05/20/2009
Vaughn A. Copey of Camillus, N.Y., who has taught at SUNY Cortland since 1980, will retire on Aug. 31. He has been designated lecturer emeritus of English.
Copey grew up in Auburn, N.Y. He obtained an Associate of Arts in Liberal Arts from Cayuga County Community College in Auburn, N.Y., before earning a Bachelor of Arts in Writing and Literature and a Master of Arts in Language and Literature from SUNY Oswego.
He began his career in 1974 teaching parttime at Cayuga County Community College. Since 1980, has been employed as an adjunct instructor of English by Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, N.Y. He also has served as an adjunct instructor of English at Syracuse University, LeMoyne College, Cazenovia College and Mohawk Valley Community College. During the 1990s, he operated Professional Image, a small business specializing in resumé writing, desktop publishing, Web design, writing and editing.
At SUNY Cortland, Copey taught basic, intermediate and advanced-level writing courses. He was among the first educators in SUNY Cortland's English Department to experiment with and use technology-assisted instruction. From the early 1980s to the present, he has used course management systems as vehicles for implementing and teaching his courses.
He served as the official faculty trainer for WebCT instruction at Cortland for two years. In 1997, the English Department appointed him as coordinator for computer-mediated instruction. That position evolved into the department's technology coordinator around the early 1990s, a role that encompassed serving as department webmaster, scheduling the computer lab, maintaining department distribution lists, producing the annual department newsletter and creating or assisting in departmental handbooks and manuals. Copey provided technology support to staff, served as the liaison between the English Department and Academic Computing Services and conducted research and development for current trends in technology-assisted instruction.
Within the past two semesters, he piloted two new courses that are prototypes for the English Department's newly reconstituted Composition Program, to be implemented in 2010. These courses place greater emphasis on multi-modal writing over a cross-section of inter-disciplinary themes and modes.
Copey also served on the English Department's Blue Ribbon Committee, which was instrumental in bringing about the program changes.
He served as editor of the literary magazine, Pen & Brush, from 1971-72, and co-wrote and edited The Cayuga County Community College Research Manual in 1974. Copey is the author of a number of poems and short fiction stories and is a member of the Modern Language Association of America, the United University Professions, the New York Council of Teachers of English, the New York Educators Association, the Associated Community College Faculties, the New York Association of Junior Colleges and the National Association of Secretarial Services.
He plans to continue teaching parttime at Onondaga Community College and may restart his home business.