And this first generation college student – “the girl from 116th Street” in Manhattan, who was immediately drawn to this bucolic university – also worked here for 18 years directing a program that provided “a plethora of support for at-risk high school students, helping them make it through that first critical year of college.”

That was from 1992 to 2010, the year a debilitating car crash led to neck and back surgery, two knee replacements, early retirement and a decade on the sidelines for Deborah. But that didn’t stop her.

While yearning to get back into the mainstream and to her favorite job in the world – helping students – she volunteered at her local church, helping young girls gain technology skills. She continued to mentor students through SBU’s Black Women’s Association, which she had started as a graduate student under the then-name Black Women’s Weekend. She participated as she could on SBU’s Black History Month and Women’s History Month Committees. Also in the Black and Latino Alumni Network, of which she was a founding member. And she wrote a memoir she’s looking to publish.

The best news for Deborah – and for us – is that she is fully recovered, works out vigorously every morning,  and is ready for action back at Stony Brook: “I still have more to give to students,” she says. “What I love most is letting them know they have opportunities, right here,  to become better than they are, and motivating them to always aspire to do more.”  

In her new role in New Student and Transition Programs (previously known as Orientation Services), Deborah and staff help coordinate orientation programs, student/parent visiting days, peer assistant programs, as well as working with offices across campus to ensure first-year students have access to all the services they need to fully acclimate and succeed. Deborah says she’s determined to “work along with my colleagues and my director to help keep this area running in tip-top shape.”

Mostly, she’s thrilled to interact with students again: “I wasn’t looking for a high-level, high-pressure position this time around. I just want to be able to make a significant contribution again. Basically I get paid every two weeks for doing something that is pure joy for me.”