News

Syracuse University continues its celebration of Black History Month with a visit by a former local resident who is a star on the smooth jazz circuit.

Jackiem Joyner—a chart-topping saxophonist, producer and composer, as well as an emerging writer—is headlining a program called “Disadvantage and Discipline” on Monday, Feb. 20, from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Peter Graham Scholarly Commons, Room 114, in E.S. Bird Library. The event is free and open to the public and is co-presented by the Syracuse University Humanities Center and CNY Jazz. Read the entire article at SU News.

Drawing from its legacy of quality alumni programming, the Office of Program Development promises an outstanding weekend for CBT 2017, Sept. 14-17. There will be mentoring and networking workshops, cultural events and performances, as well as plenty of opportunity to unwind, reminisce and socialize.

Those efforts will be assisted by the talents of co-chairs Gwynne Wilcox ’74 and Jesse Mejia ’97.

Wilcox, a partner in the New York law firm Levy Ratner, has been involved with CBT since its inception, having helped plan the first reunion in 1983 with the late Wayne Brown ’78, Walter Braswell ’71 and Alfreda Mayer ’78, under the direction of Robert Hill. Read the full story at SU News.

The Community Folk Art Center (CFAC), a unit of Syracuse University’s Department of African American Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, is celebrating Black History Month with an array of cultural programming open to the Syracuse University and greater Syracuse communities.

The celebration kicked off with an R&B concert on Jan. 26 and accelerated on Feb. 3, with a large crowd attending the opening reception for “I, too, am America: A Song of Race and Language,” an exhibition of the impact of various visual languages and media on cultural conversations. The exhibition features the works of artists Jamaal Barber, Ann “Sole Sister” Johnson, Kleaver Cruz/The Black Joy Project and Spencer Stultz, a senior in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. All of the artists participated in a panel held on Feb. 4. Read the full article at SU News.

For Kyra Azzato ’17, looking back on it, the vision really began on the day she arrived at Syracuse University to join the Army ROTC battalion. It was built upon the officers and teachers in charge of the program. She studied the way they supervised cadets, the concern and command they always showed during training in the field.

It led to an aspiration that seemed impossible. Azzato listened as many of her friends spoke of their plans once they left college, how they intended to “branch infantry,” the expression for going into combat arms.

While Azzato wanted the same thing, she could do little more than wish out loud. American women were barred from taking that step. In the 98-year history of Army ROTC on the Syracuse campus, no woman graduate had ever been allowed to go into combat training. Read the full story at SU News.

Planning for the Office of Program Development’s Coming Back Together (CBT) 2017 reunion, held every three years and due this September, is well underway. As anyone who has attended will tell you, the preparation involved is significant because it includes multiple offices, schools and colleges, and partners as activities take place at venues across the campus, not to mention the numerous volunteers who are vital to a successful multi-day program. Read more at SU News.

Syracuse University’s annual Black History Month celebration begins Wednesday, Feb. 1, with a kickoff event from 7-9 p.m. in the Schine Student Center Jabberwocky Café. The event will feature a soul food dinner provided through a collaboration between the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Schine Dining.

The month-long celebration includes performances, thought-provoking lectures and dialogues, art exhibitions, music and other events, with campuswide coordination led by the Office of Multicultural Affairs, in partnership with many student organizations and University partners. Read more at SU News.

The College of Law will celebrate its annual Diversity Week Feb. 6-10 with a variety of events and programs. The goal of Diversity Week is to raise awareness of differences, foster an environment of respect and engage the community in dialogue on culture, ideology and global perspectives that inform leadership and the practice of law. Diversity Week programming is sponsored by the Student Bar Association, Office of Student Life and Office of Career Services. Read more at SU News.

Syracuse University Abroad will host its annual Study Abroad Day on Thursday, Feb. 9, from noon-3 p.m. in the Schine Student Center, Room 304ABC. Study Abroad Day is a chance for students in every major and at every class level to explore over 100 study abroad options available to them through SU Abroad. Read the full article at SU News.