Campus Champion

Sean Nolan ’11, M ’12 is an educator at heart. With bachelor's and master's of science degrees in adolescence education: physics and mathematics, he now supervises student teachers in SUNY Cortland’s program. He has had numerous duties since joining the Physics Department as a full-time lecturer in 2014, the same year the new Bowers Hall Planetarium opened. The technical training he received on the system’s software earned him title of planetarium director. Sean’s planetarium shows educate and entertain about the wonders of our Universe. He presented four shows during Family Weekend and will host Red Dragons and students from area elementary and high schools throughout the school year. 

The 2022 Cortaca Jug game between SUNY Cortland and Ithaca College will be broadcast from Yankee Stadium by the YES Network, the most-watched regional sports network in the United States, the Yankees announced today.

The network, the number one regional sports network in the nation, is the exclusive regional television home of the 27-time World Champion New York Yankees, the Brooklyn Nets, the 2021 MLS Cup Champion New York City FC and the New York Liberty. Having earned 134 Emmy Awards since its 2002 launch, it has been the most-watched regional sports network in the country for 17 of the past 19 years and made the list of Forbes’ top 10 most valuable sports business brands in the world for nine straight years.

To make the broadcast possible, kickoff for the Nov. 12 Division III rivalry game will be moved ahead one hour, from 1 p.m. to noon.

“The YES Network’s decision to broadcast this year’s Cortaca Jug game is terrific news for the SUNY Cortland community, including our alumni, parents and friends across the country and around the world,” said SUNY Cortland President Erik J. Bitterbaum.

“I hope many people are able to join us in person to celebrate our student-athletes and take part in one of the largest gatherings in SUNY Cortland history. Having the option to follow the game on the YES Network is the latest proof that Cortaca Jug really is ‘the biggest little game in the nation.’”

The game is available to all YES Network subscribers. Non-subscribers will be able to view a live stream of the game. Details about streaming will be shared when they are available.

Fans will also be able to follow the action online via:

• WICB, Ithaca College’s student-run radio station.
• Live stats from the Ithaca College athletics website.

A limited number of tickets remain available for purchase at cortacajug.com or ticketmaster.com.

Subject to availability, fans can choose to sit on the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons side of the stadium (third base/left field), or the Ithaca College Bombers side of the stadium (first base/right field). All tickets will be delivered digitally, and mobile phone presentation will be the only method of entry accepted.

The 63rd edition of the game will mark the first time Yankee Stadium will host an all-New York State college football game since Syracuse defeated Army, 27-15, on Nov. 7, 1964. Ithaca will be the home team for the contest.

The Cortaca Jug was first introduced to the Cortland-Ithaca football rivalry in 1959, when Cortland football captain Tom Decker ’61 stopped at a yard sale and purchased a $2 jug from a local farmer, thinking it could be used as a trophy for the annual game between the two teams. After meeting up with friend and Ithaca football captain Dick Carmean, the two painted the jug blue, gold, red and white in honor of both schools’ colors.

Once referred to by Sports Illustrated as "the biggest little game in the nation," the Cortaca Jug was played in 2019 before a Division III- record crowd of 45,161 fans at MetLife Stadium, with Ithaca prevailing, 32-20. In the most recent contest, Cortland defeated Ithaca, 28-27, at Cortland. Ithaca currently leads the Cortaca Jug series, 37–25.

Both teams are undefeated for the season at 4-0. The American Football Coaches Association poll ranks Cortland No. 10 nationally in Division III and Ithaca No. 12. The national D3football.com poll meanwhile ranks Ithaca No. 12 and Cortland No. 13.

“This is going to be a great game that every football fan should watch,” Bitterbaum said. “The change in kickoff time means fans will have to adjust, but I’m hopeful our community of Red Dragons will understand the value of the opportunity the YES Network is providing.”

For one group of SUNY Cortland anthropology majors, their field is more than a framework for studying human societies and cultures.

It’s a force for doing good in the world.

CULTURE Society, a nonprofit organization created earlier this year by SUNY Cortland students aligned with the university’s Sociology/Anthropology Department, applies the professional skills and perspective of the discipline to find creative and culturally sensitive solutions to problems facing people today.

“What we’re trying to do is use the definition of anthropology, which is just studying humanity, and apply that to a more — I guess — functional approach,” said their executive director, Christopher Fernandez, a senior anthropology and sociology dual major from Pittsford, N.Y.

The group's anthropological activism has ranged from safely documenting culturally sensitive artifacts to providing free feminine hygiene products.

CULTURE Society is not recognized by the Student Government Association and doesn’t yet have a Cortland chapter. However, in May it gained state approval and federal Internal Revenue Service-designated 501 C (3) status with a board of directors, an executive staff and an office in Rochester, N.Y.

Developers envision eventual campus chapters all over the country. But for now, the non-governmental agency offers both a website, culturesociety.org, and a blog for sharing ideas on future cultural heritage, antiracism, human rights and environmental sustainability projects.

Projects currently include:

• In late September, CULTURE Society raised funds and installed a hand-cranked compost tumbler in the SUNY Cortland Childcare Center playground area. It will help give children an early exposure to sustainability practices.
• Members collected and distributed through the SUNY Cortland Cupboard 3,000 feminine hygiene products, covering one costly necessity that strains the budgets of female students.
• The group organizes lectures including, last semester, a sandwich seminar on human rights and immigration.
• CULTURE Society is starting to develop an antiracism and indigenous rights curriculum suitable for high school age and younger students.
• The group, members of which have experience creating 3D images of artifacts, are offering to use photography and 3D scanning equipment to create digital “virtual museums” on behalf of monetarily impoverished but culturally rich societies. They will do the work for free and ask only for travel expenses.

People get confused about the very broad scope of CULTURE Society’s projects.

“We’re a non-profit but we’re just identified as an anthropological group. So, you take good ideas,” Fernandez said. “If someone comes to us and has an idea and we can facilitate it, then we do it, as long as it helps people.”

CULTURE Society’s seven-member board, assisted by some 30 student volunteers and numerous faculty advisors, combine anthropology, sociology and a mix of other academic disciplines found at the university — archeology, health education, history, political science, international studies and modern languages to name just a few — to help humankind in any way these intensely people-oriented activists can dream up.

“I wouldn’t say the goal was to necessarily address things that existing organizations weren’t doing,” Fernandez explained. “But we are trying to solve common problems from an anthropological perspective. So some things that we have been doing are very similar to what other groups have been doing. We are just consolidating it and looking at it slightly differently with different explanations.”

Fernandez explained, for example, how the group wants to preserve cultural heritage artifacts in ways that maintain a community's ownership and connection with their own anthropological items.

“Instead of having to remove an artifact from its ancestral land, you can just 3D scan it and then leave it,” Fernandez said. “So, you don’t run into awkward situations where you are removing a culture’s artifacts from their historical lands and far away from where the descending generations can’t actually enjoy it. It avoids the messy subject of repatriation.”

Some 30 students of all disciplines have shown up for brain-storming meetings on an eclectic array of future projects with CULTURE Society members. Many are majoring in the university’s relatively new action anthropology concentration.

“At the end of the day, that’s what action anthropology is, it’s using what you know about humanity to help humanity,” Fernandez said.

Last fall, the organization functioned as a study group. Then Fernandez, who abandoned a photojournalism career and transferred to Cortland as a junior from Monroe Community College, used last winter break to set up the non-profit corporation, successfully shepherding it first through state and then federal approvals. He had help from C. Pierce Rasmussen ’22, the CULTURE Society board president, a former anthropology major from Dryden, N.Y.

Darren Heigel, a senior dual major in archeology and history from Galway, N.Y., writes for the group’s blog and fronts the organization’s archeological services.

“I’m highly motivated to work with my colleagues on CULTURE Society’s mission of cultural heritage preservation,” Heigel said. “By using cutting-edge, minimally invasive technologies, and methods, such as 3D-scanners and photogrammetry, we hope to help indigenous groups and academic field workers alike, to create a more ethical, involved and accessible archaeology for all.”

“We can go wherever they need us to, as long as they can pay for the plane ticket,” Fernandez said of the virtual artifact preservation service.

The group’s vice president Olivia Morrison, a sophomore action anthropology major from Albion, N.Y., also writes for the blog.

“She is more of our ‘helping people right now with problems’ person,” Fernandez said. “For example, she discerned the need for women’s hygiene products.”

Morrison also promoted a School of Education faculty member’s idea that the SUNY Cortland Childcare Center could benefit from the composter.

“I’ve always wanted to do nonprofit work and CULTURE Society has been able to make a difference in such a short amount of time,” Morrison said. “Our projects, past, present and future, help to combat issues I’m passionate about like climate change, women’s rights, Indigenous rights and more.”

Fernandez, who traveled for archeological research to Turkey with SUNY Distinguished Professor of Sociology/Anthropology Sharon Steadman, bounces ideas off of his mentor a lot. Members of the group also frequently consult John Sosa, a SUNY Cortland associate professor emeritus of anthropology with a Maya background, about culturally sensitive approaches to working with populations they are serving.

As executive director, Fernandez plans to create a larger network to grow the organization.

“We are going to be reaching out to cultural heritage sites, colleges, museums and dig sites and offering our services,” Fernandez said. “It’s a very niche group and I expect that a lot of people have contact with each other.”

For more information, contact the CULTURE Society.

Images courtesy of CULTURE Society

SUNY Cortland students recently spent a week in Germany at a Universität Potsdam (UP) Summer School, focused on teaching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.  

The U.N.’s goals promote a more ecologically sound, peaceful and equitable world, explained Gigi Peterson, the associate professor of history who guided the Cortland students through their end-of-summer international foray.

“We wanted the students to step outside a U.S. cultural box, and also challenge assumptions that the way education happens in the U.S. is the way it happens everywhere,” Peterson said.  

The “Drachen” [Dragons] team joined German partners in a mini-course, the “Engaging Global Citizenship Study Group,” which explored history, culture and identity.   

The concept of a global citizen, Peterson said, requires curiosity and a nonjudgmental attitude toward peoples and cultures beyond one’s own. It also involves inquiry, critical thinking, avoiding faulty assumptions, and informed action to better the world. The study group emphasized these issues, especially as they affect the teaching-learning dynamic. The overall experience allowed participants to expand their views of other cultures and critically reflect upon their own.  

“International travel, especially if you don’t have control of the language, can be unsettling, and that can be a good thing.” Peterson said. “To be outside of an easy, comfortable environment can help one gain insights and sensitivity. Some of our students had not traveled abroad before, and so this trip in itself was a wonderful opportunity.”   

Before their time in Germany, history and anthropology majors Darren Heigel and Evan Morse took part in a virtual exchange with Universität Potsdam students during Peterson’s spring 2022 Rethinking Migration History class. They drew many new insights from the in-person experiences.   

“I realized that language does change the way you think,” Morse noted. “When speaking only one language you are stuck within a certain prose and order of thinking. The ability to switch languages displayed by international students was endearing.”  

“My biggest takeaway is seeing global citizenship in action,” Heigel said. “To create the next generation of global citizens, we must be them. Being welcomed so warmly to Germany, and the friendships I made there, really showed me that something like global citizenship is possible. With cooperation like we experienced at the summer school, the sky truly is the limit.”  

Ariel White ’22, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in digital media and graphic design, saw her earlier plans to study abroad ruined by the COVID pandemic. So she jumped at a chance to continue her practice of German, to explore different cultures and histories and to grow as an artist. White was able to apply her drawing skills to a collaborative presentation in the summer school.  

History and social studies major Raymond Pagano, who completed his student teaching in May, was able to make his second trip to Germany as an aspiring social studies teacher.  

“My future classroom will definitely have SDG elements planted within lessons,” Pagano said. “Teaching the next generation of students to become global citizens will help us create plans for the betterment of the planet and future generations to come.”  

Two of Peterson’s former students, now working social studies teachers, joined the group as guest instructors. Caitlin Goodwin ’11 in McGraw (N.Y.) Middle School and Taylor Weigand ’10 at Binghamton (N.Y.) High School consistently host and mentor teacher candidates enrolled in SUNY Cortland’s Adolescence Education Social Studies Program (SST) program, and over the past two years they participated in online exchanges with UP classes. They were excited to contribute to the Summer School, and Peterson described working with them and other colleagues at Potsdam as a “dream team.” Goodwin was also recently named the 2022 New York State History Teacher of the Year. 

Most of the German students were preparing to teach English as a foreign language, and about U.S. culture and history as part of that mission. They appreciated the SUNY Cortland guests.  

“Your way of teaching and making connections helped me understand that I need to think about culture and language in a historical way to really understand it,” wrote one German teacher candidate.  

Another valued how Goodwin and Weigand “always gave us insights into their classrooms and shared different teaching approaches with us. A lot of this I can take as a positive example for my teaching practice in the future.”   

The trip had roots in Peterson’s previous work. Beginning in 2014, she taught courses on migration at Cortland and at Fulda University in Germany, her first step in international teaching. That experience and a fortuitous introduction by John Suarez, SUNY Cortland’s director of the Institute for Civic Engagement, led to a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project with UP partners in Spring 2020. Peterson’s migration history students worked in teams with students from three other countries, while her own collaboration with UP’s Professor Britta Freitag-Hild deepened.   

Over the next semesters they embedded virtual exchange options into their classes in history, social studies teaching, and English-language teaching (Freitag-Hild’s specialty), and they co-planned many elements of the summer school experience. Freitag-Hild played a leading role in landing a major grant from Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, or German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), and developing the 2022 Summer School that it helped fund. The two professors are now working on articles for a volume that Universität Potsdam will publish.  

Much credit, Peterson said, is due to SUNY Cortland’s International Programs Office and its staff, including Mary Schlarb, assistant vice provost for student achievement and senior international officer, and Hugh Anderson. They supported the trip and helped obtain SUNY approval and insurance coverage. Peterson also expressed gratitude to her department for supporting migration history courses at the core of this initial collaboration, and to additional colleagues who have promoted international linkages.  

“Potsdam is interested in student exchanges, faculty exchanges or possibly faculty guest lecturers,” Peterson noted. 

“We’re hoping to continue the partnership between our two campuses.”  

The hope is for a long-term connection beneficial to students and faculty from both institutions. The summer 2022 team of “die Drachen” will long revel in their experience.   

Last October, 15 teams of SUNY Cortland students raised more than $10,000 to combat world hunger. It was the strongest student effort among more than 2,000 CROP Hunger Walks held across the United States.

This year, as bloody conflicts, COVID-19, climate shocks and global inflation have put more than 345 million people around the world at risk of starvation, organizers of the 28th annual Cortland area CROP Hunger Walk hope to get even more students involved.

There’s potential for both greater participation and donations this year, said SUNY Cortland History Department lecturer and local CROP walk coordinator Jim Miller. But people are running out of time to get Involved.

The annual event Is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 23, with one- or three-mile routes starting in downtown Cortland at Holy Spirit Church on Court Street next to the city fire station. All members of the Cortland community — students, SUNY Cortland employees, residents of Cortland and surrounding areas — are encouraged to take part.

In-person sign-up this year is from 12:30-1:30 p.m. at the church, with groups or individual walkers starting immediately after. Walkers can also register online in advance through the local walk's website.

The website also allows people who have pledged donations to pay online, a convenience that Miller said helped last year's record-breaking $17,000 event, with $10,000 raised by students and $7,000 by members of the community.

“It saves students a lot of hassle to not be collecting money,” Miller said of the online option.

“It used to be that people just show up and we now are encouraging them to sign up online,” he said. “Now, it’s easier if people come, register and go ahead and walk They can walk in groups or individually. It’s not the gathering it was, which was a nice, spirit-driven thing. But this makes it more efficient and prevents massive crowds of people to possibly spread Covid.”

The event usually attracts a good turnout from student groups. Miller noted that several sororities, varsity and club sport teams and various other student groups had already committed. He's even persuaded two of the COR 101: The Cortland Experience classes he teaches to join the competition for one of five Golden Sneaker plaques to be given out for fundraising bragging rights.

“For years we’ve been trying to get all the COR 101 students to do a CROP Hunger Walk just as a way for them to get to know one another,” said Miller, who has organized Cortland’s initiative since 2004.

He suspects that a massive COR 101 turnout might bring the number of walkers up over the record 400 city trekkers from 2019, before the pandemic brought about two years of remote hunger walks.

This year's Crop Hunger Walk will mark the 16th year the campus community has raised money to for the cause.

 As always, 25 percent of the funds raised will return to the local community to support food pantries and feeding programs including the SUNY Cortland Cupboard campus food pantry, Miller said.

The rest of the donations are distributed by Church World Service, a nondenominational coalition of religious organizations that has been holding CROP Hunger Walks all over the world since 1969. The walks raise approximately $20 million each year.

Check out the CWS website, Miller said. Funds go to enable people around the world to sustain themselves. He encourages people to watch a six-minute video on the site about a village in Kenya, Africa, where safe water sources were developed to end a dire drought situation where women walked all day to return with heavy water jugs for their families.

On the campus, there are several Golden Sneaker plaques awarded each year to the SUNY Cortland organizations that raise the most funds. The cost of the plaques is underwritten by the James M. Clark Center for Global Engagement.

For more information, to donate or form a team, visit the Cortland CROP Hunger Walk website.

The university community may contact Miller for more information.

The campus’ entry lights shine purple as SUNY Cortland highlights National Domestic Violence Month, drawing attention to an issue that claims victims across all age, gender, race, sexuality, religion, education  and economic levels. An average of 20 people are physically abused by intimate partners every minute, equating 10 million abuse victims annually. 

Throughout October, members of SUNY Cortland’s It’s On Us Action Team will  join the student club Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER) to raise awareness about interpersonal violence and offer resources to individuals seeking support.  

The effort includes a variety of campus activities and events: 

• The annual Take Back the Night March is set for Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. at the steps of Corey Union. The campus march is part of an international event aimed at encouraging people  to  actively fight to end sexual and domestic violence in all forms. The keynote speakers at Take back the Night will include Emma Secor, the Student Government Association’s representative to SAFER.  Students tired of walking  around campus should keep an eye out for  Consent Carts. These are golf carts that offer to drive  students  to on-campus destinations in exchange for a discussion  about consent and sexual violence prevention. One Consent Cart program occurred early this month and  at least one more planned.
  

• Tables in the Student Life Center and Old Main will offer a symbolic reminder of the cost of abuse.  “An Empty Seat at the Table” display features  an empty seat and place setting as a reminder of  the lives lost  to domestic violence. On the plates and silverware are  facts about domestic violence and resources for those who need it.
  

• There is also an ongoing social media “Red Flag Campaign” that illustrates how to recognize the different warning signs in relationships. 

The It’s On Us Action Team is comprised of students, faculty and staff. Its co-chairs are Deputy Title IX Coordinator Sam Halligan and Prevention Educator Marissa Whitaker.

"Domestic Violence Awareness month has been in existence nationwide for over 30 years, to connect individuals and bring awareness to this issue," Whitaker said. "Through raising awareness, celebrating survivors, and advocating for change, we can honor those who have lost their lives to domestic violence. All people deserve to have healthy relationships without violence. "

The team is collaborating with various offices on campus including Title IX, Residence Life and Housing, University Police Department and Health Promotion. The team also works closely with advocates from the YWCA’s Aids to Victims of Violence program, a community resource available to anyone impacted by domestic violence. 

SAFER is a student club whose main mission is to educate and raise awareness about sexual assault, domestic violence, and other forms of assault on campus and in the community. 

If you need help or simply want more information, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or visit its website at www.thehotline.org. The New York state Domestic and Sexual Violence Hotline can also be reached in most languages by calling (800) 942-6906, texting (844) 997-2121 or by chat at opdv.ny.gov. 

For local resources, there are university Instagram accounts for SAFER at sunycortlandsafer and It’s On Us at sunycortland_itsonus. For additional help, visit www.thehotline.org/get-help/domestic-violence-local-resources. 

SUNY Cortland’s renovation of Miller Building is nearly complete, with many offices serving both students and employees returning to their permanent locations.

The second and third floors received their first major renovation since the administration building opened in 1967. Both floors were completely transformed, bringing new office layouts, meeting areas, technology and several energy-efficient upgrades such as lighting.

“This project required a great deal of planning and patience, and it was worth the wait,” said Zachariah Newswanger, SUNY Cortland’s associate vice president for facilities management. “These updates were necessary and complicated, so I am grateful for the efforts of our Facilities Planning Design and Construction team as well as the many campus offices impacted by the work. The forward-facing offices on Miller Building’s second and third floors now have brighter, more inviting spaces that they deserve.”

The project’s initial work started in June 2021 with a demolition phase that impacted Miller Building’s second through fourth floors. Fourth-floor offices returned in the spring, while others remained relocated through the early fall.

The full list of second- and third-floor offices and their new permanent locations includes:

• Business Office – Miller Building, Room 310

• Extended Learning Office – Miller Building, Room 208

• Financial Aid Office – Miller Building, Room 209

• Human Resources Office – Miller Building, Room 302

• Payroll Office – Miller Building, Room 301

• Research and Sponsored Programs – Miller Building, Room 303

• Student Accounts Office – Miller Building, Room 201

• Student Registration and Record Services – Miller Building, Room 203

• Title IX Office – Miller Building, Room 309 

With the Miller Building project nearing completion, the next major campus project expected to begin during the 2022-23 academic year is the renovation of the C-wing of Cornish and Van Hoesen halls.

That space, located near the former Tomik Fitness Facility, will be transformed with updates for the Communication and Media Studies Department as well as several other academic and student service areas, including the Disability Resources Office, Counseling and Wellness Services and the Educational Opportunity Program.

A news media specialist from Syracuse University will explore why many false communications — including fake news, campaign lies and digital deepfakes — are protected as free speech under the U.S. Constitution, on Wednesday, Oct. 12, at SUNY Cortland.

 Nina Brown, an assistant professor in the university’s Newhouse School of Public Communications will present “False Speech and the First Amendment” at 4:30 p.m. in Moffett Center, Room 115.

Brown’s lecture continues SUNY Cortland’s 2022-23 Rozanne M. Brooks Lecture Series on the theme of “The Culture of Truth.” Over the last decade, ‘truth’ has seemed to become a rare resource. This year’s series investigates why truth seems so fleeting in today’s world, but also where we might find it in the most surprising places.

The series’ talks and accompanying receptions are free and open to the public.

In her talk, Brown will discuss why the First Amendment often protects false speech, even when it causes harm.

Her talk, “False Speech and the First Amendment,” will explore what constitutes false, but protected, speech and whether current U.S. law can strike the right balance in preserving free speech rights.

“Even though they are false and often harmful, these types of speech are typically protected by the First Amendment,” Brown said. “Speech need not be true to receive protection under our laws.”

She  will explore whether that is the right framework and will examine the exceptions to rules on free speech.

“We will look at the impact of social media on false speech and at efforts to regulate both despite clear constitutional protections,” she said.

A faculty member at S.U. since 2015, Brown earned her law degree from Cornell Law School. There, she served as notes editor and associate editor of the Cornell International Law Journal and Moot Court Board member. She has a B.S. in advertising from the Newhouse School.

Brown teaches both undergraduate and graduate levels from freshmen through graduate and law students and has developed or co-developed courses, including a graduate Public Relations Law course and an online law course.

Her academic research has been cited in academic articles, creative publications, and the court system.

Editors of the 2020 Entertainment, Publishing and the Arts Handbook, an anthology published annually by Thomson Reuters (West), included and described her article in Va. J. L. & Tech., 1 (2020) on “Deepfakes and the Weaponization of Disinformation,” as “one of the best law review articles related to entertainment, publishing and/or the arts published within the last year.”

Brown was selected as a Fall 2019-2020 Kopenhaver Center Faculty Fellow and earned a 2018 Meredith Teaching Recognition Award from Syracuse University. The Newhouse graduating class of 2018 presented her with its Newhouse Award for Teaching Excellence.

She placed third in 2018 and 2017 for the AEJMC Law Division Teaching Award of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.

The talks all take place on Wednesdays and begin at 4:30 p.m. in Moffett Center, Room 115. Seating will be limited and cannot be exceeded so attendees should  come early to secure a seat. A reception to welcome each speaker one half hour before the talk may be announced. Events in the series are subject to change.

The 2022-23 Brooks Lecture Series is sponsored by the Cortland College Foundation and Cortland Auxiliary.

For more information, contact Brooks lecture series organizer and Brooks Museum director Sharon Steadman, a SUNY distinguished professor and chair of SUNY Cortland’s Sociology/Anthropology Department, at 607-753-2308.

Half a century ago, music legend Billy Joel performed at SUNY Cortland, playing his earliest hits on the same Steinway piano used by performing arts students today.

Joel’s two campus concerts made a lasting impression on students at the time, some of whom returned to Cortland last month, as the university officially dedicated the instrument as the Billy Joel Piano during a ceremony that featured a current student playing his music.

Joel offered a short statement of appreciation that was read by Peter Perkins, vice president for institutional advancement:

“I’m grateful that SUNY Cortland students are still able to play the same piano that I performed on back in ’72 and ’74. Thank you to SUNY Cortland for your dedication to music education and enriching the lives of today’s young people through music.”

The dedication was part of a SUNY Cortland reception for emeriti faculty and staff donors in the Corey Union Function Room. Brandon Upton, a musical theater major, performed Billy Joel's "Vienna" on the piano.

The Sept. 29 dedication was an initiative of SUNY Cortland’s Musical Legacy Committee, a task force of alumni and current and former staff focused on raising awareness of a pre-internet period from roughly 1960 through 1990 when huge stars like Joel, the Grateful Dead and the Eagles routinely performed at SUNY Cortland and other college campuses without the benefit of social media. 

Committee members present at the dedication of the Billy Joel piano were Sonia Sochia, Kevin Pristash ’85, M ’91; Jack Samuels ’73; Rocco Scaptura ’68; Ralph Shortell ’66 and Gordon Valentine ’68, M ’70.

The committee first formed in 2018 to help celebrate SUNY Cortland’s 150^th anniversary. Since then, it has hosted performances and discussion panels, commissioned and installed a commemorative campus sculpture, and created a series of shadow boxes with concert memorabilia that tell the story of that era.

Wegmans Pharmacy will hold a flu shot and COVID-19 booster vaccine clinic at SUNY Cortland on Friday, Oct. 14.

Members of the campus community can register online for a Pfizer bivalent COVID-19 booster or a flu shot. The pharmacy offers four types of flu shots: standard, egg-free, preservative-free and senior 65+.

The clinic will be held in Corey Union Exhibition Lounge from 9 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.

Participants are asked to bring their insurance card and their vaccination card if they are receiving a COVID-19 booster. Your last booster shot must have been received at least two months before Oct. 14 to schedule an appointment for this event.

To register online:

• Go to the Wegmans Pharmacy online portal.
• Click “schedule a new appointment.”
• Change the date to Oct. 14, 2022.
• Enter ZIP code “13045” and select “search.”
• Select the SUNY Cortland clinic and click the “Schedule Appointment” button.
• Complete the prompts to finish your registration.

More information on SUNY Cortland’s COVID-19 policies is available on the COVID-19 Safety Information page.

Dear students,

I want to remind you about the many resources available to assist you with your coursework should you need extra help at this point in the semester.

Please don’t be afraid to raise your hand during class or to stop by your instructor’s office hours to ask questions or get feedback on your work. Your faculty members can be an outstanding source of assistance, but it is your responsibility to make those arrangements.

Other campus resources include:

• Advisement and Transition. New students, transfer students and non-traditional students may benefit from advice on choosing a major, registering for classes and much more.
• Memorial Library. Faculty and staff in the library can help guide your research, check out materials and assist with your technology needs.
• The Learning Center. Schedule in-person or online tutoring with professional or peer tutors to build successful academic behaviors.
• The Writing Center. Make an appointment to talk with a consultant about any part of the writing process and get tips on how to be a more confident writer.

I also encourage you to get together with your classmates and talk about assignments. Study groups can be great ways to better understand material and share your insights with others.

All the best,

Erik J. Bitterbaum

President

The Ethics of Mandated Reporting Workshop, geared for preservice teachers, will be held on campus at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 19.

This workshop will ask participants to think critically about the impact of child welfare and child protective services on children and families. Attendees will learn strategies from practitioners and family advocates about culturally competent approaches, supporting parents and what is in the best interest of the children. Special attention will be paid to positive role modeling by teachers. 

The workshop is free. Register by Monday, Oct. 17, using this online form. A confirmation and Webex invitation will be sent to registrants on Tuesday, Oct. 18.

Questions about registering for this event can be directed to Katie Silvestri, Literacy Department.

The workshop is hosted by members of SUNY Cortland faculty and the Education Club. Co-sponsors include Sophia’s Garden, Black Student Union, Black Lives Matter at School Committee, Cortland Black Lives Matter and the Center for Ethics, Peace and Social Justice.

The 2022 Annual Service Awards Ceremony recognizing classified staff will be held on Friday, Dec. 2, in the Corey Union Function Room.

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

2022 Service Awards Awardees

40 YEARS

Deborah Dintino, Political Science Department

35 YEARS

Melony Warwick, Institutional Advancement

30 YEARS

Penny Bushaw, Stores/Mail/Physical Education

Daphne Guy, Custodial Services

Suzanne Pettitt, School of Arts & Sciences

25 YEARS

Thomas Hingher, Central Heating Plant

Tamara Magee, Custodial Services

20 YEARS

Ryan Caughey, Custodial Services

Barbara Field, Custodial Services

Joan Root, Custodial Services

Elizabeth Scott, Parking Department

Meghan VanDeuson, School of Arts & Sciences

15 YEARS

*Linda Crompton, Purchasing

Maryalice Griffin, Communication Studies

Douglas Hyde, University Police

Rhonda McLaughlin, Budget Office

Steven Mize, Maintenance

Debra Powers, Library

Lynn Stevens, Maintenance

Kelley Wooldridge, Assistant Teacher, Child Care Center (Research Foundation)

10 years

Michael Amsden, Facilities Operations and Services

Chelsea Bledsoe, President’s Office

Jason Gleason, Maintenance

Abigail Jenney, Child Care Center (Research Foundation)

Christopher MacNabb, Facilities

Courtney Mantey, School of Education

Derek Noffey, Heating Plant

Jessica Park, Facilities

Diane Purvis, Facilities

Connie Uzailko, Facilities

*retired in 2022