Every year, Adelphi honors four exceptional employees with a President’s Award for Excellence and one employee with the President’s Award for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. According to President Christine M. Riordan, the honorees “have won the admiration of their peers and colleagues by providing an extraordinary level of service to the University, and working to advance our shared values and goals.”
Candidates are nominated by their colleagues, and these nominations are reviewed by committees that are representative of our community. After reviewing the nominations, the committee submits final nominees to the president.
We congratulate Adelphi’s 2022 President’s Award for Excellence honoree:
Alessandra (Alex) Bevinetto, Executive Assistant, Office of Human Resources
Throughout her seven years at Adelphi, Alessandra (Alex) Bevinetto, executive assistant in the Office of Human Resources, has earned a well-deserved reputation for ensuring that the Office of Human Resources runs smoothly and effectively and delivers unparalleled support to the department as well as the University community.
Before coming to Adelphi, she was a stay-at-home mother with twins and helped her husband run their landscaping business.
“What I most enjoy about my job are the people I work with,” she added. “The HR department is made up of the most hardworking, intelligent, dedicated people who not only work tirelessly for the greater good of the University, but also for each other. We are a family.”
Glowingly described by her nominator as a “wonderful ambassador for our University in assisting faculty, staff and students as they navigate the University and all that Adelphi offers its employees,” Bevinetto is proud of her reputation as the “go-to” in the Office of Human Resources for members both inside and outside of the department.
In 2020, the majority of employees moved from working on campus to working remotely. Bevinetto put her skills as an accomplished problem solver to work. Partnering with the Office of Information Technology, she took a lead role in the centralization and automation of Work From Home agreements for the entire University—ensuring that the remote work status of every employee was accurately documented. It’s a project she owns and maintains today, and it’s one of the many changes she’s seen in her time with the University. “Since taking on this role, the responsibilities of the position have grown exponentially,” she said.
Bevinetto also brings an impressive level of commitment to her role as support staff to the staff liaisons of the Work Life Committee of the Adelphi University Board of Trustees. She regularly collaborates with University-wide stakeholders to meet her responsibilities—and deadlines.
Other noteworthy projects include assisting in the crafting and rolling out of the Adelphi Staff Council, the implementation and training of the New York State Paid Sick Leave Law, conducting new employee orientations and exit interviews, and helping to centralize evolving pandemic policies.
She takes equal pride in helping to create and compile performance management training manuals, leadership guides, PowerPoint presentations and other supporting materials. She volunteered for the 2021 Panther Grad Walk and continues to volunteer at Commencement.
As her nominator put it, “During these last two years of unprecedented, uncertain and challenging times, Alex’s adaptation and courage while maintaining her commitment to our Adelphi community were inspirational … and invaluable to the team.”
The President’s Award for Excellence means a great deal to Bevinetto. “To be able to work with such incredible colleagues, to be acknowledged by your peers and publicly appreciated for doing work that you love to do—it just doesn’t get any better than that,” she said.