18 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • FEBRUARY 2021
SUNY OLD WESTBURY PRESIDENT TIMOTHY SAMS BACK TO SCHOOL
BY CLAUDE SOLNIK
Timothy Sams started the new year with
a new role, as president of State University
of New York (SUNY) Old Westbury.
He talked with the Press about the college
and its 4,800 students, education
during a pandemic, the school’s value,
and his vision.
Did serving as a vice president at
schools such as Prairie View A & M
in Texas and Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute in New York help prepare
you for a job as president? Being a
three-time vice president is probably
the best way to move toward a presidency.
“Covid has a way of removing things that
are important to graduating students at our
institution,” says Timothy Sams
My commitment at these schools was
about leveraging resources on behalf of
the students for their success, erasing
barriers to their success.
For how long has becoming a college
president been a goal? It became a goal
when I moved on to Rensselaer. It wasn’t
before that. It was something I considered
and many of my mentors pushed
me to consider it. They felt as though
they saw presidency in my future. Once
I got to Rensselaer, I was being trained in
how to move an institution strategically
and I enjoyed doing that.
What attracted you to becoming president
of SUNY Old Westbury? The diversity
of the institution and familiarity
of the challenges. And knowing how to
remove those challenges at the institutional
level, as well as the values of the
institution around community.
What do you think makes SUNY Old
Westbury a good fit in terms of your
experience? If you gleaned anything
from my 30 years of work, it would be
that I’m an ardent supporter of social
justice education, inclusive excellence.
That’s a contemporary version of multicultural
education.
What’s it like to lead the school at such
an unusual time due to Covid-19? It’s
challenging. Covid has a way of removing
things that are important to graduating
students at our institution, a close
educational experience, intervening to
remove barriers that keep them from
being successful. Raising funds that
require building relationships, the difficulty
of building a relationship over
Zoom. Knowing our students prefer to
be on campus and in the classroom.
How do you build community in a
world of Covid? You have to temper
your expectations and realize you
can’t do it in the most ideal way. Given
the constraints of Covid, you make a
determination about what is possible.
And you engage in ways to realize those
possibilities: smaller cohorts, letting
students connect on smaller levels,
leveraging social media without
allowing fatigue to set in. Building
community is a part of the educational
experience.
How can you build connection between
students? The smaller the core
cohort, the stronger the connection
for students. You want to prevent
isolation. And you want to
support things that allow
students to see each
other, even if it’s
virtual. To talk
to one another.
And you want
to make sure
that faculty
are engaging
students in
a way that
they feel
worthwhile,
that students
feel they’re
achieving.
What is
often lost
during this
period is,
faculty and
staff experience
the same
t h i n g s
students
feel. They’re dealing with challenges,
teaching in this medium.
How do you engage students remotely
in an electronic classroom? We’re a
brick-and-mortar school for the most
part. Students commute to our campus
We had to do a hard shift to train our
teachers how to deliver course work
within the online realm. You’ve got to remember
students are curious about the
subject matter. Tap into that curiosity.
Mold your style, your slides. All those
things have to come together in a way
that harnesses that curiosity.
Is making the school safe amid Covid
also a priority? The area we often forget
in the challenges of being a president in
this era is keeping the staff and faculty
safe. We too have front-line workers
who every day risk their health to keep
the place clean, sanitized. We have to
make sure we’re mindful of the challenge
associated with their work as well.
What are you proud of in terms of the
school as you arrive? You know what
I’m proud of? We have not compromised
the delivery of our excellent education.
We feel very confident that our course
offerings and the quality of our education
remained excellent. We trained
teachers. Students are staying engaged.
We have not experienced a mass exodus
of students. Our enrollment numbers
stayed strong.
How would you describe SUNY Old
Westbury in a few words? We are a
“hidden gem.” We have tremendous
potential. I hope quickly we won’t be a
hidden gem. Everyone will understand
what makes us a great place and
we will realize our
potential.
CORNER OFFICE
Timothy Sams recently took over the presidency of SUNY Old Westbury from longtime predecessor Rev. Calvin O. Butts III.
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