Onondaga Historical Association recently welcomed two new staff members to the organization after the retirement of Director of Finance, Michael Piscitell, and the upcoming retirement of our Curator of History, Dennis Connors. With that, we are happy to welcome to our staff Joseph Scro as the new Director of Finance and Robert Searing as the Associate Curator of History. Searing will take over full time as the Curator of History upon Dennis’ retirement.
About Joe: Joseph Scro was born and raised in Syracuse, New York and currently resides in Liverpool with his wife and four children. Joe graduated from LeMoyne College, where he obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting. Joe’s professional strength’s are found in his understanding of the not-for-profit accounting field, which he has worked primarily in over the past twenty five years as Controller/CFO. He began his tenure with OHA in April 2017.
Joe enjoys volunteer work, especially the coaching of his own children over the years in various youth sports such as Little League Baseball, Girls Softball, Optimist Youth Basketball as well as soccer. He has volunteered in the past at his Church as a Boys Club Leader as well as assisting on the Finance and Outreach Committees. Joe is an avid sports fan in general and, when not coaching or attending his kid’s sporting or school events, he spends his “down time” cheering on all of the SU Orange teams as well as his favorite professional teams: NY Yankees, LA Lakers, and Dallas Cowboys.
About Robert: Robert was born and raised in Vestal, NY, a short trip down Route 81. History has been his passion since his first trip to walk Boston’s Freedom Trail when he was 7. He graduated from Binghamton University in 2006 with a B.A. in History, Summa Cum Laude. He then took a M.A., and M.Phil., in American history from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, and is currently writing his dissertation on the political and constitutional debates surrounding American foreign policy from 1792-1803. He has taught American history at Syracuse University, SUNY-Cortland, and Tompkins-Cortland CC. Robert now lives in Syracuse with his wife Katherina and their 3 children Andrei, Julia, and Ellianna.