President Ryerson signs the American College Climate Commitment 

Wells College President Lisa Marsh Ryerson today signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment during a ceremony attended by College trustees, students, faculty, and staff. 

In signing the Presidents Climate Commitment, Wells becomes a leader in the effort to reduce global warming emissions. The College also joins an expanding national movement in which institutions of higher learning pledge to set a positive example in the fields of environmental ethics and sustainability.
 
“Today, our nation and our world face overwhelming evidence that the climate of the planet is changing, and scientific consensus says that human beings are largely responsible for that change,” said President Ryerson in her remarks. “Experts have pointed to the devastating social, political, economic, and ecological consequences of unchecked climate change. In signing the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment today, I acknowledge, on behalf of Wells College, that something needs to be done—and that this something can, and must, begin with us.”

To date, nearly 600 institutions of higher education across the country have signed the agreement. After pledging to the Climate Commitment, colleges and universities develop an action plan to become carbon neutral over the course of two to three years. President Ryerson will guide Wells College in the formulation and implementation of such a plan. 

“In signing the Climate Commitment, I am pledging to lead Wells in the development of a comprehensive plan for campus climate neutrality—meaning that the College will have no net greenhouse emissions,” said President Ryerson. “We will complete that plan within two years, and we will initiate actions during those two years of planning in order to reduce greenhouse emissions in the short term. Finally, we will make our plan, and our progress, available to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, who will make both available to the public.”

Wells College is already on the road to climate neutrality. As part of ongoing environmental efforts, the College has reduced the use of paper through strategic printing and electronic filing of documents, instituted a single strain recycling system, uses biodegradable and recyclable food containers in campus dining outlets, and purchases a portion of its electricity from renewable sources. The College has also submitted two national grant proposals for support in implementing additional sustainability initiatives.

For more information about Wells’ commitment to climate neutrality, please contact Director of Publications and Media Relations Kelly Tehan by calling 315.364.3260. Additional information about the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment may be found online at www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org/html/about.php. 

October, 2008

Wells partners with Village of Aurora to purchase quint fire truck

Recognizing the importance of the “town-gown” relationship between Wells College and the village of Aurora, the College and the Aurora-Ledyard Fire District have collaborated to purchase a new fire truck. 

“I am delighted that Wells and the Aurora-Ledyard Fire District have joined together to take this important step in fire prevention and safety,” said Wells College President Lisa Marsh Ryerson. “So many in our community will benefit from this investment.”

The new multi-purpose vehicle, known as a “quint” because it meets five essential firefighting needs (pump, water tank, hoses, ground ladder, aerial ladder), was delivered to the Aurora fire house late last spring. Local fire departments have been strained in recent years due to a decrease in volunteers, budget cuts, and rising equipment costs. The new quint helps ensure increased safety for fire personnel and accessibility to blazes in taller buildings throughout southern Cayuga County. Wells was a key contributor towards the purchase of the quint.

“The new quint gives us more capabilities than we have ever had,” said Aurora Fire Chief Mark Bailey. “It is also safer for our firefighters as well as the people we serve.” Bailey and his crew are working with Wells to increase fire safety awareness and recruit student volunteers. 

September, 2008

New policy considers health and wellness of constituents

In its continual effort to promote the health and well-being of its community, Wells College becomes a non-smoking campus today.

“Our discussion and research led us to the conclusion that Wells College will be a healthier, more comfortable living and working environment as a smoke-free campus,” said Wells President Lisa Marsh Ryerson. “In doing so, we join many other colleges, universities, hospitals and workplaces in recognizing the public health and safety benefits of a smoke-free environment.”

Associate Dean of Students for Residence Life Joel McCarthy attended the Central New York College Tobacco Policy Summit at LeMoyne College in Syracuse earlier this spring. Representatives from about 30 New York colleges and universities were present to discuss campus tobacco and smoking polices, and to learn more about national trends. 

“Many schools currently do not allow smoking in their residence halls or academic buildings, and more and more campuses have begun implementing smoke-free and even tobacco-free polices,” said McCarthy. “Cazenovia College, SUNY Upstate Medical University, and Onondaga Community College have all recently implemented smoke-free policies on their campuses, and Wells will become non-smoking this summer. I attended the Tobacco Summit to explore ways to make this transition a successful one for students, staff, and faculty alike.”

Wells College has a long-standing commitment to health and wellness. The College offers “healthy lifestyles” living options in its residence halls, boasts a state-of-the-art fitness center, created the Coalition for a Sustainable Wells this year, and will introduce a Sustainability Learning Community model in the 2008-09 academic year; eight students selected to participate in the Learning Community will focus on civic engagement, social responsibility, and the environment.

“Our new smoking policy reflects the College’s commitment to wellness and its mission to ‘think critically, reason wisely and act humanely’,” explains McCarthy. “Numerous programs and resources will be available for students, faculty, and staff who wish to quit smoking, and off-campus smoking areas will be identified for individuals who choose to smoke.”

For more information about Wells’ new non-smoking policy, please contact Director of Publications & Media Relations Kelly Tehan by calling 315.364.3260 or emailing ktehan@wells.edu. 

Map of campus smoke-free area  (PDF)

July, 2008

Wells Welcomes Cayuga Lake Watershed Network to Aurora 

Wells partners with regional agency; CLWN makes new home on campus

In keeping with its commitment to the liberal arts and in recognition of the need for leaders in scientific and environmental studies initiatives, Wells College and the Cayuga Lake Watershed Network are collaborating in new ways. Wells President Lisa Marsh Ryerson recently announced that the Watershed Network will move its offices into Zabriskie Hall this summer. The three-story building on the College’s campus will provide the Network and its staff with office space and a central location with ready access to Cayuga Lake.

“This is an exciting time in the history of our relationship with the Cayuga Lake Watershed Network,” said President Ryerson. “Wells has been actively involved with the Network for a number of years, and we are delighted that they will bring their headquarters to Aurora. I look forward to welcoming my Network friends and colleagues to the Wells campus, and am excited about continuing our collaboration as we seek ways to protect one of our most valuable regional assets – Cayuga Lake.”

The Cayuga Lake Watershed Network (CLWN) was founded in 1998 in Ithaca, and is currently operating from Interlaken. CLWN seeks to protect and improve the ecological health, economic vitality, and overall beauty of the watershed through education, communication, and leadership. The Cayuga Lake watershed covers more than 850 miles and is spread over seven counties: Cayuga, Seneca, Tompkins, Cortland, Ontario, Schuyler, and Tioga.

As CLWN enters its second decade of water resource stewardship in the Finger Lakes, it was determined that a change of location was necessary for the community-based, not-for-profit organization.

“I am delighted to have this opportunity to expand our services and move to the Aurora and Wells community,” said CLWN treasurer and founding director Bill Shaw. “We look forward to enhanced collaboration with the broader community and are deeply grateful for Wells’ generosity and support of our programs.”

Wells’ collaboration with CLWN began several years ago. Professors of Biology and Environmental Studies Thomas Vawter and Niamh O’Leary are both engaged with CLWN and its partner group, the Cayuga Lake Watershed Intermunicipal Organization, which bring together representatives from the counties that comprise the Cayuga Lake watershed. 

One of the most popular programs offered by these agencies is the The Cayuga Lake Floating Classroom Project. The M/V Haendal, a 43-foot steel boat also known as “the floating classroom,” provides direct access to Cayuga Lake for middle school, high school, and college students to learn about the lake and directly interact with the natural world in intellectually and experientially rewarding ways. The Haendel stops frequently at the Wells College dock to take students out on the water for ecological studies and water monitoring, coupled with shoreline activities focusing on stream ecology, watershed concepts, storm-water runoff, global climate change, and other topics.

The CLWN is expected to move into Zabriskie Hall at Wells College on August 1. New contact information for the organization will be released at that time.

For more information about Cayuga Lake Watershed Network’s move to Wells College, please contact Kelly Tehan, director of publications and media relations, at 315.364.3260. Additional information about Wells College may be found at www.wells.edu; go to www.cayugalake.org to learn more about the Cayuga Lake Watershed Network.

May, 2008

College Trustee, Executive Director of “By The People” to address graduates on May 24

Wells College President Lisa Marsh Ryerson has announced that Wells trustee Gail Leftwich Kitch, executive director of MacNeil/Lehrer’s By The People, will be Wells’ 2008 commencement speaker.  This year’s ceremony will take place at the Aurora Inn on Saturday, May 24.

Gail Kitch is the executive director of By The People, an initiative of MacNeil/Lehrer Productions which uses public television to encourage and support informed non-contentious citizen dialogue around policy issues. Prior to joining MLP, Ms. Kitch served as president of the Federation of State Humanities Councils following service as director of Cambridge Forum (Mass.), and principal of Strategic Business Consultants, an international business consulting organization. Ms. Kitch established SBC after serving as associate director of the Program on South Africa at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

“As a member of Wells’ Board of Trustees, the College community has had the pleasure of talking with Gail over the past decade and know her to be a passionate and articulate advocate of liberal arts education and of Wells,” said President Ryerson. “We are deeply honored to welcome Gail Kitch as our 2008 commencement speaker.”

Ms. Kitch earned her B.A. cum laude from Bryn Mawr College and law degree from the University of Chicago.  A lawyer by training, she practiced for a number of years with large firms in Washington, D.C. and Boston, where she was a board member and chair of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, and a Radcliffe College Public Policy Fellow from 1997-1999. 

Among her many leadership roles, Ms. Kitch sits on the executive committee of the Women’s Foreign Policy Group; is a board member of the American Bar Association Museum of Law in Chicago; serves on the National Advisory Group to The State of the USA, Inc.; and is a member of the Advisory Commission to the Standing Committee on the Law Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. She joined the Wells College Board of Trustees in 1999, and now serves on the executive committee as secretary of the board; she is also chair of the enrollment committee and a member of the student affairs and academic affairs committees. 

Wells College expects to confer degrees on more than 90 students this spring. Commencement ceremonies will take place at 10:00 am at the Aurora Inn, Main Street, on Saturday, May 24.

For more information about Ms. Kitch’s commencement address and general commencement activities at Wells College, please call Director of Publications & Media Relations Kelly Tehan at 315/364-3260.

April, 2008

School Honored for Distinguished Community Service

The Corporation for National and Community Service has named Wells College to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for exemplary service learning programs.

Launched in 2006, the Community Service Honor Roll is the highest federal recognition a school can achieve for its commitment to service learning and civic engagement. Honorees for the award were chosen based on a series of selection factors including scope and innovativeness of service projects, percentage of student participation in service activities, incentives for service, and the extent to which the school offers academic service-learning courses.

Wells was among the 12% of colleges and universities honored in this way. In total, 528 schools were recognized. A full list is available at www.nationalservice.gov/honorroll.

“I am delighted that Wells College has been nationally recognized for our commitment to community service,” said Wells President Lisa Marsh Ryerson. “Wells has long been a leader in instilling the principles of community service in students as we provide opportunities for their active involvement, both domestically and abroad.”

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) is a federal agency that improves lives, strengthens communities, and fosters civic engagement through service and volunteering. CNCS administers Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America, a program that supports service learning in schools, institutions of higher education, and community-based organizations. 

“College students are tackling the toughest problems in America, demonstrating their compassion, commitment, and creativity by serving as mentors, tutors, health workers, and even engineers,” said David Eisner, chief executive office of CNCS. “They represent a renewed spirit of civic engagement fostered by outstanding leadership on caring campuses.”

In congratulating the winners, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said, “Americans rely on our higher education system to prepare students for citizenship and the workforce. We look to institutions like these to provide leadership in partnering with local schools to shape the civic, democratic and economic future of our country.”

The Honor Roll is jointly sponsored by the Corporation for National and Community Service, through its Learn and Serve America program, and the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, USA Freedom Corps, and the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation. 

For more information about Wells’ recognition by the Corporation for National and Community Service, please contact Kelly Tehan, director of publications and media relations, at 315/364-3260; to learn more about Wells, visit the College’s Web site: www.wells.edu. Additional information on CNCS may be found at www.nationalservice.gov.

February, 2008

Wells College Dedicates New Science Building

Celebrating Connections ~ Stratton Hall officially opens during 
September 27-29 activities

Wells College President Lisa Marsh Ryerson is pleased to announce that the Wells community will “Celebrate Connections” during the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the College’s newest campus addition - the 45,000 square foot science facility. Ann Wilder Stratton ’46 Hall, named for the Wells alumna whose bequest in excess of $9 million helped the College reach fundraising goals, will be formally dedicated on Saturday, September 29 at 3:00 p.m.

“The opening of Stratton Hall heralds a new era of science education at Wells College,” said President Ryerson. “Wells has a long and proud history of educating students in the sciences within our rigorous liberal arts curriculum.  The new facility supports our quality program and the faculty-student learning relationship which is at the heart of the Wells experience.” 

A series of celebration events will begin on Thursday, September 27 and run through the weekend. Highlights include:

• Talk and book signing by best-selling writer Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid Chair; 7:00 p.m. Thursday, September 27
• Science Colloquium presentation by Dr. Margaret “Peggy” Pericak-Vance, Wells class of 1973, director of the Miami Institute for Human Genomics and professor at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine; 12:30 p.m. Friday, September 28
• Open house and multidisciplinary demonstrations throughout Stratton Hall by Wells faculty and students; 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Friday, September 28
• Keynote address by veteran science correspondent Ira Flatow of NPR’s “Science Friday;” 3:00 p.m. Saturday, September 29
• Official ribbon-cutting ceremony; 4:00 p.m. Saturday, September 29

After nearly a decade of fundraising, a groundbreaking ceremony for the new science facility was held on April 28, 2006, which included remarks by Congressman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), chair of the House Science Committee, and Dr. Abraham Lackman, president of the Council on Independent Colleges and Universities; and a panel discussion on the critical importance of science education.

Stratton Hall is a three-level, L-shaped structure which features flexible classroom and lab spaces to support courses developed for science majors and non-majors. The building also houses faculty offices and a multi-functional 92-seat lecture hall, named in honor of former Wells Board chair Margie Filter Hostetter, Wells class of 1962. The lecture hall and several other major spaces, including a two-story light-filled atrium, were designed to be attractive to students and to accommodate needs across academic disciplines, such as introductory course lectures, college symposia, and public presentations and events.

“This semester, more than 30 different classes, including math, first-year seminars, and anthropology are being conducted in Stratton Hall,” said President Ryerson. “This is truly a multidisciplinary facility.”

Creation of the building’s concept and design was a collaborative effort - Wells faculty identified needs for teaching space and HOLT Architects of Ithaca, N.Y. designed the facility. LeCesse Construction Company of Rochester, N.Y. erected the building on time and within its $19 million budget.  Ryerson noted, “We were pleased to with work with local vendors of such high caliber as well as have an economic impact of this magnitude in our region.”

“It is a joy to be teaching in Stratton Hall,” said Professor of Chemistry Christopher Bailey of Aurora. “Wells has always had excellent faculty and strong science programs, and now we have a space that will better reflect this. From the technology-rich classrooms, to the discipline-appropriate teaching labs, to the smaller undergraduate research labs, Stratton Hall was designed to allow us to use our teaching skills to their fullest.”

For more information about Stratton Hall and dedication celebration activities, please call 315.364.3416, email CelebratingConnections@wells.edu , or visit www.wells.edu/CelebratingConnections.

September, 2007

Last updated 10/06/2008