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The 2024 Poummit Secretarial Award at SUNY Fredonia has been presented Lisa Schrantz, an Administrative Assistant I in the Department of Theatre and Dance.

Criteria for the award includes demonstrating an outstanding “Fredonia Attitude,” creativity, and resourcefulness; being a team player; and displaying qualities of personal integrity and leadership.

In nominating Mrs. Schrantz for this award, Theatre and Dance Chair Rob Deemer said she went “far beyond her expected duties” to help him acclimate to his new leadership position in the department.

“Over the last two-plus years, Lisa has been an extraordinary mentor to me,” Dr. Deemer wrote. “She has never once shown an ounce of irritation or disappointment, and she has been more than patient as I have learned not only how to be an effective chair, but also how to work effectively with someone in her position.”

The theatre and dance faculty were also quick to praise the efforts of Mrs. Schrantz, who one faculty member said “holds the entire Department of Theatre and Dance together” by being “10 steps ahead.”

“Our department is large and quite complicated in our various needs,” the faculty member wrote. “Lisa handles it all with competence, grace and composure.”

Another faculty member said Mrs. Schrantz’s knowledge is invaluable to the department.

“Lisa seems gifted with knowing almost everything when it comes to who you need to talk to or ask or what piece of paperwork is needed to get things going,” the faculty member wrote.

It was also noted that Mrs. Schrantz is deeply committed to Fredonia.

“Her work with our many students, our faculty, our alumni and our donors has been first-rate throughout the many years she has been with the department,” Dr. Deemer wrote.

Mrs. Schrantz has been at Fredonia for 26 years, starting in 1998 in the Native American Western Consortium Office. In 2007, she accepted the position of Secretary for the Department of History and joined the Department of Theatre and Dance in 2010.

“I love working with the students — the current ones, and the prospective students where I schedule/coordinate auditions for the B.F.A. programs in our department,” Mrs. Schrantz said of what enjoys most about her work.

The Poummit Secretarial Award was established in memory of Janet Marks, who was a long-time Secretary to the President at SUNY Fredonia. The annual award, its criteria and endowment were all set up by the late Morris Poummit. Mr. Poummit was a 1933 Fredonia alumnus and served as a member of the Fredonia College Foundation Board of Directors from 1975 to 1985, and as an honorary board member.

The award is made possible through an endowment in the Fredonia College Foundation.