This past April, Mohawk Valley Community College students and Human Technologies showed off a project at the third annual New York State Industries for the Disabled, Inc. (NYSID) CREATE Symposium, a showcase of technological invention prototypes designed to increase productivity and improve the livelihoods of New Yorkers with disabilities.

The team developed a wire separation tool, which will allow workers to accurately and efficiently separate wires for a wire splitting contract.

CREATE (Cultivating Resources for Employment with Assistive Technology) is an initiative sponsored by NYSID that gives university engineering students the opportunity to work closely with rehabilitation agencies to make a difference across New York State. Their inventions have the potential to create greater work opportunities for New Yorkers with disabilities while providing applied engineering experience to students.

SUNY Distinguished Professor Norayne Rosero was accepted into the SUNY Distinguished Academy at the annual induction ceremony in Albany. One of only two community college faculty inducted this year, Professor Rosero was recognized for her remarkable teaching career and significant contributions to MVCC and the SUNY system through leadership in assessment, accreditation, and mathematics.  She is pictured here with SUNY Chancellor, Dr. Nancy Zimpher and MVCC President, Dr. Randall VanWagoner.

Leadership Mohawk Valley (LMV) and Mohawk Valley Community College announced that the two organizations have partnered to create more community leadership impact opportunities.

The announcement was made in the Information Technology Building lobby on MVCC’s Utica Campus by LMV Executive Director Ann Rushlo, LMV Board of Directors President John Matthews, and MVCC President Randall VanWagoner. As part of the partnership, LMV offices will move to the College’s Utica Campus within the Center for Corporate and Community Education.

“Leadership skills are not limited to the board room — we need engaged leaders in every seat in the classroom, in our urban neighborhoods, and in our elected positions of power locally, regionally, and beyond,” Matthews said. “Earlier this year, we were approached by Randy VanWagoner, who proposed the idea of LMV joining forces with MVCC, which already had several excellent leadership programs in place. ... We see these programs being in perfect harmony with LMV’s existing strategic mission, which ultimately made it a smart decision for us to connect our core strengths to see what our collective approach to leadership in the Mohawk Valley can produce.”

“We’ve all experienced the difference leadership can make at an organization, a community, or even a family, and that’s why this partnership, this strategic alliance, is so significant,” VanWagoner said. “But today is not just about partnership — it’s also about networks. Bringing together the vast alumni network of Leadership Mohawk Valley with the capacity and connections of MVCC creates tremendous potential for expanding programming and impact in the community in regard to the leadership development of this region.”

LMV is a 10-month leadership program that develops a knowledgeable group of people, preparing them to be leaders in the community and shape its future. It provides experience in group dynamics, team leadership, presentation skills, and professional and personal growth. The program was created in 1990 as a joint effort of the Herkimer, Utica (now Mohawk Valley), and Rome Chambers of Commerce and area business leaders, in response to a need for greater community leadership, civic responsibility, and community trusteeship. To date, the program has graduated almost 1,000 community leaders.

As a diverse institution with a global view, Mohawk Valley Community College provides opportunities for affordable education, with support from Oneida County and the State of New York, and offers career, transfer and transitional education, programs for personal and cultural enrichment, and supports community and economic development.

As part of Mohawk Valley Community College’s Rome Campus renovation, the Academic Building, an old Rome hospital, was demolished this spring through the Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Authority’s Regional Demolition Program. From this demolition, 2,000 tons of waste, 83 percent, were able to be recycled.

Prior to demolition, the MVCC Rome Campus Facilities team emptied the building through the Oneida County eBay account, and items that weren’t sold were donated to local organizations, including schools. A very small amount of non-recyclable material was thrown away.

The team working on the demolition also was able to work quickly and efficiently to minimize tipping fees and substantially reduce overall expenditures, according to Dennis Davis, commissioner of Oneida County Public Works. Most of the tipping fees — for items that had to be thrown away, including sheet rock and plaster walls — were paid for by scrapping and recycling building steel and other metals.