Campus Champion

Administrative Assistant Melony Warwick keeps tabs on just about every detail of successful donor and alumni events, Foundation board meetings, emeriti faculty gatherings and other VIP occasions on behalf of SUNY Cortland — and she’s been here for 36 years! Now assisting her eighth vice president in the Division of Institutional Advancement, Mel’s superior organizational skills and excellent work ethic are unmatched. She’s hosted VIP guests at every football game since 2004 and received both the President’s Award and the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Classified Service. Always on top of her game, Mel is the university’s daily reminder that enthusiasm, initiative and dedication are valued and respected.

SUNY Cortland senior Caesaré German, 35, spent more than a dozen years entirely removed from academia.

Now she’s making up for lost time.

German, an inclusive childhood education major from Liverpool, N.Y., recently learned that she is one of only 15 winners of a prestigious national Alpha Sigma Lambda scholarship for adult college students.

“I couldn’t believe that they chose me,” said German, who is concentrating in social sciences and eventually hopes to earn a master’s degree to become a teacher of English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). “I feel like there’s a lot of people who applied for this scholarship, and I was very shocked that I was chosen.”

The national honor society based in Charleston, Illinois, recognizes dedicated non-traditional students like German who are successfully continuing their college educations while balancing other important obligations. And the scholarship is only the most recent accolade she's earned, making the most of her second chance at higher education.

German’s sustained academic excellence placed her on SUNY Cortland’s most recent President’s List. In the spring semester, she was inducted into the Cortland chapters of Alpha Sigma Lambda and the interdisciplinary honor society Phi Kappa Phi.

She walked at the Spring 2023 Commencement wrapped proudly in her Kente Ceremony stole, which celebrates multicultural scholarship. At the Kente pre-graduation ceremony, German also received the NAACP Award from the Cortland chapter, in recognition of a graduating senior who strives for academic excellence and is active in promoting diversity, inclusion and social justice matters in support of the Black community and racial equity.

This past spring during his first visit to the campus since becoming the SUNY chancellor, German met John B. King Jr., joining classmates enrolled in Cortland’s Urban Recruitment of Educators (C.U.R.E.) program for a photo.

“He told us a little bit about himself and how he grew up and where he was from,” German said of King. “He asked us to do the same, a few of us who were there. It was nice to see how he could relate to us, how similar our backgrounds and our stories are. It shows you how anything is possible.”

An outstanding high school student, after graduation in 2006 she balanced work, community college and helping the family care for her mother, who has multiple sclerosis.

One day she could no longer cope. In 2010, German reestablished herself as a California resident near San Francisco, enrolling in community college. But the state’s cost of living undermined her academic plans and ultimately her sobriety.

In 2017, a Salvation Army rehabilitation program in Syracuse, N.Y., helped her get back on her feet.

Right now, German covers her expenses working at a restaurant in East Syracuse, N.Y., and also has supported her education as a part-time substitute teacher in the Syracuse City School District.

The $2,500 scholarship will keep her afloat for her final semester while she completes her student teaching this fall at McKinley Brighton and Syracuse Latin School, both in Syracuse, N.Y., with plans to graduate in December.

“During student teaching, you’re not able to work, it’s not recommended,” said German, who recently moved from Syracuse to Liverpool and plans to marry her fiancé, Paul Marquis, this summer.

German is grateful for the support that has allowed her to excel at SUNY Cortland, such as the Cortland's Urban Recruitment of Educators, or C.U.R.E., program, which helps prepare students to teach in challenging school districts. The cost of German’s studies at SUNY Cortland are also offset by the Lenora J. Rumore Scholarship, awarded to a C.U.R.E. student who demonstrates leadership qualities, academic achievement and personal triumphs.

Her university expenses have been helped by a Dorothea Kreig Allen Fowler ’52, M ’74 Scholarship for Future Educators; a Kenneth and Jo Ann Wickman Scholarship; a Marylou B. Wright ’68 Non-traditional Student Scholarship and a TEACH Grant through the New York State Higher Education Services Corporation. The C.U.R.E. and TEACH scholarships come with a commitment to begin one’s career in underrepresented New York state schools.

German hopes to land a job as an elementary school teacher. That should impress her grandfather, a retired teacher and school principal from her hometown of Port Murray, New Jersey, and a role model for achievement.

“He’s 91 and yeah, he’s very proud of me,” she said.

Approximately 250 non-traditional students are enrolled at SUNY Cortland. The university defines non-traditional students as undergraduate students who are 24 years of age or older or, regardless of age, may have dependent children, be working full time, have military experience or have made a break in education at some point after high school.

German is the fifth SUNY Cortland non-traditional student to be honored with the monetary award since 2010. Past SUNY Cortland awardees include Mathew Adams ’21, Corrine Edick ’17, Karyn Scott ’16 and Rachel Alexander ’10.

Have you herd? A flock of sheep are at SUNY Cortland to help power the university and fight climate change. 

Sheep have again been enlisted as grazers at SUNY Cortland’s two solar arrays on Stratton Drive near State Route 281. With big appetites and bottomless stomachs, they reach nooks that would require contortions from a man or woman with a mower.  

Cortland uses 2,443 panels that produce approximately 1,118 kilowatts of electricity. This is the third year that sheep have been used on campus.  

“The benefits are numerous,” said Mike Quinlan, owner of Ironwood Grazing Company, which provided the lowest bid to Cortland and was selected for the university’s sheep services this summer. 

“For the owners and managers, maintaining a solar field mechanically can be very difficult. They are difficult to mow, and you still cannot get to all of it without string trimming, both of which typically require gas-operated equipment which depreciates and needs maintenance. It also requires labor that can be better served elsewhere.”  

There are six adult sheep and five lambs on campus, with all the adults being ewes (females). Quinlan says he uses rotational grazing with the sheep, which helps improve soil quality, limits erosion and encourages plant growth of native species. The results are clean fields and cleaner energy. 

The sheep this year also have a new hometown connection — Quinlan's wife, Emily, is assistant director of Care and Outreach Services at SUNY Cortland. 

“Emily has been pivotal to the operation,” Quinlan said. “Although I manage the day-to-day shepherding, Emily is involved in almost every major aspect of managing our flock. Past that, she really has been the ‘face’ of the company — managing social media, communicating to people what we are doing and pursuing leases.” 

In 2013, SUNY Cortland became the first in the 64-campus SUNY system to operate all its facilities using 100% renewable electricity, through a combination of solar power and the purchase of renewable energy. At a time when temperature records are breaking and the threat of climate change is apparent, the university continues to make the environment a top priority: 

• The Princeton Review has twice listed Cortland one of the most sustainable campuses in the United States. The finding is based on whether students have a campus quality of life that is healthy and sustainable, how well students are prepared for employment in a clean energy economy and how environmentally responsible a school’s policies are.     
• The university has been ranked by Sierra magazine as among the top 100 colleges and universities in the nation and was the top SUNY comprehensive college on their 2021 “Cool Schools” list.     
• SUNY Cortland earned back-to-back gold ratings in the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). The gold rating places Cortland among the top 3% of all higher education institutions in the country.     

Dan Dryja, director of Facilities Operations and Services (FOS), is happy with Ironwood’s services. 

“Mike and Emily have been a very responsive and an easy group to work with,” Dryja said. “The rotational grazing they implemented here is different than we previously saw on this campus and seems effective. They are very knowledgeable about their sheep and grazing techniques and communicate their plans to our FOS team so they are in the loop.” 

For more information on SUNY Cortland’s environmental programs, check out the Sustainability Office’s website. 

In 2009, multiple sclerosis (M.S.) picked a fight with former sports physical therapist Juliann “Julie” Lyons ’84.

For the the former Red Dragon lacrosse, cross country and indoor track team athlete, her determination to remain active as the incurable autoimmune disease progressively reduces her  mobility was never in doubt.

“For me, having M.S. is a challenge, not one I ever really wanted, but one I have to live with,” said Lyons of Alameda, California. “I can’t really change who I am as a person.”

Lyons is a dedicated lap swimmer and former 100-plus mile cyclist, distance runner and triathlete. So even as she scaled back her conventional athletics and physically demanding profession, Lyons fought back in the best way she knew how to slow the pace of her illness, which progressively attacks the insulating covers of nerve cells.

“I've always been a person who was passionate about movement," Lyons said. "I wasn't going to let M.S. stop me in my tracks." Her daily outdoor pool swim routine attests to that.

Today, the former SUNY Cortland physical education and nutrition major can think of no better activity for mind and body than to try out various Paralympic sports.

She began attending Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) athletic events, using the organization’s adaptive equipment and personnel to participate in golf, ice hockey, skiing, curling, basketball and yoga events under the astute coaching of the world’s topflight Paralympians inside some of the West Coast’s most exciting sports venues.

The San Diego, California-based organization has the mission of “empowering lives through sport” by addressing the barrier of the high costs of adaptive sports equipment and lack of resources that can keep individuals with physical challenges from being active. 

In each CAF event, Lyons is mentored by different Paralympians, including women’s giant slalom Paralympian Janet Penn, who captured a bronze medal in the first Paralympic winter games in 1980 in Geilo, Norway, returning to Innsbruck in 1984 to win a gold.

“My physical mobility has been challenged; however, my athletic desire wants to continue to participate,” Lyons said. “CAF has been a wonderful experience for me.”

While pushing her physical boundaries on ice, snow and golf greens, Lyons soon encountered an unexpected red and white link to her past: former sport management major Eva Kristof ’19. The CAF’s Northern California regional programs and community relations manager is Lyons’ new friend in the San Francisco Bay area. Kristof lives in Sacramento.

Lyons now greets Kristof at each event carrying a SUNY Cortland banner. A series of photographs captures the companions at each meeting, including:

• Last December, in the curling and sled hockey clinics in Shark's Ice at San Jose training rink
• In January, at the alpine adapted ski clinic at Achieve Tahoe
• At a wheelchair basketball clinic in Oakland at the Warriors Basketball Academy, the former Golden State Warriors training facility
• At Nordic skiing and biathlon shooting training at the Tahoe Donner Nordic Cross Country Center

“Cortland has always been a university of high-caliber training for athletic administration, physical education and adapted physical education amongst the best educational programs in these areas,” Lyons said.

“It’s not surprising to me that within this organization I would come upon a Cortland alum,” she said of Kristof.

Kristof, 35 years Lyons’ junior, agrees.

“I was so grateful to get connected with Julie!”

Both vividly recall their first encounter last Sept. 24 at a yoga clinic in Fremont, California.

“I hesitated, because I was going by myself and didn’t know anybody,” recalled Lyons of what was only her second CAF event. Her first had been a May 2022 golf clinic at the San Francisco Olympic Club. “But I thought, I should just go. It was a great clinic, with lots of instructors and lots of support.

“Eva was in charge, and I remember thinking, ‘She introduced herself as the new person from northern California,’” Lyons said. The past summer, Kristof had transferred from her first out-of-college employer’s main office in San Diego back to her childhood hometown of Pleasanton, California.

“I went up to her and asked her, ‘What’s your sport?’” Lyons said. “She casually mentioned she played women’s ice hockey, and I said, ‘That meant you didn’t go to school on the West Coast.’

California native Kristof recalled replying “ ‘Yes, the East Coast. Oh, it was a small school you wouldn’t know, it, Cortland.’”

They were both surprised to find a fellow Red Dragon nearly 3,000 miles from their alma mater.

“Small world, for sure,” Lyons said. “It’s been a pleasure getting to know her through a lot of different (CAF) events at this point, pretty much everything for the last year here.”

As a young teenager, Kristof tired of competing on boys’ ice hockey teams— the only kind available to her — and looked eastward for a collegiate varsity experience that included women’s hockey.

“At SUNY Cortland, I took an interest in the adaptive sports class that was offered as an elective,” said Kristof, who at Cortland concentrated in managing facilities and events. “My cousin has cerebral palsy, and I was excited to learn more about the adaptive sports community and career opportunities.

“I also played for the collegiate hockey team for my first three years, taking my last year off from the sport to pursue an internship with the U.S. Paralympics. Following graduation, I found my way back to California, and started working for CAF.”

Lyons, a Long Island native, as an undergraduate took the advice of Florence Brush, the late associate professor emerita of physical education, and took courses to steer her into physical therapy. At Cortland, she took part in varsity indoor track and women’s lacrosse.

She earned her first Master of Science in physical therapy in 1988 from Boston University, and afterward worked in California hospitals and specialty clinics. Although diminutive, Lyons nevertheless performed the physically demanding work to rehab NFL football players.

As her strength and balance dwindled and M.S. was suspected, Lyons prepared for a second career by earning, in 2002, a Master of Science in traditional Chinese medicine from the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in San Francisco. She worked as an acupuncturist and herbalist until the pandemic gave her the opportunity for early retirement.

Lyons doesn’t use a wheelchair, but through CAF she recently tried her old favorite sport, basketball, zipping around the court in a sport wheelchair in a March CAF clinic at Oakland’s Golden State Warriors training facility. Paralympic athletes and coaches of the U.S. Paralympic team shouted advice to participants on the sideline.

She'd gladly reconnect with alumni to talk about living with M.S. or raising awareness about what the CAF has to offer.

“It keeps me going, it keeps me encouraged, it keeps me positive emotionally,” Lyons said. “I think, the muscles that I do have that are still functioning and working well are really the ones I must keep working on. Because I’m aging. I’ll be 62 years old. I’m fighting a couple of different battles and the more fit I can keep myself, the better off I’m going to be to manage that chronic condition that I must deal with every day.”

The SUNY Cortland University Police Department (UPD), in partnership with the Allegany County Sheriff’s Office and FirstNet, Built by AT&T will host a first responder wellness symposium on July 21 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Sperry Center, Room 105, at 10 SUNY Cortland, Cortland, N.Y. 

The symposium is designed for law enforcement personnel, probation officers, district attorneys, EMS professionals and firefighters, and features presentations designed to highlight successful wellness programs currently operated in the state. The goal of the event is to explore a range of options for attendees to create their own wellness programs or build on existing ones. 

UPD Lt. Erik Merlin noted that law enforcement is a stressful profession, and officers are at an increased risk for physical, emotional and relational challenges that can impact their professional and personal lives. It’s estimated that 20 to 25% of all first responders experience post-traumatic stress.  

“The SUNY Cortland UPD strives to be a leader in the community,” Merlin said. “Thanks to help from the university, we’re able to host these first responder groups and continue to develop better ways to support ourselves and those we serve.” 

Cortland’s centralized location in the state will help bring as many participants to the event as possible. More than160 attendees are registered, along with five vendors. The symposium is sponsored by FirstNet, Built by AT&T, a national communications network designed for first responders. SUNY Cortland’s UPD officers are among its users, according to Merlin. 

The symposium's schedule is: 

8:00 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. Registration 

8:30 a.m. - 8:45 a.m. Welcome and Introductions 

8:45 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. Officer Wellness Program 

Brent Schlafer, Wellness Officer, Allegany County Sheriff’s Office, and Belinda Schlafer LMHC, CCTP, EMDR-C                                  

9:30 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office Wellness Program 

Suffolk County Wellness Team 

10:15 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. Break 

10:30 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.  Priority Wellness Campaign

Michael Briggs 

11:15 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Desert Waters Correctional Outreach

Caterina Spinaris, Ph.D., LPC 

12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. Lunch Sponsored by FirstNet, Built with AT&T 

1:00 p.m. - 1:45 p.m. Leadership Development 

Richard Martin Ph.D., Chief of Police, Newark, NY 

1:45 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. Understanding the Layers of Influence in Supporting Utilization Among First Responders             

Erin Craw Ph.D. 

2:30 p.m.  - 2:45 p.m.  Break 

2:45 p.m.  - 3:30 p.m. FirstNet Built with AT&T 

3:30 p.m.  - 4:30 p.m.  Round Table Discussion 

4:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.  Closing Remarks 

For more information, contact Brent Schlafer of the Allegany County Sheriff’s Department. 

Cortland senior Jean-Andre Sassine (Queens Village/The Lawrenceville School (NJ)) and graduate students Mat Bruno(Rye) and Amanda Gaffney (Williamsville/Williamsville East) have been honored as 2022-23 State University of New York (SUNY) Spring Scholar Athletes of the Year, while Sassine, Bruno and sophomore Emma Madigan (Endicott/Union-Endicott) have been chosen as State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Spring Scholar Athletes of the Year.

Sassine is the SUNY system’s Division III honoree and the SUNYAC’s award winner for men’s outdoor track and field. Bruno received both honors for baseball. Gaffney is the SUNY winner for women’s golf and Madigan is the SUNYAC winner for women’s tennis.  
 
Sassine is a communication studies major who graduated in May with a 3.89 overall GPA. He earned All-Niagara Region honors in the triple jump during the outdoor season and finished fourth at the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) championships. Sassine was an NCAA qualifier in the triple jump during the indoor season, placing 12th nationally, and he was recognized as the SUNY Scholar Athlete of the Year for men’s indoor track and field. 
 
Bruno currently has a 3.81 GPA as a graduate student majoring in physical education leadership and he registered a 3.45 GPA as a physical education undergraduate student. He earned ABCA first team all-region honors and second team All-SUNYAC honors as an outfielder this past spring after batting .367 with nine homers and 49 RBI, and he is Cortland’s career leader with 25 home runs. 
 
Gaffney sports a 4.0 GPA as a graduate student in childhood education and had a 3.56 undergraduate GPA in community health. She was the Northeast Women’s Golf Conference (NWGC) Golfer of the Year after winning the league tournament crown in April, helping the Red Dragons earn their second straight trip to the NCAA Division III Championships. 
 
Madigan is a psychology major with a 3.98 overall GPA. She earned first team All-SUNYAC honors after finishing the combined fall/spring season with an 11-1 singles record, including a 5-1 mark in league matches. She was 3-0 at fifth singles and 8-1 at sixth singles. 
 
The SUNYAC Scholar Athlete Award winners are selected from each of the SUNYAC’s 20 sponsored sports. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must have a minimum overall grade point average of 3.30, be a starter or significant reserve on his or her team and have an academic class standing of sophomore or higher. 
 
The Spring SUNY Scholar Athlete Awards recognized student athletes from SUNY colleges and universities sponsoring intercollegiate athletics at the four-year and two-year levels who were nominated and voted upon by representatives of their respective institutions. Nominating information includes cumulative grade point average, current and career statistics, and athletic and academic honors. 
 
More than 14,000 student-athletes compete at SUNY institutions representing 53 different colleges and universities at the NCAA Division I, NCAA Division III/USCAA and NJCAA levels and are eligible for the awards. The 19 Division III institutions in the SUNY system are: Alfred State, Brockport, Buffalo State, Canton, Cobleskill, Cortland, Delhi, Farmingdale, Fredonia, Geneseo, Maritime, Morrisville, New Paltz, Old Westbury, Oneonta, Oswego, Plattsburgh, Potsdam and SUNY Poly. SUNY-ESF, a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA), participates in the program with the 19 NCAA Division III members for a total of 20 colleges and universities. 
 
The SUNY Scholar Athlete Awards, which originated last fall, recognized outstanding academic and athletic success in 29 different sports and are presented three times a year to coincide with the specific sports contested in the fall, winter and spring seasons. The Scholar Athletes of the Year in each sport will then be nominated for an overall Scholar Athlete of the Year for men’s sports and women’s sports in each category that will be announced in mid-July. Because sport sponsorship varies among institutions, a minimum sponsorship formula has been developed for award selections. At least three institutions must sponsor the sport in the Division I category, while at least five institutions must sponsor the sport in the SUNY Division III/USCAA and SUNY NJCAA categories. For sports that do not meet the minimum threshold to be a viable award, an At-Large Category has been developed for each level and each season.