College Council Announces New Officers

Hollinshead, a member of the College Council since 2004, replaces Roger Burke as vice chair. This is Graven's first appointment as secretary since the 2002 SUNY Plattsburgh alumnus started his seven-year appointment in 2006. He replaces Hollinshead in that position. While the chair is appointed by the governor, council members annually elect the vice chair and secretary who can serve in the same position two consecutive years Amell also announced the appointment of new liaisons. Martin Mannix Jr. '64 of Plattsburgh will serve as liaison with student affairs; Karen Edwards of Malone, with academic affairs; and Heidi H. Kelly of Minerva, with business affairs. Hollinshead will continue to serve as liaison for governmental affairs while Burke will remain with facilities/capital planning.

In addition, the council announced that junior biochemistry major Nishank Bhalla won the ACT for Excellence scholarship from the State University of New York. The purpose of this scholarship is to reward students for excellence in their academic performance and to encourage them to continue to excel in their academic pursuits. Bhalla, an international student from India, went into his junior year on the SUNY Plattsburgh campus with a 4.0. He has been recognized for his genetic research work, done under Dr. Nancy Elwess and Sandra Latourelle. In particular, Bhalla has been analyzing the DNA in the skeletons of the ancient Maya. As part of this work, he has written grants and presented at student research conferences, winning top honors for his poster presentations at the Sigma Xi international conference two years in a row. He is currently in the process of submitting an article on this research for publication.

The College Council also approved a resolution recognizing Angel Acosta of New York as the student representative to the council. Acosta, the Student Association President, will graduate Dec. 13. The anthropology major with a minor in French has been a voice for diversity on and off campus. He has also studied abroad on three continents and spent a summer at film school, as well as serving in the SA and as a student ambassador and a resident assistant.

In addition, the council presented a resolution to SUNY Distinguished Service Professor Taher Zandi for his work with the Alzheimer's Disease Assistance Center now in it's 20th year.