May 2008 IN THE NEWS Teaching Excellence Rewarded Professors Dr. Karen Stephens and Steve Winter, who have combined for nearly six decades of exemplary service to SUNY Orange, were named as winners of the President�s Award for Excellence in Teaching during the Spring 2008 semester. Winter, the longest tenured faculty member currently at the College in a full-time role, has been teaching business-related courses here for more than 40 years. Stephens, who attended SUNY Orange as a student, has held a faculty position in the Physical Therapist Assistant Department since 1992. Steve Winter �At the heart of our work is �teaching and learning,� and Karen and Steve exemplify the best of what we do,� says Dr. Catherine Chew, vice president for Academic Affairs. Throughout his tenure at the College, Winter has been a leader and visionary in implementing new and innovative programs designed with student learning in mind. Nearly 30 years ago, he was the first SUNY Orange professor to offer an Honors Course. He instituted the use of advisory boards in the Business Department that continue to support the College today. More recently, he has actively pursued the use of instructional technology, having developed an online course for Principles of Marketing while also offering web-enhanced materials to supplement each of the courses he oversees today. Winter�s innovative ideas stem for a teaching philosophy in which he is committed to creating a partnership in the classroom. He understands and nurtures an informative and respectful rapport with students. On developing that classroom atmosphere, Winter remarks, �It is always a work in progress. All parties must be flexible and seek the proper balance so we create an optimum fit to achieve learning.� A revered colleague and professor, Stephens has consistently demonstrated a strong respect for the welfare, value and dignity of her students, who gravitate to her easy instructional style and benefit from her guidance. She is a strong student advocate and is consistently called upon by the Student Services staff to assist with Dr. Karen Stephens student advising. In addition to the vast clinical background she brings to the classroom, Stephens has been a strong proponent of developing supportive and effective learning environments�implementing instructional methods that feature small student discussion groups and embedding critical thinking throughout her curriculum. �I try to provide a stimulating learning environment that allows the student to feel free to ask questions and respond to questions without fear of censor,� she explains. As winners of the President�s Award, both Stephens and Winter have been nominated for the 2008 State University of New York �Chancellor�s Award for Teaching Excellence.� Learning Alive The Academic Affairs Magazine of SUNY Orange Halpern Cited for Nursing Excellence The award recognizes Halpern�s Cited as one of the tremendous region�s 50 leading accomplishments nursing professionals, throughout her SUNY Orange professor Jean Halpern was selected to receive an �Excellence in Nursing� award as presented by Hudson Valley Magazine. Halpern and her fellow recipients were honored during a May event at the Villa Borghese restaurant in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., where they received certificates of recognition and commemorative gifts. Twenty winners, chosen by a committee of medical professionals and editors, were to be profiled in a future issue of the magazine. The winners came from local hospitals, private practices, schools, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities. �I am extremely honored to have been thought worthy of such an award,� Halpern says. �I only hope that I have influenced students to be the best nurses they can be. Nursing has been my entire life and I am so proud to have chosen this profession.� but particularly her tireless efforts over the past 18 months in bringing �simulation technology� to the College�s nursing curriculum. �Life-like� simulation mannekins allow educators to use current technology in implementing training scenarios that cover virtually every potential medical situation, providing students with �real life� experiences before they acquire proficiency in the clinical setting. �Jean is hard-working, enthusiastic and tenacious. She won�t stop until she completes a project,� explains Dr. Catherine Chew, vice president for Academic Affairs. �She is most deserving of this award and has been a true ambassador for both the nursing profession and the College.� �It was imperative that we change from our traditional library approach to a more contemporary space that reflected the needs of today�s students,� Parry explains. �We�ve tried to bring available research tools and processes together with the students� productivity needs, and that has been a very positive change for our students.� The newly created �Information Commons� in the SUNY Orange Library has quickly become the technological epicenter of the Middletown campus by giving students access to nearly 60 computer workstations replete with software programs and internet access. By replacing old book stacks, traditional study stations, card catalogs and bound copies of periodicals with contemporary information �hubs,� SUNY Orange is bringing today�s technology to the students� fingertips, says Susan Parry, library director. The College has added a teacher�s station and large-screen monitor in the existing computer lab to allow Library staff or faculty members to conduct instructional workshops for students. May 2008 SUNY Orange The SUNY Orange SMART Program, to be offered this summer, is yet another example of a collaborative effort between academic and administrative departments that yields benefits for the community. Coordinated jointly by the College�s Office of Educational Partnerships and the Occupational Therapy Assistant Department, the SMART Program��Sensory-Motor Activities and Recreational Transition��was created for children from pre-kindergarten age through sixth grade. Its goal is to enhance children�s physical and academic abilities by strengthening and refining their gross and fine motor skills, sensory-motor integration, handwriting skills, socializing skills and self-esteem. In addition to the children receiving therapy, all eight sessions will include a question-and-answer period where parents can meet with the practitioners to discuss techniques and resources related to the goals of each session. The child will also receive individualized goals and instruction that provides a bridge to the next school year. The Office of Educational Partnerships, directed by Rosana Reyes-Rosello, provides the administrative oversight and organization of the program while OTA Department chair Flo Hannes and her staff are coordinating the lineup of licensed and certified occupational therapists to support the four-week program. �The program is designed to enhance a child�s skills and to improve their awareness of self-regulation while enjoying various activities. Typical sessions will include sensory-motor warm-ups, visual motor and perceptual activities, with an emphasis on fine motor skills and handwriting,� Hannes adds. �The children will work in small groups and receive individualized attention, all in a safe, interactive and fun environment,� Reyes-Rosello adds. �This is an exciting and innovative summer program for students with OT needs. Sharing our resources to meet a local need is an example of our fulfillment of SUNY Orange�s mission to be the community�s college.� Learning Alive The Academic Affairs Magazine of SUNY Orange The Latest Chapter: Class of 2007 By Tony Cruz the wealthy. Little detailed text of her formative years is available but a slow walk accompanied by a good imagination may reveal some of her stories. After many years of what must have been incredible living laced with the extravagances of life in the early 1900s, she moved to another phase of her life, becoming the centerpiece of a local community college and maturing to represent a symbol of hope for many who would not have otherwise had an opportunity to get an education. At first, she was the College, but soon the demand for education expanded her surroundings. She now presides over a family of buildings, administrators, faculty and students who comprise the cast of her latest chapter. In August 2007 I had the good fortune of joining this story as one of a rather large batch of 18 new faculty hires at SUNY Orange. Our �Class of 2007� arrived during an exciting time for the College, as there were many improvements and changes taking place, and our group hailed from a wide cross-section of disciplines and backgrounds. For example, Dr. Michele Iannuzzi Sucich (featured on page 17) left a medical practice to pursue teaching while retired New York City police captain Robert Cacciatore is a former head of security for Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Backgrounds like these have bred an incredible amount of respect within our group, not to mention acquaintances and friendships. All are founded in our mutual outlook, commitment and May 2008 SUNY Orange 7 Creating a Positive �First-Year Experience� By Sandra Graff students than the sum of their individual efforts. Modeled after Kingsboro Community College�s learning communities and well-grounded in educational theory, this new pilot program has involved more than a year of training, preparation and collaboration across administrative lines between Academic Affairs and Student Services. So far Dr. Catherine Chew, vice president for Academic Affairs, and Paul Broadie, vice president for Student Services, are very pleased with the team effort that has taken place with this project. Chew points out, �significant research has demonstrated that learning communities improve retention. The First-Year Experience/Learning Communities gives students study and life skills that will enable them to be successful.� The program is funded in part by a Carl D. Perkins grant acquired by learning communities, three SUNY Orange courses (Basic Writing Skills 2, Psychology of Adjustment, and College Success Seminar with Career Planning) are linked and scheduled in succession. May 2008 A cohort of students attends the linked courses together. Tutors attend classes with students and then meet with them during Freshman Learning Options within the hours scheduled for group study, writing lab or individual tutoring. A similar joint assignment has been developed in Middletown by Melissa Browne (Basic Writing Skills 2) and Doug Sanders (Psychology of Adjustment). They have transformed a traditional 12-page semester-long writing assignment into a series of The learning community works well for me. I like how most of the classes work together, like Basic Writing Skills and Psychology, for example. We usually see and work with the same people on the assignments. Jovanny Aviles Learning Communities student In Newburgh, a journal assignment given to students serves as a shining example of how instructors plan joint assignments. When students submit their journals, Psychology of Adjustment instructor Bob Bender grades them for content and then gives them to Basic Writing Skills 2 instructor Pat Sculley to grade for organization and sentence skills. Newburgh student Crystal Kurz notes that her �journal overlaps for two classes, English and Psychology� and that she likes �the set up and the group of teachers who work well together.� Another shared assignment involves the summary and the academic paragraph, powerful tools for learning and student expression. In Newburgh, as students learn about stress in their psychology course, they learn to summarize an article about stress and write an academic paragraph in response to the article in their writing course. summaries and personal reflection paragraphs, assigned in manageable pieces throughout the semester. The link extends to Freshman Learning Options sessions, where student study groups summarize their textbook material to prepare for tests in the psychology class. This teamwork also continues to the College Success Seminar with Career Planning�taught by Maria Blon in Middletown and Jennifer Clayton in Newburgh�where students learn relevant study skills, such as time management, and continue discussion and personal reflection on topics from the psychology and writing courses. In Blon�s course, students are using psychology topics to complete individual projects for their course portfolios. One important benefit of learning communities that faculty, tutors and students noticed immediately is the way SUNY Orange 9 Organizing and launching the College�s debut �First-Year Experience/Learning Communities� project required considerable input and teamwork from many departments on campus. Among those who lent their time and energy to the project were, from left: Professor Maria Blon, Math; Mary Ann Van Benschoten, Library; Peggy Wasnieski, Learning Assistance Services; Joyce Depew, Records and Registration; Maureen Flaherty, Advising and Counseling; Anthony Scalia, Advising and Counseling; Eileen Burke, Learning Assistance Services; and Paul Eldridge, student tutor. students have bonded and participated more actively in their classes. The process began when instructors and students came together at the program orientation, where students received tips on practical study skills concepts, were oriented to the College�s online technological systems for students and faculty (Banner and Portal), and were taught effective utilization of Library resources. Middletown student Kristin Neil appreciated �having the same people in each class because all of us have a bond now and study together.� According to Browne, there wasn�t �that usual shyness during the first couple of weeks when nobody wants to speak, so students are more engaged.� Newburgh student Jessica Trejos immediately became �used to the other students and pretty comfortable with the teachers and tutor.� Another benefit of teamwork, observed by tutors Kathy Castore in Newburgh and Paul Eldridge in Middletown, is that students are very motivated to participate in the study sessions, as well as to work on writing skills. Eileen Burke, coordinator of Learning Assistance Services, has observed as the semester progressed something very constructive taking place with students in the Freshman Learning Options program: students are taking more responsibility for what happens in their study groups. Sanders was pleased with the response he received when he checked in with his students on whether they had begun work on the next segment of their psychology writing projects. One student responded that he was scheduled to write the second phase of this project over the weekend because it was in his planner. �It is good that instructors with different perspectives and approaches have jumped out of our silos to work together in the learning communities for a common goal,� Sanders says. It is everyone�s hope that what is learned from this pilot will improve planning and implementation of additional learning communities in Fall 2008, and beyond, to include more courses and involve more faculty members. Sandra Graff is an instructor in the College�s English Department. She teaches Reading and Study Skills classes in Newburgh and at Middletown. Learning Alive The Academic Affairs Magazine of SUNY Orange Department Showcases its Street and a large student parking lot�is among the most cramped you�ll find. Despite its Spartan interior, Room 313 is clearly a room curriculum and a learning environment that is shaped by the College�s Biology Department. When chair Dr. Frank Traeger presides over the department�s monthly meetings in Room 313, he is less professor and more conductor, orchestrating a prodigious �think tank� of instructors whose suggestions, ideas and achievements often reach far beyond the walls of the Bio-Tech Building in which the Biology Department calls home. The 10 full-time faculty the country,� says Dr. Michele Paradies, who has been among team possess an impressive the College�s biology faculty since portfolio of specialties, 2000. including family medicine, Two recent additions to the anatomy and physiology, department faculty include neuroscience, ornithology, Dr. Michele Iannuzzi Sucich, ecology, environmental who joined the College in the science, dendrochronology, summer of 2007, and Dr. Anouk botany, evolutionary biology, Verheyden-Gillikin, who arrived genetics, developmental at SUNY Orange in 2006. Each brings biology, nutrition and herpetology. �I have worked in several different a unique background to the classroom types of teaching positions in my Thanks to its professional diversity, that is not generally associated with a career�a medical school, a graduate few, if any, academic departments at community college professor: family school, a four-year college and two SUNY Orange can match the breadth of medicine and international research, different two-year colleges. I consider impact upon the College that has been respectively. the group of faculty I work with here at exhibited by the Biology Department, SUNY Orange to be among the finest, Iannuzzi Sucich graduated with awhich aspires to a mission that is most talented, and most dedicated doctor of medicine degree (M.D.) from equal parts service, academics, campus groups of individuals anywhere in the State University of New York�s enrichment and innovation. diagnostic imaging or rehabilitative �major�s course lineup� encompassing administrator�s dream team. I get out facility, you will see first hand the General Biology I and II, Genetics, of their way and let them soar!� important role our students play in Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy and regional healthcare,� Traeger adds. General Botany. May 2008 SUNY Orange 15 have been developing �active learning formats� and web-enhanced components for a number of classes. �Joe (Zurovchak) has really embraced innovative teaching strategies aimed at getting students more actively involved in the learning process,� Traeger adds, explaining that students are more successful when they are integrated into the classroom topic rather than simply listening to lectures. Student success is also at the heart of the BATCAVERN, a Biology-supported technology-based learning laboratory that serves several thousand biology and health professions students per year. In the lab, under the watchful eye of technical assistant David Logan, students can utilize available technology for research and review, gain access to lecture notes and other study materials, or receive tutorial assistance. The Agassiz Society, the College�s student-run biology club, is yet another avenue for students to embrace learning, bond with classmates, and appreciate the educational and career opportunities available in the biological sciences. Professor Grace Gloeckler, the longest-tenured member of the Biology Department, serves as advisor to the Agassiz Society and has helped the organization immeasurably over the years. Another veteran of the department, who rejoined its ranks in Fall 2007, is Dr. Melody Festa. A former chair of the Biology Department, Festa recently elected to return to the classroom following a successful three-year stint as the College�s academic vice president for business, math, science and technology. �Melody brings a very important perspective to the department because of her experiences as an administrator,� Traeger notes. �I�ve seen her passion as a teacher re-emerge. She is our only full-time instructor at the Newburgh Extension Center and she is helping restructure our Intro to Biology course so that we can make that course more effective and serve our students better.� May 2008 Over the past few years, Festa has teamed with Marie De Fazio Shultz, the department�s second technical assistant, and professor emeritus Thomas Alford on the Orange County West Nile Virus Surveillance Project, supporting the Orange County Health Department. Festa and Traeger are also leading the department�s input on designs for laboratories and biology facilities that will be part of the College�s planned Newburgh Branch Campus. With an expanded Newburgh curriculum that is sure to include sizeable increases in several health professions programs, there will be a vital need for more expansive biology offerings. Traeger, Zurovchak and Merriam collaborated to develop the new General Ecology course that will debut in Fall 2009. The development of such upper-level biology courses provides students Dr. Michele Iannuzzi Sucich has always loved to learn. That constant quest for knowledge prompted her progression from learner to teacher. As an M.D., Iannuzzi Sucich carries a unique resume to the SUNY Orange community. She joined the College�s biology faculty in the summer of 2007 following a four-year stint as an attending physician in a family practice. education. Her background in patient education and care, supervisory experience and research skills are invaluable to students who may be thinking of an advanced career in biology. In addition, she�s able to incorporate real-life scenarios into her Anatomy and Physiology lectures and labs. Following medical school, she completed a residency in family practice and a fellowship in geriatrics. Her fellowship included clinical research and publications in sarcopenia with yet another opportunity to prepare themselves for the next step on their academic journey. Dedication to their craft and a healthy respect for the educational process has vaulted each of the biology professors toward independent success, but it is their commitment to teamwork and cooperative ventures that allows the department to flourish in so many venues on campus and beyond. While much inspiration is generated when the Biology �think tank� convenes in Room 313, the reverberations are felt throughout the College and community. (muscles wasting with age) and falls in the elderly. In addition, she collaborated on a project to implement, assess and publish a paper on an innovative application of technology in medical She has always sought to find connections between her work, research, and teaching, whether it was educating patients on health-care issues, training future doctors under her tutelage or lecturing in a classroom. �I�ve tried to use my personal learning to become an effective and approachable educator,� Iannuzzi Sucich says. �Teaching at SUNY Orange allows me to share my knowledge and my love of learning with my students to help them achieve their life goals.� SUNY Orange �Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision; the ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.� � Andrew Carnegie To chart CAPE�s future course, director David Kohn (standing in photo at right) relies upon, from left, Don Green, Linda Gramm and Dorene Iacovino. Learning Alive By Mike Albright Andrew Carnegie developed the opinion shown at left during the late 1800s as he forged a steel empire that reportedly made him the richest man in the world. Remarkably, Carnegie�s 19th Century philosophy on teamwork still holds true today. At SUNY Orange, David Kohn doesn�t roam the halls and stairways of the Christine Morrison House quoting Carnegie, but the College�s director of Continuing and Professional Education has employed similar principles while overseeing a CAPE resurgence that has the College�s non-credit business booming. Over the past two years, CAPE has witnessed a sizeable enrollment spike in non-credit courses, with nearly 8,000 students in classrooms annually. Contract training with local businesses, through CAPE�s Business Solutions and Professional Development division, has increased by 200 percent and enrollment in English as a Second Language (ESL) classes is up seven-fold. In addition, Kohn has streamlined the department�s business model and adjusted its we can�t generate the necessary revenue and deliver the quality products we are offering now.� In addition to contract training, ESL classes and tuition-based non-credit courses, CAPE also offers state-mandated classes for drivers convicted of driving while intoxicated, manages the Institute for Nonprofit Leadership and Management, and delivers an array of workforce training opportunities for individuals and businesses. In order to deliver top-notch programming while also meeting the demands of the department�s varied customers and clients, Kohn says CAPE relies upon a staff that is devoted to the department�s mission and objectives. Don Green heads the Business Solutions and Professional Development division while Linda Gramm and Dorene Iacovino direct CAPE�s programming and operations, respectively. Along with Kohn, this foursome forms the nucleus of CAPE�s primary management team. In addition, Rob Larkin coordinates �You need to have the right people in the right places, and I think we have that now,� Kohn says. �I give my staff latitude because I want them to have the responsibility and opportunity to do all of the things they need to do in order to grow their respective departments. When people take on a greater amount of responsibility, they get things done and you see the synergy of their combined efforts.� Establishing a cohesive administrative team has helped CAPE move its programs forward, but Kohn insists another key to his department�s success is the relationships staff members have developed with their numerous instructors and trainers, those folks who most often are the public face of the department and the College. �If our instructors and trainers don�t feel as if they are part of the team, they will go elsewhere. For us, our instructors are at the heart of the programs we SUNY Orange�s Continuing and Professional Education Team (L-R): Dorene Iacovino, Linda Gramm, Rob Larkin, David Kohn (director), Lou DeFeo, Don Green and Debbie Horowitz. of local CEOs. Word of CAPE�s burgeoning relationships with Crystal Run Village CEO Jim Lawler and Orange Regional Medical Center have percolated throughout the local business community, pushing demand for CAPE�s contract training services to an all-time high. �We are now viewed as a high-end, customized training provider by those who have contracted with us,� Green says. �We�ve developed signature products and we�ve become a market-driven and client-centered organization where everyone is energized and passionate about what they do.� Similarly, CAPE�s non-credit enrollment is thriving thanks to the combined efforts of Gramm and Iacovino, each of whom only recently joined the CAPE staff. Gramm, who previously worked for CAPE, is back following a stint with the College�s Records and Registration office. �Both are extremely detail-oriented. Doreen is developing new and improved polices and procedures for our course development, which will allow us to better meet the needs of our students,� Kohn adds. �Linda�s personality, communication skills, understanding of our clients� needs and knowledge of campus are invaluable.� The CAPE staff is presently working on several new initiatives, including a Limited English Proficiency and Contextual Learning in the Workplace grant program and the Green Talent Development Pipeline Partnership with other colleges in the Hudson Valley. Having built a strong internal team, Kohn is now looking to partner with colleges and businesses throughout the region to further broaden the scope and impact of CAPE�s available programming as his small community college staff seeks to continue producing uncommon results. SUNY Orange 22 Learning Alive The Academic Affairs Magazine of SUNY Orange �The College is tremendously lucky to have access to papers, documents, treaties and other items from Mr. Gilman�s distinguished Congressional service,� explains Bryan Gersbeck, a first-year political science student. �I�m sure they will be invaluable to me, my classmates and future students as we work and study on our way to a career in government.� The completion of the Gilman Center is just the latest in a series of initiatives undertaken by the College to broaden its curriculum to reflect the changing social, political, economic and cultural landscapes around the world. During the summer of 2007 SUNY Orange created a new Global Studies Department and this spring, the College is concluding its debut �Global Initiative: Latin America,� a year-long focus on the culture, art, history, politics, music and culture of Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Revisions to the International Studies degree program curriculum include the addition of a variety of courses (International Literature, International Art, Comparative Politics and International Relations) designed to �beef up� the foreign and international content of the curriculum within Global Studies, explains Paul Basinski, interim chair of Global Studies. The new courses, available for the Fall 2008 semester, will provide students with greater access and insight into global affairs. Within the past year newcomers Dr. Corey Harris, Michael McCoy and Heidi Weber have joined Basinski, Edgar Gutierrez and Dr. Jean Carlos Cowan to comprise the new Global Studies Department faculty roster. Dr. Michael Strmiska will soon join the team as well. This summer, Gutierrez and five SUNY Orange students will visit Urbino, Italy, for what is believed to be the College�s first-ever study abroad experience for college credit. The students, who will study the Italian language, will be immersed in the culture, history and art of Italy throughout their one month in the country. �Over the course of the College�s 57-plus years of existence, we have gradually seen Orange County grow from rural farmland to a vibrant and bustling suburban community,� says Joan Wolfe, chair of the College�s Board of Trustees. �But, in truth, our community knows no boundaries today. We�ve become a global society, and it is imperative that SUNY Orange expand its own horizons to meet the changing demands of our students and our community. �The Gilman Center for International Education will allow us to do that. It will be a place where students, faculty and scholars unite in the pursuit of academic excellence and intellectual inquiry. It will bring the world to our students, and our students to the world.� Within the first month of its completion, the Center served as the perfect backdrop for a collaborative meeting between College administrators and a 10-person delegation of Chinese educators and civic leaders who visited SUNY Orange in late February to investigate the College�s workforce training and academic programs. Throughout the Gilman Center�s interior, suitable spaces will be allocated to showcase research papers, artwork, memorabilia and other items from Gilman�s more than 30 years in Washington, as well as his travels abroad. International studies and global understanding were cornerstones of Gilman�s career in government, and they also create the foundation for the mission of the Gilman Center. Much credit goes to Library director Susan Parry, archivist Mary Ann Van Benschoten and Basinski who organized a portion of the Congressman�s collection and developed suitable photo and memorabilia displays to accompany the facility�s March ribbon cutting ceremony. Ben Gilman�s legacy was secure long before work began on the Gilman Center for International Education. But with the building�s completion, Gilman�s career will continue to serve as an inspiration to generations of SUNY Orange students, positively impacting the College curriculum and local community for years to come. May 2008 SUNY Orange A Renewed Focus on Teaching and the Classroom continued from page 11 we had shared two weeks earlier. The underlying theme of our first meeting had been connections across disciplines and how to demonstrate to students that the subjects we teach do not exist in isolation. To that end, it seemed an obvious starting point would be to look at the feasibility of offering paired courses. Though certainly not a new concept, the thought of making another attempt at linking courses together in an effort to integrate the academic experiences of our students seemed to have obvious merit. The practical problem with paired courses, however, is how to get students to enroll in both classes? Depending upon the courses selected, some students might want or need one course within the pair, but not the other. As a result, the group thought it best to pair both a required course (English 101) with a general education course (U.S. History Since 1865). While both courses can be adjusted to accommodate each other, the fact that they are both applicable to a wide variety of degree programs would seem to offer some insurance against cancellation due to low enrollment. Another major initiative to grow out of the group�s initial discussions has been the creation of an Introduction to Humanities course. Currently in the curriculum development stage, such a class would not only offer students a course of study that intellectually develops ways of reflecting on the human experience, but would also permit us to make full use of the remarkable resources within our academic community. As currently planned, two to three faculty members would have primary responsibility for the course, not only sharing lecture time but working with each other over the course of two semesters toward presenting a cohesive overview of the humanities. With each new academic year, faculty assignments would rotate in an effort to tap into the wide variety of expertise represented by our faculty. Along similar lines, the group has also been examining the possibility of creating an on-campus speakers list where faculty, possessing a specific area of expertise within a broader field, might serve as a guest lecturer for a particular class. Such a possibility was recently demonstrated by the Women in Art discussion organized by Weber. Why not, for example, invite Slater-Tanner to speak on�and present�the Depression-era photos taken by Dorthea Lange in a post-1865 American history class? By making connections such as these in the student�s mind, we reinforce the entirety of the academic community while demonstrating our own partnerships and connections as faculty. As we all know, the academic area has seen its fair share of changes over the past few years. Though necessary, such changes at times seem to have obscured the very purpose behind our academic mission. While the above initiatives are neither revolutionary nor earth shattering, they are offered as but one opportunity to refocus our attention on the classroom. No doubt they won�t please everyone. Change should be viewed as an opportunity, not a threat, which is why, as demonstrated by the commitment of those engaged in this initiative, we need to continue to construct and support an environment in which those with new ideas are encouraged to come forward and forge their own trail of innovation. Richard Heppner is academic vice president for Liberal Arts at SUNY Orange. He formerly served as department chair and professor in the College�s Arts and Communication Department. SUNY Orange 115 South Street, Middletown, NY 10940