President’s Newsletter

Friday, March 1, 2024

Dear Colleagues:

The week started out on Sunday with the Student Leadership Conference which was well attended by students in the Leadership Development Program. Over the week, Mike Andriatch and I commenced our SUNY budget advocacy calls with local legislators. We completed four of those meetings and have three more scheduled for March. I also spoke with one of our local regents regarding work of the New York State Education Department and had several calls with donors.

College Council met at Brockport Downtown for our quarterly meeting, which focused on updates from Student Affairs and Advancement and Communications. Our wonderful REOC culinary arts students prepared and catered a dinner as part of their education. I’ve long said my favorite restaurant in town is the REOC B’Stro!

Amongst the meetings I had this week included one with the co-leaders of the Presidential Campus Climate Committee to discuss progress on the committee’s work and discuss issues that are impacting our climate, and one with Eric Sandler, Brockport’s new Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) to discuss the work that he is undertaking in supporting our students. Eric is working with three other faculty members who are also engaged in this work. I also met with the BSG leadership team.

We had our spring Town-Gown Committee meeting which was well attended. Along with regular updates from subcommittees, the mayor and me, we had a presentation from our Center for Global Education and Engagement on our Social Host program, as we try to recruit more community members to liaise with our international students. We also discussed the logistics and planning for the solar eclipse.

This week our Department of Nursing underwent its regular accreditation visit with the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), which went well. Final accreditation results are expected in the fall.

Along with Cabinet, I was able to attend the annual MLK lecture last night, at which our students asked thoughtful and engaging questions, as did faculty, staff and community members.

I hope to see you today at Alumni House starting at 4pm, for our monthly First Friday community event. It’s a great way to start the weekend, by talking with community members and colleagues.

Thank you for your commitment to Brockport.