Campus Report
News, Calendar & Events

Telarc International, a prominent record label in classical music, has picked the Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall at SUNY Fredonia to record the debut album of 16-year-old violinist Caroline Goulding, a rising talent who has already performed with major orchestras in Cleveland and Detroit and won several young-artist honors.

The Fredonia College Choir and guest soloists, along with professional chamber orchestra under the direction of Gerald Gray, will perform J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 10, in the Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall at the SUNY Fredonia School of Music.

Coached by Philosophy Professor Andrew Cullison, SUNY Fredonia students recently competed in the Northeastern Regional Ethics Bowl Tournament at Villanova University. The debate-style competition, sponsored by the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, focused on all theoretical or applied ethics issues. SUNY Fredonia did well but ultimately lost a chance to go to the nationals by a very small margin

Four seniors at SUNY Fredonia have raised $600 to send to a foundation in Ecuador. The money-raising effort was named AMIGOS (A Mission In Giving Opportunities to Students) and was a project for Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE). The foundation, La Fundación Crecer, is an organization whose central purpose is to provide poor Ecuadorian children with an education.

 The next CD to be released by Natalie Merchant, former lead singer of 10,000 Maniacs, will become the newest link between SUNY Fredonia and the beloved alternative rock group founded in Jamestown, N.Y.   Raymond Stewart, associate professor of Music and member of Meridian Arts Ensemble, spent a day-long recording session this fall with Merchant in September.

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards announced that Gregory Cole, lecturer in the Computer and Information Sciences department, has achieved National Board Certification in 2008. 

Students taught by National Board Certified Teachers make higher gains on achievement tests than those taught by teachers who have not applied or did not achieve certification, according to a report issued by the highly-respected National Research Council of the National Academies. The report stated, “evidence is clear that National Board Certification distinguishes more effective teachers from less effective teachers with respect to student achievement.”

The Congressionally-mandated report also found that National Board Certification has a positive impact on teacher retention and professional development.

Research consistently shows that National Board Certified Teachers provide their students with quality learning. Like board certification in medicine or accounting, National Board Certification is teaching’s highest professional credential.

“Better schools and improved student learning are goals we all support. The key is better teaching. With each new class of National Board Certified Teachers, more students are benefiting from the innovative strategies and renewed commitment to student learning that these advanced teachers bring to the classroom,” said former Georgia Governor Roy E. Barnes, chair of the NBPTS Board of Directors. “The certification process itself and incentives for those who earn the credential help meet the challenges of retaining our most accomplished teachers in the classroom and in the profession.”

Mr. Cole is also an Information Technology faculty member for the E2CC  BOCES, where he teaches at the Lakeshore/Carrier Career and Technical Academy.

The 2008 Empty Bowls event is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 6 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at St. John’s United Church of Christ, 733 Central Ave., Dunkirk. As is traditional in most Empty Bowls fund raisers, folks make a tax-deductible contribution, choose a bowl they like and are served a simple meal of soup in it. Subsequently, the bowl is washed and wrapped for them to take home.

The Professional Development Series offered to the community by the SUNY Fredonia COPC program this fall was a success and will be offered again in 2009, director of the COPC Program Sherry Lantz said. Speakers and presenters included Rich Goodman, Dr. David Doino, and Kathy Peterson.

SUNY Fredonia’s Golden Key International Honour Society chapter is first in its region, and fifth highest in the U.S., for member join response rate. A total of 330 SUNY Fredonia students were eligible to join Golden Key and 147 opted to joined. There are 23 chapters in the region encompassing SUNY Fredonia, and just under 300 chapters in the United States. Membership is offered exclusively to students ranking in the top 15 percent of their class.Advisors to the honor society at SUNY Fredonia are Ann Carden and Mark Suida.

The Fredonia Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Dr. David Rudge of the SUNY Fredonia School of Music, will perform a mix of classical and contemporary works on Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 8 p.m. in the university’s Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall. Special soloists will be students who won the Concerto Competition earlier this semester.

A benefit for children orphaned by AIDS in Malawi, a sub-Saharan country in Africa, will be staged by Orchesis Dance Company on Thursday, Dec. 4, 7 p.m., in Dods Gym at SUNY Fredonia. Tickets, at $2, are available at the Fredonia Ticket Office in the Williams Center, online and also at the door.

A beloved holiday tradition will combine readings and musical portrayals of the story of Christmas on Saturday, Dec. 13, at the First United Methodist Church in Fredonia when the Fredonia Women's Choir presents, "The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols."  There is no fee for the event, but freewill offerings to the church are welcomed. All students, faculty and staff are invited to attend, as are area community members.

The SUNY Fredonia Brown Bag lecture series is pleased to feature a post-election conversation in which faculty scholars representing multiple disciplines will compare notes on one of the most momentous presidential election campaigns in U.S. history. Entitled, “Reflections, Lessons and Implications,” the event will take place on Wednesday, Dec. 3, at noon in Room S-104 of the Williams Center. It is free and open to all campus and community members; classes are also welcome.

Students  will again sponsor the second-annual Chautauqua County AIDS Walk on Saturday, Dec. 6, to raise funds for African children who are AIDS victims. Douglas and Ann Manly, two Fredonia residents who lost their son, David, to AIDS in 1983, will be this year’s guests of honor. Registration packets are available in the Campus Life office in the Williams Center.

On Friday, Dec. 5, volunteers will be sweeping the SUNY Fredonia campus collecting donations for the 9th annual Campus-Wide Donation Drive. All items collected will be donated to the local agencies of the Chautauqua County Rural Ministry and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Youth Organization.