February 2025 Alumni Spotlight

Michael Lewan is Founder of the New Democratic Coalition and a Marxe Alumnus

What was your experience at Baruch College like as a student? How has it changed since then (to the best of your knowledge)?
I began my Baruch journey in 1968. It was a tumultuous time for our Nation, our City and society. Change was brewing at 17th and Lexington too.  Downtown CCNY, a business school, was now Baruch College, a one building campus, cramped and confused. Still it was a welcoming place for the children of immigrants. A Baruch degree that long promised a career in business now offered opportunities in social work, psychology, education, law and my preferred route, public service.

Even today, decades after graduation, Baruch’s greatest asset is a strong, smart and dedicated faculty. Our Professors understood the students needed to work outside their studies. The curriculum was designed to accommodate those of us who took the early bus or the evening subway. Somehow, without a Campus Green, Gothic buildings or a football team, it worked!   From what I have seen,  Baruch College still works providing critical thinking skills and values of citizenship to worthy hardworking Americans. Baruch represents the very ideal of the “Free University” conceived over 150 years ago.

Baruch has changed much as our City. A walk through the lobby of the Vertical Campus one hears dozens of languages, sees all sorts of clothing styles, smell the aroma of ethnic foods. A kaleidoscope of colors that sooth our senses. Baruch embodies our national motto, “one out of many.”

Baruch is a crazy quilt just a stone throw from Lady Liberty. Baruch is the story of America. The place where dreams are made, promises kept and obligations to the next generation honored.

Can you tell us what life was like on Capitol Hill as a senior congressional staff member and government relations advocate? Were there some experiences you had that were particularly memorable?
My career choice in or about public service began in childhood but was given direction at Baruch. As often is the case, a teacher becomes a mentor and a lifelong friend. In my case a brand new PhD instructor in a Political Science class named Donna Shalala.

For reasons hard to recall Professor Shalala quickly became a role model for me. I choose well given her extraordinary career in public life and Academia.  Under her tutelage I was convinced that a career in politics and government was right for me. My plans to become a CPA (as any smart Baruchian would do) were set aside. She convinced me to attend the Maxwell School for Citizenship to acquire a Master’s Degree and assisted in getting me my very first full time job upon graduation. I am honored to say more than 50 years later Donna remains my friend and a mentor to me and my family.

As a Congressional Staffer one learns not to take credit publicly, but to bask in the reflected glory of the elected officials involved in such success.  Working in both the House of Representative and the US Senate is like being part of tomorrow’s newspaper. It was a glorious experience filled with highs and lows, long days, exhaustive meetings and more failure than success. My 17 years on the Hill were filled with bruising political and policy battles… though far less bitter than today.

I had many memorable moments but what still bring me joy are the years I spent as Chairman of the US Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad.

At the core of the Commission’s work is the preservation and protection, by Law, of the thousands of Jewish cemeteries that remain in Eastern and Central Europe. Passing this Law, the idea of Holocaust survivors from Brooklyn was a complex and lengthy process that took several years consuming much of my energy.

Once established the Commission was able to forge partnerships with the new democracies of Eastern and Central Europe pledging to take all the legal and moral step necessary to insure that sacred and historic properties are protected for all time.

Today, decades later, the Commission’s leadership continues to bear fruit.

It is the United States alone that is leading the effort to preserve and protect so many important sites. As a young nation, a nation of immigrants, we recognize that much of our culture and religion comes from another time and place. It is our common past that we must respect and revere. With continued American leadership, I am confident that our future will be bright