SUNY Chancellor Honors Two DCC Students

Release Date May 4, 2007

Poughkeepsie, N.Y. – Two Dutchess Community College students have received the 2007 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence. Jennifer L. Goldman of Poughkeepsie and Kimberly Ann Garrison of Pleasant Valley were among 283 college students from SUNY campuses throughout the state honored by SUNY Chancellor John Ryan on April 18. The awards are presented annually to students who earn a grade point average (GPA) of 3.78 or higher and have been recognized for the integration of academic excellence with accomplishments in the areas of leadership, athletics, community service, creative and performing arts or career achievement.

“Recipients of this year’s awards have excelled academically and, in many cases, far exceeded even their own expectations in their pursuit of higher education and community service,” said Chancellor Ryan. “The Chancellor’s Award for Excellence is given to the best and the brightest students across the SUNY System. I commend the campus presidents and their faculty and staff for discovering and enhancing student excellence throughout the year.”

Goldman is graduating from DCC’s Business Administration/Transfer program. She grew up in Minnesota, graduating from Duluth East High School in 1994. Goldman had previously worked as a head bookkeeper for a commercial bank in Minnesota. When she moved to Dutchess County to join her fiancé, she found her experience working in the same field here unsatisfactory. She decided to get her degree, and initially attended DCC part-time. She became a full-time student after achieving New York State resident status.

A President’s List student, Goldman has been active on campus in DCC’s Student Government Association, Alpha Beta Gamma (a business honor society), Phi Theta Kappa (an academic honor society), the Business Club, and as a peer tutor for accounting and economics. She is the recipient of a Dutchess United Educators (DUE) Award for Academic Excellence and the George N. Freedman

Memorial Scholarship. She plans to transfer to Marist College to study accounting.

Sandra Miller Holst, DCC dean of student services and enrollment management, had the opportunity to observe Goldman as a student aide in her office. “Jennifer is tenacious, conscientious, inquisitive, and responsive,” said Holst. “As a non-traditional student, Jennifer has had to learn to balance personal, family, educational, and employment responsibilities and has managed to do this quite well while maintaining a 4.0 GPA.  What is most impressive about Jennifer is the maturity she exhibits when establishing priorities and making decisions. Jennifer is a ‘thought leader’ among the students and her peers who consistently makes not only the right, but the best decision. Jennifer’s contributions to the culture of excellence and the legacy of success at the DCC campus is to put it simply – unparalleled.”

Garrison is graduating from DCC’s Liberal Arts Mathematics program and will transfer to Niagara University. A President’s List and Dean’s List student with a GPA of 3.8., Garrison is a member of Phi Theta Kappa, received the McCann Foundation scholarship in the field of Mathematics, as well as a DUE Award. An Arlington High School graduate, Garrison has been as active in her college community as she was in her high school. She served as vice president of BIOS, DCC’s biology environmental club, working on projects such as America Recycles Day, AIDS awareness events, DCC’s Earth Day celebration, a fundraiser for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome research, and a turtle research project on diamondback terrapins at Wellfleet Bay Wildlife on the club’s annual trip to Cape Cod.

Garrison has also been a member of DCC’s Student Government Association, participating in SGA food drives and a project to build bookshelves for Hudson Garden Apartments community and after school center. This semester, she worked with the SGA as prosecutor for the DCC traffic court, which hears cases on student parking violations. She is also a member of the Outdoor Adventure Club.

“Kimberly is an excellent student with responsibility, intelligence and dedication,” said Wendy Bohlinger, DCC’s CSTEP coordinator and BIOS advisor. “She works hard for any of the causes we take on. She’s the first one to volunteer when there is work to be done, always follows through, is generous of her time and compassion and is an incredibly fun person as well.”

Garrison worked closely with Math Professor Wesley Ostertag when she transferred from the Liberal Arts Humanities/Honors program to the Liberal Arts/Mathematics program. “What separates her from many other students in mathematics is the great care she takes in writing about her work,” said Ostertag. “It matters that she communicates her thoughts with real precision.”

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