Bulletin News

04/26/2023 

Three SUNY Cortland seniors recently earned the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence – the highest student honor presented by New York’s public university system – at a ceremony held April 24 in Albany, N.Y.

The Chancellor’s Award is given each year to students from SUNY’s 64 campuses who have demonstrated academic excellence while balancing leadership roles, campus involvement, community service and achievements in the arts, athletics or career-related pursuits.

The university’s recipients of the 2023 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence are:

• Lawrence Bruce ’22, an English major from Bath, N.Y.
• Forlendia Hunte, a senior exercise science major from Elmont, N.Y.
• Daniel Reischer ’22, a political science major from Newburgh, N.Y.

Each year, SUNY campus presidents establish a committee to review and select outstanding graduating seniors. Nominees are reviewed by the Chancellor’s Office and winners are selected. Each honoree receives a framed certificate and medallion to wear at Commencement in May.

Including this year’s honorees, 106 SUNY Cortland students have earned the Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence since the program began in 1997.

Lawrence Bruce ’22

English

Bath, N.Y.

A superb student, researcher and presenter, Bruce has created new opportunities and been an inspirational leader for LGBTQ+ students at Cortland.

A Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow in 2022, Bruce’s research, “The Blip and COVID: Responses to Mass Crisis and How Pop Culture Becomes Reality,” studied the intersection of pop fiction, film and real life through the lens of a popular Marvel movie. It will be presented at two professional conferences in 2023. Bruce had previously presented on “A Complicated Man: A Historical and Ethical Evaluation of Bartolomé de Las Casas” at Cortland’s Diversity Conference and has been a speaker on topics related to diversity at other forums. They are currently pursuing a master’s degree in English and plans on doctoral work in the future.

Bruce has been a leader for Cortland’s campus community, serving as treasurer of the Cortland Writer’s Association and the Interfaith Crew, project leader for NYPIRG’s Hunger and Homelessness Project and as membership chair of the Cortland NAACP chapter. As president of Pride Club and at-large senator for Student Government Association, Bruce created new events including Gay Cabaret and Homecoming and led trips to New York City’s Stonewall Inn, the birthplace of the Gay Rights movement and to Cortland’s William H. Parks Family Center for Environmental and Outdoor Education facility at Raquette Lake. Bruce has received an LGBTQIAP+ Advocacy Award from SGA and was recognized with a Leadership in Civic Engagement Award. Additionally, Bruce has held work-study jobs with the Performing Arts Department, the School of Arts and Sciences, Outdoor Pursuits and Memorial Library.

SUNY Chancellor John King, Hunte, Vice President for Student Affairs Greg Sharer (left to right)

Forlendia (Flo) Hunte

Exercise science

Elmont, N.Y.

A tireless supporter of SUNY Cortland’s student-athletes, Hunte is similarly driven to helping others in the classroom.

As a three-year captain of the women’s basketball team, Hunte has been a tremendous student-athlete and leader for her teammates. She is a role model and inspiration to all of the university’s student-athletes through her service as president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). Through SAAC, a democratic organization of student-athlete leaders, Hunte leads biweekly meetings among her peers, votes on NCAA legislative proposals and guides community service projects such as an annual leaf-raking event, a Thanksgiving food drive and One Love relationship violence workshops. Hunte represents Cortland on the State University of New York Athletic Conference’s (SUNYAC) SAAC as vice president of community engagement.

An exercise science major, Hunte has been a supplemental instruction leader for anatomy and physiology classes, supporting other students in their academic work. She has been a teaching assistant for COR 101, a course that helps first-year students make the transition to college. Hunte has interned with the Health Promotion Office and has been a student representative on Diversity Faculty Fellow searches in the Kinesiology Department. She has made an impact on students outside of athletics as treasurer of Mind Over Everything, a club that provides students with a safe environment to educate themselves about mental health. Hunte has been a vocal advocate for the Black Lives Matter movement, inspiring others across campus.

Daniel Reischer ’22

SUNY Chancellor John King, Reischer, Vice President for Student Affairs Greg Sharer (left to right)

Political science

Newburgh, N.Y.

A kind, caring, ambitious and energetic student, Reischer has balanced doing impressive research with working to serve other students.

Reischer is a strong student who also took many leadership roles during his time at SUNY Cortland. He served the Student Government Association as chief of staff (2020) and vice president (2021) and strove to represent all students by pushing the creation of wellness days during the Spring 2021 Semester. Reischer built bridges between SGA leadership and cultural organizations, worked to expand safe housing for LGBTQ+ students and organized a mutual aid drive to collect clothing, bedding and cookware for individuals in need. He also collaborated closely with many faculty and staff through search committees and groups including the Governance, Leadership and Administration Committee and the Student Engagement Committee.

In the classroom, Reischer committed much of his time as an undergraduate to research that set him apart from his peers. He wrote a policy brief on “Righting the Wrongs of Incarceration in New York State Prisons” and presented at the National Council for Black Studies on “The Rise of Right-Wing Radio in the United States,” an essay that was a first-place winner in the National Council for Black Studies’ and SUNY Cortland’s writing awards. Reischer presented his work on campus during Black History Month and at the annual Transformations conference for student research. He plans to begin a Ph.D. program in September in African American and African Diaspora Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. Reischer ultimately aims to help underserved communities.