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Faculty and Staff Activities

Tiantian Zheng

Tiantian Zheng, Sociology/Anthropology Department, was invited by Columbia University to give a campus-wide talk on April 23. Her talk was titled “Gender Politics in Current Regime in China.”

Ryan Vooris, Lindsey Darvin and Tara Mahoney

Ryan Vooris, Lindsey Darvin and Tara Mahoney, Sport Management Department, had a paper about the playing experiences of esports participants accepted to the Journal of Athlete Development and Experience.

Kathleen Lawrence

Kathleen Lawrence, Communication Studies Department, had her paper, “A World without Limits: Living in a Barbie Reality as Pop Culture Ambassador” competitively selected for presentation in San Jose, Costa Rica, on July 26 at the International Popular Culture Association annual conference. The theme of the conference was global issues related to popular culture. Lawrence’s paper discussed how Mattel, one of the world’s largest toy companies, has promised generations of children and their parents that girls should boldly “dream, discover and explore their world” through Barbie. Lawrence explored this pack-and-go approach to international relations in the doll world. A rhetorical analysis of the “cultural” narratives, “authentic” artifacts, and “ethnic” costumes provided for each doll in the “Barbie Dolls of the World” series was included along with illustrations.

Cheri Skipworth

Cheri Skipworth, residence hall director for Higgins Hall, participated in the Association of College and Personnel Administrators (ACPA) Conference held March 26-30 in Baltimore, Md. Skipworth serves on Pan African Network on the Committee for Multicultural Affairs. She helped to plan the Cultural Fest for the conference, which had 10 different performances.

Kathleen A. Lawrence

Kathleen A. Lawrence, Communication and Media Studies Department, recently had her poem, “Three's a Crowd,” placed with 19 other selected poems in an exhibit titled “Hay(na)ku: A 21st-Century Diasporic Poetry Form” in the San Francisco Public Library. Also, she wrote a haiga, a Japanese form which is typically a haiku with illustration, accepted for publication in New Verse News. This poem called “Amiss” was written as a tribute (elegy) to Aretha Franklin on her passing. Her poem “Head Over Heels,” written for a fantastical theme in the haiku form, was accepted for publication in the last week of August by the Colorado Boulevard.net. Also, Lawrence received notice that her speculative poem titled “Not Tonight” will soon appear in Star*Line, the print journal of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA).    

Robert Spitzer

Robert Spitzer, Political Science Department, continued to play a leading role in the national debate on gun violence with an Op-Ed article titled “Stand Your Ground Makes No Sense,” published on May 4 in the New York Times

Matt Madden, Mark Dodds and Kate Polasek

Matt Madden, Physical Education Department, Mark Dodds, Sport Management Department, and Kate Polasek, Kinesiology Department, presented “Female rights to physical education in the United States and the interpretation of co-educational classes” at the European Association for Sport Management Conference, held Sept. 5 to 8 in Innsbruck, Austria.

Daniela Baban Hurrle

Daniela Baban Hurrle, International Programs Office, was awarded the Clark Center Internationalization Award on April 27. Since 2010, the Clark Center Internationalization Award is given each year at SUNY Cortland to recognize individuals from the faculty or staff who have significantly contributed to or shown leadership in internationalizing the campus.

In selecting an honoree, the Clark Center Steering Committee recognizes the variety of ways an individual can enrich SUNY Cortland and the wider community. Recognized activities include, for example, expanding study abroad opportunities or mentoring international students on campus. Awardees have also repeatedly exposed SUNY Cortland students to a diversity of international perspectives, whether by presenting their scholarship, bringing guest scholars to campus, promoting the study of foreign languages, or diversifying our curriculum. 

Past recipients are:

2010        Henry Steck

2011        Carol van der Karr

2012       International Advocates

2013       Sharon Steadman

2014       Jerome O’Callaghan

2015       Craig Little

2016       Jeremiah Donovan

2017       Mary Schlarb

2018       Luo Xu

2019       William Skipper

2020      Mecke Nagel

James Webb

James Webb, Auxiliary Services Corporation (ASC), has been awarded the title of certified executive chef by the American Culinary Federation. This certification comes at the end of an intensive training process. Some of the requirements are completion of courses in food safety, supervisory management, a written and practical examination and more than five years as a supervisory chef. 

Webb has been with ASC since 2010. He led the culinary effort during the New York Jets training camp and has been instrumental in the development of many of ASC’s newer concepts like Pomodori and Greens & Grains. Webb is the executive chef at The Bistro in the Student Life Center and will now serve as ASC Dining’s senior executive chef.

Carolyn Bershad

Carolyn Bershad, Counseling and Student Development centers, has learned that the office was awarded full re-accreditation for the 2014-15 year by the International Association of Counseling Services (IACS). IACS is the only association that accredits counseling services on university and college campuses. Approval by IACS is dependent upon evidence of continuing professional development as well as demonstration of excellence in counseling performance. The office offers individual and group counseling for students, as well as consultation and outreach to the campus community.