Medaille College News

The Medaille College Reading Clinic is accepting applications for its summer session. The clinic, staffed by graduate students pursuing master’s degrees in literacy, provides one-on-one assessment and instruction to K-6 students in the Buffalo area.

Parents of elementary students who may benefit from the Reading Clinic should submit an application to Michelle Cefaratti, reading clinic director, at 18 Agassiz Circle, Buffalo, NY 14214.

The Reading Clinic tutors students year-round, with the summer session beginning the first week of July and continuing for seven weeks. The Reading Clinic’s fall and spring sessions run for 12 weeks each.

Commencement speakers for the graduate and undergraduate ceremonies, to be held on Friday, May 16 at Kleinhans Music Hall, have been announced.

Byron W. Brown, Mayor of Buffalo, will speak to graduating students in the master’s degree programs for mental health counseling, psychology, education, business administration and organizational leadership at 1 p.m. As the 58th Mayor of the City of Buffalo, he came into office emphasizing greater accountability and efficiency in City Hall, improving the quality of life for all city residents and a commitment to strengthening and expanding the city’s economic development activities. A surge of economic development activity has also followed Mayor Brown’s election, including over $4.5 billion in planned, ongoing or completed development projects occurring throughout the City since 2006. More »

Peter Giambrone ‘78, a graduate of the media/communication program, will speak at the undergraduate ceremony, scheduled for 7 p.m. With a career in the field of new media, he has over thirty years of practice in the art and science of emerging and transformational media. As a successful entrepreneur and executive manager, he has committed himself in the most recent fifteen years of his career to business development focusing on advanced visualization for total immersion, augmented and virtual reality media. More »

Robby Takac ‘86 has been named to the Medaille College board of trustees. Takac, best known as the bassist for the Goo Goo Dolls, is an alumnus of Medaille College. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in communication from Medaille. In 2005 Medaille awarded Takac with the Alumni Community Service Award.

“Robby is a valuable addition to Medaille’s board of trustees and we’re delighted he has agreed to join,” said Bill Collins, chairman of the board. “He speaks very fondly of Medaille and has fantastic memories of his time as a student and credits the college with having laid the foundation for his success in life. His passion for the college and for education will be an asset to the board of trustees.”

Takac is one of the founding members of the Goo Goo Dolls. The rock band has been together for over 20 years, and is recognized as one of the best alternative rock bands in existence. They scored their first big hit in 1995 with Name and have followed that with a string of over a dozen hits, including Iris, Black Balloon and Better Days.

In addition to his work in the Goo Goo Dolls, Takac has dedicated a great deal of time and effort into enhancing the Western New York community through his Music is Art Foundation. Music is Art promotes musicians and artists in Western New York by encouraging involvement through schools and community events. The foundation has initiated several music-based programs including music and event programming for not-for-profit organizations, a High School Awareness Tour, an Instrument Drive and its signature event, the Music is Art Festival.

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Heidi Raphael ‘85 MC has been promoted to the position of Vice President of Corporate Communication at Greater Media, Inc., a communication company with radio broadcasting, newspaper and telecommunications interests.

She has worked for Greater Media since 1996, beginning as Marketing Director of WRIF-FM in Detroit, Michigan, and rising through the ranks as Director of Group Marketing and New Business Development Director in Detroit before becoming Director of Corporate Communication in 2005.

Raphael joined the Medaille College Board of Trustees in 2007. Radio Ink magazine recognized her as among the “Top 50 Most Influential Women in Radio” in 2006 and 2007. She serves as a spokesperson for the Mentoring and Inspiring Women Radio Group, and is a past chapter vice president and current member of American Women in Radio & Television (AWRT) and the Broadcast Education Association (BEA).

Medaille College delivered over 180 gallons of paint to Buffalo ReUse on Saturday, February 23 after a week-long paint drive on campus.

Tom Matheny, of the campus enhancement office, and his son, Jake, took the lead on collecting and delivering the paint to Buffalo ReUse. Matheny says, “Recycling is now a fact of life that cannot be ignored. Opportunities surround us every day to help in preserving an already tarnished world and I for one am in hopes the young people will pick up the cause and make some noise.” The supplies donated will go to initiatives like the city-wide Neighborhood Peace Mural Project. Volunteers delivered the paint and additional supplies to six local schools, where they will be used by student groups in the renovation of 18 houses. Buffalo ReUse has more information and pictures about these projects.

Lisa Black, academic specialist for TRIO Student Support Services, offers, “My GEN 110 class is one of 7 learning communities participating in a project that asks students to explore options for a ‘Civic and Sustainable Buffalo.’ My class has decided to explore the causes and effects of urban blight in Buffalo for their project.” Two students in the GEN 110 class, Desmond Kennard and Fadilu Mustapha, helped to load the paint with the Mathenys. Pictures from the day are available on Medaille’s Flickr site.

Medaille’s paint drive is part of the continuing effort of the campus to “go green.” Green, yellow and blue bins are stationed throughout campus buildings and residence halls for the collection of bottles, cans and paper. Each week, the total volume of recycled content is noted and entered into the Recyclemania program, a competition between colleges and universities.

The academic calendar for 2008-09 is available online. This calendar includes start and end dates for day and evening courses, holidays, final exam dates, and other information for faculty, staff and students.

The Fall 2008 Course Schedules are available through MedailleOne.

Online registration will be closed as of 12 a.m. on Saturday, April 12, 2008. Current students should check for and clear all holds before online registration starts. Any student that has a hold of any type on their account will not receive a time ticket which enables them to register online.

Summer & Fall 2008 Online Registration Dates for Returning Students

Monday 04/07/08: Juniors, Seniors, Graduate Students, & Honors Students

Tuesday 04/08/08: Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors, Graduate Students, & Honors Students

Wednesday 04/09/08: Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors, Graduate Students, & Honors Students

Thursday 04/10/08 thru Friday 04/11/08: All returning students

Medaille College has ranked 8th in the RecycleMania for recycling bottles and cans for the second week of this year’s competition (February 3-9).

In the partial campus category, Medaille has moved up three spots from the first week of competition with 1,529.28 lbs. of bottles and cans recycled. This works out to 1.12 lbs. of recycled material per person (students, faculty and staff) on campus.

Over 400 colleges and universities currently participate in the whole campus and partial campus divisions of RecycleMania 2008. Medaille is one of thirty colleges in New York and one of nine colleges in western New York participating in the competition. Weekly standings are updated each Friday.

Jacqueline Matheny has been named Executive Director of Marketing and Enrollment Management for the School of Adult and Graduate Education at Medaille College.

Matheny has worked at Medaille College since 1982, and brings a wealth of knowledge to her new role. She earned a Master of Science in Counselor Education and has additional graduate hours in Adult Education. She has experience in all areas of admissions and recruitment, including traditional, non-traditional and professional populations.

As Executive Director, Matheny will manage all aspects of recruitment and enrollment for the School of Adult and Graduate Education, including: undergraduate and graduate degrees in Business through the Accelerated Learning Program in Amherst and Rochester; Master of Arts degrees in Mental Health Counseling and Psychology in Amherst; and, Master of Science in Education degrees for American and Canadian students in Amherst.

Gregory Florczak has been named vice president for enrollment management and undergraduate admissions by Medaille College.

A graduate of Medaille, Florczak has worked at Medaille College since 1990. He progressed from his initial position as admissions counselor into roles as assistant director of admissions, associate director of admissions, and most recently as the director of undergraduate admissions.

With his experience working with support services, financial aid and recruitment, and his knowledge of marketing and the western New York region, Florczak has contributed to the ongoing success of Medaille’s undergraduate recruitment efforts. Under Florczak’s leadership since 2005, Medaille’s undergraduate first-time freshmen enrollment has increased by 48%, with a 40% increase in the transfer population.

A high-resolution image of Florczak is available.