The University is once again taking part in “,” the long-running celebration of visual arts organized by CNY Arts that spotlights the creative talents of avocational artists across the region. This year marks the program’s 53rd anniversary.

Active, full-time or part-time faculty and staff who paint, sculpt, photograph, weave, weld or create using a number of other media are invited to submit original work for the campus exhibition, “On My Own Time 鈥� Celebrating the Artistic Talents of 网爆门 Faculty and Staff.” The show will be on display at Bird Library from May 28-June 11 during regular library hours.

Artists must by May 15 and be able to submit finished pieces on or before May 28. Colleagues are encouraged to visit the exhibition and vote for their favorite piece in the People’s Choice Award.

A selection panel that includes a CNY Arts representative will also choose standout works to advance to the “On My Own Time Grand Finale,” a five-week exhibition at the Everson Museum of Art running Oct. 3-Nov. 8.

A reception for artists, University colleagues, family and friends will be held Oct. 8. Finale tickets will go on sale in September.

If you have questions or would like to volunteer to assist with the exhibition at Bird Library, email听OMOT@syr.edu.

网爆门 Libraries鈥� Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) is for the 2027-2028 academic year. The SCRC Faculty Fellows Program supports innovative curricular development that fosters new ideas about incorporating focused use of archives and special collections in pedagogical practice.

Each fellow will receive a stipend, as well as an introduction to SCRC’s collections relevant to their course inquiry, primary source analysis skills, and designing a syllabus that centers activities and assignments that make creative/critical use of archival/special collections materials. Applications are being accepted for the development or revision of a three-credit course to be taught in the Fall 2027 or Spring 2028 semester from any discipline on campus.

SCRC鈥檚 primary sources span over 4,000 years鈥攆rom the 21st century BCE to the 21st century CE鈥攁nd represent an array of topics and perspectives relevant to the study of human culture and knowledge. They include various formats, from written and printed material, art, architecture and design to music and recorded sound. Engaging with SCRC鈥檚 rare and archival collections allows students, faculty and researchers to explore and question historical evidence and testimonies while connecting with the innovative and enduring ways people have communicated, documented their experiences, and recorded personal memories throughout history.

For questions or additional information about the , contact Jana Rosinski, SCRC instruction and education librarian, at jrosinsk@syr.edu.

George Bain G’06, a member of the Library Associates, and William F. Gaske 鈥�72, a member of the Libraries Advisory Board, provided generous funding towards the SCRC Faculty Fellows Program. The original funding for the program was made possible through the generosity of the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, which promotes the advancement and perpetuation of humanistic inquiry and artistic creativity by encouraging excellence in scholarship and in the performing arts, and by supporting research libraries and other institutions that transmit our cultural heritage. For more information about how to financially support a faculty fellow for the upcoming academic year and beyond, contact David Seaman, University librarian and dean of libraries, at 315.443.5533 or via email at dseaman@syr.edu.

recently announced the spring 2026 recipients of the Orange Innovation Fund, awarding $5,000 grants to a cohort of student inventors and entrepreneurs advancing high-potential ventures across health care, financial technology, consumer products and enterprise software.

The Orange Innovation Fund is designed to accelerate student-led startups beyond the idea stage, supporting founders who have demonstrated meaningful progress through customer discovery, prototyping and early validation.

The fund emphasizes deep research and development work, along with comprehensive proposal development, and recognizes ventures that show strong execution, real-world traction and a clear path toward commercialization. Funding supports critical next steps such as product development, regulatory readiness, pilot testing and go-to-market strategy.

鈥淭he Orange Innovation Fund plays a critical role in SU鈥檚 entrepreneurial ecosystem, enabling student founders to move beyond concept and into execution,鈥� says David Seaman, dean of Libraries and University Librarian. 鈥淏y supporting ventures at a pivotal stage of development, the fund helps transform promising ideas into scalable businesses with real-world impact.鈥�

Spring 2026 Winners

Celes Buffard 鈥�27 (School of Information Studies) for SecondWave

SecondWave is a financial wellness platform that helps users build personalized roadmaps to manage and grow their finances. The platform combines education, tools and vetted resources to guide users toward financial independence. Funding will support minimum viable product (MVP) completion, user testing, cloud infrastructure and trademark registration, as well as continued customer discovery.

Jayson Bromley (Martin J. Whitman School of Management) for Bromley Bio Med LLC 鈥� InDeazy

InDeazy is an integrated incision and drainage device designed to improve efficiency, control and safety in urgent care and emergency settings. Funding will support final design refinement and pilot manufacturing, including engineering updates, simulated workflow testing and Food and Drug Administration pre-submission readiness.

Nicholas Davis 鈥�26 (College of Engineering and Computer Science [ECS]) for Ethyra

Ethyra is an AI-native auto-grading and classroom analytics platform that helps educators save time and better understand student performance. Funding will support MVP completion, a version 1.0 launch and pilot testing at 网爆门, the University of Washington and Eastside Preparatory School, along with learning management system integration and a study on grading efficiency.

Haley Greene 鈥�26 (Newhouse School of Public Communications) for Miirror

Miirror is a clinically guided, peer-led, tech-enabled platform redefining eating disorder recovery. Offering free, inclusive and stigma-free tools, support circles, crisis resources and therapy matching, the platform connects underserved communities with accessible recovery pathways. Funding will support completion of the MVP, regulatory compliance, technical infrastructure and a campus pilot at 网爆门.

Ronan Hussar 鈥�26 (Whitman School) for MacroFlow

MacroFlow is an Excel add-in that automates macro creation, saving users significant time and increasing productivity. Funding will support development of secure AI implementation, full local functionality and enterprise-grade validation of macro generation capabilities.

Yasmin Madmoune G 鈥�27 (Whitman School) for Yas Apothecary

Yas Apothecary is a Moroccan-inspired body care brand with a long-term vision of building a cooperative-based production infrastructure. Funding will support equipment upgrades, production scaling, wholesale market entry and supply chain development.

Nathan Brekke 鈥�26 (ECS), G 鈥�27 (Whitman School) and Joshua Varkey 鈥�26 (ECS) for Phloat

Phloat is a magnetically attachable flotation device that deploys to bring a submerged phone back to the surface. Funding will support the first commercial-grade production run, field testing with beta users and development of a scalable manufacturing supply chain. The company has recently filed for a patent.

Jack Venerus 鈥�27 (School of Information Studies) for WingStat

WingStat is a business-to-business platform for aircraft transaction data in the pre-owned business jet market. Funding will support the transition from a no-code MVP to a production-ready platform, including backend infrastructure, authentication systems and automated data workflows.

About the Orange Innovation Fund

The Orange Innovation Fund was initially established through a gift to the Libraries from Raj-Ann Rekhi Gill 鈥�98, an alumna, a member of the Board of Trustees and an operating partner at Silicon Valley Quad (an angel investing syndicate). The program is administered through 网爆门 Libraries as a Universitywide initiative, run in collaboration with multiple campus innovation and entrepreneurship programs. Proposal reviewers include entrepreneurial faculty and staff, along with alumni who have come through the ecosystem and are venture founders or in C-Suite roles at leading innovation companies.

网爆门 Libraries has upgraded its New York Times Digital subscription to New York Times All Access. In addition to News and Cooking, campus authorized users can now access Games, Audio, Wirecutter and The Athletic using their syr.edu email.

New York Times All Access allows University affiliates to stay up to date on the news, get in-depth personalized coverage of sports, explore games and puzzle archives, discover recipes and podcasts, and search consumer product reviews to shop confidently and understand markets.

The New York Times鈥檚 homepage, designed to connect journalism with key areas of study for students and faculty, is curated weekly during the school year.

Current campus account holders will see their听New York Times听access automatically upgraded to All Access at their next login to the app or website. New users can visit the听听and follow the instructions to set up their login. Access is available to all current 网爆门 NetID holders with an @syr.edu address.

Heather Hendry, senior paper conservator at the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts, will present at 网爆门 Libraries鈥� annual Brodsky Series for the Advancement of Library Conservation. Hendry鈥檚 hybrid lecture, titled , will be held on Wednesday, April 15, 2026 from 3鈥�4:30 p.m. in the Peter Graham Scholarly Commons (Bird Library Room 114) and on Zoom. Registration is required for the Zoom webinar and is encouraged for in-person attendees. Interested attendees can .

A on Dacron lining maps will be held the following day, Thursday, April 16, 2026, from 9:00 a.m.鈥�5:00 p.m. on the 6^th floor of Bird Library in the Antje Bultmann Lemke Seminar Room and the Joan Breier Brodsky 鈥�67, G鈥�68 Conservation Lab. The workshop is limited to 15 people, and advance registration is required. To register for the workshop, please email Max Wagh, SCRC administrative coordinator, at mlwagh@syr.edu.

All events are free to attend and open to the public.

The annual is endowed through a generous gift by William J. 鈥�65, G鈥� 68 and Joan 鈥�67, G鈥�68 Brodsky. The series features prominent library conservators that promote and advance knowledge of library conservation theory, practice and application among wide audiences, both on campus and in the region.

Hendry specializes in challenging conservation treatments of works of art on paper of all eras. Current projects include conservation of Jacob Lawrence鈥檚 Toussaint L鈥橭uverture paintings; early maps and founding documents of the United States; and a collection of Civil War drawings. She teaches conservation treatment techniques to other conservators, including a 鈥淏lackened Lead White鈥� workshop, and has presented and published internationally on conservation of iron gall ink, lead white pigments, historic maps, Asian screens and pressure sensitive tape.

She studied conservation at Queen鈥檚 University in Canada, and she has worked as a conservator at the Canadian Conservation Institute, the Yale Center for British Art, the Harvard University Weisman Center and in private practice.听 She is a fellow and a professional member of the American Institute of Conservation and will be co-chairing the Art on Paper Discussion Group on 鈥淲ashing鈥� at the 2026 AIC Meeting.

and the have partnered to launch an , a new self-paced credential designed to help business students evaluate sources, identify misinformation and apply research skills in a professional landscape increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence (AI).

The program, offered in collaboration with the Office of Microcredentials, is open to both Whitman undergraduate and graduate students and encourages the development of core skills in information literacy, which is a crucial competency for academic pursuits, and one that employers also describe as being essential. The skills learned also connect to the University’s of Information Literacy and Technological Agility and Critical and Creative Thinking.

“For Whitman students, the certificate fills a meaningful gap between classroom learning and professional readiness,鈥� says Assistant Director of Experiential Programs Roshawn Kershaw. 鈥淚t increases a student’s ability to find reliable information, assess its credibility and apply it with confidence. This is important for a business environment increasingly shaped by excess data and AI content. It sets them apart from others before they even realize. The certificate is now available to both undergraduates and graduate students, which means it can meet Whitman students wherever they are in their academic journey, reinforcing skills that will serve them from their first internship to the boardroom.”

To earn the certificate and digital badge, students take online self-paced tutorial modules that introduce them to key information literacy skills and library resources:

• Identifying Bias and Misinformation
• Types of Sources
• Evaluating Information
• Research as Process
• Search Basics, Part 1
• Search Basics, Part 2
• Syracuse Libraries Resources
• Student Guide to AI

鈥淚 am so excited to have these online tutorials become an official certificate and digital badge that is now available to both grads and undergrads,鈥� says Librarian for Business, Management and Entrepreneurship Steph McReynolds. 鈥淲e鈥檝e offered the tutorials as part of the program for years, and students have asked for a certificate to show employers their accomplishments in this area, and now we can provide that digital credential.鈥�

Information Literacy Librarian Kelly Delevan sees this certificate as an excellent template for the development of information literacy badges for other schools and colleges at Syracuse. The certificate is even serving as a model beyond our institution, as a librarian from another university has recently reached out to use the certificate module categories at their own library.

Molly McConnell, a Ph.D. candidate in composition and cultural rhetoric in the (A&S), was selected as the 2026 winner of the prestigious Mary Hatch Marshall Essay Award for her work titled 鈥淲orking with Microbes: The Collaborative Nature of Techne.鈥�

A&S and the 网爆门 Library Associates will host a on Wednesday, April 8, at 1 p.m. Anyone interested in attending can register by emailing libevent@syr.edu by April 3.

McConnell, this year鈥檚 recipient, will receive a $1,000 prize. Her essay explores what it means to consider a domestic, small-scale fermentation practice as a techne. She frames techne as a collaborative effort and questions what that collaboration means for the practice itself as well as the actors involved. McConnell relies on work in the field of more-than-human studies and in the social study of microbes, along with various work on fermentation as a practice, to think about how humans collaborate with microbes and what power dynamics are at play in that situation. This article asks about the temporality and intimacy in the collaboration when fermentation is viewed as techne.

McConnell鈥檚 essay was chosen from those submitted by A&S graduate students currently enrolled in African American studies; English; art and music histories; languages, literatures and linguistics; philosophy; religion; and writing studies, rhetoric and composition.

McConnell will be graduating in May. She serves as an editor for , an organization that publishes creative work of people impacted by the carceral system, and she volunteers for .

Professor Mary Hatch Marshall was a founding member of the Library Associates and holds a distinguished place in the college鈥檚 history. In 1952, she became the Jesse Truesdell Peck Professor of English Literature 鈥攖he first woman appointed a full professor in the college鈥� after having joined the faculty four years earlier.

Library Associates established the annual Mary Hatch Marshall Award to honor and help perpetuate her scholarly standards and the generous spirit that characterized her inspirational teaching career, which lasted through her retirement in 1993. Members of Library Associates, Marshall鈥檚 friends and family, the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and the Central New York Community Foundation all contributed to the endowment, established in 2004, that funds the award.

Library Associates are a group of dedicated 网爆门 Libraries supporters who help to raise funds and accessibility for the Libraries’ special collections, rare books and manuscripts through opportunities like the Faculty Fellows program.

The ten women stand together in the gymnasium, faces serious, hands on their hips. With their shoulders squared, right feet turned in a split stance, their eyes stare into the camera in an unmoving challenge.

That鈥檚 the photo that accompanies an April 15, 1895, article titled 鈥淲omen鈥檚 Gymnasium Work鈥� in the University News, describing the activities of the Syracuse women students playing a unique sport on campus鈥攂attle-ball.

鈥淲e, too, have our college athletics,鈥� the article reads. 鈥淵ou have doubtless heard of the basketball teams of Wellesley, and other women鈥檚 colleges; but do you know that in our own University we have two teams of young women, not playing basket-ball but the splendid game of battle-ball? Vigorously do we practice on Tuesday and Thursday of each week, and so expert have we become that we quite belie the accusation that 鈥榓 girl can鈥檛 throw a ball.鈥�”

What exactly was battle-ball? According to the , there鈥檚 no other information on the game in the library’s collections.

But the article鈥檚 author Carrie S. Romer wrote that battle-ball was only 鈥渁 part of our work in the gymnasium.鈥�

鈥淥ur eyes have long since wearied of the statement鈥攐r we might almost say epitaph鈥攕o often seen in our college papers, 鈥楳iss 鈥� has been obliged to leave college because of ill-health,鈥� and we have determined that we, the members of the women鈥檚 gymnasium classes, will prevent, as far as we can, the possibility of such remarks concerning ourselves,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淗ence, two, three, or four times each week we repair to the gymnasium to enjoy our exercises and games.鈥�

A Higher Stakes Game

, professor of history and senior associate dean for academic affairs in the , reviewed the article for 网爆门 Today. She says the piece gives a glimpse of the experience of women attending college in the late 19th century.

Women鈥檚 education and college athletics both expanded dramatically in the United States after the Civil War, she says.

鈥淎mericans worried that men might become weak without the testing ground of war,鈥� Faulkner says.

There was particular concern at the time about 鈥渘eurasthenia鈥濃�攁 nervous disorder for both men and women, she says.

鈥淎s the article makes clear, there was concern that college might be too mentally (and physically) taxing for women, which could also be an argument to exclude them from education, careers, political and legal rights, etc.,鈥� Faulkner says.

According to the University News article, the women used 鈥渢raveling rings, horizontal bars and ladders鈥� during those gym sessions in the University鈥檚 , which was built in the early 1890s and demolished by 1965.

鈥淲e strengthen the various muscles of our bodies, and acquire a courage that we should not have dreamed of possessing a few years ago,鈥� Romer wrote.

In the 1895 article, the students made clear that their exercise wasn鈥檛 a chore.

鈥淲e should not be college women if we did not mingle a bit of fun with our work, and one of our chief pleasures has been to invent names for our various exercises,鈥� Romer states. 鈥淧erhaps you have heard of our 鈥榞ymnastic hop,鈥� 鈥榗hicken walk,鈥� 鈥榦strich walk鈥� and 鈥榝lying angel,鈥� but if you do not know what they are, we invite you to come and see for yourself鈥攊f you may. Should you be so unfortunate as to belong to the sex seldom admitted during 鈥榣adies hours,鈥� we can give you no better advice than to follow the suggestions given by the names and learn for yourself what we mean.鈥�

Faulkner says the article and accompanying photo make clear the women exercised separately from their male classmates, which is likely why their skirts are shorter. During the 1890s, women鈥檚 activities were “severely proscribed鈥� by fashion (corsets and long skirts), modesty and propriety of the Victorian era.

The 1890s saw those standards giving way to the era of the 鈥渘ew woman,鈥� Faulkner says, in which women discarded those restrictions as they embraced sports for the health and social benefits.

鈥淚 love the picture because their choice of clothing, especially the short skirts, shows how much athletics challenged the still powerful views that women should be modest,鈥� she says. 鈥淲omen鈥檚 fashion did not allow shorter (above the ankle) skirts for everyday wear until about WWI. Earlier, in the 1850s, women鈥檚 rights activists stopped wearing the 鈥樷�� because they were mocked so severely.鈥�

Beyond the Gymnasium

The article that follows the story on battle-ball also focuses on the experience of women in higher education at the time, titled 鈥淲hat is the College Woman Doing in the World?鈥�

鈥淲e can hardly imagine a woman who has had the inspiration of four years of college life as going out into the world and leaving behind her all the life and stir that have been hers for four years,鈥� the article by M.S. Coon says.

The second article delves into ways female graduates were making careers for themselves, namely with social activism or social work. Specifically, it mentions women college graduates founding and working in , which functioned as community-based centers in poor neighborhoods.

The two articles, side-by-side, give a clear look at how women on the Syracuse campus were advocating at the time for their own athletics, education and careers after graduation.

鈥淭he author and her fellow athletes were asserting their physical health along with their academic capabilities in hopes of creating or advancing post-college opportunities at a time when careers were still very limited for women and most women would still marry and have children,鈥� Faulkner says.

The articles from the University News are housed in the in the University Archives. Anyone can visit the Special Collections Research Center and request to see them.

网爆门 Libraries is now accepting applications for the Spring 2026 round of the Intelligence++ Ventures initiative, a funding program that supports student innovators working to develop and commercialize solutions that improve the lives of people with intellectual disabilities.

The initiative was launched through a generous gift from Gianfranco Zaccai 鈥�70, H鈥�09 and the Zaccai Foundation for Augmented Intelligence. It is designed to help promising student-led ideas move from early-stage concepts toward real-world impact.

鈥淭his competitive program is a valuable tool for student innovators to help commercialize products, services and technologies that will help people with intellectual disabilities,鈥� says Zaccai. 鈥淚t is intended to accelerate the transfer of inclusive and entrepreneurial design research to the marketplace. It will help students create innovations that can be used by early customers, to gather real-world feedback and to accelerate solutions for people who will benefit from their ingenuity. Our goal is to attract students from a wide range of disciplines who are working in multidisciplinary teams.鈥�

Intelligence++ Ventures builds on the success of the that began in fall 2020 at the . The program was created in partnership with the Taishoff Center for Inclusive Higher Education鈥檚 and the (VPA). Since its launch, Intelligence++ has encouraged students across disciplines to apply inclusive design principles to create products, technologies and services that support individuals with intellectual disabilities.

A cornerstone of the program is the inclusive design research course, which invites students from across campus to imagine and build solutions for people with intellectual disabilities.

The course introduces students to inclusive design and entrepreneurial thinking and provides a framework for developing innovations that are both functional and meaningful to the communities they are intended to serve. Registration for the course is currently open (contact Professor ) for the fall 2026 semester. While participation in the course is recommended for students interested in applying for the Intelligence++ Ventures grants, it is not required.

Submit an Intelligence++ Ventures Proposal

鈥淭he Intelligence++ Ventures grants assist student research and entrepreneurial initiatives emerging from the Intelligence++ program in collaboration with other campus innovation partners,鈥� says , Dean of 网爆门 Libraries and University Librarian. 鈥淭he program helps move student research in this important area to proof of concept and commercialization.鈥�

Eligible projects may include technological, educational, organizational or other creative innovations designed to empower individuals with intellectual disabilities, as well as their families and communities.

Students applying for the grants must identify a specific need related to the discovery, testing, development or launch of a product, service, technology or creative work. Projects may originate from coursework, research labs, independent studies听 or other innovation-focused programs across the University.

Applicants are asked to submit a proposal as a single PDF that includes a cover letter outlining the funding request, use of funds, timeline and project milestones. In addition, proposals must include an executive summary describing the problem or opportunity being addressed, the proposed solution and how it works and the customer discovery research that supports the concept.

Proposals should also outline the project鈥檚 target market, particularly how the innovation will benefit people with intellectual disabilities or their families, along with any traction achieved to date, the team and advisors involved and the partners needed to move the idea forward.

Students are encouraged to clearly describe the scope of the project they are proposing, including details about any prototype they plan to build, how it will be tested, who will participate in the evaluation process and how results will be measured. Applicants should also outline potential next steps if the prototype and testing prove successful.

Submissions will be reviewed based on several key criteria. Successful proposals will demonstrate innovative research or entrepreneurial projects that have moved beyond the idea stage and show strong potential to become a commercial product, service or technology capable of making a meaningful impact. Reviewers will also evaluate the feasibility of the proposal, the strength of the research and development plan and the quality of the written submission.

In addition, proposals will be assessed on the strength of their commercialization strategy, including a clear product development roadmap and expected outcomes such as prototype development, early sales, additional investment or licensing opportunities. Budgets should be realistic and well researched, demonstrating that grant funding will meaningfully advance the project.

The grant program is administered through 网爆门 Libraries in collaboration with the VPA School of Design and InclusiveU. Additional collaborators include the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, the College of Engineering and Computer Science and partners throughout the University鈥檚 broader research and commercialization ecosystem.

To submit your proposal or request additional information, contact orangeInnovation@syr.edu.

网爆门 Libraries鈥� Special Collections Research Center鈥檚 (SCRC) 2026 exhibition, 鈥淲e Demand!: A Legacy of Activism in America,鈥澨� is now open on the sixth听floor of Bird Library.

The exhibition includes examples of resistance and perseverance in the form of publications, posters, protest signs, photographs, demands, newsletters and more representing the critical role of activism in challenging injustice and securing greater freedoms in the United States. Exhibition curators are Courtney Hicks, SCRC lead curator and curator of plastics and historical artifacts; Jana Rosinski, SCRC instruction and education librarian and Lindy Smith, SCRC assistant director.

Since the country鈥檚 founding, the American people have shaped鈥攁nd continue to shape鈥攁 more just and a fairer future. For decades, SCRC has collected materials related to histories of activism and reform in America that illustrate how advancements in rights were made possible by those who came before. This pursuit and work of individuals and collective groups who have come together to push for change in the face of extraordinary challenges and circumstances is documented within this exhibition.

“We Demand!” is free and open to campus and the broader community and will be on display until December. In concurrence with the exhibition, SCRC will host programming throughout the year, including an exhibition reception on April 23 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on the sixth floor of Bird Library.

网爆门 Libraries鈥� LaunchPad awarded prizes to several student entrepreneur teams as part of its annual Afropreneurship Celebration and Pitch Competition held in Bird Library on Feb. 6.

The event included a panel discussion featuring student and alumni entrepreneurs, followed by a pitch competition open to student teams across campus. Students pitched in either the Concept/Idea Track, where participants delivered a 90-second pitch on their idea for a chance to win $250-$500, or the Proof of Concept/Prototype/In-Market Track, where participants delivered a 4-minute business pitch and question and answer for a chance to win $1,000-$2,500.

Winning teams in the Concept Track were:

• Yuqian Di 鈥�26 (School of Architecture), founder of ReBoot, won 1^st place ($500). ReBoot is a specialized on-campus service to save students’ winter boots from salt damage through professional restoration, extending the lifespan of expensive footwear.
• Yuxin Chen 鈥�26 (School of Architecture), founder of PlateMap, placed 2^nd and was awarded $250.听PlateMap is a visual meal-mapping system that eliminates decision fatigue by aligning food planning with a user’s actual schedule to make healthy, cost-effective eating effortless.

Winning teams in the In-Market Track were:

• Edouard Agbor G鈥�26 (School of Information Studies), founder of GritGateway won 1^st place ($2500). is an ethical human-centered AI-powered global opportunity platform with active users across 20+ African countries that helps ambitious African students turn their life stories into verified profiles of grit, resilience and potential that universities can trust.
• Imaad Maqsood 鈥�29 (College of Arts & Sciences), founder of Upstate Pressure won 2^nd place ($1500). Upstate Pressure is a residential and commercial pressure washing service that restores and protects exterior surfaces such as concrete walkways, driveways, decks, siding, fences, patios and more.
• Dylan Bardsley 鈥�26 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), founder of Clarity听won 3^rd Place ($750). Clarity is a transparent, AI-powered platform that instantly gives students clear, hyper-personalized credit card recommendations.
• Naheem Cadiz III 鈥�28 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), founder of Coveted won 4^th place ($250). Coveted is a mobile fashion marketplace app designed for independent and emerging clothing brands and the consumers who discover them.

网爆门 Libraries has a new collection of loanable items, referred to as its “Library of Things,” available for borrowing from the check-out desk in Bird Library.

This collection offers recreation, home goods, career and presentation, wellness and academic support items to the University community. Some items are reservable and others will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. A is available online, and a flip book at the check-out desk is also available for perusing. To make a suggestion for future items for borrowing, complete this .

New items in the collection include:

• Button maker
• Crochet kit
• Crochet needles
• Display easel
• Folding utility cart
• Garment bag
• Ghost hunting kit
• Kan Jam 2
• Glue gun
• Karaoke machine
• Knitting kit
• Knitting needles
• Leather portfolio
• Portable air compressor
• Portable Cornhole game
• Sewing kit
• Sewing machine
• Steamer
• SU necktie
• Toolbox
• USB fan

This new collection is made possible through the Libraries鈥� Staff Innovation Fund and a generous donation from Libraries Advisory Board member Laurence G. Bousquet G鈥�80.

Go back in time with this selection of historic images from the . The photos capture the evolution of the campus, student life and the community that has defined the University through the years.

To learn more about materials and photos in the University Archives, part of the in the , visit its .

Looking for some mystery or an unexpected connection this Valentine鈥檚 Day? Try stopping by the display, which is returning to Bird Library for its second year.

The display, which will be up through Feb. 16 on the first floor of Bird Library, offers a handpicked selection of books wrapped in brown paper to cover the title, author and description. Instead, library staff inscribed their own witty or attention-grabbing blurbs on the wrapping to entice library patrons into checking out a book, or two, or four.

So-called 鈥渂lind date with a book鈥� events have grown in popularity at libraries and bookstores since the 2010s, according to Michelle Mitchell, the reference and instruction librarian coordinating the University鈥檚 display.

She says the goal for the library with this week鈥檚 event was to highlight fiction and leisure titles in the collection, since so often the University community is focused on their extensive academic offerings.

To create the matchmaking display, library staff were asked to submit fiction titles from any genre, along with a playful or shortened version of the book鈥檚 description.

鈥淭his type of event encourages fun and creative curation for staff members who are choosing the books to be a part of the display and includes the elements of surprise, mystery and thrill of the unknown for the reader,鈥� Mitchell says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an exciting journey for both the staff, who choose the titles, and the readers who select which one to take a chance on. It is exciting to see our community embrace their love of reading with this display.鈥�

Last year, the first time the put on the event, 62 鈥渕ystery date鈥� books were checked out.

鈥淚t鈥檚 wonderful to know that someone may choose a book that they may not normally choose since elements of influence are covered up, such as the cover art, the full description and author names,鈥� Mitchell says.

Life, she notes, is busy and full of moments of looking ahead to what鈥檚 next. The matchmaking display can provide some unexpected respite.

鈥淎llow yourself to pause and spend time with a book to be immersed in new worlds, different perspectives and thought-provoking, emotional content,鈥� Mitchell says.

SU Press recently launched a Read New York Challenge, a fun way to learn the history, culture and literature of New York State. The Press is providing a list of 12 books in its New York State and Regional Studies Series to read.

Open to all, readers can sign up to participate in the challenge by emailing jadams23@syr.edu and will receive a free e-book each month, a coupon for 40% off the print edition and a monthly newsletter spotlighting the book of the month. Readers can follow SU Press on social media (, , , , or ) for updates on each month鈥檚 selection, author profiles and an opportunity to share your thoughts on the book.

The Read New York Challenge includes:

• January: “” by Timothy W. Kneeland
• February: “” by Stephen J. Riegel
• March: “”听 by Sean Kirst
• April: “”听 by Philip G. Terrie
• May: “” by Marilyn E. Weigold
• June: “” by Peter Lourie
• July: “” by David Gibson
• August: “”听 by Suzanne Hinman
• September: ““ by Roger Sheffer
• October: “”听 by Steven Huff
• November: “”听 by Nina Shengold
• December: “”听 by William Loizeaux

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