7 minute read
Around Campus
New Additions: The Pioneer Track & Field Complex and Utica College Science Center
TWO RIBBON CUTTINGS—ONE BIG DAY FOR CURRENT AND FUTURE PIONEERS. Utica College celebrated two massive expansions to the main campus at back-to-back ribbon-cutting ceremonies on October 21, highlighting the College’s continued investment in the student experience. The Pioneer Track and Field Complex features a 360-foot by 225-foot turf field suited for football, soccer, field hockey, lacrosse, and softball. Surrounding the field is an eight-lane outdoor track. Also included in the $4-million facility is a press box, full sound system, digital scoreboard, and an NCAA-compliant lighting system. The project was made possible by a $2 million gift from Lauren ’74 and Cora Bull, as well as estate gifts from Lotis Beckwith Howland, Bernard William Sullivan Jr. ’61, and Wilson H. Tyler ’69. The new 23,300-square foot Science Center features state-of-the-art laboratories and teaching spaces for courses in genetics, biochemistry, animal physiology, human anatomy, and much more. The Science Center also houses a Geographic Information System computing laboratory and classroom, which offers more active learning places for students. The cost of the facility was $13 million, which includes a $1 million grant from Empire State Development.
New Students Lend a Hand
Pioneer Pitch-In
More than 400 new Utica College students went out into the community on August 26 as part of the first Pioneer Pitch-In event to benefit local non-profits. An addition to the New Student Orientation program, the Pioneer Pitch-In matches students with college mentors, divides them into small groups, and sends them out into the community to complete volunteer projects in and around Utica. Non-profits included The Utica Zoo, The Root Farm, CNY Conservancy, Apple Tree Preschool at Trinity United Methodist Church, House of the Good Shepherd, Handshake City, Sculpture Space, Upstate Cerebral Palsy, and The Parkway Center, among many others.
United We Walk
Unity Walk 2021
A proud UC tradition, the annual Unity Walk on October 20 brought members of the College community together to celebrate activism on campus and reaffirm the College’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. “Ideological, political, and philosophical diversity is not only welcome at Utica College, but encouraged,” said President Casamento in her address. “By embracing our differing perspectives and beliefs, we ensure that our community continues to thrive and grow.”
HEARD ON CAMPUS
—Kyle Mitchell ’25 offers his review of Phyllis & Frank’s Subs, the new sandwich shop in the Ralph F. Strebel Student Center. The eatery is named after Phyllis Sherman and Frank Cissi, the first two students to register at Utica College in 1946.
Phyllis & Frank's Subs
Faculty Achievement
Professor Pollack
Deborah Pollack, assistant professor of psychology, received the $1,500 American Psychological Foundation Division 49 Group Psychotherapy Grant for her studies into a new group therapy for women with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. (1)
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Dr. Jessica Thomas and students
Jessica Thomas, associate professor of biology, was awarded the Dr. Virgil Crisafulli Distinguished Teaching Award. Beloved by her colleagues and students, Thomas also was a part of two collaborative research projects that were featured in peer-reviewed journals. (2)
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Suzanne Lynch, professor of practice in economic crime, spoke with Associated Press reporter Mary Gordon about cryptocurrency. The story appeared in hundreds of news publications around the world.
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Ronny Bull, associate professor of computer science, presented to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) 111 Tolerant Working Group on behalf of the Interplanetary Networking Special Interest Group, and presented their work to date. Dave Roberts, adjunct professor for psychology and psychology-child life, recently co-authored a book titled, When the Psychology Professor Met the Minister, which details his journey coping with the loss of his daughter.
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Paul J. MacArthur, professor of public relations and journalism, appeared as a discussant on the Telecommunications Update Panel at the 66th Annual Broadcast Education Convention.
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Christopher Riddle, associate professor of philosophy and director of the Applied Ethics Institute, had his paper “Vulnerability, Disability, & Public Health Crises” published in the Public Health Ethics Journal.
Top Model
PROVOST TODD PFANNESTIEL ON UTICA COLLEGE’S REIMAGINED GENERAL EDUCATION PROGRAM
Provost Pfannestiel
IN OCTOBER, UTICA COLLEGE ANNOUNCED THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW GENERAL EDUCATION MODEL TO TAKE EFFECT AT UC FOR THE FRESHMAN CLASS ENTERING IN FALL 2022. According to President Laura Casamento and the Faculty Senate, this new General Education model, known to most as “Core,” presents greater flexibility to students through reduced credit requirements, introduces thematic minors, and infuses diversity, equity and inclusion into the curriculum. We talked with Provost Todd Pfannestiel on what this “creative and purposeful” new model means for students on campus—and in the job market.
Utica Magazine: What is meant by “General Education model”?
Todd Pfannestiel: A General Education or “Core” Curriculum, is an effort to prepare students with the knowledge, skills, and mindsets to be prepared for any number of job opportunities. When you go through a good General Education program, you will know how to speak well, think well, critically analyze, along with gaining language and mathematical skills, and the general knowledge that allows you, in your walk of life, to speak to somebody else from a different walk of life.
UM: By most accounts, the availability of majors is the top factor in a student’s college selection. Why is it important that students also consider the strength, value, and creativity of the General Education program?
TP: Many General Education models can be boring and stale. They are a laundry list of courses, where you’re told to “pick two here, pick one here,” to fulfill your degree’s requirements. What you want to find is a General Education model that is creative and purposeful, and that’s what we’ve done. We are going to create several interdisciplinary minors from which students can choose and, as a result, get the outcomes from General Education in an exciting, focused way. I know students will appreciate having more choice and a better understanding of why and how these courses are so essential. We fail as a college if we can’t say, “In addition to preparing you for your major, we’re going to be sure that you can write well, speak well, think well, and be proficient in quantitative reasoning, so you can be competitive in the job market today and ten years from now.”
UM: The thematic minors are going to allow students to choose their own pathways. I have to imagine this will be a very appealing aspect of this new model.
TP: That’s right. Those pathways could be complementary to the major, or something that allows them to explore and express themselves in a way that their major alone would not. I can easily imagine a nursing or accounting major who, through their General Education program, finds a pathway in American popular culture, where you have foundational courses in English, history, sociology, and even political science, and you would blend together topical courses in film, television, comic books, other pop culture artifacts— nothing to do directly with nursing or accounting, but you’re learning how society thinks and changes and how art reflects what they believe in.
UM: A lot of that flexibility comes from the new reduced credit requirements—from 52-55 credits to 37. How was the College able to do that?
TP: There was some duplication and replication in the current Core model, so we asked, “What about a learning objective that can be developed across three courses in separate disciplines rather than having three dedicated courses?” By reducing the number of credits by 18, we just gave you a semester back. That opens the door to a whole host of opportunities. Do you want to explore a second minor, pursue an intensive internship experience, or study abroad? Here’s a semester back, and you tell us what you’d like to do with it. It’s about choice.
UM: So Utica College is really a leader in thinking about General Education differently.
TP: The General Education curriculum at about 98 percent of schools today is the same General Education curriculum I took 30 years ago. To do something this fundamentally different, and I think better, is almost unheard of in higher education. I can’t name one private school our size that’s done this in the past ten years. We’re part of that 2 percent.
