Former state Sen. Seymour Lachman is returning to Staten Island.
Come fall, Lachman, a Democrat who represented the North Shore in the Senate for two years, will teach government and education as a distinguished professor in residence at Wagner College.
"I do feel like I'm returning home," said Lachman, 70, a Bensonhurst resident who retired in 2004 after serving in the Senate for nine years. "It's a wonderful opportunity."
Lachman, a president of the former Board of Education and a City University of New York (CUNY) dean, will begin his tenure just as his book about state government, "Three Men in a Room," is due to be published by The New Press.
"It's a great plus for the college to have someone of Seymour's experience, knowledge and commitment," said Wagner president Dr. Richard Guarasci.
Lachman will teach two days a week, including a class on state government called "New York Politics." He also will lecture graduate and undergraduate education students.
"We'll draw on both his strengths," said Dr. Guarasci.
He said Lachman would also serve as a "goodwill ambassador" for the college to help get "the name of Wagner better known."
The subtitle of Lachman's book, which he wrote with journalist Robert Polner, is "Power and Betrayal in an American Statehouse," and examines legislative dysfunction in Albany and elsewhere and how to fix it.
"There's never been a legislator who was an academic who witnessed what the reality of state government is," said Lachman.
"Senator Lachman knows public service from the inside out," said Dr. Guarasci. "For four and a half terms, he struggled to bring reason to the inner workings of Albany."
"Seymour Lachman has a great background in education and government," said Assemblyman John Lavelle (D-North Shore), the borough Democratic Party chairman. "He'll be a good professor. It'll be good for Wagner. It's a good combination."
Lachman received his doctoral degree from New York University after obtaining master's and bachelor's degrees from Brooklyn College.
From 1969 to 1974, he was a member and later the youngest president of the Board of Ed.
Following that, Lachman taught educational administration at CUNY's Baruch College and eventually became University Dean for Community Development at CUNY.
He was first elected to the state Senate in 1996.
Tom Wrobleski may be reached at wrobleski@siadvance.com.
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