President’s Newsletter

Friday, August 29, 2025

Dear Colleagues:

The first week of classes is always special, and it feels even more special to me this year. I really enjoyed the opportunity to see the students in Seymour Union and outside, gathered together, meeting up and talking, and sometimes laughing and eating together. I am grateful to all of the volunteers who handed out fruit, water and yes, candy to the passing students, to help orient them to their new environment. I enjoyed driving the golf cart around and picking up students who didn’t know where the Conrad Welcome Center was and getting them to where they needed to be. It was wonderful to see the part-time job fest so busy on Wednesday, as well as the number of students engaging with the Student Engagement and Recruitment event on Hartwell Lawn.

The week started early, on Sunday, with Academic Convocation. Dr. Meredith Roman offered a wonderful faculty address, and Casey Cappelletti, our alumna speaker, talked about the Washington DC program and the difference it made to her life. It was great to honor Dr. Bill Andrews at the event.

This week I met with the Senate Presidents as well as Senate Executive and discussed the upcoming SUNY Academic Momentum Project which will set individual targets for SUNY institutions in relation to overall recruitment and retention goals. We will get more information from SUNY in September. I had regular one-to-one meetings with four members of Cabinet as well as with John Follaco.

We had our preliminary Homecoming Planning meeting this week, given that this special event is just four weeks away. I was also able to spend some time talking with our recent donors, both in person and over the phone.

Cabinet had most of its regular meeting focused on the National Institute for Student Success project. Brockport was fortunate to be sponsored for this program, so we were able to get expert advice and guidance from NISS at no cost to the university. They not only correctly identified the challenges we face regarding student retention, but also offered concrete solutions to help us think through how to improve our overall retention. Erin Rickman and Rey Sia will be leading a project on this area as part of the overall SEM plan.

I was recently elected Vice President for Membership for Rochester Rotary, and as part of that role, I try to attend membership committee meetings as well as a monthly board meeting. Two such meetings happened this week. I was also able to attend Club Craze Thursday evening. The energy in the SERC was palpable, and it is good to see our students so engaged in their extra and co-curricular activities.

I hope everyone has a restful and rejuvenating holiday weekend!