Gloria Su, Running Unopposed in Upcoming Manhasset Library Election

Adedamola Agboola

Gloria Su said she was new to the campaign and electoral process when she unsuccessfully challenged for a board seat at the Manhasset Public Library in 2015.

“It was my first election and I wasn’t familiar with what election campaigns were like. It was a shocker,” Su said.

On April 12, Su, will run again, this time unopposed.

Trustee Robert Carrozzo, who clearned the way for Su when he decided not to run for re-election, said he believes Su will do a great job. 

“I’m a big believer in term limits,” said Carrozzo, who served on the board for five years. “I believe the board needs new faces and perspectives.” 

Su and resident Bill Harvey unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Trustee Donald O’Brien for his board seat in 2015.

O’Brien received 296 votes in winning re-election for a second term while Harvey and Su received 192 and 204 votes respectively.

It was great to see that a lot of people are passionate and want to serve the community, Su said.

She said serving her community is what prompted her to run last year and run again this year.

“It’s a volunteer position and not something that I need for my own personal satisfaction,” she said. “I wanted to serve my community and thought the library was place to serve.”

She said the support and encouragement she received from her friends and neighbors was also helpful in making the decision to run again.

“Even though I didn’t win, I was very encouraged by the support I received,” Su said.

Although Su is running unopposed, she said she isn’t taking the elections likely.

“When the word came out that I’m running unopposed, I still encouraged my friends and neighbors to come and vote,” she said.

Su, 43, a Manhasset resident since 2003, is an associate professor at Columbia University Medical Center in Manhattan whose research focuses on pancreatic cancer and head and neck malignancies.

She said her educational background and work spearheading her own research work at Columbia University has prepared her for the position.

Su graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in biological degree in 1992. 

She received her PhD in Immunology from the University of Chicago in 1997 and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at John Hopkins University in Pancreatic and Genetics Cancer.

“I’m very familiar with libraries,” Su said. “Throughout my educational career, I’ve been to and used so many libraries in Chicago and Baltimore and other cities.”

She said she also understands how different it is to be fiscally responsible for a nonprofit organization.

Alongside Su’s teaching responsibility at Columbia, she also heads a research laboratory that focuses on human cancer genetics and mouse modeling for human cancers. 

“For my research, I have to apply for grants from the government and private foundations,” she said. “Whatever money I get, I have to manage the funds, pay people, pay myself, buy reagents, prioritize which research is important and balance the funds in order not to bankrupt my research.”

Su said at a public forum organized by the League of Women Voters in 2015 that if elected she would look to stretch available spending dollars — at the time, about 80 percent of the library’s operating budget is comprised of employee salaries and benefits — while seeking to invest in technology.

The Manhasset Public Library adopted its 2016-17 budget last Thursday and payroll, pension and insurance increased 8.21 percent from $2.8 million to $3 million.

The $5 million budget calls for a 1.9 percent increase of $95,593 and a 1.9 percent increase in the tax levy, which officials said is below the state-mandated tax cap.

“I realized I wasn’t very good at coaching Little League or the soccer team, so I thought to serve the community on as many boards as I could,” Su said at the forum.

Su, a mother of three — two of whom are in college and one in Manhasset High School. 

She was born in Taiwan in 1973 and moved to Bayside, Queens, in 1988 when she was 15.

Su has participated in the Shelter Rock Elementary School Decision Making Team, the Manhasset School District’s Citizens Advisory Committee for Finance, the Chinese American Association of North Hempstead and the Manhasset School Community Association’s Education Committee.

The library board will hold trustee elections at the same time as the budget is voted on — April 12 from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Share this Article