Hall of Fame
The Eugene “Buzz” Keefe Award is given in recognition of outstanding contributions to the mission of Westchester Community College Athletics. Intended to honor the memory of the late Eugene “Buzz” Keefe, a three-sport coach and the first-ever Athletic Director at WCC, this award is presented to an individual who has been a great friend and supporter of WCC Athletics.
Janice Gilroy came to WCC in the fall of 1995. Before that time she enjoyed a long career in Nursing and as a Nurse Investigator, while teaching fitness classes at a local gym as side work. The Physical Education department was in need of an adjunct aerobics instructor and she was looking for a bit of a change.
The part time job ended up being a 2nd chapter of sorts as her career at Westchester has now extended to over 30 years. As an professor in the PE department, she taught more and more courses, including CPR and other various fitness classes. Janice even designed the curriculum for the Health & Sports for Life classes.
Because of her Nursing background, she got involved with Athletics through assisting Team Doctor and WCC Sports Hall of Famer, Henry Stampur, by providing physicals to student-athletes. Through the years, she was called upon to be a substitute nurse on a part time basis in addition to her teaching duties. In the fall of 2003 she was hired full-time as the school Nurse, a position she holds to this day. She continued to teach various classes for many years.
She is highly decorated as the winner of the Chancellor’s Award for Professional Service, the Excellence in Student Success and the Women’s History Month Trailblazer – Women of Strength Award. She is responsible for assisting countless students with their medical, emotional and mental health needs. She led the college campuses to becoming Tobacco & Smoke Free. Janice offers many health education events and works closely with the Physical Education department to utilize various health fairs and substance abuse awareness days for their curriculum and extra credit requirements.
Perhaps her greatest contribution to SUNY Westchester was her leadership through the COVID Pandemic. As the leading medical health professional on campus, Janice worked often times around the clock to develop and implement protocols, practices, testing, and safety requirements to allow for our campus community to endure the early days of the pandemic and return to campus. All while keeping our students, faculty and staff safe and healthy.
As a longtime employee she is also one of the biggest fans of the Vikings sports teams. She enjoyed staying after hours to root on our basketball, baseball, softball and soccer teams whenever she could. In fact, her son Matthew Bloom, played baseball for Westchester when he was a student here.
Janice has a great passion and understanding of community colleges and our community here at WCC. She has a degree in Nursing from Orange Community College, where she got her start. She then moved on to receive her Bachelors degree from Pace University and her Masters from NYU. Her son and sister are both SUNY Westchester graduates as well.
Janice lives in Briarcliff with her husband Bruce. She has three children, Matthew, Erin and Maggie. As she celebrates her long career and service at WCC, we honor her as the Eugene “Buzz” Keefe Award recipient and member of the WCC Sports Hall of Fame.
