Campus Champion

If freshmen year was a CD track, Steven Canals would hear it every day on repeat. For six years, the residence hall director of Shea Hall has helped students deal with the anxiety that comes with the first-year college experience. Whether it’s homesickness or uncertainty about a major, Steven has been one of his residents’ greatest resources. He prompts them to act with care and consideration, something that he has done as a program coordinator in the Multicultural Life Office and the advisor of the student group, Spectrum. A thoughtful champion, Steven is always listening, even if it’s a song he has heard before.

SUNY Cortland will celebrate Sustainability Week 2011 with presentations on climate change, renewable energy and other topics; two film screenings; Earth Day activities and much more.

The week, which began on Saturday, April 16, runs through Friday, April 22. It will culminate with student and staff events commemorating the 41st anniversary of Earth Day.

Sponsored by the Auxiliary Services Corporation, the Campus Recycling Committee and the President’s Office, the week’s events are free and open to the public.

David Goodrich, the former director of climate observations at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will deliver the week’s keynote address. Goodrich will talk about his upcoming bike trek from Delaware to Oregon, during which he plans to raise awareness of climate change.

Goodrich, who is also former director of the Global Climate Observing System Secretariat in Switzerland, will speak on Monday, April 18, at 7:30 p.m. in Sperry Center, Room 205.

His address, “Pedaling Climate Change: A Bike Trip From Delaware to Oregon, Talking About Climate Change,” will discuss the two-and-a-half month journey he plans to start in May from coast to coast across the U.S.

”A friend of mine, his first reaction was that I’m certifiable,” Goodrich said.

Goodrich will discuss the reasons for his cross-country ride, the trip’s biggest obstacles and the places he is most looking forward to visit. They include the Sand Hills State Park in Kansas, the Snowy Range in Wyoming and the Cascade Range in Oregon.

“I’d like to have some case studies of places of climate change impact,” said Goodrich, who expects to bike between 60 and 80 miles per day. “And I want to see what people’s reactions are to it.”

The College’s sixth annual Community Cleanup Day kicked off the week’s activities on Saturday. It was organized by the City of Cortland, the Cortland Chamber of Commerce, the Cortland Downtown Partnership, the SUNY Cortland Institute for Civic Engagement and SUNY Cortland AmeriCorps.

SUNY Cortland’s other Sustainability Week events include:

• The annual Wilkins Bird Lecture of the Lime Hollow Center for Environment and Culture (LHCEC). John Marzluff, a specialist in wildlife relationships and avian social ecology, will discuss the curious behavior of crows and ravens in a talk titled, “The Surprising Behavior of Crows,”, at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 19, in Sperry Center, Room 205. “Do crows really talk, give gifts and use surfboards?” Marzluff said. “Of course they do, and so much more.” The talk is co-sponsored by SUNY Cortland’s Biology Club.

• “The Environmental Impact of Tobacco: Working Toward a Tobacco-Free Campus.” The SUNY Cortland Tobacco Advisory Committee will present information from 1:40 to 2:40 p.m., on Tuesday, April 19, in Bowers Hall, Room 155.

• “A Not-So Temperate Environment and How It Affects Forests (And People, Too)." Neil Pederson, an associate research scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, will discuss the impact of climate change from 3 to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, April 19, in Bowers Hall, Room 155.

• Walking tour of the Hoxie Gorge Nature Preserve. Faculty members from the biology and geology departments will guide a tour and a discussion regarding carbon sequestration, biomimicry and nutrient cycling from 4 to 6 p.m.  on Tuesday, April 19. Participants interested in the tour must sign up in advance by contacting the Center for Environmental and Outdoor Education at (607) 753-5488 or by email.

• Sustainable lunch. The free, environmentally friendly lunch will be served from noon to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, April 20, in the Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge. Bill McNamara, the director of ASC Dining Services, will deliver a talk during the lunch. Lunch is limited to the first 65 attendees on a first come, first serve basis.

• “Doubt Mongering in Environmental Issues.”  A SUNY Cortland environmental science seminar class will offer this presentation trom 1:40 to 2:40 p.m. on Wednesday, April 20, in Bowers Hall, Room 155.

• “Local Food Movement.”  Beth Klein, from the Childhood/Early Childhood Education Department, Christine Applegate, manager of the Farmers Market, and Heather Birdsall, from Cornell Cooperative Extension, will discuss how students can get involved from 3 to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 20, in Bowers Hall, Room 155..

• The Greenhorns. A screening of this documentary film, which explores young people in America’s sustainable food movement, caps Wednesday’s activities. The film begins at 7 p.m. in Sperry Center, Room 105. A discussion with local, young farmers will follow at 9 p.m.

• “Sustainable Heating at SUNY Cortland Using Biomass and Geothermal Energy.” This Earth Week Sandwich Seminar features a talk from SUNY Cortland senior Matthew Rankin about the use of alternative energy sources at the College. He will speak  from noon to 1 p.m. on Thursday, April 21, in Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge.

• “Student Actions for Sustainability.” This presentation by the Environmental Science Club, the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) and the SUNY Cortland Recreation Association (SCRA), begins at 1:40 p.m. on Thursday, April 21, in Bowers Hall, Room 155.

• “The Technical and Economic Success of Renewable Energy in Central New York.” Melissa Kemp, director of Halco Renewable Energy, will deliver this talk at 3 p.m. on Thursday, April 21, in Bowers Hall, Room 155.

• “The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident: Lessons for U.S. Energy Policy in the Era of Extreme Energy.” Brice Smith, associate professor and Physics Department chair, will deliver this lecture, at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 21, in Sperry Center, Room 105.

Earth Day

A series of commemorative events are on tap for the 41st anniversary of Earth Day on Friday, April 22. The Sustainability Week tent between Bowers Hall and Sperry Center will house most of the day’s activities. They include:

• The Physics and Engineering Club will offer a “Build Your Own Wind Turbine” session under the tent From 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

• College faculty, staff and community members will present “Local Food Resources and Composting Made Easy” from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. under the tent.

• The Environmental Science Club will offer “Earth Café 2050” from noon to 3 p.m.

• NYPRIG will present “The Facts About Fracking” under the tent from noon to 3 p.m.

• The third annual Outdoor Gear Sale and Fender Blender will allow participants to create their own smoothies while peddling a bike. Presented by the SUNY Cortland Recreation Association, the event is scheduled from noon to 5 p.m. at the Community Bike Shop Building next to Lusk Field House.

• An Earth Day open house at the Main Street SUNY Cortland building, 9 Main St., will round out the day’s events. The Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies, Environmental Justice Committee, and Gas Drilling Awareness for Cortland County will be present for the program, which runs from 4:30 to 7 p.m.

The open house includes a screening of My Name is Allegheny County, a film that chronicles a community’s organized resistance to a radioactive waste dump in Allegheny County. Two local activists, Jim Weiss and Paul Yaman, will monitor a discussion after the film.

For more information on Sustainability Week 2011 events, contact Brice Smith at (607) 753-2822 or by email.

The SUNY Cortland Gospel Choir celebrates its silver anniversary with a 25th Anniversary Reunion Concert at 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 1, in Old Main Brown Auditorium. The program features alumni and current choir members and will include contemporary and traditional gospel music and spirituals. It is under the direction of Robert Brown. President Erik J. Bitterbaum will deliver the welcome on behalf of the College.

Tickets for the event are $3 for students, $4 for seniors and $5 for general admission. Children under 12 are admitted free. Complimentary tickets are available on a need basis. Proceeds support the Gospel Choir Scholarship and the 2012 international spring tour to England.

Comprised of College, high school and community members, the Gospel Choir has been recognized for its outstanding performances at the National Collegiate Gospel Competition. Earlier this month, the group toured Toronto and Niagara Falls, Canada, and Batavia, N.Y. Recent Gospel Choir tours have included: England in 2007; Canada and Niagara Falls, N.Y., in 2008; Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium in 2009; and Philadelphia, Pa., and Delaware in 2010.

The concert will feature special choir selections in addition to performances by returning alumni, including international recording artist Christine Johnson Sinclair ’89, Dorothy Thomas ’77, Mark Santiago ’09, Zena Jones and Jared Tallman.

Among the selections will be Kirk Franklin’s “The Storm Is Over,” with Jason Carriero and Melody Byron as soloists; and “Silver And Gold,” also by Franklin, with Gospel Choir Alumna Sinclair as soloist and Jamie Yaman on saxophone. An audience favorite, “Perfect Praise,” by Richard Smallwood, will be led by Melody Byron. Additional selections will include: “Faithful Is Our God,” by Hezekiah Walker; “Order My Steps,” by Glenn Burleigh, with Jones as soloist; “Let’s Dance,” by John P. Kee; “The Presence,” by Youthful Praise, with Carierro as soloist; and “Ride On, King Jesus,” an African-American spiritual, “Alpha & Omega,” by Israel and the New Breed, and “Total Praise,” by Smallwood, with Santiago as soloist.

Cortland A Cappella, directed by Noelle Chaddock Paley, director of multicultural life and diversity, will present “Wade In The Water,” an African-American spiritual, “Halleluiah,” by Jeff Buckley, and “A Life Uncommon,” by Jewel.

Thomas will present a medley of traditional hymns and African-American spirituals. “Holy Is The Lamb,” composed by Rodney Pressley ’87 and his wife, Gi Gi, also will be performed. The final selection will be the ever-popular “Oh Happy Day,” by Edwin Hawkins, led by Khalia Brown. 

Two other highlights of the afternoon will be performances by alumni. Tallman will sing Dough Miller’s “My Soul Is Anchored In The Lord,” and Sinclair will sing her nationally award-winning rendition of “Amazing Grace.” Alumni and former Gospel Choir members will participate in several selections as part of the Mass Choir. Those who wish to participate in the Mass Choir should attend a rehearsal at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 30, in Brown Auditorium.   

For more information, contact Samuel L. Kelley, Communication Studies Department, via email or at (607) 753-4104; or Seth N. Asumah, Political Science and Africana Studies Departments, via email or at (607) 753-2064.                                                                               

 After more than 40 years, the public services in speech and hearing disorder diagnosis and therapy that area residents continue to appreciate have moved to a new building on the SUNY Cortland campus.

This spring, the College’s Communications Disorders and Sciences Department moved from its long-time home in the McDonald Building on Tompkins Street into the newly opened Professional Studies Building.

The department has brought along its Center for Speech and Hearing Disorders, which it has operated through the years as a training ground for future clinical practitioners in speech and hearing disorders.

The new building occupies the existing parking area and part of the lawn on the east side of the former Studio West, off Pashley Drive.

Clients will be very pleased when they arrive at the center’s new facilities, notable for state-of-the-art treatment rooms and evaluation laboratories and located nearby Tompkins Street, noted department Chair Regina Grantham, who oversees the center.

The clinic and department now occupy 8,000 square feet of space in an $11 million, newly constructed portion of SUNY Cortland’s just-opened School of Professional Studies.

The facility is primarily an academic building. Classrooms are located elsewhere in the Professional Studies Building and department offices are tucked conveniently and discretely upstairs from clinical rooms.

When visiting the center, individuals can seek services by parking in a lot reserved just for clinic clientele and entering a first-floor reception area. The public’s dealings continue to be private, confidential and well removed from the hustle and bustle of a college campus.

The clinic includes an audiology chamber, observation and therapy rooms, labs, a library and a resource area with tables for study, project preparation and student meetings.

Mary Emm, a lecturer at the College, continues to direct the clinic. Deborah Wilson, an instructor, remains as assistant clinic director. Grantham, Emm and Wilson are speech language pathologists. Michael Pitcher, a lecturer and audiologist, still provides hearing services as the audiology coordinator.

About 15 students work individually with about 25 clients per academic year. Five others work primarily with student groups.

An estimated 992 hearing screenings are performed annually by about student clinicians and Pitcher, Grantham noted. That total includes approximately 50 hearing screenings of preschoolers, 472 elementary school level hearing screenings and 20 SUNY Cortland faculty and staff hearing screenings.

“The students are working with the clients, and they are providing evaluation and therapy, under the constant supervision of a licensed speech pathologist,” Emm said. “They come once or twice a week, typically two times a week, for the semester for their class, Clinical Practice II.

“Each of the therapy rooms is paired with an observation room, since the students are primarily the clinicians,” Grantham noted. “Their experience as student clinicians is always supervised by a licensed and certified speech and language pathologist. There’s room for parents, whom we invite to attend the sessions in order to become more involved.”

One new clinical space features a full kitchen with a working stove and is geared to working with adults who are recovering from an illness or injury that has affected their daily living skills.

“For a person with aphasia, cognitive disability, this is functional, hands-on therapy for them,” Grantham said. “Doing something like following a recipe helps them in dealing with problem-solving their way though tasks that involve understanding, remembering, attending: language is part of what we call ‘cognitive skills.’”

“In its new facilities, the center is ideally situated for the future growth in number of student clinicians that are being trained and adult clients served,” Emm said.

Sessions there may be recorded, using state-of-the-art digital recording equipment, for later study by the student clinician alone, for the sake of confidentiality, Emm noted.

The training is all part of the practical work these future specialists are required to complete in order to earn a bachelor’s degree, Grantham noted. Those enrolled in an educational track complete a mandatory semester of student teaching in two actual school districts. Whether enrolled in the Speech and Language Disabilities (SLD) track or the Speech and Hearing Science (SHS) track, students are preparing themselves for admission to a master’s degree program in speech-language pathology or audiology, something SUNY Cortland aspires to offer eventually. 

Additionally, the SLD major leads to Initial Certification as a Teacher of Students with Speech and Language Disability (TSSLD) in New York State, Grantham noted.   

“Several students take part in offering speech improvement groups in the community, such as in public schools,” Emm said. “That’s not a part of the clinic but an example of what we do in the community.

Two College seniors enrolled in Communication Disorders and Sciences Department programs, Sara Krukowski, left, and Leah Kadlecik, work with a boy in a therapy room that features an observation chamber concealed behind a mirrored window.

“Whether they are providing services in-house or out in the community, they are always supervised by a licensed speech pathologist,” she said.

Typically there are 240 speech screenings in the community per year, usually with preschools and Head Start, Emm said.

The center has served the local community since 1968, originally from the basement of what was then the new Fine Arts Building on campus and is now the Dowd Center.

In 1960, the College acquired a stately Victorian-era mansion as the James M. McDonald Infirmary, according to the Cortland College: An Illustrated History, by Emeritus Professor of History Leonard F. Ralston.

The infirmary moved to a campus facility in the mid-1960s, making way for the clinic.

Raymond Howard Hackworth was hired in 1968 to chair what was then called the Speech and Theatre Arts Department, Hackworth wrote in a 2007 letter to Grantham. He had been charged with establishing a state-certified academic program of speech pathology at SUNY Cortland.

“The program resided, with a deserved level of autonomy, within the department of Speech and Theatre Arts, existing as a ‘compartment within a department,’” Hackworth describes.

In 1975, Hackworth was permitted to make use of the empty McDonald building for a clinic, and obtained state funding for the modest remodeling necessary to open what he described as a “magnificent” clinic. As the eventual department chair, Hackworth hired a succession of clinical supervisors during his 10-year term of administration, starting with Judith Kelemen in 1970, an educator and associate director who made great strides with the program before her untimely death after three years.

John Marzluff, a specialist in wildlife relationships and avian social ecology, will discuss the behavior of crows and ravens on Tuesday, April 19, at SUNY Cortland.

Marzluff, a professor of wildlife science in the College of the Environment at the University of Washington, will begin his talk, “The Surprising Behavior of Crows,” at 7 p.m. in Sperry Center, Room 205.

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

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

Marzluff will sign copies of his recently published book, Dog Days, Raven Nights, and his 2005 book, In the Company of Crows and Ravens.

Highly regarded for his work with Corvids, a bird group that includes crows, jays and ravens, Marzluff will explore the biological bases and the astonishing abilities of crows and ravens.

“Do crows really talk, give gifts and use surfboards?” Marzluff said. “Of course they do, and so much more.”

Marzluff earned a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from the University of Montana and a master’s degree in biology from Northern Arizona University. He received a doctorate in zoology from Northern Arizona and performed postdoctoral work at the University of Vermont.

The annual Wilkins Bird Lecture was established by the Cortland County Bird Club, now called the Lime Hollow Bird Club, in 1988 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. The organization offers free hiking trails, public nature and educational programs, and adventure day camps for youth.

For more information, contact Peter Harrity, associate director of the LHCEC, at (607) 662-4632 or or via email.

Mary Jo Buttafuoco, who was hurled into the tabloid spotlight in 1992 after she was shot in the head by her husband’s teenage lover, will talk about destructive relationships Wednesday, April 20, at SUNY Cortland.

Buttafuoco, using lessons from her own life, will discuss the importance of avoiding toxic relationships and demanding better, more loving connections with people at 7 p.m. in Old Main Brown Auditorium.

Her presentation, “Getting It Through My Thick Skull: Recognizing and Avoiding Toxic Relationships,” is sponsored by the Student Government Association. The program, although geared to college students, is free and open to the public.

“Relationships start the day we are born and define us throughout our lives,” Buttafuoco said. “We start relationships with our parents and siblings, setting us up for a lifetime of interacting with friends, classmates, co-workers and partners.”

“This is a lesson too seldom shared with young people. The quality of your friendships, your relationships and your self esteem are the true key to a happy, fulfilling life.”

In May of 1992, Buttafuoco was shot in the head in front of her Long Island home by a 17-year-old girl. During the media frenzy that followed, Buttafuoco and the entire world learned that her husband, Joey Buttafuoco, had been involved in an affair with the shooter, Amy Fisher, who the tabloids nicknamed “Long Island Lolita.” Fisher had been only 16 when the affair with Joey Buttafuoco began.

For years — while television movies were made and her married name became a national punch line — Mary Jo Buttafuoco stood by her husband, enduring constant pain and numerous surgeries because of her injury. Her focus and priority was getting well and raising her two children, who were age 9 and 12 at the time of the incident.

Seven years later, Mary Jo Buttafuoco finally got the strength to leave her marriage and began to rebuild her life. She wrote a book; Getting It Through My Thick Skull: Why I Stayed, What I Learned, and What Millions of People Involved with Sociopaths Need to Know, in the hopes that it would help younger people avoid the mistakes she made.

Although many of today’s college students were just children at the time of her shooting, Mary Jo Buttafuoco believes that her message of recognizing and escaping unhealthy relationships is an important one for the current college generation.

For more information on the presentation, contact Tara Varsilakopoulos by email or visit the website campusspeak.com/speakers/buttafuoco.

Only the stage lights were on in Brown Auditorium inside Old Main, as 18 SUNY Cortland students began a gentle harmony, which rose and eventually filled the traditional performing venue with an unexpectedly contemporary sound: the latest hit by Bruno Mars.

The intent look on their faces revealed their purpose was not casual. The two-and-a-half-year-old men’s and women’s vocal ensemble called A Cappella has an April 28 concert in Canada to prepare for and precious little time.

“We created a place where talented vocalists can share their gifts with SUNY Cortland, as well as fit into a vocalist choir with open arms and open minds,” said Cassandra Cristello, a senior childhood education major and co-founder of the musical group.

“A cappella is good for anyone who enjoys singing,” she said. “You don’t have to be the best singer because a cappella is about finding your own spot and pitch within the group, then it is about having actual talent, virtually anyone can join.”

A cappella –– Italian for “in the manner of the church” –– is a soloist or group singing performance without instruments. According to Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, a cappella music originally was, and often is still used in religious music. Numerous people all sing with a different tone in order to make the music.

Smaller than a traditional gospel choir, the A Cappella singers have a sound similar to those produced by the much larger, and older, SUNY Cortland Gospel Choir.

The A Cappella ensemble’s inception took place in Spring 2009 when Cortland professor and Gospel Choir founder Samuel Kelley asked Noelle Chaddock Paley, director of multicultural life and diversity, and adjunct professor in Africana studies and philosophy, if it would be possible to get vocalists together.

“What makes us different from other groups on campus is that we all have a say in what we perform and how we perform it,” said Paley, the choir director.

The A Cappella choral ensemble, led by choir director Noelle Chaddock Paley, shown to the far left of the choir, performs on April 13 before a pleased crowd at the Unity Celebration in Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge.

Cassandra and fellow singer, Quinn Singer, were friends and voice students to Paley before they attended SUNY Cortland. Once enrolled as Cortland students, Cassandra, Quinn and Noelle decided to start a signing company. Their choir was originally called “QNC” and only included three performers. They performed all types of genres and different types of music.

After two years of low key rehearsing and performing, the ensemble opened its membership up through auditions last fall.

Auditions were held in the beginning of the semester for the first time because participation in the group would offer the option for one academic credit. Students were asked to sing a short excerpt from their favorite piece or song. Allowing the group to expand has opened doors for the a cappella singers to be more flexible, attend more events, become more professional and take on harder pieces of music.

“We all get together and decide what songs we would like to perform,” Crisitello said. “We all listen to that song, and just join in when we hear something that sounds good. We all have really good ears when it comes to music, which makes us a great a cappella group.”

 “The special thing about our group is that we all work together by ear to figure out most of the music we sing,” said Lauren Kovacic, a sophomore and second semester singer from Endicott, N.Y.

The vocal ensemble is taking on more ambitious concerts. On April 1, the group along with the Gospel Choir will travel to Canada for a performance. The vocalists will also sing during the Diversity Conference, which will take place on Saturday, March 9, in Corey Union.

 “The A Cappella group is special because it is diverse,” said Talia Parisi, a freshman and first semester singer from Seaford, N.Y. “The personality of each person in the group makes it easy to sing openly and feel the music.”

“This group has a very family-like feeling,” Kovacic said.

“After practices I always leave with a smile on my face, and the music stuck in my head,” Parisi said. “It gives me something to do and something to look forward to every week.”

For more information, contact Noelle Chaddock Paley at noelle.paley@cortland.edu or the Multicultural Life Office secretary Ann Cutler at (607) 753-2336 or via email.

SUNY Cortland alumnus Bert R. Mandelbaum '75, M.D., a team physician with the U.S. World Cup Soccer Team, will discuss “Orthopedic Concerns in Soccer” during SUNY Cortland’s one-day Sports Medicine Symposium for professionals and students on Friday, April 22.

Registration for the day’s program, which includes lunch, costs $25 for the public and $10 for students. Mandelbaum’s session, scheduled from 2 to 3 p.m., is free and open to the public.

For more information, or to register for the symposium, contact Philip Buckenmeyer, associate professor and chair of kinesiology, at (607) 753-4300 or via email.

The conference will run from 8:50 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. in the Corey Union Function Room.

Mandelbaum, a 1975 SUNY Cortland graduate and an orthopedic surgeon with the Orthopedic Surgeon Group of Santa Monica, Calif., served as team physician to the U.S. World Cup team four times between 1994 and 2006. He was chief medical officer during the 1999 Women’s World Cup. Mandelbaum is currently head orthopedic physician at Pepperdine University and assistant medical director of Major League Soccer.

In 2009, SUNY recognized Mandelbaum with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. He has received three national awards for excellence in sports medicine research, including the prestigious Dr. Ernst Jokl Sports Medicine Award in 2006, an honor previously bestowed on renowned four-minute miler Roger Bannister.

Mandelbaum serves on the editorial board of the American Journal of Sports Medicine, the board of the American Association of Sports Medicine and the Board of Fellows of Professional Team Physicians.

At the SUNY Cortland symposium, Hal Luther, the director of strength and conditioning at Syracuse University since 2007, will discuss the proper shape of football players from 9 to 10 a.m. Luther coached more than a dozen future NFL players during his tenure at Syracuse.

Amy DeBlois, a physical therapist at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, N.Y., will discuss balance, activity tolerance and rehabilitation exercise from 10 to 11 a.m.

Devin Coppola, M.D., SUNY Cortland’s college physician, will address diabetes in athletics at 11 a.m.

Otto Janke, M.D., of Janke Family Chiropractic in Cortland, will discuss posture problems in athletics from 1 to 2 p.m.

Award winning author Ginnah Howard will come to SUNY Cortland on Monday, May 2, to discuss the different aspects of writing and publishing a novel.

Howard will share her experiences and influences in a lecture titled, “How to Write and Publish a Novel,” beginning at 4:30 p.m. in Sperry Center, Room 304.

Sponsored by a grant from the Campus Artists and Lecture Series (CALS), the talk is free and open to the public.

Howard came to writing by chance in her late 40s, when the New York State English Bureau began to press all teachers to actively write with their students. With encouragement from a poet and the gift of time when both her children were away from home for the first time, Howard began her career as a writer.

“Being able to spend time alone, to mull, to enter the fictional world, is especially helpful in writing a novel,” Howard says. “It’s a long trip and if the bus is a local, stopping 20 times a day, one loses the blurry belief that there’s a final destination.”

Her novel, Night Navigation, is a work of fiction. However, Howard says, “Its characters and much of its development are based on research and invention. The core of the story springs from real events in my own family’s life.”

“Junkies, cons, brothers, sons, mothers, lovers: how can Ginnah Howard know all these sorts so inwardly, so passionately well and weave together their lives so suspensefully?” said Matt Leone, director of the Colgate Writers’ Conference. “Here is a tour de force of the most valuable, the most poetic, the hardest earned insights: those that are intensely felt, imagined, lived. I don’t recall ever having been so struck by a first novel before.”

For more information on this author, visit her website at www.ginnahhoward.com/news.html. For information about the lecture, contact Victoria Boynton, associate professor of English, via email or telelphone at (607) 753-2082.

Emily Perl Kingsley, an Emmy Award-winning writer for the children’s television program “Sesame Street,” will talk about characters with disabilities and inclusive storylines on the show on Thursday, May 5, at SUNY Cortland.

A well-known advocate for children with disabilities, she will begin at 7 p.m. in the Corey Union Function Room. ”Diversity on Sesame Street” is geared to the interests of educators, future educators, parents and others. The presentation is free and open to the public.

Kingsley, the mother of a child who has Down syndrome, has worked long and hard to change negative stereotypes about people living with disabilities.

Kingsley has written several books and a television movie about raising children with disabilities.

Her essay about having a child with a disability, “Welcome to Holland,” has been translated and distributed around the world. 

Since she joined the “Sesame Street” team in 1970, Kingsley has won 18 Emmy Awards and been nominated for 20 more. She has introduced several characters with disabilities to the “Sesame Street” show and her son has appeared in numerous episodes.

Sponsors of the lecture include the New York State Inclusive Recreation Resource Center; Institute for Disability Studies; Teacher Professional Development Network of Central New York; Campus Artists and Lecture Series; Cortland Association for the Education of Young Children; Cortland College Foundation; SUNY Cortland Recreation Association; Lynne Parks ’68 SUNY Cortland Alumni House; Inclusive Education Club; the departments of Recreation, Parks and Leisure Studies, Communication Disorders and Sciences, and Foundations and Social Advocacy; the Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies; and the Multicultural Life Office.

For more information, contact Lynn Anderson, professor of recreation, parks and leisure studies and director of the New York State Inclusive Recreation Resource Center, at (607) 753-4942 or via email.

Tau Sigma, an academic honor society designed specifically to recognize and promote the academic excellence and involvement of transfer students, recognized Sara M. Pick of SUNY Cortland as a 2011 scholarship recipient.

The senior from Westmoreland, N.Y., was chosen after being reviewed by the Cortland Chapter Scholarship Review Committee for academic achievement and for having the greatest combination of involvement in and service to the chapter, the university and the community.

Pick's application was then sent to the National Chapter, which decided to award her a National Scholarship of $2,000.

Tau Sigma honored 31 students with 2011 year scholarships ranging from $250 to $2,500. Binghamton, Fredonia and Albany were the other SUNY schools to have scholarship recipients this year.

Pick was formally acknowledged at an induction ceremony on March 4 in SUNY Cortland’s Corey Union Function Room.

She is currently a senior at Cortland majoring in early childhood/childhood education with a concentration in social sciences. Pick transferred from Mohawk Valley Community College with an Associate in Liberal Arts of Science: Early Childhood Education.

At Mohawk Valley, Pick also was a member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and secretary of the Education Club. She captained the varsity cross country for indoor and outdoor track team. She was also awarded NJCAA All-American Athlete for Cross Country and Outdoor Track for 2007-09.

After transferring to SUNY Cortland, Sara participated on the cross country team in Fall 2009. In Spring 2010, she joined Tau Sigma and was elected president.

“She immediately took on a leadership role and has set a great example in the organization by attending transfer student events, such as the New Transfer Picnic, helping with Class Finding Tours and volunteering at the Cortland Pumpkin Fest,” Quinlan said. “Sara has spent time assisting with new initiatives such as fundraising, collecting and delivering food for Tau Sigma’s first canned food drive and also taking part in raising money for Relay for Life.”

She was also recently accepted into the study abroad program and will be spending the fall semester in Australia.

“I have always heard such positive comments about SUNY Cortland, especially their School of Education,” says Pick, a 2007 graduate from Westmoreland High School who is the daughter of Trudy and Stephen Pick. “I wanted to be involved in that positive energy.

“I want to become a New York state accredited early childhood teacher and continue my education in a master’s degree in special education,” she says. “I want to be a life-long learner for both myself and my students.” 

The SUNY Cortland Tobacco Advisory Committee will offer two open forums on Wednesday, April 20, and Tuesday, April 26, to gather campus feedback regarding the Tobacco Free Campus Initiative.

Both sessions will be held from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. in Corey Union, Rooms 301-303, and the latter session will precede the committee’s monthly meeting. All faculty, staff and students are invited to both sessions.

The committee, formed to consider ways to reduce tobacco use on campus, added the extra April 20 session after the success of a March 29 open forum. Twenty-five members of the campus community attended the meeting.

Formerly known as the SUNY Cortland Tobacco Advisory Coalition, the committee is co-chaired by Devin Coppola, the College’s physician, and Cathy Smith, a health educator from the Health Promotion Office. The committee includes more than 30 members representing faculty, staff and students as well as members of the surrounding community.

The committee’s charges from President Erik J. Bitterbaum are:

• to continue to explore ways to encourage smoking cessation at SUNY Cortland;

• to develop a graduated plan for the College to become a tobacco-free campus;

• to involve the unions and smokers and non-smokers in the process.

• to educate the campus community about the process and the rationale for this initiative.

For more information, contact Smith by email at catherine.smith@cortland.edu or phone at (607) 753-2066, or Coppola by email at devin.coppola@cortland.edu or phone at (607) 753-4811.

Each year, the Auxiliary Services Corporation (ASC) Board of Directors allocates funds to support grants for a wide range of purposes and projects that enhance the life of the SUNY Cortland community.

On April 11, the ASC Board of Directors approved the Fiscal Year 2011-12 Grant Program. 

To view the grants funded by ASC click on the link below.

 FY12 ASC Program Grants

Twenty-six students were inducted into Psi Chi, the national honorary in psychology, on April 5 in Corey Union Function Room.

The initiates for this year are Meghan Babiarz, Emily Cianciotta, Alysia Damin, Carol Dannenhoffer, Jacqueline DeLuise, Kaitlin Dunn, Alexandra Ednie, Matthew Fabrizio, Kelly Foster, Michael LaBarbera, Chelsea Leon, Katherine LiButti and Alecia Loveland.

Inductees include Stefanie Meyers, Ariel Morrison, Scott Neri, Erica Raepple, Megan Rehm, Brittany Rich, Ashley Rogers, Emily Smith, Virginia Smith, Alyssa Tyson, Alexandra Weissmann, Brittie Wintle and Brianna Yetsko.

The banquet and ceremony were conducted by the Psi Chi Cortland chapter officers President Lauren DiRusso and Vice-President Michael Curry, both psychology majors. President Erik J. Bitterbaum provided welcoming remarks and Dean of Arts and Sciences R. Bruce Mattingly provided closing remarks. Psychology faculty members David Kilpatrick, Paul Luyben and Jeffery Swartwood attended the event. Many family members and guests also attended.

Posters showing research being done by students and faculty were on display.

Department Chair Judith Ouellette is the faculty advisor to the local chapter. In addition to Luyben and Swartwood, Claire Payne and Teri Wood, secretaries in the Psychology Department, were involved in planning the banquet and induction ceremony. Rhonda Moulton, School of Arts and Sciences, provided music during the reception and banquet.