POTSDAM: SUNY Potsdam recently honored faculty and staff members with Chancellor's and President's awards, in recognition of their dedication and service to the campus.

This year, two employees received Chancellor's Awards, while another nine were honored with President's Awards. The Chancellor's Awards for Excellence are SUNY-level honors, conferred to acknowledge and provide system-wide recognition for superior professional achievement and to encourage the ongoing pursuit of excellence.

The President's Awards are open to faculty and staff at SUNY Potsdam, including PACES Dining Services, the Child Care Center and campus Research Foundation employees.

This year's Chancellor's Award recipients were as follows: Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Faculty Service, Professor Dr. Heather Sullivan-Catlin and Professor Dr. James Donohue.

Sullivan-Cailin has been chair of the Department of Environmental Studies since its creation and she has worked hard as chair of the Sustainability Committee on campus to effect change, from the creation of the Associated Colleges Sustainability Day, to working on a proposal to create a sustainability minor in her department.

Donahue has an excellent and sustained record of publications in peer-reviewed journals and monographs, and of presentations at national and international conferences, as attested by his colleagues from a number of institutions and his colleagues from SUNY Potsdam. His scholarship has made a meaningful impact in the field of American literature and culture. Donahue is the author of "Contemporary Native Fiction: Toward a Narrative Poetics of Survivance," and "Failed Frontiersman: White Men and Myth in the Post-Sixties American Historical Romance."

Donahue's scholarly include the design and launch of new minor in disability studies, work as coordinator of the Native American studies minor, and membership in the core faculty of the newly created Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at SUNY Potsdam.

This year's President's Award recipients included: Dr. Jessica Heffner, instructor for the Department of English and Communication, and the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies; Nikki Chontosh, Performing Arts Café manager; Sarah Carr, administrative assistant; Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice; Dr. Jessica Rogers, assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Studies and Department of Interdisciplinary Studies; Dr. Gena Nelson, director, College Counseling Center; Sott Mitchell, maintenance supervisor; Kelly Crosbie, scholarship coordinator; Dr. Michael Rygel, professor and chair, Department of Geology; and Dr. Cornelia Yuen, associate professor, Department of Mathematics.