Cortland in the news

02/11/2020 

Kensuke Nakata ’10 is one of the leaders behind a movement to Americanize the athletic culture at Japanese universities.

A large part of his inspiration came from his time as an undergraduate at SUNY Cortland.

Nakata, who was featured in the Los Angeles Times, was amazed when he arrived on campus. The Osaka, Japan native saw so many students wearing Red Dragons gear and attending athletic events.

“It was a weird feeling,” Nakata says. “In Japan, it’s like people feel it’s embarrassing to wear a school’s name on your T-shirt.”

Nakata currently works for Dome Corporation, Japan’s official licensee of Under Armor. He hopes to create a similar school spirit among students and athletes in Japan.

Read more at latimes.com.

In other news:

• Robert Spitzer, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor and chair of the Political Science Department, spoke with WAER-FM about the Iowa caucuses and the impeachment trial of President Trump. He was also quoted in the Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune in a story about the future of gun legislation in Wyoming. Spitzer penned an editorial, “5 reasons to be concerned about ‘Second Amendment sanctuaries’ for the Syracuse Post Standard.
• Thomas Lickona, director of the Center for the 4th and 5th Rs, spoke with Forbes.com for a story on how to teach gratitude and kindness to children.
• SUNY Cortland served as one of the site hosts for the Firefighters Association of New York Winter Games. Other events were held at Greek Peak Mountain Resort.
• The Cortland Standard covered Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul’s visit to campus and her 2021 state budget presentation on Wednesday, Feb. 5.
• The Cortland Voice covered SUNY Cortland’s panel discussion with local educators about Black Lives Matter in Schools on Tuesday, Feb. 4.
• Members of the Alpha Phi Delta fraternity joined the United Way for Cortland County’s Live ShoeNited sneaker drive in January. More than 400 pairs of sneakers were collected for multiple organizations and schools in the county.
• Kyle Richard ’19 will speak about bystander intervention, leadership and healthy masculinity at Indiana University of Pennsylvania on Thursday, Feb. 27. Richard, a former SUNY Cortland football team captain, was shot twice while interrupting a sexual assault at a party in 2017. He has won numerous awards and has traveled around the country to tell his story.
• Kateri Rubenstahl ’18 was profiled in the (Middletown, N.Y.) Times Herald-Record for being named an art teacher at her alma mater, Washingtonville High School. She teaches computer illustration and animation and introduction to digital media arts. A new media design major, Rubenstahl also owns a freelance graphic design business.
• Dan Pitcher ’10, M ’11, a Cortland native and former quarterback for SUNY Cortland’s football team, was promoted to quarterbacks coach for the Cincinnati Bengals of the NFL. Pitcher had previously been the team’s assistant quarterbacks coach.
• Nicholas Czerow ’17 will start a new job as general manager of the Watertown (N.Y.) Rapids of the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League. Czerow previously worked for the Greenville (S.C.) Swamp Rabbits of the East Coast Hockey league (ECHL).
• Tommy Sheehan '14, who won CBS' "Survivor" last year, spoke to Newsday about appearing on the show and his job as a fourth grade teacher on Long Island.