Binnekill

B INNEKILL Vol. XXIX No. 13

a monthly publication for students, faculty, staff and friends

May 10, 2012

Congratulations Graduates An aviator’s love of flight When Marisa Demarest earns her degree this month it will mark two firsts. She will be the first one in her family to graduate from college and she’ll be the first female pilot to graduate from SCCC’s Aviation Science program with a private pilot’s license, instrument rating and commercial pilot’s license.

Her face lights up as she describes the exhilarating feeling of taking the controls of Cessna aircrafts, hitting up to 12,500 feet and being in total control of a solo flight from the Schenectady County Airport o Martha’s Vineyard or Bangor, Maine.

“What’s not to love about it?” she asked.

“Your office is the sky.

You just know when something’s for you. This is where I’m supposed to be I feel.”

Marisa first became enamored with flying when she was a 16-year-old junior at Ichabod Crane High School in Valatie, N.Y. It was either take math and science or get involved in the VOTEC aviation program. “It got me out of math and science classes,” she joked. “But I really fell in love with it.”

She put that passion aside however after graduating from high school and attended a neighboring college to major in counseling and addiction recovery.

But, “The program just wasn’t for me,” she said. It was serendipity when one night she was watching TV and saw a commercial for SCCC and first learned about the Aviation Science A.S. degree program.

She enrolled in Fall 2010 and felt

comfortable despite the fact she was the only female in most of her classes. “I thought it would be weird being the only girl, but I just fit right in,” she said. “I didn’t feel awkward at all.”

She also had an inspiring role model in Barbara Jones, Associate Professor and Aviation Liaison. “Barbara is amazing,” Marisa said. “She’s a great teacher and instructor. It was good to have a female professor since I was the only girl.

Kids can see that women can be pilots.”

She became Captain of the SCCC Flight Team in 2011, participating in the National Intercollegiate Flying Association competition at Dowling College on Long Island. She competed in landing events and for the navigation event, she calculated how much fuel it would take to get from Point A to Point B, something she does for all of her solo flights.

Marisa still hasn’t been able to take any of her family members on a flight with her, but appreciates their support as she graduates this month, enters Empire State College to pursue her bachelor’s degree in business and then plans to enter flight school through the United States Marines in summer 2013. “My family thinks what I’m doing is awesome,” she said. “Since it’s aviation, they think it’s extraordinary. I plan to take them up with me soon.”

After flight school, she hopes to be selected to fly with the Marines and then eventually begin flying helicopter search and rescue missions.

College to hold 42nd Commencement SCCC will hold its 42nd Commencement on Thursday, May 24, 2012, at 4 p.m. at Proctors.

The College will be presenting degrees and certificates during the annual ceremony.

Alain E. Kaloyeros, Ph.D., Professor and Senior Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University at Albany, will serve as this year’s keynote speaker This year’s speakers include students Deryle McCann, President of the Student Government Association, and Emily Miller ’10, SUNY Delhi student.

There are more than 680 A.A.S., A.S., A.A., and A.O.S. degrees and certificates being awarded this year.

Reminders for Grads...

Remember to bring your cap, gown and your name card to Commencement.

Graduates should arrive at 3 p.m. and will line up outside of the back entrance to Proctors (the entrance closest to the Parking Garage, NOT the State Street entrance). Guests should go directly to the theater to be seated.

No tuition increase next year The SCCC Board of Trustees passed a balanced budget presented by Dr. Quintin Bullock, SCCC President, at a regular board meeting last month. There will be no increase in tuition for 2012-2013. Tuition will remain $1,692 a semester for full-time study or $141 per credit hour.

Also in this issue:

•Foundation gives $100K for music recording studio... Page 2

•Meet more members of the Class of 2012... Pages 3, 5

•Nano grads have job offers... Page 3

Faculty, staff Development Eileen Abrahams, Assistant Professor in the Division of Liberal Arts, has been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) fellowship to participate in an NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshop this summer in Concord, Mass. The workshop is titled, “Concord, Massachusetts: Feminists, Utopians and Social Reform in the Age of Emerson and Thoreau.”

Eileen will focus her studies on the utopian communities of Brook Farm and Fruitlands and incorporate her work into the Early American Literature course she will teach in Fall 2012. She also plans to establish strong connections with librarians and archivists in Concord so that SCCC students will have the opportunity to conduct research and take a field trip to this center of early American history and culture.

Also, Eileen has been re-elected as the Vice President of the Faculty Council of Community Colleges.

Louise Basa, Adjunct in the Community Archaeology Program (CAP), presented a paper titled, “The Story of the Silver Braid from 23 Front Street, Schenectady, NY,” co-authored by Thomas Blaber (SCCC-CAP student intern) at the NYS Archaeological Association’s 96th Annual meeting in Poughkeepsie last month. The braid was found in a military context dated to the French and Indian War (1754-1763). A poster, prepared by Ron Kingsley, CAP Adjunct, and CAP students, was also displayed. “Mystery Solved” described the 19th century ice house foundation excavated on the same property.

Findings published - Jason Lampkin, an Advance Certificate student in the SCCC Community Archaeology Program (SCCCCAP), had his article, “The Van Der Veer Farmstead, Town of Florida, Montgomery County, N.Y.,” published in the Fall 2011 Dutch Barn Preservation Society Newsletter. Jason’s article documents aspects of a mid-18th to early-19th century farm in Montgomery County with measured drawings of standing Dutch barns and the 19th century house, as well as a report on his excavation of a foundation from a likely 19th century tenant farmer’s house. His study was supervised by Ronald Kingsley, Adjunct.

Walter Wheeler, Adjunct and an architectural historian, mentored Jason under the auspices of the Dutch Barn Preservation Society. The newsletter is available by contacting the Society and will be published electronically on the Society’s web site, www.dutchbarns.org, at the end of 2012.

SCCC student Donna O’Connor, Human Services major, pins a flower on Angela West-Davis, YWCA Women of Achievement award winner. Renee Adamany, Associate Professor in the Division of Liberal Arts, is shown at right.

Staff member receives YWCA honor Angela West-Davis ’94, Coordinator of Multicultural Affairs/EOP, was recently selected as a 2012 Women of Achievement Award Winner by the YWCA NorthEastern New York.

Angela and other award recipients were honored at the 29th Annual YWCA NorthEastern NY Women of Achievement and Reach Awards dinner last month.

Angela was chosen for the award for her work at SCCC and in the community and “helping lead to the elimination of discrimination based on race, gender or creed,” according to the YWCA. In addition to leading the Multicultural and EOP initiatives at SCCC, Angela is a Reverend and Associate Minister at the Macedonia Baptist Church in Albany.

Recording studio boost - The SCCC Foundation contributed $100,000 to equip a new state-of-the-art recording studio, part of the $3.9 million School of Music addition. The Foundation also announced recently that the $100,000 contribution will be part of a matching gifts campaign.

“We are honored to be entrusted with these gifts and to know we are putting them to good purpose, providing a valuable, hands-on educational experience for students in the music program at SCCC,” said Dr. William Meckley, Dean of the SCCC School of Music.

Left to right are: Dr. Meckley; Michael Karl, Treasurer of the SCCC Board of Trustees; Christine Mallozzi, SCCC Trustee; Lois Smith-Law, Member of the SCCC Foundation Board of Directors; and Dr. Quintin Bullock, President of SCCC.

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T h e p l a y ’s t h e t h i n g Steve Barkley, who will graduate this month with degrees in Performing Arts: Drama and Teacher Education Transfer, describes his first foray into acting as nothing short of a “disaster.”

His role as a homophobic father, performed during Professor Sandy Boynton’s Theatre Workshop class, involved several missed cues and a healthy portion of stage fright. Despite the fumbles, he was bit by the acting bug and it has changed his life.

At the time in Spring 2008, Steve, a returning adult student, had just switched his major from Science to Teacher Education Transfer, and took the theater class as an elective.

He soon discovered that something had a hold on him. “I had no aspirations to act,” said Steve, who had never attended a play or performance except for Beatlemania in the 1980s at the Palace Theatre. “But Sandy opened my eyes to theater. She was fascinating.

I didn’t choose acting, it chose me.”

He followed up the theater class with a basic acting workshop and declared another major, Performing Arts: Drama. In Spring 2009 he was cast as Prince Escalus in the SCCC Players production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, honing his acting chops and still battling stage fright.

Next came a trip to the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Va., with Professor Boynton and other students, that solidified his gut feeling that acting was

something he wanted to pursue seriously. “They were the most incredible actors I had ever seen in my life,” he said. “I vowed right then and there that I would try this. I would try acting.”

He was then cast as a helicopter pilot in Douglas C. Wager’s In Conflict about Iraqi War veterans returning home to the United States. The role was special to Steve, who at the age of 18 was a Marine involved in the final evacuation of Saigon during the Vietnam War in 1975.

He and the 15 other actors from the show were selected to compete in the Region I Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival in January 2010 at the University of New Hampshire, the only cast from a community college chosen to participate.

He garnered an Irene Ryan Scholarship nomination for his performance as Colonel Johnson, a Southern plantation owner in Carlyle Brown’s Pure Confidence in Fall 2010, finally conquering his bouts of stage fright. “It only took three plays to finally get over that.”

This past fall Steve performed his final role with the SCCC Players as Big Daddy in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. He plans to attend Siena College this fall to pursue a bachelor’s degree in English.

He would then like to attend Mary Baldwin College in Virginia and earn a master’s degree in theater. “I will do that so that I can teach if I want to, but I plan to really try my hand as an actor,” he said.

Simon Miner ’09, Adjunct in the Division of Math, Science, Technology and Health, works on a sputtering training system in the Nanoscale Materials Technology lab with Andrew Doucet, Ed Springli and Apollo Marmarinos. All 13 students in the College’s Nano program are being recruited for employment even before they have graduated.

Nano jobs are plentiful f o r upcoming grads Ed Springli doesn’t have to guess what he’ll be doing this summer. He has already received a confirmation from Global Foundries that he can start as a new employee with the high-tech company in early July. He’s been hired as an Associate Technician of Process Engineering.

“I definitely feel prepared for this,” said Ed, who will graduate later this month with an A.A.S. in Nanoscale Materials Technology. “It’s a great opportunity to start a career, not just another job.”

Ed chose the Nano program at the College after starting as a computer science major at another college. He said that he made the right choice because of the rapid growth of Tech Valley initiatives. “This is the right place to be right now. A lot of the other students in the nano program are having great opportunities right now, too. It’s excellent,” he said.

In fact, the Division of Math, Science and Technology reports that all of the students who will graduate this month with Nano degrees have already been recruited by local companies for employment opportunities.

Simon Miner, the first of SCCC’s Nano graduates in 2009, is now an Adjunct at the College, alongside Assistant Professor Tania Cabrera. He also had a job before graduating from the College.

“It’s really exciting,” Simon said. “It’s rare in today’s economy to see students offered jobs right out of school and to have jobs lined up even before they graduate.”

Mike Cole ’96, another Nano major, has been hired at the University at Albany College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) as a Research Technician II after interning at CNSE since February 2012. He’ll start there one week after graduating from SCCC. “Our Associate’s degrees are getting us a lot of attention,” Mike said. “A lot of my peers have been hired at Global Foundries and elsewhere, so I was hoping I would have the same success.”

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Calendar of Events Monday, May14 - Saturday, May 19 Finals

What’s up for the summer?

Read what some students have planned this summer.

Monday, May 21 Trustees meeting, 5:30 p.m., Lally Mohawk Room

Joquan Gordon, Health Studies

Thursday, May 24 Honors Convocation, 9 a.m. Taylor Auditorium

I’m trying to get a part-time job and I’ll probably pick up a class this summer too. I want to go to Six Flags and I’ll be going to Myrtle Beach.

Commencement, 4 p.m., Proctors

Summer 2012 at SCCC Six Sessions Session I: May 21 – June 8 (3 weeks) Session II: June 11 – June 29 (3 weeks) Session III: May 21 – June 29 (6 weeks) Session IV: July 9 – August 17 (6 weeks)

Teresa Gavigan, Health Studies

Session V: July 9 – July 27 (3 weeks)

I’m taking two classes, pharmacology and development psychology online, and then when they’re done I’ll be going on vacation to Maine, camping and enjoying the month with my children.

Session VI: June 4 – July 27 (8 weeks) Important Dates Summer tuition payment is due Monday, May 14.

Summer tuition payment is due Monday, June 25 if registering late for Sessions IV and V. Late Registration ends the first day of the session.

Register now. http://www.sunysccc.edu/register.htm

Joe Wehle, Performing Arts: Music

BINNEKILL Publication Schedule Summer 2012 Deadline (9 a.m.)

Monday, June 6

I’m going to take guitar lessons with a private instructor and work.

Publication Date Wednesday, June 27

Please e-mail submissions to meaneyhl@sunysccc.edu.

The Binnekill will resume a regular schedule in September 2012.

Look for deadline and publication dates in the first issue.

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BINNEKILL, May 10, 2012

Kabir Persaud, Health Studies Maybe a summer job, a little vacation and hang out with friends.

I’ll go to the beach if I go to Florida.

A promise fulfilled We all made promises when we were kids: I promise to help out around the house more; I promise not to nag my parents for something I really want them to buy me; I promise to do my homework. Maybe we kept those promises for a while.

But Ben Barbur made a promise when he was a child and he kept it. It took him almost 10 years, but he followed through on a promise he made to his grandmother when he was just a boy growing up in Greenwich, N.Y. He watched how his grandmother helped people as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) with the EastonGreenwich Rescue Squad and decided that was a goal he would set for himself also. “I watched her do some of her trainings at home,” Ben said. “I watched her help a lot of people and that’s what I wanted to do. I told her that I would follow her and I promised her that I would become an EMT when I had the chance.”

In December 2011, Ben, a Fire Science student at SCCC, passed the statewide EMT exam, after taking the EMT class at the College as part of the certificate program. Sadly, his grandmother was not alive to see that he had fulfilled his promise to her. “It was kind of emotional when I got my EMT certificate,” Ben said.

“I had that piece of paper and I almost didn’t want to look at it, but I was really happy that I accomplished what I set out to do.”

Later this month Ben will graduate with his Fire Science certificate, the first step in becoming a professional firefighter. He has been a volunteer with the Middle Falls Volunteer Fire Department for eight years, after going through the department’s explorer program where youth ages 14 to 18 get a feel for what it takes to become a first responder by accompanying firefighters on non-emergency calls and participating in trainings.

This summer Ben will take a break from school to work full time on his family’s dairy farm, BLB Acres in Greenwich, something he might have chosen to do over attending SCCC. “My family really talked me into going to college,” Ben said. “I wanted to stay and work the farm, but I’m really glad I did this. I have a lot of training behind me and I met a lot of people like my professors, including Chief (Robert) Farstad, Chief (Michael) DellaRocco and Chief (Richard) Kasko. They’ve helped me out a lot.”

Ben’s next goals are to become a paramedic and a paid firefighter. “I thank all of my family, friends, and teachers for the help and support through all of my goals,” Ben said.

Sisters are close friends as well Sisters Erin, 21, and Tiffany Newkirk, 19, are similar. Smiles come easy to these native Texans and they laugh almost as if on cue when they talk about the brief amount of time during elementary school when they were competitive with each other. But after they graduate from SCCC they will be taking very different paths.

After finishing one more class this summer and earning her A.S. in Business Administration, Erin will head back to Texas to become a junior at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. She will pursue a bachelor’s degree in accounting. Tiffany is not sure yet where she will be this fall after she graduates from SCCC with an A.A. in Liberal Arts, but she’s clear on her goal.

She will be going into ministry and plans to complete a six month discipleship training program through Youth With A Mission, a Christian outreach organization. She will find out soon if she’ll be heading to Australia, Switzerland, New Zealand, New York City or Nashville.

Tiffany plans to then enroll in the University of the Nations, taking 12-week courses at locations around the world and pursuing a bachelor’s degree in education. “I’d like to travel and then settle down and teach either in a Christian school setting or in an elementary school,” Tiffany explained.

Erin decided that she wanted to learn more about business after taking a few courses in high school. She then narrowed it down to accounting and has a clear vision of what she wants to do. “After taking business courses in high school, I felt I was good at it and that it was a good career to get into,” she said. She plans to eventually become a Certified Public Accountant. While at SCCC she also put her writing strengths to work as a Peer Writing Consultant in the Learning Center/Writing Lab. The Newkirks arrived in the Capital Region in July 2010, relocating from Dallas, Texas, with their parents after their father got hired at Global Foundries in Malta. They describe the experience as “culture shock,” especially adapting to the cold weather.

“In Texas, if there is ever snow, everything closes,” they said.

“But here if there are five inches of snow, you just have to get where you need to go.”

It is their faith, having grown up in a Southern Baptist church, the values that their parents instilled in them and their close knit relationship that have helped them both succeed. “We’ve become even greater friends,” Tiffany said. Erin added, “Our parents always told us to never settle for mediocrity and don’t have a defeatist attitude. If you fail, learn from it and use that knowledge toward your success.”

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Campus Resources Academic Advisement

The Commons Elston/ext. 1330

Elston 222/ext. 1277 Monday-Thursday 8:30 am-7 pm Friday 8:30 am-4:30 pm

Monday-Thursday 7:30 am-8 pm Friday 7:30 am-2 pm

Academic Computing Lab Elston 529, 530/ext. 1213 Monday-Thursday 8:30 am-10 pm Friday 8:30 am-4 pm Saturday 9 am-3:30 pm

Accounting/CIS Tutor Lab Elston 330/ext. 1041 Monday, Wednesday 8 am-2 pm 8 am-4 pm Tuesday, Thursday

Counseling

Elston 212/215 381-1348, 381-1349/ext. 1148 Mon. and Thurs.

8:30 am-7 pm Tues., Wed., Fri. 8:30 am-4:30 pm (May)

(Career, Transfer and Personal) Elston 222/ext. 1365 Monday-Friday 8:30 am-4:30 pm

Student Affairs, Vice President

College Central Network SCCC’s career management system Financial Aid

Testing Center

Admissions

Gateway Montessori

Athletics Elston 222/ext. 1356 Monday-Friday 8:30 am-4:30 pm

Begley Library/ext. 1239 Monday-Thursday 8 am – 9:30 pm Friday 8 am – 4:30 pm Saturday 10 am – 2 pm Closed Sundays

Business Office, Student Elston 517/ext. 1346, 1347 Mon. and Thurs. 8:30 am-7 pm Tues., Wed., Fri. 8:30 am-4:15 pm (May)

Career and Employment Services Elston 222/ext. 1365 8:30 am-4:30 pm Monday-Friday

The College Store Elston 109/ext. 1332 Monday-Wednesday Thursday Friday

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8 am-6 pm 8 am-4 pm 8 am-2 pm

BINNEKILL, May 10, 2012

Student Government Elston 220/ext. 1388 By appointment or walk-in

Elston 222/ext. 1345 Monday-Friday 8:30 am-4:30 pm

Stockade 120/ext. 1166 Monday-Friday 8:30 am-4:30 pm

Elston 222/ext. 1344 Monday-Friday 8:30 am-4:30 pm

www.sunysccc.edu/ces

Elston 221/ext. 1352 Mon.-Wed.,Fri. 8:30 am-4:30 pm Thursday 8:30 am-7 pm (March)

ADA Transition Services

Registrar’s Office

Gateway 124/ext. 1455/1295 Monday-Friday 9 am-11:30 am (Call for program information.)

Language Lab

Elston 427/ext.1293 TestingCenter@sunysccc.edu Monday-Thursday 8:30 am to 8 pm Friday 8:30 am-3 pm Saturday 10 am-2 pm (beginning 2/4)

TRIO Student Support Services Elston 328/ext. 1465 Monday-Friday

8:30 am-4:30 pm

Elston 520/ext. 1373 Mon.,Wed.,Thurs. 9:30 am-12:30 pm 1-2:30 pm 4-7 pm Tuesday 9:30-11:20 am 12:20-2:30 pm 4-7 pm Friday 10 am-12 pm Saturday 10 am-1 pm

Tutor Services

Learning Center Writing Lab

Stockade 120/ext. 1315 Monday-Friday 8:30 am-4:30 pm

Elston 523/ext. 1246 Monday-Thursday 8 am-7 pm Friday 8 am-4 pm Saturday 10 am-3 pm Math Lab Elston 518/ext. 1435 Monday-Thursday 8 am-7 pm Friday 8 am-3 pm 10 am-3 pm Saturday

Multicultural/Educational Opportunity Programs

Elston 222/ext. 1279 Monday-Friday 8:30 am-4:30 pm

Elston 328-C/ext. 1461 Monday-Friday 8:30 am-4:30 pm

Veterans Affairs

Elston 223/ext. 1284 By appointment or walk-in

Workforce Development YWCA Children’s Center

Gateway Bldg`./ext. 1375 or 1389 Monday-Friday 7:30 am-5:30 pm (Evening hours available depending on enrollment.)