GCC

Here are some highlights from the June 7 meeting of the Genesee Community College Board of Trustees. It:

Approved a $261,150 change order for renovating the existing Batavia Campus tennis courts. The original tennis court work, planned as part of the recent athletic facility upgrade project, was put on hold until the remainder of the work was successfully completed.

Heard Nominating Committee member Glenn R. Morton report that the committee is recommending that Trustee Charles R. Ruffino serve as chair for the 2010-2011 year; Maureen Torrey Marshall, vice chair; and Diane D. Torcello, secretary. The board will elect officers at its July 19 annual meeting.

Heard Vice President for Student and Enrollment Services Virginia M. Taylor report that applications from prospective full-time students for the fall 2010 semester totaled 3,710 as of May 31, up 19.1% from the 3,115 applications received a year ago.

Learned that 387 individuals have applied for admission as part-time students, up 15.5% from the 335 individuals who had applied for part-time admission last year.

Heard President Stuart Steiner report that 1,550 students had enrolled in Genesee Community College's 2010 summer sessions, up 117 from the 1,433 students who had enrolled during record-breaking summer sessions in 2009. Also, Taylor reported that 270 area high school seniors had enrolled in Genesee courses this summer through the Genesee Promise Plus program, up from the 255 high school seniors who enrolled last year. She noted that high school seniors still have almost a month to register for courses, so the number of seniors participating in courses this year will probably be higher than 270.

Heard Director of Development and External Affairs Richard Ensman report that cumulative gifts to the Genesee Community College Foundation between 1985 -- the year it was established -- and 2010, totaled $8.82 million. During that period, 6,365 individuals and organizations made contributions in support of student scholarships, building programs, endowment, and other college programs. He thanked trustees for their personal financial support of the college.

Heard President Steiner report that five individuals will join the faculty this fall:

• Marshann Thomas, of Rochester, will become director of the new Polysomnographic Technology program. She is a registered polysomnographic technologist and registered respiratory therapist at Unity Health System in Rochester. She has also served Monroe Community Hospital in Rochester and Gadsden Community Hospital in Florida. She holds an A.A.S. degree from Erie Community College, a B.S. degree from SUNY Health Science Center at Syracuse, and a M.E. degree from the University at Buffalo. She is nearing completion of a Ph.D. at Florida State University.
• Toni Boyd, currently a Ft. Collins, Colo., resident, will join the faculty as instructor of English. She has teaching experience at St. Louis Community College and the University of Arkansas at Monticello. She has also worked as a freelancer author, and as a freelance editor with the Colorado State University School of Education. Boyd holds an A.A. degree from Southeastern Community College in Iowa; and B.A. and M.A.degrees from Western Illinois University.
• Brian Fraser, Ph.D, of East Aurora, will become instructor of Chemistry and Mathematics. He spent 13 years working in the semiconductor industry and has served as a member of the adjunct faculty of Genesee Community and Buffalo State colleges. He holds a B.A. from SUNY Potsdam and earned his doctorate from the University of California at Los Angeles.
• Kathleen Klaiber, currently of Jordanville, will join the faculty as instructor of English as a Second Language/English. She has more than a decade of college teaching experience, including service at Utica College and Herkimer County Community College. She holds B.A. degrees in Literature/Communication and Spanish from Pace University, and a master's degree in Applied Linguistics from University of Utah.
• Ronald Schumacher, of Rochester, will join the faculty as instructor of Engineering and Mathematics. He has served as a member of the adjunct faculty of two community colleges, Monroe and Finger Lakes, and at Rochester Institute of Technology. He has been a career advisor for CSTEP, a program fostering preparation for technology careers, and has spent many years working in industry as a product specialist and engineer. Schumacher holds an A.A.S. degree from Erie Community College, and B.S.M.E. and M.S.M.E. degrees from the University at Buffalo.

Last week, the Genesee Community College Board of Trustees approved $852,900 in contracts for the construction of a new art gallery at the Batavia campus, subject to review and approval by the architects for the project.

Low bidders winning the Board's approval were: Steve General Contractor, Inc., of Caledonia -- general construction ($590,000 base bid and $648,000 total bid with allowances); T. Bell Construction Corp., of Rochester -- mechanical ($112,700 base bid and $122,700 total bid with allowances); Thurston Dudek LLC, of Ontario -- plumbing and fire protection ($43,200 base bid and $53,200 total bid with allowances); and Concord Electric Corp., of Rochester -- electrical ($107,000 base bid and $117,000 total bid with allowances).

The art gallery will be located east of the existing Genesee Center for the Arts lobby. The one-story gallery will have about 1,700 square feet of exhibit space, as well as storage and work space.

The gallery will house modular walls which can be used to accommodate a wide variety of exhibits, including visual works, sculpture, ceramics and other media. The gallery will be built with "smart technology," which will make new media and web-based exhibits possible.

The new gallery will be used for student instruction, as well as exhibits of work by students and artists throughout the region. The college has formed a community advisory committee to help develop policies for the new gallery and involve area arts organizations in exhibits.

The art gallery was designed by Joy, McCoola & Zilch, of Glens Falls, award-winning architects for colleges and universities throughout the northeastern United States. The firm also designed the Wolcott J. Humphrey III Student Union and the Conable Technology Building, which won a juried award for excellence from the American Institute of Architects. Target date for completion of the facility is late October.

The new art gallery will add an exciting new dimension to the college and a new opportunity for community outreach, President Stuart Steiner said.

"Throughout the College's history, we have taught the fine arts and exhibited artistic works as best we could," he said. "But our exhibit space has been very limited. A professionally designed gallery, with modern and secure exhibit space, will be a wonderful resource for our students, our region's arts community, and residents of our region."

The gallery is being financed with funding from the State University of New York Construction Fund, and gifts from the Genesee Community College Foundation and Genesee Community College Association.

Three Genesee Community College instructors will embark on an English language collaboration program in Sao Paulo, Brazil this summer.

They will travel to the South American country to teach English to students at FATEC Americana, a state-run, technology-based institution. Those traveling abroad include
Charley Boyd, English professor, Connie Boyd, director of the Human Services program and Susan Drexel, Sociology assistant professor.

They will travel to Brazil July 8 to 26 to teach language as well as to share information about culture, history and geography. The collaboration between Brazilian students and American instructors will allow for a dialogue to discuss the differences and similarities between the two cultures.

Instructors will focus on topics that contrast the two cultures' holidays, climates, history, current events, politics, job seeking as well as cultural elements such as music and
cooking.

The collaboration grew out of an initial visit to Genesee from Osvaldo Succi, International Relations advisor and Rafael Ferreira Alves, Ph.D, director at FATEC-Americana in October 2009.

"We seemed to click from the very first meeting and the relationship has strengthened as a result of weekly online meetings," said James Goodwin, director of Curriculum Development at Genesee.

"This relationship between Genesee Community College and FATEC is the ideal way to engage teachers and students alike, not only to learn about another culture but to learn about a particularly diverse one," Goodwin said.

"Brazilians have a reputation for being happy, enthusiastic and high-spirited and the warmth we have experienced so far affirms a culture very much centered on relationships."

Brazil has a very exciting schedule over the next six years with the 2014 Soccer World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games. With the success of this partnership between Genesee and FATEC, the two institutions hope to build on each other's strengths and cultivate a longstanding multi-cultural relationship.

For more information please contact James Goodwin at 343-0055, ext. 6322.

An improvisation workshop will be offered on Wednesday, June 23, for people 15 and older at Genesee Community College's Stuart Steiner Theatre, at 1 College Rd. in Batavia. It will start at 6 p.m. and last about four hours. Cost is $25.

This is part of a series of "Summer Theatre Workshops" that GCC is offering until June 30, in conjunction with the Genesee Center for the Arts. These workshops give aspiring actors the chance to learn from people who have acted professionally. The improvisation workshop is geared toward helping people learn to act spontaneously and playfully.

For more information, call GCC at 343-0055. For more details on the Summer Theatre Workshops, go to: http://www.genesee.edu/index.cfm/general/dspArticle/campuslife.arts/calendar.cfm

Genesee Community College recently awarded seven local youths with a full scholarship to attend the Genesee Sport and Wellness Experience July 12 to 23.

The camp is geared toward middle-school-aged students and takes place at the Batavia Campus. The scholarship winners were nominated based on character, initiative and a demonstrated interest in, and appreciation of, wellness and sports. Effort, academic standing in health and physical education classes, and/or participation on an athletic team were taken into consideration.

The following Genesee County middle-school students were nominated by a faculty, staff member or coach from their school and have been awarded a $100 scholarship covering the entire cost of the Wellness Experience:

• Mason Muoio -- Byron-Bergen
• Stephen Durham -- Batavia
• Justice Leisten-Schwable -- Oakfield-Alabama
• Erik Moscicki -- Holy Family
• Jensen Kimmel -- Pembroke
• Joseph Schroth -- Pavilion
• John Hochmuth -- Elba

This newly developed summer program includes instruction and skill development in the areas of golf, tennis, soccer and volleyball. Education on a variety of wellness topics such as nutrition, fitness, stress management, peer pressure, and drug and substance abuse issues will also be presented and discussed.

All students in grades 6, 7 and 8 are invited to attend this program, which is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Cost is $100 and includes lunch every day and a T-shirt.

"We are very excited to present the Sport and Wellness Experience this summer," Rebecca Dziekan, director of Health and Physical Education at Genesee said. "These two weeks serve as an excellent way for local middle-school students to have some fun, play sports and have hands-on learning all at the same time."

It is not too late to register for the Genesee Sport and Wellness Experience. For further details or to register for the camp visit <http://www.genesee.edu/GCC/Wellness> and download the registration form.

For more information, please contact Dziekan at 343-0055, ext. 6424 or  <http://rldziekan@genesee.edu>.

Beginning this fall, The Campus Shop, Genesee Community College's on-campus bookstore, will give students the opportunity to take advantage of a textbook-rental program designed to deliver maximum savings and convenience.

It will allow students to rent their textbooks for less than 50 percent of the cost of purchasing a new printed textbook. Plus, as an added convenience, students will be able to rent their books either in the store or from the store's website, <http://www.geneseecc.bncollege.com>.

This decision to offer a textbook-rental program was a joint decision made by the college administration and Barnes & Noble College Booksellers.

"The college is taking on this initiative to help students afford the rising costs of textbooks," Kevin Hamilton, vice president of Finance and Operations at Genesee Community College said. "We understand that not all students can afford to buy new books during these times of economic uncertainty and we're pleased to be working with Barnes and Noble to address those concerns."

Here are some additional features:
Students can pay the rental fees using any form of tender currently accepted by the bookstore – including student financial aid. (Note: For security purposes, a valid credit card must also be provided regardless of the tender used for the rental fee.)

Students can highlight or mark the rented books just as they would if they purchased a book and planned to sell it back to the bookstore.

Students can convert their rental to a purchase during the first two weeks of class.
The rental period is for the duration of the term/semester. Books are due back at the bookstore no later than 10 days after the last day of finals. Students can return the books in person or mail them to the bookstore.

Courtesy e-mails will go out as the end of the term/semester approaches reminding students to return their books. Books not returned (or returned in unusable condition) will be subject to replacement and processing fees.

About 25 percent of the textbooks assigned by Genesee's faculty will be eligible to be rented. Textbooks that have a consumable element such as an Internet access code or a study guide are not part of the textbook-rental program.

For more information about Genesee Community College Bookstore visit <http://www.geneseecc.bncollege.com>.

Next spring, Genesee Community College will offer an immersion trip to Costa Rica to study the Central American rain forest. The tour is open to all students as well as community members who are interested in learning and studying the ecology and conservation methods of Costa Rica.

Participants will have the chance to earn college credit while learning about ethnobotany, elementary botany, ecology and earth science during this nine-day ecological tour.

The tour will be led by Genesee biology professor Maureen Leupold, who has studied the rain forests of Costa Rica on two previous college trips. Students who enroll, will earn three college credits while studying the stunning ecological terrain of Costa Rica, including volcanoes, rain forests and beaches.

Participants will travel throughout the country exploring various plant and animal habitats, experiencing the vibrant cultural traditions of the Costa Rican people and discovering how inhabitants of this diverse country are trying to conserve and protect their ecological wonderland.

The study tour starts in San Jose, the capital and cultural center of Costa Rica and continues on to the Arenal Region where students will visit a biologically diverse theme park, an active volcano, natural hot springs, biological research station and waterfalls.

The tour will continue on to Monteverde where students will visit an ecological reserve, explore rain forests, plant trees, view a canopy tour of a rain forest and attend a lecture. Participant will also experience the Central Pacific Coast and the Manual Antonio National Park. The tour closes in the Puntarenas region where students will visit a coffee plantation before returning to San Jose for their departure home.

"This is an incredible opportunity for the students here at Genesee Community College," professor Leupold said. "We strive to offer these types of hands-on learning opportunities for students at the community college level. This ecological and conservation tour is true experiential learning at its finest."

Students enrolling in the tour for college credit will register for BIO114 and be graded on a daily trip journal they are required to keep while on the tour, as well as online exams, a major research paper, oral reports, and discussions both online and in person.

The course and immersion trip is in the distance-learning format in which course material will be available online throughout the spring semester. Participants on the study tour will meet for a pre-departure seminar one month before the tour.

The Costa Rica immersion trip will run March 9-17, 2011 and is open to all. However, seats are limited to the first 24 participants. The cost for this tour is $2,227 plus airfare, with an optional insurance fee of $135. Participants who enroll for college credit in BIO114 Rainforest Biology will also pay the appropriate tuition fees for full- or part-time enrollment.

For further information on cost, registration and details, please contact Maureen Leupold at 343-0055, ext. 6394 or <http://maleupold@genesee.edu>.

Genesee Community College and Genesee Center for the Arts in Batavia continue a long-term commitment to the arts with five new theater workshops for people age 15 and up.

These one- and-two day workshops cover a variety of topics and are taught by theater experts who have worked professionally in the theater industry. The workshops take place June 21-28 at the Genesee Center for the Arts at the Batavia Campus.

How to Audition for a Play: 6 to 10 p.m. June 21 & 22  /  $50
Get that role at your next audition! Learn how to pick and perform a monologue. Learn what tools you will need to successfully audition for a play. How your voice and movement make an impression. How to make the best of "cold readings" when you have never read the script before.

Improvisation Workshop: 6 to 10 p.m. June 23  /  $25
Free yourself from the text and learn how to play with a scene. Learn the secrets behind successful improv work. Be as funny as the people on "Who's Line is it Anyway?"

Voice Workshop for the Actor: 6 to 10 p.m. June 24  /  $25
Is your voice holding you back from playing that role you've dreamed of? Learn how to project and articulate.

Musical Theatre Audition Workshop: 10 to 5 p.m. June 26 & 27  /  $75
Learn everything you need to know about auditioning successfully for musical theater. What songs to choose, how to act a song, what general dance steps will help you win the role.

Acting for the Camera: 6 to 10 p.m. June 28  /  $25
Learn the skills necessary to dazzle producers with your "on camera" persona! Learn what to wear, how to interview and what to say through the camera.

Key instructor for the workshops will be Maryanne Arena, director of Fine and Performing Arts at Genesee Community College, and her daughter Jaime Arena. Maryanne was a professional actor, singer, dancer, choreographer and director before turning to a full-time teaching career.

She holds an MFA in acting/theater and has toured the United States with several professional theater companies. Maryanne has created and implemented Theatre Programs for gifted high-school students, as well as college students.

Jaime completed her conservatory training at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City. She has worked professionally as an actor and is now teaching at the Performing Arts Academy in Hartford, Conn. Jaime is a sought-after acting coach and has several students in movies and on television.

"In the past we have offered a two-week theater experience for area youth," Maryanne said. "This year we wanted to reach out to another sector of our community and involve adults in the Center for Arts. There is an abundance of talent in our region and our goal here at the college is to educate and provide creative avenues for individuals of all ages."

For further information and/or to register, please contact Ann Winters at 345-6814, or e-mail <http://boxoffice@genesee.edu>.

Genesee Community College Director of Student Activities Clifford Scutella, on left, was recently honored by Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society (PTK) at their International Convention in Orlando, Fla. He was among only 25 administrators, from 400 chapters in the nation honored with the Administrator of Distinction Award.

This is awarded to community college vice presidents, deans or other leaders serving a community college in an administrative capacity. Awardees have served in their position for at least two years and have demonstrated a strong level of support for the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society.

Scutella was nominated by Genesee's chapter of PTK for his commitment to the students and PTK initiatives. As a community college graduate, Scutella knows the value of Phi Theta Kappa and the work the students do.

He came to Genesee in 1989 after serving as the assistant director of Student Activities at Monroe Community College from 1978-1989. He has held the position of director of Student Activities for his entire tenure as well as serving as dean of students for a few years. He resides in Brockport.

"The students at Genesee are eager to learn outside of the classroom," Scutella said. "Through clubs, organizations and student government, the students are learning about life and developing practical life lessons.

 "...I'm lucky I get to work with amazing students, but also a very supportive administration. I work with people that understand the importance of co-curricular activities. The staff and administration know that clubs and organizations enhance the quality of life at the college and contribute to student retention."

Established in 1918, Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society serves to recognize and encourage the academic achievement of two-year college students and provide opportunities for individual growth and development through honors, leadership and service programming. Students must maintain a GPA of 3.6 to become a member.

For more information please contact the office of Student Activities at 345-6832.

Sean Walker, a 2006 graduate of Geneseo Central School, is the winner of GCC's Student Art Show, which runs through May 2 and showcases the best works of the college's Fine Arts students.

Walker has been an artist since he was a kid, and he spent the last few years developing his talent before enrolling at GCC. His goal is to start a career in freelance art and eventually become an art director.

He specializes in realism and fantasy artwork, and is also interested in Romanticism and storytelling via illustration.

Photo submitted by Elisa DiPietro

The team takes time out to pray with students curbside

Liz and Dana two RA's enjoy the candy for all students donated by Olivers Candies

Spring was definitely in the air at GCC Thursday evening. While the students were busy playing volleyball, baseball, attending Self defense classes,  a team of 7 volunteers were on campus knocking on all 95 door rooms.

The ministry goes once a month to the campus dorms with treats and prayers in hand. There has been great relationships built with the students. We were there longer than usual tonight, as many students wanted to visit, talk of their struggles and have prayer. Six of the students made a committment of giving their life to the Lord!

Care-A-Van will be going back for our last visit this school year on Thursday, May 6th. We will host a cookout in the dorm parking lot beginning at 5:00 PM.  A special thanks to all of you for your support of the ministry. It is through your continued support that Care-A-Van is able to go forth and share the good news of the gospel and help others in need.