Three Receive 2020 Chancellor’s Awards

Three Geneseo students have received 2020 Chancellor’s Awards for Student Excellence. In a virtual video celebration, SUNY Chancellor Kristina M. Johnson honored the following Geneseo students:

   James Canning '20 from Piffard, NY
   Conlan Keenan '20 from Rochester, NY
   Angel Qiu '20 from Dansville, NY

“SUNY’s Chancellor’s Award for Excellence winners are the champions of their campuses, each showing a tireless devotion to their academics and extracurricular pursuits, as well as their care for their fellow students as mentors and leaders,” said SUNY Chancellor Johnson. “They are inspiring, and I have high expectations for how they will contribute to our society as we rebound from this current pandemic that separates us today.”

Canning, Keenan, and Qiu were among 213 SUNY students from across the state to receive the award.

Canning is an applied mathematics major with a minor in physics and the Honors Program. He is an accomplished percussionist, a talented programmer and IT assistant, and a fluent Spanish speaker. He worked for a year with a non-government organization in Nicaragua and has volunteered with the Bill Cook Foundation in Asia and South America. Canning has multiple research experiences, including with the Department of Defense, where he will work after graduation while pursuing a doctorate in mathematics.

A communication major and three-year captain of the Geneseo men’s ice hockey team, Keenan is a role model on campus and the Geneseo community. A two-time All-American and the 2019 SUNYAC Herb Hammond Player of the Year, he is vital in the organization and implementation of the Annual Matt Hutchinson First Responder Walk and Pancake Breakfast. He has volunteered frequently throughout the Geneseo community, served on multiple campus committees, and was a 2020 Hockey Humanitarian Award nominee.

Angel Qiu is an accounting major with minors in finance and mathematics, with 141 credits earned. She is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma—an international business honor society—and the Women in Business Club. She has worked with Geneseo’s Student Managed Investment Fund program and the Registrar’s Office. Qiu completed an internship in New York City, which yielded her a full-time audit position at KPMG in the financial services field after graduation.

The Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence was created in 1997 to recognize students who have best demonstrated, and have been recognized for, the integration of academic excellence with accomplishments in the areas of leadership, athletics, community service, creative and performing arts, campus involvement, or career achievement.

Each year, SUNY campus presidents establish a selection committee, which reviews the accomplishments of exemplary students. Nominees are then forwarded to the Chancellor’s Office for a second round of review. Finalists are then recommended to the Chancellor to become recipients of the award.

 For a complete listing of student recipients, visit SUNY Chancellor’s Award.