Kristina Hannam, Avan Jassawalla, Christopher Sandefer, James Kernan. Absent from the photo is Alice Rutkowski. (SUNY Geneseo photo/Keith Walters '11)
The Division of Academic Affairs honored five employees Oct. 15 with its inaugural Academic Affairs Awards for Outstanding Commitment to Geneseo’s Values. Provost Stacey Robertson recognized recipients at the division’s first Fall Festival where faculty and staff celebrated their colleague’s accomplishments.
“Our talented faculty and staff in Academic Affairs perform outstanding work, and their contributions help make Geneseo the gem of SUNY,” Robertson said. “Creating these new awards will begin a tradition of recognizing the good work that is being done to make our division and College even stronger.”
Award recipients were presented with an etched acrylic octagon and certificate and will receive a $1,000 internal grant to support their work in their respective award categories.
The Award for Learning honors intellectual inquiry, scholarly achievement, and personal growth. CIT 's Christopher Sandefer, a senior programmer analyst, demonstrated outstanding commitment to learning Ellucian’s Banner Page Builder, a new technology product that provides a framework offering users greater flexibility and speed in the creation of custom pages. Sandefer didn't become proficient in understanding the product, he mastered it. His expert status garnered an invitation from Ellucian to join its development partner group — a role that helps Geneseo and SUNY influence the product’s direction.
The Award for Creativity celebrates a spirit of innovation that inspires intellectual curiosity and problem-solving. Professor of management Avan Jassawalla uses creativity infused by her scholarly research as the foundation for her pedagogy and demonstrates a commitment to undergraduate business education through the context of the liberal arts. By combining classroom instruction with an in-depth student team experience, she fosters student engagement that simulates the highly collaborative environment in today’s business organizations. She encourages students to think outside of the box to develop innovative new organizational findings for application in business. Jassawalla serves as faculty advisor for SUNY Geneseo’s Society for Human Resource Management Chapter.
The Award for Inclusivity recognizes accomplishments in promoting a diverse campus community marked by mutual respect for the unique talents and contributions of each individual. Associate professor of English Alice Rutkowski is known across campus by faculty and students for the Safe Zone program, whose members are committed to educating themselves about oppression, heterosexism and homophobia, and to combating it on a personal level. Safe Zone allies treat everyone with the dignity and respect they are entitled to as human beings, regardless of race, ethnicity, culture, gender, level of ability, national background or religion. Rutkowski played a pivotal role in developing the Women’s and Gender Studies major and teaching key required courses, as well as creating innovative courses within the English Department, including Trans Literature. In 2013, she founded and currently chairs the LGBTQ Issues Working Group.
The Award for Civic Responsibility commends the promotion of ethical local and global citizenship. Associate professor of geography James Kernan’s commitment to teaching local geographies and ecologies as part of a global understanding of environment reminds the Geneseo community of just how connected it is to the global ecological environment. Kernan plays a key role in Geneseo’s innovative partnership with Letchworth State Park and the Humphrey Nature Center, connecting students via internships and research and field experience projects to leverage the spectacular natural asset as a living-learning laboratory. He has developed courses such as Environmental Stewardship and created events such as Invasive Species Week while continually exploring ways to involve students and the community with Letchworth State Park.
The Award for Sustainability acknowledges advancement in just principles of ecological, social, and economic stewardship. For 17 years, Kristina Hannam, associate professor of biology, has worked closely with students to help design a vision for sustainability at the College, including guiding Geneseo to sign climate change accords which have shaped the College’s actions toward becoming a carbon-neutral campus. Hannam, a founding member of the Geneseo Task Force on sustainability and earlier, co-chair of the Environmental Impact and Sustainability Task Force, has also served as Faculty Fellow for Eco House. She also has developed study abroad experiences that focus on all aspects of sustainability. In addition to teaching, Hannam mentors students in a variety of research projects related to vocal and auditory animal communication and ecology.
-by Tony Hoppa