(Cazenovia, NY – Sept. 2015) Cazenovia College will host the 14th Annual Wheler Conference on World Affairs, on Wednesday, Oct. 7. Debbie Stack, director of Education and Community Engagement at WCNY in Syracuse will kick off the event at 9 a.m., in the Catherine Cummings Theatre at Cazenovia College with the keynote address on “Educating Our Children Through Public Media.”
Stack, WCNY’s chief grant writer, oversees all onsite educational programming in WCNY’s Education Center; is responsible for the integration of educational content across WCNY’s multiple media platforms; works with WCNY’s television production department on documentaries, special projects, and Double Down, WCNY’s high school academic quiz show; and directs WCNY’s community engagement initiatives as part of WCNY’s mission to be the community’s connector. She is a former adjunct professor in the museums studies graduate program at Syracuse University and also owned and operated Syracuse Scenic Tours. She is a member of the Boards of the Onondaga Citizen’s League, the Onondaga County Public Library System, and the Friends of the Witter Agricultural Museum in addition to being a founding partner of the Onondaga County Literacy Coalition.
The Wheler Family Conference is made possible through the support and efforts of the Wheler Family, in particular Barbara Wheler and the late A. Gordon Wheler, former trustees of the College. The conference is a U.S. Constitution Day event.
The conference schedule, available at www.cazenovia.edu/wheler, includes the following breakout panel discussions on “children,” as well as additional sessions and program details.
“Encouraging Creative Thinking in Children”
Elizabeth Heller, sales and graphic designer, Logowise, LLC, Binghamton, NY
“Autism and the First Responder”
Daniel Riordan ’06, EMS manager, Penfield Ambulance
“Children in the NYS Court System”
Christine Nicolella, Esq., sole practitioner attorney, Delanson, NY, and attorney, Child Liaison to the Appellate Division, Third Dept., Office of Attorneys for Children, Schoharie County
“Mentoring Matters”
Jessica Ginney and Dennis Hoover, mentoring program supervisors, Community Action Partnership for Madison County
“Who, Me? Yes, You!”
Theatrical presentation by students in Visiting Assistant Professor Roxy Spano’s First Year Seminar class
Screening of 2013 documentary, American Winter
One of the many highlights of the day is the invitation-only luncheon that will feature the annual Sarah Webster Addresses, given this year by Sophia Kinne, a senior from Thomas J. Corcoran High School in Syracuse, New York, and Rebecca Nicolella, Cazenovia College junior and social science major from Delanson, New York. Nicolella is also this year’s assistant conference director.
All conference offerings, with the exception of the luncheon, are free and open to the public.
For more information, contact Dr. John Robert Greene, conference director, and the Paul J. Schupf professor of history and humanities, at (315) 655-7229 or rgreene@cazenovia.edu.