This Month from Cliff

All of us have those moments in time where an event causes us to stop and mark time. From the moment of this seminal event, we always remember where we were even though the intensity of our feelings may change. For some the intensity never changes. As a little boy, I remember my parents, aunts and uncles talking about where they were when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Similarly, I always remember the death of John Kennedy in 1963, the moon walk in 1969, the explosion of the Challenger in 1986, and, of course, the destruction of the World Trade Center on 9-11-2001. It is interesting and, somewhat sad, that only one of these was a happy occasion. The others were all sad, and I remember the enormous grief and regret that wrapped around me and those I loved. And even though such incidents make us very sad, we need to continue to memorialize and remember that these events are marks in time when the world stops and we remember. We mark time in time. I thought about all of thi...

It Takes Access - It Takes Opportunities Jovins-Lin Dorestan Associate of Arts, Math and Science MTS Honors Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society Phi Sigma Omicron Dr. Cliff Wood, This is Jovins. By receiving my diploma from the MTS program today, I would like to send you this email to say thank you to you and all your staff including Elissa Silverstein and Elizabeth Solages for all your support towards me.  There is no way that I will be able to achieve this without your help.  Thus, I’m very grateful for that.  I would like to tell you that it was not a waste of my money and time. Thanks to GOD who put all of you on my way to help me, I’m very proud of the success I’ve made since I came to the United States.  I’m very happy and look forward to start class at City College in two weeks from now.  I got accepted at their Engineering program, and I will start taking classes for my bachelor in Civil Engineering. Jovins Dorestan ...

I recently spent ten wonderful days with my five-year-old grand-daughter, Orly, who lives with her parents in Cincinnati. During her time in Vermont with “Grammy” and me, we drove to New Haven and spent the day with our other grandchildren: Annie (age 4), and Sammy and Isabel (age 13 months), whose family had just moved to the East Coast from Los Angeles and will be here for a year. What a delight it was to be with all our grandchildren at one time. What struck me most was how each child had grown and developed since the last time I saw him or her. They wowed this Grandpa with their accomplishments. At the core, there was still the personality I had come to know in their infancy, there was a breathtaking maturity in their relationships with others and in their cognition—particularly in the cases of Annie and Orly, who quickly became good friends. Both girls have expanded their interests (and talents) in art, science, creative play, writing, social interactions and so m...

Amidst dwindling enrollment, budget cuts and the talk of decline in America’s educational system, news is still bright at Rockland Community College . RCC’s student newspaper, OUTLOOK , and its writers and editors have been honored by The Society of Professional Journalists and named “the best all-around non-daily student newspaper in the Northeast and New England.” RCC’s OUTLOOK ranks high in a league with other top-winning newspapers from outstanding institutions, and community college newspapers hold their own among top four-year institutions. No other SUNY schools were named in any category.  Award winners were: Best All-Around Non-daily Student Newspaper First Place: OUTLOOK , SUNY Rockland Community College Second Place: THE TORCH , Bergen Community College Third Place: THE MAINE CAMPUS , University of Maine Best All-Around Daily Student Newspaper First Place: YALE DAILY NEWS , Yale University Second Place: THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN , University of Pennsylva...

Intelligent, conscientious, detailed, smart, loyal and driven: these are all adjectives used by colleagues to describe Karen Gualtieri, Vice President of Student Services, who leaves RCC on August 31 st after 16 years at the college. During those 16 years, efficient and tough Karen has served as Registrar, Dean of Enrollment Management, and since 2010 as Vice President of Student Services. Her colleagues’ responses to the question “If I had to describe the Queen of FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), I would say the following about her as RCC’s Chief Student Affairs Officer”: “Well-known for finding ways to move our institution forward in order to serve our students, faculty and staff” “Recognized for her ability to conceptualize and to turn ideas into realities” “Respected as a team player who brings knowledge, skill, commitment and realistic expectations to any project” The above statements clearly describe an administrator who is detailed,...

I am pleased to share with you the remarks I made when I was honored as a Distinguished Alum by Texas A&M University-Commerce. I know that there are faculty members at RCC who are also teachers who mold lives. I came to East Texas State College in the fall of ’62 as half the man I am today! I was a shy and naïve graduate of Woodrow Wilson Hugh School, Dallas, Texas, with not a clue of what I wanted to do with my life. I ended up in Paul Johnson’s Personality Foundations class, a required part of ET’s general education curriculum. Now, more than fifty years later, after 46 years as a college administrator, I truly appreciate ET’s well crafted program of study. Paul was a wonderful teacher and it means a great deal to me that he is here this evening. Paul’s course, Personality Foundations, molded the philosophy that I own today. Paul was one of a group of outstanding educators who taught me more than they will ever know. Bill Truax, John McQuery, Harold Murphy and Ruth...

Each year the Chancellor of the State University of New York recognizes exceptional students from all sixty five SUNY colleges and universities. The following RCC students are the 2013 recipients of the Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence. Melissa Dimataris of Congers graduated Tappan Zee High School in 2009. Dreaming of Broadway, she enrolled in the Performing Arts program . In Spring ’10, she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. “I had to stop going to work and school, and avoid crowds.” She went into remission within the first two months, but continued the grueling treatment for over two years. She found new hope when she was invited to sing the national anthem at Madison Square Garden in 2011 before a New York Rangers hockey game. “I was no longer performing for my own pleasure, but I wanted to inspire others not to give up on their dream. Navid Safaie of Suffern, AS Liberal Arts and Sciences: Mathematics and Science , was pleased to discover t...

At every level of government—federal, state and local, a major topic is the economic recovery of our great country and the need for jobs for the future. Clearly, RCC must play a role in economic development and assuring that our graduates are ready for the world of work. YES, PRESIDENT OBAMA, RCC IS POISED TO MEET YOUR CHALLENGE! In his State of the Union message on February 12, 2013, President Obama made the following statement: “There are things we can do right now to accelerate this trend.  Last year, we created our first manufacturing innovation institute in Youngstown, Ohio. A once shuttered warehouse is now a state-of-the-art lab where workers are mastering 3D printing that has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything. There is no reason this can’t happen in other towns. So tonight I am announcing the launching of three more of these manufacturing hubs where business will partner with the Departments of Defense and Energy to t...

Andrew Cuomo, New York’s Governor, has a mission, and that mission is clearly stated in his mantra: New York is Open for Business. Governor Cuomo believes, and I do as well, that to insure a safe and prosperous future for all New Yorkers, there must be jobs available that provide a livable wage for all New Yorkers. To that end, two years ago, he created ten Regional Economic Development Councils and charged them with the task of devising a regional plan to promote business growth and development that would increase the availability of jobs in each region. Over the last two years, he has provided special funding for projects in each region that supports these goals. I have had the privilege of being one of two people from Rockland to represent the county on the Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council (MHREDC). In the fall of 2012 Rockland’s plan was selected as one of the top four plans, and the region was awarded almost $100,000,000 to support that plan. While t...