Suna Stone-McMasters graduated from SLU in 1990 and “jumped at the chance to come back.”

After graduating with an environmental studies-chemistry combined major, she left with her husband, a Canton native, and worked for New York State “cleaning up oil spills, before providing safety services with the Public Health Laboratories, and then serving as environmental health and safety officer at SUNY Cobleskill.”

When she found work in her field at SLU, Stone-McMasters quickly took it. “The people here are so friendly,” she says; “it feels like I never left.”

Stone-McMasters said she has two jobs on campus. As chemical hygiene officer, she prepares materials for labs, teaches people how to use chemicals responsibly, and ensures that SLU has the appropriate safety information. Her second job, as environmental compliance officer, involves working with facilities operations and faculty to stay up to date with regulations. She says, “Sometimes I feel like a translator from Regulatorese to English.”

As an example, Stone-McMasters asked, “Ever wonder what happens to used light bulbs? Part of my job is to seek out a responsible company to recycle them.  Right now the old bulbs are transported to Connecticut and over 99% of the materials are reused!” 

As an undergraduate, Stone-McMasters was an active member of the Outing Club; she “fell in love with the Adirondacks” and enjoyed the opportunities “every weekend to go someplace new on foot, skis or water with great friends.” She ran with the women’s cross country club and directed Payson Coffeehouse, the predecessor to Java, “complete with wobbly wire spool tables and a hotplate for mulling cider.” 

Stone-McMasters calls herself a “running addict. Part of my decision to return to Canton was a desire to get more active, and once I started I couldn't stop,” she says. “At first, running the old cross country routes made me feel old and tired. Two years and well over 2,000 miles later, I turned 40 and ran the Niagara Falls Marathon with a support team of Cantonians.” She also recently ran the 2009 Boston Marathon.

--Kristen Bednar ’09