Distinguished Alumni

Giovanni Barnes was a student at the College through 2018, and remains connected to the college through a scholarship created in honor of her cousin. She studied communications and has put her skills to use by providing a voice to promote healing and wellness in her community. During times of crisis in her community, Barnes coordinates events of healing where people can come out and share their feelings. She spearheads Youth Connection, a support group for siblings, cousins, and friends who have lost a loved one due to gun violence and COVID-19.

Tabitha Scoville is a member of the class of 2009 and received her bachelor’s degree from Binghamton University in 2011. She has worked at the Cortland County Historical Society for nearly a decade, serving as the Executive director for the last three years. Scoville was nominated for the award by four different people, who all cited her devotion to the study of and the preservation of history. According to her nominators, she has not only led the Historical Society through the challenging pandemic, but taken it to new heights, in large part due to her skillful balancing of competing priorities and her knack for building consensus.

Kaitlin Tagliaferri graduated with a degree in broadcast production in 2017. She earned her bachelors from SUNY Oswego in 2019 and her masters from Excelsior College in 2021. She is currently the Media and Design Specialist at Raymond Corporation in Greene, New York. Her nominators called her a positive light in the company who is always looking for more ways to improve processes and grow professionally. In the community Tagliaferri has volunteered as a Board Member for The Tina Fund, a nonprofit organization providing grants to help with the costs facing people with breast cancer. 

Marci Calabretta Canico-Bello is a 2009 graduate with two degrees: creative writing and liberal arts and sciences: general studies. She went on to earn dual bachelor’s degrees in English and creative writing from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and her MFA in creative writing, poetry, from Florida International University. She has won several national literary awards and has worked in various positions promoting culture and literacy, including serving as a poetry mentor for high school students, a book fair program coordinator, a magazine poetry editor, and a founding co-director of the Adoptee Literary Festival in South Florida.

She was nominated for her community involvement, starting with her time at Tompkins Cortland when she was a leader of the Writers’ Guild and a member of Phi Theta Kappa. That commitment to her community expanded when she continued her education and began her professional career in Florida, where she has been involved with bringing poetry to as many people as possible by organizing and managing a program that bring authors to public school classrooms and working as manager of a program that distributes 150,000 free books to children in the Miami community.

Crystal Lyon is a 2005 graduate of the graphic design program. She earned her BFA from SUNY Cortland and her MFA from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. She has taught art and art history at SUNY Cortland and continues to teach and serve as a tutor for art and communications classes at Tompkins Cortland. She has also worked at Cortland Repertory Theatre in several capacities, including helping coordinate a program of youth art workshops and collaborating on Ghosts in the Park and Stories in the Park.

Lyon coordinated and painted the Black Lives Matter street mural in Cortland, planned the Cortland County Steampunk Festival and several art exhibitions, and was the artist, project planner and manager for the Cortland Corset Company mural and restoration. These projects were among those highlighted in Lyon’s nominations, with several supporters pointing out the extensive work she has done to help the Cortland community as well as students at Tompkins Cortland.

Jason Sidle graduated in December 1994 with a hotel technology degree. He followed that with a bachelor’s degree in hotel and resort management from the Rochester Institute of Technology and his MBA from the University of Phoenix. After several years in the industry, working for a variety of companies from international hotel chains to local restaurants, he was one of the original employees of Coltivare, Tompkins Cortland Community College’s farm-to-bistro restaurant in Ithaca. Shortly after being hired as General Manager in 2014 he was promoted to Director of Operations, a position he has held since.

Sidle was nominated for his dedication to Coltivare, the College, and the community. Under his leadership the restaurant has become a valuable community partner, hosting community cooking classes and a variety of charity events. His enthusiasm for teaching and sharing his experience has helped both the staff of the restaurant and students in the various culinary programs that are housed at Coltivare.

F. Michael Catalano is a 1979 graduate of the criminal justice program and is the Chief of Police for the City of Cortland. He was nominated for his dedication, growth, and commitment to his career as a police officer and the community. 

Over the course of a 40-year career in law enforcement that started as a correction officer in the county jail, Catalano has served as a patrolman, sergeant, detective, lieutenant, deputy chief, and, since 2009, chief of the Cortland Police. During his tenure are chief the department earned its first Certificate of Accreditation from the New York State Law Enforcement Agency Accreditation Council for excellence and professionalism. Other highlights include the creation of both a Community Oriented Police Officer position and a School Resource Officer dedicated to the Cortland Enlarged City School District. 

Catalano has a bachelor’s degree from Empire State College and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy.

Julie Fairchild Niederhofer is a 2010 graduate of the nursing program. She is the Sampling Services Nurse Manager for Cayuga Health Systems. Her nomination cited her skilled and compassionate care, noting she serves as a source of consistency, strength, knowledge, and positivity to her colleagues

Niederhofer has a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Keuka College, and has worked as a Cancer Nurse Navigator at Guthrie Cortland Medical Center, a Care Coordinator in the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Program of Surgical Associates of CMA, and as a Registered Nurse at Cayuga Medical Center. Earlier this year she was part of a team from Cayuga Health to spend a month in New York City assisting with the pandemic response by working in an intensive care unit.