50 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • AUGUST 2021
BACK TO SCHOOL
JAMES LENTINI, PRESIDENT OF MOLLOY COLLEGE
ORCHESTRATING SUCCESS
BY CLAUDE SOLNIK
James Lentini took over as president of
Molloy College, in Rockville Centre, in
June 2020 soon after Covid-19 hit. After
serving as senior vice president for academic
affairs and provost at Oakland
University from 2013-2020, he steered
Molloy through the pandemic. An
experienced educator and education
administrator as well as a composer
and guitarist, he talked with us about
leading through the past year, the present
and the future.
What was your best preparation for
the job at Molloy?
I was a provost before that, so I had
a lot of leadership responsibility. As
president, you’re the spokesman and
leader of the institution. I had good
preparation for this.
How’s enrollment been through the
pandemic and how is it now?
Enrollment is roughly 4,800. We have
an increase in freshmen students. It’s
still some weeks to go until September.
Our enrollment’s holding pretty
good and steady. We have had a slight
decrease during Covid. So did almost
everyone else. Looks like this year
we’re heading back to normal.
Can you tell me about Molloy’s financial
aid?
Practically every one of our students
gets some financial aid. We offer
generous financial aid packages to
students. Molloy, I think, is one of the
lowest-priced private institutions on
Long Island.
How was Molloy able to shift online
during the pandemic?
We really ramped up training for
faculty members who jumped with
both feet into preparing their online
courses where they hadn’t done them
before in some courses.
Have you run exclusively or primarily
online?
In the past year, we ran mostly online,
successfully getting students through
programs, getting to a commencement
with an in-person element that everybody
loved.
What program areas are growing
and why?
Nursing has always been a growing
area at Molloy, only constrained by our
physical space. The areas in healthcare
are growing. We’ll be expanding our
healthcare programs in the future.
Have you changed your nursing program
amid the pandemic?
Nursing is such a great program at
Molloy. Because of limitations at hospitals
over the past year, we built new
simulation labs to allow students to
work in the simulation environment.
Can you tell me a little bit about a
Molloy program in the arts?
One of our outstanding programs is
a program called the Cap 21 musical
theater program. We have a space in
Manhattan where students rehearse.
They travel between Molloy’s campus
in Rockville Centre and lower Manhattan.
They’re some of the top talents in
the country. They’re actors, dancers,
singers.
What new graduate degrees have
launched or are on their way?
We have an advanced certificate in
nursing education. Our entertainment
and sports management program is
pretty recent. The newest things in our
curriculum are around our development
of badges and certificates for the
adult learner.
Can you tell me about those
programs?
These tend to be stackable certificates.
Let’s say you get a certificate in business
analytics. You get credits and can
then take a course in management.
They can become a degree program
and become a master’s degree. Some
people may not need the degree. They
get training in data analytics. Cybersecurity
is a growing area. We’re looking
at developing a certificate area in
cybersecurity.
Can you describe the way you used
cars as an element in commencement
when a conventional ceremony
wasn’t possible?
We had 400 cars at a time in a parking
lot, spaced out. They could have as many
people as they wanted in a car. We
took the students graduating from cars
into the Madison Theatre on campus
and greeted them.
Did you use video as a component?
We had 10 big screens out there.
Parents and families were watching
students cross the stage on big screens.
I’d go out to the parking lot. Some said
it was better than normal, not in a
crowded arena.
How did you handle the commencement
speech?
I gave the commencement speech live.
In addition to being an academic and
administrator, you’re a composer and
guitarist. What, if anything, do composing
and performing music have
in common with leading a higher
education institution?
Having a common goal. It might be
that in music, we want this piece to
be interpreted a certain way. I need
everyone to unify around that vision.
Having to do that is useful at a school
when it comes to organizing a team
around you.
These have been tough times in a
lot of ways; a positive but realistic
approach probably mattered a lot.
Would you say you’re an optimistic
person?
I’m an optimist. You have to be that
way and I am that way. It’s easy to be
an optimist when you talk to students.
They managed so well. I’m frequently
with student leadership. They
couldn’t have been more upbeat and
positive.
With health as a concern, have you
made infrastructure improvements
related to the pandemic?
We upgraded our air purification
systems across campus. That made
it safer for the air quality during
Covid and lessened the spreading of
any germs. The air purification system
was a major upgrade. The other
things are mostly renovations and
upgrades.
Are you heading back to an in-person
model?
We are going to be in person. We will
have some online courses, not much
different than before the pandemic.
We know students are excited about
coming back to campus.
James Lentini
“It’s easy to be an optimist when you talk to
students. They managed so well.”
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