Seth N. Asumah
Seth N. Asumah, Africana Studies and Political Science departments, recently was nominated and approved by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) New York State Conference as a founding chapter faculty advisor for the newly formed SUNY Cortland NAACP. Founding President Gia Greenidge, a psychology major, and 28 SUNY Cortland students worked with Asumah through the rigorous process of establishing the SUNY Cortland branch of the NAACP. SUNY Cortland’s Student Government Association (SGA) approved the SUNY Cortland NAACP Club on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018.
The NAACP, the oldest and largest civil rights organization, was established in New York on Feb. 12, 1909 by black and white U.S. citizens who were committed to civil rights and social justice. Among the founders were W.E.B. Dubois, Henry Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison Villiard, William English Walling and Ida Wells-Barnett. In 1936, the Youth and College Division of the NAACP was created by student activists. There are 2,200 NAACP affiliates in the United States, Japan and Germany.
The mission of the NAACP is to “ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality” of minoritized groups and to fight for civil rights, social justice and inclusion. SUNY Cortland joins five other SUNY campuses with NAACP branches— the University at Albany, Binghamton University, the University at Buffalo, SUNY Stony Brook and Buffalo State University.
College Names Leadership in Civic Engagement Honorees
Twenty-five SUNY Cortland students, three community members, five faculty members and 35 AmeriCorps members were recognized on April 19 with the College’s Leadership in Civic Engagement Awards.
The awards recognize exemplary service in support of community agencies, social change and civic engagement by SUNY Cortland students, alumni, faculty, staff and community members.
The recipients of seven civic engagement scholarships were awarded to Jessica Andrianos, Julie Gorman, Megan Flynn, Lynne Harris, Kristen Martin, Kara Silverman and Scott Stampfl.
The SUNY Cortland Emergency Medical Services received the Don Wilcox Award and Andrianos was recognized with the Cortland Area Chapter of the Alumni Association’s Community Service Award.
Award winners were selected by the Leadership in Civic Engagement Awards Committee, whose members are from campus departments and offices involved in opportunities for service activities with local, regional and national organizations, including the Institute for Civic Engagement and the Career Services Office. Also seated on the committee are a student, a community agency supervisor and an AmeriCorps member.
Student recipients were involved with a wide variety of activities, including leadership roles in the SUNY Cortland Relay for Life, tutoring and mentoring programs, reduction of bullying, economic development, literacy, health and wellness programming, hunger awareness, environmental protection and disaster relief. The vast majority of activity supports Cortland County residents, the public school system and numerous human service organizations.
Student recipients were:
Jessica Andrianos
Allison Best
Samantha Califano
Jasmine Chandoo
Megan Flynn
Austin Glickman
Julie Gorman
Matthew Green
Jennifer Hale
Lynne Harris
Matthew Hayes
Ashley Hunter
Brianna Kezner
Francesca Lansburg
Kristen Martin
Jamie Piperato
Violeta Rivera
Becky Schwartzman
Alycia Sciascia
Ashley Seeger
Kara Silverman
Scott Stampfl
Corinne Valenti
Claire Wickersham
Megan Wise
Faculty/Staff
Marie Agen
Vicki Johnson
Noelle Chaddock Paley
Ute Ritz-Deutch
Lori Schlicht
Community Partners
Aaron Baier
Kim Mullins
Mary Jane Uttech
Student Groups
Etta Sigma Gamma Health Honorary
SUNY Cortland Emergency Medical Services
SUNY Cortland’s AmeriCorps Members for 2011-12
Joyce Allen
Alex Aloi
Pierre Barosy
Jason Benza
Paloma Bido
Kathleen Burns
Rebekah Caforio
Adam Campbell
Jermaine Campbell
James Cantatore
Joanna Cimini
Christina DeCorse
Karli DeGraw
Alexis Fairbanks
Lori Forshee
Janeille Frazenburg
Nicholas Gaynor
Cassidy Harahan
Michelle McGovern
Deanna Moore
Chelsea Murray
Rayne Perry
Nicole Petit
Jordan Ramos
Sarah Redfield
Ilianatacha Rosa
Amy Riotto
Theresa Ruswick
Matthew Santorufo
Kat Stevens
Caitlin Sullivan
Sara Watrous
Jenna Wegzyn
MaryJane Wood
Samuel VanBuskirk
Celeste McNamara
Celeste McNamara, History Department, recently gave an invited lecture at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, titled “Priests Behaving Badly: The Problem of Scandal in Renaissance Italy.” The talk examined the history of how the Catholic Church has handled sinful priests, arguing that the Church’s contemporary strategies for suppressing scandal are built on a long theological and practical history. Due to the challenges of the Protestant Reformation, the 16th and 17th centuries were particularly important for the development of these strategies. By understanding this longstanding trajectory, we can see how the strategy of hiding clerical crimes and repressing information about bad priests has been centuries in the making.
Alexander G. Gonzalez
Alexander G. Gonzalez, English Department, had his article, “Joyce’s Presence in Iris Murdoch’s ‘Something Special,’” published in Studies in Short Fiction after very lengthy and unforeseen printing delays. The article shows that all 15 of James Joyce’s Dubliners stories are referred to in Murdoch’s story, many of them being veiled references. Murdoch’s story emerges as an homage to Joyce, as references to Ulysses and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man are also present.
Annette Ernste, Jeremy Pekarek and Jenifer Phelan
Annette Ernste, Jeremy Pekarek and Jenifer Phelan, library, presented June 14 at the 2019 State University of New York Librarian Association (SUNYLA) Conference held at Onondaga Community College. Their presentation on Information Literacy instruction to freshmen was titled “Zombie Escape: Gamifying Library Instruction with Active Learning Activities.” This session explored why active learning is a powerful tool for engaging students in developing their knowledge practices and dispositions for a deeper understanding of the threshold concepts outlined in the Association of College and Research Libraries Information Literacy Framework.
Denise D. Knight
Denise D. Knight, English Department, has signed a contract with Syracuse University Press for publication of In This Our World and Uncollected Poetry of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, co-edited with Distinguished Professor Gary Scharnhorst of the University of New Mexico.
Kathleen A. Lawrence
Kathleen A. Lawrence, Communication Studies Department, had one of her poems, “Winged Love,” published recently in Highland Park Poetry’s 2018 Winter Muses’ Gallery. Also, her poem, “Grit: The Resilience of New Yorkers” appeared in Panoply: A Literary Zine in early January.
John Suarez
John Suarez, Institute for Civic Engagement, hosted the second teleconference of the North/South Central New York Applied Learning Coalition. Two SUNY Cortland students joined 10 applied learning professionals from seven colleges and universities in a two-hour discussion that generated ideas to address student food insecurity, to improve assessment of applied learning projects’ learning outcomes, and to increase student participation in voting-related activities.
Arden Zipp
Arden Zipp, chemistry emeritus, was honored at the 238th National American Chemical Society meeting recently held in Washington, D.C. Zipp was presented with a certificate, signed and presented by Thomas Lane, president of the Society, recognizing Zipp's 25 years of service to the U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad (USNCO) program.
The USNCO program, which began in 1984, uses a series of exams to identify the 20 top high school chemistry students in the country. These individuals attend a two-week study camp at the Air Force Academy where they are given further chemistry instruction and exams designed to select four students to compete in the International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO). At the 2009 IChO, held in July in Cambridge, England, the U.S. team was awarded a gold and three silver medals, its best showing in several years.
Zipp became involved with the USNCO in 1985 when he was invited to mark student free response exams. He began contributing questions soon after that and continued marking exams. In 1993 he was named chair of the Examinations Task Force, which prepares the new multiple choice and free response exams used in the selection process yearly, and continues in this role to the present time. He is also the current chair of the USNCO Subcommittee that establishes policies for the program.
In addition to his efforts on behalf of the USNCO, Zipp has been active in both the College Board's advanced placement chemistry program and the international baccalaureate chemistry program for more than 25 years and held major leadership roles in both programs. He is the author of more than 50 publications in inorganic chemistry and chemistry education and has delivered more than 250 papers, presentations and workshops at local, regional, national and international conferences.
John Hartsock
John Hartsock, communication studies, had his book, The Seasons of a Finger Lakes Winery, accepted for publication in June by Cornell University Press. The book is a work of narrative journalism and recounts the cycle of the seasons at a ″mom-and-pop″ winery on Cayuga Lake — Long Point Winery owned by Gary and Rosemary Barletta — by capturing everyday activities such as planting and pruning the vines, grape crushing and fermenting and aging wine in barrels and bottles. It also details the challenges and triumphs of trying to make the perfect vintage. The book, intended for wine lovers, is the first to examine the national phenomenon of the rapid rise of small artisanal wineries outside of California. It is also the first in a new publishing initiative on the part of Cornell University Press to publish narrative journalism on regional subjects with the potential for national appeal.
Accepted for publication in July by the University of Massachusetts Press was Hartsock′s book Theorizing Literary Journalism: Examining a Narrative Genre. The volume will re-synthesize the last 10-plus years of his work which has appeared in publications such as Prose Studies, DoubleTake, the Journal of Communication Inquiry and Genre: Forms of Discourse and Culture, as well as insights gained as the founding editor of Literary Journalism Studies, the first peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the study of the genre and published in cooperation with the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. The book will provide a scholarly summary after 20 years of research on the subject, and will serve as a companion volume to Hartsock′s award-winning A History of American Literary Journalism: The Emergence of a Modern Narrative Form, published by the University of Massachusetts Press in 2000, which is now in its second printing.