Double Discovery Center Renamed in Honor of Roger Lehecka

Roger Lehecka
Roger Lehecka. Photo Courtesy of the Double Discovery Center.

Columbia College’s Double Discovery Center, which brings low-income high schoolers to campus for tutoring by Columbia students, was recently renamed in honor of Roger Lehecka ’67CC, ’74GSAS.

Lehecka, a former Columbia College dean of students and professor, was one of a small group of Columbia and Barnard undergraduates who helped establish the Double Discovery Center, in 1965. Since then, the center has served more than fifteen thousand young people; today 90 percent of participating high-school seniors go on to college.

On the occasion of the center’s renaming as the Roger Lehecka Double Discovery Center — which coincided with its fiftieth anniversary — an anonymous donor also pledged $2 million to support its mission. The gift will fund renovations to the center’s offices and endow its Freedom and Citizenship Program, which provides local high schoolers an abridged version of Columbia’s Core Curriculum.