Daniel Jackson records a selection written by Jim Rose of Canandaigua as video technician Jeff Kidd ’05 operates the camera in the FLCC TV studio at the main campus.
Early in the pandemic, Beth Johnson knew her theatre students at Finger Lakes Community College might not be able to present their annual production before a live audience.
But she saw an opportunity to try something different while also telling the story of our time.
The result is a recorded show titled “Voices in Isolation: Pandemic and Protest” that will debut online at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19. Offered free to all on the FLCC Visual and Performing Arts Department You Tube channel, it will be followed by a live talk-back session with the creative team of writers and performers. The You Tube link can be found here and at events.flcc.edu.
“We felt it was important to provide the students a way to engage and interact with each other, especially one that allowed them the opportunity to voice their experiences and grapple with the issues our country is facing in an artistic and collaborative way,” said Johnson, professor of speech and theatre and director of the production. “While it would have been much easier to avoid offering a theatrical production this year, it would have been a huge disservice to the students for them to have missed out on a fall show.”
“Voices in Isolation” is written and performed by members of the community, students, alumni, and current and retired faculty and staff. The show contains original music, monologues, and stories exploring the impact of quarantine and issues of racial justice. Some are real life experiences, while others are fictionalized.
Each piece was recorded separately, some by the contributors themselves, others by FLCC Video Technician Jeff Kidd ’05. Kidd and Production Manager Jim Perri have spent the past few weeks editing and weaving together the recordings.
This piece, titled “Joy,” was created by artist Jeanne Beck and will be among the items up for bid.
ArtSpace36, the downtown gallery of Finger Lakes Community College, will celebrate the opening of a student portfolio show and a community art auction on Thursday, Nov. 19.
A virtual reception will be held from 5 to 6 p.m. and can be accessed via links posted online at artspace36.com and events.flcc.edu. The show and auction items can also be viewed in-person at the gallery at 36 S. Main St., Canandaigua, during normal business hours: 2 to 6 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.
The portfolio show will run through Thursday, Jan. 29. It is offered in collaboration with the main campus gallery, Williams-Insalaco Gallery 34, and features a range of works created by students in the college’s Portfolio Prep course taught by Sarah Morgan, associate professor of art at FLCC. The students will give presentations during the virtual event.
“As professional artists, they can expect to have these types of experiences,” said Morgan. “This gives our students important, real-world experiences before they graduate.”
FLCC art student Leah Herring’s pen and ink will be included in the portfolio show.
Those who attend the virtual reception will be able to bid on auction items. Up for bid are a range of works in various mediums, including drawings and paintings. Contributors include Sarah and fellow FLCC faculty members Barron Naegel, Barbara Senglaub and Lacey McKinney, and professional artists Jeanne Beck, Pat Tribastone, Kim Ratzel and Karen Sorce, among others. All items were donated; proceeds will support programming at ArtSpace36.
Online bidding for the virtual auction will continue through 5 p.m. on Dec. 4, when winners will be announced at a live online event. As with the portfolio reception, a link can be found online at ArtSpace36.com.
FLCC retiree Jeff Adams made this remembrance video of images set to music.
Nursing professor Susan McCarthy is the first to admit her struggles with technology. Through the years at FLCC, she has relied on support from Information Technology staff, and in particular, Bill White.
“Bill always came to the rescue,” she said. “He never made you feel dumb – he always tried to teach.”
Bill had his limits, however. “The last time I called him for the same issue I usually called for, he brought a permanent marker with him to draw an arrow next to the button I needed to push.”
Problem solved – in Bill’s typical gentle and humorous style.
It’s one of many memories shared among faculty and staff following Bill’s death on Saturday, Oct. 17 after an automobile accident in the town of Seneca. He was 63 and is survived by his wife, Faith, and their daughter, Rebecca.
Bill White was honored with a SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in 2014.
Bill joined FLCC in 1998 as the first full-time “audio-visual, TV, audio, cable TV, wiring and all around technical guru,” said Jeff Adams, who served as director of the former educational technology center until his retirement in 2010.
“He set a new standard for background knowledge, flexibility, collegiality, and willingness to tackle new technology projects,” said Jeff. “From then on, those who came to know Bill relied on his expertise to solve problems and also respond with a smile.”
Bill Pealer, media production specialist, said Bill was a “Swiss army knife – a multi-talented everything guy.”
The pair often worked together providing audio-visual support for events, everything from in-house workshops and concerts to major community fundraisers.
Bill Pealer and his late colleague, Bill White, posed for a photo during an out-of-town conference.
Finger Lakes Community College will honor exceptional alumni and benefactors with an online event held in lieu of an annual awards ceremony.
The 2020 FLCC Alumni Association and Foundation Awards ceremony, typically held the night before commencement, was postponed due to the pandemic. With large gatherings still prohibited, the ceremony is online on Thursday, Oct. 29, at 6 p.m. The public is invited to join at this link.
The honorees are as follows:
Benefactor Award: Max and Marian Farash Charitable Foundation
Since 2012, Max and Marian Farash Charitable Foundation’s First in Family Scholarship has been awarded annually to an FLCC student, enabling first-generation college students to graduate debt-free. The 2020 recipient is Katelyn Roland of Phelps, a Midlakes graduate, who is planning to study nursing.
The late Max and Marian Farash: Their foundation was honored with the Benefactor Award
Distinguished Alumni Award: Lester E. Mayers ’17
Mayers, a traveling poet, performer, and poetry instructor, is the author of published works, including two collections of poetry. He was the recipient of the 2019 Visionary Award from the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs and the commencement speaker for the Urban Assembly School for the Performing Arts’ Class of 2019 in New York City.
CCFL/FLCC Alumni Association Exceptional Service Award: Corinne M. Canough
Canough, director emeritus, led the Center for Advisement and Personal Development, established the college’s food cupboard, and created the faculty advisor training and compensation model for new student registration.
As she sat at her table for the annual scholarship dinner awards ceremony at Finger Lakes Community College in September 2017, Althea Jones-Johnson made a promise to herself: One day she’d do what she could to help future students of color join the list of honorees.
“I was just so grateful,” she said. “I remember saying to myself that I want someone else to be able to experience that.”
Fast-forward to the present: Having recently embarked on a master’s degree program in higher education, Althea has partnered with fellow FLCC alumna and graduate student Samantha Maniscola to establish a new scholarship for African-American students.
The George Floyd Memorial Scholarship awards $1,000 to a deserving student in the memory of the Minneapolis man who was murdered by police during what should have been a routine misdemeanor arrest.
The scholarship is inspired by a desire to bring change and a challenge by North Central University President Scott Hagan who on June 4 announced the creation of the George Floyd Memorial Scholarship at his institution and called on every university president in the country to follow suit.
Brandon Russell is a sophomore at Honeoye-Falls Lima High School
A student who participated in the Young Entrepreneurs Academy last year at Finger Lakes Community College is headed to the 12th Annual Saunders Scholars National Competition for young business owners, hosted online by Rochester Institute of Technology on Oct. 17.
Brandon Russell, 15, is a sophomore at Honeoye Falls High School in Lima. His product, called No Touch Flush, is just as it sounds, a device that can be used to flush a toilet without using your hands.
He will be up against 35 other students from Young Entrepreneurs Academy chapters across the country, including seven others from New York State.
Though he had an interest in starting a business from a young age, Brandon enrolled in the Saturday morning program a year ago without a product in mind. “I was doing YEA and really struggling to find an innovation or idea,” he said.
FLCC criminal justice alumnus Jacob Habecker is shown at the head of the casket of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Standing at the head of the casket of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Jacob Habecker thought of little other than his assignment, to serve and protect.
That, and the silence: As a member of the federal police, he’d grown accustomed to the buzz of dispatchers and fellow officers on his radio. Standing under the portico at the top of the Supreme Court steps in a frozen salute, Jacob was struck by the quiet and the long, snaking line of mourners.
Over the course of two days last month, Jacob was among a select group of federal officers chosen to serve in the honor guard while Ginsburg lay in repose at the Supreme Court where she served from 1993 until her death on Sept. 18 at age 87.
“It’s a memory I’m going to cherish for the rest of my life. I’m very proud of it,” said Jacob, a Palmyra native and alumnus of the criminal justice program at Finger Lakes Community College.
Jacob and fellow honor guard members, clad in their navy blue uniforms and matching face coverings, alternated in 15-minute shifts at the head of the flag-covered casket while mourners paid respects on Sept. 23 and 24.
Jacob could tell when a dignitary had arrived because they were escorted to the front of the line. He was working when Bernie Sanders and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez came through.
Presidents were allowed a closer view. “I was there when Bill Clinton came, but in other room,” he said, later adding, “The honor guard appealed to me because it allowed me to witness history first-hand.” Continue reading “Alumnus reflects on solemn, historic post”
Kim Dey, left, and her daughter, Emily, are shown with some of the 1,000 face coverings they donated to FLCC recently. Both students, they’ve led a community effort to gather materials, sew and distribute over 30,000 since mid-March.
Shortly after the pandemic hit, Finger Lakes Community College student Kim Dey heard from a friend who works as a nurse at an area hospital and was worried about the shortage of masks.
“She said, ‘Kim, can you help?’” Kim remembered of that call in March.
Kim quickly organized a Facebook group, We Are In This Together – Sew Away Corona Upstate NY Palmyra/Macedon. It drew those who could sew, provide mask materials or support the effort with donations or connections. In the seven months since, the group of mostly Wayne County residents has made over 30,000 face coverings that have been donated to medical centers, police departments, schools, soup kitchens, Meals on Wheels, migrant farm workers and Native American communities.
FLCC is among the latest in a list of recipients that includes dozens more organizations, businesses and individuals as far away as Florida. Kim and her daughter, Emily, also an FLCC student, donated 1,000 face coverings to be handed out to students, faculty and staff.
“This donation is much appreciated and will be put to good use,” said Dawn Hess, director of environmental health and safety at FLCC. “We require face coverings in our buildings and sometimes our students simply forget or could use an extra.” Continue reading “Masks aplenty thanks to efforts of FLCC mother, daughter”
Canandaigua artist Chad Cleveland will open a new exhibit in ArtSpace36.
Finger Lakes Community College will host two events to celebrate a new exhibit by Fairport native Chad Cleveland at its downtown Canandaigua gallery, ArtSpace36.
Visitors can participate as follows:
In-person viewing of the exhibit begins Thursday, Oct. 1. The gallery is located at 36 S. Main St. Hours are 2 to 6 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.
A question-and-answer with the artist via Zoon is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 8, at 7 p.m. Click here for the Zoom link.
A reception is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 15, from 5 to 7 p.m. Registration is required for the in-person event; visitors select a half-hour time slot. Click here for the registration link.
To raise funds for ArtSpace36, Cleveland, a Canandaigua resident, has donated four paintings to be given to the first four people who contribute $100 to the gallery. Those who make a $50 contribution will receive a print of one of his paintings.
Originally from Fairport, Cleveland works predominantly in the medium of acrylic painting but also draws and utilizes mixed media. He earned a master of fine arts and a master of teaching at Rochester Institute of Technology.
Click the image above to take a video tour of Cleveland’s studio.
Finger Lakes Community College has received $141,000 in National Science Foundation grants to study methods for extracting mushroom sugars with therapeutic properties in partnership with a Henrietta company.
FLCC faculty and students will collaborate with Empire Medicinals to find the most effective way to produce complex polysaccharides, or sugars, from mycelium, the fibrous root-like parts of mushrooms that are often below ground or in trees.
James Hewlett, professor of biology, is the founder of the Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative.
“This is a great opportunity for students to work with an industry partner and learn how to set up experiments,” said FLCC professor James Hewlett, coordinator of the college’s biotechnology program. “For the college, it could lead to more partnerships and long-term partnerships with industry.”
Hewlett is also founder of the Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative (CCURI), a national effort to teach scientific principles and skills through research. CCURI promotes collaboration among community colleges on projects to expand the number of students who have an opportunity to engage in research early in their higher education experience. FLCC will work on the mycelium project with faculty and students from Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pa.
Empire Medicinals, grower of Leep Foods mushrooms, will work with FLCC on research with mushroom sugars.
The grants will enable FLCC to conduct experiments and pay four to five students as undergraduate researchers. In addition, FLCC scientists plan to learn from members of the Funguschain consortium in Europe, a global leader in developing products from mushroom byproducts.
Empire Medicinals cultivates organic mushrooms for the food and restaurant industry under the brand name Leep Foods. It currently grows the mushrooms on hardwood pellets, much as mushrooms in the wild derive nutrients from trees, explained Christopher Carter, co-founder of the company.
For this project, the company is hoping to use another growing medium: whey. Whey is a waste product of the dairy industry but rich in lactose, another kind of sugar. The goal is to grow the rootlike mushroom mycelium in the milk waste and turn it into a food additive.
“We want to show we can use this waste to create a food product, dry it into mycelial flour and use it in foods,” Carter said. The complex mushroom sugars are prebiotic, meaning they promote beneficial gut bacteria, and could be used to improve the health profile of a wide range of foods.
FLCC and MCCC researchers will conduct experiments to determine the most productive ways to grow and extract the sugars. For example, Hewlett said, they will try producing the sugars with different strains of mushrooms under varying temperatures and nutrient conditions.
“This is called ‘proof of concept,’” Hewlett explained. “A lot of startups do not have large budgets for research and development, so they partner with institutions.”
Sarad Parekh, who teaches Introduction to Biomanufacturing II as an adjunct instructor at FLCC, also works as a consultant with Empire Medicinals. He helped bring the company and the college together. Both Parekh and Carter see potential for biotechnology to grow in the Rochester and Finger Lakes region.
“There is an up-and-coming cluster of companies doing biomanufacturing in the Rochester area,” Carter said. Empire Medicinal’s focus on using biotechnology to innovate within the food industry makes sense in a region with major companies like Wegmans and LiDestri, he added. Involving local colleges is critical to build a biomanufacturing workforce. Major companies, Parekh said, “are very interested in getting students trained in this area.”
FLCC previously collaborated with Cheribundi to help the company learn whether storage conditions such as temperature and light could degrade the beneficial compounds in its tart cherry juice.
Students interested in learning more about FLCC’s biotechnology program or how to apply for a research position may contact Hewlett at James.Hewlett@flcc.edu.
