It took some Zumba dancing, a few freeze pops, and a number of motivational speeches, but by the end of the twelve-hour event, Ithaca College’s Colleges Against Cancer annual Relay For Life honored those lost, supported those still struggling, and renewed the pledge to continue the fight.

Benjii Maust '14 came to Ithaca College and knew he'd have no problem finding a place within the college's friendly and active LGBT community. But he was surprised the college didn't have a drag scene. 

Senior Jamie Ocheske held a concert to raise money for a Long Island middle school music program affected by Hurricane Sandy. 

Spring is on its way, and as usual, Ithaca College students are doing it all. The latest issue of Fuse is jam packed with stories about Ithaca College students and alumni — all who are gaining hands-on experience inside and outside of the classroom, traveling the world, and learning what they love. 

Every year thousands of American college students pack their suitcases and head off on the adventure of their lives. In addition to studying abroad, Ithaca College students have the opportunity to earn credits and take advantage of internships away from South Hill through Ithaca’s own programs in New York City and Los Angeles.

Some college seniors don’t roll out of bed until 11 a.m. Not me—for the third day in a row, I am up in time for sunrise. It isn’t because I love getting up early. It’s because I need the extra hours to get everything done. My voicemail is full and my to-do list is endless. I am exhausted, but I love it. Such is the life of an event planner.

For athletic training major Chris Toone ’13, his entire worldview changed in 2010 when he studied abroad and visited poverty stricken Senase, a small village in Ghana.

When Luben Daniel ’12 left the U.S. Virgin Islands to study music at Ithaca College, he already had the perfect future job in mind: he wanted to return home to teach music.

From the time I could form a sentence and read a story on my own, I knew I wanted to be a writer. And after reading an article about global warming in eighth grade, I realized that I wanted to educate and inspire people through the written word. I wanted to write about the environment in a way that moved people.

I know I’ll never be a professional athlete, but sports have always been a huge part of my life—whether I was playing on the field or accompanying my dad to his various jobs in the industry. After I graduate from IC this semester, I hope to find a job in either sports sales or marketing, and my internship experience while at Ithaca has given me an incredible start. 

As a prospective student, Skott Freedman knew Ithaca College was the place for him within an hour of visiting the campus with his mother. He hadn’t even visited any other college or university before seeing IC.

How Ithaca's Premed Track Gets Future Doctors Ready

Have you ever dreamt of being the ultimate fighting champion? Ryan Ciotoli ’02 can train you to be one. The three-time all-American wrestler twice made it to the finals of the Division III NCAA tournament. After graduating from Ithaca with a degree in physical education, he stayed at IC as an assistant wrestling coach until 2008. While coaching at IC, Ciotoli developed a passion for mixed martial arts (MMA). He eventually began competing and later started Bombsquad, a team of local MMA fighters.

Jonathan Mulholland ’96 has the magical touch. After graduating with a B.S. in exercise science and earning his doctor of chiropractic from the Northwestern College of Chiropractic in Minnesota, Mulholland now treats athletes of all levels, including medal-winning Olympians from New Zealand. The chiropractor and strength and conditioning specialist has also treated members of the American bobsled and skeleton teams. 

Members of IC faculty are always sharing their knowledge, expertise, and research at conferences around the world. These are some of the faculty who have been traveling the globe recently:

Ithaca College alumni and faculty continue to prove that their talents are award-worthy. Several were nominated for Emmy Awards last year in the prime time and news and documentary categories.

Last semester, the chemistry department installed a single crystal X-ray diffractometer for students to use in the lab and for research. This state-of-the-art equipment will allow researchers to analyze the crystal structure and properties of cells and to fully determine the actual location of every tiny atom in a compound. By understanding the structure, the researcher can then make predictions about the properties and possible real-world applications of these materials.

Love museums and learning about art? IC’s new concentration in museum studies may be for you. Launched last fall by the Department of Art History, the concentration will feature traditional classes and frequent field trips.

A School of Business alumnus invested in the future of Ithaca students—literally.

This generous, anonymous donation will help create an investment track for finance students. It is also supporting a new hedge fund course that gives students the chance to manage a hedge fund with real money.

Students in S’Park: Igniting Your Future in Communications, a new course designed to inspire Park students’ educational experience, get to interact with some of the media industry’s heaviest hitters.

Right now in the United States, 48 million people lack health insurance; heart disease is the number one cause of death in adults. These are problems that need to be solved. The first step? Education.

Ithaca College is always abuzz with visitors who come to campus to share their expertise with students both in and out of the classroom. Here are a few recent ones: 

Students came together last November to share their new product ideas at Ithaca’s second annual Business Idea Competition. Four of 12 teams took top prizes. The members of each winning team received $5,000 for their business ideas or products. 

On Valentine's Day, it was no secret what Ithaca College students love — besides their friends, family, and significant others, of course. This February 14th, IC students celebrated the day and their love for their school by using the hashtag #IHeartIC in their tweets. 

After senior musical theatre major Joseph DePietro auditioned for Ithaca College’s production of Legally Blonde, he realized just how badly he wanted to land the part of Harvard law teaching assistant, Emmett Forrest.

 The American Institute for Economic Research recently ranked Ithaca, N.Y. the number one college town in the country. The town was also recently the recipient of “The Most Secure Place to Live” title by Farmers Insurance Group, one of the largest insurance groups in the country.

There were five of them -- identical plastic containers that appeared randomly in five different locations across campus on a Thursday morning, each holding a simple disposable camera and a note encouraging anyone who found it to “take some pictures of you and your friends.” But who would do such a thing? And who even used disposable cameras anymore?

Ithaca College is back in full swing and the South Hill is bustling with activity after a busy summer. In our new fall issue of Fuse, our student writers and photographers catch up with faculty who shared their research around the globe, IC graduates who found their dream jobs and started their own businesses, and students who gained real-world experience thanks to innovative class projects — plus much more!

This past summer I got to fulfill my own Olympic dreams when I interned at the 2012 Olympic Games. Growing up as the daughter of a multi-sport coach, I have always loved sports, even though my own athletic prowess was limited.

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes of an National Hockey League team? Thanks to the Ithaca College School of Business, I interned this past summer with the New York Islanders Hockey Club and learned the ins and outs of what happens off the ice. Officially I worked in corporate season ticket sales, but I ended up doing so much more. 

Ithaca College is now offering a nonbinding early action round of admission to students. Students who complete their application to Ithaca College by December 1 and select Early Action on their Common Application will be notified of an admission decision by February 1 and will have until May 1 to submit their enrollment deposit.

Ithaca College professors were quite the world travelers last summer as they presented their research and publications around the globe.

This past June, hundreds of low brass enthusiasts traveled to the 2012 International Tuba and Euphonium Conference in Linz, Austria, for a week of competitions, clinics, classes, and seminars. Among the hundreds there were four Ithaca College students. 

This semester, Ithaca College welcomes several visitors to share their insights and expertise with the campus community.

The Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology has launched a new pilot program aimed at helping nonverbal children, mainly those with autism, work on their communication skills.

New York City has always been a hub of international culture and commerce, and now Ithaca College students can experience the excitement while furthering their education.

Ithaca College’s intercollegiate athletics was chosen as one of the nation’s top 10 LGBT-friendly college sports programs, according to Campus Pride’s Out to Play Project. Campus Pride is a national organization that strives to create safe campus environments for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students.

With help from physics professors Matthew Price and Bruce Thompson, students Chris Stathis ’11 and Ivan Tso ’15 constructed the electronics for a new radio telescope, which now sits near the Clinton B. Ford Observatory on campus.

Ever since Luben Daniel ’12 first came to Ithaca College as a music education major and clarinet player, his goal was to return to his home on the island of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands to teach music.

Julie Levitt ’11 rocked the College’s blue and gold colors as an undergrad, but these days she’s seeing a lot more white.

Peanut butter and jelly. Tangerine. Sweet potato pie. They’re innovative flavors for doughnuts as it is, but to taste them as vegan sweet treats? Many would be in for a sweet surprise.

On my first day across the pond, I picked up a map of the Underground—the Tube, as Londoners call it—and set off to explore the city.

It’s strange that my inspiration to fight hunger started while flipping through CosmoGirl, an unlikely source for information on social activism.

However, what I unearthed in its pages inspired me so deeply that I couldn’t let it pass. In her opening editorial note, the magazine’s editor encouraged readers to serve on a humanitarian trip to Africa. Though I ultimately couldn’t go on the trip, my desire to educate myself about this type of work deepened.

The bright lights of New York City called to alumnus Matt Palmaccio when he graduated from Ithaca College in 2001. He packed his bags and headed for the Big Apple for a job with Mindshare, a media-planning agency with big-name clients like American Express, Nike, and Motorola. Today Palmaccio has another list of big names on his résumé, thanks to marketing jobs at magazine giants like Esquire, Seventeen, and, most recently, Details.

Even at the Olympics, I managed to have a “typical Ithaca experience.”

Athletes from all over the world hear the call of Olympic glory. And the ones from Ithaca are no exception. When Meghan Musnicki ’05 transferred to Ithaca College during her sophomore year, she joined the College’s rowing team and went on to win two NCAA trophies. Lately Musnicki’s been training in deeper waters: she has taken home the gold at the World Rowing Championships and more recently won the gold medal as part of the women’s eight at the 2012 Olympic Games.

It’s hard for any student going away to college for the first time, but it’s especially difficult to create that “home away from home” atmosphere when your home is more than 6,000 miles away.

Music was always a big part of Mike Severo’s life. He loved playing the drums. But when it came time to go to college, he wanted to pursue something that he felt would offer a little more stability for the future. The big question was what to study.

“At a lot of institutions, if you’re undeclared you have to find your own way, and it’s an arduous process,” Severo says. “At Ithaca, there’s a concentration on growing organically with the school.”

Jill Cadby changes lives for a living.

For most physical therapy students, landing a job at one of the country’s leading rehabilitation centers would be the ultimate career goal realized. For Jill Cadby, it’s her everyday reality. Thanks to the physical therapy program at Ithaca College, Cadby changes lives every day at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation.

Ithaca College's Community Picnic is typically a time when students, faculty, and new freshman gather after the Convocation ceremony to meet new people and enjoy a day off before classes begin in full swing. This year, sustainability was the theme, as IC's student organization Take Back the Tap encouraged the class of 2016 to start thinking differently about the way they drink water. The club handed out reusable water bottles at the picnic to show that drinking water from the tap is not only back in style — but healthy and more affordable too.