Campus Champion

Jessica Del Bene ’19 speaks from experience when she encourages students to get involved, join a club and sign up for activities. She’s been at SUNY Cortland for seven years, the first four as an involved student, resident assistant and admissions tour guide. With a bachelor’s degree in Selected Studies, she started her career as a resident hall director (RHD). This summer she guided new students as an Orientation programming assistant. With Orientation completed, Jessica joins 15 other RHD professionals at an intensive training. “As the students’ first responders, it’s our responsibility to be aware of campus resources and to develop programs that support their academic experience.”

SUNY Cortland has joined an alliance of colleges and universities across Central New York in using a nearly $2 million federal grant to attract and retain students from underrepresented backgrounds in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

The Central New York LSAMP (Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation) Alliance will use a $1.99 million grant from the National Science Foundation from 2022 to 2025 to build preparedness and community among underrepresented students in STEM.

Patricia Conklin, professor and chair of the Biological Sciences Department, will direct the program at SUNY Cortland. Christa Chatfield, associate professor in the Biological Sciences Department, will serve as co-director.

A planned series of workshops, seminars, community-building exercises and one-on-one research experiences with faculty are designed to help first-year and transfer students thrive in the sciences.

“The main goals are to increase the number of these students in STEM majors, retain them as STEM majors and have them graduate and either obtain jobs in STEM fields or enroll in STEM-based graduate school programs,” Conklin said.

The alliance, led by Ithaca College, also includes SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Elmira College, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Herkimer College and Tompkins Cortland Community College.

At Cortland, first-year students accepted into the program will first participate in a series of online summer workshops hosted by The Learning Center. The workshops will help students build fundamental skills, such as study habits and time management, while introducing them to each other and SUNY Cortland. The students also will enroll in a quantitative and technical skills building STEM-specific workshop to help them be successful in their first year STEM coursework.

Prior to the start of their first semester, the students will spend two nights at the university’s William H. Parks Family Center for Environment and Outdoor Education at Raquette Lake, doing biology and chemistry research on lake acidification in the Adirondacks. When the students return to campus, they will participate in a half-day workshop on writing in the sciences and complete a one-hour lab to further prepare them for the start of classes.

Students also will meet with their academic advisor and peer mentors before classes begin to better acclimate them to campus and help them feel invested in the community.

During the fall semester, students will:

• Meet their academic advisors again early in the semester
• Meet early and one-on-one with the STEM faculty member who is teaching their fall STEM course
• Attend two seminars, featuring visiting underrepresented scientists who will speak on their career path and their research
• Participate in regular social events and a community-building activity with other students in the program

The spring will consist of a quarter course seminar that will differ slightly for first-year students and transfer students.

First-year students will research a career of particular interest and interview a professional in that field. They will then develop communication skills by presenting their findings to other students in the program.

Transfer students will do 20 hours of STEM-related community service around Cortland. Conklin says she hopes to have student ideas drive their choice of community service, but possibilities include working with Lime Hollow Nature Center, the Cortland County Health Department, Guthrie Cortland Medical Center or local schools.

Throughout the academic year, students from across the alliance will be grouped together virtually by major to participate in regular meetings, share their findings and support one another academically. And the alliance will implement ongoing professional development for faculty mentors in the initiative to increase research mentors’ skills in supervision/coaching, relationship development, and creating equity and inclusive environments.

“There has been a lot of research on the importance of sense of community and community-building for these students within their STEM major,” Conklin said. “If students feel like they’re part of the core biology community (for example), that helps with student retention and success. Often, these students are coming from someplace that is more diverse and coming into a place that’s less diverse. Feeling that they’re a part of something, the research has shown, makes a difference. Getting to go to Raquette Lake, getting to know each other and working together doing science helps build that sense of community.”

The program will culminate with an eight-week summer research experience with SUNY Cortland faculty that will include a stipend and no-cost on-campus housing. Cortland will host up to eight students each summer and the experience will be modeled after the SUNY Cortland Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship Program.

The NSF grant funds 40 summer research positions across the alliance. Interested community college students from Herkimer and Tompkins Cortland will be able to participate in research at one of the four-year institutions.

All of the colleges and universities will come together for a symposium at the end of each summer where students will present research. The alliance also plans to create a network of internships and opportunities through alumni and faculty connections that may support students after they have passed through the program.

“After their first year, some underrepresented students in STEM leave college altogether or change to non-STEM majors,” Conklin said. “We’re hoping that this intense pre-first year and first year programming, and the research experience after the first year will help stem out that flow.”

Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation were created by the NSF in 1991 to diversify the nation’s STEM workforce by increasing the number of STEM baccalaureate and graduate degrees awarded to populations historically underrepresented in these disciplines: African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders.

The initiative was named after Stokes, the first African-American member of Congress from Ohio, who also served as vice chairman of the Pew Environmental Health Commission at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and was appointed by former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala as chairman of the Advisory Committee on Minority Health.

For more information, contact Conklin at 607-753-2716 or Chatfield at 607-753-2235.

NOTE: Due to a passport issue that occurred after this story was posted, Garcia will not be able to travel to Japan for the Olympics.

When Melique Garcia ’15 joined the track and field team at Watervliet (N.Y.) High School, he had one goal.

He wanted to be the fastest football player around.

When Garcia settled into the starting block for sprinting events at those high school meets, he was dreaming about using his speed to evade tacklers and reach the end zone.

After an anterior cruciate ligament injury during his senior year of football, track, in the end, turned out to be his life’s passion. Garcia went on to become a three-time All-American in indoor and outdoor track and won six SUNYAC titles at SUNY Cortland.

He hasn’t stopped running since. Garcia qualified for and ran at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, one of the largest and most prestigious meets in the world, ranking 12th out of 30 runners in the preliminary round.

That experience fueled him to keep striving for a spot in the sport’s pinnacle: the Summer Olympics.

On Saturday, July 31, Garcia will join 89 of the fastest men in the world as a competitor in the 100 meters at the Olympics Games in Tokyo, representing team Honduras.

“It didn’t hit me right away,” Garcia said. “A couple of days later, once the paperwork started coming in, I was like, ‘This is an actual thing.’ I was excited.

“But I have to treat it as a regular meet and stay focused on what I’m doing already. I can’t get myself too stressed out or too anxious about it because then I’m not going to perform well. I’m trying to make it to the final and come home with a gold and make it a big upset.”

Recruited to the track and field team in high school by his football coach, Erick Bernard ’99, Garcia rehabbed from his torn ACL to be part of a state champion relay team at the end of his senior year. Yet the college athletic opportunities he had hoped for, either in football or track, didn’t happen right away.

Garcia attended Hudson Valley Community College and SUNY Cobleskill before transferring to Cortland, where he found teammates and a coaching staff that both pushed him to the best of his abilities and made him feel at home.

Despite all of the success Garcia had in a Cortland uniform — in addition to his All-America and SUNYAC plaudits he was part of the school-record 4x200 meter indoor relay team — his favorite moments came in the behind-the-scenes time with teammates on the road to big meets like the ECAC Championships or the NCAA Div. III indoor championships.

“Besides playing video games in the dorm rooms with the team, it was the team bonding moments on those trips to Boston or Nebraska,” he said. “Just having that family bonding moment. It’s hard to find that in a lot of teams whether it’s high school or college, but Cortland had that family atmosphere and I loved that.”

An Achilles tendon injury forced Garcia to take some time off following graduation. But it wasn’t long before he saw results from Diamond League meets, an annual series of one-day track and field competitions that offer prize money to the top contenders.

And Garcia realized his best times weren’t that far off from those against whom he was competing.

So he started training and switched his national affiliation to Honduras to represent his father, Lorenzo Justianiao Melvin Garcia, a Honduran immigrant.

By 2019, Garcia’s efforts had resulted in a spot in the 100 meters at the World Athletics Championships in Qatar, where he shared the track with the world’s greatest athletes.

“It was surreal,” he said. “I never thought that I would be at that point and be on that big of a stage. Being there allowed me to soak in the moment of all my hard work. I’ve been blessed. I believe in God, so I can’t say it was all me. I’ve gotten there with guidance. I appreciated the opportunity and it put me in a different mindset now because I’ve had that experience. Instead of just sitting in the glamour and watching everyone else, I want to compete just like everybody else out there.”

With the COVID-19 pandemic postponing the Tokyo Olympics by one year, Garcia had additional time to train. He got a big boost of confidence when he was part of a new national record-setting 4x100 meter relay team at the Central American Championships in San Jose, Costa Rica on Dec. 29, 2020.

He returned to San Jose for the 2021 Central American Championships on June 26, focusing on individual sprinting events. It would be a make-or-break meet for Garcia, as Honduras, a nation that holds universality place allocation for the Olympics, can send just one male track and field athlete to the games.

Garcia placed fifth overall in both the 100-meter (10.72 seconds) and 200-meter (21.77) finals at the Central American Championships, unsure if he had done enough to earn Honduras’ lone spot.

It was. And Garcia can’t wait to test himself once again against the best of the best at the Olympics while also paying tribute to his family’s Honduran roots.

“Being born here in New York, I feel a type of honor and motivation to represent my father and bring back the honor to him for the work he put in to give us a better life,” Garcia said. “Without him, I wouldn’t be here.”

Garcia is expected to be the first SUNY Cortland student-athlete to compete in the Olympic Games in any sport since George Breen ’56, who medaled in swimming at the 1956 and 1960 games.

His rise has been inspirational to SUNY Cortland track and field and cross country head coach Steve Patrick ‘97, who admires Garcia for his relentless positivity.

“We’ve had a lot of folks over the years make it to U.S. trials,” Patrick said. “Melique very well could’ve gone down that path but watching him now representing Honduras internationally and chasing those dreams, he’s somebody who’s easy to root for. It’s a feel-good story.

“In high school, you wouldn’t have thought he’d be a guy who would do that. After his initial performances in college, both at Cobleskill and here, you didn’t think be at that level. It’s the adage of working really hard and being disciplined and sacrificing. He’s been a guy who has done that to a T. It’s such a great example for all the young men and women we have on the team right now.”

No matter what happens at the Olympics, Garcia will have his hands full with a variety of projects once he returns home.

A new media design major at SUNY Cortland, Garcia has started two businesses, SouL Studios Entertainment and MVG Innovations, a video game production company and an information technology and media design service, respectively.

He’s volunteered as a track and field coach at colleges in the Capital Region, including Hudson Valley Community College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and is the head track and field coach for Watervliet High School.

When he’s not focused on his own training, working with young athletes and being a role model for the next generation of college students has become Garcia’s most rewarding projects. He knows what it takes to be a successful student-athlete as well as the value of being a college graduate. The experiences he had in the classroom and on the track prepared him to be an entrepreneur, a coach and an Olympian.

“That’s my big endeavor,” Garcia said. “I had my experience of going through high school with athletics and not having the ideal opportunities that kids from bigger schools might have had. I want to be able to give that back to my community and other athletes and help them get opportunities and create opportunities to have a better college career and better lives in general.”

Garcia can rattle off a list of names of young athletes from Watervliet he’s training. He knows their times, what they need to do to improve, what colleges they’re looking at and which schools might be better fits given their academic interests and their personal situations. He wants to help them get there and achieve their dreams, too.

He does it because he remembers what it was like to be in their shoes, not too long ago. He does it because it’s the right thing to do. He does it because he loves it.

And imagine how much Garcia’s influence means to those teenagers. Someone who went to the same high school they do. A business owner. A Red Dragon. An All-American. An Olympian.

“I just like to see the younger generation progress and prosper,” Garcia said. “It’s really hard to find people who care about somebody’s progress. For me, when I was growing up, I feel like I didn’t have that as much. And I want to give that to as many kids as I can. Your teachers might not care, other people might not care, but I care about how you’re doing in school or how your mental health is.

“If I can affect one kid a year, I’m happy.”

SUNY Cortland will require all students planning to live on campus during the Fall 2021 semester to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before the start of the semester. There will be few and limited exceptions for approved medical and religious reasons.

This commitment to health and safety will allow a return to full campus academic, athletic, recreational and social activities during the upcoming semester.

Students will be able to submit proof of vaccination online through myRedDragon in early August. More details on that process will be shared later.

The university’s Fall 2021 guidance is now available online. This guidance answers questions about vaccination requirements for students and campus policies that will be in place this fall. The webpage will be updated regularly and is subject to change if SUNY Cortland experiences an increase in the rate of infections on campus or in the community.

President Erik J. Bitterbaum shared messages to the campus community about vaccinations on July 13 and July 19.

SUNY Cortland political scientist and author Robert Spitzer will share his thoughts on the politics of gun control with a wider audience when CNN screens the documentary film in which Spitzer appears, “The Price of Freedom,” on Sunday, Sept. 19.

The network cancelled the original, Aug. 29 screening to cover Hurricane Ida's early destruction in southern coastal states.

The CNN broadcast will premiere from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. EDT (6 p.m. PDT) without commercial interruption.

CNN recently acquired the rights from Flatbush Pictures and Tribeca Films to broadcast the film, which held its world premiere in early June during the Tribeca Film Festival. 

Directed by Emmy award winning American filmmaker Judd Milo Ehrlich, “The Price of Freedom” takes a fresh look at America’s gun history and the contemporary gun controversy from multiple perspectives, including a deep dive into the pivotal role of the National Rifle Association (NRA). A review appears in Variety magazine.

Spitzer never hesitates to give his opinion on the legislative hot potato of passing more laws to curb gun violence in the U.S., even when he's deep in upstate New York’s hunting and gun-appreciating heartland.

Spitzer, whose national claim to fame originated with his seminal 1995 book aptly named The Politics of Gun Control, now in its 8th edition, vividly recalls one of many community speaking engagements, this time in 2013 at Jefferson Community College in Watertown, N.Y.

“The faculty member who introduced me, lovely guy, did the customary ‘Robert Spitzer blah blah blah’ and when he finished, he said, ‘Please welcome Robert Spitzer,’” said Spitzer, a SUNY Distinguished Service Professor and SUNY Cortland professor of political science.

“And nobody applauded. They sat there like stones. You know, they didn’t know me and they were skeptical. It was a perfectly good talk and we had good back and forth. But they were somewhat hostile. But it was fine.”

Spitzer also doesn’t pull his punches about America's deadly gun culture in the commentary that appears in a new feature-length documentary, “The Price of Freedom,” which had its world premiere on June 16 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.

The film opened on July 6 in 350 theaters nationwide, including screens in Ithaca, N.Y., and Syracuse, N.Y.

Spitzer, who pioneered academia’s study of the legal underpinnings of American firearms ownership more than 30 years ago, said he didn’t prepare in any way for the three-and-a-half-hour video interview with Ehrlich last November from a rented Syracuse apartment/studio. He also attended the premiere screening at the Tribeca Film Festival at Hudson Yards Public Square and Gardens and the reception afterward.

It’s his third documentary film appearance. He was interviewed for the 2003 PBS film “Guns and Mothers” and for the 2016 Katie Couric Film Company documentary, “Under the Gun,” which aired and is available on Epix.

“I didn’t do any particular prep because I write and speak on this stuff  all the time, frankly,” Spitzer said. “For me, you insert your quarter, and you get a full play. And I gave them the full play. I spent a lot of time talking about the history of gun laws in America. And I’m glad to say that they really punch that point early on in the film: that gun ownership is as old as America but so are gun laws.”

He said the message comes across even in the snippet of Spitzer’s voice that can be heard in the two-minute film trailer.

“I mean as soon as Europeans landed on continental U.S., in the early 1600s, they had guns, but they were also enacting gun laws,” Spitzer said. “The history for 300 years was thousands of gun laws of every imaginable variety. So the idea that gun regulation is new is not true. It’s only been in these last few decades that it’s been this supercharged, political lightening rod.”

During his remote interview with Ehrlich, Spitzer also discussed other topics, including the Trump administration on gun policy, and the 2020 Election.

“He’s an interesting guy, too,” Spitzer said of filmmaker Ehrlich, whose prior documentary films include the 2016 “Keepers of the Game,” about a women’s lacrosse team at Salmon River High in Fort Covington, N.Y., and the 2014 “We Could Be King,” about high school former football super rival teams that join forces after one school is closed.

The director had also interviewed other legal scholars, families of gun victims and gun violence survivors, and a former president of the National Rifle Association.

“He actually was an important voice in the film,” Spitzer said about the former NRA spokesman, David Keene. “He was not a hysterical gun guy and he defended the NRA position and explained it.

“The NRA of course comes in for heavy criticism in this film and I’m not responsible for the editorial slant in the film. I was more than happy to contribute information about what I do. But the film did include him and I thought he acquitted himself well and made his case clearly, calmly and coherently.”

Although the basic message of “The Price of Freedom” isn’t new, “they came up with film footage that hadn’t been seen in decades,” he said.

“And some of the detailed information about our gun law history hasn’t been brought to light before. So I think they really succeeded in bringing in new information to this debate that hasn’t been excavated before.”

Spitzer has gone from being the lone political scientist exploring this subject to sharing the stage with other Second Amendment scholars and criminology specialists.

“I would say a growing number of people, in many fields including political science, are involved in what’s called gun studies,” he said. “When there aren’t others researching a given subject, it’s kind of an open field and that’s what it’s been for me.”

Spitzer explained why he agreed to appear in the film.

“It’s an opportunity to participate in the public dialogue about an important issue where your academic research has something useful to say about that public debate,” he said.

“Because it takes a long, long time for an academic finding, if it is relevant to public policy, to make its way to the public policy debate. I’m just some guy from Cortland, N.Y. I would like to think what I’ve done has become part of the debate. I can’t prove that but, yeah, I would like to think that it has.”

There’s a sweet treat in store for SUNY Cortland students when they return to campus this fall: Red Dragon’s Delight ice cream, the university’s very own flavor creation.

The signature ice cream product, produced locally by Cornell Dairy, includes three key components: a chocolate ice cream base, marshmallow swirls and caramel cubes. It will be served at Neubig Dining and the Bistro Off Broadway, where students can use their unlimited meal plans, and the ice cream also will be available for purchase in individual Cortland-themed containers across campus.

“We wanted this to be local and high-quality,” said Jeff Scott, director of dining services for Cortland Auxiliary Services. “We’re always trying to bring global inspiration and locally connected ingredients into our menus and programs, and this ice cream project is a fun example of that.”

The idea for the Cortland-specific product was born roughly a year ago after staff members from the university’s dining services team toured the Cornell Dairy production facilities, which Scott described as state-of-the-art.

“What we love about this ice cream is that we know exactly where it comes from,” Scott said. “Cornell Dairy is 20 or so miles from campus and its products are world-class. The freshness, the shelf life, the quality … everything is at the highest end of the range.”

Four multi-ingredient ice cream options were drafted by the dining services team then proposed to SUNY Cortland students through a survey. More than 400 responses came in, and Scott said the favorite recipe was clear.

In addition to perfecting the ice cream’s ingredients, Cortland Auxiliary staff members also gave thought to details such as name and presentation. Individual container labels of Red Dragon’s Delight include SUNY Cortland’s secondary mark and an image of Old Main, the university’s iconic academic building.

Individual containers of Red Dragon’s Delight ice cream will be available to purchase in campus dining facilities.

“The process involved a series of conversations and great collaboration with our dairy partners as well as our campus partners to get it to the finish line,” Scott said. “The spirit and the enthusiasm were great, and we see this a model for other programs we can work on.”

Faculty and staff members were treated to a soft launch of sorts at SUNY Cortland’s first “Scoops of Gratitude” employee appreciation event outside Corey Union on July 14. Two additional summer ice cream socials are planned for the campus community, on Wednesday, July 21, at Brockway Hall and Wednesday, July 28, at the Student Life Center, both from 1:30 to 3 p.m.

Scott said plans are in the works for a similar free food festival early in fall semester for students, where they can sample the new ice cream along with Chick-N-Bap, the university’s Korean-inspired street food offering, as well as tacos from Cortland Auxiliary Services’s new Red Dragon Wagon food truck.

“We want students to know that they have a ton of menu options at SUNY Cortland,” he said. “We want them to see all of the variety and choices.”

The Tampa Bay Lightning became just the fourth National Hockey League (NHL) team in the past 30 years to win back-to-back Stanley Cup titles, and former SUNY Cortland goalie Derek Lalonde '95 has played a key role in the franchise's success as one of the team's assistant coaches.

Fans watching the Lightning's championship-clinching 1-0 win over Montreal on NBC this past Wednesday saw Lalonde directing the team's defensive unit during a timeout after the Canadiens pulled their goalie for an extra skater. Tampa Bay posted shutouts in each of its four playoff series final games, including nail-biting 1-0 wins in the finals as well as in Game 7 of the semifinals versus the New York Islanders.

Lalonde is far from an overnight success in the hockey coaching world. He started in the Division III ranks as a graduate assistant coach at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts from 1995-98 and then was an assistant coach from 1998-2000 at Lebanon Valley College under his former Cortland head coach, Al MacCormack. He remained in Division III as an assistant at Hamilton College from 2000-02, then held Division I assistant positions at Ferris State University (2002-06) and the University of Denver (2007-11), the latter of which made four straight NCAA tournament appearances during his tenure.

Derek Lalonde '95 during his playing days at Cortland (photo by Bob Ellis/Cortland Standard)

His professional coaching career began as the head coach of the Green Bay Gamblers of the United States Hockey League (USHL) from 2011-14. He led the Gamblers to the league title in his first season. He followed that with two seasons as head coach of the Toledo Walleye, the Detroit Red Wings' farm club in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) from 2014-16, and two years as head coach of the Iowa Wild, the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the Minnesota Wild, from 2016-18, before current Lightning head coach Jon Cooper offered Lalonde a spot on his staff.

Lalonde values each of the rungs he climbed on the coaching ladder. "It looks like perseverance, but it never was," said Lalonde less than 48 hours after winning his second straight Cup. "I love the profession. There's not a day that goes by that I don't appreciate doing this for a living. Whatever stop I had, it was never about the next stop. It was always about being great in the job I was in. I got that advice early in my life. I live by it, and I was also blessed with a lot of good hockey teams. It's not an accident I've won everywhere I've been at. You have to have good players.

"I always live in the moment, and it's taken care of itself. Every place I went to was about growth. From being a Division III coach to Division I at Ferris State, which made me better. From Ferris State to Denver, which made me better because now you have to win there. Then to Green Bay in the USHL so I could be a head coach, and we won a championship. At that point I thought I'd be a college head coach – a lot of top-end college guys cut their teeth in the USHL. With the resume I was building and the success I had, I was very comfortable knowing that I was probably going to get my opportunity at a quality Division I program as a head coach."

But future pro hockey opportunities changed Lalonde's plans when the Red Wings called him and offered him the position in Toledo. He basically started from scratch there and won a combined 97 games in two seasons. He followed that by inheriting a last-place team in Iowa and winning 69 games in two years.

Jim Sarosy '95 and Derek Lalonde '95 after Tampa Bay repeated as Stanley Cup champion

Is an NHL head coaching job in Lalonde's future? He hopes so, but still keeps a firm grip on the "live in the moment" approach to his career. "I want to be good at the job I'm at. I'm blessed to coach in the profession. I never thought I'd actually make money doing it. But the one life-changing job is being an NHL head coach. And if it comes, the beauty is I know I'm going to be ready due to my experiences, and if it doesn't, I'm going to be great at whatever job I'm at."

No matter his coaching position or level, Lalonde has kept Cortland close to his heart. He played four seasons with the Red Dragons from 1991-95 and built friendships and memories that have lasted a lifetime.

"I love Cortland to death. I had an unbelievable experience. (My former teammates) are still my best friends. The last two years we've had a text exchange with about 30 of my Cortland teammates, not only during my two Cup runs, but also Nate Leaman's '97 World Juniors (head coach of Team USA's National Junior Team title-winning squad in Jan. 2021).

"For me personally, I had to earn my career there. My first year I was one of five goalies. I barely touched the ice until my sophomore year (he played a total of 30 minutes as a freshman). By the time I was a senior I played in most of the games and my teammates named me the team's Red Letter Award winner. It was one of my greatest accomplishments. My teammates and my coaches provided experiences that shaped me and have helped me have the success that I've had."

Tampa Bay's title run also provided Lalonde a chance to celebrate with one of his Cortland classmates. Jim Sarosy '95 served as a supervisor at Alumni Arena, Cortland's home rink, during his undergraduate days and is currently the Chief Operating Officer for the Syracuse Crunch. The Crunch have been the Lightning's AHL affiliate since 2012 and have helped develop many of the players who contributed to Tampa Bay's current success.

"After we won it was a circus in the locker room," Lalonde recalled. "I'm looking for my family, and one of the first people I see is Jim and we had our whole Cortland moment. Jim is so respected and well-liked in the organization by all the players and coaches. It's a huge credit to him."

A native of Brasher Falls, N.Y., about 12 miles southeast of Massena and 15 miles northeast of Potsdam, Lalonde is excited to partake at some point this year is a special NHL tradition. Since the mid 1990s, each member of the winning team gets one day to bring the Stanley Cup wherever they'd like, supervised by at least one representative from the Hockey Hall of Fame.

"Last year's playoff run was phenomenal in its own way, but we got cheated out of taking the Stanley Cup home," said Lalonde recalling how the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the tradition for a year. "It's been a dream of mine to bring it to Brasher Falls, and the fact that it's going to be a reality is incredible. I can't wait to bring it home and share it with family, friends and former teammates. The Cup is a true celebrity."

Lalonde is one of a handful of Red Dragons who have helped lead teams to Stanley Cup titles in recent years. Matt Meacham '08, also a former Cortland goaltender, was a video coach for the Chicago Blackhawks during their win in 2015. Rob Tillotson '06 was the director of team services for the Washington Capitals when the team won the cup in 2018, while Ray Barile '86, the longtime head athletic trainer for the St. Louis Blues, lifted the cup in 2019.

Story from SUNY Cortland Athletics

The schedules have been released for the 2021 SUNY Cortland Athletics fall season. It has also been announced that the 2021 Cortaca Jug football game between Cortland and Ithaca has been moved from Ithaca to Cortland - the teams will play at the SUNY Cortland Stadium Complex on Saturday, Nov. 13, at noon. Ticket information will be announced at a later date. Due to the cancellation of the 2020 fall season, Ithaca and Cortland mutually agreed that the Red Dragons host this year's game, and that Ithaca will be the host in 2022.

Action for Cortland's teams begins on Wednesday, Sept. 1, with field hockey hosting Russell Sage, women's soccer at Russell Sage, women's volleyball at Ithaca, and men's soccer at Rochester. Volleyball will host the six-team Red Dragon Classic Sept. 3-4, men's soccer will play its home opener versus Stevens Institute on Sept. 4, and women's soccer begins its home schedule Sept. 8 vs. Ithaca.

Football begins its season Sept. 4 at Wittenberg in Ohio and its home opener will be Sept. 18 versus Buffalo State. The cross country teams will co-host a meet with SUNY-ESF on Sept. 4 at Dwyer Memorial Park in Preble, which is also the tentative site for the SUNYAC Championships in late October. The women's golf team opens its season Sept. 4-5 at the St. Lawrence Invitational.

Women's tennis begins the season with a home match Sept. 3 versus New Paltz. The tennis schedule this year features SUNYAC matches during both the fall and spring semesters, with the league postseason tournament scheduled for late April.

Schedule Links:
Men's Cross Country
Women's Cross Country
Field Hockey
Football
Women's Golf
Men's Soccer
Women's Soccer
Women's Tennis
Women's Volleyball

A digital version of the Spring 2021 edition of Columns is available online through the Red Dragon Network.

Inside this edition:
• Building a Career. P.J. Catalone '01 is a LEGO master builder in LEGOLAND California theme park.
• A Beloved Community. Nine alumni share stories in a campus diversity poster project.
• Top teacher. Vermont teacher of the year Susan Rosato '91 helps immigrant and refugee children.
• A Red Dragon decade. SUNYAC's athletes of the decade honors were dominated by SUNY Cortland.
• What the world thinks. Study in Ireland led Candice Jaimungal '17 to a career in global opinion polling.
• Beers with John Lennon. International beverage executive John Lennon '76 was inspired by study abroad.
• Moffett makeover. A decade long renovation project transforms a 68-year-old campus landmark.
• Class Notes. Your classmates have been busy. New jobs, promotions, weddings and more.
• Alumni on campus. Kind of. The pandemic didn't stop alumni from a long list of virtual events.

Want to have your accomplishments listed in the next edition of Columns? Log into the Red Dragon Network and submit a class note or call Alumni Engagement at 607-753-2516.

If you would like to choose the "Red is Green" option and opt out of future print versions, please submit an online request to Alumni Engagement.

Dear students,

SUNY Cortland’s top priority remains the health and welfare of our community. We are also committed to safely returning to full campus academic, athletic, recreational and social activities this fall.

To that end, we are joining many of our fellow SUNY campuses in requiring all students who live on campus to become vaccinated against COVID-19 before the start of the fall semester. This means that, with limited exceptions for approved medical and religious reasons, all students planning to live on campus during the Fall 2021 semester must be fully vaccinated. 

Widespread vaccination is an essential part of keeping our residential community safe. Densely populated residence halls with shared common spaces offer favorable conditions for the virus’ spread. The fall semester will offer a robust student experience, but only if we can ensure the safety of our campus community.

That’s why a strong vaccination policy is the cornerstone of our plan to return to campus in Fall 2021. This plan, available online, should be considered an evolving document that will grow in detail and change as circumstances dictate.

Please review the plan and check the webpage often for updates. You will see that the key to fully engaging in the college experience is vaccination.

Keep in mind that all non-residential students who will be on campus for any reason this fall are expected to be vaccinated, and vaccination for all students will be mandatory as soon as a COVID-19 vaccine receives full FDA approval. Until they are vaccinated, students will need to wear face coverings, maintain physical distance from others and will be limited in how they can use campus facilities such as dining halls and the Student Life Center.

We have the means to have a safe and fully engaged semester. Please, get vaccinated if you have not already done so, and let’s move forward together. 

All the best, 

Erik J. Bitterbaum
President

Dear students,

I hope you are enjoying a well-deserved break this summer and that you are looking forward to a fall semester of in-person classes in a more social and traditional campus environment. 

Fully vaccinated students will be able to enjoy the full SUNY Cortland experience this fall. That’s why I am urging any students who have not yet been vaccinated against COVID-19 to make plans to receive it as soon as possible. It can take as long as six weeks from your first shot for you to be fully immunized, so there is not much time to spare. 

I understand that you and your loved ones may have questions. Please consider:

• Your ability to enjoy the traditional campus experience will depend on being fully vaccinated by the time you arrive in Cortland. Students who are not fully vaccinated will be required to wear face coverings, practice social distancing, participate in regular testing and may have limited access to some facilities.
  
  
• COVID-19 vaccinations will be mandatory for all students as soon as a vaccine receives full approval from the Food and Drug Administration. SUNY anticipates this will happen in the coming months. If approval comes during the semester, students who have not received the vaccine will be required to do so immediately. Students with approved medical or religious exemptions still will need to follow strict pandemic safety practices such as mask wearing and social distancing.
  
  
• The SUNY system has kicked off a #30DayVaxChallenge campaign and created a “know your vax” webpage to answer common frequently asked questions or to help schedule a vaccine appointment near you.

SUNY Cortland has published a webpage with initial guidance for the Summer and Fall 2021 semester. This page will be updated as plans for the fall are finalized. I will continue to update you through email on major developments, including instructions on how to submit your vaccination status through myRedDragon.

I am very much looking forward to seeing you in person this fall and returning to the SUNY Cortland experience so many of you enjoy. The best way to ensure a smooth and safe semester is to get vaccinated well before you come to campus.  

All the best, 

Erik J. Bitterbaum
President 

The annual United University Professions (UUP) Welcome and Welcome Back Picnic will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 3, at Yaman Park pavilions I and II. UUP academic and professional staff, their families, partners and guests are welcome. RSVP requested using this form.

The event will be catered by Bob’s BBQ of Homer. A vegetarian entrée is available upon request; all side dishes are meatless.

The ticket price will be waived for all new academic and professional staff who joined in 2020 and 2021, and for UUP members who bring a new staff member. The ticket price of $6 will be charged for all others, including children 12 years and older, $3 for ages 6 to 11 and age 5 and under are free. There is a children's play area adjacent to the picnic pavilion.

For more information, contact the UUP Cortland Chapter Office at 607-753-5991 or by email. The office is located in Moffett Center, Room 001.

Campus Artist and Lecture Series (CALS) lecture grant applications are now available for the 2021-22 academic year.

Applications are available online and are eligible for a maximum of $350 and are open to any club, program or department.

These lecture grants will not cover performances of any kind.

Applications must be received by Thursday, Sept. 9 to be considered for September, October, November and/or December 2021 lecture programs.

Applications received after Sept. 9 may not be eligible for any fall semester funds remaining.

For more information and to download this application, visit the CALS website, email Sandra Wohlleber or call 607-753-5769.