Close Up
Battaglia bleeds blue and white
Nancy Battaglia canvasses the stands at UB Bulls football games to recruit new members for the UB employee chapter of the UB Alumni Association. Photo: Nancy J. Parisi
“Went here. Work here. Play here.”
Those six little words describe the personal—and professional—philosophy of Nancy Battaglia, director of the Services Unit in University Human Resources and chair of the UB employee chapter of the UB Alumni Association (UBAA).
“I guess you could say that I bleed blue and white,” says Battaglia, B.S. ’89, M.B.A. ’96. “I’ve been a UB employee for about five years now. I received both my bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from the university, and it’s very rare that I miss a basketball game.”
Battaglia also is a familiar sight among UB football fans since she holds season tickets for that sport as well. Since taking over last year as head of the UB employee alumni chapter, established in 2004, she says she’s been working hard to recruit new members, including canvassing the crowds in UB Stadium. While about 2,600 UB employees—both faculty and staff—also are UB alumni, she says only about 200 are currently “card-carrying” members of the UBAA.
Yearly dues are only $40, she adds, noting that members receive a number of perks, including discounts rates at local realtors—as well as at the University Bookstore, Campus Tees and select hotels and car rental agencies—and access to a “VIP section” at UB Bulls games that features greater selection and shorter lines for concessions.
“I see us, being the employee chapter, as special people,” says Battaglia. “We represent the university with two hats…we can not only share our perspective on UB as a place of higher education—as a terrific source of education right in our own backyard—but also what it means as an employee and community member—as a source of jobs and economic growth.”
The impact of UB 2020 also is clear on the job, says Battaglia, whose position at UB puts her in charge of such transactional HR services as payroll, benefits, appointments, workers’ compensation, customer service and the international tax unit.
“We’ve recently combined state and Research Foundation services in Human Resources as part of UB 2020,” she notes. “It used to be very confusing for employees calling HR because the first question we’d have to ask was, ‘Who do you work for?’ and a lot of employees don’t make that distinction. But now we’re trying to get the right information and people together so we can help them, regardless of where they fall in the system.”
There also are times when her career and support of UBAA activities come together, she says, such as her participation in REALM (Real Experience and Leadership Mentoring), a leadership-mentoring program supported in part by the School of Management Alumni Association, of which she also is a member, that offers UB students the chance to gain experience through job shadowing.
“I love working at the university,” Battaglia says. "I think it keeps you young and it keeps you thinking because you have the opportunity for student interaction and to take classes.”
She also notes that she regularly participates in other events through UBAA, including helping out during Welcome Weekend in August and at the senior brunch before commencement.
“I’m a UB Believer because I’m an alumnus, but I’m also a UB Believer because I’m an employee,” says Battaglia. “I support my school by being in the School of Management Alumni Association; I support the Blue and White, and also the athletic association, by purchasing season tickets; and I believe in everything that President Simpson and his administration are doing. In fact, I support just about everything about this university.”
For more information on the UB employee alumni chapter, visit http://alumni.buffalo.edu/employeealumni.
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