Welcome to the 2025-26 academic year. As we prepare to welcome new students and welcome back returning students, I am grateful that we can spend time together as a community. As always, our campus remained busy and vibrant throughout the summer. I’ve come to realize more and more that there is no such thing as downtime on a college campus! I know that many of you were here each day to ensure that our campus operations ran smoothly. Thank you for your dedication. I particularly want to call out our facilities team for the amazing work they did over the summer for the electrification project. It went very smoothly, as a result of your hard work, your overtime and your expertise. Thank you.
For those of you who were on summer recess, welcome back! We missed you! For those of you who are new, welcome. I look forward to meeting you and working with you on Building a Better Brockport.
At the end of the last academic year, we were facing a number of uncertainties, in part due to the changing federal landscape, and, to be honest, only some of those uncertainties have become clearer over the summer. I want to start my talk by acknowledging this uncertainty, and by trying to put some of that into a larger context—a context in which we can also see longitudinal progress at SUNY Brockport. Having completed ten years as your president, I feel able to hold both perspectives in my head at once.
Let me start with the longer view. As I reflect on the last decade, I am so proud of what we have collectively accomplished. We’ve dealt with difficult financial circumstances not once, but twice, and we have come out stronger. We saw enrollment declines, and we invested, with a result that our student numbers increased, bucking the trend that we see across New York and across the nation. We have added not one, but two doctoral programs to our campus. We are the strongest and the largest of the comprehensive universities with a significant online and in person graduate presence that continues to grow. We have invested in our space and place, and continue to do so, with new buildings like Eagle Hall, renovated buildings like the Albert Brown building and Lathrop Hall, a more beautiful and accessible mall area, and so many other projects. Currently we have more than $211M in planning, design, bid or construction projects. We have actually grown our overall employment base at a time when many campuses are cutting back. We’re financially solvent and have institutional reserves that are healthy. We have lively student engagement. We have a wide array of attractive programs for students, and we are investing in projects that support our faculty and staff.
Aristotle is credited with saying “Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives…” I like that idea very much, and I find some truth in the fact that achieving excellence takes time, energy and commitment. It’s not an accident that our tagline is “Excellence within your reach” because we believe in the active engagement necessary to get the outcomes we want.
I start with the last decade because I believe it is important to take the long view since the short-term view can be distorted if we are focused solely on a moment in time. For example, if I reflect not on the last decade, but only the last year, it was sometimes hard to see the high points as we were increasingly concerned about the federal funding landscape and challenges to our long-standing commitment to providing support for all students on our campus, regardless of their socio-economic status or cultural backgrounds. Over the summer, I watched with dismay as institutions of higher learning became targets of a culture war that had little to do with reality, especially the reality of a public comprehensive university. And I worried about what the federal budget landscape would mean for us. These are important concerns, and ones that must be addressed. And they are. But at the same time, if all we focus on are the what ifs and concerns, we lose the option or ability to see what is actually happening on campus that is going well. When I remembered to step back, what I saw consoled me, and in many cases filled me with gratitude.
On campus, we made progress against all of the measures we set last year: on campus climate, on budget, on strategic planning, and on enrollment. We saw a more engaged student body, a fuller calendar of activities for our students outside of the classroom, a larger array of academic programs, and additional support for students on internships. With SUNY’s help, we expanded mental health supports and we invested in case managers to help our students in distress. Our pantry won a platinum award from FoodLink and remained open in the summer. Almost 90 international students and undergraduate research students were housed in the townhomes over the summer, contributing to a sense of our campus as a place of continual learning.
Our collective efforts over the last ten years and over the last year, colleagues, paid off, and we have a strong, vibrant university community, poised for continued success. Not all of our sister schools can say the same, and I am grateful for the efforts of everyone in this room to ensure that Brockport continues to go from strength to strength.
The work that we do to Build a Better Brockport is important work. It is vital work. And it is work that engages us. We develop our community, educate our students, engage with others and seek solutions to complex and difficult issues.
Last year, we completed the new EDI strategic plan, and I asked Dr. Damita Davis to continue to review our campus climate. She and I conducted a community conversation regarding our campus climate survey progress, and our update against our plans included 23 pages of documented activity across all divisions. Selected highlights of that report are available on the OEDI website.
I also asked Dr. Sara Kelly and Mr. Ian Harper to lead a new Strategic Plan Steering Committee last year to shape and influence the final years of the current plan. A series of Goal Groups were formed to ensure that we maintain progress on each of our institutional goals, before we start the process of strategic planning again during the 2026-27 academic year. Yes, it’s just about that time again!
In order to be a great university at which to learn and work—goals one and four—I charged the Space, Place and Amenities Refresh Committee—or SPARC for short—with reviewing communal spaces on campus. Led by Ms. Darcy Porter, SPARC came up with a number of clear recommendations. Last year, we allocated funds for immediate upgrades, and for 2025-26, we’ve allocated an additional $30K to focus on better wayfinding as well as wall wraps that enliven spaces and bolster a sense of pride in place (and which can be produced by our print shop). Over the summer and even as I speak today, newly branded wayfinding signage is being installed in Rakov, the Seymour Union, Edwards, and Holmes.
Old “The College at Brockport” carpets are being mothballed in the Fannie Barrier Williams Building, Allen, and Drake Library in exchange for SUNY Brockport branded replacements. New wall wraps and photos are going up in the Union. There are several other initiatives that we will continue to implement in the coming months so watch this space.
We also had taskforces on food on campus and Student Transportation. I am grateful to Dr. Amy Shema for leading the taskforce on food. Mr. Bill McNamara, our BASC CEO, and the whole BASC team have worked exceptionally hard at process and food improvements, implementing a number of new programs as a result of feedback, including the Staff Saver Wednesdays. They’ve also committed to ongoing communication with students and with employees.
Dining facilities are instrumental for building community and belonging among students and employees, which align with campus-wide recruitment and retention efforts. Students’ voices are being heard and valued, and BASC has become a key partner in the work of Building a Better Brockport. Further plans for developing Seymour Union dining are underway. BASC staff are important members of the campus community and play a critical role in providing positive experiences for students, staff, faculty and visitors. I am grateful for their partnership.
Dr. Amy Guptill chaired the Student Transportation Taskforce, which has offered a variety of recommendations, focusing on the gaps in current provisions for students without cars as well as how we can better communicate the resources we do have. As the result of their work, Cabinet allocated $50K to transportation needs in 2025-26 with additional expenditure likely for 2026-27 if finances allow. To scale up our transportation commitments, we are starting by investing in a car share program (similar to our former Zip Car program) which is currently in procurement. We are also working on a non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) solution with Hazen. Finally, we are partnering with SUNY Broome on a 5-hour pre-licensing course (via Zoom) for students who wish to get their drivers’ licenses, which is being advertised through Residential Life, CGEE and SULA. My thanks to Ms. Johnna Frosini for her work in this area. The largest potential expenditure would be on a fixed schedule between Brockport and Rochester, given that RTS’s On Demand service does not meet the needs of our students as it lacks the level of flexibility that they require. Given the amount of investment this would require, this option will be reviewed in future years.
Other highlights for the past year, under Goal One, To Be a Great University at which to Learn, include the following:
- We expanded our program array, and this fall we will have new Masters’ programs in Healthcare Administration, Computing Science, and Chemistry, with approval for a new Masters in Nursing Education to be launched next year.
- We got approval for our second doctoral program, the EdD in Educational Leadership, and we have new online degree completion programs and expansions of the current programs. We’ve invested in new faculty lines to support many of these new endeavors.
- We grew Athletics, with approximately 850 student athletes this past year, and we approved a new sport, Women’s Flag Football.
- The Emerging Scholars Summer Bridge Program was required for the first time last year, which led to better Fall to Spring retention for the students who took part.
- Our Career Design Center supported 227 students with internships and professional experience stipends totaling $273,000 thanks to SUNY funding, and we had 7 students complete over 1000 hours of community service through the Empire State Service Corp.
- We celebrated five years of the Joey Jackson Intercultural Center with a keynote address by Joey Jackson himself.
- We have further developed our student support and mental health efforts, including launching Ask Ellsworth, our smart SMS chatbot with 24/7 access to campus information and resources, as well as proactive check ins during critical transition periods. We’re also preparing to launch Timely Care, a comprehensive virtual health and well-being platform with on-demand emotional support, scheduled counseling, medical consultations and self-care resources.
In relation to Goal Two: To be a University Engaged with its Community:
- The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) worked with 803 clients in 2024-25, exceeding their goal. They assisted 40 new business starts, and they are responsible for $10.7M in economic impact.
- The 2025 Day of Giving raised over $361,000 from 1657 donors. The number of dollars raised was up 69% from the previous year, and the number of donors was up 22%. These are all time records!
- We launched Brockport Brand Builders, our student-led marketing agency, with a dedicated space in Hartwell Hall, thanks to the generosity of Advantage Federal Credit Union.
- We celebrated Indigenous People’s Day with new programming this past year, and we continued to have a strong Diversity Conference that drew community members and local high school students to campus.
- We hosted two events that the Morgan Manning House normally hosts: the Old Fashioned Fourth of July and Shake on the Lake, as ways to support town-gown initiatives after the devastating fire at the historic house in January.
- And we have secured grant funding to support the MLK Boys Academy to return to campus each summer for the foreseeable future.
In relation to Goal Three: To be a Sustainable and Thriving University for the 21st Century:
- We continue to focus on our STARS rating. We have appointed a new Chief Sustainability Officer, as per SUNY requirements. Thank you, Dr. Steve Barber, for taking on this role!
- We continue to invest in low maintenance but beautifying landscaping. This year our facilities crew have created lovely rock gardens in areas that had been overgrown and untended.
- We continue to focus on our budget and on our enterprise risk management process.
- Registration and Records completed a massive digitization project, converting over 1 million documents to digital files, reducing paper storage and usage.
- We are making substantial progress on our Strategic Enrollment Management Plan.
Under Goal Four: To be a Great University at which to Work:
- Dr. Cesar Torres was named a Distinguished Professor.
- CELT has expanded programming to include development opportunities not only for faculty but all University staff.
- Green and Gold Awards continue to highlight excellence across the board with almost 1300 awards sent this past year. For 25-26, we will be making a change to the Green & Gold Star award process. Starting today, rather than an on-line form that generates a certificate that is sent to honorees, we are now giving everyone a chance to pass along an award personally to someone who has gone above and beyond. At the end of today’s program, you can pick up a pad of Green & Gold Star certificates from our University Events team. Additional pads can be ordered through the Print Shop’s storefront so you can recognize as many people as you would like.
- We submitted our data to the Great Colleges to Work For Survey. We scored highest in the area of Faculty and Staff Well-being, with 76% of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing with the statements comprising each dimension. We also achieved 75% agreement or strong agreement in relation to Inclusion, Belonging and Community, which is gratifying given the strong emphasis we have placed in this area.
Colleagues, this list of what we have collectively accomplished at Brockport is astounding. And it’s only a taste of what we’ve done! We are so very fortunate to be at Brockport, a university that has the support of SUNY and the state. In fact, we now receive more than $25 Million in state support, which is up from just $17 Million a few years back.
Our student numbers are strong for the third year in a row because of thoughtful, planned investments in this area.
In terms of overall fundraising, we raised $4.4 this year, which, as I’ve said before, reinforces the truism that people don’t give to institutions that have needs: they give to institutions that meet needs. And we are meeting needs across the region and beyond. My thanks to the Advancement team for their stellar efforts this year.
We had another solid year for grant capture, with Sponsored Program Activity of over $4.61 million. Despite federal headwinds, we were awarded another five-year cycle for CSTEP. We also received grants from NSF, NYS Education Department, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and a variety of other funders. I know that obtaining research funding isn’t easy, and I am very grateful to our faculty and staff for their prolific grant capture despite the current climate.
I want to turn now to the individual successes of our faculty and staff. Over the last year, 5 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. Paula Barbel- Nursing
- Dr. Michael Boston- African & African American Studies
- Dr. Mehruz Kamal- Computing Sciences
- Dr. Melanie Perreault- KSSPE
- Dr. Amaury Samalot-Rivera- KSSPE
The 2025 Chancellor’s Award winners are as follows and I would ask them to stand and be recognized:
- Ms. Tanasee Conner, Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service
- Dr. Carol Godsave, Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching
- Ms. Karen Haight, Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Classified Service
- Dr. Mark Heitz, Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities
- Dr. MoonSun Kim, Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service
- Dr. Cody Miller, Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching
- Dr. Takashi Nishiyama, Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching
- Ms. Krystal Perlman, Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service
There are a few new faces at Brockport this year who have taken on director level or above roles, and I’d like to ask them to stand to be recognized:
- Dr. Jana Craft, Dean of the School of Business and Management.
- Ms. Elizabeth Weir, Director of Hazen Center for Integrated Care
- Ms. Edel Alexander, Director of Budget and Administrative Services at REOC
- Mr. Paul Montanaro, Interim Director of IR.
There are also current employees who have taken on new director level or above roles and I will ask them to stand as well:
- Dr. Monica Brasted, Interim Provost
- Dr. Denise Copelton, Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences
- Dr. Kathy Peterson, Dean of the new School of Nursing
- Dr. Susan Lowey, Assistant Dean of Nursing
- Dr. Jessica Sniatecki, Assistant Dean, College of Education and Health
- Mr. Seth Johnston, Registrar
- Dr. Steve Barber, Chief Sustainability Officer
While some individuals have new interim titles, others have had the interim tag taken off their titles, including Dr. Summer Reiner, Associate Dean of the College of Education and Health, and Mr. Steve Cook, CIO.
I am delighted to see so many people having the opportunity to progress in their careers right here at Brockport. Forgive me if I have missed others, and know that you are appreciated for your leadership.
We also have 97 new faculty and staff amongst us. If you joined our Brockport community in the last year, will you please stand and be recognized by your colleagues? Colleagues, these are the newest of our community. During the employee appreciation luncheon coming up next, I ask that you look out for them, that you introduce yourself, and you welcome them into our campus community.
So what will we be focusing on in 2025-26? We will ensure our new Academic Affairs structure of Schools and Colleges meets the needs of our students, faculty and staff. We will continue to develop our program array, and we will be taking part in a SUNY-wide Academic Momentum project designed to help us support the students we have. We will continue to focus on their academic and non-academic needs to ensure that we retain them through to graduation, helping to lift their prospects and ensure their brighter futures. We have invested in a new Interfaith Center space in Cooper, thanks to Dr. Damita Davis’s work to secure a SUNY grant.
We will continue to raise money through our Brockport Foundation, so that what we achieve can be sustainably supported for years to come.
We will continue to work on our facilities upgrades. For 2025-26 we have received $34.7M in “lump sum” critical maintenance dollars to continue a small portion of Tuttle renovations, our work in the Hartwell nursing lab, and various other projects. We also got funding for a construction manager, which should help us move our projects forward in a more timely fashion.
On a less positive note, we found out in July that the majority of the long-planned renovation of the Tuttle Complex was not selected for funding by the SUNY Board of Trustees. The project to renovate the athletic weight room and locker rooms is expected to move forward but will subject to a short delay. We currently anticipate construction to begin next summer. The other pieces of the Tuttle renovation will not be moving forward this fiscal year and future funding is uncertain.
Since receiving this news, I met with the Senior Vice Chancellor for Capital Facilities in person. I learned that there were over $1.6 billion worth of high priority critical maintenance projects across the SUNY system and the Board of Trustees only had just shy of $400 million available to fund them. Thirty-five projects across the system were unable to move forward. Major projects at SUNY’s two hospitals took up a significant share of the capital budget. For reasons of affordability, it has become more challenging to do large programmatic rehabilitation projects and therefore priority was given to core critical maintenance projects. Over the next year, I will passionately advocate for this project in every appropriate venue.
This year, we are actively investigating both solar panels and wind turbines as a way to reduce our energy costs and invest in renewable energy right here on campus.
We will be undertaking another campus climate survey and reviewing the results. And in order to continue to focus on goal four of our strategic plan, we will be doing a deep dive into the results of the Great Colleges to Work for Survey. While I want to celebrate the highest level results—which surpassed the results from the last time we undertook the survey—I also need to acknowledge the areas that warrant further attention. These include Performance Management and Confidence in Senior Leadership, which only achieved 53% and 52% positive ratings respectively. As I compared our results with our peers, I noticed that these two areas are consistently ranked the lowest in surveys across the country, so we’re definitely not alone in this respect. In general, Management Confidential and UUP staff ranked the university highest, with CSEA staff and faculty both expressing more dissatisfaction. We need to understand these disparities and work harder at making SUNY Brockport a Great Place to Work for everyone.
Survey respondents were also asked, “What do you appreciate most about working at this institution?” &“What would make this institution a better place to work?” Answers in both categories gave us some very valuable feedback, some of which has been actioned already, with other outcomes to follow. We will be using the next year to implement further changes and to communicate these outcomes widely. We will be focusing on areas over which we have control and where we believe we can move the needle, whilst acknowledging some frustrations that we can’t address—like the fact that New York State doesn’t allow us to provide free or reduced tuition to the children of our employees. But in most cases, we can work on issues that affect the well-being and morale of employees, and we are committed to doing so.
Over the summer I conduct performance reviews of my senior team, and in one of them, a Vice President noted, “I have learned that the divisional culture we have created is an accelerator of progress.” We need that culture building in all divisions. And we probably need to stop thinking about ‘divisions’—what a divisive word—and start thinking in terms of whole university efforts. It is when we work together that we accomplish the most.
In relation to all of our plans for this coming year, I want to reiterate one important message: despite chaos elsewhere, right here on campus, most things are going well. We need to celebrate this and honor the work—the hard work, the collective work—that has made it so.
As I close my speech today, I want to end on a personal note and offer a short anecdote that some of you may have heard before. Some of you know my husband Allan. He’s from Scotland, the home of golf. And he’s a very keen golfer. So much so that I hardly see him in the summer. He even has that golfer’s tan.
Over the years, he’s tried to interest me in the sport but I’ve never taken it up, not even when I first became a president a decade ago and everyone expected me to golf, because, you know, that’s what presidents do apparently. But I have a character flaw. Well, I have more than one, but the one I’m focusing on today is that I am not interested in doing something I don’t get consistently better at. I cannot imagine spending free time on a game where sometimes it goes well and sometimes it goes spectacularly wrong. That’s too much like work.
But I’ve started to think a little differently about this after I listened to a Malcolm Gladwell podcast about the faulty ways in which we think of progress. Gladwell suggests that the achievements or accomplishments we should be most proud of are the ones that aren’t based on innate ability, but on what we have worked on and developed. It’s about what we acquire along the way. 1 And that does resonate with me: we can’t expect excellence to be easy.
Given how much Allan likes to golf, I asked him what makes it so exciting that he wants to do it all of the time. And he told me, the thing with golf is, you have a plan to hit the ball down the fairway, but it veers off course. The game isn’t about perfection. It’s about playing the next shot. You have to play from where the ball lies. And actually I thought that was pretty profound. And it is like work, or like our project for Building a Better Brockport.
We call our plan Building a Better Brockport is because it is an ongoing, evolving process: we are constantly in a state of moving towards the best version of ourselves as a campus. Sometimes this means taking detours, or finding ourselves in a different situation, but it always means we’re committed to the journey. The important thing is to keep going, and keep trying and eventually you will hit the ball into the hole.
So it’s never about playing the perfect shot or having the perfect strategy. It’s about recovering from your mistakes. It’s not about having the perfect team. It’s about dealing with adversity. If we think about what we do in golf terms, I think we’ve done a pretty good job of all of that. Together. Working towards making Brockport a great place to work.
This is my eleventh, and final year as your president. It has been an honor to serve this institution and to play the ball where it landed. And it’s time for someone else to play the next shot. I spoke with the Chancellor this summer to let him know of my decision to retire. We had a wonderful conversation, and I am grateful for the opportunity to serve under his leadership. In the next few weeks, SUNY will launch an RFP to bring in a search firm, and they will appoint a search committee with university and College Council representation. I will stay on until July 1, 2026 or until a successor is able to join SUNY Brockport. Over the next year, I intend to continue to lead this wonderful institution to the best of my ability, and to continue to put our students, faculty and staff at the center of all decision making.
It has been an absolute honor to serve this institution—and you—and I am full of gratitude for your support and guidance. Thank you all for being here today.
1 Malcolm Gladwell, Revisionist History: Season 8 “Unlocking Hidden Potential with Adam Grant: –10/26/23, which focuses on Grant’s book Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things