Missionary Renegade: [Elmira College] Alumni Link October 2016 from Office of Alumni Relations of Elmira College in Elmira, New York, United States for Tuesday, 4 October 2016

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

[Elmira College] Alumni Link October 2016 from Office of Alumni Relations of Elmira College in Elmira, New York, United States for Tuesday, 4 October 2016

[Elmira College] Alumni Link October 2016 from Office of Alumni Relations of Elmira College in Elmira, New York, United States for Tuesday, 4 October 2016
Elmira Elevated to ‘Top Tier’ National Rankings by U.S. News & World Report

In their just-released 2017 BEST COLLEGES rankings, U.S. News & World Report elevated Elmira College from the north regional category of colleges to the national liberal arts category placing Elmira in the top tier with about 175 of the best liberal arts colleges among the 563 categorized within both the national and regional groupings.
Elmira Named on “Best Liberal Arts Colleges” List by Washington Monthly
Category: Campus Life

Elmira Named on “Best Liberal Arts Colleges” List by Washington Monthly
Elmira College has been named one of the nation’s Best Liberal Arts Colleges on Washington Monthly’s annual college rankings.
These rankings, released yesterday, focus on what colleges are doing for their students, but also for the betterment of the country. To measure this impact, top liberal arts colleges are rated on three broad categories:
Social mobility (recruiting and graduating low-income students);
Research (producing cutting-edge scholarship and PhDs);
And service (encouraging students to give something back to society).
The Washington Monthly also listed Elmira College under their “Best Bang for the Buck in the Northeast” rankings. This ranking is based on reasonable prices for a quality education that will advance students in their careers.
Click here to learn more.

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Alumni Spotlight: Iiona Scully '11

Iiona Scully '11 has a long-standing fascination with psychology. A fascination that started in high school and has taken her through an undergraduate degree at Elmira College, a graduate degree at Towson University, and now a doctorate degree at Lehigh University. Today, she is poised to become a psychological scientist and a university professor. However, when first starting as a psychology major at Elmira College, her focus was not on scientific research, but clinical psychology.
Iiona Scully '11
Doctoral Candidate in the psychology department at Lehigh University“I am grateful to the professors who helped me find my calling as a scientist.”
Iiona Scully '11 has a long-standing fascination with psychology. A fascination that started in high school and has taken her through an undergraduate degree at Elmira College, a graduate degree at Towson University, and now a doctorate degree at Lehigh University.
Today, she is poised to become a psychological scientist and a university professor.
However, when first starting as apsychology major at Elmira College, her focus was not on scientific research, but clinical psychology.
“It wasn’t until my quantitative methods class with Dr. Hillary Stebbins that I began to view psychology differently,” said Iiona.
Through this class and others, Iiona met professors like Dr. Diane Maluso, Dr. Benjamin Lovett, and Dr. Christopher Terry. These professors mentored her, gave her research and tutoring experiences, and the opportunity to co-author a paper published in the Psi Chi Journal of Undergraduate Research. As Iiona describes it, these mentors helped her find her scientific calling.
“I was able to get invaluable research experience and truly hone my interests, ultimately sparking my interest in memory research,” said Iiona. “Dr. Terry and Dr. Lovett still serve as mentors to me to this day.”
Outside the classroom, Iiona enjoyed working in the Alumni Relations Office and participating in a variety of student organizations, including: Psi Chi, PRIDE, and Circle K. Her Term III travels to Ireland gave her the chance to kiss the Blarney Stone and build lifelong friendships; but one of Iiona’s most cherished memories happened right on campus in 2009.
That winter, Iiona and her fellow classmates gathered in the Twin Towers for a holiday party, complete with a paper ring Christmas tree, pizza delivery and secret Santa gifts. This special occasion eventually turned into a newspaper outfit construction and modeling contest.
“This experience really captured the loving atmosphere that was Elmira College for me,” said Iiona. “A world I was privileged to be a part of.”
Since graduating from Elmira and continuing her pursuit of psychological research, Iiona received the Distinguished Graduate Student Award from Towson University, published her second academic paper in the journal SLEEP, spoke at the Eastern Psychology Association, and traveled to Budapest, Hungary to present at the International Conference on Memory in July 2016.
Iiona lives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania with her husband, James Rysinski and their adopted cat, Alistair.
Learn more about Elmira College's Psychology program

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Mountain Day Celebrated September 21

The campus community gathered to celebrate Mountain Day on Wednesday, September 21, with singing, food, and fun.
What Do You Say? It’s Mountain Day!
Category: Campus Life
It is Mountain Day at Elmira College. This annual tradition, dating back almost a hundred years, is a day for students, faculty and administrators to come together for a host of fun activities and games.
The tradition commenced on Tuesday night, when students gathered to sing the College’s beloved songs and shared an echoing traditional chant of, “Hey, hey, what do you say? We want a Mountain Day!” The festivities continued today with an outdoor picnic, the Mountain Day Founders Cup Challenge and other fun activities.
Initiated in 1918 by Dean Anstice Harris, Mountain Day was originally a day where students, faculty and administrators hiked the East Hill up to Quarry Farm. Today, Mountain Day is more campus-oriented with a scavenger hunt, outdoor activities, and the Founders Cup Challenge which includes friendly competition in a series of events including a radical raft race in the Puddle.

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Focusing on the Past for a Bright Future

Hannah Gaston ’18, a History and Sociology & Anthropology double major, spent her summer immersed in the past as she completed her internship with the Fenimore Art Museum and The Farmer's Museum.
Focusing on the Past for a Bright Future
Category: Academics
This week’s #SoaringToSuccess features Hannah Gaston ’18. The History and Sociology & Anthropology double major, spent her summer immersed in the past as she completed her internship with the Fenimore Art Museum and The Farmer's Museum.
Hannah shares with us her experiences:
I spent my summer in Cooperstown, NY. The village may be known for the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame, but I spent no time at Doubleday Field. My days were spent working with the headquarters of the New York State Historical Association at the Fenimore Art Museum Research Library and The Farmers’ Museum. Throughout the summer, I worked on a variety of projects with the Curator of Photography, the Director of Collections, the Director of Education, and the library staff including the Special Collections Librarian.
For my main project with the Research Library, I was given the task of creating an exhibit for the library display case. Little did I know when I arrived that the Research Library has a large collection of the original letters between Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and their seconds: Nathaniel Pendleton and William P. Van Ness. These letters discuss the infamous duel in Weehawken, NJ between the former Secretary of the Treasury and the Vice-President. Working with transcriptions and the actual letters, I conducted research concerning the build up to the duel and created a display plan for the exhibit case. This display plan outlined the timeline of the major events that led to the duel.
Just as I was ready to install this exhibit, the Director of Collections at the Fenimore Art Museum asked me if they could use my display plan to create a professional exhibit in the Art Museum. Within a week, my plan and research had been worked into a professional exhibit in the main museum. The exhibit,Hamilton’s Final Act, is on display through December.
Following the professional Hamilton-Burr exhibit, I was tasked with creating a “teaser exhibit” in the Library case discussing a different aspect of the Hamilton-Burr duel. With further research and planning, I created a second display plan focusing on Aaron Burr. This exhibit, titled Aaron Burr’s Empathy, has two letters on display that indicate that he may have regretted killing Alexander Hamilton. While I may not be able to see Hamilton on Broadway, I had the chance to read (and hold) the actual letters between the two men, and as a history major, I think that experience is even more amazing than the musical!

On top if my internship at the Research Library, I also worked in The Farmer’s Museum as a Museum Interpreter. The Farmer’s Museum is a living history museum set in 1845. Each day, I got to dress up in period historical clothing and “teach” in a circa 1810 one-roomed school house. This work, compared to the Research Library, showed me a completely different side of the work that goes on in a museum. Museum interpretation is an important part of educating visitors. At the schoolhouse, I had one-on-one interaction with people from around the world who were curious to learn about life in a typical farming community in the 1840s.
Not only did I meet a group of wonderfully dedicated and intelligent historians, but as a rising senior interested in pursuing a career in Museum Studies, these opportunities have been priceless. I did research with primary documents, learned how to operate museum data bases, and worked in climate controlled settings. Furthermore, I gained first-hand experience in multiple aspects of museum operation including archives, curation, and education. While Cooperstown may have been focused on the new inductees into the Hall of Fame, I admit I paid little attention, for I was focused in the past.