President’s Newsletter

Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Dear Colleagues,

I hope you all had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. I was wrestling a half-frozen turkey on Thanksgiving Day morning in Minnesota, but somehow we had a lovely meal in the early afternoon. It was good to spend time with my family and to know that my teenage niece and adult nephews still enjoy playing cards and board games with their auntie. I was thankful that the snowy weather missed Rochester and that travel plans were unaffected. If you were traveling, I hope that your journeys were similarly smooth. 

I will be traveling again later this week for work, hence the early release of this weekly email and a truncated message. On Monday I had the last of the semester’s divisional open forums. I enjoyed spending time with the Division of Advancement and Communications. We discussed the federal fiscal and policy landscape, thoughts on the state budget, and updates on SUNY system and other universities. Also on Monday I had the last meeting of the semester with our BSG leadership team. I have enjoyed working with Tenin, Maryam and Qudus this semester and look forward to their plans for the spring semester. If you attend Brockport University Senate meetings, you’ll know that we get regular updates on BSG activities at Senate, and it is good to see their advocacy work as well as the other support offered to students both on and off campus this year. Our final Senate meeting of the year also took place on Monday.

I had regular one-to-ones with cabinet members this week, as well as with our Affirmative Action Officer and other senior leaders. I also met with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and we discussed a number of issues, including uniforms, tutoring, and food options across campus. Extended Cabinet met this week and included updates from Gary Morog on the electrification project and from Bill McNamara his first 90 days as the BASC CEO.

Later today we will have our annual Holiday Party in the New York Room in Cooper from 3:30-5:30. I hope to see you there!