Alumnus Kenneth Levy and his wife Gloria establish the Kenneth and Gloria Levy Initiative for Engineering Practice and Measurement at the Grove School.
Alumnus Kenneth Levy ’64 and his wife Gloria have committed $5 million to establish the Kenneth and Gloria Levy Initiative for Engineering Practice and Measurement at The City College of New York’s Grove School of Engineering. The initiative will strengthen engineering education by bringing engineering practice to the forefront of the educational experience. Students will have sustained opportunities to conceptualize, design, build, test, measure, troubleshoot, and improve real systems throughout their time at the Grove School.
“As a graduate of City College, and an engineer himself, Ken Levy understands that the sooner we allow students to undertake their own research, the better it will be for their professional preparation,” said CCNY President Vincent Boudreau. “With this inspired gift, Ken and Gloria Levy are creating the conditions on campus for generations of City College engineering students to begin their careers well-positioned for success.”
This initiative builds on the Levys’ longstanding commitment to Grove and its students. For nearly four decades, Kenneth and Gloria Levy have supported more than 100 students through scholarships, professional development opportunities, and competition funding. In 2021, they established The Kenneth Levy ’64 and Gloria Levy Scholarship Fund to support undergraduate students with financial need.
“City College gave me an outstanding engineering education that benefited me throughout my entire career. Gloria and I are deeply grateful for that opportunity. We established this initiative to give today’s engineering students the opportunity to complement their strong, theoretical education with meaningful, hands-on project experience,” said Levy. “I believe that engineers learn not only by understanding the theory, but also by applying it to real problems. We hope that combination will help CCNY engineering graduates be more competent and successful in their future endeavors.”
Through the initiative, the Grove School will launch the inaugural cohort of Levy Practice Fellows. The fellows represent multiple engineering disciplines and will receive intensive training in engineering design, measurement, instrumentation, fabrication, testing, and project execution through structured, faculty-guided experiences.
“We have been so inspired by the ways in which Ken and Gloria see the importance of engaging students early in their academic careers—at the very moment they are beginning to imagine that what they learn in the classroom will have real-world impacts far beyond their time at City College,” said Dee Dee Mozeleski, senior vice president of the Office of Institutional Advancement, Communications and External Relations, executive director of the Foundation for City College and senior advisor to the CCNY President. “We are grateful not only for their generosity, but also their expansive thinking about education.”
At the same time, Grove School faculty will develop discipline-specific project-based learning modules and curricular enhancements for introductory engineering courses across all departments. As the initiative grows, participation will expand across every engineering discipline while industry and external partnerships grow.
“Engineering education shouldn’t stop at knowing how something works. Students need to understand how to apply what they learn, test their ideas, work through uncertainty, and learn from the results,” said Alexander Couzis, dean of the Grove School. “Ken and Gloria’s commitment gives us an extraordinary opportunity to make that experience central to how our students learn engineering at Grove.”
Once the initiative is fully integrated, it will ensure that students encounter authentic engineering experiences from the beginning of their academic careers until they graduate. Levy Practice Fellows will evolve from participants to leaders and mentors, and Grove School students will have stronger professional readiness and a demonstrated ability to apply engineering principles to real-world challenges. It would also build upon efforts—like the reinvention of the manufacturing lab, the makerspace, and the Green Energy Initiative lab—that are already underway.
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Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. Education research organization Degree Choices ranks CCNY #1 nationally among universities for economic return on investment. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 2.2% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Lightcast puts at $3.7 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers, and society. At City College, more than 16,500 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity, and scholarship. In 2023, CCNY launched its most expansive fundraising campaign ever. The campaign, titled “Doing Remarkable Things Together,” seeks to bring the College’s Foundation to more than $1 billion in total assets in support of the College's mission. By May 2026, more than $500 million had been raised. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic, and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.