(SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Nov. 13, 2015) The Amy Stock Memorial Scholarship in Sustainability has been established by the Stock family and the Empire State College Foundation, in memory of Amy L. Stock, who died July 19, 2015, in Albany, at the age of 48, the victim of a drunk driver.

An adjunct lecturer and professor with SUNY Empire State College’s Center for Distance Learning for nearly a decade, she designed many of the courses she taught on ecology and the environment.

In 2008, Stock co-founded Sustainable Saratoga, a grassroots advocacy group established to educate people living in the greater Saratoga Springs community about the benefits of achieving environmental sustainability.

In reflecting on her life, the Stock family shared their thoughts with the college: “Whether Amy was composting, gardening, taking the bus, riding her bike or reusing plastic Ziploc bags, she lived her life in a sustainable way every day.

“She believed and demonstrated how one person could make a difference, which is why teaching and advocacy for environmental sustainability were such an important part of her life.

“Our hope for this scholarship is to allow Amy's legacy to live on through other young women who are just as passionate about sustainability and dedicated to protecting the environment as Amy was.”

“Amy’s untimely passing shocked the college community and we continue to mourn the loss of a respected colleague and a good friend to many at the college,” said Merodie A. Hancock, president of the college. “By establishing a scholarship in Amy’s name, we hope to begin the healing process with the Stock family and so many others whose lives she touched in the greater Saratoga and SUNY Empire communities. At the same time, this scholarship enables us to keep Amy in our thoughts and carry forward her commitment to sustainability and the environment we all share.”

Awards will be made to undergraduate female students with financial need, who are enrolled in a program in the sciences and who meet the foundation’s scholarship eligibility criteria.

Preference will be given to students who, as Stock did, demonstrate a commitment to bringing environmentally sustainable practices to their communities.

Special consideration will be given to students from underrepresented populations, such as those who were raised in single-parent homes, and are pursuing a degree in environmental sciences or studies.

Contributions are tax-deductible and may be sent to the Empire State College Foundation, attention Amy Stock Memorial Scholarship, 28 Union Ave., Saratoga Springs, N.Y., 12866.

Contributions may be made online at www.esc.edu/SupportESC.

In the “Questions or Comments” field, contributors must indicate that their gift is to be directed to the Amy Stock Scholarship. This field is located at the bottom of the online form, which can be found after clicking the “Make a Gift” button on the college’s webpage.

About Amy L. Stock

Raised in Gloversville, N.Y., in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, Stock developed a deep love of nature and the outdoors from her father, Arthur.

In a journal entry from 1998, she reflected on her first canoe trip at age 15: “My dad introduced me to canoeing in high school. That three-day canoe trip starting at Blue Mountain Lake was probably the first spiritual experience I had in nature. We stopped after paddling an hour, resting in a little cove of lily pads and reeds. In that hour, something very deep in my soul was touched. I had never known or seen the beauty of nature in such a way. My memory remains so clear; that water bathed my soul with a peace, calm and serenity I can never forget. To this day, my heart will always be at Blue Mountain Lake in the Adirondacks.”

Stock earned a B.S. in Biomedical Computing from the Rochester Institute of Technology and an M.A. in Environmental Studies from Evergreen State College, Olympia, Wash. She returned to the Capital Region in 2002 to be closer to her family.

As a leader of Sustainable Saratoga, she galvanized environmental experts and civic leaders and together they laid the foundation for a continually growing organization engaged on many fronts in the community.

She saw the collection of small victories advancing environmental sustainability as puzzle pieces coming together to create regenerative and resilient systems, which would meet people’s basic living needs, while minimizing their impact on the earth.

Stock’s efforts in environmental sustainability included creating urban community gardens, green spaces and accessible, effective public transportation.

She also was a freelance news and grant writer for Capital Roots, formerly Capital District Community Gardens, and other nonprofit environmental groups.

Her family and friends also said that she especially cherished her community garden plot in Capital Roots’ Ridgefield Park garden, 316 Partridge St., Albany, where she loved growing her own food alongside members of her diverse community and, that with her bright, focused intellect and spirit of accomplishment, she illuminated environmental and sustainable practices in the greater Saratoga and Capital District Regions.

In the words of her friends, the community lost “… a powerhouse for good.”

About SUNY Empire State College

Empire State College, the nontraditional, open college of the SUNY system, educates more than 20,000 students worldwide at eight international sites, more than 35 locations in the state of New York, online, as well as face to face and through a blend of both, at the associate, bachelor’s and master’s levels.

The average age of an undergraduate student at the college is 35 and graduate students’ average age is 40.

Most Empire State College students are working adults. Many are raising families and meeting civic commitments in the communities where they live, while studying part time.

In addition to awarding credit for prior college-level learning, the college pairs each undergraduate student with a faculty mentor who supports that student throughout his or her college career.

Working with their mentors, students design an individual degree program and engage in guided independent study and course work onsite, online or through a combination of both, which provides the flexibility for students to choose where, when and how to learn.

Students have the opportunity to enroll five times during the year.

The college’s 77,000 alumni are active in their communities as entrepreneurs, politicians, business professionals, artists, nonprofit agency employees, teachers, veterans and active military, union members and more.

The college was first established in 1971 by the SUNY Board of Trustees with the encouragement of the late Ernest L. Boyer, chancellor of the SUNY system from 1970 to 1977. Boyer also served as United States commissioner of education during the administration of President Jimmy Carter and then as president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

More information about the college is available at www.esc.edu.

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Media contact: David Henahan, director of communications

518-587-2100, ext. 2918

David.Henahan@esc.edu

518-321-7038 (after hours and on weekends)