UAlbany Honors Dedicated Employees

ALBANY, N.Y. (May 4, 2021) – Last Friday, the University honored more than 100 employees who reached 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50 or 60 years of service between July 1, 2019 and Sept. 1, 2020.

The pandemic prevented the University from celebrating these dedicated employees last fall the traditional way – in person. On Friday afternoon, 118 employees were honored at the virtual celebration.

Richard “Doc” Sauers of Athletics Administration topped the list with 60 years of service to the University.

Director of Athletics Mark Benson said Sauers is UAlbany’s “all-time winningest head men’s basketball coach, with 702 victories.” Sauers also coached the men’s golf program for 11 years, the women’s golf program for 15 years.

“And a little-known fact that I didn’t know, our head baseball coach for two years,” Benson said, adding, “Doc, you’ve done it all in terms of UAlbany Athletics.”

William Kennedy, professor and founder of the New York State Writers Institute, and Christy Peacock, a Residential Life staff member, each had 50 years of service. School of Business professor David Marcinko of Accounting & Law, was next with 45 years. Thirteen employees had 40 years of service, 21 celebrated 35 years of service, 42 had 30 years of service, and 38 hit the 25-year- milestone.

School of Business Professor Paul Miesing, of the Management Department is among those with 40 years of service. He joined the University in 1979, and at that time he ran a business simulation for the undergrad capstone course. His students sat at teletype machines and punched cards that he ran to the computer center.

“Now we use a simulation that can run on any device that’s connected to the Internet where teams compete against each other,” he said.

While Miesing had a Fulbright in China and sabbaticals in Ireland, Italy and France, in the end the strength of UAlbany and the SUNY system, combined with the history of Albany and the attractiveness of surrounding location, kept him here.

“I’ve seen transitions in our faculty makeup and even departments, but through it all I’ve been fortunate enough to carve out some niches that have helped me evolve and stay current in my field,” he said. “For instance, a few years ago I founded the Center for Advancement & Understanding of Social Enterprises (CAUSE). As I’m retiring after this semester, I hope to help with its leadership transition. UAlbany has offered me the opportunity to try different things, not all of which have been successful – but that’s to be expected when experimenting. So, for me, there’s nothing routine about working here.”

Miesing is in touch with a handful of former students, but while small in numbers they span from when he first arrived to current graduates.

“It’s nice to see how they’ve done over the years and they’ve told me how much they appreciate their experience at UAlbany.”

In case you missed it, you can watch a video of the employee recognition event, with comments from President Rodríguez and Provost Kim.