Buyers, r a C W E Area N ! Oneontau Have a Choiceta Yo neon
B e a c m k o ! c l e W SUNY, HARTWICK STUDENTS
HOMETOWN ONEONTA
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Volume 8, No. 47
City of The Hills
& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch
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E FR
Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, August 26, 2016
Mentor Thanked By Many
M
Complimentary
ASTERS OF
A
CADEME Scenes on Michael G. Tannenbaum’s office walls in Bresee Hall underscore the native New Yorker’s affection for his Empire State, where he returned, first to Marist, then Hartwick, after years of exile at Clemson in South Carolina, Marshall in West Virginia and Truman State in Missouri.
Rich Murphy Helped Others Enter Politics ONEONTA
W Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Almost 40 years later, Hartwick College’s Duncan Macdonald recalls Elmore Field’s day of glory daily/SEE B1
SUNY ONEONTA
Founded: 1889 Enrollment: 6,000+ May Graduates: 1,250 Alma Mater: “Shout the name –’tis Oneonta” Top Five Majors: Biology, Business Economics, Psychology, Music Industry, Communications Studies, Criminal Justice. UNUSUAL CLUBS: Harry Potter Club, Knit-Wits, (knitting club), Zombie Defense Corps
HARTWICK COLLEGE
Founded: 1797 Moved To Oneonta: 1927 Enrollment: 1,392 May Graduates: 322 Alma Mater: “Oyaron, Hill of Dreams” Popular Majors: Liberal arts, sciences most unusual clubs: Alternative Realities (gaming), Fair Trade Club (promotes use and sale of Fair Trade products on campus), Guiding Eyes for the Blind (students raise Guiding Eyes puppies on campus), Not So Sharp (a capella group); 70+ in all.
ith the passing of former county Rep. Richard Murphy, R-Town of Oneonta, many lost a mentor, a coach, a public servant and a friend. “He saw potential in people, whether it was Little League or FOR FULL politics,” obituary of the veteran said forlawmaker, see mer Town Page B6 Board member Andrew Stammel, a Murphy protégé who later succeeded him on the county Board of Representatives. “He was a great example of how people should behave in public office.” Murphy, 66, passed away at his home Thursday, Aug. 18, after a long battle with a brain tumor. A former real estate agent and a speech pathologist for BOCES, Murphy was elected in 2001 to the Town Board where he was instruPlease See MURPHY, A7
Pressured? Here’s Way To Let Go By LIBBY CUDMORE
I
t was an accident that led Roy Bartoo to make rustic furniture. “I used to do traditional woodworking, but I wasn’t very good at it,” he said. “One day, my wife Judy came out to my shop and showed me a picture of a table and asked if I could build it. Like most men who know everything, I said, ‘piece of cake’.” When he finished, he brought her back to the shop. “I was proud of it,” he said. “I told her, ‘It’s very strong,’ leaned on it Please See RUSTIC, A7
Jim Kevlin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Tannenbaum Priorities: 4 New Majors, Maybe 5 Zoologist Brings Quantitative, Qualitative Skills To Bear By JIM KEVLIN
H
e must be glad school is starting. He isn’t saying so, but for Michael G. Tannenbaum, Hartwick College provost and vice president of academic affairs, the strategizing is over, the debate is over, the – no doubt
occasional – armtwisting since his letter to students last February announced plans to rethink the college’s offerings is over. At the time, he characterized the process as looking into what we could “stop doing” and
deciding “what we could start to do.” Now it’s done: In the next few weeks, the state Board of Regents is expected to approve at least four new majors that the venerable 229-yearold college – 88 years in Oneonta – is planning as it charts its way toward its in-city centennial. The new majors will range from the Please See HARTWICK, A3
Mackin’s Goal: Stability Until Vacancy Filled
The mugs in James E. Mackin’s corner office in the Netzer Administration building reflect two loyalties: SUNY Oneonta and the KOA campground he owns near Allentown, Pa.
His Career Spanned From Abu Dhabi To Allentown By JIM KEVLIN
O
n James E. Mackin’s desk in his corner office in the Netzger Administration Building, there is a “Possibilities Full of Promise” cup from SUNY Oneonta’s just completed 125th anniversary fund drive that pushed its recordbreaking endowment even higher, over $50 million. But what’s with the KOA mug?
Jim Kevlin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
As Dr. Mackin tells it, the campground option was a way home from a Persian Gulf sheikdom, where he had gone in 2009 as provost of Abu Dhabi University, where cultural differences – “it was very top-down” – presented particular challenges in an institution dedicated to free thought.
For instance, how to run a meeting was a mystery to many of his colleagues. The new provost took them through it, step by step: establish an agenda, let everyone talk and, when a consensus was reached, “how to keep people on task.” Please See MACKIN, A3
HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD