Three SUNY Oneonta faculty members and 178 students were honored for academic excellence at the annual Susan Sutton Smith Lecture and Award Reception on April 12.
Associate Professor of Music Adam Kent delivered this year’s Susan Sutton Smith Lecture, titled, “Through Space and Time: The Music of Spain.” Kent is the 2022-2023 winner of the Susan Sutton Smith Faculty Prize for Academic Excellence, which was created to recognize faculty achievement outside the classroom and is named in memory of the late SUNY Oneonta professor of English.
Kent is an accomplished pianist who joined the SUNY Oneonta Music Department faculty in 2016. Making his New York recital debut at Weill Recital Hall in 1989, Kent has performed in many recitals since, as both a soloist with an orchestra and in chamber music ensembles throughout the United States, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Latin America. He has won numerous awards and critical acclamations for his performances and recordings, including the complete piano works of Spanish composer Ernesto Halffter and a recent performance of Book I of Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz’s “Iberia” suite.
Two additional faculty members were recognized at the event. Department of Communication and Media faculty members Jonathan Bullinger and Tim Welch received the college’s annual Simphiwe Hilatshwayo Award for Outstanding Part-Time Instructor and Outstanding Lecturer Award, respectively.
More than 175 student recipients of the Susan Sutton Smith Award for academic excellence were also recognized in conjunction with the event. The awards are given each spring to first-year students, sophomores and juniors who have earned a grade-point average of 3.9 or higher on a 4.0 scale.
This lecture and the awards for academic excellence are made possible by the generous gifts of SUNY Oneonta alumni to the Fund for Oneonta. The Susan Sutton Smith Faculty Prize for Academic Excellence is made possible by an endowment created through the generosity of Dr. Thomas and Mrs. Mary Smith in memory of their daughter, Susan, in honor of her commitment to academic excellence.