Washington Monthly Gives College High Marks
President John F. Kennedy would have liked the way Washington Monthly ranks colleges.
“Conventional rankings like those published by U.S. News & World Report are designed to show what colleges can do for you,” say the magazine’s editors. “Since 2005, our rankings have posed a different question: What are colleges doing for the country?”
According to the Washington Monthly College Guide and Rankings, Keuka College is doing a lot.
In its 2012 rankings, Keuka is ranked No. 8 out of 309 baccalaureate colleges in the country. The College was No. 38 a year ago.
“I have been on campus barely two months and in such a short time what I knew about the College has been confirmed by my observations, and the contagious enthusiasm is everywhere,” said College President Jorge Díaz-Herrera. “I’m not surprised we are so close to being the No.1 baccalaureate college in the country. Well done Keuka! I look forward to continued successes and new beginnings.”
The Washington Monthly rankings are based on social mobility, research and service.
According to the editors, one-third of each college’s score is based on social mobility, that is, “how committed are they to enrolling low-income students and helping them earn degrees?” The second category looks at research production and success at sending undergraduates on to Ph.Ds. The third measure focuses on service. “It’s not enough to help students look out for themselves. The best colleges encourage students to give something back.”
In the service metric, Keuka is ranked No. 1 in the country in terms of “community service participation and hours served.”
Keuka has been named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for the past four years.
For more on the Washington Monthly College Guide and Rankings, go to http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/index.php.
A Festive Approach
Is it coincidence that the Keuka Arts Festival is held the same weekend in June as Keuka College’s annual Alumni Reunion Weekend? Perhaps not.
According to Festival Director Chris Vaughan, the volunteer committee that oversees it has diligently tried to “cross-connect” the arts fest with Reunion Weekend for the last three years. Organizers are delighted to have faculty and staff willing to hang a few posters on campus and send returning alumni and their families out to the festival site grounds, along the Penn Yan boat launch on Water Street, Vaughan said.
“We just want to let them know there’s all sorts of things to do after they’ve (visited) campus,” he said.
First incorporated in the 80s, the original arts festival was held on the College campus, but petered out in the late 90s for unknown reasons, Vaughan said. Now in its fourth year since Vaughan and his wife helped revive it, the festival boasts some 75 artisans, several wineries offering tastings, an array of festival foods and live music. This year’s event will run 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, June 11 and 12.
“Some people make that connection of what we do now as a rebirth or continuation of what was going on there (before),” said Vaughan, adding that the couple was new to the area and had never heard of a prior event when they first took their idea to the Penn Yan Village Board. (more…)
General Peter Pace Challenges Keuka Graduates
Pace
Thanks to his eighth-grade English teacher, General Peter Pace, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, learned that conduct was part of his grade in life. That teacher was the late Marion Cutler, a 1952 Keuka graduate.
“Ms. Cutler taught me the difference between capability and conduct,” said Pace.
Years later, serving as a Marine in Vietnam, pausing to consider his conduct prevented Pace from ordering an airstrike that would have decimated a village of innocent women and children.
“Take time to set your moral compass,” Pace urged Keuka graduates during the 103rd commencement Sunday. “You will be morally challenged when, emotionally, you are least prepared to deal with it. Decide for yourself what you and will not do … so that when a challenge does come, you take the three to five seconds to think through (it).”
After giving him a “D” in the first quarter of his eighth-grade English class for “always mouthing off with some kind of joke,” he said, Cutler’s face would pop into his head in later years when tempted to say something inappropriate.
Dean of Students and Vice President for Student Development Jim Blackburn and 2011 graduate Ben Gilligan share a laugh briefly before the 103rd commencement processional.
“The way you conduct yourself impacts everybody around you,” said Pace, who was awarded an honorary doctorate Sunday, along with the late Cutler, who died in March. Pace accepted his award “on behalf of the 2.4 million (soldiers) in our armed forces that make days like today possible.”
The Sunday ceremony was the final one for College President Joseph G. Burke, who is retiring after 14 years. Burke was awarded the title President Emeritus by Melissa Brown, Class of 1972, and chair of the College’s governing board.
Other commencement highlights included:
-
Slocum, at podium, gives his acceptance speech shortly after being conferred the Doctor of Humane Letters degree by President Joseph G. Burke.
An honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree was presented posthumously to Marion Cutler. Cutler was one of General Pace’s favorite teachers growing up in New Jersey. The two exchanged letters often after Pace assumed his Joint Chiefs’ responsibilities and remained close up until Cutler’s death in March.
- George Slocum, who celebrated his 50th anniversary of employment at the College in April, also received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree and a standing ovation from students, faculty and staff. Though Slocum is “retiring” from the College, he will continue to hold down his part-time job cleaning at the U.S. post office in Keuka Park, where he has also worked nearly 35 years.
- Three students (Stephen Ingram, Elaine Bailey, and Michael Fenton) from the D.R.I.V.E. (Diversity, Responsibility, Inclusion, Vision, and Experiential learning) received an Award of Higher Education at commencement. In the program, Keuka College students serve as peer mentors to young adults with intellectual disabilities as they assimilate into the college environment and explore their personal goals. D.R.I.V.E. is a collaboration between Keuka College, Penn Yan Central School District, and Yates County ARC.
- Rita Gow, assistant professor of accounting, received the 2010-11 Professor of the Year Award.
- Retiring faculty members Diane Burke, professor emerita and chair of education, and Helen Clancy (nursing) were honored.
Teacher Plans Further Studies
Editor’s Note: This is the 8th in a series of stories saluting members of the Class of 2011. We asked division chairs for story ideas and they in turn contacted faculty members for ideas. We believe they came up with some terrific profiles.
Erin Madigan has always known she wanted to be a teacher. Sure, she debated what grade, learning level and subject she wanted to teach, but she was always convinced her future career would be at the front of a classroom.
It should be no surprise, then, that the Melrose resident will graduate Sunday with a degree in adolescent English and special education. And while Madigan said she will miss Keuka, her friends, and the professors who have pushed her further than what she initially thought she was capable of, she is excited to finish her student teaching semester and start in on her master’s degree.
“I can’t believe I’m graduating already. It’s crazy. I feel like I just started here,” said Madigan, who transferred into Keuka in the fall of 2008, after completing her senior year of high school at Hudson Valley Community College, which granted her freshman college credits at the same time. “I have loved every minute I’ve been here.”
Madigan said she knew she definitely wanted to teach secondary level students and definitely wanted to teach English. She is especially grateful for the three Field Period internships she now has “under her belt, so I won’t be blind for my first experience (leading) a classroom,” she said. (more…)
Experiential Learners of the Year Named
Senior Emmalee Pearce receives the upperclass Experiential Learner of the Year Award from Sally Daggett, associate director of the Center for Experiential Learning.
A bike trip that turned into elementary school lessons and daily observations of state troopers’ work, including undercover work garnered the top awards in experiential learning for senior Emmalee Pearce and freshman Caroline Lennon at the annual Honors Convocation ceremony May 7 at Keuka College.
Pearce, a unified childhood/special education major from Wilson, N.Y., biked some 4,000 miles roundtrip along the East Coast of the U.S. through 13 states in the summer of 2010 and converted her experiences into a specialty elementary instructional plan. Dubbed “Read Across America,” Pearce’s curriculum was crafted to teach students engaging math, science or social studies lessons based on the places she visited along the way.
Mazella Finds Purpose from Field Period
Editor’s Note: This is the ninth in a 10-part series on the 2011 Experiential Learner of the Year Award nominees. Nominees for the upperclass and freshman awards will be honored at a luncheon May 6; the winners will be revealed at Honors Convocation May 7.
The Keuka Field Period often confirms a student’s choice of major and future career. But sometimes, the opportunity to garner hands-on experience in a particular field can send a student in a different direction.
Four years ago, Chris Mazella was enrolled in the organizational communication program and hoped to try his hand at journalism. But a struggle to find an internship with a newspaper led him instead to his high school, where a former teacher suggested he observe how communication plays into teaching. After observing her 9th grade social studies classes for a couple weeks, Mazella asked if he could try teaching a lesson himself. Not only did Mazella enjoy it, but his supervising teacher told him he was a natural and could do well in the classroom.
Back on campus, Teri Spoor, who manages the IKON print shop at Keuka and supervised Mazella for four years as a work-study employee, remembers well the difference she noticed.
(more…)
On-Campus or Off, Spina Shines
Editor’s Note: This is the third in a 10-part series on the 2011 Experiential Learner of the Year Award nominees. Nominees for the upperclass and freshman awards will be honored at a luncheon May 6; the winners will be revealed at Honors Convocation May 7.
As the winner of the High School Experiential Learner of the Year fellowship, Francesca Spina of Rochester came into her freshman year of college with some background experience in hands-on learning.
According to multiple staff and faculty who work with her, Spina’s dedication to excellence has shown both in and out of the classroom. Spina has garnered praise for her enthusiasm, friendliness, maturity and natural leadership qualities, and has already been nominated for future leadership positions next year, including a writing tutor in the Academic Success at Keuka (ASK) office, and a new student orientation mentor to first-year students.
Spina conducted her January Field Period at Child Time Learning Center of Rochester, working with each age level from infants to toddlers to three- and four-year-olds, and even an afternoon with school-age children when bad weather forced schools to close. Spina, an adolescent social studies and special education major, impressed supervisor Wendy Dettmer such that Dettmer asked her to return for a summer job.
Where Have All the Cowboys – er, men- Gone?
If Newton’s third law of physics states that every action requires an opposite and equal reaction, then Jennie Joiner would like to see that applied to emerging trends in the state of manhood.
“If we’ve redefined feminism, we need to redefine [masculinity],” says Joiner, assistant professor of English at Keuka. “We’re in an interesting space culturally, where no one wants to step up and do that – it makes everyone uncomfortable.”
As such, a Thursday talk Joiner will present, “Lifting the Fig Leaf to Reveal Hidden Masculinities,” will explore contemporary notions of masculinity in the figurative cowboy as depicted in the novel True Grit and its two film versions. Joiner’s talk will also include a scene from the recent Keuka production of Rabbit by Nina Raine and a discussion of the themes of that play. Her presentation starts at 4:15 p.m. in Hegeman 109.
The cowboy – a specifically American icon – has always embodied the conflicting issues seen in manhood, she said. However, there’s a difference between the 1968 cowboy depicted by John Wayne and the 2010 cowboy depicted by Jeff Bridges in the Coen brothers recent Western remake, Joiner said, one that speaks to an apparent reluctance on the part of men these days to embrace a fully defined role.
Young Builds Bridges With Youngsters
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a 10-part series on the 2011 Experiential Learner of the Year Award nominees. Nominees for the upperclass and freshman awards will be honored at a luncheon May 6; the winners will be revealed at Honors Convocation May 7.
Given the impact her former grade-school teacher had on steering her toward a career in education, it may come as no surprise that Keuka freshman Colleen Young sought out that same teacher as a prospective supervisor for her first Field Period.
Indeed, fourth-grade teacher Deb Catalano of Northside Elementary School in Fairport was happy to welcome Young back to the classroom. This enabled the unified childhood education major, also a Fairport resident, to get a taste of life leading a classroom, not just sitting behind a desk.
According to Young, the hands-on experience helped her see how much work goes in behind the scenes to prepare for daily lessons.
Wigden Wows in Library Role
Editor’s Note: This is the ninth of 10 profiles of nominees for the 2011 Student Employee of the Year award that will be presented at the Annual Student Employment Awards Luncheon April 11.
When it comes to adolescent math education major Jared Wigden, it all adds up.
That’s the perspective of his work-study supervisor, Carol Sackett, circulation supervisor at Lightner Library, where the senior and Penn Yan native has worked for the last two years.
According to Sackett, Wigden’s work outside the walls of Keuka includes leading the youth group at his home church, coaching junior varsity baseball, and substitute teaching in the Penn Yan School District form the foundation of his work ethic. He spent a Field Period in Taiwan and Cambodia helping Cambodian and American nationals teach English and computer skills. Spending a month in real poverty, Wigden told Sackett, taught him what was really important in life and will prepare him for his future career as a math teacher.
(more…)
Recent Comments