Campus Report
News, Calendar & Events

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.

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 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.

Besides being SUNY Fredonia faculty who enjoy seeing their students graduate each year, Michael and Carolyn Grady are, this year,  proud parents who will be watching two of their own children mark the milestone.  “We love Fredonia; it is a very nurturing and supportive place for students, and they have done so well here,” Mrs. Grady said. “Any student that goes to Fredonia can end up going anywhere.”

The Research Corporation of Tucson, AZ, has awarded $27,376 to Chemistry Professor Matthew Gronquist for his project, "Ecological Chemistry of the Pine Spittle Bug," which starts this summer. The Research Corporation is an active, hands-on foundation that stimulates advances in science.

Joseph Flaxman, a 2006 graduate of the Fredonia School of Music, will be one of four resident artists of the Opera Memphis to perform in a one-hour broadcast on Wednesday, May 14, for National Public Radio station WKNO. He will be singing, "Avant de quitter" from Gounod's "Faust." The program can be heard online with Windows Media Player.  

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 alumna who inspired the movie, “Music of the Heart,” dedicated a new scholarship to Louis Richardson and Homer Garretson, two Fredonia professors who inspired her toward her remarkable career in music education. 

One of SUNY Fredonia's most inspirational graduates, Roberta Guaspari, will be the featured guest at the School of Music's annual convocation on Friday, May 9. An advocate for music education in public schools, Ms. Guaspari's story has been told via the feature film, "Music of the Heart," and the documentary, "Small Wonders."

Live coverage from the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, featuring a panel with SUNY Fredonia alumnus Scott Martelle, '84, author of Blood Passion, will be aired on Book TV Saturday, April 26, at 2 p.m., Pacific Daylight Time (5 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time).

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.

Ethos New Music Society presents "PAST. PRESENT. FUTURE." on Monday, April 21, in Rosch Recital Hall at 8 p.m. The concert will be a celebration of Ethos alumni, current members, and the introduction of the winners of the First Annual Ethos Young Composers Composition Competition.  Admission is free and open to the public.

New York Times bestseller Wendy Corsi Staub, author of more than 70 published novels and a graduate of SUNY Fredonia, has been named the keynote speaker for the 2008 Commencement ceremonies.

Black Student Union alumni of SUNY Fredonia and friends will meet Friday, March 28, in New York City to raise funds for the Nabta Fund, a scholarship endowment established through the Fredonia College Foundation to benefit students of color at SUNY Fredonia.