SUNY Oneonta Student Fashion Show

After months of sketching, shopping, and sewing, 32 student fashion designers sent their original lines down the runway before a high-energy crowd of several hundred friends, family and community members.

“Going from just a sketch to seeing it live on a model was absolutely amazing,” said Katie Faliski, a sophomore from Florida, N.Y., whose “Rendezvous” collection won a first-place award at the Student Fashion Society’s annual Spring Fashion Show on March 10.

A 25-year tradition that’s among the most popular events on campus, the show offers students in one of SUNY Oneonta’s largest and most unique academic programs the chance to put the skills they’ve learned in the classroom into practice. Before making it to the runway, each garment must pass a rigorous inspection by Dr. Annacleta Chiweshe, Associate Professor of Fashion and Textiles and adviser to the Student Fashion Society.

During the two-hour show, more than 100 student models strutted down a runway constructed for the event in the Dewar Arena of the Alumni Field House. Collection themes ranged from “Cocktail Hour” to “Life’s a Circus,” and the garments unveiled ran the gamut from halters and shorts to trailing gowns. Each line was evaluated by a panel of judges based on a variety of criteria, including innovation, craftsmanship, fit, presentation and salability, and the winners were announced at the end of the show.

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SUNY Oneonta President Dr. Nancy Kleniewski, left, with Springbrook Executive Director Patricia Kennedy, center, and some of the Springbrook employees who may benefit from the new master's program.

SUNY Oneonta has entered into an innovative partnership with Springbrook, a multiservice agency supporting people with developmental disabilities throughout Central New York.

Under the new program, announced Feb. 29, teaching assistants working in Springbrook’s school for children with autism will have the opportunity to earn a master’s degree in special education at SUNY Oneonta, tuition-free, within two years.

The collaborative venture is expected to attract high-caliber graduate students to the college and boost retention and recruitment at Springbrook, which recently completed a historic $22.5 million capital campaign that will support a programmatic expansion that includes the creation of more than 100 new jobs.

The first group of students will enroll in fall 2012. Most classes will be taught at Springbrook, and some will be offered online and on the SUNY Oneonta campus. Students will earn an M.S.E.D. in special education with a concentration in early childhood, childhood, or adolescence. Classes will be taught by faculty from SUNY Oneonta’s nationally accredited Division of Education, and the program will be administered through the college’s Office of Graduate Studies. Springbrook will reimburse students for their tuition upon completion of their degree.

“This is very exciting,” said SUNY Oneonta President Dr. Nancy Kleniewski. “We’re really trying to partner with the organizations and businesses in our community, because we see a nice fit between their needs and the programs we have to offer. This new partnership is a wonderful opportunity to use our resources to support the needs of one of Otsego County’s largest employers.”

In addition to supporting current employees in advancing their skills, Springbrook seeks to provide attractive job opportunities for people within and outside the area. “This kind of program will draw young people to our community for two years to get to know us, to be a part of it, and, hopefully, to stay,” said Springbrook Executive Director Patricia Kennedy.

A leader in providing innovative supports for people with developmental disabilities, Springbrook supports more than 750 individuals and families and employs nearly 1,000 people across Central New York. The agency offers educational, residential, therapeutic, habilitation and community supports that span all aspects of an individual’s life and is committed to offering advanced research and treatment options. Based on state Highway 28 just outside of Oneonta, Springbrook operates more than two dozen satellite facilities, including Kids Unlimited, the only preschool in Otsego County with an integrated program for both typical and disabled children.

More than 250 professionals from as far away as Oregon and Florida are expected to attend the ninth annual Northeast Annual Giving Conference March 20-21 at SUNY Oneonta’s Hunt College Union. SUNY Oneonta is the first public college selected to host the annual event, which examines trends and issues facing annual giving professionals at educational institutions and other not-for-profit organizations.

The conference, which has expanded from one to two days for the first time this year, will include networking events, keynote speakers and breakout sessions on topics such as managing volunteers, using social media, direct-mail strategies and persuasive writing. It will begin at 9 a.m. March 20 with registration and opening remarks by SUNY Oneonta President Dr. Nancy Kleniewski.

Penelope Burk, president of Cygnus Applied Research Inc., will give the keynote address. Burk has more than 40 years of experience in not-for-profit management, fund raising and research and is the author of two books and a series of national research studies on donor behavior. She has also written more than 60 seminars, training programs and dramatic plays specifically for not-for-profit organizations.

The second day of the conference will open with a keynote address by author, lecturer, teacher and fund-raising consultant Jerry Smith. Bob Burdenski, an internationally recognized annual giving consultant, author, speaker and trainer, will give the closing keynote address.

The cost of the two-day conference is $100, and the registration deadline is March 14. Registration information and the conference schedule are available at www.oneontaalumni.com/neagc2012. More information on this event is available from Mark Piekarski, Director of Annual Giving at SUNY Oneonta, at (607) 436-2563 or Mark.Piekarski@oneonta.edu.

A crew from “60 Minutes Australia” was in Oneonta on Sunday to shoot footage for an upcoming segment featuring Dr. Tony Cicoria, the local orthopedic surgeon who developed a previously unknown ability as a pianist and composer after being struck by lightning in 1994.

The “60 Minutes” crew, under the direction of foreign editor and senior story producer Howard Sacre, spent about two hours on campus recording Cicoria playing the piano on the Hunt College Union stage. Continue reading →

A group of 19 SUNY Oneonta geology students put their knowledge into practice in January during a 12-day trip to Mecca Hills Wilderness and Anza Borrego Desert State Park in Southern California.

The trip kicked off an advanced geology course taught by Dr. Leslie Hasbargen of SUNY Oneonta’s Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences this semester. “There is a persistent need for trained geoscientists with experience in geologic field investigation,” said Dr. Hasbargen, and the Southwestern United States is an ideal place for students to gain insight into how the Earth works via direct observation.

Led by Dr. Hasbargen and four other members of the SUNY Oneonta science faculty and staff, the students examined a wide spectrum of rocks – from intrusive igneous to metamorphic – and saw a variety of landscape processes, including dunes, landslides, eroding mountains and desert pavement.

The group stayed at campgrounds and rose with the sun to embark on field exercises. “It felt like you were a real geologist,” said Elly Powers, a senior majoring in Earth Science Adolescent Education. “You’re using a compass, taking measurements, writing down coordinates, making observations and trying to figure out why something happens the way it does. It’s a much deeper experience than you could have in a classroom.”