Campus Report
News, Calendar & Events

Motivational speaker Jeff Tobe will be giving two workshops to specialized staff at SUNY Fredonia Friday, Aug. 15, as a creative-thinking exercise to launch the 2008-09 academic year, which starts Monday, Aug. 25.  Tobe is one of the most sought-after speakers and consultants in corporate America, a title he has earned through his trademark presentations, "Coloring Outside the Lines.”

Faculty and staff who can answer questions from the news media in their areas of expertise are urged to complete the online Experts Survey Form, Public Relations Director Michael Barone announced.

The 60 youngsters in the recent FITE SMaRT science and mathematics camp left with memories, medals and more incentive to keep studying. President Dennis L. Hefner announced that each youngster would receive a $500 scholarship their freshman year if they pursue their college studies at SUNY Fredonia.  The week-long camp, an introduction to engineering, was supported by a $73,785 New York State Excelsior Scholars Grant.

Cast members in an upcoming production of the Chautauqua Opera will include three faculty members and two students from SUNY Fredonia programs in music and theatre. Part of a large cast of singers, dancers, and actors in "Street Scene" will be theatre faculty members James Ivey, Tom Loughlin, and Tina Rausa, along with sophomores  Michael Valvo of Kennedy, N.Y., and Kyle Blount of McKean, Pa.

Graduate students and undergraduates took two courses this summer offered by SUNY Fredonia's English Department that included an educational trip to London, England. The courses, focusing on women's literature and major authors, were taught by professors Jeanette McVicker and Adrienne McCormick.

 The Professional Development Center will hold orientation for new faculty on Thursday, Aug. 21, featuring information, fun, and learning about the campus and the area. Go to the web page.

“We are extremely happy to declare the 2008 fall term closed, as we prepare to welcome the biggest class —and the strongest, academically, in terms of both standardized test scores and high school averages — the Fredonia campus has ever experienced,” said President Dennis L. Hefner.

A landmark new graduate program will now allow students with a bachelor’s degree in a natural science area of study to more quickly complete requirements for both the initial and professional teaching certifications needed to teach within New York State public schools.

Mathematical Sciences Professor H. Joseph Straight has been named among this year’s recipients of the Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Faculty Service. This award is a statewide honor conferred to acknowledge and provide recognition for consistently superior professional achievement.

The naming of the Reed Library addition as the Carnahan-Jackson Center for Learning and Scholarship recognizes the longstanding financial and volunteer support given by the Carnahan-Jackson Foundation to the SUNY Fredonia community over the years, as well as the personal philanthropy and leadership provided by its Board Chairman, David H. Carnahan (in photo), President Dennis L. Hefner announced in May.

A key component of a comprehensive public relations plan designed by senior public relations majors to help the 1891 Fredonia Opera House expand its membership and attract younger audiences has been awarded a $1,000 grant from the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Partnership Foundation

Seventy-two Fredonia State student-athletes were cited by the State University of New York Athletic Conference for their academic achievement during the Spring 2008 semester. Among the honorees were 39 student-athletes named to the Commissioner’s List, for varsity athletes who completed their entire season and maintained a GPA of 3.3 for three semesters.

The Fredonia State Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2008 will include three multiple-choice All-Americans, the Hall's first softball inductee, and a former athletic trainer who now plies his trade with the Buffalo Bills of the NFL.  Hall of Fame committee members meeting in March selected Chris Hughey, Chris Whitmore, Robert Healy, Melanie (Yaskulski) Deemer, and Bud Carpenter (Buffalo Bills trainer, in photo) for induction Oct. 18 on campus.

“Anchors and Gears,” a work created by sculptor Brett Hunter, has been installed in the green space between Mason Hall and Reed Library on the SUNY Fredonia campus. Standing more than six feet tall, it was made from pieces of granite and steel over the course of several months.

Six undergraduates have just finished the first annual six-week study-abroad program in Mexico this summer at the Ollin Tlahtoalli Centro de Lenguas y Cultura Mexicana. Located in Oaxaca, the center is dedicated to preserving endangered Mexican indigenous languages, the teaching of Spanish within a Mexican cultural framework, and the promotion of Mexican culture and traditions.