Campus Champion

The Cortland County Community of Color (C4) network — a collaborative initiative between SUNY Cortland and Tompkins Cortland Community College — will hold Cortland County’s fourth annual Juneteenth Celebration honoring the end of slavery in America on Saturday, June 15.

C4 will host the official recognition of Black American emancipation from noon to 3 p.m. at Courthouse Park on Church Street in downtown Cortland. The event will be catered by MarShell's, based in Elmira, N.Y.

Juneteenth, the day of freedom for once-enslaved African Americans, is celebrated on the 19th of June instead of Sept. 22, the calendar day when President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. The reason is because June 19, 1865 — almost two years later — was the day the Union Army marched into Galveston, Texas, and enforced  Lincoln’s emancipation in Texas, the last Confederate holdout allowing slavery. Juneteenth became a national holiday in 2021.

“On June 19, we reflect on and celebrate the freedom and independence of African Americans in the United States and around the world,” said Lorraine Lopez-Janove, SUNY Cortland’s chief diversity and inclusion officer.

C4 welcomes the opportunity to bring awareness of Juneteenth to the Cortland community, explain why it is celebrated and have lots of fun in the process.

“Seeing the support of this day from other community members shows Black Americans that they no longer need to struggle or fight for equity alone,” Lopez-Janove said.

The event is free and the public is welcome. The Juneteenth Celebration will feature music, speeches, a dunk tank for charity, lawn games, vendors and giveaways.

The presidents of both SUNY Cortland and TC3 — Erik J. Bitterbaum and Amy Kremenek, respectively — will welcome participants, along with Cortland Mayor Scott Steve, Senator Lea Webb of the New York State Senate’s 52nd District, and New York State Assembly member Anna R. Kelles.

Alicia Govens will sing at the event. The assistant fiscal director for the Luzerne and Wyoming Counties Mental Health and Developmental Services Program in Pennsylvania, in her younger days she began her lifelong commitment to service as an AmeriCorps volunteer.

Apryl Beatty, founder of Cortland County Black Lives Matter and Cortland Community Matters, a nonprofit organization that provides recreational opportunities for local children, will speak on behalf of the Cortland community.

Regina Grantham, associate professor emeritus of SUNY Cortland’s Communication Disorders and Sciences Department, will deliver the keynote address.

Grantham, a winner of a Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service, was an innovative leader in speech-language pathology for more than 50 years at the local, regional, state and national levels.

The American Speech Language and Hearing Association honored Grantham with the title of fellow, which is among the profession’s highest awards. A passionate advocate and voice for antiracism, equity and social justice, she will retire as board secretary of the New York State Speech Language Hearing Association at the end of this year, having served for four years.

Grantham led her department’s development of Cortland’s nationally accredited graduate program and was honored by her colleagues and students with the creation of a scholarship in perpetuity in her name. As a keynote speaker at 2023 Commencement ceremonies, she received a standing ovation for her message, “Every moment is a Cause for Celebration.”

Her dedicated community service earned her Zonta’s 2014 Women of the Year Award. Grantham currently chairs the board of the TC3 Foundation. She is recently retired from Cortland’s YWCA board.

The dunk tank was added to Juneteenth to mix fun with philanthropy.

“This year, we are asking those who want to toss at the dunk tank to provide one single canned good to toss at participants,” Lopez-Janove said. “Those will be donated to Loaves and Fishes.”

Volunteers to dunk for a good cause so far include Beatty; Jena Curtis, a SUNY Cortland professor of health; Jennifer Reminick, manager of communications and marketing for Cortland Chamber of Commerce; and Seth Thompson, TC3 vice president of student affairs and senior diversity officer; and Amanda Wasson, assistant chief of the University Police Department.

Vendors for the event will include the League of Women Voters of Cortland County, the SUNY Cortland Anti Racism Taskforce, the New York State Senate, Meraki Skin Co., New York State Police, Grace and Holy Spirit Church, Cortland LGBTQ Center, SPLAT! Sumthin’, Alzheimer’s Association of Central New York, Cortland County Immunization Ambassador Program, Family Planning of South Central New York, Golden Gift Reflexology and Therapeutic Massage LLC, Cortland County Health Department/ Youth Bureau, and YWCA Cortland, Shea Butter Sales, Cortland County Health Department-Childhood Lead Poisoning Preventing Program, and Mannion for New York.

Lopez-Janove said C4 offers special thanks to the City of Cortland, Cortland Police Department, New York State Police, and Cortland Fire Department for their support.

This year’s event has received community support from Crown City Cinema, Greek Peak, Cortland Repertory Theater, Asempe Kitchen and Wegman's.

Besides Lopez-Janove and Grantham, the C4 Committee includes Katrina Hodge, assistant director of multicultural life and diversity at SUNY Cortland; Seth Thompson, interim vice president of student affairs and senior diversity officer at TC3; Kharmen Wingard M ’10, senior EOP counselor at SUNY Cortland; Charlotte Wade, assistant diversity officer at SUNY Cortland; and SUNY Cortland graduate Tim Bennett ’07, M ’23, owner of the Cortland Voice.

Three Red Dragon alumni have been recognized for their success as teachers and mentors and will receive the Distinguished Educator Award from the SUNY Cortland Alumni Association during Alumni Reunion 2024. The event will also see the recognition of a new Honorary Alum and an Outstanding Alumni Volunteer.

Distinguished Educators can come from any class year and have set themselves apart through their success in the field of education.

Honorary Alumni is a distinction bestowed on those who have not graduated from SUNY Cortland but have created an invaluable bond with the institution and contributed to the greater university community.

Those named an Outstanding Alumni Volunteer are graduates who have achieved a long record of outstanding service to the SUNY Cortland and campus community. 

This year’s award recipients are:

• Jay Kimiecik ’80, Distinguished Educator
• Susan Ryan ’83, Distinguished Educator
• Brad M. Weiner ’03, M ’04, Distinguished Educator
• Christine Perry Cecconi ’74, Outstanding Alumni Volunteer
• Johanna Ames, Honorary Alum

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Distinguished Educator Award 

John “Jay” Kimiecik ’80

The college students at Miami University often spotlight John “Jay” Kimiecik, an associate professor of kinesiology, for his teaching prowess. 

Kimiecik, who since 1990 has taught in the Kinesiology, Nutrition and Health Department at this Oxford, Ohio-based “public ivy,” was honored in 2014-15 with the university’s College of Education, Health and Society Richard T. Delp Outstanding Faculty Award. 

His scholarship has positioned him as one of the nation’s foremost experts in the areas of well-being and performance theory and practice, as exemplified by his 2023 co-authored book, Exploring the Concept of Feel for Wellbeing and Performance. 

Kimiecik’s wellness message also travels beyond the walls of academia as his students engage in community hands-on teaching and learning, and he develops public lectures, television programming and personal fitness manuals used in hundreds of YMCAs. 

“I feel that my work as a researcher/scholar, teacher, presenter, writer, radio/TV show host, and director reflects Cortland’s mission and vision to create engaged citizens with a strong social conscience who have the knowledge, integrity, skills and compassion to excel,” he wrote in response to his nomination. 

After he earned a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education at Cortland, Kimiecik received an M.S. in kinesiology concentrating in sport and exercise psychology from Purdue University and a Ph.D. from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he studied children’s perceptions of success and failure in competitive sports. 

At Miami University, he won a $125,000 WellPoint Foundation grant to support a partnership from 2006 to 2009 between his capstone students and a local high school in Oxford Ohio. His class and Talawanda High School teachers collaborated first to introduce his students to an organic, flexible body of knowledge and concepts of well-being that they help construct in their own classroom; and then they, through personal and social action, translate their learning into the high school classrooms. Called the “Well-Being Way,” Kimiecik’s program inspired the “Eye on Partnership” series of more than 20 segments that broadcasted continuously on public access television to strong reviews.

Susan Ryan ’83

Susan Ryan, who helped her Red Dragons’ women’s soccer team capture the United States Women’s National Championship in 1980, hasn’t reclined on her laurels since then. 

Ryan, who was named to the Long Island Soccer Player Hall of Fame in 2014, currently shares her knowledge and skills both inside and outside of the college classroom.  

An assistant professor in the School of Professional Development at Stony Brook University who earned a master’s degree there, she teaches graduate classes in coaching, leadership and higher education administration and assists the coaching program director. 

In her career as a head coach, Ryan led the university women’s soccer program from a Division III program to a perennial contender in Division I in the America East Conference. 

“I have dedicated my professional career as an educator and coach to educating people and improving their lives as human beings,” Ryan wrote. “My purpose is to positively impact the lives of all around me and utilize soccer to bring joy and fulfillment.” 

That includes her volunteer service to countless youth, including future Olympic hopefuls with the Stony Brook Lake Grove-Newfield (LGN) Soccer Club. 

“Sue brings so much knowledge and experience to the club,” wrote nominator Deborah Skartsiaris, administrator of Stony Brook LGN, an organization with a long history of preparing its teams to compete at the highest levels of U.S. youth soccer and enabling 90% of its youth to attain berths on collegiate teams. 

Skartsiaris noted that Ryan has coached both girls’ and boys’ teams there since 2016, most recently as lead coach with the 2006 Girls Courage team, which competes nationally in the Elite Development Program.  

“She is always available to help our younger trainers. Her work ethic and dedication is second to none.” 

Ryan, who holds the U.S. Soccer Federation’s “A,” Grassroots Instructor and Talent Scout licenses, earned the United Soccer Coaches’ Women’s Committee Award of Excellence and the NCAA Coaches Academy Program’s Judith M. Sweet Award, named after the association’s first female president. 

Brad Weiner ’03, M ’04

It’s not often that professionals in the field of adapted physical education look to a secondary school administrator for guidance, but such is the case with Brad Weiner, an educational specialist in the Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia. 

Brad currently recruits, hires, mentors and supervises adapted physical education teachers across Fairfax County, one of the 15 largest school districts in the country, with an exceptionally large cohort of adapted physical educators. He previously taught general and adapted physical education for Montgomery County and Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland.  

Weiner is among a rare group of about 150 adapted physical education teachers in the country who have attained the status of National Board Professional Certified Teacher. 

In only 20 years since graduation, Weiner’s professional education work has earned him many of the highest awards in the profession, including being named the National Adapted Physical Education Teacher of the Year by the Society of Health and Physical Educators — SHAPE America.  

Assigned to mentor nine educators in three years, Weiner’s influence produced award-winning classroom teachers including one who became a National Adapted Physical Education Teacher of the Year. 

“He has a reputation of overseeing some of the most effective adapted physical education service delivery systems for students with disabilities in the United States,” said nominator Garth Tymeson ’75, Ph.D., a professor emeritus at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and a past-president for the National Consortium on Physical Education for Individuals with Disabilities. “He shares best practices and resources by coordinating a yearly virtual conference that his adapted physical education program offers free nationally.”  

“I am passionate about health and physical education, specifically individuals with disabilities,” Weiner said. “I don’t seek out leadership positions but find myself in leadership positions as a result of my dedication and passion.” 

Weiner earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education and a master’s degree in adapted physical education from SUNY Cortland. In 2014, he received a Certificate Credential in Administration from McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland.

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Outstanding Alumni Volunteer Award 

Chris Perry Cecconi ’74

Volunteering for Transformations, SUNY Cortland’s celebration of student scholarship and creative activity, is only part of the story for Chris Perry Cecconi, a founding member of the SUNY Cortland Alumni Association’s Cortland chapter, a group central to campus and local community alumni activities.  

“She has always stepped up to the plate to be there to help me set up and tear down our event,” wrote nominator Meghan VanDeuson, administrative assistant II with the School of Arts and Sciences. 

“She also helps me coordinate other volunteers from year to year, so we have a full set of hands on deck for our students the day of Transformations.” 

“While I have put many hours of volunteer work into supporting SUNY Cortland, I have also benefited by being around the energetic and dynamic students as well as the faculty and staff on campus,” Cecconi wrote in response.  

Cecconi retired in 2011 as the clinical program director/clinical associate professor in Ithaca College’s Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Department, having served 20 years there and receiving its 2008 Faculty Excellence Award for Service. 

From 2017 to 2022, Cecconi coordinated the Cortland Chapter’s communication, taking over a former Alumni Engagement staff role in facilitating chapter meetings and serving as liaison with Alumni Engagement. 

She has participated in the Alumni Speaker Series, served on the annual Reunion Committee, and helped with campus events such as Orientation and Open House. 

At the Lynne Parks ’68 SUNY Cortland Alumni House, she lends a hand with major events, helps with event setup and cleanup, and bends her back into spring and fall gardening.  

Cecconi and her husband, Richard Cecconi ’74, M ’89, C.A.S. ’93, the 2019 Outstanding Alumni Volunteer honoree, gladly accommodate out-of-town alumni volunteers at their Homer, N.Y., home.  

She has built town-gown bridges, first as a past three-term board member of Zonta Club of Cortland and presently on the Communications and Development Committee of the Cortland YWCA. 

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Honorary Alum Award 

Johanna Ames

A dedicated member of the local community, Johanna Ames is a vital entrepreneur and leader in Cortland and a driving force behind SUNY Cortland’s historic fundraising efforts. 

Ames was president and CEO of Ames Linen Service, a family-owned textile rental company, from 2007 to 2023. She now is an operations executive for ImageFirst Healthcare Linen Services, which bought her family’s business. She is also a director of NBT Bancorp, while serving on the boards of directors for Guthrie Healthcare System, Inc., and the Cortland County Business Development/Industrial Development Agency. 

She is the immediate past chair of the Cortland College Foundation board of directors, the nonprofit organization that manages the school’s endowment and directs all its fundraising efforts. Ames co-chaired the university’s successful five-year “All In” capital campaign, which raised a record-breaking $30.5 million over five years, surpassing expectations.  

In 1993, SUNY Cortland’s College Council honored her father, Donald “Bud” Ames, and her grandfather, Donald F. Ames, for their Cortland College Foundation board service with the College-Community Appreciation Award. In 2018, she accepted the same award. 

At the same time Ames was accepting one of SUNY Cortland’s highest honors, she took the opportunity to announce a new scholarship, The Donald S. Ames and Diane Ames Scholarship, established by Ames and her sister, Tanya Ames, in honor of their parents. 

In addition to her other accomplishments, Ames became the inaugural chair of the Textile Rental Services Association’s Women in Textile Services Committee, a group working to recruit and retain women in the laundry services industry. She chairs the Colgate University Alumni Council’s Nominations Committee and has previously served on the board of directors for the Family Health Network, a nonprofit health clinic for under-served populations in Cortland and surrounding communities.

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More information and registration details for Reunion 2024 are available at RedDragonNetwork.org.

Jasmin Kaur Ghotra and her faculty mentor, Professor of Biological Sciences Christa Chatfield, are hot on the trail of a legionella bacterium that is found in the man-made water system.

“This bacterium causes the severe type of pneumonia and mild flu-like illness,” Ghotra said of the study, titled “Role Amyloid-Forming Proteins Play in Persistence of Legionella Pneumophila in Man-Made Water System.”

“We are aiming to develop strategies for preventing and removing Legionella from water systems, thereby reducing the risk of outbreaks.”

During this research, the pair will try to identify the unknown protein that is responsible for amyloid formation, said Ghotra, a sophomore biology major from Germany. Amyloids play a key role in the growth of Legionella bacterium. A greater understanding could lead to more effective ways to prevent its spread.

Ghotra is one of 12 SUNY Cortland undergraduate research summer fellows, continuing the university’s 18-year-old program in 2024.

SUNY Cortland’s summer student research program, managed by its Undergraduate Research Council, provides students with a residence hall bed, campus research space and a $4,000 stipend during eight weeks of full-time study from late May through early August. The Council gives an additional $2,000 to faculty members who mentor a student. The students present the results of their studies at the school’s annual Transformations conference.

This year’s participants include students majoring in biology, chemistry, exercise science, history, psychology, communication disorders and sciences, sociology/anthropology, political science and fine arts.

In addition to Ghotra, these researchers include:

• Ian Durso, a senior history major from Ithaca, N.Y., is researching “Muslims and American Schooling, How Public School Students in New York See and Understand Islam and What Can We Do to Make It Better.”

“This fellowship focuses on educating New York's 9th-10th grade students on Islam and Muslims,” Durso said. “The goal is to modify the 9^th through 10^th grade New York state social/global studies curriculum using analysis and previous survey data, said Durso, whose mentor is Anisha Saxena, assistant professor of history.

“We will also build a primary source database on early Muslim history to be used in class.”

• Christopher Faherty, a senior chemistry major from Vernon, N.Y., wants to build a better glass molecule.

When a liquid is cooled fast enough, it cools in such a way that it forms a glass, he explained.

“Over time, this glass can crystallize because it is unstable. This research is focused on making new molecules with different properties to better understand the chemistry of crystallization with and without polymer additives.”

Sarah Wolf, assistant professor of chemistry, serves as his faculty mentor on the project, “Crystallization of Amorphous Solids in Small Molecule Glasses.”

• Evan Beaudry wants to design and make a small, simple inorganic metal complex that completes the same chemistry as a highly evolved protein called farnesyl transferase that is found in the human body. 

"It is basically a tag that allows the protein to end up in the correct place in the cell so it can complete its function," Beaudry said about the goal of his planned research." He noted that the process, called 'farnesylation,' is a hot topic in drug synthesis.

"So it is a very useful thing," he said.

The junior biomedical science major from Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, is working on this  project under faculty mentor Andrew Roering, associate professor of chemistry.

“If successful we will be the first to mimic this type of protein,” Beaudry said of the project, titled “Small Molecule Enzyme Mimetics using Zinc.”

• Nadiya Grossman of Rhinebeck, N.Y., is assessing where New York states’ COVID-19 social support measures stand today.

The junior political science major is working with Juan Prieto, assistant professor of political science, is working to find out.

“I’m going to analyze what caused programs to be abandoned or become permanent using R, an integrated development environment for the programming language R (used for statistical computing and graphics),” Grossman said of the project, “Pandemic-Time Social Protection: Between a New and an Old Normal.” .

“Then, I will select three states for an in-depth case study analysis.”

• Gwyneth Laukaitis, a junior biomedical science major from Cortlandt Manor, N.Y., aspires to advance knowledge in the field of exercise science — her minor — through her investigation under Associate Professor of Kinesiology Kevin Dames.

“My research examines the time to stabilize after a single-leg jump among female varsity athletes in sports like field hockey, lacrosse, and soccer, compared to active females aged 18 to 30,” Laukaitis said about her study of ball sport teams.

“We assess asymmetry between legs to identify injury risks, aiding targeted strength training and informed return-to-sport decisions post-injury,” Laukaitis said.

• Chloe Loewenguth of Syracuse, N.Y., who graduates this fall with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in sculpture, is researching, is designing and building an experimental ergonomic iron furnace to be used for cast iron sculpture.

“I will be collecting data in order to create a standardized system of furnace construction, while also experimenting with alternative and sustainable fuel sources,” said Loewenguth, whose work is mentored by Vaughn Randall, associate professor of art and art history.

• Sasha Machmuller a senior psychology major from McGraw, N.Y., is exploring whether there is a link between fandom identity and online radicalization, as evidenced in the instance of Gypsy Rose Blanchard. Machmuller is guided by Karen Davis, associate professor of psychology.

Led by the 2019 findings of Finnish researchers Jenni Raitanen and Atte Oksanen, Machmuller is exploring what happens when an individual accepts increasingly extreme ideas through online interactions that may lead to violent behavior by examining social media posts on accounts about Blanchard, who killed her abusive mother.

• Morgan Proulx of Rochester, N.Y., wants to see if providing caregivers of children with autism strategies may make reading experiences for their children more engaging.

The senior speech and hearing science major has partnered with Nimisha Muttiah, assistant professor of communication disorders and sciences.

“Through an online program, I will train caregivers in a communication strategy called ‘Read and remove, Ask, Answer, Prompt (R2AAP),’ which they will use during adapted shared book reading with their children with autism spectrum disorder,” Proulx noted.

“The adult may point to words as they read, pause, and ask the child questions, and invite the child to share their thinking about the book,” Proulx explains in her project abstract. “For children with autism who have communication and social skills challenges, it can be difficult for them to engage in shared book-reading activities. Adapted shared book reading in this study refers to having removable picture elements in the book, strategies are tailored for individuals with autism. For instance, an illustration of a dog in the book may be photocopied, laminated, and attached to the book by Velcro; the caregiver can manipulate the object and story.”

Additional students participating as undergraduate summer research fellows include:

• Angel Alicea-Morales, who is investigating “Insights into AspA Enzyme and Potential Therapeutic Targets” under the mentorship of Christian Nelson, associate professor of biological sciences and pre-medical and pre-dental advisor.
• Janet Martinez presently is engaged in “Archaeobotanical Research at Çadir Höyük, Türkiye” with SUNY Distinguished Professor Sharon Steadman, a professor of sociology/anthropology.
• Ava Miranov is exploring “Fission Regulation and Regeneration in Terrestrial Planarians” under the mentorship of Distinguished Teaching Professor Peter Ducey in the Biological Sciences Department.

In recent times including this year, every student’s summer research fellowship has been supported by the generosity of alumni and friends in the form of permanent undergraduate research endowments managed by the Cortland College Foundation.

• This summer’s research by Durso, Grossman and Martinez is being funded by a fellowship from the late Nancy A. Johnson ’48, M ’56.
• The scholarship of Laukaitis and Proulx is supported by an endowment from Bernie LoBracco M ’74 and Karen LoBracco ’74.
• The research by Alicea-Morales and Faherty is being funded by a fellowship created by Daniel G. Scheffer ’96.
• Machmuller’s scholarship is being supported by the William H. Hopkins fellowship created by Sheri Baron ’77.
• Ghotra’s research is being funded by the David F. Berger, Ph.D. fellowship endowed by Dr. Michael J. Bond ’75 and Dr. Wayne Marley ’75.
• Loewenguth’s work is underwritten by an endowment set up by Sandra Laghi Cerulli ’68 and Dr. Maurice Cerulli.
• Miranov’s scholarship is being supported by a fellowship from W. Hubert Keen, Ph.D., and Sally Keen.
• Beaudry’s work is being underwritten by a fellowship created by Michael J. O’Reilly ’58.

The SUNY Cortland Alumni Association will award its most prestigious annual honors during Alumni Reunion 2024. Four graduates will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award and one will be honored as a Rising Star. 

Distinguished Alumni are those who graduated more than a decade ago and have enjoyed a productive and notable postgraduate career.  

The Rising Star Award recognizes more recent alumni who graduated up to 10 years ago and have demonstrated a strong foundation for their future.

This year’s award recipients are:  

• Rosita M. Stevens-Holsey ’65, Distinguished Alum
  
  
• Kevin Conley ’90, Distinguished Alum
  
  
• Stacey A. Hengsterman ’93, Distinguished Alum
  
  
• Minerva D. Francis ’05, Distinguished Alum
  
  
• Savannah G. Brancato ’20, Rising Star

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Distinguished Alumni

Rosita Stevens-Holsey ’65 

Rosita Stevens-Holsey graduated from SUNY Cortland with a bachelor’s in education, earned a master’s in education from Boston University and taught in New York state for two years. She then became a systems engineer for IBM, one of the first Black professionals hired by the organization.

Later, she founded a management consulting and executive search firm in Atlanta, Georgia, becoming director of the Regional Minority Purchasing Council in partnership with the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and the Savannah Chamber of Commerce. 

“Rosita has enjoyed a long career which has led her down many different avenues, from education and beyond, each tackled with grit and determination,” said nominator Heather Spanella, of Preserving Pauli Murray, LLC, the nonprofit Stevens-Holsey founded to share the legacy of her aunt, a civil rights legend. 

In 2008, Stevens-Holsey followed her love of teaching back to a Maryland classroom. 

Since retiring from teaching in 2022, she has dedicated herself to promoting the memory of her aunt, Pauli Murray, an activist, a co-founder of the National Organization for Women, attorney, labor organizer, author, poet, professor and the first Black woman to be ordained an Episcopal priest. In 2012, Murray was recognized as a saint by the Episcopal Church. 

She recently co-wrote a biography, Pauli Murray: The Life of a Pioneering Feminist & Civil Rights Activist, which was given a distinguished Septima P. Clark Book Award by the National Council for the Social Studies. 

In recognition of her career, Stevens-Holsey has been honored with awards including Black Businesswoman of the Year, Outstanding Minority Business of the Year, Outstanding Educator of the Year, and the U.S. Department of Defense “Outstanding Service” Award. 

She’s currently a board member with the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice and the National Women’s History Alliance, a member of the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray Chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians, the NAACP and the National Organization for Women. 

Kevin Conley ’90

Kevin Conley graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in health education from SUNY Cortland and went on to have an exemplary career as an athletic trainer and university administrator. 

Nominator M. Kathleen Kelly, associate dean of academic outreach and advising at the University of Pittsburgh, said she has seen Conley ascend through roles at Pittsburgh that include program director for athletic training, department chair and now as associate dean for undergraduate studies in its School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.  

“In each of these roles, Kevin has demonstrated considerable aptitude and a profound allegiance to the academic and professional mission of the university and school,” Kelly said. “In addition, he has had an unwavering commitment to the success of the hundreds of students he has taught and mentored, and to the professional development of the faculty he has worked with for more than 30 years. 

Conley uses his position to give guidance and leadership to seven undergraduate programs and their curriculums in the School of Health and rehabilitation Sciences, and previously helped graduates as part of the University of Pittsburgh Alumni Association Leadership Council from 2007-14. 

He’s served in additional leadership roles at the school and university, including chair of the SHRS undergraduate academic policies committee, the dean’s leadership council, elected positions on the University Faculty Assembly and Faculty Senate, the University Undergraduate Advising Committee, the Provost’s Advisory Council on Undergraduate Research and the University of Pittsburgh Pre-Health Professions Committee. 

This year, he was selected as one of five faculty representatives to be a part of the Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Leaders Network. 

Stacey Hengsterman ’93

Stacey Hengsterman is president and CEO of Special Olympics New York, one of the largest Special Olympics chapters in the world. The statewide nonprofit serves more than 42,000 youth and adult athletes with intellectual disabilities. 

Prior to her current job, Hengsterman spent two decades shaping state higher education policy as a top advisor to the SUNY chancellor and board of trustees.  

As a mother whose family includes a son with Down syndrome, she works to expand access to the Special Olympics’ life-changing programs.  

Under her leadership, Special Olympics New York has earned the highest rankings from both Charity Navigator and Guidestar and has been named a “Top Workplace” by the Albany Times Union. 

“The impact of her vision and leadership cannot be overstated,” said nominator Casey Vattimo, senior vice president of external relations for Special Olympics New York. “More and more people with disabilities, and their families, are joining Special Olympics because Stacey has found a way to reach them. More and more school districts are joining the movement, improving school climate by including students with disabilities not only in sports but in every fabric of the high school experience. More and more New York businesses and corporations are employing people with disabilities because Special Olympics has shined a light on their valuable contributions.” 

Hengsterman’s work as a member of the Pioneer Bancorp Board of directors led her to be named to the 2021 Upstate Power 100 list by City & State news organization. She is one of just 30 recipients of the 2020 City & State Above & Beyond Award, which recognized women leaders in New York who make notable contributions to society. 

Minerva Francis ’05

During the course of Minerva Francis’ studies, she became a member of three national honor societies, Kappa Delta Pi, Eta Sigma Gamma and Chi Alpha Epsilon, and her published articles have informed the fields of social work, drug treatment counseling, and corrections, including probation and parole. 

Nominator Mechthild Nagel described Francis as a “pioneer” and “amazing ambassador” for Cortland’s Kenyan student exchange program. 

After graduation with a B.S. in international health from Cortland, she earned a master’s in community health from Brooklyn College, an advanced certificate in project management from the CUNY School of Professional Studies and a doctorate in health education and behavioral science from Columbia University. 

She went on to New York University as a pre-doctoral fellow behavioral scientist from 2018 to 2021. There, at one of the country’s oldest and largest behavioral science research and career training grant programs, Francis developed her knowledge and skills in drug use research. 

Francis became the managing director for New York City Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, recruiting more than 50 volunteer faculty mentors and 125 undergrads for STEM fields. 

Since 2022, she has had a post-doctoral fellowship for the Partnership to End Addiction, a New York City program that provides physical and mental health services. While there, Francis has served as a project director and managed the budget and hiring processes for the initiative. 

A certified health education specialist, she is a board member of SUNY Cortland’s Sophia’s Garden Institute, which seeks to introduce philosophy concepts to young students. 

Active professionally and in the community, her memberships include the New Jersey Association for Gifted Children, the National Black Child Development Institute, Academic Consortium on Criminal Justice Health, the NIH HEAL Justice Community Opioid Intervention Network, the American Public Health Association, New York Academy of Medicine and the American Psychological Association. 

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Rising Star Award 

Savannah Brancato ’20

Savannah Brancato balances a promising early career in laboratory research on HIV and other retroviruses at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, with a remarkable four years as a philanthropist to rural villagers in Ghana.  

In early 2021, Brancato began as a research technician at Cornell University in the laboratory of Robert A. Dick. He promoted her before moving his research to Emory University in May 2023, bringing Brancato with him. She currently serves as an electron microscopy technologist and lab manager in the university’s Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology. 

“My lab’s research aims to better understand HIV and other similar retroviruses on a molecular level,” wrote Brancato, who has given two professional talks on her research subject and served on career panels for future scientists.  

Her work helps push the boundaries of sample preparation and electron microscopy to generate high resolution viral protein structures.  

“These structures can help characterize the mechanisms of action and effects of existing antiviral drugs and provide insight on how to design more potent and effective compounds,” she wrote. 

Four years ago, Brancato co-founded The Genuine Project, a 501.c.3 non-profit organization whose purpose is to support charitable initiatives worldwide. Already the group has helped the Siwdu community in Cape Coast, Ghana, achieve a public restroom facility serving 1,000 residents. By forming partnerships with the local community and enlisting volunteers from Cape Coast Technical University, The Genuine Project effectively leveraged the students’ expertise in engineering and construction to move the project forward. 

At Cortland, Brancato earned a B.S. in biochemistry with an overall GPA of 3.3. An Undergraduate Research Fellow in the chemistry laboratory of Associate Professor Katherine A. Hicks, she helped investigate purifying and crystallizing bacterial metabolic enzymes to further understand their structural, mechanistic and kinetic characteristics for future bioremediation efforts. Brancato received the department’s 2020 Outstanding Student Research Award in Chemistry, presented to a graduating senior majoring in chemistry or biochemistry.

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Robert Bookman '76, Esq., 2023 Distinguished Alumni recipient, and Natalie Yoder '21, 2023 Rising Star recipient, also will be presented their awards at this year's Alumni Reunion.

More information and registration details for Alumni Reunion 2024 are available at RedDragonNetwork.org.Distinguished and Rising Star alumni honored

Each year with the assistance of President’s Cabinet and the Student Government Association, Cortland Auxiliary Services board of directors allocates funds to support a wide range of projects that enhance the life of the SUNY Cortland community. For the 2024-25 year, $126,375 has been awarded to grant recipients.  

The Communication Disorders and Sciences Department recently was awarded its sixth Clinical Education Training Grant from the Parkinson Voice Project. The grant allows for updated training in the SPEAK OUT! speech therapy protocol for individuals with Parkinson disease for four clinical faculty members and for all incoming graduate students. 

SUNY Cortland’s Center for Speech, Language and Hearing Disorders conducts this specialized speech therapy program on campus and also via telepractice for individuals throughout New York state. Lecturer and Clinical Educator Eileen Gilroy is the grant administrator for this program.