Four SUNY Oneonta students are involved in a year-long project with the goal of shaping the future of science education by designing and creating their own instructional models for use in classrooms. The project, titled "Authentic Research Experiences for Earth Science Education Majors," gives pre-service Earth Science teachers the chance to design and build their own models of particularly complex or abstract Earth processes and concepts, according to project leaders Dr. James Ebert of the Earth & Atmospheric Sciences Department and Dr. Paul Bischoff of the Secondary Education Department. Participating students, who were selected from a pool of applicants, spent four weeks in the spring designing and building the models and will work throughout the year to tweak and perfect them. Four of the students were from SUNY Oneonta, and two were from other SUNY schools. The students were given a stipend of $2,500 for their work. Six more students will participate next year, with six more after that.

Eleven new international freshman and transfer students have been awarded merit scholarships to attend SUNY Oneonta beginning in the fall 2017 semester. The award amounts range from $6,000 to $8,000 per year.

Six students enrolled in Biology 296, a Directed Research course called CCRABSS: Creating Collaboration in Research Among Bahamian and SUNY Oneonta Students, spent a month in the Bahamas learning about fishery management issues. The data they collected will aid in determining land crab fishery stock abundance on North Andros Island as a means of enabling long-term, sustainable harvests of this economically and culturally important species. The students surveyed 5,000 square meters of land crab habitat, counted and measured hundreds of land crab burrows, explored a handful of Blue Holes, enjoyed 28 sunrises from Forfar Beach, and learned how challenging field work can be, even in a tropical paradise.

Eight SUNY Oneonta students participating in the Pine Lake Archaeological Field School this summer are seeing firsthand what it would be like to work as archeologists. The immersive learning experience takes students to Hartwick College's Pine Lake Environmental Campus in West Davenport, about eight miles from SUNY Oneonta. There, they spend about eight hours a day learning basic methods in field archaeology, including surveying and excavating techniques, mapping and laboratory analysis. The summer program, which is offered every other year, is a collaborative effort of SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick, with SUNY Oneonta providing most of the equipment. Students can earn six credits by taking the summer course.

Senior Katie O'Gorman earned honors as an Academic All-District selection by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Three SUNY Oneonta students received funding totaling $5,700 to support summer internships through the Dewar Foundation Fund for Internship Support. The new fund, which will offer $12,500 to SUNY Oneonta students over the course of the year, helps make internship experiences more accessible. Permanent residents of Otsego County and contiguous counties who are interning for academic credit either in the United States or abroad are eligible to apply. Award preference goes to students who graduated from Oneonta High School.

A total of 187 SUNY Oneonta students earned Provost's List honors for the spring 2016 semester. To qualify for the Provost's List, a student must earn a perfect 4.0 grade-point average while carrying a course load of 12 hours or more. The following area students were named to the spring 2017 SUNY Oneonta Provost's List:

SUNY Oneonta recognized 54 outstanding students during an Academic Achievement Awards reception on May 3. One to three students were chosen from each of the college's academic departments and programs to receive the 2017 Academic Achievement Awards. Each student selected one faculty guest to accompany them to the recognition event. In addition to their excellent work in the classroom, students were honored for distinguishing themselves in many ways, including research, activism, mentoring, athletics, involvement in campus activities and volunteerism.

Fifty-two members of the Class of 2017 received Senior Service Awards in recognition of their outstanding commitment to volunteerism while at SUNY Oneonta. Students who completed at least 350 hours of service through the college's Center for Social Responsibility and Community (CSRC) were recognized during a reception on May 12.

Four students were elected to the College at Oneonta Foundation Board of Directors at the April 14, 2017, board meeting. All terms begin in June 2017.

A total of 14 new members were inducted into the SUNY Oneonta Alpha-Kappa-Iota chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society, during a ceremony on April 7.

Seventeen SUNY Oneonta students participated in the 2017 National Model United Nations Conference in New York City from March 19-23. The Oneonta delegation represented South Africa.

Artwork by 73 students is featured in SUNY Oneonta's 2017 Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition. On display through May 13 at the Martin-Mullen Art Gallery in the college's Fine Arts Center, the exhibition features more than 100 works by student artists. Featured artworks were chosen from an open jury process and works entered by the art faculty. Painting, drawing, sculpture, digital print, digital video and an assortment of mixed media make up this year's offerings.

Nine SUNY Oneonta students will present papers at the college's eighth annual New Critics: Undergraduate Literature and Composition Conference on Saturday, April 8. More than 20 students from 10 colleges and universities throughout the East Coast will present their scholarly work at the conference, which will feature a keynote address by Ben Saunders of the University of Oregon titled, "Wonder Woman in Bondage."

More than 300 students met requirements for graduation from SUNY Oneonta following the Fall 2016 semester. Graduates were honored at a December recognition ceremony hosted by College President Nancy Kleniewski and held in the Dewar Arena of the Alumni Field House. They also are eligible to participate in the college's commencement on May 13.

Twenty-eight members of SUNY Oneonta's Zeta Beta Tau fraternity chapter helped organize SUNY Oneonta's third annual Gift of Life Bone Marrow Donor Registration Drive on Oct. 26 and 27.

This fall, SUNY Oneonta will welcome approximately 1,100 freshmen and 600 new transfer students hailing from across New York, as well as from 12 other states and countries. New students moved in on Aug. 24, and the fall 2016 semester starts Aug. 29. Our newest Red Dragons will officially join the Oneonta family when they walk through the historic pillars of Old Main during the traditional Pass Through the Pillars ceremony on the campus quad the night before classes begin.

A total of 27 students were elected this spring to Student Association positions for the 2016-2017 academic year at SUNY Oneonta. Students are elected to Student Association positions by their peers in the student body. Elections for executive board positions were held April 7-8, and senators and judicial officers were elected April 14-15.

SUNY Oneonta recently recognized nearly 100 alumni during the 2015 Alumni of Distinction Presentation of Honors.