SUNY Empire Spotlight: November 2025
The latest news on research efforts, awards, grants, and media appearances from Empire State University faculty, staff, and leadership.
Alan Belasen, professor, published “Transparent Leadership: Bridging the Trust Gap Between Senior Executives and Middle Managers”.
Diana Centanni, director of Opportunity Programs, George Lopez, assistant director of Opportunity Programs, and Asia Moore, academic advisor, presented “From New Student to Role Model: An Intersectional Approach to Student Development” at the SUNY OER conference.
Cailyn Green, assistant professor of addiction studies, was featured on The Academic Minute for her open access group counseling workbook.
Bethany Hicks, assistant director of Military Academic and Student Services, and Matt Quinn, VMRC Manager, were honored as veterans working for New York state for the “Serving Then, Serving Now” ceremony. Desiree Drindak, director of the Veteran and Military Resource Center, was also recognized for her contributions as part of the New York state DVS Veteran Liaisons program.
Heather Horowitz, assistant professor, co-authored a chapter in the newly released book Clutch Leadership: Harnessing the Qualities of a Gamechanger (edited by professor Alan Belasen and associate professor Barry Eisenberg). The chapter is titled “Navigating Disruption: Leading with Empathy.”
She also presented on an inclusive AI literacy framework at the EDUCAUSE online conference via a Virtual Poster Session, “Designing with Intention: A Critical AI Literacy + Universal Design for Learning Framework.”
Horowitz’s proposal for the SUNY/D2L Educators-in-Residence initiative was accepted. The study focuses on designing trauma-informed and inclusive doctoral learning environments using Brightspace.
Andrew Hurd, Assistant Professor, spoke with Look Media about AI safety.
Mindy Kronenberg, visiting assistant professor, had a review of “Son of Bird”, a memoir in prose-poems by Nin Andrews, published on the Mom Egg Review website.
Empire State University’s Marketing Department won a MARCOM Award for its “How You Do University” Digital Media Campaign during a Nov. 20 ceremony in Albany, hosted by the American Marketing Association of the Capital Region. The organization also recognized the campaign as a finalist in the Video Series category. In addition, CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) recently honored the Marketing team with Best of District II Awards for its “Why Empire?” video series, which profiled university employees, and the “El Imperio Bodega” event at the 2024 Student Conference. (The Bodega previously received a Silver Award from the global CASE organization).
Ian Reifowitz, SUNY distinguished professor, was featured on Political Pulse regarding the 2025 election results.
Gayle Stever, professor, had research featured in The Atlantic’s article “How to Know If Your Friends Are Real” on parasocial relationships.
Lisa Unangst, assistant professor, presented on her paper Prior Learning Assessment, Displacement, and Educational Equities: Website Content Analysis of 244 North American Universities at the International Conference of Education, Research, and Innovation (ICERI) in Seville, Spain.
Melissa Wells, associate professor and director of teaching, learning, and faculty development, spoke on the EdUp Experience podcast about Universal Design for Learning.
Lisa Vollendorf, president of Empire State University, appeared on the NYC Employment and Training Coalition (NYCETC) podcast episode and discussed how Empire State University removes barriers to access for all learners.