Campus Champion

Natalie Yoder ’21, area coordinator in the Residence Life and Housing Office, began her residence life journey as a resident assistant in 2018. She continued creating safe spaces for others, serving as a resource for her residents and helping them build connections. Now, Natalie supervises 14 RAs in Clark and Fitzgerald halls finding joy in recruiting Red Dragons who shine in leadership roles. Each summer, Natalie returns to Eswatini as a volunteer with the NGO AspireAfrica to help develop the first school for children with autism. This summer, the longtime campus leader returned early to accept her Rising Star Award from the Alumni Association. 

SUNY Cortland’s sport management program is among the best in the country, according to a recent ranking by Niche.com. It was listed as 25^th out of 448 schools nationwide. 

Not only is that the best in the SUNY system, it’s close to the top 5% among included institutions. 

The success is reflected in this fall’s incoming first-year class of sport management majors. At 122, it is the biggest in Cortland’s history. 

Those students were selected from a record 1,102 applicants for the program, said Associate Professor Ryan Vooris, chair of Cortland’s Sport Management Department, noting the Niche.com ranking isn’t  the first time it was counted among the elite, continuing a history of excellence.  

“I think it reflects the commitment we have here in the Sport Management Department to high impact practices,” Vooris said. “Our program is very focused on experiential learning and applied learning.” 

A lot of that hands-on education is through projects that give students a semester-long experience where they must create a budget for an actual event, execute that event and then analyze how it went.  

Those type of experiences are “high impact practices” according to Vooris, because they give students a strong mix of classroom learning and a chance to use what they’ve learned in a real-world environment. 

Recent experiences included students working at the ski jumping world championships in Lake Placid and at the international ice Hockey Federation World Championships. 

All sport management students also need to take the department’s event management practicum course, requiring 40 hours of work with Cortland’s Athletics Department. 

“We’re fortunate enough to have a top of the line, stellar Division III athletics department with nationally competitive teams and fantastic facilities,” Vooris said. “So, they really get that frontline exposure to the sport management industry.” 

Vooris said sport management at SUNY Cortland has a well-regarded reputation that’s taken decades to build. The undergraduate major is itself the oldest among SUNY schools. 

“We have more than 5,000 alumni in the field of sport management and I’d like to think that means that the name Cortland means something,” Vooris said. “It’s not a new major that we’ve just started five or 10 years ago — we've been our own department here at Cortland now for more than 20 years.” 

That familiarity is an advantage when it comes to companies looking to hire, according to Vooris. 

“They worked with someone from SUNY Cortland or interned with somebody from SUNY Cortland,” he explained. "We’re putting a lot of students into the field and hopefully they are good representations of that program. Sometimes your alumni are your best spokespeople.” 

It also helps that Cortland has a master’s program for sport management that can be taken on campus or entirely online. It gives students of all kinds a chance at the same education, delivered in a way that fits their pace and schedule. 

“That flexibility, that customization, it really allows people that are working full time to be able to complete a master’s degree in two to three years. Or maybe four or five semesters if they want to take more than one class,” Vooris noted. 

While Vooris is happy with the continued success of sport management at Cortland, he knows that change happens fast and that they need to keep ahead of anything that will shape future job qualifications. 

One newer class focused on e-sports, which has grown in popularity, is just one of the ways the department has modernized. 

“We have a lot of students that are interested in social media and analytics, and we want to grow that part of the program,” Vooris said. “Everybody can be a content creator in today’s world and the media landscape has shifted so dramatically in just the last 10 years that I know.” 

Almost as important as learning the technical details of their future jobs, Vooris hopes students enjoy a well-rounded time at Cortland that teaches them the ethics and people skills necessary to stand out after graduation. 

“I would hope you know they did all that important academic stuff and become leaders in the sport business industry. But I also hope they learned about the importance of getting out and getting involved and being part of a community and being a good citizen.” 

Niche compiles its rankings by reviewing a variety of information, including almost half a million reviews from real college students, according to its website. In addition it looks at government sources like the U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation.

SUNY Cortland President Erik J. Bitterbaum welcomed faculty and staff members at the Fall 2024 President’s Opening Meeting by stressing the importance of strengthening the school’s culture of belonging.

Speaking in the Corey Union Function Room, the president also highlighted recent examples of student and faculty excellence, shared campus updates from the summer and discussed the importance of maintaining a safe academic environment that ensures freedom of speech and expression.

“Belonging taps into our deepest, fundamental needs — of wanting to connect to something bigger than ourselves,” Bitterbaum said. “We want to know that what we do matters. We want to be seen and heard. It is true for the faculty and staff, but especially true for our students.”

The president noted that SUNY Cortland will welcome a historic class of 1,422 first-year students — the most ever in the university’s history — along with 438 new transfers. He also highlighted Cortland’s strong first-year retention rate of 81% and stressed the importance of classroom engagement, mental health services and opportunities such as service, undergraduate research and student activities. 

Bitterbaum discussed his own experience pursuing research as an undergraduate biology major in the High Sierra mountain range in eastern California, crediting it with helping him envision a career in higher education. 

“There’s a lot of success where there are special relationships between faculty, staff and students,” he said.

Bitterbaum offered several examples, from SUNY Cortland’s most recent summer undergraduate research fellowship recipients to the inspiring story of Alex Guerrero ’22, a former biology major who recently earned the first-ever all-inclusive Say Yes Scholarship to attend SUNY Upstate Medical University.

Faculty and staff members also earned the president’s praise.

He recognized the recent Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award earned by Alexandru Balas, a professor of international studies; an immersive history education workshop held at the university’s W.H. Parks Family Center for Environmental and Outdoor Education that has secured nearly $1.4 million in funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities; and SUNY-wide honors that included the Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence, distinguished faculty promotions and the system’s Shared Governance Award.

Student-focused areas such as the Disability Resources Office and Career Services also were noted for their far-reaching support and offerings that include a new internship and living stipend program.

“We are known as a school that will work with your (student) and help them succeed,” Bitterbaum said.

Additional highlights from the president’s campus updates included:

• Construction progress: Van Hoesen and Cornish halls continue to be renovated as part of a $27 million upgrade scheduled to wrap up in January 2026. Other recent changes to campus include the university’s Broadway intersection project, study rooms added to Memorial Library and a new Dunkin’ that recently opened in Corey Union.

• Summer events: SUNY Cortland hosted statewide events during the summer months that included the New York State Envirothon for high school students as well as the Empire State Senior Games for sport competitors. Bitterbaum also noted the success of Alumni Reunion as well as the Cortland County Community of Color’s Juneteenth celebration.

• New academic theme: Bitterbaum encouraged faculty and staff members to join events hosted by the university’s Cultural and Intellectual Climate Committee throughout the academic year. “Air” will be the theme of SUNY Cortland’s interdisciplinary series of lectures, book discussions, film screenings and art exhibitions. Those events will explore how invisible forces impact life.

In addition to highlighting recent success on campus, Bitterbaum addressed several topics that continue to impact higher education, from artificial intelligence to national enrollment challenges. He discussed effective efforts at SUNY Cortland as well as opportunities for the future, including an initiative to increase merit-based scholarship incentives. The 2024 Cortland Challenge raised a record amount of $564,870 in a single day to support academic departments, athletics programs, scholarships and other institutional initiatives.

Bitterbaum also reiterated fall semester plans to encourage a campus climate that promotes productive civil discourse. He encouraged all attendees to engage others respectfully, report any incidents of harassment and join new employee education efforts aimed at protecting a safe, inclusive environment.

He concluded his remarks with a short story about SUNY Cortland President Emeritus James M. Clark, who served the university from 1979 to 1995 and often emphasized the importance of treating others with kindness and respect.

“We need to make sure that everyone at Cortland feels empowered and cared for in this community,” Bitterbaum said. “If we are successful in this endeavor, we will have much to celebrate in the years ahead.”

Red is green at SUNY Cortland.

And Megan Swing, in her newly created position of energy and sustainability engagement coordinator, is looking for about 10 Red Dragons to help spread that message as Green Reps for the 2024-25 school year.

The student Green Reps will get paid for working to inspire more earth-friendly lifestyles through peer-to-peer environmental education programs that will lead to a more eco-friendly and sustainable campus and lifelong behaviors.

“We are looking for students to bring sustainability to the campus community,” said Swing, appointed recently by the university’s Facilities Management Office. She said students interested in becoming Green Rep employees can find out the details and apply using their myRedDragon credentials at this secure link.

Green Reps will educate Cortland’s campus community by: 

• developing sustainability communications and outreach campaigns, such as newsletter articles
• hosting programs inside and outside of the residence halls
• collaborating to create campuswide events each semester

Formally known as the Green Representative Program, Swing is revitalizing the successful campus sustainability initiative after it was scaled back during the COVID-19 pandemic as students studied remotely and avoided social gatherings for public health reasons. Sponsored by Residence Life and Housing and Facilities Management, the program is run through the campus Sustainability Office.

A Green Rep isn’t specific to any major or minor. Swing recommends that students who are interested in working to make the campus — and the world — more sustainable and environmentally literate should apply to become a Green Rep.

“Anyone who is passionate about environmental and social issues and who wants to learn more and make an impact is encouraged to apply,” Swing said. “Through this work, a student could make a difference on campus and in the Cortland community and develop professional leadership, event planning, communication and peer education skills.”

Swing, who joined Facilities Management this past summer, takes over sustainability promotional duties managed in the past by Matthew Brubaker, campus energy manager.

The former project manager of the Environmental Dashboard at Oberlin College since September 2023, Swing also served Arizona State University’s The Cronkite Agency as public relations specialist as part of earning her Master of Mass Communication there in 2023 with a focus on strategic communications and a concentration in environmental communications. Swing also served as a graduate assistant at Arizona State. She has a bachelor’s degree from Allegheny College, where she double majored in environmental science and sustainability and Spanish, and interned with the Office of Sustainability. A Phi Beta Kappa student at Allegheny, she graduated summa cum laude and was president of the Phi Sigma Iota honor society for students of modern and classical foreign languages.

A native of Ontario County in New York state, Swing served between May 2020 and August 2021 as a lead watercraft steward with the Finger Lakes Institute, practicing her interview, survey and communication skills by having one-one-one educational conversations about aquatic invasive species in the Finger Lakes and how those who use the lakes can prevent furthering their spread.

While students were on summer break, Swing has been developing the fall edition of the Sustainability Office’s newsletter, Keeping it Green. Green Reps will use this in their promotional activities. Swing also has begun work on the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) report for the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).

For more information, contact Swing at 607-753-5582.

Nine SUNY Cortland chemistry students explored the cutting edge of science this summer, working full time on research projects made possible by outside grants and donations.  

By spending full days working with faculty mentor on experiments, undergraduates receive an educational experience that will be an immense help academically and for a career, said Professor Frank Rossi, chair of the Chemistry Department.

“It’s a rule of thumb I use that one week in the summer is the same as doing research over an entire semester during the academic year, because it’s focused,” Rossi said.  

“It’s 8 hours, a full workday, five days a week,” Rossi said. “Hands on, one-on-one with your faculty mentor. ... You’re learning what it’s like to be investigating an original research problem, which is very different than a classroom activity.” 

The value lies in an opportunity for the students to be dedicated to one subject, as well as the creative thinking required to find results in the lab that neither the students, mentors nor textbooks know ahead of time. Without other classes, athletics and other activities, the experience more closely mimics what students will do in a job or in graduate school. 

This summer’s student chemistry researchers were Evan Beaudry, Bradley Blake, Tazio Cutrona-Bouillon, Chris Faherty, Dustine Izzo, Sarah Kono, Odurosi Kwarteng, Alex Rash and Sean Zupko. 

Funding for the Chemistry Department’s projects came from external grant groups including the National Science Foundation and Organic Syntheses, money through the Undergraduate Research Council and local fellowships. Two additional students gained the chance through $6,500 in donations to the Chemistry Department’s general fund during the last Cortland Challenge fundraiser. 

The Undergraduate Research Council offers a limited number of summer research opportunities to applicants. The projects require that a formal proposal and faculty mentor be accepted by the council. If approved, a stipend is given to the students, along with free on-campus housing. 

This year, the assistance let every student who wanted a research experience in Rossi’s department to have one. 

One donor gifted money to sponsor students interested in a career in education. For grads who pursue teaching, their summer research gives them another key bit of help in their future career — time as both an observer and a practitioner. 

“They’re going to think more about what we do as a scientific community,” Rossi said of the student participants. “They’re part of the story when they’ve done research themselves, which is valuable.” 

This kind of education that goes above and beyond the normal school experience is one of the most valuable possible when it comes to development, Rossi noted. Even better, he said, is that all three focus areas in his department — chemistry, biochemistry and adolescence education: chemistry (7-12) — were able to join in the program due to the financial help. 

Kono, a junior from Ithaca, N.Y., plans to go to graduate school and pursue cosmetic chemistry. This was her second summer doing research at Cortland, the first supported through the NSF’s Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation, and this year through Cortland’s Dr. Arden P. Zipp Summer Research Fellowship. 

“I am fascinated by the production of medicinal cosmetic products, and I want to contribute in that field in the future," Kono said. "I’m also interested in learning more about the effect of cosmetic products over the environment in order to create better products for both people and the natural world.” 

She described her time in the lab this summer as making her feel independent, with a lot of responsibility to manage. 

“I learned so many new laboratory skills through actual practice supervised by my professors, which gave me more confidence in working alone on an experiment,” Kono explained. “I believe that I was able to learn so much more than through regular lab classes because I had more time to work on a project, opportunities to ask questions, and repeat the experiments.” 

Assistant Professor Sarah Wolf mentored Kono, Faherty and Izzo. Their projects all focused on synthesizing new compounds designed to investigate the behavior of a class of materials known as amorphous solids. Otherwise known as glasses, they’ve been shown to have uses in the pharmaceutical industry, solar panels and thermal protection. 

“I witnessed my students grow significantly as scientists and scholars over the course of the summer,” Wolf said. “The skills they gained in lab will serve them well in graduate school or the workforce following graduation. In particular, I have seen them become more inquisitive and independent scientists capable of working their way through challenging and exciting problems in the field.” 

Fourteen SUNY Cortland faculty members in the Art and Art History Department are displaying their most recent work during the “2024 Art and Art History Faculty Biennial” exhibition, which opened on Monday, Aug. 26, in the Dowd Gallery.

The exhibition, which highlights artist-selected works using various visual art techniques in concept, form and function, runs through Friday, Oct. 4.

Featured artists include Martine Barnaby, Hannah Carver, Stephen Alexander Clark, Allison DeDominick, Sierra Dell, Charles Heasley, Lorraine Heasley, Hannah Hones, Jenn McNamara, Scott Oldfield, Vaughn Randall, Wylie Schwartz, Ryan Somelofske, and Bryan Valentine Thomas.

All Dowd Gallery exhibitions and events are free and open to the public.

An opening reception for the artists is set for 5 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 4, at the gallery, which is in the Dowd Fine Arts Center located at the corner of Graham Avenue and Prospect Terrace. Refreshments will be served.

The diverse range of studio practices offers a glimpse into the research and craft of individual faculty and staff members with SUNY Cortland’s Art and Art History department, according to Scott Oldfield, interim director of Dowd Gallery.

“Viewers can engage with projected installations and view a range of recent expressive works in the disciplines of sculpture, ceramics, fibers, photography, printmaking, digital media, painting and drawing,” Oldfield said.

“Featured artworks explore individual practices that shape the methodology and innovation for students of contemporary studio arts.”

In addition, there will be a series of events hosted by the artists. All events below will begin at 5 p.m. in the gallery, unless noted otherwise.

• On Wednesday, Sept. 11, DeDominick and Swartz will give a 20-minute talk titled “Between Laboratory and Mythology: The Postwar Avant-Garde in Liguria.” Their lecture is focused on their research of 1950s to 1960s northern/central Italy. It also serves as preparation for a summer study abroad program in June 2025, ‘Patrons, Princes and Painters: Arts in Italy.”
• Faculty exhibitors will discuss their artistic vision during two separate “Artist’s Talk” events. The Wednesday, Sept. 11 event will feature Dell and Hones at 5:30 p.m. The Wednesday, Sept. 18 event will feature Somelofske at his installation piece.
• Barnaby, a multimedia artist, illustrator and educator,  and Collins, a researcher and creative thinker, will lead a workshop “Everything You Wanted to Know About Pants Fitting But Were Afraid to Ask” on Thursday, Sept. 12.
• On Wednesday, Sept. 18, a panel of faculty artists including Randall, Clark and Heasley will discuss art from perspectives of a sculptor, painter and print media specialist in the presentation titled “Craft AND or VERSE technology in the contemporary studio.” Their focus is on the relationship between craft and the technological evolution of visual arts. The 45-minute talk begins at 5:45 p.m.
• On Wednesday, Oct. 2, the artists McNamara, Thomas and Oldfield will offer an “open dialogue walkthrough” of the gallery titled, “Unscripted.” The faculty will discuss their works on view with visitors, in response to what is evoked by viewers’ interests and impromptu reactions to specific artworks.

Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday; and by appointment. The gallery is closed on weekends.

Visit @dowdgallery on Instagram or Facebook for detailed information about other programs, links to invitations for virtual events and artists’ profiles.

Group tours are available and can be arranged by contacting Oldfield at 607-753-4216.

Click on an image below to activate the gallery.

The Faculty Development Center (FDC) is accepting applications for the Small Grant Program. The Provost's Office, in collaboration with the Cortland College Foundation, provides funding for the program of up to $500 to SUNY Cortland faculty. Eligible applicants are members of the teaching faculty, specifically those SUNY Cortland employees whose official title includes the word professor, instructor, lecturer, or librarian.

Learn more about the Small Grant Award Guidelines which includes tips for a successful small grant application, provided on the FDC website. Here is the link to the Small Grant Application Form. It can also be found on the FDC website. Deadline for the Small Grant application for the fall semester is Monday, Sept. 16.

Applications must be completed using the new online application form, requesting routing first to your department chair and then dean. Please allow adequate time for your department chair and dean to review and sign/initial to complete your online application submission. Applications are not considered officially submitted until all required documentation and signatures have been received. Any application that is incomplete, missing signatures, or lacks the necessary documentation by the deadline will not be considered for review. Please attach a copy of your proposal as well as your budget as outlined in the online award application guidelines. A final decision is made by the provost.

Applicants are eligible to receive one Small Grant per fiscal year (July 1 through June 30). The Small Grant award activity dates for fall applications is Aug. 1 through Dec. 31, 2024. 

For any questions and additional information contact the Faculty Development Center, Betsy Barylski via email or by phone, at 607-753-4753.