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Bea González almost left college after her first year.

As her grades slipped, González received an offer from her academic advisor at SUNY Binghamton: if she spent the summer working as a tutor in the academic advising office, he’d readmit her for her sophomore year. The opportunity led González to a long career in higher education and public service.

“It was because I got a second chance, a major second chance, from my academic advisor,” González said. “I realized that I was good at helping people.”

González worked in the SUNY Binghamton advising office for eight years before she was hired in 1984 as an academic advisor at Syracuse University, where she would later serve as dean of University College. She will retire from her current position as special assistant to the chancellor this month after 36 years at SU.

University College houses part-time SU students pursuing degree programs, certificates and noncredit courses. The college has been a part of González’s life since the 1960s, when her parents attended despite not receiving a traditional high school education.

González left a permanent mark on University College, said Mike Frasciello, the college’s current dean, who worked with González for nearly 20 years. She helped build University College into an accessible gateway for SU students who couldn’t attend full-time, he said.

“I had the privilege of watching her do this by expanding the university’s understanding of equity and inclusion – by demonstrating every day how an entire community benefits from diversity of thought and cultural sensitivity,” Frasciello said.

González took over as dean of University College in 2003. Her favorite part of working at the college was watching the students achieve, she said. Many of the college’s students had returned to higher education later in life or only took classes part-time while fulfilling other responsibilities.

She loved seeing the students’ reactions to making the dean’s list or receiving recognition for their hard work. González sees herself in the students she works with and remembers how the encouragement of her own advisor led her to continue her education.

“I used to tell them, don’t let your past prevent you from building your future,” she said.

Chancellor Kent Syverud in 2014 asked González to serve as a liaison to THE General Body, a coalition of student organizations that staged a sit-in at Crouse-Hinds Hall for 18-days in November 2014. The coalition presented the university with a 45-page list of grievances and demands that called for increased transparency in student services and improved training and knowledge of minority issues.

González believes Syverud chose her for the position because of how she operated as a leader at University College and how she listened to the students she worked with.

“We make a commitment to provide an education, but we have to also make a commitment to what our students are trying to tell us,” she said.

Brian Konkol, dean of Hendricks Chapel, has worked with González on diversity and inclusion efforts on campus. Konkol said González “embodies the spirit and soul of Syracuse” through her strength, knowledge, courage and compassion.

“For decades, (González) has led in service to our common good (and) she refuses to accept the status quo,” Konkol said. “(She) has proven repeatedly how access to education can create a world of opportunity.”

In 2015, Syverud offered González the role of special assistant to the chancellor. The position allowed her to provide counsel to Syverud based on her experiences both on- and off-campus.

González also acted as SU’s liaison to the Posse Foundation — which provides full-tuition scholarships to universities across the country for students of diverse backgrounds — and worked closely with SU’s Posse Miami scholars. Her goal has always been to listen to students and help them overcome obstacles in their path to success.

“I think the students are just telling us, listen to our lived experience,” González said. “Hear us, and value what we’re saying to you and adjust as necessary.”

González’s work in the Syracuse community extends far beyond her work on-campus. She considers herself “well-seasoned” in activism — her parents founded Syracuse’s Spanish Action League, the only organization in the city solely dedicated to serving the Latino community.

Her involvement in the Association of Neighbors Concerned for Latino Advancement, an organization that has worked with the Syracuse Police Department and the mayor’s office, also led González to a career in public service. She served on the Syracuse City School District board from 1991 to 1994 and accepted an appointment in 2001 for president of the Common Council.

Serving for nine years as president of the council — an unelected role with no voting power — González acted as a liaison between the council and the mayor’s office.

“I’m a constituent service person,” González said. “I believe in serving the people, serving the community or organization that I’m engaged with.”

Having grown up in Syracuse, González began protesting locally against police brutality when she returned to the city in 1984. The city’s ongoing reckoning over the role of policing in the community must extend to SU’s campus, González said.

SU announced in February that former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch would conduct an independent review of the Department of Public Safety. The review is a “great starting point” for action to build a public safety department worthy of the institution and its students, González said.

Many people have made assumptions about González throughout her career in education and public service, either because she’s a Latina woman or because she’s a higher education administrator without a doctoral degree, she said. When others underestimate her, she continues to be herself and do the work she’s meant to do, she said.

“I try to do it with grace,” she said. “Even though it can get tiresome, I feel an obligation to share, to help bring people along, to expose them to circumstances and situations that they might not be comfortable in or they’re afraid to experience. So I’m the nudge.”

Published on July 8, 2020 at 4:00 pm

Contact Sarah: scalessa@syr.edu | @sarahalessan