The essay “Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs on Baudelairean Traditionalism” by Thomas Bertonneau of the English faculty has appeared at the Symposium (2015) of the Sydney Traditionalist Forum. The essay investigates the relation between Charles Baudelaire’s cultural critique and the work of Joseph de Maistre. Part I of Bertonneau’s three-part essay on “Lewis Spence, True Myth, and Modernity” has appeared at The People of Shambhala. The essay explores folklorist and poet Lewis Spence’s interest in the universal deluge-myth and includes a discussion of the influence of Plato’s “Critias” on such writers as William Blake, Jacint Verdaguer, René Guénon, Nicolas Berdyaev and José Ortega-y-Gasset. Bertonneau’s review article, titled “Bradbury the Realist,” about David Seed’s “Ray Bradbury” has appeared at The University Bookman.
Mallory Bower, associate director of career services, served as the keynote speaker for the Association of College Unions International Region IV conference in Ann Arbor on Nov. 13. During her talk, “Drafting a Blueprint for Success,” she spoke with students and higher education staff about articulating accomplishments when trying to secure institutional funding or when searching for a job. Bower shared insider information and research from employers about how to leverage campus involvement in a job search and how to help students tell their story most effectively. She also presented a breakout session, “Building Your Story: Employability Skills through Involvement.”
Provost Lorrie Clemo and SUNY Oswego received the Dream Maker Award Nov. 12 from On Point for College Utica. “The award is to recognize your leadership in the First in the World grant as well as your great compassion and service to low-income, first-generation college students,” Kevin Marken, director of On Point for College Utica, wrote to Clemo. “Your inspirational leadership made possible the First in the World College Transfer Success Program, creating a national model through innovative collaboration among SUNY Oswego, On Point for College Syracuse, On Point for College Utica, MVCC, OCC and CCC. The Utica transfer advisor is already effectively helping students successfully transfer. In the coming years, your national transfer model will transform the lives of hundreds regionally and countless more around the nation.”
The SUNY Oswego Fed Challenge team competed Oct. 30 in New York City against nearly three dozen other colleges from the New York Federal Reserve District. Students representing SUNY Oswego were (pictured, from left) Hector Escamilla, in his second year as a Fed Challenge presenter, and first-time competitors Mazen Bouzeineddine, Natalie Metz and James Piccirillo, accompanied by economics professor and Fed Challenge coach Ranjit Dighe. The competition, held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in the financial district, asked the team to present to two judges who were Federal Reserve staff members. Competing teams were in six brackets of roughly six teams each, with the winner of each bracket advancing to the semifinals. Although Oswego’s team did not advance, the judges were impressed with much of the team’s presentation, notably their analysis of current economic conditions and monetary policy. The judges praised the team’s balance in noting the arguments for keeping policy unchanged versus tightening policy to avoid financial bubbles. The judges also appreciated the group’s explanation of why the standard unemployment rate is not the best indicator of the labor market. The students trained for the competition for two months, meeting once a week in September and twice a week in October. “As always, our students gained a remarkable understanding of the state of the economy and Federal Reserve policy in a short time,” Dighe said. “They came away able to make the best arguments for both sides of the debate over whether or not to raise interest rates. … A win would have been nice, but these students put together a fine presentation and have every reason to be proud. The brackets are always tough.” SUNY Oswego has participated in the Fed Challenge in every year since 2010.
Political science associate professor Lisa Glidden, pictured, delivered the keynote address Nov. 13 at the 2015 Central New York International Citizen Awards dinner, presented by the International Center of Syracuse. The event took place at Upstate Medical University’s Institute for Human Performance. See related story.
Biological sciences faculty member Karen R. Sime, an expert on the state-listed endangered species bog buckmoth, recently received a $20,000 cooperative agreement award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to put together a comprehensive species assessment report in cooperation with project manager Sandra Doran of the service’s New York Field Office. Under the agreement, Sime, pictured, will convene a meeting of other experts on the extremely rare bog buckmoth (Hemileuca sp.) and assemble information on the species’ biology and status. Six of 10 known colonies of the bog buckmoth inhabit Oswego County fens. For years, Sime and her students have studied the behavior and ecology of the bog buckmoth, which is a marker of the health and changing conditions of eastern Lake Ontario wetlands. Also, in Minneapolis in mid-November, at the annual meeting of the Entomological Society of America, Sime gave an invited talk with the title “Publishing Science: Advice from an Editor and Teacher” in a well-attended symposium titled “The Art of Writing a Successful Research Paper.” She also presented a poster on her field research, co-authored by fellow biological sciences faculty member Eric Hellquist, titled “Anastatus furnissi (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae) as a Parasitoid of the Bog Buckmoth (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae), a Rare Inhabitant of New York Peatlands.” Also attending the meeting were Abbey Jago, a junior zoology major, and David Ingber, a 2011 graduate in biological sciences who is now a doctoral student in entomology at the University of Delaware. He gave a talk on his recent research comparing Bacillus thuringiensis toxicity in host strains of the fall armyworm.