By Mary Beth Roach
As the senior vice president for administration, enrollment and finance at Onondaga Community College, Sarah Gaffney oversees the business functions as it applies to recruitment and onboarding, marketing, admissions, student accounts and financial aid.
Over the past several consecutive semesters, OCC has seen its enrollment increase year over year, she said, and the school is trending for similar growth for the upcoming fall semester. According to stats released by the college, the enrollment in the fall of 2023 was 8,112 and it has increased each fall, to 9,065 for the fall of 2025.
She attributes the increases to the college’s affordability; its facilities; new academic programs that meet the need for new technological fields that provide more direct-to-work curriculum and offer better transfer pathways to four-year institutions.
The school is also benefiting from the SUNY Reconnect initiative, which encourages students from 25 to 55 years of age, who have not earned a college degree, to enroll in a SUNY school to learn skills for jobs in a high-demand job in such fields as health care, cybersecurity and advanced manufacturing. The program is free for qualifying students.
Gaffney is a product of the SUNY system, earning an associate’s degree in applied science in business administration from SUNY Canton and a Bachelor of Science in business/economics from SUNY Oneonta. She went on to earn Master of Business Administration from Clarkson University.
Her desire to enter the education field goes back to her high school days when she took part in a tech prep program, which benefited her tremendously, she said. While working on her master’s, she had an internship in that program and once she graduated, she got a job as a coordinator for that program at a BOCES in the Utica area.
“It was reconnection to education,” she said. “It was coming back to a program that really helped me grow.”
She has been at OCC for 21 years and throughout her career in education, she said she has seen significant changes in the college landscape. While these changes can bring challenges, Gaffney prefers to see the opportunities they present.
Her approach? “How do we adapt and make sure that the institution is better and try to be as proactive as possible moving forward,” she explained.
One of the biggest challenges colleges faced was the COVID pandemic, but she saw the opportunities that that presented, as well.
“I feel like we have come out better for it. We didn’t just sit back and wait for it to be over. As an institution, we moved, we were working on programs, we used that time to really recalibrate what programs we were offering and whether or not they were meeting the needs of the community,” she said. “I think in doing that work we have positioned ourselves really well and I think we see that in the enrollment increase.”
Read about more Women in Education:
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• Agatha Awuah: Educator is considered the architect behind OCC’s culture of evidence-based decision-making
• Erica Hall: Program director is involved in developing curriculum, enrollment, community awareness and forming partnerships
• Jennifer King-Reese: Educator is proud of fostering greater communication among the district’s schools and employees
• Linda LeMura: She became a trailblazer in 2014 as the first lay female president of a Jesuit college in the U.S.
• Jennifer Nichols: From student to dean, administrator is settling into new position
• Kirsten Nielsen: As the founder of the physical therapist assistant program, she now serves as both its director and an instructor
• Amanda Petrie: P-TECH principal is following in her grandmother’s footsteps
• Lindi Quackenbush: Her father once observed she had more degrees than a thermometer
• Jennifer L. Ross: Interim dean was once told that she couldn’t do advanced math because she was a girl
• Donna Runner: Her mother’s commitment to education spurred superintendent’s success
• Naomi Ryfun: A love of teaching: A journey from biochemistry to education
