Jeanette D'Agostino Banker International Scholarship

From the time she entered SUNY Brockport as a freshman until her passing in early 2020, Jeanette D’Agostino Banker ’53 served as one of Brockport’s most loyal supporters. In honor of his wife’s dedication to the students, faculty, and staff at the College, Mr. Edward E. Banker, retired principal of Brockport High School, established this scholarship, which assists students who participate in study-abroad experiences.

After completing her degree requirements, Mrs. Banker began teaching in the Rochester City School District. Six years later, when presented with the opportunity to return to Brockpor, she became a faculty member, teaching in the in the campus demonstration school and beginning her 30-plus-year career with the college.

She served as Campus School supervisor and as a clinical professor in the Brockport/Greece Central School District Teaching Center, founded by her colleague Marguerite Hare Brown, where student teachers, supervising teachers, principals, and classroom teachers worked together to provide Brockport and Greece students with optimum learning experiences. She was co-founder and director of the SUNY partnership with the Escola Americana in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and coordinated overseas teaching centers in Dusseldorf, Germany, and Lisbon, Portugal.

Popular with her fellow faculty and with students, she always earned high praise for her work. She was the first woman president of Brockport’s faculty senate and the first administrator for the Harold Rakov Center for Student Services.

Her enthusiasm for the work of the Brockport Alumni Association led to her induction into the Alumni Association’s Hall of Heritage in 1984 and to receiving its Outstanding Service Award in 1995. In 2018, the Brockport Foundation’s highest recognition to a volunteer was renamed the Jeanette D’Agostino Banker Volunteer of the Year Award in her honor.

She and her husband were members of the Western Monroe Historical Society. Mr. Banker passed away in 2012.

Qualified applicants for the Jeanette D’Agostino Banker International Scholarship are enrolled Brockport students who demonstrate the potential for success in studying abroad and who are accepted into an international education program operated by the Office of Global Education and Engagement. They also must submit two letters of recommendation and an essay.