College holds forums in search for Communications and Marketing Officer

Geneseo will finish hosting a series of open forums for the three finalists for the new position of Chief Communications and Marketing Officer in MacVittie College Union 319 on Thursday March 3 and Friday March 4. This new cabinet-level position will report to President Denise Battles and will replace the Assistant Vice President position originally located in the college’s Advancement division, which was vacated in the fall semester. According to Vice President for Student and Campus Life and search committee chair Robert A. Bonfiglio, some of the responsibilities for the Chief Communications and Marketing Officer include making the college more visible by developing a marketing strategy with admissions and enrollment services and working on expanding the college’s web and social media presence.

The final candidates for the position include Director of Marketing and Public Relations at Dordt College Sonya Jongsma Knauss, former Executive Director of Philanthropic Communications and Donor Relations at Purdue University and former Associate Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications at Claremont McKenna College Richard Rodner and Senior Director of Communications and Marketing at Union College Gail Glover. Knauss’ open forum was held on Wednesday March 2.  Rodner’s will take place on Thursday March 3 and Glover’s on Friday March 4.

Students have the opportunity to ask questions at these forums and provide feedback on a Google document. According to Bonfiglio, each of the candidates’ resumes will also be on file in the library for students.

Bonfiglio stated that for this position, the search committee is looking for someone who has a lot of experience working in communication for institutions, someone who has a plan to make the college less of a hidden gem and someone who knows what working for a public liberal arts college requires.

According to Bonfiglio, over 100 candidates originally applied for this position. The committee then used a rubric to narrow down the pool to 10 applicants. Seven of those 10 accepted an hour-long interview with the search committee. Based on those interviews, the final three applicants were invited to spend a day on campus.

“The full day on campus will involve meeting with the search committee again, meeting with the President’s cabinet, meeting with the residents, meeting with the admissions staff, meeting with the communications staff and an open meeting for the entire campus community,” Bonfiglio said.

According to Battles, the process of filling this position began in October and applications were due in January. The search committee consists of eight faculty and staff members and one student representative, senior Brittney Richardson.

Battles explained that students are included in search committees if the position requires interaction with the student population.

“When I invite a student to serve on a search committee, I do so knowing it’s a lot of work and so I don’t want to make the request of a student unless there’s going to be some significant interest and engagement with that person,” she said.

Ultimately, Battles will make the final decision of who will fill this new position after meeting with the candidates, looking at their credentials and evaluating the search committee’s assessment of each of the applicants.

Battles stressed the importance of the role of the Chief Communications and Marketing Officer in helping Geneseo promote itself in all aspects.

“It’s so essential that as a college we’re telling our story; it’s been one of my emphases as President that we need to be out there doing that as effectively as possible,” she said. “I hope that the whole campus would appreciate just how important a position this is because this will be an individual who will be primarily charged with helping us tell our story.”

Village Trustee candidates speak at public forum

Geneseo hosted a public candidate forum on Wednesday Feb. 24 in Newton Hall for those running for the Village Trustees and Village Justice positions. Village Trustee candidates who attended included Rochester native political science and history major junior Matthew Cook, Geneseo native Spanish major freshman Mary Rutigliano and incumbent Trustee Bob Wilcox. Both Village Justice candidates—Brad Janson and Bill Brennan—also attended. The forum began with each of the candidates providing an opening statement. Brennan and Janson used this time to discuss how their experiences qualify them for the Village Justice position.

In Cook and Rutigliano’s opening statements, they each discussed their hopes to bridge the divide between the Geneseo campus and the community. “Having someone who can properly see both sides of Main Street as a student and as a lifelong resident of the village is something than can be really refreshing for our community and strengthen our … friendship with the college community,” Rutigliano said.

Wilcox emphasized his commitment to the trustee position and his disappointment about student turnout during his opening statement.

After opening statements, Interim Assistant Provost Kenneth Kallio served as the forum’s moderator and read questions written by attendees to the candidates. Kallio asked Village Trustee candidates whether students’ role in government should be serving in the Village government, working for the college administration or attending trustee meetings.

Cook and Rutigliano cited the necessity for students to be involved in all areas of local government in order for democracy to be successful.

“If you don’t have students at the table, then democracy can’t happen,” Cook said.

Wilcox disagreed with Cook and Rutigliano, explaining his concerns about students’ time commitment to the Village Trustee positions.

“I do disagree with students serving as trustees because of the fact that it takes up a lot of time, which I don’t believe students have,” he said. “It takes a certain maturity and life experience to deal with it.”

Cook added that he is willing to stay in Geneseo for the next few years to fulfill the obligations of the trustee position. Rutigliano reflected the same sentiment and added that if elected, instead of studying abroad as she originally hoped, she is planning on taking advantage of the language resources available in the town of Geneseo.

Wilcox commented that he considers Rutigliano’s decision to give up studying abroad to be a Village Trustee unwise. He added that the position of a trustee is a substantial time commitment, taking approximately 15–20 hours each week.

When the question of time management was raised again during the forum, Rutigliano explained that this question assumes an entire portion of the community is unfit to govern because they are students.

“It almost seems like we’re saying that [students] are not fit to govern because they don’t have enough time to dedicate to it,” she said. “That’s hurtful to Matt and I … and that’s not engaging us in a dialogue and invalidating our candidacy.”

Another topic discussed at the forum was how action that the Village Board takes affects the Village’s credit rating. Wilcox said that Geneseo’s bond rating is as high as it can get and that Geneseo stays within its limit in regards to credit. Cook and Rutigliano could not comment on this, but noted that they are excited to learn more about it.

“You don’t have to be an expert on everything you do—you just have to know how to do your homework and use your resources,” Rutigliano said.

Wilcox brought up the Social Host Law, asking how Cook and Rutigliano were planning on addressing students’ concerns about this issue.

Cook responded by arguing that there needs to be a more open discussion between students and the community. He expressed his belief that students were not treated as equals when the law was passed, despite its good intentions.

The candidates each had an opportunity for a two-minute closing statement at the end of the forum. Most of the candidates used this time to thank the college and those who attended, as well as encouraging attendees to vote.

The elections for the Trustees and Justice positions will be on March 15. Polls will be open from 12-9 p.m. at St. Mary’s Church or United Methodist Church.

New Politics to headline spring concert in April

Geneseo Campus Activities Board announced on Thursday Feb. 25 that the band New Politics will headline this year’s spring concert on April 24. Doors open at 7 p.m. in  Kuhl Gymnasium, where local Geneseo band Ponder the Giraffe will open the concert. According to GCAB concerts coordinator senior Gannon Andrews, approximately 2,700 tickets will be available starting on Saturday Feb. 27. Andrews added that each student is permitted one free ticket with their student ID and the first 100 tickets distributed will be VIP tickets.

“We’re making it free to push the idea that mandatory student activity fees are what pays for this,” Andrews said. “I think a lot of students don’t understand where the budget comes from and so they think that if mandatory student activity fees pay for the concert, why do they have to pay again.”

Andrews expressed his belief that unlike last year’s two smaller concerts, which appealed to smaller segments of the student population, this concert will attract a larger group of Geneseo students.

“With one big concert, it’s nice because we don’t split the budget in half, so we can grab an artist that is a little higher up on the scale; a little better-known,” he said.

Andrews added that GCAB’s budget increased a small amount from last year’s and was allotted approximately $40,000 to spend on the concert. Due to budget increases, the concert has been moved back to Kuhl Gym.

According to Andrews, planning for the concert has involved holding meetings with school staff and officials in the community—including Geneseo’s police and fire department—to ensure student safety. Based on the 2,000 student survey responses in the fall semester, Andrews stated that students were most interested in the alternative-rock genre.

Senior Coordinator of Student Programs and Activities Tiffany Brodner explained that planning the concert involved working with the middle agent Concert Ideas, who advises GCAB on a price the artist is likely to accept. After the artist accepts the bid, they send GCAB a contract which goes through the Student Association and Director of Student Life Chip Matthews.

According to Andrews, the contract process finished last week and Student Activities could not make an announcement until all parties officially approved the contract. Andrews added that choosing an artist can be a challenging process, citing last year’s Mary Lambert spring concert as an example.

“It’s really difficult to pick an artist because you can pick someone who has a large following, such as Mary Lambert. She does have a big following, but not specifically with Geneseo students—which we found out by trial and error,” he said. “You can’t run every single artist by every single student because that’s just impossible. So, you’ve got to pick somebody who you think has a large following specifically at Geneseo.”

Andrews predicted that due to the concert being free and the band’s greater popularity, there will likely be a larger audience than at Lambert’s performance.

“I think New Politics is more popular. Just with the concert being free, I think the turn out will be higher,” he said. “For Mary Lambert the turnout was about 120, which was very small … It was obviously not an artist that students on campus were interested in. So I think that New Politics will have way more of a draw.”

Brodner expressed the same optimism in regards to turnout. “We’re hopeful that since it’s free, it’s going to be a good turnout. You’re paying nothing for the ticket, so come out and just check it out,” she said. “You’re going to have a good time because they’re going to put on a good show. We’re just hoping people will actual go ahead and pick up that ticket and come through to try and enjoy it, especially because we worked so hard to try and get it for free.”

New Politics has three albums out including their 2010 album New Politics, 2013’s A Bad Girl in Harlem and 2015’s Vikings. They are best known for their songs “Harlem,” “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” and “Tonight You’re Perfect.”

GEO, SASI panel addresses environmental racism

Geneseo Environmental Organization and Students Against Social Injustice partnered to host a panel on environmental racism on Thursday Feb. 11 in light of the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.

The discussion included an introduction of the crisis by SASI president junior Sasha Miller, GEO president senior Julia Mizutani and GEO webmaster senior Ty Matsushita, as well as presentations from professor of geological sciences D. Jeffrey Over, associate professor of history Jordan Kleiman and Director of Sustainability Dan DeZarn. According to Mizutani, over 80 attendees were present at the panel.

At the beginning of the discussion, Mizutani defined environmental racism as “a term primarily referring to the disproportionate exposure of ethnic minorities to pollution as a result of poverty and segregation that has relegated many blacks and other racial minorities to some of the most industrialized or dilapidated environments.”

According to Mizutani, residents of Flint were complaining about the water quality months before blood-lead levels were found to have increased in children. Matsushita added that emails gathered by Progress Michigan show that Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s office knew about the unsafe water in March 2015, despite Snyder’s claims that he was only informed this past January. 

During the presentation, Matsushita also emphasized the impact that the water has had on children in Flint, citing it as a possible cause for the outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease that has affected 87 people, 10 of whom have died.

Miller added that high lead exposure can cause children to perform more poorly academically and can increase cases of Attention Deficit Disorder. She explained that once these children become adults, they are more likely to commit crimes, go to prison and become unemployed or underemployed and dependent on government services.

Following the students’ presentation, Over explained the scientific cause of Flint’s contaminated water. He explained that all pipes are either made of lead or contain a lead solder. According to Over, when Flint stopped receiving water from Detroit, it neglected to add a noncorrosive agent to the water that would prevent it from removing lead from the pipes.

After Over’s presentation, Kleiman discussed the history of environmental racism. He described the first national toxics protest by African-Americans in Warren County, North Carolina in 1982, which occurred after North Carolina Gov. James Hunt attempted to place a massive toxic waste dump in the primarily African-American town of Shocco. The county lost the battle, but Kleiman focused on the idea that out of the struggle came a major push to fight environmental racism.

DeZarn closed the panel with a discussion of similar cases that have happened outside of Flint, including the prevention of a radioactive waste dump in Allegany County, New York, the storage of natural gas and byproducts of fracking at Seneca Lake and the spraying of brine on many roadways in the United States.

“If you can take nothing else away from what I have to say here, I would like to stress that what’s happening in Flint is not an anomaly,” he said. “It’s something that is happening all over the place.”

After the panelists spoke, attendees had the opportunity to ask questions.

Junior Matthew Viglucci asked about how students could get involved in what is happening in Flint and in environmental issues in the Geneseo community. In response, Dezarn urged students to become involved in local government and call politicians and representatives.

Attendee and Coordinator of Residential Education Meg Reitz advocated for student attendance at town meetings.

“There’s also a lot of things that actually do pertain to and impact students’ lives on a daily basis; it’s interesting just to hear the Village and the town talk about it,” she said. “Also, they miss that college voice. They would love to have college students and hear out where you’re coming from because they don’t have your perspective otherwise.”

Mizutani said she hopes that as a result of the panel, attendees now have a better grasp on the many facets involved in the Flint water crisis.

“There is such a strong intersectionality between these topics and these issues that I wanted environmentalists in the room to understand the social justice part,” she said. “But I also wanted people who were heavily involved in social justice issues to understand the environmental aspect of their fight, too.” 

College takes strides to curb sexual assaults

The New York State Department of Health has partnered with SUNY schools in order to assist in identifying sexual violence and to help in implementing bystander intervention programs as part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Enough is Enough program. Geneseo hosted such a training session sponsored by SUNY and the Department of Health on Jan. 15, which focused on bystander intervention at any point during sexual violence or stalking. Geneseo’s new bystander intervention program Live the Green Dot will be implemented in fall 2016. Members of the Department of Student Life attended training for this program at the University at Buffalo in December. In addition, Director of Student Care Services and Title IX Coordinator for Students Tamara Kenney and Title IX Coordinator, Assistant to the President for Diversity and Equity and Director of Affirmative Action Adrienne Collier attended the training at Finger Lakes Community College in January.

According to Kenney, this program is based on the “Three Ds:” distract, delegate and direct.

“The premise of Green Dot is that everyone doesn’t have to do everything, but everyone has to do something,” Kenney said. “Bystander intervention … certainly is an important piece of sexual assault reduction, but is also an important piece for a lot of other issues on campus.”

Vice President for Student and Campus Life Robert A. Bonfiglio added that the program will be primarily for students.

SUNY is also in the process of preparing a campus climate survey that will assess student and employee knowledge about college guidelines and procedures in addressing sexual violence, how and where to report sexual assaults as a victim or witness, the ubiquity of sexual violence and bystander demeanor and conduct.

Bonfiglio noted that Geneseo does not yet know when this survey will be distributed or who will be required to take it.

According to Kenney, one of the biggest changes Geneseo has seen through Enough is Enough is its partnership with the sexual assault service center RESTORE. This partnership fulfills the Enough is Enough requirement that Geneseo works with an outside crisis center.

Rachel Olin ’15 serves as RESTORE’s counselor/advocate and is on campus on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. According to Olin, if a student reports to her office, their information is kept completely confidential unless they are inflicting self-harm.

According to Outreach and Education Specialist Lauren Berger, RESTORE will be participating in several events in April during the campus’s sexual assault awareness week, including Take Back the Night.

This semester, RESTORE plans to work with Leading Men Stand Up, It’s On Us, Women’s Action Coalition and Voices for Planned Parenthood “to not only create the united front and the perception that everybody on campus is on the same team and that we’re all standing together to prevent sexual violence, but also because nobody wants to reinvent the wheel,” Berger said. “If everybody is working together and already having events, then we can all be at that table and have everybody add their piece of discussion instead of doing everything on their own.”

According to Bonfiglio, another change Geneseo has seen is the creation of the Students’ Sexual and Interpersonal Violence Bill of Rights that is universal across all SUNY campuses. Bonfiglio served as a representative from Geneseo on the Chancellor’s Temporary Working Group on Continual Improvement to Sexual Violence Prevention Policies, which developed this document last year.

Some of the rights include the right to report to local law enforcement and state police, the right to participate or not participate in the judicial conduct process free from pressure by the campus and the right to access at least one level of appeal of a determination. The full comprehensive list of these rights is available to students on the Geneseo website.

Kenney said she hopes that with the changes in sexual assault policies and programs that students who have been affected by sexual violence will be more comfortable reporting such events.

“One of my hopes would be that students would feel more comfortable charging other students with this—whether that means through the conduct system or the court system—to really stop this on our campus,” Kenney said. “I hope that this will educate students a little bit more about how to go about [reporting] and some of the protections that are there for them.”

Students run for Geneseo Board of Trustees

Rochester native junior political science and history major Matthew Cook and Geneseo native freshman Spanish major Mary Rutigliano are running as independents for trustee positions on Geneseo’s Board of Trustees. Cook and Rutigliano are running against Democratic incumbent Trustee Bob Wilcox, Democratic former Chair of the Livingston County Democratic Committee Phil Jones and Republican Geneseo resident Leslie Carson. The election will be held on March 15 and polls will be open from 12–9 p.m. According to Mayor Richard Hatheway, the trustees’ main concerns are that of public safety and public works. The trustees meet with the public safety committee—which includes the fire and police departments—and the public works committee, which includes the street department and dealings with water and sewer systems. Additionally, trustees are in charge of the court and administrative offices, as well as collecting taxes.

Both Cook and Rutigliano’s campaigns are managed by junior Samuel Larkin and senior Sean Perry. According to Cook, the students decided to run together so that their campaigns appeared more professional. Both students noted that they have not been able to attend trustee board meetings, but have been reading the minutes to remain informed.

The candidates described the lack of student participation in the town’s government as their main reason for running.

“What I’ve noticed is that there’s basically a wall on Main Street. A lot of what you won’t see are students from the campus going up the hill and members of the community coming back down,” Cook said. “There’s no dialogue; there’s no discourse between the two. So what I wanted to do was put the two together and really form one Geneseo.”

Rutigliano expressed her optimism that her experience living in the town of Geneseo can serve to help break down this wall.

“I lived in Geneseo my whole life and I think I can see issues from both sides of Main Street,” she said. “This is both my home and my college.”

Hatheway, however, said that he believes that the collaboration of the College and Village has never been an issue.

“The collaboration between the Village and the College has always been excellent. We have regular meetings with officials of the College; the Village is included in a lot of the College responsibilities,” he said. “There’s a lot of communication that goes on already. I would say that of all the college towns that we’ve ever heard of, this is the closest village-college community that’s around.”

Trustee Bob Wilcox cited such collaboration with regards to his position as co-chair of the Healthy Campus Community Coalition, which works with the college and the community in regards to issues concerning alcohol and other drugs. According to Wilcox, this is where the Social Host Law came from.

Cook and Rutigliano both agreed that the issue of the Social Host Law is something that they hope to tackle if elected as trustees. Rutigliano—who attended last week’s panel—noted that she believes that there has been a lack of effective dialogue between the community and the college about the law, citing the recent Social Host Law panel discussion on Feb. 2 as a clear example.

“What struck me about the forum was that it wasn’t necessarily dialogue-based,” she said. “The village, college administration and students need to come together as advocates and equals for public health and safety.”

Wilcox and his campaign manager Chairperson of the Geneseo Town Democratic Committee Susan Bailey said they consider the Social Host Law as an effective deterrent of underage drinking.

“The heavy fines are really designed to deter people because apparently before the Social Host Law, when people got arrested for underage drinking, they just sort of flip over their credit cards,” Bailey said. “So the idea behind the large fines—and it’s $250 first offense, $500 after that—was to get attention but not to make it part of the criminal record.”

Wilcox added that the student candidates have neglected to seek support from the town’s Democratic or Republican organizations. “Let’s say that a student wanted to run and our caucus nominated them and they ran,” he said. “They would have a body of 12–15 older, more experienced people who would serve to guide them and help them.”

Cook, however, said that he does not have faith in the capabilities of these organizations.

“What we’ve noticed in the last few years is that those organizations really haven’t represented the majority of what the Village is feeling,” he said. “They’ll pass things and they’ll initiate programs that people don’t really feel are the big things that they should address.”

Cook and Rutigliano added that in order to gain the support of fellow students and civilians, they have created a Facebook group, met with a variety of student organizations and knocked on townspeople’s doors.

Hatheway emphasized that during the election, he hopes that everyone keeps in mind that the position of a trustee is serious.

“Serving as a trustee is not a frivolous thing … As long as people are willing to take it seriously and accept responsibility and offer their thoughts, that’s good,” he said. “If people are interested in being in a collaborative environment where we work together, we welcome them no matter who they are or what their age. But again, it is serious.”

Apartments to open behind Valley Liquor

The construction of two student apartments located behind Valley Liquor Shop—both owned by Teri Thielges—will be completed by April. The apartments are entirely framed and soon the flooring, dry wall, insulation, heat and electric work will be underway. The apartments will also have air conditioning and high-energy furnaces. According to Thielges, there will be two units in the building, each of which can house up to three people. The apartments will also be fully furnished with a fully equipped kitchen. Thielges added that the exterior will include historical colors, such as a smoky green and beige trim with surrounding stone wall.

“I put a lot of windows in the apartments because the piece of property is south-facing, so I wanted a lot of good natural light in there,” she said. “The lighting will be really subtle and I’m going to do mostly stone work back there.”

Security will consist of cameras on the outside of the building. Thielges added, however, that she does not think safety will be an issue.

“I’m confident it will be one of the more secured places, just given that the bank has exterior cameras and it’s kind of a higher profile area,” she said.

The rent cost for the apartments has yet to be decided.

“We haven’t quite nailed it down yet because we’re toying with two different ways of pricing—whether we do an all-inclusive, which is how I rent my apartment upstairs … or whether we do it so you pay your own utilities,” Thielges said. “It’ll be cheaper than the townhouses on campus, but it won’t be as cheap as some of the homes in town.”

Due to the building’s central location, Thielges believes business on Main Street will increase.

“I think if there are six more people living in the area that you’ll see more business on Main Street because that is what’s convenient,” she said.

Thielges has just started advertising for the project, putting a banner in Valley Liquor and having her son create a website for the apartments. Thielges explained that she has had about three or four groups of students interested in the apartments, as well as local townspeople.

“It really would be great for a couple of professionals or a professor,” she said. “The student market is good, also. But we’re hoping to do students; that would be preferable.”

Thielges added that she does not plan on doing background checks and instead will interview potential renters, showing them the building and negotiating the rent.

According to Thielges, the project has been in the works conceptually for a year and a half. In order to get the townhouses approved, Thielges had to draw a set of plans and to present them to the Village Board.

She explained that part of her inspiration for this project came from her son.

“My son was a SUNY Geneseo graduate,” she said. “We got together and noticed there was a little bit of a need for more upscale housing off campus and we got motivated by that.”

Thielges also added that her daughter served as a second source of inspiration for the construction of the apartments.

“The other part of the inspiration is my daughter, who graduated from college and moved down to Charlottesville, [Va.],” she said. “She rents a really nice condo right downtown and she’s able to walk to work and markets … there is a trend for people not owning these ‘big homes.’”

The apartments will be replacing a ministorage unit owned by Thielges that has been on the property for approximately 30 years.

Sociomedical minor available for fall 2016 semester

Geneseo will be offering a new interdisciplinary sociomedical sciences minor to students in fall 2016. The minor focuses on educating students who wish to pursue careers in healthcare and the relationship between the natural and social sciences. Assistant professor of anthropology Melanie Medeiros spearheaded the development of this minor, along with two fellow members of the minor’s program committee: associate professor of sociology Elaine Cleeton and professor of sociology Anne Eisenberg.

Cleeton explained that the minor’s goal is to help students bolster both their understanding of the topics and also prepare them for further academic and professional work.

“We’re building this program to incorporate courses from the natural and the social sciences that focus on health care and that recognize the work that many of our students already do by majoring in the natural sciences and minoring in social sciences,” she said. “I know that when students are thinking about health careers, they are better prepared when they combine both the natural and the social sciences. Also, graduate programs look kindly on students who bring some experience from both sides.”

According to Cleeton, sociology plays an important role in medicine when examining topics such as the strengths and weaknesses of emerging modern medicine, provisions of healthcare, human experience of illness and disease and international comparisons of medical care.

Courses for the minor include those in anthropology, sociology, political science, economics, biology, Spanish, geography, business management and history, as well as directed study.

“We wanted there to be an applied element of the course work; here’s the academic side and here’s what it’s like in real life,” Eisenberg said.

According to Eisenberg, this required directed study component can be filled through an ethnography class, a research class or some sort of internship.

Eisenberg added that the partnering institutions for directed study will depend on what the students’ interests are.

“If [students are] interested in public health, then we’ll find a public health agency that will let the student study a particular program,” she said. “If they’re interested in administration, research or social services, we’ll first identify what they want to do—what interests them—and then we’ll find the agency to partner with.”

Cleeton explained that the sociomedical sciences minor is useful for students who may have aspirations to work in Medicaid and Medicare programs, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or those who wish to become nurses, doctors or involved in health administration.

According to Eisenberg, the minor took less than a year to be approved. The process for approval includes the submission of the minor’s written description to the Dean of Curriculum and Academic Services and College Senate, as well as discussions with department chairs whose departments are included in the minor.

Eisenberg added that she attempted to bring such a program to Geneseo about 10-12 years ago, but was unsuccessful due to timing issues and the administration’s concern. “The minor needed to reflect the values of a liberal arts college and not have too much of an ‘applied or professional studies’ feel to it,” she said.

Senior anthropology major Alexandra Peraino said that she is interested in pursuing public health and medical anthropology in the future. She added that she believes that this minor will prepare students for the public health field, “especially if a student isn’t science or biology-oriented … but more into policy or just different forms of health,” she said.

Eisenberg expressed her hopes for the future of addressing public health issues.

“I think the more students who understand how different systems interact to affect individual health standing—as well as community health standing—the better the possibilities are in the future for addressing public health issues,” she said. “Having people in the communities who know what kinds of policy and programs are needed for educating people about how to live healthier lives.”

In remembrance of Kelsey Annese

Twenty-one-year-old senior Kelsey Annese died on Jan. 17. Excelling in both her academics and extracurricular activities, the education and Spanish double major was also a point guard and co-captain for the Geneseo’s women’s basketball team. Annese was extremely passionate about her career goal of teaching elementary education with a focus in special education, finding joy in her field placement work at a Rochester elementary school and preparing to take the next step by student teaching in New York City this summer. The Webster, New York native kept busy with her studies, basketball and her two jobs at Wegmans and the MacVittie College Union. Recognizing the importance of balancing work and play, Annese was also an avid reader, Netflix viewer and always made time to hang out with her friends and teammates.

Junior Kayleigh Cavanaugh emphasized Annese’s role as a positive role model and a devoted teammate.

“She was an incredible leader, very selfless … always was willing to put other people before herself,” she said. “She was really accountable, especially in practice. We do crunches when we miss layups and sometimes it can slip your mind when you’re in the middle of a practice, but she was always the first one down to do her crunches.”

Cavanaugh noted that she, like many others, was blessed to have known Annese as an incredibly kind and caring friend.

“I know one night, a few freshmen and I went to U-Hots to get garbage plates and it was closed because of the intercession,” Cavanaugh said. “We texted in our group, ‘What are we going to do, there’s no food.’ And she was the first one to respond with, ‘I’ll make you pancakes, just come back to my house.’”

Annese was not only a respected and loved teammate but also a dedicated and enthusiastic student. “Kelsey was the kind of student who made sure everybody was participating in whatever way that they could,” assistant professor of the Ella Cline Shear School of Education Susan Salmon said.  “So for me … she was such a great student because she really cared about everyone in the classroom.”

Salmon reiterated the welcoming, supporting presence that people loved about Annese. She recalled the reaction of students when she texted Annese’s field placement teacher to tell the class of Annese’s passing, the students said, “That was our Kelsey. How could something have happened to our Kelsey?”

In addition to offering herself as a positive model for her students and a shoulder to lean on, Annese’s light-hearted sense of humor and fun kept her fellow teammates in high spirits on and off the court.

“We were playing Buffalo State and no one ever knew she had a double-jointed back … she bent back and her head was literally at her butt,” Cavanaugh said. “It was just so funny because we were all laughing and no one knew that about Kels. Just those little things that she did made us laugh.”

Cavanaugh emphasized that she believed Annese helped to improve her own outlook on life. “She always brought a smile, you know?” she said. “She was always so positive and really put life in perspective and made you think about the big picture … Just being around her made you a better person.”

In memory of Annese’s countless contributions to the Geneseo community as a student, teacher, teammate and friend, Salmon suggested that acting with kindness and generosity is the greatest way to honor her.

“That is what I think that we can do to remember her … be as caring and as giving and as willing to reach out,” Salmon said. “Be a little crazy to get students involved. I think that we have to keep that spirit of her alive.”

Annese is survived by her mother Krista, father Ronald, brother Dylan, sister Grace and grandparents Ron and Gail Annese.

SUNY funds innovative programs

Geneseo was recently granted $475,000 from SUNY Investment and Performance Fund to support two new programs called the Critical Language Consortium and the Honors Transfer Path that will help more students to earn degrees. Out of this $475,000 that Geneseo was provided, $200,000 will help to create the Critical Language Consortium. This program will collaborate with SUNY Brockport and Monroe Community College. Students will have the opportunity to learn Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Russian. Geneseo’s collaboration with these partner institutions will involve video conferencing and face-to-face teaching. This semester, both Brockport and MCC are piloting the program.

According to department chair and associate professor of Spanish Lori Bernard—one of the founders of the programs—the language department has wanted to implement a program like this for a long time.

“We’ve all had this in mind, sharing the resources and working together to figure out how to offer the most languages in the most efficient way,” Bernard said.

Bernard added that the funding from the Investment and Performance Fund will go into training teachers, rehabilitating a classroom with the proper technology, providing a stipend to pay a coordinator and providing students with technology or transportation if they need it.

Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Carol Long vetted the project proposal and expressed her hopes that other institutions can participate in this program in the future.

“We’re hoping that if this works, it can be a model for other colleges to participate in,” she said. “The ultimate goal is, really, to provide more opportunity to study more languages at a higher level for all of our students.”

Geneseo will also partner with MCC to grow the honors programs at both schools with the $275,000 it received to form the Honors Transfer Path. This program will serve as a transition path from the MCC honors program to the Geneseo honors transfer program.

“We have a couple of goals with this program,” Long said. “One would be to increase the number of students who complete their associate’s degree at MCC, rather than transferring before they complete that degree. Another goal is to have a pathway for really high quality transfer students to come into our program from MCC and to provide high impact learning opportunities and more advanced work for them when they arrive here.”

Long hopes that one other proposed program by Geneseo will eventually be approved by the SUNY Investment and Performance Fund.

“We put in a proposal that would give $50,000 in startup funds to each of five new faculty hires in a variety of disciplines in a computational cluster,” Long said. “It looked at hiring in a mix of disciplines––the sciences, humanities and social sciences––so that we would build a cluster of faculty who can develop programming and really bring expertise to the campus in quantitative and digital areas.”

According to Long, the SUNY Investment and Performance Fund was developed to help SUNY schools expand the current total of 93,000 credentials offered to 150,000 by 2020. At the sixth Annual State of the University Address, SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher explained that this fund is now open to every part of the SUNY system. Currently, 32 proposals are being invested across 31 SUNY institutions.

One of these programs discussed was “Early Alert,” which is designed to help students identify problems that they may be having academically or non-academically that may be preventing them from succeeding in their classes. It is stated in a video on the SUNY website that this will help improve retention rates for students who attend SUNY schools. According to Long, Geneseo is beginning to use “Early Alert” in the MCC Honors Path.

Another program underway is “Quantway/Statway,” which is targeted intervention for students who need help in math classes. “Quantway/Statway” is open to all SUNY campuses and 20,000 SUNY students are eligible to participate.

Zimpher also introduced “Predictive Analytics,” which is a system that would collect and analyze data and identify patterns, trends, obstacles and successes of students across SUNY campuses.

The final project that Zimpher highlighted was the “SUNY Predictive Analytics Transforming Higher Education” or “SUNY Path.” It is similar to “Predictive Analytics” in that it is another system to maximize data opportunities.

At the close of the meeting, Zimpher reinforced the idea that obtaining a college degree is just as important as the process of earning one.

“We push until everyone gets the message that college completion isn’t about the diploma framed on the wall,” she said. “It’s about what that degree or credential means.”

President holds first Fireside Chat for faculty and students

The first of President Denise Battles’ Fireside Chats was held on Friday Dec. 4 in the Fireside Lounge of the MacVittie College Union. These chats are open to all members of the college community to engage with Battles in a casual environment. “It seemed timely to have another opportunity for folks to come and just informally engage, and so [from] that was born the idea of fireside chats,” Battles said. “There’s no scripting here. It’s just a time where if you want to come and listen, if you want to come and just chat, this is your opportunity to do that.”

Sponsored Research Associate Patty Hamilton-Rodgers ’85 started off the chat by asking if Battles could share some of her observations so far about the college.

“We’ve got just outstanding people across the board. Our students are just exemplary. We’ve got very committed faculty, staff and administration,” Battles said. “There’s a deep commitment to our mission as a public liberal arts college.”

Battles also added that she plans to revisit Geneseo’s mission statement and develop a vision statement.

“I told the strategic planning group that I have no expectation of a major revision to that mission statement, but whenever you’re doing planning, you really need to start there,” she said. “One thing we don’t have is a vision statement and if the mission statement says who we are and what we do, a vision statement says who we want to be, where we’re going, what our sense of direction is, how we want to be known, say, five years out.”

Battles continued to speak about her observations regarding the amount of activity on campus.

“People are around and participate and it’s just a very active environment. All that said, I think there’s always opportunities to improve and enhance,” she said. “That’s where these conversations with the students I’ve met with—both in the Student Association and the Integrated Council and other settings—have led and that was part of the point in the listening tour sessions and locating the college sessions.”

Instructional Support Specialist Edward Beary voiced his concerns about the equipment problems on campus to Battles.

“I think somebody’s got to get to Albany and push, pressure them a lot more,” he said. “Whether they like it or not, SUNY is still a business as well as an educational facility … and has to be run like a business, if nothing else to replace old and obsolete equipment. And I haven’t seen that happening, ever.”

“I don’t think it’s a lack of advocacy in Albany,” Battles said. “If you’ve been following the chancellor’s Stand with SUNY Campaign, that is a good part of the point—ensuring that the campuses have the funding so that we do have the wherewithal to replace things on the schedule.”

Battles added that keeping up with infrastructural changes can be challenging with such a low tuition cost.

The chat continued with a question from professor and Chair of the English Department Paul Schacht asking Battles how she plans on making Geneseo more visible. One of the strategies Battles explained that she will employ is moving the Assistant Vice President for Communication position—originally in the division of advancement—to part of the cabinet.

“It is elevating that role, putting that person at the table for the cabinet discussions for when we are having conversations about initiatives that we wish to undertake,” she said. “It is important at the college level that that person is present and can help with that messaging.”

Battles also cited the importance of student advocates as well as Geneseo’s website in promoting the school.

Dean of Residential Living and professor of English Celia Easton noted that there is a lack of participation and of a welcoming environment for the community of Livingston County on the Geneseo campus.

“For the most part, I think one of the things that we forget is that the village of Geneseo, the town of Geneseo, are the wealthy part of Livingston County,” she said. “Livingston County goes way beyond this area and the majority of people in Livingston County don’t step onto this campus because they are afraid to do so.”

One of the solutions Battles proposed was to create “either a science café or world café where … you have a faculty or staff member who picks a timely intriguing topic, does a brief presentation on that topic to a mixed off-campus/on-campus audience and then has a facilitated discussion.”

“The difference is, instead of having it on campus, you develop a partnership with a local area business,” she added.

As the discussion with Battles continued, assistant professor of military science at the Rochester Institute of Technology Joshua Wade proposed a program in which Geneseo could send RIT information from Geneseo’s admissions to attract students who meet the prerequisites for recruitment into the Reserve Officer Training Corps program.

Student Employment Service and Community Outreach Paula McClure also brought up challenges that Geneseo has with transportation—especially within the education department, hoping to find a resolution for the problem.

At the close of the first fireside chat, Coordinator of Student Organizations and Activities Kristina Barsema expressed her appreciation for the periodical interaction with the President. “I hope in the future that attendance will continue to grow, to become more well-known around campus and there will be a greater interest,” she said. “I think it’s really good that Battles is making these strides to connect with not just students but faculty, staff and just the Geneseo community in general.”

DK brothers charged with third degree assault

Three Geneseo Delta Kappa Tau fraternity brothers were arrested and charged with third degree assault for an alleged assault of a Geneseo student outside their fraternity house on Franklin Street on Friday Dec. 4. Offenders were senior John Wolff, junior Perry Neci and senior Yagizan Balta.  According to the Genesee Sun, Neci was rearrested on Sunday Dec. 6 for third degree assault and fourth degree criminal mischief based on an earlier assault.

This is the second assault investigation at the DK fraternity house that has occurred within three weeks; the first occurring on Nov. 13. According to President Denise Battles’ email to the campus community, Geneseo has temporarily suspended the fraternity until the investigation and results of a conduct review are completed.

Village of Geneseo Police Chief Eric Osganian explained that the assault on Friday Dec. 4 occurred as the victim walked by the fraternity house after some insults were exchanged.

“Allegedly, victim’s walking by and a slur is used” Osganian said. “And I guess there’s an altercation with one DK member, it becomes then physical and then other DK members come out of the fraternity house and they help the one member and it becomes a possible three to five on one—we’re still looking at the number.”

Geneseo police received a complaint of the assault through a 911 call.

“When we arrived on scene, the victim is on the ground needing medical attention and then we hear some voices in the woods, the officers go into the woods and then a chase ensues and we end up catching the individuals,” Osganian said. “We brought them back to the scene and the victim positively identified three of being involved and hitting him and kicking him. There was also a fourth that we did apprehend that the victim said, ‘No, that person was not involved.’”

According to Osganian, the police believe the victim lost consciousness due to the beatings and was continually beaten while unconscious. The victim was sent to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester with head injuries.

“The victim has a cracked bone eye socket as well as a broken nose,” Osganian said. “I think—depending what else is medically there—that might be enough to make it called a serious physical injury, which may bump it up to an assault second—which is a felony—and because there was more than one person involved in the assault, it would probably lead to a gang assault charge, but we’re still not there yet.”

Assistant Dean of Students for Fraternal Life and Off-Campus Services Wendi Kinney said that when an incident like this happens, it’s time to evaluate the education element within the Greek community.

“Those educational pieces are there but there’s always an opportunity when something like this happens to reflect and see if there a gap, to see if we can be doing more to educate the community, to be upstanding citizens and to make good decisions,” Kinney said. “And, most importantly, looking out for one another. I think that’s one of the values of the Greek community—that they’re there not just for their organization, but other organizations as well.”

Kinney said she believes that while this incident is upsetting, not all Greek members and organizations should be penalized for a few members’ behavior.

“Certainly, at a national level with fraternities and sororities, there’s a heightened awareness with looking at their activities … We always have to keep in mind the perspective that my office oversees 32 organizations, which comprise 27 percent of our student body—so approximately 1500-1600 students,” she said. “So to expect that every single one of them is always making the best decisions is kind of unrealistic given the size. So, unfortunately, situations are likely to occur where students are going to make poor decisions.”

In regard to the assault on Nov. 13, Osganian said that there have been some difficulties in getting information from the Geneseo campus.

“We had to get a subpoena for the first DK assault. That subpoena took us a little while to get the roster of names … We weren’t asking for racial information. I wasn’t asking for gender information, I was just asking for a roster information no different than if you ask me who are the officers that work here,” he said. “I didn’t feel like we were asking for specific, private information. College considers that private, which you know did delay us a good two weeks before we got that subpoena back.”

Osganian voiced his support for the temporary suspension of the DK fraternity.

“We’ve had two assaults there within three weeks. To me, it’s a pattern, there’s a problem,” he said. “It would be great if we got some help from the college to try and solve that problem or stop it. So yeah, we’re all for them getting involved, absolutely.”

DK president senior Bryce Wiley did not return The Lamron’s interview request.

According to Osganian, in addition to the two assault cases by DK members, Geneseo senior Colin Dahlberg was arrested for aggravated driving while intoxicated, possession of stolen property second and an added obstruction charge for delaying a patient’s care who needed the ambulance to take them to the hospital.

Osganian suspected that the rise in alcohol-related crimes is related to the decreasing amount of bars available.

“So we’re seeing more parties than we had years ago. You know people want to go out and they want to drink, so you know they’re hitting the parties instead of the bars,” he said. “But it’s hard to control some of these parties ... We hope with a bar atmosphere, at least you know the bar owner or bouncer would call if someone needed medical attention … So what we are seeing is a spike in the party as opposed to going to the bars.”

Short course sessions engage campus community

President Denise Battle’s four schola brevis—or short course—sessions came to a close on Tuesday Sept. 22. Geneseo faculty, staff, administrators and students heard from several members of the college leadership and discussed Geneseo’s position among other SUNY colleges and institutes of higher education as a whole. “My hope is that we’re all gaining something by participating in these sessions,” Battles said.

The session on Monday Sept. 21 focused on how Geneseo has and can continue to promote integrated learning.

Vice President for Student and Campus Life Robert Bonfiglio presented data from the 2015 SUNY Student Opinion Survey, which was administered in spring 2015. According to the survey, Geneseo ranks fifth out of all SUNY schools in students discussing ideas with faculty outside of class, second in students developing openness to others’ opinions and second in students applying judgments they learn in class to different courses and situations.

“As an institution, we need to decide how our focus should be on integrative learning,” Bonfiglio said.

Senior Rayanne Luke spoke on her integrative learning experiences through the Edgar Fellows Program. Luke worked with a biologist at the cancer research institute at Rutgers University over the summer.

“I think the honors program has done a good job of preparing me for this [internship]. A class called Big Data was my first look into data analysis—which I feel like I’m kind of doing right now with a lot of large images,” Luke said. “Even though I’m a math major, it’s still outside of my comfort zone because I hadn’t done that much coding and it was very applied, so I really appreciated seeing that before going to my research internship.”

At the end of the meeting, the audience was able to engage with the speakers. Interim Assistant Provost Kenneth Kallio provided feedback: “I think that much of the foundation comes from disciplinary studies and without that, integrated learning is not possible,” he said. “Majors are important. Much integrated learning occurs within the discipline.”

“Engaged Geneseo”—which took place on Tuesday Sept. 22—focused on how Geneseo connects with external constituencies on the local, national and international levels.

Bonfiglio began the presentation by describing how Geneseo develops socially responsible students, citing promotions in democratic values, community service, an appreciation for others, student accountability and applying academic knowledge to social issues and problems.

The discussion continued with Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Carol Long, who spoke about Geneseo’s Regional Economic Impact. Long expanded on Geneseo’s participation in the Small Business Development Center. “From 2012-2014 [the Small Business Development Center] has served 216 clients, helped acquire $4.5 million in funding, created 81 jobs and saved 65 jobs,” Long said.

Associate Provost David Gordon spoke about how Geneseo students have participated in national programs such as the Peace Corps. The school is ranked 17th in the nation among medium-sized schools in producing volunteers.

There has also been increased focus on alumni engagement. Great Knight was introduced in April, taking place on the same day as Geneseo Recognizing Excellence, Achievement and Talent Day. According to Director of Alumni and Parent Relations Ronna Bosko, 22 simultaneous events happened on Great Knight across the country. “We’re really pleased that we have a new alumni tradition at Geneseo,” Bosco said.

Associate Provost for International Programs Rebecca Lewis elaborated on Geneseo’s many international programs. “Geneseo has the highest study abroad rate in the SUNY institutions,” she said. “This is because of the faculty support. Also, if there are financial considerations, we work hard to overcome those.”

When audience members were encouraged to participate again, Associate Dean of Leadership and Service and Director of the Geneseo Opportunities for Leadership Development Program Tom Matthews commented on the challenges students face when hoping to engage in the community.

“Living in a rural community restricts our ability to send students out into a lot of civic engagement projects,” Matthews said. “Transportation is a significant problem for us. We have to ask our students to carpool in order to participate in new projects.”

A video recording of each session will soon be offered in the library for students, faculty and staff to view.

Long expressed hope for the future of Geneseo’s integrated and engagement programs. “We’re left with the challenge of looking at our outcomes broadly, talking to our students, our professors and our faculty and trying to articulate what we’re bringing to the community,” she said.

Progress made on campus eGarden, completion date pushed back

The Geneseo eGarden has made several strides toward completion. Distinguished professor of physics Stephen Padalino and a team of physics students constructed two arrays of solar panels over the summer and a wind turbine is also close to being installed. According to senior Brandon Mark—a member of Padalino’s team—each of the solar arrays contains four panels that are wired in a series. “We installed the solar panels that are currently down there and we just did some battery efficiency tests now that we’re waiting for,” he said. “So we were just kind of getting an understanding on how that equipment works.”

The arrays—which can generate up to 250 watts each—rest on a pole with a gimbal. The gimbal is able to adjust according to the sun in order to harness as much poser as possible. That power is transferred into a bank of batteries, which are used to light up LED lamps. Those lamps use 10 watts of power, but they generate as much light as a 60-watt light bulb. The batteries are also used to power the tools being used on the site.

The wind turbine is also very close to being installed and the team is conducting experiments with different types of insulation.

“We’re trying to put together a system so that the turbine can be raised and lowered fairly easily as needed, so that students that are interested in engaging in that can look at it up close and can conduct experiments,” Director of Sustainability Dan DeZarn said. “The turbine will be placed on a pole with a hinge so that such raising and lowering can occur.

Students and faculty who work on the eGarden meet about once every two weeks. DeZarn explained that he hopes that faculty members from other departments will get involved with the project to show the various ways that their disciplines can utilize the facility.

The eGarden is an ongoing project. According to DeZarn, once the energy production facilities are built, an organic garden will be introduced where students can get involved in the food process. Some of that food will even be served at the dining halls on campus.

In addition, a compost area will be available for the food waste from the dining halls so that a group of black soldier fly larvae can consume it. This will minimize the use of landfills, which produce methane gas from decomposition. Methane gas harms the environment even more than carbon dioxide does.

DeZarn emphasized that the main goal of the eGarden is to provide an outlet for students interested in sustainable energy. “We are consuming our resources faster than they can be replenished at this point, so we need to figure out a way to put the brakes on that,” he said. “We need to reduce what we use and then also replace the way that we get energy right now with renewable sources.”

“I think [the eGarden] will serve as a really great research facility for students from any of the science majors,” Mark said. “It’s good for students or faculty who just want to learn more about alternative means for generating energy. It’s pretty much going to be a really good learning experience for everybody.”

DeZarn also noted that he views the garden as an opportunity for Geneseo community members both on and off campus to see it and get inspired. Next month, he will be hosting a tour for the Livingston County town supervisors to see the sustainability activities on campus. He added that he hopes the supervisors will be able to look at this project and see that pursuing solar energy is a realistic possibility.

DeZarn expressed excitement about the eGarden and the other sustainability initiatives on campus. “The people leaving this campus … are going to understand these new technologies that are hopefully going to make the world a much better place,” he said. “If [students and faculty] engage in this and they use this opportunity to both learn and teach others about renewable energy and sustainability in general, that’s how I see it as being a real, positive impact.”