The 16th annual Wheler Family Conference on World Affairs will take place Wednesday, Oct. 4, on the Cazenovia College campus with the concurrent morning sessions beginning at 10:10 a.m. Funded through the generosity of the Wheler family, this year’s conference is “On Service.”
Akin to America’s voluntary spirit noted by Alexis de Tocqueville over 150 years ago, “service” remains an integral part of the nation’s social fabric. These unpaid efforts on behalf of others are the mission of varied nonprofits and even some for-profit organizations, as this year’s wide choice of panelists clearly reflects.
Panelists include Glenna Croy, director of volunteer services, and Amber Vander Ploeg, director of emergency services, for the Rescue Mission, Syracuse; Crystal Farrell ʼ88, teacher at Crown Point Central School, Crown Point, N.Y.; Ashley Fikes ʼ16, Nicole Oliver ʼ11, and Jessica Russo ʼ17 of JES Apparel, East Syracuse; Megan Walker ʼ97, health sciences specialist, department of Veterans’ Affairs, Canandaigua; Brendan Foley, director of communications for the Morehead-McCain Foundation, Chapel Hill, N.C.; Jody Hicks, Cazenovia College visiting instructor and former member of the U.S. Peace Corps, Cazenovia; and Nichole Marioni, chief psychologist at the CNY Psychiatric Center, Marcy, N.Y.
The plenary speaker is Jenna Hartwell, M.Ed., director of veterinary career services and professional development at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine. Hartwell, a 2005 graduate of Cazenovia College, will give a talk titled, “I’m Not Supposed to Be Here: From College Dropout to Student Development Professional by Way of Caz.”
For more information about Hartwell, go to cazenovia.edu/news-and-events/news/intentional-life-service-develops.
All sessions are free and open to the public. More information may be found at cazenovia.edu/wheler.
