Faculty and Staff Activities

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Seth N. Asumah

Seth N. Asumah, Africana Studies and Political Science departments, was appointed by the Eastern College Athletics Conference (ECAC) as a referee and officiated the National Junior Colleges Athletics Association (NJCAA) women’s national soccer championship held Nov. 8 at Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3). He refereed a game between Ann Arundel Community College, Arnold, Md., and Richland College, Dallas, Texas. Asumah has officiated numerous soccer championship matches at the international, professional, NCAA and NJCAA levels in the past 25 years.

Richard Hunter

Richard Hunter, Geography Department, and Andrew Sluyter, Department of Geography and Anthropology at Louisiana State University, had their article published in the latest issue of Journal of Historical Geography. The article, “How Incipient Colonies Create Territory: The Textual Surveys of New Spain, 1520s-1620s,” explores the practices of early colonial land surveying to reveal how territory was created through negotiations among local actors, centralized state power and specific landscapes.

Gregory Phelan and Kerri Freese

Gregory Phelan, Chemistry Department, and Kerri Freese, Noyce Program coordinator, along with co-professional investigators (Co-PIs) from Drexel University and University of Massachusetts Boston, planned and executed the 3rd Annual Noyce NE Conference that took place from March 20-22 in Philadelphia, Pa.  The theme of the conference was “Successful Teaching in High-Need Schools.” The conference engaged more than 250 math and science teachers, pre-service teachers and faculty from over 50 Noyce programs throughout the northeast. Keynote speakers included: Paul Gorski, founder of EdChange and associate professor of Integrative Studies at George Mason University; Michele DiPietro, executive director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and associate professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Kennesaw State University; John Mighton, founder of JUMP Math, and; Ryan Devlin, 2013 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year. The conference also included 21 science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) – related breakout sessions and pre- and post-workshop sessions at the Academy of Natural Sciences. A State of Poverty Simulation, led by the Lindy Glennon, executive director of Cortland County Community Action Program (CAPCO), was held for nearly 80 conference participants. The conference was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Alexis Blavos

Alexis Blavos, Health Department, is on the board of directors for the National Health Education honorary, Eta Sigma Gamma, as the director of advocacy. She serves as a voting delegate for the Coalition of National Health Education Organizations and was involved in planning the 50th anniversary celebration that was held on March 30 in Denver, Colo. Also, she was appointed co-chair for the national awards committee for the Society for Public Health Education. And, Blavos recently had her article, “Marijuana and College Students: A Critical Review of the Literature,” published in the American Journal of Health Education, currently posted online.

Peter McGinnis

Peter McGinnis, Kinesiology Department, has announced the recent publication of the third edition of his undergraduate biomechanics textbook, Biomechanics of Sport and Exercise. Published by Human Kinetics, the textbook is used in biomechanics and kinesiology courses in the United States and elsewhere.

Robert Spitzer

Robert Spitzer, Political Science Department, gave a talk on, “Live By History, Die By History: The Second Amendment, Heller, and Gun Policy,” on Oct. 18 at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

David Kilpatrick

David Kilpatrick, Psychology Department, spent his spring break doing professional development for teachers regarding the research on improving the reading skills of students with dyslexia for two state departments of education. He was in Ohio on March 13 and Virginia on March 20.

Angela Pagano, Mary Gfeller and Kerri Freese

Angela Pagano, Biological Sciences Department, Mary Gfeller, Mathematics Department, and Program Coordinator Kerri Freese, Chemistry Department, along with eight students, represented the SUNY Cortland Undergraduate Clinically Rich Teacher Preparation Pilot program, a New York State Education Department (NYSED)-funded grant, during February in Albany, N.Y. They participated in a networking event with district administrators during a NYSED Diagnostic Tool for School and District Effectiveness training workshop. SUNY Cortland students included: Eric Reisweber, Zachary Gracyck and Brendan Creegan, adolescence education: earth science; Kelsey O’Donnell and Robin Tobin, adolescence education: mathematics; Taylor Jones and Lisa Dovi, adolescence education: physics; and Elyse Brill, adolescence education: biology.

Tiantian Zheng

Tiantian Zheng, Sociology/Anthropology Department, has won the 2022 Research Publication Book Award from the Association of Chinese Professors of Social Sciences in the United States for her book Violent Intimacy: Family Harmony, State Stability, and Intimate Partner Violence in Postsocialist China, recently published by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

Christopher D. Gascón

Christopher D. Gascón, Modern Languages Department, presented a paper at the conference of the Asociación Internacional de Teatro Español y Novohispano de los Siglos de Oro (AITENSO), held Oct. 20-24 in New York City. The paper analyzed the neobaroque aesthetic of Spanish classical plays produced recently at New York’s Repertorio Español. Gascón also served on the organizing committee for the conference, which was attended by approximately 150 scholars of Spanish Golden Age drama from all over the world.