TODAY
ECC host Newbery Medal-winning author Kwame Alexander | See page 1
Buffalo International Airport
ECC, TSA partnership success now extends to Boston and New York City | Page 3 STEM Building
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Ophthalmic Dispensing in Jamaica
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Best-selling author and Newbery Medal winner Kwame Alexander meets with students at City Campus
City Campus hosts Newbery Medal-winning author Kwame Alexander
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rie Community College’s English Department welcomed the 2015 John Newbery Medal for the Most Distinguished Contribution to American literature for Children when author Kwame Alexander—honored for his work on The Crossover —discussed his latest work with students and faculty this past November at the college’s City Campus. Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator,
New York Times bestselling author of 21 books. The founder of two organizations, Book-in-a-Day and LEAP for Ghana, he regularly travels the world as a literacy advocate and expert. Kwame has owned several publishing companies, written for stage and TV (TLC's "Hip Hop Harry"), recorded a CD, produced jazz and book festivals, hosted a radio show, and taught high school English. In 2015, Kwame served as Bank Street
College of Education’s first writer-in-residence. Visit his website at KwameAlexander.com. The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
ECC, Journey’s End find success through Making a Connection program partnership In recent years, Western New York has experienced an influx of refugees from war-torn countries. But as they continue to successfully resettle in Buffalo annually, many are too old to enroll in the Buffalo Public School system and receive the remediation necessary to thrive forward with further education. This was the impetus for the partnership between Erie Community College’s Pathways Program and Journey’s End Refugee Services that produced the Making a Connection (MAC) program, formed on September 1, 2015 to offer these more mature students an alternative option to achieving their educational, vocational and employment goals. “ECC is a gateway for many residents into higher education,” said college President Jack Quinn. “To team with a tremendous organization like Journey’s End to educate our region’s newest residents is both a tremendous opportunity and the latest example of how this college is helping to move our ever-expanding communities forward.” Taught by New York State-certified teachers that address all areas of content covered in 1
high school and on the TASC exam, the program serves 16- to 24-year-old English as a Second Language (ESL) students that have resettled in Buffalo; are seeking to obtain their High School Equivalency (HSE) diploma; and, eventually, would like to matriculate into higher education courses at Erie Community College. Since this past September, 150 students have entered the program, which now has a waiting list and is looking to expand in the future. In addition to servicing these individuals, Journey’s End has created a specialized evening program for English language learner (ELL) students of all ages that need their
equivalency diploma for collegiate admission. “Through our experiences working with English language learners, we quickly realized the traditional education system rarely produces successful outcomes for ELL students,” said Donna Pepero, director of education at Journey's End. “They present with unique circumstances and require many levels of support to succeed. Through our partnership with ECC Pathways, we’re able to build upon our MAC Program and develop an out-of-the-box approach, holistically addressing the needs of our students. The success of our program was immediate, transitioning 14 students into college.” The program currently resides in Buffalo’s Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church Community Center on Delaware Avenue. Classes run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Thursday; and tutoring and gym activities are scheduled for Fridays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Additionally, the program offers on-campus HSE classes at ECC City Campus in the evening for students that are working or unable to attend the day program.
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Science t Technology t Engineering t Math
Design plans for North Campus STEM building come into focus
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his past fall, ECC President Jack Quinn joined Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz to preview the results of the schematic design phase for the new science, technology, engineering and mathematics (“STEM”) building planned for ECC’s North Campus. Preliminary floor plans for the approximately 57,000 square foot building were developed with input and information from faculty as well as site visits and evaluation of current space utilization at the campus, and reflect a design that clearly identifies the structure as a “technology” building. “This is an extremely important development, one we’ve worked on with our county partners for a very long time,” said ECC President Jack Quinn. “With these architectural renderings and planned spring groundbreaking, we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Western New York needs to continue to expand its science, technology, engineering
and math capabilities. This STEM-focused academic building and ECC’s career-focused courses will enable such training for our students and, in turn, further enhance Erie County’s future with a home-grown workforce.” The building is proposed to be two stories and approximately 57,000 gross square feet in area. It will contain labs, prep rooms and support spaces for ECC’s Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Engineering Science programs as well as shared instructional spaces, collaborative study spaces, a tutoring center and faculty offices. A small café is proposed to be located at the first floor adjacent to the main entry plaza which will provide a modest outdoor seating area to support the café. Improvements to the existing campus quad will include a paved entry plaza with integrated seating elements, walkways to connect important nodes and destinations within the quad, and additional landscaping to reinforce a sense of
place. An important goal of the project has been the development of a building design and concept for site improvements to transform the campus and foster a sense of energy and activity. The project is also pursuing LEED Silver certification and, as part of the design process, energy modeling has been used to evaluate efficiency and comparative life-cycle costs of various HVAC system options. With the conclusion of the Schematic Design Phase, the project now enters the Design Development Phase, where the project scope and program will be fine-tuned before the last phase of design, production of final Construction Documents. The Erie Community College STEM Building is on schedule for construction to start in May 2016 and for the building to open September 2017.
“This is an extremely important development, one we’ve worked on with our county partners for a very long time,” said ECC President Jack Quinn. “With these architectural renderings and planned spring groundbreaking, we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.” 2
ECC, TSA partnership success now e
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ravelers traversing between Northeast airports this last holiday season didn’t have to pass security before finding employees with Erie Community Collegeaided training. ECC and the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) honored its first class of graduates from their Homeland Security training partnership in June 2014, with a ceremony held at the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport. More than a year later, the partnership’s overwhelming success has now spread outside Erie County, connecting out-of-state TSA employees at Boston’s Logan International Airport and New York’s JFK and LaGuardia International airports with vital security training and college credits through online courses at ECC. “This is yet another example of ECC quietly providing specialized training for our country’s workforce,” said ECC President Jack Quinn. “We’ve been providing such critical training across Western New York for decades, but this partnership has certainly expanded our capabilities past our home turf.” The TSA is currently partnering with select community colleges to provide the airport staffs throughout the nation with training, as well as the opportunity to work toward a TSA Certificate of Achievement in Homeland Security and/or Associate Degree in Homeland Security or a related field. The TSA launched the program in 2008—with airports and community colleges in locations like Baltimore, San Antonio and Washington, D.C.—to determine the best approach to educating employees while causing minimal interruption to their work schedule. In spring 2013, ten new airports joined the Associates Program, including Buffalo-Niagara International Airport (BUF) along with its college partner, Erie Community College. In its first year, ECC honored 10 program grads with a TSA Certificate of Achievement. This fall, the program’s headcount ballooned to 145, with students enrolled in courses like Intro to Homeland Security and Transportation
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and Border Security, and all are encouraged to use their credits toward either an eventual associate or bachelor’s degree. “Erie Community College gives TSA employees the opportunity to continue education and pursue a degree in Homeland Security,” said Randy Gagnier, TSA training manager and employee at Boston’s Logan International Airport. “The critical thinking that is required of the course assignments helps us perform with a better sense of awareness, and I know with each week that goes by, Erie Community College is making me a better TSA employee here at Logan.” What makes ECC an ideal collegiate institution to lead this type of TSA training is its experience in online education. The college already offers over 250 online courses (in a variety of concentrations) each semester.
Transportation Security Administration Abbreviated winter and summer sessions also offer multiple sections of online courses in several disciplines; and ECC uses “best practices” models and rubrics to manage its online course delivery, with mentor and tutoring services also available. Per the TSA Program specifically, faculty from the college’s nationally lauded Homeland Security Certificate Program—recently ranked eighth in the U.S. among two-year schools by Community College Week—are highly qualified to teach training courses, given their previous employment in criminal justice, cybersecurity and emergency management. And, the courses are convenient for working
professionals, something that helps while toiling in a field as demanding as transportation security. “The fact that employees can schedule their own time in order to take the classes is a great advantage,” said Eileen Fernandez, TSA education coordinator at New York’s JFK International Airport. “JFK no longer has to accommodate employees’ work schedules and that is an advantage for the agency; and since ECC classes are online, room coordination for employees is no longer needed.” Based on survey numbers, only 16 percent of TSA screeners have an associate degree or higher. With this program, TSA officers are exposed to college-level education and how it can help improve their job performance; teaches them about the history of and need for Homeland Security; and motivates them to continue their education. Based on its current success, ECC’s TSA partnership plans to continue to grow throughout the Northeast and across the U.S., and will continue to provide career-focused education opportunities for future semesters’ worth of online students.
New York City
Boston
extends to Boston and New York City
“This is yet another example of ECC quietly providing specialized training for our country’s workforce,” “We’ve been providing such critical training across Western New York for decades, but this partnership has certainly expanded our capabilities past our home turf.”
– ECC President Jack Quinn 4
Antwon Burton ‘02 (right) inducted into the ECC Athletics Hall of Fame
Athletics round-up: Looking back on a tremendous fall season
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rie Community College completed one of its finest fall seasons and set some records in the process while competing in the National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association. Three of the four fall ECC teams tripled their win totals from last season, while one stayed on course. An ECC fall athlete was recognized for weekly performances by the NJCAA sixteen times. Three won national awards,
Upcoming Athletic Events February 25-27, 2016 ECC is hosting the men's and women's NJCAA national bowling championships at Airport Lanes in Cheektowaga
February 27-28, 2016 Men's hockey attempts second-consecutive NJCAA national championship in Binghamton, NY
February 27-28, 2016 Women's basketball compete in regional playoffs at the highest seed's location
February 27-28, 2016 Men's basketball compete in regional playoffs at the highest seed's location
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while the other 13 were acknowledged regionally. “We had a tremendous fall season here at ECC,” ECC athletic director Peter Jerebko said. “I couldn’t be happier for the athletes and coaches in one of our best-ever overall seasons.” ECC’s football team registered its first winning season in nearly a decade with a 6-4 record under first-year head coach Scott Pilkey. The team ended its season on a three-game winning streak, outscoring the opposition 91-22 during that span. And amid its successful campaign, Antwon Burton, who played for the Kats during the 2001 and 2002 seasons, became the first football alumni enshrined into the ECC Athletics Hall of Fame. Burton went on to Division I Temple University from ECC before signing with several National Football League teams. The women’s soccer team had its finest season in program history with a recordsetting 11 wins. The Lady Kats improved .453 from last year’s 3-11 season by going 11-7 overall. They hosted their first-ever playoff game, which it won, 4-0, over Jamestown Community College in Region III of the NJCAA before bowing to Finger Lakes Community College in the semifinals. The men’s soccer team also had great success this season, finishing 9-8 and securing a playoff berth. As with the women’s team, the men improved from a three-win season the previous fall. The Kats lost a quarterfinal region game to Onondaga Community College, 1-0, to end the season. Volleyball equaled its win total from last season with eight before being eliminated in the WNYAC playoffs.
“Romano” chalk and pastel by Brian Porter
Assistant Professor wins awards for portrait Brian Porter, assistant professor of Humanities at ECC's North Campus, recently picked up prestigious awards for his artwork at a pair of fall shows. Porter earned a Jurors Award for his chalk and pastel portrait, “Romano” (pictured above) at the Rochester Art Club member show, held in Pittsford. That same portrait was chosen among more than 1,000 entries for 9th Honorable Mention in the competitive Non-Commissioned Portrait category of the Portrait Society of America’s Members Only Competition. According to an awards letter from the Portrait Society of America, the latter of the two awards was secured based on the required drawing skills for the project, as well as originality, tonal values, design, treatment of the edges, color harmony, technical proficiency within the potential of the medium, and overall ability to communicate the artist’s idea. Along with his overall placement, Porter’s piece was also featured in International Artist Magazine and The Art of the Portrait Journal. Porter was recently accepted as an exhibiting member, by a juried process, to the prestigious Buffalo Society of Artists.
Interested in pursuing a scholarship? Website: www.ecc.edu/scholarships Address: City Campus, room 110 Phone: 716-851-1990 Email: scholarship@ecc.edu
Student takes ophthalmic dispensing skills to Jamaica
ECC students don’t spend all their time on the college’s three campuses. And often times, their education takes them well outside Erie County lines. In the case of senior Ophthalmic Dispensing student Sabrina Parkin, her career-focused training took her to the island of Jamaica last December to both serve on a vision care mission and to embrace her roots. “Jamaica is a part of my heritage, and a country that was home to many of my ancestors,” said Parkin. “A big part of my identity drove me to help Jamaicans the way I know best: as a certified optician.” Located in the Caribbean Sea, Jamaica is about 90 miles south of Cuba. With a population of approximately 2.8 million people, Jamaica is the second poorest country in the Caribbean following Haiti. The country faces many difficulties in the field of medicine, and its residents are not able to receive proper medical care because its local facilities lack desperately needed technology. Enter Parkin, whose Ophthalmic Dispensing education at ECC prepared her to spend three days providing vision screenings to students at the Llandilo School of Special Education in Savanna-La-Mar (Sav), Jamaica. Through screenings of more than 100 students in need, about 30 percent received updated prescriptions and corrective eyewear at no cost. Ophthalmic dispensers (opticians) are licensed professionals who dispense eyeglasses and/or contact lenses to the public from prescriptions written by eye doctors. Such services are of tremendous aid to indigent or third world populations. And with the increase in the U.S. population and the aging of the baby boomer generation, the demand for ophthalmic dispensing services—whether in private businesses, health maintenance organizations or professional eye care offices—has risen.
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Alumni Spotlight
Raymond Bednarski ’89
n December 4, Ray Bednarski as chairman of the ECC Architectural '89, president and CEO of Technology Advisory Board, and Kideney Architects in Buffalo, president-elect of the Board of Ronald joined Joe Lenahan, principal at Kideney, McDonald House Charities of WNY. to present details about the new academic Some of Bednarski's many projects STEM building for ECC's North Campus include additions at Kenmore Mercy and to a group of distinguished St. Joseph Hospitals, a new alumni at a breakfast at the office building for the FBI in Statler Erie Room. downtown Buffalo, projects Bednarski joined the firm of for Key Bank in Buffalo and Kideney Smith Fitzgerald and Albany, multiple K-12 school Laping in 1989 right after projects for Buffalo, North graduating from ECC's ArchiTonawanda, and Williamsville tectural Technology Program. Schools, long-term residential Ray Bednarski '89 He went on to the University care facilities in Orchard Park, at Buffalo where he completed Batavia, Pittsford, and Oxford, his Bachelor's degree in Architecture in NY, St. Stephen’s RC Church on Grand 1996 and became a licensed NYS archiIsland, and a new cathedral in Lancaster tect in 1998. In 2003, Bednarski was for the Polish National Catholic Church. named an associate at Kideney, became Bednarski will be honored as one of partner/vice president in 2008, and ECC's distinguished alumni at Celebrate entered his current position as president ECC on March 10. and CEO in January 2013. He also serves
2016 Celebrate ECC honorees On March 10, the following individuals and organizations will be honored at Celebrate ECC for their demonstration of our motto, “Start Here. Go Anywhere!”
This year’s Distinguished Alumni Award winners include: Patricia Thomas ‘79 – Vice President of Optical Operations, North Eastern Eye Institute Raymond Bednarski ‘89 – President and CEO, Kideney Architects, P.C. Honorable Lenora B. Foote ‘90 – Support Magistrate, Erie County Family Court Diane Slawinowski, DDS ‘90 – General Dentistry Clinton Ronan ‘94 – Command Chief Master Sergeant, 914th Airlift Wing, Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station, N.Y. Lauraine Neal, RN ‘96 – Assistant Professor, D’Youville College and Adjunct RN Clinical Instructor, Trocaire College
The 2016 ECC Distinguished Alumni Employee Award will be presented to: Anthony D’Alessio ‘88 – Computer Systems Technology Chair, Nanotechnology Department; Associate Professor Electrical Engineering Technology, Erie Community College
The 2016 Louis J. Billittier Honorary Alumni Award will be presented to: Santo Rizzo – Retired Director of Center for Teaching, Learning and Assessment; Professor, Health Wellness and Physical Education, Erie Community College
The 2016 ECC Foundation Award will be presented to: Myra Conley – Owner and CEO, Medlab, Inc. Erie Community College Foundation Scholarship Supporter
The 2016 President’s Award will be presented to: National Grid
For tickets contact Stephanie King, director of Alumni Relations at kings@ecc.edu or 851-1999
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n behalf of the students, faculty and staff of Erie Community College, I would like to thank you for reading about some of our recent achievements. Since arriving at this venerable institution in 2008, I’ve been consistently amazed at not only the good news we’ve been able to share, but also at the focused educational and professional opportunities we’re able to provide for incoming students, year after year. We offer more than 100 degree and certificate programs in the areas of Business and Public Service, Health Sciences, Liberal Arts and Engineering and Technologies, designed by an award-winning faculty with the purpose of advancing students forward. Our three-campus college provides an accommodating environment, and is consistently ranked as one of the nation’s top associate degree producers—as well as the number one choice of Western New York high school students and veterans. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s College Affordability and Transparency Center, our college’s average net price is the lowest in New York. Students can enter ECC, endure through their first college classes, then continue toward a one-year certificate, two-year degree or utilize our comprehensive transfer agreements with a litany of colleges or universities—all while saving on tuition costs. How much can a student save by attending ECC? Look up the tuition cost of your local public and private universities. Compare these totals with the cost of a year at our college—taking the same classes offered at a traditional four-year—and you’ll see why an ECC education makes sense. Do these savings come at the expense of opportunity? Absolutely not. Aside from our associate degree-related successes, the college boasts more than 25 one-year certificate programs, all crafted to train students for sustainable professions in the region. And, when it comes to connections, the college currently boasts more than 300 partnerships with area businesses like Delaware North, Moog and Solar City, all knowledgeable of ECC’s career-focused curriculum. I, along with every member of our college community, am dedicated to continuing this momentum of good news. Until next semester, stay tuned for more exciting details for students interested in starting, restarting or redirecting their academic journey at Erie Community College.
E RIE C OMMUNITY C OLLEGE
City Campus
North Campus
South Campus
121 Ellicott Street Buffalo, NY 14203
6205 Main Street Williamsville, NY 14221
4041 Southwestern blvd. Orchard Park, NY 14127
716.851.1ECC www.ecc.edu
Invest in your
future—at future—at ECC
Start Here.
Go Anywhere!
Sincerely,
Jack Quinn, President of Erie Community College
ECC Today is produced by the ECC Public Relations Department. Please contact their office at 716.851.1866 with questions, comments or submissions.