Jack Daniels
Jack Daniels, former cross country and track and field head coach and physical education faculty member, recently wrote his biography titled Luck of the Draw, now available from Amazon.com.
A 1997 Cortland C-Club Hall of Fame inductee, Daniels coached the Red Dragons' men's cross country teams for 17 seasons and the women's cross country squads for 16 seasons. Also, he was Cortland's men's and women's track and field coach from 1987-91 and 1993-96, in addition to 1999-2000 for the men's team.
Daniels led Cortland women's cross country to seven national team titles. His women's teams finished in the top 10 nationally every year from 1987-99. He led the Red Dragons to 11 SUNYAC titles and his runners earned 41 All-America honors, including four individual national champions. He was honored as the NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country "Coach of the Century" for the 20th century.
On the men's side, Daniels' cross country teams made eight NCAA championship appearances, won seven SUNYAC titles and boasted five All-Americans. Cortland finished sixth nationally in both 1987 and 1991.
Additionally, Daniels guided Cortland's women's indoor track and field team to a national title in 1991.
He is a two-time Olympic team medalist in the modern pentathlon (horseback riding, epee, pistol, swimming, cross country running), earning a silver medal in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia and a bronze in the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Italy.
Thomas Hischak
Thomas Hischak, performing arts, is co-author of a new nonfiction book, The Disney Song Encyclopedia, released in August by Scarecrow Press. The book discusses more than 900 songs from Disney movies, television shows, theme parks and Broadway productions. The co-author is Mark A. Robinson, a 1998 graduate of SUNY Cortland′s theatre program.
Lutz Mayer
Lutz Mayer, associate professor emeritus of music, was featured in an online publication published by the Department of Music at his alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The article, titled “Proud Tar Heel Celebrates 75th Birthday and a Life of Music,” presents a biography of Mayer’s life and includes highlights from his years at SUNY Cortland, where he was an assistant and an associate music professor from 1963-1995. Mayer was co-founder of the Council on the Arts for Cortland and a concertmaster of the College-Community Orchestra, which he directed for seven years. The article can be found at http://music.unc.edu/75.
Mary Ware
Mary Ware, foundations and social advocacy, authored a chapter titled "Learning Contracts as Part of Learning Design and Evaluation" for the volume Assessment and Evaluation in Career and Technical Education, edited by Victor C.X. Wang and published simultaneously by Information Science Reference, Hershey, Pa., and Zhejiang University Press this fall. The text is in print and in use in several universities including California State University, but will show a copyright of 2010. Ware was asked to author this chapter after the editor attended her presentation titled "Whadjaget: Learning Contracts in Distance Education" at the spring meeting of Lilly West Conference on Higher Education in Pomona, Calif. Ware is contracted to prepare two more chapters for a forthcoming encyclopedia of online learning to be published by Information Science Reference next year. These chapters, co-authored with Mary Stuck, will focus on gender, race and age as variables in online learning and on learning contracts in distance learning.
John Hartsock
John Hartsock, communication studies, discussed the place of James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men in the history of American literary journalism. He participated in a panel discussion on the book at the annual convention of the American Journalism Historians Association held Oct. 8 in Birmingham, Ala.
Correction: John Hartsock, communication studies, has signed a contract with the University of Massachusetts Press to publish Theorizing Literary Journalism: Examining a Narrative Genre. The volume will provide his scholarly summa on the subject of literary journalism.
R. Bruce Mattingly and Amber J. Murphy ’09
R. Bruce Mattingly, School of Arts and Sciences, and Amber J. Murphy ’09, co-authored an article titled “A Markov Method for Ranking College Football Conferences” that will be included as a theme essay on the Mathematics Awareness Month Web site, sponsored by the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics. Murphy, an adolescence education: mathematics major, was a recipient of a 2008 Undergraduate Research Council Summer Fellowship.
Robert Spitzer
Robert Spitzer, political science, is the author of a chapter titled "Leading Elite Opinion: Law Reviews and the Distortion of Scholarship" in the recently published book, Leadership at the Crossroads, published by Praeger.
Sue Lehr
Sue Lehr, professor emerita of foundations and social advocacy, recently had her book, Beautiful Ben — My Son with Autism, published by Ariminta Books. This book describes life with Ben, and her family as they learned about autism, inclusion, advocacy and adult issues. More details can be found on www.beautifulben.com. Michelle Cryan, Publications and Electronic Media Office, helped with graphic design, layout and Web site development.
Sam Kelley
Sam Kelley, communication studies, has been informed that the eta Creative Arts Foundation production of his play, "Pill Hill," received several honors at the 15th Annual Black Theatre Alliance Awards ceremony held Oct. 5 in Chicago. "Pill Hill" won awards for Costume Design, Best Ensemble, Best Performance in an Ensemble (Actor), Best Direction and the Negro Ensemble Company Award for Best Play.
In a note to Kelley, eta Creative Arts Foundation President Abena Joan P. Brown, Artistic Director Runako Jahi and Producing Director Kemati J. Porter wrote, "'Pill Hill' resonates deeply in the Chicago community. We are ecstatic it received such notable recognition from the artistic community... Our deepest gratitude to you for allowing us to produce this classic work." Kelley traveled to Chicago for a post-production session with the actors in late July. The production ran from June 18 through Aug. 9. This was the third time "Pill Hill" was produced in Chicago. Previous Chicago productions were presented by the Chicago Theatre Company. "Pill Hill" is slated for a production in Baltimore, Md., in April 2010 as part of a series of activities addressing problems facing black males in the area.
Kelley's play "Habeas Corpus" received a staged reading at the Juneteenth Festival, which was produced by the Juneteenth Legacy Theatre on June 18 in Louisville, Ky. Kathy Ellis directed the production. Habeas Corpus is based on the 1919 Elaine, Ark., Race Riot and the subsequent struggle to free 12 black men who were sentenced to die in the electric chair for their role in the riot. Kelley traveled to Louisville for a post-production question-and-answer session with the playwright and audience.
Brittany Adams and Nance Wilson
Brittany Adams and Nance Wilson, Literacy Department, had an article, “Troubling Critical Literacy Assessment: Criticality-in-Process,” published Oct. 7 in the Journal of Literacy Innovation.