Campus Champion

A year ago, Student Government Association President Callie Humphrey '21 promised students their voice would be heard when decisions are made. Reflecting on this overwhelming year, Callie grew personally and as a leader. She succeeded in bringing student concerns to the administration and she built lasting relationships. Great groundwork for pursuing her career dream of foreign service and diplomacy work. Callie will attend graduate school at American University in Washington, D.C. this fall, where she’ll study U.S. foreign policy and national security. She says she’s lucky to be a Red Dragon. SUNY Cortland is fortunate to call her an alum.

With the reopening to visitors of the SUNY Cortland campus and the furthering reduction of restrictions on social gatherings by New York State beginning May 19, the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) will welcome a limited number of spectators to its 2021 Baseball Championship Series.

The SUNYAC Best-of-3 Championship will take place on Friday, May 21, beginning at noon with Oswego visiting Cortland for a pair of nine-inning games. If the teams split the two contests on Friday, the SUNYAC Championship and an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship Tournament will be decided on Saturday, May 22, with a single nine-inning game also beginning at noon.

Each school is permitted 150 complimentary guests who must be on the institution's official attendance list submitted to the conference office by Thursday, May 20, at noon. The admission list will be for all three games and there will be no changes after the deadline. All children must be included on the lists, and no pets are allowed.

Because the attendance will be under the 500-spectator maximum permitted for outdoor events by New York State, no proof of a negative test or vaccination is required. Guests will be expected to adhere to appropriate CDC, New York State Department of Health and SUNY Cortland guidelines.

"Now that visitors are permitted to return to the SUNY Cortland campus, we felt this was an opportunity to allow a limited number of spectators to attend the SUNYAC Baseball Championship," Erik Bitterbaum, the president of SUNY Cortland, said. "We are excited to provide this opportunity to the loyal fans of both teams."

"The priority for the SUNYAC was to ensure that the student-athletes who participate in spring sports did not lose a second season," Tom DiCamillo, commissioner of the SUNYAC, explained. "The plan was an outstanding success; however, now with the changes coming this week both at the state level and on campuses, it is time for the SUNYAC to take the next step and allow fans to attend our championships."

DiCamillo said that the reduction in restrictions gives the SUNYAC an opportunity to admit spectators as a test run instead of waiting until the fall semester.

Mike Urtz, director of athletics at SUNY Cortland, is excited about the atmosphere fans will bring to the championship series. "It has been a long, tough road requiring difficult decisions to ensure our student-athletes could compete this spring," Urtz said. "Now we are able to bring the enthusiasm and energy of fans back to our campus to enjoy what is expected to be an outstanding championship series."

When Cameron Hammer saw a phone number with a 607 area code calling during finals week, the SUNY Cortland student figured the call was related to a hold on his account or course registration for the Fall 2021 semester.

It turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

Hammer was being notified that he earned the grand prize item in SUNY Cortland’s COVID-19 pool testing incentive program: a semester’s worth of free textbooks from the Campus Store. His name was randomly selected from students who achieved perfect attendance for their COVID-19 testing during the spring semester.

“I just thought it was the right thing to do honestly — the safest thing to do,” said Hammer, a childhood/early childhood education major from Miller Place, N.Y., on Long Island.

Throughout the spring semester, SUNY Cortland administered nearly 50,000 COVID-19 tests among its students, faculty and staff members. The university also hosted regular vaccine clinics in Park Center Alumni Arena.

All students using SUNY Cortland facilities were required to report weekly to the Student Life Center for testing, which involved a short mouth swab initially and then switched to a saliva collection method in March. Hammer noted the ease of the process.

Cameron Hammer, a childhood/early childhood education major from Miller Place, N.Y., earned free textbooks for a semester through the university’s COVID-19 pool testing incentive program for students.

“It was five minutes of your time,” he said. “There was never a long line. They definitely had a great process.”

Hammer transferred to SUNY Cortland from Suffolk County Community College in Fall 2020, meaning that his only experience on campus has been during the pandemic. With the rollout of effective COVID-19 vaccines, he’s hopeful for the future.

“I just felt like testing was the best way to get things back to normal,” he said. “I’m looking forward to having the real college experience.”

The university also offered monthly prizes for campus residents and off-campus students to encourage testing participation, with winners receiving Cortland-themed prize packages. Selected names included Madison Rice and Connor Owenburg in February, Virginia Alvisi and Jacqueline Santaniello in March and Samantha Yannuzzi and Preston Moore in April.

SUNY Cortland’s pool testing incentive program was sponsored by the Campus Store and coordinated by the university’s engagement committee.

A COVID-19 vaccine clinic is being offered on campus by the Cortland County Health Department and Guthrie Cortland Medical Center on Wednesday, May 19.

The Johnson & Johnson Janssen vaccine will be available to individuals 18 years old and older from 4 to 6 p.m. at Park Center Alumni Arena. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a single dose, meaning those taking part in this clinic will not have to schedule a second appointment.

To register, call 6-70-756-3415 or visit the New York State Department of Health website.

Visitors will be asked to wear a face covering and follow all social distancing guidelines. Those who have registered for a vaccine must also present a photo ID upon arrival.

An FDA fact sheet about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is available online.

SUNY Cortland Assistant Professor of English Danica Savonick recently won two prestigious awards that will help her explore how four influential, activist women writers of the late 1960s and early 1970s were also radically innovative teachers.

The awards will help defray expenses while she finishes her forthcoming book, Insurgent Knowledge: The Poetics and Pedagogy of Toni Cade Bambara, June Jordan, Audre Lorde, and Adrienne Rich in the Era of Open Admissions.

All four women achieved fame and influence as writers and were involved in feminist and anti-racist movements. All four also taught and collaborated at Harlem’s City College of New York, the founding institution of the City University of New York (CUNY) system.

While these authors are often studied for their writing, it’s the archival syllabi, lesson plans and assignments that captured Savonick’s attention for how they revealed their creative methods of teaching students to advocate for social change.

“I’m looking at the work that they did with students in the classrooms, their teaching methods, and how they were developing innovative, student-centered, and engaged teaching practices that were inspired by their activism,” said Savonick, who earned her own doctorate through CUNY.

Insurgent Knowledge will suggest that some of today’s common teaching practices were central to the work of these teacher-poets, especially during CUNY’s historic open admissions experiment from 1970 to 1976. The authors were teaching working-class students and students of color in the nation’s first state-mandated educational opportunity program (SEEK) during this revolutionary moment in educational history.

Savonick’s work in this area impressed the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), a federation of 78 organizations dedicated to supporting work in humanities and the social sciences for public good, which gave her a yearlong ACLS fellowship in which to complete Insurgent Knowledgeand possibly explore a new project. The fellowship will span the spring and fall semesters of 2022. The ACLS considered approximately 1,300 applications before naming Savonick among the 60 successful applicants.

Savonick also received a Dr. Nuala McGann Drescher Award, which will help cover her fall 2021 expenses so she can work on the manuscript. The award, usually presented to only two SUNY faculty members in New York state per year by the faculty and staff labor union United University Professions, supports faculty projects related to diversity and inclusion.

The first complete manuscript draft will likely be sent to Savonick’s editor with Duke University Press this fall, she said. She plans to spend next spring making revisions and sending out the revised draft to official peer reviewers. and anticipates her further revisions will take her into the fall 2022 semester.

“Publishing this research will help establish my reputation as an expert in the field of 20th century literary and cultural studies,” Savonick said. “More importantly, though, I hope that this research will help us do a better job fighting for public education and inspiring our students to advocate for change.”

The four women’s contributions to teaching and education are largely unrecognized, even though they served as the foundation for many of today’s common practices, she said.

“They would do things like having students do collaborative final projects instead of writing a term paper. It’s common now, but I don’t think that we’ve realized some of the historical context in which some of these practices emerged. These four women were not cited or credited for developing these teaching methods. That’s an important aspect of this project, too.

“At the same time, I’m looking at how their classroom teaching impacted the literature they were writing during this period,” she said. “I explore how these classrooms inspired many insights now associated with intersectional feminism.

“I am also trying to think about their work as educational activists who were involved in the movement for a free college and how college could be tuition-free,” Savonick said. “I’m looking at all of those different things.”

Insurgent Knowledge thus reveals how these renowned authors were also transformative teachers and educational activists, whose experiences in public universities fundamentally altered the course of American literature, Savonick said.

There’s a chance the project will involve return trips to the two sources of much of her manuscript material — lesson plans and course syllabi of the authors — at the Schlesinger Library of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies, Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and at the Spelman College archives in Atlanta, Georgia.

“I do have a few lingering questions,” she said.

Savonick conceived the idea to write about these authors while she was herself researching at CUNY’s Queens College as a doctoral candidate in English at the CUNY Graduate Center.

“Word gets passed down and circulated and everyone heard that I was interested in teaching and feminist literature more broadly,” she said. “Someone said, ‘Adrienne Rich used to teach at CUNY,’ and pointed me towards Rich’s essay, ‘Teaching Language in Open Admissions.’” 

“So I started tracking down the essays and poems they wrote whilst they were at CUNY. I started with materials where they were actually writing about their experiences at CUNY. These were less-read and studied materials, not the most famous essays and poems. But if you searched a little bit, they were all there. So it was kind of like piecing together the puzzle, because they would reference each other’s work. I would go track down a poem that was mentioned in an essay by one of them, and find something written by another. Also, their archival materials were kind of mixed, so I would go to the materials for one author and then find those of another author, and it kind of evolved from there.”

The SUNY Cortland Alumni Association will present its most prestigious honor, the Distinguished Alumni Award, to three graduates during a virtual award ceremony on Monday and Tuesday, July 12 and 13.

The association also will honor one graduate with the Distinguished Educator Award, recognize three Young Alumni and name two Outstanding Alumni Volunteers.

More information and registration details for the virtual awards ceremony will be posted soon to RedDragonNetwork.org.

Award winners from 2020 also will be recognized during this virtual ceremony.

The 2021 award recipients are:

• Ashley Crossway ’13, Distinguished Young Alum. Crossway, who recently joined SUNY Cortland as an assistant professor, is an advocate for the advancement of diversity and the LGBTQ+ population in the athletic training community.
• Therno Diallo ’16, Distinguished Young Alum. Diallo, assistant director for facilities and operations at Rutgers University, has volunteered extensively for the Alumni Association with recruitment, on-campus events and donor solicitation.
• Joseph Eppolito ’74, M ’76, Outstanding Volunteer. Eppolito, a financial expert and adjunct professor at Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management, has given back, not only to SUNY Cortland, but also to Kiwanis International and the Whitman School.
• Rachael Forester ’12, M ’14, Ph.D. Distinguished Young Alum. Forester, the associate director of the Office of Identity, Equity and Engagement at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, is a national leader in diversity and inclusion.
• Sidney Jamieson ’64, Distinguished Alum. Jamieson, retired after a 38-year career as head coach of Bucknell University’s men’s lacrosse team, is an outspoken advocate for Native American issues and the environment.
• Nabila Khazzaka, Honorary Alum. Khazzaka, who worked in Alumni Engagement for 17 years, did behind-the-scenes work at events, is a friend to alumni, students and colleagues and embodies the spirit of Cortland.
• Karen Joskow Mendelsohn ’76, Distinguished Alum. Mendelsohn, an assistant dean at Stony Brook University, has served students and faculty at Stony Brook with heartfelt care for more than four decades.
• Stephen Penn ’86, Outstanding Volunteer. Penn, head of security and fire safety for The Warwick New York Hotel, has given back to SUNY Cortland both through his work on committees as well as through his work as an ambassador and networker to current students and alumni.
• John Scott ’70, Distinguished Educator. Scott, the founder and executive director of Florida Atlantic University’s Center for Autism Related Disabilities, has raised nearly $15 million for training and education on autism.
• Patti Anne Vassia ’65, Distinguished Alum. Vassia, former head of her local community foundation and United Way, has dedicated herself to the people of Middletown, Connecticut, for decades, raising more than $30 million for local charities there.

Distinguished Alumni Award

Sidney Jamieson ’64

One of the longest-serving and most influential head coaches in collegiate men’s lacrosse history, Sidney Jamieson led Bucknell to 242 victories and seven conference championships in his 38 year-career at Bucknell University.

Since retiring from coaching in 2005, Jamieson, a member of Haudenosaunee, has worked to educate people about Native American history and culture and advocate for conservation and the environment.

Jamieson was a principal partner in the creation of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, which follows 3,000 miles of waterways along the East Coast and promotes a combination of history and ecology.

At Bucknell, Jamieson has planned a Native American component to the university’s annual Susquehanna River Symposium for each of the last 15 years. He was instrumental in the installation of a Seven Generations Sculpture and a Tree of Peace at the university.

He has addressed audiences ranging from SUNY Cortland’s men’s lacrosse team to the annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources on topics that are near to his heart. As a regular guest lecturer in Bucknell’s Sociology/Anthropology Department, faculty have described Jamieson’s lectures as receiving praise in end-of-semester surveys from students.

Jamieson has worked as a fundraiser for Bucknell’s athletic department, creating an endowment for men’s lacrosse and raising approximately $2 million to date.

A founding member of the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Program, serving both as head coach and executive director, Jamieson also has served with Johns Hopkins University’s American Indian Health Services, teaching lacrosse to Native youth in Southwestern reservation territories. 

Karen Joskow Mendelsohn ’76

Karen Joskow Mendelsohn’s peers shower her with adjectives such as generous, caring and resourceful.

For the past 41 years, she has been a role model and a leader to students and faculty alike at Stony Brook University. In her current role as assistant dean for academic and student affairs in the School of Health Technology and Management, Mendelsohn manages new curricula development, compliance with accreditation and licensing agencies as well as many more areas of responsibility.

Mendelsohn has also served as a clinical assistant professor of Health Sciences at Stony Brook since 1986. She spearheaded the creation of a 500-level course, health sciences and society, that brought together students from throughout the department that emphasizes working in multidisciplinary teams.

She strives to be a beacon of inspiration for students. Mendelsohn was an instrumental part of Stony Brook’s Returning Student Network, which provided support to non-traditional and part-time students. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she helped students in the Respiratory Care Program graduate two months early to enter the workforce and help treat patients. Mendelsohn also gave generously of her time, meeting individually online with students to address their fears and anxieties. 

Involved in her local community, Mendelsohn has served on the Board of Directors of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Suffolk County, the Hillel Foundation for Jewish Life’s Board of Directors and the Stony Brook Child Care Board of Directors. She has hosted countless Cortland students from Long Island at her home in “freshman send-offs.”

A psychology major at SUNY Cortland, Mendelsohn earned a master’s in higher education and college student personnel administration from Indiana University in 1979.

Patti Anne Vassia ’65

After graduating from SUNY Cortland, Patti Anne Vassia spent two years as a high school physical education teacher and coach.

She decided then to move to Middletown, Connecticut, to take a role with the Northern Middlesex YMCA. It was a decision that benefited Vassia and the people of Middlesex Counties in the decades since.

Vassia went on to become executive director of the Middlesex United Way for nearly 20 years before founding and serving as president and executive director of the Community Foundation of Middlesex County from 1997 to 2007. She has been responsible for raising more than $30 million for her community and supported many people, particularly women and those from underrepresented backgrounds.

In addition to her work, Vassia has volunteered tirelessly on behalf of the community. She helped revive the Middlesex County chapter of the NAACP, was the first female member of the Middletown Rotary Club and served as board president or chairperson of seven other organizations.

Vassia has received numerous awards from charities and organizations, including the Governor William A. O’Neill Public Service Award from the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce and the Middlesex United Way’s Community Service Award, the chapter’s most distinguished honor.

Since retiring in 2012, Vassia has continued to volunteer and dedicate herself to the community. As the current president and CEO of the Middlesex United Way, Kevin Wilhelm said, “I doubt that there has been any single person who has had a greater positive and distinguished impact in this region in the past 50 years. Her reputation is legendary and well-deserved.”

Distinguished Young Alumni Award

Ashley Crossway ’13

Ashley Crossway saw her passion for the athletic training profession start at Homer (N.Y.) High school, when Joseph Davies ’03, M ’08 taught an Introduction to Sports Medicine Class.

Crossway followed her mentor and graduated from SUNY Cortland with a Bachelor of Science in Athletic Training.

At SUNY Cortland, Crossway was a residential assistant for two-and-a-half years, participated in the Women’s Rugby Club for three years and was active with the SUNY Cortland Athletic Training Club.

After Cortland, Crossway secured a graduate assistantship and an enrollment in the first accredited Doctorate in Athletic Training program at Indiana State University, where she later earned her degree among the program’s first cohort.

At Indiana State University, she continued to develop her passion for the profession and for advocacy, particularly in advancing diversity within athletic training. She was especially active in pursuing greater inclusion of the LGBTQ+ population. She advocated with the university to create change within their professional organization, the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA), toward members and their diverse patient populations.

Crossway and like-minded campus members created an LGBTQ+ work group aimed at changing the discriminatory climate in academia and the profession. It was approved by NATA in 2017. The association later approved the creation of a more permanent official NATA LGBTQ+ Advisory Committee. Crossway currently serves as the District 2 representative, covering New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Crossway and classmates were honored in 2018 with the Indiana State University Award for Inclusive Excellence.

Crossway then worked as an athletic trainer at Nazareth College while she continued her equity and inclusion mission. She obtained professional training to facilitate diversity training in athletic departments across the region.

In 2020, she joined SUNY Cortland as an assistant professor and coordinator of clinical education for the Athletic Training Program. Her roles include fostering excellence both in the baccalaureate program as well as encouraging transition to the new master’s program.

Therno Diallo ’16

Not long after he graduated, Therno Diallo began to volunteer with his alma mater to engage current students who might look up to him as a positive male role model and be motivated to stay and succeed.

The former sport management major and football student-athlete and coach with the Red Dragons now serves as the assistant director of facilities, events, operations at Rutgers University.

Since 2018, he has assisted the SUNY Cortland Alumni Association with recruitment, donor solicitation, on campus activities and with overall outreach to Cortland graduates as a member of the Alum from Day One Committee.

In 2019, Diallo was appointed to the association’s Diversity, Inclusion and Equity Committee, where he helps with the implementation of Cortland’s diversity efforts throughout campus.

Last July, SUNY Cortland’s Sport Management Advisory Board tapped Diallo, who is working for a Division I institution that competes in the Big Ten Conference. He mentors students, evaluates undergraduate and graduate curriculum and provides relevant and up-to-date information to faculty members on trends in the sports industry.

Diallo brings to that role the additional expertise that he gained while earning a master’s degree in athletic administration in 2018 from Canisius College.

Due to his work ethic and ability to cultivate relationships with colleagues in the industry, Diallo also was selected to participate in several professional development programs, including the Division III Institute for Administrative Advancement, the MOAA Rising Stars Program, and the NCAA Emerging Leaders Seminar.

“As an educator and athletics administrator, I take pride in helping others grow to unlock their true potential —especially students,” Diallo said.

Rachael Forester ’12, M ’14, Ph.D.

Rachael Forester describes herself as being “hard on systems and soft on people” as she strives to expand diversity, equity and inclusion at University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Forester earned a doctorate in educational leadership there, focusing her dissertation on white supremacy on college campuses.

She currently serves her second alma mater as associate director of the Office of Identity, Equity, and Engagement and teaches as an affiliate faculty member in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department.

Additionally, Forester has started an equity consulting firm geared to universities and businesses.

She has volunteered with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for the last eight years, forming lasting friendships with program graduates.

Forester experienced her first professional jobs at SUNY Cortland, first as a program assistant for orientation, later as a residence hall director and ultimately as an interim assistant director for the Multicultural Life and Diversity Office. Forester served as the president of the LGBTQ+ Staff and Faculty Caucus.

“I assisted in the development of all-gender housing, all-gender restrooms, and assisted in the creation of the SAFE ZONE program for LGBTQ+ ally development,” she said.

At SUNY Cortland, Forester received a bachelor’s degree in early childhood/childhood education and a master’s degree in English as a second language.

An alumna and a committed member of the SUNY Cortland Alumni Association’s Committee for Diversity and Inclusion, she was chosen by current students to deliver the virtual keynote address at the university’s 11th annual Student Conference on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice on April 18.

Distinguished Educator

Jack Scott ’72

Jack Scott is the founder and executive director of the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Center for Autism Related Disabilities.

During his more than 40-year career spent assisting children, their parents and educators to understand and address the autism spectrum as an educator, he has served since 1991 as an associate professor and program executive director at FAU.

Scott has secured almost $15 million in federal and state grants to further training and education on autism.

With a staff of 18 clinicians who assist more than 6,000 families in south Florida, the center provides support and training to schools and community agencies. The center also manages unusual, grant-funded projects to provide mentoring for children and youth with autism, matching them with a successful adult who shares many of their special interests.

“We have a three-day intensive parent training for parents with newly diagnosed children and a special outreach to African American families,” Scott said. “These families often do not know much about autism and we find that African American children in our region are often not fairly considered for specialized autism school services.”

He has authored in his discipline two books on autism, a 2000 book on instructional programming used to help train new teachers working with children with autism, and a groundbreaking 2020 book on Safeguarding Your Child with Autism.

“These children are at elevated risk, as much as three times greater risk for death in contrast to typically developing children,” Scott said.

He also wrote a booklet on adaptive training skills and six articles with national and international circulation.

Scott earned a doctoral degree in special education in 1988 at the University of Florida. He has an M.Ed. in educational leadership from the University of West Florida and received a bachelor’s degree in history from SUNY Cortland.

Outstanding Alumni Volunteers

Joseph Eppolito ’74, M ’76

For more than three decades, Joseph Eppolito has faithfully served the SUNY Cortland alumni family as well as other organizations in the Syracuse and Utica areas.

A member of the SUNY Cortland Alumni Association Board since 1988, Eppolito has held many roles, including president from 1996 to 1998. One of his most lasting contributions was securing a $75,000 gift from then-president Judson H. Taylor that went toward the purchase of the Lynne Parks ’68 SUNY Cortland Alumni House. Eppolito has also worked as treasurer and finance chair and served on the bylaws and nomination, the finance and audit and Parks Alumni House committees.

Eppolito has been active with Kiwanis International, a worldwide service club, for many years, having been elected to or served in many posts, including New York governor, New York district chair and international chair. He has spent 19 years as a Key Club representative, working with community-minded teenagers from many Syracuse and Utica-area high schools. Key Club, the largest high school service organization in the world, promotes leadership, caring and inclusiveness.

At Syracuse University, where he is currently an adjunct professor in the Whitman School of Management, Eppolito has been faculty advisor to the school’s Circle K Club since 1992. He has served the Whitman School’s board both as secretary-treasurer and president and helped raise thousands of dollars for the Club’s scholarship fund.

Eppolito, who is married to Virginia Marcinkoski Eppolito ’74, started his career as a teacher. He went to work as the corporate human resources manager for Pyramid Companies in Syracuse and was also a financial advisor for the New York Life Insurance Company. Eppolito earned a master’s degree in social studies education from SUNY Cortland and has a master’s degree in personnel and industrial relations from Syracuse University.

Stephen Penn ’86

Stephen Penn has dedicated his time and energy to SUNY Cortland alumni and students alike.

An associate member of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the Awards, Scholarship and Recognition committees, Penn has given many hours to important meetings, actively assisting and brainstorming with others. He has especially helped meet the needs of alumni from underrepresented backgrounds who have been underserved and gone without recognition.

Penn also is an active member of the SUNY Cortland community through programs, training and events. His captivating presence connects with other alumni as well as current students. Penn has joined the university’s Black Lives and Liberation Forum series and has networked with others both in New York City and at the Lynne Parks ’68 SUNY Cortland Alumni House.

Penn works as house officer and fire safety and life director at the Warwick New York Hotel. He had previously worked at other facilities in New York including with the Denihan Hospitality Group and the Waldorf Astoria.

An economics major, during his time as a student Penn was founder and president of the Tennis Club, student director of Corey Union, member of the Gospel Choir, Black Student Union and the Economics and Debate clubs.

Honorary Alum

Nabila Khazzaka

Nobody knows the SUNY Cortland alumni family like Nabila Khazzaka. For 17 years, Khazzaka, until her retirement in 2020, served as secretary II in Alumni Engagement. She was an important and friendly point of contact for many of the more than 80,000 SUNY Cortland alumni who ever picked up the phone, sent an email or letter or popped into the office.

Khazzaka’s tremendous work ethic and organizational skills behind the scenes at annual events like Alumni Reunion and Cortaca made sure that returning graduates had a great time at these major occasions. Whether it was stuffing hundreds of name tags, planning travel and events or greeting alumni for hours in the sun or the snow, Khazzaka always made everyone feel welcome.

An immigrant, Khazzaka was also an important role model for countless student interns. “My husband and I both came here from Lebanon without knowing a thing about Cortland,” she said. Khazzaka could sense when students needed advice, support or just someone to talk to.

She is currently enjoying retirement in Kernersville, N.C. with her husband Nadim and often spends time with her children, Natalie, Nadine and John.

“We always joked that she is everyone’s mom, regardless if you are younger or older,” said Executive Director of Alumni Engagement Erin Boylan. “She always took everyone under her wing. As an organization that is committed to welcoming all Red Dragons, I couldn’t have been blessed with a better person to be the Association’s first point of contact.”

Despite not knowing Cortland when she started, by the time she retired, Khazzaka fully embodied the essence of Cortland. Her kind nature and warm spirit - and infectious laughter - made a lasting impact on the greater university community.

Student Select 2021, an exhibition featuring artwork created by 29 SUNY Cortland students, runs through Friday, May 21, in the Dowd Gallery of the Dowd Fine Arts Center.

“I was impressed by the diversity of media, range of concepts, and modes of expression displayed in the submissions — all created during the physically and emotionally challenging COVID-era,” said Gary Sczerbaniewicz, the professional artist invited to be this year's juror by the student-run Art Exhibition Association, which organized and sponsored the exhibition.

This year’s exhibition featured a Virtual Opening Reception and Awards Ceremony via Webex on Thursday, May 6.

Gallery hours, in Dowd Center located on the corner of Graham Avenue and Prospect Terrace, are from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays; and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursdays. Walk-ins are welcome. Individuals also may schedule a visit.

The exhibition will remain accessible on graduation day, May 15, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Student Select 2021 follows a gap year, when in 2020 the exhibition took a virtual form titled “Art from Isolation” due to a campus closure as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A practicing artist and educator based in Buffalo, NY, Sczerbaniewicz’s work was featured earlier this year in a solo exhibition at the Dowd Gallery.

On May 4, Sczerbaniewicz selected more than 70 works from 29 artists representing animation, ceramics, drawing, painting, photography, fibers, graphic design and video.

After careful consideration, the guest juror chose three students as winners of the Student Select 2021 exhibition. An Honorable Mention also was selected.

• First Prize went to Stephen Buscemi, a graduating BFA student with a concentration in painting and digital media. His acrylic painting, titled “Magic Revolver, 2021,” and other of his works from his thesis series accepted in the show, were recognized for high technical and conceptual abilities.
• Samantha Reali, a graduating BFA student, received Second Prize for her several paintings from the “Hypnagogia” series.
• Morgan McDonald, a fourth-year student with a concentration in graphic design, was awarded Third Prize for her short video, titled “A Journey."
• The Honorable Mention, selected by Dowd Gallery director Jaroslava Prihodova, went to Jacob Robinson, a third year BFA student with a dual concentration in studio art and new communication media.

“A portion of the selected works referenced the contemporary interface between traditional forms of studio practice and the impact of the digital — yielding an engaging viewing experience that perhaps mirrors our cultural fascination with this very relationship,” Sczerbaniewicz commented on the awarded projects.

“Their subject matters ranged from a playfully constructed narrative choreography to the more sinister implications of our societal need for security and its seemingly inevitable consequences — chief among these the loss of our individual privacies,” he said. “Also resonant was the articulation of the disorienting physical/psychological state between waking and dreaming forms of consciousness known as the hypnagogic; which, in addition to being a condition that many individuals grapple with — seems an apt metaphor for the alarming times in which we currently live; on the threshold between varying ontological states.”

The students whose works also were featured in this year's Student Select 2021 exhibition are:

• Jacob Becher
• Kayla Bellan
• Leah Bernhardt
• Anna Brasted
• Brianna Cancilla
• Patrick Copeland
• Ben Cottom
• Shayna Crandall
• Alyssa Cussimano
• Francis Fruehan
• Sophia Genao
• Megan Hall
• Grey Hinkle
• Brooke Hollister
• Meghan Kelly
• Vanessa Leon Basurto
• Mike Matute
• Karli Mills
• Jake Philllips
• Magen Rant
• Lindsey Richards
• Claritza Rodriguez
• Anna Schrauth
• Julianne Statler
• Noah White

The annual showcase offers students an opportunity to learn about formal artwork presentation while sharing their creations with the audience in a professional environment, Sczerbaniewicz said.

“The two-week exhibition demonstrates that creativity thrives even under tenuous circumstances and confirms that learning can be delivered effectively in alternative formats,” he said.

Across campus, students come together from other majors and concentrations to show tangible outcomes not only from art and design-focused classes but also from students’ own personal creative activity outside of classrooms, Sczerbaniewicz said.

“The diverse selection of art produced by art majors, non-traditional students and non-art majors alike demonstrates that their imagination, acquired skills and enthusiasm honors the quality and dedication of the faculty at SUNY Cortland and the strength of the student community,” he said.

Exhibition tours at the gallery are available for campus community members or a group of five or fewer people. Visitors are expected to follow safety protocols to minimize the spread of COVID-19.

For more information, to inquire about an appointment, tour or additional images, contact Prihodova at 607-753-4216. Visit the Dowd Gallery website for details about exhibiting artists, other programs, safety protocols or on-line booking.

Faculty, staff and administrations are welcome to register for the Summer Institute for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice, which will be held on campus from June 1 to June 3.

Those interested may sign up online. Space is limited.

The institute will be facilitated by Seth Asumah, distinguished teaching professor and chair of the Africana Studies Department, Mecke Nagel, professor of philosophy, and Lorraine Lopez-Janove, chief diversity and inclusion officer. Its aim is to teach strategies and techniques for developing and anti-racist and inclusive campus.

This event is presented by the Africana Studies Department and the Institutional Equity and Inclusion Office, in partnership with the Anti-Racism Educational Taskforce Subcommittee.

A campus location will be announced at a later date. The institute will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Tuesday, June 1 to Thursday, June 3. Breakfast, lunch and faculty development materials will be provided.

For more information, contact Asumah or Nagel.

Danielle Bambola ’20, competing as a graduate student, finished No. 17 overall at the NCAA Division III Women’s Golf Championship in East Lansing, Mich. on Friday, May 14.

One of 131 golfers from around the country to qualify for the national championship, and one of six to qualify individually, Bambola recorded a four-day score of 315.

In 2020, Bambola received the Division III Women’s Golf Coaches Association Kim Moore Spirit Award. During her freshman year, Bambola was diagnosed as a Type 1 diabetic following a bout of mononucleosis that left her in a coma for two days. 

Bambola’s performance capped a busy weekend for SUNY Cortland athletics.

In other sports:

Baseball

The Red Dragons swept both games of a SUNYAC semifinal doubleheader against SUNY Brockport on Saturday, May 15, winning the best-of-three series. The team will host SUNY Oswego in the SUNYAC finals, a best-of-three series to be held at Cortland on Friday and Saturday, May 21 and 22.

Men’s lacrosse

SUNY Cortland’s men’s lacrosse team opened play in the NCAA Division III tournament with a 24-6 victory over UMass Boston in the opening round on Saturday, May 15. In a second-round game on Sunday against No. 3 Rochester Institute of Technology, the Red Dragons were eliminated, 25-6.

Softball

Hosting SUNY Geneseo in a best-of-three SUNYAC championship series on Saturday, May 15, Cortland won the first game but lost each of the next two as Geneseo captured the league title. Kelly O’Gorman, Alyssa Finno and Cailey Cuttita were named to the all-tournament team.

Track and field

Aubrianna Lantrip moved into a tie for sixth place nationally in Division III in the high jump at the Roberts Wesleyan RedHawks Capstone Meet on Friday.

Dane Sorensen was second overall and the top collegiate finisher in the pole vault at the meet. He currently is tied for 10th place in Division III.

The team will next compete in the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference Outdoor Championships at St. John Fisher College on May 19 and 20.

Women’s lacrosse

Coming off a pair of NCAA Division III tournament wins on May 8 and 9, Cortland faced No. 10 Messiah in the third round of the tournament at Colby College on Saturday, May 15. Messiah improved to 18-0 with a 16-12 victory over the Red Dragons. Cortland, ranked No. 13 in the latest national poll, finished the season with a 14-2 record.