More honors on the SUNY Broome campus this week.  The Binghamton campus on Upper Front Street will honor George Higginbottom, emeritus dean of Liberal Arts, on Friday, Oct. 24 in Decker 201.

The reception, which includes music and refreshments, runs from 4 to 7 p.m., with the program beginning at 5 p.m.  A portrait of Higginbottom by Assistant Professor David P. Zeggert will be unveiled.

The popular educator started out teaching history and government at the high school level from 1965 to 1968, and then taught history, government and philosophy at SUNY Broome from 1971 until 2005. The chair of the History and Government department from 1972 to 1975, he served as the dean of Liberal Arts from 1975 to 2002. He retired from SUNY Broome in August 2005.

An All-American hockey player at Harvard, he carried over his love of the game to SUNY Broome, where he started the first men’s hockey team in 1975. He continued as hockey coach, with the assistance of Harold Sunshine and David Michalak, until 1986. Off campus, the dean also was active in the community, serving on local boards that included the Broome County Arena.

In the 1980s, he initiated a campus-wide discussion of general education that resulted in a major reformulation of the general education program at the college. This program attracted national attention and was selected as a model program by several national publications. As a result of this activity, the dean was sought after as a consultant and committee member at both the state and the national levels. He is also the author of several publications on general/civic education.

Congratulations to George Higginbottom on his well deserved honor.

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