University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

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  “I am awed by the tremendous courage my students have the moment they enter these doors—it’s an important decision they are making.”

  Sherryl Weems

  Executive Director, EOC

By JULIE WESOLOWSKI

Published: March 25, 2009

According to Sherryl Weems’ mother, she was born with chalk in her hand. Which is why it isn’t surprising that Weems’ career path has lead her to the field of education as UB associate vice provost for continuing and professional studies and executive director of the university’s Educational Opportunity Center (EOC).

Born and raised in the Bronx, Weems was the first in a family of eight siblings to attend college. Teaching came naturally to her and she always knew she wanted to be in education. “I was the kind of kid who looked forward to birthdays knowing I would get another blackboard and a box of chalk,” she says. With her makeshift “school,” her mother allowed her to hold her four younger siblings captive under the guise of helping them with their homework.

Weems received her undergraduate degree from Fredonia State College and came to UB to study for a master’s degree in education—and ultimately completed her doctorate at the university. She began working at UB as a teaching assistant and has remained at the university an impressive 31 years. She began her career as the reading and study skills coordinator, then was promoted to assistant director, of the Thomas J. Edwards Learning Center. Before holding her current dual appointment as associate vice provost and executive director, Weems was the associate director of the EOC and coordinator for the SUNY College Outreach Consortium.

In her position at EOC, which provides educational job training, college preparation and related support services to economically disenfranchised and academically disadvantaged populations of Western New York, Weems admits that she’s learned to develop another level of sensitivity and appreciation for people and their everyday issues and challenges. “I am awed by the tremendous courage my students have the moment they enter these doors—it’s an important decision they are making,” she says. As associate vice provost, she encourages access and further educational opportunity to adults in and around Western New York.

Weems began college as an Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) student, and therefore can appreciate some of the challenges the students encounter. She also understands the adjustment that is sometimes associated with students’ transition back into their communities, and assists them in that area as well.

As a member of the New York Workforce Investment Board, Weems also is finding ways to fuel the economy by introducing various workforce development and academic training initiatives in the region. She admits that she relishes this role because it is so needed in the current landscape and economy.

In the community, among other things, she was a founding board member of Buffalo Prep, a private organization that helps the most academically talented yet economically deprived students attend private high schools and prepare for admission to the top universities.

Weems admits that in her job there’s never a routine day and her kids never know where to find her. The mother of young men, two of whom are UB students, Weems jokes that her sons still don’t fully understand what she actually does for a living.

Although an administrator, she hasn’t gone a year in her career without teaching a class. She now teaches “Introduction to Education” in the Graduate School of Education, helping upper-class undergraduate students determine if they want to enter the field of education at the master’s level. “I always encourage them to not limit themselves to just teaching. In education, there are so many ways to contribute their talents and skills that are outside of the classroom. And then you can still teach.”