(SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY) — Empire State University student Stephanie Weinman, an undergraduate in the community and human services program, has received this year’s Norman R. McConney Jr. Award for Student Excellence. The Rochester resident is one of 50 students in SUNY’s Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) to take home the honor, which celebrates EOP students for academic achievement and perseverance. Named for the late Norman R. McConney Jr., a former assistant dean at SUNY who helped establish the EOP in 1967, the annual award was conferred in a ceremony on March 11. 

“It was so wonderful,” Weinman says, reflecting on the celebration, where speakers focused on the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion. “To be in room full of like-minded people supporting DEI—it was just what I needed. The whole experience was really gratifying and filled me up with a lot of hope.” 

For Weinman, the journey to receiving the prestigious award began in the fall of 2022, when—in her late forties—she began her studies at SUNY Empire. Before enrolling at the university, Weinman pursued a wide range of careers, working as everything from a professional ballerina and dance teacher to a pharmacy tech in a hospital. (“I always like to say that I took a 30-year gap year,” she says with a laugh.) Ultimately, it was her two grown sons—one a trail crew worker and the other a policeman—who convinced the empty nester to pursue a college degree.  

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