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The Fall 2021 semester has come to a close, and we had a successful term thanks to the hard work of all faculty, staff and students. We should be proud of the obstacles our community overcame this semester, several of which we all hoped we would not be facing any longer. Even with new procedures and constant adjustments, signs of progress are also present.
With strong recognition that national enrollment trends still pose a significant challenge, the Office of Admissions determinedly set out a plan to engage with prospective students. Admissions offered three in-person meetings with high school counselors throughout the state this fall, is planning several events for accepted students this spring, and, in conjunction with the Office of Financial Aid, developed a plan to increase merit and need-based scholarship awards to incoming first year and transfer students by more than one-million dollars. This strategy, approved by Cabinet, will increase student access to SUNY Oneonta's high-quality education.
As was recently announced, the summer orientation program has been expanded to include a one-day in-person experience for incoming students and their families in July. This will allow additional time for our new students to connect with one another and with the college, developing those important relationships early, before the frenzy of move-in and classes beginning in August. This also gives the college an opportunity to assist parents and families in learning more about what resources are offered to students, what will be expected of students during their college careers, and give more time to answer questions about billing, financial aid, move-in and more.
Our COVID case count remained low this fall due to the strong adherence to our health and safety protocols. If this continues, we can also have a successful spring. The COVID Response Team (CRT) will release updated guidance for next semester soon and is monitoring the evolving conditions surrounding COVID locally and nationally. Please continue to check your email for important announcements as we prepare for the spring. My thanks go to the faculty and staff who serve on the CRT and continue to help the college adjust to the constantly changing circumstances of the pandemic.
I hope everyone has a chance to safely enjoy time with those you love over the next several weeks, and I thank you for your continued dedication to the college, our students, and one another.
Sincerely,
Alberto J.F.Cardelle
President
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| Celebrating Faculty Scholarship
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Richard Lee, Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs
Kathy Meeker, Director of Grants Development
The Life of the Mind (LOTM) and Community of Scholars (COS) events showcase and honor faculty scholarly activity.
The Life of the Mind showcase spotlights the research and scholarship, creative activity, teaching, service and varied integrated contributions made by our faculty to the intellectual life of the campus community and beyond. The 2021 LOTM was held 'virtually' live on Nov. 16 and 17, with faculty and staff presenters available via Teams meetings to discuss their work. Kudos and thanks to the 87 faculty, staff, students and external collaborators who shared the 35 projects and initiatives included in the showcase. Presentations will be available for viewing on the showcase platform through November 2022.
The Community of Scholars honors faculty scholarly and creative productivity by recognizing publications, professional contributions to the arts, and external grant awards. Held on Nov.16, the 2021 COS event honored faculty with eligible contributions during the period of July 2020–June 2021. The COS event also honored the recipient of the 2021-2022 Award for Innovative Pedagogy, Alejandra Escudero, Lecturer in the Foreign Languages & Literatures Department, and the 2021 Scholars of the Year:
- Sarah Rhodes (Reference and Instruction Librarian), Milne Library Scholar of the Year;
- Bharath Ramkumar (Assistant Professor, Human Ecology), School of Education, Human Ecology and Sports Studies Scholar of the Year;
- Susan Goodier (Assistant Professor, History), School of Liberal Arts and Business Scholar of the Year; and
- Daniel Stich (Associate Professor, Biology) School of Sciences Scholar of the Year.
A full listing of the 2021 COS honors is available on the Grants Development webpage. Congratulations to all our faculty scholars!
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| Middle States Work Groups Move Forward
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| The Middle States Work Groups have had a busy semester gathering evidence and outlining their reports related to the seven Middle States Standards. Next, they will draft the reports that will eventually become the chapters of the college’s Self-Study. Students have joined each Work Group for this significant phase. The College Council also had its first engagement with the reaccreditation process that is underway, hosting a presentation on Middle States’ expectations by co-chairs Theresa Russo and Eileen Morgan-Zayachek.
The wider campus community will be encouraged to participate in the process and provide input on the drafts through open forums planned for the spring (details forthcoming). By that time, the campus will also know who Middle States has assigned as the site team chair for our spring 2023 campus visit.
It would not be possible to move our reaccreditation process forward without the efforts of the 80+ members of our Work Groups. Many thanks go to them for their service and commitment to the college.
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| Campaign Closes in on Historic $25 Million Goal
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| Paul Adamo, Vice President for College Advancement
Pat ’75 and Linda ’76 McCann, Grow. Thrive. Live. Campaign Co-Chairs
Thank you to every SUNY Oneonta employee who has supported our current fundraising campaign, Grow. Thrive. Live. The Future of SUNY Oneonta. As of Dec. 13, 8,164 donors have generously contributed $24,277,186 toward our $25 million goal.
The impact of campaign gifts is already being felt:
“I am grateful that I’ve been given the opportunity to pursue a college degree. Your donations mean so much because they allow me to have the same educational opportunities as other students and pursue what I’m passionate about.”
– Douglas ’24, recipient of the OAS Oneonta Promise Scholarship
“With help from you all and the Student Emergency Fund, my dreams have become a reality. I am deeply thankful for the help you have given me, and I promise it is not in vain.”
– Emmanuel ’20, recipient of a Student Emergency Fund grant
To date, 99 new named scholarships and program support funds have been established during the campaign. More importantly, generous donations from alumni, faculty, staff, parents, students and friends now generates over $3.7 million in scholarships and student support every year.
With 18 months to go until the campaign concludes in June 2023, we will continue to raise charitable gifts and grants to positively impact our community and support our students as they work to achieve their dreams.
Again, we thank you for your support of Grow. Thrive. Live. What a difference you have made! Visit the campaign webpage to find out more about the campaign and its impact.
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| Part 2: Promoting Recruitment, Opportunity, Diversity, Inclusion and Growth (PRODiG) at SUNY Oneonta
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Tracy Allen
Dean, School of Sciences
This is the second part of an article that appeared in the November 2021 edition of Notes from Netzer.
PRODiG was conceived as a program that would significantly impact how we, as a system of higher education, improve campus climates, create fairer hiring and retention practices, and reduce barriers to diversity in faculty search processes. Made up of campus stakeholders, a PRODiG Steering Committee is helping to guide the college in increasing representation of underrepresented minority (URM) faculty and women faculty of all races in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (WSTEM faculty) through hiring and retention; enhancing the pipeline of URM/WSTEM students pursuing and entering graduate school and URM/WSTEM graduates pursuing and entering academic careers; and, improving the campus climate for diversity, equity and inclusion.
Some successes of the program include: implemented retention incentives for PRODiG faculty through financial assistance programs (professional development, startup funds, summer research support, loan forgiveness); hired Dr. Casey Coomes as a WSTEM Visiting Instructor through the PRODiG Fellowship Program; hired a cohort of two new PRODiG-eligible faculty in the School of Liberal Arts and Business; created a new process for pre-screening applicants and extending the timeframe for active recruitment of URM and WSTEM faculty; and, hired Dr. Kimberly Cossey and Dr. Valerie Rapson as the college’s second PRODiG-supported faculty cohort (2020-2021).
Dr. Cossey is an Assistant Professor in the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department. She regularly teaches Organic Chemistry I and II. Developing teaching materials that engage students and help them through challenging courses is her passion. Dr. Cossey's research interests center around using chemistry to serve society. Projects include designing and optimizing chemical reactions and processes for future lab courses and community-based research projects. As a PRODiG-supported faculty member, she was awarded professional development funds and a summer stipend to develop a student research team to create a lab for extracting caffeine from various beverages.
Dr. Rapson is an Assistant Professor in the Physics and Astronomy Department. She teaches introductory physics courses and all levels of astronomy from basic night sky observations to stellar and galactic astrophysics. Dr. Rapson enjoys giving public talks about the latest astronomical discoveries throughout the community, is a monthly guest on WAMC's Vox Pop radio show, and participates in science outreach projects for local youth. As a PRODiG-supported faculty member, she was awarded professional development funds and a summer stipend to work with students at Oneonta's College Camp Observatory to study supernova explosions and variable stars, and detect exoplanet transits.
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iGEM Team Continues Successful Silver Streak
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The 12 student members of SUNY Oneonta's 2021 iGEM team earned a silver medal at this year's International Genetically Engineered Machine Giant Jamboree in November for their project, "SNflaPs."
In this multidisciplinary competition, team members work together to create a solution to an everyday problem using the tools of synthetic biology. In addition to engineering, building, testing and refining their system, teams must also consider the human and environmental aspects of their work and produce a promotional video, a 20-minute presentation and a wiki documenting their work.
SUNY Oneonta's team worked to produce a field-deployable genetic testing system that can be used to support informed breeding on small dairy farms. They competed against 352 teams from more than three dozen countries. The Oneonta team also earned a silver medal during the 2020 virtual iGEM competition.
The International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of synthetic biology, education and competition, and the development of an open community and collaboration.
More details about synthetic biology, iGEM, and the SUNY Oneonta team can be found on the campus iGEM website .The team's project can be viewed on its 2021 iGEM competition wiki page.
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| Internal Communications Update
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| Karyn Wendrow
Director of Internal Communications & PACIC ex-officio member
The President's Advisory Council on Internal Communications (PACIC), established this academic year, met several times this semester to develop action items to make progress on the college's internal communication.
As was outlined during a report to College Senate in October, changes to the Daily Bulletin are being developed that will consolidate, organize and simplify the way departments and employees can make announcements to the college community. Stay tuned for a more in-depth announcement about these changes and new procedures within the next few weeks.
PACIC will reconvene in the spring semester to continue this work, which will include exploring how the college can improve communication to students in addition to addressing other recommendations from last year's Internal Communications Task Force.
Our thanks go to Bill Vining (Chemistry and Biochemistry Department) for his excellent leadership as the inaugural co-chair of PACIC, along with Kathy Meeker (Grants Development Office). Jaqueline Bishop (Communications & Media) has agreed to serve as PACIC co-chair with Kathy for the spring semester.
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| SUNY Oneonta Recognized for Graduate Programs, Sustainability Efforts
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| SUNY Oneonta made Abound’s list of 2021 Top Grad Programs. Abound selects each school program based on factors that cover the essential needs of the non-traditional student—accessibility, affordability, acceleration and advancement. Flexible classes and services, affordable courses, a range of quality programs and degrees that help students advance in their field also are considered. Read more about Abound's methodology.
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