Staff

The Dryden Center for Community is coordinated by our Executive Director, Stephanie Ortolano. She has been a member of the Dryden community for over 20 years and lives in the Village of Freeville. Stephanie comes to this position with a variety of skills. As a church musician since her early teens, she was the Music Director for the past 14 years at First Unitarian Society of Ithaca and continues to play on Sunday mornings for the Freeville United Methodist Church. Stephanie has worked at the Southworth Library for the past six years and is a familiar face to the regular patrons. At the library, she runs programs for all ages, including preschool storytime and the monthly ukulele session. Stephanie is involved with music in the Dryden Central School District, accompanying various school ensembles and individuals as well as a regular member of the pit band for the high school musicals. Stephanie is also an accompanist with Ithaca Suzuki Music Education as well as a Suzuki parent.

In addition to her musical endeavors, Stephanie has been involved in many community activities in the Village of Freeville, as a founder of the Freeville Community Garden and Community Compost Collaborative, on various Village boards and she is currently serving as Deputy Mayor on the Freeville Board of Trustees.

Stephanie earned her B.S. in Biology and Society from Cornell's College of Human Ecology and has a M.S. in World Hunger, Malnutrition and Development and a PhD in Food Policy and Applied Nutrition from Tufts University. During her graduate studies, Stephanie spent significant time in Senegal and Bangladesh and traveled to many other countries around the world, working with small non-governmental organizations as well as governments and larger organizations working on issues of food security and micronutrient nutrition.

Stephanie and her husband, Keith Jenkins, live in the Village of Freeville with their three children.