The children of Erma and Larry Pettis from the Class of 1953, led by their daughter, Julie Pettis, have made a gift to endow The Pettis Pools Entrepreneurship Award in Memory of Lawrence `53 and Erma Ornce `53 Pettis. This gift was made to honor their parents and their dedication to Brockport, the college they loved.
The founders of Pettis Pools (two locations in the Rochester area), Erma passed away in the spring of 2012, while Larry passed away in 2003. They are best remembered for their active roles in the Brockport alumni community and their avid support of the Class of `53 Scholarship. Their generosity inspired many of their classmates to give back as well.
The Pettis Pools Entrepreneurship Award is the first of its kind at the College. Individuals or groups of students from the School of Business Administration and Economics will be asked to prepare and submit a presentation about an entrepreneurial project that they hope they can then present to venture capitalists, banks and angel investors with evidence of the strength of their business plan. The recipients of the $2,000 grant would use the money to put into the project.
The first award is expected to be made during the 2013-2014 year.
College Receives SUNY Sustainability Grant
Kyongsei Sohn, Hilary Mosher and Joon Yong Seo received a competitive SUNY Sustainability Grant to implement a creative project on campus this spring.
Kyongsei Sohn and Joon Yong Seo, School of Business Administration and Economics, and Hilary Mosher, Department of Environmental Science and Biology and chair of the campus Sustainability Task Force, have been awarded a $6,342 competitive grant from SUNY's Sustainability Grant Program. The project, "Effective Use of Feedback to Facilitate Campus/Dormitory Food Waste Reduction Across SUNY Campuses," will be implemented this spring on our campus and also at SUNY Fredonia and SUNY Albany.
The project will create pro-environmental behavioral change that supports sustainable food consumption patterns to reduce energy consumption within the food system at the three SUNY campuses. The benefits of reduction in food waste can be extended nationally. A student research assistant on each campus will be hired to assist with the research project.