http://www2.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php News from Binghamton University en-us inside@binghamton.edu (Inside Staff) Copyright 2012 Binghamton University Wed, 16 May 2012 19:00:50 +0000 http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/whittingham-named-distinguished-professor http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/whittingham-named-distinguished-professor#When:18:10:28Z Professor is pioneer in the development of lithium ion batteries. M. Stanley Whittingham, professor of chemistry and of materials science, has recently been appointed to the rank of distinguished professor — the highest system honors conferred upon SUNY faculty. He joins more than 70 Binghamton University faculty who have achieved distinguished rank. Promotion to distinguished professor is reserved for those who have achieved national or international prominence and a distinguished reputation within his or her discipline. WHITTINGHAM Whittingham came to Binghamton University in 1988 after 16 years at Exxon Research and Engineering Company and Schlumberger-Doll Research. In his 30-plus year career, he has been a pioneer in the development of lithium ion batteries and his work has been called foundational by colleagues at all levels. He holds the original patent on the concept of the use of intercalation chemistry in high-power density, highly reversible lithium batteries – work that provided the basis for subsequent discoveries that now power most laptop computers – and his research has been called ‘world-leading.’ “It’s a nice honor to have toward the end of your career,” said Whittingham of the distinguished ranking. As director of the Northeastern Chemical Energy Storage Center (NECESC) that operates out of Stony Brook − one of 46 research centers established by the Department of Energy and funded with a five-year, $17 million grant – he expects to continue his research at least through the end of the grant. “We’re basically building a fundamental understanding of electrochemical energy storage. There has been little funding in recent years, so this is helping us decide our ultimate limitations. What can we hope for? “I just had my 70th birthday and with another two-and-half years to go, I think we can make some big strides in energy in that time,” he said. “I’ve taken more of the leadership role nationwide, involving nine units around the U.S. I’m still deeply involved scientifically.” With more than 200 publications in some of the leading scholarly journals and 16 patents, Whittingham has earned a national and international reputation as a prolific scientist. His research in the area of synthesis and characterization of novel transition metal oxides for energy storage and conversion, separations or as sensors has been continuously supported since his arrival in Binghamton with over $7 million in federal research grants from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy. At Binghamton, Whittingham has also helped to establish the Materials Science and Engineering Program, bringing his creativity and innovation to the University’s graduate curriculum as well as to its laboratories. Since joining the faculty at Binghamton, Whittingham has sustained his ground-breaking research. Working a great deal with ambient temperature, he and his research group emphasize novel approaches to synthesis which often allow structures to be formed that are unstable under the high temperatures normally used for preparing oxides. He has been recognized by his peers with two major awards in recent years. In 2002, he was honored with the Battery Research Award of the Electrochemical Society for his many contributions to “Intercalation Chemistry and Battery Materials,” and two years later he was elected a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society. He has also participated in, and held leadership positions in, the American Chemical Society, the American Physical Society, the Electrochemical Society and the Materials Research Society; served on the editorial boards of several journals including Chemistry of Materials and the Materials Research Bulletin. He was also the founder and principle editor of the journal Solid State Ionics – one of the two major journals in the field. Whittingham earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from Oxford University, United Kingdom before coming to the United States as a post-doctoral fellow at Stanford University. inside@binghamton.edu (Katie Ellis) Inside Stories Mon, 14 May 2012 18:10:28 +0000 http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/matt-dernlan-named-head-wrestling-coach http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/matt-dernlan-named-head-wrestling-coach#When:14:41:32Z Former Penn State assistant was head coach at Clarion University last year. Matt Dernlan, a 10-year coaching veteran with a strong pedigree and recruiting ties, has been named Binghamton’s new head wrestling coach, Director of Athletics Patrick Elliott announced on May 15. Dernlan, head coach at Clarion University last season, becomes Binghamton’s sixth head coach in 43 years and replaces Pat Popolizio. He inherits a Bearcats program that recorded its highest Division I NCAA finish (14th) and highest national ranking (18th) in school history in 2011-12. This past winter, Dernlan led Clarion to an 18th place finish at the NCAA Championship – that school’s highest national finish in 15 years. The Golden Eagles had four NCAA qualifiers and crowned two All-Americans – the same as Binghamton – at the championship in St. Louis. In his first season at the helm, Dernlan’s squad finished the regular season with a 6-7 dual meet record against some of the top wrestling teams in the nation, placed third at the PSAC Championships, fourth at EWL’s and 11th at the prestigious Midlands Tournament. He was chosen as the Amateur Wrestling News national “Rookie Coach of the Year” for 2011-12. “We are pleased and fortunate to hire someone with Matt’s integrity and experience,” Elliott said. “He has a noteworthy pedigree of being part of a championship program at the highest level and has shown rapid success as a Division I head coach. Matt is committed to the academic achievement and citizenship of his student-athletes and I believe he is a perfect fit at Binghamton.” Prior to taking the head coaching reigns at Clarion, Dernlan served seven years at Penn State, helping orchestrate the rise of the Nittany Lions to back-to-back NCAA championships in 2011 and 2012. As head assistant and director of recruiting from 2005-09, he produced three consecutive top-4 nationally ranked recruiting classes (2005, 2006, 2007) and helped lead PSU to a third-place NCAA finish in 2008. Dernlan served as director of operations from 2009-11 under head coach Cael Sanderson and was part of the Nittany Lions’ staff that captured a 2011 Big Ten crown and then brought home the school’s first NCAA wrestling title since 1953. “I want to thank President Stenger, Pat Elliott, Ed Scott and the entire search committee at Binghamton University for this tremendous opportunity,” Dernlan said. “It was very evident from our first conversation the passion and commitment they have for the wrestling program. The unbelievable leadership at every level of the university is very inspiring and is paramount in what this program needs to position ourselves upward in the coming years. The wrestling program has achieved a great deal at the Division I level in six short years and I am humbled by Binghamton University’s decision to choose me as the leader to take the program to even greater heights. I am very excited to start this journey and am very grateful for this opportunity.” At Penn State, Dernlan also was responsible for the academic success of the wrestling team and served as the team’s liaison with admissions, compliance and student-athlete services. Additionally, he was head coach of the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, where he coached 10 full-time resident athletes in preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games. A native of West Liberty, Ohio, Dernlan enjoyed an outstanding competitive career and was inducted into the Ohio High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2002. At West Liberty-Salem High, he went 154-4 overall and was a three-time, undefeated Ohio state champion (1989-91) and a three-time USA Wrestling High School All-American (1989-91). Dernlan became an NCAA qualifier at Liberty University as a sophomore 126-pounder in 1993. After he red-shirted in 1994, Liberty dropped its wrestling program but Dernlan stayed at the school and earned his bachelor’s degree in sports management in 1996. He then received a master’s degree in sport administration from Bowling Green in 2002, and has been working toward a PhD in higher education administration from the University of Toledo. He began his coaching career as an assistant at St. Paris Graham High School (Ohio) from 1997-99, and then was an assistant coach at Ohio Northern from 2001-04, where he also served as assistant director in the school’s host role for the 2003 NCAA Division III Championship. inside@binghamton.edu (John Hartrick) Sports Stories Wed, 16 May 2012 14:41:32 +0000 http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/commencement-2012-profile-crystal-austin http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/commencement-2012-profile-crystal-austin#When:19:31:13Z Harpur and CCPA student to pursue counseling psychology career. Helping youths as part of the Black Student Union’s U.T.U.R.N. mentoring program gave Crystal Austin the impetus to pursue a career working with – and for – incarcerated juveniles. “You can touch more than one or two or 10 at a time with research,” she said. “My ultimate goal is to conduct the research that provides factual evidence for a reworking of the juvenile justice system. It’s not working now – the recidivism rates are too high. Something needs to change. I know (the goal) is ambitious, but it’s so necessary.” Austin, a 23-year-old double-major in psychology and human development from Queens, came to Binghamton University after being impressed by the campus’ community-like appeal. “Binghamton felt the most urban,” she said. “Some might be surprised by that, but it reminded me the most – in terms of structures and buildings – of a city. Cornell felt foreign; Binghamton felt comfortable.” Austin knew late in high school that she wanted to major in psychology and become a counselor. By the time she was a junior, she decided to pursue a second degree in human development from the College of Community and Public Affairs. Human development has served as a great complement to psychology because its focus is on “counseling with a client-centered orientation,” she said, while psychology can be research-based with an emphasis on science. She began taking advantage of her skills by participating in the U.T.U.R.N. program. It was a natural outreach for Austin, who has an incarcerated older brother. “I knew I wanted to work with troubled youth and people in the prison system because of my personal experiences with my brother and other family members,” she said. “When I found about U.T.U.R.N., I knew it would be perfect for me.” U.T.U.R.N. mentors meet on Sundays and take a bus to Lansing Residential Center or the MacCormick Secure Center. Binghamton students break into groups and meet with the teen-age residents, holding workshops on self-esteem and future plans. “When you start the program, you realize that they are kids with the same issues and similar backgrounds as we had,” Austin said. “A lot of them come from the New York City area, so we can relate to them on a lot of levels. For that reason, they respected and appreciated us. We just wanted to get to know them and provide support.” For Austin, the support key was to treat the youths without the stigma of being a criminal. “Once we established that rapport, we could talk about school and education,” she said. “As time progressed, I treated them like I would a little cousin. … You could see a definite change over the semester. Some girls didn’t want to talk or share with the group. But toward the end of sessions, they would share a poem and give you a hug and say, ‘It meant a lot that you were here.’ They opened up to us. That was the biggest success we could ask for.” Austin not only spent three years with U.T.U.R.N., but also was accepted to the McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program and later joined psychology associate professor Matthew Johnson’s Marriage and Family Studies Laboratory. Austin’s research on perceived discrimination and its effects on people’s mental health was presented at conferences at the University of Buffalo, University of Delaware, University of Maryland and at the Eastern Psychological Association Conference in Pittsburgh. “(Crystal) has worked very hard to determine how the deleterious effects of discrimination may be mitigated by other factors,” Johnson said. “She is smart, eloquent and serious; but above all she has a big heart. For all of the opportunities open to her, she is determined to make an impact in the lives of youngsters who are incarcerated. … She will clearly make Binghamton University proud.” “Her character and tenacity make her a tremendous asset to the profession and to the University,” said doctoral candidate Jared McShall, who works with Austin in Johnson’s lab.  “I have no doubt that she will excel in everything she does.” Human Development chair Leo Wilton also expects big things from Austin, calling her “one of the most extraordinary, brilliant and talented students” he has ever taught. “She is clearly one of those students whom we will be learning of her monumental contributions in the future,” Wilton said. “I believe strongly that Ms. Austin clearly possesses the talent and caliber that is indicative of a high potential for success in the field of counseling psychology. She will provide a legacy of a cadre of outstanding student leaders at Binghamton.” Austin has supplemented her coursework and research with an internship at the Broome-Tioga branch of Workforce NY, where she helps people use computers, create résumés and cover letters, and apply for jobs. The internship has improved Austin’s counseling skills, as “you deal with people from all walks of life,” she said. “Everyone is dealing with the stress of not having a job and it’s a tough time for all of them.” In the fall, Austin will join the University at Albany’s counseling/psychology doctorate program. She credits Johnson with giving her the confidence needed to make the leap to graduate school. “I mentioned to him that I wouldn’t apply to doctoral programs because I didn’t think I was qualified for them,” she recalled. “He said I was selling myself short. He required me to set higher standards for myself because he had the confidence in me. To have someone of his stature tell me that was all I needed. It truly meant the world to me.” The first person from her family to attend college, Austin said faculty members such as Johnson and Wilton have played a major role in her success at Binghamton University. “Binghamton has put me where I needed to be,” she said. “I can’t imagine what my experiences would have been elsewhere. The biggest part of that experience has been the support I’ve received from friends, faculty and programs such as McNair.” inside@binghamton.edu (Eric Coker) Inside Stories Tue, 15 May 2012 19:31:13 +0000 http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/commencement-2012-profile-craig-coon http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/commencement-2012-profile-craig-coon#When:19:28:51Z Watson School graduate student finishes in top 30 at Boston Marathon. Craig Coon ’10 decided to lower his Boston Marathon expectations when he woke up on race day and listened to the weather forecast. “When I heard it was going to be 85-90 (degrees), all thoughts of (race) time went out the window,” he said. “It was like, ‘Well, let’s just try to survive.’” Coon, a 24-year old who will graduate with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, did more than survive the 116th Boston Marathon on April 16. He thrived, finishing in 28th place – and 14th among all U.S. participants. Even more impressive was that the Boston race was only the second full marathon that the former Binghamton University cross-country and track standout had ever run. “For me, I always liked going longer as opposed to going faster,” Coon said. “I didn’t have the foot speed that a lot of guys did. Along the way, the distance just built up. Coon, from the Rochester suburb of Penfield, was captain of the 2009 cross-country team that won the American East title and the 2010 team that was conference runner-up. He also was captain of the 2009 track and field team and finished fifth in the 10,000 at the America East Outdoor Meet. “Craig was both a great leader and runner for us,” cross-country head coach Annette Acuff said. “He really helped create a competitive and positive running culture at Binghamton. He has an incredible work ethic and always gave us everything he had.  We were very fortunate to have him be a part of our program.” After using up all of his athletic eligibility during his first year of graduate school in 2010-11, Coon decided to continue his distance running while also working on campus to improve flight simulator performance. Although he had never run a race longer than 6 miles, he entered the 13.1-mile Greater Binghamton Bridge Run last spring. “It felt good and made me think that I needed to go do a full marathon,” he said. Coon immediately set his sights on one of the world’s premier marathons: Boston. But he first needed to find a 26-mile event that he could use to qualify for the race. Coon’s first choice – a marathon in Quebec City, Canada – was canceled and changed to a half-marathon after rainy weather last August. So Coon appealed to the directors of the Lehigh Valley Health Network Marathon to let him enter the Sept. 11 race. The Lehigh Valley directors made a wise decision to let Coon race. Not only did he qualify for the Boston Marathon, but he won Lehigh Valley with a time of 2:30:43. “I shocked myself,” Coon said. “I thought, realistically, I could run 2:40-ish. I really had no idea how to race it, since I had never done a full marathon before.” With more than 22,000 entrants in the Boston Marathon, Coon said his initial mindset was “happy to be there.” “Boston is such an experience,” he said. “I wanted to enjoy it. The crowds are great. If I went in with the mentality of ‘Let’s just run as hard as I can,’ I would’ve missed out on what makes it Boston.” The warm weather took its toll on many race participants, as more than 2,000 received medical attention. Coon admitted that the heat is “part of the race.” “Everyone has to deal with it,” he said. “Once you’re in the race, you kind of forget about it and it takes its toll. But before the race, I tried to stay seated and not go out into the sun.” Other runners provided him with sunscreen and there was plenty of cold water and oranges from fans along the race route, he said. “Little kids wanted high-fives, so that would give you a boost, too,” he said. Coon said he knew he was running well when “I looked around and didn’t see many people.” “But it hits you in the final quarter,” he said. “You think, ‘OK, don’t fall off the wagon. The wheels are starting to jiggle.’ There are more rolling hills and the crowds are more at the sides, so you aren’t getting as much cold water. The last three miles or so are definitely a challenge.” Coon finished the Boston Marathon with a time of 2:32:20. He didn’t immediately know what place he finished, but there were indicators that he had run a great race. “I knew I did well because I saw they were starting to interview the Kenyans on my right,” he said. “There weren’t many guys ahead of me and I couldn’t see anyone behind me.” Wesley Korir won the race with a time of 2:12:40. “I loved it,” said Coon, who was happy to be greeted by strangers who noticed the Boston Marathon medal around his neck after the race. “I was happy with how I finished, but I still would’ve been happy if I had finished a half hour later. It was the experience: Every chance I got to slap hands or grab water, I did. It was an experience I wouldn’t give back for anything.” While Coon plans to take part in an Ironman event in Lake Placid this summer, he has put marathons on hold to start a job with Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory (KAPL) in Niskayuna. After graduation, Coon will work in the plant operations program of KAPL, which is operated for the Department of Energy by Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corporation. He said he will train sailors in how to operate engine rooms of submarines. It’s a job that combines his love of engineering with hands-on work and dealing with people. “I have a tough time sitting still for long periods,” he said. Working in mechanical engineering professor Frank Cardullo’s man-machines systems lab prepared Coon for the working world, he said. Coon worked on flight-simulator technology and was part of a team that included workers at the NASA facility in Langley, Va. Dealing remotely with people in Virginia was beneficial, Coon said. “It mirrors the real world because you’re not always doing research on your own huddled in a corner,” he said. “You have to deal with others and different research, philosophical and personal views. It really helped me land the job I’ll have.” Six years and two mechanical engineering degrees later, Coon said he has enjoyed the academic marathon at Binghamton University. “I’ve had a really good time here,” he said. “I’ve met great friends and the professors have been willing to spend time with me. In some ways, I’ve enjoyed being here for six years instead of just four. It has been a fun journey.” inside@binghamton.edu (Eric Coker) Inside Stories Tue, 15 May 2012 19:28:51 +0000 http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/commencement-2012-profile-kevin-bates http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/commencement-2012-profile-kevin-bates#When:19:25:01Z Graduate School of Education student to focus on teaching children with disabilities. Kevin Bates, a student in the Graduate School of Education, always knew that he wanted to dedicate himself to making a positive impact on others. With such strong enthusiasm for helping people, it’s no surprise that he decided to pursue a career in teaching. “I always had a passion to work with others and try to empower them somehow,” said the 24-year-old from Windsor, N.Y. “I found that I like working with students in particular because I think schools are a really positive environment to be in.” When Bates assessed his future after completing his undergraduate degree at the College of Saint Rose, he soon decided that Binghamton University would be his next destination. “When I came to visit I really liked the atmosphere, and especially the faculty. It just sort of clicked,” he said. “I decided on special education because students with disabilities were the kind of clientele I really wanted to work with. I think that they need a voice, and I want to be part of helping them find it.” Bates came to Binghamton with a determination to make the most of his time, and resolved to take advantage of the University’s many opportunities for getting hands-on experience. His academic advisor, Assistant Professor Candace Mulcahy, immediately took note of his eagerness to broaden his horizons. “At our first advising meeting, Kevin expressed a strong desire to move out of his comfort zone, to learn about and work with people whose lives are very different from his own,” said Mulcahy. “He demonstrated that commitment by taking on new and challenging experiences, proving that he’s motivated and eager to expand his knowledge in very applied ways.” After his first semester of classes, Bates used his summer break to travel to areas of the world where he could observe educational systems and learning environments that were different from those seen in the United States. His first endeavor, a two-week trip to Honduras where he volunteered at a school for children with disabilities, had a particularly profound effect on him. “It was a very eye-opening experience because it was a high-need, low-income area, which is very outside the norm for what you would usually see in our country,” he said. “I learned that even if you only have a chalkboard and nothing else, there are still ways that you can teach effectively.” Bates’ second trip was to Ireland, where he toured the Irish/English education system and learned about their model for special education. Both of these experiences overseas helped him to form his personal views on education, and also allowed him to more fully appreciate the education system in the United States. “They definitely opened my mind up to things that I like about the American education system, and maybe even some things I’d like to change,” he said. “I think that for the most part it kind of confirmed that I’m glad I’m going to be a teacher in the U.S.” While Bates recognizes these experiences abroad for expanding his personal horizons, he credits his work during the remainder of the summer for expanding his professional views. After working for two months in a program for teenagers with either Asperger’s syndrome or high-functioning autism, Bates had no doubt that working with students who have disabilities was the right path for him. “It was a unique experience to work with these kids in a non-academic setting,” he said. “It was very challenging at times, but it confirmed that professionally I’m exactly where I want to be.” In addition to his extensive fieldwork, Bates considers the time he spent in the classroom at Binghamton to have been equally important in influencing his future as an educator. He credits Mulcahy and Assistant Professor Elizabeth Anderson specifically for helping to shape his teaching philosophies. “Candace and Liz taught me the importance of treating each student as an individual, to go beyond what’s in your job description because you need to help the student above all else,” he said. “Especially working with students who have disabilities, you need to show the students that you care about them, and then after that you can engage them.” Bates, who will start work for Teach for America in Boston this fall, believes his time at Binghamton provided him with a personalized education that was invaluable in preparing him to become a teacher. “Binghamton was great because I was able to be very creative with everything here, instead of just going through a program that had been laid out for me,” he said. “I felt more like I was calling the shots, so I was able to grow into myself, and I’m definitely ready to take the next step now.” inside@binghamton.edu (Christine McKeown) Inside Stories Tue, 15 May 2012 19:25:01 +0000 http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/commencement-2012-profile-sarah-mikulski http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/commencement-2012-profile-sarah-mikulski#When:19:23:46Z Watson School student shines in Mechanical Engineering Department. Mechanical engineering senior Sarah Mikulski wasn’t one to sit in the front of the class and grab her professors’ attention by throwing out answers to every question posed — though more than likely they would have been correct. Instead, when she started pulling in the top grades among her peers, it was the professors who sought her out. “She first caught my attention sophomore year when she came to pick up her midterm exam. She got a 100 and I didn’t know who she was,” said James Pitarresi, chair of mechanical engineering and SUNY distinguished teaching professor. “But it wasn’t just one test. She continued to get 100s on every test I gave and it started to be a joke.” While soft-spoken and extraordinarily humble, Mikulski makes an impression. She’ll tell you that she got an internship “by luck” and that she’s a member of “a few of the honor societies.” In reality, “She’s a powerhouse academically,” Pitarresi said. The summer after her sophomore year she was accepted to one of the nationally competitive NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates at the Chicago Illinois Institute for Technology. She worked alongside a professor who was creating and testing a new prototype engine for a hybrid electric vehicle. As a junior, Mikulski received the Watson School’s National Science Foundation S-Stem Scholarship and planned to continue on at Binghamton University to complete her master’s degree. That same year she interned at High Tech Industries, a metal fabrication company in Binghamton. “They would give me the metal sheets or the parts that they were making and I’d draw them on the computer,” she said. Her “lucky” internship came the summer after her junior year when she landed a position as a cold box engineer at Praxiar in her hometown, Buffalo. The company manufactures industrial gases and Mikulski was tasked to help build the large towers that take in air, cool it down and separate it into components — nitrogen, argon, oxygen — to be sold. “I looked at the pipes, put them under stress to see what failed, and then redesigned them,” she said. She also did calculations of components like lifting lugs. “When they’re building these cold boxes they have to lift them to place them on top of each other,” she explained. “You have to design the bolts to make sure they can carry the load.” At the end of her 12 weeks at Praxiar, she was offered a job — which she’ll start June 1. Mikulski is also a McFarland Johnson Scholar and the top graduating senior in the undergraduate mechanical engineering program, earning her the department award for Outstanding Academic Achievement in Baccalaureate Studies. It’s hard to believe, but Mikulski claims she actually bombed her first physics test. “I had a big project due the next day and I was up until 4 a.m. working on it. I didn’t manage my time well in the beginning,” she said. “Then I started to understand the professors and get a better idea of what the big topics were and what they were going to test us on. And once I got into junior year, I figured out that your friends were there to support you and help you out so it got easier to manage everything.” She admits to being unsure about engineering when she first came to the Watson School, not really knowing what it entailed. But get her talking about her favorite class now, the Science of Engineering Materials, and you can tell that this path is exactly where she belongs. “You look at the chemistry behind the materials, like the crystalline structure of plastics and how stresses on it will cause it to react and how the atoms shift,” Mikulski explained, paused, and then laughed lightly. “I know, it sounds boring.” When she talks about it though, it doesn’t. And that tempered passion could lead almost anyone to sign up to be an engineer after spending a mere half hour with her. This June she’ll head back to Buffalo to start her first real job. After that she’s thinking graduate school. “I feel like I have the potential to do a lot more,” she said. inside@binghamton.edu (Ashley Smith) Inside Stories Tue, 15 May 2012 19:23:46 +0000 http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/commencement-2012-profile-aaron-rubinstein http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/commencement-2012-profile-aaron-rubinstein#When:19:19:58Z Theatre major finds new home on set of ‘Dancing With the Stars.’ As stage manager of shows such as “Henry V” and “Streetcar Named Desire,” Aaron Rubinstein has been an integral part of the Theatre Department for the past four years. “I like being involved in live productions and having control over something that people need to be ready to perform,” he said. “It’s stressful. That draws me to it. I like working under pressure.” RUBINSTEIN That pressure multiplied this spring, as Rubinstein has taken his support skills to a stage just a little larger than the one at Watters Theater: The 22-year-old is working as a production assistant on one of television’s highest-rated shows, “Dancing With the Stars.” “It’s a non-stop operation,” he said of the live show that airs Monday and Tuesday nights on ABC. The technical theatre major from Merrick, Long Island, isn’t afraid to make a big leap into something. After all, he liked Binghamton University’s size and reputation and decided to attend without even making a campus visit. “I saw some pictures and thought, ‘This is nice,’” he said. “The first time I saw the campus was during orientation.” Rubinstein attended a Theatre Department “meet-and-greet” early in his freshman year and immediately got involved with productions. He decided to major in theatre that year after serving as assistant stage manager in a production of “Urinetown.” He would go on to serve in a variety of design, technical and directing roles, including acting in “Julius Caesar,” directing “True West” and “Ashes to Ashes”, and working as production manager in “Little Shop of Horrors” and as fight manager in “The Crucible.” Theatre Professor Anne Brady called Rubinstein “one of the best, if not the best, student stage managers that I have ever worked with in my career as a director.” As a stage manager, Rubinstein was a gifted communicator who was organized and always able to provide feedback, she said. “What is also unique about Aaron is his knowledge and curiosity about not only the technical aspects of theatre but also the performance aspects.” Brady said. “He has an excellent eye for what works onstage.  Another quality that makes Aaron special is his extreme generosity to jump in and help out with any aspect of a production that needs it. During all his years at Binghamton, if there was a mainstage or studio production that needed technical assistance, fight choreography or stage management help, Aaron never hesitated to lend a hand.” The Theatre Department – and faculty members such as Brady and lecturer Kevin Oakes – provides students with the opportunity to develop a broad set of skills, Rubinstein said. “The faculty is fantastic,” he said. “If you want to learn, the opportunities are there. It’s a good environment to work in because we have a little of bit of everything and anyone who comes through the program learns a little bit about everything, too. That really helped me get to where I am now.” On “Dancing With the Stars,” celebrities are paired with professional dancers and compete weekly for viewers’ votes until a champion is crowned. Rubinstein and his mother know two of the dancers − Maksim and Valentin Chmerkovskiy – and asked if there would be any available work on the show. A production assistant position was available for the season starting in March. Rubinstein, who had nearly fulfilled all of his academic requirements by the end of the fall semester, headed to California. “It’s not glamorous stuff,” he said with a laugh about being one of 10 production assistants. “We make sure the dance floor and stage are clear. We make sure the water cooler is stocked. We go out and pick up costumes and props. We do what they need us to do. It could be research; it could be talking to a visiting artist to find out what they need. “It’s like the assistants you see in the movies,” he added referring to the Meryl Streep/Anne Hathaway movie “The Devil Wears Prada.” “Sometimes the coffee is not hot enough!” Highlights for Rubinstein include working with musical artists such as KISS and Chris Brown and helping the celebrities and dancers in the rehearsal rooms during the week. “It’s cool to see them work on their routines before they are stage-ready,” he said. Rubinstein has been impressed with how much work the dancers and celebrities do to prepare for a show. That preparation makes the shows even more competitive. “Look at Donald Driver,” Rubinstein said of the Green Bay Packers wide receiver and “Dancing With the Stars” contestant. “He’s a Super Bowl-winning wide receiver, but he wants to win here. Everyone on the show really wants to win. You don’t see it as much on camera, but when they are rehearsing, they really want to do a great job and get it right. They get frustrated sometimes.” The experience has been rewarding for Rubinstein, whose career goal is to work as a producer or production manager. “My time here has shown me that I don’t know enough yet to move up,” he said. “I need to work on this show or a couple of others before I try to move up in the world. This is much different than theater.” After graduation and the “Dancing” conclusion, Rubinstein will come to New York City for the summer to work as a stage-management intern on “Sleep No More,” an interactive, off-Broadway show based on “Macbeth.” Rubinstein hopes to return to “Dancing With the Stars” and is thankful to Binghamton University and the Theatre Department for helping him acquire the skills to succeed in the entertainment business. “The Theatre Department was my home for four years,” he said. “I barely left the Fine Arts Building! You have faculty, but when you spend so much time with them, they become your friends. The department provided me a solid foundation to learn. I didn’t come into this (television) world with nothing.” inside@binghamton.edu (Eric Coker) Inside Stories Tue, 15 May 2012 19:19:58 +0000 http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/commencement-profile-david-klimachefsky http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/commencement-profile-david-klimachefsky#When:01:26:16Z Decker student makes career transition from clergy to nursing. Spending most of the past decade as a clergyman has helped David Klimachefsky prepare for his new career as a nurse. “The pastoral role is not really that different (from nursing),” he said. “It’s a different focus: spiritual pain and spiritual need. But it’s still helping people in need. So even though this path seems very different on some levels, there is a central thread of caring for other people.” Klimachefsky, a 34-year-old originally from Baldwinsville, will receive his bachelor’s in nursing as part of the Decker School of Nursing’s Baccalaureate Accelerated Track (BAT) Program for college graduates from fields other than nursing.  As part of the program, Klimachefsky has taken 52 credits of nursing coursework since starting at Binghamton University last May. “That’s a fast ride,” he said with a laugh. “It’s like trying to take a sip from a fire hydrant!” Klimachefsky received his bachelor’s degree in psychology and social sciences from the University at Buffalo in 1999. He had already “shifted tracks” to religion prior to graduation and took a position as director of youth ministry at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Fulton, near Syracuse. Klimachefsky then attended Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where he earned his master’s in pastoral ministry in 2006. After a couple of years teaching at Eastern University in Pennsylvania, Klimachefsky turned to the church again and became a pastor at The Barn, an arts-oriented church in Allentown, Pa. “I’m a musician and I love the arts,” he said. “At least in the type of church I grew up in, there has been a massive divorce between anything artistic and faith.” At The Barn, Klimachefsky was responsible for teaching, preaching and he even started a community arts studio. But by 2010, he knew his life’s work was not in the church. “My ultimate goal was to combine my love of studying and my love of helping people,” he said. A talk with his mother-in-law − a second-career nurse − “planted the seed” for his own nursing career, Klimachefsky said. He began considering nursing schools and Binghamton University and the Decker School of Nursing “rose to the top,” thanks to its value, location and reputation. The transition to nursing school had one major challenge for Klimachefsky. “I love to study, so the academics weren’t concerning,” he said. “What was concerning was the clinical component. I had never given anyone a shot! The clinical component was intense and I think any nursing student would tell you that. It’s a different world, but once you do it for a couple of weeks, you get right over it and it becomes second nature.” Helping in the transition was the opportunity to work with faculty members such as clinical lecturer Alison Dura and clinical instructor Meg White. “(Dura) represents a beautiful intersection of a great knowledge of the sciences and great nursing skills,” he said. “She is loved by students and is just a good person. “(White) has so much knowledge and experience,” he added. “The thing I love about her is that she is so laid back. As student nurses, we’re jacked-up, type A. She brings an even keel to the process and helps students get through tough times and new situations.” Both White and Dura agreed that Klimachefsky brings more than wisdom and maturity to the nursing profession. “The kindness and compassion that he demonstrates in both patient care activities and collegial relationships is noteworthy,” White said.  “He is a person who can enter a situation and make everyone else involved feel comfortable.  That is an excellent skill to have anyway, but especially in situations where emotions can be raw, as often happens in healthcare settings.” “He has shown that all of his previous learning and work experiences have a place in his new career,” Dura said. “Furthermore, he has nurtured both his patients as well as his classmates in numerous ways. His enthusiasm, critical analysis and joy in life are always evident.” Klimachefsky said he considers it a privilege and an honor to be able to serve patients. “Every moment that I enter the hospital, I have a chance to bring light and life and love to people – something that for me finds its source in God,” he said. “Sometimes in an emergency situation, it’s being able to hold somebody’s hand. It’s not like there is a dialogue about Jesus. It’s not theological: it’s about being present. And at other times, it’s about caring communication. For me, that is at the heart of faith. “Every day is an opportunity for me to practice my faith in a very real way. This gives me a chance to interact with people in a way I never would have in the other profession.” Klimachefsky will start work later this summer in a telemetry floor at UHS Wilson Medical Center in Johnson City, where he will assist patients with heart-related health issues. In the time between Commencement and the new job, Klimachefsky will renovate a house he recently bought in Vestal. He will live there with his wife and two daughters, ages 3 and 2. “I’ll tackle the (nursing) field after a little bit of the dust has settled – literally and figuratively!” Besides carpentry, Klimachefsky enjoys music and has spent many years performing and recording. He plays piano, guitar, bass guitar and drums, although he admitted that there has been little time for it in the past year. “It’s truly been an intense road, but it’s been a great road,” he said. “Thankfully, all of the markers are saying not only is this the right career path for me, but this was the best place to do it. I am getting a great degree at a great price. I’m happy that I’m done, but I’m happy that I did here.” inside@binghamton.edu (Eric Coker) Inside Stories Tue, 15 May 2012 01:26:16 +0000 http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/commencement-profile-robbie-cohen http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/commencement-profile-robbie-cohen#When:01:24:22Z Harpur’s Ferry student leader places ‘service above the recognition.’ On the afternoon of Sept. 7, 2011, Robbie Cohen traveled to Wal-Mart in Johnson City to pick up his housemate and give him a ride home. He got to the store and looked at his silenced cell phone. “I had five missed calls,” he said. “I thought, ‘Wow. I’ll drive my housemate back and then see what’s going on.’ In the time it took to get from Wal-Mart to my house – a 5- to 10-minute drive, I accumulated another seven missed calls and some text messages from numbers I didn’t recognize.” I said: ‘What is going on?’” A deluge of rain was not only causing floods in some parts of the Binghamton area, but many residents were being evacuated from their homes. As executive director and chief of Harpur’s Ferry, the student-run, volunteer ambulance service at Binghamton University, Cohen soon learned that the Events Center would begin serving as a shelter for evacuees in a matter of hours. “OK, we’ll work quickly,” Cohen remembered saying to himself. What followed was days of tireless service from students, faculty, staff, alumni and community agencies and members providing care and support to those whose lives were uprooted. Cohen and Harpur’s Ferry did work quickly, with two ambulances, two first-response vehicles and about 20 members on duty as the campus shelter opened. The ambulance service would spend 11 days, 24 hours a day, treating those in need at the Events Center. “That was a lot to ask of our members,” said Cohen, a 21-year-old political science major from Katonah in Westchester County. “We had 70 members helping. When I look back at my four years here, that was unprecedented. It speaks volumes not only to our members, but to the caliber of students Binghamton University gets and the caliber of the University’s outreach.” Harpur’s Ferry treated 257 patients over the 11 days. The service normally treats 850 people in a year. Members even played with children who were brought to the Events Center. “I had a 4- or 5-year-old helping me compose e-mails while we reviewed the letters he had learned in kindergarten in the days before the flood,” Cohen said. While Cohen was managing the Harpur’s Ferry staff and treating patients, he became a flood victim himself. His Binghamton apartment was damaged by the flood and he was forced to live with friends and on campus for almost a month. “I got by with a little help from my friends,” he said. “That’s the truth.” By the time the Events Center shelter closed, Harpur’s Ferry members felt a mix of “accomplishment and relief,” Cohen said. “There was a feeling of pride: Look what we made it through,’” he said. “But part of my plea as leader of the group was to put the service above the recognition. Stay humble. We made it through and did a good job but by being focused and humble.” Cohen’s humility came to the forefront again in the spring semester when Harpur’s Ferry was named National Collegiate Emergency Medical Services Foundation Agency of the Year, beating about 300 other schools. It was the second time Harpur’s Ferry had earned the honor (2005 being the other). The group also won the Broome County EMS Agency of the Year. “It’s recognition for hard work, service and dedication,” Cohen said. “It’s possible to have feelings of accomplishment and camaraderie without being arrogant about it. We didn’t get these awards because we are loud and flashy. We got them because we are hard workers.” A volunteer firefighter in high school, Cohen joined Harpur’s Ferry as a freshman. He served as communications coordinator as a sophomore and assistant chief as a junior before becoming chief as a senior. “The hardest part (of the job) was learning that there was no such thing as an average week,” he said. “The managing part is easy because we are fortunate to have hard-working, responsible members who pull their own weight and have supported me as their leader. The dynamic that the members and I had this year was key to dealing with what was out there.” Cohen credited his team for helping to save a heart-attack victim outside of the Union early in the spring semester. From bystander to police to EMS, it was a “perfect emergency response,” Cohen said. He also recalled the role of Harpur’s Ferry in response to the stabbing death of Professor Richard Antoun in December 2010. “That was a tragedy. It was a challenging call to work as an EMS provider. When you do the best you can for your patient and your crew …” he said, his voice trailing off. Cohen’s leadership role on campus covers more than Harpur’s Ferry. He serves on the Student Health Advising Committee, the Sexual Assault Task Force and the Alcohol and Other Drugs Steering Committee, and has spent three years as a campus tour guide. “It is easy to take note of his strong leadership qualities, his clear, respectful and well-articulated manner of communication and his passion and enthusiasm for his work,” said Johann Fiore-Conte, director of Health and Counseling Services. “He presents with poise and maturity well beyond his years and approaches situations thoughtfully and fairly. I have had the opportunity to observe him handle personnel issues within Harpur’s Ferry and can attest to the timely and balanced way that situations were handled. He is organized, conscientious and very personable.” Serving as a role model and a leader by example who can work with a 100-member organization can be attributed to Cohen’s family and upbringing. His family is Jewish and Christian and he is the oldest of five siblings. His three youngest siblings were adopted from Mexico and Guatemala. “Growing up in a diverse family prepared me with two important lessons,” he said. “First: It’s always important to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. There are reasons why people do the things they do. There is always a new way to think about something. Second: It reinforces a need to appreciate others. Everyone has something to offer and bring to the table.” Cohen will return to Binghamton University after graduation, as he pursues a master’s degree in public administration. He plans to remain with Harpur’s Ferry as a general member. “It’s time to pass the torch,” he said of leaving the chief position. “I’m looking forward to covering calls, working with new members and keeping up with our training. It was a great job for one term.” Cohen hopes to someday hold a “small, elected office” or work at a university in campus life or student affairs. “College is an experience,” he said. “It’s not a lesson. It’s not something you can learn at the library. You need to be involved – take the skills your classes give you and the skills you observe from your peers and mentors and apply them yourself.  Somebody always has a new perspective you can learn from. It’s about the people, the campus life, the food. It’s all an experience and it would be unfortunate to miss out on that.” inside@binghamton.edu (Eric Coker) Inside Stories Tue, 15 May 2012 01:24:22 +0000 http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/commencement-profile-tara-marie-lynch http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/commencement-profile-tara-marie-lynch#When:01:22:35Z Harpur College triple-major displays excellence in classroom and campus life. For Tara-Marie Lynch, being a part of a volleyball team that won two intramural championships is just as important as her numerous academic and campus-life accomplishments. “I’m competitive,” she said. “For me to go from working hard on an essay to playing a championship game in volleyball is something that I really enjoy.” It is that kind of determination and dedication that has made Lynch excel in and out of the classroom. A triple-major in economics, political science and international political economy from Woodbury, Conn., Lynch chose Binghamton University over the University of Miami. “I loved the campus and I loved how diverse the student body was,” she said. “It’s a big campus, but I felt confident I would be able to make the connections with faculty that I would’ve at a smaller school.” One connection Lynch made right away was with Jill Seymour, associate director of Harpur Academic Advising. Seymour remembers meeting Lynch as a freshman and seeing “this intricately mapped out four-year program that included her triple majors, plans for internships and study aboard … every semester mapped out including summers. “It was color-coded and unbelievably detailed,” Seymour said. “My first thought was ‘This poor kid has no grasp of reality.’ Was I ever wrong. She accomplished all of her goals and more.” A triple major with a minor in Spanish would be enough of a challenge for many students. But Lynch devoted herself to many aspects of campus life, including three years as a resident assistant in Mountainview. “It’s offered me many opportunities to get to know people, reach out to people and serve as a resource to others,” Lynch said. “I feel like my involvement on campus is infectious to others and I can show people how great it is to get involved. There is so much to do.” Lynch’s other activities include tutoring students in economics and Spanish for the past three years and serving as a teaching assistant in the Economics Department. “I like learning, so helping others learn and understand material on a more personal level is something that’s been really rewarding,” she said. She is also the first female president of the campus College Republicans and worked as an intern to Campus Photographer Jonathan Cohen in the spring semester. How does Lynch find the time for everything? It’s a question she is constantly asked. “I want to do all of this,” she said. “What allows me to do these things is that I love what I am doing. I was asked: ‘So you really enjoy writing three honors thesis?’ Yes, I genuinely enjoy what I do on campus.” Lynch has also enjoyed studying abroad. She spent the summer of 2010 at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Spain and has also visited France and Switzerland. Her love of international experiences stemmed from her family hosting Spanish exchange students for five straight summers while she was young. “That opened my eyes to the world being bigger than my small neighborhood in Connecticut,” said Lynch, who also traveled to Spain as a 16-year-old exchange student. “It was the first time I was exposed to different cultures and languages.” That international experience came in handy when Lynch received an internship in the summer of 2011 with the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute, where she worked with diplomats in the economic and commercial training division. Earlier in the summer, she interned at Goldman Sachs on Wall Street. Seymour believes that Lynch is the kind of student who be back at Binghamton University years from now to receive an honorary degree and speak at Commencement. “In my 30-plus years of advising students I have had only a handful who can match Tara-Marie intellectually,” Seymour said. “But that is only a part of her specialness as a student. Her energy and enthusiasm for learning are infectious and she shares that enthusiasm and excitement with anyone with whom she connects − staff, faculty and her fellow students.” Lynch wants to attend graduate school in the next five years, but prefers to get work experience after graduating. A “dream job” would combine international relations and marketing, she said. Choosing Binghamton University was “one of the best decisions of my life,” Lynch said. Working with people such as Seymour and having Harpur College Dean Donald Nieman as an advisor are among the many things that have made her college years memorable, she added. “For me, it’s been a collection of memorable experiences,” she said. “I think the journey here has shaped who I am as a graduating senior and who I will be as I grow older.” inside@binghamton.edu (Eric Coker) Inside Stories Tue, 15 May 2012 01:22:35 +0000 http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/commencement-profile-lucia-esposito http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/commencement-profile-lucia-esposito#When:01:21:00Z CCPA student to earn her MPA while working for Broome Office of the Aging. Over the past three years, Lucia Esposito managed a full-time job, a young son and various public service projects, will earn a Master in Public Administration degree and ran her first 5K race. “I think I’m just a very determined type of person,” Esposito said. “If I like doing something, I commit to it fully, and I don’t like slacking.” Esposito is also the recipient of the MPA program’s award for a graduating practitioner. “We felt that more than anybody else in the program, she really went above and beyond what a typical practitioner student would do,” said Pamela Mischen, assistant professor and director of the Center for Applied Community Research and Development. Esposito said the flexibility of the MPA program, with night classes at the University Downtown Center, allowed her to manage working full-time and starting a family while earning her degree. “I could take all the necessary classes to graduate and I could do it in the evening, as a working student, so that was really beneficial,” she said. Esposito will have worked for the Broome County Office for Aging for six years in October. She said she chose the public administration program because a former student interned at her office and told her about it. “She shared some interesting information with me about the program, and I thought it would be very helpful to my career, being that I work for a local government agency and I would like to continue to work in the public sector,” she said. During her time in the program, Esposito worked on several projects with Mischen. She did a service-learning project for the Broome County Gang Prevention program and helped organize a series of workshops for local non-profit organizations. Esposito volunteered to continue to help the Broome County Gang Prevention program. She said the program is geared toward kids at risk of being involved in gang activity and it involves them in afterschool activities or sports. She designed a survey to evaluate whether the program had an impact on the children enrolled. Organizing the series of workshops involved looking at literature and deciding what to teach the non-profit organizations. Esposito said they tailored the program to specific organizations and their individual needs. “I really enjoyed having that impact on specific people,” she said. Mischen said the idea for the workshops came out of discussions the two of them had. “She was really critical in identifying the need for that project and moving it forward,” she said. Esposito came to the United States after earning her first master’s degree at the University of Economics in Bratislava, Slovakia, in 2004. Seeing her parents serve the public working for the government in Slovakia had an impact on her own career choice. “I look back to when I first moved here, and it was really challenging for me,” she said. The Public Administration program, however, has helped her connect with the community. “I think being able to get into this program kind of connected me more to this community and gave me a purpose for being here,” Esposito said. “I feel like if I didn’t do it, I would still be searching for something. “I like the community more and I know more about it and working for a local government agency, I feel like I have more of a connection to the community,” she said. After all of her hard work, Esposito celebrated her upcoming graduation by running her first 5K race. But now, she isn’t entirely sure what’s next. She might consider going back to school in a year. “I’m going to miss going to school,” she said. inside@binghamton.edu (Erica Treventi) Inside Stories Tue, 15 May 2012 01:21:00 +0000 http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/commencement-profile-taniel-chan http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/commencement-profile-taniel-chan#When:01:20:31Z SOM student lands job and acceptance to highly competitive MBA program. College can be a time when many young people reinvent themselves. That’s certainly true for Taniel Chan, who admits he wasn’t the best student in high school. However, at Binghamton University, he channeled his energies in a positive direction and will graduate this month as one of the School of Management’s top students. In fact, the Brooklyn native was accepted into Harvard Business School’s 2+2 MBA program, which historically has admitted only 100 students out of more than 800 applicants from all over the globe. For the next two years, Chan will work at Goldman Sachs in the company’s finance division, supporting merchant banking. Then, he will attend graduate school at Harvard. He says the business fraternity Delta Sigma Pi played a large role in his success at Binghamton. When he arrived on campus, he was ambitious but not incredibly focused. The older students he met inspired him to work harder on his studies than he ever had. “I have benefited personally and professionally from Delta Sigma Pi in so many ways,” Chan said. “The fraternity has people of all ages. It was great to have the upperclassmen to look up to. Now, I have students I can guide and alumni whom I can contact.” Chan said the Financial Statement Analysis course he took during junior year is one of the most significant academic experiences he had in SOM, as he was one of only eight students selected to serve at UBS as an equities research intern. School of Management Dean Upinder Dhillon, who wrote a recommendation letter to support Chan’s application to Harvard, said the course is one of the most challenging in the school’s finance area. Chan worked alongside UBS analysts and during the final presentations, Dhillon says, analyzed complex problems and presented solutions in a convincing manner, earning high marks from the UBS team. While excelling in the classroom and rising to the level of president of Delta Sigma Pi, Chan has been focused on giving back. He was instrumental in starting the Dean’s Mentorship Program, which matches underclassmen with student mentors in their areas of interest. “Fraternities have the big sibling/little sibling dynamic, and I wanted to re-create that experience for those who don’t wish to be part of a fraternity,” Chan said. “It’s rewarding to feel that I’ve left a legacy and I plan to stay connected to it.” Dhillon said Chan is highly respected by faculty and his peers. Because of Chan’s strong leadership qualities, Dhillon chose him to serve on the Dean’s Advisory Board – a group of student leaders that meet with the deans monthly to provide input on strategic initiatives as well as student activities. “[Taniel] is an exceptional motivator and has a natural ability to lead people,” Dhillon said, in his recommendation letter. “He believes in making a difference and works hard to have an impact on projects he is involved in. … He is one of the few students I would rate as outstanding and consider him one of the best at Binghamton University.” inside@binghamton.edu (Steve Seepersaud) Inside Stories Tue, 15 May 2012 01:20:31 +0000 http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/provost-finalist-nancy-brickhouse http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/provost-finalist-nancy-brickhouse#When:00:23:47Z Delaware deputy provost presents to campus. “If you look across the globe, what’s remarkable about universities is that they tend to persist over time,” said Nancy Brickhouse, the fourth of five finalists for provost and vice president for academic affairs as she gave an open presentation to the campus on Monday, May 14, in Old Union Hall. “Why?” she asked. “The reason is because they’re able to reinvent themselves. Universities of today look very different than those of yesterday, and so in a time of pressure on higher education, it also invites us to reinvent ourselves in order to continue to provide the kinds of education to students we want offer.” Brickhouse is currently deputy provost for and professor of science education, School of Education, University of Delaware. In her presentation on “The premier public university of the 21st century: the challenges, the potential, the pathway,” Brickhouse said the ability to ask the penetrating and important questions allows universities to persist, but we need to think about two core values as we reinvent ourselves: a commitment to liberal arts and a commitment to providing social mobility for all students. Diversity is critical to any real conception of the liberal arts, she said. “In terms of ideology, and in terms of the various arguments that people bring to bear, having people in the room who have had different experiences in critical. “Higher education or education in general has traditionally been the great equalizer in terms of opportunities, but only if the opportunities for access are there,” she said. “Our relevance of a public university will always be directly related to the degree to which we are able to fulfill this mission of providing social mobility.” A high school teacher before moving into higher education, Brickhouse said that’s when she learned that the job of an educator is to provide opportunities for students. “Today, my job is essentially the same, but on a larger scale,” she said. “Providing opportunities for students is really what we’re about.” Brickhouse called a liberal arts education, with professional schools to supplement that foundation, “non-negotiable” if we are to “reinvent ourselves to become more relevant” to our communities. For her, becoming relevant requires making the University invaluable to the community. “Here in Binghamton, a community that has undergone some economic hardship,” she said, “there are some opportunities to participate in the development of the Southern Tier, in partnerships with high-tech companies, by really investing resources strategically in the development of expertise in areas that will help to revitalize the Southern Tier and provide a stronger economy.” Global partnerships also lend to economic revitalization, Brickhouse said, leading to opportunities for research and internships. “These are critical to not only the Southern Tier but to benefit out students, academic and research programs,” she said. Using the College of William and Mary as an example of how universities can be part of the next round of development, Brickhouse said the College of William and Mary was dysfunctional in the 1800s, but in the 1900s and beyond has become a very valuable asset to the region where it is located. Listening is also important if a university wants to form partnerships and be of value to its communities, Brickhouse said. “Listen to what they need, but you don’t need to do everything. We have to be strategic in how we develop partnerships.” Brickhouse said she believes very strongly in public scholarship. “The public doesn’t really understand a lot of what we do and they don’t understand why they should support us,” she said.  “What is the valid added? So, it’s important that we work with graduate students as well as faculty and help them to learn to be much more articulate in terms of the value of university research. “The second way in which I think we need to reinvent ourselves is to think carefully about how we use the assets we have,” she said. “We’re being questioned about the cost of higher education. So we have to look at how we’re using the resources that we have.” One of the greatest resources available is faculty time, she said. “We have enormous potential in terms of faculty hiring, but should plan to hire strategically and build up key areas intentionally. We’ve done some of this in Delaware as well and it makes a big impression. You have real potential with your smart energy plan and there will be other faculty hiring as well. Hiring 150 faculty is a huge opportunity to refurbish the whole university.” One of the things to think about when hiring is that the faculty of the future may look a little different than the faculty of the past, Brickhouse said. In addition to expertise in a particular area—we have classes to teach – we should also look for intellectual agility and curiosity and the ability to form collaborations with other faculty, institutions and businesses. Brickhouse added that it’s important to work on a culture where faculty have high expectations. “One thing I think Binghamton will face is lot of undergraduates come here because they can do research,” she said. “What’s the value added for students? What you need to do is offer something different but that you can’t get other places. Another way to distinguish ourselves to students is not just through what we offer in a planned curriculum, but also through co-curricular activities, Brickhouse said. “A lot of what brings students to a research university is things like undergraduate research, the possibility of studying abroad, the kinds of work that comes with apprenticeships that they cannot get at a low-cost university. “And if we do this right, students become our alums and our ambassadors. “So as we reinvent ourselves, there’s always a risk that we might get it wrong,” she said. “But I don’t think Binghamton should desire to be the low-cost model. You need to distinguish yourselves in what you offer your students, instead of being just a cheap alternative. “In essence what I’m trying to say is, I think that what we need to do is to make ourselves invaluable to the community around us that supports us and we need to reconsider how we make use of our most precious resources.” inside@binghamton.edu (Inside Staff) Inside Features Tue, 15 May 2012 00:23:47 +0000 http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/provost-finalist-donald-nieman http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/provost-finalist-donald-nieman#When:00:22:56Z Harpur College dean makes campus presentation. After starting his remarks by noting that he’d been having a fun day, Donald Nieman, dean of Harpur College and third candidate for provost and vice president of academic affairs for the campus, spoke in Old Union Hall to about 100 people on the topic of “The premier public university of the 21st century: the challenges, the potential, the pathway.” “President Stenger has staked out a very ambitious plan for Binghamton to become the premier public of the 21st century,” Nieman said. “I see that as an exciting challenge, but one we’re up for. We’re an institution that thrives on challenges and that has a real commitment to excellence.” Taking the challenges first, Nieman said it is no secret that even very good public universities like Binghamton face daunting challenges, such as financial. “Since 1980, support for public higher education has declined by 40 percent measured in real dollars and forced belt tightening,” he said. “The prestige has also taken a beating. In 1983, the first year of the U.S. News rankings, there were three publics among top 10; in 2012, there were none in top 20. That’s not the gold standard of rankings, but it’s very telling and troubling that there is no public university among the top 20.” Even as public support has declined, the cost of doing business – and expectations – have grown dramatically, Nieman said. “There are more opportunities and it’s more exciting to be in higher education than 30 years ago, but more expensive and more difficult to build and maintain programs and research.” Students see higher education as an investment, Nieman said, and public officials also expect us to be fully engaged with their communities, “so we’re in the unenviable position where resources have declined and expectations have risen.” One challenge specific to Binghamton, Nieman said, include that we have a very high proportion of alumni under the age of 50 and a short history of giving, with a growing, but small endowment that doesn’t generate the resources we need. Other challenges include Binghamton’s size, which makes it difficult to compete with larger institutions for funding; its location in an economically troubled region with fewer partnership opportunities; and its ability to draw master’s level students from the region. “These challenges are daunting, but I think this is a very special place with a short but rich history of overcoming long odds,” Nieman said. “After all, who would have thought that in just 20 years, Harpur College would be thought of as one of the best in the northeast or be the site of a Grateful Dead concert? Or that it would be able to grow into a top research university. We have a history of beating the odds and of excellence.” We also have significant strengths that will help us in our quest to become the best in the 21st century, Nieman said. “We understand excellence and are willing to settle for nothing less. We recruit tremendous faculty and the quality of our students keeps getting better.” Calling the faculty an enormous resource, Nieman said they are a rare combination of researchers and teachers – a prerequisite to being a premier university. “Another quality that really positions us to continue to move ahead,” Nieman said, “is that we’re probably one of the most international institutions in the country. As a result, we can attract talented faculty from around the world.” Nieman said Binghamton’s size might limit it in some ways, but the campus has turned its size into an advantage by being very open to interdisciplinary collaborations. “This has increasingly become absolutely critical to doing great things in teaching and research,” he said. With 106,000 alumni placed well in medicine, business, finance, technology and the academy, Nieman said the University can draw on their abilities as well. “One of the things that has always impressed me is we have a real can-do spirit at Binghamton that has allowed us to accomplish a lot in a very short period of time and that will serve us well,” Nieman said. “The question is, ‘How we can turn these assets into our advantage to become the premier public university?’” The answer lies as much in the process as in the prescription, he said. “Neither the president nor the provost can or should lay out a plan for a campus to achieve greatness. Faculty, staff and students are ultimately going to do most of the heavy lifting required, so they should be involved in the planning and strategy and bring creativity to bear on the process. It would be silly not to draw on their expertise, so we’re already moving forward in the appropriate direction.” Nieman said nothing is more pressing for the University than generating resources to be able to invest in the things that are important. “We start from a very good place because in the next four years at least we’ll see increases in tuition and enrollment that will create a pool to invest in this community.” But that won’t be sufficient, Nieman said. Binghamton will need to continue to look for a higher proportion of out-of-state students, a higher proportion of graduate students, particularly in master’s programs; and expansion of the University’s presence in New York City.  As a research university, increasing funding is absolutely critical to our future, Nieman added. “With the very dramatic increases over the last decade, a principle barrier to further growth is our faculty who can write only so many proposals. Hiring will help us resume that upward trajectory. We also need to expand further to invest in multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research clusters that span schools and departments, increasing the chances of attracting major funding for centers and training grants. That’s a strategy we can pursue as we add faculty and diversify our research portfolio.” Private fundraising will also be key according to Nieman. With the research expertise we have in a variety of areas − energy, climate change, globalization − we can bring faculty together and pursue foundations more aggressively.” The provost will play an important role in this process, along with the vice president for research, providing support for development proposals, Nieman said. “We also need to celebrate and build on the success of the Bold.Brilliant.Binghamton Campaign,” he said. “We’ve been very successful increasing support for students, faculty and academic programs. In addition to money, we’ve raised the proportion of alumni who give, elevated annual giving and and developed new prospects to engage. We need to capitalize on this success to keep private giving rates up over the next several years and launch another campaign down the road. A dean’s experience in this can help us grow and it’s critical to our future.” How we use those resources is just as important as raising them, Nieman said. Binghamton will have to make the difficult choices about where to invest because resources “can’t be spread to thinly or will have excellence nowhere.” “We will have to invest in our best programs,” Nieman said. “They are the building blocks of a premier university. Sustaining is easier than building from scratch. We need to identify areas where we have potential and invest in those so we can continue to expand. We also must invest in research centers that bring faculty together across departments and schools.” Lowering the student/faculty ratio is also a priority for Nieman, who said some areas lack the critical mass of faculty and our student/faculty ratio needs to be as far below 20/1 to keep Binghamton competitive. Faculty hiring will address the issue, but we must hire at all levels, assistant professors, mid-career and senior faculty, he said, to make strides quickly in lowering the student/faculty ratio and increasing research productivity. Binghamton also needs to invest in student experiences, Nieman said. “We have great students but we can’t take that for granted. The number of high school graduates is declining and if we want to stay competitive, we have to invest money for scholarships, financial aid packages and enhancing the academic experience by creating freshman seminars that connect incoming students with faculty;, increasing undergraduate research experiences; creating high-quality, holistic advising and career development that serve students over the long term; and investing more in our graduate students. “Recruiting top PhD students will enhance the reputation of our programs, further faculty research and improve the undergraduate experience as well,” Nieman said. “When we recruit the best, we also have people who do the best research and go into the best positions in industry and academe. We need to invest more in assistantships and high stipends and more years of funding and also create fellowships to allow graduate students to focus on their work.” Finally, losses in staff will need to be reversed, Nieman said. “We will need to make strategic investments in staff or we won’t have a good environment for our students to learn and faculty will be doing things they shouldn’t be doing. “This is a really exciting time to be at Binghamton,” Nieman concluded. “We have new leadership and a rare opportunity to make an excellent university even better. I’m confident we can increase resources and invest to enhance our programs and international reputation. This is a chance to work with a dynamic, engaged president with very high aspirations to help generate new resources, and to work with people in this community to determine how use those resources to become the premier public in the U.S.” inside@binghamton.edu (Inside Staff) Inside Stories Tue, 15 May 2012 00:22:56 +0000 http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/mens-tennis-season-ends-with-ncaa-loss-to-no.-13-ole-miss http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/mens-tennis-season-ends-with-ncaa-loss-to-no.-13-ole-miss#When:20:25:21Z Bearcats have reached NCAA tournament in eight of last 10 seasons. Five-time reigning America East champion Binghamton men’s tennis (15-12) had some bright spots but came up short against No. 13 and host Ole Miss 4-0 in the first round of the NCAA tournament May 12 in Oxford, Miss. The match began outdoors with doubles at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center and finished indoors for singles at the Gillom Sports Center after rain fell. The Rebels captured the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3 and then ended the match with singles wins at Nos. 1, 3 and 2. Playing their final match together, the tandem of Ruben Devos and Bastian Bornkessel were in a tight match with their 13th-ranked counterparts, trailing just 8-7 when the match was halted after Ole Miss won at second and third doubles. In singles, Devos grabbed the first set from his 14th-ranked opponent before falling 6-7, 6-2, 6-2. That win clinched the victory for the hosts. Senior No. 1 Alexandre Haggai, the 2012 America East Player of the Year, finished his career with a 6-4, 6-3 defeat to the 14th-ranked singles player in the country. Freshman Ismael Dinia, the America East Rookie of the Year, also was defeated by a ranked player, 6-1, 7-5 at No. 3 singles. Freshman No. 4 Robin Lesage was a close match and trailed 6-4, 3-2 when Ole Miss clinched the win. Sophomore No. 5 Ruben Haggai also trailed 3-2 in his second set when his match was stopped. Freshman No. 6 Florian van Kann, who had won eight of nine duals entering the tournament, was denied the chance to play because the move indoors limited the number of available courts. The Rebels (14-8), ranked 13th in the latest ITA Rankings, advanced to the SEC semifinals with wins over Arkansas and Florida in the conference tournament. Ole Miss has advanced to the NCAAs in 18 of the last 19 years. The Bearcats won eight of their last nine matches to end the 2011-12 campaign. Binghamton won its fifth straight America East crown, which ties for the third-longest active streak in the conference in any sport. Head coach Adam Cohen, named America East Coach of the Year for the third straight year and fourth overall, will graduate his top two singles players (A. Haggai and Devos) and two other veteran players. No. 13 Ole Miss 4, Binghamton 0 (NCAA First Round) DOUBLES 1. #13 Nik Scholtz/Jonas Lutjen (Ole Miss) led. Ruben Devos/Bastian Bornkessel (BU), 8-7 2. #17 Marcel Thiemann/Chris Thiemann (Ole Miss) def. Alexandre Haggai/Ismael Dinia (BU), 8-4 3. William Kallberg/Johan Backstrom (Ole Miss) def. Robin Lesage/Ruben Haggai (BU), 8-3 Order of finish: 3,2 SINGLES 1. #14 Nik Scholtz (Ole Miss) def. Alexandre Haggai (BU), 6-4, 6-3 2. #20 Marcel Thiemann (Ole Miss) def. Ruben Devos (BU), 6-7, 6-2, 6-2 3. #45 Jonas Lutjen (Ole Miss) def. Ismael Dinia (BU), 6-1, 7-5 4. #83 William Kallberg (Ole Miss) led. Robin Lesage (BU), 6-4, 3-2 5. Johan Backstrom (Ole Miss) led Ruben Haggai (BU), 6-1, 3-2 6. Florian van Kann (BU) vs. Adrian Skogeng (Ole Miss) did not start Order of finish: 1,3,2 inside@binghamton.edu (John Hartrick) Sports Stories Mon, 14 May 2012 20:25:21 +0000 http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/van-ingen-qualifies-for-u.s.-olympic-trials http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/van-ingen-qualifies-for-u.s.-olympic-trials#When:12:53:51Z Three-time All-American wins 1,500 at Virginia Classic in 3:38.06. Fifth-year senior Erik van Ingen has qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the men’s 1,500. By recording a winning time of 3:38.06 at the Virginia Classic on May 11, the three-time All-American finished well under the the automatic standard qualifying time of 3:39.0. This year, the U.S. Olympic Trails will be held in Eugene, Ore., June 21-July 1. At Virginia, van Ingen won the 1,500 by over two seconds. Isaac Preston of North Carolina was second in 3:40.16. There were three heats and 39 total runners competing in the 1,500 at the Virginia Classic. “This performance is a dream come true for us,” Binghamton assistant coach Annette Acuff said. “We have been working for four years to make this a reality. I am so happy for Erik and for our program.” “This is a good step for me,” van Ingen said. “I was pleased with how I ran the race because it means that going into the championship season, I have a great level of fitness.” Van Ingen will be the second Binghamton athlete ever to take part in the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials. Four years ago, Rory Quiller competed in the pole vault at the 2008 Trials. Like van Ingen, Quiller was a three-time All-American. In 2008, he captured the NCAA title in the pole vault at the Division I Indoor Track Championships. Heading into the NCAA East Regional Championships in two weeks, van Ingen has recorded the fastest time in the region this year and the third-fastest time in the nation. Lawi Lelang of Arizona has run a 3:36.77 and defending NCAA Indoor Champion Chris O’Hare of Tulsa has clocked a time of 3:37.97. The NCAA East Regional Track & Field Championships will be held May 24-26 and be hosted by North Florida. The top 12 finishers in the region in an individual event will advance to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, which will be held at Drake University June 6-9. Van Ingen is seeking to qualify for his second consecutive NCAA Outdoor Championship meet and the seventh NCAA Championship meet in his career. Last year, he was sixth overall in the 1,500, which earned him first-team All-America honors. Van Ingen was also fifth overall in the mile at the 2011 NCAA Indoor Championships and seventh in the same meet this past March. inside@binghamton.edu (Athletics Staff) Sports Features Mon, 14 May 2012 12:53:51 +0000 http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/provost-finalist-david-reingold http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/provost-finalist-david-reingold#When:21:16:29Z Indiana University, Bloomington associate dean presents to campus. As the second of five finalists for Binghamton University provost and vice president for academic affairs to present to the campus, David Reingold said he would try his best “to offer what I think are some unique ideas and future strategies for the University as it enters its next phase of development.” Speaking to about 80 people in the Mandela Room on May 10, the executive associate dean for the Bloomington Campus, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University addressed the topic: “The premier public university of the 21st century: the challenges, the potential, the pathway.” Starting with the question of what makes a premier university, Reingold said there are a number of common characteristics. “Talented faculty, talented students and talented staff. It’s inevitably the people of a university that make up the university’s reputation,” he said, adding that money to support that top talent, academic freedom and the freedom of ideas and inquiry are also essential to achieving premier status.  Having trained as a sociologist, Reingold said a commitment to the academic core – the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences – is vital. “I can’t think of a premier university that has built its reputation without strong support for these.” He added three more characteristics to his list: a global orientation, leadership and what he called ‘publicness’. “Faculty and students must view themselves as global citizens, research must focus on national, global and transnational questions,” he said. “Premier universities are also defined by strong leadership, having academic legitimacy, character and personal integrity, high energy, experience leading academic organizations and experience with political management.” Publicness, he said, describes the values of a university that must be defended and supported: accessibility for students, being a vehicle for social and economic mobility, serving as a catalyst for economic development, engaging with the community, and creating good citizens who will participate in democracy and support their communities. Looking at the question of what the American public thinks makes a great university, he said most people look at rankings, but that’s a challenge because rankings are so highly correlated with the length of time a university has been in existence. “For Binghamton to be ranked where it is is a remarkable achievement,” he said, “but it will be very difficult to move beyond where it is because rankings are so locked-in based on the longevity of institutions.” But Reingold said that the vast majority of Americans report that what really matters to them “has to do with research, the reputation of a university’s research centers and the general academic quality of its programs.” Turning his attention to the challenges and opportunities facing premier universities, Reingold said the revenue problem and the talent imperative are the obvious challenges. “Without the revenue to recruit and retain faculty and students, or to reward the high-performing, a university will find itself in a difficult situation moving forward.” Reingold said NYSUNY 2020 is a good approach to solving the revenue problem. “Increasing the size of the undergraduate population is exactly the right approach, but it needs to be done in a responsible manner,” he said. He also advocated increasing the percentage of non-resident undergraduates as a way that public universities can offset revenue needs. Another challenge he noted is the need to balance faculty research, teaching and service, as well as teaching loads for tenure-track faculty. “You can have a value distinction of the three where they are not necessary co-equals, but slanted to the research side because the scholarship is so essential to achieving the kind of reputation that Binghamton has and will strengthen over time.” The final challenge Reingold addressed is the need to promote academic innovation and entrepreneurship. Citing two ways to do so – top-down where leadership holds the power or bottom-up where faculty know best – he said Responsibility Centered Management, which focuses on operational decentralization, could create a transparent process that aligns appropriate people with the responsibility to invest available resources. Moving forward, Reingold said there are several opportunities open to the campus. New academic directions he suggested as possibilities include new undergraduate and graduate degree programs in environmental studies and engineering-based degrees focusing on energy. These would integrate existing programs in energy and the environment and could include environmental science, environmental management and sustainability, and energy and technology policy. “I would also create a new office of sustainability, where we would try to get the University itself, as an organization, to be as environmentally conscious as it can be. Referring to the University’s proposal for a Smart Energy Research and Development Facilty, he said, “For NYSUNY to touch all parts of the campus, the topic of energy has to be broadened out to be linked to the environment and into the sciences, SOM, public administration,” he said. “I think this University could create a very distinctive impact by trying to broaden out this energy initiative.” Reingold also suggested an integrated program on international studies/affairs that would add degree programs for undergraduates and graduate students, double the percentage of undergraduates studying abroad and also double the percentage of high-achieving international students. “Creating some interconnectivity among schools can be a very distinctive feature and give a clear signal that Binghamton University is a global university,” he said. Strengthening the academic core and identifying areas of excellence to invest in were also on his list. Reingold would “identify those areas in which to make a concerted effort to invest over time, knowing there are other areas that will be maintained, but will not necessarily be the crown jewels,” he said. Faculty support, retention and recruitment, as well as graduate student support and undergraduate research opportunities are requirements to be successful academically, he added. Finally, Reingold addressed online education. Premier universities need to “expand experimentation with online education, blended with face-to-face instruction, as a vehicle to promote accessibility, community impact and economic development,” he said. Using nursing as an example, he said the role nursing could play to become the leader in nursing training presents some real opportunities for the University. “A lot of very elite universities are moving into the online space. They understand the world is changing and they need to move with it,” he said. Reingold admitted he’s an “outside looking in” and he will have a lot of learning, conversations and listening to do, “but I think that the University needs to expand its experimentation with online instruction and use it as a vehicle to promote accessibility, pursue community impact and drive economic development.” inside@binghamton.edu (Inside Staff) Inside Stories Fri, 11 May 2012 21:16:29 +0000 http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/four-students-to-speak-at-commencement-ceremonies http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/four-students-to-speak-at-commencement-ceremonies#When:19:37:49Z Tomas, Summers, Eberhart and Nanayakkara to address classmates. One graduate student has been chosen to speak at the Graduate Commencement ceremony at 5 p.m. Saturday, May 19, and three undergraduate students have been selected to speak at the undergraduate ceremonies on Sunday, May 20, in the Events Center. TOMAS Jennifer Tomas will speak at the Graduate ceremony. Benjamin Summers, Michelle Eberhart and Janathri Nanayakkara will speak at the Harpur College morning ceremony, professional schools ceremony and Harpur College afternoon ceremony, respectively. Tomas, a former high school social studies teacher who is graduating with her doctorate in history, earned her bachelor’s degree in history from Wells College. She came to Binghamton University to earn her master’s degree in history as part of New York state’s teacher certification requirements. “I fell in love with the History Department,” she said, and stayed for her doctorate. She has taught at Binghamton and SUNY Oneonta, and served as a reviewer for the Journal of Women’s History and for Women and Social Movements in the United States. Following Commencement, Tomas will be working to pull an article or two from her dissertation—“The Women’s History Movement in the United States: Professional and Political Roots of the Field, 1922-1987” – for publication, and teach women’s and gender history on campus for the next academic year. “Binghamton students at both the undergraduate and graduate level have made my years studying and teaching here very engaging,” she said. “They are really top-notch for the most part and who you’re sitting next to in a seminar can add so much to your education. I feel a little humbled to be speaking before so many talented, smart people.” NANAYAKKARA Nanayakkara, who is a double major in economics and in political science with a concentration in global and international affairs, is an international student from Sri Lanka. Originally enrolled at the University of Maine, she transferred to Binghamton where she said the environment “eased me into a new culture.” While at Binghamton, she has been an orientation advisor and a student-scholar assistant in the Office of International Student and Scholar Affairs. She has held leadership positions, including vice president, for Phi Alpha Delta Professional Pre-law Fraternity, and has served as a choreographer for Children’s Dance Theatre and as a peer mentor. Nanayakkara has provided freelance translation services for Legal Interpreting Services in New York City, translating documents for the National Labor Relations Board. She spent one summer as an intern in the legal department for Law and Society Trust in Sri Lanka, and another as a General Assembly Intern with the United Nations. Following Commencement, she will begin her “dream job,” starting her career in a position at the United Nations. EBERHART Eberhart, who is earning dual degrees in human development and English, competes as a long- and triple-jumper on the Binghamton University track and field team, which she co-captains. A master of time management who has “crammed 156 credits into [her] four years here at Binghamton,” including 22 credits this semester alone, is also secretary for the safety awareness group Peace OUTside Campus, a College for Every Student peer mentor at Binghamton West Middle School and an intern in the University’s media and public relations office. Eberhart helped develop a new Web video series “This Week@BinghamtonU” for the University and is also adept at blogging and using online tools to promote organizations. After graduation, she plans on finding a job in public relations and social media. “As a current intern for Binghamton’s media and public relations office, I wish to use the skills I have learned here and apply them to my future career,” she said. “I believe that social media is an up-and-coming field that has become a necessity for businesses, non-profits and individuals alike.  “I love everything about Binghamton and as graduation approaches, I have been reminiscing about my first days in CIW up until the current moments that I know will be memories forever,” she said. “While it is sad to leave Binghamton, I know that being here has prepared me to go on and succeed at whatever I wish to do.” SUMMERS Summers, a history major, came to Binghamton after taking a “gap year off” following his high school graduation to participate in an international program called Kivunim: New Directions. He earned college credit during the program, which involved trips to several countries including Morocco and India, from a base in Jerusalem, Israel. The program’s focus is for participants to gain an understanding of other cultures, religions and worldviews in order to develop “world-consciousness” while enhancing and enriching their Jewish identity. On campus, Summers has been heavily involved in both the Hillel and Chabad communities, and has spent four years as a member of Kaskeset, Binghamton University’s only all-Jewish a cappella group, including one year as president. He has also worked in the Public Speaking Laboratory in the Chenango Champlain Collegiate Center. After graduation, Summers will live in Atlanta, “pursuing my passion in conflict resolution from there, and after a few years of working, I’ll pick a new city and start a new adventure there,” he said. “It’s a very loose plan, but the way I want to spend my time is not just earning money, but also learning skills.” “It’s all sinking in slowly,” he said. “I’m unlike a lot of friends who have their careers planned out, but I’m OK with that. It’s a really exciting time to be me.” inside@binghamton.edu (Katie Ellis) Inside Stories Wed, 09 May 2012 19:37:49 +0000 http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/chicago-bruce-hornsby-coming-to-anderson-center http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/chicago-bruce-hornsby-coming-to-anderson-center#When:20:39:33Z Other upcoming concerts will feature Marvin Hamlisch, Grace Kelly Quintet. Concerts from Chicago, Bruce Hornsby, Marvin Hamlisch and the Grace Kelly Quintet with Phil Woods will highlight the summer and early fall at the Anderson Center for the Performing Arts. The Grace Kelly Quintet with Phil Woods will perform at 8 p.m. Thursday, June 7, in the Osterhout Concert Theater. Singer-songwriter-saxophonist Kelly is a young talent whose musical sophistication goes way beyond her 19 years. She has performed more than 500 concerts since age 12 and has recorded with many notable musicians. Kelly was voted “Best Jazz Act” in Boston for four consecutive years; “Jazz Artist of the Year” at the Boston Music Awards in 2008 and 2010; earned the ASCAP Foundation’s Young Jazz Composers Award in 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011; and was listed as one of the “Alto Saxophone Rising Stars” by the Downbeat Critics Poll in 2009, 2010 and 2011, the youngest artist ever to be so named. Tickets are general public, $20; faculty/staff, $15; seniors, $15; and students, $10. For the first time ever, the Anderson Center is co-hosting with the Binghamton Philharmonic to present Marvin Hamlisch Live with the Binghamton Philharmonic at 8 p.m. Friday, July 27. Hamlisch, winner of multiple Oscars, Grammys, Emmys, Tony and Golden Globe awards will lead the Philharmonic in music from his scores to “The Way We Were,” “The Sting,” “Ordinary People” and “A Chorus Line,” plus classic hits from “The American Songbook.” The concert is sponsored, in part, by Visions Federal Credit Union. Tickets are $55, inside reserved; and $25, lawn. There will be a special opportunity to meet Hamlisch before the concert at an hors d’oeuvres reception in the Anderson Center Reception Room at 6 p.m. Cost is $25 per person (beer, wine, soda and bottled water for purchase, ID required). Deadline for reception reservation is July 16. Chicago, one of the longest-running and most successful rock groups in history, will perform at the Anderson Center at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 28. With record sales of more than 100 million, including 21 top-10 singles and 25 platinum albums, Chicago continues to play to sold-out houses worldwide, thrilling fans with classic tunes such as “Saturday in the Park,” “Beginnings,” “Colour My World,” “25 or 6 to 4,” “If You Leave Me Now” and “Hard to Say I’m Sorry.” Tickets are $70, inside reserved; $35, lawn. Bruce Hornsby’s work continues to display the same creative iconoclasm that’s been a constant in the artist’s 25-year recording career. The singer-songwriter/pianist will perform at the Anderson Center at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22. Hornsby’s commercial stock soared early on when “The Way It Is,” the title track of his debut album, became the most-played song on American radio in 1987, winning ASCAP’s Song of the Year award. “The Way It Is” and such subsequent hits as “Mandolin Rain” and “Every Little Kiss” established Hornsby as a popular pop act, while high-profile work with the likes of Don Henley, Huey Lewis and Ricky Skaggs made him an in-demand collaborator. Tickets are $39, general public; $22, students. For tickets and information, call 607-777-ARTS or visit http://anderson.binghamton.edu. inside@binghamton.edu (Inside Staff) Arts Features Tue, 08 May 2012 20:39:33 +0000 http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/men-place-second-at-america-east-outdoor-track-championships http://www.binghamton.edu/inside/index.php/inside/story/men-place-second-at-america-east-outdoor-track-championships#When:19:47:22Z Women take third place to record highest finish since 2002. Seniors Erik van Ingen, Jesse Fuca and Kaitlin Sullivan as well as junior Jessica Hennig all won individual titles, highlighting Binghamton’s performance on the final day of the America East Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Orono, Maine. The men’s team was the runner-up for the third year in a row overall while the women’s squad was third. Albany swept both team championships. The Binghamton women’s squad recorded its highest finish ever at the America East Outdoor Championships and its best performance since coming in third at the 2002 indoor conference championships. The men’s squad, meanwhile, was missing several key performers due to injuries but managed to hold off Boston to claim second place (147.5-145 points). “Our men’s and women’s teams performed as well as any teams I have had at Binghamton,” head coach Mike Thompson said. “It was a truly inspired performance by everyone and I absolutely could not be more proud of the men and women on our teams.” Following the meet, Thompson along with assistants Annette Acuff, Natilee Dawkins and Gabe Fletcher, were collectively named the America East Men’s Coaching Staff of the Year. The quartet also earned the honor following the 2011 America East Indoor Meet. In his final conference meet, van Ingen took first place in the men’s 800 with a time of 1:50.50. He later anchored the first-place 4x800 team, which also included freshman Jesse Garn, sophomore Chris Fernandez and senior Jesse McCormick. Garn also was third in the 1,500 (3:49.73) while Fernandez and McCormick were fourth and eighth in the 800, with times of 1:52.16 and 1:54.10 respectively. Van Ingen will graduate with seven individual America East track and field champion titles and has anchored three first-place relay teams. He also won the 800 at the conference indoor meet back in February. After winning the past three conference indoor titles in the 400, Hennig got her long-awaited first outdoor title in the same event. She nipped defending conference outdoor champion Allison Rogers of Albany to win in a school-record time of 54.47. Hennig set the previous mark of 54.87 in 2010. Sullivan capped off a banner year with her first America East Conference title. She won the 100 hurdles in a school-record time of 13.96. In the process, she became the first Binghamton runner ever to break 14 seconds in the event. Sullivan, who later placed fifth in the 400 hurdles (1:02.43), set the previous school record of 14.02 earlier this season. Also winning his first conference title was Fuca, who grabbed first place in the men’s 110 hurdles with a time of 14.51. He went on to place eighth in the 400 hurdles (56.79). The most impressive event for the women, however, was the triple jump, in which the Bearcats took five of the top eight places. Sophomore Alexis Murray led the charge with a second-place finish (38-7 ½) and fellow sophomore Paige Ware was third (38-2 ¼). Senior Nandi Dozier-Lewis (fifth, 38-0), freshman Alexx Baum (sixth, 37-5 ¼) and freshman Sarah Wickes (eighth, 36-6 ¼) also cracked into the scoring column. Hennig, Sullivan and sophomore Erika Kisel and Kathleen Klein sealed third place in the meet with a runner-up performance in the final event of the meet, the 4x400 relay (3:47.24). Earlier in the meet, Kisel was sixth in the 400 (57.15). Also on the women’s side, junior Ashley AuPont was third in the high jump (5-5 ½) and eighth in the 100 hurdles (15.19). Other top finishers on the men’s side included junior Casey Gilbert, who was third in the 400 hurdles, and freshman Pat Heikklia, who was third in the shot put (52-1 ¼). Junior Greg Feathers was fourth in the discus (156-00) and junior Adam Helman was fifth in the decathlon (6,108). After placing seventh in the 10,000 on Saturday, junior Anthony Geatani came back to place sixth in the 5,000, scoring three key points in the Bearcats’ quest to hold onto second place. It was the second-to-last event of the afternoon. Up next for the Bearcats is the ECAC/IC4A Championships, which will be held May 11-13 at Princeton. inside@binghamton.edu (Athletics Staff) Sports Stories Tue, 08 May 2012 19:47:22 +0000