Suny Sullivan School Scene 2019

SCHOOL SCENE A look at activities at Sullivan County Community College

A Special Supplement to the Sullivan County Democrat

SECTION S • APRIL 23, 2019 • CALLICOON, NY

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College’s creative energy spurs new avenues for learning, work STORY AND PHOTOS

BY KATHY DALEY

L

ike two-year colleges across the nation, SUNY Sullivan boasts an array of courses taught by dedicated professors who are passionate in the belief that every person should have the opportunity for good education and satisfying work.

But as head of the only institution of higher learning in Sullivan County, College President Jay Quaintance uses a stronger metaphor to describe the SUNY school’s impact.

“We are the engine of social mobility for many,” he said. “We are the launching pad.”

Since its inception in 1962, SUNY Sullivan has offered the essentials – math, English, philosophy and so on – along with programs that allow stu-

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dents to transfer to four-year colleges or trade schools, or to walk directly into employment. Students just out of high school and older learners go on to flourish, then, in the medical profession or business world. They find their home in food and hospitality, “green technology,” and graphic arts and design, to name just a few.

This year and next, the college will expand its “career” certificate programs into evenings, weekends and summertime to make it convenient for working people to advance their skill set. Moreover, a new online course campaign (featured elsewhere in this special section) makes learning available anywhere, anytime.

LIFTING BARRIERS But Quaintance noted that, for some community college students, life can get in the way of learning. Students sometimes drop out when issues intervene.

“Problems with transportation, the need to work or take care of a child – these become barriers,” Quaintance said.

In response, the college is working on a number of fronts. It’s collaborating with Sullivan County Government in a planned public transportation initiative. And, particularly pertinent with the closing this school year of St.

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A Liberal Arts Degree major, Emily Pierpoint also now holds a job and assists her mother and siblings at home in Livingston Manor. ‘SUNY Sullivan is a great experience,’ she said. ‘They work the classes to your schedule, you make friends, the tuition is much better than other schools.

The teachers are amazing people who support you and give you time if you need it.’

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‘Right now, the college and the Center for Discovery in Harris are working to create a pathway for people to become direct service professionals, who work with children and adults with developmental disabilities.’

Peter’s Regional School in Liberty, SUNY Sullivan is in the early stages of launching a daycare center for children of students and staff. Eventually, the center would open to the public.

A new Early Childhood program of study would piggyback on the daycare center, “blending teaching opportunities with the needed service,” the college president said.

Another truism is that the county’s healthcare industry is in dire need of skilled staff. Right now, the college and the Center for Discovery in Harris are working to create a pathway for people to become direct service professionals, who work with children and adults with developmental disabilities.

The plan is to develop a pipeline to actively recruit potential employees “that we then train for (one-year) certificates and house them here in our dorm,” said Quaintance.

Then, while they are working, they can move into the college’s Associate Degree program in their chosen field.

In time, the plans would involve New Hope Community in Loch Sheldrake and The Arc of Sullivan-Orange Counties NY in Monticello as well as other health care sites in Sullivan County.

For the Center for Discovery initiative, “we are developing a certificate

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College President Jay Quaintance discusses how Sullivan County’s community college evolves in support of residents’ needs.

and hope to recruit (students) in the fall,” Quaintance said.

A NEW HIGH SCHOOL Finally, the college is contemplating the launch of an Early College High School, which allows students to earn both a high school diploma and college credit at the same time in the same school.

“By the end of the 12th grade, they earn a high school diploma and an associates degree,” said Quaintance.

SUNY Sullivan is now exploring opportunities for a stand-alone Early College High School, or one at an existing high school, or one on the college campus.

Another on-campus initiative is the planned Catskill Creamery project, which is making its way through a lease agreement with the college and the SUNY system. “This is the first project of its kind in a New York State community college,” said Quaintance, which makes arrangements a bit more complicated.

The Creamery is expected to run with a staff of about 35 who will manufacture milk-related products for distributors and manufacturers. An accompanying wastewater treatment facility “will make for a very clean operation,” Quaintance said, adding that SUNY Sullivan students will learn technology, marketing, label development and more at the Creamery complex.

Once in operation, said Quaintance, “It will be the largest community college project in the state.”

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A founder of the SUNY Sullivan arts department, artist and educator Manville B. Wakefield painted the region, including this portrait of an engine on the New York, Ontario & Western Railway. The train line carried resort-goers from New York City to Sullivan County, as chronicled in Wakefield’s book ‘To the Mountains by Rail.’

Around and about at SUNY Sullivan STORY AND PHOTO

BY KATHY DALEY

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t SUNY Sullivan, college walls hosts numerous paintings by Manville B. Wakefield, who founded the commercial arts initiative at the college, taught art at TriValley School in Grahamsville, and was a county historian and railroad buff. He wrote two books, “Coal Boats to Tidewater “ and “To the Mountains

by Rail.”

The buildings on SUNY Sullivan’s 405-acre campus in Loch Sheldrake harbor their own fame. The complex was designed by architectural firm Edward Durell Stone & Associates.

Stone was famous for his work on the Museum of Modern Art and Radio City Music Hall in New York City, as

well as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The college features a series of nine interconnected buildings plus the Paul Gerry Fieldhouse, with the Seelig Theater, site for numerous events, plays and musicals, at the center of the complex.

For the 2018-19 school year, the enrollment was 1,558, 65 percent of whom are full-time students.

SUNY Sullivan’s “green” emphasis is widely known. Its geothermal system heats and air conditions the campus.

Sustainability is also reflected across campus via an organic farm in partnership with New Hope Community, a composting program, community gardens, a nine-acre solar field and an apiary.

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A Bald Eagle ‘approves’ as Americorps group moves to SUNY Sullivan J

effrey Simoneit lives in a dorm at SUNY Sullivan, but his journey here began hundreds of miles away in the “Grand Canyon of the East” – that is, Letchworth State Park, two hours from his hometown near Niagara Falls.

“My parents took us to Letchworth all the time, and one day, a family visiting the park was asking for information about it,” said Simoneit, age 24. “I started talking to them. I knew the park so well and basically, I did a mini-presentation. I found myself thinking, ‘Oh! This is what I should be doing!”

That is exactly what Simoneit is engaged in now, headquartered at the SUNY Sullivan dorm with 36 other young adults who make up

AmeriCorps’ New York State Excelsior Conservation Corps.

Simoneit and the rest of the Excelsior cohort work on important conservation projects across New York State.

They lead volunteer projects and educate the public on environmental issues.

“We do service work on state land, in state parks and on Department of Environmental Conservation land,” explained Christopher Weider, Excelsior’s team manager. Weider works for the non-profit Student Conservation Association, which runs the program. “The work we do is definitely needed, which is why we exist,” he said.

Launched by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2015, Excelsior is a ten-month residential program for 18 to 25-year-olds who

Excelsior Conservation Corps member Jeffrey Simoneit, left, and teams leader Christopher Weider speak about the AmeriCorps environmental program from the campus at SUNY Sullivan.

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want to make a difference in the natural world and perhaps explore careers in conservation. For U.S. veterans, the cut-off age is 28. All are paid a living stipend.

What is hoped to be a three-year partnership with SUNY Sullivan was spurred by college President Jay Quaintance, Weider noted.

“Jay heard that we were looking for a new home, and he reached out,” he said.

Before this, Excelsior headquartered at SUNY Morrisville for two years and SUNY Brockport for one year.

SUNY Sullivan, with its emphasis on

“eco-friendliness,” shares a mindset with the Conservation Corps.

“We’re excited to be in Sullivan County and at the SUNY campus,” Weider said. “We look forward to opportunities to interact with the community.” For example, he noted, the Corps will get to interact with locals as they share a plot at the college’s Community Garden.

The group of young people from as far away as California, Alaska and Puerto Rico arrived in late February and will remain until mid-December.

Training comes first, and the cohort benefitted from five to six weeks of

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This year, Excelsior Conservation Corps has attracted people from as far away as Alaska and Puerto Rico to learn about the environment and explore future jobs as they do service work at New York’s parks and forests.

learning at various state lands and parks, one of them being Camp DeBruce in Livingston Manor.

There, members of particular crews underwent rigging training, that is, how to use pulleys and levers to move boulders and logs. They worked on carpentry skills and on “leave no trace training,” which encourages ways to enjoy the natural world in a way that avoids human-created impacts.

The five crews then head out to fiveto-ten-day “hitches.” Some do carpentry work, others might survey culverts or install solar panels. At Ganondagan State Historic Site near the Finger Lakes, a crew works on plant beds and a greenhouse. At Coon Hollow State Forest near Watkins Glen, another crew does controlled burning to reduce invasive species and stimulate more desirable forest growth.

Running education programs is Simoneit’s forte. Along with others, he

leads hands-on sessions about nature and the environment in state campgrounds. Families might learn, for example, how to make a safe campfire.

Or they might study owl pellets. Those are the undigested parts of an owl’s food that it regurgitates through its beak, revealing to humans the bird’s fascinating food choices.

Simoneit was glad to talk about another bird that served as a good omen for the Corps’ first few weeks at SUNY Sullivan.

“We were outside for morning training by the dorms,” he said. “Suddenly, the whole group spotted a bald eagle flying about 30 to 40 feet from us. There was this sudden sense of awe.”

The bald eagle, they were reminded, serves as the nation’s emblem, representing the beauty of America’s oceans and streams, mountains and forests and the value in protecting them.

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Boot up the laptop and earn a degree STORY AND PHOTO

BY KATHY DALEY

Two or three times each week, SUNY Sullivan’s Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs delivers 15 to 20-minute lectures to students on U.S. history. He does it without leaving his office, and his students don’t even have to report to the college to gain his wisdom.

“Right now, we’re working on the Reconstruction Era, how it failed and what Lincoln wanted to do,” recounts Dr. Keith Pomakoy, a professor and college administrator whose doctoral degree is in international history. He then attended Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Institute for Management and Leadership in Education.

He signed on as Vice President at SUNY Sullivan in 2017.

Pomakoy’s class in U.S. History

SUNY Sullivan’s Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs Dr. Keith Pomakoy teaches a U.S. history course, available for the first time this spring for students who prefer online learning.

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School Scene

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online, offering an associate in applied science and giving students skills and knowledge needed to manage buildings that incorporate sustainable building principles and technologies.

In August, 11 fully online degree programs will be newly offered. All are taught by SUNY Sullivan professors.

The new courses are as follows: Accounting Studies Certificate; Administrative Assistant AAS; Business Administration AAS; Business Administration AS; Business Administration: Marketing AAS; Business: Accounting AAS; Green Building AAS; Liberal Arts and Sciences AA; Liberal Arts and Sciences: History AA; Liberal Arts and Sciences: Humanities AA; and Virtual Office Certificate.

SUNY Sullivan’s per credit tuition is $199, whether the course is delivered online or in person on the college campus.

“It’s really exciting,” added Pomakoy. “It opens up the potential for people who wouldn’t be able to study at the college because of family, work or other commitment.”

“We are bringing higher education to people,” he continued, noting that the rural nature of Sullivan County, without municipal transportation, makes online learning even more helpful.

“Our faculty is great,” he said.

“SUNY college courses transfer, and we’re much less expensive than other online courses elsewhere, some of which don’t transfer. We have a guar-

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1860-1940 is totally online. Using WebEx, the online set of tools that allow for recording lectures and facilitating discussions, Pomakoy’s students see and hear him, interact with other students, take tests and write papers. And they gain three credits without stepping foot onto the college campus.

“Our market is working adults who can’t come here but who want to take courses or finish a degree,” said Pomakoy.

There is great flexibility in when the student actually needs to sit down and do the work. With WebEx, a “ding” allows students to know that someone from their college course is connecting with them, be it teacher who has posted a live lesson or another student who has posted a comment, argument or idea. Students can choose to respond at a time that is most convenient for them.

“People can do all the work on weekends if they like,” said Pomakoy.

The new online emphasis also will welcome “early college students,” said Pomakoy. Those are high school kids who might benefit from online college courses because they know they will go on to a four-year college and want to get a leg up on required courses, saving them time and money. Or they know what they want to do after high school and wish to earn a one or two-year certificate so as to go out and get a job.

The college’s popular Green Building Maintenance and Management degree program was the first to go

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When doves and history meet in graphic design class STORY AND PHOTOS

BY KATHY DALEY

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hen Doris Sharp is not busy serving with the Grover Hermann Hospital Auxiliary in Callicoon or helping organize the Fremont Center Memorial Day Parade, she’s studying art and designing doves. Well, one dove in particular.

To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the 1969 Woodstock Festival, Sharp’s design for one of the county’s 36 huge fiberglass doves will take center stage in the courtyard at SUNY Sullivan, where Sharp is enrolled.

“I was completely shocked and surprised, really pleased,” said Sharp, who grew up in Livingston Manor, served in the U.S. Navy and taught

school before returning to her roots.

She is now enrolled in the Computer Graphics and Graphics Design Program, a two-year course that will net her an A.A.S. Degree.

Sharp’s dove proposal is becoming a reality. The eight-foot-long bird will sport a high gloss gold finish after the traditional hue of 50th anniversary memorabilia. It will serve as a mirror, allowing onlookers to see themselves “in” the dove. Then, 49 small, colorfully-painted doves will circle the large dove, representing the 49 years between Woodstock and now.

“Sullivan County has shifted and grown and changed in the past 49 years,” said Sharp, who moved back 12 years ago with her husband Ken and two children. “I wanted visitors to interact with the piece, to see themselves in the past and in the

To mark the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Woodstock music festival, Doris Sharp of Long Eddy designed the winning project for SUNY Sullivan's dove display at the college courtyard. Here she holds a miniature model of the finished eight-foot-long centerpiece.

future.”

In 1969, posters touting the Woodstock Festival featured a dove perched on the neck of a guitar.

Sharp is one of five students working on the project. They are Naomi Fitzgerald of Liberty, Abigail Langeland of Woodbourne, Bryan Granados of Monticello and Tiffany Carofano of Connecticut. All are second-year students in Professor Mark Lawrence’s graphic design class.

“The Sullivan County Visitors Association reached out to us,” said Lawrence, pointing out that the countywide Dove Trail Project will showcase art and encourage tourism.

Lawrence first had his students conceptualize the idea as does a professional in the field. They researched the Woodstock Festival, the art and graphics of the ‘60s and the history of the times. For instance, said student Granados, research turned up the

work of Dr. Martin Luther King, the manned moon landing, and the Vietnam War along with opposition to U.S. involvement there.

Lawrence urged students to look at the era from various perspectives.

For U.S. veteran Doris Sharp, coming to grips with today’s Woodstock euphoria was not easy. She noted that while crowds of young people partied and listened to music 50 years ago on the field in Bethel, soldiers were giving their lives in Vietnam.

Still, “Bethel Woods has done a lot of great things,” she said, referring to the performing arts center at the old Woodstock site. “And the Woodstock Festival brought notoriety and great talent to the county.”

In creating the dove sculpture, the art students are linked with Sullivan BOCES automotive technology students who will apply the gold finish, and with the Center for Discovery’s

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Makers Lab in Hurleyville, which will use a router to “machine” the smaller doves out of thick plastic.

Mark Lawrence’s classes are heirs to a long-running program launched in the early 1960s at what was then Sullivan County Community College.

Painter Manville B. Wakefield, whose handsome murals and paintings grace the school, founded the art program.

Today’s students go off to jobs or they work from home in web development and design, graphic design, and photography. Or they transfer to schools like New York City's Fashion Institute of Technology or the School of Visual Arts or to the respected Savannah (Georgia) College of Art and Design.

“It’s great to see students succeed,” said Lawrence, who grew up on Long Island, attended SUNY Sullivan from 1975 to 1977, and went on to run his family's advertising company in midtown Manhattan, now run from his home in Grahamsville.

For Doris Sharp, it was her own daughter who led her to SUNY Sullivan.

“She's enrolled at the college in the

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‘Mark Lawrence’s classes are heirs to a long-running program launched in the early 1960s at what was then Sullivan County Community College. Painter Manville B. Wakefield, whose handsome murals and paintings grace the school, founded the art program.’

Criminal Justice program and needed a ride,” said Sharp. “I thought, maybe I'll take a course.”

In the future, Sharp is likely to seek work in the art and design field, she said. But for now, the plan is simple.

“I’m looking forward to seeing all the work in the Dove Trail Project,” she said, “and I hope it will bring people out into the community.”

Professor Mark Lawrence served 35 years in full-service design and still runs his own company from home in Grahamsville. His students go on to work in art, graphics, web design and photography.

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