What’s in this issue? Page 1: The Student Leadership Awards Ceremony

Page 2-3: Alumni in ActionPage 4-5: Annual Student Leadership

ConferencePage 6-7: Brockport Starts a Revolution

Page 8: Farewell Dr. Halstead & Coordinators Corner

Student leaders honored

On Monday, April 27, the Union Ballroom was filled as the Leadership Development Program host-ed the annual Student Leadership Awards Ceremony. Among the recipients were members of the Leadership Development Program, leaders among various depart-ments and recipients of other major campus awards. At 250 awards this year, the Leadership Development Program presented its highest amount of certificates yet. “I’m grateful that we had a high number of stu-dents work hard to earn their certificate this year,” LDP Graduate Assistant, Hannah Torrance said. “I feel that our students gained a high level of understanding of themselves and their community.” Other major campus awards include the “Marion Schrank Student Leadership Award”, “SUNY Chancel-lor’s Award for Student Excellence”, “John R. Halstead Family Leadership in Higher Education Award”, “Josh Silber ‘93 Excellence in Leadership Award”, “Donald and Gloria Huot Excellence in Leadership Award” and the “Who’s Who among Students in American Colleges and Universities” award. Applicants who apply for these selective lead-ership awards and scholarships must apply months before and meet several requirements in order to be considered.

“I love the leadership opportunities I’ve had and it was great to win,” award recipient Sarah Gel-fand said. “As a senior who has looked up to past winners it was surreal to win runner up.” Gelfand was the runner-up of the “Marion Schrank Student Leadership Award.” Additionally, Gelfand was one of the 14 graduating members of the Capstone Leadership Certificate program. At 14, this year’s group is the LDP’s largest group to date. The ceremony concluded with a speech deliv-ered by “Marion Schrank Student Leadership Award” recipient, Daniela Bulos. Bulos also received the “Who’s Who Among College Students” award and was a member of the graduating Capstone Certificate program. In her speech, Bulos discussed how she over-came having English as her second language and left the audience with words on the true meaning of leadership. “I don’t believe leadership is solely based on leading a group. To me, leadership means helping and guiding others not just to achieve a goal, but by inspiring them to do better,” Bulos said in her speech. “Leadership is not about power, but influencing others in a positive way.”

The E-LeaderThe Leadership Development Program’s Official Newsletter

Spring/ Summer ‘15 Edition

Alumni in Action: Alyssa Mitchell ‘14

If you have been around the Brockport campus within the past five years, chances are you have seen Alyssa Mitchell ’14. While completing her bachelor’s degree in communication at The College at Brockport, Mitchell also completed all four years of the Leadership Development Program, earning her Capstone Leadership certificate. During her time at Brockport, Mitchell put her leadership’s skills to use working heavily and diligently around campus.During her undergraduate years, Mitchell worked as a Resident Assistant, Ori-entation Summer Advisor and Global Ambassador on campus. She was also chairperson for the annual Polar Plunge for two and a half years. “I think the Leadership Development Program helped me gain experiences that are on my resume,” Mitchell said. Mitchell’s hard work, dedication and lead-ership skills helped her earn her first job post-grad-uation as an Admissions Assistant in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions at The College at Brockport. While working in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, Mitchell continued to work with the LDP volunteering as a mentor and workshop pre-senter for the Green Leadership certificate students.

From traveling around New York for re-cruitment to reviewing applications of prospective students, Mitchell continues to use the skills she learned in the LDP. “I absolutely use skills I learned in the LDP such as working with people completely different than me, being able to see what others can bring to the table and how we can work together to achieve the mutual goal.” During her time in the Leadership Development Program, Mitchell received many awards and honors such as the “John R. Halstead Family Leadership in Higher Education Award” and the prestigious “Marion Schrank Student Leader-ship Award.” Recalling all the memories made during her four years with the LDP, Mitchell cites her time in the presidential leadership class she took in order to complete her LDP Presidential Leadership certificate as her most memorable.

Mitchell (pictured) currently works as an AdmissionsAssistant in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.

“Everyone in it, we all had completely differ-ent backgrounds,” Mitchell said. “Every single class we went into we just would always butt heads but it was in a productive way and we always learned about each other.” Looking into the future, Mitchell continues to work towards her goal of one day becoming a college president. In August, she will leave Brockport and move to Carrolton, Georgia, where she received a full ride to receive her master’s degree in student affairs at the University of West Georgia. While in Georgia, Mitchell will work in the First Year Experience Office as the Orientation Graduate Assistant. After she receives her master’s degree, Mitchell hopes to apply for jobs in student affairs outside of the United States before returning to the United States to receive her Ph.D. “I want to work there for a few years and then come back to get my doctorate,” Mitchell said. “I would love to do my doctorate thesis on comparing institutions in different parts of the country.”

Mitchell will be attending the University of West Georgia where she will recieve her master’s degree in student affairs.

But before she leaves Brockport and heads south to further her career, Mitchell hopes to encour-age the current and future members of the Leader-ship Development Program. “As the program continues it makes sense, it starts to click,” Mitchell said. “The puzzle pieces slow-ly get handed to you. Come the second, third year in the program you start to put them together. You can kind of see the overall picture of how certain skills are going to help you.”

Mitchell (pictured, middle left) with students in the Green Leadership Certificate at her workshop, “SMART Goal Setting.”

Winter Cold didn’t keep the conference goers away

The College at Brockport held the sixth Annu-al Student Leadership Conference Sunday, Feb. 15. Planned by the Leadership Development Program’s capstone certificate students, the conference fea-tured 24 Brockport alumni presenters who shared their knowledge of leadership with students through a variety of leadership building workshops. Derived from the program’s core principle that everyone has the potential to become a leader, this year’s theme was “I promise to ...” and featured keynote speaker, founder of the non-profit organization “because I said I would.” Alex Sheen. This year’s conference worked to teach students, through commitment and dedica-tion, everyone can bring positive change to the world. Planning for the conference has gone on since the beginning of the school year and was one of the main projects of the 2014-15 capstone certificate class. “It was a committee of people just working together, staying on task, being diligent and really just taking ownership and putting together this con-ference,” senior capstone student Sarah Gelfand said. “It was really a collaborative effort.” Other departments involved in the event were Student Union & Activities, Alumni Relations, BASC, Brockport Student Government, Community Develop-ment and the campus’ television club, Talon Televi-sion. “I think the conference this year went spectacular,” senior capstone student, chair of the conference and BSG president Will Mitchell, said. “Everyone loved the keynote.” Despite the cold weather that brought wind-chills to -25 degrees, the conference still went on as planned. Sheen spoke about his experiences with the “because I said I would.” organization as well as the importance of promises made and kept. Some in at-tendance even wrote out their own promise cards for a “because I said I would.” banner that will be hung in the Union.

Despite the cold weather that brought windchills to -25 degrees, the conference still went on as planned. Sheen spoke about his experienc-es with the “because I said I would.” organization as well as the importance of promises made and kept. Some in attendance even wrote out their own promise cards for a “because I said I would.” ban-ner that will be hung in the Union. “His speech was moving,” capstone stu-dent David Albaranes said. “It really touched each student I feel. His keynote was one people could relate to and it didn’t inspire ideas of grandeur with leadership, just that everyone has the ability to do what they can, I liked that his keynote actually showed the relevance of why keeping a promise matters.”

Each conference attendee was given a promise card that they placed on the “because I said I would” banner (pictured).

Sheen started “because I said I would.” in 2012 in honor of his late father. After leaving his corporate job, Sheen dedicated his life to spreading the message of the organization. Since then, the “because I said I would.” organization has sent more than 2.3 million promise cards to more than 138 countries. During his almost three years with the or-ganization, Sheen has seen a wide variety of promis-es, from helping a drug addict go to rehab, to his own documented promise to walk across the state of Ohio to raise funds for victims of sexual violence. Sheen’s mission is to hold people accountable to their com-mitments and strengthen humanity’s will. Following Sheen’s keynote speech, students were given the option to attend three, 50-minute leadership presentations run by Brockport alumni. With alumni ranging in graduation years and occupa-tions, every alumni presenter had valuable leadership advice to share. “I came back because Brockport is home, I would never miss this,” Kristine Shanley class of ’87 & ’95 said. “I hope they take back one thing they can put into action in their own world.”

During the five-hour, free-of-charge conference open to all Brockport students, students had the opportunity to network with the alumni presenters at the networking reception as well as learn and gain leadership skills. In addition to the conference, the Leadership Development Program at the college offers leader-ship engaging workshops, conferences and opportu-nities for community service to positively benefit all students. Through the program’s four-step certificate programs — green, gold, presidential and the highest level of the program, capstone -- the program offers many leadership skills opportunities to students in the program. The LDP currently consists of more than 250 students and faculty affiliated with the program, as well as a growing number of program alumni. “If they want to grow as a person, grow as a leader, put some stuff on their resume, meet some successful alumni, learn a few life lessons here or there, they should come,” Mitchell said.

By: Justin Sullivan Feat. in The Stylus

Kristine Shanley ‘87 (pictured) presenting her work-shop, “Building a Winning Team.”

Alex Sheen (pictured) is the founder of the nationally recognized non-profit, “because I said I would.”

“Smashing heads will not open minds,” Mi-randa Wilcox, founder of the leadership firm Thrive Potential said as she delivered the keynote speech to over 100 students and staff at the first annual “Start a Revolution” conference. The conference, that happened on Saturday, April 18 sought to educate the College at Brockport community about the stereotypes that hold all gen-ders back from becoming leaders in their respective field. The committee that was made up of Brockport students and staff established the conference with hopes that all participants will leave empowered as well as confident enough to be advocates for change. The conference was funded by the “Cam-pus Action Project Grant,” a grant sponsored by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and Pantene. Brockport student, Daniela Bulos ‘15 and member of the conference committee received the grant in November of 2014. From the grant, Bulos received nearly $5,000 to design the conference. “I found out about the grant from Dr. Karen Logsdon and Kim Piatt, who are both my mentors,” Bulos said. “It was really a great thing and a big thing. I didn’t realize how big it was until we got it.” Since 1881, AAUW has worked to empower women through educational funding, research and leadership development. AAUW has a nationwide network of more than 165,000 members and sup-porters across the United States. Additionally, the AAUW has 1,000 local branches and 800 college and university partners. In 2015 alone, AAUW awarded $3.4 million in fellowships and grants to support 241 women in their academic and professional careers. “We started to get the committee together last semester,” Natalie Yera ‘16 said. “We had meetings every Friday and we always tried to get something done to get to that goal, the big culminating event that is the conference.”

Alongside Bulos and Yera, the conference committee consisted of Courtney Gazada and Emily LoBrutto ‘15 as well as Lucky Light, Nicole Posluszny and Romina Owolewa ‘16. The Faculty and Staff advisors to the confer-ence were Kim Piatt, coordinator of the Leadership Development Program, Julie Pruss, Assistant to the President as well as Dr. Barb LeSavoy and Dr. Karen Logsdon of the Women and Gender Studies Program The conference’s workshop presenters con-sisted of Brockport alumni as well as current Brock-port staff. The workshop presenters included Laura Clark ‘13, Kristine Shanley ‘87 and ‘95 and Amber Humphrey ‘05. Fellow presenter, Jill Wesley currently serves as Director of Career Services at The College at Brockport. Keynote speaker, Wilcox graduated from The College at Brockport with a Masters in Liber-al Studies in 2011. “I was invited and I thought this was a huge honor,” Wilcox said. “I feel strongly about Brockport, it was part of my evolution as a leader.”

Brockport Starts a Revolution

The conference filled Cooper Hall’s New York room..

Topics covered during the conference included gender stereotypes, job negotiating and team build-ing. According to the AAUW, women are typically paid 78% of what men are paid, leaving a 22% pay gap. Additionally, women are twice as likely to worry that leadership roles will make them “bossy”. “I hope the audience understands that college is a journey and that it is very possible to create who you are as a person if you lean on the right people,” Clark ‘13 and workshop presenter said. “Be open, try. Try, put yourself out there, if something works and it turns into something that’s great. If it doesn’t, okay we try again. It is all about trial and error.” Clark’s workshop “Cultivate Your You” taught attendees how to cultivate their success through positive interaction. Clark will begin her Master’s pro-grams for Human Rights Policy & Practice in Europe this upcoming Fall. The conference concluded with a closing panel featuring Brockport EOP graduate counselor, Adram-ein Lopez, Assistant Director for Prevention and Out-reach Services, Sandra Vazquez and founder of “Trust Change” and life coach, Michelle Atlas.

Although the five hour conference came to an end, the conference committee hopes to make the “Start a Revolution” conference a Brockport tradition and continue to educate the Brockport community on how to be advocates for equality. “We want to create awareness across the spectrum. If you see a stereotype going down, don’t be a bystander. Do something about it,” Bulos said. “It is not only a women thing, it is also men too. You can’t just speak to 50% of the population and basical-ly expect a result. You need to speak to 100% of the population and include everyone.” A high turnout on a beautiful spring day, the “Start a Revolution” conference equipped its attend-ee’s with the valuable skills of social awareness, confidence and leadership skills. “It is all about listening to your own voice,” Wilcox said. “Have the courage to move forward and pursue what you really want to do.”

Photos Emily LoBrutto

LDP Alum, Laura Clark (pictured) presenting her workshop at the first annual “Start a Revolution” conference.

The “Star a Revolution” committee with keynote speaker, Miranda Wilcox (pictured, middle).

Farewell Dr. & Mrs. Halstead

Coordinator’s Corner

Change Model will provide a wonderful platform for this mission, while providing increased oppor-tunities for creating service opportunities and di-alogue throughout campus. Not only will we have a new department, we will have a new location at the top of the stairs on the second floor of the Seymour College Union. We are looking forward to the move and hope you will come visit us as the new semester begins. As always, many thanks must go to our faculty, staff and alumni volunteers, without whom this program would not be possible. We are truly fortunate to have such an amazing com-munity of individuals from which to draw inspira-tion and support.

Until the fall, Kim

By Kim Piatt, Coordinator of Leadership Development

It’s hard to believe another year has passed already! The 2014-2015 school year was a great one for the Leader-ship Development Program. We continued to have a large number – more than 200 outstanding students – earn a cer-tificate through the program. Our capstone students success-fully created the #TrueBrockport campaign which spread pos-itivity and sought to share the true story about what it means to be a Brockport student. The Annual Student Leadership Conference was a huge success, despite a terrible storm! Our Gold students created Social Action Projects that benefitted numerous organizations around the area and our Presidential students were able to serve in a variety of practicum place-ments. Overall, as the program continues to grow, so do the contributions of our amazing students. Summer at a college campus may at first seem like a slow, quiet time with very little taking place. Do not be fooled by the apparent tranquility – much is being done under the surface to reflect on previous accomplishments and prepare for the upcoming year. This summer will bring about many great changes for the Leadership Development Program and we look forward to furthering our commitment to maintain-ing an excellent program by making improvements based on assessment data and best practices. One of the biggest changes for the program will be its new home in Community Development! The mission of Community Development will be to provide our students with the knowledge, skills and val-ues needed to become civic minded leaders who engage fully their communities. The Leadership Development Program’s emphasis on citizenship and theoretical basis in the Social

Congratulations and farewell to Dr. & Mrs. Halstead who will be leaving The College at Brockport as Dr. Halstead enters retirement. During his 10 years as college president, Dr. Halstead has lead Brockport with great dedication and integrity. Both Dr. Halstead and his wife, Kathy have both been great supporters of the Leadership Development Program throughout the program’s existence. On behalf of the LDP and The College at Brockport community, thank you Dr. and Mrs. Halstead for an amazing 10 years. Best wishes for a happy retirement! Dr. and Mrs. Halstead (pictured) in February of 2015 .

Congratulations Class of 2015!

Have a nice & safe summer!

- The LDP Team

Connect with us!

Special Thanks to . . . .

Kim Piatt Emily LoBrutto

Alyssa Mitchell, LDP AlumMatt Yeoman, Photographer at The College at Brockport

Newsletter written/designed by Justin Sullivan