Graduate Commencement Set for May 21

04/28/2010 

The SUNY Cortland Commencement ceremony for students earning master’s degrees and certificates of advanced study is scheduled for Friday, May 21, at 7 p.m. in Bessie L. Park Class of 1901 Physical Education and Recreation Center Alumni Arena.

The College will award 298 master’s degrees and 33 certificates of advanced study. After the ceremony, a reception for the graduates and their guests will take place in the Corey Gymnasium.

An academic procession will open the Commencement. Associate Professor of Communication Studies Kathleen Lawrence, who chairs the Faculty Senate, will be the macebearer.

Faculty members will carry the four multi-colored gonfalons representing the College, the School of Education, the School of Professional Studies, and the School of Arts and Sciences, respectively. The gonfaloniers are: Joseph Governali, chair of the Graduate Faculty Executive Committee and professor and graduate coordinator of health; Marley Barduhn, assistant provost of teacher education; Eileen Gravani, associate dean of the School of Professional Studies; and Jerome O’Callaghan, associate dean of the School of Arts and Sciences.

David Neal, associate professor and chair of performing arts, will perform the processional and recessional music. Rebecca Rozzoni, a senior musical theater major from Dryden, N.Y., will sing the national anthem and the Alma Mater.

Provost Mark Prus will offer a welcome, while Robert W. Broddus, of Liverpool, N.Y., a candidate for Master of Science in Education in Physical Education who teaches physical education in the Skaneateles Central School District and earned his bachelor’s degree from the College in 2007, will provide remarks on behalf of the graduates.                 

President Erik J. Bitterbaum will deliver the charge to the graduates. Presenting the degrees and certificates to the graduates will be Dean of Arts and Sciences R. Bruce Mattingly and Interim Dean of Education and Professional Studies John Cottone.

Ronnie Sternin Silver ’67, president of the SUNY Cortland Alumni Association Board of Directors, will welcome these newest graduates into the ranks of the College’s more than 59,000 alumni. Commencement marshals will be Moataz Emam, assistant professor of physics; Michele Gonzalez, associate professor of literacy; Louis Larson, associate director of career services; Susan Rayl, associate professor of kinesiology; Kimberly Rombach, assistant professor of childhood and early childhood education; and Hailey Ruoff ’98, instructional materials design specialist.

The Graduate Commencement Committee is co-chaired by Virginia B. Levine, executive assistant to the president, and Ruoff.

Committee members include: Sila Argyle, supervising janitor; Darci Bacigalupi, special events coordinator; Marley S. Barduhn, assistant provost for teacher education; Mary Kate Boland, assistant director of leadership and community development, campus activities; Terence Cahill, College Store director; Mark DePaull, university police assistant chief; Michael Dominick, graduate student representative; Michele Irvin Gonzalez, associate professor of literacy; Rena Janke, associate professor of biological sciences; Louis Larson, assistant director of career services; Peter McGinnis, assistant director of graduate studies; Joy Mosher, interim director of graduate studies; Mary Murphy, University Police lieutenant; Brad Snyder, associate director of classroom media services; and Arnold Talentino, Honors Program coordinator.