Yochym, Gage honored this fall
|  Vicki Gage won the Poummit Secretarial Award in Memory of Janet Marks. |
Barbara Yochym and Vicki Gage, secretaries with over four decades of combined service at SUNY Fredonia, shared the spotlight as recipients of separate awards at the SUNY Fredonia Secretarial/Clerical Professional Development Group’s fall conference.
The Barbara Saletta Meritorious Service Award, established through the Fredonia College Foundation, was presented to Ms. Yochym, who has devoted 29 years to SUNY Fredonia’s Educational Development Program.
“I was very pleased, very surprised and very honored because I knew Barb Saletta and worked with her for many, many years,” she said. Ms. Saletta’s brother, Ronald “Ace” Everett, and Vice President for Administration Tracy Bennett, presented the award.
Maintaining student files, arranging staff appointments and processing reports are among the duties of Ms. Yochym, a native of Forestville and graduate of Forestville High School and Jamestown Business College.
The Poummit Secretarial Award in Memory of Janet Marks, a former secretary to the president of SUNY Fredonia, was bestowed upon Ms. Gage, who has worked in the Department of Theatre and Dance for seven of her 14 years at SUNY Fredonia. Other departments she has served include Athletics, Psychology, Student Affairs and Art. The award was presented by Ann Anderson, daughter of Ms. Marks, and Vice President Bennett.
Among Ms. Gage’s duties are scheduling student auditions, assisting with faculty recruitment and organizing the annual Drama Day, which attracts students from over a dozen school districts.
A native of Silver Creek, Ms. Gage graduated from Silver Creek High School and attended Jamestown Community College and SUNY Fredonia.
The award was established through the Fredonia College Foundation by the late Morris R. Poummit, a graduate SUNY Fredonia and the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester; a former member of the Fredonia College Foundation Board of Directors, and past chairman of the board of COLAD.
Both awards, established through the Fredonia College Foundation, honor secretarial/clerical staff members for an outstanding service attitude, creativity and resourcefulness, demonstrated team effort and personal integrity and leadership. Recipients receive a framed certificate and monetary award.
Nearly 90 staff members attended the conference, held recently at the College Lodge, Brocton. Other topics included a seminar on internal control by SUNY Fredonia professional staff member Carol Burdette; a motivational speech by Steve Gilliland; CPR and automated external defibrillator instruction by Fredonia staffer Michael Wygant, first aid instruction by SUNY Fredonia nurse practitioner Deborah Dibble; a nature walk hosted Sylvia Clarke of the Fredonia staff; and antique appraisals by Jim Tofil.
