05/14/2009
Barry L. Batzing, who has served on the SUNY Cortland faculty for 36 years, will retire on August 31. He has earned the designation of professor of biological sciences emeritus.
Batzing, a former Biological Sciences Department chair, was honored in 1981 with a SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching.
A native of Rochester, N.Y., Batzing specialized in microbiology during college, earning a bachelor of science from Cornell University and a master of science and doctorate from The Pennsylvania State University.
From 1971-73, he conducted postdoctoral investigations for the Biology Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Batzing joined SUNY Cortland in 1973 as an assistant professor in the Biological Sciences Department. He was promoted to associate professor in 1977 and to professor in 1984.
Batzing has taught a course in Microbiology and Human Disease for health majors and conducted classes in microbiology for biological sciences majors. He has offered the introductory Principles of Biology I class and Science and the Public, which is a writing-intensive General Education elective. He also taught a microbial ecology module for field biology at Raquette Lake, seminars in microbial ecology and immunology, and the Independent Study/Research in Biology course.
From 1981-82, Batzing returned to Oak Ridge National Laboratory to serve as a visiting scientist in the Environmental Sciences Division.
Since 1983, he has served as a summer session visiting professor in microbiology at Cornell University. SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry's Institute of Environmental Program Affairs named him an adjunct assistant professor in 1974.
In 1978, the National Science Foundation (NSF) appointed him as a panel reviewer for its NSF Instructional Scientific Equipment Program. From 1980-86, he served on the editorial board of Applied and Environmental Microbiology, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
Batzing wrote a textbook, Microbiology: An Introduction (Brooks/Cole, 2002), and co-authored with Paul J. VanDemark The Microbes: An Introduction to Their Nature and Importance (Benjamin/Cummings, 1987). He is the author of several journal articles on topics in his field.
His research and teaching has been supported by grants from the College, the SUNY Cortland Alumni Association, the NSF and the SUNY Research Foundation.
In 2007, he convened and co-directed a conference at SUNY Cortland on "Contemporary Issues in Sport-Related Injuries," which featured a keynote presentation by Bert Mandelbaum, M.D., a 1975 SUNY Cortland biology graduate who is team physician with the U.S. World Cup Soccer Team.
In 1984, he helped to organize and co-directed a College conference on the "Effects of Low Level Radioactivity," sponsored by the scientific research honor society Sigma Xi.
In 1975, Batzing co-directed a SUNY Conversations in the Disciplines Program Grant on "Microbiological Aspects of Ecology."
The Biological Sciences Department chair from 1991-94, he served on many department committees and advised the Biology Club. Batzing also served on many all-College committees and was the College's premedical advisor for 10 years.
A familiar sight as a marshall at Honors Convocation and Commencement, Batzing has represented the College at meetings, served as president and secretary-treasurer of the Sigma Xi Research Society, organized and spoke at academic seminars on campus, offered his speaking skills to continuing education programs and advised pre-major students.
He was a higher education specialist on a New York State Education Department site review team that evaluated academic programs at Alfred University in 1989 and also served on a SUNY review team of the SUNY New Paltz Biology Department in 2003.
A member of the Cortland County Board of Health since 2000, Batzing was commissioner on the City of Cortland Wastewater Treatment Board from 1987-1989 and secretary-treasurer for the Central New York Branch of the American Society for Microbiology from 1976-1981.
His professional affiliations also include membership in the American Society for Microbiology, the scientific research honor society Sigma Xi, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the interdisciplinary honor society Phi Kappa Phi.
He was on the board of Cortland Loaves and Fishes, a program to provide meals for the poor, from 1986-89 and served as vice president in 1988.
Batzing annually visits first graders at Barry Elementary School in Cortland, N.Y., to talk about microbiology and also gives community presentations on the subject of science and religion.
Batzing, of Cortland, N.Y., will continue to be active in his church and hopes to become more involved as a community volunteer. He and his wife, Diane Moyle Batzing '68, anticipate spending more time with their grandchildren. They have two grown children. Their son, Chad, is a podiatrist residing in Painted Post, N.Y. Their daughter, Janine, is a physical therapist at the Cortland Regional Medical Center's Outpatient Clinic.