Ten Oswego Students, Employees Earn SUNY Chancellor’s Awards

Five students and five SUNY Oswego employees earned Chancellor’s Awards, the highest award for excellence given by the SUNY system.

Remmington Johnson ’22, a creative writing major from Watertown, N.Y., won a special Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence—Military Service: Air Force, the only such award in the state system.

Chancellor’s Awards also recognized the outstanding accomplishments of Caydee Blankenship ’22, a double major in finance and economics from Antwerp, N.Y.; Helena Buttons ’22, a double major in communication and social interaction and in English from Churchville, N.Y.; Matthew Lynne ’22, a meteorology major from Jamesville, N.Y.; and Jayvana Perez ’22, a double major in criminal justice and in communication and social interaction from Ozone Park, N.Y.

The students were recognized on campus during Honors Convocation on April 8, and in a statewide ceremony on April 26 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The following SUNY Oswego faculty and staff members received their awards in front of their peers during the university’s opening breakfast in August 2022.

Mary Craw, an office assistant in SUNY Oswego’s Office of Residence Life and Housing, earned the 2022 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Classified Service, recognizing four decades of service consistently putting students first.

Three dedicated SUNY Oswego staff members earned the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service. The 2022 award winners are Lisa Evaneski, Title IX coordinator; Joshua McKeown, associate provost for international education and programs; and Sean Moriarty, chief technology officer.

Mary Tone Rodgers, the Marcia Belmar Willock ’50 Endowed Professor of Finance, received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in recognition of her impactful and successful time inside and outside SUNY Oswego’s classrooms.

SUNY Recognizes Two Oswego Professors with Distinguished Faculty Rank

Sarfraz Mian of the Management and Marketing Department and Ampalavanar Nanthakumar of the Mathematics Department have earned the Distinguished Faculty Rank, which constitutes a promotion to the State University’s highest academic rank and is conferred solely by the State University Board of Trustees.

The appointment indicates that both professors have demonstrated an ongoing commitment to excellence, intellectual vibrancy, high standards of instruction and contributions to public service.

Animated Torchlight Dinner, Ceremony Kicks Off May 2022 Commencement Weekend

After two years of revised Commencement Weekend activities to address pandemicrelated health and safety concerns, the SUNY Oswego Commencement Eve Torchlight Dinner and Ceremony returned on May 13, 2022, to its normal, lively cadence as the university community celebrated with an eager group of graduates and their family and friends. The dinner program, led by co-emcees Rachel Dimitroff ’22 and Michael Jean ’22, included the recognition of two graduates who were selected as the 2022 Outstanding Senior Award recipients: Yadira “Yadi” Aranda Burgos ’22 and Helena Buttons ’22

During the dinner, SUNY Oswego Officer

In Charge Mary C. Toale thanked the nearly 200 graduates, parents, families, faculty and staff who contributed toward the Class of 2022 Senior Gift. Together, they raised a total of more than $6,200 for The Fund for Oswego to benefit future students.

Following dinner, Dr. Toale introduced the keynote speaker, Trudy Perkins ’93, the acting chief of staff and communications director for U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and then member of the Oswego Alumni Association Board of Directors.

Perkins discussed her career path from business administration major to news producer to deputy chief of staff and communications director for the late Congressman Elijah E. Cummings, as well as meeting people such as new U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Following dinner, the university community gathered in a tent outside the Marano Campus Center for the Senior Sing, featuring musical selections by the State Singers and the Oswego State Jazz Ensemble, and then the Torchlight Ceremony, one of the university’s oldest and most revered traditions, began.

Liam Gotimer ’22 welcomed guests, provided a brief explanation and history of the Torchlight Ceremony, recognized the staff who provided the music and lighting and Torchbearer Brittany Bennett ’21 M’22, and then turned the microphone over to Perkins, who introduced Dr. Toale.

Following Dr. Toale’s remarks, the State Singers then performed “Carry the Light” before Student Speaker Gabriele Candela ’22 took to the podium, amid loud and lengthy cheers from her classmates.

She looked back at their four years on campus and how their education was interrupted by the pandemic, but quickly shifted her focus.

“I want to reflect on the way that our class bounced back,” Candela said. “Left with this responsibility to pick up where we left off, with no older members of clubs and organizations to lead us or students to look up to, it was on us to be the example and role models for our younger peers … we persevered and brought life back to our campus. We restored traditions, made new ones along the way and did it all with a new appreciation for our Laker family and Oswego campus.”

The annual ceremony finished with the reading of the Message of the Torch and the passing of the flame from the Torch of Learning from the platform party to the faculty and alumni within the Inner Circle, who represented decades of Laker graduates from 1966 to three representatives from the Class of 2022—Caleb Davies ’22, Kamal Morales ’22 and Elizabeth Myers ’22—to the remaining 2022 graduates and their families, as the alma mater was sung.

Find the Founder!

In the Winter 2022 Issue, the Sheldon statue can be found in the lower left-hand corner beside the chair of Media Summit moderator Justin Dobrow ’17 on page 14. Grand prize winner of a College Store gift certificate and Sheldon Hall print is Joseph Pappa ’94. Winning Sheldon Hall prints are Anthony Dorazio Jr. ’72, Nancy Della Porta ’72, David Fortier ’82, Dakota Latham ’17 and Ilana Zalkin, donor and wife of Andrew Zalkin ’76.

A tiny replica of the Sheldon statue, pictured here, is hidden somewhere in this issue. Find the Founder and send us a letter or email with the location and page number, your name, class year and address.

We will draw one entry at random from all the correct answers and the winner will receive a $25 gift certificate to the College Store and a print of Sheldon Hall. The next five entries drawn will receive Sheldon Hall prints. Send your entry by April 1, 2023, to Find the Founder, Sheldon Hall, 301 Washington Blvd., Oswego, N.Y. 13126, or email findthefounder@oswego.edu.