Golden Rule

More Valuable Than Gold

Higher education is a hotbed of innovation, with student and faculty researchers investigating solutions to the grand challenges of our times. Some SUNY Oswego community members have focused their efforts on the immediate challenge facing the world right now—the COVID-19 pandemic. SUNY Oswego Biochemistry Professor Kestutis Bendinskas and Chemistry Professor Julia Koeppe lead a student-faculty team that received $10,000 in seed funding from the SUNY Prepare Innovation and Internship Program for research on pandemicrelated solutions. The Oswego team will explore current reverse transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction-detection methods used in COVID-19 detection and determine if forward and reverse primers are affected by mutations known to date. Ultimately, they hope their work will improve the efficacy of detection. Another Oswego team participated in a weeklong bootcamp last summer at Rutgers University’s Institute for Quantitative Biomedicine to research the SARS-CoV-2 main protease (an enzyme that breaks down proteins into smaller units), which is essential for viral activity and a promising drug target. SUNY Oswego researchers Emily Fingar ’21, Michael Kirsch ’21, Charlotte Labrie-Cleary ’21, Ali Khan ’20 and Santiago Soto ’20 joined Professor Koeppe and researchers from across several institutions and disciplines on this project. Their research advances efforts to develop an antiviral medicine for COVID-19 patients.

Read more about SUNY Oswego’s research at magazine.oswego.edu.

Golden Rule:

Alumni, Donors Support Students Hardest Hit by Economic Hardship

Last spring, the college established the Student Emergency Fund to assist students who faced unexpected situations and hardship due to the pandemic.

STUDENT EMERGENCY FUND

Total Donors: 508 Total Support: $355,316 Student Recipients:

(as of 1/20/21) 265 students have received payments for a total of $127,769.69 Finding the Golden Lining

They say, “necessity is the mother of invention,” and THE PANDEMIC WAS THE CATALYST THAT PROPELLED THE COLLEGE INTO NEW REALMS. For example, within the Alumni and Development division, the college found new technologies and tools to engage our 89,000 alumni in a virtual realm.

The division launched a new podcast series, the Virtual 5K, online Scholars Celebration, Alumni Admissions Ambassadors program, and the Oz Virtual Village e-newsletter promoting a range of alumni-led virtual concerts, presentations, financial tutorials, cooking classes, yoga sessions and professional development trainings. Similarly, other offices across campus shifted their services online, including Career Services whose employer relations, workshops/seminars, student appointments, class presentations and support for enrollment management continued without interruption.

This is more than surviving—this is finding the means and the character of thriving through adversity. “ —President Stanley ”

The college’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion created Laker Live, which encourages any campus community member to submit a proposal to virtually host anything from a how-to session or a performance to a fitness class or a painting lesson. Every Laker Live session also serves as a fundraiser for the Student Emergency Fund. While the long-term impacts of the pandemic are yet to be determined, the SUNY Oswego community has shown its true colors in facing challenges head-on and nimbly changing course as needed to navigate the ever-changing and tumultuous waters heading for our beautiful lakeside college community. “SUNY Oswego has the record of resilience in the face of great odds, of employing thoughtful study and response, and of the will, strength and endurance to bring our plans to fruition,” President Stanley said. “This is more than surviving—this is finding the means and the character of thriving through adversity.” l

4,200 face masks were distributed to campus members in the fall.

Class Notes

From The Archives

During the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918, the Red Cross pressed the college’s women’s dormitory, known as the Welland (above), into service as an emergency hospital, and, according to the official history of SUNY Oswego, “faculty volunteers cooked and tended the ill.”

Do you know more about this photo? Or do you have a favorite photo from your college days that you’d like featured in an alumni communication? Send the photo and a description, along with your name and class year, to alumni@oswego. edu; or King Alumni Hall, Oswego, N.Y. 13126.

Note about Reunion 2021

After careful consideration, the decision has been made to celebrate Reunion Weekend 2021 virtually this summer. Though we won’t be physically together this summer…our Oswego memories will always keep us together in spirit. Visit alumni.oswego.edu/reunion for up-todate plans on our Virtual Reunion activities.