Laura Crandall grew up in Buffalo, N.Y., with a love for animals and the environment. After graduating high school, she knew she wanted to attend the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry when she fell in love with the campus on her first visit.

‘I just think I fell in love with this college as a whole, and all the power we give our students to do great things here,’ said Crandall, who graduated from ESF in 2005 and became the director of student activities for the college three weeks ago.

Crandall is responsible for overseeing all student organizations, planning orientation and supporting transfer students, among other responsibilities. 

Crandall said she was a very active campus leader during her time as an environmental forest biology major. She was a student ambassador, orientation leader and member of the Undergraduate Student Association at ESF for all four years, and she served as its president her senior year.

‘I kind of decided throughout my time here that I really liked doing student activities, and by the end of my junior year, beginning of my senior year, I decided I really couldn’t see myself not doing them,’ she said.

Crandall decided to attend Syracuse University for her master’s degree in higher education once she realized it was her passion. She started working for SU’s housing office during her graduate studies and then went to the Office of Orientation and Off-Campus Programs and finally to the Office of First-Year and Transfer Programs.

Greg Victory, director of the first-year and transfer programs at SU, has known Crandall since she was an undergraduate student and worked as her supervisor at the first-year and transfer programs office. Victory said in an e-mail his office’s loss is certainly a gain for ESF students. 

‘Laura did excellent work building the foundation to create an exceptional support system for transfer students, something that SU has not done well throughout its history,’ Victory said.

Crandall said she is already planning on creating more support for the transfer students at ESF and also plans on making small changes to policies and how clubs operate. Changes to the reporting system and alterations to orientation are also in the works, she said.

Sudeshna Majumdar worked with Crandall as a graduate assistant at the first-year and transfer programs office. The entire office will miss her, she said, but both Crandall and ESF will benefit from the switch. 

‘To be able to know the student side of it and go back to work at the office where she was really involved in is a really good experience for her,’ Majumdar said. ‘And it’s really good to have someone so passionate about it at SUNY-ESF.’ 

Majumdar said she often hears how much the students Crandall worked with at SU miss her because of the strong relationship they had. 

‘I love to meet with students and chat with them, not just about regular old student org business but just about getting to know them,’ Crandall said. ‘I always tell them to stop in and get to know me.’ 

mmamisan@syr.edu

Published on March 6, 2011 at 12:00 pm