Vice President News from Ian Harper
The clocks have moved forward, and we are officially in spring, although at times it hasn’t felt particularly spring-like! With the advent of spring, we are now nearer the end of the current academic year, with students getting ready for finals and prospective students visiting campus. Once again, kudos to everyone that supported the recent open house for accepted students; the feedback from students and parents was amazing.
Last month I attended the State University Business Officers Association (SUBOA) Conference in Albany. It was a good opportunity to meet other SUNY folks and share ideas, information, and challenges. It is helpful to be reminded that we often share the same challenges as other institutions. It was also great to hear how well-respected SUNY Brockport is, with special mention to both Mark Stacy and Pam Powell of Finance & Management’s Procurement and Payment Services team, who got a call-out from other campuses for their knowledge and support.
Also last month, I held a couple of optional roundtables with Facilities staff. I want to thank them for attending, for the great feedback they provided, and to assure them that we are looking into the ideas and suggestions that they raised.
“The Great Colleges to Work For” survey closed at the end of March. Overall, we had a 47% response rate, which is higher than the national average of 42%, so thank you to everyone who submitted a survey. The results are being compiled, and we will have those results later in the year.
Take care and thank you for all that you do!
Departmental News
Brockport Auxiliary Service Corporation (BASC) – Bookstore Services
As previously communicated, bookstore services are transitioning from Barnes & Noble to eCampus.com at the end of the Spring semester. This means that students will order their course materials for SummerSession and Fall 2025 at the SUNY Brockport Online Bookstore. Online orders may be shipped for free to the store in the Seymour Union for convenient in-store pickup or shipped to an off-campus address. (Please note: There will be no course materials in the store.)
The current Bookstore space in the Seymour Union will transition to a spirit shop early this summer. The current Bookstore provider, Barnes & Noble, is offering discounts on merchandise until the end of the spring semester, while supplies last. Stop by for some great deals this spring and be sure to visit the refreshed spirit shop when it reopens in June under new management. More details about the re-opening will be shared soon.
Lastly, faculty may visit the Course Material Adoption Resources webpage for more information about placing book orders using the eCampus.com FAST portal.
Facilities Maintenance & Operations (FMO) – Temporary Summer Employment Opportunities Posted
See the below opportunities in the areas of Painters, Movers, Custodial, and Grounds. We are seeking students, retirees, or any others that desire a summer working experience in Facilities. Must be 18 years or older to apply and can start as early as May 8 until August 13. Please share the links below with your outside contacts who may be interested.
Careers @ Brockport Employment Opportunities webpage
Job Postings
- 2025 Temporary Summer Workers - Facilities Painters
- 2025 Temporary Summer Workers - Facilities Movers
- 2025 Temporary Summer Workers - Facilities Custodial
- 2025 Temporary Summer Workers - Facilities Grounds
Facilities Planning & Construction (FPC) – Electrical Infrastructure Upgrade Impacts
As recently announced via email, SUNY Brockport is upgrading its electrical infrastructure in an effort to reduce its carbon emissions in the years to come. The two-year project is entering its final phase. Between June 2 and September 17, 2025, each building on the north side of campus (north of the railroad tracks) will be disconnected and then reconnected to the new electrical grid.
All buildings that are still operating on the old electrical grid will be without power between 1 am and 5 am on the first day of each building’s transition to the new grid. Buildings that are being transitioned to the new grid (if scheduled to be occupied during this time) will be fully powered by a generator for the remainder of the time it will take to complete the transition. Once a building undergoes its transition to the new grid, it will no longer be impacted by the ensuing transitions.
Crews will begin preparation for this work soon, so you will likely begin to see an increase in contractors and equipment on campus in the near future.
The current project schedule, FAQs, and tips for how to best prepare for outages are available on the Electrical Infrastructure Project webpage. Please look for weekly updates in The Daily Eagle once the project is underway.
Departmental Fun Facts
BASC employs over 175 student team members and is the largest student employer on campus. BASC will celebrate its student team members during National Student Employee Appreciation Week, the week of April 14.
Employees in the Spotlight!
New Employees
- The Facilities Custodial team welcomes Beatrice Rodriguez as a new cleaner who joined us on March 26!
- Human Resources and Payroll welcomes Christina Houseman, department receptionist, who joined the team on March 13!
Promotion
- Facilities Maintenance & Operations congratulates Jacob Pruss on his promotion from Plant Utilities Assistant to Plant Utilities Engineer 1 (HVAC)!
Changing Role
- Facilities Maintenance & Operations congratulates Stewart Robinson on his move from Maintenance Assistant to Service & Repair Assistant (Garage)!
Getting to Know You
- Jean Gilman – I was born in Long Beach, California, but we moved to Brockport when I was two years old (both my parents are from Western NY). I started kindergarten at “The Campus School” which is now the Brockport Daycare in Cooper Hall. I have three brothers & one sister. I’ve been married to my husband, Greg, for 22 years, even though he is a NY Jets fan. My favorite things to do are cooking, traveling, golfing, and gardening. I’ve collected Marilyn Monroe memorabilia for over 30 years. I’m currently obsessed with Sudoku puzzles, Hello Kitty, Instagram, our 8-yr old Redbone Coonhound named Daisy, and my two granddaughters Sarah and Sophia. I have worked for BASC since 2006, when I started as a student manager, and stayed with the company after getting my BA in Business Management. I am currently the Assistant to the Executive Director of BASC and have worked in this capacity since 2014.
Kudos to Employees
Finance & Management’s Office of Student Accounts & Accounting (F&M/OSAA) gives kudos to the following staff:
- Colleen, Amy, Elizabeth, and Jonathan have spent dozens of hours cross-training. Patrick returned from Paternity Leave last week and has re-joined the training festivities!
- All OSAA members worked together to analyze and resolve hundreds of Pell exceptions – what an amazing team!
- Erika has begun researching potential Fall 2024 collection activity earlier than it has ever been done. Her dedication means many more students will have the opportunity to resolve their delinquent debt before it is referred for external collection proceedings.
- Peggy has become the undisputed Tuition Waiver Queen!
- Despite only recently learning the process, Paul volunteered to void stale-dated checks – and crushed it!
- Dora completed the Financial Aid query process!
- Erica did all she could to help our Registrar learn more about how to code the federal Title IV Recalculation statuses in Banner.
Human Resources and Payroll gives kudos to Alyse Wenzel, Pat Maxwell, Ezgi Erdogan, and Nick Leone for their outstanding work throughout the month of March preparing for HR’s new applicant tracking system.
Jeff Thompson of Brockport Information Technology Services (BITS) performed in SUNY Brockport’s most recent Fine Arts production of A Few Good Men, a military courtroom drama, as the character Colonel Nathan R. Jessup, famous for saying “You can’t handle the truth!” The play, held in the Black Box Theater, sold out for every show!
April Birthdays
- Katelyn Adams
- Leeanna Alexander
- Ryan Andrews
- Jeremy Barnard
- Jennifer Breslawski
- John Carlson
- James Clarke
- Scott Connelly
- Deborah Ferris
- Hunter Forte
- Garrett Fowler
- Elizabeth Gregory
- Anna Hershey
- Tricia Hillman
- Liam Honeck
- Juanita Jenks
- Erika Johnston
- Kimberly Johnston
- Tiffany Jolly
- Carlie Mccoy
- Meagan Oas
- John Oliver
- James O’May
- Samantha Palermo
- Ryan Pasnik
- Kelly Peters
- Jacob Pruss
- Megan Radder
- Robin Schepler
- Marla Strassner
- Jason Swift
- Noah Tantalo
- Lisa Teremy
- Janet Traino
- Peggy Turlington
- Madeline Vetter
- Jessica Voisey
- Devin Washington
- Logan Willard
- Tina Wise
- Joel Zastrow
April Work Anniversaries (Years of Service)
- Cathy Legacy, 26
- Gary Frye, 21
- Phillip Payne, 21
- Nicholas Colucci, 20
- Amy Aina, 18
- Tricia Hillman, 18
- Patricia Maxwell, 17
- Juanita Jenks, 16
- Colleen Crouse, 13
- Tammy Brown, 10
- Samuel Lewis, 10
- Tammy Jo Manz, 9
- Erica Newman, 8
- Justin Flow, 6
- Elizabeth Gorall, 6
- Andrew Jones, 6
- Jorge Diaz, 3
- Krystyne Kittle, 2
- Julie Letourneau, 1
- Davison Miller, 1
- Thomas Mourhess, 1
- Heather Norman, 1
- Christine Walterick, 1
March 2025 Green & Gold Star Awards
- Sondra Aman (FMO Cust): Thank you for all your hard work and contributions to the SPARC Committee. Submitted by University Communications
- Matt Ashmore (FMO Auto): Matt Ashmore went out of his way to fix the heat in my work van. (the blower went bad) Submitted by HVAC
- Denine Carr (HR): For your outstanding contributions to our University! Managing a heavy caseload & training others! Submitted by Human Resources
- Sue Clase (HR): For your support with Title IX investigations and for always going above and beyond helping others! Submitted by Human Resources
- Angelo Cole (FMO / PTS): For Your continued support of University Police and being a great campus partner. Submitted by University Police
- Colleen Crouse (F&M / OSAA): Going above and beyond to problem solve and help people not have a series of heart attacks. Submitted by New Stdt & Trnst Prgms
- Ezgi Erdogan (HR): For Your continued support of University Police and being a great campus partner. Submitted by University Police
- Ezgi Ergodan (HR): For taking the initiative and proposing changes to our new employee orientation process! Submitted by Human Resources
- Shawn Garrison (FMO Cust): Stepping up and doing most of the special request cleaning done for Tower’s Black Box Theater. Submitted by Facilities
- Jean Gilman (BASC): Thank you for pulling all the Holley Street documents together! Your efforts are beyond appreciated! Submitted by Finance & Management
- Hanna Guck (FMO Cust): Great teamwork! Getting the high window ledges cleaned with Dan. Submitted by Facilities
- Crystal Hallenbeck-McPhall (F&M): For your constant support of everything under Campus Services. Submitted by Campus Services
- Matt Jock (FMO HVAC): For helping housekeeping with a piece of equipment. Your willingness was greatly appreciated. Submitted by Facilities
- Nick Leone (HR): For taking the initiative and proposing changes to our new employee orientation process! Submitted by Human Resources
- Nick Leone (HR): For being a great partner working through all our questions about hiring! Submitted by BITS
- Julie Letourneau (F&M / PPS): For taking the initiative on starting to develop our new procurement workflow. Submitted by Procurement & Payment
- Peter Lovric (BITS): For helping us create more effective processes between BITS and HR. Always very helpful! Submitted by HR and Payroll
- Pat Maxwell (BITS): For your outstanding leadership and support of HR with the new applicant tracking system! Submitted by Human Resources
- George McCauley (FMO Cust): For your outstanding work with keeping the SERC Field House in pristine condition for our classes. Submitted by KSSPE Department
- Alicia McGuire (F&M / PPS): For assisting with keeping up with the Pcard transactions in Britney’s absence. Submitted by Administration & Finance
- Laura Merkl (F&M / SRSP): Thank you Laura for all of your amazing work with grants - you have been so great to work with! Submitted by Anthropology
- Stasia Molyneux (FPC): Thank you for all your hard work and contributions to the SPARC Committee. Submitted by University Communications
- Kallee Quill (HR): For your willingness to always help out where needed! HR front desk, recruitment, TIX! Submitted by Human Resources
- Matt Smith (FMO Maint): Matt helped me out with a job that could not be completed on the evening shift. Great Teamwork! Submitted by Maintenance
- Dan Walterick (FMO Cust): Great teamwork! getting the high window ledges cleaned with Hanna. Submitted by Facilities
- Alyse Wenzel (HR): For your outstanding work with our new ATS & providing coverage during an unexpected absence! Submitted by HR
BizLibrary suggested course of the month
8 Workplace Distractions to be Aware Of – This video lesson is devoted to helping learners conquer the distractions that hinder their productivity at work, covering some basic distractions such as cell phones, procrastinating, and multitasking. Ultimately, viewers will leave knowing how to use their time more wisely and stay focused at work.
Events Coming Up
- April 9, 2025 – Scholars Day across campus
- April 25, 2025 (2:30-3:30pm) – Honors Awards & Student Leadership Ceremony in the Ballroom
- May 2, 2025 (4:00-5:30pm) – First Friday in the Alumni House
- May 15, 2025 – Almost Alum Block Party
- May 16, 2025 – Commencement Ceremonies in SERC
- June 2 through Sept 17 – Campus Electrical Upgrade Initiative (see details under “Departmental News”)
- Every Friday! – Green & Gold Fridays – everyone is encouraged to wear their SUNY Brockport gear / colors!
*Check out our inclusive SUNY Brockport Events Calendar*
If you have news you’d like included in a future issue, please email to Laurie A. Smith (lausmith@brockport.edu).