Campus Champion

Assistant Vice President Amy Henderson-Harr combines her extensive experience in sponsored research with an unflappable determination to enhance the educational opportunities for all SUNY Cortland faculty and students. She works closely with our faculty members to identify independent sources of funding that will showcase their talents and concepts for educational innovation. Last year, for example, she helped the College to secure more than $5 million of which $3.2 was expended. Already during the current academic year, she has assisted in garnering an additional $1 million in research funds.

Louise M. Conley, Ph.D., of Princeton, N.J., a member of the Cortland College Foundation Board of Directors, has bequeathed $1 million to SUNY Cortland to create its first endowed academic chair.

The naming of the award was approved by the State University of New York Board of Trustees during its meeting on March 23 at SUNY College of Optometry in Manhattan. The bequest marks the third million-dollar gift by an individual received by SUNY Cortland in as many months in 2010.

“We are deeply honored that the first endowed chair at SUNY Cortland was created by the granddaughter of Dr. Francis J. Cheney, the second principal (president) of the Cortland Normal School whose leadership and vision helped to shape the direction of this institution during its formative years,” said SUNY Cortland President Erik J. Bitterbaum.

“Once the resources become available to the College, the Louise M. Conley Chair in Educational Leadership will provide a SUNY Cortland faculty member in the Educational Leadership Department with additional funds to support his or her research, teaching, student assistants or in fulfilling departmental initiatives,” explained Raymond D. Franco, vice president for institutional advancement at SUNY Cortland.

Franco estimates that the endowed chair will generate between $40,000-$50,000 annually for its recipient, adding that the funds are not to be used for salaries.

“This is a time-honored tradition in college and universities but within SUNY it is unusual to have an endowed chair,” added Franco. “Dr. Conley’s gift demonstrates the power of private philanthropy and how it can strengthen and support the College in the pursuit of its academic mission.”

In addition to this $1 million gift in her will, Conley, a licensed psychologist, has financially supported SUNY Cortland with more than $150,00 dating back to the late 1990s, when she created and co-sponsored the biennial Francis J. Cheney Educational Issues Conference at SUNY Cortland. She named it after her grandfather, who was the Cortland Normal School principal from 1891 until his death in 1912. The four conferences held between 1999 and 2005 brought influential and effective leaders in education to the campus to share their strategies for improving teacher education programs and the education of students from kindergarten through college.

Another initiative funded by Conley, the Francis J. Cheney Scholarship, provides $1,000 annually up to four years to admitted freshmen who are majoring in the area of education and who demonstrate the highest academic achievement and greatest financial need.

In 2004, she supported the College’s new Alumni House and funded the Louise McCarthy Conley Room, which encompasses the master bedroom as well as two adjoining rooms with a full-sized walk-in closet and a bathroom.

While Conley is the College’s first million-dollar donor who did not graduate from the institution, her Cortland roots admittedly run very deep.

“I heard about Cortland Normal School all my life because both of my parents went there and my grandfather was the head of it,” Conley explained. “It was an integral part of my parents’ early education. They very much valued the quality of the education they received there.”

Her mother, Clara Cheney ’17, and her father, Rollin McCarthy ’16, both graduated from Cortland Normal. They reunited a few years later while pursuing master’s degrees at Cornell University and were married in 1925. Her parents and both sets of grandparents are buried in Cortland cemetery next to the College.

Although she had only visited Cortland once with her father and again with both parents in 1984 for her sister’s burial, Conley reconnected with the College in the 1990s when she read correspondence her father received from the Alumni Affairs Office regarding the reopening of Old Main. She attended events associated with the gala and savored the special place her grandfather occupied in SUNY Cortland’s history.

“I had an admiration for him through my mother because he died when my mother was 12,” explained Conley. “I knew only of him through my mother’s eyes. But reading more about him, I learned that he did an excellent job of leading the school and moving it forward. He was an effective organizer during his 21 years there. He was a very good liaison between Cortland Normal and the town.”

His leadership skills prompted Conley to designate her endowed chair toward SUNY Cortland’s Educational Leadership Department, one of four academic departments within the College’s School of Education. The department prepares educational leaders by effectively integrating theory and practice to develop schools and other learning communities.

“I wanted to be able to emphasize the value of high quality administration in education,” concluded Conley.

The Educational Leadership program of study at SUNY Cortland is designed to satisfy the requirements of the Certificate of Advanced Study in Educational Administration (CAS). By completing the program and passing the required New York State assessments, graduates are recommended by SUNY Cortland to the New York State Education Department for various educational leadership certifications.

Two SUNY Cortland graduates, University of Wyoming President Thomas Buchanan and Wells College President Lisa Marsh Ryerson, will receive honorary degrees from State University of New York during the Undergraduate Commencement exercises in Park Center Alumni Arena on Saturday, May 22.

Ryerson, who earned a Master of Science in Education from SUNY Cortland in 1991, will address the graduates at the 9:30 a.m. Commencement, while Buchanan, who received his Bachelor of Science in Recreation Education in 1974, will speak at the 2:30 p.m. ceremony.

Brief biographies of Buchanan and Ryerson, both of whom will receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, follow.

Thomas Buchanan ’74

As president of the University of Wyoming (UW) since 2005, Buchanan has set priorities for the university that have resulted in increased excellence in academics, promoting access to higher education in Wyoming and enhancing the state's economic and workforce development.

Under Buchanan’s direction, the university has experienced extraordinary success with the Wyoming State Legislature, resulting in unprecedented support for the university, including the allocation of $82 million in state matching dollars for private contributions as well as more than 100 new faculty positions. Buchanan was instrumental in helping shape legislation that established programs supporting higher education throughout Wyoming, including the Hathaway Scholarship Program and the Excellence in Higher Education Endowment.

His leadership at UW has led to record-breaking growth in private giving and research funding, with more than $500 million dollars in capital construction projects. In addition, Buchanan guided the development of the UW School of Energy Resources, the successful negotiation of contracts with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the National Science Foundation to establish a supercomputing facility in Wyoming, and worked with General Electric for the development of a coal gasification research facility.

Like most colleges and universities, UW has been impacted by recent economic conditions. Buchanan led the university through its most significant budget reduction in the history of the institution in order to meet budget objectives of the State of Wyoming.

Buchanan’s higher education career has spanned more than 35 years as a student, teacher, and administrator.

After graduating from SUNY Cortland, the Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., native earned a master of science degree from the University of Wyoming in 1975 and a Ph.D. from the Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1979.

Upon completing his doctorate, Buchanan returned to Wyoming as an assistant professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Wyoming. Over the next 30 years, he rose through the faculty ranks to full professor in 1991. He was department chair from 1988-91.

Buchanan received research dollars and state agency funding for his various projects. He worked with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department on the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone. He and his students studied the chemical composition of fresh snow on Mount Everest. He also worked with the state’s Department of Commerce on the impact of tourism.

In 1988, he received the University of Wyoming’s highest honor for classroom teaching — the John P. Ellbogen Meritorious Classroom Teaching Award. In 1990, he was the College of Arts and Sciences Siebold Professor, which provided an honorarium to enhance one’s career. Buchanan used it to bring the first Geographic Information System (GIS) to the UW campus.

He subsequently served as associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and as vice president for academic affairs. On July 1, 2005, he was appointed the 23rd president of the University of Wyoming.

He serves on the governing boards of the Mountain West Athletic Conference, the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, and the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications. He is Wyoming's representative to State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO).

Buchanan is married to Jacque, whom he met while a student at UW. They are the proud parents of Eric and grandparents of Bradley.

Lisa Marsh Ryerson M ’91

An experienced, innovative leader known for her advocacy of gender equity, the liberal arts and commitment to providing increased access to higher education, Ryerson has served as president of Wells College since 1995. The first alumna to become president of Wells College, she is the institution’s 17th president and currently the senior college president in the region.

Nationally recognized for her progressive views on higher education and community partnerships, Ryerson speaks and writes about the benefits of inclusive coeducation, gender equality in education and society, women in leadership, and business-education partnerships among many other topics.

She has elevated the college’s national standing as a leader in providing an excellent liberal arts education at an affordable price. Ryerson led the board of trustees through a planning and decision-making process that included opening the college’s doors to matriculated male students for the first time in the college’s history beginning in Fall 2005. She directed Wells’ successful transition to coeducation and subsequent 45 percent increase in enrollment.

In February 2010, Ryerson announced the addition of an innovative business center to Wells' liberal arts offerings. This program puts Wells at the forefront of national efforts to revitalize undergraduate business programs by connecting them more fully to the liberal arts.

Ryerson played a key leadership and collaborative role in economically revitalizing the village of Aurora through the restoration and refurbishment of the college’s extensive holdings in the village’s commercial district. Additionally, she has overseen the construction of Stratton Hall, the college's state-of-the-art science facility. Under her leadership, Wells completed the largest and most successful fundraising effort in its history – a comprehensive campaign that surpassed its ambitious $50 million goal.

An active leader in many national, state and local organizations, Ryerson serves as a commissioner and executive committee member of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education; a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Management Council; a director of the Metropolitan Development Association (MDA) of Syracuse and Central New York; a director of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra; a member of the Central New York Advisory Board of HSBC Bank; a member of the board of the Northwood School in Lake Placid, N.Y.; a trustee of Auburn Memorial Hospital; and member of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art Community Advisory Committee at Cornell University.

Ryerson is a past chair of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities of New York State, the Executive Board of the Public Leadership Education Network in Washington, D.C., and the Women’s College Coalition in Washington, D.C. She is a vice chair of the Council of Independent Colleges, the American Council on Education’s Commission on Leadership and Institutional Effectiveness, and the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.

She has been honored with the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District II Chief Executive Leadership Award; a New York State Senate Woman of Distinction Award; the Girls Inc. of CNY Spirit of American Women National Role Model for Girls Award; the Central New York Chapter of The Public Relations Society of America Communications Advocate Award; a Post-Standard Achievement Award; and a Seven Lakes Girl Scout Council Woman of Distinction Award.

The Jamestown, N.Y. native earned her bachelor’s degree from Wells. She resides in Aurora with her husband, George E. Farenthold, and three daughters, Annie, Carol and Julie.

Scottish digital artist Paul Higham teams up with British sculptor Coral Lambert to present an exhibition titled “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” from April 5-16 at Dowd Gallery.

Presented in part by the Campus Artist and Lecture Series and the Art Exhibition Association, all events of the exhibition are free and open to the public.

On Monday, April 12, Higham will offer a workshop and demonstrations in the Old Main Sculpture Studio, located in Room G-35.

The artists will discuss their work at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, April 14, in Dowd Gallery. A reception will follow from 4-6 p.m. in the gallery.

On Friday, April 16, Lambert will present an iron pour starting at 2 p.m. in the annex building adjacent to the Professional Studies Building) construction site.

A digital image by Paul Higham

Paul Higham

Considered an electronic art pioneer, Higham studied fine art at Liverpool and Goldsmiths School of Art in London. The late British artist Carl Plackman (1943-04), whose own works greatly influenced late 20th century scupture, once described Higham’s work in the early 1970s as “schematic entropy machines,” referring to his 1975 vacuum-formed, plastic prototypes, also called a progenitor of “virtual sculpture” and  “data sculpture.”

Higham creates his works in formats such as rapid prototype, projection, maps and ‘datasonification’ and he uses matrices of sampled sources such as the Statue of Liberty, weather data, oil futures and the Dow Jones index.

 “These data sculptures are synthetic, computational works that deal with the ‘commodification’ of information and dynamics of data itself,” Higham said. He harvests grains of information from digital streams in real time and his continually evolving model reveals societal transformations over time, for example, the freezing and crash of the dollar.

In 1996, he was awarded an  “Artist of Extraordinary Ability” green card allowing him to work freely between the U.K. and U.S. Higham continues to exhibit Internationally, including at the New York Digital Salon, Wedgewood Memorial Sculpture Park in the United Kingdom, Pirkala Sculpture Park in Finland and the Contemporary Art Center in New Orleans.

He recently served as a visiting faculty member at the New York Institute of Technology, where he designed and set up the Digital Foundry course. A judge for Ars Mathematica/Intersculpt, he was honored as the Jerome Mcknight Electronic Composer and awarded The New Media Initiative by the Walker Art Center. He has served as visiting artist and lecturer at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, the Cranbrook Academy of Art, the Sante Fe Art Institute and the New York Institute of Technology.

Coral Lambert

Lambert currently serves as an assistant professor of sculpture at the School of Art and Design at Alfred University, where she also heads the National Casting Center’s Sculpture Foundry Program.

She studied in the U.K. at Central School of Art in London, Canterbury College of Art in Kent, and received her Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Manchester in 1990.

Over the past 20 years, Lambert’s work has been exhibited at the Barbican Center in London, ‘Convergence’ in Providence, R.I., Chicago’s Pier Walk, Pirrkala in Finland and The National Metal Museum in Memphis, Tenn. Internationally recognized for working in cast iron as well as producing large-scale outdoor pieces, Lambert recently received the Gottlieb Foundation Award and The Joan Mitchell Grant.

She is currently working on “Fallen Sky,” commissioned by Sculpture For New Orleans, after which she will be in producing work for Salem Castle in Germany.

For more information, contact interim gallery director Bryan Thomas at (607) 753-4311.

International Communications and Culture (ICC) Department faculty recently voted to change the department’s name to the Modern Languages Department, effective to external audiences at the start of the 2010-11 academic year.

The proposal was submitted on Feb. 17 and subsequently reviewed and approved by School of Arts and Sciences Dean Bruce Mattingly. The President’s Cabinet endorsed the change on March 15.

Starting on Aug. 30, the new moniker will appear in all College publications, communications, on the Web site and signage.

ICC Department Chair Robert Ponterio stated in his proposal for the change that the new name would clearly, accurately and briefly describe the purpose and scope of the department.

The Modern Languages Department will be easier for prospective foreign language students to recognize than the current department title, he said, adding that the present name does reflect the state and national standards of language studies.

However, “the name International Communications and Culture frequently leads to confusion and misunderstanding,” he explained. “Other offices have similar sounding names: International Programs (Clark Center), Communication Studies, International Studies and Communication Disorders and Sciences. In addition, prospective students looking for language classes or majors in French, Spanish and Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) can have trouble finding us because ‘International Communications and Culture’ is meaningless to them. The name simply doesn’t communicate what we do to the uninitiated.”

In the course of developing the new name, faculty examined the names of similar departments in other SUNY schools and in other mid-sized area colleges. Many use the words “Modern” and “Languages.”

“Any new name would have to accurately reflect what we do and clearly communicate the range of our activities to others,” Ponterio continued.

“Modern Languages is brief and to the point. It includes the communication and culture goals of the standards along with the associated areas of language and literature. Although ‘Second Languages’ would be technically more accurate in some ways, it would lead to confusion, whereas ‘Modern Languages’ does not.”

In bringing about the name change, the department’s faculty followed the College’s revised timetable for office and departmental name changes, which was approved by the President’s Cabinet in February 2009 and is published under Chapter 442 of the College Handbook.

SUNY Cortland’s award-winning commitment to develop more well-rounded and civically engaged students will pick up speed with an initiative to assess and improve the quality of its programs, supported by a $100,000 Bringing Theory to Practice grant.

By accepting the two-year matching grant, which runs from July 1 of this year until June 30, 2012, the College’s Institute for Civic Engagement (ICE) agrees to launch a demonstration site for Bringing Theory to Practice (BTtoP), an independent project in partnership with the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), of which SUNY Cortland is a member. The Bringing Theory to Practice project is supported by the Charles Englehard Foundation.

The grant, which is intended to improve the well-being and academic preparation of SUNY Cortland’s students, will research a host of projects both inside and outside the classroom that incorporate high-impact learning practices to measure their effects on student learning outcomes, particularly indicators of well-being such as perspective taking, identity formation, emotional competence and resilience.

The term “high-impact learning” is used to describe a variety of engaged learning activities, whether performed in classroom or external settings. For example, students might engage in service-learning, undergraduate research, community-based research, senior theses, capstone courses, internships, international experiences and multi-cultural experiences.

“With this grant, the Institute for Civic Engagement is now able to add a research component to its program,” observed Richard Kendrick, who directs SUNY Cortland’s institute. “And we are including some of our newer faculty members in this project.”

“This project will advance the goals of the Presidents' Leadership Coalition for Student Engagement, which will learn much from the research design and findings,” observed Amy Henderson-Harr, SUNY Cortland’s assistant vice president for research and sponsored programs.    

“Building upon SUNY Cortland’s history of engagement, we will deepen transformational change on our campus and in the lives of our students by intensifying the use of high-impact learning practices in the College’s three schools,” Henderson-Harr stated. “This effort should also further SUNY Cortland's top standing as a national model for engaged learning.”

Through this project, the institute will systematically examine the connection between high-impact learning practices and students’ flourishing at college, including the cumulative effects of such practices, Kendrick explained. In addition, the College will share with its peers in higher education findings about effective ways of deepening transformational change through high-impact learning.

The four grant reviewers, whof represent the AAC&U, The Charles Engelhard Foundation, and the BTtoP Demonstration Site Program, noted that SUNY Cortland was among the very few institutions to receive the highly competitive grant for which limited funding was available.

 “Our approval of the proposal is based on our belief in the promise of your work to build capacity for engaged learning in ways that promote transformative learning affecting the psychosocial well-being of students and contribute to their civic development,” the reviewers wrote.

SUNY Cortland was one of only six institutions accepted out of more than 50 proposals to create one of the BTtoP Project's most rebust initiatives of campus support and research, a demonstration site. The other chosen campuses are: Otterbein College, Tufts University, the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Georgetown University and Wagner College.

The new funding builds upon a $247,000 congressionally directed grant called “Building Community Leaders” that the institute received last fall to develop academic programs that will train tomorrow's community leaders and help keep young people in the state after graduation. This initiative is administered through the Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE).

Kendrick expressed appreciation to the grant team which included Christopher Latimer, associate director of the institute and an assistant professor of political science; Edward Hill, assistant professor of recreation, parks and leisure studies; Barbara Shiplett, assistant professor of health; John Suarez, coordinator of service learning; and Lori Schlicht, associate director of advisement and transition and COR 101 coordinator. Hill and Shiplett will serve as the project’s lead evaluator and co-evaluator, respectively.

The sun shines through the Central New York clouds in Cortland, signaling the start of spring. And with that, comes the stress and anxiety of tax season.

For more than 400 fortunate Cortland County residents, eight SUNY Cortland students have relieved the impending terror brought on by W-2 and 1099 forms.

Aided by Kathleen Burke, an associate professor in the Economics Department, and Barbara Henza of Cornell Cooperative Extension, the eight business economics majors are participating in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA).

The program provides taxpayers with an income below $49,000 with free tax preparation services.

Corey Fahey, a senior business economics major, assists a Cortland County resident with her tax preparation.

“Every person we help is so thankful,” says Megan Gonsalves, a senior from Binghamton, N.Y.

“I see the difference we’re making firsthand,” adds Cory Fahey of Syracuse, N.Y. “I had one woman come in who used her refund to make the down payment for a new car. She was so excited and that was really cool to see.”

As a prerequisite, the eight students took a tutorial course in basic and intermediate income tax assistance. Additionally, they completed a series of Internal Revenue Service tests and received a minimum score on each test. All the students now have a certification in tax preparation that is valid for one year.

“I volunteered because I love working with people,” comments Gonsalves, who helps to schedule appointments and pre-screens the clients. “I think the experience I’ve had will help build my resume.”

Each student is receiving academic credit in exchange for his or her volunteer hours.

“I learned how to use Excel and Microsoft Access,” says senior Tiffany Miller of Schenectady, N.Y. “I’m coming away from this with computer skills and people skills that I need for real life."

Burke addressed senior-level economics classes and sought volunteers.

“The is the first year that SUNY Cortland students have volunteered,” says Burke, “I would love to keep this program available to students in the future.”

Amanda Burke, Evan Wyler, Alice Huynh, Michael Friel and Lauren Riley are participating in the program, in addition to Gonsalves, Fahey and Miller.

Anyone interested in taking part in the VITA program this spring should call Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cortland County at (607) 753-5077 to make an appointment.

SUNY Cortland art students welcomed spring with an exhibition titled “Moist,” which opened on April 1 at Main Street SUNY Cortland’s Beard Building Gallery, 9 Main St.

The exhibition, which runs through Tuesday, April 27, is free and open to the public. The Beard Building Gallery is open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Conceived by art students in the College’s Art Exhibition Association (AEA), the exhibition is presented by the association and the Cortland Downtown Partnership. Keith Millman, associate professor of new media at Tompkins-Cortland Community College, juried the exhibition.

“As the snow melts, the land is left moist and ready for new beginnings,” explains the AEA President Jason Saunders. “‘Moist’ is the ‘you’ feeling you get when spring arrives. It is like no other. It sparks new ideas and unleashes the artist within.

“This is the loose theme of the exhibition, which its artists address in various ways,” he said.

The gallery is a collaboration between SUNY Cortland, the Cultural Council of Cortland County and the Cortland Downtown Partnership. The Beard Gallery Committee and Art Exhibition Association received a SUNY Cortland President’s Small Grant to support the exhibition.

For more information, contact Saunders at (518) 265-0171.

Jillian Liner, director of bird conservation at the Audubon New York office of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, will discuss an international bird conservation program that strives to identify and protect the most important places for birds.

Liner’s talk, “Important Bird Areas: Global Currency for Bird Conservation,” will take place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 6, in Bowers Hall, Room 109.

The event, which is free and open to the public, is the annual Wilkins Bird Lecture of the Lime Hollow Center for Environment and Culture (LHCEC). The lecture is co-sponsored by SUNY Cortland’s Biology Club.

Refreshments will be served and a question-and-answer period will follow.

Audubon New York implements the program in New York and since its inception in the mid-1990’s has identified 136 IBAs across the state. Working with partners and volunteers, the program has had numerous successes conserving premier bird habitats.

Liner joined Audubon New York in 2001 after spending time in Florida, Minnesota, Montana and Vermont, where most of her work focused on raptors. She also assisted non-governmental organizations and state agencies with landscape inventories and conservation plans. 

A native of Upstate New York, Liner has a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Skidmore College and a Master of Arts in Ecological Planning from the University of Vermont.

The annual Wilkins Bird Lecture was established in 1988 by the Cortland County Bird Club, now called the Lime Hollow Bird Club, in honor of club founder Connie Wilkins. The program is continued by the LHCEC, a member-funded, non-profit organization situated on the Cortland and Tompkins County border and offering free hiking trails, public nature and educational programs and adventure day camps for youth.

For more information, contact Patricia Conklin, Biological Sciences Department, at (607) 753-2717 or Peter Harrity, associate director of the LHCEC, at (607) 662-4632.

Fulbright Scholar Yomee Lee, associate professor of kinesiology at SUNY Cortland, will explore the intricacies of the sporting culture among Korean women on Wednesday, April 7, at the College.

Lee will present her lecture at 4:30 p.m. in Moffett Center, Room 2127. A speaker reception will begin at 4 p.m. in the Brooks Museum, Moffett Center, Room 2126.

Her talk, “Beyond the Physical Competition: Korean Women and the Culture of Sport,” is free and open to the public. Her presentation is part of the Rozanne M. Brooks Lecture Series at SUNY Cortland and encompasses the 2009-10 theme “Women’s Worlds.”

Lee’s lecture is based on her fieldwork experiences in Korea. 

“As the title reflects, the purpose of the presentation is to explain and analyze Korean culture using sport as a medium,” said Lee. “Many sport studies scholars agree that the reason why we study sport is because it is an important part of social phenomenon, rich with sources to help us understand and explain society better.

“One part of the lecture focuses on elite athletes such as Yuna Kim and Seri Park. According to a number of scholars, sport celebrities offer a unique cultural site in which complex meanings and ideologies are being produced, reproduced and reaffirmed along diverse social relations. In light of the recent success of Olympic figure skater Yuna Kim, it seems quite timely to examine and observe the cultural meanings surrounding this particular sport celebrity. The lecture will include issues related to promotion of nationalism, national identity, reinforcement of the traditional notion of femininity, body image and Confucius ideals and values by focusing on sport celebrity as an important cultural site in Korea.”

Lee’s lecture also will highlight Korean youth’s physical culture in Korea. She will examine how, ultimately, sport becomes an activity that perpetuates the dominant notions of femininity and masculinity and reinforces a gender hierarchy ingrained in Korean society. 

Lee, who joined the College in 2000, took a one-year sabbatical from her teaching responsibilities in 2007-08 to participate in the Fulbright Program. As a Fulbright Scholar, Lee taught in residence at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. In 2006, Yonsei named Lee, an alumna, among its “100 Female Leaders of the Future.”

Lee, whose family moved to Korea from the U.S. when she was five, spent most of the next 20 years living in Korea. Returning to America in 1994 for her graduate studies, Lee received a Master of Arts in Sport, Leisure and Somatics Studies, with a specialization in the socio-cultural aspects of sports, from The Ohio State University. In 2000, she received her doctorate from the same institution in cultural studies. Her dissertation was on “Korean American Women’s Attitude Towards Sports.”

At SUNY Cortland, Lee teaches Social Psychological Aspects of Physical Activity, Sport and Society, Women and Sport, and Africana Dance. She designed the Women and Sport undergraduate syllabus and course material. She has written several refereed journal articles and given numerous refereed presentations in her field.

The lecture series honors the late Rozanne Marie Brooks, a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor and SUNY Cortland professor emerita of sociology and anthropology. A SUNY Cortland faculty member for 36 years, Brooks died in 1997.

The 2009-10 Brooks Lecture Series is sponsored by a grant from Auxiliary Services Corporation (ASC). For more information, contact organizer Sharon R. Steadman, Sociology/Anthropology Department, and coordinator of the International Studies Program, at (607) 753-2308.

Circurious, which mixes the circus tent, concert hall and Broadway stage into one show that highlights unique performers, comes to SUNY Cortland on April 8.

Presented by the Student Activities Board (SAB), the event begins at 7 p.m. in the Corey Union Function Room and is free and open to the public.

Circurious will offer “One-Hundred Years of American Circus and Variety,” which the group describes as “a display of mind-blowing skill of athletic and artistic performances by a group of skilled and highly trained professionals.”

Acrobats with Circurious perform their routine.

The performers bring to the stage acrobats, contortionists, jugglers, illusionists and indescribable feats that are intended to leave the audience in awe and get the imagination running wild. The troupe’s creative and decorative stage and costume design adds another element to the show.

Curcurious' five impressive acts focus on an overall theme of “amazing broken-bone-defying feats,” claims a New York Post reviewer. Their performances have been described as an “edgy, unique blend of skill that tests the limits of the human body.” Visit www.circurious.com for more information.

The event is sponsored by the Student Activity Fee. For more information about SAB events, call Campus Activities and Corey Union at (607) 753-2321.

“Rent, the award-winning Broadway rock musical by Jonathan Larson, will be performed April 9-11 and April 16-18 in the Dowd Fine Arts Center Theatre.

Presented by the Performing Arts Department, stage times for “Rent” are at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and at 2 p.m. on Sundays.

Tickets are $16 for the general public, $14 for senior citizens and SUNY staff, and $7 for college and high school students. Tickets are on sale at Jodi’s Hallmark Shop on Main Street, Cortland, with remaining seats on sale at the door. Because of the adult situations in the musical, “Rent” is recommended for mature audiences only. For more information, visit the Web site at www.cortland.edu/performingarts.

The musical, about young Bohemian artists living in Greenwich Village in the 1990s as they deal with love, sex, AIDS, drugs and death, opened Off Broadway in 1996 to rave reviews. It soon transferred to Broadway where it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Tony Award for Best Musical and other citations. The musical ran on Broadway for more than 13 years and toured extensively for several years after that. A film version was released in 2005.

The SUNY Cortland production, Cortland County’s first of “Rent,” is directed and choreographed by Kevin Halpin. The cast of rebellious young characters is comprised of SUNY students, most of them musical theatre majors in the Performing Arts Department. Corine Aquilina is musical director, Howard Lindh is the scenic designer, Joel Pape designed the sound and lights, the costumes are by Mark Reynolds and Preston Marye is technical director.

The 28th Annual Admissions Open House, a one-day program allowing accepted freshmen, transfer applicants and prospective students to better acquaint themselves with SUNY Cortland, is expected to attract 2,000 visitors to campus on Saturday, April 10.

“This year, more than 12,100 freshmen have applied for admission to the fall semester,” said Betsy Cheetham, assistant director of admissions at the College and coordinator of the Open House since its inception in 1983. “Additionally, we anticipate more than 2,600 transfer applications for the Fall 2010 semester. In the past, more than 70 percent of the students who attend Open House actually enroll in the fall semester and 90 percent of the transfer applicants enroll.”

“This program is the final step for many of our accepted students in determining whether SUNY Cortland will be in their future,” added Mark Yacavone, SUNY Cortland director of admissions. “It is an informative and exciting day.”

Events will take place in Park Center and Corey Union.

“Visitors are encouraged to take part in a variety of information sessions and tours,” Cheetham explained. “Several alumni volunteers will be available to eat lunch with our prospective students and their families in the on-campus dining areas and faculty will be encouraged to come meet them as well.”

New this year will be tours of the SUNY Cortland Child Care Center in the Education Building between noon and 2 p.m., Cheetham added.                 

“This will interest our non-traditional students as well as our early childhood education majors,” she said.

Open House begins at 9:45 a.m. in the Park Center Alumni Arena with welcoming remarks by College President Erik J. Bitterbaum, Student Government Association President Jesse Campanaro and Yacavone.

An academic fair and a variety of student organization programs and student services will be offered in Park Center’s Corey Gymnasium between 10:15 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Prospective Cortland students and their families can meet current faculty and students to discuss the College’s major and minor programs, as well as its co-curricular clubs and activities. Walking tours of campus led by current students will include academic buildings and residence halls. A shuttle bus will transport students wanting to tour the West Campus Apartments.

Information on an array of programs relating to the academic, cultural and social life of the Cortland campus will be presented between 10:30 a.m. and 1:45 p.m., in Park Center and Corey Union. Sessions will cover housing and residential services for both freshman and transfer students, financial advisement, career services, technology on campus, academic support services, diversity on campus and meal plans. Other sessions include campus activities and involvement, Greek life, study abroad, student disability services, childhood and early childhood education, athletic training, sport management, pre-law advisement, pre-med advisement, learning opportunities for students who haven’t declared a major and transfer credits. In addition, Kickline will perform.

Lunch will be available in the Brockway Hall, Neubig Hall and Corey Union dining facilities. Alumni volunteers and faculty will join prospective students and their families who choose to dine on campus.

At the conclusion of the day’s events, Bitterbaum will host an honors reception in the Lynne Parks ’68 SUNY Cortland Alumni House, 29 Tompkins St., for the freshmen and transfer applicants with the most outstanding academic credentials. Students receive personal invitations to attend this reception, where they can meet with the provost as well as the deans and faculty representing each major on campus.

Guests also are invited to attend campus athletic and cultural events. Home games, all against SUNY Brockport, will include the men’s baseball team doubleheader at noon, women’s lacrosse at 1 p.m., and a softball doubleheader at 1 p.m. There will be no admission charge for athletic events on that day.

At 8 p.m., the hit Broadway musical, “Rent,” will take place in the Dowd Fine Arts Center Theatre. Recommended for mature audiences only, the powerful rock musical by Jonathan Larson portrays young Bohemian artists living in Greenwich Village in the 1990s as they deal with love, sex AIDS, drugs and death. Tickets will be sold at the door for $7 for Open House guests and all students, $14 for senior citizens and SUNY staff and $16 for the general public.

For more information, visit online at www.cortland.edu/admissions or contact Cheetham at (607) 753-4712.

The Gaia Grrrls of Binghamton, an ad hoc collective of activist women artists from Binghamton, N.Y., have an exhibition, “The EarthStewards Coalition Art Show,” at SUNY Cortland through Wednesday, April 28.

The show, about gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, is on display in SUNY Cortland Memorial Library. Works will be shown near the reference desk, in the Learning Commons and at the Teaching Materials Center on the first floor; and in the reference area on the second floor.

The artists will discuss their work during a reception in the gallery’s first floor conference room at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 11. The reception and exhibition are free and open to the public.

Mixed-media sculpture, "Modern Day Snake Oil Salesman," by Donna  Faivre-Roberts

The exhibition will be on view during regular library hours, which are from 7:45 a.m.-1 a.m. Monday through Thursday, 7:45 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Sunday.

“The EarthStewards Coalition Art Show” will include a variety of mixed media, poetry, collage, oils, pastels, textiles, soft sculpture and 3D pictures and snow-globe sculpture with water from the drilling process. The exhibit features work by 24 New York state artists, seven Pennsylvania artists and one piece by an artist from Georgia.

The exhibition is intended to increase awareness about proposed mining operations in New York state. The Gaia Grrrls works express their feelings about horizontal hydro fracturing, an unconventional drilling method occurring now in Pennsylvania and other states.

The display was arranged by Gas Drilling Awareness for Cortland County (GDACC), an organization whose members educate themselves and the public about gas drilling and advocate for a safe, healthy and clean environment. For information about GDACC, visit the Web site gdacc.wordpress.com.

The Gaia Grrls were assisted in setting up the show by GDACC, Cheri Sheridan, a retired art teacher who taught in the Homer (N.Y.) School District, and Janet Steck, emeritus director of the College’s Dowd Gallery. For more information about GDACC, visit the site gdacc.wordpress.com.

Additional co-sponsors with GDACC include the New York Gas Accountability Project (NYGAP); New Yorkers for a Sustainable Energy Systems (NYSESS); Dryden Resource Awareness Coalition (DRAC); New York Residents Against Drilling (NYRAD); the College’s Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies; the SUNY Cortland President’s Office; and Memorial Library.

For more information, contact Sheila Cohen, Literacy Department, at (607) 753-2464.

The SUNY Cortland College Council will hold its next regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, April 12, at 4 p.m. in Miller Building, Room 405.

Council members will hear reports by College Council Chair Thomas Gallagher, SUNY Cortland President Erik J. Bitterbaum, Faculty Senate Chair Kathleen Lawrence and Student Government Association President Jesse Campanaro.

New College Council members Katherine Compagni and Bruce Tytler will be introduced, as will Faculty Senate Chair-Elect David Miller. The College Council will approve its 2010-11 meeting schedule and discuss other items.

The North American musical group, Foothills Brass Quintet, will perform a playful and varied blend of musical offerings titled “Bourbon Street to Broadway” on Monday, April 12.

Presented by the Campus Artist and Lecture Series (CALS), the versatile group will begin at 7 p.m. in the Old Main Brown Auditorium.

Admission is $3 for SUNY Cortland students and $5 general admission; children 10 and younger are admitted free. Tickets may be obtained through the Campus Activities and Corey Union Office, Corey Union, Room 406, or at the door one hour prior to the performance. For more information, call (607) 753-5574.

During their visit to SUNY Cortland, the quintet also will bring their music to children at St. Mary's School in Cortland and at Hartnett Elementary School in Truxton.

The Foothills Brass Quintet's "Bourbon Street to Broadway" performance reviews the progression of jazz, from ragtime to Dixie to show tunes to swing to rock 'n' roll. The quintet brings a unique blend of classical jazz and rock 'n' roll to the stage to engage the audience at their shows. They pride themselves on bringing the crowd into their performances for an exciting and very interactive experience.

Current members Chris Morrison and Joanna Schulz of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, founded foothills Brass Quintet in 1981. Now accompanied by members Jay Michalak of Chicago, Ill., Mike Tutton of Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Bob Nicholson of Montague, Prince Edward Island, Canada, the quintet plays more than 200 shows across North America throughout the year. All members are trained in music from distinguished universities across North America.

Visit www.foothillsbrass.ab.ca for more information.

More than 850 Central New York college students and 90 school district recruiters from New York and other states are expected to attend the 25th annual Central New York Teacher Recruitment Days on April 12-13 at SUNY Cortland.

Hosted by SUNY Cortland for the last 25 years, the event is organized through the College’s Career Services and co-sponsored by the Central New York Teacher Recruitment Days Consortium, which represents the career services offices of 16 area public and private colleges and universities.

Teacher Recruitment Days in the Park Center Alumni Arena will attract approximately 47 school districts in New York and a number of southeastern states. SUNY Cortland President Erik J. Bitterbaum and Vice President for Student Affairs C. Gregory Sharer will offer opening remarks at 8 a.m. on Monday, April 12. Recruitment interviews will take place from 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m. on Monday and from 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 13.

“I’m very pleased that even in today’s tough national economic situation school districts are still hiring new teachers,” said Associate Director of Career Services Louis Larson, the event coordinator.

The consortium’s Teacher Recruitment Days allow the colleges that have teacher education programs to collaboratively attract the largest number of school district administrators, Larson said.

The event participants will include education students who are graduating this spring or summer or who graduated last December with bachelor’s or master’s degrees and are receiving their teaching certificates by Fall 2010.

Registration for Teacher Recruitment Days is already closed. However, area residents with teaching qualifications may obtain a list of the job openings through one of the career services offices in the consortium. The consortium members are: SUNY Binghamton, SUNY Cortland, Colgate University, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University, Elmira College, Ithaca College, Keuka College, LeMoyne College, SUNY Oneonta, SUNY Oswego, SUNY Potsdam, St. Lawrence University, Syracuse University, Utica College of Syracuse University, Wells College and Cazenovia College.                 

For more information, contact the Teacher Recruitment Days Web site at www.cortland.edu/career.

Randy Kehler, a long-time peace activist from Massachusetts who was jailed 22 months for refusing to serve during the Vietnam War, will discuss grassroots advocacy during a rescheduled lecture on Wednesday, April 14, at SUNY Cortland.

Kehler will present “The History, Philosophy and Practice of Active Nonviolence: A Personal Perspective” at 4:30 p.m. in Corey Union Exhibition Lounge. Organized by the Center for Ethics, Peace and Social Justice and the Philosophy Department, the talk is supported by the President’s Office and made possible by the Syracuse Peace Council, Kehler’s regional tour sponsors.

“Every time I see and hear people, especially younger people, express feelings of hopelessness and despair about the current state of the world, it strengthens my resolve to try, in whatever way I can, to introduce them to the fundamentally hopeful history and practice of ‘active nonviolence,’” Kehler said. “I wish to demonstrate that positive, nonviolent change in our lives and in the world is not only an urgent necessity but humanly possible.”

A frequent public speaker, Kehler has spent the past 40 years engaged in research, writing, organizing, and advocacy regarding a range of public policy issues, including energy and land reform, electoral democracy and nuclear disarmament. He co-founded the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign, has been a war tax resister for decades, and has been involved in many interesting grassroots struggles in his rural home of western Massachusetts.

A graduate of Harvard College, Kehler spent 22 months in federal prison for his refusal to cooperate with the Vietnam draft. Former U.S. military analyst Daniel Ellsberg cites Kehler as one of those who inspired him to release The Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of U.S. government decision-making about the Vietnam War, to The New York Times and other newspapers in 1971.

Kehler, who lives in Colrain, Mass., also co-founded the Traprock Peace Center in Deerfield, Mass.; the Working Group on Electoral Democracy, a national organization; the Franklin County (Mass.) Community Development Corporation; and the Five Rivers Council in Franklin County, Mass.

As conscientious objectors to war, he and his wife, Betsy Corner, for many years have redirected their federal income tax payments to non-military needs such as food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless and relief for war victims including U.S. soldiers. Their war-tax refusal and the story of the Internal Revenue Service seizure of their home is the subject of an award-winning 1994 documentary film by Turning Tide Productions, titled “An Act of Conscience.”

For more information, contact Kathryn Russell, Philosophy Department, at (607) 753-2727.

Even historians who teach about the Nazi Holocaust continue to find this period to be subject to much exploration and contention, one noted Holocaust scholar will discuss on Wednesday, April 14, at SUNY Cortland.

Sanford Gutman of Ithaca, N.Y., a professor emeritus of history at the College, will address “Reflections on Thirty Years of Teaching the Holocaust” at 7 p.m. in Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge.                  

Presented by the Jewish Studies Committee, the event is free and open to the public. The program is an annual event memorializing “Yom Hashoah,” the tragedy of the Nazi Holocaust, and will feature a traditional, memorial candle-lighting ceremony called “yartzeit.” Refreshments will be served.

Gutman’s talk relates to his 37 years of teaching among the faculty at SUNY Cortland before his retirement last year. He will discuss the many changes in how educators know and understand the Holocaust and how they teach it to younger generations.

“Teaching the Holocaust has been a life-changing experience for me,” Gutman said recently. “Like so many of my students, I have learned the importance of being empathic toward others, especially those different from me, and the importance of acting on my humanistic values.”

“Gutman’s previous lectures and writings on the Holocaust have enlarged our understanding and this talk on his 30-plus years of teaching promises to be as profound and important as his lectures over the years,” commented, Distinguished Service Professor Henry Steck, an event organizer.

Gutman, who grew up in Detroit, Mich., focused on history as an undergraduate student at Wayne State University and earned his master of arts and doctoral degrees at the University of Michigan, specializing in modern European history.

He joined SUNY Cortland’s History Department in 1972. An invitation from his department chair in 1979 to teach a course in Modern Jewish History led to his growing interest in that subject, and the decision to add to his teaching repertoire that course and related ones on the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Holocaust. To that end, in 1986 Gutman attended the Yad Vashem Summer Institute on Teaching the Holocaust and in 1991 was an invited seminar participant in the University Teaching of Anti-Semitism at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Gutman’s deep interest in the interlocking subjects of anti-Semitism, the Holocaust and the Arab-Israeli conflict has led to many university and public lectures. He has written more than 35 book reviews and manuscript reviews on Jewish and French history.

A former president of the New York State Association of European historians, his scholarship has taken him to France and Israel during summers and sabbaticals. Subjects on which he has explored, written published scholarship, and presented at conferences and invited lectures range from the French Restoration (1815-1830) to French Jewish history and the Holocaust in France.

He has received several SUNY Cortland travel and teaching improvement grants. A Faculty Research Fellowship from the Research Foundation of SUNY in 1983 helped Gutman to research Jewish identity in France at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. He participated in two National Endowment for the Humanities summer institutes, both at University of California-Berkeley, in 1982 and 1989, respectively.

At the College, he served as a graduate coordinator for the Master of Science in Education in Social Studies and the Master of Arts in History and was faculty advisor to the History Club and Phi Alpha Theta, the history honor society. Active in Jewish Studies, he coordinated the program’s committee for more than 10 years and currently serves as interim coordinator. He was faculty advisor to the Jewish Student Society, now called Hillel, for 15 years. Since 1975, he has been and continues to serve as the College’s Jewish chaplain.

Gutman continues teaching part-time at SUNY Cortland and also taught at Cornell University in 2009. He has served as a visiting professor of modern Jewish history at Cornell University, Ithaca College and Syracuse University.

In addition to the Jewish Studies Committee, the event also is sponsored by the Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies (CGIS), the President's Office, the History Department and Hillel.

For more information, contact Linda Lavine, associate professor of psychology, at (607) 753-2040.

Massachusetts educator and author Mary Cowhey will discuss critically interpreting state learning standards and developing curriculum that is authentic, culturally responsive, integrated and intellectually rigorous, on Wednesday, April 14.

Cowhey’s talk, which is geared for teachers and education majors in college, begins at 7 p.m. in Corey Union Exhibition Lounge.

Titled “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Test: Interpreting Curriculum Standards for Authentic, Rigorous, Integrated Learning,” the lecture is presented by the College’s Literacy Department and is free and open to the public.

Cowhey teaches second grade at Jackson Street School in Northampton, Mass.

“If you were inspired to become a teacher because you wanted to change the world and instead find yourself limited by teach-to-the-test pressure in the name of ‘teaching the standards,’ this talk will make you think hard about how you spend your time with students,” Cowhey said.

Her 2006 book, Black Ants and Buddhists: Thinking Critically and Teaching Differently in the Primary Grades (Stenhouse), won the 2008 National Association for Multicultural Education Book Award and the 2007 Skipping Stones magazine Multicultural Book Award.

She has received numerous teaching awards, including the Milken National Educator Award, the Anti-Defamation League World of Difference Award, a National League of Women Voters Award and the University of Massachusetts Distinguished Alumni Award.

Her essays and articles were published in What Keeps Teachers Going, Why We Teach, Dear Paulo: Letters From Those Who Dare Teach, Teaching With Fire, Teaching Tolerance, Rethinking Schools, Instructor, Connect and broadcast on public radio.

Cowhey co-founded Familias con Poder/Families With Power, a grass roots organizing effort among low-income families of color that uses a popular education approach.

For more information, contact Michele I. Gonzalez at (607) 753-2445.

John de Graaf, executive director of Take Back Your Time, an organization challenging time poverty and overwork in the U.S. and Canada, will speak on Friday, April 16, at SUNY Cortland.

De Graaf, the co-author of the best-selling 2001 book Affluenza: the All-Consuming Epidemic (Berrett-Koehler), begins at 7 p.m. in Old Main Brown Auditorium. The talk is free and open to the public.

He will discuss “From Overconsumption to Time Affluence: Trading ‘Stuff’ for Time, Health, Families and the Environment” as the special, post-Scholars’ Day lecture. The 14th annual Scholars’ Day, a series of presentations highlighting faculty, staff and student scholarship and research at SUNY Cortland, will take place all that day in Old Main.

In his talk, de Graaf will focus on the relationship of consumerism and time poverty, health and the environment, and what individuals can to do take back their time.

De Graaf’s book was republished in 2005 and has been translated into eight languages. He edited the 2003 book Take Back Your Time (Berrett-Koehler) and the 1992 children’s book, David Brower: Friend of the Earth (Henry Holt).

A frequent speaker on issues of overwork and over-consumption in America, de Graaf has worked with KCTS-TV, the Seattle PBS affiliate, for 26 years as an independent producer of television documentaries, many with environmental subjects. More than 15 of his programs have been broadcast in prime time nationally on PBS.

He has received more than 100 regional, national and international awards for filmmaking, including three Emmy awards. The de Graaf Environmental Filmmaking Award, named in his honor, is presented annually at the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival in Nevada City, Calif.

De Graaf produced the popular PBS specials, “Running Out of Time,” an examination of overwork and time pressure in America, and “Affluenza,” a humorous critique of American consumerism.

His most recent films are “What’s the Economy For, Anyway?,” a humorous look at American economic policy, and “The Whole World Was Watching,” a look back at the 1999 World Trade Organization (WTO) protests in Seattle.

More information on de Graaf’s organization is available at www.timeday.org.

Scholars’ Day is supported by the President’s Office, the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs’ Office, The Cortland Fund, the Cortland College Foundation and the Auxiliary Services Corporation. The Student Alumni Association provides volunteers for Scholars’ Day.

For more information, including the complete schedule of events, visit the Scholars’ Day Web page at www.cortland.edu/scholarsday or call the School of Arts and Science at (607) 753-4312.

SUNY Cortland’s Seven Valleys Writing Project (SVWP) will offer a half-day workshop, “Writing to Learn in the Social Studies Classroom,” on Saturday, April 17, at Homer High School in Homer, N.Y.

The SVWP is part of the National Writing Project based at SUNY Cortland, a grassroots organization of teachers who are learning and teaching the craft of writing to their students and to each other. Seminars are offered in collaboration with the Cortland County Teacher Center.

“We’ve seen the transformative power of ‘writing to learn’ in our own classrooms and we can’t wait to share our best practices with you,” observes SVWP co-director David Franke, an associate professor of English at SUNY Cortland. He and SVWP co-director Brian Fay, an English teacher for Onondaga-Cortland-Madison Counties Board of Cooperative Educational Services (OCM-BOCES), will facilitate the workshop.

The teacher-consultants who will be presenting are Joe Cortese, a social studies teacher at Homer High School; and Kathryn Cenera, a middle school teacher from Ithaca City School District.

The seminar, from 8:30 a.m.-noon in the school library Media Learning Center on the second floor, is geared for social studies teachers in grades 7-12.

The $25 fee includes a light breakfast and coffee. To register, contact one of the following individuals: Franke or (607) 753-5945; Fay or (315) 440-1289; or Cortese or (607) 423-1092.

“The beauty of writing to learn is that it’s more a way of thinking, planning and teaching than it is content or skill,” said Cortese, the 2009 teacher-consultant for the SVWP and a presenter at the upcoming program. “So, every educator who delivers social studies content will take away very valuable learning.”

“If you feel like you’re spinning your wheels trying to get kids to write about anything, we think we have some ways for you to solve these problems,” Franke said. “This session will be highly interactive, presented by teachers for teachers. You will leave with at least one new skill to apply in your social studies classroom.”

Cortese encouraged educators to attend not only the morning seminar on April 17 but also the upcoming Summer Institute, of which he was a participant last year.

“It taught me a truly powerful and transformative way to approach teaching history, government and economics,” he said. “Now, I use writing in the classroom and as homework as often as a learning mechanism as I use it for assessment. And my students learn — about the content and about themselves — as they write about what we do in class, what they read and what they think.”

Since 2008, the College has operated a local branch of the National Writing Project, funded through the federal Department of Education, as a means of helping outstanding teachers across Central New York improve their practice through writing and research. In all, 26 area educators have been trained as master educators. They returned to their home districts to share their new knowledge with colleagues and students by conducting professional development demonstrations after school hours.

For more information about the Seven Valleys Writing Project and the upcoming Summer Institute for teachers in many different disciplines, visit www.7vwp.com.

Peter McGinnis, a SUNY Cortland professor of kinesiology and assistant director of graduate studies, will deliver the keynote address at the institution’s annual Honors Convocation on Saturday, April 17.

The College will recognize 402 students for their academic accomplishments at the event, which begins at 7 p.m. in the Park Center Alumni Arena. An academic procession of SUNY Cortland faculty will open the Honors Convocation. A reception for the honorees and guests will follow in the same location.

Students will be acknowledged for a variety of achievements, including a top five percent ranking in their respective classes and for receiving College-wide and departmental awards and scholarships. The Donald Parish Brooks Scholarship Award will be presented to the residence hall having the highest cumulative grade point average.

Bonnie Hodges, professor and chair of health, will carry the mace during the procession. Carrying the ceremonial gonfalons will be Jeffrey Bauer, associate professor of kinesiology; William “Bill” Buxton, associate professor and chair of literacy; Kathleen Burke, associate professor of economics; and Susan Wilson, associate professor of recreation, parks and leisure studies.

Readers for the ceremony are Distinguished Service Professor Robert J. Spitzer, professor and chair of political science; and Professor Emeritus of English Arnold Talentino, coordinator of the College’s Honors Program.

McGinnis, who has served the College for 20 years, will give an address titled “Lessons Learned from Pole Vaulting.”

“I’ll share some of the life lessons I have learned as a pole vaulter, coach and sport scientist,” McGinnis said.

The author of Biomechanics of Sport and Exercise, originally released in 1999 by Human Kinetics Publishers with a second edition published in 2005, McGinnis is a respected authority on the biomechanics of pole vaulting and safety in this sport. He also coaches pole vaulters at SUNY Cortland. In 2009, he was named the Atlantic Region Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Assistant Coach of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. The Syracuse Chargers Track Club recently honored him as its 2009 Male Masters Field Athlete of the Year.                

Since 2004, he has served as assistant director of graduate studies while continuing to teach. His administrative role encompasses many duties, including interaction with graduate students on all aspects of program completion, from pre-admissions to degree conferral.

He was previously involved with graduate studies as the graduate coordinator for exercise science and chair of the Graduate Faculty Executive Committee.  He continues to serve as the graduate coordinator for exercise science.

Born in Aiken, S.C., McGinnis lived in Maryland and Delaware before earning a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Swarthmore College in 1976. He completed graduate studies at the University of Delaware and obtained a Master of Science in Physical Education from the University of Illinois in Urbana, Ill. In 1984, he earned a doctorate in physical education from the University of Illinois. Concentrating on biomechanics, he wrote a dissertation on “Finite Element Analysis of a Human-Implement System in Sport: The Pole Vault.”

As co-chair of the Pole Vault Helmet Task Group and Chair of the Pole Vault Equipment Subcommittee of the American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM), McGinnis worked to develop a standard for pole vaulting helmets and pole vault landing pads. Also as a result of his committee work, the National Federation of State High School Associations and the National Collegiate Athletic Conference increased the minimum size of pole vault landing pads and required padding around the uprights and the pole vault box. He presented a clinic on “Safer Pole Vaulting in the New Millennium” at the 2002 annual meeting of the U.S. Track Coaches Association.

McGinnis was interviewed in 2000 by ABC News about the physics of pole vaulting and had a brief appearance on the HBO show “Real Sports” in 2002 on pole vaulting safety. In 2000, a video clip of pole vaulting that he filmed was one of the lead-in videos to the feature, “High Tech Sports,” which appeared on the PBS show “The NewsHour” with Jim Lehrer.

Before joining the College, McGinnis was assistant professor in the Kinesiology Department at University of Northern Colorado and visiting sport scientist at the U.S. Olympic Committee from 1987-90. Previously, he taught for four years in the University of Oregon’s Physical Education and Human Movement Studies Department.

He joined SUNY Cortland’s Physical Education Department in 1990 as an associate professor and was promoted to the rank of professor in 1999.

He has lectured on the biomechanics of pole vaulters at state, national and international professional conferences. He has presented at the Third International Olympic Committee Congress on Sport Sciences and the IV World Congress of Biomechanics in Calgary, Alberta.                               

The Honors Convocation Committee is co-chaired by Joy Mosher, interim director of graduate studies; and Mary Gfeller, assistant professor of mathematics.

Committee members include Sila Argyle, supervising janitor for physical plant; Nancy Aumann, associate provost for academic affairs; Darci Bacigalupi, special events coordinator; Philip Buckenmeyer, associate professor and chair of kinesiology; Mark Dodds, assistant professor and chair of sport management; Janet Duncan, associate professor of foundations and social advocacy; Stacey Goldyn-Moller, executive director of alumni affairs; R. Lawrence Klotz, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor and professor of biological sciences; Kimberly Kraebel, associate professor of psychology; Virginia B. Levine, executive assistant to the president; Kevin Pristash ’85, M.A. ’91, associate director of Corey Union; Tracy Rammacher, director of publications and electronic media; Anne Marie Rossi, student representative; David Smukler, assistant professor of foundations and social advocacy; Brad Snyder, associate director in Classroom Media Services; Matthew Tomasi, student representative; Stephen Wilson, professor of performing arts; Susan Wilson, associate professor of recreation, parks and leisure studies; and Christopher Xenakis, lecturer in political science.

For more information, contact Darci Bacigalupi at (607) 753-5453 or darci.bacigalupi@cortland.edu.

Aware that her time limit was quickly approaching, freshman Ashley Cattaneo tightens her fingers around her stack of notes and makes one final declaration.

“Obama’s stimulus package is a step in the right direction,” she tells the crowd of students and faculty alike gathered for this inaugural SUNY Cortland Speech and Debate Club presentation in Jacobus Lounge. “We haven’t seen the full effects yet. We must be patient.”

Speech and Debate Club president and founder Trevor Curry and freshman Ashley Cattaneo review their notes during the debate.

To her left, Mike Panetta, one of her two opponents, shakes his head in clear disagreement while demonstrating a bit of his own patience as he waits for his turn behind the microphone.

“You can’t just throw money at your problems and expect positive results,” retorts Panetta, a secondary education major from Auburn, N.Y. “There is a lack of legislation and regulation to address the real problems.”

Panetta offers a few more arguments before club vice president Aaron Thomas, acting as both scribe and timekeeper for the debate, holds up his hand to signal that Panetta’s allotted time has ended. Now, the four participants fidget nervously in their seats awaiting the verdict.

The club’s faculty advisor, Elizabeth Owens, a lecturer in the Communication Studies Department, asks the audience, who braved the late February snows to hear the debate over President Obama’s stimulus package, to serve as judge and jury. Many of the fledgling club’s 10 members fill the spectator seats.

A deadlock emerges when Cattaneo and her teammate Trevor Curry, the club’s president and founder, receive the same number of votes as Panetta and Georgiana Mihut, a Romanian studying international relations at SUNY Cortland. In reality though, all the team members come away as winners.

Aaron Thomas, vice president of the club, signals to Trevor Curry that his allotted time is ending.

“Being able to effectively communicate with others, whether you agree of disagree with them, is a precious skill I wouldn’t trade for the world,” explains Curry. “People say they are not good public speakers, but they are. They already know what they want to say. Debate teaches you how to say it. It’s the connection between the brain and the mouth.”

Curry, a senior political science major from Spring Valley, N.Y., became enthralled with the benefits of debating as a Rockland County Community College debate team member and made it his mission to form a team at SUNY Cortland after he transferred to the campus.

“We succeed because we all get along so well,” adds Curry. “It is easy for us to find relatable ground even though we have different personalities. We have come together and formed a bond.”

The debate team members meet every Wednesday from 6-7 p.m. in Corey Union Room 305. Students can receive academic credit for participation in the club and membership is open to all majors.

The team travels frequently to compete against other schools in the Public Forum Debate League, including Ithaca College, Rockland County Community College and SUNY Albany. The league aims to present “audience-centered intercollegiate debate devoted to making debate accessible to as many college students as possible,” according to its Web site.

“I’m always so proud when we win a competition,” says Curry. “On the drive home, we usually stop for food so we can show off our trophy!”

“The students have all worked very hard,” explains Owens, who volunteered for the advisor position. “It has been so interesting watching them grow and develop into skilled debaters.”

“I’m excited to implement what I have learned (from debate) in the classroom,” adds Cattaneo, a special education major from Elmont, N.Y. who also represents the Speech and Debate Club at the Student Government Association meetings. “I can bring in articles and have a discussion with students, positing questions and getting their feedback.”

Georgiana Mihut interrogates Ashley Cattaneo while Mihut’s teammate, Mike Panetta, takes notes.

Interestingly, the debate club has attracted international students. In addition to Mihut, who participated in debate in her home country, another Romanian exchange student, Raluca Balas, joined the club as a novice. Kadir Onder, an exchange student from Turkey, is also an active participant.

Recently, Balas joined Curry for a debate at Rockland Community College, where the duo placed second in the extemporaneous debate competition.

The international students, like their American counterparts, bring something special to the debate team, says Curry.

“They have different experience levels, but they all provide a new perspective and enrich the team’s culture,” he concludes.

For more information on the SUNY Cortland Speech and Debate Club, contact Elizabeth Owens at (607) 753-5726.

Thomas Hischak, Performing Arts Department, was awarded the Outstanding Reference Book Award of 2009 by the American Library Association (ALA) for his nonfiction work, Broadway Plays and Musicals: Descriptions and Essential Facts of More Than 14,000 Shows Through 2007.

The 644-page volume, published by McFarland & Co., Inc., Publishers, was selected as one of the top 10 reference books by the ALA. The book briefly describes every Broadway production, play, musical, revue, revival and specialty, between 1919 and 2007, giving plot, personnel, critical reaction and any significance in the history of New York theatre. The book also discusses another 600 noteworthy productions from before 1919.

Reviews for Broadway Plays and Musicals describe the book as “the most complete listing of plays ever” and “truly a reference history of New York’s famous Broadway district,” and state “(Hischak) hits a bull’s-eye with this comprehensive catalog.” In The Groove Magazine wrote, “A must for libraries and those interested in musical theater.”

Hischak, of Cortland, N.Y., has taught and directed theatre productions at SUNY Cortland since 1983. He has written 20 books on theatre, film and popular music, and is a playwright with 24 published plays. In 2004, he was honored with a SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities. Hischak holds degrees in theatre and English from St. Louis University and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

Hischak won a similar award from the ALA in 1995 for his book The American Musical Theatre Song Encyclopedia.

Volunteers are needed for Community Clean-Up Day planned in the City of Cortland on Saturday, April 17. Sponsored by the Cortland County Chamber of Commerce and the Cortland Common Council, the clean-up will take place from 9-11 a.m. under the supervision of Common Council representatives.

From 8:30-9 a.m., coffee and bagels will be available at the Chamber of Commerce building, 37 Church St. Garbage bags and gloves, donated by local contributors, will be provided. Volunteer groups will be assigned sections of the city and drop off points for full trash bags.

Registration as individuals or groups is requested by contacting Erica Smith at (607) 753-4270.

This year’s clean-up is expected to be the largest to date, drawing hundreds of volunteers. T-shirts will be provided at the start so that city residents will know that it is an organized effort and will be encouraged to join in.

The annual event was started by Val and Garry VanGorder in 2006 when Val served the city as First Ward alderman and Garry directed the Chamber of Commerce. In its fifth year, the Community Clean-Up Day has become a citywide endeavor organized by the Chamber of Commerce, the Common Council and the Cortland Downtown Partnership with help from SUNY Cortland’s Institute for Civic Engagement and the SUNY Cortland AmeriCorps Program. The VanGorders continue to work on behalf of the community, Garry as the executive director of the Cortland County Business Development Corporation and Industrial Development Agency, and Val as a volunteer for many local organizations. 

The clean-up launches Sustainability Week at SUNY Cortland and in the City of Cortland. From Monday, April 19 through Friday, April 23, Sustainability Week will offer daily events and workshops, volunteer opportunities, community-wide presentations, conferences and educational films to encourage recycling and care of the earth. Thursday, April 22, will mark the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.

All Sustainability Week events will be free and open to the public. A schedule of events will be published in the April 19 issue of The Bulletin. For more information, contact Stephanie Plude at (607) 753-4271.

Applications for student directors at Corey Union during the 2010-11 academic year are due by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 7. Applications are available in the Campus Activities and Corey Union Office, Room 406, Corey Union.

Applicants must be full-time students who have and can maintain a 2.2 overall GPA while working in the position.

For more information, contact Kevin Pristash, associate director of College Union and Conferences, at (607) 753-2326.