JCC Alumni Association To Honor Three Past Graduates
POSTED: May 17, 2008
Kurtis A. Fletcher, Jennifer Brinkley Powell and Lanny R. Sheffield have been selected to receive the 2008 Distinguished Alumnus Award during Jamestown Community College’s Jamestown Campus commencement Sunday.
Presented by the JCC Alumni Association, the award recognizes graduates who have distinguished themselves in their careers and/or in service to their communities.
The ceremony begins at 10 a.m. in the Physical Education Complex.
Dr. Fletcher, a physics professor at the State University of New York at Geneseo, graduated from JCC in 1984 with Associate in Science degrees in engineering science and applied science and mathematics, both with high honors. He earned a bachelor’s degree with highest honors at Rochester Institute of Technology and master’s degree and doctorate at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Dr. Fletcher has taught at SUNY Geneseo since 1993 and has served as chair of the college’s physics and astronomy department since 2001. A recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, Dr. Fletcher was awarded a Geneseo Alumni Association supported professorship from 2001 to 2004. He has authored 17 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals, mostly in the area of low energy nuclear physics and inertial confinement fusion.
Dr. Fletcher lives in Geneseo with his wife, Leah, and their sons Ethan and Kyle.
Ms. Powell, a 1982 graduate of JCC with an A.S. in business management, earned a bachelor’s degree at Cornell University and a juris doctor at SUNY at Buffalo.
From 1989 to 1991, Ms. Powell was a JAGC officer in the U.S. Navy, serving as a prosecutor, defense counsel, and staff judge advocate for the Naval Submarine Base in New London, Conn. After leaving the Navy, she was a staff attorney for the New York State Mental Health Hygiene Legal Service.
Ms. Powell has been an assistant regional attorney for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in Syracuse since 1992. She is a member of the Central New York Women’s Bar Association board of directors, a volunteer attorney for Vera House Legal Clinic, and a congregation pianist at Fabius United Methodist Church.
Ms. Powell lives in Fabius with her husband, Judson, and their daughters Sofia and Carly.
Sheffield, a partner in the Bly, Sheffield, Bargar, Pillittieri & MacCallum law firm in Jamestown, earned an A.A.S. at JCC in 1970 and a bachelor’s degree at University of Buffalo. Sheffield, who has practiced law for more than 30 years, completed a New York state accredited four-year law clerkship program before passing the New York State Bar.
Sheffield, a member of the Jamestown Bar Association and New York State Bar Association, has served as a law guardian for hundreds of children on court appointed matters for more than 20 years.
Sheffield has served on the boards of directors of Little Theater of Jamestown, Epworth Christ United Methodist Church, Christ First United Methodist Church, Town Club, and Moonbrook Country Club.
Sheffield and his wife, Marie, have two daughters, Tiffany Shaw and Crystal Sheffield, and a granddaughter, Elisabeth Shaw.
