Collaboration Increases Scholarship Funding at SUNY New Paltz

NEW PALTZ — College Auxiliary Services (CAS) and the SUNY New Paltz Foundation are committed to providing SUNY New Paltz students with increased scholarship support. The Jim Fredericks Student Employee Scholarship previously granted to student employees by CAS will now be awarded by the Foundation, according to Bill Long, executive director of CAS. Long said, “We gave the sum of $118, 946 to the Foundation to manage because we felt it could improve the investment’s return, thereby providing possible additional funding for student scholarships.” He added, “I’m extremely happy with the support we are receiving from the Foundation and through our mutual efforts, we hope to provide even more funding in the future.”

“All of us on campus are most appreciative of the generosity of College Auxiliary Services, its board and employees in establishing this important student award,” said Richard S. Podgorski, vice president for advancement. “CAS is a good citizen of the campus in every way,” he added. “Its food service employees and others perform their work in a professional manner that always makes the rest of us feel well cared for. Charitable gifts like this and the proceeds from the CAS golf tournament show that they also care for the campus and the students in very special ways.”

The annual scholarship was renamed the Jim Fredericks Scholarship in 1989 to honor the CAS executive director who served the university from 1984 until his death in 1995. It is awarded annually during the first week of the spring semester to full-time students employed by the Wood Company, the College Bookstore, and CAS. Applicants are required to write short essays explaining why working in auxiliary services is a positive experience. Comments on their work attitudes and reliability are provided by their supervisors, prior to an application review by a sub-committee of the CAS Board of Directors.

According to Long, the duration of the scholarships, the criteria, and the review process will not change now that the Foundation will be awarding the Jim Fredericks scholarships.

There are now two scholarships for New Paltz students in the name of Jim Fredericks which are granted by the Foundation. The $600 Jim Fredericks Memorial Scholarship was established in 1995 by his family and friends, and is awarded each spring to an Ulster County high school student who shows academic promise and has been accepted as a full-time freshman by SUNY New Paltz.