Preparation for installation of glass under way

Work on the Student Union addition continues as the building's design wins an international design award.

The design of the Student Union addition has received a 2009 American Architecture Award from the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Metropolitan Arts Press.

“I’m thrilled that the Student Union addition received an American Architecture Award. It’s a great honor for the college,” said John McEnrue, director of facilities design and construction.

A group of German architects recently selected 64 projects as the best new United States building and designs. The awards program – established in the 1990s – honors and recognizes outstanding new achievements and innovation for new architecture designed and built in the United States by national and international architecture firms practicing in the states.

“This award is highly sought after and will most certainly draw further attention to our campus from both here, in the United States, and from Europe,” said McEnrue.

“The award celebrates the new structure’s unique design, its symbolic relationship to the Shawangunk Mountains and, most importantly, its purpose.”

Sample of installed glass.

Project manager Garry Nack (Facilities Design and Construction) said the steel frame of the building is up and construction workers are preparing the frame for the installation of glass. The exterior framing is nearly 75 percent complete. The installation of glass is to begin this week. The entire structure should be enclosed by mid-January.

The project includes approximately 12,000 square feet of additional space and approximately 12,000 square feet of renovated space to provide students with new places to gather and hold meetings. Work on the interior renovations has been taking place throughout the process, which officially began in December 2008. The addition is set to be open in mid-2010.

Visitors to the "The Hudson River to Niagara Falls: 19th-Century American Landscape Paintings from the New-York Historical Society" exhibition at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art.

Those looking for something to do over the Thanksgiving weekend won’t have to look any further than the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art.

The museum will be closed on Thursday, but will reopen and maintain regular hours (11 a.m.-5 p.m.) on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. A free gallery tour will take place on Sunday, Nov. 29.

Visitors are encouraged to visit the current exhibitions: “Inscription” and “The Hudson River – A Great American Treasure,” which close on Nov. 29, and “Panorama of the Hudson River,” which closes on Dec. 13, but will reopen in February. The flagship exhibition of the Dorsky Museum’s Art and the River project, “The Hudson River to Niagara Falls: 19th-Century American Landscape Paintings from the New-York Historical Society,” will conclude its successful run on Dec. 13.

By Samantha Thomson ’09 (Communications and Media)
Public Affairs Intern

Jaimie Pattipeilohy ’09 (Communication and Media) is capturing the experience of studying abroad at New Paltz with her video journals.

Pattipeilohy, a student from Haarlem, Netherlands, and several other international exchange students from different countries are participating in the new video documentary project. The students are recording their educational and cultural experiences while studying at New Paltz and the short documentaries they produce will be shown to potential international exchange students.

“It is the start of many new projects in the future between Noord University and New Paltz,” said Pattipeilohy.

Patricia Sullivan, chair of Communication and Media, agrees with Pattipeilohy that the project is the start of many collaborations.

“We’ve established a significant partnership with Noord University,” she said. “Technology made it possible for students to work together via the Internet and then come together for intense working sessions to finalize the project.”

Pattipeilohy’s work will be part of a larger project, ‘gnr8,’ that will consist of two three-minute videos that will reflect campus life and the educational experience at New Paltz. She said the videos highlight the similarities, the differences and the once-in-a-lifetime experience for international students. The final films will be available for prospective international study abroad students, their families and friends, as well as faculty members.

“The opportunities – including partnerships and networking around the world – that projects like these open up to students and faculties alike in both nations are awesome,” said Pattiepeilohy. “And the people that you meet are energetic, creative, and like-minded. It is a really positive thing to be involved in.”

By Samantha Thomson ’09 (Communications and Media)
Public Affairs Intern

The college was well represented by eight students at the 67th Annual Conference of the New York State Communication Association held in Ellenville from Oct. 23-25.

The conference, “Ritual, Community and Technology in this New Century: A Global Discussion in New York State,” included faculty from dozens of New York universities, including Columbia and New York University, as well as faculty from all over the world including researchers from the University of Lisbon in Portugal.

Donna Flayhan (Communication and Media) organized this year’s conference.

Six New Paltz students in Flayhan’s fall 2009 Advanced Public Relations class displayed work from their semester-length campaign projects, in which they promoted small businesses. International students from the college made a strong showing in the poster session. They are:

• Malorie Ginsberg ’11 (Journalism, Public Relations) presented her work on the band When All Else Fails;

• Sean Haberkorn ’11 (Journalism, Public Relations) presented his work on Gourmet Pizza;

• Jelena Ilijevska ’09 (Journalism, Public Relations) of Macedonia presented her work on Radiance Day Spa;

• Brianna Lee ’10 (Journalism, Public Relations) presented her work on Sowa Dry Cleaning and Laundry;

• Lilien Sokolova ’09 (Speech Communication) of Macedonia presented her work on The Village Tea Room and Bake Shop;

• Samantha Thomson ’09 (Communication and Media) of Australia presented her work on Kyogle Plumbing Services and Supplies.

Additionally, four students presented research papers that were written for Mary Kahl’s (Communication and Media) spring 2009 Theories of Persuasion course. They are:

• Nicole Famulare ’10 (Communication and Media) shared “Garnering Support for the Child Victim’s Act: A Persuasive Campaign to Eliminate the Statute of Limitations on Child Sexual Abuse”;

• Colomba Fronda ’10 (Journalism, Public Relations, Visual Arts) presented “Abolishing Abstinence-Only Sex Education in New York State: Answering a Rhetorical and Reproductive Crisis”;

• Brianna Lee ’10 (Communication and Media) presented “Knowing Your Rights Regarding Search and Seizure: A Campaign for College Students.”

• Erin O’Connor ’10 (Communication and Media) shared her paper, “Increasing Collegiate Enrollment Rates Among Hispanic Males: A State-Wide Campaign”;

“It was wonderful to be able to include so many New Paltz students at this international conference,” said Flayhan, who along with Kahl, paid the students’ registration fees, so that money would not be a barrier to student participation.

The college was also represented in other ways. New Paltz’s new a cappella group Male Call opened the Saturday evening music and the official photographer for the conference was student Colomba Fronda.

By Samantha Thomson ’09 (Communications and Media)

Public Affairs Intern

On the Esopus, Meadow Groves, ca. 1857-58, oil on canvas by William Hart (1823-1894). Image submitted

The college is hosting “Revisiting the Hudson: 19th Century Landscape Painting in Context,” a daylong symposium on Saturday, Nov. 7, focusing on the art featured in the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art’s “The Hudson River to Niagara Falls: 19th Century American Landscape Painting from the New-York Historical Society” exhibition.

Kerry Dean Carso (Art History) organized the symposium, which will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Lecture Center, room 102.

The lectures will cover a wide range of topics relating to the Hudson River School of Art, including discussions of notable artists Thomas Cole and Frederic Church; landscape painting in the Shawangunks; and architecture found along the Hudson River. Lecturers include art history scholars and professionals from colleges, historical sites and museums from the East Coast.

In addition to the lectures, guided tours of the museum’s successful exhibition, which is on display through Dec. 13, will be available between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

The event, like the “Hudson River to Niagara Falls” show, is part of the Samuel Dorsky Museum’s “Art &The River” project – a six-month series of exhibitions, lectures and events celebrating the Hudson River’s Quadricentennial.

The symposium is free and open to the public and was made possible through the generous support of The Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area.

LISTENING TO LOCAL NEEDS: Adrienne Halloran ’11g (Communication Disorders), front, and Samantha Link ’11g (Communication Disorders) transcribe a narrative sample using the Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT) software program.

Listening to the needs of the local community, Leah Fabiano-Smith (Communication Disorders) and her students have created a speech-development testing program for bilingual children that will also help advance research in their field.

Fabiano-Smith said there is no speech-language testing facility in the area for bilingual children, so she created a program that would fill the gap. Since August, Fabiano-Smith visits the Agri-Business Child Development Center in New Paltz once a week to perform free speech evaluations.

“It’s a win-win program,” said Fabiano-Smith. “They get the free service and we get the data.”

She has also turned the program into a learning experience for her students. Two New Paltz students – an undergraduate and a graduate – accompany Fabiano-Smith to the school, which serves children, from birth to 5 years old, of migrant workers. The team tests two children each week in both English and Spanish using such programs as Microsoft Access, laptops and digital recorders. The college students participating this semester are bilingual, but it is not a requirement.

Fabiano-Smith said having her students experience this type of setting is ideal because it provides them with the real-life research clinic experience. She said students will learn what it is like to work in a setting where there can be distractions or situations they have to address while gathering data.

If a child exhibits signs that there is an audiological or speech development issue, he/she is brought to the college for a full audiological exam or recommended to a speech language pathologist.

“We’re helping families make connections with professionals in the area,” Fabiano-Smith said.

The data and digital recordings collected during the visits are also helping to advance research in the area of speech-language development in bilingual children. The project is one of four projects Fabiano-Smith is working on to study what normal speech development looks like in bilingual children, specifically those whose first language is Spanish.

While the clinical positions are primarily for Communication Disorders students, there are other research experiences open to students of all majors. In total, Fabiano-Smith has 10 students working for her in paid positions or as volunteers on transcribing, translating and data entry.

Fabiano-Smith said that all information about the subjects is confidential. While trust-building is very important, so, too, is the well-being of the child’s language development.

In that vein, Fabiano-Smith tells the parents that their child’s participation in the project will not only benefit them, but also help many bilingual children.

By Samantha Thomson ’09 (Communications and Media)

Public Affairs Intern

The college’s participation in an energy savings program over the summer paid off financially and environmentally.

The Special Case Resource (SCR) Emergency Load Reduction Program called for the college to commit to a 300-kilowatt reduction, with a larger target of 333 kilowatts by performing such energy-saving measures as turning off lights where possible; closing blinds in unoccupied areas or where possible; turning off any individual air conditioning units; powering down any unoccupied equipment; and unplugging small appliances in break areas and lunch rooms.

During a test of the college’s energy use on July 28, the total amount of energy being used on campus was 2,740 kilowatts, which met the 300-kilowatt reduction target. For its efforts, the college received a payment from the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) of more than $2,000.

“Reducing energy consumption at the college not only benefits the college, but also the New York state electricity grid,” said Brian Pine, director of facilities, operations and maintenance. “The process is about creating more energy readily available, and this is done by reducing energy use.”

A ROCK N’ ROLL EDUCATION: The college’s only all-professor band, Questionable Authorities, will perform for first-year students on Saturday, Nov. 14. The band is (l-r) Maureen Morrow (Biology), Peter Kaufman (Sociology), Annee Roschelle (Sociology), Glenn Geher (Psychology) and Brian Obach (Sociology). Photo submitted

Q&A with Questionable Authorities

Glenn Geher (Psychology), Peter Kaufman (Sociology), Maureen Morrow (Biology), Brian Obach (Sociology) and Anne Roschelle (Sociology) are best known by academic personas, but add a few guitars, drums and a flute and they become Questionable Authorities – the only all-professor band on campus.

On Saturday, Nov. 14, the band will take the stage as part of the Office of Student Development’s Saturdays @ the Terrace programming series, which provides students with free weekend entertainment. The show runs from 9 p.m. to midnight.

Tara Sestanovich, coordinator of first-year programming, said the event will provide an opportunity to bring the faculty and student communities closer together in an atmosphere outside of the classroom. “Glenn and his band mates have shown a lot of enthusiasm for their upcoming campus show and I’m very eager to see Questionable Authorities perform for their students,” she said.

As the band members prepare for their upcoming campus show (and maintain their teaching schedules), the members took some time to share their thoughts about the band’s creation, rehearsal schedule and more.

News Pulse: How did band come together?

Questionable Authorities: Brian and Maureen started learning how to play guitar. They found out that Peter used to play drums as a kid and they cajoled him into getting a drum set. Around the same time, Annee picked up the flute after a 20-year hiatus. We played like this for a few years and then Glenn joined in to add some musicality to our cacophonous din.

NP: How did you come up with the band name?

QA: Three of us were on our way to lobby State Assemblyman (and New Paltz alumnus) Kevin Cahill ’77 when we came up with the name. Since we always encourage our students to question authority, since we have a self-deprecating sense of our own importance, and since we are unquestionably questionable musicians, the name seemed more than appropriate.

NP: What are rehearsals like?

QA: We perform in Magnolia Studios—the name given to the drummer’s basement because his dog, Maggie, often runs down and dances to the music. The fact that we even have rehearsals is somewhat of a miracle, given that we try to juggle five different teaching schedules, office hours, campus meetings and family obligations.

NP: Who are some of your influences?

QA: Given that we are composed of three sociologists, an evolutionary psychologist and a micro-biologist, we believe that we are influenced by our evolutionary history as a species, our upbringing, various microbes and our social environment. And Elvis.

NP: What was the best venue you performed in?

QA: We once opened for Dar Williams in Studley Theatre. Although we only played five songs, our last song, an anti-Bush punk version of “We Shall Overcome” has become one of our many signatures and elicited a spontaneous standing ovation.

NP: What is your dream performance venue?

QA: The roof of the Jacobson Faculty Tower with the whole student body as a mosh pit down below. At the end of the performance, we would stage-dive into the pit and body-surf. (EDITOR’S NOTE: News Pulse readers should not try this stunt on their own!)

NP: Describe the band in 10 words or less.

QA: SUNY New Paltz’s best all-faculty, punk-rock cover band.

NP: If you went on tour, what would the show’s name be?

QA: Yes, This Will Be on the Exam.

Make a Difference Day on Oct. 24 provides the campus community with a great opportunity to help its neighbors. Mike Patterson, director of student activities and union services, said the day of national service is about neighbors helping neighbors.

“We have a unique ability to make a large impact on the community that we are part of,” said Patterson. “By making a commitment to Make a Difference Day, we as a college can continue to make a difference in the local region.”

Having faculty, staff and students engaged in the program is vital in this effort, he added. All members of the campus community are encouraged to participate by donating goods or their time, or both.

The college’s involvement in the program begins on Friday, Oct. 23. Donations will be accepted in the Student Union, room 100. College employees received a shopping list of needed goods with their paychecks on Oct. 14. The donations will benefit such local non-profit organizations as Family of New Paltz and The Queen’s Galley.

On Saturday, representatives from the college will volunteer from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. at more than 11 off-campus service sites, including Village View for Seniors and the New Paltz Fire Department.

The entire event will conclude with a reflection dinner on Saturday beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the Student Union, room 100. The dinner is an addition to the program that Patterson hopes will help spread the spirit of service across campus.

“Through the experience of sharing and processing the day’s events, we hope that students, faculty and staff will be inspired to continue giving back to their communities,” he said.

For more details on the full program, visit www.newpaltz.edu/sub/madd.html.

The college is participating in its annual New York State Fire Inspection, which began on Oct. 19 and will last for approximately three weeks.

The mandatory program involves extensive inspections of all rooms and spaces in every building on campus.

This is a preliminary inspection conducted by the New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control. Re-inspections will occur in December and January and will focus on all of the issues identified in the preliminary inspection. A final inspection will occur in January and February to address any issues that have not been corrected.

Scott Schulte, assistant director of environmental health and safety – fire safety division, asks the campus community to be on the lookout for any potential fire hazards and to contact his department.

Potential fire hazards include:

• Prohibited items: extension cords, multi-prong adapters, incense, candles, space heaters, surge protectors, tapestries and wall hangings;

• Propped doors;

• Blocked fire extinguishers, fire alarm pull stations, exits, fire alarm panels and electrical panels;

• Fire Doors not properly closed;

• Vehicles parked in fire lanes or in front of fire hydrants;

• Desks, chairs, tables and other furniture in hallways;

• Exit signs not in working order and illuminated;

• Smoking within 50 feet of any building entrance on campus;

• Properly inspected fire extinguishers;

• Items stored within 18 inches of a sprinkler head or within 24 inches of any ceiling;

• Waste accumulation;

• Obstructed room doorways.

If any of the above listed situations or hazards exist, contact Schulte at schultes@newpaltz.edu or x3310.

“This is our community,” said Schulte. “The responsibility lies with all of us to identify and report any fire code violations, so that we can live, work and interact in the safest environment possible.”