Familiar face absent this year

A colleague familiar to many on the SUNYIT campus will be absent for much of this semester and beyond. Deborah J. Tyksinski, associate provost for sponsored research and continuing education, has begun an American Council on Education (ACE) fellowship that will take her to Albany this academic year.

The ACE Fellows Program, established in 1965, is designed to strengthen institutions and leadership in American higher education by identifying and preparing promising senior faculty and administrators for responsible positions in college and university administration. Fifty Fellows, nominated by the presidents or chancellors of their institutions, were selected this year following a rigorous application process.

Tyksinski has held a variety of positions over the past two decades. She holds a Ph.D. in Instruction Design, Development and Evaluation from Syracuse University. During her fellowship, she will focus on building an institutional reputation and what reputation factors engage constituent groups.

“The fellowship involves a residential component along with site visits to select campuses, and my residency during the fall semester will be at SUNY System Administration in the Chancellor’s and Provost’s Offices,” Tyksinski said. “In the spring, I’ll return to SUNYIT part-time while completing additional site visits at institutions of interest.”

As part of the fellowship experience, Tyksinski will deliver a report to SUNYIT that summarizes reputation building strategies and proposes relevant best practices that might be adopted.

The ACE Fellows Program combines retreats, interactive learning opportunities, campus visits and placement at another higher education institution to condense years of on-the-job experience and skills development into a single semester or year. Nearly 2,000 higher education leaders have participated in the ACE Fellows Program since its inception. Founded in 1918, ACE is the major coordinating body for all the nation’s higher education institutions, representing more than 1,600 college and university presidents, and more than 200 related associations, nationwide. It provides leadership on key higher education issues and influences public policy through advocacy.