Successful Alumni, Scholarship Recipients in Spotlight at GCC’s Annual Discover the Stars Reception
August 20, 2012
Batavia, NY-Genesee Community College students who have been awarded scholarships from the College Foundation will have the opportunity to meet with graduates who have excelled in their careers and the donors who help make college dreams a reality.
Discover the Stars is an annual event that brings GCC scholarship recipients and donors together. The reception will take place on Monday, September 10, 2012 from 5:00pm-7:00pm in the Conable Technology Building on the GCC Batavia campus.
This year’s alumni speakers are GCC faculty member Barb Shine (class of 1970) and telecommunications expert Shannon Sauro (class of 1993).
Barb Shine earned a liberal arts degree from GCC before transferring to Buffalo State College for a bachelor’s degree that she parlayed into a teaching job in the Maryland public school system. After a few years, Barb returned to New York and changed career paths, climbing the ladder in various management roles in the toy industry. Those roles led to a successful business venture with her family and an influential position in the pellet fuels business. After earning a master’s degree in 1999, Barb returned to GCC as Director of Workforce Development, and as a business and entrepreneurship instructor. She has been instrumental in launching and cultivating GCC’s CEO club, and has excelled in a number of leadership roles including being a member of the Leadership Genesee Class of 2008. She participated in GCC Foundation Leadership, the WIRED Grant instructor/collaborator for Entrepreneurship, and is a leadership trainer for The BEST Center. Additionally, Barb is a member of the Board of Directors of Genesee County’s Cornell Cooperative Extension, and was honored for her exemplary teaching and stewardship skills with the 2009 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Creativity and Innovation in Teaching. She is also beloved by her students, who nominated her for the coveted Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Shannon Sauro invested in her future with a criminal justice degree from GCC, which laid a solid foundation for a stellar career at The SUNY College at Brockport. Shannon quickly proved herself invaluable, first as a clerk in the Bursar’s Office and then in the Office of Telecommunications, where she was first named assistant director and then director in 2005. After she completed the certification process in 2007, Shannon was named Director of Telecommunications and Business Processes, where she manages the campus television and data networks, the telephone and cable infrastructures, and the emergency communication networks. Her strong work ethic has also earned her the Presidency of the SUNY Telecommunications Officer’s Association, and she shares her expertise with the Windstream Communications Advisory Board and the Brockport Student Conduct Board. Shannon has also earned various certifications including RTPM (Registered Telecommunications Project Manager and PMP (Project Management Professional). Her work has been applauded by the College with the Outstanding Service to the College Award and the Recent Alumnus Award. In 2012, she completed her Master’s degree in Public Administration and was selected to represent the College at Brockport at the SUNY Leadership Conference.
For more information about Discover the Stars Scholarship Reception, contact Marketing Communications Associate Director Donna Rae Sutherland at (585) 343-0055 ext. 6616, or via email: dsutherland@genesee.edu.
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