Cultural and Intellectual Climate Committee

graphic of the word water filled with water texture

2025/26 Academic Year Theme: Water

The Cultural and Intellectual Climate Committee (CICC), in partnership with the Student Government Association (SGA), is proud to present a dynamic, interdisciplinary series of events centered on the theme of Water. This year’s programming invites our campus and broader community to explore the environmental, social, and cultural dimensions of this vital element.

From scholarly and practitioner presentations to book clubs, film screenings, and student-led initiatives, we will dive into the many meanings of water—its essential role in sustaining life, its symbolic power in language and culture, and its connection to critical global challenges. Water speaks to both the physical and the metaphorical: watershed moments, floods of emotion, and staying afloat in turbulent times.

As a universal and tangible element, water offers a shared language through which students, faculty, staff, and community members can engage in meaningful, pluralistic conversations about the pressing environmental and social issues of our era.

This year’s theme follows previous explorations of elemental foundations—Food (2023–24) and Air (2024–25)—continuing our commitment to fostering dialogue around the essential forces that shape our world.

Our Common Reads!

This year's common reads were once again selected in partnership with the Student Government Association. In addition to selecting both a fiction and non-fiction book for our common read programming, we are excited to add a children's book to this year's conversations.

Water: Common Reads 2025-2026 book covers

We encourage faculty, staff, and students to creatively integrate this year’s texts and themes into their academic and co-curricular experiences. Consider starting a book club, volunteering to read to youth, incorporating the material into your courses, or sharing films and video content that align with the themes. You might also host a discussion event, lead a creative project, or explore other ways to engage your community around these powerful ideas. Let this be an opportunity to connect, reflect, and take action through the shared lens of Water.

Access to the Common Reads

Copies of We are Water Protectors will be available on reserve at Memorial Library thanks to a generous gift from the Haines Fund and SUNY Cortland's President's Office.

Downloads of our other two books are available from Anna's Archive. Here are links to these books:

Events and Activities Supporting our Cultural and Intellectual Climate

Spring 2026

Tuesday, February 10, 2026 at 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. the English Honor Society, Sigma Tau Delta will lead a friendly discussion of this year's common reads. Please join us in the Memorial Library.
Wednesday, February 25, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. Dr. Joseph Anthony and Dr. Alexander Balas host and event sponsored by the Teagle Foundation to explore Democracy and Tyranny. Location TBD.
Wednesday, February 25, 2026 at 4:30 p.m - Dr. Tom Fleischman, University of Rochester, will join us to discuss The Unwritten Life of Sperm Whales: Towards an Animal Social History. Location TBD.
Tuesday, March 3, 2026 at 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. the English Honor Society, Sigma Tau Delta will lead a friendly discussion of this year's common reads. Location TBD.
Thursday, March 12, 2026 at 5:00 to 6:15 p.m. Dr. Scott Ferguson, University of South Florida, will join us to present Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Back In The Water: Money, Immersion & the Birth of the Neoliberal Blockbuster. Location TBD.
Wednesday, March 25, 2026 at 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. we will co-sponsor a Teagle Foundation How I teach the Text Event featuring faculty, students and this year's common reads. Old Main Room 220.
Tuesday, April 12, 2026 at 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. the English Honor Society, Sigma Tau Delta will lead a friendly discussion of this year's common reads. Location TBD.
Thursday, April 23, 2026 at TBD The Distinguished Voices in Literature will host Dr. Ana Bozicevic who will discuss her latest book New Life. Location TBD.

The SUNY Cortland Brooks Museum Lecture Series: The Culture of Turmoil

U.S. Politics in Turmoil: New Era or Same Old Story? - Wednesday, March 25, 2026
The Love Recession: Wednesday, April 8, 2026

All lectures will begin at 4:30 p.m. in Moffett 115 with a reception to welcome speakers between 4:00 and 4:30 to welcome speakers in the Brooks Museum (Moffett 116). More details provided on this Flyer.

Keeping it Green Sustainability Events

The Sustainability Faculty Fellows are offering a webinar series titled “SUNY Sustainability Faculty Series: From Foundation to Practice.” This is a four-part professional development series supporting SUNY faculty in integrating sustainability across General Education. Each session features interactive activities, disciplinary applications from across General Education, and practical implementation tools. Whether you're new to sustainability education or looking to deepen your practice, leave with ready-to-use resources, a growing community of practice, and confidence to make sustainability relevant in your courses.

February 6th, 11am: “Sustainability Across Disciplines: Introduction to General Education Integration”
March 6th, 11am: “Sustainability in the Arts, Humanities, History, and DEISJ”
April 2nd, 11am: “Sustainability in the Natural Sciences and Mathematics”
April 24th, 11am: “Sustainability in Action: Approaches to Applied Learning”

Registration is available at the Center for Professional Development webpage.

About CICC

The Cultural and Intellectual Climate Committee (CICC) is an all-campus committee of faculty and staff. Each year members of the Committee choose a theme to frame a year-long series of lectures, discussions, film screenings, and art exhibitions. This theme is meant to promote cultural life on campus and help the campus and Cortland community engage in discussions connected to issues relevant to today's world.

Next year we will be exploring Fire! Please let us know what you would like to read and investigate during next year's programming. Common Read Survey for Fire.

If you are a member of SUNY Cortland's faculty or staff and would like to participate in the CICC, please contact Benjamin Wilson, the committee's chair. If you are member of the student body or the Cortland community and have a suggestion for a speaker or event, please feel free to contact us as well.