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Two SUNY Orange Employees Receive Chancellor's Award

May 28, 2024

MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. – SUNY Orange President, Dr. Kristine Young recently presented David Cohen with the 2024 State University of New York (SUNY) Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching and Karen Norton with the Chancellor’s Award in Excellence in Classified Service at the College’s end of year Assembly meeting in mid-May.

Cohen is an adjunct professor in the College’s Arts and Communication Department while Norton is a support staff member in the Registrar’s Office. The Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence are system-level honors conferred to acknowledge and provide SUNY recognition for consistently superior professional achievement and to encourage the ongoing pursuit of excellence.

“In addition to celebrating student achievements during this time of the academic year, another of the best parts of my job is to be able to personally present the Chancellor’s Award to our employees who work hard every day to teach and support our students,” said SUNY Orange president Dr. Kristine Young. “We see the great work that Karen and David do every day, and appreciate their many valued contributions to SUNY Orange. But it is extra special to see their professional excellence recognized on a statewide level as being among the best our system has to offer.”

SUNY Orange’s Professional Recognition and Awards Committee (PRAC) reviewed nominations for both Cohen and Norton that illustrated each candidate’s achievements, including multiple exemplary actions and professional behaviors illustrating their deservingness. Cohen was selected for outstanding teaching performance using real-world experiences and unwavering dedication to his students. Norton was cited for her drive as a problem-solver, collaborator and advocate for student success.

When Cohen was officially announced as the winner of the Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching, those in the attendance rose to honor him with a standing ovation.

The Arts and Communication department welcomed Cohen as an adjunct instructor in 1999. In addition to teaching Acting Fundamentals Improvisation for Theater, Intro to Theater and Acting 2: Scene Study, he has been a first-year support team advisor since 2018. In addition, Cohen has organized trips for students to attend Broadway shows who may not otherwise have had that opportunity. He oversees and advises the Apprentice Players club, orchestrating student performances, and has been a first-year advisor since 2018. 

Letters from former students called out Cohen’s “dedication, compassion and commitment to excellence,” and “few people in my life have had such profound effects on my education and livelihood in the ways David has” among other praise.

Off-campus, Cohen also teaches at SUNY New Paltz and is a certified teacher with the Michael Chekhov Association. He has a robust list of award-winning theater credits that spans over 40 years of acting and directing locally, in New York City, and internationally. He practices martial arts in Taekwondo, Kumdo and Judo. He is a SUNY Orange alum, receiving his associate’s degree in biology, and also graduated cum laude from SUNY New Paltz with a bachelor’s degree in theater. 

Norton joined the College as a telephone operator in the Facilities Department in 2014 before moving to her current position in the Registrar’s Office in 2020. Examples given during the award presentation highlighting Norton’s merits included a “relentless pursuit of excellence” exhibited when finding answers for students, tackling complex challenges and professionally conducting herself even under challenging circumstances. She holds an associate’s degree in cardiovascular technology from Eastwick College and is pursuing her bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Business Management from SUNY Empire with an anticipated graduation date of next Spring.