魅影直播

Mauro on the Move!

Listening. Learning. Leading.

魅影直播 State鈥檚 president is on the move by visiting offices, classrooms, labs, and all corners of our campuses to connect with faculty, staff, and students. These visits give him a chance to learn more about your work and to see our community in action.

Faculty and staff can watch the Blue & Gold Today newsletter for details on when and where Dr. Mauro will be on the move. In addition, his weekly office hours offer an open invitation to stop by the President鈥檚 Office for a chat.


Week of 10/27/25

I found myself out of town last week, so I was really moving, but was glad to be back this week to visit a few different people this week.
 
One place I was able to stop by was an Organic Chemistry Lab. I have to say that this was one of my least favorite classes that I took in college, but it wouldn鈥檛 have been if I had Isaac Klingensmith teaching it. He was able to engage the students in a way that provided them support yet independence in the lab exercise they were doing. I was so impressed with the technology we have students working on in our labs. It is clear why our career placement following graduation is so high.
 
Next, I was able to stop in and say hello to students and teachers visiting our mini-visit program. Many thanks to the faculty and staff who designed interactive displays of what we have to offer to these potential Pioneers. I spent my time with the folks in Engineering who had exercises for the students that surveyed internet activity, 3-D printed materials, and tested mechanical stress (One of the few opportunities where we actually encouraging the breaking of things!) I was beyond impressed and I am certain the visiting students were as well.
 
The semester is getting busy, but never too busy where I won鈥檛 be able to find the time to learn and see something new and amazing on campus. Please feel free to invite me to something of interest in your area!

Week of 10/13/25

Sadly, I have been away from campus this whole week so have not gotten much of an opportunity to move across campus to see the magic in action. However, the time away always gives me an opportunity for reflection, and this week I indirectly saw the amazing benefit from the work we all do to develop young adults into young professionals.

I started my week in Albany at a President鈥檚 Meeting. I consider ourselves fortunate to know that we are thriving across the SUNY system and have thus far been immune to many of the challenges that others are facing. I tell people that it is because we have practical, hardworking, growth-minded faculty and staff who work together. While our work is never done to keep ourselves in that position where we are bucking the trends being witnessed across higher education, in the oncoming spirit of Thanksgiving, my heartfelt 鈥淭HANK YOU鈥 to all of you for making our reality one where we can focus on student growth and success.

I ended my week in Rochester at our campaign kickoff, hosted by Bill and Rhonda Goodrich. Bill is an alumni of 魅影直播 State and just an all around great guy. The Goodrich鈥檚 pledged a one million dollar gift to 魅影直播 State, which will help in so many ways. The highlight of the night was when Bill asked two of our students, Alan Vasquez and Sharon Riegel, to come up and tell us why they choose 魅影直播 State and what that meant to them. They spoke so eloquently and passionately about the impact 魅影直播 State is making on them. These are the moments that I get to see the outcome of what we do. These will be the future professionals and leaders in their fields, all because of what you do!

Week of 9/29/25

I have been giving you weekly updates of my experiences with Mauro on the Move, but this week, I wanted to provide you with an update and act of heroism that has truly moved me. Many of you may have heard that one of our facilities employees, Bill Greene, had a medical emergency. I鈥檇 like to commend our staff, Kyle Carbone, Jack Smith, and Jon Nickerson who were on scene to call for help while bringing him to a place of safety and begin lifesaving procedures.

Our University Police, including Captain Histed, Lieutenant Bingham, Officer Rounds, and Officer Cole Bingham (at dispatch desk), coordinated a response immediately and took over providing compressions for over a half hour while medical emergency services arrived. Through their incredible acts of service, the team was able to keep Bill with us to reach advanced care.  

We at 魅影直播 State are here to support and care for one another, and these responders did just that. For anyone directly or indirectly impacted, if you find yourself feeling upset or overwhelmed, we encourage you to reach out to the , or use your medical insurance to talk with a professional counselor. It is important to take care of your own well-being first and foremost, and we are all here to provide all the support we can.  Please take time to care for yourself and know that your well-being matters to me.

Week of 9/15/25

Heavy Equipment Operations students were hard at work leveling off some of the property.

For 鈥淢auro on the Move鈥 this week, I decided I wanted to get my shoes a little dirty. What better way than to head over to see how some of our active learning projects are coming along. I began by visiting the house that is in the final stages being built by our trades faculty and students. I still find it hard to fathom that our applied learning here is to actually build a house!

Here, I saw a student busily preparing walls for the final sanding and then finishing. As with all our houses built (now over 50!), the place looked spectacular. I鈥檇 be remiss if I didn鈥檛 say that Jeff Stevens is always looking for buyers. I know you wouldn鈥檛 be disappointed in a purchase guided by our faculty and crafted by the hands of our able students.

On my way back to campus, I stopped at our Moland Road property to see what all the dirt moving was about. Our Heavy Equipment Operations students were hard at work leveling off some of the property so we can lay down a parking area. What a great active learning project for them, and it even comes with an onsite classroom that we prepared for them for the times when they need to go over the material associated with their craft. Many thanks to faculty member Nick Beach for taking the time out of his schedule to tell me about the great learning that is happening onsite.

I couldn鈥檛 head back to the office without first stopping into our Alumni House to say hello and thank the Advancement team for all the work they have been doing in preparing for our Campaign Kickoff this upcoming Friday. You have probably seen the signs going up across campus, but I invite you all to come to the event this Friday, September 19th at 4PM to see for yourself. The magic is always in our students, and we will have plenty of immersive activities for our guests to participate in so they can be reminded of why we do what we do and why it is so important to continue to give all we can to provide opportunities to this next generation of leaders in society.

 

Week of 9/1/25

Another great week on the move, this time being invited to visit the class of Dr. Maryam Tabatabaei. The class is for first year students mostly in the Construction Management major. They were learning about the principles of cement. It was a large class, and Dr. Tabatabaei effortlessly circulated throughout the room, involved the students, and already knew their names! It was clear they were engaged and were learning the things needed for their major and they will receive a certification in their field after the course. I know I learned a lot! 

I continued my move into classrooms through an invite from Jessica Hutchinson for her Botany Lab. Here, a makeshift lab (while the Ag. Science building is being renovated) was looking at leaves through a microscope. Learning by doing! And these students certainly were. They were already better with a microscope than I ever was. 

I also learned a lot through my visit to the Career Development Office. Maureen Sibble and Valerie Daciw showed me the many things they do day to day to help students find meaningful work experience during their time here and following graduation. There are already over two dozen student-work job opportunities on campus. Get your department jobs posted today if you haven鈥檛 already, there were over 250 students who attended our job fair to express interest in an on-campus job, which is an all-time high. 

Where will I be next week? Send me an invite or be on the lookout as I move about this semester! 

Week of 8/25/25

This week, the first week of classes, of course I wanted to visit some of our great faculty for my time of 鈥淢auro on the Move鈥 to see how things were going. I spent most of my time saying hello to my colleagues in Criminal Justice and Social and Behavioral Sciences. It was great to see all the open doors inviting students in as they navigate their first week of classes. With growth in the new Applied Psychology major and high enrollment this year in Criminal Justice, as well as new courses being offered my faculty colleagues in this department have their hands full, but with smiling faces they showed they are more than up for the challenge! 

I couldn鈥檛 resist a quick stop in the Student Success Center to say hello and thank you to our many advisors, coaches, and others who are supporting our students鈥 journey. I can鈥檛 forget about our support fish in the department, 鈥淭ed鈥 and 鈥淒ahmer鈥! I am always amazed at just how busy the Center is at the very beginning of the semester. Getting that support early and often from this talented team will certainly give our students every opportunity to succeed. 

Also important in that journey is the support our students receive from friends and family. This often comes in the form of care packages. To learn more and help out, I visited our print and mail services team. Raf, a new student worker, taught me how to check out packages, which I think I did right! With over a thousand packages that were checked in and will be delivered to students this first week of class, the coordination of efforts from this group is nothing short of amazing! Let鈥檚 all deliver a giant thank you message to Print and Mail Services when we see them next! 

Week of 8/18/25

Welcome to another semester together! It has been a great first week as the campus has become filled with life. 

I spent my first week of Mauro on the Move saying hello and thanking as many people as I could that are welcoming our new students to campus as part of the move-in activities. 

In particular, I wanted to start by noting just how amazingly clean and ready the residence halls are for move-in days.  鈥淲ow鈥 is all I can say! The floors were waxed to shiny perfection, the rugs were immaculate, and the paint and new lounge furniture made each area pop. A special THANK YOU goes out to our cleaning staff. They really couldn鈥檛 have done a better job. Please join me in thanking them for all they have done and continue to do to present the very best of what 魅影直播 State has to offer. 

Speaking of which, I was so very impressed walking about and seeing all our police officers welcoming families and providing parking and move-in guidance. Our new move-in system seemed to work great, and there wasn鈥檛 a day this week when I didn鈥檛 see Casey Cowburn and Francine Staba outside my window welcoming new families and showing them where to go. Thanks to everyone who participated in our new check-in process and were on the frontline for making a great first impression when our students and their families arrived on campus. 

And last but not least this week, I wanted to note how many residential life staff and students I saw helpfully checking-in students to their new homes. While I didn鈥檛 see Justin Romero personally, I wanted to specifically thank him in this update for handling a tricky student situation very smoothly. 

I can鈥檛 wait to share what I see for 鈥Mauro on the Move鈥 next week. I hear print and mail services have something special in store for me, and with classes starting, I am sure I will be meandering around our academic buildings to see how we are transforming lives.