Susan Johnston, of Utica, is the new CSTEP (College Science Technology En-try Program) Project As-sistant in the Engage-ment and Outreach Department at MVCC.

CSTEP is a New York State Department of Education grant-funded enrichment initiative designed to foster academic excel-lence, cultivate student independence, enhance students’ college experience, and increase awareness and opportunities for historically and economically underrepresented college students who have an interest in a STEM field and/or licensed profession.

She holds an M.A. in Student Affairs in Higher Education fro Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in Africana Studies-English from the State University of New York at Albany.

She was most recently the STEP Proj-ect Assistant at MVCC.

Week of November 4, 2013

Communitas 1

Johnston

The Strategic Gaming Club held its Extra-Life charity event last weekend during a marathon event at Faxton St. Luke’s Hospital.

The event began on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and wrapped up at 6 p.m. on Saturday. Members of the Strategic Gaming Club (SGC) camped out at the hospital playing games non-stop as part of a national effort to raise money through the Children’s Miracle Network. The event called Extra Life is a gaming marathon where people pledge to play games for 24 hours and solicit donations for the hours they play.

The games can include nearly anything, and SGC’s games included electronic con-sole titles such as Oblivion, Saint’s Row, League of Legends, and Mario Kart, board games including Settlers of Catan, Small World, and Pandemic, and card games like Munchkin, Magic: The Gathering, and Kaijudo.

MVCC’s Strategic Gaming Club fundraising page is still active, with all donations going through the Children’s Miracle Network directly to Faxton St. Luke’s pediatrics unit: mvccsgc.fcwars.net.

For more information on the Strategic Gaming Club and other activities and events sponsored by the club, contact advisor Melissa Barlett, Ph.D., at the College.

Strategic Gaming Club holds marathon to benefit Children’s Miracle Network

Johnston named CSTEP Project Assistant at MVCC

This is a reminder to all classi-fied staff that Article X11.2 of the contract indicates that a maximum of 15 days of vacation time may be carried from one year into the next.

Employees who may be affected by this provision and who wish to take some vacation time during the rest of 2013 should check with their supervisors early so arrange-ments can be made to grant the leave at a time that is mutually agreeable.

Notice to all UPSEU staff

Monday is Veterans DayWe would like to run a list

of MVCC VeteransPlease submit name, branch, rank

to rhaubert@mvcc.edu

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The Hawks’ basketball team opened the 2013-14 season by winning the Anthony Torchia Memorial Basketball Tournament behind the incredible per-formance of Lazaro Marti-nez.

Martinez is averaging 25 points per game after tallying 22 and 28 points in back-to-back victories over Queensborough Commu-nity College and Genesee Community College. This performance earned Marti-nez the honor of MVCC Athlete of the Week for the week of November 11.

Martinez is the Hawks’ leading rebounder, averaging eight per game, while hitting 56.2 percent of his shots from the floor. From the foul line, he is shooting 75 percent, which ranked his fourth on the MVCC squad.

Martinez is a sophomore Liberal Arts ma-jor and a graduate of Wadleigh High School.

Athlete of the Week

Martinez

Submit informationfor Communitas

to rhaubert@mvcc.edu

PROVIDING REAL-WORLD INSIGHT - LaToya Richardson and Jill Heintz went to Rosemary Fuoco’s Office Administration class on Wednesday, October 23. They each described their backgrounds and their job duties for the President at the college. Some of the issues they discussed included the need good commu-nication skills, dealing with student issues, multitasking and organizational skills.

PROVIDING INSIGHT – Motivational speaker Bert Gervais was on campus on Wednesday, October 23, to provide insight into what is waiting for students upon leaving college and maintaining a positive attitude in order to find success. Ger-vais is recognized as one of the top young leaders in the country on mentorship and using a positive self-image to help students obtain a higher education. He was brought to the campus through the College’s New Direction Program.

The Student Residence Life Team wrapped up its Hang Your Coat campaign on Wednesday with a total collection of 49 donations.

The Team spent two weeks collecting coats from faculty and staff, which are mostly winter coats. A few are suit jackets and winter vests. Coats were donated on both the Rome and Utica campuses.

These coats will now be offered to MVCC’s students with a message being sent out through the student email.

“There are a lot of international students and students from other parts of the world where they have never experienced cold weather,” said Erica Carrock, Student and Residence Life Specialist.

The coats that aren’t taken will be donated to a community group.

Res Life collects 49 coats for students

Throughout his tenure at MVCC, Ibrahim Rosic has consis-tently maintained high standards and has approached his role as math tutor with extraordinary dedication. As a tutor, he has no equal as he is knowledgeable, patient, supportive, and gen-erous with his time. For this type of dedication and loyalty to his students and co-workers, Ibrahim has been selected to receive the Pride of the Hawk Award.

He has extended his already expansive repertoire in the dis-cipline by completing his master’s degree at SUNY-IT in 2011 - no small feat, considering he pursued part-time graduate study while working full-time and teaching math overload classes in the evening at MVCC. Understandably, Ibrahim has special empathy for the returning adult and ESL students, with whom he can relate given that he himself was a non-native speaker and new student at MVCC just a few short years ago.

His success story has motivated countless students who see all that he has accomplished and follow his example, working toward completion of degrees and certificates one course, one problem, at a time.

Ibrahim continuously seeks ways to reach more students and has worked very hard to increase tutoring accessibility for students. He has enlisted the help of math faculty who donate office hours to the math lab.

He has created workshops and review sessions for specific courses so he can work with several students at one time, and because he has become so familiar with the timeline for the topics covered, he plans review sessions that are aptly timed for students in certain classes, such as calculus. Because he’s found some students have trouble understanding a textbook for a certain class, he’s developed notes and study guides to supplement student learning. Ibrahim is currently research-ing new online methodologies that may be more appealing to students.

Beyond his skill as a tutor, Ibrahim has become a mentor to peer and part-time professional tutors alike who model their tutoring behaviors after his. He has given thoughtful consider-ation to the way math tutors are trained, and continually makes

adjustments to ensure that math tutors have the knowledge base, attitudes and tutoring methods that will result in positive experiences for the tutees.

A tutor who works alongside Ibrahim cannot help but grow in patience and resilience just by following his example. Ibrahim, therefore, is much more than a tutor; he is a dedicated profes-sional whose leadership forms the foundation of excellence for which the math lab is known.

Underlying the outstanding effort and dedication that Ibrahim devotes to his job, there is his unyieldingly positive attitude, an attitude that transcends student frustration, overcrowding, mul-tiple demands, and constant change. Ibrahim has written that “not being afraid of change” has improved his effectiveness. He realizes that, for learning to occur, we all need to take risks and try.

He never stops trying, and his persistence and drive teach us all about the importance of lifelong learning. It is not sur-prising, therefore, that when Ibrahim was asked to take on the role of Interim Coordinator of Tutoring, he readily accepted this challenge, and ultimately became the search committee’s top choice for the Learning Center Director position. Under his leadership, the entire Learning Center has been transformed due to the positive effects of his influence and an unrelenting generosity of spirit.

Since becoming Director, he has spearheaded countless improvements, including a Learning Center virtual tour, a web-based tutor appointment system, and a new tutor-training program. He recently took on the task of overseeing the GPS (Goals & Planning = Success) Program, an academic support system for students on financial aid warning. Ibrahim’s involve-ment in these initiatives demonstrates his willingness to strive continually to foster student success.

As has been true from his first days at MVCC, Ibrahim is one of the most trusted and sought-after individuals on the campus. Caring, hardworking, genuine, and reliable, Ibrahim embodies the best of the Center for Language and Learning Design.

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LEARNING FIRSTHAND FROM A PROFESSIONAL – Assistant Professor Jack Susenburger welcomed guest speaker Karen Carey to his Professional Sales class to provide firsthand experience in the field of sales. Carey, who is an MVCC alum, is the Vice President and General Manager of Townsquare Media. She spoke about selling and media marketing, along with her background regarding her education and her career track.

PRIDE OF THE HAWK – Ibrahim Rosic, left, was presented the Pride of the Hawk Award during the College Senate Meeting by David Katz.

Rosic presented Pride of the Hawk Award

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The Administrative Assistant students went to Blue Cross/Blue Shield on Wednesday, October 9. Richard Pratt, Manager of Human Resources Shared Services, gave the class a tour and spoke to the students. He mentioned employees must have excellent oral and written communication skills and on the importance of spelling and not depending on spell check.

Liz, an Administrative Assistant to the Office of the President, has worked at BC/BS for 27 years. She is also the Administra-tive Assistant to the Medical Director at BC/BS for the last 15 years and talked on how every day is different, which is she loves business of the job.

She talked on the need to prioritize and multi-task every day and the need to be flexible for everyone. She schedules meetings, keeps track of everyone’s calendar, and travel time along with printing out information for meetings and organizing materials in a folder.

Lisa Sexton, Human Resources Coordinator, manages records and files, talked on the importance of dressing appro-priately. She assists with customers and other departments. Communication is important to have and respect of your co-workers she stated.

MVCC student Jennifer Matcham was one of eight couples who appeared on the “Today” Show Thursday morning to have their adoption process officially approved.

Matcham, 31, and partner Christina Burrows, 32, of Clinton, along with their daughter Teagan, 6, welcomed newly adopted 1-year-old son Nicholas, during the broadcast. The show was raising awareness of the need for adoption.

Though he has been living with foster parents Matcham and Burrows since he was 5 weeks old, Nicholas’ adoption was one of 12 finalized on NBC’s “Today” show to celebrate November as National Adoption Month.

According to an interview on the radio show “Talk of the Town,” the families were supported by The House of the Good Shepherd with a bus-load of caregivers, volunteers and staff members, which was donated by Birnie Bus Service. They also state that in Oneida County, there are 63 children who are eligible for adoption.

Administrative Assistant students get inside view of BC/BS facilities

MVCC student on ‘Today’ Showto help promote child adoption

MVCC student Jennifer Matcham, right, is seen in this TV snopshot with partner Christina Burrows, their daughter Teagan, and newly adopted son Nicholas.

2013 Fall Transfer Fair