Ellen Percy Kraly: New Hand on the
Helm of Colgate’s Upstate Institute
Since January, Ellen Percy Kraly has spent almost a
month in Africa and a like amount of time this
summer in Australia.
Now, this Colgate geography professor is focusing
much of her time and attention on issues closer to
home … literally. As of a month or so ago, Kraly has
taken over the Upstate Institute, Colgate’s
innovative program to bring its resources –
especially the research capabilities of its faculty and
students – to bear on issues facing counties in and
around the Mohawk Valley. It’s a position Kraly is
pleased to hold, and one she said fits with her
philosophy as an educator.
“In almost all that I teach I get students out into the
community,” said Kraly, whose time in Africa was
spent with the Nobel Prize winning international
health care organization Doctors Without Borders.
“If they are to retain what they are learning, they
have to get their hands dirty. It puts theory into
practice.”
For example, Kraly, whose husband Scott is a
professor of psychology at Colgate, teaches U.S.
immigration policy. To connect with the community
outside of Colgate, Kraly and her students work
with the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for
Refugees.
Beyond helping her Colgate students learn practical
lessons, Kraly believes having them work in the
surrounding communities could have another long
term benefit. She hopes that as the students get to
know more about this region, a few may connect to
it and decide to stay, to work here after they
graduate.
Kraly said she will be teaching two classes a semester
and spending the rest of her time leading the
Upstate Institute, “building on what Jill (Tiefenthaler,
the founding director of the institute and economics
professor) has done.”
The institute’s Summer Field School is a good
example of how Colgate students can work in and
with community organizations to the benefit of all.
Eighteen students are working on projects with a
variety of organizations through the institute. These
range from one student working with two Madison
County villages to assess their sewer systems to
another helping establish a farmers’ market in a low-
income area of Albany.
Kraly said one of the projects about to get under
way for the institute this fall is a speakers series on
the topic of the New York Regional Interconnect,
Inc.’s proposed 400,000-volt electric transmission
line that would run through much of institute’s
service area. The goal is to bring in numerous
speakers to help citizens better understand the
numerous issues surrounding the controversial $1.62
billion project.
In the works, according to Kraly, is a symposium for
filmmakers across New York State.
For Kraly, projects such as these and the work she
and her geography students do with community
organizations and institutions are second nature to
her as a Colgate professor. This sort of regional
research “is very much in my bones, it makes me a
better person.”
Posted 2006.8.9
Helm of Colgate’s Upstate Institute
Since January, Ellen Percy Kraly has spent almost a
month in Africa and a like amount of time this
summer in Australia.
Now, this Colgate geography professor is focusing
much of her time and attention on issues closer to
home … literally. As of a month or so ago, Kraly has
taken over the Upstate Institute, Colgate’s
innovative program to bring its resources –
especially the research capabilities of its faculty and
students – to bear on issues facing counties in and
around the Mohawk Valley. It’s a position Kraly is
pleased to hold, and one she said fits with her
philosophy as an educator.
“In almost all that I teach I get students out into the
community,” said Kraly, whose time in Africa was
spent with the Nobel Prize winning international
health care organization Doctors Without Borders.
“If they are to retain what they are learning, they
have to get their hands dirty. It puts theory into
practice.”
For example, Kraly, whose husband Scott is a
professor of psychology at Colgate, teaches U.S.
immigration policy. To connect with the community
outside of Colgate, Kraly and her students work
with the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for
Refugees.
Beyond helping her Colgate students learn practical
lessons, Kraly believes having them work in the
surrounding communities could have another long
term benefit. She hopes that as the students get to
know more about this region, a few may connect to
it and decide to stay, to work here after they
graduate.
Kraly said she will be teaching two classes a semester
and spending the rest of her time leading the
Upstate Institute, “building on what Jill (Tiefenthaler,
the founding director of the institute and economics
professor) has done.”
The institute’s Summer Field School is a good
example of how Colgate students can work in and
with community organizations to the benefit of all.
Eighteen students are working on projects with a
variety of organizations through the institute. These
range from one student working with two Madison
County villages to assess their sewer systems to
another helping establish a farmers’ market in a low-
income area of Albany.
Kraly said one of the projects about to get under
way for the institute this fall is a speakers series on
the topic of the New York Regional Interconnect,
Inc.’s proposed 400,000-volt electric transmission
line that would run through much of institute’s
service area. The goal is to bring in numerous
speakers to help citizens better understand the
numerous issues surrounding the controversial $1.62
billion project.
In the works, according to Kraly, is a symposium for
filmmakers across New York State.
For Kraly, projects such as these and the work she
and her geography students do with community
organizations and institutions are second nature to
her as a Colgate professor. This sort of regional
research “is very much in my bones, it makes me a
better person.”
Posted 2006.8.9
Ellen Percy Kraly is the new
director of Colgate's Upstate
Institute.
Colgate photo
director of Colgate's Upstate
Institute.
Colgate photo