E-mail this pagePlattsburgh State Home to Superstars
By Stephen Bartlett
Press Republican Staff Writer
One Plattsburgh State professor could unlock Earth's origins with comet dust.
A second created a film that's showing nationwide.
A third may be the country's foremost translator of Portuguese poetry into English.
Yet many people are unaware of the notable faculty members working within Plattsburgh State's walls.
"We believe scholarship enhances teaching, and we have a lot of faculty that really embody that," Plattsburgh State Provost Dr. Robert Golden said.
Noted Anthropologist
Take Dr. Richard Robbins for example.
His textbook "Cultural Anthropology: A Problem Based Approach," an introductory course in its fifth edition, is one of five standards in the field. It is widely used in Canada and has made its way to European classrooms.
"I didn't like the introductory texts," Robbins said. "They were mostly modeled after encyclopedias and were not too exciting to read, and this is designed to be more readable and is organized by problems rather than topics."
Learn more about Anthropology Program at SUNY Plattsburgh
His second book, "Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism," in its fourth edition, is used worldwide and is probably the standard textbook in global issues. The American Library Association listed it as one of the 100 top books when it was published.
Robbins has conducted research among the indigenous peoples of Canada and fishing communities in northeastern New Brunswick.
Named Teacher of the Year in 2005 by the American Anthropological Association, he's currently editing a series of anthropology books for a top publisher of academic presses.
A book he wrote with colleague Dr. Gary Kroll, "Globalization and the Environment" is scheduled to be released in the spring, and "Darwin and the Bible," written with Dr. Mark Cohen, comes out in January.
Field Research
Cohen, another anthropologist and Plattsburgh State professor, has lectured at universities around the world.
The Harvard and Columbia University graduate conducted anthropological field work in Georgia, Wyoming, Chile, Peru, Greece, Kenya and Tanzania, Belize.
He received a Fulbright Fellowship to Hebrew University in Jerusalem and is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship to Cambridge.
Cohen's book "Culture of Intolerance" was published in 1998. Other works by him include "Health and the Rise of Civilization," "Paleopathology and the Origins of Agriculture" and "The Food Crisis in Prehistory."
Learn more about Biological Sciences Program SUNY Plattsburgh
Plattsburgh State houses the world's largest collection of Mayan skeletons, which Cohen excavated in the 1980s.
Cohen most recently assisted Dr. Nancy Elwess by providing access to the Mayan remains and supplying questions that she and her students could answer through genetic research that would contribute to the scant studies in that area.
Elwess, a recipient of the National Teacher of the Year Award in biology, is providing her students with unique experiences as they use a DNA sequencer to determine migration routes and physical health of the Mayans.
The undergraduates recently garnered national and international awards for the work.
Star Research
Dr. George Flynn is involving his students in studies that could unlock the secrets of our solar system. The professor is leading an international team conducting the chemical analysis of comet particles that are more than 4 billion years old and were collected by the NASA spacecraft Stardust.
Learn more about Physics Program SUNY Plattsburgh
Flynn is a world-class expert in the study of the chemistry of meteorite and cosmic-dust samples. As an undergraduate student, he performed a chemical analysis of the first samples from the moon.
He's also involved in a NASA project researching ways to deflect or destroy asteroids heading toward Earth.
His experiments were featured in a two-hour CBC program and a one-hour National Geographic program in 2004, "Armageddon-Astroid Impact."
Translator
Another Plattsburgh State notable is Dr. Alexis Levitin, an award-winning translator.
Learn more about English Program SUNY Plattsburgh
"He is probably the major translator of Portuguese language poetry into English in the United States," Golden said. "He has a very significant body of work and a significant reputation."
The Columbia graduate has 22 books of translation under his belt, as well as translations in 200 magazines and more than 30 anthologies.
Financial Expert
Dr. Greg Gregoriou of Plattsburgh State has been published extensively, too, for his work on hedge funds and was interviewed by the New York Times.
Learn more about Business Program SUNY Plattsburgh
The professor of finance is highly regarded internationally for studies on new, experimental forms of investment and is a leading expert in the field of alternative investments..
He co-edits a scientific journal and has published 28 books, including "Evaluating Hedge Fund and CTA Performance."
National Reach
Dr. Gary Brannigan of Plattsburgh State's Psychology Department has written 19 books on intelligence and testing.
Then there's Dr. Vincent Carey, who is among the top people in the field of medieval European history and once created a museum exhibit that was attended by President Bill Clinton and poet Maya Angelou.
Learn more about History Program SUNY Plattsburgh
Another faculty member called upon to speak nationally is J.W. Wiley, who teaches philosophy and directs the Center for Diversity, Pluralism and Inclusion.
Wiley helped write the film "Dissed Respect: The Impact of Bullying," which features students and educators discussing bullying, the reasons behind it and its impact.
The movie, created with the help of Mountain Lake PBS, is being shown nationwide in major media markets.
Currently working on his doctorate at the University of Vermont, Wiley has partnerships with several public and private organizations around the country as a consultant and public speaker on diversity issues.
But his work locally impressed his boss the most.
"The local outreach he does is far more extensive than anything I've ever seen on a college campus," Golden said. "I don't know of any parallels to that, particularly in rural areas."
Wiley coordinates a yearly film series and discussion that is open to the public, writes a blog for the Press-Republican and has written chapters for books.
He conducts diversity-enlightenment sessions at several K-12 schools in the North Country and Vermont, most recently working to create centers for diversity on high-school campuses, starting with Beekmantown and Peru Central schools.
Wiley would like to see his work ignite an intellectual revolution in the areas of diversity and social justice.
"That is what it is all about and what is so powerful about it."
Contact Information
For more information about stand-out faculty at SUNY Plattsburgh, please contact:
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Richard Higgins, Director of Admissions |