WINTER 2011
THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF EMERSON COLLEGE
The Legacy of a President
Jacqueline Liebergott to step down after nearly two decades, leaving a campus transformed
Oh, the Places You’ll Go… with a Theatre Education Degree Poetry by Christopher Hennessy Remembering Emerson Circa 1930s
photo by Tony Rinaldo
Expression WINTER 2011
THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF EMERSON COLLEGE
In This Issue We pay tribute to Emerson President Jacqueline Liebergott, who will step down June 30, 2011, after nearly two decades in office. Since President Liebergott took the helm of the College, Emerson has been transformed in ways that were unimaginable for this once-small, regional college of oratory. The changes on campus are many: the expansion and redefinition of the curriculum; significant increases in admission selectivity and breadth; the construction of new, state-of-theart facilities; and an array of other important accomplishments (see page 10). To accompany our tribute story, President Liebergott recently joined six members of the undergraduate student body at the Semel Theater for conversation and a photo shoot. We think you’ll enjoy the results.
2
Campus Digest
The Paramount Center receives a preservation award, and other news
4
Oh, the Places You’ll Go... with Theatre Education
Meet five theater-education practitioners in varied settings
9
A Poem by Christopher Hennessy, MFA ’00
Read a never-before-published work by an up-and-coming poet
10
A Tribute to President Jacqueline Liebergott
An overview, and celebration, of the President’s accomplishments
24
Notable Expressions
A compendium of accomplishments by Emersonians
26
Alumni Digest
News and photos from alumni events around the country
31
Class Notes 75 Years Later: The Class of 1936 Marks Its Reunion
Read the news from your classmates
40
It’s a landmark year for several members of the Class of 1936
Finally, Emerson’s Theatre Education program has been turning out talented performer-teachers for years. We talk to several graduates (from both the undergraduate and graduate programs) to learn out about the various paths these theater-education enthusiasts have taken. Rhea Becker, editor
Photo by Richard Howard
Also, in this edition of Expression, we publish the work of a poet to watch: Christopher Hennessy, MFA ’00, who will see his first book of poetry published this year by Brooklyn Arts Press.
Expression Expression is published three times a year for alumni and friends of Emerson College by the Office of Communications and Marketing (Andy Tiedemann, vice president) in conjunction with the Office of Institutional Advancement (Robert Ashton, vice president) and the Office of Alumni Relations (Barbara Rutberg ’68, associate vice president; director).
Executive Editor Andrew Tiedemann Editor Rhea Becker Design Director Charles Dunham Copy Editor Nancy Howell Production Coordinator Liliana Ballesteros Editorial Assistant Allison Teixeira
Photo by Richard Howard
Office of Communications and Marketing public_affairs@emerson.edu 617-824-8540 Fax: 617-824-8916 Office of Alumni Relations alumni@emerson.edu 617-824-8535 Fax: 617-824-7807
Copyright © 2011 Emerson College 120 Boylston Street Boston, MA 02116-4624 emerson.edu
Campus Digest
Robert Courtemanche
Courtemanche elected to Board of Trustees Robert Courtemanche has been elected to the Emerson College Board of Trustees. A resident of Dover, Massachusetts, Courtemanche worked at Wellington Management Company, LLP, for 34 years, retiring in 2000 as senior vice president, securities analyst and portfolio manager for institutional accounts. “Emerson College is extremely fortunate to have attracted someone
with Bob’s formidable investment experience to the Board of Trustees,” said President Jacqueline Liebergott. “In these challenging economic times, the Emerson community should take great comfort in knowing that Bob is lending his advice to our senior management team.” At Emerson, Courtemanche has served since 2009 as a non-trustee member of the College’s Finance Committee and is currently chair of the
Investment Committee. He is also a member of the Board for the Emersonaffiliated literary magazine Ploughshares. Courtemanche is a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Arts in Natick, where he is a member of the Foundation Grants Committee and Finance Committee, and has been an active box office volunteer since March 2001. He also serves as a trustee for Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston. One
of his great interests is adopting greyhounds and supporting Greyhound Friends in Hopkinton. A member of the Harvard College Class of 1962, Courtemanche also attended Columbia Law School.
Paramount Center receives preservation award The College received a Significant Rehabilitation/ Restoration Award from the Boston Preservation Alliance (BPA) last fall for the restoration of the Paramount Center. The award ceremony, held at the nearby Modern Theatre, celebrated outstanding achievements in historic preservation and compatible new construction in Boston. The Paramount,
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which has both an interior and an exterior Boston Landmark designation, was built in 1932. This mixedused development has added 180,000 square feet of new and renovated construction and is a key component in the revitalization of Boston’s Midtown Theatre District, in which Emerson has played a role.
Terrance Hayes
Ploughshares guest editor is National Book Award winner The 2010 National Book Award winner in poetry, Terrance Hayes, edited the 2010–2011 winter issue of Ploughshares, Emerson’s award-winning literary journal. Hayes is the author of Lighthead (Penguin, 2010), for which he won the
2010 National Book Award; Wind in a Box (Penguin, 2006); Hip Logic (Penguin, 2002); and Muscular Music (Carnegie Mellon University Contemporary Classics, 2005, and Tia Chucha Press, 1999). Hayes gave a reading on campus in December.
Norman Stearns, benefactor and friend of College, dies Student-produced lip dub video goes viral
Combine more than 400 Emerson students and faculty members, six samples of Lady Gaga songs, and an all-day video-shoot throughout the entire Emerson College campus, and what do you get? “The best Lady Gaga lip dub ever created,” said Pat Lambert ’12, creative executive producer of Emerson’s EVVY Awards.
What is a lip dub, you ask? Get thee to YouTube. com to view the Lady Gaga Lip Dub: youtube.com/ watch?v=854oZgIC8WU. Emerson’s lip dub was released December 8, and, as of this writing, the video has gone viral, receiving about 880,000 views.
Norman Stearns, a dedicated friend of Emerson College, died September 28, 2010. Norman was the husband of Irma Mann Stearns ’67, a former Emerson Board Chair and Trustee Emerita. He was 86. Stearns was instrumental in establishing the Health Communication Program at Emerson, which is offered jointly with the Tufts School of Medicine. He was a longtime faculty member and administrator at the Tufts School of Medicine. In addition, in 1989 Norman and Irma established the Mann Stearns Distinguished Faculty Award at Emerson, which provides a cash grant annually to a full-time faculty member to support
a scholarly or creative endeavor in which travel is encouraged. He leaves his sons, Alan Stearns and his wife, Rosemary, of New York, and Frank Stearns and his wife, Susan Evans, of Newton; his stepchildren, Elizabeth Mann and Matthew Miles of New York City, and Robert Mann and Gwen Mann of Bedford, Massachusetts.
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Oh , th
s e g o .. . c a l l l ’ p you e L
ong before television’s Glee became a
...with a Theatre Education Degree
cultural touchstone for millions of young aspiring song and performance enthusiasts, Emerson had been turning out graduates armed with Theatre Education degrees—aiming to prepare new generations of theater aficionados. These days, Theatre Education
By Rhea Becker
graduates—Emerson grants both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the field—are developing unique paths, which always center on teaching, but often include endeavors that take place outside the bounds of the traditional classroom. Meet a sampling of graduates who are doing everything from directing a summer arts camp to training young actors at a local high school to establishing a theater troupe with a unique philanthropic aim.
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Child’s plays Jim Howard is the high-school drama teacher you always wished you’d had. He arrives at Westwood (Massachusetts) High School each day with an abundance of passion and creativity. When Howard came to teach at Westwood a decade ago, he found a “really enthusiastic, strong” drama program in place. Modestly, he says, he has simply enhanced it. Howard’s responsibilities include teaching acting, choosing musicals and plays to produce, casting students, and directing the productions. Howard is in good company in Westwood, because a half-dozen other Emerson Theatre Education graduates work in the district. Like most high school drama teachers, Howard’s job demands “a lot of juggling,” with 120 students in class, and 40 to 50 students in the cast and crew in each of the school’s most recent productions. Howard has staged a long list of plays that includes Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Twelfth Night. “We did a very fun production of Twelfth Night. We replaced all the music with Beatles music. All 1960s. We turned it into a British rowhouse.” The school district highly values its drama program, says Howard. The proof? “They give me resources to hire costume and scenic designers. In my 10 years, we’ve had three rounds of budget cutbacks and never once have they cut the drama program.” Howard has always loved directing, and believes “there’s a natural fit between directing and teaching.” To satisfy both passions, Howard earned not one, but two, Emerson Theatre Education degrees: a bachelor’s degree in 1995 and a master’s degree in 2001. One of Howard’s greatest pleasures is watching his students succeed. “After a performance, I will pick a corner in our lobby and watch the kids celebrate with their families, and I think, ‘That’s a moment that I
had a hand in with that family’s life.’” Howard has witnessed seven of his earliest protégés go on to work in theater and film.
A company of women Kristen van Ginhoven, MA ’10, worked for many years as an actor, director, and theater teacher—sometimes in exotic, far-flung corners of the world. She enjoyed an extremely satisfying career, but she also craved a stronger financial foundation. “When you work in the theater, one generally has to do a lot of different jobs to make a living. I was turning 30,
and I wanted another work option that was related to theater.” So van Ginhoven pondered how much she enjoyed teaching, and decided to enroll in Emerson’s graduate program in Theatre Education. “I fell in love with the field of education, separate from theater,” she says. “I’m one of the lucky ones.” While in school at Emerson, amazing things began to fall into place. She conceived of and created a new theater company that showcases strong performances and innovative productions while benefiting women’s organizations around the globe. “Being here at Emerson was very instrumental in the creation” of the company, says van Ginhoven. She took a grant-writing course, for instance, which “really informed what I could do.” In addition, she took part in an Emerson evening of one-act plays by women playwrights, “which reinforced my desire to highlight
TOP: Jim Howard ’95, MA ’01, heads the Westwood, Massachusetts, high school drama program. ABOVE: Students perform in a production of The Arabian Nights, directed by Howard.
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Chair Melia Bensussen. Van Ginhoven was thrilled. The ethos that informs the Theatre Education program, says van Ginhoven, is that “the students and faculty here really believe that anything is possible. Coming here made me believe—for the first time in my life—that if I wanted to make something happen, I could.” women artists.” Finally, “there was a lot of support from the faculty—answering questions about running a company, or referring me to people. It was a really nice way to begin.” Her company, WAM (Women’s Action Movement), which she codirects with actor/educator Leigh Strimbeck, aims to “create good theater, but also to take action to improve the real lives of women and girls around the world.” Van Ginhoven was inspired to create WAM, which is based in Western Massachusetts, by the bestselling book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. “They say the oppression of women and girls is the seminal moral issue of our time, as
slavery was in the 19th century.” Van Ginhoven directed Sarah Ruhl’s Melancholy Play during WAM’s inaugural season, and “we exceeded both our ticket and fundraising goals,” she says. “We’d like to do a little bit for our own community and a little bit for the world. People seem so into the idea of this philanthropic model.” This spring, a festival of solo women’s works will benefit Edna’s Hospital in Somaliland, which suffers the highest maternal and child mortality rates in Africa. In addition to her work with WAM, van Ginhoven received upon graduating from Emerson last spring a very special gift: an offer to teach a class at the College called Adaptation, normally helmed by Performing Arts
TOP: Kristen van Ginhoven, MA ’10, cofounded a theater company, WAM; a poster from the company’s first season. ABOVE: Shannon Cameron ’01 (and at right) directs young actors in Eurydice at the Belvoir Terrace performing arts camp in Lenox, Massachusetts.
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A teaching exemplar She’s an award-winning director, but, at heart, Shannon Cameron ’01 will always be a teacher—in fact, a twice-nominated Theatre Teacher of the Year. She credits Emerson for setting her on that path. “This was one of the very few places in the nation that taught you how to teach theater, not just get a degree in education and then in theater and find a way to combine them. I still use everything I learned there. I was really privileged to get real, practical information, and not just theory, about how to teach theater.” And she learned well, for she was director of theater at Hastings Senior High School in Hastings, Nebraska, where she was nominated two times for statewide honors, Nebraska Theatre Teacher of the Year. Cameron has worked in middle school, high school, and college, and is certain she will “always come back to teaching; I love it.” Cameron has her hands in every theatrical pot when she’s teaching: “You must put together every aspect of your show, so I design sets, construct them, design costumes, design lights. You have to wear every hat.” Cameron employs theater as a way to introduce students to difficult texts. During her first full-time high school teaching post after graduating from Emerson, she directed a student production of Romeo and Juliet set in the early ’90s—the punk vs. the grunge scene. “We did it with scaffolding and skateboards. It was a way for me to hook high school students into the text and get them excited about it. I was really proud of that production and the growth of the
Degrees That Lead to a Lifetime of Great Roles kids throughout that time on the text. I felt like they really knew the language and thrived on it by the end.” More recently, Cameron was one of two theater students in the nation to be selected to receive the 2010 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Stage Directors and Choreographers Society Directing Fellowship. Among her other theatrical accomplishments, Cameron directed a premiere of The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, working with Lincoln, Nebraska, community members to stage the sequel to The Laramie Project, which tells the story of the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming. Today, Cameron is in the final semester of the MFA program in Directing for Stage and Screen at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Her thesis production is Charles Mee’s Iphigenia 2.0. “I am planning it to be one of the biggest productions I’ve ever worked on. It’s pretty risky with a lot of bold choices.” Once she graduates from her program, a classroom somewhere beckons.
In 1919, Emerson became the first college in the country to offer a course in children’s theater. Today, Emerson’s Theatre Education program is one of the largest of its kind, offering both undergraduate and graduate options that provide professional training in the uses of theater and drama as vehicles of education. “We want to help people prepare for very flexible careers in theater and education,” says Robert Colby, associate professor and director of the Theatre Education graduate program. Academically, the BA in Theatre Education entails Performing Arts classes, along with specific courses in theater education and in areas mandated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as part of a Department of Education– approved program that allows graduates to teach in Massachusetts public schools. According to Colby, Theatre Education undergraduates enjoy an experience similar to other Performing Arts majors at Emerson; they take many of the same classes, and become involved in activities such as Emerson Stage. “The major difference between Theatre Education majors and other Performing Arts majors,” says Colby, “is in their work in the field. They work at least 300 hours as student teachers and many of them also volunteer in area schools. They help direct plays in those schools, work in after-school programs, and are part of student organizations at Emerson like Kidding Around, which holds performances and theater workshops for young people at local schools.” Offering two different streams of study, the graduate program in Theatre Education allows students to explore themselves as both artists and educators. The two areas of emphasis are Theatre Teacher Education and Theatre and Community. Through the Theatre Teacher Education stream, students are given the tools and knowledge necessary to teach
drama to children pre-K through grade 12 in public and private school settings and can earn an initial Massachusetts teaching license as a Teacher of Theatre. The Theatre and Community stream explores the uses of theater in a variety of community settings such as community theater, recreation and arts centers, museums, professional theater for young audiences, or in education outreach for a professional theater. Some students in this program also focus on theater as a catalyst for social change. Colby says that graduates of both the MA and BA programs go into a broad range of careers in theater education (see main story). “Some of our graduates teach from pre-K to adult levels in public or independent schools. Another stream of people identify as teaching artists. They work for theater companies on grants or act while they work in educational settings. And then two or three graduates each year find their way to be drama therapists,” says Colby. “We have people who work for the educational departments for professional theater companies managing outreach. We have people who work for area and nationwide children’s theater companies. We have people who are in Teach for America and who teach abroad. Their careers are really quite varied.”
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Sister act Two sisters, three years apart in age, graduated from Emerson on the very same day in 2004, both with degrees in Theatre Education. Jessica ZaborowskiHartz earned a master’s degree, while Jen Zaborowski earned her bachelor’s. “It was a great day for our parents,” recalls Jen. The sisters have pursued different careers—Jen, acting in commercials and films in Los Angeles; Jessica as the drama specialist at Ashland (Massachusetts) Middle School—but came together a few years ago to launch Camp Stanley for the Performing Arts, a summer program in Maine. Being new to the arts-camp world, the sisters had to learn the ropes, attending camp fairs in the winter to promote their program, “traveling around with a suitcase with all our Camp Stanley materials, going into gymnasiums in schools, setting up our table, and talking to parents about our program. We ate a lot of peanuts and beef jerky,” recalls Jen. Camp Stanley is a co-ed program for kids 8–17. The camp’s focus “is very much on the process of creating the
show,” says Jen. Now planning their third season, the sisters say they enrolled 32 campers last year and not only plan to expand that number but are encouraged by a 100 percent return rate for 2010. “It’s incredible to see the kids that have been with us for both summers,” says Jen. Do the sisters ever hear Glee comparisons? Of course. The mom of a potential camper “said to me on the phone the other day, so is your camp a little bit like Glee? I said, ‘We’re not a variety show, but we have the excitement and the enthusiasm that the characters have on Glee. We get people excited to sing and perform.’” Not surprisingly, the camp is staffed by many fellow Emerson graduates, many of whom studied acting. “We knew that Emerson was the first place we wanted to go when we were hiring staff.” What moved Jessica to pursue a degree in Theatre Education? “I knew I was creative, but I knew I wasn’t an actor and I wasn’t a director. But I’m really good at bringing out the best in kids. I found Emerson’s program to be
Camp Stanley for the Performing Arts, founded by Jennifer Zaborowski ’04 and Jessica Zaborowski-Hartz, MA ’04, celebrated its second summer with a hand-picked staff of Emerson alumni and students: Jillian Szafranski ’04, Lauren Shannon ’04,
Haley Roth ’06, Jessica Zaborowski-Hartz, MA ’04, Vanessa Rohrer ’05, Jennifer Zaborowski ’04, Lindsey Hamby-Real ’10 (kneeling), Rachel Rosenbloom ’10, Taylor Goss ’11, MJ Halberstadt ’10, and Brenna Fitzgerald ’11.
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the perfect one for me.” Jessica’s thesis took the form of a business plan for a summer performing arts camp. Jessica continues to develop her Total Theater program, designed to teach children how best to utilize their own skills within the creative arts. “It’s leveraging everyone’s gifts and talents. It could be circus performance, multimedia film, etc. In public schools, if you’re not a singer or an actor or know how to run a light board, so many kids are stifled. I think it’s a shame. We let the kids determine their own destiny. We try to say, the world is your oyster.” Jessica’s résumé includes stints with renowned youth theater programs in Boston, such as The Citi Performing Arts Center (Suskind Young at Arts program), The Huntington Theatre/ Codman Academy partnership, and The Boston Ballet. Jen recalls how she and her sister both decided to study theater education. “My sister moved to New York City after finishing college and became a nanny. She realized she loved working with kids. And she also missed the theater. I said, Emerson is really the place to be and I hear they have a great Theatre Education program. At the time, I was an Acting major. She talked with [Emerson faculty members] Bob [Colby] and Bethany [Nelson]. Then I changed my major.” Jessica recalls that Colby and Nelson “changed my life in about 20 minutes.” The sisters are expanding their activities. For one thing, they operate a Camp Stanley Afterschool Program, in which 46 students are registered, and this summer they will launch a “teen tour” to Los Angeles called Stanleywood. The program offers teenagers a taste of the TV and film industries. Now the sisters’ goal, says Jessica, is to “give kids the same motivation, but at a younger age, that Bob and Bethany gave us.” E
A Man Standing By Christopher Hennessy
The news reports a mass stranding, the deadliest in over 100 years— thousands of dying ‘flying squid’ still thrumming, but seizing from a tantalizingly salty oxygen, their bodies lined by grooves in the sand at La Jolla Cove, proof their tentacles reached back for the sea. 12 tons of dead and dying squid A mass stranding. Or is it A man standing? My misprision is its own sign. Waving, not drowning? A man, standing over earth freshly turned, poised as if something might suddenly break through, reach for him, for his hands held palms out, facing the sky, in that gesture modernity has made ironic— supplication. A witness turns away— “They have humanlike eyeballs” “They made these strange noises…as they were dying.” The squid, some the size of human 2-year-olds, were tumbled by the surf and washed ashore while chasing a school of grunion, a fish that spawns on the sand at high tide.
Dosidicus gigas normally nestle in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Christopher Hennessy’s (MFA ’00) first book of poems, Love in Idleness, will be published later this year by Brooklyn Arts Press. The manuscript was a finalist for the Four Way Books Intro Prize. Hennessy is also the author of Outside the Lines: Talking with Contemporary Gay Poets (University of Michigan Press). His poetry appeared in the Ploughshares special “Emerging Writers” edition and his poetry, interviews, essays, and book reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in American Poetry Review, Verse, Ploughshares, Cimarron Review, Court Green, The Writer’s Chronicle, Crab Orchard Review, Natural Bridge, Wisconsin Review, Brooklyn Review, and elsewhere. He is a PhD candidate in English literature at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
It’s the word nestle, that calls up an image of us. Lovingly tucked into our graves, We line up, fold our hands in resignation, and lie down in plots neatly edged by chalky copses of dwarf birch, waving. Italicized portions originated from an Associated Press article, dated 7/27/02.
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The Legacy
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Photo by Richard Howard
of a President
Jacqueline Liebergott to step down after nearly two decades, leaving a campus transformed
W
hen one contemplates how history will view the
18-year tenure Jacqueline Liebergott
By David Rosen
of
the words
To the uninitiated, such accolades may seem hyperbolic. But to those who have watched Emerson emerge from the shadows to flourish under Liebergott’s leadership, few words, if any, can overstate what she has achieved for the College. And what the College, in turn, has contributed to the intellectual enrichment of thousands of students, the vitality of the Greater Boston arts communities, and the rejuvenation of downtown Boston and its Theatre District. Liebergott, who holds a PhD in speech-language pathology from the University of Pittsburgh, is the first woman to preside over Emerson since its founding in 1880. She came to the College as an assistant professor in Communication Sciences and Disorders in 1970 and was promoted to associate professor in 1973 and to full professor in 1979. As a faculty member, Liebergott was known as a gifted teacher and a prolific researcher, garnering 10 sponsored research grants and authoring or co-authoring more than 20 scholarly articles and other
as the 11th
president of Emerson,
survival, transformation, and reinvention come to mind.
published works. She also helped establish and co-taught Emerson’s first women’s studies course, Education and the Socialization of Women. In 1984, then-President Allen Koenig named Liebergott dean of graduate studies. “I wasn’t really interested in administration at the time,” Liebergott recalled. “But I thought, well, this involves graduate students, and I’ll still be able to do my research. Then one day Allen told me wanted to nominate me for a yearlong American Council on Education Fellowship that trains academics to become chief academic officers and presidents. “I said OK, but before I could even start the program, our chief academic officer left the College, and Allen named me vice president and academic dean.” Koenig left Emerson in 1989 when his wildly unpopular plan to move the College to suburban Lawrence collapsed amid howls of alumni protests and a lawsuit. John Zacharis, Emerson’s senior vice president and a longtime faculty
member, was named to succeed Koenig. He is credited with restoring a sense of order in the wake of the Lawrence fiasco and affirming Emerson’s commitment to remain in Boston. In 1992, at the age of 55, Zacharis died from complications of leukemia and Liebergott was named interim president. The Board of Trustees made the appointment permanent a year later. When Liebergott assumed office in 1993, Emerson was still reeling from the aftershocks of the Lawrence proposal, and it was flirting with insolvency. With limited space and a small faculty, enrollment was effectively capped at around 2,500, and the College had to admit three-quarters of those who applied to fill those spaces. Run-down classrooms and outdated broadcast studios and performance venues were crammed into inadequate space inside once-elegant Back Bay brownstones. The buildings were ill-suited for the needs of a modern college. Residence halls were likewise 11 Expression Winter 2011
antiquated and lacked the capacity to meet the growing demand for housing. The College had no athletic facilities and precious little in the way of recreational amenities. To make matters worse, the College’s academic structure was built around six freestanding and poorly coordinated divisions, and the curriculum and equipment used to support instruction had not kept pace with changes in the communication and arts industries. Faced with this stark reality, Liebergott charted a bold, new course for the College, in partnership with then-Vice President for Administration and Finance Robert Silverman. Together they forged an unprecedented plan to relocate the entire campus from the Back Bay to the rundown Theatre District, then known as the “Combat Zone.” The plan has succeeded against all odds and beyond any reasonable expectation. Since 1993, the College has: • • Increased the number of applications for admission nearly four-fold, from
TOP, LEFT: At the dedication of the Paramount Center’s new Bright Family Screening Room in 2010, Liebergott joins Trustees Chair Peter Meade (left) and Trustee Kevin Bright ’76, producer of television’s Friends. TOP, RIGHT: Greeting each graduate at the College’s 2009 Commencement rites. RIGHT: With Trustee Tony Goldman ’65, chairman and CEO of the Goldman Properties Company.
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a host of new programs, 1,849 to 6,865. The average SAT scores • Added including a master of fine arts in media of applicants have risen from 1110 to art; a master’s in health communication 1232. in partnership with Tufts Medical School; a master’s in publishing; a • Increased full-time equivalent enrollment by 54 percent, from 2,561 to bachelor of arts in marketing communication; and an undergraduate 3,949. program in business and entrepreneurial studies. the percentage of • Increased undergraduate students who graduate ArtsEmerson, which quickly • Created from 52 percent to 80 percent. became one of Boston’s largest presenters of world-class theater, • Invested $500 million to build its new music, and film. campus. The investment led to a rejuvenation of the Theatre District and the size of the full-time faculty • Doubled Lower Washington Street. from 91 to 183. than doubled its facility space • More doubled the number of students from 400,000 square feet to 1 million • Nearly living on campus from approximately square feet by purchasing and 1,000 to more than 1,900. renovating existing buildings, and building its first-ever new buildings, a plan to build a permanent one of which houses the College’s first • Developed center in Hollywood to house its gymnasium. 21-year-old Los Angeles Program. The plan would enable Emerson to double • Stabilized its finances and boosted its its Los Angeles enrollment, add new bond rating from “junk” to an A– programs, house students on-site for investment grade rating from Standard the first time, and host meetings and and Poor’s. social events for alumni. • Established a School of Communication, a School of the Arts, • Raised funds to establish Emerson’s and an Institute for Liberal Arts and first three named professorships, Interdisciplinary Studies. increased student financial aid, and
established a scholarship fund designed to attract and support a diverse student body. prestigious restoration and • Won preservation awards for its Cutler Majestic and Paramount theatres. elevated Emerson’s public • Substantially visibility and stature, and, as a November 12, 2006, Boston Globe Magazine cover story put it, came “Out of the Shadows.” Liebergott’s accomplishments receive high praise from current and former members of the Emerson Board of Trustees, faculty and staff colleagues, alumni, public officials, and business leaders. “Jackie stepped ankle deep into the morass that followed the Lawrence proposal—a preposterous idea of Biblical proportions that would have destroyed the College,” said James Coppersmith, board chair in the early Liebergott years and former general manager of WCVB-TV. “When Jackie told us she wanted to move Emerson to the Combat Zone, I thought she was nuts. Boy, was I wrong. Jackie knew
TOP: Liebergott joins Shoo Iwasaki, a global environmental leader from Japan and a longtime Emerson benefactor, at the rededication of the College Library as the Iwasaki Library. ABOVE: At Commencement 2004 with U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano, then-Trustees Chair Ted Cutler ’51, and William C. Van Faasen, CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. RIGHT: At Emerson’s Diversity Convocation in 2010, with Associate Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Gwendolyn Bates (left) and Johnnetta Cole, former president of Spelman College.
what she wanted, and no one was going to talk her out of it. With our full support, she took a risk, and she transformed the College.” Peter Meade ’70, current board chair and a member of the board when Liebergott was elected president, said, “Back then I thought Jackie would be good, maybe even very good. As it turned out, she’s been extraordinary. You really do have to use words like that to describe how she has performed as president. Generations of Emersonians yet to come will owe her a great debt of gratitude.” Trustee and faculty member Kevin Bright ’76, co-creator of the Friends sitcom, said Liebergott will “be remembered and loved forever. If Charles Wesley Emerson is the father of Emerson College, then Jackie must be considered the mother. When Jackie came to the Back Bay campus 40 years ago, Emerson was still a ‘child.’ A child filled with wonder and promise, but a child that had to grow. Through Jackie’s nurturing wisdom and love, the child grew into a beautiful adult, which is Emerson today.” Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, who has worked closely with Liebergott since they were both elected in 1993, praised Liebergott’s willingness to work with the city to achieve common goals. “We’ve built an enduring towngown partnership that has rejuvenated the Theatre District and Lower Washington Street and stimulated
economic development,” Menino said. “The magnificent restoration of the Cutler Majestic Theatre, the reopening of the Paramount Theatre, the launching of ArtsEmerson, and the reclamation and enhancement of Rotch Playground in the South End will stand as enduring testimonials to all that we have achieved together.” Anthony Pangaro of Millennium Partners, developer of the Ritz-Carlton Towers complex built two blocks from the Emerson campus in 2001, echoed the mayor’s words. “Jackie provided leadership that made Emerson College a pioneer in the rebirth of Boston’s Theatre District and in the creation of a new gateway to Downtown Crossing,” he said. “Her grasp of Mayor Menino’s vision for downtown and her commitment to act upon it propelled Emerson’s achievements as well as others. We
understood this as a very serious commitment to city-building and it encouraged us to invest here as well. An important neighborhood and, indeed, the City of Boston, are indebted to Jackie for her clarity of mission.” Massachusetts Commissioner of Higher Education Richard M. Freeland, former president of Northeastern University, said Liebergott has presided over “the most remarkable transformation of an academic institution in recent Massachusetts history. Emerson’s move to the south side of the Common, coupled with the raising of its academic profile in the communication- and arts-related fields, has turned the College into one of the ‘hot’ institutions in the region. This is directly due to Jackie’s outstanding leadership.” Trustee Max Mutchnick ’87, creator of the Will & Grace sitcom, said Liebergott will be remembered as “the president who saved Emerson and then transformed it from a small, local school that some people viewed as kind of silly to an important national institution that trains people to go out
and kept us moving forward at a really tough time. The results are remarkable. It’s not just the incredible facilities, it’s the curriculum, the faculty and staff, and the students. When you walk through the campus, you see and feel the vibrancy and the brand. Emerson is on top in communication and the arts, and it’s all because of Jackie.”
in the world and lead very successful lives. The gestalt about Emerson students and graduates as people who succeed in our business, the ‘Emerson mafia’ where we look out for each other—it’s all because of Jackie.” Larry Rasky ’78, vice chair of the Emerson board and chairman of Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications, credits Liebergott with “building one of the great brands in higher education. She understood Emerson’s appeal as a niche institution in communication and the arts, and she realized the important role that communication would play as a principal driver of society. She had the strength to take on tough issues. When things worked out, she was willing to give others credit, and when they failed, she was willing to take the blame.” Robert Friend ’79, president of the Emerson Alumni Association and vice president of sales and marketing for Choice Ticketing Systems, said Liebergott “galvanized our community
What makes a leader? What is it about Jackie Liebergott, this unassuming scholar-turned-CEO, that makes her so successful? Those who have worked with her say it’s equal parts vision, audacity, toughness, an openness to new ideas, a commitment to excellence, attention to detail, and a rare ability to connect with people and understand their needs. “She’s a futurist and she’s bright as hell,” said Trustee Emeritus and former Board Chair Ted Cutler ’51. “She sees things that others don’t see. She sets her sights on where she’s headed, and she has the nerve and guts to make things happen. The ‘Campus on the Common’ was her vision.” Trustee and cosmetics entrepreneur Bobbi Brown ’79 agrees. “Jackie’s a visionary who thinks on a much higher and broader scale than most people dare to think,” she said. “She also has the uncanny ability to not only see what’s practical but also to get things done. From taking our communication and arts programs to entirely new levels, to relocating an entire campus, nothing is impossible for Jackie. She’s a brilliant president.” Board of Trustees Treasurer Jeffrey Greenhawt ’68, vice president and partner at Sunshine Wireless Co.,
TOP: Liebergott greets entertainer Henry Winkler ’67 during a visit to campus. ABOVE, LEFT: Greeting honorary degree recipient and novelist Rebecca Newberger Goldstein at Commencement 2008. LEFT: With Boston Mayor Thomas Menino (left) and friends of the College Joan Cutler and former Trustees Chair Ted Cutler ’51.
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describes Liebergott as “a forward, out-of-the-box thinker, a quick study and good with numbers. She knows what she wants, and she goes after it. She acts while others are still thinking about what they are going to do.” Associate Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Director of Alumni Relations Barbara Segal Rutberg ’68—who has known Liebergott as her professor, as her post-graduate school mentor, and as the president she has worked with for 14 years—says a common trait emerges in all of the roles she has played. “Jackie has a relentless commitment to excellence. She is driven to achieve the highest standards in all aspects of the College, whether it involves academics, performance and production facilities, classrooms and studios, architecture, or residential life,” Rutberg said. “This is the indelible imprint she will leave on Emerson.” While many observers point to creation of the “Campus on the Common” as Liebergott’s legacy, Rutberg views her lasting achievements through a different lens.
“She took a very fine regional college that was largely unknown outside New England and built a truly national, highly visible, and prestigious institution,” Rutberg said. “We know this because the captains of the media and entertainment industries we serve, including prominent alumni, now send their sons and daughters here to study. This was not the case before.” Many of those prominent alumni live in Los Angeles, where Emerson has run a pioneering program combining professional internships with academic studies for 21 years. The Los Angeles Program currently operates from rented space in Burbank. Students live in nearby apartments. In what Vin Di Bona ’66, vice chair of the Emerson board and creator of America’s Funniest Home Videos, calls her boldest initiative to date, Liebergott has developed a plan to make Emerson a bi-coastal and world-class institution by building a permanent center in Hollywood that would double the size of the L.A. Program and enable students to live and work on campus. Di Bona recalls the day in 2007
when Liebergott approached him with the idea. “With the twinkle in her eye she gets when she has something grand up her sleeve, Jackie said to me, ‘Guess what I want to do next?’ I braced myself and thought I was ready for anything. But this was her bravest dream to date—establishing a stronghold in Hollywood. “Building a magnificent structure on Sunset Boulevard is a brilliant strategic idea. The possibilities for creating multi-level programs with universities and colleges spanning the globe will set Emerson apart from all others. The Hollywood learning center will serve our Boston students and will also create opportunities for professional alumni in the L.A. area to invest further in the latest technologies available.” Echoing Rutberg’s observations, Vice President for Academic Affairs Linda Moore said, “Emerson is as good as it is because of Jackie. As a dean, as the academic vice president, and as president, she has brought continuity and excellence to the College. She has
TOP, LEFT: At the annual Staff Appreciation Luncheon, Liebergott greets Dean of Students Ronald Ludman. TOP, RIGHT: With Chuck Fries, co-chair of the 28th annual awards ceremony of the Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors in Los Angeles, where she received the 2010 “distinguished educator award,” and Vin Di Bona ’66. FAR LEFT: With staffer Tikesha Morgan, director of Multicultural Student Affairs. LEFT: With husband Harvey Liebergott.
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Celebrating a Legacy of Leadership
A roster of events has been planned to celebrate President Liebergott’s 18-year tenure:
When President Liebergott steps down on June 30, 2011, she will leave an unsurpassed legacy of leadership that has transformed Emerson and established the College as one of the nation’s premier institutions of higher education devoted to communication and the arts. March 3, 2011
Emerson College Film Festival, Egyptian Theatre, Los Angeles
March 5
Celebration in Los Angeles with Kevin Bright ’76
March 17
Private dinner, Paramount Black Box Open to donors who have made major gifts in honor of President Liebergott, and invited guests
March 26
Parents Leadership Council President’s Weekend President’s Society gala Open to President’s Society members (donors of $1,000 or greater)
April 13
Celebration in New York City at Bobbi Brown (’79) Cosmetics
April 21
Campus-wide celebration, Paramount Mainstage Open to students, faculty, and staff
April 27
Celebration in Washington, D.C.
June 4
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Alumni Weekend with a tribute to President Liebergott
For more information, contact the Office of Institutional Advancement at 617-824-8542.
increased the size of the full-time faculty and introduced new ideas. Many of them were her own, but some came from others. “One of Jackie’s great strengths is her willingness to listen. When people come to her with new ideas, she processes the information. She doesn’t dismiss proposals out of hand, even when they seem far fetched. That’s why, for example, Emerson has a joint program in health communication with the Tufts Medical School.” Professor John Skoyles, former chair of the Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing (WLP), credits Liebergott with elevating the stature of the department by authorizing increases in the size of its faculty, which numbered just eight when he was hired in 1994. “Thanks to Jackie, we were able to hire well-known writers, and soon afterward, WLP placed in the top 20 in U.S. News & World Report’s rankings of graduate writing programs. The enormous strength and standing of WLP today
is due in great part to Jackie’s vision and support.” Performing Arts Department Chair and Associate Professor Melia Bensussen recalls that when she came to Liebergott’s office for a job interview in 2000, “Jackie sat down, kicked off her shoes, and literally rolled up her sleeves. It was clear that she was informal, direct, and meant business when it came to Performing Arts and everything else to do with Emerson. “My first office was a narrow, barely renovated broom closet in the old Brimmer Street building, where students in movement classes would hit the walls and make everything rattle. To see our students now moving throughout the Tufte Building, the Paramount Center, and the beautifully restored Cutler Majestic is an extraordinary testament to Jackie’s unrelenting energy and vision. She
has challenged and inspired all of us who have been fortunate to serve during her tenure.” Professor Daniel Kempler, chair of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, said the College’s transformation was well underway when he arrived nearly a decade ago. “It was a time of growth and excitement, and it attracted new faculty with national and international reputations,” he said. “The vision and excitement came from the president’s office. Jackie impressed me with her intimate knowledge of every aspect of the College from faculty history, projects and publications, to details of room renovations. She hasn’t lost a step to this day.” Former Vice President for Administration and Finance Robert Silverman also points to Liebergott’s attention to detail and follow-up. He told a story to illustrate the point. “In October of 1992, while Jackie was still acting president and I was acting chief financial officer, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges came to campus to review the College for re-accreditation. They told us we would have to satisfy a long list of conditions to get re-accredited. We put our heads down and started working our way through the list. It took more than two years, but we put checkmarks next to every item. After that, Jackie kept making lists and checking off items. With just months to go before retirement, she’s still doing it.” Silverman added, “What Emerson
has achieved during Jackie’s 18-year tenure was improbable, many would say impossible, but it happened.” Board of Trustees Secretary Marillyn Zacharis, whose late husband John Zacharis preceded Liebergott as president, said: “Jackie has an incredible sixth sense of what people need. When someone is in need, she steps in and takes care of things. I first noticed this when John died. Without my thinking about it or saying anything, she got the word out to the community. She arranged for some people to come out to the house and take care of refreshments and the like. She’s done that for so many of us over the years. “She’s done the same thing for the College. She stepped in after John died and took care of the College. She’s demonstrated a rare ability to combine passion and action, and, piece by piece, she has transformed the College.” Liebergott’s achievements are detailed on pages 18–23. David Rosen, special assistant to President Liebergott, served as Emerson’s vice president for public affairs from 1999 to 2009.
TOP, LEFT: At Commencent 2006 with Sen. John Kerry. TOP, RIGHT: At a tree planting ceremony at the Communication University of China, where Liebergott gave a talk in 2009. FAR LEFT: Celebrating another Emerson contribution to the reinvigoration of the city with Mayor Thomas Menino (center), then-Emerson administrator Robert Silverman (left), and Emerson’s Associate Vice President for Government and Community Relations Peggy Ings. LEFT: At the Paramount Center topping-off ceremony in 2008. ABOVE: With Trustees Chair Peter Meade (right) at a 2010 reception for Emerson President-elect Lee Pelton (left).
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The Liebergott Presidency
1992--2011
• Emerson and Tufts University School of Medicine launch a joint graduate degree program in Health Communication.
• A gift from Mrs. Mary E.
Tufte funds the installation of the Internet on campus. The Internet Lab on the fourth floor of 180 Tremont Street is dedicated in her honor.
• Board of Trustees names
Vice President and Academic Dean Jacqueline Liebergott interim president following the death of President John Zacharis.
• The Cecil and Helen Rose
Ethics in Communication Scholarship is established. It is the first endowed, full-tuition scholarship in Emerson’s history.
• Emerson purchases the
former Boston Edison Building at 180 Tremont Street.
1992
1993 • Jacqueline Liebergott
is named the 11th president of the College.
• The College sells the Ames
Building and the Charlesgate and Fensgate residence halls, and purchases and renovates the Little Building at 80 Boylston Street for use as a residence hall that will house 750 students.
• Emerson starts a master’s
degree program in Global Marketing Communication and Advertising.
• The College completes
restoration of the Majestic Theatre façade and lobby murals.
• President Liebergott hosts
the first of what would become annual staff appreciation and long-term service recognition events.
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1994 • Emerson extends health care benefits to the domestic partners of gay and lesbian faculty, administration, and staff. Dental coverage and tuition waivers are also made available.
• The College’s Los Angeles
Center moves into new quarters located in Burbank.
• Through the ProArts
Consortium of arts colleges, Emerson plays a lead role in convincing the City of Boston to establish the Boston Arts Academy for high school students.
Boylston Street.
• Anonymous donor endows a • 180 Tremont is named visiting artist program. Visiting artists have included Alice Hoffman, Edward Albee, Anna Deavere Smith, N. Scott Momaday, Karen Finley, Julie Taymor, Jane Alexander, Laurie Anderson, and Whoopi Goldberg.
• Emerson signs a long-term lease for the Union Bank Building at 216 Tremont Street.
• The Media Services Center installs an Avid digital non-linear editing system, supported by a gift from Mrs. Mary E. Tufte.
• Yahoo! magazine lists
Emerson College #3 of “America’s 100 Most Wired Colleges.”
• The opening of the Little
Building residence hall increases the College’s bed capacity by 15 percent. It is the first Emerson student residence to provide Internet access in individual rooms.
the Ansin Building in honor of Edward Ansin’s parents, Sydney and Sophie, in recognition of Mr. Ansin’s generosity.
• WERS moves to new
state-of-the-art, street-level studios in the Ansin Building with financial support provided by more than a dozen benefactors.
• Emerson initiates a
service-learning program that connects students to community-based projects that capture their interests, advance their learning, and help them develop their social consciousness.
• The President’s Office and
Boston Partners in Education launch a community service program.
1995
• Emerson purchases 120
1996
1997
1998
• The faculty drafts a plan of • The College purchases academic reorganization that ultimately results in the formation of two schools.
• The Communication
Sciences and Disorders division receives a grant from the U.S. Department of Education for student training.
• Emerson’s men’s athletic
teams become charter members of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference.
increases funding for its endowed minority scholarships.
• All students are assigned
Emerson email addresses for the first time.
• Emerson “adopts” the
Boylston/Tremont corner of Boston Common and makes more than $2 million in public improvements over time.
• Emerson’s External Programs Office begins a Summer Film Festival program in Prague, Czech Republic.
1999
2000
largest bequest to Emerson in the College’s history. The funds are used to establish a chair in theater management and production.
• The Board of Trustees votes
• The Hearst Corporation
property adjacent to the State Transportation Building, where it will build the Tufte Performance and Production Center.
• Stephen Langley makes the • The Emerson College Library
the Union Bank Building (216 Tremont Street). to reorganize the College into what would ultimately become two schools plus an Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies.
• The College acquires
• Emerson ranked a “most
wired” campus by Yahoo! magazine.
• The 1998 edition of Kaplan/
Newsweek How to Get Into College Guide lists Emerson College as a “hot spot” and describes it as a place “where everyone wants to go.”
moves into a new space at 120 Boylston Street.
• Emerson students participate in their first Alternative Spring Break communityservice program.
• The College establishes
the David Luterman Center for the Advanced Study of Early Childhood Deafness.
• Emerson launches an annual film festival in Los Angeles.
• Japanese media
entrepreneur and environmental activist Shoo Iwasaki establishes a fund to support honors students at Emerson.
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• Restoration of the landmark
Majestic Theatre is completed for the centennial of the building, which is renamed the Cutler Majestic Theatre in recognition of a major gift from Ted (’51) and Joan Cutler that supported the restoration.
• The College purchases
a vacant lot at 150 Boylston Street, where it plans to build a 560-student residence hall, a campus center, and the College’s first gymnasium.
Performance and Production Center, the first entirely new building in the College’s history. Dignitaries present for the opening include U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, and U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano. Named facilities include the 210-seat Semel Theater, in recognition of a gift from Terry and Jane Semel; the 130-seat Greene Theater, in recognition of a gift from Elinore Greene; and the Di Bona Family Studio and Control Room, in recognition of a gift from Vin Di Bona’s family.
Tufte Performance and Production Center.
• The Boston Society of
Architects presents its annual Historic Preservation Award to Emerson in recognition of its “bold and timely realization of the potential in the underutilized historic buildings to create a truly urban campus” and its “exemplary standard of care for the Emerson Majestic Theatre, the Little Building, and other historic properties.”
2001
2002 • The College receives a grant
Learning and Community Action is established in the Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies.
• Ploughshares, Emerson’s
Auditorium is named in recognition of a gift from Bill Bordy ’58.
College begins its • Emerson dedicates the Tufte • The Taiwan Exchange Program
• Ground is broken for the
• The Office of Service
• The Bordy Theater and
from the Lloyd G. Balfour Foundation to establish a Center for Diversity and present annual lectures by distinguished artists. The lecturers have included Edward James Olmos, Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte, and Suzanne de Passe.
• Construction begins on
the Tufte Performance and Production Center.
• Emerson receives a federal
literary journal, celebrates its 30th anniversary by launching its first website, made possible by a grant from the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund.
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grant for curriculum development in performing arts, related to the construction of the Tufte Performance and Production Center and the restoration of the Majestic Theatre.
with Shih Hsin University in Taipei.
• Emerson enters into a
long-term public/private agreement with the Boston Parks and Recreation Department to remediate and enhance the Lester J. Rotch Playground in the South End for use by Emerson athletic teams and community groups. The project includes creating a soccer/lacrosse field with synthetic turf, construction of a field house, and installation of lighting, fencing, and landscaping.
2003
• The College breaks ground
for the construction of the 14-story Piano Row residence hall and campus center. President Liebergott says “the project represents the fulfillment of a dream because it will enable us to complete the relocation of all of our facilities into the Theatre District.”
• Henry and Lois Foster
establish a chair in contemporary art theory and practice. It is the first endowed chair in the College’s history.
2004 • The College receives a
second federal grant to support academic programs in the Tufte Performance and Production Center. The funds are used to acquire digital recording and editing equipment.
• The Huret & Spector Gallery, Emerson’s first art gallery, opens in the Tufte Center.
• Emerson is re-accredited
by New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC).
• The Massachusetts
Historical Commission awards Emerson its annual “preservation award for outstanding achievement” in recognition of the College’s recently completed restoration of the Cutler Majestic Theatre.
• Restoration of Cutler
Majestic Theatre receives a National Preservation Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
• The League of Historic
American Theatres presents its “Outstanding Theatre Restoration Project Award” to Emerson.
• The Center for Diversity
launches “Campus Conversations on Race: A Talk Worth Having,” an innovative program of facilitated discussions of issues pertaining to race.
• The College’s administration and the newly established Affiliated Faculty of Emerson College (AFEC) sign a landmark agreement that provides first-ever health insurance benefits for certain part-time faculty at Emerson.
• At the City’s request,
• Honey Waldman ’46 and her sister, Gladys Waldman Brownstein, endow the Howard Waldman Professor of Theater Arts Award in memory of their brother. The award recognizes a graduating senior in performing arts who shows exceptional promise for a career in the theater.
Emerson purchases the Paramount Theatre at 555 Washington Street, the adjoining Arcade Building, and an adjoining vacant lot to develop a threebuilding complex named the Paramount Center.
• The College and the
City celebrate the grand reopening of Rotch Playground, which has been reclaimed and enhanced through a unique, town-gown collaboration.
• Mayor Thomas Menino
delivers his annual “State of the City” address live from the Cutler Majestic Theatre.
• A second endowed chair, in
screenwriting, is established in the Department of Visual and Media Arts with a gift from Jane and Terry Semel. Holders of the revolving chair have included: Jay Cocks, Sarah Kernochan, and Richard LaGravenese ’80.
2005 • Prominent broadcaster
David Brudnoy bequests his personal library to the College along with a generous gift to establish a scholarship fund.
• The Piano Row building at
150 Boylston Street opens. It is the school’s second entirely new facility and houses a residence hall, a campus center, and the school’s first gymnasium.
• Emerson purchases the
Colonial Building at 100 Boylston Street, where the upper levels will be used as a residence hall. The Colonial Theatre will continue operating on the street level.
• Alumni who have achieved
success in comedy return to Emerson to celebrate “30 Years of Comedy at Emerson College.” Participants include Bill Dana ’50, Andrea Martin ’69, Kevin Bright ’76, Steven Wright ’78, Denis Leary ’79, Eddie Brill ’80, Doug Herzog ’81, and Anthony Clark ’86.
• A gift from the media
company Viacom establishes a scholars program for students who demonstrate a commitment to enhancing and promoting diversity at Emerson College.
• The administration and the • Emerson completes its
• The Division of Continuing
Education is renamed the Department of Professional Studies and Special Programs. Its focus shifts from undergraduate degree programs for nontraditional students to professional certificate and summer programs.
creates an undergraduate scholarship fund aimed at attracting first-generation students.
• Trustee Tom Freston and his
wife, Kathy, establish a fund to provide scholarships designed to enhance and promote diversity within Emerson’s undergraduate student body.
• Edmund Ansin endows a scholarship fund to support students from diverse backgrounds.
2007
2006
Emerson College Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (ECCAAUP) reach agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement that establishes a system of shared governance for non-economic issues outside the union process.
• Trustee Kevin Bright ’76
relocation from the Back Bay to the Midtown Cultural District.
• The College receives
a Campus Heritage Grant from the Getty Foundation of Los Angeles to assess the physical condition of eight historic campus buildings and to develop a plan to maintain the façades.
• Ground is broken for the
Paramount Center on Washington Street. It will include a renovated Paramount Theatre adapted for use as a live performance venue, a black box theater, a film screening room, a scene shop, a sound stage, multiple studios and practice rooms, faculty offices, and housing for 260 students.
• Emerson’s summer program
for inner-city high school students is named the Charles Beard Arts and Communication Exploration Program in memory of the late Charles Beard, former chair of the College’s Board of Trustees.
• Emerson receives a grant
from the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund to support the renovation of the historic Paramount Theatre.
• Emerson names its library in honor of Shoo Iwasaki, who established an endowment to support the library.
• Trustee Max Mutchnick ’87
makes a major gift to name the Campus Center in Piano Row.
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• Twenty-five Emerson
students travel to Beijing to cover the Olympics, accompanied by Journalism faculty members Paul Niwa and Janet Kolodzy. Emerson was one of just five U.S. colleges invited to participate in the official Olympic News Service (ONS) program.
• The Colonial Building
residence hall opens and houses 370 students.
• The screening room in the
new Paramount Center is named the Bright Family Screening Room in recognition of a gift from Trustee Kevin Bright ’76.
• Viscount Rob Sands ’68
endows the Rob G. Sands Scholarship, which gives first preference to students who have advocated or demonstrated an affinity for LBGT causes.
• The College creates
ArtsEmerson as an umbrella organization to present world-class theater, music, and film at the Paramount Center and Cutler Majestic Theatre. Robert Orchard, former founding managing director of the American Repertory Theater (ART) at Harvard, is hired to direct the organization and hold the Stephen Langley Chair in Theater Management and Production.
• Emerson purchases
property on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood as the site for its new, permanent Los Angeles Center. The College selects renowned architect Thom Mayne to design a multi-use building.
• Emerson adds a business
minor and focus on entrepreneurship to the curriculum through the E3 program.
• Establishment of the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning.
2008
• President Liebergott returns
to China to establish a student exchange program with the Communication University of China. The first two students will go to Beijing in 2011. China will be the fourth country where students can study abroad for a semester, joining the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Taiwan.
2010
2009 • Piano Row building is
designated as a LEED-certified building that employs sustainable site development design and uses state-of-the-art strategies for water savings, energy efficiency, material use, and indoor environmental quality.
• Art curator and museum
director Joseph D. Ketner II is appointed the first Henry & Lois Foster Chair.
• President Liebergott receives
a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Pinnacle Award, which recognizes achievements by women in business and management.
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• Emerson publishes its first
report on diversity and inclusion. It states that “creating and maintaining a diverse environment is central to achieving the mission and core values” of the College.
• Emerson joins the
Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership and reports that 25 percent of the energy it uses comes from renewable sources.
• Emerson creates an MFA in • The Paramount Center Media Art degree.
• The gymnasium in the Piano
Row building is named the Bobbi Brown ’79 and Steven Plofker Gym in recognition of the couple’s continuing and extraordinary generosity to the College.
• President Liebergott delivers a talk at an international forum on the development of private universities hosted by the Communication University of China.
opens, and ArtsEmerson launches its inaugural season, presenting more than 100 performances of 17 different productions, including world premieres, Boston debuts, and works to be developed in the new facilities created by the College.
The Liebergott Years by the Numbers
1993
2010
Applications for Admission
1,849
6,865
Percent of Applicants Admitted
74
47
Freshman SAT Scores
1110
1232
Enrollment (FTE)
2,561
3,949
Graduation Rate
52%
80%
Facility Space
400,000 sf
1 million sf
Bond Rating
Junk
S&P A– Investment Grade
Full-time Faculty
91
183
Students Living on Campus
1,000
1,700
Investment in Theatre District
$500 million
• In partnership with the
Boston Herald, Emerson hosts a debate for the candidates for governor of Massachusetts. Geared to college students around the state, it was streamed live and viewers submitted questions via social media.
• City of Los Angeles gives
final approval for the construction of Emerson’s LA Center.
• President Liebergott receives the prestigious Special Educator Award from the Caucus for Producers, Writers and Directors for her contributions to the media industry and initiative she has taken to build a permanent center in Hollywood.
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Notable Expressions WORDS Tara L. Masih, MA ’87, is editor of The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction (a ForeWord Book of the Year) and author of Where the Dog Star Never Glows: Stories—a finalist in the Best Books 2010 Awards. She has published fiction, poetry, and essays in numerous anthologies and literary magazines (including Confrontation, Hayden’s Ferry Review, NaturalBridge, Red River Review, Night Train, and The
Caribbean Writer), and several limited-edition illustrated chapbooks featuring her flash fiction have been published by the Feral Press. Awards for her work include first place in The Ledge Magazine’s fiction contest and nominations for the Pushcart Prize, Best New American Voices, and Best of the Web. Lisi Harrison ’85, the New York Times bestselling author of young-adult hits The Clique and Alphas, is publishing her second book in the Monster
High series this spring. Harrison’s 14th Clique novel and her next Alphas novel will also come out this spring. Suzan Johnson Cook ’76 has written a new book, Becoming a Woman of Destiny, published by Tarcher/Penguin Press. Johnson Cook, who has been described by the New York Times as “Billy Graham and Oprah rolled into one,” is the author of almost a dozen books and has been appointed to the President’s Initiative on Race. Rob Flynn ’89 has coauthored Short Cuts: A Guide to Oaths, Ring Tones, Ransom Notes, Famous Last Words, and Other Forms of Minimalist Communication (Oxford University Press), which examines the short-format messages we read every day. From traffic signals to newspaper headlines to Tweets, the information in our world is conveyed through quick nuggets of data, say the authors. Jay Kirk ’93 has published a book, Kingdom Under Glass: A Tale of Obsession, Adventure, and One Man’s Quest to Preserve the World’s Great Animals (Henry Holt), which examines the life of Carl Akeley, the famed explorer
Suzan Johnson Cook ’76 has published a new book.
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and taxidermist who changed the way Americans viewed the conservation of the natural world. The book was “six years in the making,” says Kirk.
MUSIC Michael Angelakos ’09 is lead singer and songwriter for Passion Pit, a popular electronic indie band that is drawing huge crowds across the country. The band’s music has also been featured on TV shows such as Gossip Girl and Big Love. Angelakos says he began writing songs in 2007 in his Emerson dormitory room and credits Emerson as the place where he discovered Ableton Live, a software program that helped him overcome writer’s block by allowing him to visually piece together songs.
THEATER Steven Bogart, MA ’86, encouraged actor Amanda Palmer to take creative risks when she was Bogart’s student 16 years ago at Lexington (Massachusetts) High School. Palmer, half of the former punk cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls, is now a solo artist with an international following. When the Cambridge-based American Repertory Theater (ART) told Palmer she could choose the director for her latest show, she selected Bogart.
Jay Kirk ’93 has authored Kingdom Under Glass, a book about the life of famed explorer Carl Akeley. Tara L. Masih, MA ’87, has written a collection of stories, Where the Dog Star Never Glows, which was named a finalist in the Best Books 2010 Awards as well as a Top 100 Best Books of 2010 on Goodreads.com.
FILM Brent Simons ’97 and Alan Schoolcraft ’95 penned one of the biggest hits of 2010: Megamind. Simons said, “We were pretty lucky. It’s not one of those screenwriter horror stories where you write something and then Hollywood ruins it….It took a few years, but we were very proud of how it turned out.” Harris Wittels ’06 will write a screenplay acquired by Mandate Pictures (the same company that produced Juno) for a yet-to-be-titled comedy starring Aziz Ansari and Danny McBride. The comedy was pitched to Mandate Pictures by Ansari and 30 Rock scribe Matt Hubbard. Wittels writes for NBC’s Parks and Recreation on which Ansari plays Tom Haverford. Wittels has also written for Live at
Gotham, Secret Girlfriend, The Sarah Silverman Program, the 2008 American Music Awards, and the 2008 MTV Movie Awards.
JOURNALISM Casey Farrar ’05, a reporter for The Keene Sentinel in Keene, New Hampshire, for the past three years, traveled to Iraq in 2010 to write a series of stories. While studying journalism at Emerson, Farrar took a class with Associate Professor Jerry Lanson: “We studied how journalists reported on wars, starting with WWII. It really led to my thinking about reporting from Iraq.”
Brent Simons ’97 (left) and Alan Schoolcraft ’95 wrote the screenplay for the hit 2010 film Megamind.
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Alumni Digest A letter from the president of the Alumni Association Dear Fellow Emersonians, One of Emerson’s fastest growing alumni affinity groups is comprised by alumni who attended Emerson over the course of the last 10 years. This
group, GOLD (Graduates of the Last Decade), represents nearly 47% of Emerson’s contactable alumni. They are making a powerful impact in the workforce from every Emerson discipline and area of study. Alumni board member Michael MacWade, MA ’85, is issuing a challenge to GOLD graduates. He will match every gift to Emerson dollar for dollar up to $25,000. If you graduated in 2001 or later, that means your $40 gift becomes an $80 gift—or your $500 gift becomes $1,000. We know you use your Emerson relationships and connections every day. Here’s your chance to pay it forward. When Emersonians work together, amazing things can happen.
As chair of the Alumni Board Development Committee and a financial advisor with Putnam Investments, Mike MacWade knows the importance of giving back to institutions he cares about. He has been an active contributor to the College, a member of the President’s Society, and a committed supporter of the College and the extraordinary growth it has undergone during President Liebergott’s tenure. Please join Mike MacWade and the Alumni Board in promoting this initiative. If you know of any graduates from the classes of 2000 to 2010, please pass this initiative on by directing them to the MacWade Challenge Website at emerson.edu/macwade. If anyone has any ideas for creative ways of helping
Doin’ It for the Fame: A Banner Year for the EVVY Awards The EVVY Awards began its 30th year with unmatched enthusiasm. The staff recruited a record number of student members, launched a new website, orchestrated an American Idol-style casting call, and debuted the “Road to the EVVYs” video series. Most notably, the EVVYs produced a Lady Gaga Lip Dub, a viral video sensation that received nationwide media attention and has been viewed about 880,000 times as of this writing. All of these activities are designed to build momentum for the 30th
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Annual EVVY Awards, to be held May 14, 2011. Join your fellow alumni at a special pre-show alumni reception, and then attend the show, which will feature appearances by EVVY students past and present, and a tribute to President Liebergott. If you can’t be there in person, we encourage you to watch the multi-camera stream live online. For more information on the show and how you can support the EVVY Awards organization, please visit EVVYawards.org.
the College increase its percentage of alumni giving, please do not hesitate to contact us. Please stay in touch with the Alumni Relations office regarding your personal news and professional activities. And, if you haven’t already done so, please make sure your email is up to date with the office so that we can keep you updated on our work throughout the year. Meanwhile, I wish you continued success and look forward to seeing you at an upcoming Emerson College alumni event. With warm regards, Robert Friend ’79 President, Emerson College Alumni Association rfriend@alumni.emerson.edu
Chicago
Approximately 30 alumni gathered at Pete Miller’s restaurant in Evanston, Illinois, during the Chicago Alumni Chapter Kickoff Party last fall.
Gregg Shapiro ‘83 (left) and Jerry Izzo ’82
Calli Dollinger ’10 and Chicago chapter president Sue Roderick ’68
Los Angeles
Micah Wright (left), Richard Wyckoff, Monica LoyaClarke, Chris Hewish, and Wade Beckett (moderator) are gaming experts who served on the panel of the Alumni Relations program “Game Changers” in December. They spoke about the evolution of the multi-billion-dollar industry, its impact on traditional entertainment and popular culture, and what we can expect to see next. Hosted by Bob and Linda Gersh P ’10, the panel was held at The Gersh Agency in Beverly Hills.
Raphaella Lima ’00 and husband Tim Steudler ’00 speak to President Liebergott at the Game Changers event.
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Boston
My
Boston alumni, along with students and faculty, joined Emerson Journalism Department Chair Ted Gup as he discussed his newly published book, A Secret Gift (Penguin Press, 2010)
at the Barnes & Noble Bookstore on the Emerson campus. The book, which has attracted extensive media attention, has been hailed by Ian Frazier of The New Yorker as “…a soulful, passionate, and ingenious book.”
Emerson Journalism Department Chair Ted Gup
Boston
Alumni Weekend Save the Date June 3–5, 2011 Celebrating all Classes Ending in 1s and 6s Emerson College will honor distinguished alumni Bonnie Brescia ’82, founding partner, BBK Worldwide; Brad Epstein ’85, producer and principal, Panther Films; Morgan First ’06, co-founder and marketing director, The Second Glass; Tony Goldman ’65, chairman & CEO, The Goldman Properties Company; and Raj Sharma ’83, head of The Sharma Group with Merrill Lynch. Special Anniversaries Special Anniversaries include 65 years: Alpha Pi Theta; 40 years: The Emerson Review; 30 years: Emerson Comedy Workshop; 25 years: This Is Pathetic; 25 years: Kasteel Well; and 20 years: EAGLE: Emerson Alliance for Gays, Lesbians, and Everyone. For More Information emerson.edu/alumni/weekend 617-824-8535 alumni@emerson.edu
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EC4Life hosted a “Leaders to Leaders” Networking event last fall, giving current students the opportunity to network with the Alumni Board of Directors.
Boston Alumni working in journalism, marketing, and media relations gathered for a networking event at BiNA osteria on Washington Street in Boston last fall. The evening was sponsored by the Office of Communications and Marketing in collaboration
with Alumni Relations. It was co-hosted by Jared Bowen ’98, reporter for WGBH’s Greater Boston and 89.7; Sandi Goldfarb ’78, vice president at Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications; and Margie Sullivan ’81, executive producer at Redtree Productions and
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The all-alumni softball game was one of the activities held during Homecoming Weekend 2010.
The Boston Bruins exhibition game against the Florida Panthers with roughly 30 Emerson alumni present capped the Third Annual Emerson College Athletic Homecoming festivities last fall. The reception at TD Garden marked a successful day for Emerson athletics in which the Lions won four out of five contests.
“We feel that our Athletic Homecoming is building a tradition,” Emerson Director of Athletics Kristin Parnell said. “We’re going to continue to find additional entertainment opportunities for the enjoyment of our alumni.” The Fourth Annual Emerson Athletics Homecoming is scheduled for Saturday, September 17, 2011.
president of Emerson’s Boston Alumni Chapter. Assistant Journalism Professor and boston.com blogger Mark Leccese spoke about the state of journalism today and engaged the group in a general discussion about social media. This networking group is a
new one that the College hopes to convene two to three times a year. If you are an alumnus working in journalism, marketing, or media relations and would like to be invited to future events, please contact Carole McFall at carole_mcfall@ emerson.edu.
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Sandi Goldfarb ’78 (left), vice president at Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications; Journalism Assistant Professor Mark Leccese; and WGBH-TV’s Jared Bowen ‘98 were on hand for a networking event held last fall for those who work in media relations, journalism, and marketing.
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New York A match
Michael LaPolla ’85 displays a copy of Mastering Multicamera Techniques (Focal Press), by Mitch Jacobson, at a New York City Alumni Association chapter event in December, at which Jacobson presented a workshop at Tekserve. Mitch, the husband of alumna Jennifer (Richman) Jacobson ’88, is an award-winning editor/director whose contributions to superstar concert films, network talk shows, and professional sports programming have been aired extensively on major networks and cable stations.
in heaven
MacWade makes
The 11th Annual
giving twice as nice! For more information, visit: emerson.edu/macwade
Please join us for this extraordinary showcase of student work.
Thursday, March, 3, 2011 Egyptian Theater 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, California Screening Committee Randy Barbato ’82 co-founder, World of Wonder Productions Anna Hamilton Phelan ’65 Oscar-nominated screenwriter Jonathan Burkhart ’85 producer, co-founder, Nantucket Film Festival Honoring President Jacqueline Liebergott for her many contributions to Emerson College Information 617-824-8535; bit.ly/filmfest11
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Class Notes 60th Reunion
1951 “You never know when you will bump into an Emerson alumna.” Libby Barolsky Libo and Jane Hamershlag Dean were on a Mediterranean cruise last summer and were pleasantly surprised to learn that the entertainer and hostess was Frances Bordlee, a recent Emerson graduate. “She was a most talented young lady and a great ambassador for Emerson.” 55th Reunion
1956 1957 Edward S. Blotner has coauthored a new book, Facing The World Without Love: How the Welfare and Foster Care System Has Destroyed Our
Society’s “Throwaway” Children, which “indicts the foster care as a system that physically and sexually abuses, even murders, many of these vulnerable kids, whose parents did not want them.”
Bill Bordy ’58 has written a memoir, The Bawdy Chronicles, in which the last several chapters deal with his time at Emerson (1954–58). Bill writes that his book “is a cross between I Remember Mama and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, with a dash of Candide thrown in for good measure.”
1959 Laura-Jean (Mashrick) Gilbert has been named EMS Provider of the Year for the state of New Hampshire. 50th Reunion
1961 45th Reunion
1966 Phil Press writes: “Our company, Media Options, is coming up on its 10th year. Living in Larchmont, New York, and enjoying sailing with my wife, Beth, in the Hamptons.”
Steve Rosenberg is an avid Phillies fan.
1967 Gail Paul runs three businesses: doublygifted. com—gifts that give twice (10% of purchase price is donated to the charity of your choice); wesellvisibility. com (promotional products); and tobeannounced.net (custom-printed holiday cards). She lives in Arlington, Massachusetts, and has just celebrated her 37th wedding anniversary.
1968 Margie Cohn Browner and Steve Marks were married August 5 in Vail, Colorado. They still live in Florida.
1969 Michael (’56) and Nan Whelpley Carney ’56 are proud that granddaughter Meghan Carney is attending Emerson as a graduate student in Communication
Disorders. She joins her grandparents and great-grandmother Sarah Hunter Whelpley ’24 as an Emersonian.
Sharone Hardesty is working in public school education in both English as a Second Language (ESL) and special education. She travels to teach ESL outside the United States.
Al Leone writes: “After 40 years of working in advertising (Young & Rubicam, Wells Rich Greene; in the time frame of Mad Men, so I can relate) and advertising sales (radio and magazines), I have retired. My wife retired from teaching two years ago. We are looking to move to a golf community in South Carolina. We are tired of the New Jersey winters.”
1970 Danny Kamin has “hit a lull” in getting cast in movie or TV guest star roles, so he has returned to private law practice, this time with a concentration on juvenile criminal law. “I took my little boy to court one day and he was blown away by seeing kids in jail and in the courtroom, some younger than he. It made such an For more information visit: impression that I’ve spoken to the judge in that court about www.emerson.edu/macwade bringing a class to juvenile court to just listen and watch.”
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Bill Ludel and D.J. Diomedes work on ABC’s General Hospital and both won Emmy Awards, Bill for directing and D.J. for camera work. The large image in the background of the nurses’ station is a shot of the Charles River and Boston’s Back Bay with Emerson College. 40th Reunion
1971 1974 Carolynn Levy lives in Brookline and Chatham with her husband, Alan Sharaf. Her son, Kyle, is a graduate student at Lehigh University and daughter Abigail is a junior at Dickinson College. Carolynn is an active leader with many volunteer activities, including Big Sister. She continues to run her custom gift basket and personal shopping business, Goodies To Go. 35th Reunion
1976 Steve Gulko is a personal vacation manager at Online Vacation Center after 31 years working directly with Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Azamara Club Cruise. He is looking to reconnect with former classmates at steveg@ onlinevacationcenter.com. He is married to a “wonderful woman,” Carmen, who is from Venezuela.
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1977 Merna Skinner, MS, has launched Satori Communications, a personal communications consulting firm based in Los Angeles. Satori offers business leaders, authors, political candidates, and public figures new techniques to improve how they communicate.
1979 Tobie Stein has authored (with Jessica Bathurst) a new book, Performing Arts Management: A Handbook of Professional Practices (Allworth).
Emerson roommates from the Class of 1959 (from left) Andrew Guthrie, Julian Wolinsky, and Clark Dwinell met for lunch in Dana Point, California, last summer. It’s the first time all three had been together in 35 years. Dwinell and Wolinsky live in Southern California and Guthrie was visiting from
Reston, Virginia. They shared an apartment on Comm. Ave. during the 1957–58 school year. Although they are ostensibly retired, the trio continues actively working in their own diverse areas of interest using the skills they developed at Emerson.
30th Reunion
Emerson since 2002. Jon won the 2009 Bentley University Service-Learning Faculty Award. He and his family live in Westford, Massachusetts.
1980 Guy Freesen writes: “After years of not pursuing my art background and training, I have been trained in voiceover, made a demo, and been recently offered work at Rosetta Stone in Harrisonburg, Virginia.” Tom Carr spent nearly 22 years in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, and returned to Boston in 2007, where he was a part-time associate professor for the music production and engineering department at Berklee College of Music and a freelance engineer. He left that position last year to become the recording engineer/sound designer for the new Forbes Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. “It’s the opportunity of a lifetime for me.”
1981 1982 Lois Roach’s newest play, The Emancipation of Mandy and Miz Ellie, had its world premiere at Company One in Boston with a four-week run. She also directed the New England premiere of Legacy of Light by Karen Zacarias for the Lyric Stage Company of Boston.
1984 Jon Boroshok was selected to be faculty advisor for the Emerson chapter of PRSSA. He has also been an adjunct instructor of Principles of Public Relations and Writing for Marketing Communications courses at
David Horgan is the author of When Your Parent Moves In. Dan Lupo was ordained a deacon in the Catholic Church. He is assigned to St. Thomas More parish in the Diocese of Austin, Texas, where he works fulltime as a chaplain for Odyssey Hospice. James Ford Nussbaum made the documentary film Bats: The Last Flight, which won the prestigious Davey, Marcom, Aurora, and Communicator awards for best documentary in its class as well as best eco-friendly documentary. Nussbaum’s latest work involves the history of Jewish boxing in America.
Joe Toto ’84 is an event lighting designer in addition to doing event production. At left is a lighting scheme he designed for the Boston Public Library (August 2010).
Jen Kristel (nee Lloyd) earned a master’s degree in expressive arts therapy from Lesley University. She is also a Playback Theatre director/teacher. Since 2002, she has been teaching in countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, and India. She has a blog (jenniekristel.wordpress. com), is based in Vermont, and teaches at Burlington College. Suzanne Provencher is an independent publisher. Since 2007, she has published North Shore Children & Families, a parenting publication serving the North Shore of Boston. Suzanne started on the advertising agency side of the business, planning and buying print media, and later joined the sales side. She was consistently a top sales producer, which led to sales management. But tired of the mergers, acquisitions, and layoffs that resulted from the changes in traditional print media, Suzanne decided to launch her own niche publication. Suzanne wants to send a special “thank you” to Professor J.E. Ted Hollingworth, who inspired her throughout her years at Emerson.
1985 Sean Burns moved to the Denver area and is now a full-time professor at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, teaching 3D and traditional animation techniques, film production, and business ethics and copyright for animation. In addition to teaching, he was
promoted to department chair for Animation and Game Art. 25th Reunion
1986 1987 Jim Siler moved his company, Green Flash Production Sound, to Los Angeles in 2008. Green Flash has provided location sound for many of the top TV networks, with credits on Modern Marvels, Food Tech, Carnie Wilson: Unstapled, multiple Biography episodes, and many other shows. Jim and Lori have settled in the Los Feliz neighborhood and have reconnected with Jim’s love of indie music and punk after 20 years in Florida.
Art Stewart ’82 has had a busy year with writing and speaking projects focused on his strategic analytical framework that is garnering increasing interest, the New Responsibility Paradigm, which emerged from two years of research on corporate and social responsibility for his mid-career graduate degree in public policy at Georgetown University (2008).
Kathryn Kaycoff-Manos, MA, who spent years as a nonfiction TV writer, producer, and director (Sightings, Love Connection, and numerous shows for HBO, E!, HGTV, The Travel Channel, History Channel, and others), has for the last seven years focused on producing babies and not TV. She has run a successful surrogacy agency and fertility consulting firm in Los
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In Memoriam
20th Reunion
1991 Tony Dunn is a first-time grandfather to Kaylee Rose Dunn. Tony is the United Way of Mass Bay and Merrimack Valley community services liaison and the program director of the E-Team Machinist Training Program in Lynn.
1928 Esther (Zinnecker) Smidt 1941 George E. Michael 1941 Barbara (Christie) Samuels 1945 Francoise (Bouchard) Kenny 1946 Beatrice Dowd 1947 Charlotte (Rubin) Blacklow 1952 John T. Kerr 1953 Mary-Louise (Allen) Coffin 1953 Leslie McAllister 1958 Mitchell J. Sevajian 1973 Byron Cady 1973 Marshall R. Nanis 1976 Robert S. Zelnick 1987 Robert Bishop (MA) 1991 Frederick E. Joyce (MFA) Friend: Norman S. Stearns Faculty: Robert Pettit
Angeles, Agency for Surrogacy Solutions. She loved working in entertainment, but finds her new career much more rewarding.
1989 Lisa Arnone is working as a script supervisor in Rhode Island on the ABC series Body of Proof. She lives in Newport.
1990 David Alan Basche played the role of David opposite Kelli O’Hara in the feature film Sex and The City 2. In The Adjustment Bureau, starring Matt Damon, David will play Thompson’s aide. Also, in the upcoming feature Real Steel, starring Hugh Jackman, Basche will play an ESPN commentator.
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Mark Hetherington had the world premiere last summer of his first original video, Chronic Pain, at the 2010 New York International Independent Film & Video Festival.
Chris Duffy had career stops in Cleveland, Dallas/ Fort Worth, and South Florida, and is now creative services manager at WGNAM in Chicago, as well as a professional voiceover resource for Tribune TV stations and Internet.
Marie Ullrich finished her MFA in film directing at Columbia College in Chicago. Her thesis film, Faster!, was at the Cannes Short Film Corner in May.
1992 Tracy and Jay Mooney will mark their 20th wedding anniversary in September. “We are still just a couple of college sweethearts. It’s funny to think that this all started when, as
a Theta Brother, I helped Tracy move into Charlesgate when she was an incoming freshman.” Tracy is a McAfee spokesperson and blogger (about family Internet safety issues). The kids are doing great: Zach, who classmates may recall being born senior year, is now 19 and starting his second year of college at DuPage; Bryce, 13, is starting high school; and Cydney, 7, is starting first grade. “Home is in Naperville, so anyone visiting Chicago should look us up.”
1994 Ken Lovering, MFA, is the solopreneur behind KL Marketing Communications, providing writing, editing, and creative services to businesses large and small. He also writes for the health and wellness, trade, insurance, and finance industries. He is also the founder and chief writer and editor of Travel on a Dime Now e-guides, an online resource for budget travelers. His travel essay “If He Cries, They Kill Him” won a Solas Award in the Travel Memoir category.
Alan Gionet ’87 anchors mornings at CBS4 Denver.
Peggie Hayes ’90 (second from left) a 1988 Truman Scholar, celebrated her 50th birthday at home in Watertown, Massachusetts,
with her two children, Dulcinea and Dane, her four grandchildren, and numerous other family and friends.
Michelle Quinn-Davidson is director of the Academy for Transformation at YouthBuild USA, in Somerville, Massachusetts. YouthBuild is a youth and community development program that simultaneously addresses core issues facing low-income communities: housing, education, eployment, crime prevention, and leadership development. Michelle is training director, supporting the 273 programs nationally. Additionally, Michelle and husband, William Davidson ’94 marked their 10th wedding anniversary last year.
1995 David Reno completed a one-year course of study at the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis and was also elected to the Executive Board of Service Employees International Union, Local 888. In June, he was the delegate from the First Church in Boston to the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly in Minneapolis. Once there, he met Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim member of Congress. 15th Reunion
Peter W. Timmins got engaged to Amy. She is lovely.
1996 Ryan Deal writes: “After 13 years and two Emmys in television news, I am now the Emergency Preparedness Risk Communicator for the state of Georgia.” Ryan lives in Atlanta with his partner of eight years.
Steve ’85 and Nicky McDonnell ’89, formerly Steve McDonald and Nicky Mestres, marked their 15th wedding
Nicole Maggi has a three-book deal with HarperCollins. The first novel in her supernatural young adult triology, Shift, is due out in summer 2012. Nicole lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Chris Patterson ’95, an assistant film editor whose last project was the Ben Affleck– directed film The Town. They welcomed a baby daughter, Emilia Rosanne, in August. Paula Montgomery is regional director for Rhode Island at the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She will also receive her master’s degree in public administration from Bridgewater State University in May.
anniversary in New Hope, Pennsylvania. The couple and their sons, Joe and Dean, live in Alexandria, Virginia.
1997 Stephen Clapp received a dance commission from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with his wife and collaborator Laura Schandelmeier for a new work for their company, Dance Box Theater, Inc. The company recently completed a European tour and will be touring their new work, “Affectations,” in the MidAtlantic region this season. Adam Golaski says his second book, Color Plates, has been published by Rose Metal Press. Kevin McKenna, MFA, recently published a class note in the Emerson College alumni magazine Expression. The note, which in a somewhat circular manner focuses almost exclusively on the publishing of the note, has been described as pithy by those who are currently reading it.
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2000 Dawn Silvia Oates, MFA ’03, and husband Justin welcomed new family members Jack Everett and Olivia Grayson Oates in March 2010.
Taylor Morris writes: “I sold my first series for tweens called Hello, Gorgeous! to Penguin’s Grosset & Dunlap. It’s a four-book series that debuts in April. I also sold a stand-alone novel (also for tweens) to Simon & Schuster’s Mix line for May 2011 called BFF Breakup.” Mark Wilson Parker and his husband, Steven Parker, have a daughter, Barbara Wilson Parker.
1998 John Soares has been named news director of WJHL-TV in the TriCities area of Tennessee. Previously, he was a tenured professor in the journalism department at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and worked at both KSBY in San Luis Obispo and KCOY/ KKFX in Santa Maria as a fill-in reporter and anchor. John is even happier to be celebrating his third anniversary with his “beautiful wife, Kristi.”
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1999 Kat Malone acted and sang in improvisational dinner theater for Dillstar Productions in New England for six years. In 2009, she adopted her longtime ward, Jonah, who makes her a very proud mom. She moved to Holliston, Massachusetts, later that year, and works as a sales analyst. She continues to write fiction and promises John Skoyles that she will be published one day. Pedro Patron, MA, married Maria Olle, MA. They have two daughters. After living in Barcelona for 10 years—where Maria is originally from—the family recently moved to Peru, Pedro’s home country. “It’d be great to hear from our friends from Emerson around the world!” Mori Ponsowy, MFA, is living in Argentina. Mori’s poetry collection, Enemies Outside, was translated and published in England in a bilingual edition (Spanish-English) by Waterloo Press and launched at the Center for Creative Collaboration in London. “A few days after I came back from London I learned that my new novel, Abundancia, had won a prize, the Premio Internacional de Novela Letrasur 2010.”
Tea Benduhn Norfolk, MFA, gave birth to Noah Norfolk on July 23, 2010. Along with husband Nate, they live in Milwaukee. Michael J. Lolli was recently named park operations manager for Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park in Orlando, Florida. David Rapaport is the series casting director for 90210 (CW), Hard Times (MTV), and Gossip Girl (CW)—for which he received an Artios nomination from the Casting Society of America for Outstanding Casting of a Dramatic Pilot—and My Generation (ABC), which premiered last fall. David was also nominated as the Television Casting Director of the Year in 2009 by the Talent Managers Association. Jason Schwartz recently wrote, produced, and directed his first two commercials for Oak Pointe Aesthetics, a cosmetic surgery clinic in Leesville, Louisiana. The commercials have been airing online as well as on television and in movie theaters in Louisiana and Texas markets. Jason tapped Emerson alumni in the production of the commercials. Timothy Swaan ’99 shot and edited them. Alicyn Packard ’02 did voiceover. Shaun Merryman ’99 did the mixing.
James D. Tharrett will marry Mary “Betsy” Ryan in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the summer. John-Michael Trojan lives in Merchantville, New Jersey, with his fiancé, Lisa Cavallaro, and two children. He works as senior producer, DPM, and pipeline integration specialist for the VFX and feature finishing post house, DIVE in Philadelphia, whose recent work includes the visual effects on the Cormac McCarthy adaptation of The Road, for which the company was nominated for a VES Award in 2010. John-Michael also works closely with the Maasai Cultural Exchange Project. 10th Reunion
2001 Sooner Routhier started a production design company, S Rae Productions, with business partner Robert Long.
2002 Alexis Clements, 2001 Rod Parker Playwriting Fellow, coedited a two-volume anthology of plays, Out of Time & Place (The Women’s Project), which includes her play Conversation, which received its world premiere at the 2010 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. In addition to playwriting and performing, Clements writes about experimental theater and performance art for The Brooklyn Rail and The L Magazine.
Jason Grossman’s company, Radio Mouse Entertainment, produced The Pee-Wee Herman Show on Broadway. He says, “I’m excited as this is my first producing credit on a Broadway production.” Stephen Lucek has been living in Dublin for the past five years and has met “the love of my life,” Ciara Woods. They will marry in 2011. Stephen earned a master’s degree in linguistics at Trinity College, focusing on the English language in Ireland, and has been accepted to a PhD program at Trinity. Beth LaMontagne Hall is the City Hall reporter for the New Hampshire Union Leader in Manchester. Catherine Ulissey and Dr. Robert M. Schoch (Boston University professor and renowned geologist) were married on Easter Island in January 2010. They traveled there as part of a geological expedition, and their wedding—composed of two ceremonies, one civil and one traditional Rapa Nui—were somewhat impromptu. The civil ceremony was witnessed by two former governors of the island as well as the Chilean Ambassador JeanPaul Tarud-Kuborn. Catherine and Robert plan to return to Easter Island to do research and produce a documentary about their findings.
2004 Patricia Addis is an adjunct instructor at Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Jami Brandli, MFA, wrote a play, The Sinker, which received its world premiere in 2010 at HotCity Theatre in St. Louis. Her latest play, Technicolor Life, was developed at WordBRIDGE Playwrights Lab to be part of the 2010 Ashland New Plays Festival in Ashland, Oregon. The play was a finalist for the 2010 Princess Grace Playwriting Fellowship and the 2010 Seven Devils Playwrights Conference. It was also a semifinalist for the 2010 O’Neill Playwrights Conference. Andrew Damer is senior client account manager for aka New York, a full-service marketing agency for pre-Broadway and Broadway shows. The agency is based in London and represents many shows on the West End, but Andrew will be leading the client services team as it expands its reach to Broadway. Jayk Gallagher plays a small role in the Aaron Sorkinwritten, David Fincherdirected The Social Network. Since moving to L.A., Jayk has appeared on the E! Network, MTV, and Comedy Central and in over 25 commercials. Joe Gizzi has joined New Media Strategies, a Washington, D.C.-based firm, where he directs digital marketing strategy for NBC,
Katherine Owens ’04 sells and promotes Kovacs Brothers Wine and their new book, The Young and the Thirsty: 25 California Wines for the New School Drinker.
Tambra Stevenson ’05 gave birth to Ruby Rose in August 2010 in Washington, D.C. She was named after her paternal greatgrandmother and maternal great-greatgrandmother in Oklahoma. She has a big brother, Elliott, who is a year older.
ABC Family, Sony Pictures, Panasonic, Adobe, and Disney, among others. Ashley Kelly married Patrick Doherty in July at Boston’s Museum of Science. Attending the wedding were Maria Crenshaw ’03, Matthew Joseph Studivan ’04, Megan Ray Manzi ’04, and Joyeux Noel ’03.
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2005
Emerson
Weddings
Adam Deyoe won the Kodak/ TromaDance Film Festival Soul of Independence Award for consistently demonstrating creativity and and originality. Most recently, Deyoe directed Dead Season, a post-apocalyptic zombie film shot on an island near Puerto Rico, and coproduced by Loren Semmens ’02. Adam Ullian, MA, works in media production in New York City and has launched YuletideSnapper.com, a website devoted to promoting comedians and comedy events in the city. 5th Reunion
Shera Rosenthal ’01 and Noah Sacks were married in 2009 in San Diego. The wedding party included Shani Rotkovitz ‘01, Melissa (DavenportCarson) Palermo ‘02, and Rachel (Chaney) Lieu ‘01. Pictured from left are Rachel Lieu, Shera Sacks, Shani Rotkovitz, and Melissa Palermo. Other Emerson alumni in attendance were Bill Tomison ‘01 and Stephanie (Stein) Zerden ‘71.
Shire Titus ’06 married David Ketterer of Hamilton, New Jersey, in 2009 in Princeton. Together they own a wedding videography business called Simply Shire. Shire has also completed an interpreter training program and is a freelance sign language interpreter.
38 Expression Winter 2011
2006 Laura R. Duggan, MA, premieres her newest play, Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit, the third of her original trilogy on “Remarkable Women of the Victorian Era.” Sophie Klahr has studied writing all over the country since leaving Boston. She attended the Juniper Summer Writing Institute in June 2009, and received a full scholarship to the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop in July 2010. Her poetry appears in journals such as 42opus, DIAGRAM, Strange Machine Poetry & IsReads. She serves as poetry editor for Gigantic Sequins, a journal founded by fellow alumna Kimberly Southwick ’06. Sophie was awarded a full scholarship, along with a teaching
fellowship, toward her firstyear graduate studies in poetry at the University of Houston.
2007 Aimee Arsenault is the events and travel coordinator for the Council on International Education Exchange, based in Portland, Maine. She is looking forward to international travel and promoting cultural exchange programs in the United States. Nathan Bewley worked at the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority for two years and has started law school at the University of San Francisco. He plans to practice public interest law.
2008 Julian Higgins received his MFA in directing from the American Film Institute. Erik Osterholm has traveled the world since graduating Emerson—shooting, directing, producing, and switching live television for high-adventure sports and documentaries in Indonesia, Chile, Canada, and the United States. Capturing mountaineering, paragliding, scuba diving, ice climbing, mountain biking, and sailing, Intrepid Descent, his Emerson BFA film on the history and culture of Tuckerman Ravine, is being distributed by First Run Features. Erik lives in Aspen, Colorado, where he started CaptureYourAdventure.
2009 Nicole Bamber works at an entertainment public relations firm with Emmy Award-winning clients such as AMC (Mad Men, Breaking Bad) USA (Burn Notice, White Collar, Royal Pains), The Art Directors Guild, International Cinematographers Guild, and others.
2010 Jacob Barela is a community health agent with the Peace Corps and will serve in Niger. Gaby Dunn writes a blog, 100 Interviews, which won a Village Voice award. She created a list of 100 types of
people she has never met, and plans to interview all of them. Gaby is also a writer for AOL entertainment blogs. Sean Elias is in the New School for Drama’s prestigious MFA in acting program, and has now officially moved to Manhattan. He performed in JD Production’s Broadway Off Leash at the Duplex Cabaret Theatre, which featured some of the city’s newest talent as well as Broadway regulars to raise money for animal rescue. Dan Higgins has gone to Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom as the field medical assistant (executive
officer) for the 883rd Combat Stress Control, Detachment 18. He is also a GMCA graduate. He worked as a graduate intern at Modernista! in Boston, providing social media strategy and planning to clients. Sarah McCulley moved to New York City and recently worked with Neal Cortell, MS ’66 on his documentary The Media: Journalism in Crisis, to be screened at the National Arts Council in Gramercy Park in February. Nick Peciaro starred as Link Larkin in Hairspray at the Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston. He played opposite Marissa Perry, the fifth and final actress to play
Tracy Turnblad on Broadway, and was directed by Todd Michael Smith and Judine Somerville, two original cast members from the Broadway production. He also released his first original pop single, “Oh! (I Can’t Quit).” Chris Rand is a sales assistant at Fortune Money Group, a subsidiary of Time Inc., publisher of Fortune and Money magazines. This is Chris’s first full-time, salaried position. He says, “I wouldn’t have landed it without my internship experiences and the fantastic references I got from them.”
Class Notes Policy What Was Your Department Called? Over the years, a number of Emerson’s academic departments have changed names. To help you find your field, please consult the directory below. • Communication Sciences & Disorders Communication Disorders Speech Pathology & Audiology Speech & Hearing Therapy
1997–Present 1972–1996 1957–1972 1951–1957
• Communication Studies Speech and Communication Studies Speech
1982–Present 1971–1982 1938–1970
• Journalism First appeared in catalog in 1997
No change
• Marketing Communication First appeared in catalog in 2002
No change
• Performing Arts Drama Dramatic Art Theater Arts
1986–present 1933–1955 1969–1980 1955–1969, 1980–1986
• Visual & Media Arts Humanities Fine Arts
1997–present 1961–1997
Class notes and photos may be submitted to: Via email: alumni@emerson.edu Online: Emerson.edu/alumni/community (click on Class Notes)
• Writing, Literature & Publishing Creative Writing & Literature English
1984–present 1983–1984 1933–1983
U.S. Mail: Class Notes, Emerson College, Office of Alumni Relations, 120 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116-4624
• Liberal Arts & Interdisciplinary Studies First appeared in catalog in 1997
No change
Expression magazine at Emerson College welcomes news of alumni: promotions, career changes, volunteer work, marriages, births and other news. Class Notes are printed on a space-available basis. For publication purposes, photos must be high-resolution (300 dpi is ideal). In general, a larger file is better than a smaller file.
75 Years Later
Members of the Class of ’36 Prepare for a Reunion
N
inety-eight-year-old
Mary O’Keefe Dentler ’36, of
Peabody, Massachusetts, and 96-year-old Allee Hamilton Wood ’36, of Canastota, New York, are celebrating 75 years since graduating from Emerson in 1936. To mark the occasion, Mary set down on paper a few Emerson remembrances: In 1932—my freshman year—our country was in the throes of the Great Depression. Banks were closed to prevent a run on them. Millions of people were out of work. (Sound familiar? Strange how history repeats itself.) Colleges felt the pinch because of low enrollments. There were 40 students in
From left are college chums Mary O’Keefe, Eilene Fernald, and Ione Robertson.
my freshman class—25 graduated. Tuition was about $300, and increased to $500 by my senior year—a lot of money in those days. Emerson was located in a large office building called the Huntington Chambers, a few doors down from the stately S.S. Pierce building on the corner of Dartmouth Street and Huntington Avenue. Classrooms were on the ground floor, and there was a large, well-equipped hall for plays and recitals. The library was on the fifth floor. That was Emerson College. These buildings are long gone. I had a leading role in several plays, including Polly of the Circus, Snow White and the Dwarves, and The Tree of Faces. Today, Allee has a computer and an iPod. As far as we know, Allee and I are the only ’36-ers left.
Allee Hamilton (left) as Lady Wishfort and Mary O’Keefe (center) as Mrs. Millamant appeared together in an Emerson production.
Both women plan to attend their reunion this June.
In 1961, the Class of 1936 marked its 25th reunion. The celebrants included (from left) Jeannie Hershberger Millar, Edith Norris Cuny, Ione Robertson Holt, Mary O’Keefe Dentler, and Helen Moorey Bodnar.
Gifts that Matter Why scholarships for Emerson students? Since I had a single mom and a large family, ordinarily I wouldn’t have even thought of going to college. But thanks to donors back then, I was able to get scholarship support. Now, fortunately I’m in a position where I can give back. One of my priorities is to support scholarships for students who may have started college when the economy was a lot better, but may not be able to complete their degrees since their parents’ financial situation has deteriorated.
Mike MacWade MA ’85 Mike MacWade grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts, one of five children raised by a struggling mother. It was only with the help of scholarship aid that Mike was able to earn a bachelor’s degree at Northeastern University and a master’s degree in business and organizational communication at Emerson. Today, Mike is managing director at Putnam Investments in Boston and is eager to provide the same kind of help to young people that he received.
You’ve issued a special challenge to young alumni, in particular. Could you describe it? Graduates from the last 10 years make up 47 percent of the College’s active alumni population. With so many members, their collective support could make a huge impact on Emerson and its students. We’re hoping to get a lot more of the GOLD (Graduates of the Last Decade) alumni to start their philanthropy with Emerson, no matter the amount. So, if any young alumnus makes a gift of up to $500 by June 5, 2011, I’ll match it dollar-for-dollar. I’ve pledged a total of $25,000, so working together we can raise $50,000 and make a big difference in the lives of a lot of students. What fuels your philanthropy? Knowing I’m helping needy students get an invaluable education at Emerson is one of my greatest joys. And this project gave me a chance to connect with some of today’s students, too, which made me feel like a young Emersonian all over again!
Help support scholarships, an academic department, or any area of Emerson College by making your gift today at emerson.edu/giving. To learn more about The MacWade Challenge, visit emerson.edu/macwade.
Photo by David Leifer
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