News from SUNY Cortland

For more information contact: Jean Palmer, 607-753-2232

SUNY Chancellor's Award For Student Excellence Presented To Six SUNY Cortland Students

CORTLAND, NY (04/09/2008; 1125)(readMedia)-- Six SUNY Cortland seniors were honored on April 7 in Albany with 2008 State University of New York Chancellor’s Awards for Student Excellence.

Interim SUNY Chancellor John B. Clark recognized 275 students from campuses throughout the state during the ceremony at the Empire State Convention Center. The recipients were honored for integrating academic excellence with accomplishments in leadership, athletics, community service, creative and performing arts or career achievement. This year’s honorees have an overall grade point average of 3.75.

The SUNY Cortland recipients are:

• Kaitlyn Boyes, a senior sport management major from Tonawanda, N.Y.

• Devin Broadwell, a senior biology major from Canandaigua, N.Y.

• George Hotaling, a senior political science major from Jefferson, N.Y.

• Jamie Neuner, a senior adolescent education social studies major from Brewster, N.Y.

• Lindsay Rourke, a senior speech pathology and audiology major from Massena, N.Y.

• Kaitlin Smith, a senior health science major from Albion, N.Y.

Each year, SUNY campus presidents establish a selection committee to review outstanding graduating seniors. The nominees are forwarded to the Chancellor’s Office for a second round of review and a group of finalists is selected. Each honoree received a framed certificate and a medallion that is traditionally worn at commencement.

With this year’s awards, 48 SUNY Cortland students have earned a Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence since the program was created in 1997. A more detailed profile of each 2008 SUNY Cortland honoree follows:

Kaitlyn Boyes

Boyes has been an exemplary leader during her four years at SUNY Cortland. As a member of the interdisciplinary national honor society Phi Kappa Phi, she has received more than 10 major scholarships and awards for her involvement in extracurricular activities and community service. She served as the Student Government Association president while maintaining a 3.9 grade point average and making the President’s List five times.

Since 2005, Boyes has been an event manager, one of six students selected to manage and coordinate various SUNY Cortland sporting events with the SUNY Cortland Athletic Department. During summer 2006 and 2007, Boyes interned for the Buffalo, N.Y., District Golf Association, part of the United States Golf Association. She performed public relations and general administration tasks related to championships and events. She is currently an intern with New York City-based Company 20, a full-service event management, event marketing and event-consulting agency that specializes in sports, entertainment and hospitality event productions.

Devin Broadwell

Broadwell has demonstrated exemplary academic achievement with a 3.96 grade point average. She has been on the President’s List each semester and is a member of Beta Beta Beta, the national honor society for biological sciences. Broadwell was accepted to present at the New York State Museum Science Conference in Spring 2008. She is the co-author of a professional manuscript that will be submitted to a scientific journal for publication.

From 2007-08, Broadwell has led a team of Cortland students in designing an outreach project that connects local high school students to conservation biology research being done by faculty and students at the College. She was awarded a grant for this project from the Cortland College Foundation and is the supervisor and coordinator of participating students from the College and two local high schools.

George Hotaling

Hotaling, maintaining a 3.56 grade point average, was inducted into the Pi Sigma Alpha political science honor society. He is preparing to enter the United States Army as a 2nd lieutenant platoon leader after graduation. Last spring, Hotaling was awarded a $2,500 Summer Research Fellowship Grant to examine the relationship between presidential popularity and the content of Congressional campaign Web sites from members of the same party.

For the past three years, Hotaling has served on SUNY Cortland’s Judicial Affairs programs as a justice. Off campus, Hotaling is the assistant director of the Headwaters Soccer Club, an adult soccer league.

Jamie Neuner

Neuner achieved national recognition for softball while maintaining an outstanding academic record at the College. With a 3.4 grade point average, Neuner has been on the Dean’s List every semester and was inducted into the Phi Alpha Theta history honor society.

She was a three-year starter on the SUNY Cortland Red Dragon’s softball team and was voted State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) player of the year for 2005, 2006 and 2007, making her the only player to do so in the league’s history. In 2007, Neuner was voted as a Louisville Slugger/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-American Division III First Team Member.

In 2005, she was named to the College Division District I All-Academic Softball Team by ESPN The Magazine. Neuner also was a softball team representative for the SUNY Cortland Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC).

Lindsay Rourke

Rourke, who has a 3.46 grade point average, was recognized for completing the SUNY Cortland Honors Program. In 2006 and 2007, Rourke received the Excellence in Leadership Award from the Campus Activities Office. She was inducted into Phi Eta Sigma, a national honor society for freshman.

While at SUNY Cortland, Rourke has been an active member of student government and has worked to improve the quality of student life at the College. For the past four years, she has held various positions for the College Singers, an auditioned choral group at SUNY Cortland. She also serves as the Comedy and Lecture Chair and Spring Fling Coordinator for the Student Activities Board. In 2006 and 2007, Rourke was a teaching assistant for SUNY Cortland’s freshman course. She also has served as a resident assistant, an admissions ambassador and a student assistant for campus activities.

Kaitlin Smith

Smith, who will graduate summa cum laude with a 3.98 grade point average, is the president and founding member of SUNY Cortland’s Colleges Against Cancer and the chair of the College’s Relay for Life. Over the past three years she has helped raise more than $136,000 for the American Cancer Society. She was honored with the Outstanding Student Leadership Award and the Outstanding Student Organization Award for Colleges Against Cancer.

Last spring, Smith was listed in Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, a publication that recognizes students who exhibit academic excellence, school leadership and community involvement.

She is a member of Eta Sigma Gamma, the national health honorary society; Phi Eta Sigma, the national honor society for freshmen; and the Phi Kappa Phi interdisciplinary national honor society. Smith is the recipient of the Cortland College Foundation’s Alpha Delta Junior Award, presented to students who are in the top 10 percent of their junior class. In 2006, she was awarded the Leadership in Civic Engagement Award.

From 2005-07, Smith served as a SUNY Cortland Peer Advocate in the SUNY Cortland Health Promotion Office and the Substance Abuse Education and Prevention Office. This spring, Smith was selected for a full-time, highly competitive health science internship with the Jacobus Center for Reproductive Health in Cortland. In 2006, Smith was a health promotion intern with the College’s Health Promotion Office. She also worked as an undergraduate research assistant for a cardiovascular disease project in the SUNY Cortland Health Department.

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Note to Editor: For a photo of any of the students in this article, please contact Jean Palmer or Barbara Toomey at SUNY Cortland at (607) 753-2232.