Employees receive Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence

Four employees were honored recently with Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Faculty Service, Professional Service, Teaching, and Classified Service.

Business Department Assistant Professor Danielle Green received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service, while Chief Diversity Officer and Title IX Coordinator Nikkie Herman was honored with the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service. Nursing Department Co-Chair and Assistant Professor Jessica Lippa was named the recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, while Business Affairs Accountant Aide Mary Monroe received the Chancellor’s Award for Classified Service.

In her tenure at Alfred State, Green has demonstrated a strong commitment to collegiate service activities through her valued contribution to committee responsibilities and recruitment activities. She has been a strong participant within the campus governance organization and has served on a wide variety of committees within her department, school, and the college. Green also demonstrates her willingness to serve at the SUNY system-wide level as a Fellow of OPEN SUNY’s Center for Online Teaching Excellence. Additionally, she led the effort to gain IACBE accreditation for the business programs, dedicating countless hours to this project.

Green’s support for veterans is also evident, as she has involved her students in volunteer work for the Operation Gratitude veteran’s outreach organization. Through Operation Steno, she teaches a six-week basic training course in court reporting to military spouses free of charge. She has also worked with the national Veterans History Project designed to memorialize the experiences of America’s World War II veterans.

As chief diversity officer and Title IX coordinator, Herman has been tireless in her efforts to train the campus on topics related to diversity, inclusion, equity, and Title IX. She offers workshops each semester during Professional Development Week and also provides training to resident assistants, student-athletes, club and organization members, and faculty and staff on Alfred State’s three campuses. As a result of her efforts, during the fall 2019 semester, Alfred State College was named to a national listing of LGBTQ-friendly colleges and universities for its commitment to diversity, inclusion, and maintaining a safe and welcoming environment for students.

Herman regularly displays her strong leadership skills through the programs she leads, the committees she chairs, and the numerous trainings she provides both on and off campus. She also leads an annual women’s empowerment retreat, serves as the co-chair of the Veteran’s Advisory Committee, and is a member of the President’s Council and Student Affairs Leadership Team.

Lippa is an outstanding educator who is held in high esteem by students and administration alike. She is not afraid to experiment with learning techniques, knowing that rigorous assessment and a strong feedback loop will assure positive results in the classroom. In her teaching, she embraces the experiential approach that Alfred State takes to education, involving her students in a variety of outside events that pair their nursing skills with applied experiences. She is well known for setting the bar high for her students, and the exceptional rigor of her course work provides the framework for the successful certification exam completion rate demonstrated by her students.

Lippa’s work also continues beyond the classroom. She gives generously of her time by involving her students in community outreach and field experience activities across the region. She helped form the Hope for Health Club, in which students participate in civic engagement activities locally, nationally, and globally.

Monroe has been an accounting aide for the last 12 years and consistently goes above and beyond the requirements of her role. She is responsible for safeguarding the college’s assets through tracking and reconciling receivables, liabilities, revenue, and collection accounts, as well as maintaining the integrity of the Trial Balance. Her role requires her to navigate governmental accounting, as well as SUNY and New York State rules and regulations. Beyond her typical responsibilities, Monroe also actively assists and collaborates with other departments to ensure proper processing of financial transactions.

When SUNY recently updated its legacy accounting system, Monroe collaborated with Technology Services to develop an automated process to ensure that the Trial Balance properly reconciles and uploads into SUNY accounting systems. This required Monroe to quickly create a process in response to new requirements, which simultaneously replaced a manual process performed by the Budget Office. Monroe also routinely works closely with many members of Student Records and Financial Services to ensure accurate fiscal record keeping.