Three receive SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence
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Three members of the SUNY Fredonia campus community were selected for the 2006 SUNY Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence. Download high resolution B&W photos here.
English Professor Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Music Professor Karolyn Stonefelt, and former Residence Life Director Harry Watters will accept the SUNY-level honors recognizing superior achievement at the first meeting of the All-Campus Meeting of the Fall 2006 Semester.
"The Chancellor's Awards for Excellence in full-time librarianship, professional service and teaching provide much-deserved University-wide recognition of extraordinary professional achievement," said SUNY Chancellor John R. Ryan. "I commend this year's recipients and the campus presidents, faculty and staff who aid and support them in their success throughout the school year."
The SUNY Chancellor's Awards for Excellence are “system-level honors conferred to acknowledge and provide recognition for superior professional achievement and to encourage the ongoing pursuit of excellence,” according state university officials. Recipients receive a special commendation in the college catalogue and are given a medallion to wear at ceremonies where academic robes are required.
The Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities went to Ms. Nezhukumatathil, who has been teaching creative w
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riting at SUNY Fredonia since 2001. She is considered one of the finest young poets in the United States and her writing has been honored with such awards as the Shenandoah Literary Review’s Boatwright Prize, Poetry Northwest’s Hugo Prize and the Associated Writing Programs Intro Award as well as SUNY Fredonia’s William T. Hagan Young Scholar/Artist Award and the SUNY Drescher Award. She has also received multiple nominations for the prestigious Pushcart Prize. Her poems have been published in dozens of magazines, reviews and journals throughout the country. Her second collection of poetry, “Corpse Flower,” will be published in 2007 by Tupelo Press. She is a graduate of The Ohio State University, and attended Gowanda junior and senior high school while her family lived in the area.
he Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching went to Dr. Stonefelt, who joined the Fredonia School of Music faculty in 1993, the same year she accepted a Fulbright senior scholar research grant to Ghana. She had previously taught at Indiana University, where she earned her Doctor of Music degree in Percussion Performance in 1992. Dr. Stonefelt has been cited by students and colleagues alike for being on the cutting edge in her field. She has performed around the globe, including Germany, France, and Russia, and is a former member of the Baltimore Symphony. Dr. Stonefelt is the co-founder of various chamber, jazz and percussion ensembles and has contributed to numerous musical productions, including over 20 Broadway and off-Broadway shows. Her work has been heard on numerous television and radio commercials. She is committed to the study of ethnomusicology and has introduced a number of African musical performers, instructors and concepts to SUNY Fredonia students.
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The Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service was presented to Mr. Watters, who has been directing Residence Life since 1979. He announced his retirement this summer. Mr. Watters supervised residential facilities that housed 2,600 students and managed a budget of over $12 million. During his tenure, he coordinated construction rehabilitation improvements and new projects that averaged over $500,000 annually. In his final year as Director of Residence Life, Mr. Watters helped oversee the $17 million Cranston Hall project that will, by the fall semester, include a refurbished residence hall and a new student bookstore, café and dining facility. Mr. Watters also helped SUNY Fredonia successfully host the Buffalo Bills’ preseason training camp for 18 summers.
