Librarian Bruce Seger, center, receives a Member Award for Excellence in FA Service from Awards Committee Chair Nic Pestieau, left, and President Dante Morelli, right. (photo by Victoria Pendzick)

Bruce Seger has been involved with the FA in various ways since 2012 and is this year’s recipient of the Member Award for Excellence in Service to the FA.

One of Bruce’s primary contributions to the FA is through political action. For the last four election cycles, Bruce has served as a member of our political action committee, helping to determine endorsements of candidates for the Suffolk County Legislature and County Executive. Because the Legislature votes on the FA contract, this is an important function in helping to ensure that FA members get the resources and support they need to do their jobs well.

Bruce participated in Higher Ed Advocacy Day in 2020 and 2021, accompanying FA officers to Albany to advocate for resources and support on the state level, and has also participated in various phone banks for locally endorsed candidates during fall election seasons since 2019. When President Dante Morelli has been unable to attend a few fundraisers for local legislators, he has reached out to Bruce, as a member of the FA political action committee, to attend in his place.

Finally, regarding political action, Bruce is currently part of a small group of FA members working to increase contributions to VOTE-COPE, the non-partisan political action fund that collects voluntary contributions of members to help support pro-education and pro-labor candidates.

Beyond his political activism, Bruce has participated in the FA New Member Mentor Program for over a decade. Having been himself mentored by Susan DeMasi early in his time at SCCC, Bruce quickly understood the importance that this kind of one-on-one guidance and collegiality can have on new, incoming faculty. Bruce then started serving as an FA mentor himself, and to date has helped almost a dozen new hires navigate the college. Bruce currently serves as the Grant Campus coordinator of the New Member Mentor Program, working to pair up new hires with more seasoned faculty who can help answer questions and provide information in an informal, accessible manner.

Bruce served on the FA Executive Council from 2011-12 and again from 2014-18, representing Grant Campus full-time faculty in library, counseling and media.

Other contributions to the FA over the years include three years serving as a CPC representative for colleagues seeking promotion, two years participating in Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, attendance at the fall NYSUT Community College Conference, serving on the faculty development and retraining committee and attending the JEDI Institute in summer 2022.

Bruce’s participation in the FA over the years demonstrates that there is a variety of ways to become involved in the life of the union. Congratulations, Bruce!