LOCH SHELDRAKE -— SUNY Sullivan’s new President, Dr. David Potash, was welcomed to the SUNY Sullivan Board of Trustees for the first time on Thursday, July 18, where he presented a rundown of what he hopes the college to achieve and some of the goals moving forward into the upcoming semester. 

Potash assumed the role of the president of the college on July 1 after an extensive search for a new leader. He was given a welcome by community members at a Spotlight on SUNY Sullivan event in late June.

“It’s a pleasure to be here and I am very excited,” Potash stated to the board. “I want to thank the search committee, the board and the community. Everybody has been extraordinarily welcoming. I’ve had a ton of really good experiences learning about the college, learning about Sullivan County and learning about the challenges. But also learning about the strength of the college in what we do.”

He also noted that the Spotlight event was a warm welcome to the college with roughly 80-plus attendees.

“It was extraordinarily gratifying to see so many people of the county coming to the college, sharing ideas, talking and learning with each other,” Dr. Potash said. 

The President said that since then, he has met with everyone from the board, as well as meeting with government officials several times at the Government Center in Monticello. Potash also said he spent two days with the SUNY Board of Trustees and met other college presidents of the State University of New York and Chancellor John B. King. 

“One of the things that I am particularly excited about that I’ve heard within the college, in the community and from SUNY, is just how important this institution is to the county,” he proclaimed. “That has been an absolutely consistent message. We absolutely have to get it right for this institution to be relevant, and I am confident we will get it right.”

Potash noted that he will be as transparent as possible to the public given that they are an open institution, so he wants to make sure that the board and the county are both aware of what the organization is about. 

“We have to be open to all matter of data in order for us to be successful in meeting the various needs of the various stakeholders,” Potash explained. 

Short-term priorities

The President said that one of the main priorities over the short term which he classified as 90 days, is for a balanced budget. 

“Massive thanks to [Vice President for Administrative Services] Sean [Walsh] and [Board of Trustees Chair] Nancy [Hackett’s] team,” he said. “We are going to close this year on a balanced budget and Casey Crabill, the Officer in Charge before, gets a big hand for that.”

Potash noted that they are presenting their balanced budget proposal to the county Legislature and said that they are going to be transparent about their revenue and expenditures. A public hearing on the tentative 2024-2025 Sullivan County Community College budget is scheduled to occur on August 15 at 10:20 a.m. in the Legislative Hearing Room of the County Government Center.

The second short-term priority that Potash talked about is getting full enrollment for the upcoming semester. 

“Doing everything we can in not only getting students on board but making sure they know they are welcome,” the new President said. “We are prepared to provide them with a high-quality education and an outstanding student experience.”

Potash also made it clear that he wants to make sure that any student coming to the community college is aware that it isn’t any lesser than going to a four-year institution. 

“We may not have Ivy, but we’ve got other things,” he said. “Making sure that our students know that we know them by name, know what we need and what we’re going to do.”

Potash said that they are talking about ways that they can add more data to their process as they start the fall semester. He said that they are currently trending ahead of last year for enrollment. The data studies help them to get a good understanding of what students are interested in, what the college is offering and what they’re not offering at perhaps the right times.

“It takes a lot of time to get that type of data and relationship,” Dr. Potash stated, “but being an open institution we’ll get there.”

The third and final short-term priority that Potash talked about is addressing the Middle States Commission on Higher Education report. He noted that the college fell short in two areas of criteria accreditation per the report. 

The due date to submit their report to Middle States is August 1 and Potash said they would have it done by last week. He also said that they will have a conversation with Middle States this week to figure out the timing of their visit to the college. 

“So our focus is getting the college on board to be fully prepared for that visit which we anticipate will happen sometime in the fall,” Potash said. “I’m going to use whatever events, socializing, open forums, all college events, whatever it is, to treat that opportunity to bring the college together. So that we are all talking the same message about assessment, planning, intentionality and student success - all of the things that our Middle States report details.”

Welcoming new employees

The new President also welcomed six new employees to the college, noting that over 80 percent of their budget is people and wanting the board to be aware of who they are. Stacey Johnson is the new Dean of Student Development Services. Former Chamber of Commerce President Jaime Schmeiser came to SUNY Sullivan to be their Director of Workforce Development. Kyle Mazzucca is a Buildings and Grounds Maintenance Worker and Ariana Balogh is a Technical Assistant in the Science Labs. Fred Mulharin, who was previously in a part-time role, is now the Coordinator of Network Services and Megan Yelekli is an Office Manager. 

“I mention all these folks because, in my experience to have a healthy college, everyone at the college knows everyone else,” Potash said. “When it comes to making a student feel welcome, buildings and grounds sometimes can be just as important as a faculty member. We’re all committed to making the students first which means we all kind of have to know each other and be here for the students.”