College gets $12.9 for new alternative fuels building
(Morrisville, NY – Oct. 2015) Big things are on the horizon for Morrisville State College.
The college was awarded $12.9 million through the SUNY 2020 initiative to build a new 35,000-square-foot alternative fuels building.
Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the grant for the building during her visit Sept. 30, which was part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s “Capital for a Day” program.
The new building will house Morrisville State College’s renewable energy, diesel technology and agricultural engineering programs, in addition to its Renewable Energy Training Center (RETC).
The proposed site is located adjacent to the college’s dairy complex.
“This partnership represents a step forward for Morrisville by offering another opportunity to support the development and economic needs of New York State,” said Morrisville State College President David Rogers.
The alternative fuels facility will be a state-of-the-art building with industry specific components to train students and the workforce in high-demand areas including biofuels, electrical power generation with digesters and wood gasification engine-generator sets, gearing systems, transmissions, and electrical theory involving wind, solar and micro-hydro systems.
“I want to tell you how important you are to our entire ecosystem in bringing back the New York State economy,” Hochul said. “For more than a decade, this institution (MSC) has been at the forefront of educating leaders in the area of renewable energy, diesel technology and alternative fuels. We are so proud to take that to a new level.”
With the construction of the new alternative fuels building, collaborations and support will be enhanced for key programs. The college’s degree programs in renewable energy; certificates and training through the MSC Renewable Energy Training center; dairy complex (the location of a farm-scale anaerobic digester and two wind turbines); controlled environmental agriculture (CEA) aquaponics greenhouse at the MSC Aquaculture Center; campus-produced biodiesel; bench-scale anaerobic digesters in the bioenergy lab; eight residential-scale wind turbines; five biomass gasifiers and boilers; solar PV arrays; solar thermal providing hot water; and micro hydroelectric system on the MSC Galbreath Farm, will all benefit from the ability to collaborate in a shared space in the alternative fuels building.
The SUNY 2020 grants are an initiative to promote economic growth across the state and to strengthen the academic programs of the state’s public universities and colleges.
College’s Campus Activities Board takes home awards from regional conference
Morrisville State College’s Campus Activities Board (CAB) took home several awards from the Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities (APCA) Northeast Regional Conference held recently in Teaneck, NJ.
Held every fall and spring semester, the conference provides access for colleges to hire speakers and entertainers who showcase their talents throughout the event. This semester’s conference featured a diverse educational curriculum, a live showcase line-up, novelty vendors, well-known speakers, student government training, networking opportunities and community service initiatives.
The college’s Campus Activities Board (CAB) received the following awards during the conference:
Marketing Awards: second place for the On-site Poster Competition; first place for Best T-shirt; first place for Best Novelty for CAB pens and stress cars.
Event Awards: Program/Event of the Year for the Spring Jam concert; Service Event of the Year for Relay for Life, coordinated by Morrisville State College residence director (RD) Alex Perry, from Middletown, Conn, and Marc Cianciola, assistant director of student activities, from Canastota.
Attending the conference were:
Rita Goyette, director of student activities, from Erieville.
Marc Cianciola, assistant director of student activities, from Canastota
Students who attended were:
Ariell Mack, a culinary arts management major from Amityville
Imani Saunders, a liberal arts and sciences-mathematics major from West Palm Beach, Fla.
Nianasha Jackson, a criminal justice student from Charleston, SC
Travis Basora, an individual studies major from Brooklyn
Kenya Richardson, CAB chairperson, an applied psychology major from Bedford
Miranda McFeeley, a criminal justice student from San Jose, Calif.
CAB, which provides programming for the entire campus, brings quality educational and entertainment programs to Morrisville State College’s highly diverse population, averaging more than 200 events per year.
Events and programs include comedy, movies, mall trips, music, dances and lectures to students, along with special events like Mustang Weekend and Spring Jam.
Morrisville State partners with Zipcar to offer car sharing on campus
A new transportation option is bringing relief to Morrisville State College faculty, staff and students—and their wallets.
Morrisville State College launched a new partnership with Zipcar, the world’s leading car sharing network, to offer a Zipcar car sharing program on campus.
Zipcar car sharing is an alternative to owning a car that gives members 24/7 access to vehicles parked in convenient locations. This transportation option is now available at an affordable rate for students, faculty, and staff ages 18 and older, and members of the local community ages 21 and over.
Morrisville will initially offer two vehicles, a Ford Focus and a Ford Escape. The Zipcars have designated parking spots located in a campus lot near the John W. Stewart Student Activities Building (STUAC) for convenient pick-up and return.
Low hourly and daily rates include gas, insurance, and 180 miles of driving per day.
This year, Morrisville members can join for $15, with rates for Zipcar vehicles on campus starting as low as $7.50 per hour and $69 per day. After the first year, members will pay an annual membership fee of $25.
“We are pleased to welcome Zipcar to Morrisville,” said Jennifer Bowden, director of business affairs with the Morrisville Auxiliary Corporation (MAC), which is running the program at MSC. “Zipcar provides the freedom and flexibility for those on and off campus to go to wherever they need to go.”
Whether it is to get groceries, run errands or just to take a drive, Zipcar gives students a cost effective and convenient way to travel,” she added. “It is also a great opportunity for Morrisville State College to continue to make strides in the sustainability area by using this car-sharing model.”
And it’s easy to use too.
Members can reserve cars online or with a smartphone for as little as one hour or multiple days. Morrisville students, faculty and staff can join Zipcar at www.zipcar.com/morrisville.
Participating members with smartphones, including iPhones and Android devices, may download the Zipcar mobile application to make reservations, lock and unlock the vehicles and honk the horn to help locate the vehicle. Reservations can also be made over the phone or on Zipcar’s website, www.zipcar.com/morrisville.
“The Zipcar program on campus gives students, faculty and staff the freedom of using a car without the hassles of owning one,” said Katelyn Bushey, director of university sales at Zipcar. “We’re happy to partner with Morrisville to provide their community with a transportation option to fit their needs and their wallets.”
Through the new Zipcar program, MSC student organizations also have the opportunity to participate in the “Students with Drive” grant program sponsored by Zipcar and Ford Motor Company. The program provides students with Zipcar membership and driving credit to support student organizations on campus.
Through the “Students with Drive” grant program, Ford and Zipcar will provide $200,000 in grants to be awarded to student organizations at eligible Zipcar colleges and universities. The program is running now through April 2016 and will culminate with a grand prize worth $25,000 in scholarships, cash, and Zipcar driving. For more information and to participate in the program, students can visit www.zipcar.com/studentswithdrive.
Zipcar has established relationships with more than 400 universities across North America. For more information and to become a member of Zipcar at Morrisville, visit www.zipcar.com/morrisville.
Additional information and promotions can also be found by following @ZipcarU on Twitter.