Inauguration an International Affair
Dr. Nguyen Trong Do, rector, Vietnam National University—International School, Hanoi.
The inauguration of Dr. Jorge L. Díaz-Herrera as Keuka College’s 19th president May 4 was truly an international affair.
Delegates and guests from a number of foreign countries traveled to Keuka Park for the ceremony including Madame Hiam Sakr, president of the American University of Science and Technology (AUST) in Beirut, Lebanon.
“I was honored that Madame Sakr and Dr. Nabeel Haidar, vice president for academic affairs at AUST, joined us for the celebration,” said Díaz-Herrera. “I am particularly pleased to have the pleasure of welcoming Madame president to Keuka Park and the Lucina, where she was the guest of honor at a small, family-oriented reception. In a short time, I have developed a real affinity for her school and Lebanon; quite simply, Beirut is a most enchanting place.” (more…)
College Well Represented at Graduate Student Research Conference
OT grad students Megan McGowan (left) and Melissa Schlegel.
Three alumni of Keuka College’s Master of Science degree program in criminal justice administration and two students pursuing master’s degrees in occupational therapy (OT) were selected to present papers at the SUNY Brockport Graduate Student Research Conference Saturday, April 14.
Class of 2011 members Danielle T. Harrington and Sherry L. Hunter will present their Action Research Projects (ARP) at the conference, which will showcase the work of master’s level students from colleges and universities in Upstate New York and southern Ontario, Canada. Another member of the Class of 2011, Stephanie Caloren, was selected to present but is unable to attend. Also scheduled to present papers are fifth-year OT students Melissa Schlegel and Megan McGowan.
Social Work Student Earns Golden Apple Award
While she hasn’t yet completed her bachelor’s degree in social work from Keuka College, Canandaigua resident Melanie Nwaobia is already practicing the skills that will come into play for a career serving others.
Nwaobia on the job at Canandaigua Elementary, with student Noah Haus.
Over the last three years, she has worked as a one-to-one teacher’s aide with Noah Haus, who is now a fourth-grade student at Canandaigua Elementary School. While Noah’s autism means that his verbal skills are limited, he is “an incredibly smart young man” who works hard and excels with hands-on tasks, Nwaobia said. Using calendars and schedules with visual cues and icons, as well as technology tools like an iPad with apps he can manipulate and receive electronic “applause” for completing, Nwaobia assists Noah as he works through classroom lessons.
In December, Noah’s parents nominated Nwaobia for the Golden Apple Award from WROC- TV (Channel 8), the CBS affiliate in Rochester. A TV crew then came to the classroom to surprise her with the honor and to film Nwaobia and Noah going about the routines of his school day. (Click HERE to see the TV footage.)
In a letter to the station, Noah’s parents wrote how each day, Nwaobia sends home a full note detailing their son’s entire day, since he does not have the typical language and social skills to tell them himself. She sends text messages and photos too, so that they can celebrate the little successes Noah has each day.
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The Ethical Fork in the Road
Dr. Albert J. Simone.
Referring to the “constant parade of stories describing violations of individual and institutional integrity,” former RIT President Dr. Albert J. Simone today (Dec. 11) said the individuals involved “took the wrong branch when they came to their ethical fork in the road.”
“I am sure there are many more individuals who took the proper branch; unfortunately, we do not hear very much about these individuals,” added Simone, who spoke at Keuka College’s mid-year conferral of degrees. “The individuals who took the wrong branch are newsworthy and that is what the media tend to highlight.”
Simone assumed the graduates had come to this fork in the road “several times already” and during the course of their lives and careers will come to it “numerous times. (more…)
What’s New: ASAP Faculty
Richard Martin is keenly aware of the challenges adult students face.
Director of the Accelerated Studies for Adults Program (ASAP) criminal justice program and assistant professor, he is only six years removed from these same challenges himself. Martin received a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice systems from Keuka in 2005.
“When I went back to school for my bachelor’s degree, I began to see the possibility of entering the teaching profession,” said Martin, who served in the Army’s 101st Airborne Division as an active duty infantry team leader through Operation Desert Storm. He also served in the Army Reserves (drill sergeant), and National Guard, (transportation platoon sergeant).
Martin began his police career with the Village of Fredonia, moved to the Newark Police Department, where he worked with undercover narcotics and fire investigations, and then joined the Rochester Police Department (RPD).
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What’s New: Traditional Faculty
An interest in teaching smaller classes in order to foster greater student interaction is part of what brought Ithaca resident Laurel Hester to a new post at Keuka College this fall.
The small-college feel got in the assistant professor of biology’s veins during her own undergraduate studies at Swarthmore College, where she double-majored in biology and history. As a graduate student, Hester discovered she had a love of teaching, especially teaching biology, and as she worked toward her Ph.D. at the University of Michigan, she began putting that passion into play. She went on to teach at the University of South Carolina, and later Cornell, where she taught as many as 400 students at a time in large lecture halls.
“The chance to teach smaller classes where I can really get to know the students and teach a wider variety of classes in a more interactive way is really what drew me here,” Hester said.
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Meet New Faculty: Frank Colaprete
Editor’s Note: This is the sixth in a series of profiles on new, full-time faculty members.
Frank Colaprete became familiar with Keuka College’s Accelerated Studies for Adults Program (ASAP) while serving with the Rochester Police Department (RPD).
In fact, he referred several of his officers to ASAP to complete their undergraduate degrees.
“I am a firm believer in the lifelong learning concept, and have been a student longer than I have been a teacher,” said Colaprete, associate professor of criminal justice in ASAP. “I know what it’s like from both sides of the podium, and I still actively seek opportunities to learn as well as transfer that codified and experiential knowledge to others.”
So, Keuka’s ASAP and model of experiential education was a “perfectly natural extension of that for me,” said Colaprete. “As a trainer for more than 24 years, all of my students were continuing education adult professionals working to advance their knowledge and careers.”
Colaprete sees a reflection of himself in his adult students.
“With a background and terminal degree in adult education, I fully understand the needs of adult learners and the nature of how theory and application can be delivered in the classroom,” said Colaprete, who holds bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Roberts Wesleyan College, and a doctoral degree from Fischler Graduate School of Education at Nova Southeastern University. He is also a Certified Litigation Specialist (CLS) in the law enforcement field.
Colaprete was member of the RPD from 1985-2005 and was assigned to patrol, research, training, administration, internal affairs, background investigations, investigative supervision, and investigative support.
Colaprete joined the ASAP faculty part-time in 2005 and served as a visiting associate professor.
In addition to teaching at Keuka, Colaprete is the owner and lead consultant of Justice Systems Solutions LLC, an independent consulting firm that works with law enforcement and public safety organizations.
Colaprete’s research interests are in police science and operational issues, the criminal and administrative investigation processes, police training techniques, program evaluation methodologies, mentoring, and knowledge management.
Colaprete developed a love for teaching early in his police career and began training other police officers in 1987.
“That passion grew through continuing my education and entering the higher education field,” said Colaprete. “I teach mostly graduate studies in criminal justice research, statistics, leadership, administration, and human resources.”
In addition to Keuka, Colaprete has served as a faculty member, instructor, and consultant for such institutions as Norwich University, New England College, Nova Southeastern University, Walden University, Roger Williams University’s Justice and Training Research Institute, Performance Institute, and the Civic Institute at Mercyhurst College.
He is co-author of Internal Investigations: A Practitioner’s Approach and Mentoring in the Criminal Justice Professions: Conveyance of the Craft. He has published several peer- reviewed and professional journal articles in the areas of criminal and internal investigation, as well as police training techniques.
He earned a Top 10 finalist award from the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and has been featured in the National League of Cities database for successful municipal programs. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Faculty Member of the Year Award for 2009 from Norwich University’s School of Graduate Studies.
Case in Point: Bringing Work Home
From left: Rappenecker's brothers, Frankie, Malik and Roderick
Almost two years after first taking her three younger brothers – now ages 6, 13 and 16 – into her home, and formally enrolling as a foster care parent, Kayleigh Rappenecker of Rochester is on the verge of adopting them. While a December court date has not yet been finalized, the adoption could be complete before Christmas.
It’s a personal milestone that has given Rappenecker an uncommon level of experience when working with future clients in the next vein of her emerging career as a social worker.
That’s because Rappenecker is still completing courses for her bachelor’s degree in social work through Keuka College’s Accelerated Studies for Adults Program (ASAP). At 25, Rappenecker is younger than the “typical” adult student enrolled in a Keuka ASAP course of study. She first began courses in January 2010, while pregnant with her first child.
ASAP Assistant Professor of Social Work Julie Burns said that while it is common for family members such as grandparents, aunts or uncles to take in younger children as foster children, or even adopt them, it is rare for an older sibling to take on the role of surrogate parent. In Rappenecker’s case, she wanted to intervene and keep her brothers together.
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Penny-Pride: Fund-Raiser Garners ASAP Support
They were cleaning the car out when the idea struck.
Helen Hoefer
Christie Hoefer, 17, daughter of Oswego resident Helen Hoefer, wound up staring at a handful of pennies in her hand, culled from the car’s interior, and voiced aloud, “These pennies are such a waste.”
“Not really,” replied her mother, an 11-year employee of Catholic Charities Food Pantry in Oswego. “Fourteen of them would buy a pound of food from the FoodBank of Central New York.”
Recomputing, the Oswego High School senior asked, “Oh, wow – I wonder how much a million pennies would buy?”
Christie's grandfather donated to her cause.
“Hmm, let’s see,” her mother responded, and within hours – after granddad Donald Greenlay had rolled $125 in pennies he had been collecting in a giant jar for as long as Helen could remember - Christie had the underpinnings for a fund-raiser officially launched in July: Pennies 4 Pantries.
When Helen, who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in social work through Keuka’s Accelerated Studies for Adults Program (ASAP), relayed her daughter’s idea back to her fellow students in Cohort 239, which meets at Onondaga Community College each week, the group latched onto the concept.
“Someone in Helen’s cohort said ‘Let’s try to get a million pennies by graduation,’ and I said, ‘Excellent, that’s our goal,’” recalled ASAP instructor Vicki O’Connor. At the time, the students were working through what O’Connor called a “macro-level” social work course that dealt with volunteerism, social activism, and leadership within one’s own community.
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Meet New Faculty: Stan Wilczek
Editor’s Note: This is the seventh in a series of profiles on new, full-time faculty members.
One of the strengths of Keuka College’s Accelerated Studies for Adults Program (ASAP) is the hands-on experience that faculty members bring to the classroom.
Case in point: Stan Wilczek, assistant professor of organizational management.
He is a 30-year veteran of Niagara Mohawk, a Fortune 500 company, where he held down key managerial posts, including vice president of nuclear support and vice president of customer service.
“I feel an obligation to give back to society,” said Wilczek of his desire to teach the next generation of business leaders. “I am lucky to have experienced what I have.”
Executive Director of Communications Doug Lippincott, a former Wilczek student, said Wilczek’s “real-world experience meshed well with what he was teaching in the classroom. That combination was invaluable. Many things I learned in Stan’s classes I was able to put into practice in my job.”
“One of the thoughts I always try to leave students with is that they are not just ‘spending time in the classroom,’ but that they should soak up all of the learning that they can and apply what they are learning in their current jobs,” said Wilczek “If students go through the program with the goal of just earning a degree, it will not take a future boss long to figure out that he or she does not have the skills needed in today’s workplace, such as problem-solving, decision-making, working on teams, and technical/professional writing.”
Wilczek, who earned a bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering from SUNY Buffalo and a MBA from Syracuse University, has been a part of ASAP for five years. In addition to Keuka, he has taught at SUNY Oswego, Le Moyne College, and Bryant and Stratton. He has taught traditional and older students and enjoys doing both, and adjusts his teaching style to meet the needs of each group.
“Non-traditional students have more knowledge and experience from which to work,” he said. “A 21-year-old doesn’t know as much as someone 55 to 60 years old.”
In addition to his business acumen, Wilczek brings a lot more to the classroom.
“He is the most prepared teacher I ever had,” said Lippincott, who earned a master’s degree in management from Keuka in May.
Wilczek subscribes to dozens of magazines so that he is as up-to-date as he can be. In his Strategic Management course he engaged his students in a discussion about Apple, in particular how the company would fare after the death of Steve Jobs.
Wilczek is also the author of two novels: The Kept Secret was published in 2006, followed by The Soma Man in 2008. His third book is currently in the works.
“He shared what he went through writing books, most notably the importance of conducting quality research,” said Lippincott. “That inspired me to conduct solid research for my Action Research Project.”
Despite a budding writing career, Wilczek has no plans to give up teaching.
“I enjoy being in a classroom,” he says. “I’m at the point in my career where I only do things for fun.”
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