Bulletin News

02/11/2010 

Gov. David Paterson appointed Katherine Emerich Compagni ’68 of Homer, N.Y., to the SUNY Cortland College Council on Jan. 20.

Compagni, who replaces Dorothea K. Fowler on the College Council, will serve until June 30, 2016. Fowler joined the College Council on May 23, 1996 and became chair on Oct. 30, 2006. Her official term ended on June 30, 2009, but she continued to serve as the College Council chair until the governor named a replacement.

The 10-member College Council has certain supervisory responsibilities at SUNY Cortland which include: recommending candidates for appointment as president of the College; reviewing major plans for operation of the College properties; reviewing proposed budgets requests; fostering the development of advisory citizens' committees; naming buildings and grounds; and making or approving regulations governing the conduct and behavior of students.

Compagni retired in 2001 after 16 years as an assistant professor in the Writing Department at Ithaca College. From 1975-79, she was an adjunct instructor in the English Departments at SUNY Cortland and Tompkins-Cortland Community College. She taught in the English Department at Homer High School from 1968-71 and 79-85.

Compagni has presented many papers at regional and national conferences on subjects including the connections between literacy and modern technology.

She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Early Secondary English and a Master of Arts in English from SUNY Cortland and a Doctor of Philosophy in Public Communications from Syracuse University.

Compagni currently serves as secretary on the Cortland College Foundation Board of Directors. She was appointed to the board in 2004. Compagni fulfilled a prior term from 1997-2001, when she was vice-president from 2000-01.

In the community, Compagni has served the Cortland Memorial Foundation Board of Directors since 2006 on its development, budget and scholarship committees. She joined the YWCA of Cortland Board of Directors in 2001, was president from 2006-08, and chaired the Community Relations and Annual Women in History Essay Contest Committees.

A member of Zonta Club of Cortland since 1997, she chaired its Scholarship Committee and was a member of the Public Relations and Senior Assistance Committees.

From 1992-2001, Compagni was on the board of directors of Nu Sigma Chi, SUNY Cortland’s longest surviving local sorority. She has served on the Cortland Arts Council and the Cortland County Child Development Subcommittee. Compagni is a member of the Center for the Arts, Cortland County Historical Society and the Lime Hollow Nature Center.                 

She and her husband, Joseph, have two children, Stephen Compagni and Laura Compagni-Sabella.