University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Phyllis Floro says she knows she’s in the right profession “when I’m really excited during the first week of classes. Every year, students amaze me with creative ideas that are just phenomenal.” Photo: NANCY J. PARISI

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By JIM BISCO

Published: September 16, 2010

Phyllis Floro found her calling after she left a nine-year career in occupational health for an entry-level position in student affairs at UB. Eleven years and thousands of student interactions later, Floro’s positive energy kindles the Office of Student Life.

“I know I’m in the right profession when I’m really excited during the first week of classes,” she admits. “Every year, students amaze me with creative ideas that are just phenomenal.”

For the past year, Floro has served as associate director heading up the Intercultural & Diversity Center­, leading a staff that focuses on diversity at UB through events that celebrate various cultures with authentic music, food and crafts. “We help to educate students about what diversity means here and what it means to be at a diverse institution,” she explains. “We try to bridge the gap—bringing international students more into the overall student population and getting domestic students to experience structured programming that brings them together.”

Floro describes her student life experience as consisting of an occasional third-parent role and sometimes a need to deliver a dose of tough love, but overall the student experience is very motivational for her.

“We say as a cliché ‘students will always keep us young,’ but I really do think that they keep our minds going, always challenging us,” she relates. “Keeping up with ways to communicate with students has changed the most over the years, whether on a one-on-one basis or how we communicate our programs. When doing workshops or classes, we’ve always been creative, but now it has to be very interactive or you lose them.”

She also sees a change in students’ priorities. “In their freshmen year, students are already coming into career services. They’re thinking about internships and graduate school. They know the importance of the out-of-the-classroom experience and getting involved.”

The Niagara Falls native had become disillusioned with the medical field and her work in the city hospital. Looking for a different step in her career, she happened upon the student affairs position that required little experience. “Within a couple of months of being here, I came back to school, transferred all my credits here, went straight through to graduate school here while working full time. I was very fortunate. I wasn’t here a month before I felt like this was it for me.”

Floro quickly rose to the occasion. She was among Student Life staff members who won a UB Stars award for their contributions after the 9/11 tragedy. “Our first reaction was that we have such a large population of downstate students that we needed to do something,” she recalls. “A lot of what we did was to get the right people into the Student Union. We established a central location for students and made sure that whoever needed a space here we gave it to them. We got as much staff to walk around campus and help students wherever they were. It was all reactive. We got recognized for it, but in our minds we were doing our jobs.”

In her first year of orientation, Floro won an award from the National Orientation Directors Association. “The process was very much in place when I walked into new student programs. I added my own spin to it, my own creativity, whether the program itself or working with the student leaders who actually implement the program for us.”

Floro also has been a participant in the annual Oozefest spring ritual with her Student Life colleagues, getting down and dirty in the mud volleyball competition, and even contributing the team name—Efil Tneduts—in a backward moment of inspiration.

She has been involved for nearly her entire career here with the Linda Yalem Safety Run in a variety of committee positions. For the past four years, Floro has been coordinating registration. “It’s become such a tradition at UB and has a very good reputation in the runners’ world. We average about 1,200 participants each year.”

A runner herself, Floro hopes to be among the participants for the first time at the 21st annual run on Sept. 26, with the possibility of a last-minute registration hand-off that could get her to the starting line in a hurry.

In addition to being an outdoor enthusiast, Floro enjoys cooking and traveling. The youngest of four in a close-knit family whose father emigrated here from Italy, Floro has visited family members spread across the world. She even likes to introduce family members to life at UB. Her sister, Carmella Marinaccio, has recently become an administrative assistant in Student Life.

Overall, though, it’s mainly about the students. “I’ve helped a lot of people over the 11 years, which I feel really good about, along with the professional and personal relationships that I’ve built here,” she says.