Jennifer Pluta has worked in career services at Syracuse University, including spending the last 10 years providing advice to Syracuse’s veterans and military-connected community.

When enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve on May 19, 1999, she had no grand plans for making a career out of her service to her country. Rather, feeling compelled to give back to her country, Pluta thought she would serve for a few years before embarking on the next chapter of her life.

Today, the military has become the focal point of Pluta’s career, connecting service members to their benefits and resources while providing both mentorship and guidance that enhances the professional development pursuits of soldiers.

Along with commemorating 25 years of military service, Pluta, a first sergeant in the Army Reserve, is celebrating another professional milestone. For nearly 20 years, Pluta has worked in career services at Syracuse University, including spending the last 10 years providing advice to Syracuse’s veterans and military-connected community.

Jennifer Pluta

“I’ve always had a desire to go into the service. I’m so honored to have had this experience and I can’t believe I’m now at 25 years of military service,” says Pluta, director of Veteran Career Services in the , who also led the University’s Veterans Affinity Group for faculty and staff.

“I just never thought this was the plan when I first enlisted, but here I am. I love serving my country. I love helping and mentoring our soldiers on their journeys. Being a humble servant who gives back to our soldiers is the most honorable thing I can think of.”

By encouraging student veterans to discover more about the potential employment opportunities available to them, Pluta’s passion for career services has led to an impressive 100% placement rate for connecting student veterans to new careers following graduation. She achieves this through customized career coaching, mentoring, networking and her strong connections with potential employers.

Pluta’s commitment to serving veterans led to her being named a scholar for the 2023 Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program by the George W. Bush Institute. The initiative supports individuals who not only give back to our nation’s veterans and military families, but are motivated to broaden their skillsets, knowledge and influence to enhance their efforts to support the military-connected communities they serve.

Pluta, who earned a master’s degree in higher education administration from the in 2015, sat down with SU News to discuss her passion for service, the joy she gets from and the role she’s happy to play in making Syracuse University one of the best places for veterans.

Where did your passion for this work come from?

I always had an interest in career services going back to high school, when I would read resume books and wanted to learn how to make someone’s resume standout. When I was in college [at Alfred University] I did an internship with the Alfred University Carer Development Center. When I was first deployed to Kuwait as part of Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, I wound up helping soldiers to access their GI Bill benefits, student loans and other educational assistance programs.

I didn’t know you could make a career doing this. But from the onset of my military career, I wanted to know how the military benefits worked, because, for so many, those benefits are the key reason they chose to enlist in the Army Reserve. I also knew, from conversations on the base [in Kuwait], that there were many soldiers in the military who weren’t aware of the many benefits and educational incentives available to them. I was eager to share my knowledge with as many soldiers as possible because access to education through the Army’s benefits could significantly enhance their career paths and help eliminate many financial barriers.

How satisfying has it been to connect veterans and soldiers to their benefits?

It’s always been so rewarding helping my fellow soldiers. I’m lucky that I can do something I’m passionate about while helping others achieve their goals. It’s my job to help soldiers realize that they have a tremendous skillset to offer to an employer. Too often, veterans have a limited viewpoint on the value of their skills and what opportunities might be available to them. But it’s such a rewarding feeling when they understand that employers are interested in their skills and what they bring to the workforce. That’s the reward, when they realize what’s possible.

Once I came to Syracuse, shortly after my deployment in 2005, I started here as a temporary, part-time employee in the Center for Career Services. It was supposed to be on a limited basis, but it’s going to be 20 years for me with Syracuse University next year. I’m passionate about empowering our veterans and military-connected students with the skills and opportunities they need to succeed with their professional goals. I’ve had the best time and made some of the most amazing connections by helping the people I’ve served with.

How does your role with career services impact the University’s reputation as one of the best places for veterans?

Because I served as an Army Reserve career counselor and am still active in the Army Reserve, I have an understanding of not only what our service members have been through, but how their military experiences and leadership can be leveraged and utilized to help achieve their career goals. I know what resources to use to help translate their military experience into career success. I help those soldiers who want to go back into the service, and I help our faculty and staff who need help navigating their careers in the Army Reserve. I can use my network and my experiences to help connect veterans to the necessary resources, and I’m really happy I’ve been able to contribute.

As associate director of First Year Seminar, Jimmy Luckman helps provide a warm, welcoming and engaging atmosphere for the thousands of first-year students who arrive at the University each year.

When Jimmy Luckman prepared to embark on his college journey at SUNY Brockport, he desperately sought a meaningful connection with the campus community, opting from the get-go to become involved with a multitude of activities.

“I wanted to be a part of that process to welcome students into the college experience,” Luckman says.

Today, as associate director of the University’s (FYS) in the , Luckman helps provide a warm, welcoming and engaging atmosphere for the thousands of who arrive at the University each year.

His professional career and accompanying research studies the emerging field of orientation, transition and retention, which aims to examine why some college students excel and engage with their campus community while others feel disconnected once they arrive on campus.

Jimmy Luckman

“Every day I get to bring in the things that I’m passionate about, what I learned in the classroom, and figure out how we can continue to enhance the student experience and help students figure out their identities. That’s important because I didn’t really find out who I was and discover all the elements of my identity until graduate school. I’m still learning who I am,” says Luckman, a passionate advocate for LGBTQ+ issues who identifies as a queer man.

Recently, Luckman completed a doctoral degree from St. John Fisher University in executive leadership and successfully defended his dissertation, “More than Just a Sticker of LGBTQ+ Inclusivity: Exploring College and University-Based LGBTQ+ Center Director’s Process and Perceptions of LGBTQ+ Campus Climate Assessments.”

Among the goals of his research: collecting and leveraging the stories of LGBTQ+ students at various universities to both ensure their experiences are being heard and to create meaningful changes and to explore what universities are doing to connect students with local LGBTQ+ community resources.

“By being outspoken and an advocate in public spaces, hopefully, I can inspire queer scholars, queer community members and allies in our community to make a difference. We have an obligation to inspire queer youth and we must support those who want to support the LGBTQ+ community, and that starts with setting an example. I’m grateful for these opportunities,” says Luckman, entering his fourth-year teaching FYS.

Luckman sat down with SU News to discuss how he uses his lived experiences to enhance his FYS teachings, how he hopes to use his dissertation research to make a difference and effect change and why you can find him wearing his trademark bow tie in class and around campus.

How does First Year Seminar enhance the development of our students?

Jimmy Luckman (second from right) poses with the Department of the Year award.

I tell my students that my classroom is a space for them to actively make a difference on campus. FYS helps students with their transition to the University.

Another thing I love is making students a little uncomfortable. When we think about the transition to college, we think about how to make a comfortable and inclusive environment, and I recognize that. But when I talk to my students about my LGBTQ+ identity, specifically my queer identity, I automatically tell my students on the first day that, based on the way I sound, you’re potentially going to assume certain things about me. This doesn’t make you a bad person if you did. That’s part of FYS, learning about yourself and the opinions we form and learning to get uncomfortable.

Syracuse University is a place to engage in conversations, and for some of our students, they’ve never talked to someone who was so out before. I often share my queer identity and that openness invites students to share the elements of who they are, and potentially to expand what they know about the LGBTQ+ community.

How has your time on campus helped you discover your queer identity?

Some people say coming out, but I say I came into my identity at age 24 because that reflects how I was able to truly embrace who I am. I came into my queer identity in my graduate program [at Northern Arizona University] and Syracuse was the space and the place where I first explored how my identity looks as a working professional and as a role model who engages with and forms friendships and connections in the community.

I started volunteering at the immediately when I came to Syracuse in 2019. The majority of my really close friends are members of the LGBTQ+ community because we have similar interests and that commonality of seeking spaces where we can be authentically queer, which is something that I didn’t get to do when I was younger.

Syracuse has given me an opportunity to learn, reflect and try to find those alliances, resources and people to help propel our community forward. The has been very intentional and inclusive in its efforts to provide counseling and resources to the community. The has invited me to do a on my dissertation. We have a space to celebrate queer work and I know we have people on campus who feel a sense of support through the people and the resources available to them.

How did you decide on your dissertation?

There’s not a lot of literature specifically focusing on LGBTQ+ campus climate assessments to see how we are actually supporting students. I wanted to look at it from a lens of what do colleges and universities say or do to bring in students while offering an inclusive space, collecting data from LGBTQ+ centers and then utilizing that data to share that out from the perspective of these centers. How do we leverage this data to make changes on campus?

For my dissertation, what I really focused on was the importance of storytelling. We have students who share their stories of their experiences on a college campus, and I explored how can we leverage this information and these stories to make sure their voices are being heard and then go about creating change. How can we support LGBTQ+ students and create inclusive environments and affirming spaces that allow our campus community members to feel safe sharing their life experiences.

What’s the significance of the bow ties you frequently wear?

Jimmy Luckman poses with a First Year Seminar participant.

It’s all about having fun. Students are spending their Friday afternoons with me, so why not dress up for them? I’ve lost track of how many bow ties I own. I have different color bow ties. Holiday-themed bow ties. Floral bow ties. Even an SU-themed bow tie! It’s just a fun and different way to engage with my students. For them to see their professor dressed up and excited for class, I’ve noticed that they will open up with me and trust me more than previous students might have. I’m known on campus hopefully for my positive demeanor and for being a queer leader, but the bow ties help me standout and they’re a conversation starter. Plus, it brings me happiness!

When she was serving in the U.S. Navy as a culinary specialist, the ship frequently held sports jersey days, where the crew could wear their favorite player’s or team’s jersey for all to see. Rose was notorious for representing the Orange, with her two favorite jerseys belonging to former men’s basketball standout Carmelo Anthony and legendary men’s lacrosse star Mike Powell ’04.

Stephanie Rose

Little did Rose know that, years later, her future occupation would combine her love for the Orange with her passion for food services.

“Everybody knew I was from Syracuse and that I bleed Orange. Whenever the men’s basketball tournament was playing [in the NCAA tournament], I’d have two screens going on my computer to watch the action. I’ve always loved Syracuse University and wanted to work for the University,” says Rose, who fulfilled that dream when she was hired by Syracuse as a campus catering manager on Aug. 15, 2022.

In her role, Rose handles staffing for catered events on campus, overseeing roughly 200 student workers and student supervisors. Among the biggest on-campus events she’s led are the University’s annual Commencement weekend and Convocation celebrations, tailgates before home football games and the recent Veterans Summit held at the National Veterans Resource Center at the Daniel and Gayle D’Aniello Building.

Regardless of the size or scope of the event, Rose prides herself on ensuring that everyone in attendance enjoys themselves while feasting on carefully planned food selections.

“I know that the people are there to have fun and enjoy their get-together, and it literally makes my job when I see people enjoying themselves at an event. But I’m also all about making sure our students have the best possible experience. That’s my drive, that’s my goal. I especially love working events on the Quad for that reason. Our job is to make sure these students are having a great Syracuse experience, and our staff is here to do whatever they can to play a small part in that experience,” Rose says.

Get to know Rose, a decorated member of the Navy who still is active within the U.S. Navy Reserve. Rose and her husband, Jon, an aviation electronics technician in the Navy, are the proud parents of twin 4-year-old boys Asher and Logan.

But Nieves Vergara also knows and appreciates the many benefits associated with upper-class college students mentoring their younger peers, from sharing academic resources and providing feedback on classes and professors to understanding how to read a syllabus and inquire about summer internships.

Especially when it comes to students from low-income households who choose to attend Syracuse University, being connected to a network of mentors who understand how to successfully navigate these topics can be incredibly valuable.

Thankfully, in her role as the coordinator of mentoring programs in , Nieves Vergara combines her love of mentoring with her drive to make higher education accessible for all while connecting students to the proper resources and support systems once they arrive on campus.

Breana Nieves Vergara

“My passion for peer mentorship comes from the fact that I wish I had a peer mentorship program when I was in college,” says Nieves Vergara. “This job is my passion project, finding ways to create that community that I didn’t have. This position melds together all of my interests and is the perfect fit.”

Nieves Vergara pours this passion into helping the students she works with to discover community and feel comfortable exploring their own identities during their time on campus.

She says she feels blessed to be able to coordinate two peer-to-peer mentoring programs through her role: , where first-year female students of color are matched up with an upper-class female student of color, and , where first-year students of color are paired with an upper-class student of color, and the upper-class mentor is matched up with an Alumni, Employer, Faculty or Staff (AEFS) mentor.

“I get a lot of energy working with the students and they have great ideas. They’re all super energized and positive. Being able to be that mentor that I think I would have wanted when I was an undergraduate student, that’s also really fulfilling. This job is about providing our students with resources, but also bridging the gap and creating community for our students,” says Nieves Vergara.

It all stems from Nieves Vergara’s experiences as a student participant with On Point for College, a local nonprofit that strives to close the gap for lower-income students seeking to attend college. Nieves Vergara found the program to be incredibly beneficial, so much so that after she graduated, she embarked on a fellowship with On Point for College.

Breana Nieves Vergara poses with several of her student mentors and mentees in her role as coordinator of mentoring programs in Multicultural Affairs.

During her year-long stint as Programming Fellow, Nieves Vergara concentrated on providing students with peer mentorship opportunities through interactive, impactful and hands-on programming that helped students develop and grow as a person and in the classroom.

Because of her efforts to create academic, professional development, cultural and social connections between mentors and mentees, Nieves Vergara says she’s also gained a newfound appreciation for the role the University plays in giving back to the local Syracuse community, something she didn’t always realize growing up in the city.

“Being involved in Syracuse University and working in this role has shown me how much the SU community is invested in the local Syracuse community,” she says. “Since I coordinate those mentoring programs, being able to provide community service opportunities for my students in a way that’s meaningful for both the students and the Syracuse community has been really rewarding.”

Her impact on campus extends beyond cultivating community through peer-to-peer mentoring opportunities. Nieves Vergara also supports the Kessler Presidential Scholars program and leads the University’s which begin with an on Sept. 15.

New for this year’s monthlong celebration are weekly Café con Leche—translated as “coffee with milk”—discussions on important cultural topics like (Sept. 23), (Sept. 28) and (Oct. 4).

The culminating program is the , from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 13, featuring Paola Ramos, a Cuban American author, Emmy Award-winning journalist and Latinx advocate who also worked as deputy director of Hispanic media for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and served on President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012.

“I’m super excited for the programming we have planned during Latinx Hispanic Heritage Month. We have such an amazing resource on campus in [Cultural Center in the College of Arts and Sciences] that bridges the gap between SU and the local community, and there’s so much we want to highlight about our Latinx community. This is going to be a great time for our campus community and the City of Syracuse,” says Nieves Vergara.

Together with her parents and six siblings, Thawtheet moved frequently among various refugee camps, where she learned the importance of building community, pursuing new skills and learning new knowledge to improve her life.

“We had to move so many places, and the refugee camps kept getting bigger and bigger. Eventually we became a village with over 100 houses and families,” Thawtheet says. “People would help each other out. Volunteers helped us learn the local language and how to read and write, which was very helpful to teach the next generation.”

It was there that the spark was lit within Thawtheet to keep learning, keep growing and never give up on her dreams. She finished high school in the Mae La refugee camp where she was settled, having developed a strong passion for learning and ambitions for her future.

Having studied biology, chemistry and law, and gaining skills in weaving, sewing and manicuring, Thawtheet says she would “sign up for just about anything, just to get to know something new.” She soon realized that career opportunities would be limited for her within the refugee camps of Thailand, and as the Mae La camp grew more and more crowded, Thawtheet set her sights on a bigger future.

“I told my parents, ‘I just want to go someplace to improve myself, because living here, our life is not going to get any better,’” she says. It took some convincing, but her family began to submit applications to emigrate from Thailand to a new country. “The countries were Australia, Canada, the UK [United Kingdom], the U.S., Korea, Japan…people would just go and apply, they didn’t care where we were going,” Thawtheet says. “The application that drew my name was the United States; and when the papers came, it said my destination was Syracuse, New York. I started asking people around, and no one knew of this place.”

On Sept. 11, 2007, Thawtheet arrived in Syracuse and was immediately captivated by life in America. “When I came here, I looked at everything and thought, ‘oh my goodness, this is so beautiful!’” she says. “And when you need the light, you just turned the light switch on. And then when you need to cook, you just turned the stove knob!”

She knew her family made the right choice and that they would have a better life here. Thawtheet enrolled in English language classes through the Northside CYO and began taking steps toward gainful employment. She worked briefly at the Embassy Suites hotel in Syracuse before her liaison at the Northside CYO encouraged her to apply for a position with Facilities Services at the University. In 2008, she became a member of the custodial staff and has spent the last 14 years growing her career.

Thawtheet is now a respected member of the custodial leadership team, known for her positive attitude and unstoppable work ethic. “As a custodian, Ma had a strong work ethic and incredible dedication to the University and our students,” says Mary Pat Grzymala, senior associate director of Facilities Services. “Her energy and enthusiasm made her rise to the top and take on a leadership role. As a supervisor, she is an excellent mentor and will assist in building a strong team to continue to serve our faculty, staff and students.”

Thawtheet attributes her success to two factors: her passion for learning about the various buildings, machines and tools on campus to excel in her role; and her dedication to working various shifts to gain as much experience and meet as many new people as possible over the years. As the direct supervisor of 30 people, she exemplifies the values of patience, teamwork and kindness, always going the extra mile to make sure her team is well-prepared and well-trained for the job at hand.

“I enjoy coming to work, and I always communicate with my coworkers on the phone or through text message to keep them motivated and informed,” she says. “Some of my teammates have become good friends. On the weekend, we’ll sometimes take our kids to the park and enjoy our days off together.”

She also says that responding to emergency requests from students is one of her favorite parts of the job. “The students go first,” she says. “Any time a customer or a student calls me for something, I’m going to do the job right and I’m training my staff to do it right, too.”

When she first began with the University, Syracuse students even helped Thawtheet improve her English language skills. “I remember, my English was not so good yet. I learned how to speak English by talking to students, talking to my coworkers, different people. I asked them to correct my pronunciation if I got it wrong and to teach me anything that I don’t know!” she says.

“We feel very blessed to have Ma as part of our custodial leadership team. She is an exemplary employee who leads with the compassion and vitality that is essential to this University’s operations and providing a clean and safe environment for everyone to enjoy,” says Pete Sala, senior vice president and chief facilities officer.

According to Thawtheet, she is the blessed one. In fact, she often wears a gold necklace emblazoned with the word Blessed in cursive font. “I count my blessings every single day,” she says. “I love it here. I’m so happy with my job, I love doing it, and I get along with everybody, everywhere I go.”

Removed from the Commencement spotlight, Candace Hayden G’23 and the were also celebrating, but for a different reason. Sure Hayden, the executive director, and her team of Jordan Clifford ’12, director, Emily Haff, director, and Michele Lapierre ’13, assistant director, were pleased to witness the newest members of the Orange alumni family cherishing the final moments of their college experience.

But after COVID-19 postponed Commencement for the Class of 2020 and forced the University to hold not one but three separate Commencement ceremonies for the Class of 2021, this was a return to normalcy for Hayden and the Major Events team. One Commencement ceremony honoring all Syracuse University graduates.

After a year of event planning, a year spent thinking of every worst-case scenario, Hayden and her staff pulled off a smooth and seamless Commencement. And while Hayden is quick to point out that her staff treats every event with the same level of dedication, preparation and energy, ��it was especially important for Commencement 2022 to run flawlessly.

Candace Hayden, executive director, major events

“We take a lot of pride in what we do, regardless of what kind of pressure is on that particular event. But Commencement comes with a lot of pressure and that is an added motivation to make sure it is flawless. We want to make sure our students are happy and that their parents are happy. Commencement is a time to celebrate the students, and if the Major Events team can obsess over the details to create that venue and that space where it has a celebratory feel, those are things that we strive for,” says Hayden, who has worked at the University since September 2018.

Planning for Commencement begins each summer and includes working with assorted leadership teams on campus—from the Chancellor’s office and the provost to facilities, parking and physical plant—to create each school or college’s convocation schedule. Hayden and her staff serve as partners in the process, ensuring each convocation has its own identity, look and feel.

The pressure of planning and executing the biggest event on the University calendar was magnified because the Major Events team, which at its biggest consisted of seven staff members, featured only two staffers until Clifford and Haff started less than two weeks before Commencement. Hayden never once used the staffing shortage as an excuse.

Michelle Lapierre, assistant director, major events.

“We all just stepped up. I received the additional team members just in time to help execute Commencement, and a lot of credit goes to Michele Lapierre, who was always by my side. Plus, we have an honorary team member, our manager, Chuck Merrihew, the person I report to. He has a production background and really took the lead on a lot of the video aspects in setting up the Commencement production with the JMA Dome team. Chuck is a godsend, and I wouldn’t be successful without those key staff members and a lot of grace,” Hayden says.

The impact the Major Events team has on campus life extends beyond Commencement. Whenever there is a large-scale on-campus event—from New Student Convocation to Forever Orange campaign events—chances are good that Hayden and her Major Events staff members pored over the relevant details to ensure the program goes off without a hitch.

Jordan Clifford ’12, director, major events

Clifford, who earned a bachelor’s degree in magazine journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, spent the previous eight years working in events and marketing for the New York City-based Meredith Corporation before coming to Syracuse University. Haff spent the last eight years working in events and donor relations before accepting the job on campus.

“I’m very blessed to have the staff I have, and I’m grateful to have Jordan and Emily on our team. They were able to be thrown into the fire of Commencement a week prior, and they took the lead in a lot of areas that I couldn’t be present for. My hope with this team as we move forward is that we’re able to have a hand in executing advancement events while still managing our traditional Commencement ceremonies and New Student Convocation,” says Hayden.

For someone so focused on details, Hayden admits she “accidentally fell into event planning” years ago while working at Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Emily Haff, director, major events

After graduating in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in communication and media studies degree from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, Hayden served as an academic records coordinator at Drexel University in Philadelphia for two and a half years. Hayden worked in the registrar’s office on student diplomas and records, but it wasn’t until she accepted a position as academic events coordinator for Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, a role that required her to plan both Commencement and the awarding of degrees, that she began to really obsess over the details of events.

“It was important to make sure I thought through how someone experienced an event from beginning to end. We can obsess over what the ceremony looks like, but if a guest had a bad experience at check-in or had trouble parking, that’s the thing that’s going to stick with them. Over time, my obsession with details and event planning has grown and now I can’t get past it. Even when I go to an event I’m not in charge of, my eye hones in on the finer details,” Hayden says with a chuckle.

From left to right: Melissa Welshans, assistant director of CFSA; Jolynn Parker, director of CFSA; and Adam Crowley, academic and scholarship advisor

When it comes to applying for nationally competitive scholarships and fellowships, the team at the Center for Fellowship and Scholarship Advising (CFSA) offers a wealth of knowledge and resources for undergraduate and graduate students and recent alumni.

Located on the third floor of Bowne Hall, a team of three people—Jolynn Parker, director of CFSA; Melissa Welshans, assistant director of CFSA; and Adam Crowley, academic and scholarship advisor—guides students through the process of applying to scholarship and fellowship experiences that enhance and complement their studies across a broad range of disciplines and interests.

National opportunities they assist with include the Astronaut Scholarship, Beinecke Scholarship, Boren Awards, Critical Language Scholarship, Fulbright Program opportunities, Gilman Scholarship, Goldwater Scholarship, Marshall Scholarship and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships, just to name a few.

CFSA fosters a network of campus connections to build awareness of their office and award opportunities. They also liaise with the national foundations and organizations that offer awards and play a role in administering three high-profile internal scholarship programs specific to the University: the Syracuse University Scholars, Remembrance Scholars and Seinfeld Scholar Awards for Undergraduates.

It’s All About the Process

The center on average helps between 150 and 200 students apply to nationally competitive scholarships and fellowships each year, and the team says there is tremendous value in the application process, regardless of whether an individual is selected for the opportunity.

“One thing we really like to emphasize is that regardless of the outcome, the process of applying to these opportunities is extremely valuable for students. It can help them think through their future professional goals, as well as academic and personal goals,” says Welshans.

“Students often have big ambitions and a focus on what they want to do after graduation—but they don’t always have a practical step-by-step sense of how they’re going to get there,” Parker says. “Applying for national scholarships helps because they have to be able to articulate not just the big, long-term dream but how exactly they’re going to accomplish that dream. And we help them do that.”

One-on-one advising with CFSA helps students describe their past accomplishments and clarify their vision for the future in order to write a compelling personal statement, which is a critical component of many scholarship and fellowship applications. Parker and Welshans both have degrees in English and Crowley practiced law as a litigator (“a very writing-heavy area of the law,” he says) for almost a decade before making a career change to academic advising. Their fluency in the written word and practice crafting academic narratives allows them to add immediate value to student applications, regardless of the discipline of the award.

“Even for fields where we are not specialists, STEM fields, for example, we can still be helpful in the application processes because the personal statements are such a critical piece of writing for these awards,” says Welshans. “It’s a genre of writing that most people do not have expertise in, and we do. We really want to help students in all fields.”

Conducting Outreach Across Campus

Parker says a big part of her role is developing pipelines, collaborating with faculty and other groups and organizations on campus to connect with students who show national scholarship potential, ideally in their first or second year on campus.

“We are almost recruiters in a way, getting to know as many students as possible and connecting them with opportunities,” she says. “A lot of that comes down to relationship building—becoming familiar with who is in what role on campus and who the best contact is for various organizations and programs.”

To ensure that a range of students from across the University know about scholarship opportunities, the CFSA team reaches out to academic departments and graduate programs in all fields, and often liaises with such organizations as Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE), Multicultural Affairs, the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program, WellsLink Leadership Program and the Posse Foundation. They also engage recent alumni since candidates remain eligible for many national scholarship opportunities even after graduation.

According to Parker, “There are students who show up their first year and say, ‘I want to be a Fulbright applicant because my parents have talked about it all my life and I grew up knowing about it’—but some of our best Fulbright applicants had never heard about the program before we encouraged them to consider it. We want to make sure we’re not only reaching out to the students who already know about these opportunities.”

Each year, the team runs an outreach program called the Invitation to Excellence, where faculty and staff are asked to recommend outstanding students they’ve worked with in the past two semesters.

“We are just three people and this is a very large campus, so we’re always grateful to faculty and staff for taking the time to consider which students are doing interesting things and send them our way,” says Welshans.

“We truly value our partnership with faculty and staff,” Parker adds. “We can help students polish their story about their time at SU—but that story depends on the great work our faculty are doing with students and in support of students’ independent interests and projects.”

Making an Impact, One Student at a Time

Crowley, who splits his time as an advisor between CFSA and the Renée Crown University Honors Program, says working with students on the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship is just one example of how rewarding he finds his work. The scholarship helps fund study abroad opportunities for students who are Pell Grant recipients.

“The Gilman Scholarship really opens up opportunities that students otherwise may not have access to,” Crowley says. “And it’s one of the awards that attracts a lot of younger applicants—first- and second-year students who perhaps haven’t yet given a lot of thought to what their future career or academic goals might be. I think the process of applying for Gilman can be extremely helpful and help them grow in their academic career.”

Welshans says their one-on-one meetings with students emphasize holistic advising. “We are truly in the business of getting to know students and understanding where they are coming from, what their background is, what they are comfortable sharing.”

“We try to really listen to students, drawing out their interests and passions. We work on knowing how to ask the right questions,” Parker says. “Some students may be reluctant to promote themselves and we try to give them the confidence to do that.”

Outside of CFSA, Parker enjoys running, is addicted to The New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle and has a husband who teaches in the English department in the College of Arts and Sciences and a 15-year-old son. Welshans is a hobby manicurist and loves spending time with her family, especially her 4-year-old daughter. Crowley is an avid home chef who collects vinyl records and lives in the University Neighborhood with his wife.

To learn more about CFSA and the myriad opportunities available to Syracuse University students, visit the center’s website: . Students and alumni can also to be considered for advisement opportunities related to pursuing national scholarships and fellowships.

Huey Hsiao is the associate director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Kessler Scholars Program and the interim director of the Disability Cultural Center.

As the associate director of and the and the interim director of the , Huey Hsiao considers himself fortunate to be able to guide Syracuse’s students, providing a safe space for them to figure out who they are.

In his role, Hsiao provides leadership and direction on programming that enriches the University’s diverse campus culture and leads to academic, personal and social success for students.

It has been a meaningful career in higher education for Hsiao, who for nearly 20 years has worked to advance diversity and inclusion efforts, spearhead student success, especially for first-generation students, and more among college students.

It’s also a path he never envisioned himself taking when he was pursuing his undergraduate degree in biology from the University of Rochester.

“Whether it’s the opportunity to figure out their identities, what they want to study, what their career can be, or what their personal interests are, part of my job is helping students feel comfortable and feel like they belong here at the University. I don’t think I could have drawn up a better career path than what I’m doing right now, as part of a wonderful team at Syracuse University,” Hsiao says.

As an undergraduate, Hsiao did not have everything figured out but was on the pre-med track. While the plan sounded good in theory, Hsiao wasn’t passionate about the medical field.

Reflecting on the path he followed until a summer vacation after his sophomore year, he admits that, perhaps he went down the pre-med track because “of societal or parental pressure.”

Originally from China, Hsiao’s parents moved to the United States and planted their roots in Connecticut. Hsiao grew up in a predominantly white town and attended school with mostly white students, although he did attend a Chinese school on Sundays.

Hsiao says it was “like pulling teeth” going to Chinese school and he eventually quit around seventh grade.

It wasn’t until that family trip to China during the summer before his junior year at Rochester, when he visited China and Taiwan, that Hsiao decided to re-connect with his cultural roots.

He started taking Chinese classes again and did a study abroad semester in China during the second semester of his junior year at Rochester, “an amazing, eye-opening experience” that motivated Hsiao to learn even more about his culture and his heritage.

Eventually, Hsiao spent time teaching English in China after college and later accepted a job with the Council on International Education Exchange (CIEE), a study abroad provider, helping students who wanted to pursue a semester abroad as a program advisor and enrollment officer.

“It felt great, helping guide college students and encouraging them to participate in these life-changing study abroad programs,” Hsiao says.

After five years with CIEE, Hsiao knew it was time for a career change and decided to pursue a master’s degree in business administration.

From there, he��accepted a job as assistant director of student services for M.B.A. and M.S. programs in the Whitman School, combining his interests in helping students with his graduate degree, before joining the Multicultural Affairs staff in 2012.

Huey Hsiao (far right) poses with students and staff during a Multicultural Affairs open house.

In his current role, Hsiao co-chairs the planning committee for the University’s celebration, leads programs aimed at enhancing belonging and student success, like the Kessler Program and WellsLink Leadership Program, and mentors students of color and first-generation college students on academic, personal, social and cultural matters.

Hsiao is proud of the work the University is doing for first-generation students through the Kessler Scholars Program, which provides comprehensive support��to help students reach their goals from the moment their Syracuse University journey begins until they graduate.

“The Kessler Program is bigger than just the individual students; it’s about changing that overall narrative of what it means to be a first-generation college student, providing them with these great opportunities and connecting them to resources that will help them reach their goals,” says Hsiao.

Anthony Cosby

Anthony Cosby often starts his days at 4:30 a.m. with a three-mile walk—not to beat the San Antonio heat or enjoy the quiet pre-dawn hour, but because it’s the only time left in his day to squeeze in fitness.

As an entrepreneur, dad to an aspiring tennis star and full-time employee of the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) at Syracuse University, Cosby’s days manage to be filled to the brim with hustle and bustle—which is exactly how he likes it.

From his home office in Texas, Cosby is currently director for employer outreach and co-director of the , one of the eleven national training programs conducted by IVMF. He works with employers across the country to help them secure military talent, including veterans, transitioning service members and military spouses, and partners with public, private and nonprofit organizations to help veterans and their families access a variety of services that can help them achieve their goals.

Motivated to Give Back and Serve Others

After retiring from a 21-year career in the U.S. Navy in 2012, Cosby struggled with his transition back to civilian life. This experience inspired him toward a career path helping other veterans and military-connected folks transition smoothly and seamlessly into the workforce post-service.

“I was in talent acquisition toward the end of my military career, so I wanted to see if I could transfer those skills to the private sector,” he says. “I got my career coaching certification and landed a job at the University of Texas (UT) at San Antonio as an alumni career coach and from there it was game on … I was able to assist folks and that’s when I saw my true calling to help people.”

Cosby worked for UT San Antonio and then Webster University, but he’d seen a “60 Minutes” interview in 2012 that had planted a seed in his mind. The segment featured IVMF Founder and Executive Director J. Michael Haynie speaking about the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans, which not only put Syracuse University on his radar, but also sparked Cosby’s interest in becoming an entrepreneur.

Four years later, in 2016, he would join the IVMF team as the program manager for (O2O) at Joint Base San Antonio. O2O helps prepare service member and military spouses with industry-recognized certifications and skills training across high-demand sectors and occupations, like cybersecurity, project management and human resources.

“We started out with 32 people participating and now, fast-forward five years, and we’ve been able to help over 50,000 folks and change so many lives,” Cosby says.

Anthony and his family demonstrate their Orange spirit. Pictured left to right: Nina Pruneda-Cosby, Maria Mae Pruneda-Cosby, Anthony Cosby

As co-director of AmericaServes, which works to coordinate support for military families in communities all over the U.S., Cosby shared an anecdote about an elderly couple—a retired veteran and his wife—in their 70s in San Antonio. The couple was skeptical of organizations that claimed to help vets because they had been told “no” one too many times. Once they got on the phone with an AmericaServes intake specialist, they were asked a question they weren’t used to hearing: “How can we help you?”

“From this one access point, we were able to help them secure a free medical bed for the husband, who had had an amputation,” Cosby says. “Then we found out the wife was taking her husband to dialysis in a heavy, cumbersome wheelchair, so we were able to work with our local connections to get them a lighter wheelchair that was more easily accessible. We helped secure rides to and from dialysis so his wife no longer had to wait in the car for hours at a time. We even found out they were close to losing the home they rented because the building had been sold, and were able to help them secure six months of free rent in an apartment building that they loved.”

For Cosby, being able to help people in such profound and impactful ways on behalf of Syracuse University keeps his early mornings and long days in perspective.

A Burgeoning Entrepreneur

With that “60 Minutes” segment still in his mind, Cosby jumped at the opportunity to attend IVMF’s Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans (EBV) in 2019 at Texas A&M University. The program ignited his career as an entrepreneur and in 2021, after eight months of ideation, he launched , a brand of athletic/performance-based socks.

Importantly, Cosby says, STZY is not only a sock brand but a Certified Pending B-Corporation grounded in the mission of positively impacting the lives of student-athletes in need all over the world to keep them pushing toward their goals and aspirations, within and outside of the athletic realm.

“People are drawn to the socks because we’ve worked hard to make them the most comfortable sock known to man, but I think people are also drawn to the intentionality and the themes of empowerment that are present in our brand and our marketing,” he says.

Anthony and Maria show some STZY pride.

STZY is growing rapidly—the socks sold out within 40 days of the brand’s initial launch and have attracted attention from the likes of NFL and WNBA players interested in collaborating with the brand.

The company is preparing to launch their “V2” socks this month with a women’s line, and Cosby hopes it won’t be long before you see STZY socks at national retailers like Target, Foot Locker or Dick’s Sporting Goods.

The skills he learned during EBV have been instrumental to his success.

“The program taught me that I had to get laser-focused and to learn and understand the art of pivoting,” he says. “2020 and 2021 have been no joke in terms of getting a business off the ground, but my ability to focus and adapt has served me well.”

One of STZY’s early adopters and student-athlete ambassadors is Cosby’s 9-year-old daughter, Maria, who first picked up a tennis racket at age 3 and has since trained to become an elite tennis player. This summer, she played with 14- to 18-year-olds and her goal is to play in the U.S. Open by age 16.

Cosby says the spare time he finds between his work at IVMF and building and growing STZY is usually spent on the court, picking up balls while his daughter practices. He feels blessed to be able to spend time watching her talent unfold—and as a business owner, draws inspiration from her dedication to her craft.

“One thing I’ve learned from watching my daughter is—she can see her whole future, but she also knows that nothing good happens overnight,” Cosby says. “Great things take time to evolve. Even though I want STZY to shoot to the moon, I know that it’s going to take a bit of time. But I truly believe that if you put the work in and you’re a good person, big things are going to happen.”

By that philosophy, you can count on STZY going into the stratosphere—and Maria landing her spot in the U.S. Open.

Department of Public Safety Officer George Wazen, staff adviser to the Black Reign Step Team, accepted an award on behalf of the team at the Orange Circle Awards in September.

While he has many responsibilities, including providing security services for Bird Library, Belfer Audio Archives, Carnegie Library and the University Libraries’ facilities, Wazen’s favorite part is supervising the operational and administrative aspects of the floor monitoring program.

“Working with the floor monitor team definitely is the highlight of my day, every day; we have a certain bond that is built on trust and respect,” Wazen says. “Even though I serve as a sworn campus peace officer, my role is to guide, teach and mentor to help the students make good decisions and to serve as a gateway to all the resources that this great university has to offer.”

It’s all part of the commitment he and his colleagues in DPS share in working with students. “I get excited talking about my job, because at DPS, the department members share the same vision and are dedicated to the mission to protect and serve the University community,” he says.

Wazen oversees approximately 55 floor monitors at Bird Library every semester. It was through this program that he came to know members of the Black Reign Step Team. The organization, which started in 2005, aims to showcase the art of stepping through fellowship, discipline, unity and precision.

In 2018, members of the team approached Wazen to see if he would be willing to be their group advisor. “I was truly honored when I was asked to be the group advisor, as that shows the level of trust and respect we have for each other, and not to mention their belief that I have their best interest at heart,” Wazen says.

Originally from the Middle East, Wazen spent his early years between Lebanon, Jordan and Kuwait. “Stepping” or “step dance” is a deeply rooted tradition in the many cultures of the Middle East and Africa, symbolizing unity and collaboration, in movement, chants and attire.

Growing up, “I recall at every celebration the family elders would line up and teach the youth different steps and chants,” Wazen says.

Being a group advisor comes with several duties and responsibilities that Wazen proudly fulfills, including having a clear understanding of the mission of the student organization; attending group activities; providing guidance in budgeting, programming and member development; encouraging students to take advantage of opportunities that will enhance their leadership abilities; and providing feedback to the students.

Kayla Covington ’20, former president of Black Reign, appreciated Wazen as he guided the team in many ways.

“He didn’t just put his name on everything for official reasons, he really was an integral part of it,” Covington says. “He would make recommendations for opportunities for our team community service hours; assist with connecting us with other multicultural organizations who were willing to collaborate with us; assisted with navigating budgeting and funding group expenses; and always encouraged us to follow our motto of ‘go hard or go hard.’”

Wazen is always impressed by their work and their engagement with the larger community.

Officer George Wazen accepts an Orange Circle Award on behalf of the Black Reign Step Team.

“The Black Reign Step Team tirelessly seeks to perfect a complex performance through a synchronized percussive movement. The team has three-hour practice sessions, two to three times a week,” Wazen says. “The Black Reign Step Team is very much involved with the University community and greater Syracuse community as well, as they preform and showcase the beautiful art of stepping.”

For their work and engagement, Black Reign was recently honored as a recipient of the Orange Circle Awards, which recognizes individuals who go above and beyond in their daily lives and who possess a deep responsibility for philanthropic acts.

Black Reign was honored for the team member’s volunteer work at the Southside Academy Charter School, helping members of the school’s girls’ step team improve their performances. To celebrate its 15th anniversary, Black Reign hosted a banquet, with proceeds benefitting Southside’s step team.

Additionally, in 2018, Black Reign members collaborated with local musician Hughie Stone Fish on a music video depicting the beauty of the Syracuse community while showcasing the area in a positive light. They have also performed at the annual OttoTHON Dance Marathon to raise money for the Golisano Center for Special Needs at SUNY Upstate Medical University, which provides services to children with disabilities from all across Upstate New York.

Wazen proudly accepted the Orange Circle Award on the team’s behalf and shared words of pride and encouragement to other groups to be inspired from the award.

In November, Wazen will be starting his 16th year of service at the University, and he looks forward to “the challenge to leave a positive impression on every first-year class and every graduating class.”

“Every student and every semester has a different circumstance, and being a factor in aiding all the pieces to come together is a wonderful thing,” Wazen says. “Every year many alumni reach out to me by phone or email or come back to visit to update me on their status, their struggles and their accomplishments and that is something I truly cherish.”

Clarise Shelby-Coleman and her son, Chase, at an ARC of Onondaga race in 2019

Back then, autism spectrum disorder, which encompasses a range of conditions related to individual differences in sensory, perceptional and cognitive processes, was not as broadly shared, discussed or celebrated as it is now. “When Chase was diagnosed in 2005, the chances of being diagnosed with autism were 1 in 151. Today it’s 1 in 68, and 1 in 45 for males,” Shelby-Coleman says. “Tomorrow a caregiver will get a diagnosis and wonder, as I did, ‘where are all the adults with autism? How do I prepare him for this world?’”

An attempt to join a local support group for parents with children on the spectrum didn’t feel like a good fit for Shelby-Coleman—so she made her own path.

Propelled by the incredible tenacity that is pervasive in her spirit, Shelby-Coleman spent the next 11 years accumulating knowledge, wisdom, tools and resources on her own, as she advocated for Chase and worked to ensure he had every opportunity to achieve his goals and dreams.

“People call us ‘helicopter moms’ … well, I’m an F-16,” she says. “I knew that if I could teach him how to navigate the world, then he eventually would be able to teach the world, ‘this is how you deal with me. This is how Chase is.’”

All along in the background, Shelby-Coleman was considering the idea of starting her own support group for caregivers, knowing how she had struggled to find community upon Chase’s diagnosis. “But something awful had to happen to him for me to really get to it,” she says. In 2016, when Chase was 15 years old, he was running with his team from Corcoran High School in a cross-country meet in Rochester, New York, when he was assaulted by a stranger.

Clarise and Chase before a workout at the Syracuse University Fitness Center in the summer of 2020.

The incident was widely publicized and spotlighted issues of both racial prejudice and ableism toward Chase. Shelby-Coleman says she was frustrated that even the police officers who responded to the scene and were trying to help her didn’t quite understand Chase or how his autism affected his perception of and reaction to the assault.

Unexpectedly, Chase and his differing abilities were receiving national and international attention and Shelby-Coleman found herself saying, “I know I’m not the only parent going through this.” She started putting her plan into action to make sure that no parent of an autistic child would ever feel as alone as she did in the aftermath of Chase’s assault.

Shortly thereafter, Shelby-Coleman founded Show Them How Smart You Are, a nonprofit organization focused on support and advocacy for parents and caregivers of children with autism in the Central New York community. The name comes from a sentiment that she began saying to Chase daily at age 4, following his diagnosis.

“I would say to him, and I still say to him, every morning when he leaves the house, ‘listen, you show them how smart you are,’” she says. “And I say it to every single child with autism I meet: ‘Show them how smart you are.’”

Show Them How Smart You Are is a beacon of light and hope for children with autism in Central New York and those who love and care for them. Shelby-Coleman leads a support group for parents, grandparents, teachers and therapists, and others who have been touched by autism every other Saturday on Zoom.

“Our group is multi-ethnic, multi-racial, we have different economic statuses, different professional statuses, some of us are stay-at-home moms and our children range from about ages 3 to 37,” Shelby-Coleman says. “When we come together, we can talk about things that we wouldn’t necessarily talk about with our friends who are parents of neurotypical kids.”

Shelby-Coleman also shares her own wisdom, stories, support and information with the caregivers in her group, which numbers around 25-30 at any given time. Advocating for individualized education plans (IEPs) and special education support within the schools, sharing contact information for local professionals that work well with autistic children (i.e., pediatric dentists) and connecting people with local events and other organizations that contribute to a high quality of life for kids on the spectrum are all under the purview of Shelby-Coleman’s mission.

Show Them How Smart You Are also puts on numerous events each year, including a parents’ brunch to offer them much-needed respite; a fun run with Chase, who is still an avid runner; and a skills fair that helps introduce autistic children to hobbies and interests that could potentially become careers down the line.

“Clarise creates this incredible chain reaction of love and support for families like mine,” says Carol Masiclat, a member of the group. “Since meeting her, I’ve felt more confident in my advocacy for my son, and it inspires me to support other parents. She has given me advice on everything. You can’t Google what she knows.”

Shelby-Coleman receives the Exceptional Woman of Central New York award for community service from Assemblywoman Pamela J. Hunter, New York District 128.

This past May, Shelby-Coleman was honored as an Exceptional Woman of Central New York in the community service category by Assemblywoman Pamela J. Hunter for her work with Show Them How Smart You Are. Two parents from her group nominated her for the award. “Receiving that award was very special to me,” Shelby-Coleman says. “I just don’t think about me. I try to think about everyone else, so to be honored in that way made me think, maybe I’m getting something right.”

One thing she is certainly getting right? Parenting her son, Chase, who is now 19 years old and recently graduated from the Institute of Technology at Syracuse Central High School’s media studies program. He is preparing to enter InclusiveU, an initiative of the Lawrence B. Taishoff Center for Inclusive Higher Education at Syracuse University, where he dreams of receiving a media certification from the Newhouse School. He has an active social life, friends he enjoys hanging out with, and loves running 5K races and spending time at the gym. With his mom’s help, Chase started an inclusive running club on campus, called Run, Walk and Roll with Chase, which meets every Monday and Friday morning at the Huntington Hall Commons and offers several routes for those with varying abilities.

“One of the biggest things for me was, don’t hide our kids,” Shelby-Coleman says. “Coming from the Black culture, there is a tendency when our kids are not ‘normal’ to hide them away from the world … you know, like the eccentric uncle in the back bedroom that no one ever sees. I wanted more for Chase. I knew he wasn’t going to live in an all-autistic world; so I wanted him to have as many inclusive experiences as possible. All he wants is to be included, just like everybody else. I truly believe that inclusion completes the puzzle.”

Show Them How Smart You Are welcomes new members to the support group; they also accept financial donations and occasionally have opportunities to get involved with other events and programs. To learn more, email Shelby-Coleman at smartwithautism37@gmail.com.

Our series continues illuminating the people and teams that have risen to the task and shown what it means to be Orange. Read the first and second installments of the series for more great stories!

Delivering Excellent Customer Service (Along With the Mail)

Krystal Porter, office coordinator, Mail Services

The team in Mail Services has been instrumental in ensuring that all incoming packages and parcels to the University were delivered to the right place on campus. COVID-19 protocols have restricted vendors from making deliveries on campus, necessitating expanded warehouse service hours, adjustments to daily delivery schedules and modified staff working hours to better serve the needs of the University community.

“Despite the challenges this year has brought, our Materials Distribution and Mail Services staff have been able to keep the mail and packages moving with the use of technology, hard work and determination,” says Krystal Porter, office coordinator in Mail Services. “Our priority is delivering mail and packages to our campus community as quickly and efficiently as possible. That didn’t change during the pandemic.”

Porter says teamwork and adaptability were two important strengths that her team have leveraged during the pandemic to be successful. “Everyone works together, pitching in to help ensure superb service,” she says. “We take great pride in our adaptability. This has been a great example of how we work together as a team to improve the experience of the campus community.”

Facilitating Virtual ‘Career Connections’ Between Students and Alumni

Matt Wheeler, associate director of alumni relations in A&S and the Maxwell School

Matt Wheeler, associate director of alumni relations in the undergraduate advising office for the College of Arts and Sciences and the Maxwell School, saw the pandemic as an opportunity to reimagine how the University connects with alumni and students—and how it helps facilitate their connections with one another.

He expanded the existing Student-Alumni Career Connections program in A&S and Maxwell to include virtual opportunities for students to network with alumni, allowing them to gain insight and some informal guidance about establishing a career in their chosen fields. The program has seen great success, with more than 340 one-on-one meetings by Zoom or phone taking place between students and A&S/Maxwell alumni since April 2020.

“When things started shutting down last spring, one of our first thoughts was ‘how can we add to the student experience at this time?’” Wheeler says. “We wanted to not only keep the Career Connections program going, but make it even more beneficial for our students since they were losing out on other parts of the student experience.”

The program also benefited from the widespread adoption of Zoom by nearly every demographic, increasing the comfort level of alumni in communicating with students on the platform. Some also had more time to devote during the pandemic, making it a simple way for members of the alumni community to stay engaged with the University. “More than 700 alumni signed up to participate in these networking opportunities with students and they are just as excited to talk with our students as the students are to talk with them,” says Wheeler. “They want to ask what’s still open on Marshall Street, what clubs and organizations the students are a part of, things like that.”

Some of the connections made through this program over the past year have led to long-term mentoring relationships, internships and job interviews for A&S and Maxwell students, and Wheeler sees this program continuing long after a “return to normalcy.” “It’s a win for our students. It’s a great way to engage alumni and I hope to see this type of program scale up to other areas of the University,” he says, noting that several schools and colleges have reached out to him for guidance on starting similar virtual networking programs for their own students and alumni.

Dishing Out a Friendly Smile and Warm Meal at Goldstein Dining Center

Karen French, manager at Goldstein Dining Center, and Lucy Haag, assistant manager at Goldstein Dining Center

Over a year ago when the University’s initial campus shutdown took place, Goldstein Dining Center on South Campus remained one of the only dining options for students remaining on campus. Despite COVID still being a novel situation and public health guidance continually evolving, Manager Karen French and Assistant Manager Lucy Haag in Food Services didn’t miss a beat in making sure that Goldstein was open, well-stocked and safe for students.

“Our staff was amazing and leadership made sure we had the face masks, sanitizing wipes, hand sanitizers and digital thermometers needed to help everyone feel safe while working and getting food,” says Haag.

Early on, protocols were shifting nearly every day and the entire process of how the dining center operated had to be re-examined due to what was rapidly becoming known about COVID. “What seems like an easy thing, feeding our students, suddenly was very complicated,” says French. “We had to look at how we received products coming in and every additional step until the finished orders were handed off to customers. Luckily we had a good team of caring employees who helped us reinvent the wheel!”

French and Haag kept their spirits high, despite frustrating moments, and maintained continuous front-line contact with students, helping them feel at home during those early, difficult days. “The University’s 150th birthday [March 24, 2020] was unfortunately disrupted by the pandemic,” Haag says. “But we still gave out pre-bagged orange half-moon cookies and put up a few signs. We wanted to recognize that we all still bleed Orange.”

They also focused on keeping their team motivated and healthy, both physically and mentally, by conducting daily wellness checks on staff, and spent time preparing for any scenario that could emerge as the pandemic unfolded.

“I am proud to say that I am part of a team of people that collectively puts time, effort and thought into the way we do things to offer the best we can for our customers,” says French. “My experience over the past year has reminded me of how proud I am of this team.”

Helping Students Feel At Home in Residence Halls

Residence directors (RDs) and residence hall operations coordinators (RHOCs) in the Office of Student Living have worked non-stop to provide for the needs of our students amidst the pandemic, pivoting and adjusting based on the ever-changing needs of the University’s closing and reopening plans, while continuing to balance their many other duties on behalf of our students.

“Our RDs are an amazingly talented group of young professionals that deserve campuswide recognition and our RHOCs have been the backbone of a department that relies on their operational management,” says Courtney Albiker, assistant director in the Office of Student Living.

Moving to virtual connections with residents, resident advisors and colleagues around campus and facilitating student move-in during a pandemic were new challenges for those working on the front lines of the residential student experience.

“One of the reasons I got into student affairs was because of the students and the stories they bring into Syracuse University, which makes the University a better place to live and work,” says Ernie Arvizu Bastidas, RD for Brewster and Boland halls. “It’s taken more work to really connect with residents this year, but hearing their stories virtually is just as rewarding.”

Bastidas says that increased feelings of loneliness and isolation among students prompted residence directors to think outside of the box to offer better student experiences for students to more easily build a support system within their floor. “With the spring semester, it seems students are feeling better and are able to connect more with one another,” he says.

Maya Falkner-Guidice, RHOC for Flint and Day halls, experienced her first Syracuse move-in in 2020. “I often reminded myself that it was everyone’s first opening during a pandemic,” she says. “I missed the experience of sharing a comforting smile with students or parents, which was not possible from behind a mask. We had first-year parents who were unsure but eager to get their students moved in, and in some cases they weren’t able to accompany them to their residence hall. You want to convey that their student is safe but have to rely on words to provide a similar genuine effect.”

The OSL team helped keep one another motivated through frequent check-ins, development of new trainings, and using Teams and Zoom to share ideas and troubleshoot any roadblocks. “Watching my coworkers show up for the students and each other motivated me every day,” says Falkner-Guidice.

Kudos to the entire OSL crew of RDs and RHOCs, including: Mary Ellen Albiker, Ammar Asbahi, Ernie Arvizu Bastidas, Quincy Bufkin, Elizabeth Cronk, Maya Falkner-Guidice, Tim Gray, Joanne Green, Thai Le, Mike Louis, Valentina Louissant, Nicholas Martin, Haley Matlock, Jamel McMullin, Stephanie Mecca, Mel Molsberry, Derrick Morris, ShawnMarie Parry, Christi Pluff, Rachel Rodriguez, Isaiah Sheffield-Thergood, Adam Wallander and Russell Wesdorp.

Keeping the ‘Human’ in ‘Human Resources’

Denise Dyce, director of labor relations and labor counsel, Office of Human Resources

The coronavirus signaled a seismic shift in how the University supports and manages its workforce. Director of Labor Relations and Labor Counsel Denise Dyce in the Office of Human Resources (HR) contributed to this effort in two major ways: first, ensuring that our essential employees working on campus throughout the pandemic were kept safe; and then leading a team within HR to bring others safely back to work last summer once our reopening plans received approval from the state.

“The scope of my normal day-to-day functions significantly expanded in the time of COVID,” Dyce says. “Understanding the process of COVID-related leave, developing processes for when employees had exposures or suspected exposures and working with departments to enact new protocols—like social distancing, mask wearing, conducting the daily health screening—and continuing to develop our staff without large in-person gatherings.”

Working to bring the majority of employees back to campus last summer required interpretation and implementation of state-released guidelines, and brought opportunities for innovation, thinking differently, examining best practices among the University’s peer institutions and learning everything there was to know about the pandemic and how to keep employees safe.

Dyce attributes the success of the University’s efforts to keep staff safe ( have been very low among employees) to the excellent teamwork and outside-the-box thinking used by her team and others across campus. “I care about what we do here and I care about our people,” she says. “We owed it to them to be creative, to accommodate folks where we could and to keep everyone as safe as possible.”

Increasing Communication and Building New Relationships

Karess Gillespie, assistant director, Office of Student Living

For Karess Gillespie, assistant director in the Office of Student Living, the biggest change has been in how her team communicates information and changes to students living on and off campus.

“We’ve had to be more detailed and consistent in communication in order for both staff and students to feel supported,” she says. “Knowing that anxiety and uncertainty is at the forefront has prompted us to think through the impact and goal of a communication more effectively, to take our time versus just fixing the problem.” Communicating about students isolating and quarantining across various teams became of utmost importance to ensure staff has the information needed to effectively work with students.

2020 also brought the new challenge of staying connected with colleagues, students and parents in the virtual world. “I have found new value in speaking to someone over the phone to talk out what they are experiencing,” Gillespie says. Increased use of technology has also provided an unexpected benefit: Gillespie noted, and others have echoed, that over the past year she has met and collaborated with different people from more areas of the University than she would in a typical year and built more consistent relationships with colleagues. “Creating new partnerships and working together more closely helps all of us to enhance our work with students,” she says.

Ensuring the Physical Environment Is Clean, Safe and Well-Stocked

EHSS staff unload a truck full of COVID-19 supplies.

The team in Environmental Health and Safety Services (EHSS) quickly pivoted at the onset of the pandemic to aid the University’s COVID-19 response. Since April, EHSS Director Becky Ponza and her staff have supported the procurement and distribution of PPE and cleaning supplies, including the task of reviewing all cleaning products, masks and other supplies to ensure they met public health standards.

Occupational Health Coordinator Graham Smith leads distribution of supplies and is out daily delivering masks, hand sanitizer, wipes and other cleaning supplies across campus. ��Early in the pandemic, when cleaning supplies were hard to find, EHSS staff members had to get a bit creative. Hazardous Waste Assistants Luke Fiaschetti and Michael Persson used drums of disinfectant to fill smaller bottles and make disinfecting wipes for use at the Barnes Center at The Arch and in the Department of Athletics.

“We helped to answer hundreds of COVID-related questions and concerns from students, faculty and staff,” Ponza says. “The entire EHSS team pitched in to prepare guidance for cleaning protocols, proper use of PPE, reopening research labs, and many other areas to help sustain safe University operations during the pandemic.”

Working in tandem with Ponza and the EHSS team was Safety Manager Kelly Miller in Facilities Services. Miller’s role is ensuring all Facilities-related staff—including grounds, maintenance and custodial—are implementing safe work practices. As the pandemic emerged and progressed, it became evident to Miller that in order to keep these teams safe, the University would need to move quickly to secure PPE, cleaning and disinfection products and all available sanitation measures.

Kelly Miller, safety manager, Facilities Services

“My job duties swiftly expanded to include identifying sources, negotiating product quantities and pricing, and securing funding to obtain all the necessary material and supplies to protect our staff and the larger campus community,” Miller says. Because of the demand surge for many of these products, vendors had put limitations and restrictions on certain items. She began working her relationships with multiple vendors and brokers in order to find adequate supplies to meet the University’s needs.

“I consider our ability to identify, procure and distribute all the necessary PPE, sanitation supplies and cleaning products needed for the University a win,” Miller says. “Having these products available has allowed us to keep our entire Facilities Services staff—all of whom are designated essential—on campus and working throughout the pandemic. This provided us with the resources necessary to reopen our campus and bring the student body back to a clean, safe and healthy environment for learning.”

The teamwork between Facilities Services and EHSS, with the backing of University leadership, was critical to reaching the goal of bringing students back to campus for in-person learning, Miller adds. “Further, I’d like to recognize the Business, Financial and Administrative Services leadership, managers and supervisors for their unending support throughout the ongoing pandemic.”

Behind the efforts of EHSS and Facilities Services to acquire enough PPE and cleaning/sanitation materials to supply our campus was Vince Patriarco, executive director of purchasing. Patriarco assembled a “PPE SWAT team” to procure items needed by campus partners, some of which was required by the state to reopen campus.

Purchasing staff members Bonnie Townsend, Tony Russo, Karla Salmonsen and Ian Jones had their marching orders from Patriarco: to get whatever was needed by our EHSS and Facilities Services teams and the COVID Project Management Office to keep our campus safe. “I’m really proud of the team. We had to get creative, we had to call upon relationships that we’ve had for a long time and build some new ones,” says Patriarco.

The purchasing team also jumped in to assist with sourcing the necessary supplies for the University’s COVID-19 testing program, which continued to shift and evolve as the public health team moved testing in-house between the fall and spring semesters.

Patriarco says that none of this happened in a silo, but rather was the result of many different teams and individuals moving toward a collective goal. “Between the leadership of Vice Chancellor Michael Haynie and his COVID response team, Dr. Karen Nardella and LeeAnne Lane in the Barnes Center, Dr. Ramesh Raina and others overseeing the testing laboratory, EHSS, Facilities Services, the wonderful folks at the Hawkins Warehouse receiving all of the deliveries … the amount of effort and communication going on across campus to order everything that was needed was tremendous,” he says.

Missy Mathis-Hanlon

Missy Mathis-Hanlon’s first day in what was previously called the Parents Office was on Sept. 11, 2001. Social media sites like Facebook did not exist yet, and news about the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon was not delivered instantly like it is today.

“I first was hearing about it from my own family members who were outside of New York City or working in the city. We were watching it or listening to it on TVs or radios,” says Mathis-Hanlon. Her priority then was to be an empathetic and creative problem solver.

While Mathis-Hanlon could see the news on the internet, mothers trying to communicate with students in 2001 could not simply send a text message. Many parents reached out to Mathis-Hanlon that day because they did not have a way to reach their children.

“The calls were different than you would expect. They weren’t necessarily calling from New York City,” Mathis-Hanlon says. Many parents who were evacuating high-rise buildings all over the country were calling, and just wanted to let their student know they were OK.

Two decades later, the methods Mathis-Hanlon uses to communicate with parents and students have changed, but the empathetic listening and creative problem solving in her position is the same. “Just being willing to listen to families, understanding a problem they’re trying to solve or a concern that their student has is a huge part of what we do,” says Mathis-Hanlon, now director of Parent and Family Services.

Marianne Thomson, associate vice president and dean of students, says Mathis-Hanlon treats every issue a family presents with reverence. “She’s so genuinely kind, and whatever is important to the family is important to her,” Thomson says.

Thomson says Mathis-Hanlon is a valuable contributor to the Dean of Students leadership team and helps shape the ways Syracuse University tries to feel like home to every student. “She’s very serious about that work,” says Thomson.

In 2020, Mathis-Hanlon was named Outstanding Senior-Level Professional by the Association of Higher Education Parent and Family Programming Professionals (AHEPPP): Family Engagement in Higher Education. She was recognized as a professional in the field who exemplifies service to the parent and family programming profession and demonstrates commitment to the field through innovation, involvement and leadership.

One example came from a parent at their wit’s end with their student.

“They had a really poor academic semester and were placed on academic probation,” says Mathis-Hanlon. In response, Mathis-Hanlon asked to be put in touch directly with the student. She spoke to this student on a regular basis and connected them with appropriate resources at their school/college and a case manager. She helped this student meet other students that shared the same interests. The student’s GPA increased dramatically.

Mathis-Hanlon says she felt rewarded seeing a struggling student succeed. “If they take the time, we talk about time management. We talk about all kinds of things that might be useful to them,” she says. “One of the most important things we do is resource referral,” says Mathis-Hanlon.

Parent and Family Services can connect families with the right person on campus to ensure their student is supported and feels safe. Mathis-Hanlon says Parent and Family Services gives people a personalized channel of communication. “It’s really just having a caring voice on the other end of the phone or email or whatever it might be these days,” she says.

Along with professional accolades, the work Mathis-Hanlon does is evident in the social media posts, emails, phone calls and face-to-face interactions she has with parents and families. She is praised directly for making a large school feel like a small community. The relationships she has built with students and their families will often last long after the student graduates.

“I’m the kind of person who observes and listens a lot more than I talk. I think that is probably helpful to them because I do not have to have the first words or the last word. I can just take note of what they are saying and try to put pieces of puzzles together,” she says. “It can really be anything and everything, but if you have concerns, if your student is not sure how to navigate a particular situation, you can call us, and we’ll try to give you good information and try to connect you with people that can help.”

Annette Statum

Annette Statum vividly recalls the hot summer day in 1994 when she walked down Ainsley Drive to the Commissary because she’d heard the University was hiring. Busy raising her children at the time, Statum was looking for part-time work.

After filling out an application for a position in Food Services, she was told that they had no part-time openings but would call her if one became available. The very next day her phone rang with an offer for a 10-2 shift. “So that’s where my journey began, 25 years ago,” Statum says.

Statum’s current role is custodial manager for academic and administrative facilities in Facilities Services, where she oversees a team of over 160 staff members and seven custodial supervisors. After about a year in Food Services, she bid on a custodial position and has spent the last 24 years growing her career with the University.

Along the way, Statum has developed a passion for leading her team of custodians and the critical work that they accomplish together every day.

Working in nearly every building on campus through the years, Statum progressed from custodian to group leader. When a supervisor position became available she was encouraged to pursue it. Although she got along well with her crew as a group leader, Statum had some trepidation about making the leap to supervisor. “I didn’t think I could do it, I told them they should find somebody else,” she says with a laugh. “But there have been a few people here at the University who really believed in me and helped me realize that I had leadership potential.” Later she was promoted into her current custodial manager position, which she says is one of the most memorable days of her career with the University.

Since then, Statum has proven her leadership ability at every opportunity. “Annette is a strong leader who continues to learn every day how she and her team can best serve their customer: Syracuse University students, faculty, staff and visitors,” says Mary Pat Grzymala, senior associate director of Facilities Services.

According to Statum, the biggest key to success is understanding that her team, her people, are the heart of the entire custodial operation.

Statum and her team worked diligently to keep our academic spaces free from the coronavirus during the fall semester.

“I want them to feel like they can come to me, give me their ideas and that I’ll always listen,” she says. As her responsibilities continued to progress, Statum took advantage of opportunities for professional development, including taking online classes to help her enhance her communication and leadership skills.

“I’ve learned that I’m an egalitarian leader—I like to treat everybody as an equal, straight across the board.” She takes pride in being a fair, just and reasonable leader. Statum also prioritizes keeping her team motivated and doing what she can to ensure everyone has time off to relax and recharge their batteries—especially in light of the extra custodial duties her team has taken on in the face of COVID-19.

“We get a lot of emails from people in the buildings telling us that we’re doing a great job. I like to post them on the wall where the team can see them to help keep morale up,” she says. Over the holidays, she has worked and will continue to work extra hours to make it easier for her staff to have time off to spend with their families. “I know everybody is working hard and with COVID, things have been difficult on everybody, so they need some relaxation.”

“Annette has a lot of energy and is responsible for a 24/7 operation,” says Grzymala. “Her workday never ends and she has typically been on campus for several hours before most staff arrive each morning.”

Statum often starts her workday by 4 a.m., arriving early to make sure that her team is set up for a successful day, and is on-call most of the time. “I come from a hard-working family, three and four generations back, and I always want to make sure that work is going smooth,” she says.

In her time away from work, Statum is a self-professed homebody who likes to relax with a good documentary or movie, spend time with her family and take walks with her rescue dog, Roscoe. With five or so years remaining before she reaches retirement age, Statum counts her blessings for a long and fulfilling career with the University.

“I’ve been lucky. I have a great job where I get to be really engaged and hands-on with my group,” she says. “I get along well with trades and skills and our building supervisors. We work as a team. I know my leadership has my back and can help me work through any issues or complications.”

Statum finds purpose in being part of the larger Facilities Services team and loves to engage with everyone she meets, whether a student, superior, colleague or customer. “I can be a bit of a Cathy Chatterbox, but I just really love what I do,” she says.

Her passion does not go unnoticed. The work performed by Statum’s team to keep the University’s academic and administrative buildings clean, safe and sanitized is always of critical importance—but perhaps now more than ever to help minimize the risk of coronavirus infection in the physical spaces.

“Annette is a hard-working, dedicated employee whose leadership shows in the quality, care and cleanliness of our campus community,” says Pete Sala, vice president and chief campus facilities officer. “We are all very lucky to have her on our team.”

Michael Mazzaroppi

As someone born with significant hearing loss, Michael Mazzaroppi G’14 says it was inevitable that he would become an advocate for others with disabilities.

After working abroad at a school for the Deaf and an agency for the Deaf, and later at a nonprofit connecting people with disabilities to resources, Mazzaroppi joined the University last October as an access counselor with the .

In his role, Mazzaroppi ensures students have the necessary accommodations for academic success. His work is also about reframing how people think about disability.

“I want to level the playing field for students and empower them in achieving their academic goals, and I also want to help them see their disability from a social justice model and be proud of what their disability may be,” says Mazzaroppi, who is also an American Sign Language instructor and teaches two courses through the School of Education. “It’s really important, especially in this day and age, that people do not think about disability in terms of what someone can’t do or as a deficit. I want them to think more about what they can do and see themselves as a whole person.”

It also means changing society’s perception of people with disabilities. “It’s about reframing the language that we use to talk about disability,” he says.

The Center for Disability Resources embraces the concept of disability as diversity and is committed to creating a new context for disability by redefining the term and the culture that surrounds it.

From his office in the Center for Disability Resources, formerly known as the Office of Disability Services, Mazzaroppi, who uses a speech-to-text app while meeting online, speaks about his professional background, his work with students and what he enjoys most about the people at the University.

How did you become interested in assisting and advocating for students?

Without a choice, I had to advocate, because I was born with significant hearing loss. Throughout K-12, I had accommodations and support in school. I was always embarrassed about my disability.

When I went to Gallaudet University, a liberal arts university for the Deaf and hard of hearing in Washington, D.C., that’s where I learned to take pride in being hard of hearing. That’s where I learned American Sign Language. Then I traveled and lived in other countries. I worked at a school for the Deaf in Japan, and I worked for an agency for the Deaf in Paraguay. Living in New York City for a few years, I worked as a teacher for the Deaf. Then I came back to Syracuse where I was born and raised, and where my family lives.

While I was working for ARISE, a nonprofit independent living center in Syracuse, that’s where I really grew as a person, trying to understand the needs of people with disabilities. I created PowerPoints and training, traveling throughout Onondaga, Cortland, Madison and Tompkins counties to teach about resources and college programs for students with disabilities. I talked about the different agencies and supports that students could use in preparing them to transition to employment or college.

Why were you interested in the role at the University?

I saw the job posting at Syracuse University, and I felt like I was ready to apply everything that I’ve learned in a college setting. I had provided information to teachers and parents but not to actual students. I thought this would be a great fit.

While at ARISE, I went to school full-time and graduated from Syracuse with a master’s degree in early intervention. Initially when I started, that’s what I thought I wanted to do, but then when I started taking classes I realized I wanted to work at the high school or college level working with students with disabilities. I really enjoyed it because I could apply what I learned in graduate school with my work at ARISE and now at Syracuse University.

Growing up, if you told me I would be working at SU, I would have said I would be working at another university in a different country. Moving back here and being close to family and attending as a graduate student, I’ve come to appreciate how progressive Syracuse University is in working with people with disabilities. We still have a lot of work to do, but we are one of the more progressive schools.

What is the role of the accessibility counselor with the Center for Disability Resources?

All access counselors are assigned as a liaison to certain schools. My schools are the Newhouse School and the College of Engineering and Computer Science. When a student is referred, I connect with them and have a welcome meeting. I learn about who they are and what accommodations may be necessary for access.

The number one need is testing accommodations, but also as the access counselor who signs in ASL, I also work with most of the deaf and hard-of-hearing students who come in, so I coordinate interpreters, Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) services, or any other software that might help students access their classes better. Now that professors are wearing masks, I’ve been getting requests for them to wear clear masks so students can see their mouth when they lecture.

Can you share a story about a time or two you were able to connect students with services that made a difference in their learning environment and success?

With the pandemic, there are a few hard of hearing students who were having a hard time following the Zoom platform for their courses, so I recommended CART. Two students had never heard of CART, and they really like it, and it’s a made a difference in their work. Another example is a student who is also deaf but didn’t grow up signing. He has been impressed with all of the accommodations that we have for students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Another aspect is connecting a student who may be struggling academically to CDR’s Academic Support (AS) for additional educational resources.�� AS provides them the assistance that can be critical for many students.

What is the best part of your job?

My colleagues and supervisor here are great and supportive. I remember saying after being here for one month that I feel like I’ve been here for six months, which was a good thing because I immediately fit in.

And it’s the students. There are some students who we might meet once and establish their access plans, and they are set. And there are others, with whom we meet regularly, who want and need a connection with us in order to feel supported and heard.

I was lucky I started in October with in-person meetings, but then we transitioned online and students needed that extra support with weekly check-ins—just to help them get through whatever they were feeling: loneliness, sadness, self-doubt. We’re here for them.

The , in addition to federally mandated accommodations, provides advocacy, general support, academic assistance, some content tutoring, screenings for learning disabilities, psychoeducational evaluations, assistive technology training, note-taking assistance and more.

Melanie Domanico

Melanie Domanico is an equal opportunity and accommodations specialist with the Office of Disability Access and Inclusion. When faced with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities—like breathing, walking, seeing or hearing—Syracuse University employees are entitled to reasonable accommodations through the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). “An accommodation is a modification to a job that still allows the employee to perform their essential functions,” says Domanico. She directs employees in the process, connecting with their supervisor and their physician to keep people working and productive.

Identifying accommodations is not a one-size-fits-all approach. An accommodation request is the beginning of an ongoing, interactive process, Domanico says. “The physician doesn’t understand the person’s responsibilities, and that’s where I come in.” Using her professional and personal experience with disability and interacting with physicians, the results are a net positive for the University and the employee. Retaining experienced workers allows the University to benefit from their contributions and often leads to better employee relations and reduced costs.

Domanico is effective because she knows firsthand how circumstances and responsibilities can change when dealing with a new medical diagnosis or disability. Domanico was diagnosed with cancer at a young age. The experience of facing such a serious medical emergency shifted her perspective. While obviously life-threatening, cancer also limited her ability to participate in everyday activities. Her experience with cancer inspired her early work as a rehabilitation counselor before coming to Syracuse. Her experience allows her to think creatively about how someone can perform their essential job functions while managing their disability. “There are usually many ways to get to the same outcome,” she says.

Supporting employees through the accommodations process is very personal for Domanico for another reason. While working as a rehabilitation counselor, Domanico’s son, Colin, was born with several disabilities and health issues, including a congenital heart defect. Domanico left her full-time role to advocate and care for her son until he died at two years old. The limits Colin would have needed to manage have inspired Domanico to be a constant advocate for accessibility. “I think about that when I’m looking at different situations and scenarios.”

Dealing with her own illness and being the parent of a child with disabilities gives her insight. Domanico uses her personal connection to educate supervisors on disability issues, using her background as a counselor and as a caregiver. “I know how to handle this both from a professional and personal standpoint,” she says.

Domanico’s priority is to support the employee’s return or stay at work. “What you do is a big part of who you are,” Domanico says. Working with the employee, their department and their physician, Domanico brings everyone to the table to establish what reasonable accommodation would work best for all parties. This process also respects people’s privacy. “Many employees are hesitant to request an accommodation because they are unsure of where their medical information is housed,” says Domanico. “It stays confidential with me. Their supervisor and Human Resources are not made aware of the disability, only of the limitations to discuss appropriate accommodations.”

Employees should not delay if they need assistance, as obtaining an accommodation is an interactive process that develops and refines a plan through open communication. In the end, accommodations contribute to a more diverse, inclusive and equitable workforce at Syracuse University, she says.

COVID-19 has had a profound impact on Domanico’s work; she has never been so busy. She is receiving more accommodation requests, and employees with existing accommodations need additional accommodations or changes to their existing accommodations.

“I’ve been doing this a really long time, and I normally have the answers for most cases, but not only are there more accommodation requests, they are also becoming more complex. Accommodations and social distancing are not always compatible; processes are taking longer,” she says. Ongoing follow-ups are scheduled to ensure that accommodations remain effective, as needs may change over time.

As Domanico navigates the ever-changing landscape of workplace accommodations during COVID-19, her goal is the same: ensuring an employee is provided the accommodations they need to be successful. Domanico is also involved with other initiatives to make an accessible campus, participating in the Accessibility Assessment Committee and working closely with the interim ADA coordinator and the Center for Disability Resources (formerly known as the Office of Disability Services; the Center for Disability Resources underwent a name change this summer).

“We’ve developed a workshop called ‘Rethinking the Disability Paradigm’ with the ADA coordinator, director, and assistant and associate directors of the Center for Disability Resources,” she says. The workshop challenges biases associated with disability in the workplace and is currently offered as a professional development opportunity on campus.

University employees are encouraged to request a reasonable accommodation at any time if they have a disability and need an accommodation to perform their essential job functions. They can do so by visiting the . Medical information is kept confidential and employees with questions should email ADA@syr.edu.

As assistant director for proposal development, Sarah Workman applies her academic background to help Syracuse University humanities faculty develop research proposals and find funding and support to make their ideas a reality. Workman, whose position is shared between the Office of Research and the College of Arts and Sciences, supports humanities faculty in a variety of ways. “I’m constantly looking at what’s out there in terms of funding, especially as it pertains to the humanities faculty,” she says. Workman encourages faculty to reach out to her via email. “We’ll do a brainstorming session to figure out what opportunity may be a good fit given where they are in the research process.”

Conversations turn to what she can do to best support the project and faculty member or research team. This includes searching for funding opportunities and connecting faculty with corporate and foundation relations. Workman also often works closely with the Syracuse University Humanities Center (SUHC) to strengthen humanities research culture on campus and is currently collaborating with the SUHC to develop a new webpage with updated resources for campuswide humanities faculty. She also connects faculty with related interests so they may learn from each other’s funding successes. Her support spans all phases of research development, from helping faculty prioritize their ideas, to developing funding proposals and connecting scholars with funding opportunities.

After completing an undergraduate degree in English and Spanish from Cornell University, Workman lived in Israel briefly. She then went on to earn an M.A. from Georgetown University and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Workman has firsthand experience in developing research projects from start to finish. However, while finishing her Ph.D., she realized that she didn’t want to pursue a typical academic position in the humanities, where book-length research projects are the norm.

Sarah Workman

Workman realized that the parts of academic work she enjoys, like collaborating with colleagues, reading in different disciplines and working in a writing group, would be more accessible in an alternative support role for faculty. She worked for a time at Georgetown’s Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship. There she designed online learning environments and supported course and curriculum development funding opportunities. By gaining experience working with a wide range of faculty in various stages of their careers, Workman developed a strong understanding of challenges faculty members face. “I see how their research influences their teaching and vice versa. As a graduate student in the humanities, I understand the demands on their time as well as what it means to do academic research in the humanities,” she says.

Workman can help facilitate support and research connections among faculty. For example, Associate Professor Heath Hanlin in the Department of Transmedia is developing a project that uses virtual reality to create museum exhibitions in U.S. locations that have been drastically impacted by climate change. With Workman, Hanlin has been actively pursuing multiple grant opportunities for this project.

Workman conducted research and made connections relevant to grantees to help guide the process, including on-campus connections. For example, she connected him with Earth scientist Melissa Chipman who was previously awarded a relevant National Geographic Storytellers grant. “Heath and Melissa are off having their own conversation about the ways in which scientists are trying to learn about how they can better communicate the impacts of climate change,” Workman says. “Heath’s doing it from a virtual reality perspective, and Melissa’s thinking about it from an Earth sciences perspective. They’re thinking about the same questions from these various disciplinary vantage points, and I was able to bring them together.”

Workman thinks her role at Syracuse University is the fit she didn’t find in the course of her Ph.D. “I very personally know what it’s like to struggle with research momentum,” she says. Her empathetic approach appreciates the personal process that academic research is for professors. She is happy to be in a place to help the humanists on campus be successful. “I understand the challenges because I was processing all of that as a graduate student to see if I wanted to do it. It informs the way I now work with faculty.”

Mansi Brat

Mansi Brat teaches students how to embrace the present moment and find serenity with one’s thoughts—an often elusive ideal to grasp in the anxieties of today’s perfectionism-driven world.

A staff therapist with the and facilitator of the Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Workshop, Brat provides students with the tools to gain peace through mindfulness meditation when stress begins to overwhelm.

“With the way our minds operate, one can spend much time either in the unchangeable past or the imagined future. This results in extremities of anxiety and depression, and we lose sight of precious present moments,” says Brat. “A large part of mindfulness is to acknowledge that life is happening in the moment—the here and now, and bring yourself back to the moment with a kind, compassionate and curious sense of awareness.”

These extraordinary times of a global pandemic and, more recently, the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota have sparked “grief, anger and protests against racial injustice, inequity and marginalization against people of color, particularly black people in America,” Brat says. These can be especially difficult when worries for the future, compounded with being isolated from others, are even more prevalent.

Brat and her therapist colleagues at the Barnes Center provide both mental health counseling for students with a range of concerns during the academic year, “including depression and anxiety, eating disorders, alcohol and substance use, sexual and relationship violence concerns, and, more importantly, empathic listening into how marginalization and racial disparity affect the psychological distress of college students.”

With remote learning and social distancing parameters in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the counseling team observed an increase in worries about the future from students. “The anxiety and depression levels increased, and so did the overarching grief around a myriad of losses, as a result of the pandemic,” Brat says. “The overall stress markers—particularly those of financial needs, job security and equality of education—have also been on a rise, critical to a students’ racial and gender identity.”

Students are encouraged to if they are feeling distressed in these unprecedented times, with the physical lack of connection between people and communities.

“Most human beings need a sense of community and social connections for a robust psychological wellness,” Brat says. She recommends reaching out to friends and family members virtually or seeking a mental health counselor for support. “Build a network of care for yourself and also be compassionate to family members and others around you.”

With the pandemic, as the University transitioned away from residential instruction, staff therapists were trained in teletherapy to continue to provide services to students through Zoom appointments and sessions over the phone. “It seemed challenging for some students to voice their concerns over the phone, as not all of them have secure, confidential locations to talk,” says Brat.

Brat’s aim is always to provide a safe space of comfort and trust for students, so they can talk about their struggles freely and gain greater clarity and self-awareness into their distress.

“Working with any student, either through Zoom sessions or in person, requires validating what they are feeling, so they really know that I am their ally and here to support,” Brat says. “It’s about listening into their emotions and feelings to understand what exactly they are trying to express underneath the words.”

Brat works with students through a psychodynamic, family systems lens—using multicultural factors and intergenerational trauma as pertinent to one’s healing. Brat also integrates feminist theories and mindfulness-based interventions in her therapy sessions.

By learning mindfulness techniques, students can develop skills to define what they are feeling in their bodies and express what exactly they need to feel better. “It’s a way to bring yourself back to the present moment by waking up in the body,” says Brat, who also teaches a Mindful Communications course through the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies in the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Individual counseling with a Barnes Center therapist is one of the steps of the Stepped Care Model approach, which runs throughout the work of the center’s services and resource delivery. It allows for a holistic view of the student—mind, body, spirit and community. In this care model, students can seek out any of the various health and wellness resources available to them through its diverse steps.

Mansi Brat, a certified yoga instructor, assisted with the spring 2019 SoulScape retreat at the University’s Minnowbrook Conference Center in the Adirondacks. The retreats are offered to students through Health Promotion at the Barnes Center and are free to attend.

“There are a variety of ways for students to access our integrated services,” Brat says. “The Barnes Center website is the starting place for students to find the resources they may need for their holistic wellness. Some examples include individual fitness sessions; Sanvello, the meditation app; the MindSpa; and the Soul Talk series.”

Service delivery within the steps increases as additional support is needed—for example, an appointment with a staff therapist within the counseling team or meeting with a nutritionist through health services.

Students present with unique individual needs. If a student comes to the center with low to mild levels of anxiety, therapists may encourage them to visit the Mind Spa, take a meditation or fitness class, or engage in a workshop, in addition to the initial counseling session.

Students also largely benefit from the , which Brat coordinates, including Building Resilience Skills; Gender and Sexuality Affirmative Therapy; Students of Color group; Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies; International Community Voices and a COVID-19 Grief/Loss series.

In the Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Workshop, which Brat facilitates, students are introduced to mindfulness skills to help manage and cope with stress and anxiety. Students also learn to identify painful and difficult emotions and encouraged to work through their feelings from a self-compassion mindset. The seven-week workshop began the week before spring break and transitioned online after remote resources were implemented.

All students meet for an orientation prior to joining the workshop, during which they identify goals that they’d like to implement in their personal lives. “They are not only practicing skills in the workshop, but are also building a practice of mindfulness, meditation and self-compassion in their home environments,” Brat says.

Brat, who grew up in New Delhi, India, and moved to the United States when she was 17, realized her calling to work in counseling early on—her mother was a special educator and is now a psychotherapist and parenting coach, herself. “My mom was the biggest influence for me in wanting to work in the field of mental health,” she says.

Brat earned a bachelor’s in psychology and master’s in clinical mental health counseling at Lindenwood University and a doctorate in counselor education at the University of Toledo, with a research emphasis in mindfulness and self-compassion as wellness interventions for healing psychological distress.

Brat worked at the University of Toledo’s Counseling Center and later at a private practice, becoming a licensed professional counselor. She has trained under Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield, renowned teachers in the Insight (Vipassana) Meditation tradition, and she is also a certified yoga instructor.

Her work at the Barnes Center brings her joy and satisfaction for many reasons. “I feel there is no greater service than that of making a difference in another person’s life,” Brat says. “It’s so humbling to see and feel the energy of the person as they grow and develop in their self-discovery process—finding their own empowered individuality and voice.”

The students are the best part. “They are so lively and charming—they are the future leaders,” Brat says. “I gain so much from them. They are ever-evolving and so creative and vibrant.”

Reynolds works the 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. shift, before campus stirs to life each morning, but teams work around the clock during the winter to keep the University’s four miles of streets, 26 miles of sidewalks and countless stairs, exits, entryways and curb cuts clean and accessible.

Reynolds has worked for Syracuse University for 42 years. In his first few years, he was part of the team that shoveled sidewalks and stairs by hand. He later began to operate small equipment, large plow trucks and salters, and now operates heavy equipment. “You never totally get out of shoveling,” he jokes. “Everybody has to do it, even in a loader you have to get out and shovel. And I don’t mind.”

Reynolds operates his payloader along a prescribed route each day. He starts at Facilities Services on Ainsley Drive, cleaning out in front of the Commissary, then heads along the back entrance of South Campus. His route takes him through the parking lots of the Lampe Athletics Complex and onto Comstock Avenue. From there, he heads to College Place, where he cleans the street, sidewalk and Life Sciences parking lot. He then heads to Waverly Avenue, up past Crouse-Hinds Hall and into the Quad 1 parking lot. Once those roads and sidewalks are clean, he heads down to Walnut Avenue and Walnut Place to clear sidewalks and curb cuts.

Removing snow on campus presents a unique challenge in that it must be done around parked cars and among heavy vehicle and pedestrian traffic. And the thing about snow is that it doesn’t hold consistent to any time, temperature or measurement. What is needed is a team that pulls together to get the job done, and one of the most necessary things is for everyone to have patience, Reynolds says. “I have been doing this a long time, and it’s just patience. It’s going to get it done.”

Past snow events are close in his memory. He worked around the clock during the blizzards that struck Central New York in March 1993 and March 1994, when the snow fell as fast as he could plow it. He remembers when several inches fell on Syracuse on Commencement/Mother’s Day 1996. “I remember all these people coming to campus so nicely dressed, and we were out plowing this heavy, wet snow,” he says.

Traveling his route for so many years has given him a unique perspective, as he has watched the face of the campus change. “I was here when the Dome was built,” he says as he watches the current work on the facility. He remembers the day when Holden Observatory was moved to its current location. Some of the best memories he has are of people he has met and in assisting campus departments with special projects.

Reynolds is the proud dad of two Syracuse alumni, graduates of the Whitman School and the School of Education. He has a soft spot for students and always goes the extra mile to make sure they don’t have difficulty navigating the campus. The trickiest part of his route can be Waverly Avenue, which is heavy with pedestrian and vehicle traffic, particularly buses and trucks making deliveries. “I can’t stand to see kids walk through snow to get on a bus,” he says. “They want to go home and don’t want to be trudging through it.”

During the spring, summer and fall seasons, Reynolds operates heavy equipment for landscaping and deliveries, among other assignments. He also operates Facilities Services’ boom truck, which has an 85-foot extension and enables work to be done in high places.

Pat Carroll, grounds manager with Facilities Services, says Reynolds is a key member of his team. “As a longtime member of the grounds crew and a well-respected heavy equipment operator, Scott’s experience and professionalism will be difficult to replace,” he says. “Scott has an upbeat attitude and easygoing personality that makes him an easy fit with all crew members. He has always been willing to do the little extras that make the difference between a job done and a job well done.”

Did Reynolds think he would be at Syracuse University for more than 40 years? “No, I didn’t,” he says. “I really like the job…but I really do like it when spring comes along.”

Shelley Crawford

Two years as a mentor to nine Posse Scholars from Miami had a profound and lasting impact on Shelley Crawford.

Crawford ’13 was assistant director of special programs with the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarship Programs in 2014 when she was recommended to take on the extra role of Posse mentor. The University partners with the Posse Foundation, a nationwide initiative, to provide full tuition and youth leadership opportunities to high-achieving public high school students from diverse backgrounds.

“I remember going to program training in Miami and thinking, ‘what have I committed to? I already have three children of my own and now I’m adding nine,’” Crawford says. “When I met the students, it was just so much energy.”

Her reservations, however, were only for a moment. “I wanted to do it because I was ready to help students holistically,” she says.

During her time as mentor, Crawford held group meetings with the tight-knit group and one-on-one conversations to check in on how they were acclimating academically and socially.

The mentoring was part of the program for the first two years but her commitment and the connections Crawford made with the students continue today.

“I told them from day one we’re family. I’m still connected with them today. They all graduated in 2018, and they all have jobs,” Crawford says. “They changed my life—they made me more aware of what I wanted to do. I’ve always had a love and a passion to help students as a whole.”

Crawford was able to pursue that passion as she transitioned in June to a new role as a case manager in the Dean of Students Office, where she helps guide students to resources they may need academically, personally or financially. It wasn’t easy to leave her position she enjoyed in financial aid, the students she worked with and her colleagues, but it was an opportunity for growth and a chance to grow deeper connections with students.

“I was always seeking ways to see how I can be of benefit to them and impact their lives through my role on campus,” Crawford says.

A photo collage of Posse Scholars who Shelley Crawford mentored, given to her by the students

In the Dean of Students Office, Crawford works with a team that assists students with finding the right resources and solutions to the concerns and challenges they may be facing. Students can make appointments with staff members or can be referred to the office from another campus office or another student or faculty member.

Crawford enjoys learning about the students and lets them know they are heard—and that they are cared about. “Hearing their stories, how active they are and how they want to impact their communities, it’s just so rewarding,” she says. “It’s important they know there is someone here they can talk to who will be there during a time of crisis and on their graduation day.”

Crawford, who was born in Syracuse and graduated from Corcoran High School, has been building toward her current role since she started at the University 21 years ago. She started at University College, working part time with the Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) and financial aid, before moving into the Office of Financial Aid full time in 2008.

Crawford approached her work in financial aid as if she were the student and what she would need to know. “What are the new policies or what is it in the application process that may be making it difficult to get the information,” Crawford says. “Many times it is just someone taking the time to help the family understand the information.”

Crawford worked closely with specialized programs for underrepresented and first-generation college students—such as HEOP, KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program), Liberty Partnerships Program, On Point for College, Student Support Services Program and Posse, to name a few. She connected with the campus partners and organizations that directed the programs to provide feedback and see how she and the University could be of service to the programs to better benefit the students.

For efforts to assist On Point for College with building efficiencies in their process, Crawford and two of her colleagues were awarded the Campus Angel Award from On Point, which provides support services for prospective college students in Syracuse’s inner city. “You just never think you’ll be recognized for going above and beyond because if it’s second nature to you, you just do it,” she says.

Shelley Crawford is a case manager in the Dean of Students Office, where she helps guide students to resources they may need academically, personally or financially. Photo by Steve Sartori

During her time with financial aid, Crawford also piloted an inclusion and diversity training program for all financial aid staff members centered on Division of Enrollment and the Student Experience values: inclusion, trust, compassion, respect, courage, transparency and service.

Among the many highlights of her time with financial aid, getting to know the students was something she cherished. She attended their events at the end of the academic year and was excited to see them graduate, as she followed their journeys from first-year students. “I’m really proud of them,” Crawford says. “I wanted them to know we want you here and we want you to be successful.”

Along the way of helping students find success, the mother of three—to Yakira, Talia and Jyriar—found time to pursue a bachelor’s degree in social work from the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. “Through the program and the field experience, I walked away with such a knowledge base of human kind and how you can impact people’s lives—and that was my goal,” says Crawford, who graduated in 2013.

Crawford had three motivations in getting her degree: for her own personal growth, the chance to impact people and wanting to make her children and family proud. “I am proud to be a first-generation college graduate,” says Crawford, who will graduate from Bay Path University with a master’s degree in higher education in May. “It brings tears to my eyes because of the journey that I’ve traveled, and I’m always trying to inspire students—both traditional and nontraditional.”

Keith A. Alford, chief diversity and inclusion officer and director and associate professor, School of Social Work in the Falk College, has known Crawford since she was a social work student and has seen how she cares for students. “Shelley has always impressed me as being a person who elevates the successes of students,” Alford says. “She values diversity and inclusion, and puts it in the forefront of her efforts.”

Shelley Crawford at her graduation from Syracuse University, with her children and nieces and nephew. From left, are Rashaan Listenbee Jr., Yakira A. Crawford, Jyrair A. Crawford, Kalani Legette, Sydney Listenbee, Talia E. Crawford and Sanaah Listenbee.

The students and families she’s connected with have also recognized her commitment.

Crawford’s office has special mementoes from students and families—among them, a sculpture done by a student; a decorative African symbol that means “grace,” given to her by a grateful mother; photos; and handwritten sticky notes from Posse students during a retreat, that tell Crawford “you are amazing” and “you are loved.”

These are the reminders that makes Crawford think often of her life quote by Theodore Roosevelt: “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”

“That is an embedded thread of who I am,” Crawford says. “I know a lot of the information, but the way I communicate about the resources lets you know how much I care for you.”

Gerri Williams (Photo by Evan Jenkins)

This past October, Gerri Williams celebrated a milestone that most employees—in any job, with any organization—only dream of attaining: her 50th anniversary with Syracuse University.

Williams began her career with Food Services in 1969. She worked in Washington Arms, Haven Hall and the Goldstein Alumni and Faculty Center and dabbled in Campus Catering before landing her current role in Manley Field House’s dining center. At Manley, she works as a group leader, serving the football players and coaches.

“While I was at the Faculty Center I was in the back of the house. I liked it, and everybody was nice to me, but something was missing,” Williams says. “I didn’t know what it was at first—then I realized, I missed connecting with the students, face to face.”

One day in ’99, her manager asked Williams if she could cover a shift at Manley. “I came over here and worked on the grill, I was talking to the kids and I loved it. I thought to myself, ‘This is the bomb!’” she says. “They kept saying to me ‘Gerri, can you stay here all the time?’ and I said, ‘It’s not up to me!’”

But fate was on Williams’ side. After she spent some time splitting shifts between Manley and Goldstein, Manley began serving lunch in addition to breakfast and dinner. A full-time position opened up for Williams. She recounts the day she found out she’d be permanently placed at the football dining center with the enthusiasm of someone who’d just won the jackpot on a slot machine.

“My manager, Kelley, called me up and said ‘Gerri, I’ve got some good news for you,’” Williams says. “They told me that this would be my job, all the time, year-round…I was so happy! I grabbed that poor lady, I was screaming and hollering, thanking the Lord.”

That initial excitement hasn’t worn off over the past 20 years. “I’m still so glad to be here. I’m content. It’s my second family here. The kids treat me like royalty, the coaches treat me like royalty. I’m just truly blessed.”

Williams outside of the dining center in Manley Field House where she works (Photo by Evan Jenkins)

In talking with Williams, it quickly becomes clear that her faith is the source of her abundant supply of positive energy. After facing a brief minor illness last year, she counts her blessings more now than ever before. “If you put God first, he’ll take care of you,” she says. “Everyone is busy worrying about their own problems, but there is always somebody out there with problems worse than what you’re dealing with.”

But she doesn’t underestimate the struggles that many of the students she serves face in their day-to-day lives. “These kids have a lot to deal with. They have their own family problems, their schoolwork, football problems…it’s not easy. They have long days. It’s a lot of pressure.”

Williams with Dino Babers

To help ease that pressure, Williams delights in any opportunity to put a smile on someone’s face or turn a student’s day around. She takes extra care to remember if someone prefers ground turkey over ground beef, or a certain preparation of a breakfast sandwich, and then make it especially for them. “It makes me feel good that I can put a smile on their face by remembering what they like. I try to make everybody feel special,” she says. “If somebody is having a bad day, I remind them to put God first. Everybody needs a little attention, even if they don’t say it.”

Those who have been on the receiving end of Gerri’s warmth know that it’s something that won’t soon be forgotten. “I’ve known Gerri the entire time I’ve been here, so 22 years,” says Kelley Champa, director of operations in the Chancellor’s office, who used to oversee Williams in Food Services. “Just knowing her makes you a better person. She’s always positive. She has a good soul. She’s like a mom to the students.”

When asked what it means to her to be seen as a mother figure to so many over the years, Williams pauses, then says: “You know, a long time ago, I used to get jealous when my kids would call another lady their mom. I had an attitude about it. But then I thought about it and figured, I should be thankful and blessed that somebody is watching over my child when I can’t be around them.”

That’s exactly what she does for the students she serves at Manley, all of the other peoples’ children who pass through her line each day. “They know that if they’ve got a problem, they can come talk to me. I tell them, ‘I’m like a doctor—on call 24 hours a day, and there when you need me.’ And if they don’t want to talk about it, then that’s fine. But I always pray for them. Every day.”

“She’s one of those employees that makes everyone’s day brighter,” Joe Sidoni, associate director of campus catering, says of Williams. “She shows up with a smile and gives 100 percent to the students, no matter what else is happening in her life. We’re thrilled to have an employee with such longevity and zest for life!”

Beyond just those who work with her every day, Williams is adored and recognized as a very special part of the Syracuse University community.

Williams at her 50th anniversary celebration in October

On the day she reached her 50th year of employment—Oct. 13, her lucky number—the morning went by without mention of her milestone anniversary. Gerri thought no one had remembered. She also thought she was going to get called to work at Campus Catering because she’d heard her manager was looking for help covering a shift on that particular day.

“I was eating my lunch and I saw him and I turned my back and was pretending to hide,” she recalls. “I was praying he didn’t ask me to work!” While her back was turned, a group of colleagues put the finishing touches on Williams’ surprise anniversary party. Someone called her name.

“B�������DZ���!”

She turned to look and saw not only her coworkers but her son, her sister, some of her girlfriends—all there to celebrate with her. Chancellor Kent Syverud and Head Football Coach Dino Babers stopped by and Williams was presented with a customized “BABYDOLL” Syracuse Football jersey, flowers, a cake and even a commemorative game ball.

“To be here after all these years, it’s like the cream on top,” she says. “It’s unbelievable how much support I’ve got. And they always say to me, ‘Babydoll, you don’t know how important you are to us…’ But they don’t really know how important they are to me. To have this many people care about you, it just doesn’t even seem real.”

Rachael Zubal-Ruggieri

Rachael Zubal-Ruggieri describes herself as a quiet, timid person. More of an observer and supporter than a do-er. Yet, her favorite superhero is Batman. And she’s passionate about the X-Men. This seeming dichotomy is the driving force behind her extraordinary work spanning more than three decades at Syracuse University, to support its academic reputation in the field of disability studies and advocate for her own child and for those with disabilities.

In May 2019, Zubal-Ruggieri became an administrative assistant in the Office of Interdisciplinary Programs and Outreach in the�� after working as information coordinator at the����in the School of Education for 33 years.��This new post gives her an opportunity to broaden the impact of her work in inclusion and advocacy, and raise awareness globally of best practices to advance the lives and livelihoods of people with disabilities.

It’s difficult to pinpoint the beginnings of her passion. She lost hearing in one ear when she was a child and grew up without adaptive technology. She remembers having a form of social anxiety: “I was terrified to talk on the phone,” she says. “Even ordering pizza filled me with terror. It still does!”

Zubal-Ruggieri’s mother encouraged her after high school to acquire skills that would keep her employed, and with an associate degree from SUNY Alfred, she “drifted into” word processing, which appealed to her inquisitive mind.�� She became an expert at research, at digging, at sifting through mounds of material looking for answers. “I’m a finder, a keeper and never a loser,” says Zubal-Ruggieri. “I’m always searching for something someone needs.”

She has perfected that support role at Syracuse University. Zubal-Ruggieri was responsible for coordinating all informational materials for the Center on Human Policy and funded projects, including websites, email accounts and internet listservs, along with the design of promotional materials. All the information had to be relevant and kept current in the field of disability studies—for both faculty and students. She has compiled archives and bibliographies useful to scholar researchers. And along the way, she has learned that oftentimes the way disabilities are represented in popular culture (and hence, popular perception) is far different from scholarly works.

Zubal-Ruggieri’s deep understanding of the challenges facing people with disabilities became critical in her personal life when she gave birth to her son, now 16 years old. At two years old, he was not talking much, and he was subsequently diagnosed as having a speech delay. But with guidance, as well as her own inquiry and advocacy, he was discovered to be autistic.

“My professional life and personal life have forever merged,” writes Zubal-Ruggieri in she launched to help other families navigate the world of labels and advocacy, to share information, express emotion and, as always, be supportive. “I remember the other parts of my professional life—the support of self-advocacy, the support of people with developmental disabilities to live full and complete lives in the community, that while I push to get this diagnosis and the assistance my son needs, I realize that I am pre-loaded with knowledge to guide me forward.”

And as she gathered every piece of information she could to help her parent an autistic son, she became more distressed at the misinformation, mythologies and outright pressure on families. “The more popular narratives of parents who ‘fight’ for recoveries and cures are indeed quite contrary to the fewer, lesser known stories of parents who focus instead on acceptance, accommodation and positive autistic life,” Zubal-Ruggieri says. “As I strongly identify with these acceptance-oriented parent narratives, and as a parent who supports and works for autism acceptance, I have found that there are not enough representations of these relevant parent narratives portrayed in the media or published in general.”

Shaping public perception was what drove Zubal-Ruggieri to propose a symposium, hosted by the Disability Cultural Center at Syracuse University, that would focus on comics, graphic novels and other forms of popular media in a called CripCon for short. The first —the theme of which was “Fantastic! Heroic! Disabled?” —was held in 2013, and it became an annual event. With the support of multiple University partners and student leaders, the public event became a bi-annual symposium in 2017 attracting students, scholars, advocates and those interested in engaging in reflective discussions about the representations of disability that exist “beneath the surface” and explicitly within mainstream popular cultures both nationally and internationally.

Zubal-Ruggieri first proposed the idea for CripCon to Diane Wiener, founding director of the Disability Cultural Center (and now research professor and associate director of the Office of Interdisciplinary Programs and Outreach). Together, the both admitted comic book nerds set out to change perception and the vocabulary used to define and demean others who are simply different—and to give to those often portrayed as powerless the support they need to empower themselves.

Diane Wiener, left, and Rachael Zubal-Ruggieri, right, both in full zombie makeup, for the ZOMBIE WALK N’ ROLL which took place with an accessible route on the SU Quad for Take Away the Suit, and What are You? “Cripping” the Comic Con 2014.

“I consider myself Robin to her Batman-woman,” says Wiener in describing her relationship with Zubal-Ruggieri. “Because she is one of the most sophisticated, awesome, coolest people I’ve ever met. She’s incredibly intelligent and creative with a unique combination of professionalism, talent, perseverance and a broad range of expertise. I’ve been privileged to be her partner in these important events that have helped to put Syracuse University at the forefront of disability studies.”

Together with illustrator Gilles Stromberg and other collaborators, Zubal-Ruggieri and Wiener created the , a team of superheroes with disabilities who take pride in and draw power from their differences. The Access Avengers are multicultural, multi-gendered and multi-ethnic superheroes who fight for an accessible world and seek justice.

The term is intended to bring awareness to the use of vocabulary that labels, marginalizes and demeans individuals. Commonly used terms like “crippling” to describe disabilities lead to harmful interpretations, including the idea that people with certain disabilities can be “fixed.” Promoting the terms “crip” and “cripping” instead of “cripple” or “crippling” provides thoughtful launching pads for discussion.

With her sensitivity to the power of words, Zubal-Ruggieri has even created her own “Dangerous Diction[ary]” of autism rhetoric used to describe (and ultimately demean) autistic people. Phrases like “combat autism” or “warrior mom” imply that it is a fight against something terrible and evil versus an acceptance of a difference. “All of these words are not just militaristic but aggressive, belligerent, uncooperative,” Zubal-Ruggieri writes in her blog. “They make me think of always having to have a winner and a loser. They make me think of how they dehumanize people to be objects, not real human beings.”

Zubal-Ruggieri continues to develop her own communication and other professional skills, knowing that she has more to learn, and the more she learns, the more she can help others. That’s why she has also been a part-time student at Syracuse University, taking courses toward a bachelor’s degree. She is obliged to take courses in her major, but also chooses courses “that work for me professionally and personally” like interpersonal communication or design for the business professional or a creative non-fiction intensive Maymester. Just five more courses to go before that degree. And then? She says her next step is likely to be graduate school. Makes sense for a woman who thirsts continuously for new knowledge and the opportunities to share it. Always the gatherer, the finder, the keeper, the supporter.

Ashley Kang

The impetus for The Stand, which dates back to 2006, was a desire to get Newhouse journalism students out of the habit of pursuing interviews and stories from their comfort zones. “Steve Davis, who chaired the journalism department for a long time, was tired of his students interviewing their roommates or other professors,” Kang recounts. “He was of the opinion that if you wanted to be a journalist, you had to talk to everybody. He decided his class was going to cover the closest neighborhood to campus, and one that’s not really covered very well—the South Side.”

The South Side is the neighborhood immediately adjacent to Syracuse University’s campus to the west and south. According to the most recent census data, the neighborhood’s median household income is $22,901 and its residents experience high poverty and unemployment rates. Usually, when the South Side is covered by Syracuse’s mainstream media, the reports are about crime, violence or drug activity.

The Stand sought to change that. And when the 2006 class project resulted in a 36-page publication that was positively received by the community, it became a regular production of the Newhouse School.

Kang, a 2004 graduate of the Newhouse School’s magazine journalism program and 2011 graduate of the School of Education, was hired as The Stand’s director, first on a part-time basis while she finished graduate school and eventually in a full-time capacity. “I wanted to do projects that combined a university and community focus, so The Stand was a good fit,” she says. “I see local journalism as a vital need. It’s important to know what’s going on in your community. It’s no secret that local news is dying off everywhere, so it’s good to see it sustaining through projects like The Stand.”

Bringing local, community-based journalism into focus

Ashley Kang assists a Pretty Girls Rock mentee with her assignment during this year’s Photo Walk. (Photo by Marilu Lopez Fretts)

The recipe that keeps The Stand going 10 years later is a combination of community and student engagement and an unrelenting commitment to authenticity. The paper’s stories come from journalism students, community members and Kang herself.

“I write at least one piece for every issue,” she says. “My goal when I write, and what I encourage in the other contributors, is to really have the source’s voice be there, not my own voice.” She recalls a story she wrote about a local woman who came forth to share her story about overcoming a substantial amount of adversity. “This woman had been in an abusive relationship and talked about how she started over and got out of that situation, got on her feet, got a job, an education, raised her kids on her own. When she read the piece, she said ‘yes, that’s what I wanted to say!’ It’s rewarding to hear that the article was in her voice, true to her experience and reflective of her accomplishments.”

A large part of Kang’s job is staying connected to the Newhouse school to find students who want to participate in the project. “I go into the college to find students that want to do this type of reporting and gain experience, and then I help connect them with the community,” she says.

Although there are plenty of opportunities for students to get involved with on-campus publications, she says it takes a unique type of journalism student to become invested in the mission behind The Stand, and those who pursue it are granted an experience that truly helps them evolve and grow as journalists.

“Some students want to participate and then pretty quickly realize that The Stand is not for them,” Kang says. “Others find the work very rewarding and put a lot of effort toward listening and not making assumptions, learning new ways to interview and not being afraid to ask tough questions. Seeing them build up those reporting chops is a good thing.”

Engaging with the South Side community to find contributors is also key to ensuring that The Stand is representative of the community it serves. To recruit, the newspaper has hosted numerous workshops focused on different aspects of the craft of journalism. “We’ve conducted community workshops and trainings to get more people involved,” Kang says. “What started as hour-long classes evolved into half-day workshops that culminated in hitting ‘publish’ on a finished piece.”

Workshop participants would receive a quick lesson, then go out on assignment—like covering a nearby quilting club or interviewing local firefighters at the fire station. “They’d come back with their notes, have lunch, write their stories, edit them, process photos and get it posted online. By the end of the workshop, they’d be published.”

Photo Walk: taking photojournalism to the masses

The Stand’s South Side Photo Walk, of which Kang is the primary organizer, celebrated its 10th year this July. The event is an annual opportunity for local photographers—both amateur and professional—to gather on the South Side, explore the neighborhood, take photos and practice their skills. Its origin is in a community workshop like the ones described above.

“One year we did the Photo Walk as a photojournalism workshop, and it was really popular; it’s been growing ever since,” Kang says.

This year’s walk welcomed more than 55 photographers covering four different “routes” through the South Side neighborhood. “Now that we’ve been doing this for a number of years, we have families who look forward to us coming through the neighborhood with our cameras each July,” Kang says. “If you look at our , you can see families whose progression has been captured by our volunteer photographers throughout the years. It’s been a meaningful way to connect with the residents we serve with The Stand.”

Finding her home and building a life in Syracuse

A Texas native, Kang came to Syracuse University as a student in the Newhouse School’s magazine journalism program. After taking high school journalism electives and serving for two years as editor of her high school paper, she had set her sights on a journalism career early on. She competed in academic journalism competitions and spent the summer between her junior and senior year at a journalism camp at Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. After all that, the Newhouse School was at the top of her list.

Ashley Kang with her family. (Photo by Hanz Valbuena for The International)

Once accepted, Kang’s decision to attend Syracuse ended up shaping her life in more ways than one. She met her husband (HeeRak, who is currently a third-year resident at Upstate Medical University in physical medicine and rehabilitation) before her freshman year was underway.

“I came for Summer Start to get familiar with the area, learn the campus and get some classes under my belt,” she recalls. “That’s where I met my husband, who came from Korea to also get an early start.” Kang and her husband now have two kids, a 5-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son, who dominate most of her time when she’s not working on The Stand. “That’s pretty much it,” she says with a laugh. “Work and kids.”

Earlier in her career, Kang worked for The Auburn Citizen, a newspaper covering Cayuga County, for four years. There, she served as night copy editor, ran the weekly entertainment guide for a year, and eventually took over as features editor, before ultimately returning to Syracuse University and The Stand.

When it comes to The Stand’s legacy and impact, Kang says that running the publication has, to some extent, simply been “the job she got.” But it’s one that she has come to love. “It’s a great project and an opportunity for students to gain reporting experience, which is really needed. We prepare them to do good reporting—not just opinion pieces or talking to the same people over and over again, but meeting interesting people who have amazing stories to share.”

Whitman School staff member Ben Schlimmer prepares for the 2017 Yukon River Quest in June 2017. The race was a 715-kilometer trek from Whitehorse to Dawson City in the Yukon territory in Canada. Schlimmer competed as part of a four-person canoe, and his team finished first in the mixed category. Schlimmer is headed this month to Thailand to participate in his second International Dragon Boat Federation World Cup.

Ben Schlimmer’s agility and passion for paddling watersports was most certainly passed down from his father and grandfather.

A son of a canoe enthusiast and grandson of a Boy Scout troop leader who led adventurous water excursions, Schlimmer has adeptly kept up the family tradition. His skill has taken him even further.

Schlimmer, manager of academic technologies in the Whitman School, was selected to join Team USA in this year’s International Dragon Boat Federation’s (IDBF) 14th World Championships in Pattaya, Thailand, Aug. 20-25.

A centuries-old sport that originated in China in honor of poet Qu Yuan (343-278 BC), dragon boat racing features 40-foot long, 500-pound boats decorated in bright colors and outfitted with a dragon head and tail. The competition brings team collaboration to a whole new level. Canoeing and kayaking typically may only have one or two paddlers, but the dragon boat is propelled by a team of 20, with a steersman shouting orders and a drummer to keep the paddlers in sync.

Team USA in boat 3 at the International Dragon Boat Federation World Cup in China in 2014

“There is a lot of technique to it, and getting 20 people to all paddle at the same time is a big challenge,” says Schlimmer, who also participated in the International Dragon Boat Federation World Cup in Fuzhou, China, and the Hong Kong IDBF regatta preliminary races, both in 2014. “It was definitely something new for me to learn.”

Schlimmer was first introduced to dragon boat racing in 2014 when the coach of Team USA, Bob McNamara, who also coaches the Philadelphia Dragon Boat Association, contacted him about trying out for the team. McNamara had noticed Schlimmer’s times in various canoeing and kayaking races, such as the “triple crown of canoe racing,” a trio of events held in New York, Michigan and Quebec.

Schlimmer didn’t hesitate. He competed in a time trial for Team USA, was selected, trained in Philadelphia with the team on weekends and headed to China. Two of his six siblings, Michael and Mary, who are also watersport competitors, were also selected.

The International Dragon Boat Federation, which governs the rules and regulations, including the boat size and paddle form, holds the World Cup in various countries.

The first time Schlimmer launched with his team in a race was “awe-inspiring,” Schlimmer says. “There were a lot of good athletes in the boat, and I felt really honored to be there.”

Team USA mixed boat competing in the 2015 World Championships, Welland, Ontario

The competitions include various race lengths and preliminary heats, ranging from 500 meters to two kilometers, with competitors from China, Taipei, the Philippines, Canada, German and Australia, among other countries.

“In those seconds leading up to when the pistol fires off, your heart rate is going, and you can feel the adrenaline pumping through your body in anticipation of the competition,” Schlimmer says. “There’s a lot of people cheering and screaming.”

During the race, the steersman is responsible for keeping the boat straight, calling out strategic moves and indicating the location of other boats. “The drummer keeps the beat of the paddling,” Schlimmer says. “It’s like a symphony. You have to paddle in unison.”

In 2014, Team USA took the podium for several medals, including a gold medal in the 500-meter race in Hong Kong and a silver in the 1K in Fuzhou.

This year, as in 2014, Schlimmer was once again invited to try out for the team and is heading out to Thailand on Aug. 16. His sister, Mary, along with two brothers, Michael and Joseph Jr., are also on the team.

Ben Schlimmer, at right, with fellow paddler, Tommy Pellerin, of Shawinigan, Quebec, at La Classique, a three-day, 200-kilometer stage race held every Labor Day weekend

“It makes it a family affair and a great bonding experience. I’ve been racing with my siblings for quite a few years,” he says.

Schlimmer continues to compete in various races, including the triple crown, and has even participated in longer marathon canoeing events, such as a 1,000-mile adventure down the Yukon River.

“I’ve been doing canoeing competitions for the last 10 years,” he says. “When I was a senior in high school, my dad took me out for my first canoe race. I competed and got hooked, and the rest is history.”

Schlimmer’s father is from Fayetteville, New York; his grandfather was a scoutmaster who would lead canoeing expeditions on nearby creeks. “My dad grew up paddling and he passed that on to us,” he says.

Schlimmer says his parents, Joseph and Tracy, are proud of their paddling crew.

Ben Schlimmer, left, and his sister, Mary, display their team’s many medals following the medal ceremony for the 500-meter mixed category race at the Hong Kong preliminary World Cup races in 2014.

“My dad especially, the paddling gene came from his side of family, and he lives vicariously through us,” he says. “When he was younger, he did much of what we are doing now, competing in the triple crown. Now it’s a third generation, and we’ve taken it to a new level.”

Schlimmer enjoys the competition, but it’s also about being in nature.

“It is invigorating to be on the water, and there is a tranquility to it as well,” Schlimmer says. “Canoeing takes you places you normally would never be able to go, unless you’re in a motor boat or flying.”

As he prepares for Thailand, he’s looking forward to meeting up with friends from the competition in 2014, winning some medals and battling with his team together.

“You’re all bonding together with this common goal,” Schlimmer says. “And unexpected things can happen. I remember one time our boat almost got swamped because we went through this big wave.”

The competition will be streamed online at the , and Schlimmer will be blogging during the trip on the website .

The competition is televised in Asia—it’s a popular sport there and growing worldwide.

“The energy of the race really comes through with so many competing in the boat. It’s fun to watch because it takes so much team work to stay in sync,” Schlimmer says. “There’s also a history and culture behind it that makes it special.”

Team USA at the 2014 International Dragon Boat Federation World Cup in China

Tammy Bluewolf-Kennedy

During the annual Native American student orientation in the fall or the Indigenous Student Graduation Reception around Commencement, you’ll probably see Tammy Bluewolf-Kennedy with her camera or cell phone at the ready.

Bluewolf-Kennedy ’04, G’10, admissions counselor and Native American liaison in the Office of Admissions, attends as many of the Native student events, presentations and gatherings as she can during the academic year.

“The students will tell you I’m the one running around taking pictures of everyone,” Bluewolf-Kennedy says. She laughingly agrees, but she has a purpose.

Like a proud mom or family member, Bluewolf-Kennedy sees greatness in the students—and she wants them to see it in themselves. She wants students to know: “You have done fabulous things, and everyone needs to see this.”

With a special focus on recruiting indigenous students to the University, Bluewolf-Kennedy, who has been with the Office of Admissions for almost nine years, travels the country and Canada meeting with students at high schools and college fairs.

In New York state, Bluewolf-Kennedy recruits Native American students who may be eligible for the Haudenosaunee Promise Scholarship and the Haudenosaunee Honor Scholarship. The University-sponsored scholarships provide financial assistance to citizens of one of the historic Haudenosaunee nations (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca or Tuscarora).

Kacey Chopito ’18 and Tammy Bluewolf-Kennedy at the 2018 Indigenous Student Graduation Reception

Out west, she attends such events as the Choctow Nation’s Ivy League college fair in Durant, Oklahoma, and the annual Native American Gathering of Nations in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she visits high schools in Albuquerque, Sante Fe and Farmington. She also heads to schools in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and recently the Southern Ute reservation in Durango, Colorado.

In admissions recruiting, it may take three to five years to build recognition for a university in an area before students start applying, she says. “But when we’re recruiting indigenous students, it may take six to eight years before you really see applications start to come in.”

Bluewolf-Kennedy explains there are many historical and political issues involving U.S. policies toward Native Americans over the past centuries that have led to indigenous people being distrustful of the U.S. educational system.

“There’s also this legitimate fear that if families send their kids away to school, are they going to come back or go somewhere else. I can understand that,” says Bluewolf-Kennedy, who is a member of the Wolf Clan of the Oneida Indian Nation, in Oneida, New York.

However, the prospective students she talks to are already thinking about their futures in their communities. They want to become doctors so they can work in their nation’s health clinic or pursue law so they can work with their nation’s government, among other careers that will benefit their nations, she says.

“When we provide educational and research opportunities to indigenous students, we’re helping not only that student but that family and that community and that nation. We’re creating a generation of indigenous scholars who are going to go home to their territories where they will become leaders—and that’s nation building,” she says. “It’s one of the reasons why I love being in this job.”

James Duah-Agyeman, director, Office of Multicultural Affairs; Skye Kujawski ’19; Regina Jones, assistant director of the Native Student Program; Tammy Bluewolf-Kennedy; and Jerrel Burgo, assistant director, Office of Multicultural Affairs, at the Indigenous Student Graduation Reception in May.

When she meets with students and their families, Bluewolf-Kennedy informs them about the University’s people and supports available for indigenous students, including the Native Student Program, with Regina Jones and Jerrel Burgo, as part of the Office of Multicultural Affairs; the student-run Indigenous Students at Syracuse organization; the Indigenous Living Learning Community and mentoring programs, along with other programs.

The community of support has been built at Syracuse University because of its intentional work to be a welcoming place for all. There are almost 300 self-identifying indigenous students on campus; over 80 are citizens of the Haudenosaunee confederacy.

“We are an institution that proactively works on building a campus community that is diverse and inclusive—and that looks to support all of our students,” says Bluewolf-Kennedy, who is a member of the Universitywide Council on Diversity and Inclusion. “It is a university that understands its history as being on Onondaga Nation land and supports its indigenous population.” The University has a policy of opening public events with an acknowledgement of the Onondaga Nation, the indigenous peoples on whose ancestral lands Syracuse University now stands, and flying the Haudenosaunee flag in prominent campus locations.

Bluewolf-Kennedy, who also has a contingent of Native American alumni representatives who help her spread the word about what Syracuse University has to offer, speaks to prospective students from her own welcoming experience as a student.

Gabby Hill ’18 and Tammy Bluewolf-Kennedy

Before her time at the University, she had worked in the Oneida Indian Nation’s education department. She initially enrolled in the School of Information Studies to pursue library science and assist the Nation in establishing its library, but realized it wasn’t the right fit. She switched to English and textual studies in the College of Arts and Sciences and found her place.

“I worked with some brilliant professors, and they were very supportive,” Bluewolf-Kennedy says. With her focus on indigenous studies, she would use whatever literary theory her classes were studying at the time and apply it to an indigenous issue.

After she earned a bachelor’s degree, her professors, such as Philip Arnold, Scott Lyons and Monika Wadman, encouraged her to pursue a master’s degree. “I was ready to be done and be a mom—I have seven children at home,” says Bluewolf-Kennedy, whose children now range in age from 11 to 34. “But my professors were like, ‘you can do this.’”

Bluewolf-Kennedy was accepted into the master’s program in English, continuing to frame her studies to fit her interests.

“This is the kind of thing I hammer home to students,” she says. “Regardless of your program, you’re going to have that support to direct your studies and research to the things that you are passionate about.”

After she finished her degree, one of her professors, Richard Loder, sent her an email about the new Native American liaison position in the Office of Admissions and she applied. It is a role she cherishes.

“I love connecting with indigenous students and letting them know the opportunities available to them,” Bluewolf-Kennedy says. “We’re helping them discover their abilities and develop their critical thinking skills and passions so they can go back to their communities and help renew, rebuild and fortify them. It’s a privilege for me to help them get to that point and make their mark in the world.”

Indigenous Student Graduation Reception in May

Sharon Cole

The summer heat hasn’t yet broken through the early morning clouds when Sharon Cole arrives at Syracuse University for the annual CNY Works orientation. Funded by the workforce development nonprofit CNY Works and coordinated by Cole, the program places local students, ages 16 to 20, in University departments to work over the summer.

Every year, Cole, talent acquisition manager in the University’s Office of Human Resources, is at the location hours before the event starts, but she wants everything to be perfect for the local students. She lays out T-shirts, rearranges chairs and runs through the schedule—reassuring herself that her attention to detail and passion holds strong. Right alongside her, for the last 13 years, is her daughter Diamond.

Diamond grew up watching her mom help streamline hiring practices at Syracuse University and prioritize her local community. And yet, Diamond is just one “student” of Cole’s—a woman who continuously personifies lessons of compassion, hard work and love.

Twenty years ago, Cole was enrolled in a job readiness program at CNY Works. She was pregnant with Diamond at the time and knew she wanted to improve her skills to begin a career for herself and her daughter. The agency helped Cole get hired at Syracuse University.

“When I was hired at Syracuse University, I said I was going to give back,” Cole says. “Someone gave me the opportunity to talk with someone at Syracuse University, and I said I was going to work with community agencies and be that contact person moving forward.”

And she did.

When Cole was hired, the Office of Human Resources shortly shifted from in-person, paper application processes to digital processes. She quickly identified that the digital process was impeding on local hiring and found an opportunity to bolster the temporary support process.

Sharon Cole with local students at the annual CNY Works orientation

After approaching her supervisor, Cole was encouraged to spread her wings, creating an in-house temp agency at Syracuse University; after all, more employees are hired in temporary positions than not at the University.

“I’m proud of taking a process that we had and making it more inclusive,” says Cole.

Word traveled through the University and local community as Cole worked with workforce development agencies and other organizations to hire local community members. Cole says people knew that if they wanted to hire someone for a temporary administrative position they had three options: “post the position, go to an outside temporary agency or ‘do you want to work with the talent team at HR to fill your position?’” The third option was and still is the most popular.

For the past 20 years, Cole has found the most value in helping people get a foot in the door at Syracuse University through temporary positions and also watching young people in the CNY Works program discover options they never thought possible.

By getting people into positions as temporary administrative employees, many then become permanent, use tuition benefits for their children, get promotions, etc. Many CNY Works students are exposed to higher education for the first time, realizing the possibilities in front of them, including possibly attending Syracuse University.

“I open emails and immediately cry sometimes,” Cole says. “Many of my past students or hires email me thanking me for who I am and for making a difference in their lives…for taking the time to talk to them and helping them.”

Sharon Cole and her daughter Diamond

One of the regular emailers is Craig Tucker, now director of the Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP). A serendipitous series of events led him to his current position, but that’s the way it works with Cole.

Fifteen years ago while volunteering with a program to collect furniture for Hurricane Katrina survivors, Tucker started talking to a fellow volunteer about wanting to continue his career in higher education. The volunteer told him that if he wanted to work at Syracuse University, he needed to talk to Sharon Cole. Tucker sent his resume to Cole, who called him within a half hour of receiving his email.

After Cole convinced him to apply for a position as a temporary coordinator in the School of Information Studies, his career at Syracuse University took off. Now, as a program director, he continues to email Cole thanking her for and reminding her of the importance of the work she’s doing.

“I tell her thanks for opening the door and convincing me to get into the temporary pool. She’s doing good, important work…in a way, her work really makes Syracuse University part of the community,” says Tucker.

Cole’s work is now being elevated in a partnership between the Office of Human Resources and the Office of Community Engagement, as one part of a new University initiative: Building Local, a three-pronged effort focused on opportunity, partnerships and business.

“Twenty years feels like yesterday working at the University, and I could do it another 20. I love what I do and love being a part of and representing Syracuse University,” says Cole.

This labor of love has inspired many to realize their potential and help others around them. Most significantly, however, it has been instilled in Diamond.

“Seeing my mom have a passion for helping people—who didn’t have the same chances as other people—showed me how much she cares about the community, which inspired me to be who I am and pursue a career in serving underserved populations,” says Diamond, who is now a rising senior studying public health in the Falk College. “The tough love she gave to me and the role model she is for me…she’s that for every CNY Works student and every person she comes to know.”

Gus at Minetto Elementary School in Minetto, New York.

“Gus” is a 107-pound St. Bernard-Great Pyrenees mix—a loving, cuddly giant of a pup who is seriously dedicated to his job. He and his pet parent, Amy Dumas, assistant director of the Research Center in the Falk College, are regular visitors at Minetto Elementary School in Minetto, New York, where they meet with first-graders just starting to read.

Gus, a therapy dog, offers a patient, non-judgmental presence to the new readers as they practice their reading skills aloud, as Dumas, a volunteer and president of (PAWS of CNY), holds his leash and watches over.

“The students read to Gus and show him the pictures. They pick funny books and bring out cat books to show him,” Dumas says. “Some of them hold the book and pet the dog at the same time; sometimes they’ll just spend time with him.”

Amy Dumas

For Dumas, it’s a joy to be part of PAWS and share the love and companionship of her canine friend. For Gus, it’s a chance to get extra attention and sweet hugs. He knows his job well.

“Gus is an absolute love. He loves the kids, he loves the Minetto School, and he is very happy to lie down on the floor and listen to their books,” Dumas says.

Three-year-old Gus has been with Dumas and her family for two years, but it’s the fourth therapy dog for Dumas. Her work with the organization began while Dumas’ youngest son, Jake, was in the third grade over a decade ago. Jake wanted to bring their then-golden retriever, Boomer, to school. At the time, Dumas taught horseback riding and trained horses part time at various farms, including one belonging to Peggy Florian, co-founder of Sunshine Friends, which later became PAWS.

Dumas asked Florian about how Boomer could become certified, and Florian got her started in the program. Dumas and Boomer began at the Minetto Elementary School in the third grade. They later transitioned to the first grade, which is more appropriate for that aged reader. “It’s really about building confidence and having an unbiased listener to learn how to read,” Dumas says.

Along with the Minetto program, PAWS offers dog and cat pet therapy to hospitals, nursing homes, schools, colleges and universities, libraries, airport travelers and community partners in Onondaga, Cayuga, Cortland, Madison and Oswego counties. The organization, which is the largest nonprofit pet therapy program in Central New York, has 94 pet teams, including two cat teams.

Members of PAWS’ airport team

“PAWS volunteers visit 55 nursing facilities on a monthly basis, and we have over 30 reading programs,” says Dumas, who also visits nursing facilities with Gus. “We visit local colleges and universities, including Syracuse.” PAWS will be partnering with the new wellness center at The Arch, which will be operational this fall, to help provide pet therapy teams.

Those interested in being a volunteer team with their pet are required to take an initial test and a facility test to become by PAWS. Interested volunteers can go through an optional five-week PAWS therapy dog training class, which covers basic obedience and situations and equipment, such as wheelchairs, that pets might encounter during visits.

Dumas’ first dog, Boomer, was her therapy partner for 12 years, before retiring two years ago. He later passed away. Along with Gus, Dumas currently has a 20-pound beagle, Sadie, who is in training, and a retired Labrador retriever, Millie.

“People ask me what breed they should get to be a therapy dog, but it’s really more about the dog’s temperament and comfort level, and their interest,” Dumas says. Pets need to be engaged and enjoy getting attention. “It’s important that they are happy doing it,” she says.

Boomer

Each visit to a facility or school is different, and the pets are intuitive to each situation. “The pet walks into the room, and it is an absolutely safe place to feel what you’re feeling,” Dumas says. “They give us the space to know it’s OK if we’re sad, if we miss our family or our pet or if we’re overwhelmed.”

Dumas recalls a visit with Boomer to a nursing facility where a resident was nonverbal and unresponsive. Boomer put his nose under her hand and then her facial expression changed. “She knew the dog was there and moved her fingers to pet his nose,” Dumas says.

In another visit, Dumas and Boomer entered a room where a patient’s bed was on the floor due to the patient’s fall risk. “Boomer crawled onto the bed and curled up next to him,” Dumas says. “The gentleman never really moved but Boomer knew what he needed to do in that moment.”

Dumas can tell the dogs enjoy their work and are eager to visit when Dumas brings out their yellow pet therapy dog vest. “You can see the look on their face. They smile,” Dumas says. “They are very proud of what they do. They sense how loved they are when they go into the places, by the people they visit, but also the staff, visitors and anyone they meet.”

Gus, a therapy dog, and a new friend at Liverpool Library. (Photo by Tony Coffield, a first-year student in the Newhouse School)

Dumas enjoys how people’s interaction with her changes when she has a dog; people are easier to talk to, and there is a commonality of people’s love for animals.

“We as a society always talk about being kinder, and being part of PAWS lets me do that in a very easy way. I can bring something special to someone for that day,” Dumas says. “The other thing I think about is that not everyone has access to a pet. In this way, especially for children, they can see the benefit and joy of having a pet, so they can grow up to appreciate animals.”

Maureen Casey interviews writer, actor, motivational speaker and Navy SEAL Remi Adeleke at the IVMF’s 2018 Veteran Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship training program in San Diego.

Maureen Casey’s office at the (IVMF) is more than 150 miles from her childhood home on a dairy farm in Hudson Falls, New York. But the lessons she learned there, tending dairy cows and their calves, have played out in her career choices—including her decision to accept the position of chief operating officer at IVMF.

“When the cows got out of their pens in the middle of the night, you couldn’t just wait until the morning to solve the problem,” Casey says. “You get up, get dressed and join the family to wrangle up the cows. It’s all hands on deck, and you don’t quit until the job gets done.”

From her criminal justice work, to serving first responders, political leaders and now the nation’s veterans and military families, this farmer’s daughter just doesn’t quit. And it has made a difference in countless lives.

Casey says she’s been fortunate to work for leaders who gave her big problems to solve, along with the support, resources and people to get the job done. Leaders like Rudy Giuliani, who was New York City’s mayor when Casey was deputy commissioner of policy and planning for the New York Police Department (NYPD). When Giuliani learned that there were 16,000 rape kits sitting in a freezer in the property clerk’s office—never having been analyzed—he was horrified. Casey was charged with setting up a system to analyze the rape kits, gather the evidence and obtain justice for those rape victims. In other words: to get the job done. The Mayor’s Office provided millions in funding, but Casey’s work—along with the scientists, evidence technicians, investigators and law enforcement officials who rallied to the cause—meant closure for hundreds of crime victims.

“While everyone said it could not be done, my bosses at the time were not taking ‘no’ for an answer,” recalls Casey. She tapped into skills she previously acquired as general counsel for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, where she had helped implement the state’s Sex Offender Registry law and the DNA data bank for convicted offenders. “I learned back then that DNA is a powerful tool—to both convict and exonerate. One of my first cases involved a case where the rape victim had identified her attacker in a lineup. But the DNA wasn’t a match. As emotional as it was for all involved, the system worked.”

Maureen Casey, then-managing director of the Office of Military and Veterans Affairs at JPMorgan Chase & Co., with JPMC President and CEO Jamie Dimon and former U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel at a JPMC meeting in New York City.

Ultimately, the system implemented by Casey and her team helped solve hundreds of crimes in New York state and transformed the way law enforcement agencies nationwide handle evidence backlogs. It also became a vital problem-solving tool in what would be Casey’s next big assignment—identifying the thousands of people who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.

On the morning of 9/11, Casey was in her office at One Police Plaza, headquarters for the NYPD. She heard the first plane crash into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. She saw the second plane fly into the South Tower. She helped mobilize the police response, first as a rescue mission. But within two days, she was given her assignment by the police commissioner to set up a system to identify the remains of the thousands of victims.

“We had to acquire DNA samples from family members,” recalls a pensive Casey. “We put into place a painstaking process to recover any amount of human remains that we could from the site so that as technology evolves, someone could be identified. So far, more than 1,600 victims have been identified (…and still counting). Every so often, I’ll read a story or receive a call that one more person has been identified from the remains stored at the 9/11 memorial. Giving a family member back their loved one…it might seem so little, but it means so much.”

Casey’s work with the first responders, survivors and families most impacted by 9/11 laid the groundwork for her next big career move…in service to the nation’s veterans. “I met so many veterans who enlisted because of what happened on 9/11,” she recalls. “They went to battle to defend all of us against terrorism. But after their service, they would face new battles on the homefront trying to transition to civilian life.” Casey had a new big problem to solve.

Once again, a powerful and visionary leader gave her an assignment. As managing director of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPMC), she led the effort to develop, implement and manage a nationwide program to help members of the military, veterans and their families find jobs, education and housing. Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon assigned Casey to oversee the firm’s Office of Military and Veterans Affairs, which was responsible for, among other things, the 100,000 Jobs Mission (renamed Veterans Job Mission), a commitment by like-minded companies to hire 100,000 veterans by 2020.

Maureen Casey, then-managing director of the Office of Military and Veterans Affairs at JPMC, being interviewed by Fox 5 at the 2011 New York City Veterans Day Parade.

“That was yet another one of those projects that folks were skeptical about its ability to succeed,” recalls Casey. At the start, 11 companies were involved. She and her colleagues refused to take “no” for an answer and built the coalition to include nearly 200 companies and exceed its employment goals, prior to her departure to the IVMF. Today, the coalition is made up of more than 250 companies that have hired nearly a half million veterans.��“When we launched the program, the unemployment rate for veterans was roughly twice the national average—now, the unemployment rate for veterans is less than the national average.”

Casey’s work with JPMC connected her with the IVMF and gave her the opportunity to work for leadership dedicated to serving the nation’s veterans and their families. “Chancellor Syverud made a promise in his inaugural remarks, one that he has often repeated: that Syracuse University will be the best place in the nation for veterans and military-connected families,” she says. “Further, he has empowered us at IVMF to carry out that promise. He has been a guiding force in a collective effort that has created partnerships across the University community, involving colleges and schools and programs, that open new opportunities for veterans.”

Casey cites partnerships with University College, the iSchool, the Falk College, the Whitman School and the Maxwell School as examples. The newest program was announced just last month: With initial support JPMC, the IVMF and the Maxwell School launched the initiative for veterans and military family members who aspire to public office or another form of political career. In , it was noted that veteran representation in Congress declined from more than 75 percent in the 1960s to just 19.1 percent today.

The IVMF was built upon the spirit of entrepreneurship when, in 2006, Mike Haynie—a former U.S. Air Force officer and now Syracuse University vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and innovation—identified the need for a program to empower veterans coming back to civilian life with significant injuries and seeking their next career. He created the , the beginning of many first-of-its-kind programs now operated by the IVMF.

For Casey, the portfolio of entrepreneurship programs presents another solution to the challenge of meaningful employment and the ability for veterans and their families to chart their own course through business ownership.

Maureen Casey and fellow JPMorgan Chase & Co. executives with country music star Tim McGraw launching the Chase Home Awards.

“What I love about working for IVMF is that our programs are not ‘one-and-done,’” says Casey. “We are helping veterans and their families across a continuum—starting during their service with programs like to help them prepare for transition to civilian life after their service is done. And we are there for them when they settle into cities across this country to build new lives.”

Casey cites the continued success of the program, which, like many of the networked systems of services she’s had to build in the past, brings together dozens of organizations in a common mission to ease the transition by improving the way veterans and their families access and navigate care and services. Today, there are AmericaServes networks in 16 communities across the country, with more than 800 participating service providers that have served more than 18,000 clients.

“Building the public-private partnerships required to serve our veterans is challenging,” Casey says. “I feel like every step I’ve taken in my professional career—from public policy work at the state level to serving in a quasi-paramilitary organization like city government and the police department—has prepared me for understanding how to blend the military culture with the needs of the private sector and communities. The team at IVMF is truly one-of-a-kind, all of us united behind a singular mission, able to carry out multiple projects to serve that mission and to serve as a model for the rest of the nation.”

She credits her boss, Haynie, with helping focus the team on a key element of the mission: to ensure that veterans, their families and communities are provided the resources to be “informed consumers” in the transition from military service to civilian life.

“We are not giving veterans and their families a ‘handout,” Casey says. “What we provide is ‘a hand up’ by giving them the knowledge and tools and new rules to live by to make their transition successful.”

Casey says her work at IVMF is also giving her an opportunity to solve big problems facing veterans and the entire nation: “The work we do here is truly unique because it brings together research, analysis, policy making, program development and direct service delivery that transforms lives and communities.

“It is also a unique gift that I have been given,” says Casey. “To bring together all the skills I’ve acquired over my lifetime to better the lives of those who’ve given so much to our country.”

The lessons she learned on that dairy farm—to work hard, don’t accept “no” for an answer and don’t quit until you get the job done—still ring true today in her work with the IVMF in programs that have served more than 125,000 veterans or military-connected family members since its inception (and still counting…).

At the center of late-night programming are three staff members in the Division of Enrollment and the Student Experience who manage Orange After Dark (OAD), and

• Lorena Silva, program coordinator in the Office of Student Activities;
• Aaron Landers, programming and Tennity Ice Skating Pavilion coordinator in Recreation Services; and
• Aaron Knighton, assistant director of late night and special events in Recreation Services.

We caught up with Silva, Knighton and Landers to find out more about their efforts to offer students fun, healthy activities during the wee hours.

Lorena Silva

Silva works nearly every Friday and Saturday night (sometimes Thursday, too) to bring free or cost-effective programming to students on and off campus. From red carpet movie premieres to snow tubing to grocery bingo to trampoline parks, OAD provides a variety of programming for students across campus. Supporting Silva is an OAD programming board, composed of student volunteers. Once on the board, students grow professionally and, most importantly to them, they find Silva. Often referred to as “mom” by the students, Silva’s mentorship and late nights with the students create the unique atmosphere that is OAD.

Aaron Landers

Landers is a self-declared “rink rat,” who finds comfort on the Zamboni or skating around Tennity. When joining Recreation Services, he had not been involved with the programming side of the rink. Now, he stays late into the night implementing multiple programs a week for students of all skating experience levels. Leveraging the existing programming and expanding options, Landers has found fulfillment in watching others experience what he and his student employees create together. Namely, every Friday and Saturday night from 9 p.m. to midnight, Recreation Services hosts Late Night at the Rink. Along with the free skate, Tennity is expanding its curling and adaptive skating sport opportunities.

Aaron Knighton

Growing up in Syracuse, Knighton always saw Syracuse University as “the dream.” Fast forward years later, he is leading the University’s recreational late night programming and special events. Late Night at the Gym offers students opportunities to play their favorite sport or learn a new activity Wednesday through Saturday from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. in Flanagan Gym. A new, exciting partnership with the Department of Athletics has given Knighton the opportunity to grow a new late night option: Late Night at the Melo Center. Students can use the basketball courts at the Melo Center for pick-up basketball on Tuesday and Thursdays from 8 to 11 p.m. Managing more than 100 student employees, Knighton focuses on investing in the professional and personal development of his students, as well as the students that attend his programs.

Joyce LaLonde, internal communications specialist; Francis DiClemente, producer; Mary Kasprzyk, editor; and Alex DeRosa, director of multimedia—all in the Division of Marketing and Communications—teamed up to tell this Staff Spotlight story.

Liztazia Ramirez

Like thousands of students who become part of the Orange community each year, Syracuse University became the fulfillment of a dream for Liztazia��Ramirez, who joined the Department of Public Safety (DPS) last year as an officer and quickly impressed her colleagues with her ability to resolve conflicts and build relationships with students.

DPS Commander Kathy Pabis commends Liztazia’s “moral character and high integrity,” as well as her passion for “serving the public and doing her best to make those first impressions a lasting and positive one, helping to make a difference in someone’s life and helping them turn things around to be successful in their own lives.”

Ramirez works evenings and overnights engaging with students and ensuring their safety. She describes how her own upbringing and previous career experiences are helping her see the student experience through fresh eyes:

How did your upbringing affect your choice of career?�� ��

My Mom was my inspiration. She was a parole officer for about 10 years. She transitioned to the Office of Special Investigation as an Investigator and just recently was appointed to assistant deputy superintendent at Albion Correctional Facility. To be able to achieve all of that while being the youngest of 12 siblings, yet the first to graduate from college with a bachelor’s degree, and a single mom who raised my brother and me, made me want to follow in her footsteps. It is because of my mom that I have always known that I wanted to work in the law enforcement field.

When I graduated from the Department of Public Safety Academy at Syracuse University, my mother pinned my badge on me. It was such an honor. The training isn’t a breeze, and I would call her all the time throughout the academy. And she would always uplift me and tell me to hang in there. I know she was so proud of me. That made me extremely happy.

Department of Public Safety Chief Bobby Maldonado; Officer Liztazia Ramirez; her mom, Elizabeth Maldonado (no relation to Chief Maldonado); and Ramirez’s brother, Carlos Colon, at the Department of Public Safety Academy graduation.

How did your work at a juvenile correctional facility shape the way you approach your work here?��

I was a juvenile corrections officer at the MacCormick Secure Center in Brooktondale, New York, before I became an officer here. Part of my job was to supervise and assist incarcerated youth, helping them develop some positive habits towards work and study. I also helped them build and maintain healthy communications and relationships between them and their families. I had an opportunity to use my training in conflict resolution, which comes in handy on this campus.

To do the job of a public safety officer well, you need patience, thick skin, understanding and compassion. No one in life is perfect. Although some choices people make can be hard to come back from, I learned that no matter who you are dealing with, you must treat people with dignity and respect. I will always be grateful for that.

How tough was it to transition to a university environment?

This was one of the easiest transitions for me. The choice of taking this position was easy because I find this to be a healthy and less toxic environment. Because I come from a different environment, I believe I bring a fresh perspective, which allows me to strike a balance between policing students on campus and community members. The possibilities are endless here. There is so much room for growth.

I think anything you do in life will have challenges. Just knowing my status as a campus law enforcement officer is challenging in itself. Knowing that the choices I make on every call will be scrutinized because of my status. I understand the stigma between law enforcement and the community. If I can come to work every day and work hard to develop a healthy relationship between law enforcement and the community we serve, I will feel fulfilled.

What inspires you about your job here?

I have realized the level of independence I have on this job, as opposed to my previous positions. Also, the moment I realized I was in the right place was fortified by students being appreciative of me taking an extra step and my supervisors and administration team being supportive and commending me for the work I have done. That is not something that you see all the time in the workplace.

I am inspired by the goals of my job: to continue to build a positive relationship between the community we serve and us as public safety and law enforcers. We play a bigger role than “just officers.” We are protectors, counselors and mentors.

And what inspires you outside of your work here?

I have been a volunteer mentor at the , which is dedicated to improving the quality of life for at-risk youth to encourage them to escape poverty, excel at school and to pursue productive careers, perhaps as entrepreneurs. In fact, my fiancé founded the organization, and his work and dedication are so inspiring to me. He had a vision, funded it from his own personal commitment, and in the last five years it has flourished into one of the leading youth service solutions in the state. His vision is finally coming to fruition. The type of work that he does with at-risk youth in this community is so astonishing. The best thing is that the organization produces amazing results. Not everyone can do what he does. It really is God’s work.

There are a lot of pressures on public safety officers. How do you deal with the stress?

When it comes to the stress of the job, I surround myself with positive people and don’t take things personally. I remain true to myself and never compromise who I am.

Becky Ponza

Rebecca (Becky) Ponza has spent over 25 years working at Syracuse University, starting in an entry-level technician position and rising to become director of Environmental Health and Safety Services (EHSS), part of Campus Safety and Emergency Services. EHSS is responsible for environmental compliance, waste management, and health and safety services to the University community with the goal of fostering a culture of safety and regulatory compliance for the overall protection of human health and the environment.

Ponza says the job comes along with continuous learning, for herself and the whole team, as responsibilities continue to increase, along with the complexity of issues. Last year alone, EHSS managed the disposal of almost 75 tons of regulated, hazardous and medical waste; provided training to more than 2,000 people; responded to 150 hazardous material incidents, spills, concerns and complaints; submitted multiple regulatory compliance reports; inspected 950 emergency wash and fume hood units; and visited every laboratory on campus.

She credits her team for the collaborative thinking and innovation required to help faculty, staff and students remain safe and compliant with the ever-growing body of regulations. “There is not a week that goes by where EHSS is not faced with something totally new to figure out,” she explains. “Just last week we were challenged to explore the safety considerations for a proposed new hydrogen generator, determine how to ship irradiated sensors across the country, evaluate the impacts new refrigerant management regulations would have on University operations, and identify��the most effective way to communicate the new hazardous waste-labeling requirements to the University’s waste generators.”

Ponza’s boss, Tony Callisto, senior vice president and chief law enforcement officer, says that her leadership “has transformed environmental compliance and waste remediation” at Syracuse University.

Ponza offers some insight into how she and her team are making a difference every day and advice for other young women interested in the field.

How has your work shaped your view of the Syracuse University campus?��

It’s a big place, and there are so many safety and environmental compliance considerations to address. Over the years, I have been in every building on campus and on many roofs, crawl spaces and areas that I did not even know existed. Still though, I walk around campus and see things and wonder, “How did I not know about that after all these years?”��I can never shut off my safety mind, so I am always noticing things and thinking, “How should we address that? How do we make that better? Or how could we convey that more effectively?”

Example: one of the weirdest places and experiences was in the basement of the Holden Observatory building before the observatory was moved to its current location. EHSS heard rumors from longtime faculty that the basement of the observatory once served as a medical school’s radioisotope laboratory and that radioisotopes remained in the basement.��After much investigation and a lot of time spent in the eerie basement that could only be accessed through a trap door in the floor, the rumors were confirmed true.��Behind a façade wall that was backfilled with sand we uncovered an old safe built into the wall.�� The safe held small vials of radioisotopes.��The radioisotopes and the safe were properly disposed of, and the old basement was eventually demolished to make way for Eggers Hall.

Is there anything particularly unique about Syracuse and where the University is situated that adds greater challenge to your role and responsibilities?��

This university is like its own little city. We have a little bit of everything going on when it comes to environmental compliance and health and safety. Because it is so spread out, it can be challenging.��Many of the environmental regulations look at facilities as being contiguous properties.��We end up having to manage environmental considerations for several different facilities, and the requirements for one facility may be different from another.��An example of this: We can’t transport hazardous waste generated at South Campus to Main Campus because under the hazardous waste laws, they are considered two separate facilities.��The waste must remain at the facility where it is generated.

Also, the University owns places in other parts of the state, country and the world.��Each location could have its own specific or unique safety and environmental compliance obligations.

How has EHSS changed since you became director in 2016? ��

After I became director, the EHSS team pulled together and agreed we wanted to transform the department with a focus on three main objectives:

• We wanted to be a more proactive, service-focused department and expand our roll in assisting academic and campus facility units in enhancing safety.
• We wanted to strive to find ways to say “yes” when new projects, research proposals or ideas were presented to us while still minimizing risks and achieving compliance.
• We wanted to explore more innovative and effective ways to promote safety and achieve compliance with the multitude of environmental, health and safety regulations we manage for the University.

I think we have been very successful in achieving each of these initial goals:

• We reorganized the department and dedicated more resources to laboratory and general workplace safety.��This afforded more staffing, time and talent dedicated to providing proactive safety services.
• The reorganization also afforded us with the time, motivation and expertise necessary to find innovative ways to help others advance their ideas safely and compliantly.
• We also looked at many of our existing department operations and compliance programs, dug into the details of the applicable laws and regulations, looked at compliance practices at peer institutions, and explored how we could better leverage technology. Through this, we identified opportunities to strategically reform key EHSS programs, processes and operations to improve efficiency, reduce cost and increase effectiveness.������
  

How has increased research at Syracuse University changed what it means to be a healthy and safe university environment?

Research protocols are more diversified, and there has been an influx of new research technologies, an increase in interdisciplinary research and more focus on STEM areas, bringing about new safety and compliance challenges. Faculty are so busy with teaching, research and other commitments, and we appreciate that. The EHSS team tries to partner with faculty to help promote and maintain safety in the research labs without adding unnecessary burden. We are trying to have more of a presence in the labs and are leveraging technology more to share information to help enhance all aspects of safety in the research labs.

At the same time, there is increased focus and support from the University administration on enhancing safety and health. For instance, Tony Callisto has resourced two additional staff members in EHSS to allow us to focus on proactive laboratory and research safety.��Pete Sala [vice president and chief campus facilities officer] has hired a facilities’ safety manager to partner with EHSS to promote and enhance safety in Facilities Services’ areas.

How have technology advances changed the way you do what you do?

Technology advancements, improved means of communication and the use of paperless systems and processes have all dramatically changed how we manage health and safety at the University.��We are using EHSS’ websites and other technology advancements more and more to convey easy-to-access safety information, guidance documents, training modules, etc. to the University community.��EHSS’ online “request for service” and training registration forms are used almost daily by people seeking services and assistance from EHSS.��Technology advancements have also helped to make EHSS operate more efficiently as it allows us to access almost immediate information on regulations, chemicals, processes, etc.��It has also allowed us to easily network with our colleagues at other universities and share lessons learned, innovative ideas and best practices for health, safety and environmental compliance.

Any advice for young women who are intrigued by what you do, knowing that it remains a male-dominated field?��

STEM fields in general have traditionally been male-dominated.��That became pretty evident to me early on in college, but I tried not to let it affect my choices or the way I conducted myself.��In some ways, I took it as an “anything-they-can-do-I-can-do-better” challenge.��At times, it has been intimidating being the only female in the room or on a job site, and I have had to pause, take a deep breath and push through.��You can’t let it stop you from doing what you need to do. I didn’t hesitate at all when my daughter decided to major in engineering. The balance seems to be improving in the STEM fields, and I am hopeful that she will never have to pause to think about being the only female in the room.

What’s the secret to success in your kind of work?

Never stop learning and experiencing new things. My dad was an educator, and continuous learning was always encouraged in our house. Early on, I learned that with education and hard work I could do and become anything I wanted.��That foundation has helped me to be successful personally and professionally.��I started at the University as an entry-level technician in EHSS, and through hard work, commitment and a passion for continuously learning, I became the director.��Whether it be a new concept I need to explore for work, the graduate class I am currently taking at the Maxwell School, or the conversation I had with a student in line for lunch, continuous learning remains a big part of my life.

School of Education Senior Assistant Dean Amie Redmond at her office in Huntington Hall.

When School of Education Senior Assistant Dean of Academic and Student Services Amie Redmond was an undergraduate, she struggled with the stress that comes with leaving home for the first time. She was fortunate to have a faculty member take interest in her success.

“Somebody took me under their wing and cared about me, cared about my success, cared about my difficulties, mentored me and saw me through graduation there and encouraged me to continue going,” Redmond says. “So I see my role as doing the same, motivating students to that finish line–graduation.”

After transferring to SUNY Brockport from SUNY Canton, Redmond graduated from college in May 1992. Five months later, she joined Syracuse University’s admissions department. “I worked there for not quite four years, and I decided to come over to the School of Education,” Redmond says. She worked as an admissions recruiter for several years and continued her education, earning a master’s degree in higher education in 1995 and a degree in counseling in 2000. While working on her counseling degree, Redmond was promoted to assistant dean and later to senior assistant dean.

Redmond treats the students who attend the School of Education and their families as if they are members of her own family. She works to establish personal connections and open communication to help students. “I often think, if my son or daughter were away at school, what would I ask of an administrator?” Redmond says.

School of Education Dean Joanna Masingila recognizes Redmond’s personable style. “The most challenging aspect of Amie’s role is helping support undergraduate students as they learn to live on their own for likely the first time,” Masingila says. “She overcomes this by having a caring and compassionate attitude, knowing the University policies and procedures, and being an empathetic, supportive, yet firm guide.”

The connections Redmond builds with students and families are very personal. One of her former students was recently in town and wanted to catch up.

Redmond and the student share a deep connection. Over the holiday break of the student’s sophomore year, her twin brother passed away. An advisor referred her to Redmond, who met with the student and her mother when she returned for the spring semester. The personal trauma led to rough patches, and the student met often with Redmond over the next three years. Redmond supported the student, and she graduated last May. At graduation, the student gave Redmond an item she cherishes.

Amie Redmond displays a stole presented to her last May by a graduating student whom she had helped through a family tragedy. Written on it are messages from the student (“Thank you for being my biggest support at Syracuse. I couldn’t have finished without you.”) and the student’s mother (“Amie, thank you for being you.”).

“She gave me a stole of gratitude,” Redmond says, displaying the orange fabric, which students wear at graduation and bestow on a person who had an impact on their success. “I will be proud to now wear this stole of gratitude at every graduation from now until I retire.”

The student and her mother wrote messages to Redmond on the inside of the stole: “Thank you for being my biggest support at Syracuse. I couldn’t have finished without you,” the student shared, while her mother wrote: “Amie, thank you for being you.”

Redmond takes a holistic approach to supporting her students. “I often work with students who have lost a parent, have had some kind of loss in their life,” she explains. “I work with students and families and help the student get to a good place academically, socially and emotionally–because it’s all a package. A student can do well academically if they feel like they’re being supported in other ways.”

Redmond’s title can intimidate students, but she encourages them to not be deterred by it. “I think the most challenging part of my job is to initially help a student,” she says. “My title can be daunting. For many students, it’s like going to the principal’s office. And so to help students understand that going to this principal’s office is, in the end, a real positive thing for them—that’s a challenge.”

Establishing personal connections with students is part of a strategy for Redmond. She wants to be viewed as a resource for families as well. During Syracuse Welcome, Redmond hosts an information session/Q&A for family members who are dropping off their son or daughter. During the session, she hands out her business card and tells several stories about parents who have had to use it.

This year, she mailed a business card to families with a letter about her role and how she can help with their son or daughter’s transition to living outside their childhood home.

“If they ever have any concerns or issues, I ask them to reach out to me so I can help them problem solve,” Redmond explains.

The business cards establish a line of communication. The ability to connect becomes a valuable resource when students are in trouble.

Last semester, Redmond’s daughter was hospitalized due to an illness. At the same time, a first-year student was hospitalized. Even with her personal obligations, Redmond spent a good deal of time visiting the student and his family in the hospital. Redmond looks at hospital visits as part of her normal responsibilities to students and their families. She represents the University’s commitment to students, being present when in the hospital or waiting bedside while the family is en route.

“My job is not a Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 5,” Redmond says. “I make myself available evenings and weekends. And if it’s a situation where something is happening on campus that I need to get to, or I need to get to the hospital or I need to get to a student, it doesn’t matter what time of day, what time of night.”

Ultimately, the best course of action for that particular student was to take a brief leave of absence. Redmond maintained contact with the student and his family, and her dedication inspired the hospitalized student’s parent to attend the information session/Q&A and talk with the families of first-year students. The parent emphasized the importance of using the business card to contact Redmond and how supportive Redmond was of his child and their family.

“Big Syracuse University gets very small when you have a point person that you can reach out to and help guide you through those difficult situations,” Redmond says.

Administrative Assistant Carol Dewitt has worked with Redmond for seven years. She has witnessed firsthand how much parents appreciate the direct line of communication with Redmond.

“Parents say, ‘Oh, I never thought I would have to use this [business card], but I’m using it now,’” Dewitt says. “She’s a genuinely caring person. She really cares about students, and it’s so apparent in everything that she does.”

In addition to being a resource for students and their families, Redmond works to recruit and enroll students at the School of Education. Redmond supervises 10 people and feels it is important for her to be able to perform each of their roles. She travels to support her recruiters, meeting prospective students and their families.

“To me, what makes this office successful is that I help out and support all the different areas, and, if need be—and I have had to do it—I can step in and do that job,” she says.

Dewitt says Redmond is equally supportive of her staff.

“She really takes an interest, professionally and personally, in the staff members in our office, and that’s nice to have,” Dewitt says.

Redmond is respected for her ability to solve problems.

“She asks good questions and listens carefully,” Masingila says. “She then draws on her knowledge and experience to work toward viable solutions.”

Redmond finds fulfillment in students’ achievements. “I’ve been the assistant dean for 19 years. And to see students’ successes from freshman year to walking across that stage at graduation—with a little bit of support and guidance that I may have given along the way to help that student get from one place to the other—that’s why I do what I do,” she says.

AmericaServes loves data! Gilly Cantor (front row center, striped shirt) with staff from the North Carolina and South Carolina Coordination Centers who came together to review data, share ideas, address challenges and recognize “IVMFheartsData” month in February.

The recurring theme throughout Gilly Cantor’s life and career is duality. She says she’s not satisfied unless she’s using both sides of her brain at the same time (the creative side must operate in tandem with the numbers side). And in her current job, she says she wears two hats. As for language, Gilly says: “I speak human, and I speak data.”

It is that duality that defines Cantor’s contribution and service to veterans and military families around the nation. As program evaluation manager for the , she oversees the evaluation and strengthening of , a nationwide network of service providers that ease the transition of veterans into civilian life.

“I am part of our evaluation and analytics team, but I also have the privilege of being out in the field alongside my counterparts on the programs team, meeting the very people we serve, the people behind the numbers,” Cantor says. “Together, we support more than 875 health and human service providers who have undertaken a coordinated care model in 17 unique communities across the country in order to improve the delivery of services and resources to the military-connected population.”

Since 2013, the IVMF has been working alongside providers, funders and communities around the United States to establish the AmericaServes initiative and transform the delivery of services, resources and care to the nation’s veterans, service members and their families.

Gilly Cantor presenting on how AmericaServes turns insights into practice at the 2018 AmericaServes National In-Practice Review, held at Accenture’s federal offices in Arlington, Virginia.

“Unique to this work is the program evaluation that informs practice and outcomes,” says IVMF Chief Operating Officer Maureen Casey.��“Gilly��has been responsible for building the evaluation framework and reporting—both nationally and for all of the communities.��She has also partnered with the program management team to write extensively on this groundbreaking work.��The model she has built has served as a template for our other programs and services.”

Cantor’s work—and the team’s dedication—has put Syracuse University on the map in cities and rural communities around the country: from Seattle to San Antonio, from Asheville to New York City, the folks on the front line of helping returning vets appreciate the impact of IVMF research.

For example, ending veteran homelessness has been a major focus for many communities and states. But the key factors that contribute to the problem are complex and differ from city to city. IVMF research and the ability to analyze public and proprietary data sets can help each community understand the services needed by veterans to reduce the incidence of homelessness in their particular area. It isn’t good enough to just provide a place to sleep. It might require providing legal services to prevent eviction or employment services to ensure long-term stability.

Cantor and her team rely on an interactive dashboard, created and managed in partnership with Syracuse University (iSchool) students, to provide the flow of data that offers up-to-date insight into each community.

iSchool alumna Ishani Jariwala G’17 was one of those students who helped create the dashboard. “The IVMF had a lot of data—internal as well as public—and I thought the best way to utilize this data was to visualize it for the public to access it,” she says. “It is a great feeling to have helped so many people across the country to voice insights about veterans and to help solve important issues pertaining to their transition back into civilian life.” Jariwala is now using skills she developed at Syracuse University as a senior associate in data analytics for Ernst & Young, LLP.

“We are essentially helping data-nerds all over the country,” Cantor says. “We are feeding their passion for having evidence-based processes and programs that are truly impactful.”

Gilly Cantor sharing data with the community about how NCServes networks came together in response to Hurricane Florence at the NCServes-Coastal 2-Year In-Practice Review in Jacksonville, North Carolina.

Political and civic leaders have come to rely on the data as they develop services in their communities. For example, at each meeting of the North Carolina Governor’s Working Group on Veterans, Service Members and their Families there’s a standing agenda item to report new data-informed insights from Syracuse University’s dashboard. Through their collective efforts, veteran homelessness in the state has been reduced by about 14 percent year over year.

Cantor keeps in touch with “faithful data champions” working in all AmericaServes locations. “These data evangelists, as I’ve taken to calling them, vastly extend the impact of our data deep into communities and all the way back out and up to state governments and beyond,” she says. “They rely on us to provide them an individualized dashboard each month, summarizing their progress across key performance indicators. Additionally, I create tailored visualizations that encapsulate just the data for a particular community, or custom analytics about a particular demographic, service domain or general topic.”

Looking back, Cantor can now connect the dots between her undergraduate experience, as a dual major in the history of art and architecture and architectural studies at Brown University, her graduate work in public administration at the Maxwell School and her current work. “In architecture, it wasn’t just about the buildings,” she says. “It was about how people move through space, how they exist in an urban environment, and how we can make cities more accommodating to the needs of people.” Her work at IVMF and with its partners around the country is ultimately about helping communities meet the needs of diverse populations.

“People around the country know Syracuse University because of this work,” Cantor remarks proudly. “We have become a trusted resource.” She considers this work an investment—not only in those who have served in the military, but in citizenship and democracy.

“As someone who didn’t serve in the military, I’m doing my best to contribute to part of what makes our country function,” Cantor says. “There’s a lot of talk about the military/civilian divide. But military families live in communities all across the country. And when veterans return from service, they become part of those communities. Their successful transition is not only good for them, it’s good for all of us.”

Seth Tucker in in the Wadi Rum Desert in southern Jordan in April 2018.

Seth Tucker says the time he spent abroad during college was transformative. He studied in Paris even though he wasn’t proficient in French. “I had to rewire my brain…learn to swim in a different pond,” says the New York native with Georgia roots. “I think every Syracuse student should have that kind of experience. My job is to make sure they are as safe as they can be when they are adapting to life abroad.”

Tucker’s job as director of global safety and support for Campus Safety and Emergency Services is focused on making the global student experience a transformative one, like his, not traumatic, like some might fear (stoked by media reports of international terrorism). “Global terrorism is certainly worrisome in some locations, but accidental injury remains the single greatest threat to student safety while traveling abroad,” he says. “Most places are not any more dangerous than parts of any major U.S. city. Safety is about being knowledgeable of your local environment, maintaining awareness and employing good safety practices.”

With thousands of students studying abroad, and a commitment that every student has a global experience of some kind, Syracuse University has placed tremendous responsibility on Tucker’s shoulders. “Seth has a fascinating role. His combination of crisis management experience, student affairs leadership, public safety oversight and international travel, as well as a master’s degree in international relations, serves our University travelers well,” says Senior Vice President and Chief Law Enforcement Officer��Tony Callisto, who appointed Tucker to his current role in January 2017.

Tucker is also responsible for student, faculty and staff safety at the University’s domestic centers (New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.). He is often on a plane, traveling around the country and overseas, meeting with international partners and security and law enforcement agencies. He is responsible for reducing risks associated with international travel and global experiences.

Tucker at the point where Lake Victoria becomes the Nile River, in Jinja, Uganda, in March 2018.

A self-described “liberal arts guy,” Tucker could not have imagined the expansiveness of his job when he was a political science major at Presbyterian College in South Carolina. But pursuing a master’s degree in international relations at Syracuse University broadened his horizons. And he discovered his true passion in campus employment: helping incoming undergraduates discover their own passions and strengths, while helping to provide administrative leadership for the Summer Start program.

“It was like running a mini-university, from registration to supporting curriculum development to housing arrangements, as well as student health and conduct. I learned so much from that experience and had some really great mentors, particularly JoAnn May and Dr. Horace Smith. I loved working with students, helping them adjust to University life,” Tucker says. He comments that he learned to deal with all things that “could go bump in the night” and the diverse needs of students for whom attendance at Syracuse University was the realization of a dream.

His later experience in student affairs—including becoming the first director of student assistance and director of crisis management, with responsibility for handling crises involving students—prepared him to think proactively about situational awareness and risk management. From 2012 to 2017, was working away from Syracuse University, at Onondaga Community College, where he was vice president of campus life and safety. Ultimately, Callisto lured him back with a promise to make good use of his background in international relations in launching the University’s global safety program.

“I love Syracuse University.�� I always have,” Tucker says. “Leadership has put a structure in place that truly respects process and policy and procedures. It’s the kind of thinking that is necessary for crisis preparation and risk mitigation. That’s why I came back, knowing that I would have the support needed to establish a comprehensive global safety and support structure.”

Callisto and Vice Chancellor and Provost Michele Wheatly appointed Tucker co-chair of the Task Force on Travel Safety in September 2017. The group was charged with examining and making recommendations to enhance Syracuse University’s policies and processes that support the safety of institutional travelers. It was estimated that in 2017 alone, there were 2,216 distinct students traveling internationally for a combined 193,557 travel days. And in any given year, several hundred faculty and staff members log thousands of additional travel days.

Tucker with Lou Berends, director of strategic and international partnerships at Syracuse Abroad, standing on the equator in Kisumu, Kenya, in March 2018.

With recommendations from the task force and his team’s exploration of best practices, Tucker is looking forward to implementing software solutions that enable anyone’s mobile device to alert them if there is an issue at a specific location and more robust education practices prior to travel, including pre-departure safety orientation for travelers with guidelines for responding in the event of a crisis.

He also likes the idea of a travel registry so that the University is in the best position to help those who may be in need while they travel. “I think the biggest misconception I’ve encountered is the occasional misperception that my office is seeking to limit travel in some way,” Tucker says. “Nothing could be further from the truth. I want everyone to have the kind of experiences I’ve had abroad. Honestly, it’s all about reducing the possibility that something bad is going to happen and making sure if something bad does happen we are in the best possible position to help. It’s not about being heavy handed or nixing travel. We just want to make sure there’s always an emergency plan in place, just in case.”

Tucker also conducts site safety assessments overseas for both Syracuse programs and those partner institutions that serve students. As more students travel and the expectation for student support continues to expand, the University has made an investment in student safety while traveling. “We have such excellent programs abroad, and we work with really quality partners,” he says. “It’s really a privilege to consult with talented professionals who are absolutely committed to providing a safe international experience often amidst political uncertainty and changing conditions. I bring a focus on travel safety issues and help everyone stay current with emerging events and best practices in the field.”

Site safety assessments include places where Syracuse students, staff or faculty are living and working, ensuring basic safety measures like emergency exits are readily available.

The University’s commitment to globalization makes it the perfect time for the kind of thinking and planning that defines Tucker’s approach to safety and security. “Tony Callisto and I share a vision wherein our dispatch center becomes a global operations center, with dispatchers monitoring what’s happening in cities around the world where members of our Syracuse University family are living or working,” Tucker says. “Essentially, it would combine intelligence work with global dispatch, so we would be aware of security risks and, perhaps, be able to respond before anything bad happens.”

The man who started his Syracuse career more than two decades ago worrying about “what could go bump in the night” for summer students in residence halls is now ensuring that the University moves to the forefront of anticipation, planning and prevention on a global scale.

Dorothy “Dottie” Russell

Dorothy “Dottie” Russell is surrounded every weekday by the friends she has made over the years as she prepares the day’s salad fixings and keeps a busy pace monitoring the salad bar in Schine Dining.

There are the students to whom Russell sends a joyful greeting of “Hi, Baby,” and the faculty and staff members who share a quick chat with her. Everyone is made welcome.

Then there are the photos.

Hundreds of pictures of smiling faces—colleagues, students, faculty, staff, alumni and their families—line the tile walls of the salad prep area, keeping Russell company as she washes and slices up the day’s vegetables and prepares deliciously appealing vegetable trays for catering.

A longtime employee, Russell is well-known for her affectionate welcome and kind smile as she engages with the campus community stopping in for a bite to eat. But it’s the students with whom she has the greatest attachment.

“I love the kids. I’m glad that I have the opportunity to work at SU so I can get to love them,” Russell says.

Many consider her like a second mother: someone with whom to share news or receive some support and loving attention.

“I treat them nice and kind. And they are away from their families, so they need that mothering,” Russell says.

Dorothy Russell and Floyd Little

It shows in the happy photos—some with autographs of the University’s student-athletes and notable alumni, such as football players Donovan J. McNabb ’98 and Floyd Little ’67. She remembers serving Little while he was a student at Sadler Hall.

“He would come through, and I would fix his breakfast. I would make little pancakes just to mess around with him and put them on this plate, and he would say, ‘Dottie, who do you think that’s for?’ And I would say, ‘it’s for you,’” she says with a laugh.

Russell, who also worked at the former Commons Snack Bar in Slocum Hall before moving to the Schine Dining Center when it opened in 1985, has seen many changes during her time at the University.

In the 1970s, there was a dress code for Sunday meals. “When they came into the dining room, they had to have on a suit coat—no flip flops—and back then tablecloths had to be on the tables on Sunday,” says Russell. These days, there are many student options for dining and food choices—an expansive range as compared to many years ago.

Although the options and facilities have changed in Food Services, the students they have served over the years still all share the same need.

“They miss their families, and they need to have someone to talk to, and I listen and talk to them. That hasn’t changed,” she says.

Russell is also a beacon to colleagues, serving as union steward and keeping upbeat when others might have difficulties.

“It’s a family atmosphere here,” says Russell, who has a daughter, Renee. “I don’t care what people are going through, how they get upset about something. I always say ‘give it to God and try not to worry about it. Praise God. Praise Jesus.’”

Dorothy Russell, center, receives the Trailblazer Award during the Black Lounge dinner earlier this month. From left are Cedric T. Bolton, with the Office of Multicultural Affairs; Russell; and Angela Morales-Patterson, with the Office of Multicultural Advancement.

Russell’s enthusiasm for the University and joyful nature make people feel welcome, says Sue Bracy, director of Food Services.

“Dottie loves being Orange. She is friendly, inclusive and sincere, and always makes people smile. Dottie doesn’t see color, or title or privilege—she sees people,” Bracy says. “Dottie loves being part of SU, and you know you are welcomed once she calls you ‘Baby.’ If you haven’t met her yet, stop by and just say ‘hi.’ Her smile is infectious.”

Russell is also active in the community. She is an usher at St. Luke Baptist Church in Syracuse and works with the youth group and junior choir. She also mentors and guides young people facing challenges and assists them by providing clothing and other necessities.

Russell was recently recognized by the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Caribbean Student Association and the Office of Multicultural Advancement with the Trailblazer Award, given out at The Black Lounge annual dinner and music celebration, held this year on Feb. 2.

The Trailblazer Award recognizes exemplary leadership, selfless acts and dedication to the Black community at Syracuse University and in the community, says Cedric T. Bolton, coordinator of student engagement with the Office of Multicultural Affairs.

Russell was humbled to be honored. “I was in shock,” she says.

Dorothy Russell receives the Martin Luther King Jr. Unsung Hero Award at the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration in 2014.

“There are people who have been a motivation and inspiration to our students, and it’s important to celebrate them,” says Bolton. “She’s just so genuine, and she’s there for people when they are in need. I’ve seen her interact with students, staff and faculty for my 15 years here, and she has an incredible spirit.”

In 2014, Russell was honored with the Martin Luther King Jr. Unsung Hero Award at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration. The awards are presented annually to people who, in the spirit of King’s “beloved community,” have made a positive difference in the lives of others but who are not widely recognized for their efforts.

“That honor will be in my heart until I die,” Russell says. “The award is so meaningful because of Dr. King and all that he did for the Blacks. He led us to a better place, and it means a whole lot. He did it all for us.”

Marlene Celi and Isabel Jimenez

In an average year, the Enrollment Management Processing office receives about 37,000 undergraduate applications. Graduate applications number around 13,000-15,000. Over a million supporting documents must be processed as well. Each application needs to be assembled and sent to the offices and graduate departments making the admissions decision. After the decision is made, applicants must be notified.

For people outside of the Enrollment Management Processing office, the volume sounds overwhelming. But for Director of Undergraduate Enrollment Processing Marlene Celi and Director of Graduate Enrollment Processing Isabel Jimenez, this has been their annual workload for over a decade.

They are passionate about their work, in part because they feel empowered by working with Ryan Williams, vice president of enrollment services.

They both say Williams is a leader who motivates the entire Enrollment Management Processing office to exceed expectations and enables the staff to find innovative ways to make Syracuse University successful.

In turn, Williams attributes the success of Enrollment Management Processing to the leadership of Celi and Jimenez. “They are constantly thinking about, and looking for ways to improve and streamline, the process,” he says.

Williams explains the entire staff—much like other essential functions of the University—work evenings, weekends and holidays to ensure accuracy and timeliness.

Celi and Jimenez credit the tireless efforts of their colleagues. “We think building a strong relationship with our staff, building trust and making them feel important and valued is key,” says Jimenez. “We understand strong leadership is important, but we are only successful due to the hard work and dedication of the entire team.”

Jimenez and Celi have a close working relationship. Though Celi focuses on undergraduates and Jimenez’s priority is the graduate side, they work together.

Originally from the Syracuse area, Celi started in Enrollment Services 13 years ago as a temp. She previously worked at a law firm concentrated on residential real estate.

“Everything I’ve learned here, I’ve learned from being in the trenches,” Celi says. “Isabel and I laugh all the time, because when you’re not from the academia world, matriculation meant nothing to us.”

Jimenez’s path to Syracuse University is similar to Celi’s. “I actually started as a temp,” Jimenez says. “I think I was the 48th temp hired that year.”

Jimenez also grew up in the Syracuse area. Before being hired by Syracuse University, she worked as a manager of a children’s clothing store at a local mall.

“When I got hired here, it was actually a much easier transition for me because I am used to fast pace, high volume, multitasking, deadlines—in a short period of time,” Jimenez explains.

When Celi and Jimenez were hired as temps, the intake process for documents was much different. Back then, their office would be inundated with mail the first week after winter break. During their peak weeks in the academic year, they would receive more than a hundred bins of mail.

“They’re sending us applications, recommendations, transcripts, counselor evaluations, writing samples, test scores, personal statements, résumés,” says Jimenez. “These applications would arrive in batches of 600 pages. And only one person at a time could process the batches.”

“Isabel noticed that on the corner of each document were self-identifying codes,” explains Celi, who says she loves working with Jimenez because Jimenez doesn’t stop investigating something until she either understands it or gets the answers that she’s looking for. “That’s her personality,” Celi says.

“It’s a sickness,” Jimenez quips.

Jimenez’s questioning led to the discovery that the codes on the documents could be used to automate the processing of the documents. Up to then, a task such as documenting grade point averages would require combing through transcripts and entering the information manually for every application. After collaborating with developers, this process became automated.

By automating several data entry processes, the Enrollment Management Processing office reduced the temporary employee operating budget by 80 percent over the last decade. Rather than receiving over a hundred bins of mail the first week back from break, the office now receives a tenth of that.

“Their years of experience are incredibly valuable,” Williams says, adding that Celi and Jimenez understand the decision-making process and have modified it to be more efficient. “Given their time here at SU and in particular in enrollment processing, they have tremendous insight.”

“They far exceed expectations,” says Steven O’Keefe, recently retired assistant dean of undergraduate admissions, speaking of Celi and Jimenez. “This is the result of their years of experience in undergraduate and graduate processing. They anticipate issues that may arise and are able to offset potential problems.”

The entire University has benefited from Celi and Jimenez’s improvements, because the entire University depends on them.

“They have worked tirelessly to improve the process for both the students and the end-users,” says Williams. “They make it possible for timely and accurate decision making.”

“If we don’t bring in the applications and get them processed and get them complete, there is no review. There is no admit. There is no class coming in. It starts here,” says Celi. “And so we talk about our department, what we do in these little four walls, is ground zero for Syracuse University.”

“I call it the nucleus,” says Jimenez.

Deanna (Dee) Bailey outside the Parking and Transit Services office at Skytop.

Deanna (Dee) Bailey, associate director of field operations and events for Parking and Transit Services, has trouble remembering which act appeared at the Dome during Thanksgiving weekend in 1990. “I know it was a huge concert,” Bailey recalls. “And it was my first Dome event, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God.’”

Fittingly, Bailey’s first experience with 38,000 people was New Kids on the Block.

“For my first time, it was overwhelming,” she says. “It was just car after car, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is never going to stop.’”

Bailey first started working for Syracuse University in 1986 in Food Services, cooking in Haven Hall. After leaving the University briefly while working for the Scotsman Press in Syracuse, she returned and worked part time as an overnight parking enforcement officer. “So I wrote tickets at night,” she says. “I think it was, like, three days a week.”

Bailey was eventually hired full time in July 1990. The University had an agreement with Crouse Hospital so nurses parked at Manley lot back then. “And that’s when I got the outer gate job,” she says. “So I used to get here at six in the morning, park all the nurses, and then I’d go to the gate and work my regular shift.”

Since becoming full time, Bailey has worked almost every field position in Parking and Transit Services and practically every large event. She laughs when thinking back about how things have changed over the years, like when Penn State used to be a regular visitor to the Dome. “You should have seen the cars up here at Skytop. And we didn’t even have the room that we have now,” she jokes. “So we were getting very creative.”

The huge crowds are a perk of the job for Bailey. “It’s just fun. I really enjoy the events. I love meeting people. I walk around the lots up here,” she says. “This is normally where I work, up at Skytop for football.”

Joe Carfi, director of Parking and Transit Services, says he considers Bailey to be the public face of parking. “I mean she’s really a pillar, as far as I’m concerned,” he says. “There is a genuineness about her that I think that people pick up on really quickly, and I think that speaks volumes.”

Even with her decades of experience, Bailey approaches her work with enthusiasm. Tony Callisto, senior vice president and chief law enforcement officer, admires her dedication. “With nearly 30 years of service to the Syracuse University community, Dee Bailey has the wide-eyed vision of excellence and excitement toward her work and service, as if it were her first day on the job every day,” he says.

While Bailey has extensive institutional knowledge, Callisto says she is always willing to try something new and innovate. “One of the most impressive, successful efforts was improving the guest experience for events at the Chancellor’s house, when Dee led in the development, execution and on-site management of a plan to offer valet parking,” he says.

Bailey’s day-to-day activities center mainly on helping people, either her staff or customers. She coordinates and leads daily field operations for parking and manages all event parking on campus. Additionally, she works with local bus companies and coordinates bus orders for Dome events.

“Dee’s expertise in planning for, and direct management of, major events, with tens of thousands of people coming to campus, is often unnoticed because of the lack of problems experienced by those arriving and parking,” Callisto says.

Bailey also manages parking requests for events happening in parallel to Dome events by writing up instructions for booth attendants. “I review all the events that are happening on campus during the game, where they’re supposed to park, where to direct them,” she explains. “And then anybody that has a special request–maybe there’s a professor that reached out and needs parking for Thursday night because he’s teaching.”

Students, faculty and staff with accessibility issues can also rely on Bailey. Callisto calls Bailey’s approach “solution oriented.”

“I don’t like to just say no,” Bailey says. “You don’t realize how many departments are also having events. So that’s the biggest challenge—just trying to take care of everybody so that everybody’s happy.”

Bailey is passionate about her work. “Actually, I used to feel guilty for taking games off,” she says. “Really, my life was around Dome events.” She credits Carfi with helping her attain more work-life balance. “He’s made me look at things a little differently about taking time off, and we’ll be okay without you.”

Carfi says Bailey’s greatest strength is how she works with people. When difficult situations arise—like not having enough room for a group to park—the trust, understanding and mutual respect she has fostered with departments on campus help things run smoothly. “She brings so much,” says Carfi. “Among the most obvious is the experience, the relationships.”

Bailey’s favorite part of her job is working with the campus community. “I’ve established a lot of relationships with other departments, and I know there’s more out there to establish,” she says. “Because not everybody communicates their events, and it’s one of my goals to get people to call us. We’ll help you. We’re not going to say no.”

Bailey works in all weather, from driving rain to bitter cold. Carfi recalled a specific example of her tenacity: “It was probably a game, it was one of the football games where it was just…it just rained all day and all night, and Dee was out there with those people getting drenched,” he says.

Bailey has a unique perspective about dealing with bad weather. “You can be miserable or you can say, ‘Hey, let’s see who I’m going to meet today,’” she says.

Callisto believes Bailey’s affability is a key attribute to her success. “Dee loves what she does, loves the people she works with and supervises, loves the students, faculty, staff and visitors, and loves Syracuse University,” he says. “She truly bleeds Orange, and her excellent work is the outcome!”

Syeisha Byrd, center, with Empathy Matters co-creators Fareya Zubair ’16 (SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry) and Robert Swanda ’16

Syeisha Byrd G’12 is the director of the Office of Engagement Programs at Hendricks Chapel. In that role, she connects Syracuse University students with service opportunities in the greater community. She will be honored as a 2019 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Unsung Hero at the MLK Celebration in the Dome on Sunday evening. Below, she talks about her work and the importance of community service.

Q: You are a native of Syracuse and have spent many years working in the community, including 16 years with the Boys & Girls Club. What inspired you to follow a career path of service to your community?

A: As a young child, I watched how my mom and dad were always willing to give to others. My father, being one of the only dads in the neighborhood, became the neighborhood father. He gave advice and shared his love with all the children on our block. My mother always made sure to cook enough food every night for dinner just in case someone came by hungry. They were my first teachers. They taught me how to be kind and caring, how to love unconditionally and how much change I could make just by helping one person. My parents also gave me the gift of a Boys & Girls Club membership card, where I built so many meaningful relationships with my peers, the club staff and dozens of mentors.

Q: The Northside Learning Center, Near West Side Initiative, Rescue Mission, Meals on Wheels, Syracuse Behavioral Health Care, the Center for New Americans and Home Headquarters are just some of the organizations you have been involved with in the greater community. Through this work, what kinds of needs have you seen and experienced?

A: The city of Syracuse has an overwhelming amount of wonderful organizations and programs which offer services to help combat such issues as homelessness, poverty, addiction, refugee resettlement, literacy, economic development and housing and youth development, just to name a few. The need in Syracuse is for us all to come together and collaborate, and not create more programming. I believe we are stronger when we bring people with different experiences to one table and build upon what already exists.

Syeisha Byrd, far right, with first-year student veterans during an orientation

Most of my career, I have worked in youth development. I know that children grow up to be adults one day, eventually becoming our doctors, teachers and lawyers—but I also know if they don’t have someone encouraging them and nurturing them, those same children can just as well become our drug dealers and criminals. Our youth need more mentors and role models. They are in need of positive reinforcement and guidance. We have to invite them to the table and listen to their ideas and encourage them to speak up and get involved.

Q: Please talk about the Office of Engagement Programs in Hendricks Chapel. What are some examples of programs that the office sponsors?

A: The Office of Engagement Programs provides short-term and long-term volunteer opportunities for Syracuse University and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry students to engage in and build sustainable relationships. There are two signature programs, Young Scholars and Empathy Matters.

Young Scholars is a mentoring program for middle- and high-school youth. The program serves both Native-born and refugee youth. Syracuse University students work as mentors, helping the youth with homework, Regents preparation, resumes, job applications and life skills. Empathy Matters was written and designed by SU and ESF students. It is a 10-week program held currently at HW Smith School to teach second graders how to be more caring, empathic and respectful towards all. They learn leadership skills, yoga and meditation, and are able to practice those skills at the end of the semester at The Nottingham senior living community. Crochet, Knit and Conversation is a program I developed because I love to crochet and I love to bring people together. Students, staff and faculty are invited to sit, learn to crochet or knit, and build relationships with one another. All items created by the group are donated to the Hendricks Chapel Food Pantry and the local community. We collaborate with the Office of Veteran and Military Affairs to host a pre-orientation program for new incoming veteran students. The Office of Engagement Programs also offers one-time opportunities working with the University United Methodist Church, the Veterans Administration hospital, the Rescue Mission, Meals on Wheels and several other organizations in the Syracuse community.

Q: In your work you have come in contact with a lot of different people and different situations in the community. Has there been one or two that have particularly left an impression on you and been really illustrative of why community service is so critical?

A: I thrive on meeting new people and building new relationships. I try to meet at least two new people every day. People are so interesting. Everyone has their own unique story.

I remember taking a group of SU students downtown to volunteer at the Samaritan Center. As we took a break for lunch, we went outside to sit on the benches. A woman walked up to me and I stood up to greet her with a hug. We talked for a while, shared a few students, and she went on her way. One of the students in my group walked up to me and asked why was I so nice to a person that was obviously a drug user.

It was a teaching moment for me, and a learning moment for the student. I told her how that woman was someone that has been in my life since I was a baby, and that every time I encountered her she always showed care and concern for me. She always took time to talk to me and educate me. I explained that all people are worthy of dignity and our respect. Each and every encounter you have with a person should lift them up and have the potential to make a difference in their life.

Serving others is critical, for both the person being helped and the person helping.

Q: What advice would you give to students about the importance of community service as part of a well-rounded University education and campus experience? How can students become involved in the various outreach opportunities available on campus and in the community?

A: There is a wealth of knowledge in the Syracuse community and there is even more knowledge to be shared at the University. Our students are filled with creativity and new ideas. I tell students all the time, as long as you are a student, you are a resident of the city of Syracuse and you have an opportunity to make a difference. You have the opportunity to make a positive change in a least one person’s life. I encourage every student to ignore bad rumors they may hear about our city and to reach out to the Office of Engagement Programs, the Mary Ann Shaw Center for Public and Community Service or Community Engagement, or join a service group such as Orange Seeds or Alpha Phi Omega, and get involved in the Syracuse community. Lastly, I would encourage students to think about their major and their passion to find opportunities to use their skills to help strengthen the Syracuse community.

Q: You will receive a Martin Luther King Jr. Unsung Hero Award at the MLK Celebration in the Carrier Dome on Jan. 27. How can we all strive to be a part of Dr. King’s “beloved community?”

A: First, take time to stop and not just hear people but genuinely listen to the stories that they share. I have learned so much from others by taking the time to listen. I may not be able to offer assistance in that moment but eventually I end up circling back to that person with an opportunity to connect them too.

Second, I always try my hardest to lead by example, even when you think no one is watching, someone always is. And third, I always work towards being the change I want to see. I advocate for what I feel is right in the world and push back when things are not right. I stand up at all times for what I hold true to myself. Dr. King led by example, he stood up for those that could not stand up for themselves, and that is exactly what I will continue to do.

Staff Spotlight shines a light on many of Syracuse University’s most dedicated—and talented—members. Their work on campus. Their often very interesting lives away from campus. It is our pleasure to share their stories. Know someone who should be considered for an upcoming Staff Spotlight? Contact Kevin Morrow, director of internal communications in the Division of Marketing and Communications, at kdmorrow@syr.edu.

The approach to each profile is different, depending on the subject. For this installment, a podcast seemed the perfect way to introduce a global leader in the recording industry—Patrick MacDougall, senior audio engineer and adjunct professor in the Newhouse School.

Patrick MacDougall (far right) with The Fabulous Ripcords

Before coming to Newhouse, MacDougall had a 27-year career as a recording engineer based in Los Angeles. His work took him all over the world, including Russia, New Zealand and Madagascar, and brought him together for collaborations with such prominent artists as Joss Stone, Heart and David Crosby.

In the podcast, learn about the job of a sound engineer, MacDougall’s experiences in the profession, and what led him to his current role at Syracuse University. And yes, even after his many, many touches with stardom, being on the other side of the sound booth from Mick Jagger still leaves him a bit in awe.

A transcript of the audio clip is also available.

Francis DiClemente, producer; Keith Kobland, media relations manager; and Joyce LaLonde, internal communications specialist—all in the Division of Marketing and Communications—teamed up to tell MacDougall’s story.

Know someone who should be considered for an upcoming Staff Spotlight? Contact Kevin Morrow at kdmorrow@syr.edu.

Patrick MacDougall

Keith Kobland: Hello and welcome to Staff Spotlight. This is a series in which we highlight staff members here at Syracuse University. My name is Keith Kobland from the Marketing and Communication Division, and right now we are in Newhouse 2, Suite 490, and we’re speaking with Patrick McDougall, who’s an audio engineer here. And Patrick, thanks for joining us first and foremost.

Patrick MacDougall: My pleasure. Thank you for having me.

Keith Kobland: Audio engineer. Tell us a little bit about what you do as an audio engineer.

Patrick MacDougall: The audio engineer is responsible for making sure that not only does the equipment work properly but is responsible for capturing whatever sound it is you are working on, whether it’s in a radio station environment or in a music studio or a live performance. The engineer is the person either operating the console or working behind the scenes to make sure that whatever project that you’re involved with is being successfully broadcast or captured.

My role here is to make sure that this studio, Studio 3, as well as Studio 1 down the hall, are functioning, so that we can continue to teach the classes that use the space. So my job here is a little bit more technical, until the students come in. Then I teach two different classes, an introductory course as well as the Advanced Audio Capstone.

Keith Kobland: They come here to learn from you. This is Staff Spotlight. Let’s learn a little bit about you, Patrick. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.

Patrick MacDougall: I was a trumpet player through college and decided that I would rather not rely on being a trumpet player for every day of my life. I moved to Southern California to continue my education at the Dick Grove School of Music and focused on the recording and engineering program there. It was a bold move: actually go move across country and do something I’ve never done before. It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

I love working in the studio. I really got to start at the Grove School of Music. From there, I got a job in a recording studio, a glamorous job of construction actually. We were building a brand new studio. And from there, I met so many wonderful people and my mentor, my dear friend Brian Malouf. I worked with him and on several sessions and he said, “I have to have you with me at all times.” So his productions and mixing took us all over Southern California, and we had a great, great run together. Fast forward, the co-founder of Microsoft, Paul Allen, was building private recording studios. So I went to work for Paul Allen and for 12 years. And that’s where I got to travel around the world with him and his band and doing all kinds of projects. Wonderful stuff. Great people, great, great group to work with.

Keith Kobland: As I’m looking at some of the artists that you’ve worked with before—I mean, it is an impressive list here.

Patrick MacDougall: Yeah. Yeah.

Keith Kobland: You want to name some of the folks that you’ve worked with? Name drop here.

Patrick MacDougall: I will, absolutely. The band Heart, I’ve done three records with. Robbie Robertson from The Band. I’ve learned so much from him. I’ve done several projects with Robbie. Some of my favorites—you know, some of my highlights—would definitely be working with Mick Jagger and Joss Stone, with, Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics. I was the producer of a project called “Superheavy,” and that was aptly named. It was a song they all wrote together, but that was Mick Jagger and Joss Stone, Dave Stewart; like I said, for the Eurythmics. A.R. Rahman, composer, known mainly for “Slumdog Millionaire” and Damian Marley. So this group was outrageous, right, and an experience where, you know, come into the studio and Mick Jagger walks in and you know what’s your first response: it’s like, “Wow, that’s Mick Jagger,” you know. I’d been in the business for 20 years and still I was like, “Wow, that’s, that’s Mick Jagger.”

[Music … “Energy” by Superheavy�� …]

Keith Kobland: What’s it like being at the controls knowing who is on the other end of that microphone in that moment?

Patrick MacDougall: You know, that’s one of those times when you have to you have to recognize that your job is to make sure that you’re capturing the moment. But you also have to make sure that they know that you’re on their side. You are making them as comfortable as possible.

Keith Kobland: I want to ask you, we’ve talked about what you do and being an audio engineer, and we’re sitting here at the console. I’m not sure if there’s any way you can bring our listener into the world that you live in, if there’s any example of what you do or anything that we could, you know, highlight and let people know that “hey, if you’re listening to this, this is a little bit of what Patrick does and this is a little bit of what he teaches his students.”

Patrick MacDougall: Well, what I have here is a song that was done by a young local artist, and his name is Tanksley [he is the son of Jake Tanksley, senior human resources business partner in Syracuse University’s Office of Human Resources]. He performs out around town. And he’s incredibly talented. So this is the first song we did together. It’s called “Hyperfocus.”

[Music … “Hyperfocus” by Tanksley …]

Keith Kobland: Patrick, I should ask, “why Syracuse University?” What’s your connectivity to the University community? What’s your connectivity with Central New York?

Patrick MacDougall: I was born here. My wife was born here. We met here, and I moved to California before we got married. And then she moved out and we got married, and we’ve been together for a very long time.

About seven years ago, eight years ago now, her mother was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer, and it became obvious to us in 2012 that she was going to need more support from Sabrina, my wife, so we discussed it. We have two daughters. We had to get buy-in from each of them as well about what’s going to happen if Mom’s gone all this time, and I’m working in the studios crazy hours, how’s that going to work?

Well, we decided to move back here to help, and it’s probably the single greatest decision that I’ve made. And thatwe’ve made as a family.

When I got here, I met somebody that I went to college with, Ron Keck, the owner of SubCat Studios. And I started working doing some freelance stuff there, where I met staff members from the University, like Jim Abbott from the School of Music. And Jim asked if I would be interested in helping out, and I was like, “Sure, why not?” So I started recording the concerts and recitals at the School of Music and teaching one of their music courses. Well, that led to my introduction to the staff here at Newhouse, Doug Quinn in particular. And Doug brought me in, asked if I’d be interested in teaching that program, helping out with the music production programs here.

So that’s how I got introduced to Syracuse University, and it’s been very rewarding for me and my family. Our oldest daughter just graduated from ESF, and our youngest daughter’s a freshman in the School of Music here. So we’ve got a lot of Orange going on in our family right now.

Keith Kobland: We have talked about a wide variety of things here, but just to wrap this up I’ve got to ask, “What sparks your imagination, Patrick?”

Patrick MacDougall: It’s working with the artists. I love being around creative people. I love the mutual respect. So for me the inspiration comes from…I love technology, don’t get me wrong. I love all of our analog and digital bits and things and microphones, love microphones, okay. That makes me an audio geek, which is cool. It’s okay with that. I’m okay with that. That gets me going, as does knowing that the artist is looking for that next level to take the production.

Keith Kobland: You know, I should also ask you, just finally, any advice for anyone who has an interest in doing what you’re doing and doing what your students come in here to learn?

Patrick MacDougall: The advice that I give most often is, “Go for it.” If you are interested in getting into engineering and you love music, it’s important to make sure that you don’t lose track of the fact that you have to do both. Understand that there’s going to be technology. Understand that that technology is meant to help you get the music to its end goal. So, yeah, I learn from the students. I love the energy of being around the young minds that want to learn more and I encourage them: look, “keep going for it, keep focused on it, and you can succeed”; but it’s going to take some work, and it’s very rewarding, very rewarding.

Keith Kobland: I can tell. Patrick MacDougall, thank you very much for your time. This has been fascinating. We appreciate it.

Patrick MacDougall: I’m grateful for the opportunity, and thank you very much.

Keith Kobland: If you have a staff member that you would like us to spotlight, please reach out to Kevin Morrow at kdmorrow@syr.edu.

Joe Lee conducting an in-studio interview at WAER.

Joe Lee hears voices every day. Voices from the past. They don’t haunt him. They make him smile and his heart swell with pride. They are the voices of the broadcast elite, recognized around the world because they have become icons in the news and sports business. And many of them were inspired by Joe and what he has done in his role as director and general manager of for more than two decades.

“To see a student come in as a freshman, get cleared for air, hear their first play-by-play and eventually a national broadcast, it is such a source of pride,” says Lee. He respects the history, tradition and legacy of the 72-year old radio station, while striving to keep it relevant to audiences and a launching pad for the new generations of journalists and broadcasters. “It’s like being given your father’s car to drive around. You don’t want to scratch it up, but you also want to find a way to make it perform even better.”

Better performance means ensuring that the professional staff at WAER and the scores of student volunteers are responsive to dramatic changes in the media world, disruptive technologies and—perhaps most importantly—to the evolving needs of the community. “We have dropped the term public radio and now use ‘public media’ but it remains all about public trust,” says Lee. Mobile applications, the web, podcasts and social media continue to transform how information is disseminated and received. Lee wants to ensure that the multiple forms of media are being used effectively to “enlight, engage and entertain”—the three words that define the mission of WAER.

“Students come to us for different things. We have about 40 to 50 students who want to do sports and 15 to 20 who are interested in just news,” says Lee. “They come to us to learn how to report, but they show a deep interest in what public media is all about. They learn how to provide perspective in storytelling, balance and context.” For example, student reporters are not likely to find themselves covering car accidents or house fires, unless a single tragic event impacts the broader community in large ways or has implications for public health and safety.

City Limits is an ambitious, multi-platform civic engagement project produced by WAER Public Media that examines and explores poverty in Syracuse.

Public radio, the way Lee sees it, has always been about great storytelling. Now, it is also about public engagement, truly connecting with the community it serves. Hence, the yearlong initiative called , a multi-platform civic engagement project that examines poverty in Syracuse.��It is a mix of journalism, storytelling and community convening designed to spark a communitywide dialogue of individuals, organizations and community constituencies on issues ranging from food insecurity to economic development to affordable housing and more.

“The goal of City Limits was not only to get our community talking about these issues but to inspire our listeners to take action,” says Lee. He wanted the students to see that their reporting could be impactful, could change things, could make the community better. He points to one of many anecdotal pieces of evidence that they did just that. “Two of our listeners heard a story we did on a ride-to-work program run by Providence Services to help people get better jobs by solving their transportation problems. The listeners were so touched by the story, they purchased used cars and donated them to the individuals featured in the story.”

Contemplating next steps in the evolution of WAER programming, Lee is focused on making the community a real partner in telling important stories. He’s inspired by a model put forth by a consulting firm called (which means “listen”) generating public-powered journalism through relevant and original stories. Through resources like from the Central New York Community Foundation and other data aggregators, students can learn to identify the most important issues that will impact the region’s ability to make progress.

“We will discuss, as a staff, a range of issues we want to tackle,” says Lee. “These won’t likely turn into year-long projects, but more of a series of reports on important issues. We will start to focus our reporting on beats, like education, environment, race and culture, to name just a few.” Through a collaborative process with newsroom staff and students, Lee envisions developing series of reports that can be transformative in the community.

Joe Lee (center) with the WAER basketball team at the annual Media Cup game.

He believes this approach will also help raise philanthropic support for public media: “It’s increasingly difficult to raise money around the concept of ‘Give us your support because it helps us bring NPR content to you.’ People want to direct their philanthropy to specific areas that are meaningful to them. The City Limits project attracted significant funding from a foundation and from listeners who wanted to support that effort. We need to do more of this kind of work going forward.”

Lee also wants to ensure that students who come to WAER for experience in broadcasting and reporting understand and acquire the skills necessary to succeed in this fast-changing field. He notes that he started his career editing tape with a razor blade at his local public radio station, WEAA in his hometown of Baltimore. “Today’s broadcaster needs to be a skilled multimedia journalist,” he says. “You have to report, edit audio, understand content distribution platforms. You have to be more versatile today, and WAER has to provide an opportunity for students to acquire all those skills.”

Lee says that even though WAER will continue to change with the times in response to audience needs and wants, it will always offer an eclectic format that includes a mix of music, sports and news that will “enlight, engage and entertain.” He won’t rest on the laurels of a station that has produced famous graduates like Ted Koppel, Bob Costas, Mike Tirico, Lakshmi Singh and Scott MacFarlane. “You have to be both open to change and a change agent in an industry that is ever-changing.”

Staff Spotlight shines a light on many of Syracuse University’s most dedicated—and talented—members. Their work on campus. Their often very interesting lives away from campus. It is our pleasure to share their stories. Know someone who should be considered for an upcoming Staff Spotlight? Contact Kevin Morrow, director of internal communications in the Division of Marketing and Communications, at kdmorrow@syr.edu.

Sean Branagan (far left) with the “Entrepreneurial Eight” teams and judges at the 2018 Student Startup Madness finals during the South By Southwest Interactive conference last March in Austin, Texas.

Though Sean Branagan ’80 aspired to be a magazine writer when he entered the Newhouse School, he discovered his calling elsewhere—in the fast-evolving field of digital media and interactive marketing. A self-described “instigator, entrepreneur, educator and startup coach,” Branagan brought his love for innovation back to Syracuse University in 2011 when he helped establish the . The center offers courses, consulting and connections to encourage students to start digital media ventures and engage Newhouse alumni.

He also launched��, a national tournament for college student digital media startups, and, over the last two years, worked with student researchers at Newhouse to publish the , which identifies emerging media technology trends and highlights several promising startups in the field.

Outside of Syracuse University, Branagan presents and consults on innovation, entrepreneurial thinking, interactive and technology marketing, and leadership in uncertainty. He also holds board and advisory positions with several early-stage tech companies, as well as some charitable organizations.

Branagan is always hoping to inspire students to dream big and take action. Here, he offers some personal insight and advice.

Sean Branagan with students and guest Sandy Khaund, founder of UPGRADED, during an entrepreneurship roundtable talk Dec. 7 in the Newhouse School’s Dressler Board Room.

Q: When you were a student in Newhouse, you originally thought you wanted to pursue a career in magazine journalism.��What set you on a different course?��

A: I joined The Daily Orange my first day on campus and was on the editorial staff in my sophomore year. But they didn’t give me an editor position. I was production manager. I also took a semester in my junior year and did what would be called a co-op these days. I kept the least amount of credits to be a full-time student and took a job as a reporter/photographer and learned that I was probably better at graphics and photography than writing. I think deep-down I realized in my junior year that I may not be the writer I thought I was—though I probably couldn’t fully admit that to myself at the time.

Q: How did your passion for the written word become the foundation for a career in new media technologies, marketing and entrepreneurship?

A: I started a business in design and typesetting, since I knew it from courses at Newhouse and being production manager at the DO. In my typesetting biz,��I loved reading about and tinkering with the technology and hacked our system to do things it wasn’t designed to do. (Actually, I was doing a forerunner of HTML). I also did work on the design side. I learned a lot about running a business. But I also realized there’s a lot of storytelling in business, especially with technical and complex businesses. Sadly, after four years with a lot of work and hardly paying myself, my company folded. I learned some hard lessons: The typesetting market was dying, and I didn’t realize it until it was too late. We were being disrupted by new technology, though they didn’t call it that yet. Most of what we did back then is now handled by the PC and Mac. I vowed to never again be at the tail end of a trend.

I did some freelancing work and did better personally ($$) but ended up taking a traditional job in corporate communications, moving into marketing roles, too, with this industrial company. Nothing sexy, but I used my writing skills, got to see a lot of business technology, learn about how business is REALLY run and made great and amazing business contacts. I left there in 1990 with the notion that desktop publishing (which was big) was just the start of a digitalization of communications. I toyed around with BitNet, CompuServe and some forerunners of the internet, and I was starting to see opportunity there. Three years later, I found myself in the right place at the right time. In 1993, the first internet web browser came out and pow! Dot-com began.

Q: What exactly does digital media entrepreneurship mean and what kinds of students do you hope to inspire through your work?

A: Media entrepreneurship is actually bigger than just “digital” … it includes lifestyle and small businesses doing media work—freelancing, independent contracting, agencies, production companies, specialty firms, etc.—and social impact ventures. The kinds of students I see at Newhouse are smart and media-crazed, and I love coaching them one-on-one. I tell them to stop thinking about what BROUGHT them to Newhouse (as I came here to be a writer) and think about the bigger, changing media space and what they OUGHT to do. I want to expose them to new technologies and new ventures in media.

SU alumnus Keith Lippert ’78, partner with Lippert/Heilshorn & Associates Inc., and Sean Branagan at NASDAQ for the IPO for Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment.

I bring in a litany of (usually younger) media innovators and entrepreneurs to tell them about what’s really happening and changing. They come from startups, ad agencies, digital consultancies, news media and entertainment companies of all kinds. They talk about trends like direct-to-consumer, brands ACTING like true media companies, new startups disrupting media directly, big tech companies profoundly disrupting the media business landscape, data analytics in all areas of media, new technologies from adjacent industries that will come into media and more. I encourage students to start ventures WHILE IN COLLEGE, since failing here is safer. I encourage them to start being different while they are in college to help them stand out in the job market after college, if they don’t start their own business—since most of them won’t. I encourage them to work for startups right out of college and help them look in new places for jobs where they can innovate and be entrepreneurial.

I especially hope to inspire young women and people of color to consider entrepreneurship. If they want to change the narrative and tenor of media… if they want to tell stories and change the topic and focus… if they want to make #meToo and #BLM and other movements real, MEDIA OWNERSHIP MATTERS. Owning a media company means you shape the culture, you set the tone and voice, YOU make the choices and you and others can benefit from those choices. I’m going to launch an initiative focused on this in the next year. We call it New Voices, New Bosses. So stay tuned for more on this.

Q: You’ve described yourself as an “instigator” and a “creator” and a “commissioner”—unusual titles and descriptions. You obviously gave a lot of thought to who you are and what you do.��Why choose those words?

A: It’s kind of a dot-com and startup-world thing. All kinds of titles, roles and terms came from the crazy naming that startups do. Some of the names stuck. I love Instigator most, because my little Irish mom used to call me that. My brother Joe would maybe get in trouble and she would stare at me and say in her Irish brogue: “…And, I know you were the Instigator, Sean.” She was usually right.

Q: What makes you most frustrated with today’s media industry?

A: Lack of innovation. The industry incumbents seem fine with waiting. And they refuse to see that media is becoming a high-tech industry, and we have to start acting like it. Media companies have been hit with a tsunami of digital disruption over the last 20 to 30 years, and the case can be made that no other industry has seen as much disruption—in all phases of the business. They seem proud that they are adopting and adapting, but they need to innovate. Take action. Lead. The internet is everywhere. That’s over. Mobile is everywhere. That’s over. Everything is digital. That’s over. What’s next? I think Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence and Voice are the three BIGGIES for the media industry. They will make media executives wish for the good old days of internet disruption.

Student Startup Madness finals.

Q: You created Student Startup Madness to inspire the entrepreneurial spirit in students.��How do you define an entrepreneur?��Is it someone who wants to start a business?��Or is it someone with an innovative idea?��

A: I’ve been grappling with this. Officially, an entrepreneur is someone who has taken a risk of losing to win. Usually with a business. I’m trying to redefine entrepreneurship as a skillset for making decisions—and taking action. Especially in uncertainty. I teach Entrepreneurial Thinking every semester, and it provides a broad view of the skills that entrepreneurs use to build something out of nothing. This class is based on the work of��. Before I get into her five principles, I begin the class by debunking myths of what entrepreneurs and innovators are. They are normal people. They aren’t born to be entrepreneurs. They can’t see things that others can’t see, but they have learned to work a particular way that is especially effective in highly uncertain environments. Then I take students through class exercises to show these approaches, and we have fun doing it. It’s serious play, and we learn to (1) start with your means; (2) only take on affordable loss; (3) leverage contingencies; (4) co-create and partner; and (5) act to create opportunity. These principles and process make entrepreneurship accessible to all. Some people are really good at it. Others find it hard. But it is a process, and it can be learned. I tell them that innovation and entrepreneurship can only happen when we get comfortable being uncomfortable and use this process.

As for Student Startup Madness, my motivation��was more tactical and opportunistic. I had been going to SXSW (South by Southwest, the media tech conference and festival) since 2005, and I didn’t see any space for college students. Organizers of the event also saw this and reached out to me to create a national collegiate tournament for high-tech and digital student startups. Every year, we get hundreds of applications from schools all over the country, from August until early December. Matching the March Madness vibe, we announce the top 64 college digital startups in mid-December; then we cut it to 32; and in January, we announce the Entrepreneurial Eight finalists. These eight teams get invited to pitch at SXSW in front of an amazing group of investors, entrepreneurs, technologists and innovators. It is fun and incredible to see how good these college student startups are, and I love helping students build a network of people who can help them succeed. ��

Mugging for the camera outside NASDAQ at the IPO for Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment.

Q: What advice do you have for those who are having a hard time adapting to the new vocabulary of the technological world—words like blockchain, haptics, virtuality, augmented reality, etc.?

A: If you plan to live in the future, you need to know some of this. Learn the basics. For example, check out the WIRED series with five levels explaining��, quantum computing and all kinds of new technologies. You don’t need the lingo—well, not much of it, really—but you ought to know the concept. That’s why Newhouse students are great for this world: we need more and better explanations to enhance the storytelling. Techies talking about tech can get confusing and annoying. WIRED does a great job with this because they are tech-savvy communicators. That’s what Newhouse students need to be. And they are!

Q: It seems like the pace of change is quicker than ever, and new technologies are introduced weekly.��How do you keep up?��

A: Yes. Actually, it is happening faster and faster. Check out The��,��and you’ll see why we really can’t fathom how fast everything is changing. Seriously. How do I handle it? I get a bunch of specialty (startup and innovation) newsletters, I work with startup founders and other smart people, and basically I hope I stay relevant. I also learn from my students. In my Trendspotting in Digital Media class, I spend the first five weeks giving them a framework for looking at the future. Then I introduce them to a bunch of technologies and trends, and I bring in speakers from different industries and fields. In the end, they start telling me about things I’ve never heard of. That’s how we got to the Media-Nxt Reports. Students do the research, guided by me and our editor, Professor Aileen Gallagher.

Q: Do you worry that the technologies that are shaping communications these days—from virtual reality to computational image manipulation and synthetic media—will lead to more confusion, lack of clarity and more distrust of all communications?��How do you teach students the responsibility that comes with the use of advanced media technologies?

A: I don’t really worry too much about it. I trust in humans. I think all media technologies—the pencil, the printing press, the movie camera, the telephone, the TV—all have been considered evil and destructive. Yes, we have certainly seen negative elements and incidents with each of them. But mostly good has come from them all. People have used technologies and capabilities for good and bad. I think that will continue to happen, and only when we get into the development of these technologies and use them in media can we shape them… and shape them for good. I’m a techno-optimist.

Staff Spotlight shines a light on many of Syracuse University’s most dedicated—and talented—members. Their work on campus. Their often very interesting lives away from campus. It is our pleasure to share their stories. Know someone who should be considered for an upcoming Staff Spotlight? Contact Kevin Morrow, director of internal communications in the Division of Marketing and Communications, at kdmorrow@syr.edu.

Jon Wright, a support analyst with the University’s Information Technology Services, is a founding member and co-president of the local chapter of the nonprofit organization Sleep in Heavenly Peace. In this photo, he’s working on a mini bunk bed.

Wright, a support analyst with the University’s Information Technology Services (ITS), is a founding member and co-president of the of the nonprofit organization . The national organization’s mission is to make sure no kid sleeps on the floor by providing handmade beds.

“We build beds, and we donate them to kids who are sleeping on the floor,” Wright says.

The group members build the headboard, cut the appropriate lengths of side boards and rails, sand the components and then set up the bed with a shrink-wrapped mattress on site.

“We’re like Ikea, except Ikea doesn’t deliver and set up like we do,” Wright says.

Wright is joined by co-president Chris Hussak and a core group of seven couples, with an additional group of about 10 others. The group was also recently joined by another SU employee, Jeff Pitt, director of information technology for the College of Arts and Sciences computing group, whom Wright shared information with about the group while the two were speaking at work one day.

“He came to a build, and he got the bug,” Wright says. “He’s a tremendous asset.” Pitt also put together a request to the Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation for a $5,000 grant that was recently awarded to the chapter to help fund materials.

Wright, who has been with the University for 22 years, works at the ITS Central Help Desk, assisting students and other members of the University community with technical issues and troubleshooting hardware and software problems. It’s a position in which he enjoys helping others solve problems—a feeling that extends into the work he does with Sleep in Heavenly Peace.

Jon Wright, co-president of the local chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace, works on a dip tank for staining wood.

Read more about how Wright became interested in the organization and what’s next.

Q: How did you get involved and get the local chapter going?

A: This past May, a few Syracuse area friends met to discuss a shared desire to make a difference in Syracuse and Onondaga County. One of these friends mentioned a Facebook program called Returning the Favor and an episode featuring Luke Mickelson. Luke, after realizing that there were children sleeping on the floor in his town, decided he needed to do something and from that decision Sleep In Heavenly Peace (SHP) was born. After watching the program the next time they got together, it was unanimous—let’s do this in Syracuse. By the end of July, the group was officially the first SHP chapter in New York state.

Q: How many beds have been built? Where do you build them?

A: Locally, we have built 35 beds so far. We hope to deliver 80 beds before Jan. 1. We partner with corporations and civic groups to engage the community. We have had build days at the Lowe’s in Clay and at Manlius True Value. We are currently looking for an indoor location to use on Saturday or Sunday mornings to do public builds during the winter months. We are always looking for companies or groups that would like to sponsor and do a bed build as a charitable team-building activity. A private build took place at Hillbrook Juvenile Detention Center, where we worked with the teen residents to impart some trade skills, as well as provide an opportunity to give back to their community.

Q: How many have you delivered? Who do they go to?

A: We have delivered 32 of the 35 beds so far. The beds go to children between the ages of 4-17 who are sleeping on the floor, a mattress on the floor or a couch, or are in situations where multiple children are in a single bed. All requests for families in need are made through the national organization web page and are vetted locally. We generally work through the list but will prioritize for certain circumstances, such as keeping a family together if possible by providing beds quickly.

Jon Wright assists a boy with a power tool during a build in Idaho as part of a training for Sleep in Heavenly Peace. Wright is co-president of the Syracuse chapter, which he started with a group of friends earlier this year.

Q: How long have you been woodworking? How did you get started?

A: I’m not a woodworker in my eyes. I’ve always had a knack for almost any project I took on but I actually prefer electrical work or plumbing to woodwork. The beds we build are pretty basic and, while it takes some skill with hand tools, almost anybody can do it. They are built to be sturdy, workhorse, long-lasting beds.

Q: Why is this important to you?

A: When I first heard of this, I was skeptical. My oldest daughter worked in the city for a time as a paramedic, so I asked her if kids were sleeping on the floor. Her confirmation that it was widespread broke my heart. It is such a simple thing. I am also a man of faith and believe we are put on Earth for a purpose. The way that purpose is carried out changes in different stages of life. Right now, I am at a place where this is my passion to get as many kids off the floor, off a couch, as I can.

The drive home after delivering our first bed was a bittersweet experience. There’s a ton of emotions. You are happy that you left a bed, but you leave wishing you could do more.

Q: You also served as a volunteer firefighter. How long were you a firefighter? What does that mean to you to serve your community?

A: I “retired” from the Manlius Fire Department last January, when I turned 60. I had spent 10 years volunteering as an ambulance driver in Manlius. I was lucky to serve with two of my children who were paramedic firefighters there at the time. There is nothing better than serving others, particularly if you can do so with purpose that is as devoid of self-interest as is achievable.

Staff Spotlight shines a light on many of Syracuse University’s most dedicated—and talented—members. Their work on campus. Their often very interesting lives away from campus. It is our pleasure to share their stories. Know someone who should be considered for an upcoming Staff Spotlight? Contact Kevin Morrow, director of internal communications in the Division of Marketing and Communications, at kdmorrow@syr.edu.