Michael "Mike" A. Lallave

I was born in Puerto Rico, the isle of enchantment, but my family relocated to New York City when I was nine. I grew into adulthood and was - for the most part - educated in New York City. I went through its public school system. I began attending CCNY around 1970, studying in their engineering curriculum. I was about 30 years old at the time. Prior to that, I had done two years of pre-engineering at Hunter College, and then requested transfer to CCNY and was accepted into their engineering curriculum. At the time I had been out of high school for about 12 years and was working full-time for the United States Postal Service. I was already married and raising a family - two daughters - and living in Brooklyn, so I was really studying part-time, averaging about 12 credits per semester. I had decided to go back to school to fulfill my dreams in engineering, as well as improve my opportunities for career advancement in the USPS. After I graduated, the knowledge attained and the degree I received from CCNY improved my upward mobility within the postal service. I was able to switch to their maintenance and engineering department and was able to get several promotions as a result of my newly-acquired technical knowledge and degree. At CCNY, I studied under many excellent professors, such as Mansour Javid, Vincent del Toro, Jacob Millman, and Gerner A. Olsen. Since I was working full-time, supporting a family, and studying, I really did not have much time for anything else concerning extracurricular activities. I will always remain very thankful to New York City and CCNY, in that I was able to benefit from the free tuition program available at the time. I could not have completed my degree without that financial assistance program.