Campus Champion

Associate Professor Ben Wilson of the Economics Department invites students to learn firsthand how national problems impact small rural communities through a summer course taught in the Adirondacks. The two-week class will connect students with local residents to survey the impact of climate, tourism, geography and overdevelopment. Ben is a collaborator. He’s a founding member of the Cortland Food Project that advocates for and supports policies and actions that promote a healthy population. He chairs the Cultural and Intellectual Climate Committee which delivers a year-long series of events under a common theme. Next year’s theme, memory, will bring us together through reflection and the promise of a great future.

There’s literally light at the end of the tunnel on the upper SUNY Cortland campus.

The top of College Hill is returning to a more normal look and feel as some work on the first phase of a campus-wide site lighting upgrade is completed, and deep, unsightly ditches are filled in and seeded with grass.

The project is systematically replacing aging lampposts that were first installed well before most current students were born and nearing the end of their useful lives. In their place, local contractors Billitier Electric of Cortland and excavating company Yeomans Enterprises of Homer, N.Y., are installing orderly lines of new outdoor lighting infrastructure along campus streets, parking lots and walkways.

Once the third, and final, phase of the campus-wide site lighting upgrade is finished by the start of the Fall 2022 semester, walking across campus at night will be a very different experience:

• safer and more well-lit at night
• twice as energy efficient
• neighborhood- and nature-friendly with reduced light pollution
• More uniform in appearance across campus

“We understand how intrusive this is to campus and hope that people will be understanding and know that it’s for the greater good,” said Dillon Young, lead construction manager with SUNY Cortland Facilities Planning, Design and Construction.

“Soon it will be restored and we will have a beautiful campus again,” he said. “Once we’re done, we won’t have to disturb the campus again for a very long time.”

The project “came to light” a couple years ago, Young said.

“It is meant to address a few different aspects on campus, including energy conservation and campus security. It was also the intent to replace the aging lighting infrastructure that we have here on campus.”

When completed, 467 exterior light fixtures and 27 emergency blue light phones/pedestals will be in place from the top of University Hill down to where Route 281 abuts the extreme southwest end of campus.

“Lighting has come a long way in the last few years,” Young said. “It’s almost hard to keep up with. This is designed to the most recent New York state energy guidelines.”

“Additionally, lighting is much more focused on the areas you are trying to light,” he said. “There is less light pollution, less light that reflects back up into the sky. There is more light going down where you need it.

“The birds and bats and neighbors will thank you,” Young added.

The campus blue light emergency phones will also be upgraded following a study by the University Police Department.

“The goal is for you to have — wherever you’re standing on campus — a visual of a nearby blue light phone,” Young said. “That’s to make people feel comfortable at night. With the addition of blue light phones, we’re also pulling the phones off existing buildings, so there will be a better line of sight.

“A lot of these blue light phone poles are being provided with cameras so our University Police Department is going to get a huge increase in area they can see across the campus,” he added. “We worked with the UPD to identify some dark areas across campus and get some lighting there.”

The campus community can check out two finished blue light emergency phone towers, the striking, bright red structures outside Whitaker Hall, which houses UPD, and behind Brockway Hall.

Meanwhile, walkways will receive traditional-style, decorative black fixtures similar to what presently runs along campus routes.

The newer, light-emitting diode (LED) technology offers electric light bulbs with significantly more energy efficiency than equivalent incandescent lamps or even than most fluorescent lamps.

“That’s a 50% energy savings,” he said.

The three phases will proceed as follows:

• Phase I, proceeding currently through the end of summer, encompasses improvements from the hilltop by DeGroat and Cheney and Brockway halls all the way down to Neubig Hall.
• Phase II, commencing next fall and during winter 2022 as weather allows, will extend the upgrades from Neubig Hall down the residential hall row to the intersection with Broadway Street.
• Phase III, through Fall 2022, will cover the surroundings of all the buildings and road/pedestrian pathways beyond Broadway Street to Route 281, not including SUNY Cortland Stadium Complex outdoor lighting.

“As soon as the new sections are up, we will be able to remove the old lighting,” Young said.

“The work is phased so we have to have the new infrastructure in and operational before we can start removing the old, just from a safety standpoint,” he said. “That’s why you are seeing the different types of lighting up now.”

When finished, the electrical lines between lamp posts will run at least 18 inches underground. That addresses problems that cropped up during unrelated campus construction due to the overly shallow existing outdoor electric lines.

SUNY Cortland captured funding for this major, multi-year project as a critical maintenance project, despite the fiscal austerity imposed on the campus by the pandemic.

“This is allocated through the State University Construction Fund (SUCF) for high priority critical maintenance projects,” said Juanita Larrabee ’02, the university’s Director of Facilities Planning, Design and Construction, noting that the Construction Fund selects initiatives for support based on set criteria.

 “The highest priority is given to projects that address ‘life and safety concerns, core infrastructure in need of replacement that, if not addressed, could disrupt campus operations, and upgrade for buildings and infrastructure to meet current building codes and regulations, such as Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA),” she said.

SUNY Cortland was able to submit a strong request for funding because the uniform outdoor illumination upgrade was planned several years ago by C&S Companies in Syracuse, N.Y.

“We had the design complete and shovel ready, whereas other campuses weren’t as ready to use the funding,” said Young.

Assistant Professor Eric Edlund’s intermediate physics laboratory course is all about giving students opportunities to get hands-on experience in precise experimental measurement.

That’s been tough to do throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

So when Edlund announced earlier this semester that the class would soon embark on a group project, the students were thrilled.

They were going to be the first group to use SUNY Cortland’s brand-new wind tunnel.

Edlund and Physics Department lecturer Sean Nolan started building the device in January on a shoestring budget of about $1,000 with support coming from the Physics Department and a grant from the Provost’s Office. Students in the class are currently working on various experiments to study lift and drag and will combine their findings in a semester-ending group presentation.

“When (Edlund) told us we were doing a class project, everyone looked around and smiled,” said Emily DeClerck, a junior physics education major from Hilton, N.Y. “It’s more fun. We’re all friends and we all know each other. It’s a small group and we all work together. We’re still doing our own things but we’re going to put it together for one final answer and present it. That’s super exciting for us.”

Measuring about 10 feet long by four feet high, SUNY Cortland’s wind tunnel fits on top of a regular classroom lab table. A fan at the rear pulls air through the tunnel with a balanced mount in the center that allows students to attach objects and use weights to counteract the drag and lift forces. Using these measurements, the students will be able to see the theories they’ve learned about in class acted out in practice.

DeClerck and her lab partner, Zachary Fernandez, a senior physics major from Middletown, N.Y., are examining how the shape of an object, in this case an airplane wing, plays a role in fluid dynamics. Another group is looking at the difference between smooth and rougher objects using a lacrosse ball and a tennis ball. Other students are using the pitot tube installed on the wind tunnel to measure fluid flow velocity.

“Normally we theorize to begin with and we reinforce those ideas while actually doing the experiment,” said Dakota Wagner, a junior adolescence education: physics and mathematics major from Homer, N.Y. “The majority of the time our data supports what we expect to see and that’s pretty cool to see that they agree.”

Edlund has had a chance to share some history lessons with his students as well. The wind tunnel is constructed with some recycled bicycle parts, which help with fine-tuning the balance mechanism. The aviation pioneer Wright Brothers got their start building bicycles in Dayton, Ohio.

“I can’t imagine teaching a course like this, Physics 357, remotely,” Edlund said. “It is inherently a hands-on experience and the only good way to do that is with in-person classes. It has been a joy to be back in the classroom and working with students face-to-face again. I’m happy to see them diving into the wind tunnel work and am proud of what we have accomplished. This is a transformative kind of experience because it builds confidence and mechanical aptitude by requiring them to, literally, get their hands dirty and grapple with complex concepts.”

For some of the future teachers in the class like Greg Cassiano, a junior adolescence education: physics and mathematics major from East Islip, N.Y., the wind tunnel has inspired him to think about how he might engage his own students one day.

“The cool thing is that our professor was curious and wanted to do something different and he came up with it and built this,” Cassiano said. “We’re at the edge of what’s in the textbook but you can come in here and do it. I think it’s a testament to the idea that if you’re curious, come in here and set it up. It wasn’t here two weeks ago and now here it is.”

Next week, hundreds of graduating seniors will participate in a Grad Walk at Lusk Field House as part of a four-day celebration that culminates in a virtual Commencement ceremony at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 15.

“Your dedication during the past year of unprecedented adversity deserves to be recognized,” President Erik J. Bitterbaum told students in an email message last week. “You have all sacrificed for your achievements and persevered despite a pandemic environment that made many typical college experiences impossible. This is especially true for our Class of 2021.”

Nearly 770 qualifying seniors registered for the Grad Walk, which will be stretched across two days, Wednesday, May 12 and Thursday, May 13. Students signed up for particular time slots when they registered. Details include:

• Students who participate must wear a face covering and follow physical distancing rules during the event.
• Students must provide their COVID-19 status prior to the event in one of three ways: attend pool testing at the Student Life Center on May 10; upload proof of a negative test through the COVID tab in myRedDragon within 72 hours of your scheduled walk time; or upload proof of a positive COVID-19 test through the COVID tab dated 10 to 90 days from the time of your walk.
• Spectators are not allowed to attend the event. Instead, the walk will be livestreamed and a professional photographer will be present at the event. More information on how you can purchase photos is available online.
• Students may purchase their cap and gown through The Campus Store. Those who opt not to wear a cap and gown are asked to dress professionally.
• The Commencement webpage includes more details about ways to mark the occasion.

A three-day online celebration will run May 12 to 14, featuring video presentations, interactive celebration activities and a listing of this year’s applicants for degrees. For more information on activities planned for the celebration, go to our Commencement Get Involved page.

Track and field champion Taylor Hunter couldn’t consider “running” for president of SUNY Cortland’s Student Government Association (SGA) until she thought of the big things she might accomplish on behalf of her classmates.

A junior sport management major with a minor in sport studies from Buffalo, N.Y., in addition to her new role to which she was elected on April 23, Hunter is an All-American athlete and SUNYAC champion in track and field.

“I was inspired to run for SGA president because I felt that I could make positive changes in the SUNY Cortland atmosphere,” Hunter said. “Also, I want to make sure that all students have a voice on campus.”

In the coming academic year, she will manage the day-to-day operations of the executive branch. She looks forward to serving students this school year and hopes that this is the most productive year yet for SGA.

“There were some obstacles on campus I faced but I used them as stepping-stones to reach my goals,” she said.

The SGA welcomed other officers elected by the student body for the 2021-2022 school year. The SGA executive board includes the president, vice president and chief financial advisor.

Melissa Alvisi, the newly elected chief financial officer, is a student from Latina, Italy who is currently residing in Cortland, N.Y.

She will chair the Financial Board and oversees all student government finances, expenditures and requests by all SGA clubs.

“I advise students that want to become involved to make time for new opportunities and never give up on what you love to do,” said Alvisi, an international studies major with minors in economics and political science.

“This is the mindset I have had, and I swear by, and by doing so, I have always achieved anything I aimed to do,” she said.

Five students were elected as at-large senators: Anneka Bowler, Emma Cranston, Matthew Leto, Damon Postance and Jason Tran.

A special election for vice president within the SGA senate will occur during the fall 2021 semester.

Students interested in joining SGA may apply through Cortland Connect by Thursday, May 6.

The senate is comprised of senators and club representatives. After soliciting student concerns and consulting with the senate, decisions are taken to ensure academic freedom and the welfare of the student body.

For more information, contact sga@cortland.edu or call at 607-753-4816.

Prepared by Communications Office intern Jenna Donofrio

Spots are still open for a campus vaccination clinic on Wednesday, May 5. A first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine will be available from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. May 5 at the Park Center Alumni Ice Arena.  

The clinic, operated by the Cortland County Health Department and Guthrie Cortland Medical Center, is open to any New York State resident who is 18 or older. Anyone interested can register online.  

Recent changes to state and federal guidelines allow people to get their second dose of vaccine at a different location. That means students can get their first dose on campus Wednesday and, if they choose, get their second dose at home four weeks from the initial shot. .  

Students can look up where they can get a second dose of Moderna vaccine in their hometown on vaccines.gov. Most pharmacies should have Moderna available.  

We encourage our students to be vaccinated. The American College Health Association recommends comprehensive vaccination as the most effective way for higher education institutions to safely return to the traditional college experience in the fall. Currently, only 34% of people age 18 to 25 have been vaccinated against COVID-19 statewide.

Although things are improving, the pandemic is not over and Cortland County continues to see new cases of COVID-19 daily. Please continue to wear masks, avoid large crowds and participate in testing.  

Dana Smith had no prior knowedge of the annual Kente Ceremony when she began her work as the administrative assistant in SUNY Cortland’s Multicultural Life and Diversity Office in 2015.

Assigned the project then, she had been advised to expect about 30 students at the event in which graduating seniors don a woven, multicolored stole made to honor an ancient tradition of scholarship in Africa.

Six years later, 114 students will be recognized at this year’s ceremony on Friday, May 21.

The 6 p.m. ceremony will be virtual on Webex, due to public safety concerns with COVID-19. Registration is now open to students and the general public.

“If it wasn’t for the pandemic, we would usually have a candle ceremony, a band, and photographers taking photos throughout,” Smith said. “This year, being that it’s virtual, we have our guest speaker, Titilayo Morgan ’99 and a PowerPoint slide of each student with a photo that they have submitted.”

Morgan, a Harlem, N.Y., native, currently works for the City of New York/Administration for Children’s Services (ACS).

Morgan is the immediate past president of the SUNY Cortland Alumni Association board of directors, having worked dilligently toward diversity and inclusiveness in alumni activities and representation during her time in office from 2018 to 2020.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in sociology from SUNY Cortland in 1999. As a student, she took part in numerous clubs on campus including Black Student Union (BSU) and the ADOWE dance group.

Also during the ceremony, the Calvin Louis-Juste ’09 Memorial Award, NAACP Award and Kente Honorary Stole nomination winners will be announced.

The Calvin Louis-Juste ’09 Memorial Award represents one graduating senior that participates in Kente. The student who recieves the recognition must be an example of high academic achievement and committed to doing community service. The award signifies those who advocate for equity and inclusion on campus.

The NAACP award is for one graduating senior that demonstrated achievement in Social Justice and Education. This year’s honoree is active in promoting diversity, inclusion and social justice matters in support of the Black community and racial equity.

Faculty, staff or administrators at SUNY Cortland who demonstrate support for students of color and are involved in diversity and inclusion initiatives are nominated to receive an honorary Kente stole.

This year, three members of the campus faculty and staff will be receiving the honorary stoles. Honorees will be highlighted throughout the ceremony.

In 1994, SUNY Cortland’s Multicultural Life and Diversity began the Kente celebration for six graduating seniors and graduate students of color as they prepared to move on to the next phase of their lives.  

The Kente stole is a rich, multicolored, hand-woven style of cloth that originated in Ghana, West Africa, and is revered throughout the African continent. It is customary to wear it at significant national ceremonies. The Kente stole’s colors and patterns convey vital details about the wearer and emphasize the significance of the ceremony.

In the United States, the Kente stole is a relatively new addition to graduation ceremonies. It symbolizes higher education’s link to the Africana World’s diverse cultures, traditions, and academic accomplishments. Seniors from all ethnic backgrounds proudly wear their Kente stoles at Commencement every spring in May.

For more information, visit the Multicultural Life and Diversity Office website or contact Dana Smith.

Prepared by Communications Office writing intern Jenna Donofrio

The SUNY Cortland campus community is invited to join a discussion of the adaptations of many religions in Latin America.

Maria Klara Ventura, an Multicultural Life and Diversity Office intern and junior dual major in international studies and anthropology, will facilitate this seminar, "Afro-Religion in Latin America," on Wednesday, May 5. This event starts at 6 p.m. via WebEx. It is free and does not require advance registration.

“There isn’t much attention to Afro-descent Latin issues,” said Ventura. “There is a lack of representation.”

According to the Pew Research Center, more than 425 million Catholics live in Latin America, nearly 40% of the total Catholic population in the world. Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Brazilian and indigenous religions are practiced by many Latin Americans, even by those who identify as Catholic or Protestant.

“A lot of these religions broke away from tradition and combined them with the Catholic religion,” said Ventura.

Ventura, who was born in Brazil and moved to California at age 12, was raised Catholic and did not always know the details of Afro-descent religions in Latin America. In her community, there was a bias against these religions because they were wrongly viewed as satanic or related to devil worship. Through conversations with her family and her studies in preparing for this event, Ventura now has a deeper understanding and appreciation of the indigenous religions.

“I want people to understand that when they see someone of Latin descent dancing in the street, it's nothing of the devil, it’s just religion,” said Ventura.

Ventura will present on several specific religions and after each one there will be time for discussion. Attendees can ask questions at any point of the presentation.

“Afro-religions are just so beautiful”, said Ventura. “They [Afro-descent Latins] fought so long to survive and keep the culture alive, even after so many centuries and so many things that they went through.”

For more information about this event, email the Multicultural Life and Diversity Office or visit the Multicultural Life and Diversity Office’s website.

Prepared by Communications Office writing intern Chelsea Grate

Dear students,

Thank you again for your extraordinary work this spring. It’s hard to believe, but soon the semester will end and many of you will leave Cortland to travel to your home communities.

I wanted to share details about departure requirements for the Spring 2021 semester, including mandatory COVID-19 testing to help ensure the safety of you and your loved ones.

All students who have been using SUNY Cortland facilities this semester — both campus residents and off-campus students in Cortland — must provide a negative COVID-19 test for departure. Detailed instructions are available online.

Please note: 

• All students are required to report for weekly pool testing through the end of the semester.
  
  
• Students who are using a campus pool testing result to confirm their departure are required to leave within five days of their testing date, or they will need to schedule a new appointment. This result must be “presumed negative” before departing.
  
  
• All students have the option to test off campus and submit a negative test result through myRedDragon within 48 hours of their departure.
  
  
• Campus residents: In addition to testing for COVID-19, all campus residents must follow the Residence Life and Housing checkout process for identifying a move-out time.
  
  
• Off-campus residents: In addition to testing for COVID-19, off-campus students must complete and submit the off-campus departure planning notification.
  
  
• Students who tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 90 days are exempt from departure testing. Campus residents must still follow the Residence Life and Housing checkout process for identifying a move-out time.

If you have questions about testing requirements for departure, please email covidscreening@cortland.edu. Campus residents can contact the staff in their residence hall with questions about move-out.

Regardless of your plans for the summer, whether they involve work, continuing your studies or something else, please remember to follow these important steps to ensure the safety of you and your loved ones. 

All the best, 

Erik J. Bitterbaum 

President 

The 2021 Cortland Challenge linked alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the university in the spirit of giving for current and future SUNY Cortland students.

And it was the best one yet.

A record number of donors, 2,370, combined to donate a record $313,165 toward a variety of SUNY Cortland causes during the one-day challenge on April 21, 2021.

“Every year we are more and more humbled by the generosity we see on Challenge day,” said Natasha McFadden, interim director of The Cortland Fund. “The SUNY Cortland community continues to amaze us with their support of current and future Red Dragons. I hope every person who makes a gift to Cortland knows how impactful their contribution is.”

The Cortland Fund received $111,403 from 395 donors. These gifts support campus life in a variety of vital ways, including scholarships, professional development for faculty and staff, technology and software and the Lynne Parks ’68 SUNY Cortland Alumni House.

A team of generous alumni and friends of SUNY Cortland combined to offer $76,100 in matching gifts for this year’s challenge. They include Cheryl Ellsworth Barredo M ’81, Cortland College Foundation board member Louise Conley, Michael Leeolou ’81 and Catherine Suarez Leeolou ’81, Anthony Moon ’86 and Susan Moon, Kim Stack-Myers ’79, Victor M. Rumore II ’84, and Constellation Advancement. The Cortland College Foundation Board of Directors collectively contributed more than $20,000 toward a dollar-to-dollar match to The Cortland Fund.

The Cortland Fund for Equity and Inclusion, established to support training and educational opportunities for faculty, staff and students, received $5,312 from 19 donors. This donor-supported fund will allow Cortland to attract recognized speakers and help offset the costs of attending the annual SUNY Diversity Conference.

The annual Athletics Challenge raised $168,378 for SUNY Cortland’s varsity teams from 2,189 gifts.

Team award winners include:
• Most dollars raised: football, $37,172
• Most donors, extra-large group: men’s soccer, 418
• Most donors, large group: softball, 247
• Most donors, medium group: women’s basketball, 156
• Most donors, small group: women’s golf, 81
• Highest average Cortland Fund gift: women’s soccer, $30

The 2021 challenge set new marks in generosity in both dollars raised and the number of individual donors. Previous records were set in 2020, when the challenge raised $252,273 and in 2019, when 2,072 donors participated.

Thank you for your support of the Cortland Challenge.

Learn more about how the Cortland Challenge helps SUNY Cortland and its students and faculty at RedDragonNetwork.org/challenge.

Since April 13, SUNY Cortland has invited undergraduate students to participate in the SUNY Student Satisfaction Survey (SSS) to understand how students perceive the quality of different programs and services at the university.

The survey, which will run through the end of May, is being administered online by SUNY.

The goal of the project is to determine how well SUNY campuses serve their undergraduate students.

The students to be contacted — undergraduates 18 years of age and older who are enrolled in at least one class during spring semester 2021 — are receiving email reminders from SUNY with instructions on how to participate in the survey.

The 2020-21 SSS was designed to be completed in about 20 minutes. Participation is encouraged but voluntary.

Students who complete to the survey will be entered into a raffle to win one of 40 ASC gift cards for $50 from Cortland Auxiliary.

“We ask that you encourage your students to take the time to complete the survey,” Stephen Cunningham, director of Institutional Research and Analysis (IRA) at SUNY Cortland, advised faculty and staff members.

The SSS is a modified version of the former Student Opinion Survey (SOS), which had been conducted at most SUNY colleges and universities since 1985. The last SOS was administered at SUNY Cortland in Spring 2018.

The university's IRA takes the results of the survey seriously. When available, the IRA Office will share 2021 results with the campus community. Past SOS results can be found on the IRA website.

The SSS is a cooperative effort between SUNY and the IRA Office, working together with other offices and individuals at SUNY Cortland.

The nationally 17th-ranked Cortland women's lacrosse scored seven of the game's final 10 goals to erase a two-goal deficit in earning a 15-13 victory versus 14th-ranked Brockport Sunday afternoon in the championship game of the 2021 SUNYAC Women's Lacrosse Tournament. The Red Dragons won their 12th consecutive game an earned an automatic berth into the NCAA Div. III playoffs. The Golden Eagles fell to 10-3 with the setback.

Tournament Most Valuable Player Hannah Lorenzen (Stony Brook/Ward Melville) and freshman Toni Cashman (East Moriches/Westhampton Beach) led Cortland with five goals each. Junior Hannah Keech (Penn Yan/Penn Yan Academy) tallied four points on one goal and three assists, junior Shelby Meduski (East Quogue) recorded one goal and one assist and seniors Emily Goebel (Penfield) and Hannah Tiso (Somers) and sophomore Kiki Meager (Syracuse/West Genesee) each netted a goal. Senior Cecilia Procopio (Syracuse/West Genesee) registered two assists, while freshman Holly Wright (Huntington) added an assist.

Senior goalie Paige Potter (Cortland) made 11 saves for the Red Dragons. Lorenzen won seven draw controls, Meager secured five draws, senior Kayla Petre (Hauppauge) finished with two ground balls and to caused turnovers and senior Kayla Sweeney (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) caused two turnovers.

Junior Allison Jennings (Memphis/Jordan-Elbridge) paced the Brockport offense with five goals. Sophomore Cassidy Burnash (Rodman/South Jefferson) scored three goals and added an assist. Graduate student Heather Conklin (Penn Yan/Penn Yan Academy) and freshman Logan Hibbard (Hilton) each netted a pair of goals, junior Danielle Hemly (Ithaca) notched a goal and sophomores Natalie Strough (Lorraine/South Jefferson) and Courtney Cunningham (Poughquag/Arlington) contributed one assist apiece.

Junior goalie Morgan Elmer (Syracuse/Westhill) stopped six shots for the Golden Eagles. Conklin added nine draws and three caused turnovers. Cunningham finished with four draws and three ground balls.

Cashman gave Cortland a 1-0 lead 1:44 into the game, but Brockport strung together three straight goals from three different players to grab a 3-1 lead at the 23:03 mark. Lorenzen answered with three goals in a row before Brockport scored five of the final eight goals of the half to take an 8-7 lead at the break.

Jennings and Hemly sandwiched goals around a Cashman score to open the second half, and the Golden Eagles held a 10-8 lead. The Red Dragons rallied for five consecutive goals from five different players in less than an eight-minute span to take a 13-10 lead halfway through the second half.

After Burnash made it a 13-11 game at 13:36, Lorenzen and Cashman scored two minutes apart to push Cortland's advantage to 15-11 with 8:13 to play. Hibbard scored at 6:42, and Conklin notched her second goal of the game at 4:51 to cut the Red Dragon lead to 15-13. Brockport secured the ensuing draw control, but Potter made a save on Burnash with just under four minutes to play. Cortland worked a good clear, but Elmer denied a shot by Meager with 2:47 remaining. Procopio ran down the ground ball, which eventually led to two yellow cards issued to Brockport in the closing minutes allowing the Red Dragons to keep possession and run out the clock to seal the win.

Joining Lorenzen on the All-Tournament Team were Potter, Cashman, Meager, Petre and Keech from Cortland; Jennings, Burnash, Hibbard and Conklin from Brockport; Megan Henderson from Geneseo and Sophia Calabrese from Oneonta.

Cortland will face Transylvania University (Lexington, Ky.) in the first round of the NCAA Div. III tournament at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn. on Saturday, May 8. The game will stream online at 5 p.m.

Thirty students who balance family, jobs and other commitments were recognized by the SUNY Cortland during Non-Traditional Students Week held April 12 through 16. Faculty, staff and students submitted 41 names, some students being recognized by more than one person.

The university 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. Also, they might have dependent children, regardless of their ages.

A certificate of recognition and a small gift was given to the following students:

 Michael Armstrong

Thomas Avery

Christina Barry

Phillip Blough

Zach Bovee

Sherron Brown

Nathan Butler

Rebecka Deretz

Keyonna Fieser

Shana Finn

Courtney Gagnon

Destini Gardner

Denrick Gooden

Allison Hall

Samuel Honig

Symphony Howe

Josie Maldonado

Allison McDaniel

Heather Moore

Marcus Moss

Timothy Moyer

Cali Mulkin

Ollie O

Coreyann Ostrowsky

Michele Robin

Roni-Mae Rutan

Caitlyn Shanley

David Soto

Timarra Thomas

Christina Wells

Aaren Woodworth

The Celebrate-a-Non-Trad campaign is co-sponsored by Advisement and Transition and the Non-Traditional Student Organization. For more information, contact Cheryl Smith, coordinator of student outreach and non-traditional student support, Advisement and Transition, at 607-753-4726.

SUNY Cortland participates in awareness campaigns by changing the color of lights at its three main campus entrances located at Court Street, Route 13 and Route 281. Details can be found on a new Campus Entrance Lighting Change website.

Qualifying awareness campaigns will be part of widely recognized national and state initiatives and align with SUNY Cortland’s strategic campus priority of well-being. Official university-wide events, such as Commencement or Red Dragon Pride Day, also can be commemorated. The campaigns are designed to educate our community and will be highlighted via social media, visual messaging boards and The Bulletin.

The campus community is asked to use the Entrance Lights Color Change Request Form. Please review the parameters before submitting a request. Forms must be received at least one week in advance of the awareness campaign start date. Campaign dates will be assigned on a first come first served basis. Applications will be reviewed by a subcommittee of the Marketing Committee.

A schedule of campaigns will be available on this webpage along with an explanation of each.

Questions can be emailed to bulletin@cortland.edu.

Ten non-traditional/adult students at SUNY Cortland have been elected to membership in Alpha Sigma Lambda, an international honor society honoring the academic achievement of undergraduate students over the age of 24, as well as those who, regardless of age, have dependent children.

Alpha Sigma Lambda national standards honors students who are in the top 20 percent of all students at SUNY Cortland age 24 or older who have completed 24 credits of work at SUNY Cortland with a grade point average of 3.2 or better.  For the inductees to be in the top 20 percent of students at SUNY Cortland this year, they needed to have a grade point average of 3.68 or higher. The GPA range for this group of students inducted was 3.68 to 4.0.

Cheryl Smith, advisement and transition, is chapter councilor and coordinator of student outreach and non-traditional student support.

The SUNY Cortland chapter, Lambda Omicron, has elected 672 members to the honor society since 1999. Due to COVID-19, the induction ceremony was held online. The students elected to membership and their majors are:

Mathew Adams, communication studies

Aliza Brylinsky, professional writing

Brianna Cancilla, graphic design and digital media

Samantha Grzybek, English as a second language

Casey Hayes, coaching

Billy Hentenaar, exercise science

Nakeesta Langton, childhood/early childhood education

Katelyn McDonald, inclusive childhood education

Heather Moore, human services

Ilana Winters, psychology

For more information about Alpha Sigma Lambda, visit www.alphasigmlambda.org.