As the college’s chief academic officer, Clemo is responsible for leadership in all academic programs across the college. She has been interim provost and vice president for academic affairs for two years.

“Dr. Clemo has energized our college’s academic planning and programs, inspiring and supporting our faculty and staff as they provide new and distinctive learning experiences for our students,” said President Stanley. “She clearly has a passion for public higher education and a real talent for harnessing our campus community’s intellectual energies and applying them to fruitful initiatives.”

In the past two years, Clemo has expanded active learning opportunities for students by establishing a new multi-discipline cooperative education program and increasing support for undergraduate research both on campus and at partner universities around the world. She led the college’s successful reaccreditation self-study process and instituted an initiative for assessing student learning. She increased support for faculty to pursue sponsored research and sponsored or co-authored millions of dollars in grant applications to external funding agencies such as the National Science Foundation.

Clemo started at SUNY Oswego in 1988 as an assistant professor of political science, after receiving her doctorate from SUNY’s Binghamton University. In 2006, she joined the college’s leadership team, serving successively as faculty fellow, assistant to the president for special programs and campus communications, and chief of staff and deputy to the president before being named interim provost.

In her earlier administrative positions at Oswego, she was instrumental in crafting the college’s current strategic plan, led development of the Global Laboratory network, helped initiate the Possibility Scholarship program, and spearheaded the campus-wide environmental sustainability program, which recently received a silver level rating in the Sustainability Tracking and Ranking system.

“I am honored and excited to have been appointed to this position,” the new provost said.  “Oswego has an impressive legacy centered on academic excellence and a deep and rich dedication to faculty-student engagement — in all its diverse forms and multiple contexts. I am committed to working closely with faculty, staff and students to continue these wonderful traditions while pushing the boundaries of learning and strategic visioning in order to take something that’s great and make it even greater.”

Beyond Oswego, Clemo has been an American Council on Education Fellow and was appointed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to the New York State Sea Grant Institute board of governors.

As president of the national Faculty Athletics Representatives Association from 2005 to 2007, she played a leadership role in developing the NCAA’s strategic plan that set into motion academic reform and redefinition of the role of intercollegiate athletics in higher education. She received the NCAA David Knight Leadership Award in 2008.

Locally, she serves on the board of On Point for College.

A graduate of Le Moyne College, Clemo resides in Syracuse with her husband, Dr. Steven Nicolais, a pediatrician. They have four children.

A team of Oswego faculty, staff and students successfully climbed Mount Kilimanjaro this January as part of a course. Pictured first row, from left, are Gary Morris '88, master guide Protus and Mehran Nojan. Pictured second row, from left, are Ryan Lemon '00, Leila Karkia, Ariel Powers '12, Hannah Richard '13, Allison Tuttle '12, Ashley Krakau '12, Meg Aguila, Katie Loiacono Maxwell' 97, M '02, Stefania Cornnell '12; Jamie Baldanza and Alyssa Amyotte. Pictured back row, from left, are Anthony Catalano '12; Peter Richard, Brian West '12, Fabio Ritmo '12, Matt Kirkman '12, Chris Bankard '12, Robert Madonia '12, Steve Baker '12, Mac Dillman '12 and Nick Hackenfort '12.

The physical education course co-instructed by experienced climber and Director of Career Services Gary Morris ’88 covered mountain-climbing techniques and preparation in terms of fitness, health, nutrition, essential gear and travel to Tanzania to scale the highest peak in Africa.

At 19,340 feet high, Kilimanjaro is also the world’s highest stand-alone peak. The team’s ascent and descent took eight days and required assistance from a team of porters.

“One of our strengths is hands-on learning, and students learned about working as a team, how to prepare their minds and bodies for the trek and about the importance of setting and reaching goals,” said Lorrie Clemo, interim provost and vice president of academic affairs. “The next time they face a challenge during their college years or careers, they can look at everything they did to scale Mount Kilimanjaro and be confident they can succeed at anything.”

Team members also took time to visit a school in a Maasai village to distribute school supplies as well as to go on a safari.

The new cooperative education program draws the attention of accounting major Matthew Gibbs ’13, second from left, and Maxmillian Chen ’14, a business administration major. Cleane Medeiros, left, of the biological sciences faculty and Sheila Cooley ’03, M ’11, a financial aid adviser, explain the pilot program they help coordinate with eight academic departments.

As part of a major initiative across the SUNY system to improve the flow of the education pipeline “from cradle to career,” as Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher has said, the co-op program positions Oswego as a significant contributor of field-trained graduates to employers throughout the region and beyond.

“Cooperative education is taking on new importance nationally as more and more students seek experiential learning opportunities like internships, service learning, undergraduate research and study abroad to complement their academic coursework,” Interim Provost Lorrie Clemo said.

“Students here have already expressed great interest and enthusiasm about co-ops and the opportunity it provides for them to practice their field of study, network with professionals and connect learning to the classroom during a semester of paid employment,” Clemo added.

By utilizing summers to earn general-education and other credits, students will have the opportunity to graduate in four years. Participating students can maintain full-time status, which helps with financial aid and health insurance, while gaining work experience.

“I expect that our faculty will see enhanced academic performance from students returning from co-ops with increased understanding of their fields. An additional benefit is that it will help students earn funds to finance their education,” Clemo said.

“This initiative allows us to prepare our students better for entry into the work force and helps them have a greater opportunity for job placement after graduation, especially during these difficult times,” said Sheila Cooley ’03, M ’11, a financial aid adviser who coordinates the program.

Participating students will take theory into the workplace, helping companies such as Welch Allyn, IBM and Novelis on real projects as employees, while earning up to $16,000 for a half year of work. Working within a corporate culture can allow students to try a career before graduation, while developing a network of contacts and opening the door to full-time employment.

Marshall Magee, senior director of research and development at medical equipment manufacturer Welch Allyn in Skaneateles Falls, applauded Oswego’s approach and said his company has benefited for years from student employees, including Oswego graduate students in Festa Fellowships.

“We hire a lot of students,” Magee said. “I can stand up at my desk and count probably 20 people around me who were co-ops at one time or another.”

David Stone M ’12 was employed as a Festa Fellow at Welch Allyn this summer, designing line illustrations as a member of a team developing medical instruments. “I had such a good experience,” Stone said. “I want to help out any way I can promoting the co-op program to students and talking with them about the ins and outs of a co-op position.”

Stone said it was eye-opening for him to watch products go through development cycles in a work environment, as opposed to theoretically in a classroom. “I gained an excellent perspective on how the business world works,” he said.

Oswego’s rapidly developing pilot program hopes to have undergraduates gaining field experience with area companies by spring 2013 or spring 2014, Cooley said. Departments that have signed on so far include accounting, finance and law; chemistry; communication studies; computer science; marketing and management; mathematics; software engineering; and theatre.

For more information, visit oswego.edu/co-op or email co-op@oswego.edu.

Q. Why is experiential learning important, especially in the
current economy?

A. It provides learners with valuable opportunities to apply knowledge to real solutions. In the current economy, students want tangible experiences to differentiate themselves in decreasing job markets and increasing competition. Most employers seek individuals with broad and field specific knowledge, experiential learning offers students the added opportunity to demonstrate higher-level competencies such as critical thinking and problem solving.

Q. Oswego has a history of hands-on learning. How have we evolved?

A. Founder Edward Austin Sheldon’s learning philosophy continues to serve as an inspiration to the college based on the philosophy and practice that students learn best by doing. Experiential education has been a formal part of the academic curricula dating back to Sheldon; today it extends across a broad range of subject areas and disciplines. As our understanding of learning theories and cognitive development increases, more faculty recognize the benefit of offering students opportunities to learn through direct experiences. Since 2000 we have observed a more than 200 percent increase in service learning by our students.

Q. What are some new initiatives?

A. Our new software engineering program provides hands-on experiences designed to combine the principles of inquiry with group process. Students interface with business on real-world, industry-relevant projects and work as part of a team under the supervision of a faculty member and a practicing engineer. The Global Laboratory, a distinctive research abroad program, offers students an opportunity to conduct scientific research on cutting-edge subjects. Mentored by skilled scholars in leading universities across the globe, students can positively affect the people and
local communities where the research
is conducted.

Q. What’s in the future?

A. I see an increasing demand from students and a thoughtfully engaged faculty wanting to bring learning alive through internships, service learning, field work, and cooperative education where students alternate classroom study with practical work experience. We plan to expand contextual learning as an instructional strategy to more students by making connections to alumni, businesses and community organizations interested in challenging students with problem solving in real-world settings.