Tracking "Last Contacted Date" (emails, activities, etc.)

Tracking "Last Contacted Date" (emails, activities, etc.)

Hi all,

We want to track the last contacted date for Lead records, including emails, activities, etc.

The goal is to create: 
  1. a report of leads that haven't been updated, 
  2. a field within the record that clearly indicates the last contacted date, and. 
  3. an automation that reassigns the Lead when it hasn't been touched in 30+ days.
We thought we could use ${Leads.Last Activity Time} but it seems that for some insane reason email isn't considered an activity. 

(Frankly, I don't think email is going to last... just another trend like that newfangled rap music and eight-track tapes)

Has anyone dealt with this?

Is there a way to automatically push email sends (from CRM) into the activity section? Or maybe pull information from an email module into the Lead record?

Any ideas?

Thanks!