Campus Champion

When communication studies major Katie Kellas arrived on campus, it just made sense to get involved with the College’s TV station. Four years later, she considers CSTV a major priority. She’s club president, focused on fine tuning operations and guiding classmates for a smooth transition when she graduates next spring. Her experiences behind the camera led to a Time Warner internship last summer, and that training gave her the tools to launch innovative programming at CSTV. It includes an eight-minute halftime segment for the TV broadcast of next week’s Cortaca Jug football game. Undoubtedly, Katie will leave her mark on the station and it on her.

Lynne Parks Hoffman ’68 believes two great influences enabled her to seize opportunities and succeed in life: Her caring family and her education at SUNY Cortland.

Both are reflected in Parks’ latest gift to the College, a $1 million bequest to strengthen programming and student access at SUNY Cortland’s outdoor education facilities made in honor of her father and the family he nurtured and inspired.

All four of the facilities, including the two Adirondack properties Camp Huntington - the only SUNY property designated as a National Historic Landmark - and Antlers, will now be operated as the William H. Parks Family Center for Environmental and Outdoor Education. In addition to the two Raquette Lake properties, the Parks Family Center for Environmental and Outdoor Education includes the Robert C. Brauer Memorial Education Center in Selkirk, N.Y., the Hoxie Gorge Nature Preserve near Cortland, and the center’s main office on the SUNY Cortland campus.

“Assisted by Lynne’s generosity, we hope to be able to provide a transformational outdoor education experience to every SUNY Cortland student who desires it,” President Erik J. Bitterbaum said. “Lynne’s continued support of the College’s mission is extraordinary. This gift will change many young lives in positive ways.”

Parks’ naming donation in support of SUNY Cortland’s environmental and wilderness programs is her second $1 million gift to the College. In 2008, she became SUNY Cortland’s very first $1 million donor by naming the Lynne Parks ’68 SUNY Cortland Alumni House.

Parks, a former teacher, business owner and world traveler, made her first Cortland gift to honor her sorority, Nu Sigma Chi, and her late husband, Jack Hoffman, a successful attorney. She wanted her second major gift to recognize an even earlier positive influence in her life: Her father, William H. Parks.

“Everything really started with what he did for us - me, my mother, my stepmother and my brothers,” Parks explained. “He is quite a guy and really, in my mind, stands for what they mean when they talk about ‘The Greatest Generation.’ He served in World War II, came home, worked hard and built a life for his family.”

That solid foundation helped Lynne, who lives in Palm Desert, Calif., and her siblings launch successful professional lives of their own. Her brother Robert, who lives in Portland, Ore., is retired from Intel Corp. Her brother John is an engineering executive with Plug Power, a hydrogen fuel-cell manufacturer near Albany, N.Y.

Parks’ mother, Audrey, passed away when Lynne Parks was a freshman at SUNY Cortland. Her father married his current wife, Parks’ stepmother Margaret, before Parks graduated from college, and she has been part of Parks’ life for nearly half a century. 

At 94, William Parks is an engaging and witty storyteller who still loves life and doesn’t believe he has done anything out of the ordinary. He says he stays limber by climbing the four sets of stairs in his split-level home and ends each day by sipping a Manhattan. Two, if his wife isn’t looking.

“I plan to live to be 100,” William Parks said. “That’s my ambition now.”

Like many members of “The Greatest Generation,” Parks appreciates life as a gift that shouldn’t be taken for granted. As a young man, he served in the Coast Guard during World War II, first guarding Manhattan Beach with a rifle that had no bullets — all the ammunition was being used by combat troops — and then as a medic in the Pacific. He followed the landing force that invaded Okinawa, kept men from bleeding to death during surgeries in shipboard operating rooms and helped rescue English prisoners of war.

He returned home to Yonkers, N.Y., started a family, and began a 43-year career with a national carpet and floor covering company now known as Mohasco Industries. When the company moved, he relocated his family to Amsterdam, N.Y., where Lynne Parks grew up and where William and his wife still live. When Mohasco shifted operations to Georgia, Parks went to work for an independent company selling fireproof carpeting to airlines. He didn’t stop working until he was 73.

William Parks’ work ethic, determination and enthusiasm for living mirror the values Lynne Parks experienced as a physical education student at SUNY Cortland.  Part of that experience was wilderness education at Raquette Lake. Although she admits that lugging gear through the mountains and portaging canoes through forests wasn’t her favorite part of college, she said it helped build the self-reliance she needed to succeed in professional challenges throughout her life.

Those challenges included moving across the country to California as a young, freshly minted teacher, and then overseas to teach and manage recreation programs in Japan and Germany for the U.S. Army and Air Force. Her SUNY Cortland experience helped give her the confidence she needed to eventually earn a master’s degree in business administration at Portland State University and start her own event planning company, RSVP Events.

Lynne Parks’ naming gift for SUNY Cortland’s outdoor education programs will provide critical funding needed to enhance the College’s ability to provide transformational experiences

A $1 million naming gift from Lynne Parks Hoffman '68 has created the William H. Parks Family Center for Environmental and Outdoor Education. The family, moving clockwise from the bottom center, is William H. Parks, John Parks, Margaret Parks, Diane Parks, Ryan Parks, Natalie Parks, Lynne Parks Hoffman '68, and Robert Parks.

to students from nearly all disciplines.

Currently, areas of study that offer programming in one of SUNY Cortland’s wilderness facilities include teacher education, history, physical education, recreation, biological science, geology, professional writing, and art and art history. These will grow and expand, as will the College’s ability to help students overcome barriers to outdoor education, such as cost or transportation to remote locations.

The new programming support aims to complement physical investments being made by the College in both Antlers and Camp Huntington, and raise the importance of outdoor and environmental education as a defining factor of a SUNY Cortland education.

In an effort to give SUNY Cortland students an alternative to the house parties and bar gatherings that erupted into mayhem during last year’s Cortaca Jug weekend, the Student Government Association is sponsoring a dance concert by The White Panda after the game and raffling off more than $20,000 in prizes.

iPad Minis, GoPro video cameras, and PS4 and Xbox gaming systems are among the more than 150 items that will be given away to students during the non-alcoholic event, which starts at 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15 in the Moffett Center gymnasium.

The catch? They have to physically be there to win.

Admission will be free for SUNY Cortland students. In addition to The White Panda, the event will feature 500 Entertainment’s DJ JONA. The White Panda is a duo of electronic dance musicians that experiments with mashups of popular songs. They’ve had 27 singles reach No. 1 on Hype Machine.

The dance party, scheduled for after the SUNY Cortland vs. Ithaca College game at the SUNY Cortland Stadium Complex, is one of a series of student-focused events sponsored by the College as positive alternatives to binge drinking and similar activities responsible for the destructive and dangerous behavior that surrounded Cortaca Jug 2013.

The scheduled alternatives complement significant law enforcement and education efforts taken to curb unacceptable behavior, including a strengthened police presence, greater enforcement of underage drinking laws, a new ordinance aimed at controlling house parties with underage drinkers and increased monitoring of social media. That monitoring has already helped lead to legal prosecution for local property damage and the cancellation of a local bar party sponsored by a social media company that irresponsibly promotes drunken behavior.

The alternative events, which culminate in the Cortaca Jug game and The White Panda party, will run most of the week leading up to Nov. 15. The schedule is as follows:

Tuesday, Nov. 11:

CORTACA JUG Open Mic night, featuring University Police Department’s own Lt. Chauncey “Tink” Bennett III. The evening includes free refreshments, sponsored by the Student Activities Board and Health Promotions.

7 p.m., Corey Union Function Room

 Wednesday, Nov. 12:

Wellness Wednesday “Like a Tattoo:  Digital Dirt, Social Media and Your Brand.” Learn what information or images about you are on the Internet and how careless use of social media can threaten your future. Sponsored by Health Promotions. 7 p.m., Corey Union Exhibition Lounge

Human iPod Concert (http://johnrush.com/playlist/) sponsored by SAB. 8 p.m., Corey Union Function Room

Thursday, Nov. 13:

Thursday Night Football Game on the Big Screen. Watch the Bills vs. Dolphins and consume free pizza, wings, subs and beverages. 8:25 p.m., Corey Union Function Room

Friday, Nov. 14:

American Heart Association HeartChase Kick Off. This is the official start of a new charity athletic event on campus. 4 p.m., Corey Union steps

Friday Night Lights: Rally for the Jug. The Cortaca Jug pep rally! The event features performances by Danceworks, Kickline and Cortland Cheerleaders, followed by a carnival of activities featuring psychic readers, laser tag and a football obstacle course. 6 p.m. performances; 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., other activities. All in Moffett Gymnasium  

CORTACA Mug. This annual alternative event features prizes, activities, food and more! Sponsored by Cortland Nites, The Interfaith Center and the Cortland County Council of Churches. 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. at the Interfaith Center, corner of Calvert and Prospect.

Saturday, Nov. 15

Shipwreck Golf gives new meaning to “clubbing.” Buses will leave Corey Union for discounted Cortaca-morning Mini Golf starting at 7 a.m. and running until kickoff. Food available for purchase on site

Cortaca Jug Carnival at the Gate. Held outside the gates of the stadium beginning at 11a.m. the pre-game event will offer green screen photos, oxygen bar, temporary tattoos, and sports and target games. The first 1,000 Cortland Students with ID receive an ASC food voucher for a hotdog and a beverage.

CORTACA JUG! Football Game vs. Ithaca College, noon at the Stadium Complex. Ticket and ID are required for admittance.

SUNY Cortland’s continued success in educating historically high numbers of students means Commencement 2015 will be held in four separate, indoor ceremonies, including a Friday evening undergraduate event.

The unpredictable spring weather in Central New York, coupled with prohibitive costs, prevents the College from hosting outdoor Commencement ceremonies.

The schedule for Spring Commencement, during which the College is again expected to award a record or near-record number of degrees, is as follows:

• Undergraduate 1: Friday, May 15, at 6:30 p.m.
• Undergraduate 2: Saturday, May 16, at 9:30 a.m.
• Undergraduate 3: Saturday, May 16, at 2:30 p.m.
• Graduate: Saturday, May 16, at 6:30 p.m.

All Commencement ceremonies will be held in the Bessie L. Park Class of 1901 Physical Education and Recreation Center Alumni Arena.

The College is expanding the number of ceremonies due to the size of its graduating classes, which have grown in recent years. SUNY Cortland’s strong retention and graduation rates are among the highest in the 64-campus SUNY system.

Postcards sharing a Commencement checklist will be sent out to students’ home addresses over winter break. Students will select their Commencement ceremony on a first-come, first-served basis on Tuesday, March 24. Each student will receive four guest tickets.

Additional details about Commencement 2015 will be released on the Commencement website and sent directly to eligible students’ Cortland email addresses.

Specific questions can be directed to the College’s Special Events Office.

Teacher education faculty from SUNY schools throughout Central New York will convene in Cortland Friday, Nov. 7, to assess the impact of New York state’s controversial new teacher certification requirements.

The gathering of 65 faculty members from SUNY Cortland, Binghamton University, SUNY Oswego, SUNY Oneonta and Empire State College will allow teacher education professionals to assess how SUNY education majors across the region are handling the new standards.

“All the campuses have been analyzing how their education majors are performing on these new tests and have been adjusting their curriculum accordingly,” said Andrea Lachance, dean of SUNY Cortland’s School of Education. “But this event will allow us to learn from each other and share both our successes and challenges in preparing our students for an ever-changing educational landscape.”

In addition to the three new exams – the Academic Literacy Skills Test (ALST), the Educating All Students Test (EAS) and the Content Specialty Tests (CST) – teacher candidates in New York are also now required to score well the edTPA.

The edTPA requires video recordings of candidates teaching lessons in classrooms as well as extensive written analysis and reflection on an aspiring teacher’s classroom experiences.  This new assessment was rolled out last fall, meeting with considerable resistance.

“It’s ironic that much of the negative publicity on the new state certification exams has focused on the edTPA because our SUNY Cortland students are doing very well on that assessment,” Lachance said. “Currently, about a third of our students are getting scores in the ‘mastery’ range, which means they are scoring at a very high level. I think this speaks to the strength of our teacher preparation programs which have always had a strong reputation for quality.”

Friday’s meeting of the five members of the SUNY’s Central New York Regional Teacher Education Network is titled “Getting Beyond the Numbers: Collegial Conversations About New Teacher Candidate Evaluations, Data, and Outcomes.” 

The convening, scheduled for the Cortland Ramada Inn, is made possible by a grant from the SUNY Teacher Education Network (S-TEN).  

They’re some of the best jugglers on campus, but their skills have nothing to do with the circus.

They juggle full-time jobs, family responsibilities and long commutes with their classes. Most delayed college for a year or more after high school graduation. Usually, they are older — sometimes by decades — than their fellow students on campus.

They are SUNY Cortland’s non-traditional students. The College will celebrate them during Non-Traditional Students Week from Sunday, Nov. 2, through Saturday, Nov. 8. Each day, special activities will take place. And each day through Friday, Nov. 7, an inspiring non-traditional student will be introduced to the SUNY Cortland community.

But those aren’t the only inspiring non-traditional students on campus.

The College is accepting nominations for the “Celebrate a Non-Trad” campaign through Wednesday, Nov. 12. The campaign gives campus community members an opportunity to recognize students who balance college with their major commitments through certificate and campus-wide recognition.

The College defines its non-traditional undergraduate students as those who are at least 24 years old or have had an interruption or delay in their education since high school. They also might have dependent children, regardless of their ages. Many work full-time jobs and some have served in the military.

Nomination forms are available online as well as in Advisement and Transition, located in Memorial Library, Room A-111. For more information on Non-Traditional Students Week, contact Cheryl Hines, the coordinator of non-traditional student support, at 607-753-4726.

Approximately 300 non-traditional undergraduates study at SUNY Cortland. Here are just a few of them:

Friday, Nov. 7
Ashlee Prewitt

Ashlee is a people-first person, meaning she constantly puts the needs of others before her own. Her work for the College’s non-traditional student population and the community at large are proof of that.

Prewitt

At 26, she’s younger than many non-traditional students. She doesn’t yet juggle the family commitments that a parent might. With that in mind, Ashlee realizes one of her greatest assets is time.

“Even though I’m younger, I connect well with students who are older,” the political science major says. “I have some extra time that they don’t.”

Guided by her compassion, Ashlee leads the Non-Traditional Student Organization (NTSO) as its president. She’s fearless when it comes to branching out and trying new things, having moved to Cortland from Oklahoma without knowing a single person or anything about the area.

And her efforts don’t stop with the NTSO. Ashlee also is a champion for civic engagement. She wants to pursue a graduate degree in public administration after she graduates. And this spring, she’s organizing a major campus-wide community service project known as the Big Event.

“It’s way of being thankful for the community where we live,” she says.

Thankfully, the College has students like Ashlee.

Thursday, Nov. 6
Angela Gustafson

Angela still remembers playing for hours outside of the Dowd Fine Arts Center as a young girl. The granddaughter of Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences John Gustafson, she spent plenty of time during her childhood on the College’s campus.

Gustafson

“I practically grew up at SUNY Cortland,” Angela says. “But I never thought for a second that I’d go here.”

For a long time, she was correct. Angela attended community college on and off after graduating from high school, eventually earning an associate’s degree in office technology and administrative management from Monroe Community College. She soon settled into an office job but felt underutilized as a secretary. She knew she needed a change.

“I told myself, ‘This isn’t my passion. I need to be doing something different,’” she says.

Decades after playing games on the SUNY Cortland campus, Angela studies as an economics major set to graduate in December. And she does it as a single mother of four children between the ages of 8 and 18, the oldest being a college freshman herself. So when her kids need a role model for stick-to-itiveness, they need to look no further than their mom.

“As an older student, I think I’m more prepared to take things seriously,” says Angela, who also finds time to serve as the treasurer of the Non-Traditional Student Organization and an academic tutor for 300-level macroeconomics. “I think I’ve come a long way.”

Wednesday, Nov. 5
Joseph Marturano

Joseph grew up as a teenager in Taylor, N.Y., a town on the eastern edge of Cortland County with a population that barely scrapes 500. But he brought a vast worldview when he began his studies at SUNY Cortland in 2013. At 31, the third-generation U.S. Navy sailor already has visited more countries than many people will see in a lifetime.

Marturano

He served more than five years as an electronics technician — touring London, Scotland, parts of the Middle East and the Caribbean — then took his skills to California for a job repairing computer parts and electronics. The work, however, wasn’t as intellectually stimulating as traveling the world. So he decided to make a change.

“I was burnt out from fixing things, at least professionally,” Joseph says. “I wanted to get back to my creative side.”

He’s found that creative streak and plenty more as a new media design major at the College. He’s the Student Government Association representative for the Art Exhibition Association. He fulfilled his foreign language requirement with a transformative trip to Mexico through the International Programs Office. This spring, Joseph will create the promotional postcard for the Student Select art exhibition.

He still maintains computer repair knowledge, fixing his own equipment when necessary. And after graduating in May, he hopes use his creativity to land a design services job working “on the other side of the computer,” as he puts it.

Tuesday, Nov. 2
Darlene Endy

Darlene Endy wants moms with college aspirations to know that it’s never too late to chase them. If anything, they likely have perfected the arts of time management and multi-tasking to bring back to school.

Endy

Darlene, for example, always dreamed of becoming an artist. But for many years, concerns about practicality kept those ambitions grounded. She still discovered success as most people would define it — serving in the U.S. Army, raising healthy triplets with her husband and establishing a career as a registered dietician.

That childhood dream, however, never went away. So when her own children grew up and after her husband retired, she went back to school to chase it. Today, Darlene is a driven art and art history major developing a robust portfolio. And she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“People my age feel life is set,” she says. “And it’s not.”

Non-traditional students may not have the endurance or the same amount of free time as a teenager, but they have meaningful life experiences and helpful compensatory skills, she says. And not only has Darlene produced quality artwork; she’s developed a creative mindset to tap in other areas of her life.

Darlene isn’t just an inspiration for women her age; she’s a model for all lifelong learners to follow.

Monday, Nov. 1
Sheila Shea

Career changes rarely come easy. They often require equal doses of passion and perseverance. Luckily, Sheila exudes both. That’s why she’s been able to do it more than once.

Shea

“This is career number three for me,” the childhood education major says. “I did the ‘youth passion’ thing. I did the ‘money’ thing. Now, I’m doing the ‘giving back’ thing.”

The California native’s first paid acting gig came at age 17, so theatre was her first love. She later found success as a business analyst at a New York City tech company. But after wearing down from a fast-paced city life, she sought fulfillment. That led her to teaching and to SUNY Cortland at the suggestion of her husband, who grew up in Ithaca.

“I taught theatre early on and I think it stuck with me,” Sheila says. “When we moved, I jumped in with both feet.”

The school game is different with a young family and an 11-month-old son, she says. So are her priorities. At the College, however, she’s found a support network in the Non-Traditional Student Organization. Sheila even found time to take on the leadership roles, as a past president and vice president of the student group.

That feat, however, shouldn’t come as much of a surprise — especially for someone who’s been able to manage a pair of career changes with relative ease.

Next spring, the stately, more-than-a-century-old Crimson King maples, Balsam firs, Bur oaks and White spruces dotting the slopes of the Cortland Rural Cemetery will become more than landscaping for the final resting place of hundreds of former area residents. They will be a recreational and educational attraction for living human beings.

Likewise the gravesites themselves will be treated not just as memorials, but as objects of historical, scientific and artistic interest when a town-gown project that is currently underway bears its fruit.

Visitors to the cemetery in recent years have been somewhat limited to people with family members buried there, according to John Hoeschele, president of the cemetery’s Board of Trustees and a volunteer with the Cortland Rural Cemetery Foundation.

But the general public will be welcomed back for daytime walks along its green avenues once an extensive project involving SUNY Cortland and members of the local Cortland community embellishes the site with an informational kiosk, interpretive signs and tree identification plates.

Geology Lecturer Timothy Conner and his student intern, childhood education major Sophie Louise Jackson, examine a particularly interesting headstone in Cortland Rural Cemetery as they gather information to include in the interpretive trail literature that is being developed through the Operation Greenspace! project.

Called Operation Greenspace!, the project teams the Cortland Rural Cemetery board of trustees and employees with the College’s art and art history, biological sciences, geography, geology and recreation, parks and leisure studies department faculty members and their student interns.

Some 150 years ago the Cortland Rural Cemetery was designed in the “garden” or “rural” cemetery style that was sweeping the country in the mid-1800s, explained Hoeschele.

Such locations were intended to be both a place to memorialize the dead and provide a kind of regal, sprawling park for the living.

“People were encouraged to walk in the cemetery and visit loved ones, picnic, socialize with neighbors and enjoy nature,” he said.

Period photos of Cortland show the citizens enjoying their new, park-like cemetery in just that way, he noted.

“Somehow we kind of lost contact with that over the intervening years,” Hoeschele said. “We would like to reacquaint Cortland residents with their cemetery as a green space and as a resource to the community, so we will be able to get more support from the community.”

Hoeschele worked jointly with the Cortland Rural Cemetery Foundation — the cemetery’s dedicated and separate fund-raising board — to apply for and receive a $30,000 Operation Greenspace! grant from the JM McDonald Foundation, a 62-year-old trust that supports charitable efforts, primarily in upstate New York. Last spring, with the financing secured for signs, tree identification plates and other needed hardware, the trustees began to collaborate with the College on the information to be exhibited.

Since then, volunteers within the College community have been gathering facts and data to place on trees, interpretive signs and an informational kiosk. The more prominent trees will boast detailed species information. About 20 pedestal signs will share the history, science and cultural information gathered about the cemetery. A key to find specific areas of interest will be offered on a giant map posted at a central kiosk.

All the interpretive signage and maps will be produced by a vendor and placed in the cemetery sometime next spring. Trustees will then announce the resulting, interpretive “cemetrail” and tree markers at a public ribbon-cutting ceremony.

From that point on, College faculty and students and the public at large will be encouraged to use the site during daylight hours as a living museum and research location.

Over time, the goal is to create several different trails throughout the cemetery, explained Wendy Miller, an associate professor of geography at the College.

“Each trail will have a different theme, from history to geology and beyond,” Miller said. “The trails will have several interpretive stops where people can learn more about a specific area of the cemetery.”

Steven Broyles, professor and chair of biological sciences, last summer counted some 300 trees of 30 different species in the cemetery and ordered descriptive nameplates for 22 of the most noteworthy, including two specimens that he believes will break New York state size records, an American hophornbeam and a European larch. Each tree marker will be bar-coded to interact with a visitor’s smartphone and offer more species information.

The botanist’s work begins the process of turning the cemetery into a genuine arboretum, according to Hoeschele.

Timothy Conner, a geology lecturer and former longtime high school teacher, has been bringing eighth graders to the cemetery for years, with the site caretaker’s permission.

“The stones tell a story,” Conner said. Opening this cemetery to the public will provide generations of students an opportunity to try original research in areas like geology, art and history, he said.

Conner assigned Sophie Louise Jackson, a childhood education major from Marcellus, N.Y., to investigate the stone monuments and mausoleums as an independent research project in geology.

“I like to have a student doing this work because it will help that person become a better human being,” Conner said. “Sophie is awesome, an absolute bundle of energy. She has looked into where the headstones came from and how they were brought to the site.”

Jackson and Conner also are interested in the effect of natural weathering as well as the impact of lichens advancing across various stone surfaces. Another area of inquiry involves the formation of the drumlin, or steep hill, upon which sit both the cemetery and College.

Jackson plans to share her findings at next spring’s “Transformations,” the College’s annual showcase of scholarship, research and creative activities.

Meanwhile, Kathryn Kramer, a professor of art and art history, is working with another student intern, art history major Denise Seidler of Manorville, N.Y., to develop written materials that give voice to the artistic aspects of the cemetery — including monument symbolism, marker forms/shapes, and various artistic styles stemming from different time periods.

As the project advances, Miller, who currently is on sabbatical, will work to diagram the site with another student intern, Mason Young, a geographic information systems (GIS) major and College employee.

“Mason and I are creating a map of the cemetery with the interpretive trail stops identified on it and the others are identifying where the stops should be and what should be mentioned at each stop,” Miller explained. “We are using GIS technology and aerial photographs to assist us in our task.”

In addition to enriching the culture in his community, Young appreciates the chance to use his newfound computer mapping skills in a real-world situation.

“There are just so many ways to do things with information technology and because of the complexity of the GIS science, how we use it is always changing,” Young said. “So every bit of experience I can get my hands on helps make me better at what I do.”

Hoeschele looks at Operation Greenspace! as a starting point.

“I’m trying to create a more symbiotic relationship between the College and cemetery than has existed in the past,” Hoeschele said. “I can see a whole host of ways we can work together with the College’s departments, including opportunities for department projects, field studies and internships.”

SUNY Cortland has been selected as one of 30 campuses from across the country to tackle the Economic Inequality Initiative, a joint effort of the American Democracy Project (ADP) and The Democracy Commitment (TDC) Civic Engagement Action Series.

The Institute for Civic Engagement (ICE) is organizing the College’s efforts and is seeking voices to join a community-wide discussion on economic inequality. The goal is to produce materials that can be used by colleges and universities nationwide to weave the topic into course curriculums.

Issues that include student loan debt, a livable hourly wage and poverty will be discussed. Community members are invited to participate, in addition to students, faculty and staff members from both SUNY Cortland and Tompkins Cortland Community College.

“We are seeking a community-wide dialogue on inequality and its impact on the community and civic life,” said Richard Kendrick, the director of SUNY Cortland’s ICE and a professor of sociology/anthropology.

In addition to economic disparity, topics such as public policy, job opportunity, social mobility and civic engagement will be assessed along with the way those subjects work together. The initiative is expected to take three years to complete.

The 30-school cohort includes both two- and four-year colleges that are ADP and TDC members. Buffalo State is the only other institution from New York state to participate. SUNY Cortland has been involved with the ADP since its inception in 2003.

People who are interested in the project should contact Kendrick at 607-753-2481. For more information, visit the American Association of State Colleges and Universities website.

Before SUNY Cortland gears up for football in the form of Saturday’s Cortaca Jug game, the College will celebrate Philanthropy Week on campus. It will highlight all of the time, talent and treasure Red Dragons everywhere give back throughout the year.

Case in point: last academic year, more than 3,500 students contributed roughly 204,024 community service hours through service-learning, internships and volunteering.

Philanthropy Week events, featuring giveaways for students and information on how they can give back to important causes, take place from from Monday, Nov. 10, until Friday, Nov. 14.

National Philanthropy Day falls this year on Saturday Nov. 15.

“We would like to celebrate all the great things our students do for the community and how SUNY Cortland is preparing them to be successful in their world outside Cortland,” said Jennifer Janes, director of The Cortland Fund. The fund is the College’s annual giving program, which benefits students directly with the money it raises.

More than 80 percent of SUNY Cortland students will have a hands-on learning opportunity before they finish college, fostering in many of them a lifelong will to do good in their local community, Janes noted.

“The week also lets us highlight all the great things our alumni do in return for the great education they received, whether it’s to establish a scholarship or to return to campus to speak to students,” Janes said.

New this year, organizers of Philanthropy Week will devote five full days instead of three to the enterprise, said Kara St. John, assistant director of The Cortland Fund.

“This week is a great chance to really educate our community about different ways to give back to the College,” St. John said.

The effort aims to emphasize “thanking the College’s donors and letting them know their investment in our future is paying big dividends,” St. John said.

From Monday through Friday, College students and staff members will be available to offer their insights into ways people give back to SUNY Cortland — whether it’s with their time, talent or treasure — from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at three tables on the ground floor of Neubig Hall.

At the “Time” table, representatives of the College’s Institute for Civic Engagement (ICE) will showcase how members of the campus have engaged with the community by donating their time, talent and energy for many worthy causes.

At the “Treasure” table, members of the Student Philanthropy Council and of The Cortland Fund will give students a chance to write “thank you” cards to alumni. The representatives also will host a trivia game in which prizes will be offered. Additionally, the future philanthropists will announce the Senior Class Gift.

 The “Talent” table, staffed by Student Alumni Association members, will give these students a chance to thank their faculty and staff for their generosity.

Students also are invited to keep up by tagging tweets and posting images with #CortlandGivesBack.

When National Philanthropy Day arrives that Saturday, there will be an online gallery of images taken from the week as a way to thank donors, St. John said.

The generosity of many caused the annual giving program to see a 15 percent growth in donors and a 4 percent growth in dollars during the last fiscal year, Janes noted.

“These increases demonstrate the confidence that our alumni have in the future of Cortland,” Janes said. “Their investments help us provide a valuable educational experience for the next generation. Our students will have opportunities to learn and grow because of the generosity of others.”

And it’s worth noting that 80 percent of the gifts the College received last year were for $149 or less.

“Small gifts add up to giant opportunities,” Janes said. “When many students join with thousands of alumni, together they can contribute to something great.”

She was perhaps referring to last Feb. 27, the date of the College’s first-ever 24-hour fundraising challenge. That Thursday, 871 students, faculty, staff, parents, alumni and friends responded to the 2/27 Challenge by raising a total of $102,857 to support scholarships, undergraduate research, athletics and other priorities, more than tripling the number of donors in its initial goal.

For more information about the events, contact St. John at 607-753-4910.

Prepared by Public Relations Office intern Paul Barchitta

Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals may have passed, but there's still time to score a big-ticket item for just a tiny fraction of the cost.

SUNY Cortland’s annual Super Bowl Raffle offers an expenses-paid trip for two to the big game, which takes place Feb. 1 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.

That means a trip to the warm and sunny Southwest during winter. And this year’s deal is twice as sweet because SUNY Cortland is selling raffle tickets for just $50 apiece, or half the cost of a ticket during each of the College’s five previous raffles.

This year’s drawing will be held Tuesday, Dec. 30, making tickets a great holiday gift option. All entries must be received by Monday, Dec. 22. Sales are open to the public, but participants must be at least 18 years of age to purchase a raffle ticket.

All proceeds support scholarships for SUNY Cortland students.

The grand prize, valued at $4,121, includes two tickets to the game at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.; a three-night stay the Best Western Inn and Suites in Youngtown, Ariz.; and $1,000 for travel and other expenses.

The College acquired the tickets through its close ties with the NFL’s New York Jets, the team that calls SUNY Cortland its official university partner and summer training camp home. It’s the sixth time SUNY Cortland will offer the Super Bowl prize.

Those interested in buying a raffle ticket should send payment — in cash or check — 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.

Alfonso H. Peter Castro, an anthropologist and associate professor at Syracuse University, uses the viewpoint of African people living outside cities to explain the drastic effects of climate change.

“In global dialogue about what to do, the voices of rural Africans have been largely muted,” Castro said. “They are usually portrayed as hapless victims of, or localized contributors to, changing climates; too poor or uneducated to offer insights into mitigation and adaptation strategies.”

He will argue that Americans have a lot to learn about sustainability and climate change from rural Africans, on Wednesday, Nov. 5, at SUNY Cortland.

Castro will present “Climate Change and Sustainability in Rural Africa: Some Perspectives” at 4:30 p.m. in Moffett Center, Room 2125.

“As will be seen, rural Africans have long dealt with climatic uncertainty,” Castro said. “I will also explore the contemporary vulnerability of these societies to climate change and other threats.”

His talk continues the 2014-15 Rozanne M. Brooks Lecture Series. The talk, which is free and open to the public, will be preceded by a reception for Castro at 4 p.m. in the Rozanne M. Brooks Museum, Moffett Center, Room 2126.

This year’s series on the theme of “Culture, Technology and Sustainability,” explores the present and future on a planet with a rapidly growing population, critical food shortages, climate change and a host of other factors that affect the quality of life across the world. Presenters discuss these issues and offer possible solutions to major global problems, including the role technology may play in helping or hindering progress toward a ‘livable planet.’

Castro, who earned bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees from the University of California at Santa Barbara, has applied his anthropology work to research in Darfur, Ethiopia, Mali, Kenya and Somalia. He has held many consulting and research positions, most recently as a lead trainer for a three-day workshop on conflict management in Zalingei, Central Darfur, Sudan as part of the Resources, Economic Security and Peace in Darfur Project (RESP).

A faculty member in Syracuse University’s Maxwell School since 1988, Castro is the editor, author or co-author of eight books, most recently the 2012 text Climate Change and Threatened Communities: Vulnerability, Capacity and Action (London: Practical Action Publishers). He is the author of many more book chapters and articles published in academic journals.

A. H. Peter Castro

The Brooks lecture series continues to highlight different geographical regions such as Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Speakers offer presentations on topics ranging from history and art history, archaeology and anthropology, to literature and contemporary arts. The lectures present the opportunity for students and community members to learn about global culture from the experts who have made such subjects their life’s work.

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

The 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.

Prepared by Public Relations Office intern Victoria Lewis

Future teachers in a global, diverse world need hands-on experience with students from different backgrounds, traditions and learning styles, according to two associate professors in SUNY Cortland’s School of Education, who will share their ideas at a Thursday, Nov. 6, Community Roundtable at the College.

Kim Wieczorek and Mona Ivey-Soto both are faculty members in the Childhood/Early Childhood Education Department. Ivey-Soto also is a faculty member in the Africana Studies Department. They both will present “New Spaces, Eager Faces: Social Justice Pedagogy for Teacher Candidates at SUNY Cortland” from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. in the Park Center Hall of Fame Room.

Mona Ivey-Soto

 “It is imperative that teacher education provides meaningful learning opportunities that move beyond the traditional methods of teaching and learning,” Wieczorek said.

She and Ivey-Soto stress that today’s teacher candidates are preparing for increasingly diverse classrooms and communities with multicultural, multilingual children and families.

“By immersing teacher candidates in diverse community spaces and bringing the broader community into our college classroom, we cultivate a mutually beneficial connection that is at the heart of social justice pedagogy,” Ivey-Soto said.

Kim Wieczorek

Pedagogy refers to the art or science of teaching.

“We both have a shared vision about being extremely passionate about bringing teacher candidates to learn and participate into communities of diverse learners,” Ivey-Soto said.

“As teacher educators we are here to prepare citizens and specifically teachers for the global world that awaits them,” she said. “We want to empower them not to merely tolerate a diverse world, but to build partnerships and authentic relationships with individuals from diverse backgrounds.”

Both professors took childhood/early childhood education majors from SUNY Cortland to La Casita, a cultural center in Syracuse, to improve their skills in overseeing a diverse curriculum and classroom through different techniques. They designed for the center an exhibition titled “New Spaces Eager Faces.” The duo soon will present their exhibition at the American Educational Studies Association (AESA) conference in Toronto. A related article will appear in the Multicultural Educational Journal.

Presented by the President’s Office, the Nov. 6 Community Roundtable is free and is open to the public. Refreshments will be provided beforehand at 7:45 a.m. The Park Center is located off Tompkins Street and parking is available in the Park Center and Professional Studies Building lots.

For more information about the presentation, contact Wieczorek at 607-753-5687 or Ivey-Soto at 607-758-5312. For information about the roundtables, contact Sue Vleck at 607-753-2377.

Prepared by Public Relations Office intern Paul Barchitta

SUNY Cortland will celebrate Veterans Day with a short ceremony Tuesday, Nov. 11, featuring remarks from an assistant football coach and current student who served five years in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Sponsored by the College President’s Office, the event takes place at 3 p.m. in Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge. It is free and open to the public.

The half-hour ceremony and reception immediately following in the Margaret A. “Peggy” Curry ’52 Main Lobby will provide an opportunity for SUNY Cortland students, employees and community members to thank veterans for their service.

Rocha

Jon Rocha, a junior kinesiology: coaching major at the College, will offer remarks as the event’s keynote speaker. Rocha spent five years from 1999 to 2004 in the U.S. Marine Corps, including a tour of duty in Afghanistan and stops in Iraq and Kuwait.

He served as an avionics technician during his service, responsible for maintaining helicopters that routinely carried fellow troops on combat missions. After his honorable discharge, Rocha built and tested helicopters in Corning, N.Y., while attending Corning Community College full time and raising two children as a single parent.

When his company moved its operations to Poland in 2012, Rocha opted to attend SUNY Cortland and pursue a career in coaching. He currently serves as assistant defensive backs coach of the College’s football team.

For more information, contact the President’s Office at 607-753-2377.

More than 600 prospective college students are expected to spend a day visiting academic departments, touring the campus and talking to faculty and students during SUNY Cortland’s second Fall Open House on Tuesday, Nov. 11.

The College will show off its campus during a regular day of classes to potential students who missed the first open house on Monday, Oct. 13. It was attended by approximately 600 students and their family members.

Faculty, staff and students from academic departments and student service offices will be available to meet with visitors throughout the program. Additionally, guests may tour the campus and eat in the dining facilities.

The open house allows visitors who have made prior reservations the opportunity to experience the campus by interacting directly with students, faculty and staff. Individuals who have not pre-registered also are welcome to attend.

The program will begin formally at 9:30 a.m. in Park Center. An Academic Fair and Student Services Fair featuring department faculty and student services will take place in Park Center Corey Gymnasium from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. At 12:30 p.m., students are encouraged to go to their chosen academic department offices for more information and a tour.

Guided tours of the campus and residence halls will run from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Participants will meet in the Corey Union Function Room.

At 10:30 a.m., Professor of Economics Lisi Krall will give a presentation on the Honors Program in Park Center, Room 1204.

Special sessions on admissions, financial aid, athletics, dining services, residence life and housing will be offered. For details, visit cortland.edu/admissions.

Open House visitors also are welcome to attend the Veterans Day Ceremony at 3 p.m. in Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge. The 30-minute ceremony features remarks by Jon Rocha, a junior coaching major at the College who spent five years from 1999 to 2004 in the U. S. Marine Corps and completed a tour of duty in Afghanistan. A reception in the Margaret A. “Peggy” Curry ’52 Main Lobby outside the lounge will follow.

Parking for Open House visitors will be provided in the Route 281 parking lot, which features shuttle bus service to Park Center.

The fall format is much different from the Spring Open House, where most visitors already have been admitted and are in the process of deciding whether to attend SUNY Cortland.

Educator and writer Erin Gruwell, the author of a book that inspired the academy award-winning movie, “Freedom Writers,” aims to be a catalyst for change.

She will share her experiences as a teacher and how she influenced 150 of her students to overcome social, racial and educational problems to succeed in graduating on Monday, Nov. 10, at SUNY Cortland.

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

A widely known advocate both for teachers and students, Gruwell aims to encourage the audience to become role models of tolerance and gain respect for at-risk youth.

The film “Freedom Writers,” starring Academy Award-winning actor Hilary Swank, is based on Gruwell’s The

Erin Gruwell

Freedom Writers Diary, a New York Times bestseller, which exposes both the journey and transformation of students who had originally been written off by the education system.

When Gruwell entered Woodrow Wilson High School on her first day of teaching, she didn’t know what she was getting herself into.

Many of her students from this tough, racially divided school were deemed unteachable.

“In the beginning I was pretty naïve and did not know a lot about at-risk teens,” Gruwell noted in a web biography “I knew I could see past color and culture, but I did not know how to get to the hearts of these young people. So I gave them a pen and told them to share their experiences through the art of writing. Through writing, my students discovered tolerance and respect for one another.”

Gruwell is credited with encouraging her students to re-think rigid beliefs about themselves and others, reconsider daily decisions, and ultimately re-chart their futures. With Gruwell’s support, they chose to forego teenage pregnancy, drugs and violence to become aspiring college students, published writers and citizens for change. Her former students dubbed themselves the “Freedom Writers” — in homage to civil rights activists the Freedom Riders — and published a book.

Gruwell’s story received far-reaching media coverage on shows such as Oprah, The View and Good Morning America.

She founded the Freedom Writers Foundation, through which she helps other teachers incorporate her strategies and lesson plans in their own classrooms. She also has written a memoir Teach with Your Heart, which continues to emphasize the power of teaching and how she affected these students.

Gruwell received the Lauds and Laurels Distinguished Alumni Award from her alma mater, University of California at Irvine. She earned her master’s degree and teaching certification from California State University Long Beach, where she was honored as Distinguished Alumna by the School of Education.

For information about Gruwell, visit her website.

For more information about the talk, contact Mary Kate Boland, assistant director of campus activities, at 607-753-2034.

Prepared by Public Relations Office intern Victoria Lewis 

A panel of SUNY Cortland faculty and staff members will examine the Ebola epidemic in West Africa under the lens of the most current practice in public health, biological sciences and medicine on Thursday, Nov. 13, at the College.

Titled “The Ebola Epidemic in West Africa: Etiology and Socio-Cultural Factors,” the sandwich seminar will begin at noon in Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge.

Presented by the College’s Clark Center for International Education, International Studies Program, Health Department, Biological Sciences Department, and Student Health Service, the discussion continues the ongoing Sandwich Seminar Series. Events are free and open to the public.

Alexandru Balas, an assistant professor of international studies who directs the Clark Center for International Education and coordinates the International Studies Program, will moderate the hour-long discussion.

The panel will include Ben E. Wodi, a professor in the Health Department; Christa Chatfield, an assistant professor in the Biological Sciences Department; and Devin Coppola, M.D., medical director of the Student Health Service.

Wodi will discuss the epidemiology of the disease in West Africa including socio-cultural factors and natural history. His talk will emphasize the need for international engagement as well as success stories to disrupt the current deadly cycle of cause-and-effect in some African countries.

Chatfield will address what it means for the Ebola virus to be member of the Filovirus family, a family of RNA viruses. She will describe how Ebola infects both monocytes and epithelial cells, severely damaging the host tissue and limiting its immune response. Chatfield also will update the audience on the current research into the genetic sequence, evolution and adaptation of Ebola in the current outbreak.

Coppola’s talk will encompass the signs and symptoms as well as the clinical manifestations of Ebola. He’ll share his knowledge about the disease’s incubation period and period of transmissibility. Additionally, Coppola will discuss the diagnosis for Ebola as well as potential treatments.

Wodi earned a bachelor’s degree in biology/chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Superior, a master’s in environmental health from East Tennessee State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma, where he concentrated in environmental epidemiology. For his department, he has coordinated international programs as well as field experiences in health.

Wodi has presented and published extensively in the area of communicable disease epidemiology. His current research centers on the epidemiology of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. His articles on these subjects have appeared in the American Journal of Public Health, the International Electronic Journal of Health Education, the Western Journal of Black Studies, and Wagadu: The Journal of Transnational Women’s and Gender Studies.

Chatfield received her bachelor’s in microbiology from Michigan State University and her doctorate in the same field at University of Rochester. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship and was a member of the research faculty at Northwestern University Medical School’s Microbiology and Immunology Department.

Chatfield’s research has encompassed the genetic basis for pathogenesis of numerous medically relevant bacteria, primarily Streptococcus mutans and Legionella pneumophila. She currently teaches the lecture and lab sections for two microbiology courses, one for biology majors and one for non-majors, as well as a course in general biology for non-majors.

Coppola, who joined SUNY Cortland in 2007, earned a bachelor’s in biology from Rochester Institute of Technology, and a medical degree from University at Buffalo. He completed his residency in family medicine at St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center in Syracuse. Board certified in family medicine since 1997, Coppola most recently was re-certified in 2013. He serves as a voluntary adjunct clinical faculty member both at RIT and SUNY Upstate Medical University.

Balas received his doctorate in political science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He also has a master’s degree in conflict analysis and resolution from Sabanci University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Bucharest. His teaching and research interests focus on issues of conflict resolution, peace studies, European politics and international organizations. Balas’ most recent book, Peace Operations, was published by Polity Press in 2014. His work on peace operations and international organizations has appeared in Peace and Change, the Journal of International Peacekeeping, and Foreign Policy Magazine Romania.

The Richter Uzur Duo will perform a concert that features elements of classical music, rock and Eastern European folk, producing a sound that is all their own, on Saturday, Nov. 22, at SUNY Cortland.

The pair, which features Brad Richter on guitar and Viktor Uzur on cello, will share their native sense of vernacular, integrity and charm, starting at 7 p.m. in the Corey Union Exhibition Lounge.

Presented by the College’s Campus Artist and Lecture Series (CALS), admission to the show is free for SUNY Cortland students with College I.D. and children ages 10 and under. The general admission charge is $5. Tickets may be obtained through the Campus Activities and Corey Union Office, Corey Union Room 406, weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., or at the door one hour prior to the performance. For more information, call 607-753-5574.

The duo offers a signature repertoire that pairs exquisite originals with blazing improvisations and iconic works by composers such as Bartok, Gershwin, Rimsky-Korsakov and Saint-Saens, as well as Freddie Mercury, The Beatles and Led Zeppelin.

Trained in two of the world’s most lauded musical institutions — Richter at the Royal College of Music and Uzur at the Moscow Conservatory — Richter and Uzur are consummate performers and accomplished composers, each having played around the globe to critical acclaim and international awards.

“Effortless precision and musicality ... Playful yet stunning,” a Guitar International reviewer wrote. “Tremendous virtuosity from both cello and guitar," observed Fred Child, a Performance Today critic. “Serious musicianship that doesn’t take itself too seriously,” noted a Fanfare Magazine observer.

The duo has been featured regularly on “Performance Today,” America's most popular classical music radio program.

Their signature repertoire pairs exquisite originals with blazing improvisations and iconic works by composers such as Bartok, Gershwin, Rimsky-Korsakov and Saint-Saens, as well as Freddie Mercury, The Beatles and Led Zeppelin.

For more information about the Richter Uzur Duo, visit the website at richteruzurduo.com. For information about this or other CALS events, visit the website.

The SUNY Cortland College Council will hold its next regularly scheduled meeting at 4 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 17, in Miller Building, Room 405.

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

Prior to the meeting at 3:15 p.m. in the same room, a Title IX presentation will be led by Wendy Cranmer, assistant Title IX coordinator, and Mark DePaull, assistant chief, University Police Department.