By: Darlene Schmitt & Jie Zhang, SUNY Brockport
 
 
An interview with Darlene Schmitt, Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Associate Director of the SUNY Brockport Counseling Center which is part of the Hazen Center for Integrated Care.
 
Service provided: what do you do?
I am the administrative supervisor at The Counseling Center (CC) and also a mental health counselor. 
 
The CC provides clinical counseling services including comprehensive mental health assessments, individual and group therapy, and referrals to appropriate on and off campus resources, to help students achieve their academic and personal goals.  We develop and implement programs to educate the campus community about the psychological and developmental needs of students through community-level interventions, outreach programming, and consultation.  When needed, we respond to the effects of crises impacting individual students and the campus community.

 

Stanley Litow, a Trustee at SUNY, identifies areas of interest within education that can be universally accepted even where there are many issues that divide the field.  Please read Litow's commentary on Barron's website.

​State University of New York Board of Trustees Appoints Deborah F. Stanley as Interim Chancellor
 
SUNY Oswego President Brings Decades of Campus Leadership and Student-Centric Approach to Lead the Nation’s Largest Comprehensive University System
 
SUNY Board of Trustees to Launch Global Search for Permanent Chancellor Beginning January 2022
  
Albany, NY – The State University of New York Board of Trustees today announced the appointment of SUNY Oswego President Deborah F. Stanley as interim chancellor to lead the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States. President Stanley brings nearly 45 years of campus leadership to SUNY and will begin serving as interim chancellor on January 15, 2022.

Sarah Battaglia, of Stony Brook HSC,  who is new to the Veterans Committee, represented UUP at the NYC Veterans Day Parade. This is the largest Veterans Day Parade in the United States. Prior to the parade, there was a ceremony honoring veterans and, in particular, the deceased were remembered at the "Eternal Light Ceremony." A wreath from UUP graced the site. Shown among the attached pictures,  is Sarah next to the wreath as well as a close-up of the wreath and the NYC Veterans Day poster. 

Sarah summed it up succinctly, "It was a beautiful day and I felt proud to be there to recognize our country's veterans."  Thank you Sarah, nicely done.
​
​Co-Chair UUP Veterans Committee

Please help the UFS follow through on our January 21 resolution to add anti-racist language to SUNY's official Mission Statement.

Stony Brook University Police Chief Lawrence Zacarese, was honored by the university in February for his demonstration of compassion, dedication and extraordinary leadership during the COVID pandemic (story reported here). I spoke with him this past December about the role of the campus police and how things may have changed during this past year of social uprising and a new pandemic:

Gwen Kay, University Faculty Senate President

  Heather Maldonado, who was elected as the next President of the University Faculty Senate, has informed us that she is starting a position at Keuka College effective June 1. This results in the unusual situation that we are left without a President-elect. We wish Heather luck in her new position, and turn to our bylaws for guidance about how to proceed. In consultation with our parliamentarian, Henry Flax, two options emerged: follow procedures for filling a vacancy (ARTICLE III. OFFICERS, 3); or call a special meeting of the body for a new election (ARTICLE VII. MEETINGS, 1, 2, 3). The former option would mean an interim president from July 1 through our next regular meeting (October plenary); the latter would mean having someone in place on July 1. After careful consideration, and discussion with the Executive Committee, we have decided that the best approach is to fill the vacancy of the President-elect before July 1. Our bylaws allow for a special meeting, called by the Executive Committee; an election to fill the vacancy would be the purpose of said special meeting.

  Our bylaws provide instructions for how to conduct an election, how to fill vacancies, and more (ARTICLE IX. NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS). We will have a slightly compressed time frame for this process. The Nominations and Elections Committee, chaired by Pamela Wolfskill (Stony Brook), is now soliciting nominations, along with the one-page attendant statement and brief, one-page, c.v. Nominations, and supporting documentation, are due by noon, May 28. All candidate information will be sent to senators on June 1. Then we will hold a special meeting of the University Faculty Senate on June 17, during which the Nominations and Elections Committee will provide an opportunity for each candidate to speak to the body, have a question and answer period, and hold an election.  We will announce the results of this special election in this forum and through our social media outlets.

  I am committed to process. I am also committed to success, both of UFS and of my successor. 

Several years ago, during yet another state budget crunch, there was a proposal to trim academic departments in some barbaric way at my college. My colleagues raised a hue and cry, fuss and muss, and gloomily predicted the downfall of civilization should the humanities be cut, STEM, or STEAM, or STREAM be damned. At the time I remembered something Kurt Vonnegut wrote about someone questioning why people take a moral stand. Vonnegut wrote that person said we might as well write strongly worded letters to the editor condemning icebergs for all the good our concerns do in changing the minds of movers, shakers and general powers-that-be.