The Heart and Soul of New Machines
Nate Yohannes ’07 works to build ethics into pioneering technology. By Kris Dreessen Nate Yohannes ’07 is in the room and at the table where tomorrow’s technology is happening — ensuring that it will empower everyone, and not become an instrument the powerful use to exploit others or leave them behind. How he got there is a classic American immigrant tale that Alexander Hamilton might relish. Yohannes’s father was an Eritrean...
Video: Ambassador Nawang Sherpa ’20
Nawang Sherpa ’20 struggled during his first year at Geneseo. It inspired him to explore his roots as a Sherpa-American and help other first-generation, Sherpa-Americans be introduced to and prepare for college. As the 2019 John A. ’87 and Mary Grace ’84 Gleason Ambassador in Student Affairs, Sherpa designed a three-part, immersive project in Nepal, Queens, N.Y., and...
Discoveries in the Deep
Marine biologist Mackenzie Gerringer studies the depths of the world’s oceans from the rolling hills of Geneseo. By Robyn Rime Down in the ocean’s trenches — far beyond the reach of sunlight — the deep sea is unimaginably dark, a world of frigid temperatures and immense pressures. Marine organisms manage to flourish in these harsh environments, and assistant professor of biology Mackenzie Gerringer studies how. “I fell in love...
First Words: First-Generation Success
Nawang Sherpa ’20 discovered his Sherpa identity in Nepal and created a program to introduce first-generation Sherpa-Americans to college at Geneseo through his ambassadorship. /Photo by Keith Walters ’11 Nawang Sherpa ’20 struggled to excel in his first year at Geneseo. It inspired him to explore his roots and prepare other Sherpa-Americans for the college experience. By Kris Dreessen Nawang Sherpa’s parents immigrated to...
Making Health Care More Equitable
Geneseo’s pioneering sociomedical sciences major aims to improve treatment for all. By Lonny Lippsett In 2019, Geneseo became the first and only institution in the SUNY system to offer a new undergraduate major — sociomedical sciences. The interdisciplinary field examines what is happening in people’s bodies but also in their communities and lives in an effort to make access to good health more equitable. When it comes to...
Apart but Together
Members of the Geneseo family have built community and supported others in creative ways during the pandemic. By Kris Dreessen When the novel coronavirus became a worldwide crisis, Noah Chichester ’18 was working in A Coruña, Spain, helping adult learners improve their English. Confined to a high-rise apartment for months, he left only to buy groceries or take out the trash. He embraced and built community despite the circumstances....
Seeds and Harvest
While Geneseo’s mission is to foster student growth, faculty and staff learn and gain inspiration from students as well. By Kris Dreessen In higher education, we most often hear about how students learn from professors and staff. But just as often, those faculty and staff members say they learn from and are inspired by students. They are mentors, but their support of students comes back to them in many, sometimes revelatory, ways....
Breaking Higher Ed’s Gender Barriers
How Geneseo and two professors are shaping the future of women and underrepresented groups in academia, especially in STEM fields. By Lonny Lippsett Though women in academia have made strides in recent decades, they remain stubbornly underrepresented in higher professorial ranks, especially in STEM fields. Two initiatives at Geneseo have been launched to help surmount entrenched barriers for women faculty. Wendy Pogozelski,...
Video: A Voice for LGBTQ History
Michael Venturiello ’13, founder of Christopher Street Tours in New York City, speaks about his path at Geneseo and his path to start his own walking tour that highlights LGBTQ history:
Toothsayer
Tanya Smith ’97 shows how simple teeth can reveal complex stories about how humans evolved. By Lonny Lippsett When Tanya Smith ’97 peered into the time capsules, two small children who lived 250,000 years ago came back to life. They were Neanderthals, an ancient species of now-extinct evolutionary cousins of humans, who had dwelled in what is now southeastern France. One child, Smith could make out, was born in springtime and was...
Scene Around the World
Where will you take your issue of the Geneseo Scene? Check out our Scene Around the World photo gallery and submit your own snapshot.