Faculty and Staff Activities

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Caroline Kaltefleiter

Caroline Kaltefleiter, Communication and Media Studies Department, moderated a discussion with film director James Dean Le Sueur, who directed The Art of Dissent, one of the feature films screened at the BlackBird Film Festival held June 17 to 20. The Art of Dissent documents the power of artistic engagement and inspired resistance in Czechoslovakia before and after the 1968 Soviet-led invasion. In addition, Kaltefleiter was a producer for the film “Fill the Need,” which features original music written and performed by Colleen Kattau, Modern Languages Department, and also was screened at the festival.

Mary Gfeller

Mary Gfeller, Mathematics Department and SUNY Cortland Noyce Project, and Noyce Scholar Jason Miedema, adolescence education: mathematics major, hosted a book chat on Nov. 15 at the Blue Frog Café on Main Street in Cortland. Sponsored by the SUNY Cortland Noyce Project, the book chat brought together a group of SUNY Cortland faculty, staff and mathematics students to explore and review the book Reading and Writing the World with Mathematics: Toward a Pedagogy for Social Justice by Eric Gutstein. Social justice issues and examples of social justice mathematics lessons were discussed, along with questions such as the following: “Should math teachers encourage students to use mathematics to critique injustices in their community and the world?” and “Should the goal of mathematics education be to give students the tools to challenge oppression?” 

Gregory D. Phelan

Gregory D. Phelan, Chemistry Department, was featured in an article in The New York Times on Jan. 17. The article “Cracking Open the Scientific Process” discussed ways in which publishing and research in science is changing.

Tyler Bradway

Tyler Bradway, English Department, presented a paper titled “Queer Contiguity and the Narration of Kinship in The Argonauts” at the Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present’s ASAP/10 conference on Oct. 19 at Tulane University in New Orleans, La. 

Robert Ponterio

Robert Ponterio, Modern Languages Department, presented a session titled “Make Web Materials Work on Student Smart Phones” at the New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers’ NYSAFLT Annual Convention on Oct. 11 in Buffalo, N.Y. The session examined the basic techniques of Responsive Design for adjusting Web page text size, images, columns and video to display on desktop, tablet and smartphone media. Templates were provided to simplify converting existing class materials to an HTML5 format with built-in responsive style elements to make the process easier for teachers with limited Web development skills. All presentation materials and templates are available online at web.cortland.edu/flteach/wksp/nysaflt2013.html.

Jena Nicols Curtis

Jena Nicols Curtis, Health Department, presented sexual violence prevention education for the Department of the Navy’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response “Engaging All Voices” training seminar held in June in Orlando, Fla.

Jennifer Olin and Mark DePaull

Jennifer Olin, University Police officer, and Mark DePaull, University chief of police, were recognized by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services for leadership and dedication demonstrated while serving as the program managers for the University Police Department during the most recent accreditation assessment. The assessment was conducted by the New York State Law Enforcement Accreditation Council. Both Olin and DePaull received the DCJS John Kimball O’Neil Award on March 3 in Albany.

Robert Spitzer and Brian Williams

Robert Spitzer and Brian Williams, Political Science Department, participated in activities at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, held Aug. 30 to Sept. 2 in Boston, Mass. Williams presented a paper titled, “Democratization and Polarization in Belgium” for a panel on “The Historical Development of Legislatures.” Spitzer served as a discussant for a panel on “Executive Power and Democratic Functioning in the Trump Era.” He also participated in the governing board meeting of Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honors society. He has served on the board for the last three years.

Terrence Fitzgerald and Frank Rossi and alumni Mike Kelly ’14 and Tyler Potter ’14

Terrence Fitzgerald, Biological Sciences Department, Frank Rossi, Chemistry Department, and alumni Mike Kelly ’14, and Tyler Potter ’14, are coauthors of an article titled “Trail Following Response of Larval Cactoblastis cactorum to 2-Acyl-1,3 Cyclohexane Diones” appearing in the current issue of the Journal of Chemical Ecology. The paper reports the isolation and identification of a pheromone that might serve as a bio-rational substitute for a chemical pesticide in the management of the caterpillar.  The caterpillar is an invasive species originally from Argentina that attacks prickly pear cactuses in the Gulf Coast states.  Kelly is currently a graduate student at SUNY Cortland and Potter is in the Chemistry Ph.D. program at Yale University.  Both students worked on the study as Cortland undergraduates. The United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service supported the study.

Robert Spitzer

Robert Spitzer, Political Science Department, spoke on “The Mass Media and Presidential Elections” at OASIS in Syracuse, N.Y., on Oct. 22.