Academic Convocation to Open School Year Aug. 28

07/19/2016 

SUNY Cortland will open its 2016-17 academic year with the pomp and circumstance of an Academic Convocation on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 28, in the Park Center Alumni Arena.

All first-year and new transfer students, along with the SUNY Cortland faculty, librarians and professional staff, are invited to participate in this hour-long event, which will begin at 4 p.m.

“First-year students at SUNY Cortland mark the beginning of their academic journey with Academic Convocation,” said SUNY Cortland President Erik J. Bitterbaum. “The ceremony affords faculty and staff the opportunity to formally welcome incoming students to the College. This important milestone reflects that the entire campus community plays a supportive role in ensuring academic achievement.”

Anne Burns Thomas, the 2015-16 Faculty Student Connections Award winner, will deliver the Academic Convocation address. Speakers will include Bitterbaum; Prus; and senior Michael Braun, president of the Student Government Association; senior Court Pineiro; and Michael Sgro, representing the SUNY Cortland Alumni Association.

Marina Gorelaya, adjunct professor of performing arts, will provide the processional and recessional music. Hannah Truman, junior speech and hearing sciences major, accompanied by Gorelaya, will sing the national anthem and the Alma Mater. Several returning students have volunteered to serve as student marshals.

The Academic Convocation processional begins with the all-college gonfalonier, who leads in the faculty, followed by the Schools of Arts and Sciences, Professional Studies and Education gonfaloniers. Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Mark Prus will carry the all-college gonfalon, while the gonfalons representing the College’s three schools will be carried by John Cottone, dean of the School of Professional Studies, R. Bruce Mattingly, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, and Andrea Lachance, dean of the School of Education.

The processional concludes when the macebearer brings in the platform party, which consists of members of the College’s administration and faculty leadership, the College Council, visiting dignitaries and honorees. Caroline Kaltefleiter, professor of communication studies, will carry the mace, a ceremonial staff used as a symbol of authority.

The concept for an opening academic convocation, modeled after a ceremony held during the College’s earlier years, was developed from a recommendation by the College’s Cultural and Intellectual Climate Committee. The tradition, restarted in 2003, is coordinated through the President’s Office. For more information, visit the Academic Convocation website.