Campus Report
News, Calendar & Events

A new round of funding from the U.S. Justice Department will allow SUNY Fredonia officials to provide rape prevention training for university police, athletic coaches, and key campus personnel while increasing similar programs for incoming freshmen, upperclassmen and transfer students. The $199,996 expands the Campus Education, Awareness, Support and Effect (CEASE) project, which was originally subsidized with a $200,000 Department of Justice grant in 2004.
Read Full Article

Slavery in ancient Egypt

Slavery is not a pleasant subject.  The suffering of slaves and the brutality of slavery is a black page writ large in American history, and most SUNY Fredonia freshmen come into Markus Vink’s history classes carrying powerful images of slavery as it was practiced in their own country in the 19th century.

But, in his research seminar, Dr. Vink takes them on a different journey across time and space.  He directs their attention eastward across the Atlantic, across the continent of Africa and into the world of the early modern Indian Ocean. He points them back to a time earlier than the American colonies. Here they find a world in which slaves are already ubiquitous, and where the practice of slavery is traditional.

His research has traced slavery as far back as 1500 B.C.E., to the beginnings of (recorded) history and to the times of stateless peoples, hunter-gatherers, and pastoral nomads. Since then, a steady stream of captive humanity continued to flow through the rise and fall of empires, sultanates, confederations and kingdoms

“Slavery,” Dr. Vink maintains, “is the world’s oldest trade.”

Read Full Article

SUNY Fredonia’s School of Music will host special guest guitarist James Marron in  a performance at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 28 in Rosch Recital Hall.  The renowned guitarist/composer will perform his original works from his recording “Six Poems for the Angels,” which has been called “an impeccable CD of classical and neoclassical guitar music” by 20th Century Guitar Magazine. 
Read Full Article

New interest in drilling natural gas from black shale is pumping energy into the geosciences department at SUNY Fredonia.

Two recent gifts of industry-level software valued at $54,000 have come into the lab of Dr. Gary Lash in Houghton Hall. Papers describing his work on fractured Devonian black shale deposits are being presented to packed rooms at major meetings, and his students and graduates are reaping the benefits.

“We’re looking at the Marcellus Shale, which is one of the black shale units attracting industry attention,” Dr. Lash said. “It’s buried pretty deep and is very organic rich. You can smell the gas in the shales. You break that black shale on the beach and you can smell the gas coming out of it. So it’s in there. The problem is getting it out. The Marcellus is extremely tight.” 

Click on headline to continue this article.

Read Full Article

In a recent study conducted by Business First, a Buffalo business newspaper, the quaint, southern tier village was ranked the most favorable urban center in which to live in Western New York. Within the region’s eight counties, every village, town, and city meeting the population criteria was considered in the periodical’s search for exceptional communities.
Read Full Article

The State Employee Federated Appeal (SEFA,) chaired by Patricia Lefferts (purchasing) and Ray Rushboldt (political science), is gearing up for the Fall 2006 campaign with a Solicitor’s Brunch to be held Thursday, Sept. 28 at 9:30 a.m. at the Alumni House.
Read Full Article

Cheryl Campo is the speaker at the Fall Gathering of the Women’s Studies Program on Wednesday, Sept. 27 from 5 to 7 p.m.  Her talk is titled,  “Wine, Women and Song…Mixtures, Men and Science,” as her topic. 
Read Full Article

Sherri Mason (chemistry) has funding from the Great Lakes Commission to improve and validate an atmospheric model that will predict the movement of pollutants coming into the air from cars, industry, and even Great Lakes evaporation.

Read Full Article

Dr. James Zull, biochemist who has done studies on changes in the brain that take place during learning, is giving two workshops for faculty on Friday, Sept. 22
Read Full Article

With a research grant of $80,000 through the Great Lakes Air Deposition (GLAD) program, Dr. Sherri Mason (chemistry) is collaborating with the State Department of Environmental Conservation to model the locations of chemicals in the air that are known to be carcinogenic or hazardous to humans. At right, Dr. Mason welcomes to Maytum Hall "Reg," the Linux stack which is enabling her to conduct the 18-month study. "Reg" will run and test simulation models on air quality in New York State.   Read the complete news story.
Read Full Article

SUNY Fredonia has a $120,000 portion of an NSF grant to Case Western Reserve University as a result of a partnership involving Fredonia's chemistry department, and faculty members Philip Kumler (Professor Emeritus of Chemistry) and Dr. Cheryl Campo. The agreement will create undergraduate research opportunities for students, and support research by faculty in the department. More departments at Fredonia may be added in the future.
Read Full Article

A Study Abroad Fair is being held Wednesday, Sept. 13, from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Williams Center. Sponsored by the International Education Office, the fair will feature representatives from other schools which sponsor study abroad programs, Fredonia study abroad program information, help on how to get financial aid to study abroad, and former study abroad students who can answer every question imaginable!
Read Full Article

The Fredonia State Business Club, associated with the Business Administration degree program, is back in action running the Snack Shack on the 3rd floor of Thompson Hall, open every day with donuts and coffee. "We've been busy doing some remodeling," Snack Shack Coordinator Michael Budniewski said.
Read Full Article

Approximately two-thirds of Fredonia undergraduates come from one of six New York state counties (Erie--23.7 percent; Chautauqua--19 percent; Monroe—13 percent, Cattaraugus--4 percent; Niagara--3.6 percent; Onondaga--3.3 percent) 
 

Read Full Article

Professor James Hurtgen will moderate a discussion, “The President’s Authority During a Time of War,” Thursday, Sept. 21, at 7 p.m. in S-104 of the Williams Center.

Read Full Article

“The primary goal of our project is to increase partnerships and community service between SUNY Fredonia student organizations and community organizations in Chautauqua County, in particular Dunkirk,” Ms. Tyszko explained, noting that particular emphasis will be placed on youths and the elderly.

Read Full Article

James Piorkowski

James Piorkowski (School of Music) will perform the song, "The Greatest of These," which he composed for mixed choir and guitar, during the gala opening concert of the Guitar Foundation of America's annual classical guitar convention at Columbus State University in Columbus, Ga., October 10. The Fredonia Chamber Singers, directed by Dr. Donald P. Lang (School of Music) will also perform. The convention, being billed as "Guitar on the Chattahoochee," is one of the major activities of the GFA, which is America's leading guitar organization.  Publisher of  the journal, Soundboard (which features Piorkowski's score, Prelude No. 10, in its current issue), the GFA serves serious guitarists worldwide with educational, literary and performance resources and opportunities.

Read Full Article

Internships at SUNY Fredonia are now managed by the Career Development Office in Gregory Hall, where professional counselors are helping students identify internship opportunities related to their educational and career goals.
Read Full Article

Five years after the campus shuddered to a halt as it absorbed news of the mortal attacks by terrorists on U.S. soil, students, faculty and staff are coming together to reflect on the consequences of September 11, 2001. The day's events of Monday, Sept. 11, are built around the work of keynote speaker Kristin Steuerle Swanson, M.D., daughter of a Flight 77 victim.
Read Full Article