SUNY Canton Announces Spring Semester Microcourse Monday Lineup

The spring 2024 semester will kick off with a special Microcourse Monday session on the upcoming solar eclipse.

Totality in Canton will be presented by St. Lawrence University Henry Priest Professor of Physics Aileen O’Donoghue at 3 p.m. Monday, Jan. 22. All Microcourse Monday presentations are free and open to the public and held in Dana Hall Room 228. The college also presents them live using Collaborate.

O’Donoghue’s presentation will include both solar and lunar eclipses and why they are a distinctive phenomenon. She will also relay details about the total solar eclipse, where the Moon will pass between the Sun and the Earth, completely blocking the face of the Sun, which will occur in North America on April 8.

“Even if it’s cloudy it will get very dark and it will feel very weird,” O’Donoghue said. “One has a visceral reaction to these things from the more ancient portions of our brains plus modern intellectual reaction to the fact that the 100-mile-wide shadow of the Moon is ripping across the face of the planet at about 2,500 mph and we happen to be in the way, so we get to experience dark at mid-day.

According to NASA, the total solar eclipse will begin over the South Pacific Ocean. The first location in continental North America that will experience totality is Mexico’s Pacific coast. The path of the eclipse continues from Mexico, entering the United States in Texas, and traveling through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

Upcoming Microcourse Monday presentations include:

1. Faculty Library Resources presented by Southworth Library Director Anna Ching-Yu Wong at noon Jan. 29.
2. Tai Chi Movements also with Southworth Library Director Anna Ching-Yu Wong, at 3 p.m. Jan 29.
3. The History of Substance Abuse presented by Bryn Donovan of the Northern Area Health Education Center at 3 p.m. Feb. 5.
4. Internal Combustion Engines Vs. Electric Vehicles with Automotive Technology Associate Professor Brandon J. Baldwin at 3 p.m. Feb. 12.
5. Engaging Advocacy: Mechanisms for Social Change with Social Sciences Lecturer Christina Leshko at 3 p.m. Feb 19.
6. Air Source Heat Pumps with Canino School of Engineering Technology Dean Michael J. Newtown at 3 p.m. Feb. 26.
7. Identity in the Digital Age with Interim School of Business and Liberal Arts Dean Kirk K. Jones at 3 p.m. March 4.
8. Ground Source Heat Pumps with Canino School of Engineering Technology Dean Michael J. Newtown at 3 p.m. March 18
9. Write Your Own Obituary with Kate Favaro from St. Lawrence County Hospice at 3 p.m. March 25.
10. Micro-Aggressions with Associate Professor Emily Hamilton-Honey and Director of Diversity Lashawanda Ingram at 3 p.m. April 1. Both presenters serve as the college’s co-chief diversity officers.
11. Sustainable Living and Building with Senior Lecturer Cullen Haskins at 3 p.m. April 15.
12. Stress(less) Summer with Director of Wellbeing Programs & Initiatives Farren C. Lobdell at 3 p.m. April 22.
13. Clinical and Rural Health Research in the North Country with Health Care Management Senior Lecturer Jennie H. Flanagan at 3 p.m. April 29.
14. Journal Writing and Sound Bath Experience with Director of International Programs Erin Lassial at 3 p.m. May 6.

Originally designed as an extension of the college’s Microcredential initiative, Micro Course Mondays are attracting a following among students, faculty, staff and community members. Microcourses are offered through SUNY Canton’s Center for Workforce, Community and Industry Partnerships.