Mohawk Valley Higher Ed Updates

ICYMI: News and event updates from colleges and universities during the past week.

New Partnership Enhances Herkimer College’s Emergency Management Certificate Program

Herkimer College is one of the only colleges in the state to offer an online emergency management certificate program at this level. With a new partnership, students in Herkimer College’s Emergency Management Certificate program can now transfer up to 18 credits toward the fully online Bachelor of Science in Emergency Services degree offered by Embry-Riddle’s Worldwide Campus.

Embry-Riddle’s B.S. in Emergency Services is among the few that carry the “Certificate of Recognition” from Fire Emergency Services Higher Education and is also accredited by the International Fire Service Accreditation Congress. According to Embry-Riddle, the curriculum is designed to address all critical knowledge areas needed for contemporary emergency responders, and the program is globally recognized for providing career advancement.

“This transfer agreement creates incredible opportunities for students who complete Herkimer College’s certificate program and ensures continuity of the top-notch instruction and flexibility participants find with our institution,” says Herkimer College Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Robin Riecker. “With this partnership, the impact to the workforce – for both employees and employers – will be significant.” Read more…

SUNY Poly Collaborative Research by Professor Shing Chi Leung Published in The Astrophysical Journal

Dr. Shing Chi Leung, SUNY Poly assistant professor of physics, collaborated with Mr. Ho Sang Chan, MPhil graduate in Physics of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Dr. Ming Chung Chu, Professor of Physics of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, on a work published in The Astrophysical Journal.

The Astrophysical Journal is an open access journal devoted to recent developments, discoveries, and theories in astronomy and astrophysics. Publications in The Astrophysical Journal constitute significant new research that is directly relevant to astrophysical applications, whether based on observational results or on theoretical insights or modeling.

In the research paper, “Dark Matter–admixed Rotating White Dwarfs as Peculiar Compact Objects,” the research team predicts the possible effects of dark matter on the structure and physical observable of rotating white dwarfs. Their model explains some unusual white dwarfs observed in stellar surveys. Read more…

Students Design Exercise Workshops for Little Red Dragons Program

More than 40 SUNY Oneonta students provided sports and exercise workshops to local children during a new “Little Red Dragons” program held from Nov. 28 to Dec. 5 at the Oneonta Boys and Girls Club (OBGC).

Students from several majors participated in the pilot program as part of their Human Growth and Motor Development course.

“The Little Red Dragons program is an experiential learning assignment,” said Dr. Katie Griffes, the course’s instructor and assistant professor of Sport and Exercise Sciences. “It is designed to give students hands-on experiences implementing and observing content they have learned throughout the semester.”

Dr. Griffes collaborated with OBGC staff over the summer to come up with a partnership that would serve both the college and the community. This fall, students enrolled in Griffes’ Human Growth and Motor Development course came up with a name for the program, which will continue to be a course requirement each semester. Read more…

MVCC Graphic Design students create logos for City of Utica

Chosen logos designed by Adam Naresky, Kendra Barajas, Taylor Smith, and Chad Garnsen
Students in Mohawk Valley Community College’s Graphic Design degree program were asked by the City of Utica to create branding for the Youth Bureau and the new Utica Proud initiative.

Utica Media Commissioner Paul Buckley chose the MVCC Graphic Design program to work on the branding project based on its history of producing professional quality graphics, including the “Utica starts with YOU” logo.

MVCC Associate Professor Scott Selden said, “Our program continues to work closely with representatives of the city to produce quality work and give real-world experience to the students.” Read more…

Students Plan, Prepare 2023 Yager Museum Exhibit

A Hawks in Flight Feature

The 11 students in the Creative Exhibits class of the Museum Studies minor got to experience what it was like to be real employees of the Yager Museum of Art & Culture this semester.

Under the tutelage of Museum Coordinator Doug Kendall, with assistance from Museum Curator Quentin Lewis, the class spent the semester working hard to put together a plan for an actual exhibition to be staged earlier next year.

The exhibit will be based on a collection of 400 artifacts bequeathed to the Museum in 2000 by Royal Gifford, a native of Treadwell, NY who became a teacher and spent more than 20 years as an educator and school administrator in Micronesia.

Early in the process, the students determined there is not a lot of general knowledge about the island group of Micronesia or its history among the museum’s current and potential audience, so they chose to make the exhibit educational. They opted to focus the exhibit on the region and its people, rather than making it an exhibition about Royal Gifford. This informed their approach to object selection and interpretation. Read more…