Ute Ritz-Deutch
Ute Ritz-Deutch, History Department, recently attended the annual general meeting of Amnesty International USA in Washington, D.C., where she accepted the Hironaka Award for human rights activism on behalf of the Ithaca chapter, AI Group 73. She is the coordinator for the Ithaca chapter and a member of the Northeast Regional Planning Group. Ritz-Deutch is also the faculty advisor for the Amnesty International student group at SUNY Cortland and has recently volunteered to serve as area coordinator for Upstate New York.
Robert Spitzer
Robert Spitzer, Political Science Department, is the author of a chapter on the presidency of John Tyler for a new book, The Presidents and the Constitution, published by New York University Press. The book is edited by Ken Gormley, president of Duquesne University.
Katie Ducett
Katie Ducett, Foundations and Social Advocacy Department, will receive the Megan Cartier Early Career Scholar Award in October at the State of the Art Conference on Inclusive Postsecondary Education and Individuals with Intellectual Disability. This award goes to an early career scholar who demonstrates a commitment to innovation in the field of inclusive higher education through research and service, while centering the voices and lived experiences of those with intellectual disability.
Susan J. Rayl
Susan J. Rayl, Kinesiology Department, presented a paper titled “Student-Athletes as Agents of Social Change” at the inaugural “Athletes and Social Change” forum, held March 28-30 at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Ky.
Edward Caffarella
Edward Caffarella, Educational Leadership Department, was at the University of Malaya in Malaysia from April 24 through May 26 on a Fulbright Specialist project grant aimed at raising education standards in Malaysia. While there, he made several formal presentations, including: “Evaluation Research: Conducting Program Evaluation” for faculty and students at the University Malaya; “Leadership Development” a headmasters training session; “Leadership in Higher Education: Moving Beyond Management and Administration” for University of Malaya senior administrators; “Planning for Change in Schools” for MARA Junior College principals and senior administrators; “Accreditation of Teacher Education Programs in the USA for University Utara Malaysia education faculty; “Ethics in Research,” a presentation for faculty and students at the University Utara Malaysia; and “Teachers Traits and Characteristics - American Perspectives,” a national seminar on Malaysian Teachers Competency and Performance Indicators.
Dennis Weng
Dennis Weng, Political Science Department, has announced recent accomplishments, including his invitation and participation in a roundtable discussion on the latest Taiwan issues held June 10 and 11 at the University of Toronto. Also, he was invited by National Chengchi University’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies to join their future research program as an international research fellow, from 2016 to 2018. Finally, Weng’s paper, “The Effects of Civic Consciousness and Civil Disobedience on Support for and Participation in Contentious Politics,” has been accepted for publication in the Japanese Journal of political science. This paper will be published by the end of 2016.
Jean W. LeLoup
Jean W. LeLoup, international communications and cultures emerita, received the Anthony J. Paplia Award for the outstanding article in a state or national foreign language education publication for her article “The effectiveness of Courses Abroad as a Professional Development Model for Foreign Language Teachers.” The New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers presented the award at their annual meeting in late October.
Mary Schlarb
Mary Schlarb, International Programs Office, served on a panel for an Association of International Education Administrators virtual town hall meeting on Sept. 10 titled “Reestablishing Study Abroad: What SIOs [Senior International Officers] Need to Do.” She was joined by colleagues Helen Gaudette, from the Fashion Institute of Technology, SUNY, Nick Gozik from Boston College and Eny di Iorio and Ambra Balzani from Italy’s Lorenzo de' Medici Institute.
Jeremy Jiménez
Jeremy Jiménez, Foundations and Social Advocacy Department, coauthored an article titled “‘Don't Say It’s going to be ok’: How International Educators Embrace Transformative Education to Support Their Students Navigating Our Global Climate Emergency,” recently published by the international peer-reviewed journal Education Sciences.
Timothy Conner
Timothy Conner, School of Arts and Sciences, along with adolescence education: earth science majors and SUNY Cortland Noyce Scholars Brendan Creegan and Eric Reisweber, presented “De-Criminalizing High Stakes Exams through Effective Teaching: Using Project-Based Learning Modules to Meet and Exceed Standards” at the Noyce NE Conference held in March in Philadelphia, Pa. Fearing the results of high stakes exams, teachers often resort to “teaching to the test” or trying to force feed standardized curriculum to resistant students. As a teacher in New York, a state with a long history of high stakes, end of the year assessments, Conner has found that project-based modules focused on issues relevant to students were much more effective than teaching to the test. Project-based learning helps to engage students in relevant science experiences and provides a context to support the learning of content required for success on state exams. Presenters demonstrated how project-based modules can be used in the classroom to meet and exceed understandings required for high stakes assessments.