in their workforce development goals at , a nonprofit child welfare agency dedicated to helping children become responsible, self-sufficient adults.

The second grant, totaling $425,000, was awarded in partnership with and . It addresses racial inequities in the Wyandanch School District by giving Adelphi students joint field experiences focused on advocacy and education.

The third, a $500,000 stipend, funds opportunities for employees of , a nonprofit agency that provides direct support to unhoused individuals and families to enhance their quality of life.

Christine Moore, MSW ’25, in her office at CAMBA.

Christine Moore, MSW ’25, is just one of many professional social workers to benefit from these grants. Currently vice president at , Moore began her academic journey at CUNY New York City College of Technology, majoring in human services. But as work and family responsibilities grew, she paused her studies in 2004. Over the next two decades, she built a career—beginning as a per-diem shift supervisor and rising through the ranks, now overseeing services for 158 families with children. Her responsibilities include ensuring compliance with the New York City Department of Homeless Services and funder regulations, monitoring program performance, developing quality assurance initiatives and leading a multidisciplinary team.

“Earning a Master of Social Work degree was always part of my long-term plan,” Moore said. “After years of direct service and leadership, I knew formal education would help me deepen my understanding of trauma-informed care and expand my ability to influence policy and program design. But for years, it felt out of reach.”

That all changed when one of her former supervisors emailed her about the program at ÿ�մ���, which was open to CAMBA employees. “When I learned about the partnership, it felt like it was a destined opportunity,” Moore said. Recovering from major surgery, she found herself reflecting on what was next. “I knew that this was my opportunity to do more,” she explained.

For Anthony Salazar, MSW ’25, it was a similar experience. He had worked his way up at first as a case planner and then as a conference facilitator. One day, the executive director approached him with the opportunity at Adelphi. “I had wanted to go back and get my master’s but thought financially it wasn’t an option,” Salazar said. “But with the grant, it was now possible.”

An Unparalleled Educational Experience

Heading back to school after so many years might seem daunting. “I was nervous at first just because it had been such a long time since undergrad,” Salazar admitted. “But I made a conscious effort to seek out support from the faculty and used the vast resources available to Adelphi students, especially the Writing Center at the Center for Academic Support and Enrichment.”

For Moore, returning to school after two decades in the workforce was both demanding and transformative. “The curriculum challenges you to think critically, practice self-reflection and connect theory with practice,” she said. “It’s helped me grow in empathy and emotional intelligence while strengthening my ability to guide staff and families.”

Adelphi’s flexible structure and supportive faculty helped both Moore and Salazar balance their full-time leadership roles, coursework and family responsibilities. “The mentorship, advising and academic resources made it possible to succeed without stepping away from the work I love,” Moore said.

Turning Theory Into Practice

Moore says the impact of her Master of Social Work studies is already evident in her leadership at CAMBA. “My graduate studies have enhanced my ability to lead with empathy and intentionality. I now approach supervision and program design with a more trauma-informed and evidence-based perspective, ensuring that our services meet both the emotional and structural needs of the families we serve,” she explained.

She incorporates principles from her coursework into her daily leadership: “I foster reflective supervision with my staff, encouraging open dialogue and self-awareness about how personal biases and emotional responses can affect client engagement and decision-making.” This has helped create a culture rooted in empathy, professional growth and accountability.

The Power of Opportunity

Grants like those provided by The New York Community Trust have a ripple effect, benefiting not only the individual student but also the organizations and communities they serve.

After earning his MSW, Salazar was promoted to supervisor—a role that allows him to serve his community more intentionally and support his colleagues. “There were three of us at Harlem-Dowling who graduated from Adelphi and we all look out for each other as a cohort,” Salazar said. “We push each other to do better and keep striving for career growth.”

Moore agrees. “These investments strengthen organizations like CAMBA by developing leaders who are both academically trained and deeply rooted in community practice,” she said. “They make education accessible to people who might otherwise have to choose between serving their communities and advancing their education.”

For Moore, completing her MSW was more than a professional milestone—it was a fulfillment of purpose. “The most rewarding part of my job is witnessing families regain their footing—seeing a parent secure permanent housing or a child adjust to stability after trauma. Being part of someone’s journey from crisis to confidence is truly a privilege,” she said.

Education Opens Doors to Opportunity

The ÿ�մ��� School of Social Work is redefining what’s possible for working professionals. By combining access, education and community engagement, the SSW is helping dedicated individuals like Christine Moore and Anthony Salazar transform their careers—and the lives of those they serve.

As Moore put it, “This partnership restored my vision and allowed CAMBA to support a dream that I put on hold 20 years ago. Now, I get to lead, learn and give back at a deeper level—and that’s the true impact of education.”

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ÿ�մ���’s innovative program, Ensuring STEM Student Success Through an Integrative Support Program, has received . Insight Into Academia featured Adelphi alongside 53 other distinguished recipients in its June 2025 issue.

“Ensuring STEM Student Success Through an Integrative Support Program continues Adelphi’s strong commitment to excellence in the STEM fields,” said Andrea Ward, PhD, Adelphi’s vice provost for research and libraries, who led efforts to secure funding and now leads the initiative. “We are proud to receive this recognition and look forward to the impact this program will have on the future of STEM.”

Preparing the Next Generation of STEM Professionals

In response to the growing demand for STEM professionals, the program offers scholarships to high-achieving, Pell-eligible high school students, preparing them for careers in advanced fields. Funded by a $2.49 million grant—the largest Adelphi has ever received from the independent federal agency—the program aims to identify high-achieving high school students and usher them into career-track STEM programs while removing financial roadblocks to bringing a broader diversity of students into the field.

Adelphi enrolls students a wide range of STEM majors, including artificial intelligence, biochemistry, biology, environmental science, information systems, mathematics, neuroscience and physics.

A Commitment to Student Success

At the core of the initiative is a commitment to student success. Each participant receives personalized guidance from a trio of faculty, alumni and peer mentors. Students engage in a tech-focused first-year seminar and participate in biweekly meetings with support from Adelphi’s Center for Career and Professional Development and Center for Academic Support and Enrichment.

Adelphi works with local employers, including the , and , to provide career-development sessions for students in the program. Students also get valuable career experience from two summers of paid, full-time research with Adelphi faculty as well as opportunities to attend scientific conferences.

The program welcomed its first group of 12 students in Fall 2023, followed by 13 in 2024, with plans to expand to 25 students in Fall 2025. Participants come from Long Island schools in Freeport and Westbury; one student even moved from Texas to enroll in the program.

Students receive strong financial support, up to $15,000 per year in addition to their Pell Grants and Adelphi financial aid packages. For those living at home and commuting to Adelphi, the combined scholarships cover all their college expenses.

“It has been exciting to watch our students embark on their college journey and see the possibilities that their future at Adelphi holds,” Dr. Ward said. “Our students are creative, smart and highly motivated and are going to have an impact on STEM fields.”

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Even though at the time she considered his response culturally normal, she didn’t let it stop her. Instead, inspired and motivated by her only woman professor’s passion to defy stereotypes, Morales-Hernandez persisted, going on to earn master’s degrees at both the Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes and at Clemson University.

Even here in the United States, she feels she must prove herself to people who hear her accent and express surprise to learn that she earned an advanced degree in this country. “I’ve come to expect that as a woman of color who is Mexican, I will always have to work harder to show I know my stuff,” she insisted.

A Community of Women Mathematicians

For Morales-Hernandez, joining the welcoming community of the while at Clemson made all the difference. “Without AWM, and the people I’ve met and the support I’ve received, I don’t think I’d be in academia,” she said. “It’s amazing.”

Morales-Hernandez just completed her term as chair, during which she was charged with handling and communicating with more than 100 student chapters the world over, including overseeing a seminar series with women mathematicians and monthly Zoom chats with the chapters.

In 2022, along with other committee members, she received the for her work on developing its playing cards—decks of cards honoring notable women in math that players of all ages can use to play many mathematical games. Two decks are currently available and another two are in the works.

“It means so much to me to get this recognition from a group that opened doors for me and made me feel part of the math community,” Morales-Hernandez said.

Making Math Classes Welcoming and Fun

EvenQuads reflects her playful classroom approach. “I try to show students that you aren’t born with math skills—math is like a sport, and you can do it even if you think you can’t,” she explained. “I love to show students in entry-level classes that mathematics can be applied to the real world to solve real-life problems. That’s my passion.”

Morales-Hernandez added, “It’s time to make mathematics human and link it to the real world: It’s something we use every day. The field still may not feel welcoming for some people, yet it should be a place where everyone feels safe and welcome.”

A history of mathematics is something that Morales-Hernandez shares with her students, regularly including transformative contributions not only by women but also by members of the LGBTQIA+ community. “I invite them to create posters that link history with mathematics.” One student, she noted, created a poster on Alan Turing, the British mathematician who was gay and known as the father of theoretical computer science—whose story the movie is based upon.

She thrives on shattering all the lingering stereotypes associated with math—from male domination to the field’s reputation as a subject that inspires fear and anxiety in many—with her emphasis on the real-world utility of math. And she is currently working with an Honors College student to research math anxiety as influenced by faculty attitudes. “Give it a name and you can do things to prevent it. I love this project,” she said.

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“PhysTEC wants to improve the number of physics teachers,” says Matthew Wright, PhD, associate professor and chair of physics. “Why aren’t more students going into physics? PhysTEC might argue that it has to do with high school physics teachers—many of whom are teaching it because they have to, but who don’t love it or have the passion of someone who is actually a physicist.

“Even worse, some schools don’t offer physics at all, and so are cutting off students who would have had careers in physics,” he also points out.

Making Physics Fun

According to Dr. Wright, the idea for the March 1 Cosmic Pathways conference was to get high school and college students excited about physics—as a college major, graduate school option and as a career. “It’s a difficult field to get involved in. A lot of people come to physics and switch. There are hurdles to get through to get to the good stuff of designing and building your own experiments.”

Part one of the PhysTEC grant is funding Adelphi’s role as a leading Cosmic Pathways partner. “The goal of this awesome physics party is to bring fun into play,” he says. “It’s fun to play around and build things. Doing experiments is fun.”

Dr. Wright’s video shares just how physics students, not only from Adelphi but also from area high schools and fellow partner universities, should view physics as a promising route into college, graduate school and rewarding careers.

An Awesome Agenda

Billed as “New York City Region’s Best and Only Conference for High School and College Students Interested in Careers in Physics,” the daylong event at The City College of New York featured a variety of panels, programs and workshops, including:

• A keynote address by Rob Coyne, PhD, project communications director of the Nobel Prize-winning LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) team, which opens the field of gravitational-wave astrophysics through the direct detection of gravitational waves
• A workshop on microprocessors and how to program them led by the senior technology architect at Brookhaven National Laboratory
• A “Be a Shark” career workshop led by Dr. Wright, stressing how a growth mindset and building self-confidence to put ideas forward is a recipe for academic and career success
• A physical science career panel
• A material science panel of graduate students, including Adelphi alumnus and current doctoral student at Stony Brook University James St. John ’18
• A career, college and graduate school fair
• Student poster displays and presentations, including those by Adelphi students
• A Society of Physics Students meeting

Bringing Physics into the Community

The second part of the PhysTEC grant will fund the expansion of ongoing outreach efforts by the ÿ�մ��� Department of Physics. “The gist of this is to put college students in front of high school students and do experiments with them—which gives our students the opportunity to lead,” Dr. Wright explains.

According to him, while students have visited schools in Westbury, Mineola, Commack and Manhasset, the new grant will support engagement with additional local high schools.

Adelphi students can also network with high school teachers—such as Mineola High School physics teacher and Adelphi alumna Carissa Giuliano ’21, MA ’22—to learn about careers in physics education. “Many of our students who have participated in this are interested in pursuing careers in physics education. The net result is the creation of a mutually beneficial physics community,” Dr. Wright notes.

Dr. Wright’s enthusiasm for physics—and inspiring the next generation of physicists—is evident. “It’s an exciting time in physics. I’m blown away by the influx of new technologies. Astrophysics is having its moment in the sun and new data is coming in all the time that can help answer the big questions.”

He continues, “I can’t believe that we can use lasers to measure black holes from millions of years ago. We’re in the second quantum revolution and are now building quantum devices that will be used in ways we can’t even imagine yet. It’s going to be our students who will be teaching us what we can do with them.”

Click the links to learn more about and .

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The professors collaborated on the design of a software program that analyzes live video of dancers’ movements and generates music. Based on their discussions, Stemkoski created a series of prototypes that Duckstein tested in the studio. Using an iterative design process, Stemkoski incorporated his colleague’s feedback and suggestions to continuously update and improve the software.

“It was really fun watching the dancers interact with material in a new way,” Duckstein said. “The dance is called, ‘It Happens This Way Once,’ and it’s really just like life. It’s the same and different every day, and the choices we make affect things in small and beautiful ways.”

Adelphi dancers’ movements are analyzed by a software program that generates music.

Generative Music

The collaboration took off during a rehearsal for the Mad Professors Band, which Duckstein and Stemkoski are in with two other Adelphi faculty members.

“I had this idea kicking around for a long time and mentioned it to Lee after a band rehearsal,” Duckstein said. “I told him that I wasn’t sure how to set something up that would react the way I had in mind, and two days later Lee had worked something up. I was stunned at how fast.”

Stemkoski explained that their inspiration was a mutual interest in Brian Eno, an experimental musician and visual artist who coined the term “generative music.”

“Eno created the iOS smartphone apps Bloom and Trope, where the user taps and swipes the screen to create a randomly generated musical composition, which we were both familiar with,” he said. “We tossed around some ideas about, instead, using the movement of dancers to generate music, and thus the concept was born.”

Stemkoski said he and Duckstein implemented the music-generating program as a web app for ease of use. Anyone can open the app’s webpage in their browser.

“It uses the video feed from your camera and scans for clusters of pixels within a specified color range—shades of reds, blues, etcetera. As these clusters enter or exit different regions across the screen, different preselected tones are played,” he said.

Duckstein said the tones were recorded and provided by composer Carson Moody, who also had great ideas for tones and how to adjust the musical dynamics for future versions of the software.

Choreographing in Real Time

While the students were excited to be part of the piece, knowing that their movements would impact the music, Duckstein said that starting the choreography without music was challenging.

“It was definitely work getting 12 individual students to think as a group and develop a dance in real time together,” he said. “But in both instances, it was rewarding to come out on top. Every dancer in the piece was seen, every dancer contributed and came to the stage alive and in the moment.”

Duckstein added that it was also a challenge—yet exhilarating—to let go, trusting the dancers to produce something interesting in the moment. “The cast and I were really excited to see what was going to happen every night. In fact, that’s how we came up with the title of the piece,” he said.

Potential for More Interaction

For Dr. Stemkoski, who is also the director of the ÿ�մ��� Innovation Center, this interdisciplinary collaboration is just one example of how to use a collaborative and innovative mindset to support the University at large.

“The mission of the Innovation Center is to inspire, support and showcase innovative and interdisciplinary activities across the University,” he said. “This collaboration between dance and computer science is a perfect example of what we’re trying to accomplish. In fact, early versions of our music generation app were featured as the weekly tech exhibit in the Innovation Center. .”

Duckstein and Stemkoski are already thinking of their next dance collaboration. “While the November dance performance was my first time collaborating with Lee, it’s sparking a whole bunch of other ideas,” Duckstein said. “I think we’re going to come up with some bigger ideas for next time.”

Stemkoski added, “It would be really cool to also tie this in to dynamically adjusting the stage lighting or to project a dynamic art piece in the background, all driven by and synchronized with the movements of the dancers.”

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