2012 Annual Report

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SCHENECTADY COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Annual Report 2012

Building Excitement


SCCC Announces Extension Site in Albany County Officials from SCCC, the cities of Albany and Schenectady, Schenectady County and Albany County announced that SCCC will have an extension site in downtown Albany. SCCC will offer classes in the 10,000-square-foot space on the second floor of the Albany County Office Building, located at 112 State St. Students can ride CDTA buses from the county building to the College’s main campus in Schenectady.

Clockwise from top left: Denise Murphy McGraw, Chairwoman, SCCC Board of Trustees Marion Porterfield, Schenectady City Councilwoman, and Renee Bradley, SCCC Trustee Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy, SCCC alumnus New SCCC extension site (112 State St.) in downtown Albany. Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy and Albany Mayor Gerald D. Jennings John Elvers and David Friedfel of Albany County share design plans with Dr. Quintin Bullock, SCCC President Dr. Quintin Bullock, SCCC President; Daniel McCoy, Albany County Executive; and Charles Burkes, Director of the Albany County Veterans Service Bureau Daniel McCoy, Albany County Executive; Dr. Quintin Bullock, SCCC President; Gerald D. Jennings, Albany Mayor


SCCC FEATURE STORIES 6

Snapshots of 2012

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European Witch Trials at SCCC A Case for Liberal Arts Education

Schenectady County Community College Annual Report 2012

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By Dr. Dean Bennett

16 Mentoring

By Dr. Quintin B. Bullock

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Eating Lunch in the Bathroom The Psychosocial Impact of College Bullying and a Plan for Change By Robyn M. Posson, M.S.Ed., L.M.H.C

5 Growing for the Future 13 Accepting Awards and Honors 14 Participating in Statewide Event 18 Educating Students 20 Highlighting Workforce Development 21 Applauding Success 23 Increasing Opportunities Through Student Affairs 24 Going for the Win 25 Enriching Ourselves 26 Transforming Lives 27 Serving Our Community 31 Setting a Standard for Safety 32 Crossing the Finish Line

On the Cover: The new School of Music Š2011 stockstudiosphotography.com


president’s message These are exciting times for community colleges nationally and statewide, and SCCC is responding positively to meet new demands and higher educational needs. SCCC remains accessible and affordable, and increasingly more students are selecting SCCC as their first choice to access higher education and workforce development. In addition, those in business and industry, locally and regionally, continue to identify SCCC as a leader in economic and workforce development. Through our collective efforts, the College community as a whole continues to make great strides to fulfill and achieve its mission to provide quality, comprehensive education for transfer, careers, training and workforce development to a diverse population in a student-centered environment. We have leveraged our strengths to develop a 21st century community college that prepares our graduates for a competitive workforce and as leaders of the future. SCCC truly is an amazing institution, and I am sure I’m not alone in my excitement as we continue our work together to make it even more incredible. Quintin B. Bullock President, SCCC

chairwoman’s message Schenectady County Community College is an amazing institution. Our presence in this region has transformed the lives of many individuals from all walks of life. The expansion of new College facilities and the launching of additional academic and career programs, is the culmination of years of serious efforts by the College, the Board of Trustees and county leadership to bring about the best possible higher education institution for the Capital Region. In these tough economic times, we have worked tirelessly to secure the necessary funding to ensure world class facilities to provide access to quality instruction and high-demand workforce development. Clearly, these are transformative times for SCCC, and I am looking forward to continuing to work to take our institution to new heights. Denise Murphy McGraw Chairwoman, Board of Trustees

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Schenectady County Community College Board of Trustees Denise Murphy McGraw, Chairwoman Ann Fleming Brown, Vice Chairwoman Michael W. Karl, Treasurer Renee Bradley, Secretary Raymond R. Gillen Gary E. Hughes Christine Mallozzi Tina Chericoni Versaci Thomas D. Bambury, Student Trustee Operating Under the Auspices of the State University of New York Nancy L. Zimpher, Chancellor Supported by the State of New York Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor Hugh T. Farley, Senator, 49th Senate District Cecilia Tkaczyk, Senator, 46th Senate District Angelo Santabarbara, Assemblyman, 111th Assembly District Phil Steck, Assemblyman, 110th Assembly District Sponsored by the County of Schenectady Schenectady County Legislature Judith Dagostino, Chair Karen B. Johnson, Vice Chair Dr. Brian Gordon, Deputy Chair Gary Hughes, Majority Leader James Buhrmaster, Minority Leader Thomas Constantine Philip Fields Martin Finn Cathy Gatta Robert W. Hoffman Anthony Jasenski, Sr. Jeffrey M. McDonald Michael Petta Holly Vellano College Administration Quintin B. Bullock, President Charles J. Richardson, Vice President of Administration Martha J. Asselin, Vice President of Student Affairs Penny A. Haynes, Vice President of Academic Affairs Susan Beaudoin, Assistant Vice President of Administration Jennifer Ciulla Van Ort, Coordinator of Development Leonard Gaines, Assistant Dean for Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness Matthew Grattan, Executive Director of Workforce Development Laurie Hempstead, Registrar Darren Johnson, Assistant Dean of Planning, Accountability and Advancement Lynne O. King, Director of Library Services Nicolas G. Ltaif, Director of Academic Computing Brian F. McGarvey, Director of Financial Aid Paula Ohlhous, Assistant to the President/Board of Trustees Arthur Paolelli, Manager of Administrative Computing Carmel Patrick, Executive Director of Development Angela M. Prestigiacomo, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs David G. Sampson, Director of Admissions Alan Yauney, Director of Campus Maintenance

The Schenectady County Community College Annual Report is published annually for alumni, students, faculty, staff, parents and friends of the College by the Office of Planning, Accountability and Advancement. Mailing Address: Schenectady County Community College Office of Planning, Accountability and Advancement 78 Washington Avenue Schenectady, NY 12305 Phone: (518) 381-1323 pr@sunysccc.edu


Bravo! Bravo! New School of Music is a Big Hit

Clockwise from top left: Denise Murphy McGraw, Chairwoman of the SCCC Board of Trustees, congratulates all involved. Behind her are: Gary McCarthy ’77, Mayor of Schenectady; Angelo Santabarbara, Schenectady County Legislator; and Gary Hughes, SCCC Trustee and Schenectady County Legislator. Dr. William Meckley, Dean of the School of Music, thanks College and County officials (shown behind him) during the ceremony. “Is this cool or what?” he said. Music students in front of the beautiful new School of Music. Music flows as Mark Evans performs Gradus ad Parnassum by Claude Debussy on one of several new Yamaha professional upright pianos in the new building. The SCCC Trombone Quartet rehearses in the new Vianna-Brignola Recording Studio.

GrowingForTheFuture

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s Rob Krupanich, Performing Arts: Music major, ran through scales in one of 18 practice rooms in the new School of Music, he talked about the difference between last year, which was his first year at SCCC, and now. “It’s so much easier to practice with so many more rooms,” the affable trombone player said. “This is a fantastic facility, and I feel really lucky to be here for the first year that students are in it.” Rob and his friends were among the first students to take classes in the new $3.9 million two-story School of Music as classes started on Sept. 4, 2012. Anyone passing through the building can feel the energy as students take individual lessons in teaching studios, learn theory in specialized music classrooms and socialize downstairs in student lounges. “This building truly marks a new era for the music programs at SCCC,” said Dr. William Meckley, Dean of the School of Music. “Students will now have more access to practice rooms and our new recording studio opens up a completely new avenue for students wishing to pursue music recording as a profession.” Equipment is being installed in the Vianna-Brignola Recording Studio, which will be industry-standard. The Music: Business program will then include a recording and music technology focus. The studio is named for Diana Vianna-Brignola, a retired school teacher and longtime friend of the College’s music program, who donated $117,000 to equip it. Other generous donors to the School of Music include Neil, Jane and Mona Golub, who contributed $50,000 to name the Neil, Jane and Mona Golub Multi-Purpose and Recital Room, and Terry and Anne Phillips, who donated $25,000 to name the Terry and Anne Phillips Choral Rehearsal Room. The SCCC Foundation kicked the ball off in May 2012, by making the first donation to the School of Music, a sizeable $100,000 to help equip the recording studio. Community members got their first glimpse inside the building during an open house on Sept. 29, 2012, and then were treated to a performance by music faculty members and the Empire Jazz Orchestra, which just celebrated its 20th anniversary this fall.

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Snapshots of 2012 In its 43 years of existence, SCCC hasn’t had one as active and transformative as 2012. From new buildings and new locations to historic enrollment and the realization of new academic programs, SCCC is certainly on the move. The road map has been the College’s 2010-15 Strategic Plan Gateway to Excellence, and the driver President Quintin B. Bullock. Working together with the SCCC Board of Trustees, faculty and staff, students are reaping the rewards. In the pages ahead, you will read about all the great happenings from this past calendar year. Below are the highlights.

Center City Expansion

The first classes started attending SCCC’s Center City location – conveniently located downtown, across from Proctors – in Fall 2011, but the site really hit its stride in Spring 2012, with 50% more courses and students. By Fall 2012, there were 1,708 students taking 86 courses there. Programs such as Criminal Justice have a large number of courses at the site now. The non-credit Health Professions Opportunity Grant program also calls the site home. The instant success of the new site prompted expansion in 2012, growing the site from 20,000-square-feet to 31,000-square-feet, adding more classrooms, a computer lab and a lounge. Students in SCCC sweatshirts are commonly seen downtown now – a boon to local business there.

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More Programs Than Ever

The College added its 47th program starting with January 2012 classes – a one-year certificate in Chemical Dependency Counseling – and it was an instant success, growing from 16 students to 38 students by the fall. Different than most other programs at SCCC, the core audience is people already in the counseling profession, most with degrees already in hand, who need extra credentialing in this vital field.

finishing touch was a top-of-the-line Steinway piano that arrived just as the fall semester ended. Prof. Mark Evans could be heard playing Clair De Lune by Debussy on it during the winter break.

SCCC Albany

The SCCC Board of Trustees and the President were also able to freeze tuition costs from 2011-12 to 2012-13. One of the lowest tuition rates in the state, a year’s tuition at SCCC remained at $3,384.

While the announcement officially came in January 2013, SCCC’s proposed Albany location was a year in the making, earning SUNY approval over the summer in 2012 and approval by the SCCC Board of Trustees and Albany County officials in the fall. SCCC now not only has service area agreements with Schenectady and Saratoga counties, but also Albany County. At the standing-room-only announcement at the Albany County Office Building, press opportunities were aplenty. One photo opportunity was just outside the building where a CDTA bus was parked and had “SCCC/Downtown Albany” in digital letters across its top.

School of Music

HPOG Graduations

Historic Enrollment Growth

SCCC seemed to buck the trends of most community colleges, continuing to grow in student population in 2012. By Fall 2012, a record 7,207 students were served.

Tuition Freeze

The much-anticipated School of Music opened in time for the Fall 2012 semester and with, of course, entertaining fanfare and a ribbon cutting attended by government officials, donors, proud alumni and scores of students, faculty and staff. The building is gorgeous, with a beautiful façade, lit up at night, facing the Western Gateway Bridge. Students have ample rehearsal space and studios with wonderful acoustics. The

SCCC’s Health Profession Opportunity Grant program, funded by a five-year federal grant totaling over $12M that started in 2011, really blossomed in 2012, graduating more than 300 Certified Nursing Assistant students. Seventy percent of them quickly found employment. More health-related programs are to come in 2013, and the program is ahead of its projected goal of creating 1,000 jobs by 2015.


Growth of High School Programs

SCCC’s high school population also grew significantly in 2012, to almost 2,700 students. In the Smart Scholars program, aimed specifically at at-risk Schenectady youth, the retention rate is an impressive 97 percent. The wonderful work of the program has led to vital donations, including a $100,000 award from The Schenectady Foundation.

Aviation Soars

Along with the Center City location, Richmor Aviation also received approval from governing and accrediting bodies to be a site for SCCC classes. The Air Traffic Control and Aviation Science programs also received a lot of press as they have grown along with job prospects for graduates.

College Suites at Washington Square

SCCC officially became a residential campus with the ribbon cutting for the new, state-of-the-art 264-bed College Suites at Washington Square student housing complex on College property adjacent to Liberty Park (which is also slated for a makeover). Owned and managed by the United Group, which has built similar residence halls throughout the Northeast, the building was filled at two-thirds capacity right from opening day. The United Group reported that this was one of their best openings. Already the student apartments have had an impact on enrollment, as students from as far away as New York City now are attending the College. WNYT Channel 13 featured Brooklyn resident Tia Golphin, who came up from Brooklyn to live in College Suites and join the women’s crew team. Please enjoy reading about these and many other great SCCC accomplishments from the past year, and look out for many more exciting announcements in 2013! SCCC Annual Report 2012

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GrowingForTheFuture

Center City Expansion The SCCC @ Center City site has become a popular choice for students since the College first began offering courses in the downtown Schenectady building in Fall 2011. In fact, both registrations and course offerings have increased from Fall 2011, when the site first opened, to this past fall. To capitalize on a good thing, College officials decided to expand at Center City, after hearing input from students, faculty and staff. Work is now complete on the second floor, adjacent to classrooms already Architects renderings of the Center City expansion project. being used by SCCC. The new 11,100-square-foot space will have four classrooms with two classrooms equipped with mobile laptops (24 per classroom), outdoor seating, space for faculty offices and a lounge area. The space will allow the College to offer even more classes during peak daytime periods, as well as during the evening and on weekends.

A New Café on Campus

Above: Floor plan of the new convenience store and café space on the ground level of Elston Hall. Left: The Van Curler Hotel bar and grill, circa 1935.

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What was once the bar and grill for the Van Curler Hotel and then the College’s cafeteria will once again come to life as a convenient store and wi-fi café with soft seating and an outdoor patio. This fall, the FacultyStudent Association (FSA) finalized plans for the 3,000-square-foot upscale café on the bottom floor of Elston Hall. The café will offer specialty coffees and signature sandwiches, as well as essentials for those in student housing (milk, bread, frozen dinners, toiletries). Students will be able to access the new café from either inside or through an entrance on Washington Avenue. Donna Tessitore, Executive Director of the FSA, said that the renovation will provide something special for students. “This will offer students a unique space to study and socialize with hours extended beyond the traditional operational hours,” she said. “The renovated space will create a trendy, more modern experience for students and the campus community.”


GrowingForTheFuture

Student Housing is a Reality Parents loaded up elevators with carts and boxes as their sons and daughters took their clothes, iPads, TVs, books, even keyboards and other instruments into their rooms in College Suites at Washington Square on Aug. 31, 2012, during move-in day for the new student housing building. Students from Syracuse to New York City are loving the fact that all they need to do is walk across Washington Avenue to make it to campus in time for classes. The 264-bed student housing building went up quickly due to a mild winter last year. Ground was broken on Nov. 2, 2011. The United Group of Companies manages the $11 million, four-story building. In addition to private suites, the building also has a state-of-the-art kitchen, a fitness room, business center, sound proof music rehearsal rooms and game rooms. A new group of students moved into their new digs in January 2013 for the start of the spring semester.

Above: Denise Murphy McGraw, Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees; Elaine Quinn, spouse of the late James F. Quinn, former Vice Chairman of The United Group; and Dr. Quintin Bullock, President, during the Student Housing Grand Opening hosted by the United Group of Companies, on Sept. 19, 2012. Above, right: Charles Burgess, center, Computer Information Systems major, got help on moving day from his family Emery Taylor, Vanessa Burgess, Aaron Hasty and Charles Burgess Sr. Far right: Kristen Bode, Culinary Arts major, on move-in day. Below: College Suites at Washington Square as seen from Washington Avenue.

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European Witch Trials at SCCC?

A Case for Liberal Arts Education

By Dr. Dean Bennett, Associate Professor, Division of Liberal Arts

W

hen I tell people that we offer a History elective course called “European Witch Trials” at SCCC, I get varied reactions. Plenty of people say something like, “Wow, that sounds interesting. I’d like to take a course like that.” Others might say, “Oh…you mean Salem?” Well, yes, that is part of it, but at Salem, only 19 people were condemned and executed as witches, whereas in Europe, from about 1480 to 1680, there were around 150,000 victims (the majority women, but also many men). The Salem trials never would have happened without an already long-established tradition in the Old World, and that is our main focus. Some people no doubt wonder whether studying these witch trials is not basically a pointless chore, or, at best, a self-indulgent luxury. After all, the trials might be fascinating, in a gruesome train-wreck sort of way, but aren’t they ultimately trivial—a curiosity that is no longer relevant? Haven’t we moved on? Surely there are more practical things one should be doing in education? (Now, if this were a “witchcraft” course, as some people mistakenly call it, maybe we could learn to cast spells and make love potions—that’s practical, right?—but, alas, that is not what we do). Actually, one of the reasons I am pleased to offer this Witch Trials course is that it so clearly is both useful and relevant. It

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... if we collectively forget the reasons we abandoned torture in the first place, we may find it too hard to resist the temptation to use it again in an emergency. provides a fine example of the enduring value students can gain from learning about the past, and, indeed, from studying the Humanities and Social Sciences in general. By the time they have completed the course, my “witches,” as I fondly call students in the class, should be able to offer informed and balanced answers to a number of probing questions, such as: • What did people believe about witchcraft, sorcery, and magic? • Why did the witch trials happen? • Why were so many of the accused witches women? • How did small, local trials turn into large witch hunts and spread like wildfire? • Why did some regions experience large witch hunts, while others had virtually no trials at all? • What role did religion and legal practices play in the witch trials? • What connections were there between the Crusades, heresy trials, persecution of Jews, and the witch hunts? • What finally put a stop to most witch trials? • Are there 20th and 21st century parallels to the historical witch trials? The best place to find answers to these questions is the wealth of writing from the period. If anyone wonders whether the topic is big enough to merit dedicating an entire semester course to it, the sheer abundance and variety of sources are enough to dispel that concern: witch trial court transcripts, Inquisitorial interrogation

records (in these we get to hear something of the victims’ own voices), papal decrees, scripture, deliberations of medieval theologians on the powers of demons, news pamphlets, plays (Elizabethan playwrights such as Shakespeare were obsessed with witchcraft), and manuals dedicated to the art of witch hunting. It seems like witches pop up all over the place in the records of the time. Interpreting these sources critically is a big part of the challenge—and the fun—of the course. Some of these writings are so strange that it feels like reading English as a foreign language—a mind-stretching experience. Students hone their reading, writing, empathy, and thinking skills. For understanding, they draw on all kinds of disciplines: religion, politics, law, anthropology, psychology, and sociology, to name a few. They learn that simple answers to complex problems are seldom sufficient. No one should finish this course satisfied that all of the witch trials were the result of ergot fungus poisoning alone (a bad theory that is particularly stubborn), or hatred of women alone, or simply the cynical desire to take the property of the victims. The massive witch hunts of the 1400-1600s were the result of a “perfect storm” of many, many different converging factors. One of the important insights students draw from the course is the danger of combining religious power with political power. Without the approval and active participation of religious authorities, most of the major witch hunts would not have happened. The Church was determined

to eradicate heresy (that is, willfully rebellious false belief), and it viewed witches as the worst kind of heretics: worshippers of the devil, from whom they derived their ability to work magic. Since their crime was usually not only harming people with magic, but also heresy, they were thought to behave like earlier condemned medieval “heretics” such as the Cathars or the Knights Templar, who confessed, under torture, to secretly worshipping the devil at conspiratorial “sabbaths,” engaging in unspeakable orgies, and sacrificing and eating babies. Another supposed heretic, Pope Boniface VIII, was posthumously condemned by his enemies for keeping a pet demon in his ring as a magic-working servant (you can’t make this stuff up!). It is easy to dismiss the persecutors as irrational or wicked, but it should be sobering to realize that most of those who tried and executed witches as heretics were driven by consistent principles; they meant well and wanted to do good, but too often the result was nevertheless immense, unnecessary suffering. When, in the 18th century, Enlightenment thinkers urged the legal separation of church and state, one of their most compelling arguments was the bad experience of the witch trials. It should serve as a strong cautionary tale for us today, as well. Likewise, through studying the witch trials, students learn how vital due process of law is in preventing gross injustices like the witch trials. Some trial procedures effectively prevented witch convictions, while others encouraged them. The most SCCC Annual Report 2012

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notorious and harmful practice was the use of torture. In one remarkable case, hundreds of people in Bamberg, Germany, were arrested and forced, under torture, to name fellow witches. The mayor himself, Johannes Junius, was imprisoned, and managed to sneak out a letter just before his execution. With a shaky hand—his fingers had been crushed during the torture—he wrote a poignant farewell to his daughter and concluded, “Dear child, six have confessed against me at once…all false, through compulsion, as they have all told me, and begged my forgiveness in God’s name before they were executed…They know nothing but good of me. They were forced to say it, just as I myself was.” When torture was finally abolished and flimsy evidence became less acceptable in court, it was with cases like this in mind. Wisdom gained through hard experience is a precious thing. It is also fleeting. Generations come and go, and things we thought we had learned are soon unlearned and forgotten. It takes constant vigilance to preserve the most valuable lessons from the past. For example, if we collectively forget the reasons we abandoned torture in the first place, we may find it too hard to resist the temptation to use it again in an emergency. This is not just a hypothetical scenario; it is already happening. As it turns out, there have been several controversial cases of abuses that resemble (and may actually be?) torture perpetrated by Americans in recent years, and some people seem to want to defend or minimize the significance of such behavior, to the point where one

wonders whether they are really aware of the need for extreme caution. They should learn about the witch trials. It may not change their minds, but at least they will better understand some of the pitfalls of the path they want to take. They may argue that the crises we face today are uniquely grave, and require exceptional measures. Even if this is true, it is striking that the executioners of witches made precisely the same arguments. Witches were seen as such a serious threat to the Christian community that a certain famous witch-hunter said he would rather see hundreds of innocent people perish than allow one witch to escape. No doubt this kind of reasoning is applied wherever torture is used freely in the most oppressive regimes around the world today, and I have little desire to live in such places. Traditionally, education in America (and elsewhere) has been seen as a primary means for forming a capable, responsible, and wise citizenry. I don’t think this effort is out of date. Training for future employment is, of course, also important, and studying History and the Liberal Arts in general can provide for plenty of that, as well (many Law students, for example, start out studying History, and the connection is particularly obvious in the case of the Witch Trials course). Students who have gotten the most out of their Liberal Arts degree are well-rounded, flexible, good at communicating, and informed about the world they live in, while being wary of flawed logic and injustice. As members of a relatively well-educated and prosperous society, we may not fully realize how necessary such attributes are to our success and

happiness; they are the kind of qualities we might not miss until we don’t have enough of them anymore, when things around us start to malfunction, and other countries surpass us in countless ways, great and small. I hope we don’t have to relearn past lessons the hard way in our lifetimes. So, finally, I am glad that SCCC provides students with a variety of challenging and interesting History electives—at a fraction of the cost they would pay elsewhere. Occasionally I hear back from former Witch Trial students who have transferred on to another college or university, and they often report that their professors and advisers are impressed that a community college offers such a course as a History elective. It is not something that I take for granted, and I personally am grateful for the administration’s support. Some of my other areas of training include Russian History and the Vikings, and I feel fortunate to be able to offer electives in those subjects as well. My colleague, Dr. Babette Faehmel, teaches electives in U.S. Black History and U.S. Women and Gender History. SCCC is just big enough to have room for these kinds of courses, and small enough that we faculty get to teach them without encroaching on other colleagues’ professional “turf.” In case it isn’t already obvious, I admit to having what looks like a morbid fascination with the rather gloomy and violent episodes of the human experience, but it doesn’t get me down. Of all the benefits of the type of education I have been advocating, the greatest one, for me, is the sheer pleasure of learning!

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AcceptingAwardsAndHonors

SCCC Named “Military Friendly Campus” The efforts of the College’s Office of Veterans Affairs in making veterans feel connected to campus were recognized this fall when SCCC was named a “military friendly campus” by Victory Media. The 2013 Military Friendly Schools list honors the top 15 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools that are doing the most to embrace America’s military service members, veterans and spouses as students and ensure their success on campus. The office actively assists veterans attending SCCC with benefits, counseling, vocational rehabilitation, work-study programs, applications processing, assistance in claims handling and referrals. The College also has a Student Veterans Association, an organization in which veterans network with one another and organize special events geared toward the interests of veterans. Army Sgts. Marshall Reeves and Jeffrey Klein of the United States Army Color Guard, conducted a presentation of colors in the quad as part of events honoring veterans on Nov. 9, 2012. Other highlights included SCCC student Adam Flock, a Performing Arts: Music major, playing Taps, and remarks by Harry Buffardi, Marine Corps veteran, Assistant Professor and Advisor to the Student Veterans Club, and Noney Grier ’12, Veteran Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist in the Homeless Veterans Supported Employment Program at the Albany Stratton VA Medical Center.

Elston Hall Portico Earns Preservation Award

SCCC Featured in Our Town: Schenectady

SCCC was on the big screen in January 2012, included in the PBS program Our Town: Schenectady that premiered at the GE Theatre - Proctors in January 2012. The program then aired on WMHT-TV later that week. Patty Frazier, Human Services major, and Dr. Martha Asselin, Vice President of Student Affairs (pictured), shared their love of SCCC and the city during interviews that were featured in the program. They were in good company as Our Town: Schenectady also included footage of historical sites, the arts community, Schenectady Greenmarket and much more.

Paralegal Program Earns Reapproval

The Schenectady Heritage Foundation applauded restoration work on the front portico of Elston Hall, once the entrance to the historic Hotel Van Curler, presenting Schenectady County with an Annual Preservation Award. Griffith Dardanelli Architects, PC, designed the renovation and Mid-States Industries, Ltd. was the construction company for the project. Crews worked on the columns, steps and roofing system of the portico from May 2010 to May 2011. Gloria Kishton, Chair of the Schenectady Heritage Foundation, said that the refurbished portico acknowledges the importance of the College’s history. “The College is on the National Historic Register,” she said. “The committee felt that the portico restoration was done in a way that showed that the College valued and respected the original hotel design.”

An American Bar Association External Review Committee visited SCCC in September 2012, meeting with Paralegal Professors Sheila Foglietta and Gerald Evans, as well as Dr. David Hennessy, Dean of the Division of Business, Criminal Justice and Law. They were impressed enough by the program that they and the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Paralegals Approval Commission recommended that the program be reapproved for another seven-year period.

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ParticipatingInStatewideEvents

Undergraduate Scholars Showcase Their Work

Students Sing for Dr. King Hundreds of New Yorkers gathered at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center to commemorate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the state’s annual memorial observance on Jan. 16, 2012. The SCCC Vocal Chamber Ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Yiping Wu, earned a standing ovation for their performance of I Can Tell The World, a spiritual that captured the spirit of the event, especially with the powerful last line, “He brought joy to my soul.” The event included remarks by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

SUNY Chancellor and Presidents Attend Regional Showcase at SCCC SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher visited campus as SCCC hosted the SUNY Capital Region Showcase on Feb. 24, 2012. She was joined by presidents of seven other SUNY colleges as they shared the latest developments and initiatives taking place on their campuses. Elston Hall was a flurry of activity as each campus hosted presentations and displays. Local leaders in education, government and business, as well as members of the public, were invited to the SUNY Showcase.

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1: SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher tries out the Fire Protection Technology program’s fire extinguisher simulator as Dr. David Hennessy explains more about the program.

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2: Ben McCauley and Molly Waters, Performing Arts: Drama majors, keep the audience laughing while performing a scene from Neil Simon’s “Fools.”

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John Twardowski, science major, explains his research about the effect of radiation emitted by cell phones on living tissues to Johanna Duncan-Poitier, Senior Vice Chancellor for Community Colleges and the Education Pipeline.

Students in the sciences presented their findings on “Biotechnology” and “Biological Pathogens” while students in culinary arts shared their knowledge about “Menu Development for Aspiring Entrepreneurs in Culinary” as part of “Discovery: An Undergraduate Showcase” hosted by SUNY on Feb. 29, 2012, in the Capitol’s Legislative Office Building. The students joined undergraduate scholars from SUNY schools across the state for the daylong event, discussing their research with SUNY Administration officials and members of the New York State Legislative delegation. Dr. David Hennessy, Dean of the Division of Business, Criminal Justice and Law, coordinated the SCCC team which also included Dr. Syeda Munaim, Professor, and Renato Tameta, Associate Professor, in the Division of Math, Science, Technology and Health; David Wixted, Assistant Professor in the School of Hotel, Culinary Arts and Tourism; and Eileen Abrahams, Associate Professor in the Division of Liberal Arts.


ParticipatingInStatewideEvents

SCCC Team Advocates for Children

Five students and Associate Professor Renee Adamany attended Early Childhood and Learning Advocacy Day at the Capitol in February 2012 as part of an advocacy service learning experience for the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment course. The statewide advocacy event was sponsored by Winning Beginnings, an organization that advocates for the needs of children. Left to right are Donna Pohlam, Stephanie DiDonato, Janet Reamer ’12, New York State Senator Diane Savino, Chair of the Committee on Children and Families, Renee Adamany, Linda Taylor and Donna O’Connor ’12.

Culinary Brings Home Silver for Superb Platters Instructor Michael Stamets and Culinary Arts major Sean Davies had to complete about 3,000 precise steps to prepare for the intense “Best Meat Presentation” category in the Societe Culinaire Philanthropique’s competition at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City in November 2012. The indefatigable duo worked on their techniques for the platters—one turkey, one chicken and one pork—for two weeks. It was all worth it when they walked away with two silver medals, competing with professionals and student chefs from across the United States. The competition was part of the 97th International Hotel, Motel and Restaurant Show and this was the first time a team from SCCC competed.

Students Attend Leadership Assembly

Slow Food at State Capitol

SCCC Selected to Test Smart Track SCCC was one of only three of the 30 SUNY community colleges selected as a pilot site for the new SUNY Smart Track Campaign, aimed at combatting student debt. The program was commended by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo as “innovative” and “forwardthinking” in its commitment to making the financial aid process more transparent and providing more resources for students and their families. The College was featured in news reports about Smart Track produced by media outlets located across the state.

Student leaders had their voices heard during the SUNY Student Assembly Fall Conference in Syracuse in November 2012. SCCC was represented by John Donahue, Student Government Association President, and Thomas Bambury, Student Trustee (shown left to right). More than 200 students from across the state participated in the annual event that offers leadership training. Student Activities Coordinator Chris Delvecchio ’11 also attended.

Slow Food Club members Katelyn Milem and Paul Pownall represented the College at SUNY Day 2012 at the State Capitol in February 2012. Over 50 SUNY institutions also had tables at the all-day event in the Well of the Legislative Office Building. President Quintin Bullock met with fellow presidents and state representatives as a part of the day’s activities. SCCC Annual Report 2012

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Mentoring By Dr. Quintin B. Bullock, President

The role of a mentor can make the difference between someone finding success or being frustrated, disappointed and ultimately deciding not to achieve short- and long-term educational and career goals.

T

hroughout my professional journey, I have had students ask me about my personal path to president. Many may think it happened overnight, and on paper it may seem that way. But, in reality, my path to becoming a community college president was 19 years in the making. It’s still a learning process every day, but I appreciate the roles of my mentors, and I find time to mentor students and aspiring leaders.

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SCCC Annual Report 2012

The role of a mentor can make the difference between someone finding success or being frustrated, disappointed and ultimately deciding not to achieve short- and long-term educational and career goals. In fact, many students choose to attend SCCC because of its nurturing atmosphere. Part of the College’s attraction are small class sizes and approachable faculty and staff who are eager to help students clearly articulate their goals and then realize them. SCCC is known for its personal touch that larger schools simply cannot deliver. Many of us who look at ourselves as mentors were, at one time, mentored ourselves. It is why we are attracted to colleges like SCCC, where we feel we can make a difference in people’s lives. Even presidents need mentors. In

a survey conducted by the American Association of Community Colleges, 57 percent of respondents said that mentoring played a key role in preparing them for leadership positions. Sixty-two percent of community college presidents reported that mentors were valuable or very valuable for preparing them for the daily tasks and challenges of president. Paying it forward, 76 percent of campus CEOs with three or more years of experience reported being a mentor to at least one individual seeking guidance and constructive input to achieve short- and/or longterm goals. In other words, today’s students and aspiring leaders should open themselves up to the idea of being mentored. A successful mentoring


experience takes a unique blend of self-confidence, humility, and assistance from a supportive mentor who has experienced similar challenges and opportunities. Students need to know where they want to go in their educational and career pathway, and take the initiative to reach out for guidance and constructive feedback. One such mentor I appreciate having helped me navigate this path to a campus presidency is Dr. Peter Spina, President Emeritus of Monroe Community College. Dr. Spina saw that I had leadership potential but also saw that my doctorate was not the typical doctorate that a college executive leader may have. I have a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree. Most higher education leaders with doctorates have Ph.Ds. or Ed.Ds. in higher education. Many people would feel dead-ended right there, but Dr. Spina saw my potential and offered me a grant-funded management position. While I didn’t have the traditional higher education doctorate, I had explained that MCC did have a dental hygiene program, and one required credential to teach in the program is a D.D.S.; and anyone who is academically qualified to teach in the Dental Hygiene program should also have the same opportunity to pursue an executive administrative leadership position. Again, one has to allow oneself to be mentored. It’s up to you to be upfront with your goals, and to submit your intentions to those who can help you—those who have reached those goals themselves in their careers. It’s very unlikely your talents will automatically or just somehow be spotted. It’s also important to be honest in self-assessment and be willing to address areas of weaknesses as needed. As an aspiring leader, I identified my

weaknesses and bolstered my potential by engaging in numerous leadership development programs, participating in varied leadership roles, speaking at different programs and events, volunteering and serving on college committees and community boards, and assuming additional assignments and duties to hone and strengthen my skills. All the while, I sought the advice and guidance of my mentors. And mentoring is like karma. One has to give in order to receive. As a mentor, I serve as a role model for traditional, non-traditional, under represented, and economically disadvantaged student populations; motivate and encourage students to work hard and strive to achieve academic excellence; informally talk with students about their educational and career goals; and advise students to participate in service learning, internships, co-ops, volunteer at community organizations, and participate in College sponsored activities (e.g., student clubs) to strengthen their leadership, communication and organizational skills. SCCC’s professional staff and scholars assume the responsibility to be a mentor to our students, to pass on our knowledge, and to help our students and aspiring leaders realize their educational and career goals. What I learned from being a mentor is that the sky can be the limit, no matter how many obstacles one has faced, or whether or not one has taken the traditional path. Additionally, it is equally important for a mentee to do a self-assessment, be honest in the assessment, prepare an action plan, and implement the action plan to strategically address area(s) of deficiency. Do not limit yourself to what is comfortable. The world is broad; go

places where you would never normally travel. Venture into the unknown, enhance your scholarship and grow educationally and professionally. Learn the meaning of excellence and work hard in carefully structured days. Push yourself to excel and accept only excellence in and out of the classroom. I encourage students to quest for knowledge, to stand firm in their faith, to never give up, and to zealously go after each and every goal. Put their best foot forward at all times, and be all that they can be and more. In closing, I encourage us all to embrace professor Dr. Fred Bonner’s famous words... “When all around you are quitting as they sometimes do, and the people who criticize you are mad and your friends seem few. When problems face you at every turn, you’ve got to remember the lesson that winners have learned – never give up, never give in, you cannot win unless you do it again. When life’s hurdles seem to slow you down, steady your pace, hold your ground – you’ve got to believe it, conceive it, work dayby-day just to achieve it. Then and only then will the power to win reside within…” Clearly, these are rewarding and exciting times for our students at Schenectady County Community College. As an institution, we have signed up to be an active contributor to their educational growth and development, as well as to be a responsive, affordable, and innovative institution, where the student is at the center of our enterprise, and the quality of teaching and student learning is our top priority. Let’s mentor and continue to put a spotlight on our aspiring students and future leaders. Mentoring develops rising stars!

SCCC Annual Report 2012

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EducatingStudents

Medical Coding and Billing Certificate Begins

Christina Keeler in one of her Medical Coding and Billing classes.

Christina Keeler, of Colonie, is one of the students in the College’s new Medical Coding and Billing Certificate program that was introduced in Fall 2012. Christina enrolled in the new program after working 25 years in retail. “The medical field keeps growing so I definitely think it’s a stable employment opportunity,” she said. The certificate prepares graduates to work in hospitals, physician offices and other healthcare facilities. It also provides an understanding of medical terminology essential to the language of medicine. “The field of medical coding and billing will be completely transformed by the transition to electronic health records,” said Dr. Rebecca DiLiddo, Dean of the Division of Math, Science, Technology and Health. “This certificate is designed to prepare those new to the field and those needing retraining to work in this new digital environment.”

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SCCC Annual Report 2012

New Transfer Agreements SCCC has transfer agreements with a variety of four-year colleges, making it possible for graduates to transfer seamlessly for bachelor’s degrees. The following transfer agreements were signed during 2012: • Science A.S. with The College of Saint Rose’s Medical Technology B.S. • Culinary Arts A.O.S. with New England Culinary Institute’s Culinary Arts B.A. • Hotel and Restaurant Management A.A.S. with New England Culinary Institute’s Hospitality and Restaurant Management B.A. • Science A.S. with SUNY Cobleskill’s Environmental and Energy Technologies B.T. Students in any major can transfer through an agreement with Cornell University Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) comprehensive for Agricultural Sciences, Animal Science, Atmospheric Science, Biological Engineering , Biology and Society, Biological Science, Biometry and Statistics, Communication, Development Sociology, Entomology, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Science and Sustainability, International Agriculture and Rural Development, Landscape Architecture, Nutritional Sciences, Plant Sciences, Science of Earth Systems, Viticulture and Enology.

SUNY Consortium Funding Means New Programs Workforce Development worked with the Division of Academic Affairs and SUNY to help secure the U.S. Department of Labor-funded Trade Adjustment Act Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant. SCCC is scheduled to receive $410,000 of the $14.6M SUNY consortium grant. As part of the SUNY Community College Consortium application, “Training and Education in Advanced Manufacturing (TEAM),” Academic Affairs plans to develop a new one-year credit bearing certificate program in Nanoscale Materials Technology. Additionally, the College plans to utilize other certificate programs in Advanced Manufacturing, developed by other SUNY community colleges as part of the consortium, for eligible dislocated workers, veterans and adult students.

School of Music Receives New Steinway

SCCC music major Gretchen Badger plays the new Steinway concert grand piano in the Taylor Auditorium. “I love it,” Gretchen said. “It sounds phenomenal. The tone is so even throughout.” The piano was purchased through donations made to the SCCC Foundation.


EducatingStudents

Honors Program Approved for Fall 2013 Shakespeare, Sojourner Truth and service learning are just a few of the components of a new Honors concentration, part of the popular Liberal Arts degree program. Top high school students, as well as high-achieving home-schooled students, GED earners, and adult learners will become members of a learning community on campus while they build an e-portfolio. During their first semester, students will begin showcasing their intellectual property, from multi-media projects to research papers, in a select online portfolio that can be used when transferring to a four-year college and applying for jobs. “This academic archive enables students to analyze the inter-disciplinary nature of their work and to reflect upon their own academic personae,” said Eileen Abrahams, Associate Professor in the Division of Liberal Arts, who will coordinate the new concentration, which was approved by SUNY in August 2012 and the New York State Education Department in September 2012 and begins in Fall 2013. Civic engagement through service learning will start at the very beginning when students in the introductory composition course will discover needs in the community and design solutions to fill those needs, writing public service announcements and research papers. Community responsibility will then be a tenet stressed in several courses throughout the two-year program.

Culinary Arts Program is Exemplary

The American Culinary Federation Education Foundation Accrediting Commission (ACFEFAC) not only reaccredited the Culinary Arts degree program during the 2012 American Culinary Federation National Convention in Orlando, Fla., in July 2012. The program also was recognized as an “Exemplary Program” as a result of earning two consecutive seven-year reaccreditation appointments with no areas of noncompliance, which symbolizes the highest educational standards recognized by the ACFEFAC. The College is only one of five colleges in New York State accredited by the ACFEFAC and the only one that is recognized as being “exemplary.” SCCC earned the maximum seven-year accreditation through June 30, 2019, presented to programs that have proven full compliance with all ACFEFAC accreditation requirements in the last visiting team report along with excellent management of the program. This was the fourth time that the program earned the maximum accreditation. Dr. David Brough, Dean of the School of Hotel, Culinary Arts and Tourism, said that the reaccreditation speaks volumes about the caliber of the College’s program. “The division has worked very hard over the last seven years to maintain our maximum seven-year accreditation status with the American Culinary Federation,” Dr. Brough said. “I am very proud of our faculty, the staff and our students.”

New Certificate Program Fills Need Among Professionals

The Chemical Dependency Counseling certificate program demonstrated a 50% increase in Fall 2012 over Spring 2012 when it was first offered. It serves the community need for a fast and efficient way to complete the educational requirements for the New York State Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) Certified Alcohol and Substance Abuse Counselor (CASAC). Students currently enrolled in the certificate program are professionals in social work, health care, counseling, education, and criminal justice. Courses are offered evenings, weekends and online to meet the needs of busy working professionals. Carol DeFries, Dean of the Division of Liberal Arts, said that the program has received excellent feedback. “We are pleased with the community’s response,” she said. “Having working professionals enrolled in the addiction courses has enriched the learning environment and allowed us more flexibility in scheduling.”

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HighlightingWorkforceDevelopment

Health Profession Opportunity Grant Expands Offerings During the second year of the fiveyear grant awarded to SCCC by the Department of Health and Human Services, the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) has expanded its course offerings. In Summer 2012, SCCC partnered with the Schenectady ARC to offer training in the field of Direct Service Professionals (DSP) through a set of hybrid courses delivered via computer training and classroom instruction, as well as a weeklong practical training at several of the ARC residences. Additionally, HPOG began offering classes to train Dental Lab Technicians (DLT). The academic portion, held at Center City, covered anatomy and physiology of the mouth, shape and size of teeth, and among other topics, safety and use of dental material in the

fabrication of removable prostheses. The nine-week practicum was held in collaboration with Liberty Dental at their facility in Schenectady. Meanwhile, a major expansion took place in Albany. In July 2012, a new site opened at 220 Green St., and during the following month a new, larger site became active on the first floor of 175 Central Ave. The increased demand for training in the areas of Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) and Home Health Aide (HHA) prompted the expansion. In addition, HPOG added a new opportunity to train academically underprepared students by developing an Integrated Basic Education and Skill Training (I-BEST) for CNA students. Since the inception of the program in March 2011, HPOG at SCCC has

New Grant Helps Unemployed The Gateway to Manufacturing Excellence grant was implemented working in partnership with the Capital Region BOCES. This grant, also funded by the New York State Department of Labor through the Consolidated Funding Application program, provides no-cost training to seven unemployed individuals in the Manufacturing Skills Standard Council’s Certified Production Technician (CPT) training. The grant works in collaboration with four business partners, GlobalFoundries, Greno Industries, Kintz Plastics and Meridian Manufacturing, who agreed to interview any completers of the training for employment.

Archaeology Has Rare Finds Members of the Community Archaeology Program (CAP) unearthed and are continuing to preserve artifacts from the French and Indian War that could have otherwise been lost forever. The excitement for the group, led by Adjunct Louise Basa, was that the discovery at 32 Front St., in the historic Stockade, relates to the fort and barracks that once stood nearby. The artifacts are the first identified military remains from this era (1755-1763) when Schenectady was a staging depot for troops and supplies, including artillery, for the sieges of French forts on the Great Lakes, such as Fort Niagara. During their final season of excavation in summer 2012, CAP students and instructors painstakingly removed, recorded and used cleaning and conservation techniques on solid shot cannon balls, a buckle for a bag, pottery shards, part of an air-twist wine glass stem, clay marbles, fish scales, a corroded, bone-handled two-tine fork, most of a pewter spoon and animal bones.

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SCCC Annual Report 2012

2012 HPOG graduates (from left) Yogeswari Sasangan, Alyssa Steed, Roneisha Johnson, Jodi Thornton and Stacey Cammarata.

enrolled 519 individuals in training, 478 students (92%) have completed their training, 425 participants (90%) have received a license or a certification, and most are now employed.

Workplace Readiness Credential Youth ages 16 to 24 are presented with real workplace scenarios and asked how they would respond to a co-worker being late, a new dress code policy and prioritizing in the “situational judgment” portion of an online test. This is just one part of Workforce Development’s training program through a National Workplace Readiness Credential grant awarded to Northeast Parent & Child Society and the Schenectady County Job Training Agency. SCCC works in collaboration with the two agencies on the program, which is part of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s New York Youth Work initiative. Approximately 154 Schenectady youth have already participated in the training during 2012, which also includes reading, math and active listening, with 88 of them earning the workplace readiness credential.


ApplaudingSuccess

STUDENTS

Excellence Rewarded With Statewide Honors Matthan Bird ’12, Human Services, and Noney Grier ’12, Chemical Dependency Counseling, were chosen as recipients of the State University of Matthan Bird ’12 New York Chancellor’s Awards for Student Excellence. SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher honored the two SCCC student leaders, as she Noney Grier ’12 presented the prestigious awards to 257 students from campuses across the SUNY system in April 2012. The SUNY Chancellor’s Awards for Student Scott S. Riggi ’12 Excellence recognize students who have best demonstrated, and have been recognized for, the integration of academic excellence with accomplishments in the areas of leadership, athletics, community service, creative and performing arts, campus involvement, or career achievement. Each recipient receives a framed certificate and medallion, which is traditionally worn at commencement. Matthan is a Navy veteran who was instrumental in the establishment of the SCCC Office of Veterans Affairs. While at SCCC, he served as a Senior Senator with the Student Government Association, President of the Student Activities Board and President of the SCCC chapter of the Student Veterans of America. Noney Grier is a Navy Veteran who now works as a Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist at the Albany Stratton VA Medical Center, helping homeless veterans achieve their independence by assisting them with vocational issues. While at SCCC, Noney was President of the SCCC chapter of Student Veterans of America and worked in the College’s Veterans Affairs Office. She is

a member of Phi Theta Kappa international honor society. Noney was also chosen from among the top academic scholars at SUNY community colleges to be named to the Phi Theta Kappa All New York Community College Third Academic Team, along with Scott S. Riggi ’12, who graduated with a degree in Alternative Energy Technology and a certificate in Storage Battery Technology in May 2011. Phi Theta Kappa is an honor society that recognizes and encourages scholarship among two-year college students. In addition to academic achievement, recipients of the award are also evaluated on their leadership and community service involvement.

An Olympic Dream Come True

Celebrity Chef Pays for Culinary Student’s College Donald “Scooter” Telford had no way of knowing that a job as a line cook at the now closed Cambridge Hotel and Restaurant in Cambridge, N.Y., would turn into a friendship with a celebrity chef and a paid education. The hotel was featured in August 2012 on “Hotel Hell,” the television show starring Chef Gordon Ramsay, known for his abrasive persona and biting comments. Ramsay was impressed with Scooter’s speed in the kitchen and his drive to earn his associate’s degree in Culinary Arts at SCCC. When shooting for the show wrapped in February 2012, Ramsay offered to pay for Scooter’s tuition and supplies. He calls him periodically, encouraging Scooter in his studies at SCCC and his work at a restaurant in Saratoga.

ALUMNI AND FORMER STUDENTS On July 24, 2012, Kyle Vashkulat was celebrating his 22nd birthday as the youngest member of the United States Men’s Judo Team, travelling from the U.S. to London for the 2012 Olympics. The Business Administration major, who has been training seriously since the age of 15 with Olympic-silver medalist Jason Morris at his Burnt Hills dojo, made the Olympic team in Spring 2012 following the Pan Am Championship in Montreal. He had a quick showing at the summer games, losing to an athlete from Uzbekistan, but cherished the experience from marching in the opening ceremonies to meeting other athletes including basketball star Kobe Bryant. “There’s something like 7 billion people in the world and less than one percent make it to the Olympics,” Kyle said. “I mean, that’s pretty good.” He’s still taking classes at SCCC this year, plans to transfer on for a bachelor’s degree and is weighing his options about pursuing the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Alum to Lead the Largest Community College in Washington State Dr. David Rule ’80 continues to be a dynamic leader in higher education, now assuming the role as President of Bellevue College, the largest community college and the third largest institution of higher learning, in Washington state, with 37,000 students annually. The Bellevue College Board of Trustees voted in November 2012 to select Dr. Rule as the institution’s fifth president with a start time of January 2013. Dr. Rule has served as President of the Rock Creek campus of Portland Community College in Portland, Ore., for the past four years and was President and CEO of Muskegon Community Continued on next page...

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ApplaudingSuccess College in Muskegon, Mich., for four years before that. Dr. Rule graduated from SCCC in 1980 with an A.S. in Performing Arts: Music - high honors. He went on to earn his B.S. in Music Education and his M.S. in Educational Psychology from the College of Saint Rose, and later his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and Statistics with a specialization in Research Methodology from the University at Albany.

She Gets the Scoop

Lauren Halligan (second from right) with Deborah Sturm Rausch, former President of the Women’s Press Club (WPC), Betty Flood Morrow, Founding Member of the WPC and President of Cuyler News Service, and Dori Marlin, Anchor at CBS 6.

Lauren Halligan ’12 got up at the crack of dawn one morning to interview a milkman still delivering in the Capital Region for a story she was writing as a communications major, with a journalism concentration, at the College of Saint Rose. This commitment to “the story” earned her the first Betty Flood Morrow Scholarship awarded by the Women’s Press Club of New York State at the organization’s annual dinner in June 2012. The scholarship is awarded annually to a New Yorker who is enrolled as a full-time student majoring in journalism/ communications at a college or university located in New York State. During 2011, Lauren wrote articles for the Binnekill, SCCC’s monthly newsletter, including an entertaining feature story about Public Enemy founder Chuck D. She is now the Features Editor of Saint Rose’s student newspaper, The Chronicle.

A Debut at Carnegie Hall

major and a career after Professor Sandra Boynton encouraged him to showcase his talent, particularly his skill at mastering accents. He first met Fallon when they both lived in the Capital Region – after SCCC, Dion was a student at the University at Albany and Fallon was at the College of Saint Rose. Now Dion, who has an M.F.A. in Acting from New York University, is a regular on Fallon’s popular show, portraying the President and other characters.

Dan Foster, following his conducting debut at Carnegie Hall, with his fiancée soprano Sabrina Elyse Manna.

FACULTY AND STAFF

Arturo Toscanini, Leonard Bernstein and Leopold Stokowski. They all conducted at the famed Carnegie Hall in Manhattan and in January 2012, former SCCC music student Dan Foster’s name was added to the list of those whose careers have led them to the famous concert hall at 57th Street and Seventh Avenue. Dan, who attended SCCC from 1989 to 1991, made his Carnegie Hall conducting debut on Jan. 22, 2012, leading the Aoede Consort choir in the world premiere of Vladimir Pleshakov’s Russian Orthodox Music in the Stern Auditorium. In addition to being the founder and director of the chamber choir, Dan has sung at the Pitten Festival in Austria, and with many concert tours in Taiwan, Korea, France, Holland, Italy and Nova Scotia. After attending SCCC, he earned a B.S. degree in Sacred Music Voice, Organ and Conducting from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J.

A Spot-On Impression of the President

SCCC Annual Report 2012

Dr. Quintin Bullock, President of SCCC, was nominated to serve on the American Council on Education’s (ACE) Commission on Leadership. The ACE is the only higher education organization that represents presidents and chancellors of all types of U.S. accredited, degreegranting institutions: community colleges and four-year institutions, private and public universities, and nonprofit and for-profit colleges. Dr. Bullock’s three-year term as an advisor to the ACE, headquartered in Washington, D.C., began on April 1, 2012. The Commission on Leadership advises ACE on its program and activities in the leadership area including programs for presidents, chief academic officers, vice presidents, deans and rising administrators. Dr. Bullock was also appointed to the American Association of Community Colleges Board of Directors for a threeyear term.

Music Professor Composes New Works Before he was cracking up viewers of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon by impersonating President Barack Obama, Dion Flynn was a music major at SCCC in the 1990s, who liked to hang out with “the drama kids.” He decided to pursue drama as a

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Dr. Bullock Appointed to National Leadership Commission

Included in Professor Brett Wery’s latest compositions were an homage to Leonard Bernstein and the story of a marriage. Piano Sonata No. 1 in C, a work in four movements, had its premiere in February 2012, brought to


IncreasingOpportunitiesThroughStudentAffairs life by pianist and music adjunct Judith Avitabile. The 17-minute piece included a “suave and cool,” in Wery’s words, homage to Leonard Bernstein in the second movement. In October 2012, the new Binnekill Chamber Orchestra, directed by Wery, performed the premiere of Three Conversations With Coffee, a speciallycommissioned work and sinfonietta for solo trumpet, solo oboe and strings. The three-movement work is about conversations over the span of a marriage.

Staff Member Among Women of Achievement In addition to leading the Multicultural and EOP initiatives at SCCC, Angela West-Davis ’94 is a Reverend/Associate Minister at the Macedonia Baptist Church in Albany and the advisor to the College’s African Latin Asian Native American (ALANA) student group. She is on the boards for the Schenectady Free Clinic and Community Fathers Inc. To honor her work at SCCC and in the community, the YWCA NorthEastern New York selected Angela as a 2012 Women of Achievement Award Winner in April 2012.

A Love of Shakespeare Shines It’s very important to Professor Sandra Boynton that she introduces students in her literature and rehearsal/production classes to “original practices” or how William Shakespeare’s company performed his plays. She has led them on trips to the American Shakespeare Center (ASC) in Staunton, Va., and shared with them her love of the Bard of Avon’s many works. To the delight of her students, the ASC presented Sandy with the Words in Action Award in April 2012. She was chosen from among 50 educators from across the country to receive the award which recognizes educators who “create opportunities for experiential learning for their students.”

The Debut of the Opportunity Zone The Opportunity Zone, a reinvented space on the second floor of Elston Hall, welcomed more than 800 students, alumni and prospective students during 2012, inviting them to put their thoughts into action. With start-up funding from the Faculty-Student Association, the redesigned space houses the Career and Employment Services and Multicultural/EOP Offices. Student took advantage of staff expertise in: personality assessment, career exploration and research, résumé and cover letter writing, interpersonal communications when interviewing and networking, job search strategies, experiential learning, internship development, community service, and assistance designing individual plans to achieve personal and professional goals.

Community Partnerships That Enhance Learning While Hiring Candidates Each year, the Career and Employment Services office coordinates industry specific career fairs, company site visits, speed networking sessions and professional development workshops bringing hundreds of professionals and alumni to campus. Professionals share insights on workforce trends and expectations, provide feedback to students on their soft skills and advise them on the recruiting processes within their organizations. More than 1,000 students participated in events during 2012, including those in hospitality and public safety.

Admissions Launches YOUVISIT In May 2012, the Admissions Office launched YOUVISIT to provide a real-time, interactive view of campus on the College’s website. Visitors can take a virtual tour of campus, apply for admission, submit inquiries and schedule a campus visit. YOUVISIT highlights 25 “hot spots at SCCC” with 41 videos, 41 live panoramic 360˚ views and 66 photographs. Since it went live, the site has attracted nearly 5,000 visitors, including those from eight countries and 25 states and has resulted in online applications and scheduling of appointments with Admissions staff.

Students Take Rides Through CDTA Partnership After 230,000 rides were taken by SCCC students during 2011-2012, SCCC and CDTA decided to continue their universal access partnership this year. Students have access to the entire CDTA route network using college ID cards. They swipe their student ID cards to ride any CDTA trunk bus, neighborhood, shuttle routes and express services, as well as STAR paratransit service and Northway (NX) Xpress Commuter services from September through May. To be eligible for this service, students must be enrolled and maintain enrollment at SCCC and have paid the Student Activity Fee.

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GoingForTheWin There were a lot of impressive stats during the Royals 2012 season, including a basketball player with a perfect 4.0 gpa, a coach with nearly 500 wins, and a conference high game in bowling just 25 pins shy of a perfect game.

Men’s Basketball The 4.0 gpa belonged to Samuel Clement, a forward on the men’s basketball team and Culinary Arts major. A graduate of Catholic Central High School, Samuel was one of four SCCC student-athletes who qualified for the 2012 Academic All-Region Team, having 45 completed credits with a minimum 3.50 gpa. Samuel was also named to the NJCAA Academic All-American Team. He helped the Royals finish out the 2012 season with an 11-15 record. His teammate Reece Jackson, a guard/forward, Criminal Justice major and graduate of Schenectady High School, was named Co-Male Athlete of the Year and led the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging a “double-double” of 18 points and 10 rebounds a game.

Women’s Basketball The women’s basketball team under second year Head Coach Dayna Torino finished 11-14. Freshman point guard Brittany Baker, a graduate of Schenectady High School, led the region in scoring most of the season before finishing third at 20 points a game. As a result of her fine season, she was named a Second Team All-Region selection and a First Team All Mountain Valley Conference pick. She also earned Female Athlete of the Year honors at the College.

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SCCC Annual Report 2012

Men’s and Women’s Bowling The fun just kept rolling for the men’s and women’s bowling teams, as they both finished second in the Region III Championships held in Utica, N.Y., in February 2012, and second and third respectively in the Mountain Valley Conference. The Royals, led by head coach Ray Ross, then travelled to Buffalo, N.Y., in March 2012 competing in the NJCAA Bowling Championships. The women finished 4th in the country and the men finished 6th nationally. Stephanie Carson, Early Childhood major, and Stephanie Zhang, a Performing Arts: Music major, led the women to their highest Region III finish in College history as they finished 8th and 9th in the overall standings. For the men, Kevin Poltorak made the All-Region team with a 5th place overall performance. He teamed with Chris Kichton to win the doubles event with a 1,769 total, good for a 221 average. Stephanie Carson also had the high game of the season in the entire conference with a 275. Stephanie Zhang, with a 3.81 gpa, was named to the 2012 Academic All-Region Team and NJCAA Academic All-American Team.

Men’s Baseball On the “B” diamond, once again the men’s baseball team qualified for the regional playoffs finishing their regular season 24-14 and 20-5 in the Mountain Valley Conference, a second place finish. Head Coach Tim Andi, in his 22nd season with the Royals, hit a career mark at SCCC of 495 wins and 265 losses. He is now only five wins away from the 500 win mark which he plans to reach when he again coaches the Royals in 2013. Sophomores Jayson Osborne, outfielder, Criminal Justice major and graduate of Granville High School, and AJ Ragone, who plays

second base and is a Business Administration major and graduate of Christian Brother Academy, were named to the First and Second Team All-Region squads as well as the Mountain Valley Conference All Star Team. Sophomore pitcher Mike Nowak, a graduate of Shaker High School, was named Co-Male Student Athlete of the Year. Jake Ostroff, catcher, Liberal Arts major, and graduate of Bethlehem High School, and Jon Kovel, outfielder, Criminal Justice major and graduate of Scotia-Glenville High School, were named to the 2012 Academic All-Region Team.

Women’s Crew The women’s crew team, with Adviser Tom White, had impressive races against several teams from the Northeast. They opened their Spring 2012 season with a close race against Hamilton College in April, losing to the Continentals by only nine seconds. They placed second in two subsequent races and held their own at the prestigious New York State Championships held in Whitney Point, N.Y. The women were entered in the Women’s Open 4+ and finished 5th with a time of 8:19.42. They also competed in the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia, Penn., against Division I teams, placing fifth. For the Fall 2012 season, the team participated in three regattas: Head of the Mohawk, Head of the Genesee in Rochester and Head of the Schuykill in Philadelphia.


EnrichingOurselves

Special Events

2012

Kenneth Adams, January 2012 Kenneth Adams, Empire State Development (ESD) President and CEO, Commissioner of the New York State Department of Economic Development, visited SCCC on Jan. 9, 2012. He presented Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s agenda for Building a NEW New York, stressing the importance of integrating higher education with the private sector.

Black History Month, February 2012 The SCCC Freedom Riders Choir get ready to board the Freedom Bus. During Black History Month in February 2012, SCCC students paid tribute to the original Freedom Riders, civil rights activists who challenged segregation by riding interstate buses into the segregated southern United States in 1961. The SCCC students sang songs of peace while riding the Freedom Bus, provided by CDTA, in Schenectady.

Music, September 2012 The College hosted a traditional bamboo flute and percussion recital featuring Music Faculty Member Nachiko Maekane, percussion, and Michiko Ako, fue, Japanese traditional bamboo flute on Sept. 27, 2012.

Gabriel Bol Deng, March 2012 Spring Week, May 2012 Imzak Mohamed, Performing Arts: Music major, unleashes his inner rock star during the Spring Week Open Mike in May 2012.

In March 2012, Gabriel Bol Deng shared his story of survival as one of the “lost boys of Sudan.” In his discussion, “The Power of Hope,” he told a packed lecture hall of students, faculty and staff about lessons that they could learn from his life story, including: “Never give up. Be resilient in hardship. Stop blaming others for any problems facing you. Respect your parents, teachers and friends.”

EJO Celebrates the Big 2-0, October 2012 The Empire Jazz Orchestra, professional jazz ensemble in residence, celebrated its 20th anniversary with a fiery, sold-out concert on Oct. 16, 2012, in the Taylor Auditorium. The EJO played “greatest hits” including the music of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Charles Mingus, Gil Evans, and many more.

Latin Fest, October 2012 Joswel Lino, Liberal Arts; Damien Walker, Accounting/ Science; Amanda Jeffes, ’12; and Catia Laird de Polanco at the Dominican Republic table during Latin Fest 2012, a celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month in October 2012.

Dr. Gül Ünal presented Economics and the Empowerment of Women, on Oct. 22, 2012. In this talk, Dr. Ünal, an economist for the Policy Division at UN Women (United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women), discussed the importance of women’s work to the world economy.

UN Guest Lecturer, October 2012

SCCC Annual Report 2012

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TransformingLives

Young scholars thrive in innovative program The Schenectady Smart Scholars Early College High School Program is now in its third year with 303 high school students participating. Smart Scholars, a partnership between SCCC and the Schenectady City School District, continues to evolve, but the mission of the innovative program remains the same: to increase high school graduation rates enabling traditionally underrepresented students to complete their high school studies at the same time they are earning at least 20 college credit hours.

Royals Basketball Teams “Stand Up To Cancer”

1 1: 10th-grade STEM students in the Schenectady Smart Scholars Early College High School Program learn how to build solar panel replicas during a visit to the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University at Albany in October 2012.

The men’s and women’s basketball teams joined forces in November 2012 to battle a common opponent. The Royals hosted the first “Stand Up To Cancer Day” on Nov. 10, 2012, during their home games at the Schenectady YMCA. Athletes, coaches and fans wore pink to show their support for cancer research and to pay tribute to cancer survivors and those who have passed away from cancer. Proceeds from game day were donated to the American Cancer Society and a special banner honoring those affected by cancer was displayed. 2 2: The mouth-watering aroma of manicotti, sauce and meatballs wafted through the Culinary Arts labs into the Van Curler Room as students in the Smart Scholars Early College High School Program, led by SCCC Culinary Arts majors, made a delicious meal for their families. The Kids In The Kitchen program, through the Junior League of Schenectady and Saratoga Counties, highlighted nutritional education and included a presentation by Elicia McMullen, R.D., Retail Dietitian with ShopRite Supermarkets, Inc. (Niskayuna), who spoke about how to prepare and make better food choices at home.

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SCCC Annual Report 2012


ServingOurCommunity

T

1

2 1: Students and administrators get in the holiday spirit as hundreds of spectators watch them pass by during the Schenectady Holiday Parade on Nov. 17, 2012.

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2: Members of the SCCC Student Volunteer Organization (SVO), led by Associate Professor Renee Adamany (far left), and SCCC alumni prepare and serve a meal to 220 people at the City Mission of Schenectady on March 25, 2012. 3: Donald Simon, Business Administration major and President of the Rotaract Club, cleans greens at the City Mission this fall. He and other members of the club prepared and served a meal which included veggies the group had grown in Vale Cemetery Garden. 4: Richard Holub, Culinary Arts major, pours sweet ingredients into an apple pie, one of more than 300 apple and pumpkin pies that students in Instructor Bob Payne’s Food Prep class and members of the American Culinary Federation junior chapter made in November 2012. Now in its 12th year, the Easy As Pie grassroots project, provides pies to local shelters for the Thanksgiving holiday.

4

he Rotaract Club, the College component of Rotary International professional service organization, was busy this year, weeding, seeding and collecting cans to help those affected by Superstorm Sandy. Over the summer, Rotaract Club members grew collard greens, potatoes and onions in a large garden in Vale Cemetery, working with youth in Roots and Wisdom, a youth agricultural and community service program of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Schenectady County. Through the Club’s Seed to Feed project, they then took collard greens, kale, herbs and tomatoes to the City Mission of Schenectady, for a meal they prepared and served to guests at the mission in September 2012. This fall the club, working with Schenectady ARC’s Bottle Redemption program, collected bottles and cans with the proceeds going to the American Red Cross 2012 Hurricane Relief Effort. The Alliance for Students with Disabilities held a fun pizza party in the Student Commons and raised money for victims of Superstorm Sandy. The Spanish Club and African Latin Asian Native American (ALANA) student group both participated in the Schenectady Adopt-A-Family Program this fall. Students in SOC 127 (Interpersonal and Group Dynamics), for their service learning experience: served dinner for the women at the YWCA of Northeastern New York Domestic Violence program; provided a morning of respite for parents of children who attend Parsons; collected food for the SICM food pantry and volunteered there; and redecorated and gathered toys for two foster care waiting rooms at the Schenectady Department of Social Services. They also collected personal care items for non-profit agencies and more than $700 worth of sports equipment for Zoller Elementary School and organized and enacted sports games for the children. SCCC Annual Report 2012

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The Psychosocial Impact of College Bullying and a Plan for Change By Robyn M. Posson, M.S.Ed., L.M.H.C, Counselor II, Division of Student Affairs

am a bullying survivor. I was the target of bullying from fourth through eighth grade. I was afraid to go to school every day. I came home crying every day. When I told them about what was happening to me, teachers accused me of seeking attention. My mother complained to school administrators, but nothing was done. To avoid the verbal taunting and unwanted physical contact in the under-supervised cafeteria, I ate lunch in the girls’ bathroom. I know first-hand how it feels and the sense of helplessness and humiliation when you’re not protected, not believed, and the behavior doesn’t stop. I also suffered relentless bullying as an obese adult. I was mistreated repeatedly by people who didn’t know me. They knew nothing of my membership in Phi Beta Kappa, my expertise as a skilled and seasoned master’s level mental health counselor, my integrity and good work ethic, how much I adore my family, and the peace and catharsis I get from tending to my English garden. And yet, bullies treated me as though I wasn’t a person at all. The emotional torture, psychological abuse, unwanted touching, taunting, threats and epithets were slung my way on a daily basis.

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SCCC Annual Report 2012


As a professional counselor, I’ve heard countless, heart-wrenching stories of how people are purposely hurt by others. It’s often difficult to keep myself from crying when bullying targets share their torment and pain. I know how that feels. I’ve walked in their shoes. I’ve also met with several college students who have bullied others. It is no surprise that these “bullies” were in just as much pain and torment as their targets. They came from environments where they were abused, shamed, and mistreated. They were scared, unsure, and had extremely low self-esteem, and used bullying behaviors as a way to cope with their deep-seated pain and feelings of inadequacy. There is an inaccurate assumption that bullying behaviors end with high school graduation, assuming that students are more mature, exercise more foresight, and become more socially appropriate and accepting of others. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Adult bullying exists on college campuses all over the country, including ours. Defining bullying behaviors with universal language, and explaining the longterm, devastating psychosocial effects that result from being bullied, will assist me in developing an innovative prevention program to stop bullying from being a common occurrence on U.S. college campuses. DEFINITION Bullying is defined as “repeated intentional behaviors that involve a real or perceived imbalance of power, which are meant to instill fear, intimidation and self-loathing in another person, where the target has difficulty stopping the behavior directed at them, and struggles to defend themselves.” (National Bullying Prevention Center) Components of bullying include: • Physical abuse: Episodes of aggressive behavior, usually resulting in physical injury; being held against one’s will; touching a person without permission • Psychological abuse: Mistreatment intended to cause mental or emotional pain or injury; rejecting, degrading, terrorizing, isolating, corrupting/exploiting • Verbal abuse: The use of epithets or other demeaning words meant to belittle • Defamation: False statements that injure another’s reputation and exposes him/her to public contempt, hatred, ridicule or condemnation • Exclusion: Being ignored, left out on purpose, or not allowed to join in • Threats: Being made afraid of getting hurt, maimed or killed and/or the same threats targeted toward family and loved ones • Extortion: Obtaining money and property under force and duress • Academic sabotage: Purposeful vandalism directed against any academic endeavor or equipment • Theft: Stealing money and property • Defamation of property: The willful abuse and damage to one’s belongings • Use of technology to bully: Use of communication technologies intended to harm another person

There is an inaccurate assumption that bullying behaviors end with high school graduation, assuming that students are more mature, exercise more foresight, and become more socially appropriate and accepting of others.

PSYCHOSOCIAL EFFECTS Mark Chapell and colleagues state that college bullying is often ignored until it reaches violent consequences. “There’s a … lack of awareness in higher education to the nature, the scope and the impact of bullying,” he said. (Bullying, 2004) Some people are lucky enough to go through higher education without being SCCC Annual Report 2012

29


bullied, but those who have not been so fortunate are left scarred by the torment that they have endured. Bullying has the ability to permanently change personalities. Survivors are psychologically impacted, often experiencing depression, paranoia, isolation and, in extreme cases, suicide (now termed “bullycide” by the media). Being the repetitive target of bullying damages one’s ability to view oneself as an intelligent, capable and effective individual. Psychosocial effects include (but are not limited to): • Low self-esteem • Feelings of worthlessness • Hopelessness about the future • Depression • Suicidal thoughts and/or attempts • Fear of coming to campus, specific classes, or certain places • A general feeling of being unsafe and unprotected wherever they go • Lethal retaliatory violence A PLAN FOR CHANGE My philosophy is that colleges need to take a more proactive approach in protecting every campus member from being abused. Here’s my plan: Create a campus culture of zerotolerance: • Distinguish bullying behaviors from other student conduct and personnel incidents, and execute appropriate sanctions. • Support funding and resources to develop and implement a comprehensive prevention program. The campus community will be trained to recognize bullying, how to submit an accurate incident report, how to refer a target to counseling services in a private and sensitive manner, and identify the signs of depression in themselves and others.

• Bullying behaviors will be reported immediately, and expeditious actions will be taken to support and protect the target, and address the behaviors of the person who bullies. Providing counseling for both parties is crucial for a much-needed civil culture shift on campus. • Create a club called SCCC: Steps to Campus Civility Coalition. Trained students, faculty and staff will represent a consistent presence on campus to advocate for civil behavior and intervene bullying behaviors when warranted. CONCLUSION Because we operate in loco parentis on our campus, it is our obligation to take a proactive stand against bullying behaviors by separating them into specific categories for the Student Code of Conduct and college personnel policies. Creating new language and sanctions to protect the psychosocial health and academic endeavors of our students, colleagues and community will strengthen our stand, and transform our campus into a more civil environment. We must work together to make it no longer necessary for anyone to eat lunch in the bathroom.

Author Robyn Posson Works Cited “Bullying in College by Students and Teachers.” Chapell, Mark; Casey, Diane; De la Cruz, Carmen; Ferrell, Jennifer; Forman, Jennifer; Lipkin, Randi; Newsham, Megan; Sterling, Michael; Whittaker, Suzanne. Adolescence, Spring 2004, Vol. 39 Issue 153, p. 53-64. National Bullying Prevention Center website. http://www.pacer.org/bullying/resources/info-facts.asp

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SCCC Annual Report 2012

Business Professor and Entrepreneur Team Up

Professor Matthew Farron, who teaches Business Management courses in the Division of Business, Criminal Justice and Law, provided his students with a real-world view of entrepreneurship during the Fall 2012 semester. He invited “serial entrepreneur” Derrick Jones into his classes to speak about “funding your business.” Jones, who is the author of the book Presidents, Pilots & Entrepreneurs, provided concrete advice to students including ways to minimize risk, create prototypes of products and utilize sites to gain investors. He then turned the SCCC sessions into a three-part web series. Also, Professor Farron worked with Robert Frederick, Coordinator of Career and Employment Services, and Kimberly Williams, Associate Professor in the Division of Hotel, Culinary Arts and Tourism, on a “business etiquette luncheon.” Students were invited to dine in the Van Curler Room as if they were at a formal business lunch. Ms. Williams then instructed them on proper dining techniques.


SettingAStandardForSafety

Programs Fuse Learning Opportunities for Students and Professionals More than 100 law enforcement professionals and Criminal Justice majors heard firsthand about the challenges encountered each day during the New York State Minorities in Criminal Justice Symposium at SCCC in March 2012. This “Women’s Celebration” event underscored the need for women in law enforcement and the opportunities that await them. New York State Deputy Secretary of Public Safety Mary Kavaney spoke about the newly passed Leandra’s Law as students, faculty, police officers, those in the legal profession and others listened and asked questions. WNYT TV 13 Anchor Elaine Houston delivered the opening conference remarks and encouraged listeners to rise above obstacles in their professional development. Also in March 2012, the Division brought the Annual MacBoston 18 Truck’s fire protection training event to SCCC. MacBoston 18 Truck was inspired by the line of duty death of Firefighter Paul MacMurray from Hudson Falls, N.Y. Boston was where the truck originally served and 18 was “Mac’s” badge number. Students in the College’s Fire Protection Technology and Fire Science programs discussed current firefighting trends and techniques with experienced firefighters during this daylong event in the Taylor Auditorium. They also heard from a member of the New York City Fire Department who narrowly escaped the collapse of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Campus Safety Council Conducts Table Top Drill In April 2012, the Campus Safety Council, in conjunction with the Schenectady Police Department, planned and delivered a table top exercise to test responses to potential violence on campus. Participants included local emergency personnel from the Schenectady Police Department, the Schenectady County Office of Emergency Management, Schenectady County Department of Public Health Services, members of the Division of Business, Criminal Justice and Law and the Schenectady Fire Department. Emergency Responders and College Response Team (CRT) members were presented with an example of a scenario that would require emergency police response and communication. They tested the College’s Critical Incident Management Plan (CIMP) procedures and received feedback from emergency personnel, College officials and exercise evaluators.

College Honors Those in Fire Prevention More than 65 firefighters, fire department chiefs, state and local fire investigators, public and not-for-profit social services employees, educators, family court employees, governmental leaders and others participated in a juvenile fire setting prevention and intervention seminar on campus on Oct. 19, 2012. Fireproof Children Prevention First, a company based in Pittsford, N.Y., led a two-part informational seminar including information on family factors related to fire play, prevention education programming for pre-school children to students in higher education institutions and exemplary community models for responsiveness to fire setting. SCCC presented the annual Melvin E. Bartlett Sr. Fire Safety Education Award to Lawrence Dawson, Firefighter, EMT and Public Fire/Life Safety Educator with the Hagaman Volunteer Fire Department, who is instrumental in the Kids Safety House Program. Thousands of children in the Capital Region watched Captain Jack’s Fire Prevention Show with these lovable guys and girl sharing fire safety tips. It was the creation of the late John (Jack) E. Sheehan ’74 who was a member of the Troy Fire Department for over three decades. Sheehan was honored posthumously with the College’s second Melvin E. Bartlett Sr. Fire Safety Educator Award in Feb. 2012. James Hughs ’98, Assistant Fire Chief with the Troy Fire Department, accepted the award named for Bartlett an adjunct who taught fire safety in the 1970s.

Pictured: (l. to r.): Dr. Quintin Bullock, President of SCCC; Dr. Robert Cole, President of Fireproof Children; Don Reksc, Chief of the Hagaman Volunteer Fire Department; Lawrence Dawson, Firefighter, EMT and Public Fire/Life Safety Educator with the Hagaman Volunteer Fire Department and recipient of the Melvin E. Bartlett Sr. Fire Safety Education Award presented annually at SCCC; Bonnie Dawson, Lawrence’s wife; Michael Bartlett and Winnie Bartlett, son and wife of the late Melvin E. Bartlett, longtime fire protection faculty member at SCCC, for whom the award is named; and Dr. David Hennessy, Dean of the SCCC School of Business, Criminal Justice and Law. SCCC Annual Report 2012

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CrossingTheFinishLine

Commencement 2012 SCCC held its 42nd Commencement on Thursday, May 24, 2012, at 4 p.m. at Proctors, as family and friends gathered to honor members of the Class of 2012. The College presented degrees and certificates during the annual ceremony, which featured remarks by Keynote Speaker Alain E. Kaloyeros, Ph.D., Professor and Senior Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University at Albany. There were more than 610 candidates for SCCC’s A.A.S., A.S., A.A., and A.O.S. degrees and certificates. During the ceremony, B.B.A. degrees were also awarded to students graduating from SUNY Delhi through the SCCC – SUNY Delhi partnership. 1: From left: Dr. Quintin Bullock, SCCC President; Emily Miller ’10, who graduated from SUNY Delhi with a B.B.A. degree in Hospitality Management with a concentration in Travel and Tourism Management and was the Delhi student speaker; Dr. Candace Vancko, SUNY-Delhi College President; and Denise Murphy McGraw, Chairwoman of the SCCC Board of Trustees. 2: Anthony Galea receives a congratulatory kiss on the cheek from his aunt, Lynn Curtis. He graduated with an A.S. degree in Teacher Education Transfer.

1

3: Dr. Alain E. Kaloyeros, Ph.D., Professor and Senior Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University at Albany, delivers his keynote address to the Class of 2012, including his “Golden Rules for Success.”

2

3

4: Grand Marshal Eileen Abrahams, Associate Professor in the Division of Liberal Arts, ushers in the 42nd Commencement, as Dr. Ellen Wertlieb, ADA Transition Coordinator, and Dr. Quintin Bullock, President, look out at the crowd. 5: Gerald Evans, Professor in the Division of Business, Criminal Justice and Law, with Amy Vastola and Rachelle Fredette, paralegal graduates. 6: Dr. Martha Asselin, Vice President of Student Affairs, embraces Deryle McCann, Student Government Association President, after Deryle spoke to her fellow grads.

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5

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SCCC Annual Report 2012

Alumni Had Jobs Even Before Graduating

Assistant Professor Tania Cabrera (foreground) demonstrates how to use the scanning electron microscope this fall. Left to right are: Contessa Gladd, a Nanoscale Materials Technology and Alternative Energy Technology major; Jim Kelly ’12, Adjunct; and Lincoln Dwarika, Nanoscale Materials Technology major.

All 13 students who graduated from the Nanoscale Materials Technology program in May 2012 were recruited for jobs even before they received their degrees. “The fact that all of my students were hired is a testament to the need for a newly trained nanotechnology workforce,” said Tania Cabrera, Assistant Professor in the Division of Math, Science, Technology and Health. “The semiconductor industry will continue to grow in the Tech Valley area and there’s a definite need for programs such as ours to train people for these new technologies.” Ed Springli was one of the students who received a job offer even before graduating. He started with Global Foundries in early July as an Associate Technician of Process Engineering. Mike Cole was hired at the University at Albany College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) as a Research Technician II after interning at CNSE since February 2012. He started there one week after graduating from SCCC. The others grads were hired at CNSE, GlobalFoundries, GE Research and Development Center, Albany Molecular Research Inc., and SCCC, teaching nano lab courses.


CrossingTheFinishLine

Enrollment Remains Impressive With more than 7,000 students, SCCC’s enrollment continued to climb during Spring 2012, despite a nationwide trend showing community college enrollments leveling off. Enrollment at SCCC increased significantly, up 6.5% overall as compared to Spring 2011. The biggest jump was in parttime enrollment, up 6.3%, with full-time enrollment up 2.7%. Overall, there were 4.2% more students on campus compared to last spring. The College in the High School program also increased by 250 students. College officials attribute the increase to the opening of SCCC@Center City and offering more classes at peak times, including nights and weekends. Fall 2012 stats indicate the historic high attained in Fall 2011 has been maintained with a total enrollment of 7,143. Full-time enrollment increased by 3% in comparison to Fall 2011. However, a minor decrease was expected (6%) for part-time students considering SCCC’s part-time enrollment has increased rapidly in recent years. In contrast, SCCC experienced additional enrollment growth (1.5%) in the College in the High School program and an 18% increase in non-credit enrollment for Fall 2012 in comparison to Fall 2011.

Overview of Graduating Classes Number of Graduates Average Age Female Male Minorities Total Degrees/Certificates Transfer Degrees Career Degrees Certificates

2010 2011 2012 545 544 624 25 28 29 58% 59% 54% 42% 41% 45% 16% 19% 18% 571 572 664 206 197 220 293 282 372 70 93 72

SCCC Budget 2011-2012 2012-2013 Revenues Student Revenues 59% 58.8% State Aid 32.3% 33.6% Local Share Revenues 8.7% 7.6%

100%

100%

Expenditures Personnel Services 48.9% 49.4% Contractual Services 24.4% 25.2% Employee Benefits 24.7% 23.5% Equipment 2% 1.9%

100%

100%

The College’s operating budget was $26,256,842 for 2011/2012 and increased to $27,555,855 for 2012/13.

FALL 2012 STUDENT PROFILE Gender Female Male

Full Time

Part Time

Total

1467 (54%) 1270 (46%)

1068 (63%) 2533 (57%) 638 (37%) 1909 (43%)

Ethnicity African American/Black Asian American Indian/Alaskan Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Hispanic Caucasian Multi-Racial Unknown

528 (19%) 82 (3%) 25 (1%) 12 (<1%) 146 (5%) 1841 (67%) 74 (3%) 175 (6%)

211 (12%) 61 (4%) 15 (1%) 7 (<1%) 88 (5%) 1285 (75%) 27 (1%) 101 (6%)

739 (17%) 143 (3%) 40 (1%) 19 (<1%) 234 (5%) 3126 (70%) 101 (2%) 276 (6%)

Disabling Conditions None Visually Impaired Hearing Impaired Learning Disability Mobility Impaired Other

2560 (94%) 2 (<1%) 5 (<1%) 59 (2%) 4 (<1%) 88 (3%)

1567 (93%) 4 (<1%) 3 (<1%) 32 (2%) 1 (<1%) 72 (4%)

4127 (94%) 6 (<1%) 8 (<1%) 91 (2%) 5 (<1%) 160 (4%)

Age Distribution Under 18 18 - 21 22 - 24 25 - 29 30 - 34 35 - 39 40 - 49 50 - 64 Over 64 Unknown

51 (2%) 1571 (57%) 371 (14%) 314 (11%) 160 (6%) 102 (4%) 119 (4%) 47 (2%) 1 (<1%) 1 (<1%)

20 (1%) 364 (21%) 326 (19%) 335 (20%) 207 (12%) 119 (7%) 195 (12%) 130 (8%) 10 (<1%) 1 (<1%)

71 (2%) 1935 (44%) 697 (16%) 649 (14%) 367 (8%) 221 (5%) 314 (7%) 177 (4%) 11 (<1%) 2 (<1%)

Average Age

24.1

30.77 26.65

Matriculated

2684 (98%)

1290 (76%) 3974 (89%)

Non-Matriculated

53 (2%)

417 (24%)

470 (11%)

Auditors 3 Non-Credit Enrollment

438

Note: SCCC has 2258 University in the High School (full-time and part-time) students in Fall 2012 not included in the total. HS Status (Matriculated Only) Graduate 2249 (84%) GED 125 (5%) 24-hr Rule 38 (1%) Other 272 (10%)

1015 (79%) 66 (5%) 32 (2%) 177 (14%)

3264 (82%) 191 (5%) 70 (2%) 449 (11%)

County of Residence Schenectady Saratoga Albany Rensselaer Schoharie Montgomery Fulton Other

1483 (54%) 303 (11%) 448 (16%) 125 (5%) 43 (2%) 85 (3%) 39 (1%) 211 (8%)

1028 (60%) 192 (11%) 259 (15%) 55 (3%) 16 (1%) 57 (3%) 21 (1%) 79 (5%)

2511 (57%) 495 (11%) 707 (16%) 180 (4%) 59 (1%) 142 (3%) 60 (1%) 290 (7%)

Total Students

2737 (100%) 1707 (100%) 4444 (100%) SCCC Annual Report 2012

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Student Internships in the Community 2011-2012 Students at SCCC fulfill internships, fieldwork assignments and workplace observations in many community organizations, including the following: Accounting SCCC Administrative Office Aviation Science AvPorts Albany International Airport Richmor Aviation Business Administration Office of Code Enforcement for City of Schenectady Safe Inc. of Schenectady Chemical Dependency Counseling Carver Community Counseling Services Hedgerow House Hope House New Choices Saratoga County Addiction Recovery Center St. Mary’s Alcohol Rehabilitation Center St. Peter’s Addiction Services Criminal Justice SCCC Administrative Office Schenectady County Sheriff’s Office Schoharie County Sheriff’s Office Early Childhood Gateway Montessori Preschool Home Away from Home Child Care Parson’s Early Head Start YWCA Children’s Center Health Studies New Choices Hotel, Culinary Arts and Tourism Albany County Convention & Visitors Bureau Albany Marriott American Automobile Association Aramark, Giant Stadium Aramark, Shea Stadium Centerplate Chartwells Desmond Hotel, Albany, N.Y. Disneyland (Anaheim, Calif.) Empire Meeting Solutions Hilton Garden Inn, Albany, N.Y. Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, Louisville, Ky. KeyBank Mazzone Management Group Meeting Industry Experts

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SCCC Annual Report 2012

NYS Association for the Education of Young Children NYS Bar Association NYS Department of Tourism NYS Hospitality and Tourism Association Price Chopper Saratoga and Belmont N.Y. State Racing Association Site Solutions Worldwide TGI Fridays Walt Disney World (Orlando, Fla.) Yankee Trails Human Services Albany County Department of Social Services Alternate Living Group Bethesda House BOCES Academy II Rotterdam Boys and Girls Club of Albany Boys and Girls Club of Rotterdam Captain Youth and Family Services Center for Disability Services City Mission of Schenectady Dayhaven Adult Day Program Executive Woods Childcare Girls, Inc. Haven Afterschool program Hamagrael Elementary School Heritage Home for Women Independent Living Center of the Hudson Valley, Inc. National Alliance for the Mentally Ill New Choices NYXC Housing Authority Family Services Department Schenectady ARC Afterschool Program Glen Warden Elementary School Schenectady Community Action Program – Headstart Schenectady County Department of Probation - Center for Juvenile Justice Schenectady County Department of Senior and Long Term Care Services Schenectady County Public Health Services - Children with Special Needs St. Mary’s Alcohol Rehabilitation Center The School at Northeast Parent and Child Society SUNY Albany: Student Success Wesley Healthcare Center

Music Albany City Schools Burnt Hills – Ballston Lake School District East Greenbush School District Guilderland School District Hoosick Falls School District Mohonasen School District Niskayuna Central School District North Colonie School District Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School Saratoga City School District Schalmont School District Schenectady City School District Scotia-Glenville School District Shenendehowa Central Schools South Colonie School District Paralegal NYS Assembly NYS Assembly Office of George Amedore Family Court Unit, Public Defender’s Office, Schenectady Town Attorney, Town of Colonie Science Ellis Child and Adolescent Services Teaching Assistant Home Away from Home Child Care


Fulfilling A Pledge Sheonna Jennings, Business Administration major, was the first to sign a large banner in Elston Hall, part of New York State Completion Day in October 2012. “I’m very determined to complete my degree and be the first one in my family to have a college degree,” Sheonna said. The message of the SUNY initiative was clear: Students who complete an associate’s degree have better prospects for jobs, scholarships and transfer to four-year schools. Other highlights were Dr. Quintin Bullock’s presentation on mentoring and an alumni panel with Angela WestDavis ’94, SCCC Coordinator of Multicultural Affairs/ EOP; Rebecca Benjamin ’06, an Adjunct at SCCC and the College of Saint Rose; and Dr. Stacy Grant, Ph.D. ’03, Team Leader in the Air Force’s Explosives Properties Laboratory at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida (via Skype).


Schenectady County Community College 78 Washington Avenue Schenectady, NY 12305 www.sunysccc.edu


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