Bulletin News

06/29/2011 

Nancy J. Aumann, who twice served SUNY Cortland as an administrator and educator - first from 1990 to 1996 and again since 2005 - retired on June 29. She was designated associate provost emerita for academic affairs.

Appointed as associate provost in 2005, Aumann coordinated and supported the College’s curricular programs and was a member of the provost’s senior executive staff. Since 2009, she also served as interim associate dean of education in the College’s School of Education.

As associate provost, she shepherded many new programs through the approval process of the campus, the SUNY system and the State Education Department. They included the Bachelor of Arts in Archeology, the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art, and bachelors of science programs in outdoor recreation, in recreation management, and in therapeutic recreation. She also helped establish the Master of Science programs in communication sciences and disorders, in community health, in sport management, in international sport management and in education with a new concentration in coaching in physical education.

Her collaborative efforts resulted in the introduction of more than 100 new courses in the College Catalog and Graduate Catalog. She participated in the College’s General Education Committee, which plans the universal student curriculum, and chaired its Implementation Committee. Aumann was also involved with the creation of a curriculum website.

She wrote seven articulation agreements with community colleges to help students smoothly transfer to SUNY Cortland.

Until 2009, when she took on the School of Education duties, a number of units reported to Aumann, including the Center for Aging, the College Writing Committee, the Honors Program, the Institute for Civic Engagement and the Institute for Disability Studies.

Aumann served on key College-wide committees. She was co-chair of the Committee for the Middle States Periodic Review Report, chair of the Institutional Review Board, and a member of both the Committee to Establish the Learning Commons and the Committee to Establish “Main Street SUNY Cortland.”

Aumann was an instructor for the required freshman course on college life, COR 101.

As interim associate dean of education, she was on key committees engaged in the current reaccreditation process through the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Educators (NCATE).

When the Graduate Studies Office was closed last July, Aumann became responsible for graduate students enrolled in the School of Education, including more than 500 individuals enrolled in four academic departments and five master’s degree programs.

She chaired the Teacher Education Candidate Review Committee, a rotating leadership role which this year assigned her to preside over 18 meetings involving more than 900 student reviews and hundreds of letters to teacher candidates.

“In each of these roles, Dr. Aumann carried out her responsibilities with dedication, professionalism and compassion for students,” noted Mark Prus, provost and vice president for academic affairs.

A native of Williamson, N.Y., Aumann earned a bachelor’s degree in European history from Hope College in Holland, Mich., and received both her master’s degree and Ph.D. in Central European history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has studied in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.

In 1974, Aumann began her professional career as a member of the History Department faculty at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kan. During 1983-86, she served as the Social Science Division chair and, in 1985, also became the acting academic dean. She was involved with the development of an overseas study program at the college.

During 1986-90, Aumann was campus dean at the University of Wisconsin-Marshfield, one of 13 campuses that comprise the University of Wisconsin Colleges.

Aumann first came to the SUNY Cortland campus in 1990 as associate dean of arts and sciences. She served as acting dean of general education and advisement during the 1993-94 academic year before being named dean of arts and sciences in 1995. She also was an adjunct professor of history while at Cortland.

In 1996, she left the College to serve as vice president and dean at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Fla., until 2000. She was an instructor of history at Genesee Community College in Batavia, N.Y., from 2001-03 before joining the Lebanon Valley College history faculty as a visiting associate professor. She also was the director of graduate studies and continuing education there for two years in 2003-04.

She returned to SUNY Cortland in 2005.

The Florida Southern College Board of Trustees presented her with its Recognition of Achievement in 2000. She was inducted into Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society, and Delta Phi Delta, the national German language honor society. She was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi and is an honorary member of Phi Eta Sigma and Omicron Delta Kappa. Aumann was listed in “Outstanding Young Women of America” in 1976. She has received fellowships from both the Ford Foundation and the Rotary International Foundation.

Aumann, a resident of Cortland, N.Y., plans to relocate to Rochester, N.Y.