The SUNY Geneseo Alumni Association (SGAA) and the Geneseo Foundation, Inc., presented their top awards for service and philanthropy on October 18, during Geneseo President Denise A. Battles’ annual donor recognition gala. The 2019 Distinguished Service Award went to Frank L. Vafier ’74, and the foundation’s Philanthropic Leadership Award went to Larry Scoville.
The Division of Academic Affairs honored five employees on October 21 with its Awards for Outstanding Commitment to Geneseo’s Values. Provost Stacey Robertson recognized recipients at the division’s annual Fall Festival where faculty and staff celebrated their colleagues’ accomplishments.
SUNY Geneseo has been named among the most environmentally responsible colleges by The Princeton Review. The College has consistently been included in the annual guide since it was first published in 2010.
Frank Csapo, owner of the Ambassador Apartments in Geneseo, NY, and longtime supporter of the College, has made a $100,000 gift to establish the Csapo Family Endowment. The endowment will provide support for student engagement and high-impact practices with the intent to develop, expand, and facilitate educational programs and experiences for Geneseo students.
Geneseo’s successful enhanced intersession term is expanded this year with additional offerings of online and study abroad courses for winter break. The term, which runs December 30, 2019–January 21, 2020, allows students to earn credits in the interval between fall and spring terms.
The Ephemeral Arts Festival allows students and faculty to make and appreciate art made entirely from nature, from arrangements created with fallen red and orange leaves of fall to moss-covered sticks transformed into sculpture. Each creation is preserved with a photograph.
Thirteen SUNY Geneseo students are Presidential Scholars for the 2019–20 academic year, representing a variety of academic areas and exemplifying the college's institutional values. A presidential scholar is a top-achieving member of the senior class who also serves as an ambassador for the College.
The Rochester Business Journal and the Buffalo Business First journal selected seven SUNY Geneseo alumni for their annual 40 under 40 awards. Honorees will be formally recognized at award ceremonies in November.
Geneseo alumni college and university presidents returned to campus during Homecoming & Family Weekend to participate in a breakfast panel discussion on careers.
Student voting on the SUNY Geneseo campus rose by almost 600 percent in last year’s election, according to a report by the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE). The number of Geneseo students who voted increased from 335 in 2014 to 1,994 (or from 6.3 to 37.5 percent of students) in 2018.
Assistant Professor Stephen Tulowiecki and Professor David Robertson, Department of Geography, recently published an article in the Annals of the American Association of Geographers that finds Native American land use—in particular, the use of fire—was critical in shaping the distribution of oak savannas in Western New York at the end of the 1700s.
This summer, the Geneseo community welcomed a wide variety of visitors to campus, from fans of WWII aircraft to youth soccer enthusiasts, for events ranging from reunions to orientations. Nearly 9,000 people attended events or took part in activities held in college facilities, bringing to the greater Geneseo area tourist revenue and an economic impact of approximately $132,000.