CAZENOVIA — On Saturday, May 13, Cazenovia College presented its 198th commencement.
A large crowd of alumni, faculty, staff, trustees, parents, friends, and neighbors of the college community gathered on the campus quad to celebrate the achievements of the Class of 2023, the final group of students to graduate from the historic institution.
On Dec. 7, 2022, the college announced its plans to permanently close following the spring 2023 semester due to financial difficulties.
Founded in 1824, Cazenovia College is the eighth-oldest private, independent college in New York State and the 28th-oldest independent college/university in the United States.
On graduation day, the degree candidates and faculty members arrived at the packed quad in a procession led by the Mohawk Valley Frasers pipe band.
Following an invocation by Father Kevin Corcoran, the National Anthem by alumna Jaylah Wilson ’22, and a welcome from Cazenovia College President David Bergh, Valedictorian Sarah Cole took the stage to address her classmates.
According to Bergh, who introduced her, Cole completed her environmental biology degree in three years while playing on the college’s soccer team and participating in many other activities outside of the classroom.
In her speech, Cole encouraged her classmates to take the time to recognize that the Cazenovia College experience is one of a kind.
“There are so many unique experiences that we have all had just because we came to this college,” she said. “For example, many have had the opportunity of continuing or starting new sports at a competitive level. Not many people can say that they started a new sport at the college level and were actually able to play in every game. We were also able to present our work and research to the town members and other distinguished members of our fields. These were amazing opportunities that many [other] schools could not have had the chance to have.”
Cole also said she hopes her fellow graduates realize that the connections they have made at the college are also unique and enduring.
“Most college students never get the opportunity to even talk to their professors, let alone become close with them,” she said. “I have had the amazing privilege of learning about my professors’ lives, and I know that they will support me in my future decisions. The same is true for the staff members; most students at other schools have not even spoken with the landscapers, maintenance workers, dining staff, or janitors of their school. I’m sure most of you know the names of at least a few of these amazing people here, and we are better for having known them. Being at a school this size means we know everyone. . . We have all become close through the many activities held through the school. . . That truly was a wonderful thing, and it made this experience a much happier one. Even though we will all be apart from each other after today, the connections we have made here will be lasting ones.”
Following the presentation of the student awards and honors, Bergh recognized Dr. John B. McCabe as the recipient of the distinguished service award, which recognizes individuals whose contributions to the college and the greater community have helped to improve the quality of life for others.
At Cazenovia College, McCabe has served as a trustee, chair of the academic affairs committee, and a member of the board executive committee. In the past six months, he has played a large role as a representative on the board teach out committee, dedicating countless hours to attending college leadership meetings and representing the board on numerous working groups.
Outside of the college, McCabe serves as board chair of the Rescue Mission Alliance, board chair of the Loretto Management Corporation, volunteer and medical director for the Cazenovia Area Volunteer Ambulance Corps, and former board member and vice president for Hope for the Bereaved. Recently, he received the board leadership award for his service to Loretto at the 2023 Non-Profit Awards presented by the CNY Business Journal.
According to the college, McCabe is a retired professor and chair emeritus in the department of emergency medicine at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, where he served as chief executive officer of University Hospital/Health System and senior vice president for hospital affairs at Upstate. He was a professor in the department of emergency medicine, for which he was the founding chair in 1992 and where he was also instrumental in developing the residency program in emergency medicine. McCabe was also the founding fellowship director of the program in undersea and hyperbaric medicine at University Hospital.
Bergh next introduced Dr. John Robert Greene as the 2023 commencement keynote speaker.
Greene, who was known as “the national face of Cazenovia College,” taught at the school for 42 years.
Prior to his retirement this past January, he served as the Paul J. Schupf Professor of History and Humanities.
Greene started at the college in September 1979 as a part-time instructor while also serving as manager of the campus radio station. He became a full-time faculty member in 1984, was tenured in 1987, and was named a distinguished faculty member in 1993. He was awarded the college’s first endowed chair, the Paul J. Schupf Chair in History and Humanities, in 2000 and a distinguished service award in 2021. Upon his retirement, he was awarded the title of professor emeritus.
Greene was also the program director of the history department, he co-directed the dual major program in history and social science, and he served several terms as chair of the social and behavioral sciences division. Additionally, he was director of the Wheler Conference on World Affairs and director of the Washburn Junior Research and Teaching Fellowship Programs. He was the advisor to the Alpha Chi Honor Society and the college archivist, and in 2000, he published the book “Generations of Excellence: An Illustrated Biography of Cazenovia College.”
Greene endowed the annual Mary Rose Greene Scholarship and donated all proceeds from “Generations of Excellence” to student scholarships.
Known nationally as a leading scholar of the American presidency, he has edited or written 20 books, including works on Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush. He serves as a subject matter expert for national and local print and broadcast media outlets and appeared for 17 years as a regular faculty panelist on WCNY-TV’s “The Ivory Tower” political and public affairs talk show.
Greene began his keynote speech by acknowledging the dedication of the school’s faculty and emphasizing that he had no intention of delivering the college’s eulogy that morning.
“This moment today does not call for a eulogy,” he said. “A commencement is a beginning, not an ending. I am here for one reason and one reason only — to speak to and about the class of 2023.”
According to Greene, this year’s ceremony had the highest attendance he has seen in his 42 years at the college.
“Every single person here, folks, is here for you,” he said to the graduates.
Greene commended the class for exhibiting undeniable courage and resilience while navigating “a unique and often terrifying set of times.”
He pointed specifically to the COVID-19 pandemic when the college community was dealing with quarantine, illness, masks, and online classes.
“Staying was scary, and yet you stayed,” he said. “. . . You bounced back, you didn’t hide, you didn’t quit. You pushed toward your goal of a college degree and a college education. That’s what resilience is.”
Greene also highlighted the fact that all the students seated in front of him are college educated, which he noted is true of only 32 percent of the American population.
“You’re going to pick up a diploma [in a few minutes], and that diploma does not say ‘Cazenovia College closed,’” Greene said. “Nothing, no set of circumstances can take away [that] accomplishment. Nothing, ladies and gentlemen of the Class of 2023, can cheapen that accomplishment. It’s yours, you get to keep it for the rest of your lives.”
Greene concluded by stating that although the graduates have achieved this significant success, they all remain “unfinished” and must now take their next steps toward achieving future successes.
“We are going to be there with you — some in spirit, some in person — but we await successes that you can’t even dream of today,” he said, “. . . You are ready, perhaps more ready than you think you are. You, as a class, have made [life] decisions that no class that preceded you ever had to make. In a way, you got the most liberal education of any group of students that I have ever taught. Watching you make those decisions every single day made me proud to be a member of the faculty of this place. You are ready for your next step.”
After the graduates received their diplomas, Bergh delivered his Charge to the Graduates, during which he applauded them for their perseverance during this challenging school year and welcomed them to the ranks of the tens of thousands of Cazenovia College students who graduated before them.
“As you prepare to depart with your degree, accept the congratulations of the entire campus community on this single achievement as well as those achievements we all know will follow,” Bergh said. “You are an extraordinary class, a class we will miss, and a class that we will remember always.”
Alumni Speaker Dacia Banks then addressed the college’s newest group of alumni.
Banks has over 20 years of experience in higher education administration. After receiving a bachelor of science in liberal and professional studies from Cazenovia College in 1994, Banks held positions in academic affairs, community service, resident life, admissions, and financial aid at the college. She went on to work at Albany Medical College and SUNY Morrisville, and in 2020 she received her master’s in higher education administration from SUNY Stony Brook.
A dedicated and active alumna, Banks received the young alumni award from Cazenovia College in 2006, the volunteer of the year award in 2008, was a member of the alumni board of directors from 2004-2013, served as a trustee from 2006-2014, and was president of the Cazenovia College Alumni Association Board of Directors from 2007-2013. In 2013, she received the distinguished alumni award. Most recently, Banks was the interim president of the alumni board of directors from 2021-2022.
“As you graduate, you are leaving a campus of people that you are very familiar with and going on to a very different world,” Banks said in her address. “You are, however, being welcomed into a much larger group, the Cazenovia College alumni. The Cazenovia College alumni are a family, and your graduating class is the baby of the family. . . You are the youngest of the crew. You will always be known as the last to walk this campus, the last student government, the last athletic teams, and the last to walk this stage. Everyone will continually look back at your accomplishments. You are part of a rich history, so please do not ever forget that. As you go off to various places, be proud of the fact that you are Cazenovia graduates.”
Banks also encouraged the graduates to lean on and assist their fellow alumni going forward and to make themselves available to each other by organizing gatherings and setting up social media events, among other considerations.
“The important [thing] is to stay connected,” she said. “The doors of the campus may close, but the hearts of those who have come to know you will remain open. As alumni, we are now brothers and sisters of Cazenovia College. We look out for one another.”
At the end of the ceremony, all the Cazenovia College alumni in attendance were invited to join Wilson in singing the school’s alma mater:
“Sunlit Owahgena’s waters
Dash their spray on high;
Nearby stands our Alma Mater,
Famed in years gone by.
Hail thee fairest Cazenovia!
When from thee we part;
Yet thy name we’ll ever rev’rence
Fairest of our heart.”
Banks and each of the 2023 graduates received commemorative Cazenovia College coins featuring the college seal on one side and the alma mater on the other.
Cazenovia Garden Club initiative
Leading up to graduation day, Cazenovia resident Sandi Patrizio spearheaded a Cazenovia Garden Club-sponsored initiative to plant blue and gold pansies in baskets and planter boxes throughout the village as a sendoff to the college.
“We usually go from Christmas to June with nothing in the boxes, but this year I decided that with [this being the college’s last graduation] and with family coming into town, we should do something to honor them,” Patrizio said.
She added that she knew pansies were available in blue and gold, but she didn’t realize how difficult they would be to find.
“I didn’t get all blue and gold, because it was just not available, but I did the best I could to get as much blue and gold as possible [and put] blue and gold ribbons on Dave’s Diner,” she said.
Cazenovia College’s official closing date is June 30, 2023.
