SUNY
The State University of New York released their second SUNY Report Card on Monday.
The report, authored by SUNY, was designed to evaluate the SUNY system through a variety of criteria, including graduation rates, retention, diversity and research spending.
According to the report, SUNY’s graduation and retention rates are near the national average, but schools are struggling to graduate students in the fields of science, math, education and technology (referred to as STEM fields).
SUNY administrators said they will use the results of the Report Card to improve the system in lacking areas, including STEM fields.
-publicbroadcasting.net
SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher announced Tuesday that as a result of a $4.4 billion technology agreement with New York state in the field of computer-chip technology, more than 2,500 high-technology jobs will be created at several SUNY sites, with a total retention of over 6,900 jobs.
The state will invest an additional $400 million with the College for Nanoscale and Science Engineering in Albany.
The capital needed for the plan will come from investments from IBM, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, TSMC and Samsung.
-nanotech-now.com
Cortland
On Oct. 15, SUNY Cortland will hold a one-day conference for local schoolteachers.
The conference will serve as a forum for schoolteachers to share ideas on how to improve student success in the field of writing and to incorporate New York’s Common Core Standards in classroom teaching.
The Common Core Standards were created to help high school students be better prepared for college after graduation.
The conference will consist of a series of interactive workshops to help teachers learn different approaches in helping students learn more through writing. Participants in the conference will attend two “writing to learn” workshops and one “writing to the core” workshop. Every workshop will be taught by fellow schoolteachers.
-readme.readmedia.com
On Sept. 23, SUNY Cortland received a $200,000 grant from the New York Office for Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) to fund underage drinking prevention.
The school’s university police will work with local law enforcement agencies to step up efforts to reduce underage drinking at SUNY Cortland. U.P. will increase campus patrols, as well as working with their Residence Life and Housing department to further educate students on the risks of underage drinking.
Cortland is one of five schools to receive this grant. Recipients were required to carry out one law enforcement activity and send in quarterly expenditure reports to qualify for the grant.
The other four schools to receive the grant were SUNY Geneseo, Hilbert College, SUNY Morrisville and SUNY Plattsburgh.
-cortland.edu
SUNY Cortland announced Tuesday that they assigned 41 of their AmeriCorps volunteers to various community organizations and events this year.
This move will triple the size of the AmeriCorps program, a federally funded program run through the college’s Institute of Civic Engagement. The Corps was created to increase civic involvement and to better the lives of disadvantaged students in the community.
The volunteers will spend a year in Cortland volunteering throughout the community and will be supported by a grant of more than $370,000 from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). They will also receive stipends of more than $12,000 for housing, and additional $5,550 upon completion of their work that goes toward the cost of college.
-cortland.edu
Upstate Medical University
Construction resumed on Monday for the new Biotechnology Research Center in Syracuse.
The center is a collaborative effort between the SUNY Upstate Medical University and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. The project began in 2009, but construction was stalled in September 2010 because the schools were waiting for an additional $4 million in state funding.
The center is expected to open in June 2012.
-Ynn.com
Brockport
SUNY Brockport held a Citizens Fracking Forum on Thursday. The event, sponsored by the school’s American Democracy Project, featured Ron Bishop, a lecturer in chemistry and biochemistry from SUNY Oneonta and Greg Sovas, an expert on natural gas extraction who worked for the Department of Environmental Conservation. The forum let people discuss the controversial oil extraction technique.
-democratandchronicle.com
Canton
Members of a task force calling themselves Save Our SUNY Canton are urging SUNY administrators to keep a single president at the head of the school.
On Monday night, the task force held a meeting to alter their mission statement following the announcement that Joseph Kennedy would not resign from the school’s presidency but would stay on for one more year. They have changed their mission from “repudiating any attempt to force the resignation of President Joseph Kennedy” to “support the Canton College Council in its historial responsibility to ensure an orderly plan of presidential succession.”
Canton has yet to establish a search committee to find Kennedy’s successor nor have they approached the task force for representation on this committee.
-watertowndailytimes.com
