Employees honored at president's luncheon

Three longtime members of the SUNY Fredonia community – Dr. Jeanette McVicker, Dr. Sally Turner and Timothy McGraw – received 2008 President’s Awards for Excellence at a recognition luncheon held Tuesday, April 15, at the Williams Center.

The Multipurpose Room, site of the gathering, was filled with scores of employees who received service certificates and pins to commemorate milestones at SUNY Fredonia in five-year increments, beginning with those marking five years of service and extending all the way to 40 years.

SUNY Fredonia President Dennis Hefner, who presided over the luncheon, said employees who have reached these anniversaries have collectively given 2,580 years of service to Fredonia. The SUNY Fredonia Women’s Choir performed during the luncheon.

Criteria for the President’s Award for Excellence include: effectiveness in performance, initiative and innovation, continuing personal growth and exemplifying the spirit of Fredonia.

Dr. McVicker, professor of English, has made numerous contributions to students, faculty and programs at SUNY Fredonia during a distinguished career that began in 1988. Considerable talents in literature and critical and literary theory have enabled Dr. McVicker to teach a wide spectrum of undergraduate and graduate courses.

Students have praised Dr. McVicker for her teaching, course planning and impacts that she has had on their own lives. In the classroom, she strikes an effective balance between discussion and hands-on activity, using available technology and resources to enhance the learning environment.

Dr. McVicker has served admirably in a number of leadership rolls, as chair of the English Department and director of the Women’s Studies Department, which she helped to create. She has contributed mightily to the growth of literature courses in the Department of English and Women’s Studies classes, which resulted in the naming of a scholarship in her honor. Dr. McVicker has been the adviser of The Leader student newspaper since 2001 and also coordinator of the interdisciplinary minor in journalism.

She earned her doctorate in comparative literature from SUNY Binghamton.

Dr. Sally Turner, director of the Counseling Center, has been responsible for considerable strides achieved by the center since her arrival in 2000. She started to move the counseling center toward accreditation and its staff to achieve individual state certification. She launched outreach programs, initiated an annual professional development conference for regional counselors, established grief counseling teams to assist the campus in difficult times and improved counseling resources available for faculty and staff.

Dr. Turner worked with various campus partners to help SUNY Fredonia secure a Department of Justice grant to begin a sexual assault prevention program on campus. These funds have supported development programs that assist students, faculty, staff and community partners and police. Her prior experience as a substance abuse counselor has been invaluable to the campus to address prevention efforts with students.

She earned a doctorate in education in counseling and psychology in education from the University of South Dakota.

Mr. McGraw has displayed professionalism and initiative since joining SUNY Fredonia in 1992.

He began working on campus as a cleaner, and then steadily rose through the ranks to maintenance helper, maintenance assistant and ultimately to general mechanic with the Building Services and Grounds Department. He was a recipient of an Administrative Services Outstanding Services Award in the professional trades.

Despite daily demands of the Structural Trades Department that are both numerous and complex, Mr. McGraw displays a positive attitude and great disposition that have made him a great asset to his unit. His positive, can-do attitude enables him to be highly effective at the work site.

Prior to joining SUNY Fredonia, Mr. McGraw worked in local industry.