05/16/2011
Deborah Dintino, a secretary I in the Political Science and Africana Studies departments and a SUNY Cortland employee for the past 29 years, was honored with the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Classified Service.
Dintino will receive the award during the 2011 Undergraduate Commencement on Saturday, May 21, in the Park Center.
She becomes the third SUNY Cortland recipient of the classified service honor, created by SUNY in 2009 and presented in recognition of outstanding job performance, flexibility and creativity on campus, and demonstration of exemplary customer service.
The Chancellor’s Award process begins at each of the 64 SUNY campuses with nominations submitted by the respective presidents. The SUNY Committee on Awards then reviews the nominations and makes its recommendations.
“Deborah Ditino’s demeanor is always friendly, approachable and helpful,” wrote the College’s President Erik J. Bitterbaum. “In short, she is a consummate professional and a role model for the campus.”
“I was totally surprised and honored, not only to win the award, but just to be nominated,” Dintino said.
She came to SUNY Cortland in 1982 as a word processing intern. She moved into a full-time position as the word processing operator in the College’s Admissions Office in the same year. In 1993, she was promoted to secretary I in the Admissions Office, where she served until 1996, when she assumed her current role.
Dintino’s work ethic and superior organizational skills caught the attention of the Nominating Committee.
“She discharges wide-ranging and burdensome responsibilities with professionalism, efficiency and a very high level of performance in terms of office management, supervision of student workers, dealing with faculty and productivity,” the committee stated. “Her work is marked by integrity, discretion and excellent service for students and visitors.”
Throughout her career, Dintino has welcomed new technological initiatives, which include Banner computer system training, online degree audits and a web content management system. She also eased the transition of her departments to paperless practices.
Outside of her regular job responsibilities, Dintino acted as a founding member of the Phi Beta Delta International Honorary Chapter. She routinely works on the group’s annual induction ceremonies.
Dintino fosters diversity on the SUNY Cortland campus with her work for the Africana Studies Department and the Clark Center for International Education. For more than a decade, she has organized all of the College’s programming for Black History Month. She has coordinated several international travel arrangements for students, faculty and campus visitors, including oversight of two grants that once brought 35 visitors from Europe.
The Nominating Committee described Dintino as an accommodating person who provides “superior customer service” to every person she encounters.
“The sheer variety of tasks Deborah Dintino performs underscores not only her value to vigorous programs, but to the superb manner in which she engages in her work,” the committee commented.
Dintino earned annual accrual achievement, meaning she did not use more than one sick day per year, from 2002-10.
She obtained her associate’s degree with honors from Tompkins Cortland Community College in secretarial science and word processing.
Dintino and her husband, Michael, reside in Cortland. They have two children.