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Faculty Staff Convocation 2023

Welcome to the 2023-24 academic year. We have so much to look forward to this year, from major events like the total solar eclipse coming up in April, to welcoming our largest incoming class for nearly 50 years, to the opportunity to establish community again as many of our team return from the summer recess. Of course, many colleagues are here all summer long: our essential workers who keep this campus beautiful and safe; our orientation and admissions teams who work throughout the summer months to help us achieve our student recruitment goals; our colleagues in BITS, the library, financial aid, student accounts, the budget office, HR, University Police, advancement, communications and so many others work throughout the summer to prepare us for this new academic year. So welcome back to the faculty and staff who have rejoined the campus this fall, and welcome to all who are part of Building a Better Brockport.

This my ninth year as your president, and I am feeling more positive about our collective future than I have for many years. We have a new senior team, with new three VPs joining us this year: Jackie Clark as VP for Administration and Finance; Lorraine Acker as VP for Student Affairs, and Sara Kelly as VP for Enrollment Management. While it will take some time for us to think beyond the former EMSA structure, this new structure will ensure that both enrollment management and student affairs have an equal seat at the table as we make decisions on the future of SUNY Brockport. Our new structure also ensures that Academic Affairs, which remains the largest division on campus, is enhanced by the addition of Careers Service for a seamless focus on our students’ academic journey.

I feel positive because so much good is coming our way: as noted above, the hard work of individuals and teams mean that our incoming classes are exceeding our expectations: we have the largest first year class since 1976, 24% more transfer students than this time last year, and the largest incoming graduate class in more than 20 years. On top of that, the hard work of our faculty and staff have meant that we are seeing higher retention rates for continuing students as well. These impressive results were due to a massive, collective effort. Everyone in this room played a role in our success. That work continues into this academic year, as we begin to recruit the next class of Golden Eagles and ensure our current students have a vibrant, enriching, and meaningful learning experience. 

In other good news, our structural deficit—what we’ve been calling our $10M Challenge—is now reduced to around $7 to 7 and a half million dollars, a figure I’ll be able confirm once we have hit census date for our student numbers in the next few weeks. This reduction in our deficit is primarily due to the 3% budget reduction process we deliberately implemented 2022-23 and planned retirements. We have also benefited from additional SUNY and State investment. Our 2023-24 budget will include 2.4M dollars in additional ongoing operating aid, which will cover the majority of the union pay raises that are in the process of being ratified or have already been ratified. This is significant, because this means that we do not have to self-fund the pay raises this year, as we have almost always had to do in the past. We have also been awarded just over a million dollars in funding attached to specific investment priorities: mental health supports, basic needs, including a new Food Pantry that will open in Dailey Hall this autumn, internship opportunities, which aligns with the Chancellor’s goal of every SUNY student having an internship experience of some sort, research support, mitigation of some graduate student fees for students who also work on campus, and additional support for students with disabilities. We are in the process of submitting a plan to SUNY for these funds and we expect to get those funds disbursed to us in September. We have also submitted a plan for one-time funds of $840,000 to support our new programs in cybersecurity and engineering technology, as well as our Fannie Barrier Williams Scholars Program. We are awaiting confirmation from SUNY that we can use these funds as we have planned. We had deadlines over the summer to submit our plans, and I am grateful to our JPBC and shared governance colleagues for their support of our plans.

While we still have a deficit, we have ongoing plans to close this deficit, and we are in the fortunate position of having institutional reserves that have helped us weather the storm that was COVID. But even more than that, I must pay tribute to our colleagues. I mentioned JPBC before—that’s the Joint Planning and Budget Committee—because this committee, which is made up of shared governance colleagues, students and administrators—is the presidential advisory group that helps us look holistically at our budget, both in terms of investments and in terms of opportunities to reduce our spending. It’s hard, uncomfortable work, and I thank everyone who takes part in these difficult discussions. 

Last year, we faced our 4th straight year of student enrollment declines. And because I’ve always said that hope is not a strategy, we strategized about how we might counteract these forces. Many individuals inside of JPBC and outside of the committee suggested that we perhaps should look at being a substantially smaller, leaner campus and certainly this was something we discussed. But instead, we decided to be bold. We invested. We worked on the Academic Strategic Plan. We planned for growth. We became more comfortable with risk. In one example, we have decided to reduce our reserves and invest those funds in scholarships for students, to attract students with merit based aid in addition to our other support for students; we invested in marketing, to ensure our name was out there and in the minds of those who influence prospective students. We have begun a new campaign—Excellence within Your Reach, which is not only an external campaign aimed at showing prospective students what can be accomplished with an affordable SUNY Brockport degree, but also an internal campaign, so that we can be proud of who we are and what we accomplish together. If you walk on campus, you may note a number of new banners that feature our alumni, both individuals who are well known and at the height of their careers, and individuals who have graduated in the last decade and are starting to make their mark. We are using our space to tell our story, and what great story it is.

We tell our story through our strategic plan and the objectives we have set out for ourselves. There is much work left to be done. While we’ve made progress, we continue to operate at a structural deficit. We need to continue to bring in strong recruitment classes and improve our retention rates. We need to continue to think creatively and strategically about how to generate revenue and control expenses. But the success of this past year demonstrates just how much we can accomplish together. Let’s look at a few of those things.

In order to be a Great University at Which to Learn 

  • We doubled the funds allocated to scholarships for fall 2023 entry. As a result, we’ve more than doubled the percentage of incoming students with a high school GPA between 96-100. 18.4% of the class has a high school GPA over a 96 (compared to just 7.1% in 2021). Additionally, 450 first-year students self-identify as BIPOC compared to 350 in 2022. Our incoming class is an accomplished one, who are set to thrive at SUNY Brockport.
  • We welcomed the first cohort of Fannie Barrier Williams Scholars: 29 students participated in a pre-arrival bridge program focused on student engagement and transition support. Of the fall 2022 cohort, 20 students identify as students of color, and 19 identify as first-generation students. We are making a difference to the lives of these students and our campus. The cohort GPA is over a 3.0, and 96.5% of the students persisted to fall semester. I want to thank Jianna Howard for her stellar focus on our FBW students’ needs.
  • We are investing in a robust and thriving student life with a new university-wide effort to ensure a vibrant first six weeks and beyond. Student affairs has partnered with academic affairs to ensure strong and coordinated programming.
  • We continue to review and update our academic program array, which was a major focus for the Academic Strategic Planning process. This has been the most active year for curriculum development in the last 8 years. We have several new programs to offer our students this fall. Among the new programs approved this past year are the Bachelor’s in Early Childhood, the B.S. in Economics, the B.S. in Cybersecurity and the BA/BS in Graphic Design. We have also added four new undergraduate completion programs for Fall: Psychology, Social Work, Health & Society and Health Care Administration.
  • Undergraduate programs that are currently pending and at various stages of approval include Actuarial and Data Science, Engineering Technology, Forensic Science, Music Studies, Sustainability, Climate Studies and a certificate in Nursing Re-entry.
  • Graduate programs that are currently pending include the MS in Computer Science, MS in Chemistry, MHA in Health Care Administration and the Ed.D. in Educational Leadership. If approved, this would be our second doctorate

To be a University Engaged with its Community, we continue to invest in important partnerships. 

  • The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) worked with several hundred clients, with 59 new business starts, 526 unique clients served, and 810 jobs supported. Our new Director, Lindsay Ward, met and networked with 250 community members in her first 90 days on the job. I am thrilled that the SBDC is located at Brockport Downtown, with a direct link to the REOC.
  • We continue to have a strong town-gown committee and we transferred land to the Village of Brockport to allow them to construct a boathouse to facilitate rowing on the Erie Canal. We will be working with them on grants to support additional partnerships in the future. In one example, Eric Owusu is working with his students on developing an app to identify trees, and we are part of a tree planting grant that the Village has submitted. Many members of our campus community take part in the local Arbor Day tree plantings each year.
  • The 2022-2023 Day of Giving saw 1,440 donors contribute nearly $165,000 to more than 100 funds that support scholarships, experiential learning, athletics and more. Twenty percent of the donors were students, which is a testament to their belief in SUNY Brockport. Final year-end philanthropic numbers for the Brockport Foundation show just shy of 3.7 million dollars in private support for the 2022-23 fiscal year, with several new space namings, including the Wegmans Ice Arena. Not counted among the current-year giving were 15 new planned gift commitments totaling more than $1,000,000 in future support for student scholarships and other university priorities.

To be a Sustainable and Thriving University for the 21st Century:

  • We continue to focus on our STARS rating with the hope of achieving gold status the next time we submit our data to the Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System, which is a transparent, self-reporting framework for universities to measure their overall sustainability performance. We are currently at silver status.
  • We have added local community members to our Sustainability Committee, with great progress on ideas around planting native plants and other opportunities on campus.
  • And of course, as noted earlier, we continue to focus on our budget to ensure that we will be a healthy and thriving university well beyond the years that any one of us as individuals works here.

Goal Four: To be a Great University at which to Work

  • Our Employee Success Center now has a virtual location and we’re working on a physical location. The ESC has been developed to foster a sense of belonging and community, and to facilitate the thriving of all SUNY Brockport employees.
  • We continue to invest in our Campus Leadership Summits and have added full professors and affinity group leaders to our twice a year gatherings.
  • To learn more about what we need to do better, we conducted a shared governance and a campus climate survey, and we are investing in additional supports as a result.

In relation to the shared governance survey, I want to thank Sharon Allen for spearheading the survey, and Tyler Moesle for his thoughtful review of some overarching results, which I will share here with you now. I’m happy to report that there was general agreement by respondents to the survey on the importance of shared governance. Moreover, most employees understood shared governance, though we did find a pretty strong gap in knowledge in relation to our student respondents, so we have plans to work on that this year. A few headline figures reveal the following: 

  • 70% of our faculty and staff respondents believe we have appropriate structures for shared governance.
  • There were a number of comments regarding how Senate’s current model of representation works and that’s something we’re taking back to Senate to consider.
  • Employees generally called for more student engagement and representation.
  • Diversity is seen as a priority by respondents in ensuring good shared governance.

One result showed that where there was a lack of trust between stakeholders—faculty vs. staff, department vs. department, employees vs. managers, this sometimes impeded conversations and decision making and led to delays in processes. Others noted that they needed more information about how shared governance informed decisions and how shared governance processes were assessed. The Shared Governance committee agreed that the best thing we can do with a survey is to turn it into action. Thus, the next steps for the committee include finding ways to increase students’ knowledge of shared governance, revisions to the Principles of Shared Governance document based on your feedback, and continued conversations with Senate and BSG, so that they are aware of and can respond to respondents’ perceptions. This way, the individual governance groups can take ownership of how to address such perceptions, and/or make changes based on this information. Our role as a committee is to gather the information, make sure groups understand the results, and offer a space for dialogue.

Campus Climate Survey

I am glad to report that the campus climate survey was finally launched last year. You may remember that the company that conducted the survey took on more projects than they could handle this year, which resulted in delays to the results being issued to us. We had 1170 individuals fill out some or all of the survey. The response rates were about 8% for undergraduates, 5% for graduate students, and 35% for employees. This is lower than the average response rate for all institutions, which may in itself be a measure of our climate. 

Headline figures show that only 57% of the respondents are satisfied or very satisfied with the overall climate; this compares to around 73% of our peer group in the top two categories. Obviously, this gap is disappointing. What is interesting is the relatively large percentage—22%—who are neutral. 

Among Brockport respondents, 15% of undergraduates, 20% of graduate students, 26% of faculty, and 22% of staff/administrators expressed dissatisfaction with the extent to which they experience a sense of belonging or community at SUNY Brockport. 

In general, people from underrepresented populations indicated that they had heard negative remarks or experienced discrimination or harassment for their identity more frequently than those of the majority. This includes African American or Black individuals, LGBTQ+ individuals and individuals with disabilities. Moreover, a number of Brockport respondents noted that they did not feel comfortable reporting acts of discrimination or harassment, in part because they did not believe appropriate action would be taken.

These are hard results to read. They show we have more work to do on campus climate. Cabinet takes these results very seriously. We know that campus climate is everyone’s responsibility, particularly for those in leadership roles. Over the next semester, the Presidential Campus Climate Committee and Cabinet will be inviting you explore these factors further with us. We want to invite conversations about how we can ensure that people feel more comfortable reporting when things go wrong—when this is not a great university at which to work or learn. We are interested in solutions and action. To that end, because we know that climate is not the responsibility of the CDO or the President alone, I have asked my cabinet colleagues to take the lead in their divisions on climate issues, and I’m asking Dr. Sara Kelly to join the Presidential Campus Climate Committee as an additional cabinet representative to help us work through next steps. We will be recruiting other new members to the committee, and I will ensure that they have a clear and robust charge this fall.

Here are some things we are already doing: We have invested in a new student success initiative which will be formally announced by the funders this fall. What I can now is that it was a highly competitive grant process and I am delighted that we were successful. 

We have also invested in a Restorative Practices Initiative with the Center for Dispute Settlement. Eighteen individuals have already completed the first round of training, as part of this three-year project. All of Cabinet met with Shira May, President & CEO of the center this summer to learn more about restorative practices and have further meetings planned. 

This fall our 18 restorative champions will engage in phase one of this project: community building. This includes conducting community building circles across campus and assisting the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (OEDI) with developing a plan to implement restorative practices throughout Brockport. OEDI will also be hosting restorative practices awareness sessions. As we progress through the three parts of this project, our goal is to strengthen sense of community, and to respond proactively to incidents of harm that may take place at Brockport.

Those who will take on the role of Restorative Champions will be trained in proactive and responsive interventions to strengthen relationships between individuals and groups. They will also track the use of restorative practices/restorative justice as an intervention on campus. I am thankful that the Provost has jointly funded this project alongside my office.

The next time we conduct a campus climate survey, we will endeavor to find ways to engage more individuals, and/or create surveys that are role-specific (student or employee based). SUNY has just finished procuring a system-wide survey, and we are likely to take part in that survey in three years’ time. There is one heartening figure that shows that we can make a difference: 86% of Brockport respondents agree or strongly agree that diversity on campus improves experiences and interactions within the classroom, the workplace, and the overall community. This is not insignificant, especially at a time when the Supreme Court has ruled against race conscious admissions cases. 

We will continue to be an inclusive learning community that inspires excellence through growth, engagement, and transformation, not only because it is the right thing to do, but because our community wants it. So please, join us as we work on our climate and be part of the solution that we are seeking.

One of the objectives of Building a Better Brockport is to “foster a sense of belonging and a culture of kindness.” We also aim to foster a culture that is “inclusive, respectful and kind.” We debated these objectives a lot during the final iteration of our plan. Some people were hesitant. Some thought these were measures we couldn’t measure. I like to remind people that “not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” Sometimes we can measure things in qualitative rather than quantitative ways. We know it when we see it. 

And I have seen it this year. I want to share a few examples. Last year, Jacques Rinchard was named Person of the Year in the School of Arts and Sciences. Those of you who know Jacques are probably not surprised to hear this. But you may be surprised to know that Jacques routinely sends congratulatory notes to individuals whose accomplishments find their way into the Daily Eagle. He makes an effort every day to thank his colleagues and give them kudos. That’s kindness at work. Thank you, Jacques! 

I have a personal example of kindness that happened just a few weeks ago. I was out for my morning run, and I was going a pretty good clip. You know those days when everything feels right in the world, and your body feels strong and agile? Just down from the townhomes I was crossing the street to get to the sidewalk near Lot V. And I tripped. I fell flat on my face. I actually quite literally saw stars. Everything hurt: my hands, my shoulder, my ribs, my skinned knee, and yes, my head. I don’t know how long I lay there—before George McCauley came to my rescue. He picked up me. And he got his car and drove me home. It’s not a little thing. I was thinking how far it was to the house from where I was, if I was going to have to limp there. George recognized I was not okay. And then he made sure I was. He was a real star when I was still seeing stars, and I’m grateful to him. Thank you, George. 

Another example of kindness is the “W.A.Y to Go!” award initiative. W.A.Y. stands for “We Appreciate You!” Two individuals who have asked to remain anonymous began the W.A.Y. to go award in order to recognize the contributions of others. It started as a way to help move beyond a kind of post-COVID funk. They got together to figure out how to boost morale. They noted down the name of everyone who worked in their building. They met once per week over the span of several months, and disseminated a few awards each week. Each award consisted of either a certificate or a hand-written thank-you note detailing their gratitude for a staff member’s daily efforts. They also included a little trinket, like a silly pen, a mouse pad, a note pad, or something similar. They took great pains to disguise the source of the awards. They wanted the focus to be on the person receiving the recognition, not on those who were sending it. The individuals themselves told me that they felt uplifted throughout the process, particularly when they heard many people talking about the initiative. The best part for them was the sheer joy that people expressed in receiving a small token of recognition that someone saw their efforts. Dozens of the certificates are still posted on office walls. It’s the gift that keeps on giving!

I love this random acts of kindness plan. It takes effort—clearly. I was told how they tried to disguise their handwriting and the path of the internal envelopes that were used. But the act of kindness spawns others. And I want to thank the two amazing individuals who not only thought up this plan, but executed it. You know who you are. And I so desperately want to give you public recognition, but as one of you said, the secrecy of the program was part of its charm. 

There are other acts of kindness: staff in Hazen gathering basic needs supplies for EOP summer bridge students and getting donations from village residents; the individuals that help a confused student or parent navigate their way around Brockport, either physically or virtually; the faculty member who goes out of their way to ask a student how they are. Kindness expands the more we extend it. I want to urge everyone to take up the call to join the culture of kindness. If we do so, I hope we will find ourselves surpassing not only our climate survey results but those of our peers the next time we conduct it. 

During our 2023-24 academic year we will continue to focus on elements of our strategic plan. We will launch new SUNY-funded initiatives for mental health, food insecurity, student accessibility services, internships and research support, all of which will assist our goals of making Brockport a great place to learn. We will maintain our external engagement and continue to raise the profile of SUNY Brockport in Rochester and beyond. Mike Andriatch and I will work closely with our donors to help them see the value of supporting our academic community. We will continue to make progress on our structural deficit, and continue to invest in those areas that help us achieve our student numbers and retention figures. Finally, we will finalize our EDI strategic plan and ensure that we continue to engage our shared governance groups and unions in meaningful dialogue. If we do all of this, I know that excellence is within our reach as well. 

I want to end today’s convocation by acknowledging the successes of our faculty and staff. After all, you are what makes Brockport a great place to work. 

Dr. Milo Obourn has been selected SUNY Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice Fellow. DEISJ Fellows will help shape the new SUNY DEISJ General Education knowledge and skills area by mentoring faculty across SUNY.

Dr. Elizabeth Garner Masarik, an assistant professor in History was named the inaugural fellow for the Dr. Virginia Radley SUNY Fellowship Program. This is an incredible award which will offer her the opportunity to research the significant role women have led in the development of New York State and to recognize the contributions women leaders have played in the state and the region.

We had a bumper year for grant capture, with Sponsored Program Activity of almost $5.3 million—that’s 1M higher than this time last year. 

Of particular note, the Department of Nursing received $150,000 for High Needs Simulation Funding—the highest amount of any SUNY higher education institution. Our Migrant Education program received more funds this year to expand to additional counties, and our C-STEP program also saw an increase in funding. Dr. Jacques Rinchard is continuing to work on 7 grant funded projects, all of high value—the work of the Department was highlighted at the reception of the Chancellor’s State of the University address this past spring. To address the concern that there’s a lack of professional preparation for general physical education teachers as related to the inclusion of children with disabilities, Dr. Lauren Lieberman developed a new rating scale, the Lieberman/Brian Inclusion Rating Scale for Physical Education, for which she was awarded an $80,000 grant. One of our new faculty members, Dr. Jack Peltz, received a $40,000 award from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Dr. Michael Kramer was a Spring-Summer 2023 Digital Studies Fellow at the Library of Congress, and his research was noted by SUNY in their Research Forward August newsletter—the only comprehensive university researcher so highlighted. And this is just a taste of the research that is happening here at Brockport that makes an impact beyond our campus.

Over the last year, four individuals have been promoted to professor and I’m going to ask them to stand if they are able so that we can recognize their achievement. 

  • Dr. Austin Busch
  • Dr. John Daly
  • Dr. Susan Lowey
  • Dr. Jennifer Ramsay

I’d like to introduce our most recent Chancellor’s Award Winners. 

  • Ms. Sandra Almekinder, Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service
  • Ms. Melissa Browne, Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching
  • Ms. Denise Catlin, Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Classified Service
  • Dr. Jason Dauenhauer, Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service
  • Ms. Wendy Prince, Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service
  • Dr. Elliot Weininger, Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities

Congratulations, colleagues!

There are a few new faces at Brockport this year who have taken on significant institutional roles, and I’d like to ask them to stand to be recognized:

  • Ms. Laura Bronsink, Director of Student Conduct
  • Ms. Jackie Clark, VP for Administration and Finance
  • Dr. Tim Shafer, Director of Academic Affairs at REOC
  • Ms. Lindsay Ward, Director of the SBDC

There are also people who have taken on new director level or above roles and I will ask them to stand as well:

  • Dr. Lorraine Acker, Vice President for Student Affairs
  • Dr. Priya Banerjee, Interim Director, Institutional Research
  • Dr. Monica Brasted, Interim Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences
  • Ms. Julie Caswell, Director of Facilities Maintenance and Operations and EHS
  • Mr. Steve Cook, Interim CIO
  • Dr. Eileen Daniel, Senior Vice Provost
  • Mr. Keith Davis, Interim Director for the Center for Global Education and Engagement
  • Mr. Tim Johnson, Interim Director of EOP Recruitment & Engagement
  • Ms. Lisa Jones, Director of Student Services at REOC
  • Mr. Dan Kandris, Interim Director of EOP Student Support & Engagement
  • Dr. Sara Kelly, VP for Enrollment Management
  • Mr. Zach Lyman as Director of Multimedia Production
  • Dr. Jose Maliekal, Vice Provost
  • Ms. Laura Merkl, Director of Scholarship, Research, and Sponsored Programs
  • Mr. Keith Nobles, Director of the Professional Education Unit

Forgive me if I have missed others, and know that you are appreciated for your leadership. We also have 106 new faculty and staff amongst us. If you joined our Brockport community in the year, will you please stand and be recognized by your colleagues? Colleagues, these are the newest of our community. As we go out into the employee appreciation luncheon, I ask that you look out for them, that you introduce yourself, and you welcome them into our campus community. Thank you for being here today. See you at the luncheon!