Faculty and Staff Activities

Maggie Haefele and Lisa Kahle

Maggie Haefele, Information Resources, and Lisa Kahle, Campus Technology Services, co-presented “KACE – Asset Management Solution for SUNY Cortland” at the SUNY Technology Conference held June 19 in Lake Placid, N.Y.

L. Sebastian Purcell

L. Sebastian Purcell, Philosophy Department, presented “What the Aztecs Can Teach Us About Happiness” at the Chautauqua Institution on Aug. 10. Purcell has written widely on topics of moral, political and Latin American philosophy, from topics addressing environmental ethics to his comparative scholarship on Aristotle and the Aztecs. In 2016 he received the American Philosophical Association’s national prize for best essay in Latin American Philosophy for his comparative work on Aztecs, happiness and the good life. A philosopher by trade, he has learned that creative and critical thinking can have an impact on living better, and he applies these thoughts to investing, art and society. He writes about natural goodness, the ethics of cosmopolitanism, and what he calls the “Normativity Challenge: Happiness across Cultures.” 

Robert Spitzer

Robert Spitzer, Political Science Department, is the author of an article titled, “What’s Old Is New Again: Political Science, Law, and Constitutional Meaning,” published in the most recent issue of PS: Political Science and Politics, the professional publication of the American Political Science Association.

Jill Murphy

Jill Murphy, Health Department, and her project staff team of 15 undergraduate and graduate students and alumni surveyed more than 500 adult cigarette smokers and e-cigarettes users over 13 days of the 2019 New York State Fair as part of the “Patterns of Electronic Cigarette Use Among Adults in New York State” research project.

Murphy’s research interests include tobacco control and cancer prevention. Previously she conducted a survey of tobacco users at the fair in 2011. This latest research at the fair will allow her to compare changes (from 2011 to 2019) in the patterns of electronic cigarette use among adults in New York state and examine smokers’ beliefs about the harm or safety of various tobacco and nicotine projects. 

Murphy teaches epidemiology courses where students learn about how to collect, gather and analyze survey data to answer a research question. This project at the fair provided a fun and real-world experience for students to see how data is gathered from humans “in the field,” which in this case was the fairgrounds. 

Several SUNY Cortland undergraduate and graduate students took part in experiential learning and were able to apply and practice their survey research skills and communication skills as they interacted with fairgoers and invited them to participate in a brief survey. Also, the students had the chance to speak with potential college-bound students who are interested in attending SUNY Cortland and speak with numerous proud SUNY Cortland alumni who were at the fair. 

Now that the surveys are complete, Murphy will work with undergraduate students to compile the data, analyze it and then write up the results for publication and dissemination. The findings from this research will be important given the public health epidemic of vaping which has received considerable attention in the news.

Gary Moulsdale and Richard Montgomery

Gary Moulsdale, a tenor, Richard Montgomery, a pianist, both from the Performing Arts Department, will perform Schubert’s 1827 song cycle “Die Winterreise” (The Winter Journey) at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 9, in the Dowd Fine Arts Center, Room 110.  Based on a selection of poems by Wilhelm Müller, the Winter Journey tells the story of a lost love: a young man who had thought he was about to be engaged to be married flees the town where his former love lives. She has turned away from him, and in his despair, he flees into the winter wilderness. The concert is free and open to the public.

Jeanine Rose

Jeanine Rose, Academic Support and Achievement Program, presented on methods of electronic recordkeeping, reporting and surveying for supplemental instruction at the Northeastern Regional Supplemental Instruction (NERSI) Conference in Lowell, Mass. 

Gretchen Herrmann

Gretchen Herrmann, Library, presented a paper titled “Valuing Affect: The Centrality of Emotion, Memory and Identity in Garage Sale Exchange” at the 111th annual meetings of the American Anthropological Association Nov. 14-18 in San Francisco, Calif. The paper deals with affective elements of the exchange, including particular stories and memories that are passed along and with the transformative potential for participants in exchanging evocative aspects of their lives.

Terrence Fitzgerald

Terrence Fitzgerald, Biological Sciences Department, is the author of an article titled “Phelypera distigma Un charançon processionnaire” (A processionary weevil) appearing in the current issue of the French magazine Insectes. Eleven of Fitzgerald’s photographs accompany the article, which was translated by the editors of the publication from an English language version appearing on the author’s website “Social Caterpillars.”  The original studies of the larva, the only weevil known to form head-to-tail processions, were conducted in the Guanacaste, Costa Rica and Jalisco, Mexico as a collaborative effort between the author, James Costa ’85 of Western Carolina University, Alfonso Pescador of the University of Colima in Mexico, Dan Janzen of the University of Pennsylvania and Michael Turna ’03, who recently completed an advanced degree in the chemical ecology of host selection behavior of the eastern tent caterpillars at Binghamton University.  

Gregg Weatherby

Gregg Weatherby, English Department, had three of his poems featured on WSKG Public Broadcasting’s “Off the Page” Poetry Month celebration. 

John C. Hartsock

John C. Hartsock, Communication Studies Department, had his book Literary Journalism and the Aesthetics of Experience published by The University of Massachusetts Press in January. The volume is a theoretical examination of issues that arose from his earlier A History of American Literary: The Emergence of a Modern Narrative Form (2000), the first history of the genre of narrative literary journalism.

In related news, an excerpt from Hartsock’s new book was published in the fall issue of the journal Literary Journalism Studies. “The Literature in the Journalism of Nobel Prize Winner Svetlana Alexievich” examines the work of the first author to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature for journalism. Alexievich is a Belorussian literary journalist.