An avid runner, Andrew Stone of the cybersecurity department poses with his son Zachary after a 2015 marathon. Andrew is being recognized for his commitment to FA service. (photo courtesy of Andrew Stone)

The FA member excellence awards committee is proud to announce that Andrew Stone, assistant professor in the cybersecurity department, has been selected as the 2021-22 recipient of the award for FA service.

While our annual awards & retiree recognition celebration has been postponed until later this semester, we want people to know about Andrew's good work at the college. Below is my interview with Andrew as well as his nomination.

Q — You’ve been around SCCC your entire life, haven’t you, because your father, Robert, was a biology professor here for 36 years—and you attended SCCC yourself?

A — I did grow up around the Ammerman Campus. Most of the time I was in what was then the Marshall Building (now Kreiling) and Smithtown Science. My father was department chair for 13 of those years and my mother was an adjunct for a total of 32 years, so I would come to campus at times. Since they were biology professors, I have memories of a rubberized plastic body that had organs in it which you could put back in like a puzzle.

I attended SCCC for three years because I changed my major multiple times. This allowed me to try different things without anything like an exorbitant cost. I majored in physics, then business, then I took film classes, then transferred and got a film degree. That’s when I got involved in computers and earned a degree in computer science.

I’ve always seen the value of a community college for either people who were finding their way, exploring like me, or who needed an affordable start.

Q — You were first hired at SCCC in the IT department and more recently were hired as an assistant professor in cybersecurity. So you’re relatively new to teaching and you’re in a very new program. Tell us about the joys and challenges of that.

A — Our department is a completely different world since it’s 12 classes in an applied degree. I might teach students in seven or eight different classes over two years, and in smaller classes, so I really need to get to know them. While some students are more reserved, when they do share I get to know a lot about them. Our first real group of graduates was in spring 2020; I’m very much looking forward to a non-pandemic-affected commencement so I can see the graduates that I’ve spent two years with.

Q — You recently you served as a panelist for our January JEDI Institute meeting and shared some ways you make your classroom more inclusive and equitable. We were impressed with your comments about how you individuate your instruction and assist students in understanding the structure and rigors of your program. How are you being “JEDI” in such a focused curriculum?

A — I don’t really have a grand vision so much as I just want to do what’s right for my students—for all of my students. A community college is a lot of things to a lot of different people, and there’s a wide range of students, so you almost have to make it individualized.

For one example, in my field we are really focused on the hands-on, doing things on the computer, making software work, etc., so I started created videos during the pandemic because students were looking for those. They can always find things on YouTube, but they told me that they looking for videos that are super focused on exactly what we’re doing and that they could follow on their own time. So I did just that, and it helps them. It’s important for our students to get concept A before they can even begin with concept B, so they need to get A down. It’s about learning how to learn the next thing you need to know because it’s a process- and product-oriented curriculum. So in class and in my videos, I try to explain things in a lot of different ways to help ensure they all get it.

Another thing I mentioned in the JEDI meeting is that I prefer to go by Andrew in the classroom. I want students to be comfortable in my classrooms. I also want them to see themselves as professionals and learn to treat me and one another as professionals. It’s just two years and then they’ll be entering the workforce, so I work hard to model what that will be like.

Q — This is the award for excellence in FA service. You’ve been so active with the FA for the past decade, as an EC representative (in two positions), a member of the elections committee, an elected NYSUT/AFT delegate and as our IT consultant. Most members serve on just one or two committees with us—and we’re grateful for that. Why you do all that you do? And, of all of your roles in the FA, does one stand out as more enjoyable or interesting?

A — I am always going to do whatever I can do to help. Working with the union helps the college and helps the students, so I see FA service as a force multiplier. If I can do even a little thing here and there, it could have a big impact on a lot of people. I don’t see each of these contributions as too heavy of a lift or too much effort on my part, but I know they help a lot of people.

Also, after college I had spent about 15 years working in industry at a large pharmaceutical and at other smaller companies, all of which were non-union, so I’ve seen what that’s really like. You name it, I’ve seen wage theft, paid time off theft, attempts at preventing unionization, requests to work overtime for free, rules created by someone else and not having any input—all things that a union works to protect us from. So I am really happy to help the FA.

I think serving as an Executive Council rep is the most interesting because we see on a regular basis what’s happening that impacts the membership. We meet every month, and I feel like that’s where we can have the most influence, between serving on the EC and having input and helping my constituents. I really did miss being a part of the EC when I was between roles at the college.

Q — I always tell people that, for as long as I’ve known you, you’ve always said, “If there is some way I can be of service to the FA, I will do it.” What advice do you have for other members who are thinking about getting more involved in FA service?

A — It’s true that if there’s anything I can do for the FA, where the timing works, I am going to do that work. I can’t fit everything in, but I will when I do have the time. My advice is for all members to find some way to get involved that will provide benefit to the union. Everyone should be able to find something that will fit your schedule, your time and your abilities. Everyone here is good at something, so it’s just a matter of finding that something you can do. Reach out to the FA and just do it.

Award: Excellence in FA Service
Nominee: Andrew Stone, Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity & Engineering

“If there is some way I can be of service to the FA, I will do it.”

Since being hired in January 2012, Andrew Stone has not wasted any time establishing himself as a strong, smart faculty member and a contributor to the vitality of our union. For as long as I have known Andrew, he has repeatedly said that if there’s anything the FA needs done, he’ll be happy to help however he can.

He is a model of service and commitment to the union and, I believe, most deserving of the member excellence award for service to the FA.

Andrew is an SCCC alumnus, and his father taught in the biology department for over 30 years, so Andrew fit right in here, having pretty much grown up on campus. Plus, prior to being hired in the computer center in 2012, Andrew had spent time working in corporate, non-unionized settings, so he knew very well the value of being union member from the moment he stepped foot in the door.

This experience of moving from a non-union environment into being an FA member is not that uncommon, actually. What is uncommon is to have new FA members jump into being as active and dedicated as they can be to the FA. Andrew certainly wasted no time in this respect!

EC REP (for collegewide PAs/specialists – instructional centers)

You may know that Andrew is a current EC rep, but he first served as an EC representative for PAs & specialists in technical areas and instructional centers. He was first elected in 2014-16 and was re-elected for the following two-year terms in 2016-18 and 2018-20.

As most EC reps can tell you and as my EC minutes confirm, Andrew rarely if ever misses an EC meeting and of course was an active communicator with his college-wide constituency. Being an EC rep for those college-wide constituencies is always more challenging than the campus-based ones, which tend to be smaller and consist of colleagues you see pretty much daily.

ELECTIONS COMMITTEE

Not content with only serving as an EC rep since 2014, Andrew also volunteered for the FA elections committee in 2015 and has been a highly valued member of the elections committee ever since. We count on Andrew especially during the odd-numbered years, when officers and delegates are on the ballot, since we are counting anywhere from 300-400 ballots at those times.

Andrew is a methodical, diligent elections committee member. We are mandated to count all of the ballots twice to ensure no errors, and on the few occasions when there have been miscounts (e.g., two groups count and we’re off by 1 ballot), Andrew is so careful and thorough in his approach, we are always able to re-do the counts in a strict, organized fashion so that we can have 100% assurance that we’ve done it correctly. Everyone on the committee is grateful to Andrew for his contributions to our ballot counting.

Andrew also regularly volunteers to meet me or another committee member at the Selden post office to pick up ballots from our PO Box and transport them to campus for counting. Andrew is the one who suggested that an even more secure means of transporting the ballots would be for one member to place the bag in the trunk of their car and he’d drive immediately behind them the entire way, to avoid even the possibility of an accusation of tampering with the ballots.

Because of his training in cybersecurity, Andrew is always in the role of problem solver, and we appreciate that he’s always thinking in terms of protecting the FA from even the appearance of impropriety. “An ounce of prevention” seems to be his motto, and that’s exactly the kind of activist we want in the FA. Similarly, he’s been very reliable in terms of contributing to conversations during the Elections Procedures document revisions, offering his research-based, smart solutions to concerns as they have arisen.

NYSUT/AFT DELEGATE

In addition to his six years of service to the elections committee, Andrew also has contributed to the FA as an elected delegate to the NYSUT and AFT conventions. He has been elected into this role for the following terms: 2017-19, 2019-21, and currently 2021-23. This also speaks well of Andrew’s commitment to the FA. Being a delegate means representing the interests of our entire membership, some 1,500 members, at both the state and national levels.

During the NYSUT Representative Assemblies, Andrew is an attentive listener to the speeches, debates and resolutions on the floor and votes as appropriate given his role as a representative--meaning not voting according to Andrew’s personal beliefs and interests but in his capacity of representing the entire FA’s interests. He’s always been very mindful of that, during both NYSUT and AFT conventions. It’s a sure sign that Andrew has the respect of his fellow members since he is consistently one of the highest, if not the highest, vote getter as delegate for the past three election cycles.
 
EC REP (for FT engineering/computer sci/industrial tech)

Andrew had to step down as an EC rep for PAs & specialists in technical areas and instructional centers a few years ago, but only because he was hired into a full-time classroom faculty line in our new cybersecurity program. Again, Andrew didn’t waste any time getting himself reelected back onto the Executive Council, this time representing Ammerman full-time faculty in engineering, computer science and industrial technology. He’s currently in his first term in that role (2020-22), and I have no doubt his peers in that area will continue to trust in his dedicated service.

NEGOTIATIONS TEAM

In addition to being an active EC rep within his first few years of hire at SCCC and in addition to serving on our elections committee and in addition to being an elected delegate for years, Andrew has also served on the 2018-19 negotiations team and he’s been identified as a member that we’d like to see serve on our next negotiations team (pending EC approval this month). Again, I believe this speaks to the high esteem that the FA Executive Council has for Andrew. We know him to be a smart, ethical, diligent representative of our membership.

IT CONSULTANT

Finally, Andrew has been selected by the EC to serve as the FA’s IT consultant from 2017 to the present. We recognized years ago that we have a great deal of private, sensitive information about our members, both in the FA and in the Benefit Fund, which of course needs to be as secure as we can possibly make it. We also need to ensure that our email correspondence is private and secure. We could have contracted with an outside vendor for this, but the EC chose to rely on one of our members so we wouldn’t be held captive to any unexpected cost increases or breaches on their end, plus since we have such talent in house – it doesn’t get any more local than one of our own members – the EC voted to have Andrew serve in this role.

Again, this clearly speaks highly of the kind of trust and respect Andrew has earned among the membership, plus it’s just another way he has shown his commitment to serving our union in every way possible.  


“If there is some way I can be of service to the FA, I will do it.”

Andrew has said this from the beginning, and I believe it’s plain that he’s a person who is true to his word. In the almost decade that Andrew has been at SCCC, he has contributed so much to our union and there’s no doubt in my mind that he will continue to do so long into the future. Andrew Stone is one of the most thoughtful, ethical, intelligent colleagues I know, and I hope he’ll be recognized with the member excellence award for service to the FA.