Menaza comes to Stony Brook from Molloy College, where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing and an MBA before working in faculty development for three years. “The switch to Stony Brook was me leaving my comfort zone to challenge myself to try something new and expand my career within higher education. I saw an opportunity to learn and grow here.“  

First day on the job Menaza dove right in, happily putting her organizational skills to work to help plan an offsite retreat of fun and business at ‘Topgolf’ for the 24-member CAS Dean’s Office.

“I love to work on a lot of projects and work closely with faculty and staff, and I get to do all of that here – from memo writing, to assisting search committees, to organizing meetings and itineraries, and getting involved with social media promotions,” says Menaza. 

“I work best if you trust me to develop my own process to complete projects. And I get that kind of respect, autonomy and more from Dean Sampson, as well as getting to work with super-supportive colleagues. I, in turn, like to take on all I know I can handle, even if it goes beyond my job description,” she says. 

Menaza feels most energized when she can help others: “With every job I’ve ever had, even as a teenager, I would leave work happy if my ‘customers’ or ‘clients’ were satisfied and appreciated my efforts.”

As a self-professed ‘foodie’, the other thing Menaza loves about SBU is the varied cultural food offerings at Urban Eats at East Side Dining, including La Olla and other venues across campus – from Halal selections (“with really good gyros”), to all the Jasmine offerings at the Wang Center (“love the bubble tea”), to “wonderful Island Soul Jamaican food”, to “the platanos I grew up on as part of my Hispanic heritage. It’s all AMAZING.”