Lucent fall 2013

lucent The Alumni Magazine of American International College

Fall 2013 | Volume 6 | Issue 2

the

New and the Balance AIC Grads Help an Established Company Break New Ground

Fall 2013 | 1

From the President

There is no better place to be during autumn in New England than on a college campus.

I think this is especially true of AIC. At this time of year, our new and returning students bring an energy and optimism to our community that reminds us of the meaningfulness of our mission and the urgency with which we must undertake it.

Students come to AIC for transformative experiences, and as an institution—as trustees, faculty, administrators, and staff—we have taken great strides toward enhancing what the AIC experience is and can be. All our efforts in this regard are guided by a strategic plan that defines clear goals for improving the experience of undergraduates, expanding our academic offerings, and adding to our faculty, staff, and infrastructure so we can accommodate future growth.

Talk of growth and expansion can often sound abstract. So consider just a few of the recent milestones on AIC’s road to becoming the institution we aspire to be: • This semester sees the addition of new undergraduate majors in theater arts and public health, and a new graduate program in creative writing.

• We have improved the physical campus through extensive renovations to our admissions office, the campus police department, and other academic buildings, including the addition of a new iPad lab.

• We installed a state-of-the art scoreboard at Abdow Field, among other improvements to our athletic facilities.

These enhancements, while individually necessary, will work together to help current students thrive and to attract prospective students to AIC for years to come. They are investments that pay off now and later.

And of course we hope that you, our valued alumni, will see these developments and be proud of your alma mater. It was inspiring and energizing to see so many of you at our recent homecoming celebrations! Your continued commitment to the College helps keep us rooted in our proud legacy while motivating us to pursue a vision that will transform future generations of students for years to come.

Enjoy what is left of autumn, and have safe and happy holidays.

Vince Maniaci, president

2 | Lucent

lucent EDITORIAL BOARD Joel Anderson Heather Cahill Timothy Grader Craig Greenberg Lynn Saunders CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Chelsie Field Thomas Friedmann Craig Greenberg Scott Whitney SENIOR WRITER/EDITOR Joel Anderson ART DIRECTOR/ PROJECT MANAGER Lynn Saunders ON THE COVER: John Wilson ’71, Kathy Hennessey ’87, and Dave Crosier ’73. Photo by Sandra Costello Photography

inside this issue Fall 2013 | Volume 6 | Issue 2

departments

features

2

Campus Update

6

30

Off the Record

10

32

Class Notes

14

36

In Memoriam

22 Fighters Jeff Haddad ’11,’12 and Chris Cobbett ’99 make

Find out about the latest developments, on campus and off

Body Art: AIC’s Physical Therapy Department

Check on your fellow alumni and see what they’re up to

Bold Eagle

How Jerry Azzinaro ’81 worked his way to the NFL

The Wide World of Sports

Professor Mei-Lin Yeh-Lane brings culture(s) to the classroom

The New and the Balance

AIC grads help an established company break new ground

their way in MMA

28

What have you been up to?

Join AIC’s Alumni Facebook and LinkedIn pages, and follow us on Twitter. Feel free to e-mail us at alumni@aic.edu. Please send any comments or suggestions about this publication to editor@aic.edu. We’d love to hear from you!

A Football Family Dynasty... and Destiny For one Yellow Jacket, his present is his father’s past

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| campus update |

A New Board Chair Passing the Torch to Dr. Peter Bittel After six years of exemplary service as chair of the AIC Board of Trustees, Frank Colaccino ’73, HON ’12 stepped down in July when his second term expired. He was replaced by Peter Bittel, EdD, HON ’10, whom the board elected unanimously.

Colaccino is the former president and chief executive officer of Dairy Mart Convenience Stores, Inc. In 1994, he left that company and founded The Colvest Group, Ltd., a real estate development firm. Colaccino joined the AIC board in 1998, and his surplus of experience and business acumen have been valuable assets to the College ever since. Of his time as chair, he says, “I was honored to serve my alma mater. AIC is a special place for me and for a great many others.

I am proud of what the board and the College were able to accomplish over the last six years.” Throughout his two terms as chair, Colaccino helped AIC create new revenue streams, stabilize its finances, and grow academic offerings, particularly at the graduate level.

He will remain on the board in the role of vice chair.

Bittel is the founder and chairman of The Futures HealthCore, LLC, a national provider of special education diagnostic, clinical, and program management services. He has more than thirty-five years of clinical and executive leadership experience in the areas of special education, rehabilitation, and

developmental disabilities, and is a strong advocate for people with handicapping conditions.

A graduate of St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York, he holds several academic credentials, including a master’s degree in history, a master’s degree in communication disorders, and a doctorate in educational management. He has taught on the primary, secondary, college, and graduate school levels, holding several faculty positions including adjunct faculty at the University of Massachusetts School of Public Health. Bittel has presented widely on topics in both education and healthcare and is the author of several articles and co-editor of Transforming Special Education Practices: A Primer for School Administrators and Policy Makers, (R&L Education, 2012).

Having served on AIC’s board since 2008, Bittel says he is optimistic about his term as chair and continuing the work Colaccino started. “Frank worked tirelessly on behalf of the College,” Bittel says. “He set a great example through his leadership and hard work. Of course, there will be new challenges. The landscape of higher education is changing and, as a board, it is our duty to keep AIC competitive in this evolving marketplace. I look forward to leading a board that will help the College thrive for years to come.” n

Constitution Day Discourse Race, Civil Rights, and the Economy The civil rights battle in post-Civil War America is as much about the distribution of wealth as it is about race. That was the message from author and historian Dr. Heather Cox Richardson at the annual Constitution Day program at American International College.

In her lecture, “Race, Labor and Citizenship: The Post-Civil War Roots of Modern America,” the Boston College history professor explained to the audience that for four generations much of the opposition to granting equal rights has been tied to economics. “As far back as 1870, opponents, 2 | Lucent

particularly white Southerners, claimed that civil rights legislation would take money from taxpayers. In fact, President Andrew Johnson vetoed the Freedman Bureau Act and the Civil Rights Act on the grounds that they take tax dollars from white people and use them to help African Americans, which is essentially a redistribution of wealth,” she said.

Students, faculty, and community members gathered for the event, Wednesday, September 18 in Breck Hall. The lecture was cosponsored by the AIC Honors Program and the Cultural Affairs Committee. n

| campus update |

Fall Softball Reunion An AIC Sports Family Sticks Together

Alumni and students at the annual Alumni Softball game on October 12. Alumni, coached by former coaches Judy Groff and Bill Bedard, played the current team.

clean

Jocks & Their^ Socks by the numbers

30 loads of laundry per day

360

pairs of socks are assigned to athletes annually

keep our athletes in clean gear*

1800

dollars in laundry detergent spent each year by the athletic department.

* using two extra large capacity washers and three dryers Fall 2013 | 3

| campus update |

From Our Faculty Preparing Psych Students for the Job Market Sandra Sego and Anne Stuart recently presented “What Can I Do as a Psych Major? Career Exploration in an Introduction to the Major Course” at the Atlantic Coast Teaching of Psychology conference in Red Bank, New Jersey. The psychology professors shared activities they use in their Foundations of Psychology course to help students explore career options.

be explored in more depth. Students are required to present the information about one career option as a poster to their classmates and the other as an oral presentation to their classmates. These activities allow students to not only learn about many different career options that they might not otherwise investigate, but also develop their oral and written communication skills,” she says

“Many students do not see how a bachelor’s degree in psychology can lead to a professional career and may feel unqualified for the job market upon graduation,” Sego says. “In an attempt to strengthen student preparedness for their careers, we have built career exploration into our introduction to the major course.”

Students also get exposure to career experts and others who help them gain practical experience in the career field. One requirement of the course is for students to attend the talks given by the seniors completing their practicum experiences.

Stuart added that they designed active learning exercises, many of which require students to explore the education, licensure, and experience requirements for several careers. “Over the course of the semester, students narrow their focus on two career options to

“These presentations demonstrate a wide variety of careers where psychology is used. Guest lectures by individuals in areas such as management or education also allow students to understand that psychology can be applied in many careers,” Sego says. n

“Net”-Working: Social Media on the Job Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are hugely popular for connecting with friends and relatives, but Allison Sullivan, an assistant professor of occupational therapy, says using social media for academic purposes is just as important.

Sullivan recently presented a poster at the 2013 Occupational Therapy Australia 25th National Conference & Exhibition in Adelaide, Australia, an international gathering of academics and occupational therapists. Her poster, “Social Media in the Contemporary CPD Climate,” was aimed at informing clinicians and scholars about the benefits of using a variety of social networking tools for continuing professional development (CPD).

“I think social media presents a fascinating opportunity to promote the growth of occupational therapy, and what is understood about networking on it is still an emerging phenomenon,” Sullivan says.

Sullivan said the purpose of this poster was to 4 | Lucent

demonstrate how social media (specifically Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and blogs) provide mechanisms for clinicians to obtain valid CPD opportunities.

It identified a range of CPD activities that are available for therapists and was designed to empower occupational therapists to overcome barriers to engagement.

Sullivan says she got to know the other poster authors, who are clinicians and academics in Australia and New Zealand, through engaging with them in these various social media venues, including professional groups on Facebook and LinkedIn and hashtagged professional Twitter chats. “When they invited me to contribute to the poster for the annual occupational therapy conference in Australia, I happily signed on.

I was eager to have my first opportunity to work on a scholarly project involving international collaboration on a clinical topic of great interest to me. It is really just about doing what I love with people with whom I enjoy working,” Sullivan says. n

| campus update | The World After War: Professor Maulucci's New Book The American military forces in the Federal Republic of Germany after World War II played an important role. In a new book edited by AIC history professor Dr. Thomas W. Maulucci Jr., essays by fifteen different experts offer a comprehensive look at the role of American military forces in Germany, not just in the NATO military alliance but also in German– American relations as a whole.

The book, GIs in Germany: The Social, Economic, Cultural, and Political History of the American Military Presence, was edited by Maulucci and Dr. Detlef Junker, professor of history at the University of Heidelberg, Germany.

Maulucci says that around twenty-two million American servicemen and their dependents have been stationed in Germany since WWII, and their presence has contributed to one of the few successful American attempts at democratic nation-building in the twentieth century. “In the social and cultural realm, the GIs helped to Americanize Germany, and their own German experiences influenced the US civil rights movement and soldier radicalism,” Maulucci says.

The book has already received positive reviews from a variety of educators, both in the United States and abroad, including from Wolfgang Krieger, professor of modern history at Marburg University, Germany.

“This book marks a great leap forward in our knowledge of a vast and important subject that is still missing from most history books on the Cold War. As someone who has worked in this area, off and on, for some thirty years I can assure you that this volume makes a most welcome contribution to a whole range of political, cultural, social, and, above all, military aspects of US forces stationed in Germany since 1945,” Krieger says.

A Worcester resident, Maulucci is an associate professor and chair of the history department and the international studies program. He received his bachelor’s degree from Canisius College and his master's and doctoral degrees from Yale University.

After earning his BA, he was a Fulbright scholar for two semesters in Saarbrücken, Germany, and did much of his dissertation research as a German Education Exchange Service Scholar in Bonn.

The book is published by Cambridge University Press as part of its Publications of the German Historical Institute series. n

A Note to Readers A Closer Look at Lucent Jean Cannon Wright ’55 wrote in to express concern about the cost to AIC of producing Lucent. In case other alumni are similarly curious, we are happy to report that while the national average cost to produce an issue of an alumni magazine is $1.00 per issue, the average cost of Lucent is only about $0.74 per issue.

We strive to produce a quality alumni magazine on a very tight budget, and we are always examining how other forms of media can be used to reduce the cost of communicating with alumni. The use of social media has of course radically increased our capacity in this regard (so

please follow “American International College Alumni” on Facebook and Twitter!), and we plan to expand our digital abilities even more in the future.

However, while our social media presence is growing, in our last alumni survey, respondents said that Lucent was the tool by which they learned most about the College.

Our goal for the magazine is to create an informed and engaged alumni body, and we are very proud of the fact that each issue of Lucent receives more feedback than the one that preceded it. n Fall 2013 | 5

How Jerry Azzinaro ’81, MA ’85 Worked His Way to the NFL

photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Eagles

By Joel Anderson

6 | Lucent

Fall 2013 | 7

here’s just no getting around it: Jerry Azzinaro is big time. But the new assistant head coach and defensive line coach of the Philadelphia Eagles is quick to provide a measure of perspective when asked to talk about some of the proudest moments of a successful coaching career that spans thirty-two years and includes playing a key role in getting the University of Oregon to the 2010 BCS National Championship game.

“Well, you try to be proud of your work everywhere,” he says. “But, you know, I went 0–12 at Duke when I was the defensive coordinator there in 2006, and I got fired. I wouldn’t say I was proud of that, but you try to approach every day the same way. And of course I look back on my days at AIC with a lot of pride.”

This humility from such a high-profile coach may surprise those who are unfamiliar with how Azzinaro made his coaching bones rising through the ranks of college football, but his day-by-day approach seems to be at the heart of a philosophy that has served him well since the AIC days he remembers so fondly.

Azzinaro was a linebacker for the Yellow Jackets from 1978–80, and his senior year he led the team in tackles. In 1982, he rejoined the team on the sidelines as a graduate assistant coach, launching a career that would, incrementally, take him up through the ranks and across all divisions of college football.

Following his stint as AIC’s graduate assistant, Azzinaro took a job at Westfield State coaching running backs. He moved on from there to take over as head coach at Western New England. In 1987, Azzinaro returned to his alma mater, crediting then head coach Alex Rotsko with giving him his “first full-time job” as defensive coordinator. Rotsko, a Western Massachusetts coaching legend (he once led Longmeadow High School to forty-seven consecutive wins), was a great mentor to the young Azzinaro. “Alex taught me how to coach,” Azzinaro says matter of factly.

8 | Lucent

Azzinaro’s first full-time gig at AIC launched a slew of others. After leaving AIC in 1987, he coached for a number of programs, including at UMass Amherst twice, Boston College, Maine, Syracuse, Duke, New Hampshire, and Marshall. He arrived at Oregon in 2009, where, working under Chip Kelly, he developed the Ducks’ defensive line from a struggling, understaffed unit into a juggernaut.

Azzinaro’s workman-like progression up the coaching ladder feels increasingly rare in today’s NFL, where many top-tier coaches are either former standout college or professional players, or are young quoteunquote prodigies (think Josh McDaniels of the New England Patriots) whose youth and seeming technical prowess may appeal to NFL front offices. When asked about his preparedness for the jump to the NFL, Azzinaro says he knows being with the Eagles will be an adjustment, even from the big-time college football scene he thrived in at Oregon. But he also explains that the step-by-step progress of his career has been, in a way, the best preparation he could have asked for.

“Over the years,” Azzinaro says, “since being a Division III coach and then a Division II coach and then a Division IAA coach and then a Division I coach—each of those prepared me for the next step. I don’t know if you can ever be prepared fully, but your experiences are the things that you draw upon.”

One facet of the game that will be new terrain for Azzinaro is the notoriously colicky Philadelphia fan base. Philly fans’ reputation for souring on teams, players, and coaches—even early in a season—is the stuff of legend. Is Azzinaro ready for it?

“When you do what we do,” he explains, “you want to be surrounded by passionate people. People were passionate at Oregon, and I’m really going to enjoy the passion of the people here in Philadelphia. That’s part of the reason I enjoy this so much.”

His savvy answer, delivered without hesitation, reveals that Azzinaro is as thoughtful with his words as with

his D-line strategy. He would probably thank AIC for this as well.

“AIC was a place that taught me how to learn, how to go to school, how to understand concepts,” he says. “I had some really good professors. They helped me a great deal.” Azzinaro singles out Dr. Richard Sprinthall of the psychology department as having had an especially profound impact on his intellectual development.

In fact, Azzinaro says, there was a time when he didn’t even consider coaching as a possible career path. “I had that great experience with Dr. Sprinthall, and I really thought about becoming a psychologist and working with young people. That was my initial plan,” he says.

Azzinaro has clearly followed his own advice, and now he’s getting his chance—thirty-plus years in the making—to put his best up against the best competition he’s ever faced. And it’s worth noting that one of his toughest opponents this season shares an AIC bond with him. Kevin Gilbride, the highly regarded offensive coordinator for the NFC East divisional rival New York Giants, was the linebackers coach at AIC when Azzinaro was a player.

When asked about whether he’s stayed in touch with Gilbride over the years, Azzinaro responds with a whole lot of respect—and tact. “I’m not much of a stay-in-touch person. But it’s always great to see him when we do cross paths,” he says. “When I was a player in ’78 he was my position coach.

He was an influence on me. He’s an offensive genius, and he’s established a great legacy with the Giants, and they’ll be a challenge for us this year.”

“The biggest thing is – you have to focus on the everyday.”

Odds are, Azzinaro would have been great in that field, too. In fact, when asked what advice he would pass down to current AIC student-athletes who might want to pursue a career in coaching or athletics, he sounds every bit like the psychologist he once aspired to be.

“The biggest thing is—you have to focus on the everyday,” he says he would tell young athletes. “I know that might sound like a cliché, but a lot of times, young people get caught up with looking down the road, and sometimes that frustrates them.

You have to go day by day and understand how each experience is going to carry you to the next experience. Your academic career and your sports career, they’re all money in the bank and you can draw on those experiences, but you can’t rush yourself.

You can’t say, ‘OK, I’m on first base, how do I get to home plate?’ You have to say, ‘OK, I’ll do the best I can on first base and hopefully I’ll get to second base, and then I’ll do the best I can there.’ ”

In the teams’ first meeting on October 6, the Eagles got the best of the Giants, 36–21. It was a close game until the fourth quarter, when the Eagles defense stepped up and pressured Giants quarterback Eli Manning into throwing three interceptions.

In their second matchup of the season on October 27, the Giants and Gilbride got their revenge in a 15–7 victory.

Both squads have struggled more than predicted this season, but (at the time Lucent went to press), they were each still in contention to win the division. But if Azzinaro has his way, his linemen probably aren’t looking down the road to divisional titles or playoff berths. Instead they’re probably following their coach’s lead and working on the little things, one day—and one snap—at a time. n

Fall 2013 | 9

10 | Lucent

The Wide World of Sports

Professor Mei-Lin Yeh-Lane Brings Culture(s) to the Classroom

by Scott Whitney

Fall 2013 | 11

"

Sport

is a universal language,"

observed former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan. “It can bring people together, no matter what their origin, background, religious beliefs, or economic status.”

As the secretary general spoke those words in 2004 at UN headquarters, Mei-Lin Yeh-Lane was giving them life nearly 8,000 miles away. A sport management graduate of the National Taiwan Sport University, she had spent more than twelve years preparing Taiwanese athletes to compete at every level. Among her many memories of that time, YehLane recalls working with Taiwanese rower Wang Ming-Hui as he made his Olympic debut in the Athenian games. “I was working with the Chinese Taipei Rowing Federation at the time, and Ming-Hui was the first Taiwanese rower to reach the Olympic level,” she recalled. “He was a track and field athlete for many years, and had just switched to rowing two years before I got a chance to work with him. It was a really cool experience.”

12 | Lucent

worked with coaches at many levels, including high school, to identify athletes who were qualified to train nationally and internationally,” said Yeh-Lane.

She remembers her years working and studying in Taiwan’s capital city of Taipei as rewarding but stressful. “The culture there requires that you take care of your academics first—and then you are allowed to enjoy the rest,” she said. “I remember my teachers at school telling me, ‘You have to study harder, and if you want to have fun…well, wait until you are older.’ ”

Though her work was focused on preparing others to reach their goals, Yeh-Lane was training for a career in her own right—a career that would ultimately bring her to the classrooms of American International College.

According to Yeh-Lane, the value placed on ambition in Taiwan has a significant impact on how that country’s athletes train. She explains that this ethos can rocket an athlete to the top of his or her sport, but also spell long-term trouble for their career.

“When you see international competitions, Taiwanese are almost always somewhere in the top three. They train hard at a very young age and really fast forward their careers,” she said. “But, they train too young and too quickly, and get injured often. It’s starting to happen in America, also.”

Play Hard, Work Harder During her time in Taiwan’s sports management industry, Yeh-Lane was instrumental in identifying athletes with exceptional talent, like Ming-Hui, and guiding them to the next step in their career. “We

Go West In 2005, Yeh-Lane began to aspire to broader and more far-flung pastures, traveling from Taiwan to the United States as a college exchange student. However, shortly into her stay, Yeh-Lane realized that she

wanted to finish her education in America and pursue teaching at the college level, a lifelong ambition.

After completing her doctoral work, Yeh-Lane came to AIC as an adjunct professor in 2011. She found in the College’s faculty and student body a warm and inviting community, and felt that the sports and management program was one in which she could leave her mark. “Sports and recreation management is a fairly new department here,” she acknowledged.

“That gives me a lot of space to do what I think is best for students.”

In that vein, Yeh-Lane and her colleagues have focused their efforts on bringing valuable internship opportunities to AIC’s sports and recreation management students. Additionally, her students enjoy real-world experiences such as annual visits with the Boston Red Sox front office team at Fenway Park. “Each year, they get a chance to meet with officials from the organization and get insider information regarding professional sports management,” she said. “It’s a really cool experience for all of us.”

Students of the World For Yeh-Lane, providing her students with a full background in sports and recreation management means placing as much emphasis on cultural awareness as she does good athletic practices. “To succeed in this industry, you have to have a global sensibility,” she explained. “For example, if you’re communicating with a trainer from China, you need to know that the Chinese use both hands when giving someone their business card. It’s a very polite exchange.”

Though too modest to admit it, Yeh-Lane is uniquely qualified to bring an international perspective to her students. “I try to give them a sense for how different cultures approach the world of athletics,” she said.

And Yeh-Lane doesn’t draw on her experiences alone in achieving that objective. “There are so many international students at AIC; I try to let them broaden the perspectives of students who may not have had the opportunity to speak to someone of a different culture.”

In the classroom, Yeh-Lane emphasizes good interpersonal skills and cultural sensitivity as crucial

for working in the global workplace. “Communication skills are one of the most important things,” she said.

“You’re going to be dealing with people from all backgrounds in this field, and you don’t want to say something that offends them culturally.”

The rationale behind educating students to be global citizens goes beyond a belief in cultural competency.

Yeh-Lane explains that it also makes good business sense. Increasingly, American teams are recruiting international players not just for their skill, but to expand their franchise to that player’s fan base back home. “When you hire an international player like Jeremy Lin, you can generate global interest in your team and bring in international sponsorships,” said Yeh-Lane. “We have a lot of good discussions in class about that hometown boy phenomenon.”

In addition to teaching a global perspective to sports, Yeh-Lane challenges her students to think deeply about the most pressing issues in contemporary athletics. “We talk about performance enhancing drugs, which has obviously been in the news a lot lately, as well as student athletes. Should they be considered as employees or just students playing a sport?

That one starts some great classroom conversation.”

Nonetheless, Yeh-Lane seems most at home when putting sports in an international Students and professors of the Sports and Recreation context. In fact, Management program on the Red Sox infield. her sense of cultural diplomacy kicks in when asked about her favorite teams. “I used to support the Yankees,” she began, her speech becoming more measured, “because they had a Taiwanese pitcher, but they ditched him.

So now I’m supporting the Red Sox.” She falls silent and then laughs nervously. “But you don’t need to quote me on that. That topic can get a little sensitive on campus.” Clearly, Yeh-Lane understands the finer points of sport diplomacy, a skill that is sure to serve her—and her students—well. n Fall 2013 | 13

the

New and the Balance

AIC Grads Help an Established Company Break New Ground

photos by Sandra Costello Photography

by Joel Anderson

John Wilson ’71 at the New Balance factory in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

14 | Lucent

Fall 2013 | 15

History Improves Itself

New Balance’s Lawrence, Massachusetts factory is impossible to miss. It’s located in the old Ayer Mill building, whose twenty-foot, four-sided clock tower is a world-historical architectural marvel (its clock’s hands are only six inches shorter than Big Ben’s). The old mill looms castle-like over the Merrimack River, just south of Duck Bridge, almost in the exact geographic center of Lawrence, a town whose location on the river was the sole reason it was founded there in the 1840s (so the Essex Company could build a dam on it that would provide hydropower to the mills the company planned to develop). In this sense, it’s entirely accurate to say that the city of Lawrence was conceived from the outset as a place where Americans could be put to work to mass produce things that other Americans invented so other Americans could buy them. It’s a story, a mythic one, of the type of American ingenuity and progress you probably learned about in Social Studies and American Civics classes.

But the story of manufacturing progress in Lawrence is also the story of a different kind of progress. When the Lawrence factories were first built, the economic concerns of their owners tended to outweigh other considerations, such as for workers’ safety and quality of life. Many of the city’s textile mills were dangerous places and workers were frequently injured. In 1860, for example, the Pemberton Mill collapsed, killing 145 employees and gravely injuring hundreds more, a tragedy that resulted in demands for safer working conditions. In 1912, thousands of Lawrence mill workers went on strike, and their efforts eventually resulted in safety regulations being codified into law.

But the gains were, in some ways, bittersweet.

people and money to Lawrence, and sets an example for what ethical, profitable American manufacturing can look like—what the original Lawrence companies tried and failed. It’s almost enough, in fact, to give one hope that even in sour economic and political times, things might eventually be looking up. That’s a lot to lay at the feet (no pun intended) of one shoe company, but New Balance doesn’t seem the type to shy away from challenges. After all, it knows it can rely on its employees to rise to the occasion.

Success Stories

The reality is that most American employees are not happy with their current jobs. In fact, things are so bad that a recent Gallup poll found that almost seventy percent of American workers are either “not engaged” or are “actively disengaged” from their work.

And according to a 2012 report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute, the average American worker stays with a company for only five years before moving on to a new employer. These are sentiments and statistics to which John Wilson ’71 probably can’t even begin to relate.

After graduating from AIC, freshly minted business degree in hand, Wilson went to Boston for a series of interviews and ended up taking a position with New Balance—it’s the first and only company he’s ever worked for. Forty-two years later, the executive vice president of manufacturing for the behemoth shoe and athletic-equipment maker is still extraordinarily clear about why he took the job and never left. “I

Working conditions eventually improved all over the country, but as many mid-sized American cities learned in the decades after World War II, decreases in demand for certain types of products, competition from foreign companies, and increases in the cheap labor so readily available outside the States resulted in massive manufacturing closures or companies moving their operations overseas. Lawrence, like so many other cities, suffered devastating losses as businesses and then citizens moved out (Lawrence lost almost twenty thousand residents from 1950 to 1980).

Given this historical context, it’s more than fitting that New Balance now occupies the old Ayer Mill and today does so admirably—it brings jobs and 16 | Lucent

From left to right: Wilson, Hennessey, and Crosier on the New Balance factory floor.

connected with the product and I connected with the people. It was a family environment,” he says. “And I thought I could learn a lot.”

Wilson isn’t romanticizing the past when he describes his early days with New Balance as familial—he was one of six employees working for a company that did about $176,000 in sales annually. And he certainly wasn’t wrong about the opportunity for learning more. When New Balance’s current owner and chairman, James ( Jim) Davis, bought the company in 1972, Wilson stayed on and has, over the course of his tenure, helped revolutionize the way the company approaches assembly-line manufacturing. Early in his time at New Balance, for example, it took days for a single shoe to be wholly manufactured; today, a complete shoe gets made every three hours. “When I started, we finished about thirty pairs of shoes a day,” Wilson recalls. “This year we’ll approach, worldwide, about sixty million pairs through our owned and partner factories.”

Under Davis’ leadership the company has grown into one of the most well-recognized athletic brands in the world. New Balance now employs over four thousand people globally (at multiple office locations and five owned factories in the US and one in the UK), and in 2012 the company racked up almost $2.4 billion in sales. All of which is to say that, from the outside, the company couldn’t look more different than the small, close-knit business that initially attracted the young Wilson. When asked what it’s been like to see a company grow from an honest-togoodness mom-and-pop shop into a world leader, Wilson expresses genuine surprise at the narrative that’s unfolded. “I never envisioned the company would grow to be this large,” he says.

And as for how he managed to stay on top of such staggering advances in manufacturing technology, not to mention being personally responsible for (according to New Balance’s corporate website) “two domestic warehouses, six domestic factories, and the production of millions of pairs of shoes each year,” his reply is similarly straightforward. “No one day was ever the same,” he says. “I had to be adaptive and use the resources I had to get things done.”

Even a brief tour of the New Balance factory in Lawrence is enough to gain a profound appreciation for the type of resources the company has accumulated since Davis took over, and a quick lap

“I never envisioned the company would grow to be this large.” around the production floor reveals the strategy and technology Wilson’s made it his life’s work to refine. It’s also clear, however, that when Wilson talks about the company’s resources he’s referring every bit as much to the New Balance employees (whom the company inclusively calls associates) as he is to the technology that keeps the place humming. The value the company places on its employees makes the workplace feel, despite its global stature, like the family business Wilson started at. Adding to that family feeling is the happy discovery he made a few years ago that he shares an AIC connection with two other New Balance associates.

Still A Family Affair

Dave Crosier ’73, has been the executive vice president of New Balance’s value chain since he joined the company in 2009. For those unfamiliar with the term value chain, often referred to in industry-speak as the supply chain, Crosier is responsible for managing and streamlining the vast and intricate network of the company’s worldwide operations. He tracks and strategizes around a jaw-dropping number of variables, including New Balance’s supplies of raw material, the shipment of these materials from around the world to New Balance factories, demand for New Balance products, and even the weather (seriously). But like most truly accomplished individuals, Crosier has a gift for boiling down his job to what’s most essential about it. “I build product and get it to a customer,” he says.

“Now, there’s a lot in between those lines, but I try to simplify it like that.”

If Crosier’s job—his modest simplification of it aside—sounds like a harrowing, all-encompassing, and borderline-overwhelming responsibility, that’s because it is. “Lots of things can go wrong in the supply chain,” he explains. “You can have a transportation provider that has trouble, weather Fall 2013 | 17

conditions, raw material supply issues because of something as simple as a power outage. You just have to have a plan for when things go wrong.”

Planning seems like an egregious understatement for what Crosier does for New Balance every day, so it’s a good thing he’s no novice. After graduating from AIC, Crosier went to work for the high-tech company Digital Equipment Corporation. There he cut his operational teeth and made what he describes as his “first big run in industry.” Before taking his current position with New Balance, he worked for Sealed Air Corporation, the company that invented Bubble Wrap. He managed their supply chain, too—no small task for a corporation that employed thirteen thousand workers at 115 locations worldwide.

So why the move to New Balance after already excelling at the type of work he’s clearly passionate about? For Crosier, the answer is easy: “The values of Jim and Anne Davis and their commitment to manufacturing in the United States.”

Crosier says that the Davises (Anne, Jim’s wife, is vice chairman and executive vice president of administration) and the values they built New Balance around are vital to every single facet of the company. For the Davises, this means making quality products in the United States, employing thousands of people, and treating them well.

“They’ve been very successful,” Crosier says of the Davises. “But they give back. They give back to employees, to the community, to causes that help people live better and healthier lifestyles.” He says that the Davises’ generosity cascades down through the company, noting that people who come to New Balance work especially hard because of the example the Davises set.

18 | Lucent

That its associates are treated well is a fact the company can support with numbers. Brendan Melly, a plant manager at the Lawrence factory, explains it like this: “It’s really unique. Our turnover rate here is less than one percent. Our average seniority on the assembly line is thirteen years. We have some associates that have been here for thirty-three years.

It’s really attributable to the company environment.

There’s a loyalty from Jim and Anne Davis to keep manufacturing jobs here in the United States, and that loyalty goes back from the associates.”

So what, exactly, is the Davises’ secret? How can they make products in the United States—New Balance is the only major US company that makes athletic shoes stateside, by the way—treat workers well, and still stay competitive in the global marketplace? According to Crosier, it comes back to commitment to a singular vision. “It’s a private company,” he says. “They can take a longer view on investments—the company doesn’t have to answer quarterly to Wall Street as public companies do. This helps us avoid short-term decision making that could hurt us. We can invest in the longer term.”

People and Passion

Opportunities for growth and investing in the long term are part of what have kept Kathy Hennessey ’87 at New Balance since 2001. “I’ve always believed that you’ll be fulfilled in your work if you’re passionate about what you’re doing. I was attracted to New Balance initially because of athletics,” says the former Yellow Jacket softball and basketball player. “But when I got here, I was quick to learn that the culture of the company was something special. Jim and Anne and the people they believed in were special. As you learn and grow with a company, there’s a sense of entrepreneurship—it allows people to grow at a great rate—if they’re willing.”

Hennessey started in the company’s customer service division but is now New Balance’s director of merchandising and speed team, a position that requires her to facilitate the multi-phased transition of shoes leaving factories and getting purchased by consumers the world over. She advises the company about which of its product lines should go to which markets and to which retailers, but she also monitors market behavior so she can relay levels of demand back to the manufacturing side of the company.

As with Wilson’s and Crosier’s jobs, Hennessey’s mandate sounds complex. After all, helping millions of pairs of shoes find homes is no small chore, but she insists her passion for her work far outweighs any difficulties. In fact, when asked what advice she would give to AIC students and alumni who might like to work for a world-class company like New Balance, she preaches what she’s practiced. “First of all you have to be passionate,” she says. “The rest seems to come along. Find something you love. Sometimes people don’t chase the thing they love—whether for monetary reasons or something else—but if you find something you really enjoy and are passionate about, everything else falls in place.”

“You’ll be fulfilled in your work if you’re passionate about what you’re doing.”

Wilson and Crosier agree with Hennessey’s assessment of what young job seekers should aim for, but they all also acknowledge the importance of starting out with a solid foundation. And while they’ve clearly blazed their own trails at New Balance, the threesome is quick to credit their alma mater with instilling in them many of the basics that have helped them become so successful.

Hennessey says of AIC that she’s grateful for “the expertise of the faculty as it related to the real business world,” and that she also enjoyed the campus’ size and intimacy as much as the classes themselves.

“It’s a small community,” she says of AIC. “I also look at New Balance as a small community. In a small community you have to learn how to behave, how to operate, and how to work collectively.”

Wilson echoes this sentiment. “The faculty were interested and invested in what we were doing.

You could talk to them,” he says. Crosier fondly recalls this aspect of AIC as well. “The professors were always available. It was a very personalized experience,” he says.

That Wilson, Crosier, and Hennessey all value this “personalized experience” ends up feeling like less and less of a coincidence the more you learn about them and about New Balance’s core company values, the first of which is “total customer satisfaction.” After all, how can you provide true satisfaction to a customer (or to anyone, for that matter) without in some way personalizing the experience?

New Balance achieves this level of personalization in many ways, but the most important one is clearly its commitment to manufacturing in the United States. Because, at the end of the day, what’s more personal than buying a shoe made just down the road by people with whom you might go out to dinner or have a beer? The company knows this, too. In fact, it believes that American consumers are so attracted to buying products manufactured in the United States that its most recent advertising campaign, called, simply, “The Makers,” features New Balance employees instead of actors.

That New Balance is so invested in its employees that it advertises the people who make their products along with the products themselves says a lot about how and why the Davises have been so successful.

They’ve remained committed to their values and to their employees, and in return, their employees (their associates) have committed their creativity, passion, and integrity to helping New Balance thrive in a marketplace that constantly demands newer, better, more innovative products. It all turns out to be something of a rather poetic paradox, in fact: New Balance grows and succeeds the more it stays rooted to the Davises’ oldest and firmest principles.

And how does all this sit with the people—with the John Wilsons and Dave Crosiers and Kathy Hennesseys—who walk through the doors of New Balance factories every day?

“We’re proud of what we do,” says Wilson.

Of that, of course, there was never any doubt. n

Fall 2013 | 19

photos by Debra Shea

Homecom

20 | Lucent

ming 2013

Fall 2013 | 21

Jeff Haddad ’11, MS ’12 and Chris Cobbett ’99 Make Their Way in MMA

by Thomas Friedmann

Jeff Haddad and his championship belt.

22 | Lucent

photo by Sandra Costello Photography

Fighters

s Fall 2013 | 23

game with a stranger. In order to prepare for the game, you exercise for hours each day, drop a few pants sizes, and sign a

waiver of your rights.

On the day of the match, you wake with your heart racing. Moving through a frenzied crowd, you make your way to a steel cage and step inside. Now you stand across from your challenger, locking eyes in a tacit acknowledgment of what is to come. The goal of the game: to assault your opponent until he/she is knocked unconscious, or surrenders. Your bare feet feel that the mat is damp, likely from the disinfectant used to clean the blood and sweat from the last two players.

The door closes behind you, and locks; there is no handle from the inside.

This is mixed martial arts competitive fighting, or MMA—a full-contact combat sport. And American International College graduates Chris Cobbett and Jeff Emil Haddad are two contenders who know what it means to face these sobering moments. “I can only explain it as extreme fear and focus,” describes Haddad. “The rational mind is pleading to leave the cage.” Haddad is an undefeated 4-0 MMA Bantamweight Champion who hopes to be world MMA champion in his weight class. Cobbett, the winner of two international grappling competitions, overruled his own rational mind when he agreed to make his debut MMA fight at thirty-eight, an age beyond what is considered within one’s prime fighting years. “It was a dream come true from start to finish,” Cobbett says. But he also adds, “That being said, it's a serious gut-check when they lock that door and the ref says ‘fight.’ ” The confidence that allows these fighters to stay in the ring is in part due to the training they received at their alma mater.

24 | Lucent

Before they were MMA fighters, Cobbett and Haddad were AIC Yellow Jackets, sweating in headlocks down on the mats of the Henry A. Butova Gymnasium. “I trained with some amazing athletes,” Cobbett recalls. “I would never be the wrestler that I was and am if not for their coaching.” Cobbett trained under retired Olympic wrestler Anibal Nieves, and his team captain, Joe Pistone, an NCAA Division II All-American. A decade later, Haddad worked with Assistant Coach Willie Hilton, another talented All-American wrestler with whom Haddad continues to train. The time spent with talented AIC coaches resulted in success. Cobbett was a two-time freestyle wrestling state champion, and a three-time state place winner. Haddad placed in every NCAA Division II tournament, and set the AIC record for the most consecutive wins in a season—a twenty-four-match streak. Both Cobbett and Haddad were team captains, and both earned the Most Outstanding Wrestler award in the Northeast-10 conference.

For Haddad, wrestling was a conduit to pursue two passions that seem oppositional, but come together in an interesting balance—MMA fighting, and occupational therapy. Having earned both a bachelor’s in occupational science and a master’s in occupational therapy at AIC, Haddad now spends much of his time helping people recover from injury. In an interview with Western Mass MMA, Haddad explains, “There is nothing more rewarding than helping someone who is in desperate need of help. MMA is a selfish endeavor.

Occupational therapy is a way to fulfill the need to return to humanity.”

For his part, after graduating from AIC with a bachelor’s in history and education, Cobbett admits he lost his athleticism for a time, “playing a game called get fat and lazy.” When he made the choice to get into shape again, he found Central Maine Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (CMBJJ). After training for only two-anda-half years under owner Travis Wells, Cobbett earned a North American Grappling Association (NAGA) world title, and won an International Brazilian JiuJitsu (IBJJF) Pan-American Championship. Before long, Cobbett found himself teaching professional fighters to grapple. Though he liked training others, he did have one major reservation. “At the end of the day, I was coaching athletes to fight in MMA and I had never been in the cage myself.”

top photos by Russ Dillingham, Sun Journal, Lewiston, ME; bottom photo by Zack Lynch - MMAphotography.com

Imagine that you’ve agreed to play a

The Teacher Becomes the Student When Cobbett was asked to make his MMA debut, he wondered if he was pushing his luck. His opponent, James Cameron, was a younger fighter who had already been in the MMA ring twice before. “I said, ‘Why not? Thirtyeight seems like a great time to get in a cage match in front of four thousand people. Insert sarcasm,” Cobbett jokes. The event was the largest MMA bout in history, a thirty-match fight card put on by North East Fights (NEF) in Lewiston, Maine. Conditioning for ten weeks at CMBJJ, Cobbett dropped 40 pounds, and weighed in at 195—the middleweight class. “My mind said you got this, but my body kept reminding me of my age,” Cobbett recalls. One would think that someone who trains others to compete in MMA would be a shoo-in for victory at an MMA match, but Cobbett was only experienced in the ground-fighting aspect of the MMA. Realizing he would need more skills, Cobbett worked with black belt Tony Wells to build up his attack and blocking strategies in the karate style.

This is where things get much, much more painful.

Whereas grappling styles such as jiu-jitsu use bodily maneuvers to submit an opponent through pins, joint-locks, and chokeholds, MMA allows punching, kicking, and other types of offensive strikes as legal play. Thus in addition to grappling, MMA contenders seek out training in martial art forms that are focused on doing damage to an opponent using all the hard surfaces of the body—fists, shins, knees, and elbows.

All of these “weapons” can be used against most parts of an opponent’s body, but the head is ultimately the target to achieve the main objective: total unconscious knockout.

How did Cobbett do in his debut match against Cameron? After getting the pre-fight pat down from the officials and a petroleum smear under his eyes, Cobbett jogs into the cage and the door closes. The adrenaline and nerves are revving as he paces and taps his feet. Gloves touch, and the match begins quickly. A low kick from Cameron leaves him vulnerable, and Cobbett lands an inside punch. Then Cobbett demonstrates his expertise, shooting a classic jiu-jitsu takedown on Cameron’s left leg. Now the game is where Cobbett wants it to be: on the ground. The two grapple for dominant position, and Cameron manages, for a little while, to avoid being put in the dreaded “mount” position, but eventually Cobbett finds it. Now comes the pivotal moment where Cobbett must switch to the new training he received under Tony Wells: punching. Cobbett rains down a storm of blows on Cameron, who is able to cover his face with his forearms. On Cobbett’s back we can read his tattoo: “RELENTLESS”. At 2:30 of the first round, the match is called: victory by technical knockout. Cobbett, the new (older) kid on the block, has just made a huge splash at NEF VII.

Beating a Bad Rep Now, MMA is not the same as a bar fight, but it may look like it at first.

Although it was initially conceived as a no-holds-barred or vale tudo competition, MMA earned some bad press for being too violent. After a campaign spearheaded by Senator John McCain compared MMA to “human Fall 2013 | 25

cockfighting,” restrictions were enacted to protect fighters from long-term injury and death in the ring. Secondarily, the rules also would prevent fights from ending prematurely due to minor injuries such as broken fingers. Under these guidelines, called Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, “dirtyfighting” techniques such as eye-gouging, small-joint manipulation, and strikes to the back of the neck are considered fouls. However, if you’re afraid the game is too soft, never fear; a knee strike to head or an elbow to the face will always be welcomed by MMA judges.

When asked about the violent aspects of MMA, Cobbett equates MMA with other sports that have some level of danger. “It is violent. So is crashing in NASCAR. We train to better ourselves.” Cobbett goes on to joke that some more “acceptable” sports are hardly a challenge, and lack an element of true suspense—like say, golf. “You wear tight pants, collared shirts, and drive a tiny ball while fans can’t even cheer.

There is a sport that needs defending.”

Haddad likewise correlates MMA to the violence of mainstream games like hockey and football. “I think as the sport grows and people learn more about the individuals competing, they will grow to understand it. The athletes that compete are some of the most intelligent, kind individuals I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. We are pursuing the way of the true martial artists.” To be sure, the game can at times be brutal, but there is a sense of community among players that the game is about personal achievement.

“The world of combat sports is very tightly knit,” says Haddad. “We all work hard and respect each other.”

In fact, it’s not unusual for players to embrace after a match, congratulating each other’s performance.

Sometimes, you might even compete against a friend in the ring.

Knockout of the Year Not all the matches end so cleanly, however. Take for example, Haddad’s match against John “The Convict” McLaughlin in the May 2011 Reality Fighting event at Mohegan Sun Arena. McLaughlin and Haddad are old wrestling buddies from high school, but you wouldn’t know it once the gloves are on. In the first round, Haddad is slowed down by a crushing overhand punch from McLaughlin. In the second round, Haddad suffers another major hit—an 26 | Lucent

uppercut to the head. He is now badly injured and his nose is bleeding hard; things are not looking good. Finally the last round begins. The two circle for position and then WHAM!—thirty-nine seconds in, Haddad shoots up a powerful roundhouse kick to McLaughlin’s head, knocking him to the floor, unconscious. After one more lunging head punch down to his grounded opponent, Haddad is pushed off McLaughlin and begins to do victory strides across the cage. A reviewer for the fight summarized the stunning turnaround perfectly: “Emil Don’t Freakin’ Blink Haddad!…Where did that one come from?”

This incredible reversal earned the twenty-six-year-old Haddad a Knockout of the Year Award for 2011, and the Bantamweight Championship title for the event.

Haddad probably congratulated his old friend and teammate on a different day, but McLaughlin went out of the ring on a stretcher that night.

A knockout strike like the one Haddad used against McLaughlin is not a lucky mistake; it demonstrates speed, efficiency, and accuracy. Haddad develops these skills at the Fighting Arts Academy (FAA) in Springfield, Massachusetts. Owner Jeremy Libiszewski and his stable of instructors have trained world-class fighters in muay Thai, jiu-jitsu, boxing, and MMA. “Jeremy gives his life to the his facility,” Haddad says. “He was the main key to my MMA success, along with Scott Labrie and Willie Hilton.” Haddad is himself a teacher at Fighting Arts Academy, something that he says provides him balance and joy. “I love teaching. I love watching others grow. Our most primal response is fight or flight. If you can teach someone how to control this intrinsic response, you have given them the ability to do anything in life.”

Looking forward, both Cobbett and Haddad have plans to continue in competitive martial arts as coaches and competitors. Cobbett says that although it was a dream come true to win an MMA fight, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for him. Instead, he will continue to compete in international grappling events like the Pan American Championship. For Haddad, the future means defending his undefeated record in the MMA cage, working towards an international title. Currently, he is focused exclusively on coaching, but he plans to enter the ring again in 2014. n

Seine River Cruise Paris & Highlights of Normandy

departs July 25, 2014

Starting at $3699 visit www.aic.edu/alumni/calendar or email alumni@aic.edu for more information

Fall 2013 | 27

Left: Jonathan Jubilee before the first home game of the season. Inset above: James Jubilee Jr. and James Jubilee Sr. watch the game from the sidelines.

A Football Family Dynasty… and Destiny For One Yellow Jacket, His Present is His Father’s Past

It’s the first home game of the season. The lights on the field flood the night’s darkness.

Music blares and ricochets off grey steel bleachers dotted with spectators not quite yet bundled against the impending autumn chill. Their home team, a mass of matching black and yellow uniforms, walks onto the field.

28 | Lucent

photos by Chelsie Field

By Chelsie Field

Somewhere in the mix is defensive lineman Jonathan Jubilee ’15 of Mount Vernon, New York.

His 270-pound, 6-foot-3 frame towers over the turf as he makes his way across the field—the same field his father played on as a Yellow Jacket thirty-five years ago.

Jubilee’s father, James “Jay” Jubilee Jr. ’82, stands on the sidelines sporting an “AIC Dad” t-shirt. He attends every Yellow Jackets game he can, trekking from his home in New Rochelle, New York— twoand-a-half hours away—to his alma mater football haunt. “Coming back here and seeing where I was at that time and now it’s a different time,” he says. “It’s transformation.” From the fence he shouts words of encouragement to the team more for himself than his son, because for now, the Jubilee on the field is in game mode.

“When you’re first walking on, of course you hear the crowd and the fans screaming and yelling, but once I get on the field, I guess I’m in my own zone,” the defensive tackle says. He doesn’t think much about sharing the space his father once used as a receiver from 1978–80, either; he’s making his own memories right now, so he leaves the nostalgia to his father.

Jay Jubilee traded in jersey number 84 for the general manager’s position at WAIC radio station in 1980, but he has no regrets about his sophomore year switch. “I love the game, but what happened with my situation, I was afforded an opportunity,” he says, adding that his leadership experiences in radio led him to where he is today: running his own company that sells insurance and financial products. He hopes for his son all of the things that he found valuable during his time as an undergraduate student-athlete, especially leadership opportunities and a strong work ethic.

“To see him get out here and to be a Yellow Jacket, and more importantly to see him as the man we sent out three years ago and to see him come out a good man…you see the accomplishments of the school, and he’s reaping those benefits,” he says proudly.

“His worth ethic, his attitude, his commitment has changed with the guidance of the coach and the staff.”

A lifetime of fatherly guidance and support hasn’t hurt Jubilee, either. “He tries to be a real big supporter of me playing football,” Jubilee says of his dad, adding that his father has “always been strict” with him and

his older brother, James Jubilee III, about things such as taking their education seriously and managing time well. Jubilee played football through middle and high school, where his team won two championships and he served as team captain his senior year. He also caught the eye of multiple college football scouts before accepting a spot as a Yellow Jacket. Knowing his dad had gone to AIC, as well as his middle school football coach, made the choice easier.

Though no longer the newbie, Jay Jubilee’s largest worry about his son in today’s football game is the risk of serious injury, something his son has avoided so far, save for a dislocated shoulder. In his generation, the concerned father says, players would hit and tackle, but not like today. “Back then it was a totally different ball game. The guys are so big today. I mean we were big, but today, they’re huge,” he says with a laugh. “It’s a lot more physical today than yesterday because I think the players are just a lot bigger. Back in my day we were more concentrated on speed and today it’s speed and strength.”

His son wants to improve his own strength and speed, and aims to achieve his maximum potential, adding that his defensive line coach tells the team every day, “Don’t be good, be great.” Jubilee has taken these words to heart. “Anyone can be good, but it takes only a select few to be great. So I really try to take his words and put that to my work ethic everyday,” he says. Putting in fifteen hours a week at practice for only a few series in gameplay only makes him strive for improvement.

“Of course I want to play more and give more back to the team, but I’m a team player and I’m all about winning,” he says. A political science major, Jubilee says if a pro-football opportunity comes his way, he’ll take it; if not, he’s leaning toward law school. “In the event his football career ends at graduation, I want him [to] reflect upon his football experience as being a positive one, and recognize that it is not his only option to succeed in life,” says his father.

The fatherly support does not go unnoticed, and the young Jubilee is grateful. “I love him. I love his heart and I’m here to make him proud, and I’m gonna make him proud, there’s no doubt in my mind,” Jubilee says.

“I feel like I was definitely meant to come to AIC, and knowing that my dad went here as well, I think it was meant to happen, it was meant to be.” n Fall 2013 | 29

photo by Michael Reid

30 | Lucent

| off the record |

Body Art AIC's Physical Therapy Department

By Joel Anderson In this issue of Lucent, we continue our Q&A series, “Off the Record,” featuring a conversation with three members of AIC’s physical therapy department: Sue Davis (SD), Gail Stern (GS), and Phyllis Clapis (PC). While the discussion will begin in the pages of this magazine, you will find it continued on the AIC website at the link cited below.

Lucent: The Physical Therapy Department is one of the largest on campus. What about this program is so appealing to students?

SD: There’s so much you can do with the degree. It’s highly adaptable and universal. I think students see that as a benefit.

But they also like the people connection—the connection with patients. You’re not sitting behind a computer for hours. You’re out working with people, and ultimately, the impact you have on people’s lives is huge.

GS: Physical therapy combines the best elements of the arts, science, and social interaction. So it really allows an individual who wants to be part of a very well-rounded profession to engage in all those things. Physical therapists have to understand a lot about the environment, about culture, and about how a body moves—very specific details and science.

From left to right: Sue Davis, Phyllis Clapis, and Gail Stern

PC: Students come here because physical therapy is a meaningful profession. We’ve had students come here after leaving business careers where they were prospering financially, but they weren’t prospering soulfully. I think they really want to feel—as Sue said—that they’ve made a difference in someone’s life.

(Continue our discussion at www.aic.edu/offtherecord) Fall 2013 | 31

| class notes | Dear Alumni, In the Spring/Summer 2013 edition of Lucent, we asked you to please tell us about the photo to the right, to which we received no response. We are still looking for someone who knows who was in it and what they are doing.

Remember, a prize goes to the best story. We invite you to respond to our new installment of “Tell us about this photo” shown below. We look forward to hearing your story.

Heather Cahill Associate Vice President for Institutional Advancement

Tell us about this photo!

We would love to know who is in it, what they were doing, and where they are now. Tell your story to Heather Cahill at heather.cahill@aic.edu. We will draw a name from the responses and send that person a gift from AIC.

Correction

Scott Moudy ’80 let us know about an error in the Spring/Summer Lucent. On page 26, we printed Kimberly Mortara Kaplanis’ letter about the “Tell us about this photo.” In the letter we mentioned Barbie Mead. We should have written Barbie Meath. We apologize for the error.

32 | Lucent

| class notes |

1950s

AudiologyOnline held a series of webinars entitled Update on Auditory Electrophysiology—Evidence-Based Clinical Applications. The webinars were organized by Dr. James Hall ’51 and presented by Dr. Hall along with Dr. Samuel Atcherson.

Burt Spivack ’51 received a

Senior Inspiration Award from the Riverside County Foundation on the Aging.

Edward Borucki ’54 visited

the AIC Veterans’ Memorial. He served on the USS Helena which was torpedoed at Pearl Harbor.

Edward Borucki ’54

Dick Pervonga ’54 was happy to discover AIC alumna Betty Alvey Strong ’56 living in his

retirement community in New Hampshire. He sent in this photograph (see top of page) of himself and other Garret Players from the mid 50s. He can identify Jean Fillion Bates ’50, Margarite Borden ’50, founder John Gaffney ’50, and Joseph Lieberman ’51. If you can identify any others let us know at alumni@aic.edu.

Can you help us identify these Garret Players from the 1950s?

Teresa Vedany Kozloski ’55

and her husband Henry recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary at a reception given by their children at the Crestview Country Club in Agawam, MA. They are the parents of Maria Kozloski, Lena Kozloski, and Henry L. Kozloski. They have five grandchildren. Henry Kozloski retired after thirty-five years as a science teacher at West Springfield High School. Teresa is retired from Bay Path College in Longmeadow, MA where she was an associate professor in the business and history departments.

Arthur LaMirande ’56 will give

an organ recital on January 22, 2014, 12:45 p.m. at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, California. The recital is free and open to the public. The featured work on the program will be the massive “Chaconne” by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Schmidt. LaMirande has long been noted as an expert of the music of Schmidt.

1960s

David Gibbs ’62 hopes to

establish a hockey scholarship in memory of John Petrie. Please email him at d2gibbs@roadrunner.com for details.

Rose LaFont Armentano ’63

recently published a novel, Phantom Dancer.

Charles Gilligan ’63 has eight grandchildren and eight dogs. He says life is “A-OK”.

Elaine Harriss Severino ’63

is “still working after all these years.” She is a personal assistant and house mom to international students.

James Heggie ’64 was instrumental in preparing an honorary shell to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Dad Vail Regatta.

The eight founding schools of the Dad Vail Rowing Association, including American International College, were represented.

Bruce Williams ’64 retired in

2006. He enjoys time with his four grandchildren and his wife of fifty-one years, Carole.

Fall 2013 | 33

| class notes | Philip Smith ’65 is an active

volunteer, serving on the Board of Directors of the Lee Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Trustees of the Housatonic Heritage, an affiliate of the National Park Service.

LLM degree in taxation. Enjoying the Florida lifestyle and working three days a week! I have no plans to retire…having too much fun!”

Larry Geller ’67 is an instructor

for people with disabilities who want to learn or keep skiing or snowboarding. He is on the Board of Directors for AbilityPLUS, an adaptive snowsports and recreation organization with programs in Vermont and New Hampshire.

They are always looking for volunteers.

More than 600 people gathered to pay tribute to Jim Calhoun ’68 for his exceptional career as men’s basketball coach for the University of Connecticut. The road outside the UConn basketball stadium was renamed in his honor.

Robert Gombar ’68 recently

retired as a Senior Executive with the US Secret Service after 36 years. He served the last 15 years based in Rome, Italy as the Regional Agent in Charge for the Middle East, Africa, and Southern Europe. He is now Director of Security for the AS Roma professional soccer team in Rome.

Priscilla Marotta ’68 writes: “In May 2013, I received the 100 Outstanding Women in Broward County Award from the Boys and Girls Club. I continue to own the Center of Psychological Effectiveness and practice cognitive-behavior psychology. My son, Chris, graduated magna cum laude from University of Madison-Wisconsin Law School. He has passed the New York bar and will be attending New York University for his

34 | Lucent

their communities and government.

Michael Jacobs ’73 is a standup comedian who recently opened for Robert Klein and will be opening for Richard Lewis this fall. He can be seen weekly in NYC at all the top clubs as well as casinos and comedy clubs up and down the east coast. He credits his comedic success to his many years living in a dorm at AIC. Paul Nicolai ’75 has been re-

Priscilla Marotta ’68

1970s

Raymond Gaylord MA ’72, MS ’10 received his third degree

from AIC. Gaylord graduated with an MBA in May 2013.

Louis Abbate ’73 is enjoying his

first summer off in nearly forty years. He retired as president and CEO of the Willie Ross School for the Deaf after twenty-eight years.

Thomas E. Belyea ’73 is a Recreation Commissioner of Hingham, MA. The Hingham Recreation Commission oversees town fields, facilities, and programs, managing them as sustainable community assets, at no cost to the taxpayer. He is a published writer and local historian. He wishes to thank the AIC community for the great orators, both students and faculty, for student organizations such as Model Congress, Student Government, and others that cultivated opportunities for alumni to serve in

elected to the Board of Directors of the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts. He has served on the board since 2004. He serves on a new subcommittee focused on developing the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Western Massachusetts.

Earl Bonnet ’76 received an

award for being the Military Outreach Volunteer of the year 2011. This was presented by Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, a volunteer organization of the Department of Defense.

Paul Coleman ’77 wrote and

produced the off-off-Broadway production of The Foot Shooters, a comedy.

Bonnie Therrien ’77, MCJ ’79, MPA ’84 is the new city adminis-

trator for O’Fallon, MO.

In 1999 with nearly two decades of experience in the investment and insurance industries,

Raymond E. Lacourse ’78

started ESB Financial Services, the wealth management department of Easthampton Savings Bank. Today, Ray overseas the day-to-day operations of the department.

| class notes |

1980s

Smith Moore, a nationally recognized financial investment and management firm announced the addition of David Apted ’82 as Vice President and Financial Advisor. Apted joined the St. Louis corporate headquarters team and has capital responsibility of over $40 million in Smith Moore client assets. He will assist clients with customized investment plans and financial management.

Donna Burns MA ’82 has joined Health Care and Rehabilitation Services in Springfield, VT as a community support specialist for its police social work program.

Rheo A. Brouillard MBA ’82 has

been CEO and president of Savings Institute Bank & Trust Co. since 1995. He has been CEO and president of SI Financial Group Inc., the holding company of Saving Institute Bank and Trust, since its inception in 2004. He is chairman of the board of Bankers’ Bank Northeast, based in Glastonbury, CT, which provides financial services to banks; a director of Infinex Financial Group,; and a director of VantisLife, a life insurance company.

ConAgra Foods, Inc. announced the appointment of Thomas “Tony” K. Brown ’83 to its Board of Directors.

Siripong Hantragul MPA ’83

was approved by the Thai Cabinet to be the new director-general of the Provincial Administration Department.

Stanley Lacienski ’84 received

a master’s degree in counseling from Towson University.

Mario Elie '85 recently visited

campus to show his children his Hall of Fame plaque. He was inducted to the inaugural class of the AIC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005.

among the most successful of the agency’s sales force of 12,250 licensed agents. Still has been a New York Life agent since 2012 and is associated with the agency’s Boston General Office.

Zina Dean Zuill ’92 is pursu-

ing her doctorate in counseling psychology. She lives in Bermuda with her husband and son.

Beth Dion ’93 was promoted to

lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Nurse Corp.

James Irzyk MBA ’93 is chair of

Mario Elie ’85 and his children.

Donna Michelle Beaudoin ’88,

is an author and vegan activist. Her book, Sister Vegetarian's 31 Days of Drama-Free Living for Vegetarians and Vegans, was released in February 2012. She is a regular speaker at vegetarian events.

Guy Williams ’89 is a data man-

agement/education consultant with the Connecticut Department of Education.

1990s

Peter Morris ’90, superintendent

of the Lavallette (NJ) School District, has been named Superintendent of the Year by the Ocean County Association of Administrators, in part for his leadership during the district’s recovery from Superstorm Sandy.

Jeffrey W. Still ’90 has been

named to New York Life Insurance Company’s 2013 Executive Council, members of which are

the Learning and Leadership Advisory Board for Peoplefluent®, a leading social human capital management technology company.

Debbie McCarthy Aickelin ’94 accepted a new position at

Asheville-Buncombe Tech in July 2013.

Charles A. Villee, CAGS ’94

has been writing sports for The Grafton News since 2006. His daughter, Abby, is about to begin 11th grade. His fiancée, Dolores, and he have been together for almost two years. Abby loves her and he does too. He wishes his best to all fellow AIC alumni!

Alan Hultquist MEd ’96 pub-

lished two books, Can I Tell You About Dyslexia and Can I Tell You About Parkinson’s Disease.

Comedian Joe Narvaez.’97

recently worked on video for flowrestling.com, a website that links wrestlers, coaches, and fans across the nation. Joe performs regularly in comedy clubs around the New York area. Visit his website www.joenarvaez.com for show information.

Fall 2013 | 35

| class notes |

2000s

James E.T. Gebo MPA ’08,

Adelia S. Ramos ’00, was sworn in by Mayor Donald R. Grebien as the newest member of the Parks Commission of Pawtucket, RI. Joe Pistone ’00 is the head wrestling coach at the University of Southern Maine. He serves as the President of the NCAA Division III New England Wrestling Association. Pistone is a member of the Maine Amateur Wrestling Alliance (MAWA) Board of Directors and is a middle school wrestling coach in Scarborough, ME. Kelvin Jeremiah MPA ’06 has

been the President and CEO of the Philadelphia Housing Authority since June of 2012. He is working to overhaul the troubled agency and rebuild the public’s faith in the organization.

senior research and development scientist for Microtest Laboratories is now a registrant of the National Registry of Certified Microbiologists. To earn this credential he met rigorous educational and experiential eligibility requirements and then passed a comprehensive written exam.

Marek Przybylek ’08, MBA ’10

is the new head coach of Rockville (CT) High School girls’ soccer team. He has previously been an assistant coach for the men’s and women’s teams at American International College.

find employment,” he says. He is also heading up the school’s fundraising efforts.

Sean Reardon MEd ’10 is the

first male principal at St. Mary of the Annunciation School in Danvers, MA.

Kelsey Ryan ’12 manages the

Polish National Credit Union’s social media and e-banking marketing efforts.

Adam Pleskach ’13 will be

playing hockey for the Greenville (SC) Road Warriors, an affiliate of the NY Rangers.

Glarius Rop ’13 won the Feast

2010s

Brad Dakers ’10 is working in

Career Services at Porter and Chester Institute. “I absolutely love it. I get to prepare students for their career and help them

of the Blessed Sacrament 5k in New Bedford, MA. The former All-American completed the race with a time of 15:04.

| in memoriam | Friends of the College Sophie E. Cuzzone

1941

Roland Holmes

1942

Doris Cushing Gormbley

1946

Miriam Ilgovsky Leveton

1950

Lawrence L. Pomerantz Donald Schreiber Willard Wright 36 | Lucent

1951

Claire O'Malley Egan Helen Tober James

1952

Takvor S. Melikian

1953

Louis A. Ferreira Eugene J. Mulcahy Esq.

1957

Francis M. Lamoureux

1958

Gerald E. Shannon

1959

Charles W. Dinn Richard T. Hafey

1960

1974

1961

1976

Thomas J. Kowal George H. Ulrick

1966

Richard J. Kolodziey

1969

George E. Duggan Thomas F. Collins Jr. Norma W. Hancock

1980

John J. Pedace

Dorothy Randall Baumann

1982

1971

1984

Michael Stanco

1973

Allan Carney

Dolores Danek Deborah A. Anastas Robert J. Walsh

1993

Shirley Stanton

Brick

by

Brick “Through the interest and zeal of Mrs. Edith Scott Magna of Holyoke, who later became an honorary president-general of the Daughters of the American Revolution, a building fund for a second dormitory for girls was raised…and in 1925 DAR Dormitory with accommodations for 46 girls was erected…” A History of American International College Support from our alumni and friends has built American International College brick by brick. That tradition of philanthropy is still strong today. The collective gifts of many continue to transform the college and the students who thrive here.

As part of AIC’s ongoing effort to make the campus a welcoming place for prospective and current students, the Admissions Office on the first floor and lower level of DAR Hall was completely renovated this summer. Its inviting new front office will help make a positive first impression on prospective families, and the new data center in the basement will help the admissions staff recruit a new generation of digitally savvy, on-the-go high school students. Recent updates to Breck Hall were made possible thanks to another generous gift from the Breck family, and the help of Congressman Richard E. Neal ’72 in securing federal funding. Barbara Breck and her late husband, John H. Breck, Jr., are both graduates of the AIC class of 1940. The support of these generous alumni allowed for new classroom technology and furnishings that will inspire and nurture hundreds of AIC students as they develop their intellects and grow their passions. Other campus improvements are ongoing. Campus Security in Hines Hall is being renovated and expanded to be more responsive to the need of our students. several new roofs have been installed around campus. The Karen Sprague Cultural Arts Center is being refreshed with new carpet and paint. The Campus Center Auditorium is scheduled to be renovated over the winter break.

All these improvements were funded in part by donations. Your gift, in conjunction with others from AIC’s alumni and friends, will make a significant difference in the lives of today’s students. Please consider making a gift to the Annual Fund today.

Fall 2013 | 37

American International College 1000 State Street Springfield, Massachusetts 01109 www.aic.edu

@AIC

theater

on the weekend of November 22nd the AIC theater arts department put on a moving, nuanced production of Moises Kaufman's The Laramie Project. In all, thirty-one students had a hand in the production, the third under the direction of Frank Borrelli, director of the theater arts program.

Look for the next AIC theater event, coming this spring.

38 | Lucent

Laramie Project

the

In case you missed it....

MoisĂŠs Kaufman and the Members of Tectonic Theater Project The Laramie Project is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc. New York by