|
|
| It is hard to believe we are nearing the end of October and over halfway through the fall 2021 semester. I want to thank everyone who took the time to stop by one of the September Socials to say hello. It was a pleasure to meet so many members of this community, and I can see why the friendly, welcoming atmosphere is always cited as one of the top reasons students and employees love the college.
I look forward to continued opportunities to meet you. The upcoming teach-in sessions present a great chance to hear from faculty and staff from each primary division of the college, as well as mingle and connect with other colleagues. The Division of Student Development will present today, Oct. 27, the Division of Finance and Administration will present on Nov. 12 and the Division of College Advancement will present on Nov. 15. All sessions will be held at 1 p.m. in IRC room five or can be joined virtually through the links provided in the invitation emails.
I would like to thank the students, faculty and staff who participated in the mental health roundtable discussion and Experiential Learning Center meet-and-greet during the Chancellor’s visit earlier this month. He was impressed by the work being done and the evident commitment our community has to ensuring student support and success across the board.
As many of you have noticed, I have joined Instagram and Twitter and invite you to follow me on these platforms if you are also active there. I intend to post content that will allow students, employees, alumni, families and friends of the college to get to know me better and help me celebrate the wonderful activities and accomplishments in our community.
Sincerely,
Alberto J.F. Cardelle
President
| |
| Five-Year Collaborative Project Comes to Fruition
| |
| In an immersive applied learning project dubbed the “SUNY Oneonta Gamer Lab,” Assistant Professor of Media Studies Dr. Karen Stewart and more than 20 of her students spent 600 hours over the course of five years building a video game called “Leap of Faith” from the ground up. The students, all with different academic majors, were involved in every aspect of game development, from conducting extensive historical research to outlining and writing game narratives to composing the game’s theme music. An installation with more information about this hands-on learning experience also offers the chance to play the game on the first floor of Milne Library through Nov. 14.
| |
| Update from the EIT Accessibility Working Group
| |
| Steve Maniscalco, Chief Information Officer and EIT Accessibility Officer
Jennifer Smith, Associate Director for Digital Strategy
The SUNY Oneonta Electronic and Information Technology (EIT) Accessibility working group remains committed in our efforts to provide the campus community with the services and support needed to ensure accessibility across the digital landscape of Information Technology. Last fall we submitted our plan to SUNY, and we will be preparing to send a progress report this December.
Current efforts to ensure digital content is accessible have not gone unnoticed. The use of Ally and other remediation tools and participation in training has been a great starting point. Accessibility is being incorporated into our classroom technology upgrades and our procurement procedures. The college’s website provides an accessible framework. Library e-reserves are being converted to accessible formats before being made available for use, guides created for individual courses are being created using templates developed with accessibility in mind, and library digital spaces are in an ongoing process of evaluation and remediation to ensure accessibility.
We are calling on the campus community to continue to develop their role as collaborative partners in this campus-wide effort. Building accessibility into your daily routine is a culture shift that will need to happen for the college to be successful in providing equal and integrated access to all college electronic and information technology programs, services, and activities, particularly for individuals with disabilities.
We invite you to explore our newly established webpage on electronic accessibility, where you will find information and resources highlighting our efforts and services we are offering to support teaching and learning, content remediation services, recommended software tools, training videos, best practices, and future initiatives.
| |
| Alden Scholar Series Highlights Professor’s Work
| |
| Dr. David Fieni of the Foreign Languages and Literatures Department was selected to present selections from his book, Decadent Orientalisms: The Decay of Colonial Modernity, (Fordham University Press, 2020) as part of this year's Alden Scholar Series.
Dr. Fieni explores how literature in French and Arabic has imagined the relative health and morbidity of France and the Arab World since the mid-19th century. Attentive to historical and literary configurations of language, race, religion and power, Decadent Orientalisms shows the importance of understanding Western discourses of Eastern decline together with Arab and Islamic responses in which decadence returns as a characteristic of the West.
The Alden Scholar Series began as a collaborative effort between SUNY Oneonta’s History Department and Milne Library in 2012. Held in the Alden Room (Milne Library’s Special Collections Center), the Alden Scholar Series celebrates SUNY Oneonta faculty members who have published scholarly books or produced book-length projects within the last five years. Past Alden Scholar presentations are available to watch on Milne Library's libguides webpage.
| |
| Spreading the Word About Academic Achievement
| |
| Kim MacLeod
Associate Director of Communication
SUNY Oneonta students and faculty are doing great things every day, and it is important to spread the word about this great work. Stories about faculty and/or student research, class projects, experiential learning opportunities and other academic experiences are often appealing to various news outlets. Some examples can be seen on our faculty media page, which includes features by The Conversation, Academic Minute, Inside Higher Ed and more.
Please reach out to me if you have something happening that you think would make a good news story. It usually starts with a phone call, whether it’s a faculty member letting me know about their latest research or me reaching out about work that I think would make a great pitch to the media.
I’d like to thank all the colleagues who have helped us achieve success with story placement thus far, and I welcome new ideas to keep up this momentum. If you have an academic project or achievement that you believe is newsworthy, please contact me at Kim.MacLeod@oneonta.edu or 607-436-3603.
| |
| Student Leader Named SUNY EOP Student Ambassador
| |
| Samuel Rodriguez, a third-year Political Science and Criminal Justice major, has been named one of 21 new SUNY Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) Student Ambassadors.
The Student Ambassadors are current EOP students at colleges across the SUNY system who will advise SUNY leadership on strengthening the program to increase access, strengthening support for current EOP students, and increasing retention and graduation rates. Samuel says he is looking forward to meeting peers from across the state to help even more students seek opportunities through EOP.
| |
| First-Generation College Celebration Planned
| |
| Karen Brown, Executive Director of Admissions and Senior Enrollment Management Officer
Monica Grau, Director of the Office of Student Success
Theresa Russo, Special Assistant to the Provost for Student Engagement and Retention
Save the date for Monday, Nov. 8, when the college will participate in the National First-Generation College Celebration. Approximately 35 percent of our enrolled students are first-generation and we will join colleges across the country in spotlighting the success of first-generation students, faculty, staff and alumni in several ways, including across our social media channels. During this celebration we will launch a webpage with resources for first-generation students as well as our own chapter of Alpha Alpha Alpha, the national first-generation honor society. Look for several information tables located around campus on Nov. 8, and stop by to get a celebration button and learn more about developing support services.
| |
|
Students Collaborate with Sustainable Fashion Week
| |
| For the second year in a row, the Revival of Apparel Club (RAC), a student club in the Fashion & Textiles program, collaborated with Sustainable Fashion Week US to present a short awareness film titled “The Future of Sustainable Fashion.” The RAC’s video appears at 00:38 minutes on the Day 5 video from Sustainable Fashion Week 2021.
The video, directed and edited by RAC Vice President Ivanah Alexandre, features students from the SUNY Oneonta campus. The RAC says “Gen Z and millennials are the main target consumers for numerous mass-market clothing brands that are responsible for wasteful production and unethical labor practices. Ironically, the desire to “act now” also springs from the same generation of consumers making the solution part of the problem. The purpose of this video is to bring about this awareness and show that we consumers are ready to act.”
Sustainable Fashion Week is an annual event that showcases collections from emerging and established sustainable designers and vintage collectors.
| |
|
|
|
|
