Gabriel Marshall named inaugural SUNY LEADS Fellow-in-Residence

Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Gabriel Marshall has earned an opportunity to gain a greater understanding of how to benefit SUNY Oswego and its students through his appointment as an inaugural SUNY LEADS Fellow-in-Residence.

SUNY LEADS offers individualized leadership development opportunities to emerging and established leaders, including the Black Leadership Institute he previously attended. The new Fellow-in-Residence program enables participants like Marshall to expand and strengthen their professional and personal skills, and ability to pursue increasingly complex leadership positions within SUNY. 

“I've really come to love student affairs, in terms of understanding all that we're doing, but I also want to know how we can work across the university with enrollment management, with academic affairs and how we can really contribute on a larger scale,” Marshall said, “I think this fellowship provides that opportunity to learn more.”

With Oswego launching its strategic plan of “Transforming Lives, Igniting Possibilities” with drivers of Grow, Connect and Thrive, Marshall chairs the Thrive subcommittee and now looks for ways to continue to infuse the plan into institutional transformation.

Each fellow selects a mentor who is a senior administrative leader at a different SUNY institution or the SUNY system to learn from. Marshall opted to work with Rodmon King, previously the chief diversity and inclusion officer at SUNY Oswego and now in the same role at SUNY Geneseo.

“For me, that was important, because he understood Oswego, but he also understands Geneseo,” Marshall said. 

“He really works across the university with student affairs, academic affairs and enrollment management, so what I said to him was, ‘I want to learn at the executive leadership level about campus climate and belonging,’” Marshall recalled. “How do we include strategic development, cross-divisional collaboration and shared governance considerations? How do we really examine the institutional culture, the student experience, different equity priorities and how they intersect at the cabinet level?”

Since Oswego’s former Officer in Charge Mary Toale is now Geneseo’s provost, that provides additional familiarity and ready insights into academic affairs.

On days he is at Geneseo for that fellowship, Marshall is sometimes part of cabinet-level discussions, learning to better understand decision-making processes and different executive dynamics.

The fellowship allows Marshall to spend up to a quarter of his time with the host institution. He structured the arrangement to go through September so he can see a lot of Geneseo’s lifecycle to compare with Oswego’s and see if any ideas can benefit campus operations.

“Because I oversee Student Orientation and Family Engagement, I want to see some of their summer orientation,” Marshall said. “I want to see how they engage their families. I want to see if there are any gaps in what we do. I think what we do is really good, and I think we have a really good team, but is there anything that's missing? Are there things that we could do differently that could increase enrollment, that can support retention, that can improve students' sense of belonging?

Dedication to higher education

For Marshall, more than 15 years in higher education have provided a foundation that included time with Monroe Community College, SUNY Brockport and Buffalo State before coming to Oswego. 

“I've really gained a comprehensive understanding of institutional priorities of the diverse university landscape within the SUNY system,” Marshall said. “And I think those experiences have really prepared me to lead in various ways. But I also recognize the need to continue learning.”

At the end of his fellowship this fall, Marshall’s project involves creating a framework on how student affairs operations can work with academic affairs, enrollment management, diversity and inclusion officers and others.

“I’ll highlight structures, practices and decision-making approaches, and how they strengthen the alignment of student affairs, academic affairs, enrollment management, equity, diversity and inclusion,” Marshall said. “I'll share it with Oswego, I'll share it with Geneseo and I'll share it with SUNY as a whole.”

Marshall credited the support of Oswego’s Vice President for Student Affairs Kathleen Kerr in his everyday activities, the fellowship opportunities and as a valuable resource for information and inspiration. 

His opportunity to be involved in university-wide initiatives like Vision 4040: Expanding Oswego’s Promise –- aiming to double the number of degrees and credentials the university awards by 2040 while supporting regional growth –- and the strategic plan mean it’s an eventful time to be at Oswego.

“I'm leading a lot of different efforts, through Vision 4040, and it’s reinvigorating,” Marshall said. “I think we're transforming, not just education, but SUNY Oswego specifically.”

The fellowship supports that while culminating much of Marshall’s career to date.

“This is fun for me,” Marshall said. “I've really only worked in education. I went to college at 17, and I've never left. This is literally what I do, and it's really exciting.”