SUNY Oneonta

Seven SUNY Oneonta students and recent graduates collaborated with Art Department Lecturer Janet Wentworth to create "Community Heroes in Portraiture," a multimedia exhibition commemorating the lives of more than 20 "unsung heroes" in Otsego and Delaware counties. The exhibition features 10 original oil portraits by Wentworth, accompanied by the students' photographs, videos, historical and biographical writings, and drawings.

Ten SUNY Oneonta students have been awarded scholarships to study abroad during the fall 2015 semester.

An exhibition of graphic design work by SUNY Oneonta senior Palden Sherpa is on display at the Project Space Gallery in the college's Fine Arts Center.

SUNY Oneonta recognized four students for academic excellence at the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences' annual Majors' Night. Now in its 39th year, Majors' Night offers the department's undergraduates the opportunity to network with alumni who return to campus for the event, where they share their experiences and offer advice to current students.

Seven softball players were honored as NFCA All-American Scholar-Athletes for the 2014-15 academic year.

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

SUNY Oneonta physics majors Bridget Chartrand and John Beach won third prize in the student poster competition at the American Physical Society New York State Section 113th Topical Symposium held Sept. 11-12 at Vassar College.

This fall, SUNY Oneonta will welcome approximately 1,100 freshmen and 600 new transfer students hailing from across New York, as well as from 16 states and countries.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 Aug. 30, the night before classes begin.

Five basketball players were named to the NABC Honors Court for the performance in the classroom during the 2014-15 academic year.

Six biology students presented research at the 90th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Parasitologists in Omaha, Nebraska, in June.

A summer course in Guatemala combined field research, problem-solving and service learning—plus a chance to climb an 8,000-foot active volcano. A total of 21 Oneonta students traveled to Guatemala with Dr. Tracy Allen, associate professor of geography and environmental sciences, and Dr. Devin Castendyk, associate professor of earth and atmospheric sciences, for a an interdisciplinary field course called Water and the Environment of Guatemala.

Five track & field athletes earned academic honors from the USTFCCCA.

Nearly 1,000 students were honored at SUNY Oneonta's 126th commencement on May 16, 2015. Students who completed the requirements for bachelor's degrees, master's degrees and certificates of advanced study in the summer or fall of 2014 or the spring of 2015 participated in three main ceremonies in the Dewar Arena of the Alumni Field House. Caryl M. Stern, a 1978 graduate of SUNY Oneonta and president and chief executive officer of the United States Fund for UNICEF, addressed the graduates.

SUNY Oneonta has awarded scholarships to 270 incoming freshman and five new transfer students. Since 2000, the college and its related College at Oneonta Foundation have more than tripled the number of scholarships available to SUNY Oneonta students, and more than $4 million is awarded each year.

Twenty SUNY Oneonta students have been selected to serve as Orientation Leaders for the 2015-2016 academic year. In addition to leading activities for new students and their parents during 10 summer orientation sessions, Orientation Leaders welcome new students into their new community by leading small groups, answering questions about the college and college life, and mentoring new students through the first few weeks of the semester.

Eleven SUNY Oneonta students and two alumni spent a month of their summer searching for 4,000-year-old cooking hearths, stone tools and other evidence of ancient hunter-gatherer communities. Now in its seventh season, the Pine Lake Archaeological Field School is a collaborative effort of SUNY Oneonta and neighboring Hartwick College. SUNY Oneonta provides most of the equipment for the field school, which is held every other summer at Hartwick's Pine Lake Environmental Campus eight miles away in West Davenport, NY. SUNY Oneonta anthropology Professor Renee Walker and Cindy Klink, an anthropology lecturer at both Hartwick and SUNY Oneonta, co-direct the field school.

Three SUNY Oneonta students have been selected to participate in summer research internships through the SUNY Networks of Excellence. Students will conduct research alongside SUNY faculty members, gaining hands-on experience in their fields of study. The program is administered by the Research Foundation for SUNY.

A total of 141 SUNY Oneonta students earned Provost's List honors for the spring 2015 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.

A total of 1,553 SUNY Oneonta students earned Dean's List honors for the spring 2015 semester. To qualify for the Dean's List, a student must earn a grade-point average of 3.5 or higher while carrying a course load of 12 hours or more.

Junior Traci Lichtenstein was named to the ECAC Division III ECAC Upstate New York All-Star Team.

Brianna Rivera named to the ECAC D3 Upstate All-Star Team.

Two SUNY Oneonta students and one alumna co-authored a paper on contagious yawning in budgies with Andrew Gallup, assistant professor of psychology. Titled "Experimental evidence of contagious yawning in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus)," the paper is published in the May 2015 peer-reviewed journal Animal Cognition. It is the first study to show that contagious yawning occurs between members of a bird species.

Freshman Taylor Casey was selected as the ECAC Division III Mid-Atlantic Rookie of the Year in the sport of lacrosse.

39 student athletes competed for the SUNY Oneonta men's track and field team during 2014-15.

51 student athletes competed for the SUNY Oneonta women's track and field team during 2014-15.

Three SUNY Oneonta students were elected to the College at Oneonta Foundation Board of Directors at a board meeting April 10 in New York City. Established in 1982 with the mission of raising and administering gifts and grants to enhance the academic status of the college, the State University College at Oneonta Foundation Corporation is governed by a volunteer board of directors.

Four SUNY Oneonta students presented research alongside three faculty members from the college's Psychology Department at the 27th Annual Convention of American Psychological Science on May 24 in New York City.

Forty-seven members of the Class of 2015 received Senior Service Awards in recognition of their commitment to community service. 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 in May.

SUNY Oneonta recently recognized 356 students who have attained leadership milestones through the college's LEAD (Leadership Education and Development) program. LEAD@Oneonta is a comprehensive leadership program based on current research and guidelines from the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education. There are three levels of leadership certification: Silver, Gold and Platinum. To attain each level, students must meet a mix of programmatic and experiential leadership requirements

Three May 2015 SUNY Oneonta graduates--Amanda Augesen, Sarah Cummings, and Caitlyn Kuzmich--will present research at the 37th annual Thomas Wolfe Society conference in Albany from May 22-24. Their independent research focuses on Thomas Wolfe's two most celebrated novels, "You Can't Go Home Again" and "Look Homeward, Angel." The conference will attract presenters from all over the United States, as well as Europe.