Bulletin News

02/09/2021 

SUNY Cortland students, faculty, staff and alumni who shared their individual messages of diversity in a poster series displayed around campus since last fall soon will give the university community the chance to meet them.

During three, hour-long Webex presentations set for Monday, Feb. 11, Monday, March 15 and Wednesday, April 16, participants in the Beloved Community Narratives Project will discuss their participation as well as themselves as individuals.

“These community members will now come together for a panel to discuss their participation in this project and how their identities have shaped their experiences at SUNY Cortland,” said Evan Faulkenbury, an associate professor of history and a member of the campus committee that brought the project to Cortland.

“We will be discussing themes such as race and immigration, gender and sexuality, and mental health and disability,” he said.

• The first event starts at noon on Feb. 15. Panelists will include Christina Papaleo ’14, Casey Hickey, Cyrenius Nelson ’19 and Lima Stafford ’12. Register in advance to attend, and a link will be sent.
• The second event starts at 6 p.m. on March 15. Panelists will include Kathleen Altamirano ’20, Jamie Piperato ’12, Regina Grantham, Jessica Condon, C.K. Conway and Jade Antoine. Register in advance to attend, and a link will be sent.
• The third event starts at 4 p.m. on April 14. Panelists will include Raquel Berman, Michael Medina, Nakeesta Langton and Lauren Christiansen. Register in advance to attend, and a link will be sent.

In fall 2019, members of the campus community were invited to participate in the project. Twenty-five students, faculty, staff and alumni were chosen to represent the university’s diversity.

In March 2020, visiting artist Adam Mastoon of Adam Mastoon Transmedia came to campus with a photography team to begin the process of creating the Beloved Community Diversity Narratives Project, a series of posters that visually share the essential life stories of students, faculty and staff members and alumni with the campus and the community.

In late October, the finished portraits were installed in two buildings, the Student Life Center and Moffett Center. Online, campus members were encouraged to view  all the posters by visiting the university’s website Cortland.edu/beloved.

Since December, the images have appeared in rotation on the student sign-in page of myRedDragon and other locations on the university’s websitee.

“The whole committee had decided that it would a nice way to highlight the project by giving the campus and alumni the opportunity to talk with the students, faculty, staff and alumni whose narratives and photos were featured,” explained AnnaMaria Cirrincione, director of the university’s Multicultural Life and Diversity Office.

She served on an educational subcommittee with Faulkenbury and Kaitlyn Flannery, assistant professor of psychology, to organize the presentations.

For more information on the panel series, contact the Multicultural Life and Diversity Office at 607-753-2336.

The series continues SUNY Cortland’s Black History Month events during February, organized by the Africana Studies Department, which explore many of the controversial topics that dominated conversations last year.

Black History Month sponsors include the university President’s Office, Institutional Equity and Inclusion Office, Political Science Department, School of Arts and Sciences, Africana Studies Department, Performing Arts, SUNY Cortland Alumni Association, Multicultural Life and Diversity Office, Disability Resources, Campus Artists and Lecture Series, Student Government Association, Know Your Roots-Africana Studies Association, SUNY Cortland Campus Activities, Career Services, Black Student Union, Cortland NAACP and Pan African Student Association.

For more information, contact Seth Asumah, a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor who chairs the Africana Studies Department, at 607-753-2064.