Class Notes

Terri Lynn Abdallah ’12 chose to attend SUNY Poly because it was in my area, and I heard it was a good school. The teachers that I had were great. My degree at SUNY Poly led me to become an office manager.

David Chomycz ’99 attended SUNY Poly because of baseball. Kevin Edick was the baseball coach. SUNY Poly has a nice location on the hill there. Larry Dunn was one of the engineering instructors. He was a good guy, and he taught most of the engineering class. My favorite memory with the baseball team was our Myrtle Beach trips. My degree at SUNY Poly enabled me to get a job with the New York State Department of Transportation. The whole time I started off as a designer in the structures group in Poughkeepsie. From there, now I’m in the maintenance group, basically doing the engineering work for the highway maintenance folks. I met my wife at SUNY Poly.

Kevin Paul Durgee ’98 I heard many good things about SUNY Poly, so I thought it’d be a good experience to go there. It was a small school with small class sizes, and it was not too far away from my hometown. There were activities for people who lived on campus, and those were really fun. The teachers were good, and they pushed us to think about things. They set us up to be successful. I met a lot of friends on campus and gained great friendships. I’ll hold all of it forever. Currently, I work as a laboratory engineer in a German company in my hometown.

Daniel Gnajewski ’24 started a new job at Raytheon as a Product Test Engineer 2 and loving every second of it

Richard Hooker ’79 has had a distinguished career spanning 47 years in Electrical, Electronic, Systems, and Software Architecture, he developed a deep expertise in these fields. His work has led to the acquisition of nine United States patents, reflecting significant contributions and innovation throughout my professional journey. Last month, he began a new position as Senior Embedded Software Engineer and GCIA expert at Rheinmetall. In this capacity, he’s engaged in the design of advanced systems for the New XM30 Infantry Combat Vehicle, applying my extensive background and specialized knowledge to support critical developments in defense technology.

Keri Murphy ’93 It was really the location that drove me at that time at SUNY Poly. I didn’t want to go too far from home. I had finished doing a couple of years at SUNY Westchester Community College, and I had a good experience with the SUNY system. I decided to stick with the SUNY program. I went up and visited the college. Everything was nice and new. I was only there for two years. My professors were all great and knowledgeable. They taught you a lot about what you needed to learn in the class. They were able to bring some real-life experiences to the classroom that definitely helped a 21-year-old who was looking to go out and get a job for the first time. I took electrical engineering technology, and I wound up in the telecommunications industry, which is where I’ve been ever since I left the school in May of ’90. I started at New York Telephone in November of ’90, and I’m still in telecommunications. I started out as a craftsperson and worked my way up into engineering at the phone company. I’ve been in engineering roles ever since then.

Angela Ferrannini Nielsen ’99 recently joined Google’s Lithia Springs Data Center as a Supply Chain Technical Writer. After many wonderful years in the Pacific Northwest, her husband and their daughters will be relocating with her to Marietta.

Jeremy Rutter ’12 finished his PhD in Gerontology from Concordia University Chicago after successfully defending my dissertation on nursing home administrator licensure requirements and quality of care from a statewide perspective. He is currently working as the President and CEO of Community Wellness Partners right here in Oneida County.

Leon Smith ’76 One of my favorite memories at SUNY Poly was during my first year when I was a cheerleader. The other thing was hanging out at the student center where they had all the games and stuff. After I graduated, SUNY Poly did pretty well for my career. I ended up doing human resources, payroll, accounts payable, and accounts receivable. Right now, I’m a tax preparer.

Kelly Tripp ’15 I currently hold a health center information administration position at New York State. It made perfect sense to attend and receive my credential after receiving my bachelor’s degree. SUNY Poly was accredited by AHIMA, so it was the perfect college for me to attend. It was also 100% online, so it was very convenient. I was an adult student and a mother of three. I took one to two classes per semester. It was nicely paced where I put in 100% of my efforts while working full-time. I learned quite a bit and was able to apply what I learned in my position. I was able to write policy and make some pretty significant changes at my job because I learned to do things more efficiently through the classes that SUNY Poly was teaching. Before I received my degree, I took the credential test early with the permission of my professor and passed it the first time.

Dorothy Zarbo ’78 needed to get a bachelor’s degree in nursing, so I went to SUNY Poly. I am happy that I went there. I met a lot of special people and my husband there. It was November 13, 1977, when they had a talent show, and a friend of mine had celebrated our roommate’s birthday. It was quite fun, and it was packed, so we came during halftime. There were no seats there, but we found two empty seats. My roommate and I sat down in them when this guy came along with two beers in his hand and said, ‘Excuse me, these are my seats.’ I looked at him and said, ‘Okay. Do you mind if I sit on you?’ I sat on him, and we had a wonderful evening. It’s nearly been 43 years since that moment, and I’ve been married to him for 42 years. We now have two kids and four grandkids.