Erika Savage '09 (Sociology - Human Services)

Bexis Matos '09 (Journalism - Public Relations)

The education that Bexis Matos ‘09 (Journalism, Public Relations) and Erika Savage ‘09 (Sociology – Human Services) received at New Paltz will be shared in classrooms across the East Coast.

The recent graduates have been accepted to the highly selective Teach for America program for the 2009-10 academic year. Teach for America is a national organization that places recent college graduates in urban and rural schools.

Matos begins a five-week training session on June 23. Come September, she will be teaching secondary-level social studies in Philadelphia. Savage leaves for training in July before moving to Baltimore and working in early childhood education. Students like Matos and Savage are placed in one of 29 regions based on their prior experiences and undergraduate studies.

Acceptance into the program is rigorous. Only 20 percent of the more than 24,000 applicants were accepted to the corps for the 2008-09 academic year. In addition to receiving pre-service trainings this summer, Matos and Savage will also receive ongoing professional development during their two-year commitment.

Matos decided to apply for the program because of her educational background.

“As a recent immigrant from the Dominican Republic and a Bronx resident, I have experienced firsthand the struggles of educational inequality,” she said. “The Bronx high school I attended lacked the basic resources such as after-school programs, a library, computers as well as sufficient books to accommodate students.”

At New Paltz, Matos worked hard to “reach the level of my educationally advantaged counterparts.” In April, Matos received the Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence.

Savage said she applied for the program because she wants to make a difference. She added that the mission of Teach for America, which is to eliminate educational inequality, matches her own values.

“I want to use my experience and knowledge to help children,” she said. “And I am up for a challenge and different adventures.”

Last year, there were 6,200 corps members teaching in classrooms across the country. Graduates from all academic majors, career interests and backgrounds can apply to the program.

Dean of the Center for International Program Bruce Sillner. Photo submitted

Bruce Sillner, dean of the Center for International Programs, received the Marita Houlihan Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Field of International Education from the National Association of Foreign Student Affairs at its annual conference in Los Angeles, May 24-29.

Sillner is the second recipient of this award from New Paltz. Former New Paltz President Alice Chandler was also recognized with the Marita Houlihan Award in 1989 for her contributions to the international educational exchange field. As such, New Paltz is the only institution to have twice received this distinction.

The award is named for the former State Department official who pioneered the establishment of the Fulbright International student exchange program in the 1940s and 1950s. Established after her death in 1982, the award recognizes those who have displayed imaginative activity, outstanding personal enterprise, and creative contributions to the field through research, writing or program development.

Sillner, who has served as dean of International Programs since 2001, is responsible for all international activities at the college.

College President Steven Poskanzer, said “Bruce Sillner has been a global leader in expanding the horizons of New Paltz students. He is a true citizen of the world and has inspired thousands of our students to grow and learn about other cultures and countries. He richly deserves this recognition, and his college is enormously proud of him.”

Prior to becoming dean, Sillner held a number of positions at New Paltz, including director of the Center for International Programs; director of International Education; director of Second Language Education; and director of the Haggerty English Language Program.

Sillner is the former chair of the SUNY Council on International Education steering committee, is a frequent presenter on topics related to international education at national and international conferences, and a National Selection Panelist for the Gilman International Scholarship Program.

(From l-r) Phyllis Freeman (Psychology), Campus Auxiliary Services (CAS) board of directors member; Bruce DuBois, assistant director of CAS; and Steve Deutsch, executive director of CAS, dressed in golf-themed attire for the CAS Employee Recognition Awards Celebration held on May 18. Photo submitted

Campus Auxiliary Services marked the end of the academic year with a celebration honoring the work of its employees.

The 2009 CAS Employee Recognition Awards Celebration was held on May 18 in the Hasbrouck Dining Hall. The event has been a company tradition for more than 25 years.

“The employees really look forward to the event,” said Steve Deutsch, executive director of CAS. “It’s a wonderful time to recognize the efforts of our employees and salute them.”

The more than 150 full-time employees from the Campus Bookstore, Dining Services and the Office of Auxiliary Support are invited to the themed event. This year’s theme was golf. Members of the CAS board of directors and administrative staff donned polo shirts and visors.

A lunch, prepared by Food Service managers, was served and a number of give-a-ways were presented. The highlight of the event was the Employee Achievement Awards, which were presented to employees who have reached milestones in the number of service years.

The 11 honorees this year were:

5 years
Taina Gonzalez (Food Service)
Bob Rado (Bookstore)

10 years
Michelle Chapin (Food Service)
Patricia Jackson (Food Service)

15 years
Dorothy Bodine (Food Service)
Nancy Ciarlante (Food Service)
Inez Elkins (Catering)
Jim Hinson (Food Service)

25 years
Louise West (Food Service)

30 years
Virginia Lucas (Food Service)

35 years
Paola Portuese (Food Service)

All employees receiving achievement awards were presented with a certificate and a commemorative gift.

“We thank these employees for years of service to the campus community and, in particular, the care and concern extended to our students,” said Jacqueline DiStefano, vice president for finance and administration.

Every Campus Auxiliary Services employee is recognized for their years of service -ranging from those in their first year to 44 years – in the event brochure.

An image of the Sojourner Truth memorial bust on display at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center in Emancipation Hall. Photo submitted

As Cynthia Farrell Johnson ‘76 (Art History) watched the unveiling of a memorial bust dedicated to Sojourner Truth at the U.S. Capitol in April, she thought of her alma mater.

“A flood of memories came rushing back from my days at SUNY New Paltz,” she said. “The books and periodicals that I shelved in the World Study Center made me curious about how people lived beyond our borders. The seeds planted in the Sojourner Truth Library blossomed into a fascinating career conducting educational, cultural and media activities at home and abroad on behalf of the people of the United States.”

Johnson attended the April 28 event on behalf of Corinne Nyquist (Library), with whom she worked as a staff assistant in the 1970s. Farrell, an artist and former State Department Cultural Affairs Officer, is retired and lives in the Washington D.C. area.

Nyquist has conducted research on Truth’s local legacy and said she has answered questions, helped researchers, made presentations, organized programs for teachers, and worked with those here and elsewhere seeking to promote her memory.

Nyquist, who was director of the library’s World Study Center when the library was dedicated to Truth in 1971, provided the National Congress of Black Women, the organization that campaigned for Truth to be recognized in the Capitol, with background on Truth’s life.

“It is only natural that questions relating to Sojourner Truth would come to the library named for her in the county in which she was born and lived for 32 years,” said Nyquist.

The unveiling of Artis Lane’s sculpture of Truth marks the first time an African-American woman has been honored with a bust in the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center in Emancipation Hall. Truth was a women’s rights activist and abolitionist, who was born a slave in Ulster County in the late 1700s.

Attendees at the event, which was spearheaded by the National Congress of Black Women, included about 25 descendants of Sojourner Truth, First Lady Michelle Obama, actress Cicely Tyson, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Jen Wait (Human Resources), left, and Alice Sheldon (Finance and Administration) volunteered at last year’s Doug “Shep” Sheppard Classic Annual Scholarship Golf Tournament.

Doug Sheppard Classic scheduled for June 15

Members of the campus community will take to the greens on Monday, June 15, for the Doug Sheppard Classic Annual Scholarship Golf Tournament.

The event will take place at the Wiltwyck Golf Club in Kingston beginning at 8 a.m. with breakfast and registration. The shotgun start of the four-person scramble format takes place at 9 a.m.

The tournament is named in memory of the longtime professor, administrator and coach, Doug Sheppard, who died in 2008. Shep, as he was known to many, was not only the golf coach for 32 years, but a golfer who was a fixture at local golf courses and tournaments in the area. Proceeds from the event will go toward a scholarship endowment for SUNY New Paltz students.

All players are eligible for awards, contests and prizes that will be presented at a banquet dinner at 3 p.m. in the Wiltwyck Golf Club ballroom. The banquet is open to non-golfers as well for $50.

Those interested in becoming sponsors can visit www.newpaltz.edu/golf or call x3295.

SUNY Hawk traveling to Texas

The SUNY Hawk Solar Car Racing Team, led by Mike Otis (Electrical Engineering), is participating in the Formula Sun Grand Prix in Cresson, Texas, from June 1 to 5.

This is the first year the team, which is comprised of eight students from across the disciplines, is competing. The students designed and built the solar car over the past academic year. The team will drive their car from morning to night at the Motorsport Ranch in Cresson in a race to see how many laps the car can complete.

“The team has worked really well together,” said Otis. “We’re going to have the best looking car out there.”

CRREO discusses regional jailing in second study brief

The Center for Research, Regional Education and Outreach (CRREO) released a discussion brief titled “A Collaborative, Regional Approach to Jailing in the Hudson Valley.” This is the second publication in a planned series of discussion briefs on regional issues.

The study, performed by CRREO Director and Associate Vice President for Regional Engagement Gerald Benjamin, and Research Associate Joshua Simons, suggests that at a time when there is still significant pressure to expand upon and build new jails, there is already enough jail capacity in the eight Hudson Valley counties considered in the study to meet current and future regional needs.

For a PDF of Discussion Brief #2 or more information about CRREO, visit www.newpaltz.edu/crreo.

Awards, Honors, Appointments and Recognition

Megan Ferguson (Chemistry) has been awarded a Single Investigator Cottrell College Science Award by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement for her project, “Chemical Structure and Function of Membrane-Bound Biosurfactants Produced By Pseudomonas Putida.”

J. Frantz Folmer-Andersen (Chemistry) has been awarded a grant by the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund for his project, “Chirality Recognition by Macrocyclic and Mulit-Functional Metal Complexes.”

Publications

Giordana Grossi (Psychology) wrote a paper, “Brain Systems Mediating Semantic and Syntactic Processing in Deaf Native Signers: Biological Invariance and Modality Specificity,” in collaboration with Cheryl Capek of the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom; Aaron Newman of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; Susan McBurney of the University of Washington in Seattle; David Corina of the University of California, Davis; Brigitte Roeder of the University of Hamburg in Germany; and Helen Neville of the University of Oregon in Eugene. The paper was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Students in the News

Rachael Bisceglie (School Counseling) received the 2009 Dr. Edward Shea Memorial Scholarship at the Ulster County Mental Health Association’s 50th Anniversary Reception and Awards Presentation on May 19. Photo submitted