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Generosity Without Borders

At Saint Rose, Michael Stratton is director of Technology Support Services, leading a team that services more than 1,900 computers on campus as well as the smart technology in 100 classrooms and all event spaces. That’s not the half of it.

Stratton – who has earned two degrees from Saint Rose – volunteers for the Social Committee and at the orientation of new employees, and he is among the staff members who serve late-night breakfast to tired students during finals week. He is always involved in planning Reach Out Saint Rose. He also launched the Adventure Challenge, which gives the College’s newest students a few days to bond at a camp along Lake Otsego before classes start.

He stays in touch with these students, opening his office so they can talk through a problem, do a puzzle, or use the gumball machine he keeps stocked. Stratton stays in touch with a young man with developmental disabilities whom he long ago worked within I.T.

His service extends well beyond campus. The list of his volunteer achievements includes the thousands of dollars he has raised for Camp Bravehearts, a sanctuary for women who are dealing with cancer. The kickball team he organized to take part in a fundraising tournament for Albany’s Police Athletic League. The many times he has assisted at conferences of the American Colleges of Sisters of Saint Joseph.

There are also the 1000-plus students Stratton has taken on hikes in the Adirondacks. Stratton maintains trails and lean-tos. He makes stained glass, and he donates his pieces at events that raise funds for many of the aforementioned organizations.

For these and the many more contributions he has made beyond the much-appreciated upkeep of campus computers, Stratton has been named the College’s 2017 Community Service Award winner.

It took four of Stratton’s Saint Rose colleagues to come up with this list, and they concede they probably left many things out. In nominating him they said:

“We are aware that this award is primarily for someone who makes a great contribution to the larger community beyond our campus borders. We find that Michael makes that outside contribution, but his impact on the lives of so many on our very own campus cannot and should not be ignored because of the huge effect he has on each person’s morale and feeling part of the larger community.”