BINGHAMTON, NY – Dennis McCabe, Patricia Cummings and Linda Biemer have been appointed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to serve on the Binghamton University Council, replacing three members whose terms have expired.
McCabe replaces Nathaalie Maxwell Carey and will serve until June 30, 2018; Cummings replaces John Spring and will serve until June 30, 2019; and Biemer replaces Brian Prew and will serve until June 30, 2017. The new members will begin their terms immediately.
McCabe earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame and his juris doctor degree from St. Mary’s University Law School in San Antonio, Texas. A past partner with Levene, Gouldin & Thompson, LLP, he retired in December 2011, after serving for 27 years with the New York State Attorney General’s office, the last 17 of which he served as the assistant attorney general in charge of the Binghamton Regional Office, which covers an 11-county region throughout upstate New York.
A member of the New York State Bar Association and the Broome County Bar Association, McCabe has served on the Broome County Board of Elections, and as deputy mayor then mayor of Johnson City. His community and volunteer experience includes service on the Broome County Office for Aging Advisory Council, the St. James Parish Pastoral Council, the Broome County Catholic Social Services Board, the Broome County Family Violence Prevention Council and the Harpur – now Binghamton University – Forum. He is also past president of the Binghamton Breakfast Rotary Club.
A partner at Leonard & Cummings, LLP, Cummings was board certified in nuclear medicine, radiology and diagnostic medical sonography technology and worked in that field before returning to school to become an attorney. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Ottawa University and her juris doctor degree from Syracuse University Law School. She is a member of the Broome County Bar Association, the New York State Trial Lawyers Association and the New York State Bar Association. She was a member of the New York State Bar House of Delegates and is a Fellow of the New York State Bar Foundation.
Cummings is a member of the Binghamton Rotary Club and has served as a member of the Board of Directors for the United Way of Broome County, the Advisory Council to the former School of Education and Human Development at Binghamton University, the Broome Community College Foundation, Inc., the Binghamton University Athletic Club, the Tri-Cities Opera, and the Binghamton Local Development Corporation. She also volunteered for the New York Metropolitan UNICEF Committee.
Recognized with the Girl Scouts - Indian Hills Council, Woman of Distinction Award in 2010, Cummings was recently appointed chair of the New York State, Third Department, Independent Judicial Election Qualification Commissions, after serving as a member since 2007. She was also appointed in 2011 to the Southern Tier Regional Economic Development Council by Gov. Cuomo and serves on its executive committee.
Biemer, dean of the former School of Education and Human Development at Binghamton University from 1988 to 1999, and professor emerita, has also taught at SUNY Cortland, Hartwick College and Cortland City Schools. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Elmira College, her master’s degree in education from SUNY Cortland and her doctorate in social sciences and history from the Maxwell School of Public Affairs at Syracuse University.
Presenter of over 180 papers and more than 100 workshops at international, national, regional, state and local conferences, she has published five books, including three social studies/history textbooks, one college text and one history text, as well as numerous papers in international, national and state academic journals.
Biemer has been an International Review of Teacher Education Reviewer since 2005, served in several roles with the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), on the SUNY Provost's Advisory Council for Teacher Education, the New York State Professional Practices and Standards Board, as chair of the NYSED Commissioner’s Advisory Council on Teacher Education, and as president of the NY American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education among other national, state and local boards and committees.
She has been president or a member of various local boards, including Binghamton Rotary, Binghamton, and WSKG, and has affiliations with the Binghamton Philharmonic, YWCA, Urban League, Children's Home, Broome County Historical Society, Good Shepherd Fairview Home, League of Women Voters, Klee Foundation, Broome Community College Foundation, Phelps Mansion Museum, Advisory Council for the Graduate School of Education at Binghamton University and the Civic Education Advisory Board at Broome Community College. She was recognized with the Girl Scouts - Indian Hills Council, Woman of Distinction Award in 2000.
The council, comprised of 10 unpaid members – nine appointed by the governor and the tenth, a student, selected by his or her peers – supervises certain University operations, including reviewing budget requests, making regulations for student conduct, supervising student housing and safety, naming buildings and grounds, and reviewing plans for improvement of the faculty, staff and physical plant.
