SUNY Chancellor Among Featured Speakers at Academic Convocation

Academic Convocation Celebrates SUNY Rockland's 50th Anniversary

SUNY Chancellor, Member of First Graduating Class, and Poet Laureate Speak

Suffern, NY - The featured speakers at SUNY Rockland's Academic Convocation on September 25 celebrated the College's 50th Anniversary and included the State University of New York Chancellor, Rockland's first Poet Laureate, and a member of Rockland Community College's first graduating class.

An original poem, "The Gift of Hallowed Ground," was read by Rockland's first Poet Laureate, Professor Dan Masterson; and retired English Professor, Joan Silberman of the Class of 1961, recounted her experiences at the age of 36 as one of RCC's first  students in 1959. She remembered one fellow student in a wheelchair who was dropped off at the bottom of the stairs by her mother and then carried up to her classroom by two male students. Silberman went on her earn her bachelor's degree from St. Thomas Aquinas and master's degree from New York University. She returned to RCC and taught English for 32 years. Silberman lives in Chestnut Ridge.

Dr. Nancy L. Zimpher, the 12th SUNY Chancellor and first woman named to the position in SUNY's 60-year history, recounted her journey visiting the 64 SUNY campuses within her first 100 days of taking office on June 1, 2009. RCC happened to be the 50th SUNY campus she visited along her more than 7,000 mile journey, the majority of it by car.

The 50th Anniversary Academic Convocation journals, which include historical facts and photos, are available for free at RCC's Campus Communications, Brucker Hall, Room 6302, on the main campus in Suffern.

For more information about the Convocation and other 50th Anniversary events, visit: http://www.sunyrockland.edu/go/50

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Rockland Community College, a unit of the State University of New York, is located 25 miles northwest of NYC. The majority of its students transfer to four-year colleges, and many find immediate employment upon earning their associate's degree or certificate. The College also offers others, from preschoolers to senior citizens, the opportunity to simply learn something new. Quality education...at a price you can afford.