SUNY Geneseo Student Joel Dodge Wins SUNY's 2011 Benjamin and David Scharps Award

SUNY Geneseo Student Joel Dodge Wins SUNY’s 2011 Benjamin and David Scharps Award

For Immediate Release: Friday, May 13, 2011

Contact: Morgan Hook; morgan.hook@suny.edu; 518-320-1311

Albany – State University of New York Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher today announced that SUNY Geneseo Student Joel Dodge is the recipient of the 2011 Benjamin and David Scharps Award, which is awarded each year as the result of a gift accepted by the SUNY Board of Trustees under the will of Hannah S. Hirschhorn.

For the competition, SUNY students submit an essay on a timely topic such as this year’s, “Peer-to-Peer File Sharing.” Students must demonstrate their analytical skills in a legal opinion essay of approximately 2,000 words. Students are asked to identify the legal issues and defend a position in a scholarly manner. The essay must be carefully reasoned, well researched, authoritatively documented, and precisely written.

“Joel’s essay presents a comprehensive and thorough examination of peer-to-peer file sharing on college campuses,” said Chancellor Zimpher. “We are pleased to be able to recognize his hard work with the 2011 Benjamin and David Scharps Award.”    

Dodge’s essay is available online. He is an International Relations and Economics major who plans to attend law school after graduation. Dodge will receive a check for $1,500 and a certificate of award from SUNY. 

Competition for the award is open to SUNY students in their junior and senior year. Each campus president appoints a single faculty or staff coordinator who endorses the essays submitted, indicating that he or she has read it and considers it of high quality and representative of the best at that campus. The associate provost at SUNY System, in consultation with the Selection Committee, then recommends the winner.

About the State University of New York

The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive university system in the United States, educating more than 467,000 students in more than 7,500 degree and certificate programs on 64 campuses with more than 2.5 million alumni around the globe. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunity, visit www.suny.edu 

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