TheDream.US
The Ram's Horn Award for Nonprofit Leadership
TheDream.US is the nation’s largest college and career success program for undocumented immigrant students, having provided more than 11,000 college scholarships to Dreamers attending over 80 Partner Colleges in 21 states and Washington, DC. They believe that all young Americans, regardless of where they were born, should have equitable access to a college education, a meaningful career, and opportunities to contribute to the communities they call home.
TheDream.US has over 4,000 graduates who are driven, resilient, and helping move our shared country forward. They are nurses, teachers, authors, computer scientists, research scientists, business entrepreneurs, nurses, policy analysts, social justice workers – all contributing to the social and economic prosperity of this country. Their stories are ones of resilience and determination.
Farmingdale is the first TheDream.US Partner College on Long Island and the first institution in the State University of New York (SUNY) system - the largest public higher education system in the country. The partnership is consistent with SUNY’s and Farmingdale State College’s long-standing commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Clyde Vanel ’97
The President's Award for Alumni Leadership
NY State Assemblyman - District 33
Assemblyman Clyde Vanel serves as the Chair of the Subcommittee on Internet and New Technology and Chairs the Committee on Oversight, Analysis and Investigation. He has sponsored numerous landmark bills, such as legislation to create a robotics, automation and artificial intelligence commission; license high-risk AI systems; and create a cryptocurrency and blockchain study task force. He is focused on emerging technologies and works to close the digital divide among marginalized communities.
Vanel is an attorney, entrepreneur, and pilot from Queens. He is the owner and operator of Vanel Law Firm, P.C., where he practices intellectual property and business law. Vanel is also an internet entrepreneur operating TrademarkReady.com, a service focused on trademark filings and intellectual property protection. Vanel has extensive entrepreneurial experience, including owning and operating a restaurant and lounge, Vanel on First, in Lower Manhattan for five years. Vanel works to expose the next generation to STEM careers. Vanel is also the founder of the New York Metro chapter of the Black Pilots of America, Inc. The organization trains and exposes the community and youth to the field of aviation.
Vanel serves as a member of the MIT AI Policy Forum and frequently lectures and presents on issues including artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, international policy, and intellectual property.
Vanel earned a Juris Doctor from Boston University School of Law, where he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Science & Technology Law. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Aviation Administration and an Associate of Applied Science in Aerospace Technology from Farmingdale State College, where he served as the Student Government President.
Serving as the Assembly Member for the 33rd District of New York since November 8, 2016, his district includes Cambria Heights, St. Albans, Hollis, Queens Village, Bellerose, and parts of Floral Park. Vanel was raised in Cambria Heights, New York, with nine siblings, Vanel is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
This past year, Assemblyman Vanel secured two allocations of funding totaling $500,000 to support Farmingdale State College Professional Pilot students with scholarship funding to reduce the financial burden of flight time instruction fees.
Dr. Laura Joseph, EdD ’84
The President's Award for Academic & Professional Leadership
Senior Vice President and Provost
Laura Mueller-Joseph, EdD, Senior Vice President and Chief Academic Officer, has served as Provost of Farmingdale State College since 2021.
A prolific scholar, educator and academic leader, Dr. Joseph has had a distinguished tenure at Farmingdale State College. Prior to her role as Provost, she served as Associate Provost for Academic Affairs, and also as Acting Assistant Dean of the Theresa Santmann School of Health Sciences. Dr. Joseph began her academic career at Farmingdale State College in 1991 as a faculty member in the Department of Dental Hygiene and served as Department Chair from 2003-2013.
In addition to her work in health promotion and disease prevention, Dr. Joseph has been actively engaged in accreditation and institutional assessment. She served as FSC’s liaison to the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and Commissioner for the American Dental Associations' Commission on Dental Accreditation. She continues to serve as an accreditation consultant and has led FSC's Assessment initiative.
Dr. Joseph is a recipient of the prestigious SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching and Old Dominion University's Alumni Award for Outstanding Educator as a result of her passion for active learning and innovative pedagogy. She is actively engaged with the SUNY Chief Academic Officers’ Association serving as chair from 2021-2023 and has contributed to SUNY operations through her work on various working groups and task forces.
Prior to FSC, Dr. Joseph was a clinical research investigator at Fairleigh Dickinson University's Research Center where she conducted research in oral health and disease prevention. Dr. Joseph served as a national and international consultant on clinical calibration. Additional activities of scholarship include grants as well as publications on allied dental education.
Dr. Joseph earned an EdD in Higher Education and Academic Leadership from Columbia University, BS and MS degrees in Science from Old Dominion University and an AS in Dental Hygiene from Farmingdale State College.
Kelly Wylie ’25
The President's Award for Student Leadership
Mechanical Engineering Technology major, SGA Vice President, President & Founder of Rambots, President of Sigma Delta Tau
From student programming to circuit board programming, Kelly Wylie, ’25, a mechanical engineering technology major at Farmingdale State College (FSC), is a whiz.
What started as a friendly sibling rivalry with her older brother, Joseph Wylie, ’24, an FSC cybersecurity major, has transformed into Wylie’s successful college experience. Now Student Government Association (SGA) vice president, Sigma Delta Tau president, secretary of the RAM Motorsports Club, and a student assistant in the Office of Student Activities, Wylie is also president and founder of FSC’s popular Rambots (robotics) Club.
“My brother, he’s 16 months older than me,” said Wylie, who grew up in Seaford, New York. “I kind of followed a lot of things he did, because we were so close in age. We were a little bit competitive with each other—or at least I was,” she quipped.
Wylie’s “if he can do it, I can do it” mindset and determination would bring her to join several clubs through elementary, middle, and high school, including student government, which she immediately loved, and robotics, which she immediately didn’t.
“At my first meeting I remember very clearly sitting down and saying, ‘This is not for me.’ It just didn’t make sense in my head, and I didn’t think that I was going to like it,” she said. “But I stuck with it anyway, and soon I was like, ‘Oh, this is exactly what I love to do.’”
Engineering runs in Wylie’s family, with her grandfather, her father, and her mother working in locomotive engineering. “I definitely look up to my mom for succeeding in a male-dominated environment as an engineer,” she said. During an FSC open house visit, “I got to see one of the lab rooms in Lupton, and that’s when my mom knew I really wanted to go into engineering too, because she could tell how excited I was,” Wylie added.
Wylie has remained active both on and off campus, serving as a Rambassador campus tour guide and orientation leader for the Office of Admissions, organizing a wide variety of campus events, including student career development workshops, food donation efforts, and fundraising for local charities, and completing a summer internship with Zebra Technologies in Holtsville.
“Kelly epitomizes the essence of an FSC student, seamlessly being involved in activities with grace and purpose,” said Lukas Miedreich, FSC director of the Office of Student Activities. “True achievement is not just about excelling in one area but embracing the holistic experience of campus life. She is involved in all facets of campus life from SGA, to Greek Life, to student clubs and student employment.”
With her “full calendar,” Wylie lauds FSC for welcoming and encouraging her array of interests.
“The reason that I join all these clubs, and started a few, is because I want everyone to find their place where they just feel welcomed and supported,” she said. “I love Farmingdale because I feel like it gives me a lot of opportunities. I always say you can be as involved or uninvolved as you like, so I feel like it caters to a really diverse group of students. It’s mainly a commuter school, but there’s so many different ways to get involved. And I feel like we have really good resources, especially with our Office of Student Activities. I feel like everyone really wants to help you succeed.
“We have a really supportive environment at Farmingdale, especially for women in STEM,” she added.
After graduation, Wylie is gearing up to pursue a master’s degree in engineering management and would like to go into sales engineering or program management. She has been offered and accepted a position at Zebra Technologies upon her graduation in May 2025. Her goals include plans to give back to her community.
“I need to be fulfilled and driven by something,” she said. “My mom actually said that to me the other day. She’s like, ‘You’re going to need to find a hobby where you’re giving back in some way.’ Because I feel like something’s missing without that. So, I’m sure wherever I go next, there’s a lot of opportunities to volunteer for different things that I’m really passionate about. I would love to be able to help out a good cause.”
