, associate professor of writing and rhetoric in the (A&S), has been awarded the $10,000 Syracuse Prize from CNY Arts. Berry was recognized for his work withÌý, a community-engaged writing and multimodal publishing initiative that supports incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals and their families.

The inaugural Syracuse Prize honors community members who have made significant contributions to the cultural vitality and civic life of the City of Syracuse. Berry accepted the award at a ceremony on May 14, with the recognition receiving coverage from regional media outlets, includingÌýÌý²¹²Ô»åÌý.

Founded by Berry in 2022, Project Mend is an open-access national archive developed in partnership with theÌýÌýin Syracuse. The initiative centers the creative and scholarly work of people directly impacted by incarceration, offering paid editorial and design apprenticeships that provide participants with professional skills and pathways to future opportunity.

“I believe the arts should be accessible to everyone, including those rebuilding their lives after prison,� says Berry. “Initiatives like Project Mend remind us that creativity, storytelling and multimodal publishing are powerful forms of education, healing and community.�

A central component of the initiative isÌý“Mend,â€� a print and digital journal that publishes fiction, nonfiction, poetry and visual art by incarcerated people, formerly incarcerated individuals and their families. This spring, Project Mend celebrated the release ofÌý“Mend’sâ€�Ìý, marking a significant milestone in the project’s continued growth and national reach.

Project Mend also serves as a high-impact experiential learning site for students. Many students first encounter the project through Berry’s courses in A&S and continue through internships and apprenticeships, translating their work with “Mend� into career pathways in publishing, communications, social services, nonprofit leadership and graduate study.

The Syracuse Prize is the latest in a series of honors recognizing Berry’s leadership on Project Mend. In 2025, he received the Outstanding College–Community Partnership Award from the Coalition for Community Writing, which recognized Project Mend’s collaborative and reciprocal engagement with justice-impacted communities. Berry has also received support through the University’s Office of Research’s Good to Great Grant Program, which supports high-impact initiatives with strong potential for national reach.

Additional funding has come from a Humanities New York Post-Incarceration Humanities Partnership, supported by the Mellon Foundation and the CNY Humanities Corridor. On campus, the project is further supported by the Engaged Humanities Network, the Humanities Center, the SOURCE, Íø±¬ÃÅ Libraries and the Department of Writing Studies, Rhetoric and Composition.

As the initiative continues to expand, so do opportunities for innovative forms of engagement. In spring 2026, Berry launched “,â€� a podcast that offers members of the team a space to reflect on themes explored inÌý“Mend.â€� The first episode, released in March and titled “Mental Health and Solidarity in Prison,â€� was inspired by Rebekha Nilsen’s 2026Ìý“Mendâ€�Ìýarticle “,â€� extending the essay’s exploration of loss, care and resistance through collective conversation.

Berry is also developing a book,Ìý“Literacy and the Humanities After Prison,â€� which examines how literacy and humanities-based practices shape the lives of people impacted by the criminal legal system.

The College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) mourns the passing of Meredith Lillich, professor emerita of art history, who died on March 18, 2026, at the age of 94. A member of the University’s faculty for more than four decades, Lillich was an internationally recognized scholar of medieval stained glass, a dedicated teacher and mentor and a foundational figure in the modern study of Gothic art.

Born in Chicago, Lillich demonstrated an early devotion to intellectual pursuits. After double majoring in English and art history at Oberlin College and graduating in 1953, she traveled to Europe on a Fulbright fellowship, taking part in a formative abroad experience that sparked what would become her life’s scholarly focus: medieval stained glass.

Lillich would go on to earn a master’s degree in art history from Cornell University in 1957 and a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1969. While finishing her dissertation, “The Stained Glass of Saint-Père de Chartres,� she joined the A&S faculty in 1968. She remained at the University until her retirement in 2010, shaping generations of students and playing a central role in establishing A&S as a hub for research and teaching on medieval art.

Her research took her frequently to Europe, where she was known for her determination and fearlessness in the field. Undeterred by cramped staircases, great heights or the less hospitable corners of medieval buildings, Lillich, herÌý, climbedÌýinto hard-to-reach spaces in churches (i.e., triforia, towers and clerestory levels) to study stained glass up close. These efforts yielded landmark publications, including “The Armor of Light: Stained Glass in Western France, 1250–1325â€� and “The Gothic Stained Glass of Reims Cathedral,â€� along with numerous influential articles.

Among her many honors, Lillich received fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, the National Gallery of Art’s Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies and multiple Fulbright awards. At Syracuse, she was recognized with the Wasserstrom Prize for Outstanding Graduate Teaching (1987), the Arts and Sciences Special Service Award for Service to Field (1989) and the Chancellor’s Citation for Exceptional Academic Achievement (1999).

, Distinguished Professor of Art History and Chair of theÌýÌýin A&S, recalls Lillich’s immense scholarly stature and international reputation. “Her colleagues used to call her the ‘Queen Bee of Medieval Art,’ and for good reason,â€� Franits says. “Meredith received prestigious academic recognition abroad, particularly in France, where her scholarship was widely respected and influential.â€�

Beyond her scholarly achievements, Lillich was deeply revered as a mentor, and her influence extended far beyond Syracuse through the students she trained. Former studentÌý, now an associate professor of medieval art history at the University of Virginia, credits Lillich with shaping both his intellectual orientation and professional ethos. “I affectionately refer to Meredith as my ‘medieval momma,’â€� he says. “Her model of academic excellence, devotion to family and research output are a model for anyone to follow. Her passion for stained glass studies was unrivaled.â€�

Her colleagues and former students describe Lillich as a scholar whose curiosity was tireless. By understanding both the people behind the art and the meaning embedded in their work, Lillich believed society could gain deeper insight into the cultures that shaped these artworks and the values they still reflect.

Lillich’s expertise made her a sought-after authority worldwide. She was a central and foundational figure in the American chapter of the Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi, an international scholarly initiative devoted to the study, documentation and preservation of medieval stained glass. Her influential work on subjects such as Cistercian grisaille, band windows (which are clerestory windows featuring horizontal narrative strips) and collaborative research at institutions including the Corning Museum of Glass continues to shape the field. Colleagues across the discipline described her as “fiercely brilliant,� a “force of nature,� and one of the founding mothers of American stained-glass scholarship.

Meredith Lillich leaves behind a legacy of rigorous research and devoted teaching. Her influence endures not only through her work and students, but also through her family. She is survived by two daughters, Victoria A. Lillich and Olivia P.L. Hilton; and four grandchildren, Rebecca Lillich Krüger, Miles Hilton (Lis Meiss), Rupert Krüger and Aaron Hilton (Enjolique).

, director of research development for the arts and humanities in the and the (A&S), has been recognized with the 2026 Innovation Award from the (NORDP).

The award recognizes professionals who advance research development through partnerships, new tools and techniques or the creation and sharing of knowledge that produces demonstrable results. Workman and her NORDP colleague, Allison DeVries of Chapman University, received the award in recognition of the evolution of the (CASSH) affinity group, which they founded in 2022. The group, which has grown to more than 150 NORDP members across the country, helps them marshal and create collective resources and share best practices, case studies and challenges in support of faculty in the humanities, creative arts and social sciences areas.

“I’m honored to receive this award and proud to have had a part in bringing the CASSH group together four years ago when it seemed rare to have a designated arts and humanities research development staff member housed in an R1 institution,� Workman says. The group has gained momentum “because higher education recognizes the value of this support nationwide as integral to the national research landscape and vital to an individual institution’s research ecosystem,� she says.

Workman came to Syracuse in 2019 and built a dedicated arts and humanities research development infrastructure from scratch. She now connects with more than 200 faculty across eight schools and colleges and partners with and several University-affiliated arts organizations.

Beyond campus, she is part of the , an 11-university consortium for collaborative research, teaching and programming. She co-leads its HF4 Corridor Futures and Initiatives working group with program manager Aimee Germain to offer professional development opportunities for faculty.

Impact on Faculty and Funding

Prior to Workman’s arrival, scholars navigated grant funding alone or through informal networks, often missing critical opportunities, says , senior director of research development in the Office of Research, who co-nominated Workman for the award.

She says Workman has contributed to faculty winning prestigious awards, including summer stipends, a and a grant. Workman has also supported a fellowship, an digital justice grant and several successful applications.

In 2025, Workman supported 64 grant proposals seeking $44 million in funding. She recently helped nine arts faculty and five organizations secure awards, making Syracuse the only university in the state to receive multiple awards in that cycle, Chianese says.

, professor of women’s and gender studies and director of the Íø±¬ÃÅ Humanities Center and the Central New York Humanities Corridor, says Workman’s Corridor support has deepened scholarly community across the region and has had significant impact on Syracuse faculty success.

“Sarah has been instrumental in several prestigious Mellon awards, including our first and ensuing New Directions fellowships and many other highly competitive awards and grants,” says May, who co-nominated Workman for the award. “Many of these awards have been substantial enough to transform individual career trajectories and drive transformational work at the University and inÌý wider communities locally and nationally.” May says faculty frequently remark about how much they enjoy collaborating with Workman and appreciate her support.

, assistant professor of music history and cultures in A&S, credits Workman with helping her secure a , a first for Syracuse among 200 competing institutions. “I am deeply grateful for her thoughtful engagement with my research and for helping make its relevance accessible to a broader interdisciplinary readership,” Peñate says.

, associate professor in women’s and gender studies in A&S, says Workman’s guidance “proved instrumental in shaping two grant proposals into competitive, fundable projects. Her careful feedback led to key revisions that directly contributed to securing a major award from a private funder. In a context of shrinking funding, Sarah’s leadership has been indispensable for the success of humanities’ interdisciplinary, social justice-centered research.”

While Workman focuses on the arts and humanities, the Office of Research supports faculty across disciplines through a broader research development team. Researchers across campus partner with team members on proposal development, funding searches, cohort writing programs for competitive federal awards and strategic guidance on funding opportunities. Faculty interested in support for their projects can learn more about .

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is sounding the alarm on a growing trend in American schools: the steady erosion of recess. In its first on the subject in over a decade, the AAP recommends that all students—from kindergarten through high school—receive at least 20 minutes of unstructured play each day, and warns that cutting recess puts children’s health, behavior and learning at risk.

Katie Kidwell, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology in Íø±¬ÃÅ’s College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), says the research backs that up. She provides the following quote which can be used directly:

“Play and physical activity are essential for children’s mental and physical health, not optional extras during the school day. Recess supports emotional regulation, attention, stress reduction and social development. Losing recess as punishment can be especially harmful because the children struggling behaviorally are often the ones who most need opportunities for movement and regulation.”

“Research consistently shows that recess and unstructured physical activity support children’s physical and mental health in meaningful ways. Regular opportunities for movement during the school day are associated with better attention, emotional regulation, mood, social functioning and overall well-being. Recess should not be viewed as separate from learning—because children learn through play.”

To arrange an interview with Professor Kidwell, contact Daryl Lovell, associate director of media relations, at dalovell@syr.edu.

New research in the journalÌýÌýby Maxwell postdoctoral scholar Dustin Hill, Professor of Public Health Dave Larsen and a team of researchers has found a strong connection between the prevalence of genetic variations of the COVID-19 virus and higher community transmission.

Testing wastewater to detect viruses in a community is a well-established scientific practice. But knowing the prevalence of a disease has always presented challenges, with science relying on sheer volume and concentration of virus load found to make inexact assumptions.

The team, which included colleagues from SUNY Upstate Medical University, SUNY College ofÌýEnvironmental Science and Forestry and the New York State Department of Health, looked closely at existing data and genomes from wastewater surveillance collected during the COVID-19 emergency, measuring genetic variation through small, insignificant changes in the virus genome, and comparing that to transmission levels.

To put it simply: they found that the more variation in the viral material in wastewater, the more people were infected.

“Not only do infections rise when diversity of the virus increases, infections decline as diversity declines,� says Hill, the study’s lead author. “We tested three different ways to measure diversity of the virus genome in wastewater, and all three measures predicted infections with extremely high statistical power.�

While the study analyzed COVID-19, this connection could change how wastewater surveillance is used not just to detect, but to measure disease transmission with implications for monitoring other diseases, including influenza, measles, polio and future viruses that may arise.

“These findings open up new areas of exploration in genetic epidemiology,� says Larsen. “We will now be able to estimate transmission from sequencing data, something that has previously not been possible.

Key Takeaways From the Study

• Genetic diversity measured in wastewater is highly predictive of community infection numbers, and superior to current methods that use concentration
• Wastewater genetic data can tell us more than just what variants or subtypes are circulating in each community
• Methods can be applied to any pathogen found in wastewater that can have genetic material sequenced

“This is exactly the kind of research Maxwell exists to support—rigorous, evidence-based and consequential well beyond the laboratory,â€� says Maxwell Dean David M. Van Slyke. “The collaboration between Professor Larsen, Dr. Hill and their partners at the New York State Department of Health is a model for how transformative research unfolds: without a roadmap, assembling the right collaborators, working through what didn’t work and ultimately arriving at findings that can make communities healthier and safer. The ability to move from detection to prediction changes what policymakers can do, and when they can do it. That’s not just scientific progress—that’s the public good.”

The research project grew from a partnership between Íø±¬ÃÅ, the New York State Department of Health, SUNY Upstate and SUNY ESF that began in March of 2020, in the earliest days of the COVID-19 outbreak.

As the virus first spread in New York and elsewhere, Larsen proposed using wastewater to detect and monitor the virus at Íø±¬ÃÅ. He assembled a team of researchers from Syracuse and nearby universities to begin developing the wastewater surveillance technology that would eventually become critical to New York State’s response to the disease and developed into theÌý.

“The wastewater program was further developed in 2022 by the addition of sequencing of the detected virus, work that was undertaken by the 5-site sequencing consortium set up by the Wadsworth Center in 2021,� says Kirsten St. George, director of the Virology Laboratory at the Wadsworth Center and co-author of the study. “The sequence data generated by the consortium provided the information needed for the genetic variation analysis and transmission correlations reported in this study. Initiated to monitor circulating and emerging variants of the virus, the sequence data generated by the consortium has now proven to be a powerful tool for additional applications.�

In 2024, the New York State Wastewater Surveillance Network was designated as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Northeast Region Center of Excellence.

“The valuable partnerships the department and our world-renowned Wadsworth Center have developed with Íø±¬ÃÅ, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and SUNY Upstate Medical University are leading to important new discoveries that are advancing our understanding of not only how to detect COVID in wastewater, but also how to analyze those samples to better predict community transmission,â€� says New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald. “The researchers involved in this study remain on the cutting edge of scientific discovery that could change how we look at other pathogens in wastewater, including polio, influenza and measles and establishing wastewater sampling as a reliable public health early warning system for public health threats.â€�

This latest research, in the article titled “,â€� appears in the May 14 issue ofÌýScience, a leading outlet for scientific news and research.

When a mock chemical hazard call came in on South Campus last month, forensic science students from the (A&S) were granted a rare opportunity to watch and learn.

The New York National Guard’s 2nd Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team (CST) conducted a multiday training exercise from March 31 through April 3, bringing together five agencies to simulate a coordinated chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear response. For students in the College’s (Forensics Institute), the exercise became an uncommon window into the world their coursework is preparing them for.

“This offered an exceptional opportunity for students to connect what they have learned in their courses to a real-world scenario,” says Kathleen Corrado, Forensics Institute executive director. “Including communications, sample identification and collection, working with hazardous materials, and use of analytical field equipment that mirrors what they have used in their laboratory courses.”

The exercise, coordinated by the University’s Emergency and Environmental Risk Services division in partnership with A&S, is among the first times a live chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) field exercise has also served as an academic platform. Over two site visits—on March 31 and April 2—students observed multiagency incident command coordination, CST personnel collecting samples in full chemical proximity protective suits, and a mass-casualty decontamination corridor erected and operated by Syracuse Fire Department’s HazMat Response Team. All training used simulated materials only.

Joseph Hernon, associate vice president for emergency and environmental risk services, says the setting offered students something a classroom cannot replicate.

“When students step onto a scene alongside the New York National Guard’s 2nd Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team, the Syracuse Fire Department HazMat unit and Onondaga County Emergency Management, they’re not just observing. They’re experiencing the actual tempo, communication and decision-making of a real CBRN response,” Hernon says. “That exposure is irreplaceable.”

Between the site visits on South Campus, the civil support team hosted a seminar in Lyman Hall for forensic science and other A&S students and faculty. The session covered their mission, demonstrations of portable detection equipment and a Q&A period.

Kevin Early, a master’s student in forensic science, says seeing the team’s analytical instruments in a field context reframed what he had learned in the lab.

“I really enjoyed seeing all of the scientific equipment that is employed and all of the differing applications of the machinery in the field,” Early says. “The mobile lab was so cool—I didn’t think that a GC-MS (gas chromatography–mass spectrometry) would be effective in a mobile capacity, so that was interesting.”

“What I hope students took away is a sense of professional context, and an understanding of where their skills fit within a much larger response system, and a recognition that the work they’re learning to do has real-world stakes,” he says.

Corrado says the partnership opened students’ eyes to career possibilities at the intersection of forensic science and national security, and that the CST is eager to continue the collaboration. “The members of the 2nd WMD-CST were clearly excited to share their expertise and experiences with our students, and they look forward to continued collaborations in the future.”

From insightful conversations to shared reflections on meaningful work, theÌýÌý(EHN) Community Showcase offered a powerful reminder of what’s possible when people come together in collaboration.

The event brought together faculty, students and staff from the University with community partners to celebrate projects that address local and regional needs and opportunities through research, teaching and creative work.

The third annual showcase featured panel discussions and table presentations highlighting dozens of initiatives connected to EHN, housed in the (A&S). Collectively, the showcased work represented collaborations across more than 50 departments from nine schools and colleges at Íø±¬ÃÅ, and partnerships with more than 75 community-based organizations.

Projects ranged from arts- and storytelling-based initiatives to STEM research and educational programs focused on community empowerment, environmental sustainability and cultural preservation.

“This is an annual event where we showcase all of the projects, courses and community engagement happening all across the city and region,� says Mary-Jo Robinson, program manager for the EHN. “The hope is to demonstrate the incredible work that’s being done, broaden exposure to these projects and help strengthen connections between partners.�

The event featured panel discussions, allowing speakers to share lessons learned, reflect on challenges and discuss opportunities to sustain and grow their work. Panels focused on EHN’sÌýÌý²¹²Ô»åÌý initiatives, the newÌý, sustained long-term partnerships andÌý.

The showcase underscored the continued growth of EHN since its founding in 2020 byÌý, Dean’s Professor of Community Engagement and associate professor of writing and rhetoric in A&S. Today, EHN supports more than 350 collaborators from across the University and works with dozens of community partners locally and nationally, from neighborhood-based organizations in Syracuse like the Northside Learning Center to the nation’s preeminent cultural institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

“The EHN approaches the humanities not as a bounded academic domain, but as a set of practices that span disciplines and permeate everyday life—across ages, institutions, cultures and communities,� says Nordquist. “The work of the EHN is to recognize, support and connect these practices so that we can collectively respond to the demands of the present while sustaining long traditions of reflection, inquiry, creativity and learning.�

Robinson emphasized that the event is as much about relationship-building as it is about visibility. “EHN exists to support this work and to help make connections,� she says. “When people come together in a space like this, it creates new possibilities for collaboration and helps ensure that community-engaged work remains central to the University’s mission.�

Free and open to the public, the Community Showcase welcomed attendees of all ages and backgrounds, reinforcing EHN’s commitment to accessibility and mutual exchange. As the network continues to grow, the annual showcase remains a key moment to reflect on the impact of community-engaged scholarship in Central New York.

Projects and courses represented at the event included: The Refugee Assistants Program’s Artisan Pathways, Black Women’s Art Ecosystems, Black/Arab Relationalities Initiative (BARI), CODE∧SHIFT, Deaf New Americans CODA Tutoring Program, Documenting the Haudenosaunee Influence on American Democracy (EHN Engaged Course), Environmental Storytelling Series CNY, Geography of Memory: Unsettling Stories (EHN Engaged Course), Hear Together, La Casita, Advanced Methods for Language Teaching (EHN Engaged Course), ME/WE Art Therapy Lab and Studio, Mindfully Growing, Narratio, Native America and the World: The Haudenosaunee (EHN Engaged Course), Natural Science Explorers Program, NOON, Not in the Books, Indigenous Values Initiative, Poetry and Environmental Justice (EHN Engaged Course), Project Mend, Public Scholarship Certificate Program, Safeguarding Syracuse Communities, Southside Connections/Southside Stories, Stories of Indigenous Dispossession Across the Americas (EHN Engaged Course), Teens with a Movie Camera, Traveling Teaching (EHN Engaged Course), Visualizing Care and Resisting Gentrification, We/Re-do Shakespeare (EHN Engaged Course) and Write Out.

likes to about a vocational aptitude test he took in sixth grade. It asked students which activities they preferred — things like fixing a bicycle, building things or working with people. When the results came back, they said he was best suited to be a teacher.

That gave everyone who knew him a good laugh.

“How the hell is this guy going to teach when he can’t get through his own courses?” Graver recalls them saying.

He was dyslexic before the word was widely known. To his teachers, he was just lazy. Reading and writing were extremely difficult and he failed German four times. A Latin professor even gave him a D and kindly asked him not to come back for the second semester.

This spring, Graver retires from the Department of Mathematics in the (A&S) after 60 years on the faculty. The “lazy� student who struggled to read and write has authored five books and dozens of research papers spanning multiple mathematical fields. One such paper, originally dismissed as of no practical value, became foundational to algorithm design a decade later. The aptitude test, it turns out, was right.

Finding His Way to Syracuse

Graver grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, in a working-class family, with no path to college.

After two years in the Navy, he used the G.I. Bill to attend Miami University in Ohio, where he planned to study forestry. A mentor redirected him toward a mathematics major instead and another visiting mathematician took him under his wing. By the time Graver finished his Ph.D. at Indiana University in 1964, his philosophy of teaching was already taking shape.

His first faculty position was a postdoctoral instructorship at Dartmouth. Combinatorics, the field of math related to counting and properties of finite structures, was more active in Canada than in the United States at the time. As it emerged as his specialty, Graver interviewed at the Universities of Alberta and Manitoba. Both offered him positions, but he still opted to interview at Íø±¬ÃÅ.

“This was a very, very friendly place,” he says. “One of the most collegial schools.”

Graver chose Syracuse and has been here ever since.

Working in the Corners

In a document he calls his “Mathematical Obituary,” Graver describes the research philosophy that guided his career with characteristic frankness. Rather than compete with the hotshots of the day who worked on the big, popular problems, he learned to “work in the corners,â€� that is, find the connections others had walked past.

“I wasn’t setting out to make big changes,” he writes. “I just wanted to understand things better, and the research followed.”

That approach produced a body of work that moved across a variety of mathematical fields — algebraic topology, combinatorics and graph theory, rigidity theory, integer linear programming and, most recently, the combinatorial structure of fullerenes. His 1975 paper “On the Foundation of Integer Linear Programming I” was dismissed by its original referee as interesting but of no practical value. A decade later, as computer memory expanded, it became foundational to algorithm design. He still finds the reversal amusing.

His longest collaboration had been withÌý. Their textbook “Combinatorics with Emphasis on the Theory of Graphs,” published in 1977 as volume 54 in Springer’s Graduate Texts in Mathematics series, remains a standard reference. Two decades later, the pair produced a second major work together. Graver also co-authored “Combinatorial Rigidity” with Brigitte and Herman Servatius, published by the , and wrote “Counting on Frameworks,” an accessible treatment of rigidity theory for the .

Collaboration is a key element to Graver’s career.

“I like working with coauthors,” he says, in part because dyslexia makes solo writing slow and error-prone. He is currently working on another book with a former graduate student.

Even small gains in a student’s sense of belonging can meaningfullyÌý. A new initiative is , connecting its highest-achieving first-year students with the community and support they need to thrive, so that they can make the most of their time in college.

Earlier this academic year, more than 300 A&S students were recognized at a Universitywide banquet for earning theÌý. The ceremony was only the start of the college’s plan to support its top students.

“In Arts and Sciences, this banquet is just the beginning,”Ìý, A&S associate dean for academic initiatives and curriculum, told the scholars. “We have a whole series of events planned for you.”

The program builds on the University’s Invest in Success Scholarship, a $500 award granted to all first-semester students who earn at least a 3.75 GPA. This year, 302 students with an A&S major or who were undeclared and enrolled in the college qualified. Machia and , assistant dean for student success, launched the initiative to help those students form a community unique to A&S.

“What I wanted to do is help them find their people within their disciplines and their pathways faster,” Machia says.

To do that, 15 upper-division students serve as peer mentors, drawing from Coronat scholars, the Renée Crown University Honors Program, the College’s international peer mentoring network and recommendations from faculty and advisors. Each mentor was matched to a group of scholars by academic discipline, giving students a point of contact and a cohort of peers who share their academic interests.

“I’m grateful for being part of a community of students who have similar struggles and experiences to me,” Jonathan Bispott ’29 says. “Especially having mentors who overcame trials I will soon face and having access to their ‘future knowledge’ has been really impactful.”

Events span social and academic programming. Scholars met for dinner at the Inn Complete where Machia placed icebreaker questions on the tables to spark conversation. An invitation to sit together at a Syracuse women’s basketball game followed. Lastly, Schaffling’s office organized a career immersion trip open exclusively to Success Scholars—an opportunity typically more common for upperclassmen—giving first-year students an early introduction to professional networking and alumni connections.

Brooke MacDonald ’29, a psychology major with minors in business marketing and Asian/Asian American studies,Ìý says she appreciates the many opportunities now open to her.

“It’s led me to meeting some amazing new people as both friends and networks,” she says. “I found it super helpful to have a mentor I could contact with any questions. With them being in the same major, it opened up perspectives for me.â€�

In an age when artificial intelligence can generate content instantly, the human ability to write with clarity, originality and critical insight has become more essential than ever.

Students in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) have ample opportunity to strengthen their writing through a rich landscape of publications and digital platforms. Aurantium, Broadly Textual, Intertext and Mend are among the outlets where students build strong portfolios, sharpen their professional communication skills and engage in experiential learning that prepares them for careers in writing, publishing, media and advocacy.

Aurantium: Making Philosophy Accessible and Alive

Like its namesake, Ìý(the Latin word for orange) is vibrant, inviting and full of fresh perspective. Founded in 2023, this student-led undergraduate philosophy journal was created to invite curiosity, creativity and conversation across disciplines. Supported by the and the Philosophy Club, the journal publishes two issues each year: one focused on the Íø±¬ÃÅ and SUNY ESF community and another open to contributors worldwide.

Essays, reflections, creative writing and artwork all find a home in Aurantium, making it a space where philosophy is explored not as an abstract exercise, but as a living, interdisciplinary practice.

For editor-in-chief Brielle Brzytwa ’28, discovering philosophy was anything but immediate. “In high school it felt abstract, inaccessible and frustratingly stuffy,� she recalls. It wasn’t until college that philosophy began to feel meaningful, and that transformation shaped her vision for Aurantium. “Philosophy doesn’t have to be confined to dense texts or exclusive academic spaces,� she says. “It can—and should—invite curiosity and conversation.�

As editor-in-chief, Brzytwa has made accessibility a guiding principle. She describes the journal as a place where ideas are not only preserved but “shared, challenged and reimagined,� with an emphasis on amplifying a range of undergraduate voices.

Broadly Textual: Building Community Through Public Scholarship

For graduate students eager to share their ideas beyond the boundaries of academic journals, Ìýoffers an inviting and meaningful platform. Overseen by William P. Tolley Distinguished Teaching Professor , the online publication highlights graduate student work designed for public audiences, featuring literary and cultural commentary, , and thoughtful explorations of digital media and identity. With its focus on a broad variety of subject matter, the publication encourages students to see scholarship as both collaborative and accessible.

Co-editor Elena Selthun first encountered Broadly Textual as a contributor during their first year of graduate study and quickly recognized its value. They describe the experience as “low-pressure and supportive,� an ideal introduction to publishing. Equally important, Selthun was drawn to the publication’s commitment to public humanities. “The public-facing nature of the blog allows graduate students to apply what we learn beyond academia,� they say.

For fellow co-editor Meg Healy, the appeal initially lay in skill-building and community engagement. Over time, she gained a deeper appreciation for the publication’s role in demystifying the publishing process. “There is a strong incentive to publish while in graduate school, but that can be daunting,� Healy says.

Both editors emphasize the sense of connection the publication fosters. Selthun points out that graduate research can often feel siloed, and “Broadly Textual” helps bring students across departments into conversation.

Intertext: Celebrating Writing Across WRT Courses

For more than three decades, has celebrated writing by undergraduate students in the (WRT), and community partners. In April 2026, editors and contributors gathered to mark the release of the journal’s .

Reflecting on their involvement, editors Jules Vinarub and Kairo Rushing wrote in the introduction to the 2026 issue, “This publication relies on the willingness of Íø±¬ÃÅ students to be vulnerable enough to let their truth be on display—sharing themselves with you, allowing you to hear and see their stories.â€�

Throughout the year, students met with publishing professionals and authors like Rand Timmerman, member of the at Íø±¬ÃÅ, whose essay about a is published in the 2026 issue along with a .

Any student who has taken a WRT course can submit their work to “Intertext,” and submissions are accepted on a rolling basis. Students interested in joining the editorial team can enroll in WRT 340: Advanced Editing Studio. For more information, contact Professor Patrick W. Berry.

Mend: Amplifying Voices, Honoring Stories and Creating Purpose

Ìýis an annual publication started by , WRT associate professor, and is dedicated to celebrating the lives and creative work of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people, as well as individuals impacted by the criminal legal system. Featuring fiction, poetry and nonfiction on a wide range of topics, the publication offers contributors the freedom to explore personal experience while centering dignity, creativity and voice.

Editor Drew Murphy ’26, who is majoring in writing and rhetoric, and in psychology in A&S, first encountered Mend as a junior through an Engaged Humanities course, WRT 413: Rhetoric and Ethics after Prison, taught by Berry. Guest visits from formerly incarcerated writers involved with Mend left a lasting impression.

“Their stories represented a powerful intersection of my two majors, writing and rhetoric and psychology,� Murphy says, describing the experience as one that immediately sparked curiosity on both personal and professional levels. When Murphy learned about internship opportunities with , the decision felt natural.

“The opportunity to work with impacted individuals while contributing to a publication that shares their stories has been meaningful for both my academic studies and future career ambitions,� she explains.

As Murphy prepares for graduate study in social work, she credits Mend with deepening her belief that thoughtful writing can contribute to meaningful change.

When Chie Sakakibara first traveled to an Iñupiaq community in Arctic Alaska as a graduate student, an elder gave her advice that would define her career.

“Never disappear,� she told her.

For generations, researchers had come to Indigenous lands, documented stories and environmental knowledge, and left—often without returning results or sustaining relationships. Community members asked Sakakibara to do something different: to document climate change from their perspective and to show that they were not simply victims of environmental disruption, but creative and resilient people adapting to change.

“I was honored, and I stayed,� Sakakibara says. “Placing yourself in a community means reciprocating and emphasizing their priorities, not just your own interests.�

More than two decades later, she is still returning.

Now an associate professor of geography and the environment in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Sakakibara has built her scholarship around long-term collaboration and Indigenous research sovereignty—the idea that communities themselves should guide how their knowledge is used, represented and shared. Another focus of her work: the interconnected survival of people, animals and environments in a rapidly changing Arctic.

“Chie’s work is a model of what engaged scholarship looks like at Maxwell,� says Shana Kushner Gadarian, associate dean for research and professor of political science. “By centering Indigenous voices and building lasting partnerships across the globe, she demonstrates that rigorous research and genuine community responsibility are not competing values—they are inseparable ones.�

Connecting Communities

Sakakibara’s current initiative, “Indigenous Northern Landscapes: Visual Repatriation and Climate Knowledge Exchange,� connects the Iñupiaq people of Arctic Alaska with the Ainu community of northern Japan to explore environmental memory, cultural preservation and climate adaptation.

Both communities have endured land dispossession and the suppression of traditional language and faith. Both have retained and revitalized Indigenous ways of being—the Iñupiat through their relationship with the bowhead whale, sea ice and tundra; the Ainu through kinship with the brown bear, salmon, rivers and forests of Hokkaido.

“Their voices are only getting stronger through connecting and building relationships with other Indigenous communities and their allies within and beyond academia,â€� says Sakakibara, a research affiliate for the East Asia Program in Maxwell’s Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs and a member of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Program and Center for Global Indigenous Cultures and Environmental Justice in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Her project employs repeat photography alongside community-led ethnography, fieldwork, oral history, archival research and collaborative museum curation. It emphasizes Indigenous knowledge and collaboration and juxtaposes early 20th-century and contemporary images, revealing sea ice loss, coastal erosion and shifting subsistence patterns due to environmental transformation.

Working with the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the National Snow and Ice Data Center, the project collaboratively produces environmental knowledge by interpreting these historical photographs with the Indigenous descendants of the communities where they originated.

Future work will involve storymapping, participatory digital storytelling and traveling museum curation bridging Syracuse, Arctic Alaska and Japan.

Challenging the Myth

A persistent misconception frames Indigenous cultures as unchanging and separate from the modern world. Sakakibara sees that stereotype as an obstacle to effective climate policy.

“When policymakers or scientists assume that Indigenous peoples are merely relics of the past, they fail to recognize that communities like the Iñupiat and Ainu actively observe, interpret and respond to environmental change,� she says. “That blocks opportunities to incorporate Indigenous expertise into climate solutions.�

Iñupiat hunters continuously adjust whaling routes in response to sea ice change. Ainu communities combine historical ecological knowledge with contemporary observations to protect salmon runs. These are dynamic systems of environmental monitoring refined over generations, not static traditions.

Rather than separating Western science from Indigenous knowledge systems, Sakakibara argues the two must be in conversation, especially as policymakers confront accelerating climate disruption. Climate change, she notes, is not solely a scientific challenge but a cultural and political one.

“Climate disruption is among the most consequential challenges of our time, with implications that span policy, governance, culture and human well-being,� says Maxwell Dean David M. Van Slyke. “Our students benefit from the wide-ranging expertise and experiences that Professor Sakakibara and colleagues provide.�

Students as Research Partners

Sakakibara brings her knowledge back to Syracuse—into classrooms, workshops and partnerships that give students direct exposure to the communities and questions at the center of her work.

In July 2024, Sakakibara partnered with public history experts from

StoryCollab to facilitate a on campus with Ainu collaborators. That same year, Sakakibara brought two Haudenosaunee undergraduate students to Japan to participate in workshops with Ainu community members, contributing to mapping projects and oral history initiatives conducted across English, Japanese and Ainu.

One of those students, Katsitsatekanoniahkwa Destiny Lazore ’26, is a member of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe and a 2025 Udall Scholar in Tribal Public Policy. Hearing the stories of ÌýAinu community members resonated in a personal way.

“It reminded me of what my own ancestors experienced, the struggle to protect culture, revitalize language and reclaim sovereignty,� says Lazore. “There was something powerful in recognizing that shared desire: the simple but profound wish to safeguard your people, your traditions and your future for the next generations to come.�

Rooted in Relationships

Sakakibara’s Ìýproject has cultivated partnerships with major institutions including the Penn Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Yale Peabody Museum, the National Museum of Ethnology in Japan and the Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies at Hokkaido University.

“The core goals—centering Indigenous knowledge, documenting environmental change and supporting cultural sovereignty—remain active and impactful,� Sakakibara says, adding that the elder’s advice—never disappear—remains central to her approach. “Research is about relationships. And relationships require responsibility.�

Story by Catherine Scott

A strong foundation in human biology is essential for students pursuing careers in medicine, nursing, physician assistance (PA) and the health sciences. For those students, anatomy and physiology—the study of the body’s structures and how they function—is often among the most demanding and consequential courses of their undergraduate education, serving as both a prerequisite for graduate programs and a proving ground for the scientific thinking those programs require.

Students have an innovative opportunity to build that foundation in the two-semester anatomy and physiology sequence taught by Vera McIlvain, an associate teaching professor in the Department of Biology in the .

The course draws more than 200 students per lecture including biology majors and other allied health students. Intentionally demanding, the comprehensive course covers the systems, structures and physiological processes that form the basis of human health. But what sets it apart, students say, is how it is taught.

McIlvain’s students don’t walk into class to hear a lecture for the first time—because the lecture has already happened. In what educators call a flipped classroom, McIlvain has built a library of more than 170 original instructional videos that students work through before they arrive: short, focused lessons on a platform that pauses to test comprehension in real time.

By the time students are in the room, the basics are behind them. That frees every minute of class time for the harder work: clinical application, concept mapping, real-time polling that surfaces misconceptions on the spot and the kind of problem-solving that mirrors how healthcare professionals actually think.

For Niamh McGuinness ’26, a student planning to attend PA school after graduation, that approach has been transformative. “Dr. V has helped me learn what study strategies are most effective for this type of learning,� she says, “which is one of the most valuable takeaways from this course.�

That preparation extends to how students are tested. McIlvain’s exams use a select-all-that-apply format designed to reveal what students actually know rather than what they can eliminate.

The course also extends beyond at-home and in-person lectures. Lab sections meet weekly, where sessions include exercises such as students examining slides of microscopic tissues using equipment McIlvain says produces images of textbook quality. Students capture their own micrographs of each tissue type, building a personal image library they use throughout the course.