The_Rambler_1999-09-28

              Our News, Our Pride Simi! I94& . -
VOLUME 72 ISSli: 1
STATE LMVERSin OE NEW YORK AT EARStlNGDALE Farmingdale President Frank Cipriani to Resign
by: Christopher Collora
SUNY Farmingdale President Frank A.
Cipriani recently announced his retire-ment
after 22 years. The President
announced that he will step down as of
January 2000.
Dr. Cipriani has been with Farmingdale
for 35 years. He started out in 1964 as the
Assistant Dean of the school of continu-ing
education In 1965 he became assis-tant
to the President. Two years later, be
became Vice President of Administration
where he served until 1978. He than suc-ceeded
to the Presidency. In 1998
President Cipriani celebrated his 20th
Anniversary as President.
Prior to his coming to Farmingdale, Dr
Cipriani served in the U.S. Air Force
where he held the rank of Captain. He
then went on to teach navigation and
flight instruction. Dr Cipriani was also
instrumental in setting up the Aerospace
program here at the college.
Since 1967, Dr. Cipriani has held the
rank of professor of History and Political
Science at SUNY Farmingdale. During
his Presidency, he led the college through
its major mission transition from a two-year
agricultural college to a four year
technical college.
I recently interviewed Dr. Cipriani to
further understand the considerations
behind this decision and to answer some
of the questions the campus may have.
The following is that interview:
Q: Dr. Cipriani, Why are you retiring?
Dr. Cipriani: "Because I've been here for
35 years and
been
President for
almost 22
years... and
there is a
time when
it's the right
time to move
on to some-thing
else...
it is also the
right time for
the
University..
There will be
a new chan-cellor
in the
year 2000...
there are also
a few things
that I still
would like
to do, that
I've put off
for the lastlO
to 15, basi-cally
to work
on issues like recording the history of the
university, and also open space issues
that I've been involved in environmental-ly...
I'm one of those people who believes
that the environment and the economy
can both serve each other well... and for
the last 40 years, I've been involved with
environmental issues as well as economic
developmental issues.
Q: What
will you be
doing next?
Dr
Cipriani;
am in
the process
of deciding
:hat, but
right now, I
plan to stay
as a profes-sor
within
the state
university.
Q: What is
your most
memorable
experience?
Dr
Cipriani:
'... Well,
I've been a
Long
Islander all
of my life,
because I
was bom and raised in Queens...Even so,
I had never heard of Farmingdale when I
was offered the job here. .. and the thing
that impressed me the most was when I
came on campus, the first thing I saw
were cows... And I knew this was coun-try,
but I didn't know that it was that
much country, because I had just gotten
out of the Air Force where I was stationed
in Texas where there is nothing but long
homed cattle, and I thought that the the
Styx... I didn't even know there was a col-lege
here... And I figured I'd be here for a
couple years... and I guess that a couple
years tumed into almost four decades...
also being at the board of regents when
they voted to make Farmingdale a four
year baccalaureate institution, when we
proved beyond a doubt that the kind of
program we were offering and planned to
offer was really at the cutting edge of the
21st century. They also liked the philoso-phy
that we had: "that the essence of
excellence is attention to detail", that sci-ence
and technology have to be addressed
in human terms so that the people who
can interpret science to develop the tech-nology
for the quality of life that we like
in the U.S.... they saw that we were right
on target, instead of narrowly focusing in
on chemistry, biology, and physics and so
fourth, we need those institutions, but a
science that doesn't evolve into a technol-ogy
doesn't fulfill the purpose of the
research. That's what Farmingdale is,
we're into the application and develop-ment
of that science, even to the point
where we deal with humanities, People
ask what kind of future is there in technol-ogy?...
we know the future is all about
technology, but we also know that in
order to be a successful person as a pro-fessional
in your field you need to be able
Continue Page 2 SUNY Farmingdale Honors Commissioner of U.S. Customs by: Christopher Collora
On Sept. 24, SUNY Farmingdale held a
Convocation and Salute to the Security
Technology Industry. At this event, the
college awarded an honorary Doctorate
Degree to Mr Raymond Kelly,
Commissioner of U.S. Customs. The hon-orary
Doctorate is the highest form of
recognition awarded by the State
University to persons of exceptional dis-tinction.
Its purpose is to recognize excel-lence,
to honor outstanding service to the
university, and to recognize persons
whose lives serve as examples of aspira-tion
to students.
Mr. Kelly has over 30 years of experi-ence
and commitment to public service.
He was a former Marine and a combat
veteran from Vietnam. Afterwards, he
served in the N Y City Police Department
eventually rising to the position of
Commissioner in 1992. In 1993, he lead
the investigation into the Worid Trade
Center bombing. He was recognized as
law enforcement officer of
the year. In August of w
1998, Mr. Kelly was
swom in as Commissioner
of U.S. Customs.
U.S. Customs are
responsible for enforcing
hundreds of laws and
international agreements
to safeguard the American
public. They collect over
20 billion dollars annually
from imports. They also
protect bcwders from contraband and
weapons smuggling. They process more
then 450 million people entering the U.S.
every year.
Speech Perspectives and Highlights:
After receiving the award, "Mr. Kelly
gave a speech. In it he thanked
Farmingdale for the award and gave a
brief descripticm and overview of the topic
of Security Technology as it relates to
U.S. Customs. Here are a few
highlights:
"...Farmingdale is one of the jew-els
in the crown of higher educa-tion
in New York, so it is an honor
to receive this award..."
" Farmingdale has long excelled in
a cutting edge curriculum includ-ing
the application of advanced
technology for security in an
increasingly complex and danger-ous
worid. Many of the issues
examined by students are central
to the mission of the U.S. Customs ser-vice.
Customs is in charge of everything
from enforcing trade agreements to seiz-ing
illegal contraband... That's where the
technology can help us do our job in some
surprising and interesting ways. ..Right
now we have our own air force of 115
planes that are deployed with sophisticat-ed
surveillance devices to seize illegal
contraband trying to enter the U.S .. We
also are employing x-ray like scanning
devices to search for illegal contraband in
trucks.. ." He then shifted gears to people.
"The challenge is to remain flexible
enough to do our job while respecting
peoples rights... The increased demand for
illegal narcotics has raised the amount of
smuggling... Through new smuggling
devices, we can search people without
violating their rights... Customs has also
reformed many of its policies, including
more levels of accountability, and the
ready availability of legal council. These
reforms should increase faimess and con-fidence
while allowing customs to carry
out its responsibilities. It is important in
the modem era to preserve individual
rights in a democracy, especially as tech-nology
makes possible the invasion of pri-vacy.
Our job is to protect society without
making individual liberty another casualty
in the war on crime."
After, the commissioner toured the
SUNY Farmingdale Security Laboratorys
Continue on Page 4