SUNY Empire Spotlight: December 2025

The latest news on research efforts, awards, grants, and media appearances from Empire State University faculty, staff, and leadership.   

Luis Camacho, assistant professor and academic coordinator of the Spanish BBA, had an article titled “Competing Identities Under Threat: Ethnocentrism, Xenocentrism, and Touristic Motivation Amid Geopolitical Uncertainty” published in Businesses (MDPI).  

Pamela Doran, digital accessibility and multilingual technology coordinator, received the Best Student Paper Award for “Critical MT praxis: Machine translations and tourism slogans in Latin America” at the 2025 ALBUS Conference. 
 
Cherrelle Hall, assistant to the vice president of enrollment, published an article on addressing inequities in higher education on the Forum of the American Journal of Education. 

Heather Horowitz, assistant professor, co-authored an article titled “The ICAIL Framework: A Critical and Inclusive Approach to AI Literacy for Non-Technical Learners in Higher Education.” It was published in Innovations in Learning.  

Mindy Kronenberg, visiting assistant professor, has a poem appearing in a Moonstone Arts Center anthology dedicated to Human Rights Day. 

Njoki Mwarumba, assistant professor, was quoted in a Slate article about the new head of FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery.* 

Ian Reifowitz, SUNY distinguished professor, appeared on France 24 to discuss President Trump’s approval rating, recent election results, and other issues facing Republicans. He was also featured in a separate interview with the outlet about President Trump’s push to rename the Kennedy Center and other topics. 

Duncan RyanMann, professor, spoke about healthcare in interviews with WAMC and News 10 Rochester. 

President Lisa Vollendorf was featured in an Albany Business Review article about how Empire State University is adapting to meet the needs of learners.* 

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