News from SUNY Cortland

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Gov. Spitzer Appoints Thomas Gallagher and Linda Armstrong, Reappoints Marie Rumsey to College Council

CORTLAND, NY (01/10/2008; 1429)(readMedia)-- Gov. Eliot Spitzer has appointed Thomas Gallagher, mayor of Cortland, and Linda May Armstrong, a member of the grant management team at Thoma Development Corp., to seven-year terms with the SUNY Cortland College Council. He has also reappointed current College Council member Marie Rumsey to a seven-year term.

Gallagher’s term began Jan. 3 and runs through June 30, 2011. He replaced Patrick McHugh on the Council. Armstrong, who replaced Steven Hunt after he was appointed to the State University of New York Board of Trustees, began her term on Jan. 2 and will serve through June 30, 2013. Rumsey’s new term runs through June 30, 2014.

The 10-member College Council has certain supervisory responsibilities at SUNY Cortland which include: recommending candidates for appointment as president of the College; reviewing major plans for operation of the College properties; reviewing proposed budgets requests; fostering the development of advisory citizens' committees; naming buildings and grounds; and making or approving regulations governing the conduct and behavior of students.

Gallagher, who has been mayor of Cortland since 2002, was the executive director of the Cortland County Chamber of Commerce from 1994-2001 and then headed special projects for the Cortland County Business Development Corporation/Industrial Development Agency in 2001-02.

The Groton, N.Y., native and Groton Central graduate attended Mohawk Valley Technical Institute in Utica and earned an associate’s degree from the Rochester Business Institute.

He began his professional career with the Commercial Credit Corp. and the General Finance Corp. in Syracuse, N.Y. From 1962-69, he worked for Smith Corona Corp. in DeWitt, N.Y. He co-owned and operated Crown City Distributors in Cortland from 1969-86 and Cortland Paper Products in Cortland from 1986-93.

Gallagher served on the YMCA Board of Directors for 38 years and is a past president. His 25 years on the Cortland City Water Board include serving as chair. He is a Past Exalted Ruler and a Board of Trustees member of the Cortland Elks Club. He was a founding member of Leadership Cortland and the Cortland Business Network.

The 2007 recipient of the Boys Scouts of America’s Cortland County Distinguished Citizen Award, Gallagher served on the steering committee for the 25th Empire State Games co-hosted by Cortland in 2002. He serves on the advisory board of the Cortland Regional Sports Council, the McDonald Sports Complex Board of Directors, the Cortland Regional Medical Center, the Tompkins-Cortland Community College Foundation, the United Way of Cortland County and the Tompkins County Trust Company Economic Development Board.

He and his wife, Toni, reside in Cortland. They have three children, Dennis, Kathy and Brian, and two grandchildren, Dennis and Danielle.

Armstrong, a 1976 SUNY Cortland alumna, joined Thoma Development Corporation of Cortland, N.Y., in 1982 as a grant writer working with the City of Cortland’s Community Development Business Loan Program. Since 1992, she has designed and implemented home ownership programs for low-to-moderate income households, while working with lenders, realtors and attorneys on behalf of the applicants.

Armstrong also manages economic development opportunities in the City of Cortland, administers public facilities projects, and oversees federal reporting requirements.

Most recently, Armstrong has worked with the Groton Avenue parking lot reconstruction project in Cortland; the Village of Groton Morton Water Supply Improvement Project; the Family Health Network Dental Clinic Economic Development Project; the Mill Street water improvements in Marathon, N.Y.; and the Town of Waterloo (N.Y.) Powerdly Road water main extension.

A native of Ithaca, N.Y., she graduated from Ithaca High School, where she was an accomplished swimmer and a member of the first co-ed swimming team at the school.

At SUNY Cortland, she continued to compete in swimming and coached the Syracuse University women’s swim team as a Cortland senior. She earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education.

Armstrong and her husband, Donald, a local attorney and a member of the SUNY Cortland Foundation Board, reside in Cortland. They have a daughter, Megan.

Rumsey joined the College Council in 2006, when Gov. George Pataki appointed her to a one-year term to complete the vacancy created with the resignation of Anthony R. Granito.

A native of Union Springs, N.Y., Rumsey graduated from Union Springs High School. She earned an associate's degree from Auburn Community College, a bachelor's degree in elementary education from SUNY Brockport and more than 30 additional credits at various other universities and colleges.

For 30 years, Rumsey taught elementary level students in the Auburn City School District and later in the Cortland Enlarged City School District, from which she retired in June 2005.

During her professional career, she mentored numerous SUNY Cortland student teachers and was a tutor in the Cortland School District, where she also worked with the superintendent to develop a mission statement for the district. She established the Student Council at Alton B. Parker Elementary School in Cortland.

In 2005, Rumsey was recognized by the Cortland Rotary Club as its Lavona Schneider Memorial Teacher of the Year. That same year, the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International also named her a Paul Harris Fellow.

She was a founding member of the Homer Children's Center, a non-profit corporation helping primary school students. She is a past president and current member of both the Cortland County Women's Republican Club and the Leisure Hour Club, the latter an organization supporting the Phillips Free Library in Homer. A former member of the Homer Congregational Church Board of Education, Rumsey is a board member for The Home Store, a non-profit corporation assisting the working poor of Cortland County.

An active member of the Homer Schools Lacrosse Booster Club, she and her husband, the Hon. Phillip R. Rumsey, have three children, Elizabeth, Phillip, Jr. and William.

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Thomas Gallagher Photo

Linda Armstrong Photo

Marie Rumsey Photo