Here are four Syracuse stories you may have missed from over the weekend.

SU announces Disability Cultural Center director

Elizabeth Sierra will head the Disability Cultural Center as its new director, Syracuse University’s Division of Enrollment and the Student Experience announced Friday.

Sierra is a psychotherapist and clinical supervisor at the Sunshine Coast Health Centre in Canada, according to an SU News release. Sierra earned her master’s degree in counseling from SU before receiving a doctorate in philosophy, interpretation and culture at Binghamton University, per the release.

As a graduate student at SU, Sierra was a personal coach and counselor with the Summer Start and SUccess Initiative learning committees, according to the release. She also worked as an instructor in the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics’ department of child and family studies, per the release.

Sierra’s first day in her new role is Monday, per the release.

SU announces commencement speaker

Mary Daly, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, will deliver SU’s 2019 Commencement address, SU announced on Saturday.

Daly graduated from SU in 1994 with a doctorate in economics from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, according to an SU News release. She will receive an honorary degree from the university during the graduation ceremony, per the release.

After joining the Federal Reserve Bank as an economist in 1996, Daly held various positions, including that of executive vice president and director of economic research, before taking on her current role in October 2018, per the release.

Over the course of her career at the Federal Reserve Bank, Daly chaired the bank’s Diversity Council and helped increase the number of women college graduates in its research assistant program, according to the release.

Daly currently serves on the Federal Open Market Committee, which convenes eight times a year in Washington, D.C., to discuss and determine U.S. monetary policy.

The Commencement ceremony will be held May 12 in the Carrier Dome.

Several individual schools and colleges have also announced their own Commencement and convocation speakers:

• Doug Robinson, founder of the production company DRP Doug Robinson Productions, will speak at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications convocation.

• The School of Education’s convocation speaker will be Cerri Banks, dean of students and vice president for student affairs at Skidmore College.

• Mary Spio, CEO and founder of virtual and augmented reality company CEEK VR, will speak at the College of Engineering and Computer Science and the School of Information Studies convocations.

• The College of Law commencement speaker will be Girls Who Code CEO and founder Reshma Saujani.

• Michael Haynie, SU’s vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and innovation, will speak at the School of Architecture’s graduation honors convocation.

• Chris Renaud, who directed movies including “Despicable Me,” and “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax,” will speak at the College of Visual and Performing Arts convocation.

SU hosts fift- annual TEDx Syracuse University Conference

SU’s annual TEDx Syracuse University Conference was held Saturday, with eight guest speakers discussing topics ranging from living with vitality to the potential of augmented reality.

The event, hosted in Slocum Hall auditorium, featured April Tam Smith, a philanthropist, entrepreneur and finance professor; Steven Grunwald, a senior environmental biology student at SUNY-ESF; and Jennifer Barrett, chief education officer of a financial wellness app.

The first TEDx Syracuse University Conference was held in 2014, according to the event’s website. Each conference is centered on a different theme, with “SHIFT” being the focus of this year’s talks, per the website.

“Cuse Can!”

Rappers Pusha T and Flipp Dinero, as well as actress and comedian Tiffany Haddish, performed as part of SU’s “Cuse Can! It Starts With Us,” event, held Saturday in Goldstein Auditorium.

Haddish performed a comedy show Saturday afternoon.

Pusha T headlined the concert. His performance — featuring singles “What Would Meek Do?” and “The Games We Play” — was preceded by Dinero. In his performance, Dinero danced to a song by rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was murdered on March 31 in Los Angeles.

The event included two panels, held in Watson Theater. The first panel covered changes the panelists would like to be made on campus, and the second discussed student involvement in the city of Syracuse community.

Quincy Nolan, former co-chair of Student Association’s Diversity Affairs Committee, resigned after criticizing “Cuse Can!” as “queerphobic.” Nolan said there was a lack of LGBTQ voices in the event’s planning and that Pusha T has previously used homophobic slurs.

Published on April 7, 2019 at 11:42 pm

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