President’s Newsletter

Friday, September 19, 2025

Dear Colleagues,

I was away from campus until early Tuesday morning, so Tuesday was spent in catch up mode. Forgive me if you have emailed me and I haven’t yet had an opportunity to reply.

The rest of the week was a busy one with a United Way Annual Board Meeting and event in Rochester, a second United Way event on Friday, and a Willow Domestic Violence Board of Directors’ meeting. On campus we hosted the annual Naturalization Ceremony, where 65 individuals became US citizens. This is always a wonderful event, and we were joined by Village of Brockport Mayor Ben Reed and a representative from Senator Ortt’s office. On Wednesday evening, we had our annual Brockport Night Out event on the campus mall, which is sponsored by University Police along with BSG, Residential Life and the Joey Jackson Intercultural Center. The weather was perfect for games, food, and community building.

This week’s cabinet meeting focused on a presentation regarding undergraduate admissions, as well as our annual Key Performance Indicators (KPI) representation. Cabinet also had a separate meeting around best practices for planned and unplanned assemblies on campus. We undertake annual training in these areas.

This week I met with Tammy Gouger and Ian Harper in relation to our Great Colleges to Work for Survey results and next steps, and had one-to-ones with three cabinet members and with John Follaco.

Later today, I have my monthly meeting with BSG leadership. I always enjoy hearing directly from our student leaders about their concerns as well as their plans. This afternoon, I will be calling donors to thank them for their recent gifts to the university, and I am scheduled to spend some time with a member of the Foundation Board.

One highlight of the week was time spent with the Enrollment Management division presenting on Leadership Lessons with Dr. Sara Kelly as part of their Divisional Training Program. I really enjoyed the opportunity to talk about the leadership assets that individuals bring to their team, as well as talk about why leadership is so important in higher education.

Next week will be another busy one, as we get ready for Homecoming next weekend, as well as the associated board meetings, and related activities. I hope you will be able to join in the festivities.