Timothy J. Cosgriff ’93 is the regional operations coordinator for Western New York. In this role, he organizes community engagement activities for students, alumni and community partners, including the Rochester commencement, and organizes other commencements, such as Syracuse and Long Island, as needed. He is also an accomplished artist who works in digital and film photography, creates household objects such as mirrors, furniture and other decorations using found items and works in fused glass. Cosgriff’s art has been displayed at many college art shows and locally.

Cosgriff came to work at the college in 1989, after attending the Spencer School of London for British Butlers and spending some time as a private chef. He holds an associate degree from Monroe Community College, a bachelor’s in Business and Economics from SUNY Empire and a master’s in Hospitality Tourism Management from Rochester Institute of Technology.

Tell us about your students.

The students I work with are participating in work-study. They have a wide range of skills, interests and abilities, so there is a lot they can learn from one another. I do my best to foster that potential for interconnection by encouraging them to work together and ensuring that the programs and activities we offer are designed to maximize group study. Because I have a background in workforce development, I also tend to approach work-study as a platform to further develop a student’s workforce skills.

What types of community engagement activities are available to students in Rochester?

Community engagement is a large part of my job, which I really enjoy. My office is responsible for college events in Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse. These areas have such rich resources to support student learning and we have built many successful partnerships with local businesses, artists and organizations.

In October, for example, we have a few unique events, all of which will link current students to local alumni. Oct. 6 is our Gothic Frankenstein Rocky Horror Steam Punk Ball, for which we will celebrate the 200-year anniversary of the publication of ‘Frankenstein’. We will have several educational events leading up to this, like ‘It’s alive! The nuts and bolts of bringing it back to life’, where a local hardware store will teach students how to change the electric in a lamp. Another, ‘Beading it back to life’, will be a hands-on beading class, where students will turn old jewelry and into something new. A third class will be ‘Night of the living Dead: Using Dried Herbs in your Dinner’.

On Oct. 20, we will host a behind-the-scenes tour of the Mark Twain Rooms at the Buffalo Erie Library, where he did work for the local newspaper. This event will be open to all students, but with a focus on business and human services.

I have always enjoyed working to make a difference in the community I live in. I am very fortunate to be in a position now where I work with a wide range of people across the college and the community, and I am able to bring them together in a meaningful way.

What is the SUNY Empire difference?

We make a difference in people’s lives, beyond the higher education ESC provides. I had a student recently who told me he felt like he didn’t belong at a networking event we were putting on at an upscale hotel. He told me he always felt on the outside looking in. I encouraged him to stay and reinforced that he belonged at the event. He ended up helping me organize the event and interacting with a lot of people. This student later told me the experience gave him a sense of being on the inside as he saw it. This same student once had a tough time with a writing assignment he was working on. I told him one way to write well is to read good writing, and suggested a few authors to him. He later said one of the authors, James Baldwin, had ‘transformed his life’.

The one-to-one relationships that often develop between students and their faculty mentors, or college staff like myself – that’s the SUNY Empire difference.