The President Emeritus James R. Campion Community Learning Commons (or Campion CLC) was dedicated on June 17, 2019 in honor of President James Campion’s enduring contributions to Columbia-Greene Community College and to its students, faculty, and staff.
Photo caption: Chair of the C-GCC Board of Trustees Edward ‘Ned’ Schneier poses with President Emeritus James R. Campion and his wife, Donna Lynk, following the dedication of the President Emeritus James R. Campion Community Learning Commons.
The C-GCC Board of Trustees granted Campion, the College’s fifth and longest-held president, emeritus status on the same day, following his retirement after 19 years of service.
He was recognized via official proclamation for presiding over a period of notable growth at C-GCC, including but not limited to the construction and dedication of the Professional Academic Center in 2006; but also for serving Columbia and Greene counties on the whole as a prolific volunteer – including as a director, trustee, president, chaplain, and member of several community and civic groups.
As such, the area formerly known as rooms 611, 612 and 613 of the Professional Academic Center has been renamed to reflect not just Campion’s role in the College’s legacy, but also the existing amenities that will allow it to serve as a learning commons of higher-education: a flexible, technology-enhanced space that can be tailored to various multidisciplinary and collaborative events, courses, and activities.
The Campion CLC has repositionable walls that allow for it to be used as one large room or two-to-three smaller rooms. It has a total capacity of 64 people with tables and chairs, and is located adjacent to the Saland Forum, a 79-seat lecture hall often used in tandem with the CLC for larger or more varied events, along with a shared reception lobby. The CLC also includes a LCD ceiling-mounted projector, a full sound-system plus a second, modifiable system when laptop connectivity or additional microphones are needed, for instance. Retractable screens, floor-installed power boxes, and phone jacks that facilitate teleconferences round out the rooms’ connectivity options.
The potential for a dedicated learning commons within the PAC building emerged during the Fall 2018 semester, wherein the Never Forget Series was created by C-GCC Professor of Biological Sciences Matthew Kenny was created to present one, multidisciplinary event per semester dedicated to calling attention to global issues through discourse.
Utilizing the space now known as the Campion CLC, the series’ first installment served as remembrance of Kristallnacht, an event that occurred 80 years ago in Nazi-controlled Germany and lead to the destruction of more than 1,000 Jewish synagogues, 7,500 Jewish businesses, and the arrest of more than 30,000 Jewish men. The event included a lecture, discussion, a slideshow of images from Kristallnacht and other survivors of the Holocaust, refreshments including a Kosher table, and both live- and recorded music relative to the events that took place in November 1938.
The second installment of the Never Forget Series coincided with Women’s History Month, and saw the Campion CLC divided into two smaller spaces to create an environment that fostered personal reflection on the items displayed. One room was transformed into a mini-museum with a selection of historic objects on-loan from The Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum of Adams, Mass., sketches of notable suffragettes by C-GCC Fine Arts students, a collection of topical works on display from the C-GCC Library, and a temporary theater presenting a documentary film on the history of the movement.
As events, classes, and other activities are held in the CLC, the flexibility and technology of the space and how it is used will be documented and assessed.
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