SUNY Cortland Remembers Longtime Employee with Rock Concert

CORTLAND, NY (01/31/2012)(readMedia)-- SUNY Cortland will rock to a national recording act on Saturday, Feb. 4, while raising funds for a new scholarship honoring the memory of Michael C. Holland, a longtime staff member who was beloved by students.

Alternative rocker Andy Grammer, one of Billboard magazine's "Artists to Watch" in 2011, headlines the College's "Rock for Remembrance," scheduled for 8 p.m. in the Corey Union Function Room. Tickets cost $5 for SUNY Cortland students and $15 for general admission.

All proceeds from the event, presented by the College's Student Activities Board (SAB), will go to an annual $5,000 scholarship in Holland's name. That amount would cover nearly the entire cost of tuition for a New York state resident.

Holland, the former executive assistant to the vice president for student affairs, served SUNY Cortland for more than 30 years. He died unexpectedly on Oct. 29 after traveling with students to help flood victims in Binghamton, N.Y.

"Mike worked really closely with everything we did," said Jamie Piperato, SUNY Cortland's Student Government Association (SGA) president. "He was our advisor in every sense of the word, and this is an event he would have supported."

SGA's stabilization fund and events such as "Rock for Remembrance" will financially support the scholarship, which will be awarded to one student each year, Piperato said.

"Hopefully, the person would have the same qualities as Mike," she said. "Fun-loving, hands on everything, all for students."

Justin Carlson and Delvin "D.J." Johnson, the student co-chairs in charge of lining up music for SAB, developed the idea to tweak an event that used to be known as "Rock for a Cause" and turn it into the first-ever "Rock for Remembrance." They began working on the event in the fall and decided to bring in Grammer, a musician who earned the No. 1 spot on the Billboard New Artist chart with his 2010 debut video, "Keep Your Head Up."

"It should be a nice change of pace," Johnson said. "(Grammer) is more alternative and he has some hit singles out that people will like."

Johnson also said that SAB will announce the headliner for Spring Fling, SUNY Cortland's major spring concert, at the Feb. 4 "Rock for Remembrance."

Concert tickets for the "Rock for Remembrance" will be on sale from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. from Tuesday, Jan. 31, to Friday, Feb. 3, and from 5 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 31, and Wednesday, Feb. 1, on the ground floor of Corey Union. Any remaining tickets will be sold at the door.

The general public can purchase tickets by calling the Campus Activities Office at (607) 753-2322.