Campus Report
News, Calendar & Events

Approximately 1,300 students crossed the stage in Steele Hall on Saturday, as President Dennis L. Hefner conferred Fredonia’s 2008 undergraduate and graduate degree candidates. The day was filled with speeches and performances, friends and family, handshakes and hugs, which together produced an atmosphere of tremendous pride and lifelong memories.

Wendy Corsi Staub, the 2008 commencement speaker, will be at the University Bookstore for a book signing on Friday, May 16, at 2:30 p.m. A native of Dunkirk, N.Y., and a graduate of the English Department, she writes suspense thrillers and young adult novels.  

The Multipurpose Room was filled with scores of employees who received service certificates and pins for length of service recently as three longtime members of the SUNY Fredonia community – Dr. Jeanette McVicker, Dr. Sally Turner and Timothy McGraw – received 2008 President’s Awards for Excellence.

Dr. Darren Williams, associate professor of Physics and Astronomy at Penn State, Behrend College, will be giving an illustrated public lecture, “Oceans of Water on Distant Earth-like Planets,” at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 29, in McEwen Hall Room 202 at SUNY Fredonia.

Local and sustainable food production is the subject of a panel discussion anchored by four individuals from the local community. Part of Earth Week, the panel will be conducted Thursday, 6 to 7:30 p.m., at S104 Williams Center.

The upcoming Walter Gloor Mainstage Series production of “Victor/Victoria” will be a large undertaking in every sense of the word.  The show opens April 25 in Marvel Theatre and features a cast of 30, a crew of 40, a 26-person orchestra, a production and design crew of 16, nine different full sets — including a one that depicts two floors of a hotel — and 16 scene changes.

The 10th Annual Student Research and Creativity Exposition will be held Thursday, April 24, from noon to 6 p.m. in the Williams Center. Posters, presentations, displays, performances, and demonstrations will culminate with a keynote address by alumnus Christopher Cahill of George Washington University's chemistry faculty at 4:15 p.m. More than 100 students are exhibiting their work.

All area residents will have the opportunity to clear out unwanted household electric items during SUNY Fredonia’s Earth Week Campus and Community Household Electric Recycling Day on Saturday, April 26.  The collection day has been registered as an official event in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge.

A painter, a poet and a biologist will discuss their diverse reasons for caring about water during Earth Week at SUNY Fredonia. An aquatic issues panel on April 23 from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in S-104 Williams Center will feature the personal stories, biological research, creative writing and the visual arts of panelists Alberto Rey, Timothy Strakosh, and Aimee Nezhukumatathil.

A record number of five Rosa Parks Scholarship Competition Award winners, culled from 46 entries – also a record number for the annual contest – were honored at a presentation and award ceremony Thursday, April 17, at the Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall. Each student honoree received a scholarship of $350. The scholarship competition was founded 19 years ago by Vivian Garcia, SUNY Fredonia's academic advising administrator.

To build awareness of what is discarded and the potential for recycling, students at SUNY Fredonia will participate in a “trash dump” on Saturday, April 26, beginning at 2 p.m.

On Saturday, April 26, ground will be broken for a new native plant garden.  The brainchild of area biologist Priscilla Titus and facilitated by Assistant Professor of Biology Jonathan Titus, the garden will be established next to the greenhouse at Jewett Hall, home of the biology department. It will be planted, beginning at 11 a.m., by Dr. and Ms. Titus and students from the biology program

Serving will be from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., rain or shine. “A Sustainable Taste of Fredonia, sponsored by the SUNY Fredonia Sustainability Committee, helps kick off SUNY Fredonia’s observance of Earth Week that runs through Saturday, April 26.

Contemporary environmental issues will be the focus of a film series sponsored throughout April by the Earth Week Planning Committee and the American Studies Program at SUNY Fredonia. There is no admission charge to any of the screenings.

Local peace and justice groups will present the community with an opportunity to re-examine the meaning of peace on Friday, April 11, when George Mische, peace movement organizer and U.S. Army veteran, will speak at 7:30 p.m. in McEwen Hall Room 202 on the SUNY Fredonia campus. The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.