(SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – April 26, 2017) Alison Brust, a records specialist in SUNY Empire State College’s Office of the Registrar, in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., has received the Empire State College Foundation Award for Excellence in Professional Service at the All College Conference in Saratoga Springs, N.Y

“Receiving the award for Excellence in Professional Service is such an honor,” Brust said. “As a student-centered administrator, student success is very important to me. Recruiting, engaging, and retaining students are critically important retention measures that support student success through degree completion. Empire State College has a lot to offer students, and we have a lot of exciting initiatives that will improve the college. I am looking forward to contributing my talent and expertise to these initiatives.”

“I congratulate Alison Brust for winning the foundation Award for Excellence in Professional Service,” said Merodie A. Hancock, president of the college. “The large number of candidates, the rigorous selection process and the high standards and accomplishments recipients must achieve is very impressive. These are people who best represent aspirations of the college community. They have contributed their talents, passions and often their entire careers to their colleagues, to higher education and adult learning and, most importantly, to the overall success of the college and its students. Alison is an outstanding member of our staff and is an inspiration to all of us.”

Brust has been with the college for 15 years, and, according to colleagues, has been extremely competent in her area of expertise, effectively sharing her knowledge with others, helping to develop college policy and upgrading systems and processes in the registrar’s office, in order to better serve students.

“My work within the purview of the Office of the Registrar has provided opportunities for creative leadership in identifying and implementing efficient ways of engaging with students and colleagues across the college,” she said.

Nicknamed the “SAP queen” for her expertise in the college’s Satisfactory Academic Progress and GPA policies and procedures, she redesigned the SAP/GPA process to keep up with changes in evaluating student transcripts and created a new GPA calculator. She designed and implemented the online academic summary and Colleague (data management) reports, to help faculty and staff with proactive outreach.

She has been the “go-to” person for student services/retention staff for advising on difficult cases and answering complex questions. She has advised locations and programs on how to implement college policies in a way that enhances student success. In addition, she trains professionals at the college’s statewide locations in proper procedures.

Brust also is a committed instructor of the online study group Caribbean Culture Through Performance Arts.

About the Excellence Award in Professional Service Award

The criteria for selection for the Foundation Award for Excellence in Professional Service speaks to superbly fulfilling the responsibilities of the position, demonstrating initiative and strong leadership skills and providing excellence in decision making, as well as problem solving.

About SUNY Empire State College

Empire State College, the nontraditional, open college of the SUNY system yearly, educates nearly 19,000 students worldwide at eight international sites, more than 30 locations across the state of New York, online, as well as face to face and through a blend of both, at the associate, bachelor’s and master’s levels.

The average age of an undergraduate student at the college is 35 and graduate students’ average age is 40.

Most Empire State College students are working adults. Many are raising families and meeting civic commitments in the communities where they live, while studying part time

In addition to awarding credit for prior college-level learning, the college pairs each undergraduate student with a faculty mentor who supports that student throughout his or her college career.

Working with their mentors, students design an individual degree program and engage in guided independent study and coursework on site, online or through a combination of both, which provides the flexibility for students to choose where, when and how to learn.

Students have the opportunity to enroll five times during the year.

The college’s 78,000 alumni are active in their communities as entrepreneurs, politicians, business professionals, artists, nonprofit agency employees, teachers, veterans and active military, union members and more.

The college was first established in 1971 by the SUNY Board of Trustees with the encouragement of the late Ernest L. Boyer, chancellor of the SUNY system from 1970 to 1977. Boyer also served as United States commissioner of education during the administration of President Jimmy Carter and then as president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

More information about the college is available at www.esc.edu

 

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Media contact: David Henahan, director of communications, SUNY Empire State College

David.Henahan@esc.edu

518-587-2100, ext. 2918

518-321-7038, cell