State University Chancellor Recognizes Excellence of SUNY New Paltz Students

NEW PALTZ — Five May 2000 SUNY New Paltz graduates were presented by State University of New York Chancellor Robert L. King the 2000 Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence. This is the largest number of recipients from any SUNY campus this year except Stony Brook, which had seven.

SUNY New Paltz President Roger Bowen said, “Each year the State University of New York selects a very small number of individuals from among its 64 campuses who are outstanding students, and extends to them the honor of receiving the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence. We are pleased and proud this year that we have five recipients: Jeremy James Cooke, Shoshanah Harvey, Jessica Lynn Nadolny, Erin Marie Osborn and Reyna Payero.”

These outstanding New Paltz students are among 116 State University students representing 50 campuses who were honored this year through the Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence a tradition begun by Chancellor John W. Ryan acknowledging SUNY students who are outstanding academically and have achieved national or international recognition in such areas as varsity athletics, community service, the arts, entrepreneurship and career achievement.

Cooke has been recognized for his service as president of the National Electrical Engineering Society and vice president of the New Paltz chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. Harvey served as the vice president of market research for the New Paltz chapter of the American Marketing Association. Nadolny, who earned a 4.0 grade point average for the fall 1999 semester, was named to the All-New York State Soccer Team and the Northeast Regional All- America Team for her achievements on the soccer field. Osborn has had her artwork displayed in seven exhibitions and has been volunteering her time to teach art at a battered women’s shelter. Payero was a recipient of the United Federation of Teachers Shanker Scholarship and the Limpton Scholarship, and has also been an Alliance for Minority Participation Scholar, and a participant in the College – Science and Technology Entry Program.

“The State University is proud to offer this special system-wide honor to those students who have excelled academically and brought credit to themselves and to the University,” Chancellor King stated. Awardees received a certificate and a Chancellor’s Medallion to wear at their commencement ceremonies. At a May 2 reception held at State University Plaza in Albany and hosted by Chancellor King, three of the five SUNY New Paltz recipients were in attendance, accompanied by the university’s vice president for student affairs, Barbara Geider.

In addition to this celebration, the five SUNY New Paltz awardees were paid tribute at an Outstanding Student Reception held at the campus’s Terrace Restaurant on May 21, the day of its commencement ceremony. Their achievement was also acknowledged in the commencement program.

Nominations of students graduating in the 1999/2000 academic year were made by their campuses. President Bowen recommended to the Chancellor’s Office nine superb New Paltz students for the award this year. Nominations were screened by a System Administration Committee.