Campus Champion

Valerie Smith, a senior geography major from Auburn, N.Y., is due for a lifestyle change in late February when she reaches Beijing, her spring semester study abroad destination. Beijing’s population hovers around 20 million people, more than 700 times that of her hometown. But Smith, the first individual American student to receive the College’s $1,000 Wah Chip and Yuki Chin Memorial Scholarship, will travel overseas with confidence, curiosity and three semesters of Chinese language study under her belt. “This is my chance to let the Chinese tell their story unfiltered,” said Smith, who aspires to earn a doctorate.

Grammy-nominated rap artist Wiz Khalifa will rock SUNY Cortland’s campus at the College’s Spring Fling on Saturday, April 28.

The 24-year-old rapper, who in 2011 hit No. 1 on Billboard magazine’s Top 100 Chart with his hit single “Black and Yellow,” will take the stage at 8 p.m. in SUNY Cortland’s Park Center, with doors opening at 7 p.m.

Roughly 3,000 tickets, which cost $20 for SUNY Cortland students and $30 for the public, will be available on a limited basis, with students receiving first priority. They go on sale Saturday, March 24, and will be sold from noon to 7 p.m., or until they are sold out, at the Corey Union Information Desk.

SUNY Cortland students will be allowed to purchase one ticket and must show their College ID. Students will not be allowed to purchase tickets for their friends, even if they have that friend’s Cortland ID.

Tickets will stay on sale exclusively to SUNY Cortland students on Monday, March 26, and Tuesday, March 27. They will be sold from noon to 7 p.m., or until they are sold out, at the Corey Union Information Desk. If tickets are remaining, they will be sold to faculty, staff and the general public from Wednesday, March 28, through Friday, March 30. Tickets will be sold from noon to 7 p.m., at the Corey Union Information Desk.

Khalifa joins a long list of big-name artists to play SUNY Cortland’s Spring Fling, a list that includes the Black Eyed Peas, O.A.R. and the Fray. Kid Cudi, last year’s headliner, played to a sold-out arena.

“Last year’s student surveys came back and said that students wanted to see him,” said Delvin “D.J.” Johnson, one of the co-chairs in charge of lining up music acts for the College’s Student Activities Board. “So this year, we took a chance on trying to get him and he accepted.”

The Pittsburgh-raised rapper has three albums to his credit and his own label, Taylor Gang Records, under parent company Atlantic Records. “Black and Yellow,” a song named after the colors associated with professional sports teams in Pittsburgh such as Steelers football and Pirates baseball, established Khalifa’s mainstream success. The track earned him a nomination for Best Rap Song at the 2011 Grammy Awards and spawned several remixes and parodies by other recording artists.

“Rolling Papers,” Khalifa’s debut album with Atlantic, came out in March and hit No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. It features other mainstream hits such as “Roll Up” and “No Sleep.”

Khalifa also has collaborated with Snoop Dogg and Bruno Mars on the current hit single “Young, Wild and Free,” and has announced a new album in the works.

“He has some huge fans here and we knew it would go over pretty well with students,” Johnson said. “People are excited about it.”

Collins O. Airhihenbuwa, an internationally recognized scholar in the cultural aspect of public health around the world, will discuss global disparities in health care during the fifth annual Charles N. Poskanzer Lecture on Tuesday, Feb. 28, at SUNY Cortland.

Airhihenbuwa, professor and chair of the Bio-behavioral Health Department at The Pennsylvania State University’s College of Health and Human Development, will present “Global Health Equity and the Location of Culture,” at 7 p.m. in Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge.

Sponsored by the College’s Health Department, the lecture is free and open to the public. The event is supported by the Charles N. Poskanzer Fund, an endowment named in honor of the late SUNY Distinguished Service Professor emeritus who taught in the College’s Health Department for 40 years.

The fund was established through the Cortland College Foundation five years ago as an endowment to support an annual, public lecture offered by the College’s Health Department in honor of its former colleague. Since Poskanzer’s death in 2010, the fund has continued to grow through donations made in his memory as part of “Educating Champions, the Campaign for Cortland, SUNY Cortland’s ambitious effort to raise $25 million by 2013.

“The Poskanzer Lecture allows the Health Department to bring national leaders in public and community health to campus to meet with students and faculty and to deliver a public lecture on a current public health issue,” observed Bonni Hodges, department chair.

“We have found that the classroom visits and formal lecture by these esteemed professionals trigger discussions within and outside the classroom sometimes for the rest of the semester,” she said. “We strive to invite those whose work illustrates the interdisciplinary nature of public health, providing relevance to many on campus. Many of our colleagues working in public health agencies and other health-related organizations in surrounding communities look forward to the lecture.”

Airhihenbuwa has spent more than two decades pioneering and promoting HIV/AIDS education.

“The quest for equity in global health continues to remain a major challenge, particularly in the global south,” said Airhihenbuwa, who has presented at numerous international conferences on health education and promotion.

“Culture offers a critical lens through which health is defined and notions of success and failure are better understood,” he said. “Global health demands a multidisciplinary approach to understanding individual behaviors and their contexts and why inequity persists.”

Since 2005, he has directed Penn State’s Alliance for Earth Sciences, Engineering and Development in Africa Center for Global Health and Geo-resource Management.

“The lecture will examine some directions and ways to bridge inequity gaps in global health with culture as a critical point of departure,” said Airhihenbuwa, who was recognized in 1997 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health.

He was honored in 2006 with the David Satcher Award for Leadership in Reducing Health Disparities and Improving Health Promotion and Education Programs by the Centers for Disease Control and the Directors of Health Promotion and Education (DHPE).

Raised in Nigeria, Airhihenbuwa has a doctorate in public health education and a Master of Public Health in Health Planning and Administration from University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Health Planning and Administration from Tennessee State University in Nashville. He has a Certificate in Health Administration and Planning from Meharry Medical College in Nashville.

Airhihenbuwa joined the university’s faculty in University Park, Pa., in 1984, after serving four years as assistant to the dean for minority affairs in its College of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. He teaches courses in the areas of international/cross cultural health, U.S. ethnic minority health, planning, implementation, and evaluation of health promotion programs.

From 1986 to 1991, Airhihenbuwa took part in Visiting Professor of Health Care in Developing Countries, an annual summer certificate program at the Boston University School of Public Health.

From 1991 to 1992, during a sabbatical leave, he conducted research with the World Health Organization of Geneva, Switzerland. His studies encompassed Congo, Malawi and Nigeria. He also focused his scholarship on the United Nations Development Program in Nigeria.

Airhihenbuwa is the author of six books and monographs, including Healing Our Differences: The Crisis of Global Health and the Politics of Identity (2007) and Health and Culture: Beyond the Western Paradigm (1995). He co-edited, with two others, a UNAIDS/Penn State Project titled UNAIDS (1999) Communications Framework for HIV/AIDS: An Annotated Bibliography. He has written numerous book chapters, journal articles, technical reports and book reviews and is a frequent conference keynote speaker.

Listed among the 1987 Outstanding Young Men of America, in 1993 Airhihenbuwa was presented the Young Professional Award of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. In 1995, he received the American Association for Health Education (AAHE)’s Presidential Award. The American Journal of Health Promotion honored him in 2001 with The Symbol of HOPE Award.

A Fellow of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research and the American Association for Health Behavior, he also is a Distinguished Fellow of the Society for Public Health Education.

For more information, contact Alan Sofalvi, associate professor of health, at (607) 753-2980.

Musical and dance performances by members of the SUNY Cortland and Central New York communities will highlight the 2012 Gospel Choir Cultural Celebration, which takes place Sunday, Feb. 26.

The event begins at 4 p.m. in the Corey Union Function Room. A reception follows the concert.

Tickets cost $3 for students and $5 general admission and may be purchased through SUNY Cortland Gospel Choir members, at the door or reserved in advance.

Special guest choirs this year will include the Central Baptist Church Mass Choir and the Central Baptist Church Men’s Choir, both of Syracuse, N.Y. The groups are under the direction of Felton Sayles and their selections include: “Lord, We Praise You,” by Hezekiah Walker; “Stand,” by John P. Kee; and “For Every Mountain,” by Kurt Carr, a joint selection to be performed with the SUNY Cortland Gospel Choir.

The Central Baptist Men’s Choir will sing “Stand Up,” by Ron Beck, with Ron Mason as soloist, and “Something About The Name Of Jesus,” by Kirk Franklin, with Mason and Wayne Daniels as soloists.

The SUNY Cortland A Cappella group will sing the spiritual “Ev’ry Time I Feel The Spirit,” by Moses Hogan; “Down,” by Jay Sean; and “Perfect,” by Pink.

The SUNY Cortland Gospel Choir will offer the popular “Glorious,” by Martha Munizzi; “Battlefield,” by Norman Hutchins; and two additional selections.

SUNY Cortland alumna Dorothy Thomas ’77 will present a piano praise medley consisting of several sacred selections. The SUNY Cortland Africana Dance Troupe, under the direction of Yomee Lee, an associate professor of kinesiology, will present a West African dance called Sunu in addition to Samba and West African dance.

A jazz set by the Gospel Choir musicians will round out the performance. The musicians include saxophonist Jamie Yaman, of Cortland, N.Y.; and keyboardist Andy Rudy, bass guitarist Reggie Siegler, percussionist Benjamin Terry and trombonist Robert Brown, all of Syracuse, N.Y.

The celebration is sponsored by the Gospel Choir, the Africana Studies Department, the Black Student Union and the Caribbean Student Association. The event also is supported by the student activity fee.

The event continues the College’s Black History Month, which is co-sponsored by the President’s Office; the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs’ Office; the Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies; the Vice President for Student Affairs’ Office; the Multicultural Life and Diversity Office; the Dean of Arts and Sciences’ Office; the Political Science Department; the Affirmative Action Committee; the Communication Studies Department; the Africana Studies Department; the Black Student Union; and the Caribbean Student Association.

Ticket reservations may be made by calling Distinguished Service Professor Samuel L. Kelley at (607) 753-4104, emailing him or by reaching Distinguished Teaching Professor Seth N. Asumah at seth.asumah@cortland.edu. Reserved tickets may be picked up at the door and individuals are welcome to make a donation to the College’s Gospel Choir if they cannot attend the concert.

For more information, contact Kelley.

Judith Wellman, a historian of 19th century America who received the 2011 Award of Excellence from the Preservation League of New York State, will discuss the Underground Railroad on Wednesday, Feb. 22, at SUNY Cortland.

Wellman, who runs her own historical investigation firm, will present ”Harriet Tubman and Beyond: Documenting the Underground Railroad in New York State,” during a 12:30 p.m. sandwich seminar in Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge. The presentation, part of the College’s Black History Month (BHM) series during February, is free and open to the public. 

“It is important for us to remember that slavery happened and that it can happen again,” remarked Wellman, a SUNY Oswego professor emerita who has focused her teaching and research on the Underground Railroad and historical preservation. She is the founder and principal investigator of Historical New York Research Associates.

Wellman, who earned a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, will begin her talk by attempting to banish the myth that the Underground Railroad was a hushed process that left behind no concrete information or evidence. 

“Many believe that the Underground Railroad was some huge secret that cannot be accurately researched, but that is not true,” said Wellman. During her lecture, Wellman will demonstrate how to identify and use reliable sources on the Underground Railroad.

She also hopes to bring cultural awareness to those in attendance. 

“Everyone knows who Harriet Tubman is,” Wellman said. “But what they do not know is that she came to New York first because of all the Underground Railroad activity going on here.” 

Wellman also will explore the importance of the region’s relationship to the Underground Railroad, and raise the audience’s awareness of its potential for future tourism.

“With an awareness of our culture, we can then bring economic development to communities that may not otherwise get it,” Wellman said.

Wellman said her loyalty to the study of upstate New York’s Underground Railroad involvement has to do with her passion for her local and cultural heritage. 

“It helps us recapture ourselves,” she said. “It was a different time, but it’s the same place.”

Wellman’s dedication and interest in the upstate New York region shines throughout her books, which include The Road to Seneca Falls: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Beginning of the Women's Rights Movement (2004) and Grassroots Reform in the Burned-over District of Upstate New York: Religion, Abolitionism and Democracy (2000).

Wellman’s lecture is just one of many Black History Month events at SUNY Cortland. The Africana Studies Department has organized BHM events for the College since the late 1970s. This year’s BHM campus events are posted online in the College’s homepage calendar and on the Africana Studies Department and the Multicultural Life and Diversity Office websites. They are open to the public and free unless otherwise noted.

For more information about Black History Month, contact organizer Seth Asumah, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Political Science, at (607) 753-2064, or in Old Main, Room 208-B.

The Communist Manifesto, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare and the Quran have something in common: SUNY Cortland students are discussing them, along with seven other books, in a poster session titled “Books that Changed the World” on Wednesday, Feb. 15.

The event, part of the 2011-12 Rozanne M. Brooks Lecture Series, will be held in the Moffett Center lobby from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Following the poster session, SUNY Cortland students will offer a poetry slam at 4:30 p.m. in Moffett Center, Room 2125.

Both events are free and open to the public.

“These events should tie in nicely with this year’s theme, which is ‘Culture and the Written Word,’” said Brooks Museum Director Sharon Steadman, a SUNY Cortland professor of sociology/anthropology and coordinator of the College’s International Studies Program. “For the poster session, I offered the students 10 books as choices, and they decided to do them all.”

Members of SUNY Cortland’s International Awareness Club put three-panel posters together for each book. The volumes, which span thousands of years, include: the Quran; The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; The Republic, by Plato; Das Kapital, by Marx; The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, by William Shakespeare; The Second Sex, by Simone de Beauvoir; On the Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin; Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson; the Magna Carta; and Little Red Book, by Mao Tse-Tung.

The Brooks Lecture Series honors the late Rozanne Marie Brooks, a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor and SUNY Cortland professor of sociology and anthropology. Brooks was a SUNY Cortland faculty member for 36 years; she passed away in 1997. The 2011-12 Brooks Lecture Series is sponsored by a grant from Auxiliary Services Corporation (ASC) and the Cortland College Foundation.

For more information, contact Steadman at (607) 753-2308.

Acceptance of the individual's physical qualities is celebrated during Body Appreciation Week at SUNY Cortland.

SUNY Cortland’s 2012 Body Appreciation Week, themed “Be Free, Be You!” will feature events intended to promote body awareness and acceptance, from Monday, Feb. 27, to Friday, March 2.

Events presented as part of the College’s 14th annual Body Appreciation Week are free and open to the public.

 “Our purpose is to enlighten the campus on the dangers of disordered eating and make it a place where resources are available,” said Billie Jean Goff, interim director of the College’s Counseling Center and founder of the College’s Body Appreciation Week. “Above all, we just want people to be healthy. Healthy attitude, healthy behaviors, just enjoying life without obsessing over things like image or calories.”

From Feb. 27 through Thursday, March 1, a “Be Free, Be You!” poster and artwork exhibit will promote positive self image and awareness of eating disorders. The display may be viewed from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Corey Union Exhibition Lounge.

“We want people to appreciate themselves and what they have to offer beyond their body weight, shape or size,” Goff said of the exhibit.

To that end, a Coffee House featuring performances by student groups such as Kickline and A Capella will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 28. The performances begin at 7 p.m. in the Corey Union Function Room. An Open Mic night will follow.

As the highlight event of the week, Doris and Tom Smeltzer, the parents of a college student who lost her life to an eating disorder, will present the Wellness Wednesday discussion on Feb. 29. “Andrea’s Voice: Silenced by Bulimia” begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Corey Union Function Room.

A candlelight vigil sponsored by Delta Phi Epsilon will start the evening. The Smeltzers will discuss their daughter’s one-year battle with bulimia and take a deeper look into disordered eating from her parent’s perspective. A book signing and reception with the Smeltzers will immediately follow the presentation.

Faculty and staff of the College have the opportunity to donate $1 a day to wear jeans or dress down during Body Appreciation Week. All the proceeds will go toward the Michael Holland Scholarship Fund. Health Promotions Office interns will visit offices around campus with envelopes collecting the $1 donations on Friday, Feb. 24.

The College’s Body Appreciation Week is sponsored by Counseling and Student Development, Auxiliary Services Corporation, the President’s Office, the Vice President for Student Affairs’ Office, Residence Life and Housing, Campus Artist and Lecture Series, Athletics Department, Academic Support and Achievement Program, the Health Promotion Office, Delta Phi Epsilon, Alpha Sigma Alpha, Campus Activities and Corey Union, Student Activities Board, Residence Hall Association, Eta Sigma Gamma, the Health Club, Ames Linen and Women of Color.

For more information about Body Appreciation Week, Wellness Wednesdays, or for an individual with a disability to request physical accommodation to attend an event, contact Catherine Smith, the College’s health educator, in the Health Promotion Office, Van Hoesen Hall, Room B-1, or at (607) 753-2066.

Joe Feagin, a noted sociologist who enlisted students from campuses around the country to keep diaries that chronicled the everyday racism still plaguing the United States., will speak on Wednesday, Feb. 29, at SUNY Cortland.

Feagin, the Ella C. McFadden Professor in Sociology at Texas A&M University and the former president of the American Sociological Association, will give two presentations as part of the College’s Black History Month (BHM) series of events during February.

Feagin will offer “Racial Diaries of White and Black Students: No Post-Racial America,” during a seminar at 7 p.m. in Sperry Center, Room 105. Earlier in the day, he will present “Racial History My Teacher Never Told Me” at 12:30 p.m. in Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge.

Both presentations are free and open to the public.

Feagin’s publications have won him several national and professional association prizes including the American Sociological Association’s Oliver C. Cox Book Award in 1996 for White Racism: The Basics (1995).

His evening seminar will be an in-depth analysis of more than 1,000 students’ racial diaries. The students, who kept an account of all racial interactions for eight to 10 weeks, were from 28 different colleges throughout the U.S.

“It’s hard to surprise me,” said Feagin, the author or co-author of 58 published books, including the text Ghetto Revolts: The Politics of Violence in American Cities (1973). The book was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

“I have been doing this for a while, but the level of blatant racism among white students was a little shocking,” Feagin said.

He will share the diaries of multiple students during the seminar.

“We have a very deep foundation of racial oppression. We are living in a country that still operates under a constitution made by slave-owners,” said Feagin, former scholar-in-residence at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

During his seminar, Feagin will touch upon the way racism has evolved over the decades.

“The younger generation has learned to hide their racist actions when they are in public,” he said. “But they do a lot behind closed doors, whether it be posting stuff on their Facebook or making racist jokes with their friends.

“There really is no post-racial America,” Feagin concluded.

In his afternoon discussion, Feagin will cover the history that rarely makes it into textbooks, including slaves’ significant contributions to the American Revolution.

“The Revolutionary War probably would have been a draw if it were not for the 200,000 black soldiers that fought in it,” Feagin said.

“It is common for people to think Lincoln freed the slaves, but, the slaves freed the slaves,” remarked Feagin, a current member of the Association of Black Sociologists who received a Ph.D. in sociology at Harvard University.

The Africana Studies Department has organized BHM events for the College since the late 1970s. BHM campus events will be posted online under Featured Events on the College’s home page and on the Africana Studies Department and the Multicultural Life and Diversity Office websites. Events are open to the public and free unless otherwise noted.

For more information about Black History Month, contact organizer Seth Asumah, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Political Science, at (607) 753-2064, or in Old Main, Room 208-B.

Robert Djed Snead, a performing historical re-enactor, lecturer and storyteller, will deliver two re-enactments of a famous Syracuse abolitionist, on Thursday, Feb. 16, at SUNY Cortland.

Snead, from Rochester, N.Y., will perform “Escaped Slave and Now Rev. Jermain W. Loguen Visits Cortland,” at 7 p.m. in Sperry Center, Room 205. At 4 p.m., he will discuss and perform “Re-enacting a Historical Figure (Rev. Jermain W. Loguen)” in Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge.

Both events are free and open to the public.

“Jermain Loguen became a powerful voice for abolition and for human rights in Central New York,” said Associate Librarian David Ritchie, organizer of the Memorial Library’s Black History Month events, about the planned re-enactment.

An escaped slave, Loguen first learned to read and write in Canada, and then became a pastor and eventually a bishop in the AME Zion Church in Syracuse, according to Ritchie. Loguen and his wife provided a much-publicized stop at his home for slaves making their way to Canada and freedom on the underground railroad. The abolitionist also helped engineer the 1851 “Jerry Rescue” of a captured escaped slave. He made an early documented visit to the village of Cortland to tell his story at both the Presbyterian and Baptist Churches.

“Snead will de-construct his process of becoming a historical figure, which might be of interest to performing arts majors or teacher education majors,” Ritchie said.

Snead will discuss the research and preparation of the historical character and offer a question-and-answer session at both performances. He gave the same re-enactment during the 2011 Induction Ceremonies for Rev. Loguen at the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum, in Peterboro, N.Y.

Snead has been a member of Blackstorytelling League of Rochester, N.Y., since the early 1990s. He also is a member of Akwaaba: The Heritage Associates and the Maafa Celebration Committee of Rochester, N.Y.

In 2005, he illustrated and published a children’s picture book titled Nasty Nathan, the No-Good Gnat Who Never Listened to Nobody! The sequel to his first book was published in 2010, along with a collection of poetry titled ITISU.

A graduate of SUNY Brockport, Snead has worked in the human services field for 25 years.

For more information about Snead’s performances and other library BHM events, contact Ritchie at (607) 753-2818.

For more information about SUNY Cortland’s other Black History Month events, contact Seth Asumah, a SUNY distinguished teaching professor at (607) 753-2064, or in Old Main, Room 208-B.

The SUNY Cortland Black Student Union (BSU) will hold a Kings and Queens Conference and Masquerade ball this weekend, aimed at bringing people together in an empowering atmosphere.

The conference will run from 11 a.m. through 4 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 18, in Corey Student Union. It will include brunch and lunch, entertainment and workshops focused on building confidence and strength in the areas of leadership, education and culture.

Later that evening, the BSU will host its first-ever masquerade ball at the Cortland Country Club from 9 p.m. until 3 a.m. Formal attire is required at the ball, which features dinner and dancing. Masquerade masks will be provided. Transportation will be provided between Corey Student Union and the Country Club, starting at 8 p.m.

Tickets to the full day of events are $15 for SUNY Cortland students. Tickets are available to attend the ball only at $5 for SUNY Cortland students and $7 for non-students.

The idea behind the Kings and Queens conference is to make participants feel like royalty in their confidence, strength and pride. Three workshops will be offered in the areas of leadership, education and culture.

To purchase tickets or for more information, go to http://bsu2012knq.eventbrite.com, email the BSU or call (607) 753-2807.

The Student Conduct Office is seeking new faculty, staff and student justices for the 2012-13 academic year.

As voluntary justices, members of the panel sit in on student hearings regarding alleged violations of the College’s Code of Student Conduct. Justices review evidence, listen to testimony and ultimately decide whether a student has broken a policy. If the panel finds the student in violation of a policy, the justices decide what educational sanctions to be imposed.

“I love being a student justice,” said Kelsey Baylinson, chief student justice.

“Although the office is there to enforce the educational philosophy of the College, people tend to look at the Student Conduct Office with a negative view,” she said. “But many of the students who are referred to us learn from their mistakes and get on the successful path to graduation.

“I enjoy working with other students and faculty in trying to resolve the hearings,” said Baylinson, a biological science major from Rensselaer, N.Y. “I've learned the art of asking open-ended questions and how to work better with others while communicating my own thoughts. 

“I've made so many great connections by being a student justice. I encourage people in all fields of study to apply for the position because it is a great learning experience,” Baylinson said. 

Initial training begins each fall and justices serve three to four hearings throughout the semester. Students commit to attend mandatory monthly training sessions and may earn one credit per semester serving as a justice. 

Faculty and staff are encouraged to nominate colleagues or students to become a justice. The nomination, application and recommendation forms are available on the Student Conduct website at www.cortland.edu/student-conduct by clicking on the leadership opportunities link. Forms also are available in the Student Conduct Office, Corey Union, Room 409-B. 

Applications are due on Wednesday, Feb. 29, no later than 4 p.m. Interviews will be scheduled after the College’s Spring Break. For more information, contact Amanda Anderson at (607) 753-4725 or amanda.anderson@cortland.edu. 

Students interested in careers involving business or economics should attend SUNY Cortland’s 2011-2012 Alumni Speaker Series on Monday, Feb. 20. 

The panel discussion begins at 7 p.m. in Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge. It is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

Panelists include Thomas W. Garden ’81, president of Syrasoft, LLC in Baldwinsville, N.Y.; Charles J. Privitera ’92, corporate retirement consultant for Gallagher Retirement Services in New York City; Thomas A. Terwilliger '92, owner of Mando Books, Inc., Red Jug Pub and Textbookfetcher in Cortland; Stephen D. Franco ’05, president and owner of Place Insurance and owner of SF Property Group in Cortland; and William F. Harklerode '09, global commodity manager at IBM.

The business and economics panel is the fourth of six discussions planned with alumni professionals throughout the academic year. The remaining Alumni Speakers Series event, which begin at 7 p.m., include:

• Professionals in the human services and helping professionals on Tuesday, March 20, in Corey Union Exhibition Lounge.
• Professionals involved with recreation and leisure on Tuesday, April 3, in Corey Union Exhibition Lounge.

The Alumni Speaker Series is sponsored by the Alumni Affairs Office and Career Services. For more information, visit the Career Services website or call them at (607) 753-4715.