Campus Champion

Red Dragons deciding on a major and exploring career options will not find a friendlier, more enthusiastic career coach and educator than Jacob Wright ’18 in Career Services. Behind his genuine smile is an experienced mentor. As an undergraduate, the philosophy major was actively involved on campus. As a professional, Jacob continues to connect and support SUNY Cortland’s men of color through the Multicultural Male Initiative. For anyone looking for direction, Jacob says, “I can help you navigate the ambiguity of life after college — there’s never a right answer because there are a thousand ways to achieve your goal.”   

SUNY Cortland continues to be among the best higher education options in the U.S., according to College Factual.

The popular education ranking website recognized the university as 218th out of 2,152 on its “2025 Best Colleges in the United States” list. As a bachelor’s degree-granting school, Cortland was 195th out of 1,398 schools in the country — the highest of all 13 comparable SUNY campuses for the second straight year.

Helping to boost Cortland’s scores were high-ranking degree programs rated as standout options for high school seniors looking to take their next step toward a career.

The university’s degree programs were among the best in multiple categories, including:

• In the top 3.2% at #12 out of 374 schools for Best Teacher Education Subject Specific Bachelor’s Degree Schools 
• In the top 3% at #16 out of 533 schools for Best Health & Physical Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools  
• In the top 8.5% at #17 out of 200 schools for Best Special Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools 
• In the top 3.5% at #18 out of 502 schools for Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools  
• In the top 4.5% at #30 out of 654 schools for Best Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools
• In the top 9.6% at #61 out of 630 schools for Best Teacher Education Grade Specific Bachelor’s Degree Schools

“This type of recognition speaks to the extraordinary education that students discover at SUNY Cortland, across so many different disciplines,” President Erik J. Bitterbaum said. “From the arts and sciences to education to in-demand professional fields, our campus is home to many excellent programs. These accolades reinforce the breadth of academic opportunity that exists for our Cortland students.”

College Factual describes itself as a website designed to help prospective college students, parents, guidance counselors and others navigate the often-confusing college selection process. Among the factors it considers are:

• Major Focus — How much a school focuses on subject specific students compared to other majors. 
• Major Demand — The number of subject-specific students who choose to seek a bachelor’s degree at the school. 
• Educational Resources — How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things. 
• Student Debt — How much debt subject-specific students take on to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay it back. 
• Accreditation — Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized teacher education subject-specific related body.

The information used to determine its rankings include data from the National Center for Education Statistics, and the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard and Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System.

Personal student experience is also weighed, with graduates’ employment success and earnings factoring into final placements.

Factual listed 59% of faculty at Cortland as full time, more than the 47% national average, which the site says is an indication that students at Cortland receive more time and focus from their professors than the average school. A first-year retention rate of 80% also shows that students enjoy the university enough to stay as a sophomore.

The new accolades for SUNY Cortland follow other recent recognition, including as one of the best schools for online education degrees and a top 5% sport education program.

SUNY Cortland continued a more than decade-old tradition of marking Transgender Day of Remembrance with a solemn vigil on Nov. 13 on the Corey Union steps.

“On the Transgender Day of Remembrance, we honor and remember the lives lost in acts of anti-transgender violence,” said Katarina Silvestri, a Transgender Day of Remembrance Subcommittee member of SUNY Cortland’s Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) Committee.

The vigil serves to honor and uplift people in the LGBTQ+ community who are made the most vulnerable due to how larger society treats transgender people, especially transgender people of color and even more specifically, transgender women of color.

“These victims, like all of us, were family members, friends and loving community members,” said Sylvestri, an associate professor and Literacy Department chair.

The official Transgender Day of Remembrance is Nov. 20. It marks the end of Transgender Awareness Week, when people and organizations around the country worked to help raise visibility for transgender people and address issues the community faces.

At Cortland, SOGIE planned the vigil to foster a safe and positive environment for the LBGTQIAP communities at SUNY Cortland. Cortland campus community members, led by the SOGIE subcommittee, read the names of people killed by anti-transgender violence on Nov. 13, the first day of Transgender week.

“The Transgender Day of Remembrance is a time to create and hold space to pause and honor those who have lost their lives to anti-trans violence,” Silvestri said.

On the day of the vigil, and again on Wednesday, Nov. 20, message screens around campus will share information about each of the 26 individuals killed so far in 2024. This year’s grim toll is tracking with 2023, when acts of violence claimed the lives of 30 people around the U.S.

This year, the SOGIE subcommittee added to the slideshow statistical information about lives taken by anti-trans violence around the U.S. in 2024, as well as a message encouraging the campus community to donate to organizations that directly aid trans people. Statistics stated that:

• 74% of victims were people of color
• 63% of victims were killed with a gun
• 48% of victims were Black transgender women
• 37% of victims were misgendered or “deadnamed” — that is, disrespectfully identified by their former name — by authorities or the press

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, has tracked the trend since 2013 and notes that those data are just the transgender homicides that they are aware of. Law enforcement agencies don’t always report such deaths accurately or honor the deceased’s gender identity, making it very difficult to learn about all the victims. SUNY Cortland held its first vigil that very same year.

Transgender Day of Remembrance was started nationally in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998. The vigil commemorated all transgender people lost to violence since Rita Hester's death in 1998. It has become an annual tradition.

“We do this alongside and in solidarity with our trans and gender expansive siblings, whether they be students, faculty, staff or any community members who want to join,” Silverstri said. “The LGBTQ+ community and their allies can come together in this space that we make together for this purpose.”

“Ultimately, we hope that someday we will not need a Trans Day of Remembrance, because trans people will live rich and full lives without anti-trans violence or being taken before their time.”

SUNY Cortland added the ceremony to expand SOGIE’s outreach to the transgender and nonconforming gender community, said SOGIE committee member Kate Coffey, associate professor of health, who helped launch the annual event.

“Generally as a group we were aware of all the public national days related to sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and so at the time, we were still looking at ways our committee could get involved to support students,” Coffey said.

“There was a shift with our committee that we wanted to get more involved with transgender groups,” she said.

The committee in 2019 added the annual TransAction Conference, which will be March 7 this year, Coffey said. As SOGIE’s primary event focused on transgender issues, TransAction has grown in attendance and scope, having started with a student or alumni keynote speaker to becoming a full national conference with a national keynote speaker and a call for papers. The university’s Louis Larson Lecture and Performance Series endowment supports the conference.

In addition to honoring the work of the Human Rights Campaign, SOGIE’s Transgender Day of Remembrance Subcommittee also recognizes the activism and advocacy of a second national organization, the Anti-Violence Project, which works to end violence against LGBTQ and HIV-affected persons.

Read more about the history of the Transgender Day of Remembrance on the website of GLAAD, an advocacy organization working to accelerate the acceptance of transgender or gender non-conforming people.

SUNY Cortland has added a new teletherapy service for students seeking immediate mental health support.

TeleHelp 24/7 is an online resource available for Cortland students, providing a range of free mental health services that include crisis support, individual sessions and group counseling. The university’s Counseling Center, part of Conley Counseling and Wellness Services, continues to welcome students for in-person clinical services, with TeleHelp 24/7 offering immediate access to teletherapy scheduling.

Students can access services by visiting the new provider’s website and completing the registration form.

TeleHelp 24/7 provides mental health services such as secure video conferencing appointments and text message therapy sessions. In addition, it offers access to a range of mental health providers that are culturally competent and experienced in meeting the needs of college students.

An array of resources are available through the Counseling Center, located in Van Hoesen Hall, Room B-44, even outside of the office’s regular 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekday hours.

Those resources include:

• Protocall: The Counseling Center’s crisis phone line is available 24 hours every day. Students can call the Counseling Center at 607-753-4728, wait until the call forwards to voicemail, then press “2,” and their calls will be forwarded to a mental health professional.

• Crisis Text Line: Students can text Got5U to 741741 and reach a trained volunteer crisis counselor.

• Togetherall: This free and anonymous online peer support community is available 24/7 to all students looking for mental health support and a sense of connection. Students can learn more about Togetherall online.

For more information about accessing TeleHelp 24/7, contact the Counseling Center at 607-753-4728.

SUNY Cortland presented its 39th annual College-Community Appreciation Award to Carl F. Gambitta ’63, M ’66, C.A.S. ’73 on Nov. 9 during a ceremony in the Corey Union Function Room.

Presented by the university’s College Council during an annual, invitation-only dinner, the College-Community Appreciation Award recognizes local citizens whose efforts have directly benefitted SUNY Cortland.

Gambitta, a retired Groton Jr.-Sr. High School American history and government teacher who has served nearly a half century on the SUNY Cortland Alumni Association board of directors, was honored for his ongoing deep commitment to serving both his community and his alma mater.

“He’s very gracious. He has humility. He’s very generous with his time,” said Tom Gallagher, the longtime chair of SUNY Cortland’s College Council. “When someone came up with Carl’s name, that was the end of the conversation, because of all his accomplishments and all the things he’s done.”

The beloved former educator advocates tirelessly behind-the-scenes for SUNY Cortland’s graduates, according to Erin Boylan, executive director of the SUNY Cortland Alumni Association.

Gambitta joined the alumni association board around 1975, served as its president from 1996 to 1998, and continues to help the association play its key role in alumni and university life. For decades he has helped organize Alumni Reunion, which draws hundreds of former students back to campus year after year.

“Carl’s kindness has permeated our campus and community,” Boylan said. “There is nothing that he will not do and always does more than what is needed. He thinks of everyone and has been known to send staff uplifting, affirmation texts or bring in sweets to share with volunteers. He is the epitome of what you would envision a perfect town-gown ambassador to be.”

Presented with the association’s Outstanding Volunteer Award in 2017, Gambitta believes giving back is just the right thing to do.

“It’s a little bit uncomfortable to get this award, but I think about the people who made sacrifices for me so I could even get an education,” he said. “Then I think of the people who I’ve worked with who do so many incredible things constantly.”

As the association’s president, Gambitta spearheaded early efforts to establish an alumni house property at 29 Tompkins St. in 2004, later chairing the committee advancing the ultimate purchase of what became the Lynne Parks ’68 SUNY Cortland Alumni House. He also served on the university’s Sesquicentennial Committee.

In 2013, in the aftermath of the destructive celebration that broke out in the city of Cortland after the Cortaca Jug football game, Gambitta joined a special panel of university and community leaders charged with investigating the incident and developing a plan to keep subsequent Cortaca celebrations safe and positive.

“I can never, ever, ever repay Cortland for the opportunities that it gave me, if I was on one of those committees for 75 years,” Gambitta said.

He retired in 2013 from teaching at Groton Central Schools after 50 years, having by his estimate touched the lives of at least 5,500 students in the Groton district and during a few years instructing part time at Tompkins-Cortland Community College. He continued for years afterwards as a substitute teacher.

“If you’re having a good time and really like what you’re doing, why would you change?” Gambitta said. “When I get onto something and I really like it, I’m a creature of habit.”

Last year, Groton (N.Y.) Junior/Senior High School dedicated its newly renovated football press box to Gambitta, dubbed “The Voice of Groton,” recognizing him for his longtime role as the announcer for home and away games.

Gallagher said, “I’m from Groton and what people say about him is, ‘He’s such a great guy.’ All the kids he taught; he’s been like a grandfather to them. And he follows them for the rest of their lives … If his former students call him after they graduate and have a problem, he’ll deal with it.”

“The greatest thing about teaching is you see these kids when they were growing up and now you see them as adults,” Gambitta said. “They have their families, they have their careers. Some of them have done very well for themselves and it’s wonderful to see and acknowledge the successes they have had.”

The son of a factory worker and homemaker in Oneida, N.Y., Gambitta described himself as “stretching it when I say I was a mediocre (high school) student. I had some great teachers, but I was just an immature kid who didn’t see a great value in that.

“I don’t know what happened, but when I came to Cortland, I just loved academics.”

“When I went to Cortland to study to become a teacher (secondary social studies), I absolutely felt that was the most important thing for me to possibly do.”

“For many years, Carl has stood out as a warm, welcoming presence to all Red Dragons, from future students visiting campus to fellow alums celebrating milestone class reunions,” SUNY Cortland President Erik J. Bitterbaum said. “Both the university and the local community are better places because of him.”

Gambitta lives in Virgil, N.Y., with his wife and fellow retired schoolteacher, Mary Ann Valle Gambitta ’65, M ’95. They have three grown children, all SUNY Cortland alumni: Deanne Gambitta Schiller ’89, Robert Gambitta ’89, M ’97 and Jeffrey Gambitta M ’03. Robert and Jeffrey both teach at Cortland High School. His sister is also a graduate, Patricia Gambitta ’69, Ph.D., and he has a cousin in the Red Dragon family, Peter Di Nardo ’68, Ph.D. The Gambittas have 10 grandchildren.

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SUNY Cortland was nationally recognized this month as a 2024 All In Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting.

The All In Campus Democracy Challenge, a national program promoting college voter registration and turnout efforts, strives to strengthen civic culture by institutionalizing democratic engagement activities and programs on college campuses, making voter participation a defining feature of campus life.

All In, which currently works to engage with more than 10 million students on more than 1,000 campuses nationwide, is an initiative of Civic Nation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

This national voter engagement recognition, Cortland’s second since April, spotlights colleges and universities that take concrete actions to increase student voter participation. SUNY Cortland joins a group of 471 colleges and universities recognized for their 2022 accomplishments by the nonpartisan group, which is based in Washington, D.C.

The Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting challenge placed SUNY Cortland among 471 colleges and universities for their outstanding efforts to increase nonpartisan student voter participation. The institutions completed four core actions to earn their rankings:

• Participating in the All In Campus Democracy Challenge
• Sharing 2022 National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement (NSLVE) Reports containing campus voting data with All In
• Developing and submitting a 2024 democratic engagement action plan with All In
• Having a current signatory to All In’s Higher Education Presidents’ Commitment to Full Student Voter Participation

The university previously earned the Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting honor in November 2022 for its 2020 actions.

Registering students to vote continues to be a priority on the Cortland campus, with 777 students newly registered for the 2023 election and 830 new voters registered for 2024, according to John Suarez, who directs SUNY Cortland’s Barbara A. Galpin ’68, M ’74 Institute for Civic Engagement, and Jack Byrd, coordinator for the Cortland chapter of New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG).

However, Suarez and others in the campus community don’t believe that registering lots of students to vote is enough to motivate students to be fully engaged in the running of government. They’re working on that.

“This second All In Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting recognition is important because it recognizes SUNY Cortland’s ‘all hands on deck’ approach to helping students practice ways of being more engaged in public life,” Suarez said.

SUNY Cortland and other campuses are participating in a higher education shift described in the online publication EdSurge, “In Time of Campus Turmoil, More Colleges Try Teaching Civil Discourse.”

“We’re working to help students understand that while voting is one way to be involved in civic decision-making, there are many ways to be involved in between elections,” he said.

For example, the Galpin Institute partners with three Student Government Association (SGA) clubs to conduct deliberative dialogues, in which 30 to 40 students with different points of view explore options for addressing a shared concern. In addition to students, participants often include faculty, staff, administrators and local elected officials. Students practice constructive disagreement and problem solving skills, which strengthen their civic and career readiness.

In another example, those three clubs, BridgeCortland, the local chapter of Bridge USA, Turning Point USA/Cortland, and the Cortland chapter of NYPIRG organized presidential and vice-presidential debate watch parties. The League of Women Voters/Cortland County and Cortland Auxiliary Services contributed to the events as well, with Election Bingo cards and prizes.

Meanwhile, the Galpin Institute’s Cortland Applied Learning Practitioners/Democracy Engagement Fellows program supports the efforts of individual faculty members to incorporate civic discourse skills into applied learning courses in a specific discipline.

“Again, this helps students understand that they can apply their education in civic decision-making activities that go beyond voting in elections,” Suarez said.

This past spring, the university was among 93 institutions of higher education in the U.S. that the All In Campus Democracy Challenge recognized for action plans promoting student participation in elections with a Highly Established Action Plan Seal. The university first won this honor in 2022. The Challenge considered 932 action plan participants, each of which submitted a detailed outline of how it will reach its voter registration and turnout goals. Only two other SUNY institutions made the 2024 “highly established action plan” list.

Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, executive director of the All In Campus Democracy Challenge, noted that the research is clear.

“Colleges and universities that make intentional efforts to increase nonpartisan democratic engagement have higher campus voter registration and voter turnout rates,” she said.

“This year we saw more colleges than ever before step up their efforts to ensure that their students were registered and ready to make their voices heard at the ballot box. These Most Engaged Campuses are setting the standard for nonpartisan civic engagement work for colleges and universities across the country.”

A record 27 Cortaca Nation viewing parties organized by SUNY Cortland’s Alumni Engagement office witnessed Red Dragon football's 28-to-17 point victory against the Ithaca College Bombers on Nov. 16.

The game was sold out at the James J. Grady '50, M '61 Field at SUNY Cortland’s Stadium Complex.

Yet when SUNY Cortland’s 65-year-old rivalry with Ithaca College, the Cortaca Jug, ended, an estimated 2,000 sets of eyeballs enjoyed the livestreamed game at venues in their home cities from as far away as the Los Angeles area and Ontario, Canada. SUNY Cortland streamed the game live through the Red Dragon Sports Network, as well as provided live stats.

The number of viewing parties this year more than doubled compared to last year’s 13, said Jake LeBlanc ’19, assistant director of alumni engagement and the primary contact for the Cortaca watch parties for both this year and last. That outstripped Alumni Engagement’s all-time number of 20 such gatherings.

Last year’s virtual attendance at least doubled, and clearly the Red Dragons’ national championship victory, its best season ever, inspired many first-time watch party hosts. This year's win brings the team to 10-0.

In the weeks leading up to the big game, LeBlanc reached out to both 2023 watch party groups — 13 for Cortaca and 20 for the championship game — to encourage them to continue their support for the 2024 Cortaca Jug.

“The championship game enthusiasm kind of blew everything up,” LeBlanc said. “We’ve more than doubled what we had for Cortaca last year.”

In 2023, quite a few alumni hosted watch parties for both games, he said. However, many fans chose to attend the Stagg Bowl game in person in Salem, Virginia.

In El Segundo, California, fans could cheer the 2024 team thanks to first-time Cortaca watch party host Patrick Cox ’78, owner of the Brewport Tap House & Kitchen. Guests arrived at 8:30 a.m. and started with a “nice, light brunch menu,” inspired with California’s 3-hour time difference in mind.

During the late 1970s, Cox helped pioneer live radio play-by-play broadcasts of Red Dragon sports. A recent Alumni Reunion where he met many former classmates motivated Cox to reconnect.

“The first watch party we hosted was the national championship game. We had a nice turnout, and it was great to meet people who experienced living and going to Cortland State University.”

Cortaca Jug watch parties also went international this year when fans of SUNY Cortland football living in the small community of Napanee, Ontario, Canada, reached out to Alumni Engagement for the first time.

“We are having a group of 10 to 15 of Canadian Red Dragons fans at the Queens Tavern,” Darcy Murphy said before game day.

“A few of us went to school in upstate New York and are big football fans,” Murphy explained, naming companions Clive Nickel, James Griffin and Curtis Leonard.

They’re all graduates of nearby Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., or Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. 

“We found out about the Cortaca Jug and have been Red Dragon fans ever since. We decided to have the watch party as we are bandwagon jumpers and have fully bought in to SUNY Cortland. We are hoping to get to the game next year, but the watch party will be a close second place.”

Social media, namely Facebook, created a partnership between first-time hosts Jody Sirota Williams ’93, a newcomer to Atlanta, Georgia, and Evan Kaschura ’14, manager of Loyal Tavern, the watch party’s sports bar location in nearby Roswell, Georgia.

“To be honest, the whole thing started because I posted in the Alumni Page and asked if anyone was having a watch party in Atlanta,” Williams said. “I just moved here in July.”

Kaschura replied, and the rest is Nov. 16 school spirit history, as Williams pulled in RSVPs from the region’s numerous alumni.

Closer to home, in Horseheads, N.Y., this year’s host Stacy Whiting Richmond '93, M '94 C.A.S. '01 said that, until this year, a growing neighborhood group of graduates with their family and friends and the odd Bombers fan had arranged for trips to pubs in and around Cortland for almost 20 years. Last year, a bus took about 40 people to root for Red Dragons at the Cortland Brewing Co.

On Sept. 1, Richmond, an assistant school principal, and her husband, a school counselor, opened a self-serve style tavern named Latitude 42 Taphouse. Now they are starting a new era in local football fandom.

“Initially, it was one of our neighbors who organized it, neighbors who didn’t recognize we had all gone to Cortland,” she said of the informal party’s long history.

“A lot of our friends have become Cortland fans just because of our neighborhood. There’s one Ithaca grad who comes and we have other neighbors go to Ithaca.”

Their children, who aren’t alumni, travel from Illinois and Virginia to avoid missing the big neighborhood event.

In the Buffalo area, Patrick Lalley ’98 decided to host a Cortaca Nation event after inviting the Red Dragon team to come dine after a game at his Blackthorn Restaurant & Pub in South Buffalo.

“He posted on social media about the team at his pub,” LeBlanc said. “The team put up a bunch of pictures on Instagram of that.”

A Cortaca Nation viewing party in the same location is the natural next step.

This year, new viewing parties also came to Malta, N.Y., and Oyster Bay, N.Y., as well, LeBlanc said. 

Meanwhile, Kristin Jamieson LaBar ’07, M ’08 and her husband Tonee LaBar are 10-year Cortaca Nation viewing party pros, who only missed hosting Watertown, N.Y.’s “North Country Jug” at Time Warp Tavern once to attend the game when it was held at Yankee Stadium.

Why do they keep doing it?

“We have a lot of alums and even some former (Red Dragon) football players that live in the area, so we always have a good time,” said LaBar, who teaches kindergarten and sells real estate.

“The alum football players wear their jerseys and it’s a blast from the past! Last year we were able to host watch parties for the playoff games and the National Championship games. We had huge turnouts for those. It was super enjoyable. The National Championship was after the semester had let out, so we had a lot of current college students attend the watch party. ... super neat!”

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Good news for all of SUNY Cortland’s many independent thinkers: the deadline for applying to speak at TEDx SUNY Cortland 2025 has been extended.

Faculty, staff, students and alumni now have until Monday, Nov. 25, to apply for the university’s third-annual TEDx event.

The application is available online.

TEDx SUNY Cortland 2025 is scheduled for Friday, April 4, from 6 to 8 p.m. in Sperry Center, Room 205.

Its organizers have adopted the current theme of the university’s Cultural and Intellectual Climate Committee’s common read and event series: “Air.”

No, that doesn’t mean you need to be an atmospheric scientist. It means you are invited to explore the many invisible forces that affect our lives and share your thoughts with a global audience. The potential topics this theme lends itself to are as rich and varied as your imagination.

You can look at air as a carrier of human emotions. Is love in the air? Tension? Foreboding? Does it serve as the conduit for cultural or societal shifts, giving us a sense that change is in the air? You can look through the lens of spirituality or metaphysics. Or science. From microplastics and greenhouse gases to diseases and radio signals from space, unseen forces pose new mysteries that need to be solved. What comes out of thin air? Money? Great works of art? Artificial intelligence? Whatever your special interest is, it can probably be discussed through this framework.

You can learn more, apply to speak and view previous TEDx SUNY Cortland presenters on SUNY Cortland’s website.

The SUNY Cortland women's ice hockey team will be holding its fifth annual Make-A-Wish® charity game on Friday, Dec. 6, when the Red Dragons host Buffalo State at 3 p.m. in a SUNYAC game. The event will support Make-A-Wish® Central New York.

Fans can show the community their support for the charity in a number of ways:

• Bid on limited edition Make-A-Wish®/Red Dragon charity game-worn jerseys, with all proceeds going directly to the Make-A-Wish® Central New York Chapter  (Jersey Auction Web Page). The auction will run from Oct. 18 through 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 19.
• Become a donor - When you donate to Make-A-Wish® you're giving children renewed strength to fight their illnesses, bringing families closer together and uniting entire communities. You can change lives!  (Donate Here)
• Participate and encourage others to attend the game

On game day:

• Last chance to enter to win raffle items from the game-day auction
• Making a cash donation
• Purchasing a Make-A-Wish® star and/or bracelet
• Purchase 50/50 raffle tickets
• Participate in Chuck-a-Puck competition

The Red Dragons hope to reach their goal of raising $2,000 this season. Thanks to passionate supporters like you, Make-A-Wish® shines a light of hope for children fighting critical illnesses when they need it most. Together, we create life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses during their darkest days. Whether you are an individual donor, corporate sponsor, fundraising advocate or volunteer, your generous support transforms lives, one wish at a time.

Any questions about the auction or the charity game can be directed to Cortland assistant coach Natalie DiMeglio at natalie.dimeglio@cortland.edu.

Jersey Auction Web Page

To make a donation to support this cause, please visit this website. 

The Human Resources Office will recognize classified staff and Research Foundation employees who have met milestone years of service with SUNY Cortland at its 2024 Annual Service Awards Ceremony set for Friday, Dec. 13, in the Corey Union Function Room. 

The following employees are slated to receive awards. To note a correction or addition to the list, contact Nicole Allen in the Human Resources Office by email or by phone at 607-753-2302.  

2024 Service Award awardees  

25 YEARS 

Douglas Adsit, Facilities Operations and Services 

Lucinda Compagni, Development Office 

Heather Hurteau, Child Care Center (Research Foundation) 

Christine Newcomb, Cortland College Foundation (Research Foundation) 

*Kathleen Hudson, International Programs 

*Laurie Matthews, Child Care Center (Research Foundation) 

20 YEARS 

Ryan Kleveno, Motor Pool 

Tanya Lowie, Facilities Operations and Services 

Robert Maarberg, Heating Plant 

Jennifer Stiles, Communication Disorders and Sciences Department 

*Lou Anne Simons, Library 

15 YEARS 

Heather Drew, Information Resources 

Charles Greenman, Fleet Operations 

*Christina DiGiusto, Communications Office 

*Tammi Vassalotti, Facilities Operations and Services 

10 YEARS 

Brian Bennett, Maintenance 

Denise DuBrava, Custodial Services 

Lee Gokey, Maintenance 

Jeanenne Hall, Extended Learning Office 

Heather Hammond, Physical Education 

Patrick McLorn, Residence Life and Housing 

Kevin Wellings, Maintenance 

Michael Wood, Maintenance 

*Michael Gregory, Mail Services/Central Warehouse 

*Retired in 2024 

Celebrate and recognize COR 101 student facilitators at the annual Poster Symposium and Student Facilitator Appreciation event set for Wednesday, Dec. 4 and Thursday, Dec. 5 in Memorial Library. 

Hosted by Advisement and Transition, the symposium will be held both days from noon to 3:30 p.m. in the library’s first floor lobby outside of Advisement and Transition. The event will highlight a selection of lessons presented by 60 COR 101 student facilitators who participated in an internship (COR 300) with the COR 101 first-year seminar program. 

Posters highlight topics important to the success of first-year students and cover the preparation, research, lesson execution, reflection and assessment that went into teaching their class of first-year students. The event will also recognize the facilitators’ work throughout the semester. 

A digital version of the posters will be archived and available for viewing within the Digital Commons. A link to the collection of digital posters will be shared following the symposium.