Dear Paul Smith’s community,
I am always amazed at how much we have to report every February – it’s such a short month! I have been doing a lot of traveling this month in support of fundraising, government affairs and work with our board of trustees. Even given this tough winter, it is always nice to return to our beautiful campus and the great stuff happening here.
–Cathy
- In support of Paul Smith’s commitment to supporting renewal energy, PSC has entered into a multi-year agreement with Northern Power and Light to purchase approximately 1/5th of our electricity, from Azure Mountain Power, a local Hydro Electrical facility in St. Regis Falls. This is supported by the NY State’s Community Distribution Act. For more information see www.npandl.com
- Winter Carnival was a wonderful celebration of the community including our alumni. With an estimated crowd of 350, the 2nd annual alumni hockey game drew a motivated squad of alumni who defeated the current student co-ed team 8-6 in two periods of spirited play. The 2nd annual Winter Carnival Reception held jointly with North Country Community College drew almost 200 alumni and family members to the Hotel Saranac before the parade.
- Chef Bruno Neveu served as a judge for the CECAP culinary scholarship competition at Monroe College in New Rochelle on February 9th. He took the opportunity to visit and establish contacts at the Food and Finance High School in New York City.
- Paul Smith’s College has once again received designation as a Tree Campus USA. Many thanks to Professor Randall Swanson and the entirely facilities staff for working to promote good practices in managing our trees on campus.
- Our forestry faculty visited Fort Drum to recruit students for our summer School of Logging.
- Drs. Celia Evans and Tess Eidem served as science fair judges at the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium on January 26. This effort connected PSC to >300 STEM-inclined high school students and teachers in the region. The Natural Science Department will continue to support judges for these events and provide mentors for high school student science projects.
- Mark Manske, who teaches our Adirondack Raptors class, was been awarded the St. Lawrence Academy Medal this year by SUNY Potsdam. The medal honors an alumnus/a of the Potsdam College School of Education who has made “significant contributions to the field of professional education or a related field dignified the professions of teaching or community health profession in study, research, and practice either directly or indirectly in political, social, or financial ways.”
- The PSC Alumni Relations Office hosted events in Florida at Season’s 52 in Orlando, and the Chart House in Daytona. Special thanks to Paul Livrieri, ’82 and Tim Blaise, ’85 for co-hosting the event the Season’s 52 event. Paul and Tim are both Vice Presidents with Darden Restaurants, which operates 8 brands nationally including Season’s 52.
- The IT Department and Admissions are working diligently to implement axiom, a technology solution that integrates data from several campus systems to provide a seamless transition of student data and information. The target date for completion is mid-March.
- Over 20 athletes took part in the Empire State Winter Games snowshoe races, and several Paul Smith’s College students medaled in the five race distances. Margret Montag and Griffin Williams both won three golds in the 100, 400 and 800 meter distances (age 15 – 19), while Kayleen Snyder won gold in the 20 – 34 for both the 100 and 400 meters. Patrick Mullin Mechtley won silvers in both the 400 and 800 meters in the 20 – 34 age class, while Keegan Kleeschulte had the fastest 100-meter time of the day to win gold.
- Paul Smith’s College hosted the Empire State Games E-sports competition, featuring 27 athletes. Josh Mitchel won the event, while Hayden Kline placed second and Matt Tolman placed third.
- We were proud to host the Area 27 Winter Special Olympics, featuring floor hockey, snowshoe racing and Nordic skiing. Over 70 athletes from across the North Country region took part in these games, coordinated and conducted by our Paul Smith’s College student volunteers.
- The Nordic Ski team entered the championship season on a hot streak with Audrey Emerson notching a top 10 in the ECSC Championships and Jack Fogarty finishing 16th (the top first year athlete in the field) The team will be heading to regional and then the National Championships over the next few weeks.
- Nordic Ski will be working with NYSPRS to host their annual conference in Lake Placid next month with over 10,000 attendees expected to attend over the week. Paul Smith’s is one of the title sponsors with various faculty and staff presenting and sharing over the week.
- The Men’s Basketball team qualified for YSCC Elite 8 for the 2nd year in a row (moved up 2 places from last year). The team recently returned from a hard-fought battle in the Carrier Dome against rival ESF. While we lost in overtime, congratulations to the team for making us proud. (Unfortunately due to a wager, this means we will be posting a picture of me on social media in one of their t-shirts…) Also in men’s basketball, the inaugural year of the JV program resulted in a 4-1 record.
- Student Affairs sponsored a number of great events in February:
- The Superbowl Extravaganza
- A Diversity Lecture featuring Dr. Amalia Deche-Gerbino from the University of Missouri (co-sponsored by Dr. Joseph Henderson)
- Winter Carnival Knockerball at Saranac Lake Middle School
- American Red Cross Blood Drive
- A Consent and Healthy Relationship discussion as well as “Bangin’ Bingo” focused on consent and sexual wellness
- During the month of February, the Admissions team hosted 72 on-campus visits and event registrants.
- On Saturday, February 23, Admissions hosted the inaugural Women in Leadership Scholarship competition, an overnight event empowering women and showing them everything that Paul Smith’s College has to offer. We had 23 nominees for the competition, which we will host annually going forward. Thank you to faculty, staff, and our wonderful students for helping to put on this event.
- The Financial Aid Office packaged aid for 300+ new prospective students.
- Admissions travel season is in full swing with 27 off-campus recruiting events completed for the month of February. This includes a variety of counselor visits, classroom visits, coffee with a counselor, and our first international recruiting trip in recent years.
- Jodi Johnson-Rossi traveled to Mandalay, Yangon, Kuala Lumpur, Brunei, Cebu, Maila, and Thailand to advance our international recruiting efforts.
- Amy Tuthill, Brett McLeod, Tom Bartiss, and Mike Raichel and James Hayner – two members of our Student Veterans Association – traveled to Fort Drum with for a Troops to Timber Industry Day. Lewis Tree Company and 7 soldiers also participated in the event.
- Ben Wood and a number of other Paul Smith’s College employees presented at the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino as a kick off for our new “pipeline to success “on Tuesday February 26. This is a partnership with the Casino and the Mohawk Reserve to educate and provide assistance building an employee pipeline for the Casino.
- Since the announcement of the Green Mountain College closure, a variety of actions have been taken to help GMC students learn about making a seamless transfer to PSC. With significant faculty involvement, we have made a number of recruiting visits to their campus, and hosted some of their students on our campus. We look forward to welcoming a number of former GMC students to PSC in the fall.
- Alex Bryden received his MBA from Northeastern University – congrats on this well-earned accomplishment!
- Renovation of Freer 211 and 221 has been completed, transforming these traditional classrooms into flexible collaborative learning spaces. Faculty and Staff are encouraged to watch for training sessions on how to use the new technologies and enhanced functionality of these classrooms. Thanks go to all you contributed greatly to the success of these projects.
- Thank you to the nearly 150 faculty, staff and student leaders who participated in our Title IX/Clery Act Employee training. Those who have not yet completed the training will have an opportunity in March to meet this Department of Education requirement.
Upcoming Events of Note:
- March 1: Student Band “Uncle Daddy”, Bobcat, 9pm
- March 3: Escape Room, Pine Room, 1-5pm
- March 4: Thai Themed Dinner, Lakeside Dining Hall
- March 8: Title IX/Clery Training (Pine Room, 10:10am)
- March 9: Winter Tracking Exploration (VIC, 1:00pm)
- March 10: Dive-In Movie, Saunders Pool
- March 14: Irish Themed Dinner, Lakeside Dining Hall
- March 16: Pancake Breakfast (Bob’s Trees, Galway, 9:00am)
- March 16: Ag Literacy Event: On the Farm & at the Market (VIC, 10:00am)
- March 16: Residence Halls close
- March 16-17: North Country/Adirondack youth basketball tournament for elementary, middle school, and high school teams
- March 16/24: Spring Break Shuttle Service to/from Albany
- March 18-22: Mid-Semester Recess
- March 25: Classes Resume
- March 23/24 and 30/31: NYS Maple Weekends
- March 31: Elite Prospect Visit Day for 2019 and 2020 basketball student-athletes
