SUNY Cortland To Hold Honors Convocation On April 12

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Arnold Talentino Photo

CORTLAND, NY (04/02/2008)(readMedia)-- SUNY Cortland Professor Emeritus of English Arnold Talentino, who currently coordinates the College’s Honors Program, will deliver the keynote address at SUNY Cortland’s annual Honors Convocation on Saturday, April 12.

Approximately 370 students will be recognized for their academic accomplishments at the event, which begins at 7 p.m. in the Park Center Alumni Arena. An academic procession of SUNY Cortland faculty will open the Honors Convocation. A reception for the honorees and guests will follow in the same location.

Students will be recognized for a variety of achievements, including a top five percent ranking in their respective classes and for receiving College-wide and departmental awards and scholarships. The Donald Parrish Brooks Scholarship Award will be presented to the residence hall having the highest cumulative grade point average.

Judith Best, a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Political Science, will carry the mace during the procession. Carrying the ceremonial gonfalons will be Louis Gatto, professor and chair of biological sciences; Seth Asumah, Distinguished Teaching Professor of Political Science and chair of the Africana Studies Department; Eric Malmberg, professor of physical education; and Joy Mosher, associate professor and interim chair of the Childhood/Early Childhood Department. Marshals will be Philip Buckenmeyer, associate professor of kinesiology; Susan Rayl, assistant professor of kinesiology; Susan Stratton, assistant professor of childhood/early childhood education; and Michael Toglia, professor of psychology.

Readers for the ceremony are Robert Spitzer, Distinguished Service Professor and professor of political science; and Arnold Talentino.

The former director of the SUNY Consortium program in English at the University of Nottingham in England, Talentino will give an address titled “One-Room Schoolhouse.”

“I will give remarks about the collaborative nature of education and, in part, my personal education, since I began at a one-room schoolhouse,” Talentino said.

He taught in the College’s English Department for 32 years until his retirement in 2002. The following spring, he joined the College’s professional staff as Honors Program coordinator, a role he has fulfilled ever since.

A native of Oneida, N.Y., Talentino earned his bachelor’s degree in English literature at Hamilton College, where he was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa chapter. He subsequently received a master’s degree in American literature at Cornell University, a master’s degree in education from Syracuse University and a Ph.D. in medieval literature from SUNY Binghamton.

Talentino served in the U.S. Army and then taught English at Oneida (N.Y.) High School, in the Syracuse City School District and at Maine-Endwell High School.

He joined the SUNY Cortland faculty in 1970 as an assistant professor, was promoted to associate professor in 1978 and to full professor in 1983. He was acting English Department chair in Spring 1999.

An expert in medieval literature with a specialty in Anglo Saxon poetry, Talentino expanded his scholarly activities into the sports literature field. His diverse scholarship is reflected in essays on medieval literature in journals such as Papers on Language and Literature, Neophilologus and Neuphilogische Mitteilungen; writings on sports and sport literature in journals such as Arete and Sports and the Humanities, SUNY Research and in the New York Times; and an essay in Nature Study. Approximately 30 of his poems were published in literary quarterlies.

He was a faculty advisor to the College’s literary magazine Transitions. He was active in a variety of professional organizations, including Repertoire Internationales des Medievistes and the Medieval Academy of America.

An avid tennis player, Talentino helped to develop a Sports Studies minor at the College and taught a course on Sport Literature. He received a SUNY Research Foundation grant to study the effects of mass interest in sports on moral and ethical values in the U.S. He also is the recipient of a New York Regents State Teaching Fellowship and a Faculty Fellowship.

A former member of the Faculty Senate, he also served on the executive board of the United University Professions. Within the community, Talentino served as a Sierra Club coordinator helping to generate support for environmental issues.

He lives in Cortland with his wife, Win. They have two grown children, Andrea and Justin.

The Honors Convocation Committee is co-chaired by Joy Mosher and Susan Wilson, associate professor of recreation and leisure studies.

Committee members include Nancy Aumann, associate provost for academic affairs; Darci Bacigalupi, special events coordinator; Philip Buckenmeyer, associate professor of kinesiology; Robert Buckley, instructional support associate in Classroom Media Services; Douglas DeRancy ’75, executive director of alumni affairs; Janet Duncan, associate professor of foundations and social advocacy; R. Lawrence Klotz, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor and professor of biological sciences; Kimberly Kraebel, assistant professor of psychology; Virginia B. Levine, executive assistant to the president; Charlotte Plunkett, supervising janitor of physical plant; Kevin Pristash ’85, associate director of Corey Union; Tracy Rammacher, director of publications and electronic media; Michael Toglia, professor of psychology; Judith VanBuskirk, associate professor of history; Meghan Van Deuson, President’s Office secretary; Stephen Wilson, professor of performing arts; and Christopher Xenakis, lecturer in political science.

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