Director of Student Activities, Involvement and Leadership (SAIL) Brad Kovalcik has officially left the university, with his last day being this past Friday.

Kovalcik will now be the Office of Student Affairs Director at Penn State Greater Allegheny.

“A new opportunity came up, and I couldn’t pass it up; this is the next step up in my career,” Kovalcik said. “I am definitely going to miss it here. This is where I started my professional career.”

Kovalcik joined SAIL in 2012. He earned his undergraduate degree from Penn State Behrend and his M.Ed. in College Student Personnel Administration from James Madison University. He also served as an on-call rotation in Student Life to provide 24/7 coverage of the residence halls on top of providing leadership opportunities to students, advising the Campus Activities Board (CAB) and the Student Government Association (SGA) and overseeing the daily operations and functional areas of the office.

“In these 11 and a half years, there have been a lot of changes, but I think they have been mostly good,” Kovalcik said. “I am definitely going to miss downtown, working with students and staff. I loved working closely with CAB and SGA and the conversations with our work-study students.”

Keely Sapienza, Coordinator of Student Involvement for SAIL, said that she will be taking on Kovalcik’s responsibilities in the meantime. She joined the SAIL office in 2020, but as an alumni of the university, she has worked with Kovalcik since 2015.

“I was on the CAB board, so I was really lucky to work so closely with [Brad] for so long,” Sapienza said. “I am super excited for him as a colleague and as a mentor to me…he has helped me through so many hard times and given so many laughs.”

Elliot Geary, a senior SAEM major and executive director of CAB, said they have been working with Kovalcik since their freshman year and are going to miss his mentorship.

“I truly believe that I wouldn’t have become the leader that I am today without [Kovalcik],” Geary said. “The positive environment created in SAIL for students, in my opinion, is unmatched.”

Geary also said that they are “confident” CAB and SAIL will continue to be “strong facets” of the university amid this change.

“CAB, SAIL and SGA are prepared to continue working as usual in [Kovalcik’s] absence until a new director is hired,” Geary said. “CAB is very fortunate to have a strong executive board this year…the organizations that [Kovalcik] oversaw will only continue to flourish as the year goes on.”

Geary said that some of their favorite memories with Kovalcik were meetings about purchases for CAB’s events.

“We would tend to stumble into unique conversation topics including whether or not we could purchase a costume for the Condom Carnival, the merits of non-dairy milk, and the correct way to use ‘drip’ in a sentence,” Geary said. “It makes me sad to see [Kovalcik] go, but I am thrilled he is pursuing this next step in his career.”

Marc Polombo, a senior acting major and president of SGA, said that there is “nobody else” like Kovalcik.

“As one of SGA’s advisors, he has been so important in enhancing my problem-solving skills, facilitating discussions on complex issues and molding me into a more effective leader,” Palombo said. “His guidance has left a lasting impact on both my personal and professional growth, and I will forever value his candid advice.”

Palombo said he is “very happy” to see Kovalcik advance his career and hopes Sapienza will become the next SAIL director.

“I believe [Sapiensa] would be a fantastic choice, and I would push Dean Gieseke and the hiring team to highly consider her if she wishes to pursue the position,” Palombo said. 

The SAIL office currently has seven Federal Work-Study students, and Sapienza said they were looking into hiring more before Kovalcik announced his leaving. 

“We’re trying to figure things out right now; there is no one in mind for the position,” Sapienza said.