SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Ashok K. Malhotra of the Philosophy Department at the SUNY Oneonta has been named the recipient of a 2010 Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Hawaii Alumni Association.
The award recognizes outstanding University of Hawaii alumni who have used their education to excel professionally, provide inspirational leadership to others, and provide service for the benefit of the community.
Highlighted among Dr. Malhotra’s accomplishments were his efforts in establishing and sustaining five Indo-International Schools that educate more than 1,050 impoverished children in the remote villages of India.
Dr. Malhotra, who earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1969, will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award on May 11.

NSF GRANT: Hartwick College has received a $24,811 planning grant from the National Science Foundation to expand research and education opportunities at the Robert R. Smith Environmental Field Station at the Pine Lake Environmental Campus. The grant will enable the development of a five-year strategic plan for the field station and facilitate collaboration between Hartwick and the state agencies that oversee Riddell State Park, which borders Pine Lake.

The March issue of Vegetarian Times has recognized Mu Mu Muesli, a European style breakfast cereal developed by Lisa Zaccaglini and Mike Shuster of Sharon Springs, as one of the five most “scrumptious” cereals in the U.S.
The couple started their “breakfast revolution” only 14 months ago, and still hand mix every batch and hand stamp the 100 percent biodegradable bags.

The Plains at Parish Homestead Leadership Team is pleased to announce the appointment of Trudy Claudy as Executive Director of “The Heritage at The Plains.”
Trudy Claudy has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from State University of New York at Cortland and a master’s degree in Healthcare Administration from Sage College in Albany. She is a New York State licensed Nursing Home Administrator and has over 15 years of administrative experience managing day to day operations in both skilled nursing and assisted living facilities.
Ellen Harris, Vice President of Operations said “Ms. Claudy brings a great wealth of experience and expertise in the daily operations and regulations of Assisted Living and we are excited to have her skilled leadership as part of the team and our growing community.”
This new active adult community in Oneonta offers Independent, Assisted Living and Memory Care Apartments.

HONORS: Hartwick College announced the following students were named to the fall term dean’s list. Cathryn Cobstill, of Oneonta, daughter of Rachel and Robert Cobstill; Christopher DiDonna, of Schenevus, son of Deborah Crockett and Francis DiDonna; Theresa Pietsch, of Oneonta, daughter of Michael and Ulrike Pietsch; Elyse Russo, of Oneonta, daughter of Josephine and Robert Russo; Catherine Scorzafava, of Oneonta, daughter of Charles Scorzafava and Nancy Scorzafava; Brittany Morrissey, of Otego, daughter of Robert and Susan Morrissey.

FOX ADDITION: Nurse Practitioner Evelyn Flannery has joined Fox Hospital’s Oneonta Family Practice in the FoxCare Center. She holds a master's as a family nurse practitioner from SUNY-IT Utica, and had previously worked at Fox OB/GYN. She is accepting new patients.

LOCAL USC GRADS: Four students were fall graduates from USC/The Business College's Oneonta campus. Two received certificates in the medical office assistant program: Kerstin Jones and Dawn Spinola. Kendra Light received an associate's degree in administrative specialist/medical, and Melissa Rathbun in business administration/general.

FOUR TIMES: Madie Harlem, OHS '09, was named women's basketball rookie of the week for the fourth time by the Liberty League on Feb. 15. Harlem is a freshman at Hamilton College.

HOT DOGS: “Fat Mike” Joubert, of Oneonta, opened his Fat Mike’s Dirty Dogs at 182 Main St. in Oneonta on Jan. 1. The restaurant serves hot dogs with a variety of different toppings and sides. The best seller in the ketchup, mustard and relish colored establishment has been the chili cheese dog.

John Henry Young, Jr., who has served as the Academy Director at Oneonta Job Corp Academy since June of 2008, finished his employment at the academy last week. Young has been involved with the Job Corps Program and community for over forty years and has been the director at eight different Job Corps Centers. Vailiida Niifa, executive director of Center Operations and Support, will serve as Interim Academy Director, effective January 22nd. Niifa is an experienced Job Corps professional and former center director.

Hamilton College's Madie Harlem '13, of Oneonta, was selected the Liberty League women's basketball rookie of the week on Jan. 11 for the third time this season. Harlem ranks seventh in the league with 12.6 points per game, third with 2.89 steals per game, first with a 3-point field goal percentage of .405 and sixth with 1.67 3-point field goals made per game.

Morris Rotary Club has launched a new website to promote the club’s activities and events in Morris and the Butternut Valley. The site, which has been under development and testing for a couple months, can be accessed by the public at www.morrisrotaryclub.org.

Sara Boulanger, Oneonta, has joined USC The Business College in the admissions department of its Oneonta campus. She holds a B.A. in history from SUNY Cortland and a master's from Indiana University. She is an adjunct instructor at SUNY Delhi and previously worked for the Oneida County Workforce Development Board as a summer youth counselor.

SUNY Oneonta senior Josh Wake, a wrestler, has been selected for the Dr. Sam Molnar Award, the highest academic award a male student athlete can receive from the SUNYAC conference.
Wake, a graduate of Delaware Academy, Delhi, becomes the sixth Oneonta recipient of the award since its inception in 1975-76.
A high school teammate, Kyle Hauptfleisch, received the award in 2005.
The Red Dragon wrestler is also a two-time NWCA Scholar All-American, was inducted into Chi Alpha Sigma and the National Student Athlete Honor Society, and last spring was named to ESPN the Magazine’s Academic All-District 1 At-Large
second team.
He is an Oneonta Academic Merit and Alumni Association Scholarship recipient, a member of the Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society, and has appeared on the SUNYAC Commissioner¹s List and All-Academic Team during his first three years.


SUNY Oneonta’s Brian Haley’s “Reimagining the Immigrant: The Accommodation of Mexican Immigrants in Rural America,” exploring Mexican immigration and settlement in a California small town, will be published by Palgrave Macmillan later this month.
Haley, associate professor and Anthropology Department chair, earned his doctorate at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and joined the SUNY Oneonta faculty in 2000.

The Velveteen Rabbit, created by the SUNY Delhi Gingerbread Team, has won Best of Show at Main Street Oneonta’s annual Gingerbread Contest.
Other winners are:
Storybook/Adult: first prize, Mother Goose, created by Denise Herrick; second prize, Charlotte’s Web, created by Cathy Wise; third prize, The Night Before Christmas, created by The Hampshire House.
Storybook/Family: first prize, The Very Hungry Catepillar, created by Mallory Herrick; second prize, Three Billy Goats Gruff, created by Mary Kate And Sandy Lynch; third prize, Snowmen At Night, created by The Morrell family.
Storybook/Young Adult (12-17): first prize, If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, created by Brittney Herrick; second prize, Cinderella’s Castle, created by Haley Wist and Mckenna Hungerford; third prize, created by Laurens Central School Art Club.
Giant-Sized: first prize, The Nativity Scene Pop-up, created by Frances Holderman; second prize, created by Lydia Lawson, Kayley Qua and Hannah Lawson.
All 2009 Gingerbread creations are on display in Main Street Oneonta windows from now until Jan. 1.

Dr. Annabi Djalo has joined Fox Memorial Hospital’s medical staff as a hospitalist.
Djalo, who is board certified in family medicine is a graduate of Ross University School of Medicine in Portsmouth, and completed his residency in Family Medicine at New York Medical College in Brooklyn /Queens. Most recently, he worked as an attending physician at Altru Health System/Lifecare in Roseau, Minn.

Shawn Speller of Oneonta, deployed on Saturday, Nov. 14, to begin work on his first service project of the year with the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC), an AmeriCorps program.
Speller had arrived at NCCC’s Southwest Region Campus in Denver and began training on Wednesday, Oct. 14, for 10 months of full-time service with AmeriCorps NCCC. This training emphasized teamwork, leadership development, communication, service learning, and certification by the American Red Cross.
As a Corps Member, Speller will be responsible for completing a series of six- to eight-week-long service projects as part of a 10- to 12-person team. His first service project will end on Dec. 17, at which time his team will break for the winter holidays and begin a new project in a new location in January.
Before joining the NCCC, Speller graduated from Oneonta High School and attended Morrisville State College for two years. Speller said, “I have always been interested in volunteer service because I grew up helping others. It was my way of giving back to those who helped me along the way.”
Andre and Renee Alston are Shawn’s parents.

Bonnie Knapp, Home Care Inc. certified home health aide, received the Home Health Aide of the Year Award Nov. 4 in Albany from the Home Care Association of New York.
In honor of National Home Care Month, the winner of the HCA-NY annual award “recognizes a home health aide whose story provides a powerful example of the hard work, dedication and caring.”
Knapp joined At Home Care in 1997. Repeatedly, patients and families share testimony of Ms. Knapp’s impact on their lives.
Recently, one family member reported: “Bonnie is an exceptional home health aide – very compassionate and caring. We couldn’t have asked for a better aide during such a difficult time in our lives.”

GEO FYRST: SUNY Oneonta earth science faculty members Devin Castendyk, Leslie Hasbargen, Tatiana Vislova, James Albanese and James Ebert presented “GEO FYRST: Creating Majors with a Pre-semester Field Trip for First-year Students” at the 2009 annual meeting of the Geological Society of America Oct. 18-21 in Portland, Ore. Their presentation was selected from 4,000 nominees

PRIZE, LECTURE: Dr. Devin Castendyk, SUNY Oneonta assistant professor of earth sciences, has won the 2009 Richard Siegfried Junior Faculty Prize for Academic Excellence. He will deliver the 15th annual Siegfried Lecture, “Mine-Full Nation: The Paradox of Sustainable at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, in the Morris Conference Center.


POLIO FIGHTER

Springbrook has named Seth Haight deputy executive director for programs, a new position, effective Nov. 9.
As deputy executive director, Haight will oversee Springbrook’s three major program areas – the School at Springbrook, Community Homes and Community Services.
He comes to Springbrook from Hartwick College, where he has been on the development staff since 2004, most recently as vice President for institutional Advancement.
Previously, he worked for Tyco International as Global Business development manager.
He is a Hartwick graduate with an MBA from Boston University.
A native of Delhi, he currently lives in Oneonta with his wife and three children.

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