Campus & Community

Visit by Posse Foundation President Deborah Bial Rescheduled for Feb. 4

Monday, January 26, 2015, By Kelly Homan Rodoski

Deborah Bial, president and founder of the Posse Foundation, will visit the Syracuse University campus on Wednesday, Feb. 4. Bial and members of her team were originally scheduled to visit Syracuse Monday, Jan. 26. That visit was postponed because of Winter Storm Juno and its predicted impact upon New York City and the East Coast.

The Posse Foundation provides college access and youth leadership development opportunities to top public high school students from diverse backgrounds.

Chancellor Kent Syverud invited Bial to Syracuse when he met with her at the Posse Foundation offices in New York City in October. At that meeting, Bial and Chancellor Syverud had productive conversations about the Posse program and the future of the partnership with the University.

“I look forward to President Bial’s visit to Syracuse and continuing our efforts to keep the future of the Syracuse Posse program strong,” says Chancellor Syverud.

“I am disappointed that our trip to Syracuse was postponed due to the storm and I look forward to visiting on Feb. 4,” says Bial. “The University has a set of exceptional Posse Scholars on campus, and Syracuse is an overall leader in supporting the Posse model. I look forward to engaging with Chancellor Syverud and others on how to keep our partnership strong.”

Posse is a national initiative with chapters in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York and Washington, D.C. Syracuse is one of 51 colleges and universities across the country that partners with Posse to commit four-year, full-tuition scholarships to Posse Scholars. The majority of partner institutions host one or two Posses. Syracuse University welcomed its first cohort of Posse Scholars in 2012. Since then, a total of 91 Posse Scholars from Atlanta, Los Angeles and Miami have come to Syracuse to pursue their degrees.

The University recently refocused its efforts with the Posse Program with plans for fall 2015 calling for continued support of both the Miami and Atlanta-based programs, serving 20 new students.