ONEONTA — Three seniors from the State University College at Oneonta were among 31 students from SUNY colleges of arts and sciences to receive the 1999-2000 SUNY Chancellor's Awards for Student Excellence.

Elizabeth Koenig, a sociology major from Oneonta; Michael Oakes, a physics/3-2 engineering and mathematics major from Summit; and Erin McCulley, an anthropology major from Davenport, received the award, which is presented to SUNY students who gain national or international recognition.

Koenig is one of three recipients nationwide of the 1999/2000 American Humanics/Shell Oil Foundation scholarship. As deputy director of the college's Center for Social Responsibility and Community, she helped build the college's unique American Humanics certificate program, which prepares students for careers in youth and human services organizations.

An adult learner, Koenig received national and international recognition a year ago. She was honored by American Humanics/Shell Oil on the same day that she was selected as one of only 12 candidates nationwide to participate in an international exchange program through the Nichibei Pathfinding Opportunity Program of the Japan-U.S. Community Education and Exchange.

Koenig participated last summer in the program, designed to build and nurture intercultural coalitions among nonprofit organizations. She completed a monthlong internship in Japan in the Tokyo Volunteer Action Center.

Among her many activities in the local community, Koenig is a board member of the Orpheus Theatre and Opportunities for Otsego, which has honored her as an outstanding volunteer and an outstanding board member.

Oakes, a member of two national honor societies, has compiled an impressive record in academics and community service during his time at SUCO. In the 1999 spring semester, Oakes was inducted into Sigma Pi Sigma, the national physics honor society. In the fall, he was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa, the national leadership honor society.

Oakes has appeared on the dean's list every semester since he entered the college. He has also twice made the provost's list. He received the Susan Sutton Smith Student Award as the physics and astronomy department's outstanding student in 1998 and 1999. In the 1998-99 academic year, he received four scholarships: a Wal-Mart Foundation Scholarship, the Charles T.P. Wang Award in Physics, an Alumni Association Centennial Scholarship and an Augusta Lovenguth Presidential Scholarship.

In addition to his classwork, Oakes has engaged in research. Working with a group of physics majors, he developed a proposal for a student-faculty research grant on magnetism under the supervision of Sunil Labroo of the physics and astronomy department. Oakes and Labroo recently presented the results of the research at the American Physical Society conference in Minnesota.

In December 1999, Oakes participated in the 60th William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, an annual nationwide contest for outstanding students of mathematics.

In the Summit community, Oakes has organized religious classes for teen-agers and adults in local congregations. He has also trained teachers as a member of Sunday School Presidency and served as a member of the Quorum Presidency and the Priesthood Executive Committee. For the Boy Scouts of America, he has mentored young people as a merit badge counselor.

McCulley is the first American student to design and paint a mural in the Mexican state of Chiapas.

In January 1999, she accompanied several other students and two faculty members on a four-week tour of the mountains and rain forests of Chiapas during which they experienced firsthand the problems plaguing the poverty-ridden region. Through a service-learning effort known as the Chiapas Project, McCulley worked with the Mayan people of Chiapas to help address some of their health and education-related problems.

Moved by her experience, McCulley applied for and received a student-faculty research grant from the college to study "Empowerment and Voice: Mural Art in Chiapas." She explored the history and tradition of mural art and its ties to cultural and political expression. During her first visit to Chiapas, she met Mayan mural artist Antun Kojtoin, who served as her mentor for the project.

In June 1999, McCulley returned to Chiapas, contacted Kojtoin, and began her work on the mural at the Casa de Cultura, a cultural center. With technical assistance from Kojtoin, she designed and painted the colorful work of art depicting a Mayan woman at work in the impoverished Mexican community.

McCulley began her career at the college in 1995 as a part-time student. She began studying full time in 1997, and has gone on to compile a strong academic record. Last spring, she served as a teaching assistant in an anthropology class.

Both Oakes and McCulley conducted their research through the college's Student/Faculty Grant Program for Research and Creative Activity. The program enables students to conduct in-depth research in a major area of interest under the guidance of a faculty advisor. The grants program is funded by the SUCO Foundation's unrestricted endowment and administered by the college's Committee on Research.

Koenig, Oakes and McCulley will receive their awards on May 2 at a reception in Albany hosted by SUNY Chancellor Robert L. King. In the three years that the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence has been presented, eight SUCO students have been named as recipients.