Campus Champion

Michael Ryan Lopes is crazy about sports. The senior sport management major returns home to New Jersey in January to complete his required internship semester with a sports consulting firm. He’s built a resume filled with marketing and social media experience earned during this semester’s internship with SUNY Cortland’s Athletics Department and organizational skills acquired while serving as Sport Management Club co-president. Michael can now add “Winner – 2017 Cortaca T-Shirt Contest.” Michael created the winning design in the recent Alumni Engagement contest in preparation for Saturday’s big game. His classmates are crazy about his work, picking up their shirts in the annual “Lose the Blues” campaign. Cortaca week events 

The 59th annual Cortaca Jug game between SUNY Cortland and Ithaca College kicks off at noon on Saturday, Nov. 11, at Butterfield Stadium in Ithaca.

For those who can’t wait to show their school spirit, the College has organized a number of activities for students in the week leading up to the big game.

SUNY Cortland has won seven straight games in the series, which is often referred to as the “Biggest Little Game in the Nation.”

Cortaca Week is sponsored by SUNY Cortland Athletics, Campus Activities and Corey Union, Cortland Downtown Partnership, Greek Multicultural Council, Health Promotions, Interfaith Center, Kappa Sigma, Lambda Sigma Upsilon, Omega Phi Beta, Sigma Delta Tau, Sigma Gamma Rho, Student Activities Board and Theta Chi.

The Cortaca Week schedule is:

Sunday, Nov. 5

Sigma Gamma Rho sorority holds a new member presentation beginning at 7:22 p.m. on the Corey Union front steps. The rain location is Sperry Center, Room 104.

Tuesday, Nov. 7

From 5 to 7 p.m. in the Student Life Center, students may join the “Lose the Blues” campaign by trading in an item of blue clothing for the official 2017 Cortaca Jug T-shirt.

Poets, musicians and singers are all welcome at open mic night in the Corey Union Exhibition Lounge. The show starts at 7 p.m. Free food will be provided.

Wednesday, Nov. 8

The weekly Wellness Wednesday series hosts a “Party Smart with Us Before Cortaca” table from noon to 3 p.m. in the Student Life Center lobby. Students will learn about their responsibilities and rights concerning alcohol, drugs and sex. Free giveaways will be provided.

From 6 to 8 p.m. at the Lynne Parks ’68 SUNY Cortland Alumni House, students may join the “Lose the Blues” campaign by trading in an item of blue clothing for the official 2017 Cortaca Jug T-shirt.

Thursday, Nov. 9

A Cortaca-inspired grocery trivia game will be played beginning at 8:30 p.m. in Sperry Center, Room 215.

Friday, Nov. 10

Theta Chi fraternity will hold a car smash fundraiser for United Service Organizations (USO) from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. between the C-Club Pavilion and Lusk Fieldhouse. The cost is $1 per swing or five swings for $3.

All cultural fraternities and sororities will perform at the Greek Expo starting at 7 p.m. on the Corey Union front steps. The rain location is Sperry Center, Room 105.

A Cortaca-inspired grocery trivia game will be played in Sperry Center, Room 215 beginning at 7:30 p.m.

The Interfaith Center, located at 7 Calvert St., hosts Cortaca Mug from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Prizes, live music, fun activities and free food will be available.

Lambda Sigma Upsilon Latino fraternity presents its new members beginning at 9:38 p.m. in the lower patio area outside Corey Union.

Saturday, Nov. 11

SUNY Cortland’s men’s basketball team will hold a free throw-a-thon from 9 a.m. to noon in Corey Gymnasium at Park Center.

For those who aren’t traveling to Ithaca for the football game, a free viewing party will be held in the Corey Union Function Room beginning at noon.

Those watching elsewhere can stream the game on a computer or mobile device by using Ithaca College’s Live Stream. An audio broadcast of the game will air locally on WICB 91.7 FM and is also available through Ithaca College’s iHeartRadio channel. Live stats and play-by-play will be posted on sidearmstats.com.

A number of viewing parties have been organized in cities across the country. For more details, visit RedDragonNetwork.org.

Mad in the Hat: The Ultimate DJ Experience plays the Corey Union Function Room at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show is free. Mad in the Hat merges a drummer and a DJ into one for a unique live performance.

Sunday, Nov. 12

A downtown Cortaca cleanup begins at 11 a.m. in front of Brix Pubaria at 60 Main St. Participants will be provided with trash bags and tools and the event runs until 12:30 p.m.

Sadly, some college students are no strangers to hunger.

Out of 301 SUNY Cortland students who responded to a recent College survey, a majority of whom lived off campus, more than one-third replied that they had gone to bed hungry while attending college because of lack of finances.

Like the growing number of other colleges, including at least six SUNY campuses, SUNY Cortland is doing something about it.

“A lot of schools have started to implement student food pantries because they are seeing food insecurity among students,” said Lauren Herman, a health educator with the Health Promotions Office who serves on the committee that created a food pantry.

The College opened the SUNY Cortland Cupboard on Nov. 6 in the basement of the Interfaith Center at 7 Calvert St., on the corner opposite Dowd Performing Arts Center.

The food pantry for students, which is presently filled with shelves of non-perishable items, is in a small room off the Interfaith Center’s basement community room. It is lined by new metal shelves, purchased thanks to a $750 gift from the President’s Cabinet.

On the first day, a trickle of visitors had stopped by to check it out during the noon hour.

The volunteer, ad hoc committee that has spent the last six months planning the operation, decided the SUNY Cortland Cupboard will be open weekdays from noon to 1 p.m. for the rest of the semester. Updates are being provided on the pantry's progress.

A week before the food pantry opened, only about six containers of food sat on its shelves. Faculty, staff and students began to donate items as news of the effort spread gradually. In light of fundraising for the U.S. hurricane disasters and the many annual food drives currently underway, food pantry committee members were reluctant to dilute those worthy efforts by making a strong pitch for the very same things.

Then Paul Nojaim, owner of the former Nojaim Brothers Supermarket in Syracuse, N.Y., heard about the College’s undertaking through his friend, SUNY Cortland Risk Management Officer Bill Veit. His approximately 30-40 donated baskets of food, some 60 percent of what now stocks the pantry, were delivered early on Nov. 6, turning what was intended as a “soft-opening” week into a fully operational food pantry.

After delivering the gift, Nojaim also met SUNY Cortland President Erik J. Bitterbaum, toured the campus and has offered to advise the fledgling operation.

About a third of the food items were given by alumni, who presented cash gifts indicating “campus food pantry” through the Cortland College Foundation that were used by pantry volunteers to stock the shelves. Groton resident Carl Gambitta ’63, M’66, C.A.S. ’73, a SUNY Cortland Alumni Association board member and former president, heard about the need during a Nov. 2 committee meeting and coordinated many of those donations. Fellow board member Ronnie Sternin Silver ’67 of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., has followed the project’s progress by teleconferencing into the meetings. On Nov. 7, she reached out to alumni with an electronic letter asking her classmates for future support of monetary gifts or non-perishable food or necessities.

Gambitta and Silver and the faculty, staff and students on the ad hoc committee of about 25 people who have spent the past six months bringing the project to life. A number of students have been involved in the needs survey and planning for the pantry, including junior Alexandra “Alex” Cicero, the student volunteer project coordinator. The undertaking has achieved broad campus support from the President’s Cabinet, the Faculty Senate and the Student Government Association. The Alumni Association and the Cortland College Foundation also are on board with the project. Natasha McFadden, assistant director to The Cortland Fund, serves as a fund-raising liaison as pantry donations may be considered as gifts to the College. Esa Merson, director of the Academic Support and Achievement Program, is in a good position to see occasions where food insecurity is destroying the college experience for a student. Rachel Ditch, interim Protestant campus minister at the Interfaith Center, welcomed the food pantry to operate from the Interfaith Center, which she manages. She anticipates incorporating the operation into the CROP Walk program that raises money to feed the hungry. 

Herman, in the Health Promotions Office, worked closely with an academic department, the Health Department, to study the problem of hunger at Cortland, which until then had been shared by mostly word-of-mouth. A one-week survey was conducted during October to gather information on the students. Of the 301 respondents, 66.9 percent lived off campus. Almost 30 percent of those said their whole semester tuition bill was covered by financial aid. Just a few more than 10 percent said they have used a soup kitchen or food pantry before.

“I think there’s growing awareness about how food insecurity could happen at one point and not at another,” Herman said. “But there’s not a time or space to talk about it or create the awareness about it. We want to raise that awareness.”

The committee is looking into the causes of hunger among the student body. All students living in on-campus housing have a meal plan that covers them throughout their time on campus. However, many students do not live on campus and West Campus Apartments residents aren’t required to have a meal plan. Local community food pantries are a very long walk between classes for such students.

“We still don’t have all the information, but anecdotally sometimes students’ families don’t have enough money to get by themselves,” Herman said. “We may assume they have parents or guardians who are helping them out. But many of them didn’t have people helping them out in high school. They are trying to sustain themselves here but they don’t have any support.”

“As time goes by, we might be able to get a better handle on more definitive data on how often, at what points during semester, we might see peaks of need,” said John Suarez, who directs the College’s Institute for Civic Engagement. “This might tend to be toward the end of the semester.”

It’s a question where future pantry stock will come from. Six months from now, the SUNY Cortland Cupboard should meet the food handling requirements to receive the support from the Food Bank of Central New York. 

Once the panty is running smoothly with canned and dried food items, the committee may expand to accept donations of personal items like soap and toothpaste. The pantry has a refrigerator, but operators will need to set professional parameters on what fresh foods can be accepted and how to safely store, control and distribute them.

Running the pantry creates an unending need for more civic-minded citizens to help out.

“It could be that when we’re looking for volunteers for the pantry, someone who has benefited from the pantry might help out,” Suarez said. “That would be awesome.”

Committee members think the SUNY Cortland Cupboard will make the entire campus Red Dragon strong.

“It definitely will increase the likelihood that students will graduate because if they aren’t focusing on food or money they can focus on their education,” Herman said.

Those who would like to make a contribution to the SUNY Cortland Cupboard can do so through the Cortland College Foundation via mail at P.O. Box 2000, Cortland, NY 13045 or telephone at 607-753-5744 or online at RedDragonNetwork.org/giving.

SUNY Cortland takes pride in producing great teachers.

The College’s Foundations and Social Advocacy Department, which prepares candidates for careers in working with students with special needs, was recently recognized as one of the best in New York. Zippia.com ranked SUNY Cortland as the fourth-best special education school in the state.

Zippia used data from the National Center for Education Statistics and the Department of Education in forming its rankings. The criteria included career earnings, the percentage of recent graduating classes that majored in inclusive education and each college’s admission rate, graduation rate and average cost of attendance.

Earlier this year, SUNY Cortland was ranked No. 23 nationally for its special education program by CollegeChoice.net.

The Foundations and Social Advocacy Department offers student teaching and fieldwork experiences to prepare students for all teaching environments. Graduate programs are available for master’s degrees in teaching students with disabilities or Certificate in Advanced Study (C.A.S) in educational administration.

The department is transitioning to the inclusive childhood education (IEC) major, which is a dual-certification program that prepares students to teach in elementary schools as well as teach those with disabilities.

SUNY Cortland’s inclusive childhood education major offers student teaching opportunities in urban, suburban and rural settings to further prepare students for careers. The program includes a semester-long student teaching experience with mentors in general and special education.

Lynn Barnett-Morris, a scholar on children’s play at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will deliver the prestigious Metcalf Endowment Lecture at the 67th annual SUNY Cortland Recreation Conference, which takes place Thursday, Nov. 9, and Friday, Nov. 10, at the College.

Barnett-Morris, an associate professor in Urbana-Champaign’s Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism, will give the keynote address, “Off to Neverland,” from 6:15 to 7:15 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 9, at the Cortland Repertory Theater at 24 Port Watson St. in downtown Cortland. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Barnett-Morris has focused her research on the theoretical formulation of children’s play, intrinsic motivation and rewards, the effects of adult-structured play and extracurricular activities on children’s development and interests, and the play of children with special needs.

Her areas of interest also include analysis of play and its relation to development, investigation of toys and play spaces as facilitative of play, and resources in research design and statistical analysis.

She is the author of a forthcoming book, The Contribution of Play to Societies: Multiple Perspectives (UK: Inter-Disciplinary Press). She wrote the 1995 text, Research About Leisure: Past, Present, and Future Directions, 2nd ed. (Champaign, Ill.: Sagamore Publishing).

Barnett-Morris has made the University of Illinois List of Excellent Teachers from 1981 to 2014 and has been recognized by the Society of Park and Recreation Educators, National Recreation and Park Association and by the Panhellenic Association and Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs.

She has a B.S. in psychology, an M.S. in leisure studies, and a doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

“Off to Neverland” is the theme of the two-day gathering, the nation’s oldest continuous collegiate-sponsored recreation education conference.

The theme aims to encourage people to take a journey through recreation to see the endless possibilities it has to offer with the world as our playground. As recreation professionals, we are always striving to learn more. We ask you to enlighten us on your findings, and help us open the doors of what it is we’ve yet to discover.

 “We don’t stop playing because you grow old; we grow old because we stop playing,” said conference coordinator Meagan Hirschi, a senior recreation management major from Congers, N.Y., quoting George Bernard Shaw,

Presented by the College’s Recreation, Parks and Leisure Studies Department and students in its Special Events Planning class, the conference receives additional support for the Metcalf Keynote Address from the Metcalf Endowment Fund and the Campus Artist and Lecture Series. Sponsors also include the New York State Recreation and Park Society, Playground Medic, and the SUNY Cortland Alumni Association. The annual event hosts 200 to 400 students and professionals in the fields of recreation, parks, and leisure studies from all over New York state and the greater New England area.

The conference features a continuing education credit opportunity, a fireside chat with other professionals, internship fair, special workshops and trainings, two days of professional development sessions, with catered luncheons, live entertainment, and raffles of local goods and services.

Registration is open to the general public. The registration rate for the conference is $60 for students and $125 for professionals. Registrations will be accepted at the door both days.

For additional information and to register for the conference, visit cortland.edu/reconf.

When a group of SUNY Cortland sport management majors recently sought valuable, hands-on experience in event management, they went big — to Sunday’s New York City Marathon, the largest event of its kind in the world.

Twenty-five students from the College served as well-trusted volunteers, working three days across a variety of settings, from Friday’s opening ceremonies to Sunday’s 26.2-mile main event. They played a key role in greeting many of the 50,000-plus finishers, guiding them through the post-race finish area and helping create memories that will last a lifetime.

For Alexandra Proulx, a senior from Gatineau, Quebec, who coordinated SUNY Cortland’s efforts this year, the experience marks an annual road trip that was a pivotal moment earlier in her college career.

“Being there (as a sophomore in 2015) opened my eyes to event management as a profession,” said Proulx, who made the marathon trip for the third time in 2017. “I’m not a runner, but just seeing how this massive event brings people together and makes them happy, it’s an amazing experience.” 

This was the fourth consecutive year that the College organized a volunteer group for the marathon. Proulx took the baton from Elvis de la Rosa ’16, who started the tradition with approximately 10 students from SUNY Cortland and Tompkins Cortland Community College. This year’s trip also included five students from Cazenovia College.

Student participation has grown steadily each year along with the responsibilities entrusted by the New York Road Runners, the non-profit organization that manages the race.

Among their many duties this year, students guided runners during Friday’s opening ceremony parade, some woke up at 3 a.m. to set up the starting line for Saturday’s 5k dash and many filled spotter roles at the finish of Sunday’s marathon, watching for suspicious activity, identifying runners in need of medical attention and assisting the overall smooth operation of a massive finishers chute.

Perhaps most importantly, they gained unique insight into a global sporting event that welcomes more than a million spectators and approximately 12,000 volunteers each year.

SUNY Cortland Professor Mark Dodds has completed more than two dozen marathons in his life, so he understands the euphoric feeling of running 26.2 miles and seeing familiar faces at the finish line. He’s conquered New York City twice, in 2014 and 2016. Both times, his sport management students were among the first people to congratulate him after the race.

“When you finish and see someone who you recognize — let alone a group of your own students working their butts off — that’s pretty special,” said Dodds, who made the trip this year as a faculty advisor along with Associate Professor Tara Mahoney. “Regardless of the weather or the long hours, they’re in it just to work hard and gain experience. They’re the type of students you want to be associated with.”

The New York Road Runners provided bus transportation, hotel accommodations and marathon gear during the three-day trip, the SUNY Cortland President’s Office helped fund meals and Auxiliary Services Corporation gifted hats for students to keep warm.

Even though there was no additional compensation attached to the experience, Proulx said the hands-on work was a far more valuable reward for many students — herself included.

“We were so tired by the end,” she said. “Your body just aches because you’re on your feet for more than 12 hours. But it’s so rewarding because people are there from all over the world and they’re so grateful for the work you’ve put into this event.

“Seeing their happiness after finishing the race, it’s like, ‘I was part of this. I played a role in making this happen.’”

--

Above right photo, left to right: Elvis de la Rosa ’16, Professor Mark Dodds, Associate Professor Tara Mahoney and Alexandra Proulx at the 2017 New York City Marathon

Imagine giving a presentation on the current state of the U.S. economy to a group of economists and staff members from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

That’s exactly what a group of 10 SUNY Cortland students did on Oct. 31 as part of the College Fed Challenge, a competition that pits universities against one another in a battle of the brains. SUNY Cortland advanced out of the preliminary round — from an original pool of 43 colleges — and is one of 12 remaining teams in the semifinal round. The team competes again in New York City on Tuesday, Nov. 14.

The 10 students on the team are senior Brittany Fialkowski, juniors Nicholas Andreassi, Brian Drake, Ray Ganley, Mark Genovese, Mike Graveline, Matthew Scotellaro and Nicholas Turdo and sophomores Artie Haase and John Rizzo. All are business economics majors, except for Scotellaro, an economics major, and Turdo, a dual economics and adolescence education: social studies major. The group is enrolled in a special topics course this semester in which it has prepared its presentation.

“They have to pull their knowledge from many different classes,” said Associate Professor of Economics Flavia Dantas. “They have to make a broad assessment of the economy. So it’s not just monetary theories specifically but they have to answer, ‘What is the health of the U.S. economy?’ They have to look at financial markets, labor markets, GDP, wages and prices.”

The students have benefited from the Bloomberg Terminals the College installed in 2016 thanks to a gift from Charles J. Bocklet, Jr. ’58, a former New York Stock Exchange vice chairman. The terminals receive real-time market updates from the New York City-based firm and that inside information gives SUNY Cortland students an edge over the competition on how to shape their presentation.

Dantas led the College to first compete in the Fed Challenge in the fall of 2013 as an extracurricular activity for interested students. The special topics course was created in 2016.

This is the first time a SUNY Cortland team has advanced to the semifinals.

The New York College Fed Challenge is open to colleges in the Federal Reserve’s Second District and is split into two divisions, Liberty Street and Maiden Lane. Liberty Street, the division in which SUNY Cortland competes, is for students who have taken at least one 200-level or higher course in economics and Maiden Lane is for students who have only taken 100-level courses.

Of the nine colleges remaining in the Liberty Street division, two will advance to the final round to also be held on Nov. 14. Unlike the preliminary round and semifinals, which are based on student presentations, the final round consists purely of questions from Federal Reserve economists and staff members. The winning team advances to the National College Fed Challenge to be held Dec. 1 in Washington, D.C.

Dantas said the SUNY Cortland team was lauded by the judges in the preliminary round performance for its teamwork and analysis.   

This year the Caribbean Student Association (CSA) really lived its motto “Oceans divides us, but our culture unities us” with a flashy event that raised money for hurricane relief in the Caribbean.

During its 14th annual fashion and talent show “Music for the Cause” on Nov. 4 in the Corey Union Function Room, organizers broke away from raising money for sickle cell anemia. This year’s show raised more than $2,000 to support Doctors without Borders, an organization that helps deliver emergency medical aid to people affected by conflicts, epidemics and disasters.

“Most members had or knew someone that was affected, so we decided to give back,” said CSA President Miriel Collado, a biomedical science major from East Elmhurst, N.Y. "People have come together in unity because of this devastation."

“I can relate with Doctors without Borders because of hardships that my family is experiencing overseas,” said attendee Lauren Ricks, a freshman sport management major from Laurelton, N.Y.

Ready for their 15 minutes of fame, SUNY Cortland students displayed their talents and fashion on the Function Room stage. From casual to elegant, clothing designers who want to spread their name display their clothing on campus every year. The fashion designers for this year's show were Way Before the Fame and Lev-L-Up.

“Events like these express diversity and culture and bring the community together,” said one attendee that night, Rodney Highsmith, a senior psychology major from Hempstead, N.Y.

“This show does a great job utilizing the Cortland community around culture and highlights another side of campus while teaching the crowd about the Caribbean culture,” commented a SUNY Cortland alumna who returned to her alma mater to attend, Regina Morgan ’11, M ’12 of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Aside from wanting a great way to give back, students were there to support friends displaying couture on stage. Many said they had witnessed a terrific performance and saw great clothing showcased by their peers.

 “I feel a part of the culture when the community comes together and it’s a great form of entertainment from my friends,” said Joel Hernandez, a junior exercise science major from Valley Stream, N.Y.

CSA, one of the largest clubs in Cortland’s Student Voice Office, offers members the opportunity to talk about concerns and interests that they care about. The effect of the hurricanes on the Caribbean was one of the first topics to be discussed this semester.

Prepared by Communications Office writing intern Navita Ramprasad

SUNY Cortland will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony for the reopening of the newly renovated Ralph A. Brown Auditorium on Thursday, Nov. 16.

The ceremony will take place from 11 a.m. to noon inside the auditorium located in Old Main. The program will include remarks by Erik J. Bitterbaum, SUNY Cortland president; Robin Shutts, director of facilities planning, design and construction; and Gloria Hulede, executive vice president of the Student Government Association. Afterward they and Nasrin Parvizi, associate vice president for facilities management, will cut the ribbon.

A reception will follow the ceremony in the Old Main Dorothea Kreig Allen Fowler ’52, M ’74 Grand Entrance Hall.

The event is free and open to the public. Guests should RSVP by Friday, Nov. 10, by contacting the College’s Special Events Office at 607-753-5453.

The Brown Auditorium has been a center of cultural life for the campus and the community for many years and has undergone a number of renovations to keep up-to-date with changing technology.

A major renovation completed in 1989 was made possible by a major gift from alumnus John Fantauzzi ’58, M ’60. At the request of Fantauzzi, the space was named in honor of Ralph Adams Brown, the College’s first SUNY distinguished teaching professor, who taught history at the College from 1947 to 1975.

The use of nuclear weapons is one of the most controversial and important issues facing the world today.

On Tuesday, Nov. 14, two experts will discuss U.S. policies toward North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons and Iran’s nuclear program at SUNY Cortland. The event begins at 1 p.m. in Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge.

The panelists are David Duryea, the College’s vice president of finance and management and Edward Erickson Ph.D., the current scholar-in-residence of Cortland’s Clark Center for Global Engagement.

Duryea is a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral and possesses more than 30 years of executive leadership and management expertise. He served on four nuclear submarines and commanded the ballistic missile submarine USS Florida and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, where he led 6,500 personnel in 15 locations across the U.S. and overseas.

Erickson is a retired professor of military history at the Marine Corps Command and Staff College, Quantico, Va., and is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel. He served as commander of a NATO nuclear custodial detachment and as a nuclear target analyst. Erickson also served in Iraq in 1991 and 2003 and as a special assistant to the NATO Force commander in Bosnia in 1995.

Alexandru Balas, assistant professor and coordinator of international studies and the director of the Clark Center for Global Engagement, will serve as moderator.

The testing of nuclear weapons by North Korea has made headlines for years and has increased significantly in recent months. Iran traded its nuclear weapon-creating capacities for the lifting of economic sanctions in 2015. Yet the deal has its political detractors both among Western nations and in Iran.

“We have these two experts on campus who can talk in an informed way and give a realistic view of what could happen,” Balas said.

Panelists will discuss nuclear war theory and foreign policy, and share their own expertise on nuclear policies stemming from their unique military experiences.

The panel takes place three days after Veterans Day in hopes to better link SUNY Cortland and the greater Cortland community together.

“This is an interesting event for the larger community and especially for veterans in the community. We scheduled it a few days after Veterans Day, so that hopefully veterans will attend, too. We’re looking at more partnerships between the campus and community on global issues,” Balas said.

Balas hopes the talk will make students and the community better-informed American citizens by discussing “these two countries often portrayed as enemies.”

“This panel will help inform people about nuclear policy,” Balas said. “We also want them to understand the logic of why less powerful militaries want to pursue nuclear routes.”

For more information, contact Balas at 607-753-2250.

Prepared by Communications Office writing intern McKenzie Henry

SUNY Cortland ranks third in the SUNY system and is among the top 10 percent of colleges nationwide for having the lowest rate of federal student loan defaults.

According to an October 2017 survey conducted by the Student Loan Report, SUNY Cortland graduates defaulted on federal student loans at a 2.77 percent rate, which is significantly lower than the national and New York state averages of 11.5 percent and 8.6 percent, respectively.

SUNY Cortland ranked at No. 191 among the 1,900 U.S. colleges included in the report.

The affordability of SUNY Cortland plays an important role in the results, said Michele Baran, assistant director/online operations specialist for Career Services.

“The cost of a SUNY education is affordable relative to a lot of institutions,” Baran said.

Using information from the Department of Education, Student Loan Report compared data from graduates entering loan repayment in 2014. Three years of data shows that SUNY Cortland graduates have been successful in paying back their student loan debt.

According to Career Services’ Graduate Outcomes for SUNY Cortland’s class of 2016, 49 percent of graduates found a job in their field of study and another 38 percent of respondents were continuing their education in graduate programs. Of the students who went straight into the workforce, 86 percent had secured employment within six months, including 24 percent who had a job lined up before Commencement.

“Jobs are coming back, the market is opening up and employers are offering more competitive salaries,” Baran said.

Baran also believes Cortland students who are actively engaged on campus find employment faster than those who are not, making it easier for them to pay back federal student loans.

“Our students are intelligent, motivated and competitive. It’s not just going to class, it’s also about doing things outside of the classroom,” Baran said.

The Financial Aid Office is open year-round to offer advice on scholarships, loans and financial aid to students and families.

Students also are encouraged to visit Career Services for career counseling, resume and cover letter critiques and information about job opportunities.

Prepared by Communications Office writing intern McKenzie Henry

When Steve Colgan ‘80 reflects on his past, he’s reminded of one of the famous malapropisms uttered by former New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra: “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

Colgan never quite set out to pursue a career in analytical chemistry, but that’s exactly where his path led. He shared many of the lessons he learned along the way in an Oct. 30 lecture on the pharmaceutical industry with chemistry and biological sciences majors.

Colgan, who retired from Pfizer in Groton, Conn. earlier this year, worked for three decades in pharmaceutical research and development, specializing in analytical chemistry and regulatory science. He was named one of the Top 100 most influential people in the world of drug development and manufacture in the 2016 Medicine Maker Power List. Most recently, Colgan’s work focused on drug stability testing and the science of ensuring the shelf life of pharmaceutical products.

Despite his successes in academics and the professional world, Colgan recalls not quite being ready for college after his high school graduation. He had applied to SUNY Cortland and was accepted but chose to defer for one year, working as an orderly at Strong Memorial Hospital in his hometown of Rochester.

After his year at the hospital, Colgan switched his major to chemistry after studying biology for one semester. He then met professor Charles Spink and was soon on his way to publishing three papers as an undergraduate.

“My father did research,” Colgan said. “He was an anesthesiologist. He pushed me to look for research opportunities and I must have asked Dr. Spink if he could put me to work.”

Then Colgan came to another fork in the road. He decided to pursue a master’s degree in forensic chemistry at Northeastern University in Boston, partly because he was inspired by the television show Quincy, M.E., which aired on NBC between 1976 and 1983 and followed a fictional Los Angeles County medical examiner.

“It was kind of like CSI, and I was thinking, ‘What can I do with a chemistry degree that isn’t pure drudgery?’” Colgan said. “I went to Northeastern for two years studying forensic chemistry and spent one summer as an intern at a crime lab and it wasn’t like the TV show at all.”

Another fork in the road.

Colgan decided to stay at Northeastern, but shifted his focus and earned a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry. That set him on his path to a career in pharmaceutical research and development.

In a separate lecture, Colgan addressed the campus community on his support for Best Buddies International, an organization dedicated to ending the social, physical and economic isolation of the 200 million people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). He is a member of the Best Buddies Connecticut Advisory Board and is an advisor for Pfizer’s corporate Best Buddies chapter. The Pfizer-Groton Citizens Chapter has seven buddy pairs between Pfizer employees and individuals with IDD. For more than a decade, Pfizer has employed those with IDD to work in food service, mail delivery and stocking and now has recently began to hire a number of higher functioning people with IDD to work in the chemistry labs in their analytical research and development department.  The very structured and routine based tasks taken on with those with IDD have allowed laboratory scientists to concentrate on more creative tasks. Colgan is working with other pharmaceutical companies who are interested in adopting similar programs.

A SUNY Cortland Best Buddies chapter was created earlier this year.

In returning to campus, Colgan perhaps will inspire the next generation of chemistry majors to consider a career in pharmaceuticals. He did, however, note that the road to creating a new medicine is long and often full of failure and frustration. Only one in every 10,000 compounds ultimately makes it to market, at an average cost of $2.5 billion in a process that takes years of development and evaluation in clinical trials.

His personal story leaves a similar impression. It took Colgan one year after high school to prepare for college. He initially picked the wrong major for himself and spent years in a master’s program that turned out to be unfulfilling. Yet Colgan found plenty of supporters along the way — namely, Charles Spink — who helped set him on the track to success.

“When you come to a fork in the road you take it. That’s what I did,” Colgan said. “There was no great thought process or strategy for me, really. When you’re in a good spot, you make the best of the situation and try to be as productive as possible, but when new opportunities present themselves you take the fork in the road that looks best.”

The 2017-18 Rozanne M. Brooks Lecture Series at SUNY Cortland takes on the theme of “The Culture of Human Rights and Realities.”

The talks take place on Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. in Moffett Center, Room 2125. Before each lecture a reception to welcome the speaker starts at 4 p.m. in the Rozanne M. Brooks Museum, Moffett Center, Room 2126.

On Nov. 8, Shalini Aiyappa, who heads the Psychology Department at St. Aloysius College in India, will give a presentation on the Devadasi system, a story of sexually exploited women from the lower rungs of society in rural India.

Her talk, “The Devadasi and Human Rights: Blind Faith, Promised Redemption and Patriarchal Prison,” explores the irony that this culturally oppressive system has a religious connection that legitimizes and sanctions prostitution. The belief is that any calamity, disease or lack of a male child can be rectified by sacrificing a girl child to appease the god.

Recently poverty has driven expansion of the Devadasi system. For example, 50 percent of Mumbai prostitutes are Devadasi. The path from ritual role to commercial prostitution in the name of religion is a human rights issue.

The Indian constitution guarantees equality to all citizens and the government has passed legislation against the Devadasi system. Nonetheless, it is still practiced, relying on loopholes in, and the laxity of, the law enforcement agencies. The inhuman practice of “religious prostitution” continues today. 

The 2017-18 Brooks Lecture Series is sponsored by a grant from Auxiliary Services Corporation (ASC) and the Cortland College Foundation.

For more information, contact Sharon R. Steadman, a SUNY Cortland professor of sociology/anthropology, lecture series organizer and Brooks Museum director, at  607-753-2308. 

In celebration of SUNY Cortland’s non-traditional students, nominations are being accepted through Friday, Nov. 17, for the “Celebrate-a-Non-Trad” campaign. Sponsored by Advisement and Transition, the campaign is part of Non-Traditional Students Week, Nov. 13 through 17.

Nomination forms have been e-mailed to the campus community and are available electronically. 

For more information about Non-Traditional Students Week or to recognize an outstanding non-traditional student, contact Non-Traditional Student Support Coordinator Cheryl Hines or visit the website.

The purpose of the campaign is to recognize non-traditional students who often balance college with other commitments such as family, jobs and long commutes. SUNY Cortland will recognize nominated non-traditional students with a certificate and campus recognition.

Nominations should include the student’s name, contact information, relationship to the student and comments about the non-traditional student. Comments will be listed on the certificate, unless otherwise noted.

Special events will be held throughout the week in the Non-Traditional Student Lounge, Cornish Hall, Room 1221. They are free to non-traditional students and include:

Monday, Nov. 13: Non-Trads Rock! Salad Lunch Buffet and Rock Painting, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Nov. 14: Sandwich Wrap Lunch, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 15: Mid-Week Breakfast Break, 9 to 11 a.m.

Thursday, Nov. 16: Dessert Reception “STRESSED spelled backwards = DESSERTS,” 12:30 to 2 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 17: Coffee, Cocoa, Cookies and Conversation, 9 a.m.

Non-traditional students are invited to take part in the social media celebration by posting a photo using the hashtag #nontradsrock. A poster in the student lounge is open for comments to finish the phrase “You Know You're a Non-Trad When...”

 For more information, contact Hines at 607-753-4726.

The 2017 Annual Service Awards Ceremony recognizing classified staff will be held on Friday, Dec. 1, in the Corey Union Function Room.

The following employees are slated to receive awards. To note a correction or addition to the list, contact Michelle Congdon in the Human Resources Office by email or phone at 607-753-2302.

40 YEARS

Marianne Evangelista, School of Education

Teri Wood, Psychology Department

35 YEARS

Marie Blanden, Division of Student Affairs

Deborah Dintino, Political Science Department

Darleen Lieber, Recreation, Parks and Leisure Studies Department

Susan Stout, Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies Department

30 YEARS

Ronald Hulslander, Transportation Services

Wayne Leitch, Central Heating Plant

Daniel Narsasian, Grounds

Coni E. O’Shea, Admissions Office

Melony Warwick, Division of Institutional Advancement

25 YEARS

JoAnn Bacon, Custodial Services

Karen Sue Brown, Parking Department

Penny Bushaw, Physical Education

Daphne Guy, Custodial Services

Suzanne Pettitt, Honor’s Program

20 YEARS

Sila Argyle, Custodial Services

Thomas Hingher, Central Heating Plant

Paula Lundberg, Marketing Office

Jo-Ann MacLean, Admissions Office

Tamara Magee, Custodial Services

Rhonda Moulton, School of Arts and Sciences

15 YEARS

Ryan Caughey, Custodial Services

Barbara Field, Custodial Services

Darlene Loope, Custodial Services

Joan Root, Custodial Services

Elizabeth Scott, Parking Department

Edwin Triana, Migrant Education Tutorial and Support Services (Research Foundation)

Meghan VanDeuson, College and Student Accounting Services

10 YEARS

Linda Crompton, Purchasing

Francis Cullen, University Police

Anna Evangelista, Child Care Center (Research Foundation)

Francis Evangelista, Maintenance

William Farron, Grounds

Maryalice Griffin, Communication Studies Department

Douglas Hyde, University Police

Keith Kollar, Maintenance

Rhonda McLaughlin, Purchasing

Steven Mize, Maintenance

Debra Powers, Library

Lynda Shute, Facilities Planning, Design and Construction Office

Lynn Stevens, Maintenance

Susan Suben, Faculty Development Center

Kelley Wooldridge, Child Care Center (Research Foundation)

The Human Resources Office announced the recipients of its Annual Accrual Achievement Awards for Classified Service. These employees have used one day or less of sick leave accruals during the 2016-17 fiscal year.

The employees received a letter from President Erik J. Bitterbaum, a certificate of recognition and a gift certificate to the Cortland Downtown Partnership Association.

The program was created to recognize classified employees who use minimal amounts of sick leave and to encourage other employees to build up sick leave balances. The following employees were recognized:

Kathleen Abbatoy

Doris Albro

Robert Albro

Christine Bartoszek

Michael Beaumont

Ronald Benda

Marie Blanden

Christopher Blincoe

Steven Brown

Robert  Burleigh

Kathleen Caughey

Scott Chierchio

George Cole

Lucinda Compagni

Michele Cornelius

Roger Cornelius

Lori Crandall

Bonnie Daniels

Janet Daughtery

Deborah Dintino

Denise Dubrava

Francis  Evangelista

Lori Foster

Burton Fritts

Ronald Gray

Michael Gregory

Katherine Gustafson

David Haggerty

James Kane

Wilma Kile

Sandra Kline

Nancy Kuklis

Anthony Lasnik

Darleen Lieber

Stephen Lizzo

Tanya Lowie

James Lynch

Tamara Magee

Greg McCartney

Elizabeth Mokos

Rhonda Moulton

Mary Murphy

Teresa Nelson

Debra O'Mara

Claire Payne

Theresa Peebles

Cynthia Perelka

Gregory Peters

Sharon Peters

Darlene Phillips

John Riotto

Rosemary Root

Pamela Schroeder

Elizabeth Scott

Russell Scott

Dale Searls

Shirley Shepard

Laura Slater

Lawrence Smith

Lynn Stevens

Melony Warwick

Denise Wavle

Kevin Wellings

Joyce Willis

Patricia Wolff

Teri Wood

Robert Wright

Orientation programs have been planned for 2018. Below are the program dates for January, June/July and August. All first-year orientation programs are two days with advisement and registration occurring on the second day of the program and all Transfer Orientation and Advisement programs are one day.

January 2018

Transfer Orientation and Advisement 1: Monday, Jan. 8

Transfer Orientation and Advisement 2: Thursday, Jan. 18 to Friday, Jan. 19

Open Registration: Friday, Jan. 19

June/July 2018

Transfer Session 1: Monday, June 18

Transfer Session 2: Friday, June 22

First-Year Session 1: Monday, June 25 to Tuesday, June 26

Transfer Session 3: Wednesday, June 27

First-Year Session 2: Thursday, June 28 to Friday, June 29

First-Year Session 3: Monday, July 2 to Tuesday, July 3

Transfer Session 4: Friday, July 6

First-Year Session 4: Monday, July 9 to Tuesday, July 10

Transfer Session 5: Wednesday, July 11

First-Year Session 5: Thursday, July 12 to Friday, July 13

August

Orientation: Thursday, Aug. 23 to Friday, Aug. 24

Open Registration: Friday, Aug. 24

This program is for students who cannot attend a June/July Orientation.

Various offices and departments work together to make these events a success and to aid our new students in their transition to SUNY Cortland. The campus community is invited to participate in these programs.

For additional program information, refer to the orientation website at cortland.edu/orientation. Any questions regarding the Orientation program should be directed to Marinda Souva (marinda.souva@cortland.edu) in Advisement and Transition.