QuadAngles
          Compiled from SU news reports

 

Steve Sartori

New York Governor George E. Pataki faces the media after announcing the establishment of the Center of Excellence in Environmental Systems at SU.

Environmental Excellence

Syracuse University is now the home of the Center of Excellence in Environmental Systems (CoE-ES). In a June visit to campus, New York Governor George E. Pataki announced that the state awarded $37 million in funding to a consortium led by SU to help create the center. “Our new Center of Excellence in Environmental Systems will attract new companies, generate millions of dollars in new investments, and bring new high-paying jobs to Syracuse and Central New York,” Pataki said in making the announcement. “Central New York has the academic power and the corporate strength to become a worldwide leader in environmental systems engineering, and this new initiative will place the entire region in the forefront of technology-based job creation and economic growth in the 21st century.”

As a regional partnership headquartered at SU, the center will coordinate and channel the research, development, and production of environmental systems solutions. It will focus on the areas of built environmental systems (indoor air quality, comfort, lighting, acoustics, energy efficiency, and intelligent control systems) and urban ecosystems (renewable resources, ambient air quality, water resource management, waste management, and sustainable development).

To date, the CoE-ES has generated more than $170 million in public and private support from a consortium of university, research, corporate, and economic development partners, and from New York State and the federal government.

Best BROADCASTING

The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications was the national winner of the intercollegiate broadcast news competition of the 2001-02 Hearst Journalism Awards Program. In the past five years the Newhouse School has won the competition three times and finished second twice. “No other program in the country can match our success year in and year out,” says Newhouse Dean David Rubin. “The performance of our students is a reflection of the high standards set by our broadcast journalism faculty, and of the outstanding talent enrolled at the Newhouse School. We prepare students for the profession, and it shows in this competition.”

Newhouse had 4 students among the 10 finalists in the individual championships for broadcast news: Adam Chodak ’03 and Bolton Minnick ’02 (radio); and Megan Coleman ’02 and Michael Riecke ’02 (television). The four competed in their respective sections at the national championships in San Francisco, where they participated in rigorous “spot assignments” for awards ranging from $1,000 to $5,000. Riecke won the TV news competition and received $5,000. Chodak was awarded $4,000 for a second-place showing in the radio news category, and Minnick received a $1,000 prize for best use of natural sound in a radio news report.

Often called the “Pulitzers of college journalism,” the Hearst program holds yearlong competitions in writing, photography, and broadcast news. In each competition, students earn points for submitted works. The journalism schools whose students accumulated the most points were designated winners. SU was awarded $10,000 for tallying the most points in the broadcast news category.

9/11 REFLECTIONS

One Year Later, a series of events designed to provide coordinated and integrated reflective learning experiences for SU students a year after the events of September 11, 2001, will be held on campus September 10-15. “In the wake of September 11, the University sponsored many outstanding forums that explored our ‘head’ knowledge of how a tragic event like this could occur,” says Rev. Thomas V. Wolfe G’02, dean of Hendricks Chapel. “One Year Later will focus on how our lives have changed since September 11.”

The series is designed to draw the SU community together for reflection and to contribute insights on the changing nature of economic, political, religious, social, and interpersonal relationships. For more information on the series, visit http://sunews.syr.edu/.

 

 

Closing NURSING

Under a proposal announced by Vice Chancellor and Provost Deborah A. Freund, Syracuse University would phase out the School of Nursing by the end of the 2005-06 academic year. Freund cited declining enrollment figures and the strategic reinvestment of resources to areas of institutional strength—called for in the University’s Academic Plan—as primary reasons for her recommendation. “This was not an easy decision,” Freund says. “Nursing at Syracuse University has a proud history dating back to World War II. The school has offered a solid program of instruction and has graduated thousands of well-trained nursing professionals.”

Considering the current economic climate, Freund says it’s difficult for a private university like SU to compete with other universities, including many public institutions, that offer similar nursing programs at a lower cost to students. SU is one of more than 40 institutions in New York State offering a four-year bachelor’s degree-granting nursing program; nearly half are state universities or colleges. “Unfortunately, SU lacks the financial resources to support all of our academic endeavors at the level we would like,” the vice chancellor says, “so we have to make tough choices and reallocate our resources to those areas where we believe excellence can truly be achieved.”

The University Senate will review the proposal in September and will then be asked to make a recommendation to Chancellor Kenneth A. Shaw and the Board of Trustees. If the Senate recommends closure and the board approves, the University will begin the process of phasing out the school.

 

Entrepreneurial SPIRIT

Steve Sartori

SU Class of 2002 members Justin Silverman and Emily Kulkus won first place in the third annual Syracuse University Entrepreneurial Competition for their newspaper, Hermes, which covers SU fraternities and sororities.

The newspaper earned several awards from the New York Press Association and the Society of Professional Journalists. Hermes, which was established last summer, was selected as one of the top three non-daily student newspapers in the Northeast, and its web site (OnlineHermes.com) was named one of the 12 best newspaper sites in the country. Hermes also won four awards for exemplary reporting.

As the top finishers in the SU competition, Silverman and Kulkus, who were both newspaper and political science majors in the Newhouse School and the College of Arts and Sciences, received $25,000 to fund their already existing business. The second-place finisher, Trident Productions, created by School of Management and Newhouse School student Robert Schmidt ’04, is eligible to receive $15,000 once the business incorporates. Schmidt plans to offer production services for business clients for use in promotions.

“I’m particularly excited about Hermes,” says Gary Lim, managing director of the School of Management’s Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises Program, which hosts the competition. “This prize ensures that these two graduates will be able to stay in the Syracuse area to continue their business.”



Per Brinch Hansen, Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was honored with the 2002 Computer Pioneer Award from the Computer Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The organization cited Hansen’s work for influencing most operating systems and concurrent/parallel programming languages developed during the past 25 years.

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Department of Public Safety Corporal Dan LeBron received the Robert Bunker Award for Outstanding Performance from the Northeast Colleges and Universities Security Association. The award recognizes an individual who risked personal life or safety, or who performed a life-saving action requiring the highest professional conduct.

LeBron was honored for his action in dealing with a distraught student’s suicide attempt last fall. The student, who had ingested an overdose of medication, attempted to stab LeBron with a kitchen knife. Though LeBron was cut on a finger, he successfully disarmed the student and restrained her for her own protection. She was then taken to a local hospital for examination and treatment.

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The board of trustees of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City named SU Trustee Robert B. Menschel ’51, H’91 as its new president. Menschel, a museum trustee since 1989, is an avid photography collector and supporter of the visual arts, culture, and education (see related story).

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SU Trustee G. William “Billy” Hunter ’65, who is the executive director of the NBA Players Association, was cited by Savoy magazine in its June/July issue as one of the “Savoy 100 Powers That Be.” Joining Hunter on the powerbroker list was Suzanne De Passe ’68, chair and CEO of De Passe Entertainment.

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Prisoners of Freedom, a feature film directed by College of Visual and Performing Arts professor Owen Shapiro, was selected to be shown at several film festivals, including ones in Georgia, New York City, and Los Angeles. The documentary-style film is about a World War II refugee center in Oswego, New York.

 

 
 
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