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April 12, 2010 (315) 498-2054

Onondaga Community College President Debbie L. Sydow, Ph.D.

Receives National Award of Distinction

SYRACUSE, NY – At an award ceremony held in Florida this week, Onondaga Community College President Debbie L. Sydow, Ph.D. was presented with a 2010 Shirley B. Gordon Award of Distinction by the national Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. The award is given in recognition of her support of the College’s Alpha Sigma Zeta chapter of Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) and is being presented at a convention this week in Florida. Dr. Sydow is one of 17 community college presidents nationwide – and the only college president from New York state – chosen to receive the 2010 award.

Phi Theta Kappa is the international honor society of two-year colleges. Onondaga’s chapter of PTK has grown to become an internationally award-winning Five-Star Competitive Edge chapter with more than 400 members currently on campus and hundreds of PTK alumni.

“Dr. Sydow has stated many times that our chapter of PTK sets the academic tone on campus,” said Dr. Yvonne Fish-Kalland, professor of English and lead advisor to the PTK chapter at Onondaga. “Through her leadership and her consistent vision of what this chapter could become, she’s opened the doors to its continued success.”

This Award of Distinction is named after the late Dr. Shirley B. Gordon, who served as Chair of Phi Theta Kappa's Board of Directors for 20 years. She was President Emeritus of Highline Community College in Washington.
The Gordon award recipients have provided extensive support and a variety of resources for their colleges' Phi Theta Kappa chapters, including support for a faculty advisor, chapter budget, support for participation in regional and international events, and scholarships for Phi Theta Kappa members.
Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, headquartered in Jackson, Mississippi, is the largest honor society in higher education with 1,250 chapters on college campuses in all 50 of the United States, Canada, Germany, the Republic of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the British Virgin Islands, the United Arab Emirates and U.S. territorial possessions. More than two million students have been inducted since its founding in 1918, with approximately 100,000 students inducted annually.

With more than 12,000 students, Onondaga Community College is the second-largest undergraduate institution in Central New York and one of the nation’s fastest-growing community colleges. Founded in 1961, it is a comprehensive two-year college operating under the State University of New York (SUNY) and is locally sponsored by Onondaga County. Onondaga offers nearly 50 programs of study, bachelor and master’s degrees available on campus through the Regional Higher Education Center, and more than 80 transfer agreements with four-year colleges and universities. Home to three-time NJCAA national champion men’s lacrosse and 2009 NJCAA women’s lacrosse teams, Onondaga has eleven intercollegiate men’s and women’s athletic teams.

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