Around the SUNY Oswego campus

The men's choir performs a rousing "Pirate Song" and "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady" as music faculty member and choir director Mihoko Tsutsmi (foreground) accompanies March 3 in Waterman Theatre during the Collage Concert, annually benefiting music scholarships and featuring diverse selections by the music department's ensembles, with faculty and student solos.

Colombian-American musician and sociologist Natalia Serna, also known by her stage name La Muna, performs March 1 during her "Songs of Migration" concert in the Marano Campus Center activities court. Serna moved to Nogales, Arizona, on the border with Mexico and its city of the same name, to work as a volunteer at a soup kitchen. Her album "Corazόn Norte" features songs and interviews that seek to incarnate, through art, the stories of migrants. The Institute for Global Engagement, with support from Artswego, hosted Serna's appearance.

Linda Stummer (standing, right) of the college's curriculum and instruction faculty, and Amy Armet, an academic intervention services reading teacher at Leighton Elementary School, speak to SUNY Oswego education students March 2 in the new Leighton Learning Community, a partnership of the college and Oswego City School District. The clinically rich program is designed to give teacher candidates hands-on opportunities -- prior to student teaching -- to learn from professional teachers and to teach and interact with local elementary schoolchildren. 

SUNY Oswego adolescence education major Jalen Buckhout works with children in Gretchen Coakley's first-grade classroom at Leighton Elementary School as part of the college's new Leighton Learning Community partnership with Oswego City School District. A fellow SUNY Oswego student, Rachel Piazza, said, "It means so much to me. I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. And being able to have this opportunity where I'm in a classroom more than I thought I ever would be and being able to do so much, it's taught me so many tools and strategies that I can bring into my future classroom. And I think all in all this will just make me a better teacher in the long run." 

A ribbon-cutting March 2 marks the formal celebration of the new Leighton Learning Community at the Oswego City School District's Leighton Elementary School. From left are SUNY Oswego students Brianna Mastrobattista and Larisa Pinchin; Marcia Burrell, chair of SUNY Oswego's curriculum and instruction department; Dean Goewey, Oswego City School District superintendent; Leighton Elementary teacher Jessica Leonard; Leighton Elementary Principal Kara Shore (partially hidden); and Leighton Elementary teacher Jamie Turtura.

Keynote speaker Ferial Govashiri (fourth from left), personal aide to former President Barack Obama, pauses with students at a welcome reception in Marano Campus Center prior to the college's Student Leadership Conference, which featured interactive workshops focused on building such leadership skills as defining a leadership style, embracing diversity, overcoming diversity and much more. From left are Student Association President Emily Nassir, Mabel Muñoz, Morgan Altland, Govashiri, Eusebio Omar Van Reenen, Dylan Gates, Mikael Pelkey and Lauren Cutler. 

Brian Moritz, a communication studies faculty member, speaks about "Sportsmanship and Sports Journalism" March 2 in Room 103 of Lanigan Hall during the ninth annual Sportsmanship Day Symposium. Sociology chair Tim Delaney, history professor Chris Mack and others organize this multidisciplinary opportunity for student and faculty presentations around the topic of sportsmanship, which Delaney said provides profound insights into contemporary society. "It's reflective of our cultural values, ethics, attitudes and norms," he said.

Jaclyn Schildkraut (center) of the public justice faculty hosted "Lessons from Tragedy: A Conversation on School Safety and Preparedness" on March 1 in a packed Room 101 of Lanigan Hall. Featured speakers were Frank DeAngelis (left) retired principal of Columbine High School and now with Safe and Sound Schools, and Kristina Anderson, survivor of the Virginia Tech tragedy and founder of the Koshka Foundation for Safe Schools. Read student blogger Jess Mulder's review of the event at https://blogs.oswego.edu/2017/03/03/lessons-from-tragedy-a-conversation-on-school-safety-and-preparedness/

Sophomore meteorology major Matthew Seymour captures the mood of a winter that wants to be spring along the Lake Ontario shoreline behind Waterbury Hall. See Seymour’s blog entry about the strange February for weather at https://blogs.oswego.edu/2017/02/26/summer-in-february/

Career Services hit the road Feb. 16 to Cornell University's Government and Public Service Career Fair. SUNY Oswego students, including Robert McKissick (left), and staff spent about three hours talking with employers about internships and jobs.  There were more than 30 organizations represented, including the Paleontological Research Institution, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, FBI, Census Bureau and Fund for the Public Interest. Several will come back to SUNY Oswego this spring as a result of positive networking, according to Gary Morris, director of Oswego's Office of Career Services. (Submitted photo)

Men's basketball head coach Jason Leone takes the final turn cutting down the net after Oswego beat Oneonta, 75-70, for the SUNYAC Championship on Feb. 25 in Laker Hall's Max Ziel Gymnasium. Leone's six-year record as Lakers' coach includes three SUNY Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors -- including his recently announced 2016-17 recognition -- and his teams have won two regular-season SUNYAC titles, three conference tournament championships and appeared in four NCAA Division III Championship tournaments.

The Oswego State men’s basketball team won its third SUNYAC Championship tournament in six years, first with an 84-83 overtime victory over Buffalo State -- the third time this season the Lakers defeated the Bengals by a single point -- then the Feb. 24 win over Oneonta to clinch an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Tournament. The Lakers' season came to an end last Saturday in the first round as they fell to the University of Scranton Royals 82-77 in overtime.

The Oswego State men’s hockey team will head to the NCAA Division III Tournament this year after a stellar 21-5-1 season. Clinching the No. 1 seed in the SUNYAC Championship tournament, the Lakers dominated the Buffalo State Bengals 6-2 on Feb. 25 at Marano Campus Center arena. On March 4, the Lakers fell to archrival Plattsburgh 3-2 at home after a strong comeback attempt. Shawn Hulshof (left) had a combined five points during the SUNYAC tournament, with two goals and three assists against the Bengals and Cardinals. The NCAA Selection Committee gave Oswego an at-large bid into the national tournament; the Lakers will play Hamilton College at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Marano Campus Center arena in the first round.

Team captain Kenny Neil (right) scores Oswego's second goal in a 3-2 loss to Plattsburgh last Saturday in #OzGoldRush, the final of the SUNY Athletic Conference Championship in Marano Campus Center arena. Oswego (21-5-11) received an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament. Learn more online about ticket information on the opening-round home game with Hamilton.

The women's hockey team saw its season end in a 5-3 loss at Utica College in the opening round of the ECAC Women’s West playoff on Feb. 23. The Lakers spent much of the season in the national top 10 and finished with a 16-8-2 overall record (10-6-2 in the conference), but couldn't advance in one of the toughest conferences in Division III. See player Erika Truschke’s retrospective blog review at https://blogs.oswego.edu/2017/03/03/freshman-to-senior-the-blink-of-an-eye/

The Oswego State wrestling team traveled to York College for the Mideast Regional, finishing fourth of 19 teams. A trio of Lakers (from left) Rocco Russo, Jordan Bushey and Evan Corso, qualified for the NCAA Championships this weekend in La Crosse, Wisconsin. At York, Russo won the 157-pound weight class and Bushey won at 184 pounds, improving his season record to an unblemished 35-0. Corso improved his season record to 24-13 for the year as he finished runner-up in the 133-pound weight class. 

Lakers baseball has started off hot. At 6-2, Oswego has outscored its opponents 64-39 so far; the losses came by a single run each. The nation's 18th-ranked team is led by preseason All-American Eric Hamilton, who has three home runs, 12 RBI and an outstanding on-base percentage plus slugging average (OPS) of 1.648 so far. Starting pitcher Tim Cronin (pictured) has two wins in as many starts this year, working 11 innings and striking out eight. The Lakers will head to Florida over spring break for the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational for eight games against five opponents. 

SUNY Oswego staff members recently concluded regular participation in the Skate Shop's 10th anniversary season of open skating at Marano Campus Center arena.  Over the decade, the Skate Shop has admitted 54,000 participants and provided 30,000 skate rentals for its ice skate program. The Skate Shop is among the programs and services offered by Campus Life.  From left are Christine Dallas, Candace Rasbeck, Timothy Graber (manager), senior Lucy Bergemann (skating instructor), Jessica Slack, Jo Richardson and Andrew Michaelis. (Submitted photo)

Scales Hall's aggressively scheduled makeover moves toward a July 1 completion target. The $13.1 million renovation of the lakeside residence hall began Dec. 19, aiming to boost capacity slightly to 210 beds, integrate sustainability features such as a passive cooling system pulling in cool air from the lake, and add kitchens, lounges, pod-style bathrooms and more. General contractor is PAC & Associates of Oswego. (Multivista photo)