Press Release:
BATAVIA, NY -- Genesee Community College is pleased to announce I.C. Shah, founder and CEO of ICS Telecom, Inc., a provider of voice and data network services in Western New York, will be speaking on Wednesday, March 25 in room T-102 at the Batavia Campus at 6:00 PM. Mr. Shah's speech is entitled, A Passage to America. The event is co-sponsored by the Global Education Committee and Genesee's Student Government Association.
Mr. Shah was born in Mumbai (Bombay), India, and earned an undergraduate degree at the University of Mumbai. He came to the United States when he was 21 to attend graduate school at Michigan State. However, there were some trials and tribulations that arose in Mr. Shah's life that led his parents to shut off his Masters Degree financial support. From there, Mr. Shah faced many mountains in his life, but he learned how to overcome obstacles and found his "voice" to convey his messages effectively to arrive at positive situations via communication.
Mr. Shah's generous commitment of his time to Genesee Community College was procured through a lesson project within an Interpersonal Communication's class taught by Genesee instructor, Jackie DiBella. Mrs. DiBella invited him to speak to her class about cultural values shaping acceptance of and preference for a specific communication style.
Todd Plouffe, adjunct instructor of Food and Beverage Management at Genesee, and General Manager of the Delmonte Lodge, in Pittsford, nominated Mr. Shah in 2005 for the Distinguished Alumni Award that was awarded to Mr. Shah from the Alumni Association. Plouffe and Karin Kovach-Allen, Dean of Human Communications and Behavior, have positive strong sentiments about global education and suggested to DiBella to invite faculty and the Genesee student body to hear Mr. Shah's educational and commanding speech.
Mr. Shah is a graduate of Michigan State University and currently serves on the Board of Rochester Broadway Theatre League, and is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Rochester. He recently founded DIAL (Development of Indo-American Leaders) in cooperation with the United Way of Rochester to identify, train and place Asian American Indians in leadership positions in community organizations.
He is eager about setting an exemplary model to inspire young adults to persevere despite obstacles. In addition to his professional work, Shah is very involved in various non-profit organizations throughout the Rochester area. Mr. Shah is passionate about his community and the causes involving children, young adults and the disadvantaged. He has used his creativity, entrepreneurship and philanthropy to help many organizations.
Faculty, students and the general public are invited to this event on Wednesday, March 25 at 6:00 PM in the Conable Technology Building room T-102 to learn about the life, accomplishments, knowledge, beliefs, values, and customs of I.C. Shah.
For further information, please contact Nina Mortellaro in the Human Communications and Behavior department at Genesee at 585-343-0055 x6228, or at nimortellaro@genesee.edu.
