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Faculty and Staff Activities

Jo-Ann Maclean

Jo-Ann Maclean, Admissions Office, recently completed the Administrative Skills Certificate Program (ASCP) offered through the NYS & CSEA Partnership for Education and Training. The 25-hour ASCP was completed over the course of several months and is designed around critical job-related knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for clerical, secretarial and paraprofessional administrative employees to succeed in their careers.

Craig Foster

Craig Foster, Psychology Department, had his article about his Psychology of Pseudoscience class published Jan. 24 in The Conversation. Titled “Lots of people believe in Bigfoot and other pseudoscience claims – this course examines why,” it ran as part of the publication’s Uncommon Courses section. SUNY Cortland published “Psychology class considers pseudoscience” in the Dec. 7 issue of The Bulletin.

Nichole Edwards

Nichole Edwards, SUNY Cortland Auxiliary, was interviewed about our food waste composting by Spectrum News. The video was published on the statewide television station and its website on Saturday, April 22.

Robert Spitzer

Robert Spitzer, Political Science Department, is the author of a book chapter titled, “Clinton and Gun Control: Boon or Bane?” in a new book, A True Third Way? Domestic Policy and the Presidency of William Jefferson Clinton, published by Nova Publishers.

Laura Davies

Laura Davies, English Department, presented “Real-World Scientific Research” at the National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention on Nov. 20 in Minneapolis, Minn. She was on a panel titled “Sites of Science Literacy Education at the Elementary, Secondary, and College Level.”

Sam Kelley

Sam Kelley, Communication Studies Department, has announced that his play, “Thruway Diaries,” is now being published as a book and has been adopted by Syracuse University’s African American Studies Department for use during the 2012-13 academic year. “Thruway Diaries” had a workshop production at SUNY Cortland under the title “Driving While Black.” It was also the topic of a workshop at the Juneteenth Theatre Festival at the University of Louisville and the Juneteenth Legacy Theatre in Louisville, Ky.  It made its professional debut at the Jubilee Theatre in Fort Worth, Texas, in June 2005, and later at the Paul Robeson Performing Arts Company in Syracuse, N.Y. The book is available through xlibris.com, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. This is one of four of Kelley’s plays that will be published by the end of this year. Kelley is currently on sabbatical and working on a play about African women suffragists and voting rights in Florida. 

Katie Silvestri, Brittany Adams, Charlotte Pass and Nance S. Wilson

Katie Silvestri, Brittany Adams, Charlotte Pass and Nance S. Wilson, Literacy Department, co-authored a book chapter titled “Collaborative Self-Study of an Online Literacy Master's Program Pilot Year: Problem-Solving Practices in a Pandemic.”  The chapter illustrates their intradepartmental, collaborative self-study of their literacy master’s program through use of an adapted collaborative conference protocol to surface problems and solutions related to policies, procedures and pedagogies. The chapter illustrates how the department prioritized pedagogies fostering deep engagement with literacy education content as well as relationship-building with students. Additionally, this intradepartmental case study leverages self-study methodology to structure collective inquiry, identifying “critical events” for deeper questioning, reflection, observation and guidance for future practice. The chapter discusses three critical events created tensions relating to the literacy master’s program’s implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic: field experience placements, community-building with students and student-teacher workload. 

David Franke

David Franke, English Department and Seven Valleys Writing Project, is helping to organize the “Writing Matters in Every Classroom” conference at Homer Intermediate/Junior High School on Saturday, March 28. Several teacher-educator agencies are collaborating on the conference, which focuses on writing and learning in all disciplines — not just English classes. Robert Yagelski, director of University at Albany’s Program in Writing and Critical Inquiry as well as the Capital District Writing Project, serves as keynote speaker. A virtual presentation by Ruth Culham, author of 6+1 Traits of Writing, also is planned. Local and regional teachers will offer more than a dozen breakout sessions on classroom teaching and the use of writing. Other conference sponsors include the Teacher-Leader Quality Partnership, the New York State Master Teacher Program, the Cortland County Teacher Center and the Southern Tier Teacher Center Network. For more information, visit writingmattersconference.com.

Mechthild Nagel

Mechthild Nagel, Philosophy Department and the Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies (CGIS), presented her official talk as research fellow at the Institute of Philosophy – Czech Academy of Sciences, Department of Contemporary Continental Philosophy. The talk, presented in February, was titled “Between Ressentiment and Forgiveness: Transitional Justice in Rwanda and South Africa.”

Christopher McRoberts

Christopher McRoberts, Geology Department, presented a session at the 2011 Annual Meeting of The Geological Society of America (GSA) Oct. 9-12 in Minneapolis, Minn. His talk is titled “Habitat Heterogeneity and Speciation Among Deep-Sea Triassic Benthic Bivalves from the Exaerobic Zone.”