Campus Champion

When you look at the lighter side of SUNY Cortland – through the creative videos posted on SUNYCortlandTV, the College’s YouTube page – you start to scratch the surface of Ryan Walker’s talents. The junior physical education major is a high-energy champion who is the College’s first male president of the Gymnastics Club, a trickster on his snowboard and an academic success story. But it’s his talents as a videographer (his credits include the “Call Me OA” parody and New York Jets training camp footage) that currently have momentum.

Just how much does SUNY Cortland add to the local economy? The College generated more than $251 million in estimated economic activity during the 2011-12 fiscal year.

That’s enough to buy 21 different National Hockey League franchises.

Or more than half a million brand new Apple iPads.

Or more than a billion chicken wings from Central City Bar and Grill in Cortland during the restaurant’s weekly Wing Night.

The College’s estimated impact was recently published in “The Economic Impact of SUNY Cortland on the Central New York Regional Economy,” a study led by Kathleen Burke, a professor of economics. Her work was based on survey responses from SUNY Cortland students and employees as well as data related to the College’s spending. Two surveys were conducted — one that was distributed to students in randomly selected courses and an online questionnaire that received responses from 258 faculty and staff members.

“We’re the driving economic force for the area,” Burke said, noting that SUNY Cortland is the largest employer in Cortland County.

The College’s expenditures, its employees and its students accounted for more than $135 million in direct spending for the year. As those dollars circulated across the region, they led to more than $251 million in economic activity in Broome, Cayuga, Cortland, Onondaga and Tompkins counties, according to the study.

The estimate, based on a U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis multiplier, takes into account the number of times dollars are re-spent in the local economy, Burke said. For example, if a student spends money at a restaurant in downtown Cortland, the restaurant will probably use some of that cash to pay workers’ wages. Those workers, in turn, might spend their wages at a different store in Cortland, starting the cycle over again.

“That dollar travels through the economy,” Burke said. “And because of that initial amount of spending, businesses are able to increase their labor.”

Spending from SUNY Cortland students totaled $46.3 million in 2011-12 and generated an impact of $85.8 million. Students accounted for 34.1 percent of the College’s expenditures, followed by employees (26.7 percent) and construction. (17.7 percent).

Burke said the importance of student spending is one of the survey’s major takeaway points.

“The College is here for the students,” Burke said. “And students’ spending in the community is the reason the community is what it is.”

The survey tracked monthly expenditures of students and employees in a variety of ways. It compared the spending habits of students who live on campus to those who reside off campus and found that nearly 70 percent of an off-campus student’s money is allocated towards rent, food and other utilities. Taxes and utilities constitute the highest percentage of employee spending (32 percent) followed by rent or mortgage payments (23 percent) and food (16 percent).

Sixty percent of the College’s employees reported that they would not live in the area if they did not work at SUNY Cortland. Further, based on average housing prices and property tax assessments, Cortland County would stand to lose roughly $1.3 million in county, city and school taxes from the 81 percent of employees who own homes in the area.

Other survey findings include:

• After students and employees — the College’s two biggest spenders — SUNY Cortland itself invested $24 million in construction, which created an economic impact of $44.4 million.

• The College also spent an additional $16.8 million on items other than personnel, in addition to $2.2 million by Auxiliary Services Corporation and $527,394 by the Student Government Association.

• Visitors of SUNY Cortland employees and students infused $5.2 million into the local economy during the year, resulting in $9.7 million in economic activity.

• The College’s utilities expenditures, at $3.7 million, actually decreased from 2008, the last time Burke conducted the survey. “That’s due to the College’s conscious effort to reduce energy usage,” Burke said.

It took nearly the entire 2011-12 academic year to compile the information in the 10-page report, Burke said. Wendy Miller, an assistant professor of geography at the College, provided geographic information systems assistance while Timothy Mabbett ’12 and Caitlin Visker ’12, two business economics majors, offered research help as part of a three-credit research experience course.

“It was a teachable moment and they were excellent,” Burke said.

She praised Jon Elle Baskin-Kelley, the controller for Auxiliary Services Corporation; Juanita Larrabee, the manager of contracts and compliance in the Facilities Planning, Design and Construction Office; Virginia Levine, the executive assistant to the College president; Jody Maroney, the budget officer in the Business Office; and Mary K. Murphy, the associate vice president for finance, for their assistance in gathering information.

The College President’s Office, the Institutional Research and Assessment Office, the Human Resources Office and the Business Office also provided assistance.

Sometimes, it’s the little inconveniences that get SUNY Cortland students’ imaginations churning.

For example, wouldn’t it be great if – instead of waiting in the rain for a ride – students could use GPS to track the path of the nearest campus bus on their smart phones, staying dry inside a building until the very last moment?

Or, rather than suffer the frustration of a long wait for a cup of coffee before class, students could use their phones or iPads to check live web cams in campus dining halls to see how long the lines are?

In fact, Cortland students have imagined using their smart phones to check their class schedules, access campus event calendars, auto-dial anyone in the campus directory and check to see if the clothes dryers in their residence hall are in use.

The time has come to give those imaginations a rest. All of those things, and more, can be done right now through SUNY Cortland’s new “mobile presence.” The newly activated feature offers a single, convenient place to access all SUNY Cortland mobile applications, services and content, including the new myRedDragon Mobile.

It’s as simple as visiting http://m.cortland.edu. Although some of the links take you to pages on the College’s main website, many of the most frequently used pages have been modified to make them easier to view and use on a mobile device.

“We call it a mobile presence because it is so much more than a typical college mobile phone app,” said Amy Berg, associate provost for information services. “The Systems Administration and Web Services (SAWS) team custom-built the mobile presence framework after a year of surveying users, collaborating with campus departments and researching the best possible technologies to meet campus needs.”

More than 1,000 students responded to the survey, telling the team about the kinds of things they’d like to be able to do with their mobile phone on campus. SAWS listened.

Although many campuses have adopted uniform-looking, “cookie cutter” college apps that can be bought from third parties, SUNY Cortland decided to design and build its very own, one-of-a-kind mobile device presence. 

This unique mobile experience was rolled out for faculty and staff late last month, and will be announced to students this week.

“This really sets us apart from what other campuses are doing,” Berg said. “We’re providing a rich, user-friendly mobile interface for all audiences. That includes current students, faculty and staff, prospective students and their families, alumni and visitors. It essentially includes something for everyone.”

Many of them were only between the ages of 7 and 10 when the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 occurred, but SUNY Cortland student leaders still feel a strong need to solemnly mark the national catastrophe.

At 9 p.m. Tuesday, members of the campus community will gather on the steps of Corey Union for a commemorative ceremony coordinated by members of the Student Government Association (SGA), the student-run Emergency Medical Squad (EMS) and the Cortland chapter of Hillel, the Jewish student cultural organization.

The campus clergy in several religious denominations present on campus will join student group representatives and administrators in offering their remarks on the occasion.

This year, instead of handing out candles the organizers will distribute red glow necklaces to honor those who lost their lives that day.

Members of the campus community are encouraged to attend. Organizers also have circulated an “I Will Join the 9/11 Tribute movement” flier encouraging students to join the initiative by posting their personal tribute online at Facebook 9/11Day or 911day.org and volunteering themselves in a day of service on Tuesday or another day soon.

“The 9/11 Commemoration is something you can do as a day of service,” said Kevin Pristash, the associate director of Corey Union. Pristash noted that the website 911day.org contains suggestions about volunteer activities in Cortland that students can join. 

Recently, the site advertised several volunteer opportunities in Cortland as well as in Ithaca and nearby Brooktondale, N.Y. In Cortland alone, students and other members of the college community were encouraged to become involved with the Cortland County Community Disaster Education Volunteer Program, become a mentor with Cortland’s Youth Assist Program, serve as a Thrifty Shopper store assistant, help the law enforcement division of the Cortland County SPCA, Inc., or assist with mailings, filing, data entry, or other office tasks in Cortland County.

Administrators in Campus Activities and Corey Union and the SUNY Cortland Alumni Association are assisting in organizing the memorial event. The ceremony moves indoors to the Corey Union Function Room in the event of rain.

Organizers and planned participants reflected on the upcoming observance.

“Many people are still feeling this overwhelming sense of sorrow and regret and loss, even 11 years later,” said LeighMarie Weber, a junior speech and hearing science major from Williston Park, N.Y. She is the current SGA president and an organizer of the event. “We can all come together as a campus over this.

“Although I didn’t have a family member who was affected, I knew many people who did,” Weber said. “So we all were impacted indirectly.”

In 2011, students and other members of the campus community marked the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. They are shown during a candle-lit ceremony on the steps of Corey Union.

“I wasn’t directly affected,” said Sean Jolliff, a senior history major from the northern New York community of Copenhagen, and the president of the EMS. “But I still remember that day vividly.”

Seated in his sixth grade social studies class, Jolliff saw his teacher receive the whispered news from a colleague and then announce to the class that he would find a television set for them to watch, as they would see history on the scale of Pearl Harbor made that day.

“We made history by being alive during this time, and those of us who will be teachers will be teaching history that we lived,” Weber said. “My feelings about that are so profound.”

“I do think it will hit home that day because we have a large percentage of students who are from the New York metro area,” Jolliff said. “Even at their young age, they were directly affected by it because they were so close to it.”

“That was the last morning I would ever see my neighbor Steve wave to me out his window as I got on the bus,” said Jana Diamond, co-president of Hillel. With co-president Andrea Seidenberg she has arranged for a Jewish prayer of mourning to be recited during the ceremony.

“I was sitting in my fifth grade classroom,” recalled Seidenberg. “One by one, each student was picked up early. At the time, no one knew what was going on. I remember coming home from school and turning on the television to see the twin towers going up in flames. As a 10-year-old, I was scared.”

 “So many lives were profoundly changed by this terrible tragedy, including the families of the seven alumni we lost on that day,” said Erin Boylan, interim executive director of alumni affairs, who will offer remarks on behalf of the College’s graduates that evening. “The students come together to offer such a touching tribute to all those affected and it is positive that the campus community still gathers to reflect.”

Since 9/11, Weber has watched her peers grow up in a world of intense travel security measures. Her childhood friend lost her father in the tragedy and was never the same.

 “I will be able to show my support and sympathy about this and so will many of my classmates,” Weber said. “Even though this happened 11 years ago, there is still a sense of sorrow and loss that is felt. This campus does a wonderful job being able to lend a helping hand and being able to support one another. And I think the community that is built around this college is here for us. That’s why I think this College community is great.”

SUNY Cortland’s Fall Festival, a day of free food and entertainment for College employees and their guests, takes place Saturday, Sept. 15 and the event, which expects to draw more than 500 people, has added a new giving incentive: a 50/50 raffle to benefit the SUNY Cortland Child Care Center.

Attendees will be able to purchase individual raffle tickets for $1 each or 10 for $5. Half of the proceeds will go to the Child Care Center for scholarships and learning resources while one winner will take home the other half of the pot. The winner is not required to be present in order to claim the prize.

Saturday’s festivities span from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. outside of Lusk Field House. In the event of rain, they move inside. The reservation deadline for employees and their guests was Aug. 31.

Wristbands will be distributed to attendees at the event, which will offer free entry to the SUNY Cortland football team’s Homecoming game and the women’s soccer game. Both contests begin at 1 p.m. but there’s no obligation to attend either game.

Catered food will follow a barbecue theme and family-friendly entertainment will be supplied. The Wild Hunt, a student musical act, will perform live music and a disc jockey also will be in attendance. Bounce houses, face painting, a cotton candy machine and an appearance from Crossroads the Clown also are in store.

The barbecue food will be served from noon to 2 p.m. and the menu will include hamburgers, hot dogs, barbecue chicken, assorted salads, salt potatoes, cupcakes, cookies, brownies, lemonade, iced tea and water. Special dietary requests have been noted.

Questions about the event can be directed to Robin Abbott of the College’s Human Resources Office at (607) 753-2302.

YouTube sensation and America’s Got Talent finalist Lindsey Stirling, the world’s only musician to blend classical violin, modern dance and video game themes, will perform as part of SUNY Cortland’s Family Weekend programming on Saturday, Sept. 29.

Stirling, who has scored more than 102 million hits on YouTube and sold more than 300,000 songs on iTunes, will begin at 8 p.m. in the Corey Union Function Room.

She will be joined by opening act artist DeLon, an international recording artist who is igniting a musical revolution through his Feel Good Music Movement. With the power of his pen and the magic of the microphone, DeLon is on a mission to promote unity and common purpose through his music.

The concert is presented by the Campus Artist and Lecture Series (CALS) as part of its 2012-13 line-up with four other planned performances. Tickets cost $5 for faculty, staff and the general public. Admission is free for SUNY Cortland students who present their College ID. Pre-school children will be admitted free as well.

Tickets can be purchased in Corey Union, Room 406, or beginning one hour prior to the performance at the Function Room. For more information, contact the Campus Activities and Corey Union Office at (607) 753-5574.

Stirling, who will release her self-titled debut album on Sept. 18, is recognized for the nonconformity of her music and performances. Her YouTube channel explores her versatility — from country to the style she is most known for: electronic-dub step played on a violin.

“My musical style is a reflection of my personality, and through it I hope to share my belief that no one should be afraid to be themselves,” said Stirling, whose videos involve intricate and energetic dancing, inspired playing, imaginative costumes and – often – themes from video games like Skyrim and the Legend of Zelda.

She has performed abroad in the United Kingdom, Kenya and Italy and comes to SUNY Cortland as part of her 2012 United States tour.

Stirling’s non-conformity in art and music aims to inspire young adults all over the world.

Stirling quoted on her website, “I believe that through our thoughts, beliefs and the environments we create, we each possess the power to make a positive change within ourselves and others,” referring to the meaning of her number one hit Crystallize. The YouTube video for that song has had more than 26 million viewers.

Stirling began her musical career by playing free community concerts. She also had a passion for dance and taught herself different styles by watching YouTube videos. She continued to practice playing the violin and dancing in unique ways, such as joining a rock band called Stomp at age 16. After using her talent to win scholarships such as The Distinguished Young Woman pageant, Stirling began making her own YouTube videos to gain recognition of her unique performing style.

More information about Stirling can be found on her website lindseystirlingviolin.com. 

The 2012-13 Rozanne M. Brooks Lecture Series at SUNY Cortland this year takes on the theme of “Culture and Health.”

The series, which is free and open to the public, features a reception before each presentation. Three guest speakers will present during the fall semester and the series will feature a poster session and a two-speaker lecture during the spring semester.

The events all take place on Wednesdays and begin at 4:30 p.m. in Moffett Center, Room 2125. A reception to welcome each speaker starts at 4 p.m. at the Rozanne M. Brooks Museum in Moffett Center, Room 2126, unless otherwise noted.

The following guests will speak during the fall semester:

• Stacey A. Langwick, an associate professor of anthropology at Cornell University, will discuss “The Value of Secrets: Pragmatic Healers and Proprietary Knowledge” on Sept. 19. As conversations related to the ownership of intellectual property have grown louder, a struggle has arisen concerning the value of healers’ secrets in Africa. Langwick, the author of two recent books related to African healing, will address the tensions generated by a healers’ secrets and their potential to interrupt the relationship between therapeutic knowledge, political authority and property regimes. Her talk will focus on “the emergence of a new kind of healer-intellectual and their efforts to find an institutional position from which to build common cause between medical science and African healing.”

• Timothy Baroni, a SUNY distinguished biology professor at SUNY Cortland, will present “Biodiversity of Macrofungi in Endangered Tropical Ecosystems: What We Do and Don’t Know” on Oct. 17. Two decades of field research will help demonstrate the biodiversity of mushrooms and their relatives during this talk, which will look at many samples collected throughout North and South America. The importance of fungi in the ecosystem will be discussed as well as data that provides a deeper understanding of their short life spans and the difficulties encountered when trying to study them.

• Jena Nicols Curtis, an associate professor of health at SUNY Cortland, will discuss “Assessing and Addressing Health ‘Needs’ in Other Cultures” on Nov. 7. Curtis, a young faculty member who has won more than $35,000 in grant funding and penned six publications since 2006, will explore exactly what a person needs in order to be considered healthy. She’ll consider how culture shapes the concept of well-being as well as how people view the health needs of others belonging to different cultures.

The spring semester will feature the following events:

• SUNY Cortland Students will present a poster session on “Global Culture, Global Health” from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. on March 6 in Moffett Center, Room 2126. The reception begins at 3:30 p.m. for this event.

• Robert Rubinstein and Sandra Lane, two Syracuse University professors, will discuss “Anthropological Contributions to Preventing Blinding Eye Disease in Egypt” on March 20. Both Rubinstein, a professor of anthropology and international relations at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and Lane, a professor of public health, food studies, and nutrition as well as a research professor at SUNY Upstate Medical University, have studied and researched extensively in the areas of health, science and anthropology. They will present their research on trachoma, which is the leading cause of preventable blindness in the world. Together, they will share their ideas about eliminating the bacterial infection by 2020.

The 2012-13 Brooks Lecture Series is sponsored by a grant from Auxiliary Services Corporation (ASC) and the Cortland College Foundation. For more information, contact the lecture series organizer and Brooks Museum director, Sharon R. Steadman, at (607) 753-2308.

With $100, you can almost afford one of the newest iPod nanos from Apple. Or, for the same amount, you can earn a shot at an all-inclusive Super Bowl trip for two to New Orleans.

The Cortland College Foundation is selling a limited number of raffle tickets for a chance to win an expenses-paid trip to Super Bowl XLVII. Only 500 tickets will be sold at $100 apiece.

The College acquired the two Super Bowl tickets through its close ties with the NFL’s New York Jets, which uses SUNY Cortland campus as its official summer training camp.

All of the money raised from the Super Bowl drawing will go exclusively to the Cortland College Foundation scholarship fund, said Kimberly Pietro, the College’s vice president for institutional advancement.

“This is an incredibly unique opportunity for our students, our alumni and friends of SUNY Cortland,” Pietro said. “The raffle offers the chance at a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for one winner, but more importantly it means many of our students win with scholarship dollars.”

One lucky raffle participant will receive the deluxe Super Bowl package, worth more than $3,000. The grand prize includes two tickets to the Feb. 3 game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, a four-night hotel stay and $1,000 for transportation and other expenses.

“Not many other colleges can offer a grand prize of this magnitude,” Pietro said. “We’re very fortunate to have this partnership with the New York Jets.”

Last year, George Breen ’56, of Sewell, N.J., won the raffle. He attended a back-and-forth thriller between the New York Giants and New England Patriots in Indianapolis, Ind., with his wife, Christine.

Breen, an Olympic medalist in swimming, called the three-day trip “as good as anything I’ve ever done.”

“Sitting there, taking everything in, I couldn’t believe it happened because of a $100 ticket,” he said while recapping the experience last winter. “To have a chance at something like the Super Bowl and to have all of the money go to scholarships, I’m surprised those tickets don’t sell out in a day.”

This year’s drawing will be held on Friday, Dec. 21. Raffle participants must be at least 18 years of age to purchase a raffle ticket.

Those interested in buying a raffle ticket should send their payment with name, home address, phone number and an email address to Sheila Morse, the financial operations specialist for the Cortland College Foundation, at P.O. Box 2000, Cortland, NY 13045. Checks should be made payable to Cortland College Foundation, Inc.

For more information, contact Morse at (607) 753-2532.

Joan Maloof, who leads the Old Growth Forest Network, explores the forest near a trail junction. She will speak at SUNY Cortland on Sept. 13.

In 1736, Benjamin Franklin founded the country’s first volunteer fire department. Patrick Henry, the future Revolutionary War orator, was born. The only people who lived in the Cortland area were Native Americans.

And, on a steep slope that would one day be known as Hoxie Gorge, a stubborn hemlock seedling was just starting to take root.

That hemlock tree, and several that aren’t much younger, still stands in the woods surrounding SUNY Cortland’s Hoxie Gorge Field Station, a 169-acre natural area located off Hoxie Gorge Road from State Route 11 about six miles south of the City of Cortland.

A slice of that forest, and another patch of more-than-a-century-old green in Cortland’s Lime Hollow Center for Environment and Culture, will be formally inducted into the national Old Growth Forest Network, a patchwork of mature woodlands protected from development, on Thursday, Sept. 13.

It’s no coincidence that the Old Growth designations will occur on the same day that Joan Maloof, an emeritus associate professor of biology at Salisbury University in Maryland and a self-proclaimed “tree hugger,” will visit SUNY Cortland and speak to the campus community.

Maloof, the founder and principal organizer of the Old Growth Forest Network, will share her passion for preserving longstanding forests with SUNY Cortland’s Biology Club members, the campus and community at 7 p.m. in Sperry Center, Room 104. Maloof’s talk, “The Old-Growth Forest Network: America’s Next Idea,” is free and open to the public.

It may come as a surprise to many, but Cortland County boasts towering stands of wooded splendor that were already providing shade long before the Declaration of Independence was signed. Maloof will visit two of those groves, Hoxie Gorge and Lime Hollow, and will formally welcome these venerable, green-fringed glades into the rapidly expanding network.

At 2 p.m. she will greet the public at the Lime Hollow visitor’s center, 338 McLean Road, Cortland before officially entering the nature preserve’s ancient trees into the network around 2:30 p.m. Located on the western edge of Cortland County, Lime Hollow was founded in 1993. This 400-acre, geographically unique, and ecologically diverse outdoor oasis offers more than 20,000 visitors free, on-trail access.

  At Lime Hollow, the most venerable boughs are scattered through the park. They include the beloved “Grandfather tree,” a black cherry above the Salamander Spring near the Tunison Aquatic Laboratories area. In the heart of the woods, along the Mill Pond trail before the Fen Connector trail and back toward the Bog Spur trail, are large, old growth cherries, maples and ash. At the entrance to the Fossil Dome trail, one very large — and very old — maple is fondly known as the “Alien Tree.” Several other maples near the bog are also considered old growth.

At approximately 3:30 p.m., Maloof plans to travel to Hoxie Gorge, where she will designate a patch of old growth forest there into the national network.

The College has overseen the long-wild farmland and its adjacent, unlogged forests for educational, research and recreational uses since 1965.

SUNY Cortland Distinguished Teaching Professor Larry Klotz, who manages the Hoxie Gorge preserve for the College, describes the location of the old-growth trees as along the McDermott Nature Trail and the Finger Lakes Trail near marker no. 29. The area contains old-growth hemlock trees on the banks of the gorge, the oldest of which dates back to 1736. Another dates to 1740. In this area are also sweet birch, red maple  and black cherry trees that date to the late 1800s. 

A knowledgeable and dedicated advocate for America’s oldest forests, Maloof hopes her presentation inspires others to help pursue her “old growth” preservation goal. The Old Growth Forest Network was formed to identify one forest in each county, and sign agreements to protect it from logging. More information about the network can be found at the website www.oldgrowthforest.net.

Maloof is the author of Teaching the Trees: Lessons from the Forest (University of Georgia Press, 2005), which won an Honorable Mention from the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment. Her second book, Among the Ancients: Adventures in the Eastern Old-Growth Forests, was published in April 2011.

Her research on pollination biology has been published in the journals Ecology and The American Journal of Botany. In 2002, she expanded her ecological studies into the forest. She retired from teaching in 2011 to focus on the network.

Never really at home in a laboratory, Maloof took to the woods early in her career. Her enthusiasm for firsthand observation in the wild spills over into her writing, whether the subject is the composition of forest air, the eagle’s preference for nesting in loblolly pines, the growth rings of the bald cypress, or the gray squirrel’s fondness for weevil-infested acorns. With a storyteller's instinct for intriguing particulars, Maloof expands notions about what a tree “is” through her many asides — fascinating side forays about the six species of leafhoppers who eat only sycamore leaves or the midges who live inside holly berries and somehow prevent them from turning red.

As a scientist, Maloof accepts that trees have a spiritual dimension that cannot be quantified. As an unrepentant tree lover, she finds support in the scientific case for biodiversity. As an activist, she can’t help but wonder how much time is left for our forests.

Maloof earned degrees in plant science at the University of Delaware, in environmental science at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and in ecology at the University of Maryland College Park.

For more information about the presentation, contact Steve Broyles, professor of biological sciences, at (607) 753-2901. For more information about Hoxie Gorge, contact Klotz at (607) 753-2709. For more information about Lime Hollow, contact Charles Yaple, SUNY Cortland professor emeritus of recreation.

Judith Best, a political science scholar and consultant to U.S. presidents and Congress on the subject of the Electoral College system, will deliver this year’s Constitution Day lecture on Monday, Sept. 17, at SUNY Cortland.

Best, a SUNY distinguished teaching professor of political science at SUNY Cortland, will address “The Constitution and the Presidential Elections” at 3 p.m. in Brockway Hall, Jacobus Lounge.

Presented by the College and its Institute for Civic Engagement, the talk is free and open to the public.

During her talk, Best will discuss the specifics of the Electoral College including who the members are, how they are chosen and what role they play in the Presidential election. She will explain the American founders’ reasoning and motives for choosing this method of electing the president and will discuss why it should be maintained.

In a very close presidential election such as this one is expected to be, all eyes are on this uniquely American aspect of the political process. The Electoral College has its detractors, but Best is not one of them, although she presents an intriguing notion on how it might be improved.

“Yes and no, I’m a strong defender of the electoral vote system but not necessarily of living electors,” Best said. “We could do away with the office of the elector and simply have the governors certify to the Congress how the votes came out from their state. We would be doing away with the living electors but we would still have electoral votes.”

The number of senate and house members would determine the number of votes so that each state would have the same percentage of influence as it does at present.

“That’s one of the major changes, one of the few constitutional changes that I would make.”

The country’s founders devised the current U.S. Constitutional system of electing a president in a time when there were no televisions, radios or other instant communication methods, Best explained.

“For months, the Constitutional founders wanted to have Congress choose the presidents,” she said. “But they were concerned that would give the Congress too much sway over the president, if they were both the hiring and firing power, that would be too much.

“So the key idea was that the decision was handled federally, with each state based on its population designating someone it sends up separately.”

Toward the end of the long, hot summer when the pivotal governing document was drafted, the founding fathers came up with the idea that there would be a temporary congress, as it were, based on electors chosen in the states, Best noted.

Don’t look for one-individual, one-vote to ever come out of the current U.S. Constitution, she said.

“We have nothing in the Constitution about the presidential election being decided on an all-national vote and that could only be changed by having a Constitutional amendment,” she said.

Best acknowledges that the topic of the Electoral College is very esoteric to the public.

“It’s one that’s extraordinarily important for our country but it makes people’s eyes cross,” she said.

“Dr. Best is a nationally known expert on the Electoral College,” said Richard Kendrick, director of the College’s Institute for Civic Engagement. “The Electoral College has affected the outcome of elections, most recently in 2000 when Vice President Gore lost the election to Gov. George W. Bush even though the vice president won the majority of the popular vote. Dr. Best’s presentation comes at a time when we may be facing a similarly close Presidential election. Understanding the utility of the Electoral College for our political system may be more important than ever.”

Best is the author of numerous academic articles and four published books, including The Case Against Direct Election of the President: A Defense of the Electoral College (Cornell University Press, 1975) and The Choice of the People? Debating the Electoral College (Rowman and Littlefield, 1996).

At the request of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, she served on several occasions as an expert witness on the Electoral College system.

Successful SUNY Cortland alumni in political science and public affairs usually point to Best as a mentor and faculty have tapped her expertise on engaging and effective classroom teaching.

She was honored in 1977 with a SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. In 1984, the SUNY Board of Trustees promoted Best to the rank of distinguished teaching professor. She earned a 1986 American Higher Education and Carnegie Foundation Honor Salute for Educational Leadership and was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi.

Best received her Ph.D. in political science from Cornell University. She has a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in English literature, from University of Michigan and Michigan State University, respectively.

For more information, contact Kendrick at (607) 753-2481.

Robert Ponterio, a SUNY Cortland French professor and co-founder of FLTEACH, an award-winning, international listserv for teachers of foreign languages, will discuss diversity in language teaching on Saturday, Sept. 29, at the College.

Ponterio will give the keynote address during the 22nd annual Second Language Educator’s Conference from 8:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Old Main. This year’s theme is “Many Cultures, One World: A Celebration of Diversity.”

Hosted by the College’s Modern Languages Department, International Programs and the SUNY Cortland Auxiliary Services Corporation, the conference offers a half day of workshops for area foreign-language teachers and teachers-in-training, and a forum for discussing issues and exchanging ideas.

Robert Ponterio Professor of French

The conference is free of charge, and open to area teachers, college students and college faculty. Registration is required, and can be done at the Modern Languages Department website at www2.cortland.edu/departments/modern-languages. For more information, contact Patricia Martínez de la Vega Mansilla, Paulo Quaglio or Cheryl Rosati in the Modern Languages Department at (607) 753-4303.

Ponterio, who joined the SUNY Cortland faculty in 1989, is a frequent author and workshop presenter on the topic of foreign language instruction, particularly in the use of media and online technology in the classroom and national standards in foreign language learning.

In 1994, Ponterio and Jean LeLoup, a SUNY Cortland professor emerita of Spanish, created the Foreign Language Teaching Forum (FLTEACH), an award-winning, international listserv for teachers of foreign languages. The listserv, which they continue to maintain, provides a venue for thousands of participants to discuss topics in foreign language teaching.

Ponterio and LeLoup were awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities for FLTEACH. They also co-authored a regular column, “On the Net,” for the highly respected online journal Language and Technology.

In 2006 and 2011, the New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers (NYSAFLT) recognized Ponterio and LeLoup with the Anthony Papalia Award for Outstanding Article on Foreign Language Education. NYSAFLT also honored Ponterio with its Dorothy Ludwig memorial Award for Outstanding Service.

Ponterio earned a doctorate in French at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. He has a Master of Arts in French and a Bachelor of Arts in French Comparative Literature from Binghamton University.

The workshops scheduled for the 2012 Second Language Educators Conference include:

• “Jack and Jill Went Up the Hill to Fetch Some Common Core”

• “Tesoro Literario: Cuentos Infantiles”

• “Saving Your French Program and Making French Fun ... and Easy”

• “Addressing the Common Core State Standards in Reading Instruction for Ells: Strategies for Close Reading”

• “Promoting Reading In Beginning And Intermediate Spanish Classrooms”

• “Helping Language Learners Make Connections with Online Mind Mapping”

• “A Practical Workshop in Bridging Gaps for ESL Students”

• “American Sign Language in Today’s Classroom"

• “‘You Are Actually Allowing Us to Use Our Smartphone in Class?!’: Defining Best Practices in Technology Integration in the Second Language Classroom”

College students who are interested in an international educational experience will want to attend SUNY Cortland’s Study Abroad on Wednesday, Sept. 12.

At the event, those wishing to explore a program or internship opportunity in another country can meet representatives of five different international programs that have partnerships with SUNY Cortland as well as advisors from seven other SUNY campuses that offer study abroad opportunities.

Hosted by SUNY Cortland’s International Programs Office, the annual event will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Corey Union in the hallway in front of Dragon’s Court.

Representatives from the five international partnerships with SUNY Cortland will include a program in Cuernavaca, Mexico; at Universidad Veritas in Costa Rica, University of Salamanca in Spain and Griffith University in Australia; and through a Belize internship program.

The sister campuses that will have a study abroad advisor on hand to share information are SUNY Albany, Alfred State College, Binghamton University, SUNY Brockport, Broome Community College, SUNY Fredonia and SUNY Plattsburgh.

For more information on the fair, contact Hugh Anderson, study abroad advisor, at (607) 753-2209. Information is available about studying in another country from the International Programs Office, located in Old Main, Room 219 or www.cortland.edu/studyabroad.

SUNY Cortland’s College Council meeting is set for 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 19, in Miller Building, Room 405.

The agenda includes approval of the June 4, 2012, minutes. Council members will hear reports by President Erik J. Bitterbaum, Faculty Senate Chair Joy Hendrick and Student Government Association President LeighMarie Weber.

An executive session will be convened to discuss the naming of facilities.

A pre-meeting program beginning at 3:15 p.m. in the same location will highlight SUNY Cortland Athletics. Presenters will include Mike Urtz, athletic director, Thomas Cranfield, associate director of athletics, Fran Elia, sports information director, Joe Brown, baseball head coach and Julie Lenhart, softball head coach

The full agenda is posted on the College Council website under “Meeting Schedule.” 

Summer Session Office has announced these dates for Summer Session 2013:

Summer Session I: Classes begin at 8 a.m. Wednesday, May 22, and end at 8:45 p.m. on Wednesday, June 26. There are no classes scheduled for Memorial Day, Monday, May 27. Registration will continue through the first day of classes on May 22 from 8:30 a.m. through 4 p.m.

Summer Session II: Classes begin at 8 a.m. Monday, July 8, and end at 8:45 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 8. Registration will continue through the first day of classes on July 8 from 8:30 a.m. through 4 p.m.

Daytime classes meet Monday through Thursday for one hour and 55 minutes and evening classes last three hours and 45 minutes two nights per week.

Dates for the Mohawk Valley Graduate Center (MVGC) will correspond with the College’s Session I dates, with evening classes meeting twice each week with Monday/ Wednesday classes starting on Wednesday, May 22, and Tuesday/Thursday classes starting on Thursday, May 23.

MVGC will run a second session with dates corresponding to the College’s Session II schedule. 

Information has been distributed to chairs regarding course proposals for Summer Session 2013. Proposals are due from the Deans to the Summer Session Office on Wednesday, Sept. 26. 

A preliminary listing of summer 2013 courses will be available on the Summer Session website in mid-October.

Stephen Smith, who served SUNY Cortland for 13 years as a psychotherapeutic clinician, consultant and educator, retired on Aug. 29. He was designated as senior counselor emeritus.

Smith joined the College’s Counseling Center staff in 1999. In addition to his clinical work with students, he served as a consultant to the College medical and Residential Life and Housing staff. Smith conducted presentations and training addressing diagnostic and therapeutic concerns to faculty and staff members as well as students. He taught first-year students how to adjust to college life as a COR 101 instructor.

Before joining the College full-time, he had served the institution as an adjunct health instructor in Mental Health and Counseling since 1993. He taught the course until 2004.

Smith had previously devoted 22 years to providing individual, couples and family counseling as a senior family counselor with Family Counseling Services in Cortland. He supervised 11 therapists.

During his entire professional counseling career, Smith was field supervisor to graduate students at Syracuse University, Binghamton University and Marywood University School of Social Work.

Before joining FCS, he was a Cortland County probation officer from 1975 to 1976.

Smith was president of the New York State College Health Association from 2008 to 2009 and chaired its Mental Health Section from 2000 to 2008. He was a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers and the American College Health Association.

Smith was honored by SUNY Cortland with its 2011-2012 Excellence in Professional Service Award.

In 1998, Syracuse University’s School of Social Work presented him with its Distinguished Alumnus Award. In 2007, the school featured Smith among seven of its alumni in a teaching video commemorating the school’s 50th anniversary.

Smith served in the United States Navy as a yeoman first class on active duty from 1968 to 1972 and retired from the U.S. Naval Reserve after more than 22 years of service. His numerous military recognitions included two Navy Achievement Medals, a Naval Reserve Sea Service Ribbon, three National Defense Service Awards and a Navy Community Volunteer Award. In 1989, he was selected as the Syracuse Reserve Center Sailor of the Year.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Secondary English Education from SUNY Cortland and a Master of Social Work from Syracuse University. In 1991, he earned his credential as a New York state alcoholism and substance abuse counselor through the New York State Education Department. He also is certified as a New York state-licensed clinical social worker and an internationally certified alcohol and drug counselor.

A member of St. Mary’s Church in Cortland, Smith was ordained to the permanent diaconate in 1998. He preaches to parishioners, has officiated at many church ceremonies and coordinates the parish’s marriage preparation program.

Smith has served on the Board of Directors of the Cortland County Family Counseling Services.

He is married to Catherine A. Smith, the College’s health educator. They have two grown daughters, Christine and Danielle.

Ellen T. McCabe, who served SUNY Cortland for more than 15 years, retired on Aug. 31. She was designated associate librarian emerita.

McCabe, the recipient of a 2008 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Librarianship, joined the College in 1995 as an adjunct assistant librarian. She was promoted to senior assistant librarian in 2001 and to associate librarian earlier this year.

A native of New York City, she attended Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, N.Y., on Regents and college scholarships, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in English. She earned a Masters in Library Science from University at Albany and, in her personal pursuit of knowledge, earned a Masters of Arts in English in 2000 from SUNY Cortland while working full-time.

She began her career at Cortland as a reference librarian, part time, and moved on to become the bibliographer for the Teaching Materials Center and Education Department. Subsequently, she became the College’s humanities bibliographer. In both of these positions, she acted as a library liaison and provided instructional services, research assistance and materials selection assistance to undergraduate and graduate level programs. McCabe offered dozens of instructional sessions for these programs on using the library effectively, using online databases, finding primary source documents online and using digital images in research. McCabe worked closely with the art historians in the Art and Art History Department to assist in the transition from slides to digital images, a significant change in pedagogy as well as in technology. Her technology-planning document served as a model for both for the library and for Classroom Media Services.

She taught a Computer Applications course on computer information retrieval, numerous workshops, and participated in the library’s Composition Library Instruction Program.

McCabe also cataloged numerous videos, theses, and other materials for Memorial Library's collection.

She served on the Faculty Senate as the secretary for two years and as a library senator. McCabe chaired the Faculty Affairs Committee, Faculty Senate Educational Policy Committee and Academic Faculty Affairs Committee. She also served on the senate’s Review of Governance Committee, the Student Affairs Committee and the Committee on Committees. McCabe has served on numerous other committees on campus including the Cultural and Intellectual Climate Committee, the Faculty Development Committee and the University Police Advisory Board. She participated in several key search committees.

 In the library community, McCabe served for two years on the Eastern New York Association of College and Research Libraries Joyce Newkirk Scholarship Committee. Chosen as president of SUNY Librarians’ Association (SUNYLA, McCabe also contributed her time and talent to the many SUNYLA committees, chairing the SUNYLA Publications Committee for many years.

Two times she obtained an American Library Association “Let’s Talk About It” grant, which she used to organize and conduct Jewish literature programs involving several book discussions facilitated by a recognized Jewish scholar in 2006 and 2008. The discussions were well-received by the campus and community.

Most recently, in Fall 2011, she arranged for the College to host “In a Nutshell: The Worlds of Maurice Sendak,” a traveling exhibit of the renowned late illustrator’s work. Last spring, the College honored McCabe for her successful grant work in bringing “In a Nutshell” to campus with an Excellence in Research, Scholarship and Outreach Award.

McCabe has written numerous book and software reviews for Science Books & Films, the authoritative guide to resources on the sciences for all ages published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is the author of a review for Wagadu, A Journal of Transnational Women's and Gender Studies. Her chapter, “Thomas Campion,” appears in The Age of Milton, edited by Alan Hager. She has been an active presenter at statewide conferences.

McCabe previously served as a reference bibliographer at Binghamton University; as a school library media specialist in Cincinnatus, N.Y., and Conklin, N.Y.; as a librarian for the Raymond Corporation, Greene, N.Y.; and as an assistant librarian at the Moore Memorial Library in Greene, N.Y.

McCabe is married with four grown children and six grandchildren.

Joe Tesori, Jr. has been named SUNY Cortland's women's golf head coach, according to director of athletics Mike Urtz. Tesori previously served as an assistant coach for the team last spring.

Tesori was an assistant golf professional at Lake Shore Yacht and Country Club in Cicero, N.Y., from 2008-10. He has also served as a PGA Tour caddie on both the Canadian and Nationwide Tours, and at the 2010 U.S. Open. He is a member of the National Golf Coaches Association.

Tesori graduated from Le Moyne College in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in business management. He's currently pursuing a master's degree in sport management at Cortland. A standout golfer at Le Moyne, Tesori earned Northeast 10 Player of the Year honors during the 2005-06 season. As a senior, he made the Ping All-Region Team, won the ECAC Division II individual title and helped the Dolphins capture the ECAC team crown as a team captain.

A Syracuse native, Tesori graduated from Jamesville-DeWitt High School in 2004. He played six years of varsity golf and two years of varsity football. He served as a team captain as a senior and was part of the winning Section 3 championship squad during his sophomore year.

Tesori's father, Joe Tesori, Sr., is the head men's golf coach at Le Moyne, a former PGA Tour player and a member of the Central New York PGA Hall of Fame.