President’s Newsletter

Friday, April 26, 2024

Dear Colleagues,

Cabinet is actively working to promote better communication across campus, including through this newsletter and others. Thanks to the work of our web team in University Communications, we can now go to one site on the Brockport website to find all of our Divisional Newsletters: Faculty & Staff: SUNY Brockport. Please go to the fifth item on the link. It is my hope that publishing the newsletters should make it easier to find out what is going on in divisions other than your own.

This year, Senate conducted a review of my leadership. I want to thank the more than 350 people who gave me the gift of their feedback. In the interests of transparency, I have chosen to share the results of the survey as widely as possible, which is why I am sharing them here. In addition to the overall feedback, I also value the open-ended comments that I received. I have had conversations with Cabinet members about the general tenor of those comments and areas we can work on individually and collectively.

This is Earth Week, and we’ve had a number of activities focused on what we can do as individuals and as teams for our planet. Student clubs, BASC, Careers Services and others have been involved in this massive effort. In addition, the Annual Village Arbor Day Tree Planting occurred today. You may be interested in this video featuring Dr. Jamie Spiller from the Department of History about the history of Earth Day.

I had the honor of attending an event for women presidents at the Governor’s Mansion this week, alongside other SUNY presidents, as well as presidents from CUNY and private institutions. We also held our annual Community Breakfast on campus, with members of our Town-Gown committee and other village and town leaders, business owners, and community members. Amongst the many other activities of the week, I met with the leaders of JPBC as part of our quarterly meeting schedule, and with SUNY officials. We had a meeting with the AASCU Student Success Equity Intensive group. We had another VP candidate on campus, and as always, I would appreciate your feedback on all candidates.

This week continues our focus on celebrating our students, from Monday night’s Student Leadership Awards through tonight’s Lavender Ceremony. On Saturday our men’s lacrosse team will have their Senior Day.

While we have much to celebrate this time of year, this has also been a year of many losses. This week there was a moving tribute to and memorial service for Matt Altenritter and Gina Nicholson. Such events, like the earlier service for John Marah, and the upcoming service for Trish Ralph, can be difficult. If you are experiencing difficulties in relation to these losses or other events, please do reach out to EAP for support and guidance.

I know that the next three weeks will be busy ones, so please do try to get some downtime with friends and family.