Szilvia Kadas
Szilvia Kadas, Art and Art History Department, exhibits her recent graphic design works at “The SUNY Design Invitational” at The College at Brockport among other graphic design faculty at the State University of New York system. The exhibition opened to the public on Jan. 30 and will be on display through March 6 at the Tower Fine Arts Center Gallery, located at 180 Holley St., Brockport, N.Y.
Patricia Martínez de la Vega Mansilla and Paulo Quaglio
Patricia Martínez de la Vega Mansilla and Paulo Quaglio, Modern Languages Department, coordinated the Virginia Levine Second Language Educators Conference held in Sperry Center on Saturday, Sept. 23. Titled “World Language Education: Supporting Our Students, Supporting Each Other,” the conference included nine workshops for TESOL, Spanish, French and general language instruction. A keynote address was given by Bill Heller, a methods and Spanish instructor at SUNY Geneseo and a member of the executive board and advisory panel for World Languages at the New York State Education Department.
Dakin Burdick
Dakin Burdick, director of the Institute for College Teaching, presented “Fleeting Glances: Using brief encounters with disciplinary specializations to enrich and diversify competency-based introductory classes” at the Conference on Instruction and Technology (CIT) on May 31 at Purchase College. Also, he presented on “Active Learning Activities that Minimize Student Anxiety” at the New England Faculty Development Consortium (NEFDC) conference on June 6 at Landmark College in Putney, Vt. Finally, he was interviewed on “Small-Group Discussions” for SUNY Oswego’s “Tea for Teaching” podcast, available at http://teaforteaching.com/85-small-group-discussions/
Melissa A. Morris
Melissa A. Morris, Physics Department, gave an invited talk titled “The Current State of Research into the Formation of Chondrules” on April 27 at Cornell University.
Peter Ducey
Peter Ducey, Biological Sciences Department, coauthored a manuscript over the summer titled “Confirmation and Distribution of Tetrodotoxin for the First Time in Terrestrial Invertebrates: Two Terrestrial Flatworm Species (Bipalium adventitium and Bipalium kewense),” which appeared in the journal PLoS ONE. The eight-author team included scientists from the University of California Bakersfield, Utah State University, University of Notre Dame, University of Virginia, and SUNY Cortland. Popular articles about the work have been posted by numerous science news outlets including Science News, Science Daily, Nautilus and Mysterious Universe.
Led by Amber Stokes of UC Bakersfield, the research team found that two species of terrestrial flatworms living throughout the U.S. have within their tissues a potent neurotoxin that may be used to either defend them from potential predators or to subdue their own prey (earthworms). Because this is the same toxin that occurs in pufferfish and certain salamanders, interesting questions about its biochemistry and evolution have been raised. Ducey and his students at SUNY Cortland have been studying the ecology, behavior and evolution of these flatworms since the mid-1990s. Although the flatworms are not native to the U.S., they are now quite abundant in many parts of the country, including Central New York, and are formidable predators on earthworms. Because of the tetrodotoxin, Ducey advises against eating these flatworms if found locally.
Tegan Bradway
Tegan Bradway, English Department, interviewed Judith Butler, author of the national bestseller Who’s Afraid of Gender? (2024) and one of the founders of queer theory. Bradway’s interview, “Queer Narrative Lines: A Conversation with Judith Butler,” was published by differences: a journal of feminist cultural studies and is available online.
Diane Craft
Diane Craft, Physical Education Department, delivered a keynote address titled “Active Play! Fun Physical Activities for Young Children” at the Young Child Expo and Conference held April 22-24 in New York City. The 12th annual conference drew participants from 40 states and 23 countries.
Lauren deLaubell
Lauren deLaubell, Memorial Library, presented with Diane Shichtman and Michelle Malinovsky, SUNY AI for the Public Good Fellows, at the SUNY Association of Chief Academic Officers Fall 2025 Conference. Their talk addressed ethical and social concerns related to generative AI, syllabus statements, and campus implementation.
Melissa Morris
Melissa Morris, Physics Department, presented an invited talk at the “Before the Moon” workshop held Nov. 7-10 at the Earth and Life Science Institute, a part of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, in Tokyo, Japan. Also, Morris was invited, along with the other workshop attendees, on a tour of the JAXA (Japanese Space Agency) facilities, with particular emphasis given to the Hayabusa 1 and Hayabusa 2 asteroid sample return missions.
Mechthild Nagel and Karin Howe ’06
Mechthild Nagel, Philosophy Department and Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies (CGIS) and Karin Howe ’06, presented papers at the annual Central New York Peace Studies Consortium held Nov. 8 at Binghamton University, Binghamton, N.Y. Nagel presented “Prison Abolition vs. Anti-Prostitution Abolitionism” and Howe discussed “The Search for Truth and Justice in Post-Genocide Rwanda: Gacaca Courts and the ICTR.” Also, Nagel presented “Ubuntu and Criminal Justice Ethics: A Path Towards Transformative Justice” at the Radical Philosophy Association Conference held Nov. 6-9 at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, N.Y. Nagel was a keynote speaker at an Ethics of Play Conference held Nov. 18-20 at Charles University in Prague. She presented “Towards Ludic Ubuntu.”