SUNY Oswego - Alumni Association - October E-Newsletter

October 2010 • Vol 6 No 7

Townhouses Dedicated, Greeted with Plenty of Praise

College leaders and dignitaries dedicated the Village townhouse community and marked the occasion with a tree planting Sept. 17.

View from the top at the townhouses Like the groundbreaking for the Science, Engineering and Innovation Corridor that preceded it, the ceremony focused on the new building’s role in educating students.

“We are certain that the Village will be a place where our students can grow and prosper,” Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Joseph Grant said. One benefit is the proximity to learning centers that on-campus housing provides the 348 juniors and seniors who might otherwise live in town.

The Village houses students in four- and six-person units in a complex just south of Glimmerglass Lagoon. The state-of-the-art, environmentally responsible community features such off-campus amenities as a full kitchen, furnished living rooms, laundry units in each house and a large commons building for leisure and studying.

Take a tour via these slideshows.

“You have the flagship student building project in the state of New York, if not the Northeast,” said Edward McGraw of Ashley McGraw Architects.

Residence Life and Housing Director Rick Kolenda said afterward that the completion of the Village is a reflection of the collective efforts from a variety of different groups, including architects, construction crews, administrative planning and student focus groups.

“The community feel is something that you remember for the rest of your life,” Student Association President Steven DiMarzo ’11 said at the dedication. “It’s what attracts good students and it’s proof of how Oswego can expand and adapt.”

Read what student residents have to say and look at pictures from inside the new community in the next issue of Oswego alumni magazine coming this fall.

— Shane M. Liebler

PHOTO CAPTION:
View of the Villages from the top floor of the Commons, where residents can grab a cup of coffee or spend downtime. Officials dedicated the entire community Sept. 17.

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Oswego Alumni Association, Inc. • King Alumni Hall - SUNY Oswego • Oswego, NY 13126
315-312-2258 • 315-312-5570 (fax) • E-mail: alumni@oswego.edu • Web site: oswego.edu/alumni

Who doesn’t want to save the world? Michael Kite ’02 does that for a living through World Wildlife Fund.

As marketing specialist for one of the world’s leading conservation organizations, Kite and his team of three work to raise more than $5 million each year. The majority of that money comes from licensing partnerships and promotions with the likes of Barnes & Noble, Gap, Hewlett-Packard, Dial and Coinstar.

Retail partnerships help WWF spread its message to the general public and raise funds for its conservation work around the globe. For example, Bank of America contributes $100 for every special Visa account opened and Nabisco is supporting WWF’s “Year of the Tiger” initiative with special packaging and a $100,000 donation. The new CVS Green Bag Tag program rewards reusable bag-toting customers, and generates five cents for WWF for each tag sold.

All support WWF’s mission of protecting the future of nature, down to the finest details, Kite said.

“We like to see that the product is made from recycled material and is recyclable itself, and somehow ties into our mission,” Kite said. The Green Bag Tag, for instance, is made from a corn-based material and features a 100 percent recycled silicone lanyard.

As a broadcasting major at Oswego, Kite got involved with WRVO-FM and WNYO-FM.

“I think it gave me a lot more confidence in talking to people,” he said. It was an important part of his early career in broadcast sales and remains an important piece in the message he “sells” today.

“The best part of my job is seeing a product in the store with the WWF logo after months of working with a company to launch it,” said Kite, who joined the organization in 2006. “It’s rewarding to give people a fun, unique way to protect our planet.”

— Shane M. Liebler