SUNY Cortland will open the 2008-09 year with an Academic Convocation on Sunday, Aug. 24, in the Park Center Alumni Arena.
All first-year and new transfer students, along with the SUNY Cortland faculty, librarians and professional staff, are invited to participate in this hour-long event, which will begin at 4 p.m.
Dinner receptions in the Park Center will follow in the Alumni Arena for students enrolled in the School of Professional Studies, in Corey Gymnasium for students in the School of Arts and Sciences, and in the Park Center Dance Studio, Room D-327, for students in the School of Education.
“Academic Convocation is always a joyous occasion,” said SUNY Cortland President Erik J. Bitterbaum. “The event signals the beginning of one’s academic career at a new institution. It is an opportunity for entering students to be officially introduced and welcomed into the campus community, and from that moment on to embrace SUNY Cortland as their alma mater.
Academic Convocation represents many beginnings — of new friendships, new studies and new opportunities for exploration and self discovery.” The Academic Convocation processional begins with the all-college gonfalonier, who leads in the faculty, followed by the Schools of Arts and Sciences, Professional Studies and Education gonfaloniers.
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Mark Prus will carry the all-college gonfalon, while the gonfalons representing the College’s three schools will be carried by the respective deans: Gerald Porter, School of Education; School of Arts and Sciences; and Roy H. Olsson Jr., School of Professional Studies.
The processional concludes when the mace bearer brings in the platform party, which consists of members of the College’s administration and faculty leadership, the College Council, visiting dignitaries and honorees. Rev. Donald Wilcox, Protestant campus minister, who retired from the College in December, will carry the mace, a ceremonial staff used as a symbol of authority.
John Cottone, associate professor and chair of the Kinesiology Department, will offer a welcome. Lisi Krall, professor of economics, will deliver the Academic Convocation address.
Speakers will include Bitterbaum; Prus; senior Aaron Marsh, president of the Student Government Association; and Robert Howe, representing the Cortland College Foundation. Two Performing Arts Department faculty, Stephen Wilson and David Neal, will provide the music. Wilson will perform the pre-convocational, processional and recessional music. Neal will sing the National Anthem and the Alma Mater.
Several returning students have volunteered to serve as student marshals. Currently coordinated through the President’s Office, the event was made possible by the collaboration of many offices, including academic departments, Residential Services and the College’s Auxiliary Services Corporation.
The concept for an opening academic convocation developed from a recommendation by the College’s Intellectual Climate Committee co-chaired by Assistant Professor of History Kevin Sheets and Associate Professor of History Randi Storch. The first academic convocation to open the academic year in many years was held in 2003.
For more information, contact Darci Bacigalupi, special events coordinator, at (607) 753-5453.