A Golden Opportunity to Help

A couple posts back we gave an overview of all of the opportunities that alumni have to come back to Geneseo and share their expertise.  One of the biggest and most rewarding opportunities is participating in or directing one or more of the 250 G.O.L.D. workshops held each year. 

G.O.L.D. stands for Geneseo Opportunities for Leadership Development and has been a program here at Geneseo for over 10 years.  Directed by Tom Matthews, the G.O.L.D. Program strives to prepare students for the roles and responsibilities they will be taking on throughout their college career as well as in their post-college lives.  The program has six main areas of study:

• Academic and Intellectual Competence
• Aesthetic Awareness and Knowledge
• Cultural/Social Awareness and Appreciation
• Health and Physical Fitness
• Interpersonal Relationships
• Personal Identity and Lifetime Skills

Geneseo alumni are at the core of the program. Five alumni instructors (all employees) teach regularly about these topics and dozens more have acted as guest speakers, including:

• Greg O’Connell, CEO if The O’Connell Organization
• Barbara Lifton, New York State Assemblywoman
• Kevin Gavagan, Principal at QCI Asset Management
• Bruce Jordan, Actor, Producer and Broadway Director

With around 250 programs, there are plenty of opportunities to help out.  A full schedule of all of the programs offered can be found here.  For further questions about how to get involved, call 585-245-5884 or email gold@geneseo.edu.  We hope to see more Geneseo alumni involved in the G.O.L.D. program soon!

-The Geneseo Alumni Team

                                                              

Parents Weekend- October 21-22, 2011

This coming weekend is another exciting opportunity to revisit the beautiful Geneseo campus and experience a number of fun campus activities—Parents Weekend.  If you are a parent or guardian of a current SUNY Geneseo student, this event is specially designed for you!

This weekend, October 21-22, 2011 will be host to an array of events, ranging from concerts to sporting events. Geneseo will have concerts, performances, workshops and much more. Some of these events include:

• Sporting Events/Games
• Performances, concerts, and Displays
• Kaleidoscope
• Equus
• Campus galleries open for public viewing
• School of the Arts Honors Recital Showcase
• Fall Festival Dinner
• Late Knight Ice Cream Social
• Demonstrations and Displays
•  Wave Tank and Flume Demonstration
•  Pelletron Particle Accelerator Display and Discussion
• Faculty-offered 45-minute college classes
• What is Abnormal? Taught by Jennifer Katz, Professor of Psychology
• What is Digital Humanities? Taught by Paul Schacht, Professor of English
•  Promotion of Democracy in the Post-Bush Era, taught by Jeremy Grace, Lecturer of International Relations
• Evolution and Creationism, taught by D. Jeffrey Over, Professor of Geological Sciences
• You Said What? Exploring Language as Symbolic Action, taught by Meredith Harrigan, Assistant Professor of Communications
• The Immune System:  Friend and Foe, taught by Robert O'Donnell, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Biology
• Why Dante Still Matters, taught by Ronald Herzman, Distinguished Teaching Professor of English
• The Physics of Baseball taught by Charlie Freeman, Chair and Associate Professor of Physics
• The Irish Harp Over Niagara:  The 1866 Invasion of Canada, taught by Joseph Cope, Associate Professor of History
• Nutrition:  Separating Truth and Hype, taught by Wendy Pogozelski, Professor of Chemistry
•  Parent workshops
• G.O.L.D.
• Study Abroad
• “What I know now, that I wish I knew then…” Discussion Panel
•  Gain insight and information about coursework, extra-curricular activities and more that will help current students get a leg up in job and post-graduate school interviews.

For a full list and times of all the great events scheduled for Parents Weekend, visit the parents weekend website or skip right to Registration!

                                        -The Geneseo Alumni Team

Get Involved- Offer Your Expertise!

Ever wonder what you, as a graduate of Geneseo, can do to help out your former college?  No, we’re not talking about donating huge sums of money (although that would be great too!).  We are suggesting you donate something just as valuable—your expertise and knowledge. There are a number of opportunities here at Geneseo for alumni to come share their experiences and insights about their careers and industries. Students are always eager to gain new insight on the world in front of them from alumni who have been there.

One way to participate is as an instructor in a G.O.L.D. (Geneseo Opportunities for Leadership Development) workshop. The G.O.L.D. program is designed to prepare students to be active and productive members of the Geneseo community. Alumni have the chance to come back and teach a class or a series of classes in the G.O.L.D. program on specific life skills or those related to a specific field of study.

Discussion panels are another great way to share your professional expertise. There are many times throughout the year that discussion panels are held to speak about current and career issues related to specific fields of study such as law, finance, and science.

At Homecoming there are two opportunities to participate. Celebrating the Sciences held discussion panels about each of the four sciences and featured Geneseo graduates from each of those majors.
The Career Connections Brunch is always packed with alumni and students having roundtable discussions about what it takes to be successful in different careers.

Each October at Parent's Weekend a panel of recent graduates presents What I Know Now That I Wish I Had Known Then, a discussion about coursework, extra-curricular activities, and other items that they recommend to students who want to get a leg up in job and post-graduate school interviews.

The Women in Leadership Conference, usually held in the spring, is another great panel opportunity. This conference is an event co-sponsored by the Women's Leadership Institute and the G.O.L.D. program. Guests are invited to serve as panelists to discuss several issues and challenges confronting women serving in leadership roles in a professional setting.

 

 
Lastly is the option to become an alumni career adviser. The alumni office will soon be adding a career advising feature to the U-Knight alumni network. The U-Knight Career Advisory Network will give students the ability to find alumni working in the career area they are interested in as well as providing a network for alumni to share and benefit from each others professional expertise.

There are many opportunities for you to help out the current students of Geneseo by offering them useful information that will prepare them for the business and professional world.  Just contact Geneseo to get involved by commenting on this post or using the information below:

G.O.L.D. and Women in Leadership Conference

• G.O.L.D. Website
• 585-245-5884

Career and industry discussion panels (law, finance, sciences, and more)

• alumni@geneseo.edu
• 585-245-5506

Career Connections Brunch

• seager@geneseo.edu
• 585-245-5721

What I Know Now That I Wish I Had Known Then

• To volunteer for to be on the panel, contact Rose Anderson at 585-245-5506 or andersonr@geneseo.edu

U-Knight Career Advisory Network (coming soon)

• Interested in helping us as a beta tester? 
• Contact uknight@geneseo.edu or Fran Zablocki at 585-245-5506
  

- The Geneseo Alumni Team                                                                 

Homecoming- Recognizing Geneseo's Best

SUNY Geneseo’s 2011 Homecoming was another hit, bringing alumni from all across the United States to join in on the weekend’s festivities.  While many of you already know of the traditional Geneseo events that took place, you may not know of all the awards and special recognition that were given out to alumni who have made especially great contributions during and after their time in Geneseo.  Awards were given to a current teacher, alumni who participated on sports teams, and those who were active in Greek Life.  Special acknowledgment was also given to the sciences here at Geneseo and many past Geneseoans were here as part of Celebrate the Sciences. 

Dr. Ronald Herzman became the 2011 recipient of the Geneseo Alumni Association Honorary Membership Award.  He was given the honor for his outstanding contributions to the Geneseo Alumni Association.  Along with being an Honorary Member, Dr. Herzman is a distinguished teaching professor of English and of Medieval Literature, and is best known for his dedication to the mastery and teaching of Dante for almost every year since 1974.

            The Sports Hall of Fame, which is now held every year during Homecoming weekend, honored four new inductees and also one team—all of whom demonstrated exemplary dedication to their chosen sport.  The four inductees included Jeff Stitt '81 and Keith Hyde ’81 of Men's Ice Hockey and Kim Stone Butts '95 and Beth Cincotta Canero '96 of Cross Country/Track.  The honorary team for 2011 was the 1993-94 Women's Cross Country/Track & Field Team.

            Greekfest, a celebration of the Geneseo Greek Community, is another event that takes place annually during Homecoming weekend.  During Greekfest, the Greek Hall of Fame inducts its new members to the ranks of Greek alumni who have shown a commitment to the preservation and furtherance of Greek affairs here at Geneseo.  Inductees for 2011 included Stephanie Brown ’05 of Alpha Kappa Phi (AGO) Sorority, Val Scott ‘82 of Phi Lambda Chi Sorority, and Tim Tobin ’89 of Sigma Nu/Chi Fraternity.

            The weekend also marked Geneseo’s dedication to the sciences.  Alumni panels, keynote speakers, tours, and receptions were all held for the four sciences—Biology, Geology, Physics, and Chemistry.  For each of the sciences, we were joined by Geneseo alumni who came back to participate on the alumni panels:

• Biology Alumni Panelists included: Mark Gregor '82, Michael Joynt '04, Megan Mongiovi '04, Dave Reist '78, Chris Rubeck '89, Jennifer Zubler '91 and Chuck Strickland '74

• Geology Alumni Panelists included: Ken Eck '82, Jim Gagliardi '77 and Don Geddes '88

• Physics Alumni Panelists included: Mark Muller '91, Andrew Caffrey '00, Robyn Colburn-MacBride '02, Dan Krygowski '69, Tracy Potter '00, Jack Schroeder '70, Tim Tobin '89, Michael Genier '92, Jeff Sklaver '78 and Dave Williams '93

• Chemistry Alumni Panelists included: Thomas Miller '72, Anthony Molloy '96, Erica Martin Bennett '97 and Paul Dethlefsen '97

Homecoming 2011 was not only a time to reconnect with old friends, but also a time to recognize the alumni who have made a positive difference in some way to the school and community of Geneseo.  All events from the weekend made up for an incredible time and we hope you enjoyed it just as much as we did—and from the looks of the pictures taken throughout the weekend, you did!

       

                                                               -The Geneseo Alumni Team

Homecoming- Through The Years

Preparations are now in high gear at the Alumni Relations office, with Homecoming only a couple days away. We’ve had alumni calling in or going online every day to register for many of our almost 20 events spread throughout the weekend.

            We are trying to customize each event in order to suit the needs of all alumni that will be joining us during Homecoming weekend—especially certain groups that are coming back to celebrate together. One way of doing this is by creating picture boards for Phi Kappa Sigma/Chi Fraternity and Sigma Phi/Theta Epsilon Fraternity, the two fraternities that will be holding anniversary and reunion celebrations. In our quest to find pictures of these two groups over the years, we dug into the shelves of Oh-Ha-Daih yearbooks, which is an exciting trip through a time capsule all in itself! While we were in there, we happened across some pictures of Homecomings past—maybe from when you were still a student here! We would like to share some of these pictures with you, to remind you of the purpose and excitement of Geneseo Homecoming and to highlight some of the ways this year’s homecoming will be even better than ever because of the history upon which it is being built.

(Photo from 1970)

In 1970, a dedication was held in the College Union for a sculpture presented by the class of 1968.  This year, Dr. Ronald Herzman will be receiving the Geneseo Alumni Association Honorary Membership Award and will be honored for his dedication to teaching here at Geneseo.

(Photo from 1973)

Class clowns—every college has ‘em, but Geneseo’s certainly are some of the funniest!

(Photo from 1976)

Remember catching up with friends over a few drinks at the IB? Well this Geneseo tradition is set to continue during this Homecoming (you even get your own Alumni mug).

(Photo from 1980)

Fun and exciting things are still happening here at Geneseo (just maybe not this crazy!)

(Photo from 1982)

For the 1981-82 school year, there was a pie-eating contest to coincide with the “American Pie” Homecoming theme that year.  While we won’t be chowing down on pie this year, there will be TONS of Aunt Cookie’s subs and Mama Mia’s pizza to fill you up.

(Photo from 1986)

Fireworks during Homecoming weekend has been a tradition for years and this year is no different.  A spectacular display will be held over Letchworth Field.

(Photo from 1994)

There will be plenty of fun and games scheduled for Homecoming weekend, including multiple Alumni sports games.  And who knows, maybe even a game of “crab soccer!”

(Photo from 1995)

Homecoming is all about reminiscing and celebrating the time you spent here in Geneseo—why not spend it with old friends too?

(Photo from 1980)

As always, you'll be sure to catch one of Geneseo's beautiful sunsets over the valley.

We can't wait for homecoming and we hope to see you there! Check out the official homecoming website for a complete schedule of events and online registration!

- The Geneseo Alumni Team

SUNY Geneseo Homecoming ’11- Come back and reconnect!

In just a few short weeks, 2011 Homecoming will be taking to the streets and campus of Geneseo with what could be the best and biggest Homecoming since its start!  This year’s events will be filled with fun activities and Geneseo traditions that will be sure to have you reminiscing about your time here on campus.  Homecoming will be a two-day experience, offering you the chance to relive their college years by watching games of our current sports teams, and even participating in your own alumni games. You can also order a class ring by Josten’s (it’s never too late!), participate in the 7^th Annual Career Connections Brunch, watch a beautiful fireworks display over Letchworth Field, and end your day at the Inn Between for happy hour just like you did when you were a student in Geneseo!  As you all know, a night out in Geneseo would not be complete without some Aunt Cookies Subs and Mama Mia’s Pizza available to all alumni at the Inn Between!  You’ll even get your very own Geneseo Alumni mug to sip your drinks from—if only you could have had your own mug when you were in school!  Of course the best part of all, not only do you get to relive your time here in Geneseo, almost the whole weekend is absolutely free to all alumni, just make sure to Pre-register to participate in all of these traditional Geneseo events!

This year’s Homecoming weekend will offer tons of fun activities, including some new events that are sure to become staples of Geneseo Homecoming in future years. 

New to Homecoming ‘11 is the Greek Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.  This ceremony, previously held in the Spring, serves to honor those Greek Alumni who have shown to be upstanding citizens, dedicated to helping their communities. 

2011 Greek Hall of Fame Inductees

•    Stephanie Brown ‘05 – Alpha Kappa Phi (AGO) Sorority

•    Val Scott ‘82 - Phi Lambda Chi Sorority

•    Tim Tobin ’89 – Sigma Nu/Chi Fraternity

For all of the Greek Alumni out there, a number of celebrations and reunions will be held during Homecoming weekend for the Pi Delta Chi Sorority, Phi Kappa Chi/Sigma (Prometheus) Fraternity, Sigma Phi/Theta Epsilon Fraternity, and Alpha Phi Omega Service Fraternity. 

Special Anniversary Recognition

•    Phi Kappa Sigma/Chi Fraternity – 55^th Anniversary

•    Sigma Phi/Theta Epsilon Fraternity Reunion

Science alumni planning to be at Homecoming weekend will be able to attend plenty of events to celebrate Geneseo’s dedication to the sciences.  Alumni panels, keynote speakers, tours, and receptions for the Biology, Geology, Physics, and Chemistry departments are all planned.  And for all of you from the School of Business, there will be an alumnus Brunch Reception at the campus house. 

All alumni who were lucky enough to have Dr. Ronald Herzman for English, Medieval Literature, or even the dreaded Humanities, know how dedicated he is to the betterment of his students and of Geneseo as a whole.  Dr. Ronald Herzman is the 2011 recipient of the Geneseo Alumni Association Honorary Membership Award.  This award is given to a non-alumnus who has made outstanding contributions to the Geneseo Alumni Association. 

The Sports Hall of Fame Dinner and Induction Ceremony will be held in the MacVittie College Union Ballroom and will honor those athlete alumni who dedicated their time, patience, and effort to their sport and team.

2011 Sports Hall of Fame Inductees

•    Jeff Stitt '81 - Men's Ice Hockey

•    Keith Hyde '81 - Men's Ice Hockey

•    Kim Stone Butts '95 - Cross Country/Track

•    Beth Cincotta Canero '96 - Cross Country/Track

Honored Team

•    1993-1994 Women's Cross Country/Track & Field Team

With all of these activities and events, Geneseo’s Homecoming ’11 is sure to be a fun time for all who participate!  Just check out these pictures from last year’s Homecoming all the fun waiting for you September 23-24 for 2011 Homecoming weekend!

So come back home and reconnect with your old friends—Homecoming ‘11 has plenty to offer!

-The Geneseo Alumni Team

Reflections on Siena from Barbara Combes Ingrassia '74, MLS '75

For Barbara Combes Ingrassia, learning and experiencing the rich culture and history from international experts was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Here she is sharing her thoughts on the trip:

"What an amazing experience! Spending time in Italy with Geneseo family was very special.

We discovered that we had so many things in common, in addition to being connected to SUNY Geneseo. We learned so much together on this trip and from each other. We looked out for one another and supported each other -- as members of a family would.

Dr. Ron Herzman teaching history on the spot where it happened

We experienced Italian life -- past, present and a peek into the future. We weren't just tourists seeing the usual sites. We learned so much in such a short time and reunited with Dr. Cook, Dr. Herzman and Dr. Doggett for special tours and lectures. It was a great privilege.

Our tour of Siena opened our eyes to Dante's role in Italian history and the relevance of the "Divine Comedy" today, and truly brought him to life. Dr. Cook skillfully guided us through the development of art from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. He gave us a private tour of Uffizi Gallery, including corridors that are not even open to the public. It was mind boggling! His careful explanations opened my eyes to a new way of looking at, and understanding, great art.

It is such an honor for Geneseo to have these two gifted teachers/scholars on its faculty. It was an honor to have had them for classes "way back when."

While we had been introduced to much of this material during our undergraduate studies at Geneseo, seeing it "in real life" as others have seen it for hundreds of years is such an important educational experience.

Wherever life takes us, we truly are connected to Geneseo."