Alumni

Julio Torres Santana ’07 didn’t speak English when he arrived in New York City as a teenager. No one in his family had ever graduated from college, and his childhood in the Dominican Republic was marked with poverty and hardship. But his drive to succeed and passion for architecture pushed him to complete an associate degree at SUNY Morrisville and become the school’s first architectural studies student to be accepted into the bachelor’s degree program at Cornell University.

A supportive professor who infallibly made himself available to his students, even long after they graduated; A hard-working dean always at the center of the action — that is how colleagues and students are remembering faculty emeritus Joseph Nassimos.

Only a lucky few know exactly what they want to be when they “grow up,” but most figure it out mid-way through college. When Jimmy Sardelli enrolled in SUNY Morrisville’s equine science program, he was still trying to find his path in life.

Sheneya Wilson ’13 commanded the room. Wilson, a Ph.D. student, Forbes 30 Under 30 Scholar, author and business owner, visited campus to deliver the keynote lecture for Entrepreneurs’ Day, held February 27. 

At 97 years old, Richard “Dick” McGuire ’42 acts as a living historian. He’s physically spry enough to trudge around in a half foot of snow serving as a tour guide for his 12 museums on his lifelong home of Penope Farms in the rural town of Jackson, N.Y. And he is mentally sharp enough to recollect specific use of 19th and 20th century farm equipment that was critical to the time for food production in America.

When Alexandra “Ali” Bland ’09 was pregnant with her first child in 2015, she asked her husband if he could build a radiator cover that could double as a changing table in their nursery. Before long, Thomas Bland ’09 had created a rustic piece with a drawer, small cupboard and an eye-catching herringbone-patterned top made from pallets.

For Angela Marriott ’17, it was a career-defining moment. In the summer of 2015, she observed the daily work of police officers during a ride-along in her hometown of Peekskill, New York. Seeing firsthand how a female officer deftly handled the challenges of the job cemented her desire to pursue a career in law enforcement. “The way she was connected and interacted with people and carried herself as a woman in law enforcement is who I aspired to be,” Marriott said.

MORRISVILLE, N.Y. — Before she goes in for her night shift as a nurse, Kirsten Krause does a video chat with her four-year-old son, Nicholas. He runs around the house with the phone showing her his kittens and the puzzles he is working on at home. She tells him she loves him and will be home as soon as she is done helping people, fighting back tears as he blows her a kiss goodbye. The daily calls keep her going.

NORWICH, N.Y. — As concern over the shortage of personal protection equipment (PPE) for emergency personnel and health care workers continues nationally during the COVID-19 pandemic, SUNY Morrisville’s Norwich Campus is doing all it can to help locally.  They’re providing emergency agencies in the Chenango County with use of an on-campus ultraviolet (UV) sterilization cabinet that allows for protective equipment to be used more than once.

MORRISVILLE, N.Y. — SUNY Morrisville’s woods sport team is readying for its lumberjack season, which starts with a competition Saturday, March 7. The free contest will be held inside the college’s Nancy Sears Stowell Arena on Swamp Road, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.  It is the second time the SUNY Morrisville woods sports team has hosted the competition, which showcases speed and precision with axes, chainsaws and other tools of the trade in traditional lumberjacking challenges.