Campus Life

April 1, 2025 – Stone Ridge, NY – SUNY Ulster invites members of the community to Adventures in Ecological Horticulture, a lecture by Rebecca McMackin on April 8 at 2 pm in the College Lounge on the Stone Ridge Campus.

Perfect for gardeners, photographers, architects, and landscape admirers, among others, the Elizabeth Gross Lecture series at SUNY Ulster is sponsored by the Ulster Garden Club and made possible by the Ulster Community College Foundation. The event is free and open to the public.

For ecological horticulturist Rebecca McMackin, biodiversity is central to landscape management. In her 10 years as Director of Horticulture at Brooklyn Bridge Park, Rebecca oversaw 85 acres of diverse, organic landscapes, all managed to support birds, butterflies, and soil microorganisms.

 Learn how to use ecological insight and experimentation to develop new management strategies – and why careful observation and documentation of the insects, birds, and other wildlife in your gardens is crucial to their success.

The Elizabeth Gross Horticultural Series at SUNY Ulster is made possible through a bequest received by the Ulster Garden Club from long-time club member and Kingston resident, Mrs. Elizabeth Gross. The Ulster Garden Club made a charitable gift to the Ulster Community College Foundation, Inc. to establish the lecture series in her honor.

 The series presents expert lecturers in the fields of horticulture, floriculture, landscape design, forestry, city planning, land management, botany, conservation and environmental studies.

The Ulster Community College Foundation, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization providing enhanced educational and cultural opportunities at SUNY Ulster. Fundraising initiatives support scholarships, arts and culture, technology, and innovation in academic programs.

For further information, please contact Pat Clarke at (917) 817-3246 or Anne Shultz at (845) 419-9870.

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SUNY Ulster Community/College Band & Stissing Mountain High School Presents their first Exchange Concert in April

March 27, 2025 – Stone Ridge, NY – The SUNY Ulster Music Department’s College/Community Band with the Stissing Mountain High School Band will perform an exchange concert on Thursday, April 10 at 7 p.m. at Stissing Mountain Junior/Senior High School, 2829 Church St., Pine Plains, NY.

Exchange concerts are an opportunity for two musical ensembles to perform for both each other and their respective audiences. It’s a chance for them to make music for and with each other and a fantastic opportunity for all parties involved to share their love of music and keep it alive and thriving which is the end goal.

The April 10 concert will have approximately 100 musicians and feature the SUNY Ulster College/Community Band co-directed by Victor Izzo and Carla Newsome. The Stissing Mountain High School Band will be directed by Erin Marlow.

The SUNY Ulster College/Community Band will perform “Strange Humors” by John Mackey and feature Paul Chambers on djembe and “Vesuvius by Frank Ticheli.” The Stissing Mountain High School Band will perform Selections from “The Greatest Showman”, including “The Greatest Show, A Million Dreams, Never Enough, This is Me and From Now On”, musical arranger Paul Murtha. The combined bands will perform “First Suite in E-Flat” by Gustav Holst and “Rippling Watercolors by Brian Balmages”.

For more information, contact Janet Gehres at gehresj@sunyulster.edu.

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SUNY Ulster Celebrates National Public Health Awareness Month with New York Blood Center Blood Drive in April

March 25, 2025 – Stone Ridge, NY – SUNY Ulster’s Student Government Organization is donating blood with the New York Blood Center to celebrate National Public Health Awareness Month. The blood drive will be held on Thursday, April 3 from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. in the Student Life Dining Hall in Vanderlyn Hall on the Stone Ridge Campus.

Schedule an appointment to guarantee your time, however walk-ins are welcome. In preparation for donating, please bring a photo student ID or government-issued ID, eat well and hydrate before your appointment, and be symptom free of any sickness.

 Donating blood provides numerous benefits for both the donor and the recipient. We all know donating blood saves lives and donations are essential for medical procedures, surgeries, and emergencies. Recipients are provided life-sustaining treatment and blood transfusions can help patients with blood disorders, injuries, and chronic diseases.

Donating blood is a great way to get involved in the SUNY Ulster community and make a positive impact. This is a feel-good-factor that can provide a sense of purpose knowing you are helping others. Help the Student Government Organization make an impact. All students who donate will receive 1-hour of community service from the Office of Student Affairs.

For more information, contact Samm Chambers at chambers@sunyulster.edu or 845-687-1560. This event is free and open to the public.

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February 25, 2025 – Stone Ridge, NY – On Wednesday, March 5, at 7:30 p.m. the music ensembles of SUNY Ulster will perform a concert to honor the memory of Lee Herrington. Herrington was a dedicated musician and mentor, the former band director at SUNY Ulster, a longtime Rondout Valley music teacher, and the former director of the Kingston local American Federation of Musicians Concert Band. The event will be held in the Quimby Theater, Vanderlyn Hall on the Stone Ridge campus.

This annual memorial concert will have multiple performances with groups that include current SUNY Ulster students, area High School students, faculty, staff, and community members. Musical groups include the College Chorus, directed by Janet Gehres with accompanist Edward Leavitt; the College/Community Band, co-directed by Victor Izzo and Carla Newsome; and the African Music Ensemble, directed by Paul Chambers.

The College Chorus will perform The Navy Hymn for Choir & Brass Quintet, Music from the Renaissance, and Folk Songs. The College/Community Band will feature musical selections by John Philip Sousa, Al Sweet, Gavin Lendt, and Katahj Copely. The African Music Ensemble will feature music from Nigeria and Guinea.

This event is free and open to the public, donations are gratefully accepted. For more information, contact Janet Gehres at gehresj@sunyulster.edu. A snow date is scheduled for Thursday, March 6, 2025.

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October 28, 2024 – Stone Ridge, NY – SUNY Ulster presents author Akil Kumarasamy as the Fall 2024 Herbert H. & Sofia P. Reuner Writer Series author on Tuesday, November 12 at 10:15 am in the College Lounge, Vanderlyn Hall on the Stone Ridge campus. The author will read from her works and participate in a Questions & Answer session moderated by Elia Stuhr, Assistant Professor of English at SUNY Ulster.

Akil Kumarasamy is the author of the collection Half Gods, and most recently, the author of the debut novel Meet Us By The Roaring Sea, which was shortlisted for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize and Lambda Literary Award, and selected a s New York times Editors’ Choice.

 Her work has appeared in Harper’s Magazine, The Atlantic, American Short Fiction, BOMB, among others. She has received fellowships from the University of East Anglia, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Yaddo, Callie’s Berlin, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. She is an assistant professor in the Rutgers University-Newark MFA program and a 2024-25 fellow at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute.

 The SUNY Ulster Herbert H. & Sofia P. Reuner Library Writers Series is a special program sponsored by The Ulster Community College Foundation, begun in 1998, that brings renowned writers to campus every fall. This is a truly unique opportunity for SUNY Ulster students and community members to hear award winning authors read from their work.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, email Kari Mack at mackk@sunyulster.edu.

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October 1, 2024 – Stone Ridge, NY – SUNY Ulster will host its first concert of our annual fall concert series on Wednesday, October 9, at 7:30 p.m. in the Quimby Theater in Vanderlyn Hall on the Stone Ridge Campus. The concert will feature the College Chorus, African Music Ensemble, and the College/Community Band. The concert is free and open to the public. Donations are greatly appreciated.

The Showcase Concert is a concert of appetizers, offering a few musical selections by each of our SUNY Ulster music ensembles. The College Chorus is directed by Janet Gehres and accompanied by Edward Leavitt. The ensemble is made up of primarily SUNY Ulster students with a handful of members of the community, staff, and faculty. Enjoy performances of the Star-Spangled Banner, Scarborough Fair, and Festival Sanctus.

The SUNY Ulster African Music Ensemble, directed by Paul Chambers and made up of students along with community, staff, and faculty members will perform Dibon, Kakilambe, and Yamama. 

The evening will conclude with the SUNY Ulster College/Community Band with co-directors Victor Izzo and Carla Newsome. This ensemble is made up of SUNY Ulster and SUNY New Paltz college students, community members, advanced high school and middle school students, and music educators from across the Hudson Valley. Enjoy a performance of Festivo, with guest conductor, John Ortner and In Storm and Sunshine, with guest conductor Samuel Newsome. Loch Lomond and Selections from the musical Chicago will round out the evening’s showcase concert.

For more information, contact Janet Gehres at gehresj@sunyulster.edu.

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