| |
UNIVERSITYPLACE |
| |
Photo by John Dowling
Sharon
Lai G’06 (far left) is among the SU students who have honed their
entrepreneurial skills through off-campus experiences.
She helped the
owners of the Jerk Hut, a Caribbean restaurant on Syracuse’s South
Side, develop a business plan.
Empowering Entrepreneurs »
Kauffman Grant Takes Scholarship
in Action to the Next Level
Syracuse
University was awarded a Kauffman Campuses Initiative grant by meeting
a series of criteria, including the ability to create a culture of
entrepreneurship that permeates the campus, the potential to create new
representative models, and the ability to collaborate with foundations
and funding partners. In addition to SU, the academic and community
partners of the Syracuse Campus-Community Entrepreneurship Initiative
supported by the Kauffman grant include the following: |
| |
Cayuga Community College
Le Moyne College
Morrisville State College
Onondaga Community College
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Central New York Community Foundation
The Gifford Foundation
Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce
Messenger Associates Inc.
National Grid |
|
Syracuse
University was one of only nine universities across the nation in 2006
to receive a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to
transform the way entrepreneurship education is taught in higher
education. As part of the Kauffman Campuses Initiative, the five-year,
$3 million grant supports the Syracuse Campus-Community
Entrepreneurship Initiative (SCCEI), a collaborative partnership
fostering entrepreneurial education and innovation in the Central New
York region. “Syracuse University, along with the other new Kauffman
Campuses schools, will empower all students on campus to access the
skills, orientation, and networks that can lead to greater individual
opportunities and to the creation of jobs, innovation, and prosperity
for America,” says Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman
Foundation, a Kansas City-based organization that works with partners
to advance entrepreneurship in America and improve the education of
children and youth.
SU leads a
coalition of Central New York academic and community partners that
apply the principles and practice of entrepreneurship through
disciplined investment across three interdependent clusters:
technology, neighborhood, and arts. The clusters include faculty and
students from different academic fields on each campus as well as
community members from a wide variety of professions.
The
initiative has three key physical anchors that serve as experiential
sites: the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy
Systems, The Warehouse and the Arts Quarter in downtown Syracuse, and
the South Side Innovation Center, a small business incubator.
Activities in these locations are expected to bring visible changes,
such as the formation of new ventures, improved entrepreneurial skills
in the local business community and not-for-profit organizations, and
revitalization of inner-city neighborhoods (see related story).
Projects currently under way include a new commercial product
development kitchen on the city’s South Side, which will enable
neighborhood residents to turn recipes into marketable products; an
Entrepreneurship Corps, consisting of graduate students, faculty, and
alumni who are active in “green” entrepreneurship, which focuses on
environmental problems facing the region; and the Artist Relocation
Program, which offers cultural and financial incentives for arts and
culture entrepreneurs to live and create enterprises in Syracuse.
“We
are proud and excited to be one of a select group of institutions in
the nation to receive this transformational grant from the Kauffman
Foundation,” Chancellor Nancy Cantor says. “This award is perfectly
aligned with our vision of Scholarship in Action, in which faculty and
students across disciplines join with communities of experts to find
innovative solutions to the pressing issues we face. The initiative
allows us to embed an entrepreneurial mindset across our campus and
throughout the region and leverage the educational, business, and
cultural capital in Central New York in ways that will truly transform
our communities.”
—Christine Yackel |
| |
|
Environment »
Studies Show Impact of Mercury Pollution in Northeast
Two
collaborative studies by SU engineering professor Charles Driscoll and
colleagues from the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation (HBRF) in New
Hampshire and Clarkson University identify five known and nine
suspected biological mercury hotspots in northeastern North America and
suggest that coal-fired power plants in the United States are major
contributors. The HBRF team linked the hotspots to sources of mercury
pollution, finding that airborne mercury emissions are the leading
cause. The result of a three-year effort by the researchers, the
studies were published as the January cover story of BioScience,
a peer-reviewed journal. “Mercury emissions to the atmosphere cause
biological mercury hotspots in watersheds sensitized by decades of acid
rain, reservoirs manipulated for power production and other purposes,
and locations near large emissions sources, such as coal-fired power
plants,” says Driscoll, University Professor of Environmental Systems
Engineering at the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer
Science and a lead author of one of the studies.
The
HBRF team of 11 scientists used a database of more than 7,300 samples
to quantify mercury levels in fish and wildlife at specific lakes and
reservoirs from New York to Nova Scotia. “We were surprised to find
that the Adirondack Mountains of New York had some of the highest
mercury levels in fish and loons in the northeastern United States,”
says Driscoll, who was recently elected a member of the National
Academy of Engineering. “The Adirondacks are getting a double-whammy
from emission sources such as coal-fired power plants. They have been
altered by decades of acid rain, and the resulting acidic conditions
have increased the impact of mercury pollution.” Once mercury enters
the food chain, it acts as a neurotoxin and can create health problems
for fish, wildlife, and humans. In one of its findings, the team
determined mercury levels in fish and wildlife can decline relatively
quickly in response to decreased airborne mercury emissions within a
region.
 The
results also revealed that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
mercury deposition estimates near one hotspot were far too low, calling
into question the appropriateness of a national mercury-trading program
that may allow biological mercury hotspots to persist, despite proposed
controls on mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. As a
result, new federal legislation, aimed at tracking mercury pollution
and its effects, is being drafted. “There is still a lot we don’t
understand about mercury, but it is clear that biological mercury
hotspots occur and that mercury emissions from sources in the U.S., as
opposed to China and other countries overseas, are the leading cause,”
Driscoll says. “Mercury emissions will have to be reduced substantially
from current levels if we are to see recovery in sensitive watersheds
in the Northeast.”
For more information on the studies, visit www.hubbardbrookfoundation.org/MercuryStudy.
—Kelly Homan Rodoski |
|
|
|
Community Engagement»
Corridor Design Under Way
This computer-generated image
offers a potential look for
the Connective Corridor. |
Field
Operations with CLEAR, a collaborative partnership that puts
world-class urban design talent in the service of community vision, has
been selected to develop the Connective Corridor in Syracuse. The
three-mile pedestrian pathway and shuttle-bus route will link campus
and downtown arts and entertainment venues, offering seamless access to
the city’s rich artistic resources along an aesthetically engaging,
user-friendly urban trail featuring museums, theaters, exhibition
spaces, restaurants, cafes, and other attractions. Members of the Field
Operations team have partnered in a variety of prestigious large-scale
urban projects, including High Line Park, an abandoned elevated rail
line on Manhattan’s West Side undergoing conversion to a landscaped
walkway.
National Grid, Central
New York’s principal utility company, sponsored the Connective Corridor
design competition, and Field Operations with CLEAR was chosen from
four finalists by a selection committee. Syracuse Mayor Matthew J.
Driscoll approved the selection and, pending final approval by the
city’s Common Council, the team will come under contract to deliver
specific plans.
“The
corridor is an unprecedented collaborative effort that is bringing
together Syracuse’s public, private, community, and business sectors to
strengthen the community, connect residents with our cultural venues,
and promote further economic development,” Chancellor Nancy Cantor
says. “During the design competition, Field Operations with CLEAR put
forth a creative and dynamic vision, and we are excited to have such a
talented group of professionals working with us to develop a specific
design for the corridor.”
For an update on the Connective Corridor, go to connectivecorridor.syr.edu.
—Paula Meseroll
|
|
| |
London Calling
SU
students meet with British singer/songwriter and pianist Jamie Cullum
(third from left) at a January 25 reception celebrating the London
launch of the University’s Bandier Program for Music and the
Entertainment Industries. The event featured a panel discussion with
London-based music executives, Cullum, and Trustee Martin Bandier ’62,
chair and co-CEO of EMI Music Publishing.
|
 |
Academic Affairs »
Spina Named Vice Chancellor and Provost
Eric
F. Spina has been appointed the University’s vice chancellor and
provost by Chancellor Nancy Cantor. Spina, who had served in the
position on an interim basis since July 2006, was recommended for the
post by a search committee. “I am honored to be named vice chancellor
and provost, and excited to be assuming a leadership position during
such an exciting time at Syracuse University,” Spina says. “Our
University’s vision of Scholarship in Action is advancing the quality
of our academic and research programs by encouraging students and
faculty to interact and collaborate across disciplines. As a result,
across our campus there are new opportunities to learn, discover, and
create in ways that are fueling innovation and discovery. I look
forward to working with faculty, students, and staff to strengthen this
critical focus and continue to build on the momentum that we have
created as an institution.”
Spina
joined the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science as a
professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in 1988 and served as
the college’s Douglas D. Danforth Dean from December 2003 until he was
named interim vice chancellor and provost last summer. He has a wide
array of academic and administrative experience and expertise, and has
been honored by the University and the community for his teaching and
other contributions. He played a key early role in the development and
implementation of initiatives by SU and New York State in indoor
environmental quality and environmental quality systems—efforts that
provided the foundation for federal and state research grants and
technology transfer funding of tens of millions of dollars.
As
interim vice chancellor, Spina created new collaborative relationships
and synergies, allowing the University to more dynamically and
efficiently advance its academic mission of Scholarship in Action. For
example, he formed a collaborative partnership with Louis G. Marcoccia
’68, G’69, executive vice president and chief financial officer, to
jointly oversee three key areas: budget and planning, contract
(research) accounting, and design and construction. They also initiated
a plan that enhanced the sponsored program support process. In
addition, Spina has established new relationships with both academic
and non-academic institutions in the region, and expanded collaborative
efforts with the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and
SUNY Upstate Medical University. He also spearheaded the proposal for
the Syracuse Campus-Community Entrepreneurship Initiative, which was
awarded a $3 million grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (see related story).
“People
from across campus and in the community know, respect, and admire
Eric—and that was strongly affirmed during the search process,”
Chancellor Cantor says. “I am confident that he will be an outstanding
leader and collaborator for Syracuse University in areas of great
academic significance in the years to come.”
—From Staff Reports
Interdisciplinary Studies »
New Journalism Programs Develop Student Expertise in Law and Religion
Whether
covering sectarian violence in Iraq or the Patriot Act’s legal
intricacies, journalists today face a vast range of issues connected to
religion and law. For this reason, the Newhouse School is taking steps
to prepare journalists to report accurately and sensitively on the law
and religion worlds. “Religion and law are involved in some of the most
dynamic, important news topics, day in and day out,” says journalism
professor Mark Obbie, former executive editor of The American Lawyer.
With
the support of a $250,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New
York, the Newhouse School has established a minor in religion for
journalism students and the Carnegie Legal Reporting Program, in
collaboration with University College, the College of Law, and the
Maxwell School. Among its offerings, the program allows students to
tailor a legal studies minor. Newhouse Dean David Rubin says these
programs, bolstered by the expertise of Obbie and religion and media
professor Gustav Niebuhr, will enrich the Newhouse curriculum. “I have
great faith in their abilities to put these programs together,” Rubin
says. “Each area is undeniably critical for reporters to better
understand.”
A former religion reporter for The New York Times,
Niebuhr has long recognized the need for greater awareness of religious
issues in the newsroom. “So many issues in the world now require some
knowledge of religious language and religious tradition,” says Niebuhr,
who holds a dual appointment with the religion department in the
College of Arts and Sciences. “I don’t think you can understand the
world, culturally, in the absence of understanding religion.”
Niebuhr
believes these programs will give Newhouse graduates an advantage in
the media workplace, providing them the necessary tools to conduct
informed interviews. “We want to turn out students who have
enough basic knowledge and interest in these subjects,” he says.
In
addition to instilling a better grasp of legal issues in journalism
students, Obbie would like to interest more students in specializing in
legal reporting. “If I can convince more of them to learn to cover the
law in an intelligent, interesting way, then we will have achieved a
huge success,” he says. One of the program’s objectives is to acquaint
students with the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), an
SU-based research center that gathers, analyzes, researches, and
distributes federal law enforcement records and is used by legal
reporters across the nation to track and report on staffing, spending,
and enforcement.
Both Obbie and
Niebuhr hope their respective programs produce a generation of
reporters who will provide the public with context, balance, and
accuracy in their stories. “What you’ve got here is a project that aims
at a greater good—that is, public knowledge,” Niebuhr says.
—Lorae M. French |
| |
Professional Development »
Society Helps Future Health Professionals Pursue Goals
Students
heading into health-related professions have a lot on their plates. As
undergraduates, they face such challenges as mastering organic
chemistry and preparing for medical college admission tests and
residencies. At SU, the Rebecca Lee Pre-Health Society guides
health-related majors through this unfamiliar territory, providing
mentors and a setting to empower them to succeed. “Our goal is to get
students involved early, build their resumes, and increase their GPAs,
so applying to medical school [or another kind] is easier and they
stand out as competitive applicants,” says society treasurer Azuka Onye
’07, a biology and policy studies major.
The
society is named for Rebecca Lee Crumpler, who became the first African
American woman to earn an M.D. degree, graduating from the New England
Female Medical College in 1864. The organization was originally created
for undergraduates from underrepresented minority groups interested in
pursuing health-related careers. It is now open to all students seeking
medically related degrees. “The group was initially a multicultural
society where students found support among people who looked like them
and had similar struggles,” says society president Jade Reid ’07, a
biology and African American studies major.
With
more students participating, the society is creating a large network
that mentor Gina Lee-Glauser says is one of the group’s significant
assets. “The older students serve as a source of guidance for younger
students,” says Lee-Glauser, associate vice president of research.
“They all support and challenge each other to be the best they can.
They fire each other up and serve to remind each other of why they are
here and that they will succeed.”
The society focuses on health-related careers and often invites health
professionals to serve as guest lecturers. “I encourage students to
nurture their relationships with the faculty and professionals they
meet,” Lee-Glauser says. “These people will contribute to their success
in the future, whether it is help getting a job, writing a
recommendation, or being a friendly face in the field.”
For
Reid, the organization has been crucial in providing knowledge about
becoming a physician. “This is one of the best things I have gotten
involved with during my undergraduate years,” she says. “When you have
people who care about you, support you, and want to see you succeed,
it’s a beautiful thing.”
—Kayleigh Minicozzi
|
|
| |
Athletics »
Anthony Champions Orange Basketball Facility
Carmelo
Anthony ’06 has once again taken center court at Syracuse University.
In 2003, he helped lead the Orange to its first NCAA basketball
championship. In 2006, he presented SU with a $3 million gift for a new
basketball practice and training facility—one of the largest individual
donations to Syracuse University Athletics and one of the largest among
current professional athletes to their alma maters. “This is deeper
than the money,” says Anthony, captain of the Denver Nuggets of the
National Basketball Association (NBA). “It is my commitment to give
back to Syracuse for what they gave me when I was there. They embraced
me. It’s just another way I can give back.”
Since
leaving SU to play in the NBA, Anthony has maintained his bond with
Syracuse, largely through his relationship with former teammates and
coach Jim Boeheim ’66, G’73. Boeheim credits Anthony with raising the
basketball program’s profile, which has “helped us tremendously in
recruiting and will continue to help us because people admire and
respect him, especially high school kids.” The pair reunited on the
court last year when Anthony was a member of the 2006 USA Basketball
Senior Men’s Team, and Boeheim served as an assistant coach. The team
collected a bronze medal at the 2006 world championships in Japan. In
January, Anthony was named USA Basketball’s Male Athlete of the
Year.
Anthony’s
leadership gift has fueled the momentum for raising the additional
funds needed to construct the new state-of-the-art basketball facility,
which will house two practice courts, locker rooms, a hall of fame, and
offices for the men’s and women’s basketball programs. It will also be
the home court for the Orange women’s volleyball team. “We are in the
design stage right now,” says Daryl Gross, director of athletics. “We
expect it to be within the Lampe Athletics Complex in the area of
Manley Field House. Melo’s name is going to be on it forever, and we
want it to represent excellence.”
The
basketball teams currently share the 44-year-old Manley Field House
with several other teams, creating competition for practice time and
space. Asked if he wished the new basketball facility were available
while he was a student-athlete at Syracuse, Anthony replied, “Yes, of
course. We practiced at Manley, and we had 10 teams in there. You had
the track team on the track while we were on the basketball court, and
the football team was in the weight room. Soccer and lacrosse—you had
everybody in there. Now people can feel more comfortable when they are
working out.”
In addition
to his commitment to Syracuse, Anthony has given back to his native
Baltimore and the Denver community he now calls home. In Baltimore, he
sponsors an annual basketball tournament—Melo’s H.O.O.D. (Holding Our
Own Destiny) Movement 3-on-3 Challenge—for kids, ages 7 to 15, and
helped create a youth development center. In Lakewood, Colorado, he
hosts Camp Melo, a summer basketball camp for boys and girls, ages 7 to
18. Anthony also is a major contributor to the Family Resource Centers
of Colorado and established the Carmelo Anthony Foundation in 2005 to
invest in programs, leaders, and community organizations that empower
and provide opportunities for underserved children and families.
“Carmelo has given back in his hometown and in Denver, and he has given
back to Syracuse, for which I am grateful,” Boeheim says. “I’m really
just grateful I had the opportunity to coach him.”
—Christine Yackel
|
|
|
| |
Photo by John Dowling
Stone Canoe alabaster carving by Tom Huff |
Advancing the Arts »
University-Sponsored Journal Showcases
Regional Artists and Writers
At
the heart of one of this region’s oldest and most meaningful stories
rests the enigmatic image of a stone canoe. The journey of the Peace
Maker, passed down through generations of Onondagas, is the tale of a
heroic figure chosen by the Creator to travel from Lake Ontario to the
Finger Lakes, spreading the message of peace among warring tribes. As
proof of the power of his message, the young man carved a canoe of
white granite to carry him on his journey.
An
elegant symbol of this story of self-discovery, spiritual
self-awareness, and the transformative power of art, the stone canoe
serves as a fitting title for a new arts journal sponsored by Syracuse
University and published by University College. The inaugural issue of Stone Canoe: A Journal of Arts and Ideas from Upstate New York was published in March, in both print and online versions (www.stonecanoejournal.org). “Stone Canoe
aims to foster a greater appreciation of the diversity that
characterizes life in upstate New York,” says Robert Colley, an
associate dean at University College who leads the project. “In so
doing, the journal will, hopefully, contribute to the University’s
efforts to play a more productive role in the life of the larger
community.”
The journal showcases the creations of
emerging writers and visual artists from Syracuse and upstate New York,
providing them opportunities to gain exposure for their work. Several
accomplished artists with connections to SU are among the first issue’s
72 contributors, including Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Stephen Dunn
G’70 and National Book Award finalist and creative writing professor
Mary Gaitskill. “Being in this sort of distinguished company will give
fledgling writers the kind of validation that can be very important at
the early stages of their careers,” Colley says. A similar mix of
established and emerging contributors is reflected in the journal’s
visual arts section.
Guest editors oversee the
editorial process, with help from selected graduate students from
various campus departments. For the journal’s first issue, these
included creative writing professor and poet Michael Burkard, Goldring
Arts Journalism Program director Johanna Keller, ceramics professor
David MacDonald, and M.F.A. candidate Daniel Torday, a former Esquire
magazine editor. Creative writing professor George Saunders G’88, an
acclaimed fiction writer and MacArthur Fellow, was a contributing
editor. An advisory board representing a broad range of accomplishments
and viewpoints in the upstate New York and SU arts communities assists
the editorial group in seeking the best work from their constituencies.
Writers and artists from surrounding communities and other colleges in
the region, including Le Moyne, Hamilton, and Alfred, also contributed
to the journal’s first issue, expressing interest in future
collaborations.
The Delavan Gallery in Syracuse
exhibited work by the visual artists featured in the first issue. The
journal also announced this year’s recipients of an annual award series
that recognizes the best submissions by emerging artists in the visual
arts, fiction, and poetry. Winners receive a cash award and a replica
of an alabaster stone canoe sculpture by noted artist Tom Huff, a
member of the Seneca-Cayuga tribe. Plans also include poetry readings,
an arts-related lecture series, and a possible course on creating and
managing an arts journal. In addition, industrial and interactive
design professor Denise Heckman is working with students to make the Stone Canoe
web site a model of accessibility for people with disabilities who are
interested in the arts. “There are many university-based arts journals,
and many fine community-based ones, but none we have come across
integrate the interests and talents of both town and gown as we have
done,” Colley says. “So far as we know, such a university-sponsored,
community-oriented arts journal is unique among cultural projects in
upstate New York.”
—Amy Speach Shires |
| |
Community Engagement »
Student Group Gets Down to Business
Photo courtesy of AIFE
SIFE student leader April Hace ’08 uses a handful of coins to teach an H.W. Smith ESL
student how to make change. |
Members
of the SU chapter of Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE)—an organization
dedicated to improving the lives of its neighbors on more than 800
campuses around the world—are the kind of success-oriented,
let’s-get-it-done people who hit the ground running when there is work
to be done. “We started out in 2005 with just three or four interested
students and the blessings of our dean,” says faculty advisor Amanda G.
Nicholson, a retail marketing professor at the Whitman School of
Management. “But in less than a year, we had 25 active members who
launched three major ongoing projects that are already benefiting the
Syracuse community. They also raised $10,500 for the American Red
Cross’s Hurricane Katrina relief efforts by selling T-shirts.” Lest
they be thought slackers, the chapter won SIFE’s Eastern regional
competition in Philadelphia, advanced to the national finals in Kansas
City, and took “rookie-of-the-year” team honors at both competitions.
SU
SIFE’s ongoing projects exemplify its goal of putting student energy
and expertise to work for the empowerment of people in social and
economic need, as well as the University’s commitment to putting
scholarship in action. In 2005, a SIFE team began working with
Amatullah Yamini, a Syracuse South Side entrepreneur preparing to open
a shoe store. “The students helped Amatullah put the store together,”
Nicholson says. “They generated a marketing plan, set up software
programs, labeled boxes—everything.” In just five weeks, the Salina
Shoe Salon opened for business, with SIFE members offering continuing
support. “Working on the Salina Shoe project helps make things I learn
from my professors tangible,” says April Hace ’08. “It gives me
opportunities to apply concepts. It’s learning by doing.”
In
another initiative, a SIFE team is working for Chadwick House, a place
created for women making the transition from homelessness to
self-sufficiency. Here, too, students do whatever is required, from
repairing the building to tutoring residents preparing for the exam for
a general equivalency diploma (GED). “The GED tutoring has to be
one-on-one, because these women are all at different levels,” Nicholson
says. “Some could barely read. Others are almost ready to go, but lack
confidence.” Thus far, several have passed the exam, and in true
entrepreneurial spirit, SIFE expanded the tutoring to all Syracuse
residents. Impressed by the success, Whitman Dean Melvin T. Stith G’73,
G’78 helped the chapter with funding to set up a dedicated GED tutoring
facility. Last fall, SIFE’s Chadwick team initiated “life skills
seminars” for residents, offering instruction in such areas as resume
writing and dressing for job interviews.
Another
SIFE team is working at Syracuse’s H.W. Smith Elementary School, where
almost a third of the students are immigrants, hailing from some 40
countries, including such strife-torn nations as Somalia and Sudan.
Members are working with third-graders who speak English as a second
language (ESL) to supplement the efforts of ESL professionals. The SU
students also teach the children financial literacy. “The children
often pass on what they learn to their parents,” Nicholson says. “We’re
considering expanding this program to include parents.”
In
January, the chapter—which now has more than 40 members—extended its
outreach internationally, sending a team to Guatemala to work with
Mayan Hands, a fair trade organization representing more than 200
weavers, to develop merchandise for sale at the SU Bookstore. Although
the quality and beauty of Guatemala’s hand-woven textiles are
recognized worldwide, many of the expert weavers, all of whom are
women, live in extreme poverty. By streamlining the product-to-market
process, the SIFE project will ensure fair compensation to the weavers
and introduce new products to Syracuse.
Hace,
serving as co-president of the chapter with Nicole Walters ’07 says,
“A lot of hard work goes into these projects, but it is very rewarding
to help others. You see how a small group of motivated people can make
change happen in the world.” Nicholson’s reaction goes one step
further. “If you ever lose your faith in human nature,” she says, “come
with us on one of our projects.”
—David Marc
|
|
| |
Community Engagement »
City Elementary Students Thrive
in Apprenticeship Program
Photo by Steve Sartori
A participant in the Roots
and Wings apprenticeship
program signs an autograph
during “Oscar Night” last spring. |
Most
days, Otis Tillie lives the life of a fairly typical kid. A
fifth-grader at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in Syracuse,
he has four sisters and two brothers, and his favorite subject is
music. But one night last spring, during SU’s version of “Oscar Night,”
he experienced an extraordinary evening in the spotlight—complete with
a limousine ride, a walk along the red carpet, autograph requests, and
an award recognizing his work as a food critic and published author in Taste of Marshall Street: A Kids’ Guide to Dining.
Tillie
was one of 25 fourth- and fifth-graders from the King school who
participated in Roots and Wings, an apprenticeship learning program
sponsored by Hendricks Chapel that is modeled after similar programs at
Citizen Schools in Boston. Organized by a class of communication and
rhetorical studies students under the guidance of Rachael Gazdick ’93,
and supported by faculty and staff from other SU schools and colleges,
Roots and Wings offers participants five apprenticeships in an
eight-week, on-campus after-school program. “The name reflects what the
program is about—the idea that the kids are grounded in the community
through their roots, and connected to the world by their wings,” says
Gazdick, assistant director of Hendricks Chapel’s Students Offering
Service organization. “We want to honor our students’ cultural
identities, and, at the same time, encourage them to look at Syracuse
University as a place to explore and think about their futures.”
Students
in Gazdick’s Organizational Simulation course named the program,
created sample logos, and designed the curriculum for the five
apprenticeships: Taste of Marshall Street, in which King students
taste-tested area restaurants, wrote reviews, and published a dining
guide; Express Yourself, an art program that featured lessons on the
color wheel and drawing techniques and led to the creation of
self-portraits; Get Green, a science apprenticeship on the Earth’s
ecosystem that was led by Emily Coleman, director of research at the
Graduate Enrollment Management Center; Click, a photography workshop;
and Lights, Camera, Action, in which kids filmed news, weather, and
sports reports for broadcast. Held at campus locations, including
Hendricks Chapel, the Alibrandi Catholic Center, and the Winnick Hillel
Center for Jewish Life, each apprenticeship combined lessons and
activities with the creation of a product, while supporting development
of the King students’ writing and computer skills. “The kids wrote
about everything they learned in each session, and gave presentations
about their apprenticeships to the rest of the group,” Gazdick says.
On
Oscar Night—an event at Hendricks supported by individual
donations—students dressed in their finest and presented their work to
an audience of family and friends. The SU students who led the
apprenticeships donned formal attire and hosted the event, greeting the
kids when they arrived by limousine. “We celebrated their academic
achievements by giving every child an award,” Gazdick says. She hopes
to expand the program to include more SU faculty and community
professionals as mentors, and eventually open the opportunity to more
children. “Maybe down the line this program can serve as a model for
other schools in the Syracuse district,” Gazdick says. “For now, I’m
just happy the apprenticeships were successful, and that the kids had a
really good learning experience.”
—Amy Speach Shires |
| |
Interdisciplinary Studies »
Institute Focuses on Convergence of Law, Politics, and the Media
In
March 2005, Judge Joanne Fogel Alper ’72 expressed her frustration to
Chancellor Nancy Cantor and College of Law Dean Hannah Arterian about
the Terri Schiavo case and the biased reporting on the role of the
courts in that national right-to-die battle. “There was no one out
there who could speak or inform the public,” says Alper, a University
Trustee and judge of the 17th Circuit Court of Virginia who was then
president of the SU Alumni Association. “Everyone who spoke was a
partisan. Everyone had an ax to grind.” Working with Arterian, Alper
proposed an interdisciplinary symposium to address the independent
judiciary and examine the legal, political, and media connections
encompassed by the Schiavo case and others. In October 2005, SU hosted
a national symposium in Washington, D.C., to discuss those connections.
Broadcast on C-SPAN, the event featured 23 legal scholars, political
scientists, judges, journalists, and policymakers.
Building
on the conference’s success and the evident need for ongoing discussion
of these themes, the Institute for the Study of the Judiciary,
Politics, and the Media (IJPM) was established last fall at SU. A
unique collaboration of the College of Law, the Maxwell School, and the
Newhouse School, the institute is the first of its kind in the country.
According to IJPM director Keith Bybee, the institute’s goal is to
examine and discuss how law, politics, and the media increasingly
intersect in our culture. “We’re not pushing a set of answers,” says
Bybee, a political science professor and the Michael O. Sawyer Chair of
Constitutional Law and Politics. “We’re trying to get a group of
academics and professionals to address a set of questions. We want
thoughtful, relevant academic discussions that are attractive to a
diverse audience of students, professors, and practitioners.”
Last
fall the institute launched a series of symposia, including one on the
Duke University lacrosse case and another on independent voices in the
judicial appointment process. Two more panel discussions and a lecture
were scheduled for this spring. The institute also sponsors a luncheon
series that allows graduate students to have informal discussions with
guest speakers. In addition, IJPM established research fellowships and
project grants for faculty and graduate students on campus. This
summer, Stanford University Press will publish a collection of essays
by some of the 2005 D.C. conference participants, and Bybee hopes the
book will be the first in a series examining the convergence of law,
politics, and the media. The institute also plans to offer a
concentration in law, politics, and media studies at the College of Law
and help the University establish a legal studies undergraduate major.
Bybee
is joined at IJPM by associate directors Lisa Dolak G’88, law professor
and senior associate dean at the College of Law, and Mark Obbie,
journalism professor and director of the Carnegie Legal Reporting
Program at Newhouse (see related story). According to Bybee,
the three professors and their colleges work together much like the
issues the institute addresses. “It’s interdisciplinary engagement in a
real sense—a truly collective nature,” he says.
—Lauren Pauer |
|
| |
News Makers
Author Frank McCourt will share his wit and wisdom with the
Class of 2007 at Commencement. |
Author Frank McCourt, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his 1996 memoir Angela’s Ashes, will deliver the Commencement address to the Class of 2007 on May 13 in the Carrier Dome.
Several
faculty members from the Rose, Jules R., and Stanford S. Setnor School
of Music were part of a team that collaborated on the recording of Corigliano: Violin Sonata, Etude Fantasy
(Black Box), which was nominated for a Grammy Award in the chamber
music category. The recording, performed in Crouse College’s Setnor
Auditorium, features Le Moyne College professor Andrew Russo on piano, Corey Cerovsek on violin, and Setnor professor Steven Heyman on piano. Professor John Laverty, director of University Bands, co-produced the work, and Professor James Abbott engineered, edited, and mastered the recording, while Setnor students and staff helped coordinate the production.
School of Information Studies professors Dave Dischiave and Susan Dischiave
received the 2006 Faculty Award from IBM for creating the course
Enterprise Systems Technology and for infusing large-scale information
technology thinking into their other courses as well.
The Warehouse, SU’s downtown Syracuse building, was honored by New York Construction
magazine as one of the best construction projects for 2006. The
building renovation, conducted by Gluckman Mayner Architects of New
York City in partnership with VIP Structures of Syracuse, was cited as
the best higher education project in the New York tri-state area.
Mariana Lebrón,
director of orientation and transitions services, was named one of 10
Outstanding First-Year Student Advocates by the National Resource
Center for The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition.
The jersey of former Orange basketball star Rony Seikaly ’88
was retired on January 13 during halftime of the Syracuse-Villanova
game in the Carrier Dome. Seikaly joins six other SU players whose
jerseys have been retired: Dave Bing ’66, Derrick Coleman ’90, Sherman Douglas ’89, Vic Hanson ’27, Wilmeth Sidat-Singh ’39, and Dwayne “Pearl” Washington ’87.
Linda Martín Alcoff, professor of philosophy, women’s studies, and political science, was named to Hispanic Business
magazine’s annual list of “100 Influentials.” Alcoff, who directs the
women’s studies program, was recognized for her work in education. The
list was published in the magazine’s October 2006 issue.
Hannah Frieser,
director of Light Work, was elected to the board of directors for the
Society for Photographic Education, a national nonprofit arts
organization.
|
|
Syracuse University Magazine | Syracuse University | 820 Comstock
Ave. | Room 308 | Syracuse NY 13244-5040 |
|
