Eastern Magazine Summer 2019

Issue 31

Summer 2019

magazine

Eastern and NASA Page 8

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Staff and Contributors Executive Editor Kenneth DeLisa Editor Edward Osborn Associate Editor Michael Rouleau Designers Kevin Paquin | Leigh Balducci Contributors Dwight Bachman | Meghan Carden Peter Dane | Joseph McGann | Robert Molta | Michael Stenko Photographer Tom Hurlbut Cover Illustration Mekaila Stefano ‘19

Editor’s Note We encourage alumni and other readers to share their stories with us. Send us a Class Note. Tell us what you like and want more of in EASTERN Magazine.

Share stories of your time at Eastern . . . or what you are doing now by emailing us at editor@easternct.edu EASTERN Magazine is published by the Division of Institutional Advancement for the benefit of alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends of Eastern Connecticut State University.

EASTERN Magazine is printed on coated paper that is certified by three environmental groups and manufactured with 30 percent post-consumer recycled fiber.

From the President’s Desk

This issue’s cover illustration is a bit tongue in cheek. No doubt the Apollo 11 astronauts in July 1969 did not stop their exploration of the moon to gaze at Eastern back in Connecticut. But as several articles in this edition note, Eastern was an active participant in the resurgent interest in the sciences and outer space in the ’60s and ’70s.

Today Eastern students and faculty continue to do important research using NASA grants and other resources. As the nation celebrates the 50th anniversary of the first lunar landing, a variety of academic departments — Biology, Environmental Earth Science, Physical Sciences, and Economics —are part of our celebration of NASA’s accomplishments and Eastern’s own fascination with the stars. Read more in this issue of EASTERN magazine.

This edition also showcases several Eastern alumni, including a Boston Globe editor, a non-traditional BIS graduate in the technology industry, and several award-winning entrepreneurs and authors. Among our graduates are also young alumni — some in doctoral programs — who graduated from the Health Sciences major. The program began in fall 2014, now has more than 300 students and is featured in this issue.

We continue to work across the campus to enhance the career readiness of our students. In addition to reading about alumni returning to campus to give our students career advice at events ranging from the Reverse Career Fair to the annual English@Work event, you can also learn more about internship programs taking place at alumni places of business.

If you were an Eastern student in the 1970s and 1980s, you fondly remember the Low Rise apartments. Read some of those more vivid memories in “The Doors of Low Rise.” You can also catch up with your classmates by looking at our popular Class Notes or reviewing details of the recent “Eastern Celebrates” alumni reunion weekend this past May. If you haven’t been back to campus recently and want to visit, let us know. We believe you will enjoy seeing what is taking place today at your alma mater.

I invite all Eastern alumni to think of ways to connect with our students and our campus community. Whether you come back to offer counsel to students as a classroom guest or at a career event, host an intern or two at your company, or donate generously to one of our scholarship programs, your support of Eastern is much appreciated.

Eastern has been known as a “family” for decades. Since I became president in 2006, I have been inspired by the strong relationships across the generations of Eastern faithful. Eastern is a vibrant community committed to academic excellence and the success of our students. Our history suggests that this has always been true. Let us work together to ensure our tradition continues.

Elsa M. Núñez President EASTERN • Summer 2019 • 1

“Dream Ahead”

Congratulations

Class of 2019 (left to right) Senior Class officers: Taylor Myers, Connor Lucca, Paige Matheson, Emily Gardiner, Makayla Lamson, Shayna Blumell and Michael Theriault

Marilynn Malerba

“No matter what hat you will wear, we will all be Eastern Warriors now and forever.”

Senior Class President Michael Theriault

2 • Summer 2019 • EASTERN

Marilynn “Lynn” Malerba, chief of the Mohegan Tribe, encouraged the 1,259 graduates at Eastern Connecticut State University’s 129th Commencement to “uyuqômsh wuchee ôpeetak,” which means “dream ahead.”

The annual graduation ceremony was held at the XL Center in Hartford on May 21, with more than 12,000 family members and friends cheering as 1,175 undergraduates and 84 graduate students received their diplomas.

“You are all here because you allowed yourself to ‘dream ahead,’” she said.

“You had faith in your potential when you irst applied to Eastern. I hope you will always continue to dream ahead not only as you prepare to embrace the next part of your journey but for all the opportunities you have yet to even imagine.”

Malerba also received an honorary doctor of science degree from Eastern in a special hooding ceremony during the graduation exercises. She was appointed the 18th Chief of the Mohegan Tribe in August 2010, becoming the irst female chief in the tribe’s modern history. She previously was chair of the tribal council and executive director of health and human services for the tribal government.

Noting that college graduates have greater job security, live longer and have greater social mobility, Malerba told the graduates they had made “a smart decision” in pursuing their educational dreams. “It is in the discovery, not the knowing of exactly what life holds for you or what your future self will become, that you will ind true ful illment.”

Prior to her leadership roles in the Mohegan Tribe, Malerba served as director of cardiology and pulmonary services at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital. She earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice from Yale University and her master’s degree in public administration from the University of Connecticut.

Other speakers included Eastern President Elsa Núñez; Merle Harris, vice-chair of the Board of Regents for Higher Education; and Mark Ojakian, president of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities System.

President Núñez

“The most important lesson I hope you have learned at Eastern is the knowledge that our great American democracy is only great because of the involvement and participation of our citizens,” said Núñez. “Being a citizen means debating the issues with your friends and in public forums — wherever you get a chance to voice your opinion.

Most importantly, be willing to say no to whatever doesn’t feel right.

Mother and Son Receive Diplomas Together

“You have learned how to think critically on our campus,” continued Núñez. “You have learned how to ask questions, conduct research and analyze the results. Do this in your workplace, in your community, and as a citizen of our great country. I know you can do it . . . and I am counting on you to do so. We need your enthusiasm, commitment and knowledge more than ever.”

Senior Class President Michael Theriault presented the Senior Class Gift to President Núñez — an annual Class of 2019 scholarship — and thanked his classmates’ families, friends and faculty for supporting the senior class in its journey. Looking to the future, Theriault said the arena loor was a sea of graduation caps, but “While they may look the same from the outside, the reality is that we all will wear different hats. Some of us will go on to be future educators and make differences in the lives of students. Others will become journalists, historians, psychologists, broadcasters and so much more. No matter what hat you will wear, we will all be Eastern Warriors now and forever.”

CSCU President Ojakian pointed to the “transformational academic journey” the graduates had just completed, and called them “change agents for the future and the next generation of leaders.”

Commencement 2019 was a landmark event for Computer Science major Andrew Ferguson and his mother Tracey, a Mathematics major, who crossed the finish line and collected their diplomas at the same time. Reflecting on a class they had together, Andrew joked that his mother would yell at him in class. “He didn’t do his work,” she said. “Yeah, but I still got better grades than you,” he replied.

Competition aside, college has been a bonding experience for them. “We’d have really late nights studying,” said Tracey.

Andrew added, “She’d help me with math, I’d help her with computer science. We would really nerd out.”

Andrew’s undergraduate career followed the usual course, but Tracey’s has been years in the making. “This is huge,” she said, “a bucket lister for me. I didn’t think I’d be able to go back and do it.”

As for their next step, “We’re having a huge graduation party,” said Tracey. “Yeah, we’re doubling it up,” said Andrew.

EASTERN • Summer 2019 • 3

! e t a r b e l e C o t SH o Much undreds of alumni, students, families, faculty and friends converged on campus for the 14th annual edition of “Eastern Celebrates.�

while Eastern’s Social Work and Honors programs hosted awards ceremonies for their graduating seniors.

Alumni from 2004 through 2018 crowded into Blarney’s for the “Bash for the Past� reunion on May 17. The “tots� were a huge hit, and went great with Blarney’s famous wings, pizza and beer.

)RU WKH Ă€UVW WLPH VLQFH WKH $OXPQL 0DUFK took place under brilliant sunshine, and was led by the enthusiastic members of the Class of 1969. More than 600 alum ni, members of the Class of 2019, and their families enjoyed the annual Big Tent Barbeque together, with music provided by “DJ Flipâ€? (Jason Crisante ’05).

On May 18, the Class of 1969 celebrated the 50th anniversary of their graduation from Eastern &RQQHFWLFXW 6WDWH &ROOHJH ZKLOH RWKHU Ă€YH \HDU class reunions were held on campus. President Núùez hosted a special reception in the Student Center CafĂŠ, where she presented “golden di plomasâ€? to the Class of ’69. Tours of the campus IROORZHG LQFOXGLQJ WKH QHZO\ UHQRYDWHG &RP munication Building, Burr and Constitution res idence halls, and a drive down Main Street past the Nathan Hale Hotel and the Hooker Hotel.

While reunion activities were taking place in the Student Center, Eastern’s graduate students were receiving their academic hoods at a special “hooding ceremony� in a packed Concert Hall,

4 • Summer 2019 • EASTERN

The party moved from the Big Tent back down to Blarney’s where alumni from the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s stepped back in time to their favorite hangout from back in the day. Everyone had a great time, and loved being back on East ern’s beautiful campus, which was in full spring bloom.

Whether you graduated in 1955, 1970, 1985 or 2010 (or any other year) plan now to return to campus for the 15th Anniversary of Eastern Cele EUDWHV RQ 0D\

EASTERN • Summer 2019 • 5

EASTERN • Summer 2019 • 7

13

billion miles covered

by Voyager 1

93

million miles to the sun

59

women have been in space

SPAC

Mary Rogers

8 • Summer 2019 • EASTERN

The Science of

In July 1969 1969, the United States made history when it landed astronauts on the moon vor the wrst time° 7hen Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set the “Eagle” lunar excursion module down in the Sea of Tranquility, the whole world buzzed with excitement and sighed relief° The Apollo 11 mission culminated a decade of scientiwc research and marked a milestone in the “race to space” that characterized the Cold 7ar between the United States and the SoÛiet Union° 7hat does that haÛe to do with Eastern Connecticut State University? A great deal! For many years, Eastern faculty and students have used grants from the Connecticut NASA Space Consortium to fund projects ranging from the exploration of alternative fuel cell technology to a current focus on developing new antibiotics° In addition, more than two dozen Eastern alumni work today in aerospace-related industries°

It all began in 1958 when the Soviets launched “Sputnik,” spawning a concern among U°S° scientists, educators and the government that we were behind the Russians in space and in science° The Cold 7ar was a wght for global ideological supremacy, and we weren½t going to lose° In 196Ç, oddard Hall was built as part of the nation’s commitment to science° Robert oddard was the father of the U°S° rocket industry and was from nearby 7orcester, A°

Robert Goddard

CE Even before Goddard Hall was built, built Eastern scientists were “making science” in three rooms in Shafer Hall — the single classroom building of Willimantic State Teachers College. One room was for science education under the able eye of Robert Wickware, known as “Mr. Science,” who served Eastern from 1941-74, retiring as academic dean. The planetarium, built in 1972, is now named in his honor.

Another room was for biology. The third room was the domain of pioneering Mary Rogers, who taught astronomy, geology, chemistry, physics and meteorology. During her tenure — from 1963 to her retirement in 1989 — Mary exempliwed the standards of excellence long practiced at Eastern. She was a Fulbright awardee, a recipient of NSF grants and honored by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

People like Max Ferguson, Charlie Prewitt, Tim Swanson, Phil Elliott, Barry Wulff and Mike Gable have since come and gone from the ranks of Eastern scientists, but Mary Rogers and Robert Wickware were there as part of the Space Race at the beginning. They would be proud of Eastern scientists — faculty and students alike — today!

Robert “Mr. Science” Wickware

18

countries visited International Space Station

5.9

trillion ll miles light travels in a year

Eastern Shares the Science of Space with Area Schools

In 1996, the Education Department, Media Services and Zoran Pazameta, professor of physical sciences, worked with NASA to set up Eastern’s NASA Education Resource Center. At the time, it was the only regional teacher resource center in New England certified by NASA. A member of the Connecticut NASA Education Collaborative, the center is now located on the ground floor of the J. Eugene Smith Library. It collaborates with school districts, NASA’s business partners, college and universities, informal science centers, other educational service providers and NASA to improve science, mathematics and technology K-16 education in Connecticut. Resources available to the public include children’s and young adult literature, lithographs, posters, educator guides and more.

Stepping out of the daylight and into Eastern’s Robert . Wickware Planetarium, Russell Sampson, co-director of the planetarium and associate professor of astronomy and meteorology, dims the lights, bathing the room in a red hue and allowing eyes to adjust before darkening the space completely. He uses the Spitz System 512 Star Projector to cast a simulation of a clear night sky in Manhattan onto the dome-shaped screen above. Sampson then shows the night sky free of light pollution, a stunning contrast from what most of us see from our backyards.

“I was a space-age baby,” said Sampson, who grew up during the Cold War, the Space Race and the Apollo missions. “I was interested in everything in the sky — clouds, birds, planes, stars.” While Sampson fostered his growing inquisitiveness, scientists, educators and politicians in the United States worried that the country was falling behind the Soviets in space exploration.

The nation doubled its commitment to science and college campuses followed suit.

At Eastern, a brand-new science building, Goddard Hall, opened in 1967 and wve years later the planetarium was erected next door.

Since then, the sciences and the role of the planetarium have expanded on campus. A building that was once underutilized now hosts a minor in Astronomy Outreach and Public Presentation, while upgrades in technology have turned the space into what Sampson describes as “the best planetarium east of the ­Connecticut® river.”

The minor teaches students the history of astronomy, the properties of stars, the structure of the Milky Way and the methods used to study the solar system. Students also learn how to operate the star projector and auxiliary projectors as well as how to plan and present programs in the planetarium.

10 • Summer 2019 • EASTERN

“The goal is not to produce research astronomers but people who can bring astronomy to the world,” said Sampson. When he was hired by Eastern in 2ää1, part of his mission was to do just that. Shortly after his arrival he began to hold star shows, open to the public and free to all.

“I’m always impressed by the knowledge of the audience, especially children,” said Sampson, who leaves time for questions at the end of each show. On occasion Sampson takes his audience outside where they view the night sky through the naked eye and a telescope. He recalls one fortunate evening when NASA’s space shuttle and the International Space Station could be seen over Connecticut, a rare sight for those in attendance.

For private groups, Director of the Planetarium and Associate Professor of Astronomy <oran Pazameta leads the shows. Any group of 15 people or more can schedule their own exclusive show. Pazameta has hosted schools, scouting groups, and students from Eastern’s honors program and campus clubs. He has even welcomed astronomy clubs from other universities.

A passion for lifelong learning paired with a desire to excite people about astronomy drives these professors to continue their celestial studies. “Studying astronomy gives us a sense of where we are in the universe,” said Sampson. “When the Apollo 8 crew took that photo looking back at our planet, people realized Earth is delicate and precious. We should be responsible in our care for it.”

Q By

Meghan Carden

EASTERN • Summer 2019 • 11

NASA Funds Student Research Eastern Connecticut State University has long studied the cosmos, from the days of legendary professor Robert “Mr. Science” Wickware to the University’s ongoing research with the NASA Space Grant Consortium. Through the consortium, a federally mandated STEM education program, students and faculty have received numerous grants and fellowships over the years to pursue space and other research. Recent projects have investigated the effects of microgravity on the nervous system, the use — or overuse — of Earth’s orbit by satellites, the growing threat of antibiotic resistance and more.

Lillian Hyde ’17

Michael Beckstein ’18

In laboratory settings, microglia are normally grown (cultured) in fetal bovine serum — the blood plasma of cattle fetuses. Fetal bovine serum is the most widely used serum supplement for in-vitro (“test-tube”) experiments. In the body, however, microglia are isolated in the yuid that coats the brain and spinal cord (cerebrospinal yuid). “Microglia are often studied for neurodegenerative diseases, so if there are differences between the culture media this could have implications for the accuracy of these studies,” said Hyde.

Two satellite inefwciencies Beckstein and Cunningham analyzed included the presence of debris in orbit and the overcrowding of satellites. They found that operators may not remove a satellite at the conclusion of its useful life, which may block other operators from replacing their satellites with active ones. “They have incentives to keep poorly functioning satellites in orbit in order to prevent entry by competitors,” explained Cunningham.

“We refer to this as ¼warehousing.’”

Hyde received a summer research fellowship from the NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium ­CTSGC® to support her research on a major cell in the central nervous system known as microglia — which may be affected by the microgravity conditions (weightlessness) of spaceyight. Microglia are the primary immune cells of the central nervous system. They change between anti-inyammatory and pro-inyammatory states as they respond to pathogens and injury in the body.

The purpose of Hyde’s study was to test if microglia display different characteristics in cerebrospinal yuid (their native setting) in comparison to fetal bovine serum (laboratory setting). “By establishing a baseline for microglia function in their native environment, space travel conditions can eventually be tested to assess their effects on the central nervous system,” wrote the NASA CTSGC.

12 • Summer 2019 • EASTERN

Beckstein joined Economics Professor Brendan Cunningham on a NASA CTSGC-sponsored project that investigated the usage of Earth’s orbit by satellites in circulation. The research aimed to evaluate the economic efwciency of satellites and their operators. Beckstein was responsible for sorting through the satellites listed in NASA’s online database, analyzing variables such as the satellite’s purpose, the country it launched from and the launch vehicle that took it into space.

“The most interesting thing I found in my research,” said Beckstein, “was the vast amount of detail and work that goes into every satellite launch, as well as the wide array of purposes that satellites have.”

Benjamin Rumrill ’19

Rumrill received a research fellowship from NASA to support his research into the effect of microgravity on the growth and function of neural cells.

Neural stem cells are self-renewing cells that create the neurons of the nervous system during the development of an embryo. Stem cells are unique due to their ability to differentiate into multiple cell types.

“Scientists have discovered that space yight can lead to cognitive dewcits due to the inhibition of neural stem cell differentiation,” said Rumrill, who noted reduced reaction time and lapses in attention as such dewcits.

Rumrill hypothesized that the microgravity experienced during space yight impairs the ability of neural stem cells to reproduce and differentiate. “If the production of neural cells is affected by microgravity, then it may explain the cognitive dewcits found in astronauts after spaceyight,” he said. “If mankind wants to continue to expand into space, the full effects of spaceyight need to be well understood.”

Lauren Atkinson ’19

Atkinson received a summer fellowship from NASA CTSGC to support her efforts in combatting antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance contributes to NASA’s overarching goal of human space exploration because, under microgravity conditions, bacteria grow and evolve more quickly than on Earth. Human immune systems are also weakened during spaceyight.

Antibiotics are medicines used to treat bacterial infections. However, as they are misused — and new ones are slowly discovered — harmful bacteria develop resistances against them, rendering the medication ineffective.

Mentored by Biology Professor Barbara Murdoch, Atkinson evaluated the abdominal microbiome of scorpions. A microbiome is the collection of microorganisms that inhabits an area — in this case, the abdomen.

Scorpions are an ancient lineage (450 million years old) that has been exposed to many pathogens over the ages and likely contains antibiotic-producing bacteria.

“One step in responding to this threat is to develop new drugs that microbes have not developed resistance to,” said Atkinson, who tested bacteria that is naturally found in the abdomens of scorpions for their ability to produce antibiotics. “We hypothesize that scorpions have formed symbiotic relationships with bacteria that produce antibiotics that protect the scorpions from these pathogens.”

As part of their minor in Astronomy Outreach and Presentation, Health Sciences major Geraint Downey ’19 and Psychology major Zachary Johnson ’19 (left) used NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium funding to complete an internship that resulted in a public viewing of “2001: A Space Odyssey.” The movie coincided with a rare cosmic event that involved the moon passing in front of a cluster of seven stars known as “The Bumblebee Cluster.”

“This internship was an opportunity for me to educate the public on the latest and greatest discoveries in the field,” said Johnson.

“A lot of people forget that we’ve only seen a fraction of the universe. It truly humbles me to see how large the universe is in comparison to how small we are, on this grain-of-sand-sized planet at the universal scale. I want older and younger generations alike to get as excited for the stars as I am.”

EASTERN • Summer 2019 • 13

I was at home when Apollo 11 landed on the moon and when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped on the lunar surface.

I taped the landing, and the tape and the recorder are in storage. Here is the video from powered descent initiation to touchdown on the lunar surface. https://youtu.be/RONIax0_1ec

Where were you when Apollo 11 landed

Donald Rettman ’91, Wethersfield, CT

It was July 20, 1969, and already 10 p.m., way past bedtime for a 12-year-old at Camp Wightman in Stonington, CT. There were about 25 of us, watching a small black and white TV placed atop a stone mantle over a cavernous fireplace, straining to clearly see the fuzzy live feed from the surface of the Moon. “Preparing to open the hatch,” the astronauts onboard the Lunar Excursion Module kept saying to Mission Control. Now even our counselors were getting impatient. “It’s well past lights out, kids, we need to turn in.”

“No!” I remember saying. “A man is about to step out on the moon!

And you’re worried about bed time?”

Twenty-five middle schooler’s, four junior counselors and two adults watched in near total silence as Neil Armstrong made his way down the ladder and said, “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” The lodge room erupted into cheers. It was well past midnight when we finally made our way back to our bedrolls. That night, I spent a long time staring at the moon and stars wondering what the future might hold for the people of Earth who sent three representatives 240,000 miles to another body in space. I am still wondering.

I graduated from Wolcott High School in June 1969 and on July 20 I was in U.S. Marine Corps Boot Camp in Parris Island, SC. We did not get to see the landing, but our drill instructor did brief us on America’s accomplishment. We were allowed to cheer and then we sang the Marine Corps Hymn followed by barracks lights out.

I served in the Marines from 1969-78 and received my B.A. from Eastern in May 1980.

Larry French ’80, Middlefield, CT

Rev. Gregory Thomas ’85, Bolivia, NC

“One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Neil Armstrong 14

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Jeffrey Brandt ’93 I work for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth, TX, as a subcontract program manager for F-35 international sales. My team identiwes and establishes the international suppliers that support production and sustainment of the aircraft. The F-35 Lightning II is a wfth-generation wghter, combining advanced stealth with wghter speed and agility, network-enabled operations and advanced sustainment.

As the prime contractor, Lockheed Martin continues its 100-year history of aircraft research and design with the Lightning II. I completed a degree in Political Science with a minor in Sociology at Eastern. The broad-based degree prepared me for both further education, where I earned a graduate degree, and international business. My time at Eastern taught me to understand and appreciate different cultures and views and has dewnitely prepared me for working with people and industry from around the globe.

Aileen Charland ’06 I graduated with a B.A. in business and a minor in marketing. I work as executive assistant to the CEO of MB Aerospace, an international company with three locations in North America, three locations in Poland, three in the United Kingdom and one in Asia.

Our East Granby facility manufactures and repairs large nonrotating aerospace components for military aircraft, commercial aircraft and large industrial gas turbines. Our major customers are Pratt & Whitney, GE, MTU and Rolls Royce to name a few. I work with high-level members of our organization to execute international trade shows related to the repair business. Managing tradeshows — one per quarter — means managing many moving parts, procuring services, managing vendors, coordinating international shipping of large freight, travel and much more.

When traveling to countries in the Middle East and Asia I often recall my international business class at Eastern — and things I learned on conducting business abroad.

Aileen Charland (middle) with colleagues at MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) Aviation Week Middle East, held in Dubai earlier this year.

EASTERN • Summer 2019 • 15

This annual fundraising event started at the same time that Titan Energy started the John F. Kearney, Jr. ’75 Memorial Endowed Scholarship in 2012, following the passing of John Kearney. That year, Neil Diamond was the wrst of six Music to Our Ears shows at the Mohegan Sun Arena. This year’s event featured international star Kelly Clarkson. Due in large part to this annual event, the Kearney Endowed Scholarship recently surpassed the $80,000 level. Titan Energy has served as the lead sponsor for each of these shows, generously giving $10,000 at each event. John F. Kearney, Jr. ’75 was the president and CEO of Titan Energy when he passed away in October 2012.

Titan provides clients with best practice energy management strategies. Kearney devoted his career to addressing public policy concerns. He was on Eastern’s Alumni Association board of directors starting in the late 1990s, serving three times as president. The scholarship is given to political science majors with wnancial need.

Ken DeLisa, vice president for institutional advancement with Chris Ramm, vice president and general manager of Titan Energy

Mohegan Sun provides 100 skybox tickets at each show, a value of more than $10,000. The success of “Music to our Ears” is due to the generosity of two organizations — Titan Energy and its Vice President and General Manager Chris Ramm, and Mohegan Sun and Kathy Regan-Pyne ’79, tribal council member of the Mohegan Tribe.

Chartwells: Tom Kilgus, retail dining director; Tom Piascik, regional director; Joe Salvaggio, resident dining director; Tracy Treadwell, vice president of operations, Northeast Division

President Núñez; Justin Kearney, director of market development and support, Titan Energy; Laura Kearney; Brendan Kearney, manager of customer support, Titan Energy

” c t i o s s O r u a u E r “M

16 • Summer 2019 • EASTERN

Making Dreams Come True

More than 125 members of Eastern's family attended the President’s Annual Leadership Luncheon on March 29 in the Fine Arts Instructional Center to recognize leadership donors and alumni leaders.

For the first time, student scholarship recipients were on hand to thank their benefactors, with Accounting majors Gabriela Mikunda and Brian Hnatuk giving formal remarks.

Mikunda, who grew up in a “single-parent, low-income immigrant household,” said that scholarships had been “my saving grace throughout my college career.” She thanked BlumShapiro and Key Bank for scholarships that allowed her to finish her degree and graduate on time.

Theresa Kalber ’79 and her husband Ray received the Distinguished Donor Award for their support of the Education Fund and the Jeffrey and Nancy Trawick-Smith Early Childhood Undergraduate Research Fund. The Kalbers were lifelong educators with a cumulative 58 years of service. “Thank you for giving me the knowledge and skills to teach,” said Theresa. “Early childhood education is the key to future success and one of the things that should be held in our heart.”

In her own comments, Eastern President Elsa Núñez quoted Nelson Mandela, saying “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.” She thanked the donors present and told them “You believe in the power of an Eastern education to transform the lives of our students; those in this room, and the thousands who are learning and growing at this very moment — in class or in the studio, student teaching or working as interns.”

Hnatuk recounted his family’s own financial challenges and said the Doris K. Brown Endowed Scholarship had made a critical difference in helping him pursue his master’s degree in accounting.

Ken DeLisa, vice president for institutional advancement, indicated that total giving to the ECSU Foundation had exceeded the $2 million mark for the seventh straight fiscal year, with nearly 60 new endowed funds being created in the past 12 years totaling $7.2 million.

In addition, he indicated that scholarship awards amounting to more than $700,000 were given to 400 deserving students in fiscal year 2018-19.

Rob Katko ’89 received the Distinguished Alumni Award. He is an Emmy Award-winning director for MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show.

“As a sophomore, I took Introduction to Photography with Professor Maddox and that changed my life. He turned me onto the world of television, and the station we ran at the time with 25 students. I ended up with the internship at WFSB-TV and here I am today . . .

Eastern has certainly changed in the 30 years since I’ve been gone. I doubt you put three kids in a room in Crandall any more, and now we have parking garages!”

Jim Barrett ’92 received the Distinguished Service Award for his volunteer work donating more than 1,000 pairs of shoes to the homeless in Hartford. He was an Environmental Earth Science major at Eastern and a track and field star. A non-traditional student after serving 21 years in the U.S. Army, Barrett has been a member of the Hartford Police Department for 16 years. “Thank you, Kathy Manizza, for being my mentor and coach. Kathy helped me to have an open mind and see things differently. I’m humbled by this honor.”

Scholarship recipients Jakira Wilson ’20, elementary education major and Ailyn Dilone ’19, history major, with their donors—retired State Sen. Edith Prague and Emeritus Professor Charles Prewitt.

Rob Katko, Jim Barrett, President Núñez, Ray Kalber and Theresa Kalber

EASTERN • Summer 2019 • 17

Health Sciences Majors Respond to Nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Healthcare Needs With more than 360 students enrolled this past spring, Eastern Connecticut State Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Health Sciences major is the fastest-growing program on campus and unique among Connecticutâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s four state universities. In 2017, 37 Eastern students graduated with a health sciences degree; in May 2019, that number had increased to 70.

Career opportunities for these graduates abound, as jobs in the KHDOWKFDUH ĹľHOG DUH SURMHFWHG to increase 18 percent through 2026, generating 2.4 million new jobs nationally. In Connecticut, healthcare jobs will increase 10 percent, outpacing the overall rate of economic growth.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are preparing students for careers in nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, physician assistant, pharmacy, public health and other allied health and public health Ć&#x201C;elds,Ĺ? said $nita /ee, one of the programâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s faculty members, â&#x20AC;&#x153;with strong, transferable intellectual and practical sNills Ĺ?

Anita Lee

The faculty recently revised the curriculum, focusing on two concentrations in public health and allied health to provide a broader preparation for professional graduate schools or entry level positions $ll students take core courses such as medical terminology, genetics and healthcare informatics, while the allied health concentration includes additional courses such as microbiology and anatomy & physiology, and public health students take courses that include epidemiology, nutrition and a Ć&#x201C;eld internship â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our goal is that our students have a solid knowledge base in health sciences and public health, and topnotch skills in scientiĆ&#x201C;c inTuiry,Ĺ? said +ealth 6ciences 'epartment &hair <aw 1siah â&#x20AC;&#x153;We also want them to learn ethical and social responsibility in a diverse world, communicate health information accurately and continue their pre-professional development Ĺ? $ native of *hana, West $frica, 1siah founded Withrow 8niversity &ollege in to educate healthcare professionals in his home country )or the past four summers, +ealth 6ciences students and faculty have visited the college and other health facilities in *hana for what has been a life-changing internship They spend time in hospitals, orphanages, health clinics and other public health facilities, while also touring local communities and cultural sites.

5achel 'i1atalie is pursuing a masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in occupational therapy at 6acred +eart 8niversity. 6he went on the internship trip to *hana in . â&#x20AC;&#x153;,t was during this life-changing e[perience that , learned about another culture and e[perienced a healthcare system in a developing country. . . The opportunities ,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had at (astern have afĆ&#x201C;rmed my decision to pursue a career in the healthcare industry and prepared me for graduate school to become an occupational therapist.Ĺ?

Other off-campus health sciences internships take place at Windham and %ackus +ospitals, municipal health departments, Planned Parenthood and other healthcare organizations in &onnecticut.

Yaw Nsiah

18 â&#x20AC;˘ Summer 2019 â&#x20AC;˘ EASTERN

/ooking beyond the 8niversity to enhance graduatesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; success, (astern has articulation agreements with nursing programs at the 8niversity of &onnecticut, )airĆ&#x201C;eld 8niversity and 6outhern &onnecticut 6tate 8niversity,

Rachel DiNatalie

and is pursuing similar agreements in physical therapy, occupational therapy, and other public and allied health programs.

Amy Bataille

Back on campus, students use state-of-the-art equipment to learn laboratory techniques as well as various therapies and other healthcare procedures. For instance, using an Anatomage virtual dissection table, students visualize and explore anatomy in 3-D without having to work with cadavers. “This technology allows students to discover the depth of the human body and apply that knowledge to relevant clinical studies,” said Professor Amy Bataille. “Our students exhibit better performance because of this wonderful equipment.”

Bataille is also the faculty advisor for the Pre-Health Society, the Health Sciences student organization. Club activities include community awareness programs that range from skin cancer to diabetics.

Paul Canavan

In addition to Nsiah and Bataille, the Health Sciences program is blessed with other outstanding faculty members. Lee recently received a certiƓcate of merit from the National Academic Advising Association for her work in academic advising. Mitchell Doucette’s study of Ɠrearm safety was recognized by the American Journal of Public Health as one of the “Best Papers of the Year” in 2018. Paul Canavan led a team of student researchers in October 2018 that analyzed the biomechanics of baseball pitching, using Eastern athletes to analyze proper mechanics and how to avoid elbow and shoulder inMuries. In addition to full-time faculty, part-time lecturers provide additional stafƓng for the Health Sciences Department. The interdisciplinary major also draws on the expertise of professors in Biology, Psychology, Mathematics and Business Information Systems.

Only five years old, the Health Sciences program is graduating students who are quickly making their mark in the world.

Only Ɠve years old, the Health Sciences program is graduating students who are quickly making their mark in the world. Emmanuel Caicedo ’17, Alejandro Tobon ’17, Timothy Peterson ’18 and McKenzie Reimondo ’18 are studying for their Doctor of Physical Therapy degree at the University of Hartford.

Marianna Serrano

Alejandro Tobon

EASTERN • Summer 2019 • 19

Kelsey Sullivan ’18 and Kaley Kennedy ’18 are attending Doctor of Occupational Therapy programs at the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions and Western New England University respectively. Augmenting her laboratory experiences at Eastern, Kennedy also worked in the special education department in East Windsor Public Schools, as well as at Strong Foundations in Vernon to assist children diagnosed with autism, Asperger Syndrome and other disabilities.

Sullivan gained hands-on experience in Eastern’s OfƓce of AccessAbility Services and at her local chiropractor. “My favorite thing about occupational therapy is not only the opportunity to help change someone’s life by helping them adapt to the world around them, but the opportunity for them to change my life as well,” said Sullivan.

“This career, like the major at Eastern, is constantly adapting to best serve its clients, professionals, staff and students.”

Brendan Cullinane

“This career, like the major at Eastern, is constantly adapting to best serve its clients, professionals, staff and students.”

Precious Baker

Precious Baker ’17 is enrolled in the master’s degree in public health at the University of Connecticut, following a fellowship she received in 2016 from the Connecticut Children’s Injury Center as one of only six students to receive the honor. “I have a desire to continue working in the emergency medical environment,” said Baker, “and have a strong interest in environmental health and its relationship to health disparities.”

Another graduate, Marianna Serrano ’18, received a $7,500 scholarship from the Biomedical Science Careers Program at Harvard University to support her studies at Eastern. The scholarship, presented in April 2017, followed a summer 2016 internship at Harvard Medical School. “Being a Health Science major at Eastern has prepared me for seeing the health issues that are within our communities and has provided me with the tools I need to improve care for all that we serve,” said Serrano, who is currently working at Love1 6, a global anti-human trafƓcking agency.

Brendan Cullinane ’1 also went on the Ghana Ɠeld trip and was active in other aspects of the program — as a peer mentor, as co-president of the Pre-Health Society and conducting undergraduate research. He recently was accepted into the prestigious Doctor of Physical Therapy program at the University of Delaware. “This program has provided me many experiences that I don’t think I would have been able to get anywhere else,” said Cullinane. “My greatest learning experiences while studying health sciences are the research I conducted and the global Ɠeld course to Ghana. They both provided me with hands-on experience and allowed me to develop skills that I otherwise would not have.”

With an outstanding group of dedicated faculty members, modern facilities, and an urgent need for health care professionals in our nation, Eastern’s Health Sciences major is poised to continue its track record of progress and achievement. Graduates of the program are conƓdent they are well prepared to excel in a variety of high-demand healthcare professions.

By Dwight Bachman

Kelsey Sullivan and Kaley Kennedy Biology for Health Sciences lab

20 • Summer 2019 • EASTERN

Pettrides gr Petrides graduated r summa cum laude from the community college coll lege in 22015 and set her sights on her next goal — obtaining obt tainingg her bachelor’s degree. Unsure of what to major in butt still in interested in technology and business, Petrides learned aabo out Ea a about Eastern’s business information systems (BIS) major. In ssummer um mmer er 2015, she took her first foundation class at Eastern wit w th Sukeshini S with Grandhi, associate professor of business in nffor information systems.

Lynda Petrides ’17 is living her er d dream these days. After years of working at part-time jobs, the 60-year-old -year-o year-old Eastern graduate is working full time in her chosen career field eld ld of information technology, landing a position as a systems analyst at Danielson, CT-based SPIROL International Corp., a leading manufacturer of engineered fasteners and components used primarily in automotive and aerospace applications.

The position is the culmination of a long journey. Instead of going to college right after af high school, Petrides decided to join the workforce.

She took a job ass a ca cashier in a grocery store and quickly learned she wanted a different job b wi with better hours, enrolling in Hagerstown (PA) Community College.

College classes paid off quickly, as she was e. C promoted to the accountingg ooffice with better work hours.

The college experience had another anot ot benefit; she met her husband!

He was in the Army, and life hap happened.

“We got married, moved to p Georgia, then to Germany, backk to Georgia, and finally to eastern r and I became a stay-at-home Connecticut. We had four childr children mom for many years. Eventually Eventually, y, I worked part time at my children’s elementary school as a library aid aide d and later as an assistant computer instructor. This work supported ed the school and fed my interest in technology.” y.”

In 2010, Petrides found a p part-time job as an administrative assistan assistant stan for Loos & Co. in Pomfret, CT, which hich manufactures aircraft cable and other products. pr d “This job supported my interests in computer technology and increased my desire to expand my horizons in information systems,” said Petrides. “When my youngest child graduated from high school in 2013, my new dream was to complete my associate's degree at Quinebaug Valley Community College.”

“L “Lif Life f was good! In the spring semester of 2016, I was offered an “Life iinternship through Cigna’s Technology Early Career Development in Program. My role was in project management and I learned valuable skills working with large datasets. This was a great experience for me.”

In her senior year, Petrides worked with Nikki Kunene, assistant professor of business information systems and health information management, on a research project that culminated with Petrides co-presenting at a national conference.

“To meaningfully contribute in a research project a student must be able to think, be ready to learn the research skills needed, write well, and quickly learn the technologies we use,” said Kunene.

“Lynda had all those qualities. She worked hard, thought critically, and learned new skills readily. She was the ideal student in a STEM major with a liberal arts grounding.”

Crediting her position at SPIROL to her internships, research experiences and BIS classes, Petrides says, “I thank all the great professors at Eastern for providing wonderful learning experiences to students, especially part-time students like myself.”

Pe e g her on many Petrides’ job at SPIROL challenges llev ev “but I’m learning something new every sing levels, single da hee oldest ol day. I’m probably the person ever to major in Business Information mation Systems at Eastern. I hope mat I bbroke some gender nder and age stereotypes along the nd wa w this — dreams really do come true way! Just know no matter what aat your age. You just need to take that fir first step.”

By Dwight B Bachman

EASTERN • Summer 2019 • 21

A Chat with

Matt Pepin ’91 At the helm of the sports department of one of the country’s premier news outlets — in one of America’s most dominant sports cities — is Eastern graduate and English major Matt Pepin ’91. From his humble days with the Campus Lantern, Pepin is now the sports editor of the Boston Globe.

What’s your role as sports editor?

I run the whole department, which is more than 30 full-time staff plus another 20 or so part-time people. I work with the writers and editors to plan content for all our platforms—two websites, a printed newspaper, a whole lot of newsletters and social media.

What’s your favorite part of the job?

My favorite part is working with the writers on specific content initiatives, from the onset of a story and determining sources and the direction we want to go in, to working with the editors to decide what will go with the story—photos, video, multimedia. I like creating great, compelling content.

Do you have a favorite sport to cover?

Not really. It’s great to work in Boston because all the teams are good. That’s why Boston was a big attraction for me.

Ninety percent of what we do is related to Boston’s four major professional teams — the Red Sox, the Bruins, the Patriots and the Celtics. My side interest is the Olympics, because I know a lot about skiing.

Would you be able to do this job if you weren’t a Boston sports fan?

I’m actually not a Boston sports fan. I just root for good stories. I really don’t care who wins. I want the Super Bowl to go into overtime. I want the World Series to go 18 innings.

One thing I am a fan of, though, is championships, because championships are really good for the Boston Globe’s business.

How has the news industry changed since you entered the field?

The way it’s changed the most is in the immediacy of it.

When I started pursing journalism at the Campus Lantern it was a once-a-week affair. When I worked at the New Haven Register, we had to get it out daily. Now, in the digital era, there’s this pressure to produce every minute, every hour.

22 • Summer 2019 • EASTERN

The digital era has also given us so many new tools to be as creative and innovative as possible with our storytelling.

We’ve done several big multimedia projects at the Globe— narrative stories that have video elements and illustrated data tables. To be able to tell stories in dramatic and insightful ways—that is a great way in which journalism has evolved.

You mentioned the Campus Lantern. What else did you like about Eastern?

The size. I got a lot of attention from faculty and staff. I had some great professors. I was able to easily jump in

What’s your advice to students considering journalism?

Versatility. A lot of people want to specialize, but I think journalists who have a lot of versatility—they can do their own video, they’re good at social media, they can write well— people who can do more than just one thing are attractive.

“

“

with the student newspaper. The sports information director, Bob Molta, was an unbelievably great resource for my career.

He helped me learn this side of the sports business; what goes on behind the scenes in an athletic department, the logistics. It was an invaluable side education. Molta set a benchmark that I judge all sports information directors by.

I want the Super Bowl to go into overtime. I want the World Series to go 18 innings.

Photo by Matthew J. Lee/Boston Globe

EASTERN • Summer 2019 • 23

English alumni Ryan Bahan ’15, Angela DiLella ’14, Jennifer Kuhn ’08 and Christopher Morris ’18 talk about their careers in writing, editing and publishing.

EASTERN @WORK Chelsea Adams Craig ’07 shares insights with Business Administration students at the Business Students and Alumni Networking Event.

More than 250 students, alumni and accounting professionals attended the 25th Annual Accounting Banquet featuring a keynote by Jay Handel ’04 CPA.

Eastern alumni frequently return to campus to offer advice to current students.

Sometimes they drop by informally, while other class visits are arranged by individual professors. The Office of Alumni Affairs also works with academic departments to host career events. Here is a sampling of alumni speaking to students in specific majors who share their career paths and interests.

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Business Information Systems students and HS\TUP ÄSSLK [OL 7H\S , 1VOUZVU :Y *VUMLYLUJL 9VVT MVY [OLPY ÄYZ[ WYVMLZZPVUHS UL[^VYRPUN event.

24 • Summer 2019 • EASTERN

Catherine Falvey ’19 was one of 40 students presenting their pre-professional research to employers — including more than 20 alumni — at a “Reverse Career Fair” on April 23.

Eastern’s Social Work program presented “Life After Eastern,” a panel discussion featuring more than 15 alumni.

Environmental Earth Science majors were honored at a reception with faculty and alumni.

Teresa Nieves ’04, Tasheenah Brown ’12, Peter Brander ’12, Christopher Dorsey ’96 and Kemesha Wilmot ’05 talk about the career paths open to Sociology majors.

EASTERN • Summer 2019 • 25

Alumni Give Back

by Sponsoring Interns

One of the ways in which alumni give back four interns sponsored by Eastern alumni. alumni sponsors for the opportunity.

Horizons Eastern alumnus Kyle St. Jean ’12 hosted an internship for Lauryn Smith ’20 at Horizons, a Windham-based nonprofit organization dedicated to people with developmental disabilities. As director of staff services as well as director of Horizon’s residential camp program, St. Jean is responsible for approximately 150 staff members.

“That’s why we got Lauryn,” he said of the workload. Smith assisted St. Jean with hiring functions such as recruitment, reviewing applications, coordinating and conducting interviews, and handling paperwork and background checks.

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Main Avent Sports Eastern alumnus Ashon Avent ’08 hosted three interns in spring 2019 at Main Avent Sports and Apparel. The Norwich-based company makes custom apparel for sports teams, businesses and other organizations. Sean Paul Didden ’19, Christian Cepeda ’19 and Nicholas Panciera ’19 learned the challenges of marketing a small business while helping Avent start new community programs and improve business operations. “You can intern at one of these bigger companies, or you can work with me and entrepreneur your own internship,” Avent told the students at an Eastern career fair.

The students assisted Avent on numerous projects, from helping to develop a flag football program, to creating a website and producing video for events. They also performed market research to identify new clients and worked with the City of Norwich and local businesses to coordinate community events and sponsorships.

“I gained the confidence to interact with people on all levels — kids, parents, town

26 • Summer 2019 • EASTERN

supervisors,” said Didden, a communication major who managed Main Avent’s social media channels and developed reports on community outreach/events. “I used my creativity — I didn’t think I had any creativity! — to assist in the branding and logo of the football league. I created a promotional video, which I learned how to do from scratch.”

“I had no idea that I wanted to do anything related to human resources until I talked to Kyle,” said Smith, a business administration major who learned of the internship opportunity at an Eastern career fair. “The job and the agency seemed really interesting to me.”

When hiring interns and staff, St. Jean emphasizes the importance of people skills.

Cepeda, a business administration major, aspires to become a business owner and small-business consultant. “Working with Ashon has challenged me and given me more responsibility than I’ve had before,” he said.

“I understand more about small business now, and the importance of being prepared to address problems — to not give up.”

Panciera, a sport and leisure management major, promoted a basketball tournament at Mohegan Sun, researching travel teams to compete in the tournament.

“A key takeaway for me was learning ways to market your product. I learned how to convey a message with more than just words, and how even the smallest details can affect the public’s perception.”

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to the University is by sponsoring student internships. Here are Each has a special story to tell, and all are grateful to their “In human resources, you deal with a lot of different personalities,” he said. “You need to be someone who is up for the challenges of dealing with a lot of people.”

“That was something I struggled with,” admitted Smith. “I’m getting more comfortable talking with people I don’t know. It’s nerve wracking when someone comes in and you have to lay the basis of everything, but I’m getting the hang of it.”

Interning at Horizons and sitting in on the hiring process for summer counselors has piqued Smith’s interest in the camp program. This summer she’ll work as a Horizons camp counselor. “She’s excited to see all the things we’ve done in the background come to fruition once summer camp starts,” said St. Jean.

Easter Seals Anne Iezzi ’79, a member of the ECSU Foundation, Inc., Board of Directors and secretary of the Easterseals Capital Region and Eastern Connecticut (ECREC) Board of Directors, facilitated an Eastern-ECREC internship connection a year ago when she introduced Allen Gouse, ECREC president and CEO to Ken DeLisa, vice president of institutional advancement.

tion from five counties in eastern Connecticut to determine which county had the greatest need for the majority of Easterseals’ medical rehabilitation services,” said Graveline.

Wendy Archer, vice president for marketing and philanthropy at ECREC, called Graveline “a wonderful addition to the EasterPaige Graveline, Wendy Archer and Jamie Rubenstein, Avon High School intern seals Capital Region and Eastern Connecticut team as everyone worked together” for ECREC’s signature event — the 32nd As a result, Communication major Paige Annual Crystal Ball Gala on March 30, 2019.

Graveline ’20 gained valuable experience during a three-credit internship from October The event supported Easterseals life-changing services with special emphasis on veterans/ser2018 to March 2019 at ECREC and has since been hired for a paid Group Communi- vice members and military family programs.

The gala generated more than $400,000 in cation internship this coming fall at Pratt & gross revenue.

Whitney.

A dean’s list student and member of two honor societies, Graveline was heavily involved with planning Easterseals’ annual gala and helped coordinate both the digital and print campaigns for Easterseals. She also worked on a market research project intended to analyze growth service areas pertaining to speech therapy, physical and occupational therapy, neuropsychology and behavioral health. “This was a large marketing project in which I looked at demographic informa-

Archer said Graveline learned “tactics that are employed to plan a comprehensive 350-person event and the nuances of the different revenue streams — company sponsors, auction items, ticket purchasers, ad sales and paddle raise for veterans.”

Extending the relationship between Eastern and Easterseals, Digital Art & Design major Tatiyana Morrell ’20 will start in September as an ECREC intern.

By Michael Rouleau ’11 EASTERN • Summer 2019 • 27

1

4

Looking Back 5

2

3

6

1. Eastern “study abroad” students board an airplane for Havana, Cuba, in 1957. 2. This 1980 photograph shows the baseball field where the library, Science Building, SRV and Webb Hall sit today. 3. The cast of the on-campus production of “Spark Plug” poses in costume in 1923. 4. Patty Owen and Linda Whitlesey scuba dive off Avery Point, circa late 1970s. 5. Normal School student teachers served local children in the Windham Street School, built in 1910. 6. The Archery Club practices on the Burr Hall lawn in 1928.

28 • Summer 2019 • EASTERN

7

8

9

10

11

7. The women’s basketball team poses during the 1931-32 season. 8. Student Phil Patros joins other Connecticut college students to address the Connecticut legislature in 1951. 9. The Class of 1926 gathers on the lawn to show off the traditional Commencement Day daisy chain. 10. In the 1950s, Burr Hall was the main dining spot on campus for future teachers to eat and socialize. 11. The 1961 baseball team proudly show off their “Warriors” uniforms.

EASTERN • Summer 2019 • 29

Dorothy ’51 (Hartwick) and Ralph Young ’51 Ralph and Dorothy (Hartwick) Young ’51 met at Willimantic State Teachers College and retired after 25 and nearly 40 years of teaching respectively.

At their 2016 reunion, the Youngs saw the names of faculty members and staff on various Eastern facilities — Geissler Gymnasium, the Betty R. Tipton Room, the J. Eugene Smith Library, Noble Hall, Beckert Hall, and the Paul E. Johnson Sr. Community Room — and remarked that they were “all fine people who put their all into making us teachers.”

During their time at Eastern, Dorothy was a cheerleader and Ralph “dabbled in sports.” Ralph later served as an Army officer in the Korean War, and the couple visited England as part of a Fulbright Teacher Exchange. They chaired committees in charge of the 1977 National Skating Championships and the 1981 World Championships in Hartford, with their children becoming national Ice Dance Champions. The couple celebrates their 67th wedding anniversary in July: “We met at ‘Willi’ and have been happy ever since. Great school!”

e d a M s n r e e h t c s t a a E M t a

30

Caitlin ’11 (Caffrey) and Anthony Amato ’12 Anthony and Caitlin tied the knot in Wolcott, CT, this past Sept. 8, 2018, with many of their Eastern friends helping them celebrate their special day. They honeymooned in Aruba, where Caitlin went on her first deep-sea fishing expedition, catching her share of Wahoo and Mahi-Mahi.

Caitlin and Anthony met on campus in spring 2010 through mutual friends connected to the rugby club. While on campus, they both worked as office assistants in Constitution Hall, and were very involved with TV22, Caitlin as a producer and anchor and Anthony as sports anchor and lead anchor in his senior year. Both were communication majors. They still come up for the rugby alumni game each spring and count many longtime friends among Eastern’s rugby faithful.

The Amatos live in Washington, D.C., with their two rescue cats Rory and Loki.

A former account executive at TicketNetwork in South Windsor, CT, Anthony is vice president of sales at 1Ticket.com. Anthony ran his second half-marathon this past March and plays in the DCHL, the local co-ed indoor floor hockey league, as well as the Washington Renegades rugby club.

Caitlin loves her job as a news producer at WTTG-Fox 5 TV, which serves the District of Columbia, Maryland and northern Virginia. “I gather news stories, assign reporters and write scripts. I’m responsible for making sure the newscast goes off without any issues. Eastern helped fuel my love for news and writing. My TV production classes helped me to prepare for the real world of news.”

Caitlin and Anthony sharing their special day with fellow teammates and Eastern graduates.

Chelsea ’11 (Stepensky) and Alexander Ruggiero ’10 I was in the class of 2011 and he was in the class of 2010. We met in the spring semester of 2009 in the courtyard outside of Laurel and Nutmeg; we were introduced by our mutual friend, Gianpatrick Dennies. I was living in Laurel and Alex was living in Nutmeg. When we met I was sitting on the grass outside enjoying the first nice spring weather, and Alex was coming out of class. We began dating that fall and have been together ever since! We got engaged on June 15, 2016, while on vacation at Moraine Lake in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. We got married at Glenn Island Harbour Club on June 17, 2017, and we live in Stamford, CT. Gianpatrick was our best man!

The Matchmaker!

Gianpatrick (right) with Alex.

Photos by Pete Lott

EASTERN • Summer 2019 • 31

The Doors of Low Rise

In 1973, the show “The Waltons” was at its height, and the family would sign off and say goodnight to each other. So of course, we shouted from our room to theirs, “Good Night Linda, Good Night Mary,” and they shouted back to us. We were in the alcove where the sound echoed and carried, so others were soon joining in.

“Couches Today!"

In fall 1971, my roommates and I were among the first residents of the new Low Rise Apartments. We each had a mattress on the floor and nothing else. No furniture, no curtains, and for most of the first day, no electricity. During the first semester, the furniture arrived one piece at a time. You would hear the word go around campus — “couches today!” You never knew what your apartment would look like when you got back from class.

Gale Brainerd Anderson ’73

Streakers & Keg Parties My friend Janet and I transferred to Eastern and were placed in Green Doors 221 with two girls who had roomed together since freshman year. Janet and I shared one bedroom and our roommates, Mary and Linda, shared the other. We were on the second floor over the alcove where the mailboxes were.

Fantastic memories of best friends and amazing keg parties in the quad. It was particularly fun during the blizzard!

Someone produced a toboggan and made multiple package store runs!

Liz Summa, Green Doors, 1976-79

1973-74 was also when streaking was happening on many college campuses.

Eastern also had its streakers — usually the baseball team. There was a large common area in front of High Rise and down through Low Rise units. Students would stand on the stairs and watch the team run by. I remember the Purple Doors taking their couches outside so they could sit in comfort and watch the show. This continued throughout the fall until the cold weather set in.

Class of 1974 first occupants Lived with no furniture for a few weeks.

Great times with good friends!”

Maureen Carey McCaffrey ’74 Purple Doors #525

many adventures Oh, what stories! Hanging out with Sally and Edgar Winter. Debbie entertaining the drummer from Earth, Wind and Fire and the gift he left us. The Harvey Wallbanger Party! Being called out of class to meet with a U.S. Postal Inspector.

(Apparently it’s a crime to write the “F” word on an envelope that goes thru the mail.) And many more adventures that should not be shared for fear reputations may be blemished. ” Kathleen C. Kennedy ’74

More Memories!

We buried a time capsule by Blue Doors in 1986. Wonder if anyone ever found it!

Jill Stahl Crimi ’86

Yellow rules!

My favorite memory was the weekend in 1973 when Connecticut lowered the drinking age from 21 to 18. It took effect on a Friday. Needless to say most people were not in classes on Friday afternoon or Monday morning. All the Low Rise buildings had parties on the circular steps. I remember a beer keg on the staircase at the Yellow Doors. Many friends were made that weekend!

Maria Degnats, Green Doors, ’72-74

That’s where I met great friends like Eddie Sokaitis! Yellow Doors with Kim, Tracy, Paula and Joanie…and Blue Doors my senior year with Joanna — lots of fun and crazy times!

Elsie Riordan Martin ’84 I lived in Low Rise Green Doors 221…class of 1984.

We had many fun times!

Jennifer Reid Morrison ’84 I see my room. Orange Doors, room 524. Brent Fournier, Benjamin DeMagistris, Robert J. Scott. Let’s all go back! Great times!

Nicholas Monti Aceto ’05 I was an RA from 1999-2001 and was in Yellow Doors! When I first went back and all the doors were the same color, it was devastating.

Stacie Kurlick ’01

EASTERN • Summer 2019 • 33

Softball Team Third at Nationals

Enjoying their biggest single-season turnaround in program history, the Eastern Warriors reached the semifinals of the NCAA Division III national softball tournament and took home third place in their 15th national tournament appearance.

After averaging fewer than 16 wins a year in the previous three seasons, unranked Eastern relished the underdog role throughout postseason play.

They won both the Little East Conference and Medford, MA, regional tournaments as the No. 3 seed before sweeping nationally ranked Rowan University in the best-of-three Super Regional at Clyde Washburne Field to return to the national tournament for the third time under head coach Diana Pepin ’92.

26th Annual Hall of Fame Slated for October 34 • Summer 2019 • EASTERN

In 85-degree heat in Tyler, TX, in the double-elimination tournament on Memorial Day weekend, the eighth-seeded Warriors took out top-seeded University of St. Thomas in the opener, and after a loss, eliminated second-seeded Illinois Wesleyan University in the third round before losing a walkoff, eighth-inning decision to third-seeded Emory University.

The Warriors had fallen into the elimination bracket after a threerun seventh inning rally fell just short against eventual national champion Texas Lutheran University.

“We had a great season (36-13 record) and a great national tournament,” said Pepin afterward, “and I’m proud of every single person on the team.

They were cheering each other on and fighting every step of the way. I think that going from three straight losing seasons to third in the nationals is a tribute to all the players.”

Junior catcher Megan Hodgdon of Cheshire and sophomore third-team AllAmerica pitcher Morgan Bolduk of Vernon represented Eastern on the national all-tournament team. Hodgdon caught every inning of every game without an error or passed ball and led the Warriors with a .500 batting average. Bolduk pitched 24 of a possible 28 and two-thirds innings with a 2.92 ERA and nine strikeouts, walking only four and allowing 23 hits. She also batted .357.

Morgan Bolduk

(Eastern’s softball coaching staff—Pepin, and assistants Tom Madera, Mark Correia and Dawn Brolin—was also named New England Coaching Staffof-the-Year by the National Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association.)

Another outstanding group of Eastern Warriors is scheduled for induction when the Athletics Alumni Hall of Fame welcomes the Class of 2019 at the 26th induction ceremonies on Oct. 19 at the Student Center.

The induction gets underway with a social hour at 4 p.m. in the Student Center Café, followed by the ceremonies at 5 p.m. and dinner thereafter. Tickets are $50; to reserve tickets and for more information, call (860) 465-4326.

Kyle Bedini ’08 soccer

Molly Rathbun ’12 softball/volleyball

Marc DiGiovanni ’08 lacrosse

HALEY KNOX Gives It Her All

From left: Kami Parisella, (Zach’s mother), President Elsa Núñez, Zach Parisella, cross country/track and field coach Kathy Manizzi, and NCAA representative Tiese Roxbury

Zach Parisella of Hamden received the NCAA Division III Male Student-Athlete Sportsmanship Award for his actions during a cross-country meet in September 2018. During the meet, Parisella and Adrian Higgins of the University of Massachusetts Boston emerged from the woods at the two-mile mark of the course on the very hot Saturday afternoon. Higgins dropped to his knees with exhaustion. Parisella went back and helped Higgins keep running, and the two competitors ran the last mile together.

Jennifer Ferrari ’04 soccer

Michael Susi ’93 baseball

A four-year member of the cross country and track teams who has found time to earn a near-perfect GPA, Haley Knox ’19 is the epitome of a student-athlete. The recent graduate from Bristol, CT, was a member of the University’s Honors Program and capped a remarkable athletic and academic career as a senior. Honors that Knox received include the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities prestigious Henry Barnard Distinguished Student Award; recognition as Eastern’s Bonnie J. Edmondson Female Sportsperson-of-theYear; and being nominated for the NCAA Woman-of the-Year Award.

“Haley is the kind of teammate that you strive to be like,” said Knox’s cross country and track teammate Hayley Brodeur ’20. “I have looked up to her since I joined the team because of her hard work, talent and commitment . . . Not only was I amazed by her determination every day, but also by her ability to encourage and help her teammates as well. She is truly an inspiration that we all look up to in the classroom and on the track.”

A mathematics major with a computer science minor, Knox has received straight A’s since the start of her sophomore year.

She served as president of the Math Club this past year and has presented at numerous research conferences on topics such as “Ordered Multiplicity Inverse Eigenvalue Problem on Six Vertices.” In 2017, she received funds from the National Science Foundation to study mathematics at Iowa State University, one of only 10 students in the country.

Knox’s year-round dedication to running turned her into one of the top collegiate cross-country performers in New England. She holds three Eastern track records and has been recognized as All-Conference and All-New England. “Giving 110 percent is something that Haley does in every aspect of her life,” notes Kathy Manizza, Knox’s head cross country and track & field coach. “Haley is an absolute pleasure to be around. She is a terrific teammate, and she will always go out of her way to help someone in need.”

An avid writer whose work has appeared in Eastern Exposure, the University’s literary journal, Knox is headed to Florence, Italy, this summer for a class in fiction before returning to begin a full-time job at Cigna, where she spent last summer interning as a software engineer.

Eastern Athletes Tops in Little East Conference for Third Straight Year For the third straight year, Eastern claimed the Little East Conference (LEC) Commissioner’s Cup, the top honor for overall athletic performance among the LEC’s nine primary member institutions. The Warriors captured the 2018-19 Commissioner’s Cup after accumulating a point average of 6.26. Eastern’s accomplishment is especially significant as it has only 17 of the 19 varsity sports for which LEC members earn points.

“We are delighted to win the Commissioner’s Cup for the third year in a row for having the best athletic record in the Little East Conference,” said Eastern President Elsa Núñez.

“Our student-athletes are bringing honor and recognition to the University while achieving great heights on the playing field.

“I am equally proud that our athletes take their studies seriously as they prepare for rewarding professional careers. Our student-athletes apply their teamwork skills, self-discipline and a commitment to excellence in and out of class on campus, and they demonstrate the same standards in athletic competition.”

Eastern claimed the outright regular season title in men’s soccer and was one of two programs to share the regular season championship in men’s basketball and women’s soccer. The Warriors were second in the conference standings in women’s basketball and women’s cross country and totaled four third-place finishes – men’s and women’s outdoor track and field, softball, and women’s swimming and diving. Only two of Eastern’s 17 programs placed lower than fourth in the LEC standings in 2018-19.

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class notes

64

Ruth Swift, a retired Franklin Elementary School teacher, is writing her memoirs and has gotten as far as her 20s. She says shoveling snow and cutting grass keeps her in shape to continue ballroom dancing two or three times a week into her 90s.

69 Bob Sandin is serving his fourth term on the Crosby-Ironton Board of Education in Minnesota. He was first elected in 2005.

70 Michael Savo has retired after decades working in the transportation industry, particularly in trucking sales for many years.

74 Gloria (Hambach) Day is enjoying retirement in Lyman, ME, painting watercolors, traveling, gardening and taking courses at a local college for people over 50. She was a third-grade teacher in Kennebunk, ME, during her career.

Kathe Kennedy began consulting at Bucknell University’s Career Development Center in 2016, building a program for students interested in investment banking careers. Kathe served on the Parents Board when her older daughter Kate attended Bucknell, which ultimately led to the consulting offer. She said her first thought about the opportunity was “this is the perfect ‘retirement job,’ combining my Wall Street experience and counseling psychology background.”

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It is also a return to her post-graduate school role as a career counselor at Barnard College and New York University. Finding satisfaction with the Bucknell position, Kathe retired from her senior human resources position with UBS as Head of Recruitment, Americas to devote more time to the consulting role. In the intervening years, she also became a grandmother to Kate’s two children, Libby and Emma.

Nancy (Tiedemann) Mahoney retired in 2017 as director of Spring Glen Nursery School in Hamden. She is now enjoying spending time with family, especially her three grandchildren, and traveling with her husband Ken. Christine Sacerdote has been coordinator of early childhood programs at Lander University in Greenwood, SC, since 2013. She also teaches in a Montessori school there, and teaches Lander students to be Montessori as well as traditional teachers. She came to Lander from St. Catherine University in St. Paul, MN, where she had a similar role in the Montessori school as well as with traditional education. Chris received her Ed.D. from Argosy University in Minnesota.

80 Cindy Bialy is the electronic content management account manager for Konica Minolta Business Solutions in Warwick, RI. She has been with Konica Minolta for more than eight years. Her current position involves helping the company’s sales force connect with businesses to help them plan for and achieve cost savings in content management. She earned an MBA from Southern New Hampshire University. Cindy is an oil painting enthusiast who also enjoys kayaking and other outdoor activities.

81 Greg Andrulis, head soccer coach at George Mason University since 2005, was inducted into the Connecticut Soccer Hall of Fame in January. Greg’s distinguished career began when he spent a year as an Eastern assistant coach following his playing career and includes head coach at Wright State University for more than a decade, nine years with the MLS Columbus Crew,

the last four as head coach, and his selection as MLS Coach of the Year in 2004. At George Mason his teams have won 254 games and the Atlantic 10 Tournament in 2013, and played in three NCAA tournaments.

82 Gemetta Neal-Goulet is president of Central Connecticut Board 6 of the International Association of Approved Basketball Officials (IAABO), the first woman to be elected to the post. The IAABO is a nonprofit service and professional organization that educates, trains, develops and provides ongoing instruction for basketball officials. Central Connecticut Board 6 provides officiating services to middle schools, high schools and preparatory schools in Hartford County and parts of Tolland County.

83 Joan Hutchinson is finishing her 12th year at Good Shepherd Day School in Lexington, KY, and fifth year with the four-yearold group. She said she was attracted to the school because of its friendliness.

84 Mark Hildebrand is a physical therapist with Springfield Medical Health Care Systems at Mountain View Physical Therapy in Ludlow, VT. He has been a physical therapist for more than 30 years and is trained in a variety of specialties within the profession. He earned his master’s degree in physical therapy from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.

Mark Hildebrand

90 Jonathan Alpert ’93 published an updated version of his 2012 book “Be Fearless: Change Your Life in 28 Days” in January. The new edition includes a new preface, which contains Jonathan’s controversial New York Times op-ed piece “In Therapy Forever? Enough Already,” also published in 2012, and discusses the impact the op-ed had on the practice of therapy.

Jonathan is a prominent psychotherapist with a practice in New York City, writes regularly for the Huffington Post and Inc.com, and has made numerous broadcast appearances as an expert in his field. He is known for a caring yet no nonsense approach to counseling.

85 Brian Taylor was seeking an opportunity to volunteer for a worthwhile organization and use his photography skills, when he discovered L’Arche Greater Washington D.C., an organization that assists developmentally disabled adults.

In addition to taking photographs, Brian serves L’Arche in other ways. After receiving his business management degree at Eastern, he went through the ROTC program at UConn, served as an Army officer and then made a career with the Central Intelligence Agency. He retired from the CIA in 2010 as senior logistics manager.

88 Beth Ferri is an assistant vice president in the information technology department at Voya Financial. She has worked in information technology since 1988 and moved into management in the second half of her career, all the while raising two children — now teenagers.

Beth also volunteers at South Windsor Food and Fuel and recently joined her town’s farmers market. She was a panelist at Eastern’s Career Readiness Conference in January 2019 to help Eastern sophomores begin preparing for entry into the professional workforce.

James Topor became an adjunct professor of data analytics and visualization at the Katz School of Yeshiva University in New York this year. He earned an M.S. in data analytics at the City University of New York in 2017. His full-time job is as managing director of Mirus Global Advisory Services in New York City, counseling clients in business, capital and real estate investments. James is also treasurer of the board for a midtown Manhattan residential co-op.

John Kolar retired from the U.S. Air Force after a 21-year career as an air cargo specialist, nine of that on active duty, then retired from the U.S. Postal Service after more than 30 years. He still says he’s not “retiring.” He delivers Ford parts two days a week, and works as a chauffeur four days a week for Joshua’s Limousine Service, a luxury provider in Ledyard for weddings, proms, other special events and service for Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. Lucinda Marsalisi became a university assistant in Eastern’s School of Education and Professional Studies this past November. In addition to her undergraduate degree, she earned a Master of Science degree in early childhood education from Eastern in 1997.

Melissa Slade is executive director for marketing at Aetna, a job in which she essentially runs an in-house marketing agency for the insurance giant. She has more than 250 employees reporting to her and working in nine areas of responsibility, including creative strategy, branding, video, copywriting and creative production. Throughout Melissa’s career at Aetna, she has worked extensively with Aetna’s Agency partners including Global Agency companies Ogilvy, Siegel and Gale, Lippincott and more. She has worked for Aetna since graduating from Eastern. Melissa also finds time to work for her family-owned glass business, innovating projects for new business and marketing as well.

Melissa was a panelist at a January 2019 Career Readiness Conference to help Eastern sophomores begin preparing for entry into the professional workforce.

James Topor

93 89 Stephen Ronzello became vice president– home listings for Central Connecticut at Tea Leaf Realty of West Hartford late last year. He is handling all aspects of managing and listing homes for the company. Stephen has extensive experience in financial services management, sales, business development and marketing over the past 20 years.

Dana Malia is branch manager for Supreme Lending, a mortgage origination company in Columbia, CT. He has been with the company six years, and previously headed the Willimantic office.

Lana O’Connor was promoted to assistant director of the Center for Internships and Career Development at Eastern in February. She has been at the center since 2006.

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94 Rolanda Abney is a licensed clinical social worker contracted with the State of North Carolina to provide private clinical services to children with PTSD. She earned her Master of Social Work degree from Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, NY, in 2001.

Neftersi (Nancy) Martinez-Fuentes has been a family liaison for Manchester Public Schools since January 2017, working in Manchester High School to connect families with resources within the school system and the community.

Nancy enjoys providing support and helping to eliminate barriers that could interfere with children’s success in school. Nancy and her husband also adopted four siblings at one time due to special circumstances, three boys and a girl. The two oldest boys, now 20 and 19, are both in the Army, stationed in Alaska and North Carolina respectively.

Her youngest son is in high school and enjoys serving in other countries as a missionary. Her daughter is a pitcher and first baseman for a travel baseball (not softball) team.

95 Daniel Titus was elevated to chief executive officer of HRP Associates, an engineering and environmental consulting firm, at the beginning of 2019. Headquartered in Farmington, CT, HRP has nine offices in the eastern and central United States, has served clients in nearly every state and has consulted in more than 20 states. Dan has been with the company for more than 20 years and risen in its management in recent years.

99 Sean Beaudry joined Loureiro Engineering early this year as a senior project manager in the Facility Services Division. Headquartered in Plainville, CT, with offices in other New England locations, Washington, D.C. and North Carolina, the company is employee owned and provides a broad range of services in such areas as environmental 38 • Summer 2019 • EASTERN

health and safety, waste management consulting, construction and laboratory analysis. An Environmental Earth Science major at Eastern, Sean has 20 years of experience in environmental services, including emergency response, wetland remediation, drinking water compliance and development of a GIS data management system. He was previously senior operations manager at Magnum Services.

Jackie D. Silverstein was appointed director of enterprise information risk governance for MassMutual in Springfield, MA, in October 2018. She leads a team overseeing information risk awareness, policy, standards and controls, as well as application security and vulnerability management governance. She was in a similar role for Biogen in Weston, MA, for two years before accepting the new job at MassMutual. Jackie also earned an M.S. in organizational management at Eastern in 2004.

Maria Swan has been at Travelers for more than 15 years and is now senior consultant for the firm’s Insurance Ops Leadership Development Program.

She represented her company on April 23 at Eastern’s Reverse Career Fair, where students presented their research projects to prospective employers in attendance.

00 Courtney Chan is a member of the board of directors of Operation Fuel, a statewide nonprofit based in Bloomfield, CT, that provides energy assistance services to low-income families. Courtney is also the director of human services for the Town of Coventry.

01 Michael Bartolotta has been promoted to senior vice president and chief information officer of Eastern Connecticut Savings Bank. He is one of four members of the bank’s executive management team.

02

In January 2019, Tara (Gelineau) Sitilides moved her sign-making business from her Southington home to a studio in downtown Middletown. At MySignsYourWords, a side project she had started several years ago that has become a full-time business, customers get the kind of custom quality signs Tara has been making for years, or make their own with Tara’s materials and guidance. In her early days she hosted events at clients’ homes and other locations. When she started getting custom sign orders from real estate agents and others, she left her full-time job to devote all her time to the business.

03 Jessica (Williamson) Fayle is program manager at Innovation Places Hartford/East Hartford, a partnership of CTNext that supports a network of entrepreneurs, service providers and other specialists, with a mission of helping promising Connecticut startups succeed and grow. Jessica’s role is to weave entrepreneurship support and relationship building with physical planning and development for innovative start-ups. Jessica had worked for more than 11 years at Trinity College, where she was most recently associate director of alumni relations.

Onika Harry has received multiple recognitions this year for her work and community service. She was honored by the June Archer & Eleven28 Entertainment Group – named for musician, author and motivational speaker June Archer – as one of The 100 Women of Color, an honor that recognizes women of color for their contributions in a range of career fields in Connecticut and western Massachusetts. Other recognitions included a proclamation from the City of Springfield, MA, for work in that community, and citations from the Connecticut General Assembly and Connecticut Office of the Treasurer for positively impacting the lives of people in Connecticut. Harry is an eligibility services worker for the Connecticut Department of Social Services. She has a master’s degree in education from Cambridge College, and will be awarded her Ph.D. in psychology from Capella University in August.

Two New York City area small business organizations selected LaToya Smith ’06 for entrepreneurship awards in April. Both the New York Small Business Development Center and the U.S. Small Business Administration’s New York District Office selected LaToya for their Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. The award banquets were April 30 and May 7 respectively, the latter in conjunction with National Small Business Week.

Latoya is the CEO and founder of Brass City Media (BCM) in Brooklyn, NY, a video production, media marketing and media training agency she launched in 2014. BCM has filmed, produced and edited more than 300 videos for clients across the financial, healthcare and information technology sectors. LaToya graduated magna cum laude from Eastern in 2006 with a double major in communication and history. She earned her M.S. in print journalism from Boston University in 2008 and worked in a series of broadcast, video and print editorial positions before starting her business.

04 Jay Handel was the keynote speaker at Eastern’s annual Accounting Banquet on April 25, where he spoke on his transition from public to private accounting.

Jason has been with Jacobs Vehicle Systems in Bloomfield for seven years and its vice president for finance for nearly four. He started his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Melissa Denis Post is celebrating 25 years with Foxwoods Resort Casino, where she is the senior asset administrator.

Jesse Schoolnik is a member of the Vernon Planning & Zoning Commission and vice chair of the town’s Democratic Town Committee; he is running for Vernon Town Council. Jesse is also a charter and executive board member of the Vernon Rockville Lions Club. In his professional life, he is the health care regulatory affairs manager for UnitedHealthcare in Hartford, where he serves as a communications focal point for customer Medicare and retirement issues and coordinates with government agencies on those issues.

Anthony White is the chief financial officer for Pro 1 in Miami, a mortgage brokerage firm that processes home loans throughout the country. He oversees the company’s accounting and taxation departments and works to build relationships with banks and high net worth clients. On his own time, he speaks to college students, advising them on how achieving good credit ratings can work to their advantage. Anthony earned an M.S. in taxation from the University of Hartford in 2007 and an MBA from Barry University in Florida in 2009.

05 Jeanpierre (JP) Danserau was named general manager of the Germantown Inn, a Federal-style 19th century home in downtown Nashville, TN, that was converted to a 10-room luxury inn in 2016. Each room is named for a historical American figure or family, mostly former presidents.

Robyn Rodriguez works for the Defense Prisoner-of-War/Missing-in-Action Accounting Agency at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii. She is a historian who supervises research on cases of missing U.S. service members from World War II and the Korean War in an

effort to find, repatriate and identify their remains. Robyn has worked as a civilian U.S. Department of Defense employee for more than six years in both Hawaii and Washington, D.C.

06 Tracey (Udas) Busch is now the director of client service for space150’s New York office. She was promoted in May 2019 from head of client services and operations. Her company — space150 — is an advertising agency with offices in Minneapolis, New York and Los Angeles. Client accounts under Tracey’s direction in New York included American Express and Hyatt hotels. Tracey was the founding president of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) chapter at Eastern.

Daniel Munrow is a fixed income analyst with the investment firm of Angelo Gordon in New York City. He has been with the company for eight years and resides in Greenwich.

07 Desiree Cameron-Ayeni is director of student financial services at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. She previously held financial aid management positions at the Yale School of Medicine and the Columbia University Medical Center School of Nursing. Desiree holds a Master of Science in counseling from

the University of Bridgeport and an MBA from Albertus Magnus College.

Mae Ryan Maloney was chosen by Connecticut magazine as one of the state’s “40 Under 40” for 2019, which recognizes outstanding young professionals forging noteworthy careers before turning 40. “Between college and grad school, (Mahoney) worked for Leadership Greater Hartford as a program coordinator and grants manager. Soon after earning her master’s degree in clinical/medical social work, she realized she preferred community organizing to social work and returned to Leadership Greater Hartford. Maloney facilitates workshops and trains people on nonprofit boards to strengthen their ability to work together in constructive partnerships. She also works with several youth leadership programs in the Greater Hartford area and serves as a board member of the Windsor Education Foundation.” (Connecticut Magazine)

08 Kristen Brierley became a labor relations associate/labor and employment attorney with the University of Connecticut in March. She had served as a labor relations specialist with the State of Connecticut since June 2017.

Kristen Brierley

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Kristen graduated from Western New England University School of Law in 2013, where she was editor-in-chief of the Law Review. In October, Kristen was awarded the 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award at WNEU for her contributions to the law review.

Adam Brzozowski became director of network insights at Logisticare | Circulation, Inc. in Boston in January.

Logisticare | Circulation provides a network of services for emergency and non-emergency medical transportation throughout the country. Adam applies his data science, financial analytics and marketing skills to increase the efficiency of the transportation network. He was previously associate director of research analytics for C Space in Boston, where he helped Fortune 500 companies improve their customer experience using proprietary data science.

Blum Shapiro, the second largest accounting firm in Connecticut and the largest regional business advisory firm in New England, appointed Stephen Fuller as one of four new partners in its West Hartford office at the beginning of 2019.

Stephen joined the firm in 2008 as a member of its tax practice, spent time at two other firms, including XL Caitlan as a vice president, and rejoined Blum in 2016. He has more than 10 years of experience providing tax planning, financial reporting and compliance services to clients, with substantial experience in corporate tax. Stephen earned his M.S. in accounting and taxation from the University of Hartford.

Jennifer Kuhn is the editorial director for several advanced practice nursing and healthcare publications for Wolters Kluwer Health, working from the company’s Philadelphia office. She is also the owner and operator of Nanny magazine, billed as the only print publication for childcare workers, which she has published since 2014. Jennifer earned a Master of Professional Studies degree from The George Washington University. She was a panelist in the English Department’s English at Work Alumni Panel on April 8.

09 Neal Frutuoso is an account supervisor at Rebel Interactive Group, a digital marketing agency in Southington. He has been with the firm since April 2017.

Novagrami (Nova) George is a clinical research coordinator for the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation at the Yale School of Medicine, and a certified clin40 • Summer 2019 • EASTERN

ical research professional. She is also certified in Spanish language fluency, and has been a Spanish interpreter at the HAVEN Free Clinic in the Yale Physicians Building for seven years.

10 Chelsea Groton Bank hired Sarah Duval as assistant vice president as well as product and project manager in February. She oversees new product implementation and manages workflow on strategic bank-wide initiatives. Headquartered in Groton, the bank has several locations in New London County and a lending center in Glastonbury. Sarah had previously spent nearly nine years with Savings Institute Bank & Trust.

Mita (Lad) McAuliff is senior project manager for Research Now SSI (Survey Sampling International), a Shelton-based global leader in marketing and consumer research that makes extensive use of market research panels.

She manages multiple ongoing market research projects and works directly with project clients on their studies. She came to the job in October 2018 after four and a half years in a similar project management role with Tenet Partners in Norwalk. Mita earned an MBA in marketing from Quinnipiac in 2013.

Kelly Meakam was promoted to business banking operations manager and assistant treasurer of Chelsea Groton Bank in February. She joined the bank, which has several branches in New London County, as a teller in 2008, and has been promoted five times since.

Her most recent previous position was business banking supervisor and assistant secretary. Kelly graduated in 2016 from the Connecticut School of Finance and Management, a two-year program operated by the Connecticut Bankers Association to help junior management people in banking advance their knowledge and careers.

Nicholas Parenteau began a job as a HotDocs engineering consultant last September for AbacusNext. The company is a technology services provider to law and accounting firms and other companies. HotDocs is a sophisticated document automation system that allows users to automate processing of documents up to 100 pages. AbacusNext offers a broad range of customizable services involving hardware, software and infrastructure.

The company’s headquarters are in San Diego, but Nicholas works remotely from Lowell, MA. He also earned his

M.S. in organizational management from Eastern in 2016.

Mike Prentiss is an account executive for manufacturing risk solutions for Starkweather & Shepley Insurance in Bristol, CT, where he focuses on risk management for small and middle market property as well as casualty commercial insurance accounts. He is also involved with volunteer work for professional and community service organizations, including serving on the boards of the Central Connecticut Chambers of Commerce and the Bristol Adult Resource Center.

Charles Robinson is business development and project manager with ARTfx, a custom sign and architectural fabrication company in Bloomfield he joined in November 2018. He had previously been a senior recruiter with Merry Targeted Staffing in Manchester. Although Charles concentrated on management and marketing while earning his business administration degree at Eastern, he subsequently shifted his career focus to human resources. He earned the Professional in Human Resources certification at Central Connecticut State University in 2017 and is preparing to take the Senior Professional in Human Resources certification. He serves on the boards of the Wounded Warrior Foundation and Guardians of the Purple Heart, started History Reborn, a referral-based and made-to-order business that markets refurbished furniture, is an antique vendor and coaches youth basketball.

Justin Sorel was elevated to financial analyst at Ximedica of Providence in April, six months after starting with the company. Ximedica assists in the development of medical technology devices and in marketing them worldwide.

Jennifer Succi, director of finance for InterCommunity Health Care of East Hartford, has been named to the leadership board of the Connecticut River Valley Chamber of Commerce’s initiative for young professionals, SPARC (Suburban Professionals Achieving Real Change).

The chamber serves East Hartford and Glastonbury.

Eric Sullivan became an institutional sales specialist with MINT Partners, a division of BGC Financial, in September 2018. He works on the electronic equity trading desk in New York City, dealing in equity, options and exchange-traded funds for institutional investors. Eric also works on source liquidity — finding available shares of less traded securities for investors who wish to acquire them.

Eric previously worked for Odeon Capital Group for nearly six years.

Joe Turner became executive assistant to the Assistant Under Secretary for Health

for Dentistry at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in September 2018.

That job took him to Washington, D.C., after more than seven years with the Veterans Administration in West Haven. He is also a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserve and will be promoted to lieutenant commander later this year.

Joe earned a Master of Science degree at the University of New Haven in 2012 and an MBA at Quinnipiac in 2014.

Amelinda Vazquez was promoted in January to associate director of programming and internal relations at the University of Connecticut. She had been assistant of programming at UConn’s Center for Career Development for nearly three years. Amelinda earned a master’s degree in communication at Central Connecticut State University in 2015. She is getting married this summer.

11 Elizabeth Hesterberg was promoted in Amelinda Vazquez January 2018 to associate of corporate relations at World Food Program USA, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that works to combat worldwide hunger. She has been with the organization for more than two years. Elizabeth earned a Master of Arts in Intercultural Relations and International Higher Education at Lesley University in 2015.

Megan Pavia has been a real estate agent with the Stamford Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage office since June 2018. She got her real estate license after she and her husband, Frank Cogliano ’12, started buying properties in Willimantic and Stamford and she fell in love with the business. They rent their Willimantic properties to Eastern students.

Olivia Puckett became a performance auditor with the Auditors of Public Accounts in Hartford in March. Previously she was payroll and human resources specialist with the Office of Legislative Management at the Connecticut General Assembly. Olivia’s political science degree from Eastern, experience in state government, and master’s degree in public administration from the University of Connecticut gave her the credentials she needed to land her auditing position. Olivia provides analysis to assist management in improving

program performance and operations, reducing costs and contributing to public accountability.

12 Tasheenah Brown joined Operation Fuel as director of energy programs in September 2018. Operation Fuel partners with local governments and community organizations across Connecticut to help ensure that low-income residents can meet their energy needs year-round, and in some cases connect them with resources to assist with other needs.

Matthew Fazo, project manager in the Risk Department of Thomaston Savings Bank, was selected as a New Leader in Banking at the Connecticut BankWorld gathering at Mohegan Sun in January. Nominees for the honor must be working in banking, be under the age of 50 and be making a significant contribution to their industry or community. Matthew’s elevation to project manager was his third promotion since he joined the bank as a teller in 2013.

In his current role, he defines the scope of banking projects, tracks project accountability and on-time performance, and is responsible for delivering clear and accurate status reports. Matthew graduated from the Connecticut School of Finance and Management in 2018.

Ashley Pereira, a former teacher who received her M.S. in secondary education at Eastern, now operates Greater Good Consultants LLC, a business she describes as an “action-oriented social enterprise.” In 2016, she launched an initiative called Career in STEM, an online platform for students to explore career possibilities in science, technology, engineering and math. While Ashley has operated her business primarily on her own with help from subcontractors, she brought in Briana Hernandez ’17 as an intern and has now promoted her to program manager.

Matthew Reisman is the alterations manager for Kleinfeld Bridal in Manhattan, where he oversees the fitting staff in making sure the needs of brides are met and the store’s fashionable gowns fit properly for their weddings. He also assists with sales and does alteration support in preparation for media events about the firm’s gowns. Matthew started developing his own fashion label when he was still at Eastern, and employs industry connections, his work experience and social media to create opportunities to design for celebrities.

13 Kyle Droniak became a business development specialist with Barrington Media Group in Shelton in February. The firm specializes in guiding clients in making the most effective use of advertising for radio and television that generate the highest response and help grow their business. Kyle has also been a soccer referee in the Greater Boston area for the past four years and officiates games throughout Connecticut.

Joseph Kwasniewski became executive vice president and chief commercial officer for Cadilus Inc. in March. Cadilus is a management consulting firm based in Stamford, CT, that focuses on middle-size businesses. Joseph had spent a decade at Port Chester Carver Center, an education and social services organization he led for much of that time, before making this transition.

Bobby McDonald earned his Ph.D. in mathematics at UConn when he successfully defended his dissertation in March. Part of his thesis has already been published in the Journal of Number Theory. He has secured a teaching position at Yale University starting this fall. Part of Bobby’s duties will be lecturing in courses on higher-level calculus, including one for economics students.

He will also be mentoring new faculty and graduate students, and managing undergraduate teaching assistants.

Anthony Oudorn became an audit associate with Grant Thornton LLP in Hartford this past October.

Chris Robitaille joined Abbott Labs in February as part of its Neuro Modulation and Chronic Pain team. He will be selling spinal medical implant devices and working closely with neurologists and orthopedists, including attending surgeries involving patients receiving the devices. His territory is Western Massachusetts and Vermont. Chris had wanted to get into the medical device field since his time at Eastern, and got the opportunity in part through a connection while playing on the men’s basketball team. Chris was named Eastern’s Athlete-of-the-Year in 2013.

Alissa Savage was promoted in January to manager of community relations for World Wrestling Entertainment. She has been with the Stamford-based professional wresting enterprise for about two and a half years. Alissa earned her MBA in marketing from Southern Connecticut State University in 2017.

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Alissa Savage

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A.J. Audet became assistant athletic director for facilities and operations at American International College in Springfield in March. He had held a similar position at Texas A&M University–Commerce for two years.

Angela DiLella is a staff writer for the gaming and pop culture website N3rdabl13 (“Nerdable”) and a freelance ghostwriter who produces novellas and longer works on a contract basis. She is also an artist currently working on her own graphic novel. Angela earned an MFA in writing at the New School in New York in 2017. She was a panelist in the English Department’s English at Work Alumni Panel at Eastern on April 8.

Marine Second Lt. Fredrick Hewett recently completed The Basic School in Quantico, VA, and graduated on June 26. The sixmonth program prepares new Marine Corps officers to be provisional infantry officers pending assignment for advanced training or additional schooling in other military occupational specialties.

Fredrick graduated from Officer Candidates School in Quantico last November. His goal is to become a logistics officer.

Cindy Kapp is an events planner in San Diego for the events planning company East of Ellie, headquartered in Shelton, CT. She was promoted to planner of logistics and execution in May 2018.

Brittany Labriola is operations manager at the Colchester office of The Granite Group, a southeastern Connecticut supplier of plumbing, heating and HVAC supplies, specializing in solid-state units and fixtures for bathroom and kitchen design. Brittany was a panelist at Eastern’s January Career Readiness Conference to help sophomores begin preparing for entry into the professional workforce.

Anthony Peterson became senior pricing analyst at The Hartford in March. He had previously been at Travelers for nearly five years. Anthony earned his MBA in analytics at Central Connecticut State University in 2018.

Ryan Bahan is a content strategist for Stagecoach Digital in Burlington, VT, where he combines creative writing and strategic marketing skills to help produce marketing campaigns utilizing diverse media, especially for nonprofits such as UNICEF and the National Audubon Society. Ryan completed a fellowship at the Champlain College Emergent Media Center and a master’s degree in digital media at Burlington College in 2016. He was a panelist in the English Department’s English at Work Alumni Panel at Eastern on April 8.

Matthew Grosjean became vice president of investments in the South Florida office of A.G.P./Alliance Global Partners in February. A.G.P. is a national investment firm with several offices across the United States that trades securities internationally and domestically. Previously Matthew was an investment advisor representative and administrative principal with Foresters Financial Services, also in the Miami area, for nearly six years. Matthew toured the Eastern campus with his wife and father during the 2018 holidays and said he was impressed with the updates.

“I wouldn’t trade my diploma for any university in the world,” he said.

Lee Cattanach was promoted in March to manager of corporate strategy for Walmart, and is back at the company’s headquarters in Bentonville, AR. Lee has moved four times to positions of increasing responsibility with the retail giant since joining the company in February 2017. His previous posting was five months as analyst of China eCommerce Finance in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China.

Jysean Duncan works as a child development specialist for The Village Children and Family Services in Hartford and as a family support worker for Nurturing Families in East Haven.

Bryan Hayes was promoted to IT project manager with Aetna in April. He had been associate IT project manager.

This past season, John Lorange was the first-year girls basketball coach at Plainfield High School, where he played in high school. A political science major at Eastern, John also recently earned his teaching certificate from Sacred Heart University.

As a systems engineer at Sea Corp, Dan Wunderlin helps the next generation of submarine-launched payloads and the systems to launch them. He has worked

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Melissa Lambert ’07 heads the Employee Assistance Program and is mental skills coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers. In addition to being a therapist for players and coaches in the organization, she also helps players maximize their potential by assisting them through positive self-talk, goal setting, energy management and other techniques. She is licensed in Connecticut and Arizona and based in Arizona, but also travels to Los Angeles and cities in which the Dodgers’ minor league affiliates are located.

She also works with Athletes Acceleration and the National Sports Performance Association — consulting, writing articles and making presentations on youth development and psychology as they relate to athletics. Melissa is a certified therapeutic crisis intervention trainer and earned her M.A. in clinical mental health counseling at Springfield College. Melissa played for the women’s soccer team at Eastern and still plays and coaches the sport.

What made the Dodgers’ job most appealing to Lambert was the opportunity to “impact the athletes as humans first, athletes second — “that’s the coolest part.”

at Sea Corp for nearly eight years and currently supports the rapid prototype development efforts of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. Dan thanks the faculty and staff at Eastern, especially Dr. Moh’d RuJoub, for the excellent education he received.

17 Josue Quiles is an assistant resident director and graduate student at the University of Vermont, where he earned his master’s degree in higher education and student affairs administration in May. Alexandra Steward was promoted to leadership development senior analyst at Cigna in January. In that role, she works in Cigna’s Technology Early Career Development Program. She has been at the firm for more than two years.

18 Merlyn Herrera became minor league video assistant for the Toronto Blue Jays in March. He started in spring training and was assigned to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in Manchester, the Blue Jays affiliate in the AA Eastern League. In addition to shooting video, Merlyn works with players and coaches to compile information to assist in each player’s development. He is also responsible for creating advanced reports for each team that the Fisher Cats play. He travels with the team throughout the season.

Katerina Mazzacane became coordinator of youth and family programs at the Connecticut Historical Society in March.

She started as a youth and family programs intern at the historical society last summer and became a part-time

Professor and Alumnus Join Forces in Augmented Reality Venture When Eastern students graduate, they often stay in touch with faculty via e-mail or reconnect with them at alumni events.

Benjamin Williams ’15, chief executive officer of ARsome Technology Group, a Manchester-based software company specializing in augmented reality (AR), went one step further.

He went into business with his former Eastern instructor!

Williams, who studied business information systems and management at Eastern, is partners with David Oyanadel, former part-time Business Information Systems lecturer and ARsome Technology’s chief innovation officer.

“David worked closely with Business Information Systems Professor Alex Citurs for years,” said Williams. “We stayed in contact after the class and started the business, building augmented and virtual reality software.”

“We came together to start a business because of our friendship and shared interests in technology and innovation,” said Oyanadel. “We both have different skill sets. Ben is more business-like, and I am more tech-like, but we have great synergy.”

AR superimposes computer-generated images on the physical world to create an enhanced view of reality using VR goggles, cell phones or tablets. The two entrepreneurs are using this new technology to provide services to educators, as well as for manufacturing, art, business and advertising organizations.

Williams and Oyanadel say AR is changing the style of teaching that has dominated classrooms for years and believe the interactive nature of AR will become the predominant method of teaching.

“Picture a science class where a student can hold an iPad over a map of the solar system and planets begin to rotate,” explains their website.

museum educator in September. Katerina graduated summa cum laude with a degree in history in December.

Christopher Morris, who graduated with a dual major in history and English as an Honors Scholar, works as an editorial assistant at the independent publishing house Elephant Rock Books in Ashford, where he began interning in the summer of 2016. He is in the process of meeting with literary agents

The two entrepreneurs recently created a virtual statue of Mark Twain that stands on the sidewalk next to the real Twain statue in front of Hartford Public Library. When seen on an iPad screen showing the front of the library in real time, Twain looks as natural as a live person until a passerby walks straight through him. Then he starts waving his bronzed arms and speaks in Twain’s famous Southern accent about the city of Hartford!

Oyanadel and Williams have taken their spell-binding AR show on the road. They have spoken at MIT, designed scavenger hunts for museums using AR, and created menus that allow restaurant diners to use their cell phones to view meals in front of them before ordering. They also volunteer their time to community organizations and schools, including Stamford Public High School.

ARSome Technology continues to grow, with five employees and clients as far away as Brazil. “We want people to really enjoy remembering what they experienced,” said Williams. “Augmented Reality is a fun-filled way to make life experiences memorable.”

Photo Credit: Erik Ofgang, Connecticut Magazine

about his first novel, “The Kids Who Killed on Church Street.” Christopher begins work toward a MFA degree at the University of Mississippi in the late summer. He was a panelist in the English Department’s English at Work Alumni Pane on April 8.

Noah Pinho became a sales representative for Connecticut Business Systems in Wethersfield in early 2018.

In Memoriam Anita Bacon ’69 Lorraine (Bowen) Clapp ’48 (Lorraine was listed as “Lorraine Klapp” in Winter 2019 edition)

Eleanor (Labinger) Freedman ’51 Betty Hankin ’69 Audrey Heidel ’76

Ruth Heller ’77 Priscilla Kamala Willey Diwan ’85 Cynthia Mello ’86 Thomas Neville ’87 Thomas O’Connor ’72 James Olayos ’10

Lila Orcutt ’55 Guy Rodgers ’82 Thomas Serra ’70 Deborah Schatzlein ’79 Dru Schlosser ’00 Sally (Levita) Swale ’56 Robert Tedford ’76 EASTERN • Summer 2019 • 43

final thoughts

I hope you have enjoyed this issue of EASTERN magazine. A reflection of the 2018-19 Academic Year, this issue captures the same sense of purpose and scholarly pursuit that has marked this campus since our beginnings 130 years ago — and alumni continue to be a big part of that activity!

We were especially pleased to share photos of recent Eastern Celebrates events on May 18 when alumni returned to campus. Breaking bread with old friends, meeting new graduates, showing off our renovated Communication Building to appreciative alumni, and feeling the sense of family and pride across the generations of Eastern faithful made a beautiful, sunny Saturday on our campus even more special.

In this issue of EASTERN magazine, we also used the nation’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing to describe the relationship Eastern has had with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration over the years.

We also continue to tell the story of Eastern’s commitment to enhancing the employability of our graduates, by highlighting alumni participation in career-related events on campus, describing internships sponsored by alumni, and showcasing the lives of other successful alumni.

In these pages, we also shared news of this spring’s donor luncheon, when we recognized leadership donors and honored several alumni.

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As I have said many times, we cannot provide the quality education and offer scholarships to students with unmet financial need without the continued support of alumni and other donors.

This year, the generosity of our donors took on many forms. In November, the online #WarriorsGive raised a record $194,927 from 812 donors. In fiscal year 2019, 18 major gifts totaled more than $650,000, and we will raise close to $2 million in total giving for the eighth straight year. The Class of 2019 also began their own giving tradition. The number of senior High 5 gifts/pledges increased for the third consecutive year, setting a record with more than 200 seniors making gifts!

These many signs of alumni support are heart-warming and continue to play a fundamental role in our ability to provide more students with a quality education. To all our donors, I say “thank you!”

Kenneth J. DeLisa Vice President for Institutional Advancement

P.S.: If you have appreciated this issue of your alumni magazine, let us know what worked. Share your stories with us. Send us a Class Note. We would love to hear from you. (editor@easternct.edu)

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