New Trustees Joins OCC's Board of Trustees

Onondaga Community College's Board of Trustees welcomed two new members September 24 during the first meeting of the academic year, including a new Student Trustee. Alicia Oberlender is a graduate of West Genesee High School who is dual majoring in Mathematics & Science and American Sign Language (ASL). She is ASL Club President, a member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, and she serves the campus community as a Student Ambassador, giving tours to prospective students and their families. She is also working toward earning her black belt in karate.

Kathryn "Kasey" Crockett was also sworn-in as a new member of the Board of Trustees. She has worked in Education Technology Sales for over 20 years in various roles. She resides in Syracuse, and was appointed by Onondaga County Executive J. Ryan McMahon II.

Also at the September 24 meeting, Heather Drake-Bianchi was presented the John R. Mulroy Founder's Award for service-oriented leadership and contributions which stand as an example of selfless dedication to the higher purposes and ideals to which the College aspires, serving as a model for others. In 2021 she presented the OCC Foundation with a substantial gift to support student scholarships in the new Paramedic degree and certificate programs. "I took a couple of classes here and had some of the most influential professors of my career," she told the Board of Trustees. "The idea behind the scholarships was to create highly competent paramedics who continue to give back to the community in a long term way. The paramedic community is so grateful something like this exists in support of them and they're so appreciative of OCC, and I'm so grateful to be a little bit of part of that." Since then, she has opened Drakos Pediatric Urgent Care, Central New York's first pediatric urgent care center. She has locations in Cicero and Liverpool, and is planning to open one in Camillus next to West Genesee High School by the end of the year.