The MVCC women’s track and field team has enjoyed much success over the years, and this past season was no different. The Hawks won the 2015 NJCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field National Championship last week, doing it in style on their own home track.

“This is great for these girls,” said MVCC coach Gary Parker, after his team dumped a bucket of ice water on him in celebra-tion. “They really deserve this as they have really worked hard all season.” On the heels of winning this honor, the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association named MVCC’s Stephanie Boucher as Female Track Athlete of the Year.

At the nationals, Boucher won the 1,500-meter run with a time of four minutes, 59.57 seconds, and took first place in the 800-meter run in 2:19.49. She was also a member of the winning 3,200-meter relay team and ran as anchor on the 1,600-meter relay team, which took third place.

Back in the fall cross country season, Boucher placed sec-ond at the nationals and the Hawks won the NJCAA National Championship crown. She was named an All-American for the Hawks.

But winning this national track and field title was a team effort with many of the Hawks’ athletes winning their events, and earning All-American honors. Soph-omore Leah Rice dominated the dis-tance events for the Hawks, winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a time of 11:36.70. She came back the next day to win the 10,000-meter run 40:42.35, place second in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 18:56.22, and take third place in the 1,500-meter run in 5:10.47.

In the throwing events, MVCC’s Harley Buczkowski was a force to be reckoned with. In the hammer throw, she took sec-ond place with a distance of 39.57 meters. She came back to take second place in the discus with a toss of 32.78 meters and finished off the meet with a second place title in the shot put with 10.70 meters.

Topping off the honors for the track and field program was

having head coach Gary Parker named NJCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field National Coach of the Year for the 2015 season. Parker, leading MVCC for 36 years, has led the Hawks to two national crowns in four years and third in the past seven years. His team scored 151 points to top runner-up SUNY Delhi by 14 points. He was awarded this national honor for both the men’s and women’s teams.

Week of May 18, 2015

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Hawks win second national crown

Dr. George J. Searles, a professor in the Center for Arts and Humanities, delivered the keynote address at the Career & Techni-cal Education English Colloquium at Honolulu Community College in Hawaii on Friday, March 10.

His presentation focused on the pedagogical philosophy underlying his textbook, Workplace Communications: The Basics, which is used at Honolulu and more than 250 other colleges here and abroad.

Dr. Searles give presentation Spread The NewsSubmit your information

for Communitas torhaubert@mvcc.edu

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Duane “Edwin” Isenberg is a big presence on campus, and it is not because he is tall. His programs here at the College have trained many students to head off into very successful careers in the printing industry and sparked the creation of dozens of new companies in the Mohawk Valley. As an Associate Professor of Graphic Arts Technology, he has many students return over the past 30 years to keep him informed of how well they are doing.

Born and raised in Davenport, Iowa, (along the Mississippi River), his first love for graphic arts came about in high school while taking shop classes to hone his skills in welding, drafting and woodworking.

“While in High School I had an instructor who recommended I look at the school he had graduated from and go into teaching,” said Isenberg.

After enrolling at Wayne State College in Nebraska, where he started out with as an Industrial Education major and an Art Minor, he eventu-ally changed to a major that didn’t require a minor and I picked up the second major in art. His instructors were so impressed with his work ethic and level of skills, he was asked to stay on to complete his master’s degree in Vocational/Technical Education.

“So after six years there, I finally had to get a job at Bemidji State University in Northern Minnesota and ended up teaching four years in the Industrial Technology/Commercial Design Department. They wanted me to get my Doctorate to keep the job there, and after just getting out of the six years at Wayne State, I wasn’t ready to go back to school right away so I looked for another job,” said Isenberg.

He began his career at MVCC in the fall of 1984 after looking at a couple jobs in industry. He really enjoyed the summers off so decided to take the MVCC job because it was exactly what he was doing in Bemidji. His first classes were Basic Photography and Graphic Arts/Typesetting.

“I have been the faculty advisor for the Graphic Arts Technology Club since its inception and do a lot of fund raising projects with the students. We then use the funds to pay for our participation in The Bowlathon for the House of Good Shepherd, The Great American Heart Run and Walk and the Ted Moore Run and Walk. We also visit local printing shops and take a yearly trip to Rochester to visit the New Media Program at RIT. I am also a member of the Ted Moore Committee,” said Isenberg.

Along with being recognized for 30 years of dedication and service to the College and its students, Isenberg received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and the NISOD Excellence Award for Teaching in Graphic Arts. He has also been recognized for working with students with disabilities in his classes.

Honoring Employees for Years of Service

Outside of work, he is a member of the Adirondack Rusty Crankers Model T Club, the Photo Club of Central New York and the Officer Suds Chapter of the Brewery Collectables Club of America.

“If you ever see a wooden Model T running around the streets and roads of Central New York, it’s me,” he added. “I have done a lot of photography for the Whitesboro High School Athletic Department as well as being the designer and photographer for all of the professional hockey teams from Bill Horton’s Com-ets in the 80’s to the Prowlers. I have even taken my classes down to the Utica Auditorium to paint the logos on the ice for the Bandits and the Bulldogs.”

The Rome Student Activities Association hosted their annual spring barbeque on the lawn of the Plumley Complex last Tues-day to celebrate the end of another successful academic year. The event ran from noon-3 p.m., serving delicious free food and ice cream sundaes provided through Sodexo, the Escoffier Club, and Hospitality students and staff.

The event was well-attended by students and staff that took advantage of the gorgeous spring weather to enjoy a fantastic picnic lunch on the lawn, make connections and socialize with other students and staff, and take part in a variety of activities that included inflatables, raffles, music, and more.

Students and staff took pictures with college mascot Mo, made their way through an inflatable obstacle course, and entered raffles for gas cards and gift cards to Rome Cinemas, Panera Bread, Sodexo, Dunkin’ Donuts, the Savoy and more. Funds raised in the raffle went to relief efforts in Nepal; the amount raised at the BBQ and through other efforts by Student Congress totaled more than $8,000.

RSAA would like to thank Rome Facilities, the Program

Board, Sodexo, Escoffier, Hospitality, and the many other staff members from across the College who assisted at the event to keep everything running smoothly for students and attendees, contributing to an event that was highly successful and enjoy-able for all.

Rome Campus enjoys day of BBQ

Andrew Glidden, faculty mem-ber for Hospitality Management, has spent the last few months teaching ten students from the Rome Rescue Mission how to cook and prepare healthy meals.

MVCC and the Rome Rescue Mission partnered on this endeav-or as part of the Rome Rescue Mission’s Journey to Health Pro-gram, which is meant to empower people to improve the quality of their lives while promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors. The cooking course, which lasted ten weeks, culminated in a final meal on May 13, with a deli-cious menu consisting of salad, soup, prime rib, stuffed baked potato, a broccoli and carrot almondine, and a cake prepared by the Hospitality Management students.

Glidden was given a plaque as a sign of gratitude from his students and the staff at Rome Rescue Mission for the hours he spent volunteering his time. All the stu-dents received certificates for their completion of the lessons in addition to aprons and gift bags filled with cooking tools and supplies.

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This spring, Robert Huyck and Art Friedberg took a group of business students from the Rome Campus to New York City to gain insight into the American economic system.

They toured the FED, the Museum of American Finance, and the Downtown Association. The students were treated to a luncheon with the CEO of Holborn Financial Brokerage, Frank Harrison. During their tour of Wall Street, they learned about Alexander Hamilton as well as the details of how stocks are traded.

They also toured lower Manhattan, including visits to the bronze bull statue and Freedom Tower. The purpose of this trip was to show students more about the concepts they had learned about in their classes.

Rome business students tour NYC, Wall Street

Glidden teaches self-sufficiency at Rome Rescue Mission

For 25 years, Mohawk Valley Community College’s Liberians have been honoring top student literary projects with the presentation of the Marjorie Thorpe Memorial Award. The recipients of this year’s awards were Kimberly Hertline of Whitesboro and Joseph McCarthy of North Bay.

Marjorie Thorpe was a librarian at MVCC from 1962 until her retirement in 1968. In 1982 she was awarded the title Professor Emerita for her outstanding service to the College. She died in 1989 at the age of 91, leaving money to the College librar-ies to be used for the annual term paper contest.

Fifteen papers were submitted by students from Oneida, Herkimer, Lewis, Madi-son, and Otsego counties and judged by six librarians from MVCC’s Utica and Rome libraries. The criteria of the judging was based on writing, quality of sources, writing styles, accurate use of references, and the process of connecting the re-search to the final paper.

Hertline’s paper was written for instructor Andrew Puckey’s class and was entitled, “Trapped Behind the Wallpaper: Symbolism in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper.’” McCarthy’s paper was written for Associate Professor Diana Ayers-Darling’s class and was entitled “Yoda the Gibbon.” Along with the award, each student received a check for $200.

Hertline, McCarthy receive the Marjorie Thorpe Award

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By Quyen LuongVisiting Professor from KGCC, Vietnam

I was impressed by the three words “learn, search and serve” from a woman’s speech at MVCC graduation ceremony. Her advice was aimed at the students who finished their school work successfully and were going to continue to achieve their upcoming dreams. By chance, her words fell at the time when

I was going to leave after my nine weeks at MVCC learning about teaching, American culture and sharing Vietnamese culture.

Therefore, those three words to ori-ent the students to the right choice for their future also made me think

of myself. For me, I would add the word “feel” as in the graph below to describe myself after the journey of moving halfway across the globe to MVCC - Utica, which is the biggest adventure I have ever had in my life.

Over the past weeks, I visited classes and learned valuable teaching methods, principles and strategies which MVCC teach-ers figured out for their own after years of teaching. I learned from students’ learning styles and figured out that a class with students from different countries has its own interesting culture to explore and to deal with because of its cultural diversity. I also learned their professional working styles from MVCC staff.

I can feel how MVCC cares for its students’ lives through the ways the teachers motivate and encourage their students to take part in learning activities, through activities the learn-ing center offers to help students and other activities such as the party for a successful end to the semester, through the cultural series, through the photos which are the students’ work on the walls of the buildings, through activities for entertain-ment MVCC Housing offers for students such as the carnival on one weekend, and through the services MVCC offers to students with disabilities. I was really interested when I first saw two teaching assistants signing ASL to help a student having problems with learning in an ESL class. MVCC offers services in the true sense of its name. Many of them I do not see at my college.

In addition, the trips to other cities, to MVCC teachers’ hous-es and even to stores helped me to understand more about American history, culture and American life. I was very im-pressed by the beauty of America from the energy of New York to the calm of Utica with the hills going up and down in my view every time I travelled out. My time at MVCC also helped me to fulfil my little dreams. I could see things I had been told before I came to MVCC by my eyes, touch them by my hands and hear

things from Americans themselves. I had chances to see and feel things which I had taught my students but had never seen in reality. And I could see the snow, touch it and feel its cold when it fell from the sky and melt on my hand. It did not snow much when I was at MVCC, but that was enough for me. One of my favorites at MVCC was to explore Americans’ customs by asking people questions. I was also happy to see that people were very interested to know about Vietnam - a country that not many people in America have been to.

I have experienced a lot of things which help to open my mind and those things will be very useful for my work in Viet-nam. “Learn, search, serve and feel” is a closed triangle with mutual relationships which I should keep in mind so that I can be successful in my job to lead my students across the rivers to the right places.

I would like to express my deep gratitude to the Board of Trustees, the MVCC administration, staff and faculty and all my friends at MVCC who helped me have wonderful experiences. My special thanks go to Sandy Engel for her hard work and care for me so that I had a very enjoyable time. I wish you all health, happiness and success. I will miss MVCC, the weather, the trees, the streets I have been on, the places I visited, and … my favorite Five Guys hamburger when I go back to Vietnam.

Learn, search, serve and feel

As the College heads into the summer mode, supervisors of UPSEU staff have several options available to them. In addition to working with the staff to accommodate a flexible schedule during the summer, in accordance with the agreement the Col-lege reached with UPSEU in November 1999.

• Lunch breaks for UPSEU white collar staff with one hour lunch breaks may change their lunch break during the summer from the day after Memorial Day, May 26, through Friday, Aug. 14, from one hour to one-half hour.

• This agreement applies to lunch breaks only and for titles recognized in the UPSEU White Collar Collective Bar-

gaining Agreement. (Does not apply to PA members)• Offices shall remain open as usual and supervisors shall

schedule staff as needed to provide for necessary adjust-ments for adequate coverage.

UPSEU white collar staff members who were allowed a one-half hour lunch break prior to October 21, 1999 are the only employees allowed to retain their one-half hour lunch break after August 14, 2015.

If you have any questions, contact the MVCC Human Re-source Office.

Summertime lunch breaks for UPSEU