Recent Headlines
SUNY Honors ESF Student Excellence
Two students from the College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) in Syracuse, New York, were honored with the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence.
Terrance "TC" Caviness of Syracuse, New York, and Erika Sykes of Fairport, New York, received the honor, which includes framed certificates and medallions that can be worn at commencement.
Chancellor's Award honorees excel both in academic achievement and in at least one of the following areas: leadership, athletics, community service, creative and performing arts or career achievement. This is the highest honor a student can receive from SUNY. The students will be honored at a reception hosted by SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher in April.
"It is my honor to celebrate the achievements of students who have surpassed SUNY's highest standards of academic excellence and leadership both on and off campus," said Zimpher. "Every student we recognize today has demonstrated a strong commitment to their degree program, home campus, greater community, and much more. Congratulations to all of the students receiving this year's award."
Caviness is a senior environmental biology major with minors in environmental writing and rhetoric, and Native Peoples and the Environment. He is an active member of the Undergraduate Student Association, including serving as director of student affairs and co-coordinator of special events. He interned at Omora Ethnobotanical Park in Chile and is a founding member of Unearthed, the ESF literary magazine. He taught a field environmental course to high school students at ESF's Cranberry Lake Biological Station. Caviness also served as orientation leader, the student representative to Academic Governance, layout editor of The Knothole, and a research assistant in Dr. Melissa Fierke's lab. He assisted in launching the Peer Mentoring Program and was a peer tutor at the Writing Resource Center. He is also a Fink Fellowship recipient and member of the Friends of Beaver Lake Nature Center Board of Trustees.
Sykes is a senior paper engineering major. She is the student representative to the ESF Board of Trustees, an active member of the Undergraduate Student Association, peer tutor coordinator and head orientation leader. She has served as a student peer mentor and peer tutor coordinator. Sykes has served on numerous campus committees and task forces including the Strengthening Our Community Engagement Task Force and the Paper and Bioprocess Engineering New Hire Search Committee. She is a class marshal and a member of the Paper and Bioprocess Engineering Club and the Alpha Xi Sigma National Honor Society.