UUP President Phil Smith Explains the union’s position on Gov. Spitzer’s proposed higher education endowment at a news conference called by the Governor in February.

Unless you’re reading The Voice for the very first time, you’ve no doubt noticed something new. This time, the president’s column is not presented as the very first article you see when opening the cover. Indeed, our opening article is focused on a former member, Dr. Raymond Damadian, whose seminal contributions at Brooklyn HSC brought the world one of medicine’s most valuable tools —magnetic imaging. To me, this is a fascinating story of one man’s dedicated work and the quest of others to see a significant “wrong made right.”

As a longtime (30 years!) SUNY professor at a health science campus, an article of this nature has special resonance. But, I promise you this: our total focus will not be on HSCs. In fact, we’ll be aiming to highlight the work and working lives of our members at all of our 29 state-operated SUNY campuses. And I’ve moved my column to the back of this magazine to make it clear I believe The Voice is your magazine. Indeed, if anyone wishes to write an article on just about any topic, and we’re short on space, I’d be most pleased to step aside and give someone the chance to express his or her own “voice.” Please do send me your ideas for future articles and please consider being a contributor yourself.

No doubt you’ve heard the phrase, “hit the deck running.” Having been elected as UUP president only a few short days ago, I’m sure you appreciate that I’ve had to get myself up to speed quickly. As a matter of fact, when I “hit the deck,”

I found it rising rapidly to meet me.

To illustrate this point: In the very first minutes of my very first full day on the job, I found myself in a face-to-face private meeting with Gov. Eliot Spitzer. We then joined a group of other statewide leaders, including SUNY Chancellor John Clark, to participate in the governor’s press conference on the proposed endowment for higher education.

And within minutes of leaving the press conference, I went across the street to the Legislative Office Building to host UUP’s annual Legislative Luncheon. At this event, we host the legislative leadership and begin the process of informing them of our Legislative Agenda. To put it mildly, that first full day was something akin to trying to take a drink of water from a fully pressurized fire hose. Thankfully, I can feel the pressure diminishing.

One of my hometown friends in Manlius, who’s employed by a major manufacturer, commented on my recent election as president of UUP. He said, “Well I guess as a union president you now have a farther view from top.” My response was, “No. Unlike the corporate world in which you work, as president of UUP, I’m actually on the bottom; I work for all the members.” I also went on to tell my friend an apt analogy might be that of a production and shipping manager; I’ve got to keep the product moving from the factory floor onward to the customers. And that’s exactly the way I view it.

In closing, let me say, I welcome the challenges of my new role. And I look forward to working with each and every member of UUP. Please feel free to call upon me in any way that you think I can help. And, to restate the invitation above, please do send suggestions on how we can make The Voice a publication with “news that you can use.”