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| Secretaries Karen Begier (front, left) and Dawn Geary (front, right) were honored at the campus’ annual Secretarial/Clerical Professional Development Group’s Fall Conference. They are joined by (back row, from left) Sue Engberg and Ace Everett, siblings of the late Barbara Saletta, in whose memory the award with which Ms. Begier was honored is named. |
Secretaries Karen Begier and Dawn Geary, each of whom have more than 15 years of service with SUNY Fredonia, shared the spotlight as recipients of two coveted awards at the SUNY Fredonia Secretarial/Clerical Professional Development Group’s Annual Fall Conference Oct. 8.
The Barbara Saletta Meritorious Service Award, given annually to recognize a secretarial or clerical employee with outstanding service attitude, was presented to Ms. Beiger. Beiger, a Fredonia, N.Y. resident, was hired as a part-time keyboard specialist in Student Accounts in 1994, promoted to full-time keyboard specialist in ’96, and now holds the position of “Secretary I” in Student Accounts.
Lynn Bowers, director of Student Accounts, describes Beiger as, “invaluable, as she’s always one step ahead and thinking what is needed for me and the office to continue moving forward.” Bowers added, “Her cheery disposition makes her a great asset to represent the Student Accounts Office.”
The Poummit Secretarial Award in Memory of Janet Marks, a former secretary to the president of SUNY Fredonia, was presented to Ms. Geary, who has worked as a secretary for over 30 years and was hired by SUNY Fredonia in 1994 as an agency services representative in the Career Development Office. She was promoted to “Secretary I” of the Career Development Office in 1997, and has been the secretary of the department of Visual Arts and New Media since 1999.
Geary was also the driving force behind establishing the Rodney W. Welling Memorial Scholarship, in honor of a young man who passed away shortly after graduating from SUNY Fredonia, and of whom Geary was very fond. Students eligible for this scholarship must be juniors majoring in Visual Arts and New Media at SUNY Fredonia, with at least a 2.75 grade point average. They must also exhibit a good work ethic and show concern for and positively influence their fellow students.
Geary’s duties as secretary of Visual Arts and New Media include advising and assisting students in the department, organizing portfolios and assisting prospective students and their families over telephone and in person, and assisting its chairperson and faculty with various programs and duties.
A resident of Fredonia, Geary has also worked as an agency services representative for the Lakeview Shock Incarceration Corrections Facility in Brocton, N.Y., and an emergency room clerk for Westfield Memorial Hospital in Westfield, N.Y. Geary, who recently retired from campus, currently works part-time as a shift manager for Tina’s Hallmark in Dunkirk, N.Y.
Both awards are established through the Fredonia College Foundation and honor secretarial/clerical staff members for an outstanding service attitude, creativity and resourcefulness, demonstrated team effort and personal integrity and leadership. The recipients received a framed certificate and monetary award from President Dennis L. Hefner.
Nearly 70 staff members attended the conference, held at SUNY Fredonia’s College Lodge in Brocton.
