About

HISTORY

The S Jay Levy Fellowship for Future Leaders was created through the generosity of the late S Jay Levy '42, a noted economist and forecaster. An alumnus of City College, S Jay Levy founded 'The Industry Forecast', which continues to this day as 'The Levy Forecast', the oldest publication focused on analyzing and forecasting U.S. economic conditions. He was also a consultant to major corporations and financial institutions, eventually joined in the business by his son, David Levy. He authored many monographs, articles, and columns as well as coauthoring a book, 'Profits and the Future of American Society' (Harper Collins, 1983), with his son David. Guided by his strong convictions about democratic principles and social mobility he gave financial support to a broad range of charities and causes.

Inaugurated in 2015, the S Jay Levy Fellowship program has grown significantly over the years. From an initial staff of two, focused exclusively on helping fellows secure a funded summer internship experience, it now has four permanent staff members, thirty-five regular industry mentors, and an alumni body of over five-hundred members, all working in close collaboration with a Board of Advisors composed of: David Levy (President), Geraldine Fabrikant, Robert Goldrich, Alice Levy, John McPhee, Shelby White and David Wysoki, as well as Vincent Boudreau as President of City College and Andrew Rich as Dean of the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership. 

The range of activities and resources made available for fellows has also grown significantly over time an currently includes: two complementary undergraduate courses taken for credit by fellows on 'Career, Vocation and Self-Development' and 'Ethics in the Workplace'; a structured industry mentorship program putting fellows directly in touch with accomplished professionals in their field of interest; a voluntary peer mentorship program run by the S Jay Levy Fellowship's Alumni Board; as well as a running program of both recurrent and ad hoc events, which include a yearly Internship Fair for current fellows and an Alumni Reception held in City College's Great Hall. At the same time, the list of employer partners who regularly offer summer internship opportunities to our fellows has also continued to grow in both size and prestige, now including over 200 companies across a wide variety of industries and business areas. 

MISSION

The S Jay Levy Fellowship’s mission is to connect talented students from City College with the career opportunities and resources that will best allow them to express their potential in the professional world. The premise is that the students who qualify for this fellowship program – being in the top 20% of their School or Division at City College and passing through our rigorous selection process – have skills and potential comparable to those of top achievers in any of the best Colleges and Universities in the country. However, there still remain communicational and reputational barriers that prevent them from accessing professional opportunities commensurate to those skills and potential.

Our goal is to break down those barriers, providing our fellows with the complementary education, job-related skills, social capital, and networking opportunities that will enable them to thrive in today’s labor market. In so doing, we aim to offer a service not just to the fellows who participate in our program, but also to the partner companies and employer organizations that we are able to connect with this under-tapped reservoir of talent. More broadly, the S Jay Levy Fellowship program also has a social mission in helping facilitate mobility from diverse and underprivileged backgrounds towards high-achieving and high value-added professions.

To achieve these goals, we offer our fellows a variety of resources and support systems. S Jay Levy Fellows receive complementary training in job-related skills; they are put in touch with internship and professional opportunities through our employer partners and mentorship programs, and they are also encouraged to enhance their social capital and networking skills through a variety of professional and social events run through the fellowship program. Financial support is also offered to help create internship opportunities in partner organizations and allow fellows who would otherwise not be able to participate in them to take advantage of these opportunities.

Reflecting the late S Jay Levy’s commitment to the values of equal opportunity and social mobility, the S Jay Levy Fellowship also involves an academic dimension, consisting in a class on ‘Ethics in the Workplace’ through which fellows are exposed to the basic principles defining ethical conduct in a variety of professional fields. Involving both background theoretical work and confrontation with real-life scenarios, as well as ample opportunity for group discussion, this class is an integral component of the S Jay Levy Fellowship experience, as well as of the kind of future professionals we aim to contribute in forming.