By Zaynab Kolya 

Dorothy Dobson is the kind of person whose story mirrors many students who attend Lehman College. She has been a member of the staff at Lehman College since 2011, but she’s been a part of this community for much longer. Coming from Jamaica as a young woman to study fashion modeling, she first started at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology). There, she worked for esteemed designers like Bill Blass and Joseph Abboud and specialized in creating various kinds of top-quality dresses. During this time, she supported herself by tutoring students from the high school nearby where she lived in Westchester. While she was skilled in creating glamorous pieces of art with fellow artists, she found her true calling in education, where she uplifted the lives of the young people around her through knowledge. Dobson went back to college, earning a bachelor's degree in secondary education focusing on history. After graduating from Lehman, she taught at a couple of different high schools. Still, she was eventually drawn back to Lehman through a program that allowed her to assist students in passing the CUNY entrance exam. By the end of this program, 25 out of 27 students had passed, propelling her students toward a better future. Because of this, she was appointed as a professor in the English Department. She completed a master's in history and taught additional classes in writing skills and college prep for the Continuing Education Department. Her drive to improve herself and her skills led the Dean of the Continuing Education department to offer her the position of Associate Director for the workforce programs. She accepted the position in 2015, where she worked until she was eventually promoted to department director.   

As Director of Workforce Education, she has been developing job training programs for New Yorkers tailored to the context of their lives. Many of those seeking vocational certifications in pharmacy, nursing, and other fields struggle to learn in their second language. Other students work in order to support themselves and can only attend classes at certain times. Director Dobson specializes in creating customized job training programs that take into account the circumstances of people’s lives. She works with various job organizations to develop curriculums that incorporate teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) and creates flexible schedules tailored around students’ busy schedules. The customized job programs Director Dobson has created provide financial stability for students while also giving direction to their lives. With the achievement of obtaining a certification for a job, there is now an opportunity to move up to a higher position with the help of the staff at the Workforce Education department. For example, a student who becomes a CNA through the program can become a patient care technician. With this stability, the possibility of pursuing a college degree also opens.  

When I interviewed Director Dobson, I wanted to understand the drive behind a person who had not only empowered herself into success but also empowered and impacted the lives of so many students. If there are people who lift the “ladder” so others can’t climb up, Dorothy Dobson provides stability and direction for the journey her students are on. This was a lesson stressed to her by her parents, who believed that social mobility could be achieved through the pursuit of education. She sees herself as a lifelong learner who believes she can instill respect and interest in education in others. This is because when Dobson was a student looking for answers and needing help, she remembered there were very few to no support programs when she was in school. She didn’t have anyone rooting for her; perhaps that was one of her greatest driving factors. As an immigrant in a new country, she already had a learning curve and didn’t have someone in her ear emphasizing the importance of networking and internships. Even though she graduated Magna Cum Laude, an honor given to students at the top of their class, she still looks back on that time and figures with support, she could have done a lot better. With this regret comes the understanding of how necessary it is to provide support to students, with her remarking, “I mean, if we don’t do it, who else will?”