More than 240 SUNY Oneonta students and faculty were honored for academic excellence at the annual Susan Sutton Smith Lecture and Award Reception on April 8.
The Susan Sutton Smith awards are given each spring to first-year students, sophomores and juniors who have earned a grade-point average of 3.9 or higher on a 4.0 scale. The 2024-2025 awards event recognized 241 SUNY Oneonta students for their achievement in academic excellence.
The on-campus event featured the annual Susan Sutton Smith Lecture, delivered this year by Professor of English Dr. Mark Ferrara. Dr. Ferrara received the faculty Susan Sutton Smith Award, and his lecture was titled “From Local to Global: How Place-based Studies Engage International Movements that Lead to Sustainable and Just Futures.”
Dr. Ferrara earned his Ph.D. in English at the University of Denver. He is author of seven books, including “Palace of Ashes” (Johns Hopkins UP, 2015), “Sacred Bliss” (Rowman and Littlefield, 2016), “American Community” (Rutgers UP, 2020) and “The Raging Erie” (Columbia UP, 2024). His recent work of creative nonfiction, “Living the Food Allergic Life” (Top Light Books, 2023), chronicles the everyday challenges of living with life-threatening allergies to food. Dr. Ferrara has also published fourteen peer-reviewed articles on literary and cultural studies and was appointed Visiting Scholar in the Department of English at University of California, Berkeley during the spring 2015 semester.
In addition, Ferrara has taught for universities in South Korea, China and on a Fulbright scholarship in Turkey. His courses are internationally focused, interdisciplinary and aim to raise critical insight of other cultures through their literatures.
Five additional faculty and staff members were recognized at the event. Adjunct Lecturer of Archeology & Faculty-Led Programs Coordinator Dr. Elizabeth Cruzado Carranza received the university’s annual Simphiwe Hlatshwayo Award for Outstanding Part-Time Instructor. Professor of Mathematics Dr. Toke Knudsen received the Innovative Pedagogy Award. Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education Dr. Elyssa Stoddard and Assistant Professor of Elementary Education and Reading Dr. Kirsten Robbins received the Esther Hubbard Whitaker Award. Business Analyst Maureen Cashman received the Academic Affairs Staff Award.
This lecture and the awards for academic excellence are made possible by the generous gifts of SUNY Oneonta alumni to the Fund for Oneonta. The Susan Sutton Smith Faculty Prize for Academic Excellence is made possible by an endowment created through the generosity of Dr. Thomas and Mrs. Mary Smith in memory of their daughter, Susan, in honor of her commitment to academic excellence.