Geneseo welcomes new career services director, Stacey Wiley

This semester, Stacey Wiley is taking over as the administrative director or career development. Wiley is replacing interim director Liz Seager who stepped in after the retirement of long-time director of career services Jerry Wrubel.

Wiley joins the Geneseo campus after working for Upstate College Planning Services, a family-owned company based out of Rochester and Syracuse, N.Y. that helps high school students through the college application process.

Prior to starting Upstate College Planning Services with her sister, Wiley was the assistant dean for career services at Quinnipiac University Law School of Law for three years and the associate director of career services at Cornell University Law School for five years.

According to the Geneseo website, Wiley earned her bachelor’s degree in English at SUNY Cortland, her master’s in counseling from Syracuse University and her juris doctorate at the Syracuse University College of Law.

It wasn’t until a former colleague told Wiley about the director position at Geneseo that Wiley considered applying for the position.

“[She] told me she thought it was the perfect job for me,” Wiley said. “After looking up more information [about the position], I couldn’t agree more.”

According to Wiley, the biggest attraction was that “Geneseo [seemed] very united in its dedication to students” which would allow her to work with other departments in order to bring various opportunities to the student body.

“I’m very excited to be at this SUNY in particular,” Wiley said, adding that she is very familiar with the student body Geneseo possesses because of her work at Upstate College Planning Services.

Although Wiley is still learning the ropes of Geneseo’s career services program, she has already began setting goals and envisioning a direction in which the office can grow.

Wiley said one of her goals is “to bring the office into the 21st century with technology and social media.” She said she believes that the use of social media is a great tool for students to search for jobs as well as to find out what’s going on out in the workforce.

Another goal of Wiley’s is to strengthen bonds between other departments, both academic and student affairs, to create more programming for students in various fields.

Wiley has had meetings with various departments such as Residence Life, Health and Counseling and Alumni Affairs, all of which have been very receptive to her ideas and programs. Next week, Wiley said she will begin to meet with academic departments.

While creating programs, Wiley said she wants to make sure career services is responsive to the wishes and needs of the student body. She said she is very interested in student feedback and addressing topics that students feel are important to their lives.

Wiley said she strongly encourages students to use the career services so they can succeed in their future endeavors and take advantage of the one-on-one counseling available to be pointed in the right direction of where they want to take their careers post-graduation.

Despite our nation’s economic state, Wiley said she is “excited for the career options [for Geneseo students] because of their qualifications and the advising available to them.”

“Geneseo students have every right to be excited for their future career endeavors,” Wiley said.

Medical Amnesty protects victims of overdose from law

In July, New York State passed the Good Samaritan Law, also known as Medical Amnesty, which will protect anyone who calls 911 to report emergencies concerning underage drinking and drug overdoses. The law went into effect on Sept. 18. Sen. John DeFrancisco (R) and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried (D) sponsored the bill, which was signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on July 20.

New Mexico, Washington and New Jersey have also adopted the law and Hawaii and Michigan are at various stages of passage.

Many universities and colleges across the country have medical amnesty policies that allow students to contact local authorities when they have a medical situation without facing penalties from the school's respective conduct review.

Cornell University's Medical Amnesty Protocol program is one of the most well known. According to a study done by students at Cornell, the number of calls almost doubled the first year.

The M.A.P. program at Cornell also requires students to attend a brief psycho-educational intervention after seeking medical amnesty to further prevent these emergencies from occurring.

"I completely support this law and the idea of medical amnesty to protect individuals who are trying to assist someone in grave danger due to alcohol or drug overuse," said Dr. Steven Radi, medical director of Lauderdale Health Center. "This message is surely consistent with our efforts to have students ‘Stand Up' and watch out for one another."

Freshman Joey O'Connor said that he believes the Good Samaritan law is "a saving grace" and should even be "implemented at the national level."

"Although one should consider [their] friend's safety first, the Good Samaritan Law only encourages a ‘report first, think later' mindset," O'Connor said. "I wouldn't think twice."

"The kind of amnesty suggested by this law will create the incentive necessary to enable youth – underage college students especially – [to] make uninhibited life-saving decisions," said junior Sally Profeta. "In emergencies, saving human life should be the greatest concern, and the police should never be considered an obstacle to this."

Junior Sarah DeMarco said that although the Good Samaritan Law "doesn't encourage [a] student's moral fiber," she thinks that it is a "good reward system" and "encourages physical health and safety."