Carry Kyzivat is one of our most dedicated union members. Beginning her service as a Professional Staff delegate and then Vice-President for Professionals, she next served some twelve years as Chapter President. Since 2001, she has continued to support our chapter of the UUP as one of our Professional Staff delegates. For Carry, “Union activity [has] completely changed my life; it opened up a whole new world from me.” Indeed, the extensive experience that she brings to the table has been most valuable to the newer chapter officers and delegates and her dedication to the union cause is a model that inspires us all.
Born in Austria, Carry came to the United States with her family by way of Britain and Brazil. She began working at the College Library as its foundation was laid in 1968(!), working part-time typing up book orders for the new collection. Since then, she has risen to the leadership position of Acquisitions Coordinator and currently reports to the Library Director.
Her involvement with the union began in 1987, when SUNY’s MACCC program to reclassify professional staff positions was being ignored by the college’s administration. Thus motivated, she and a number of other staff and faculty revived the chapter to make it a more effective organization with a stronger presence on campus. Building on the success of instituting the MACCC program at Purchase, Carry next took advantage of specialized training offered by the statewide union through their Leadership Workshops and developed the skills she would later need as President of the Chapter. She is most proud of taking part in that “resurrection” of a moribund organization and making the Chapter into a cooperative enterprise wherein faculty and staff work together on issues of mutual interest and concern. As Chapter President, Carry nurtured the relationship between the union and the Faculty-at-Large organization and, similarly, began coordination on issues with the Professional Staff Council, a body which has proved to be a good training ground for new leaders for the UUP @ Purchase. The cooperation effected between these three organizations on the formulaic distribution of Discretionary Salary Increase (DSI) funds from 1996 through 2003 is the testament to her efforts, not to mention the several years when President Bill Lacey, now retired, supplemented state monies with college funds. These formulae remain for faculty and staff the preferred method of distributing these funds, as resolutions made by each of the three organizations in 2005 to resume this method of distribution have made clear.
Carry is most pleased by “what a wonderful group of people” have taken the reins of the union and, with typical modesty, downplays her role as mentor to so many of the current officers and delegates. In tandem with her continuing her active role with the UUP @ Purchase and work on the chapter’s Legislative Action Committee, Carry remains active in the White Plains Democratic Party organization, for which she at one time served as District Leader. White Plains has been home to her for 48 years and the place where she raised two children with her husband, Hans. They have been married for over 52 years and now have 3 grandchildren. Besides the grandchildren and politics, Carry also enjoys all the visual and performing arts, often attending shows at our own Performing Arts Center, travel, and downhill skiing when the weather permits.
Carry looks forward to helping the current roster of officers and delegates get more people involved with their union. She will continue to lend her skills and experience to the challenges the Chapter will face over the next two years and work to insure continued fairness and respect for all Purchase College employees.
|