A decade ago, a small group of SUNY Oneonta students created the SUNY PRIDE Conference to give queer and transgender students across the SUNY system a space to feel seen, heard and supported.
This past weekend, those same students – now alumni – returned to campus to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the conference – now called “PRISM” – and serve as keynote speakers.
The founding alumni were joined Friday and Saturday, Oct. 20 and 21, by current students, faculty members, guests from other SUNY schools, community members and resource professionals for a packed schedule of breakout sessions, roundtable discussions, keynotes, a resource fair, and vibrant social events, including a coffee hour and Saturday night drag show.
Educate, Advocate, Celebrate
The SUNY PRIDE Conference was established in 2013 to highlight and celebrate LGBTQIA+ experiences through fostered dialogue across academic and/or practical experiences and to provide support and resources to attendees. In honor of its 10th anniversary, this year’s PRISM Conference theme was “Living Legacy.”
Members of the committee that coordinated the inaugural conference, including alumni and employees, served as the keynote speakers. Other presenters included faculty, staff, and students from SUNY Oneonta, SUNY Delhi, the University at Albany, SUNY Geneseo, Southern New Hampshire University, SUNY Schenectady, Empire State University and the University of Siena in Italy.
Mitch Hymowitz (he/him) is a people-first professional, born and raised in New York who received his B.S. in Communication Studies from SUNY Oneonta and will be starting his Master’s in Public Administration program this Fall at Baruch College. He founded PRISM (previously called SUNY PRIDE) in 2013 to provide a way for queer and trans students across the 65 SUNY colleges and universities to feel supported, seen, heard, and respected. A quick historical fact - SUNY Pride was awarded the Outstanding Leadership Program award in Fall 2014 from the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference - Bill Campbell actually received that notification and let Mitch know the following year after he graduated. Since his time at SUNY Oneonta, Mitch has gone on to work in the nonprofit sector for 9 years supporting various marginalized communities and systems including, queer and trans youth, foster care, mental health, Alzheimer's, and now the rare disease community. Mitch joined his current company, Uplifting Athletes in July 2022, and has been running their development department as Development Lead ever since. He continues to curate events in his career, but this time as an out and proud real live trans adult, working with professional athletes to support the 30 million people in the United States living with a rare disease.
Savanah Wiggins (she/her) graduated from SUNY Oneonta with a Bachelors degree in Music in May of 2015. In her years on campus she was involved with GSA, the GSRC, SUNY Pride/PRISM, and the Terpsichorean Dance Team. Upon graduating she worked at FOX 40 WICZ-TV in Binghamton, NY before moving to Queens, NY in 2017. There she spent the next four years working in her next sales area of expertise – at Lewis Brass & Copper Company – and growing her portfolio. She moved back home to Vestal, NY in 2021 and landed a job as a Project Specialist at Raymond Corporation in Greene, NY. Since then, she has joined the Planning Board for Habitat for Humanity for Broome & Tioga Counties and has started her own Travel Business – SJ Savvy Travel.
Alyssa Lupinski, LCSW (she/her) has been working with the community since her early days in Oneonta. She continued this work by going into Social Work and focusing on how to best serve LGBTQ students in our schools, and build resiliency in students across all settings. She enjoys spending time with her students and learning as much from them, as they may from her work with them.
Dr. Elliot Ruggles (he/they) is a sexuality professional and clinical social worker specializing in recovery from and prevention of sexual and gender-based harm. In his role at the University of Vermont, he works to coordinate university-wide efforts around the prevention of sexual violence. For fifteen years, they have been working in sexuality and gender research, education and therapy in diverse settings both urban and rural, including with teenage parents, children sexual abuse survivors, medical students, and recently with college and university students passionate about healing from and ending interpersonal harm on campus.
Rebecca Harrington (she/her) is currently the Assistant Director of Student Rights and Responsibilities at SUNY Delhi. She served as SUNY Oneonta’s Health Educator for 19 years prior to that. She has also contributed to several SUNY system wide initiatives related to sexual violence prevention including the SPECTRUM conference. She is a 2018 recipient of the Chancellor’s award.
Pathy Leiva (she/her) received her B.S. in Psychology and Spanish Literature from Hartwick College. Her Masters of Science Education: School Counselor K-12, from SUNY Oneonta. Pathy currently works as the Director of Access and Opportunity Programs (CAMP, EOP and ACE). Pathy has been with SUNY Oneonta for almost 18 years, prior to that she was an advisor/recruitment coordinator for 4 years and recruiter for almost 9 years. Pathy has worked with the Latinx/Hispanic community for the whole time that she has lived in Oneonta and provides support in different ways. As well as being connected in support and assisting the LGBTQIA community since college. Pathy has worked in the college community as well though advising and working with Lambda Theta Alpha Sorority Latin Incorporated, being the MGC advisor, and working with several clubs that promote diversity and inclusion. She has spoken at several conferences on diversity and leadership, as well as provided lectures in classrooms. She enjoys bringing a variety of students to Oneonta from many backgrounds and cultures. Currently, she is working to help and grow the access and opportunity programs as well as the Latinx/Hispanic community at SUNY Oneonta. Recently, Pathy graduated as a Fellow for SUNY’s Hispanic Leadership Institute (HLI), Cohort 2023.
Since its founding, PRISM has served as “the gold standard for this type of work and an inspiration,” earning endorsement from the Governor’s Office as well as the Outstanding Leadership Program award from the National Association for Campus Activities, according to Associate Director of the Gender & Sexuality Resource Center Emily Stewart. “And it’s all because of those first students who pushed and fought for this.”
“I’m Really Proud”
Mitch Hymowitz was a junior majoring in Communication and Women’s and Gender Studies at SUNY Oneonta when he decided to create the conference. The landmark Marriage Equality Act had recently made same-sex marriage legal in New York, he recalled, and there was a need “to unify in New York and support SUNY’s student bodies and local communities.”
Hymowitz now works for a national nonprofit called Uplifting Athletes, which “harnesses the power of sport to build a community that invests in the lives of people impacted by rare diseases.” Creating the PRISM Conference, he gained professional skills that he still uses today, “like how to be on a team, how to make decisions, how to problem-solve, embracing who you are fully and speaking your mind eloquently.”
“This truly formed who I am and my career,” he said. “And I wasn’t sure it was going to happen, much less be successful after I graduated. But It’s truly surreal, knowing that it was successful and continues to evolve, change and grow. I’m really proud of SUNY Oneonta that we’re so committed to making sure all students are seen and heard and listened to. That the university has evolved into such a safe haven for the queer and trans community really warms my heart and makes me an even prouder alumni.”
