Fairfield University Magazine - Spring 2022

379k Followers and Counting

Destination Backcountry

Engineering for Life

Three Fairfield alumnae are influencing a generation of digital consumers.

Adventure guide David DiCerbo ’97 believes in the restorative power of the wilderness.

Sriharsha Srinivas Sundarram, PhD, and his students are using 3D printing to grow tissue for bio-artificial organs.

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SPRING 2022

The Acropolis Reborn Art History’s Dr. Katherine Schwab is working with a team to create a virtual Parthenon.

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Classmates and Checkmates Photo by Dru Martin

“Once a pawn a time,” (l-r): Daniel Reisman ’23, Stephanie Rodgers ’23, Noor Khattak ’23, and Colleen Levangie ’23 were first-years playing a giant game of outdoor chess in the Quad.

On the cover: Sun rises on the Parthenon. Katherine Schwab, PhD, serves as a leading scholarly consultant to virtual tourism company Flyover Zone’s project to restore Parthenon metopes.

Fairfield University Magazine Fairfield University Spring 2022 | Volume 44 | Number 4 a.m.d.g.

Editor, Alistair Highet Assistant Editor, Tess (Brown) Long ’07, MFA’11 University News Editor, Susan Cipollaro Copy Editor, Jeannine (Carolan) Graf ’87 Vice President for Marketing and Communications, Jennifer Anderson ’97, MBA ’02 Designer, Nancy (Gelston) Dobos ’91 Photography by: Joe Adams: pages 4, 9, 12, 14 Krystyn Tendy Atkinson: page 25 Steve McLaughlin: page 7 Mo Skel Photography pages: 3, 24, 29 Jessica Tackett: page 26 Casey Timmeny: page 31 Amadou Traore: page 10 Courtesy of New England Revolution: page 5 Fairfield University Media Center: pages 8-9, 33 Contributed photos: 2, 6-7, 9, 11, 16-19, 26, 27-28, 34-41 © K.A. Schwab; Courtesy Flyover Zone, © 2021. All rights reserved: page 23 Fairfield University Magazine is published four times (November, March, June, September) during the year by Fairfield University. Editorial offices are located in: Bellarmine Hall, Fairfield University Fairfield, CT 06824-5195 (203) 254-4000, ext. 2526 e-mail: ahighet@fairfield.edu Printed at The Lane Press Burlington, Vermont ii spr i n g 2022 | Fairfie l d Un i ve rs it y M aga z in e

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Contents

“People forget that these buildings on the Acropolis were painted and very colorful in their time. They weren’t just the color of the marble.”

— Katherine Schwab, PhD, Art History Professor

COV E R STO RY

16

20

by Nicolette Massaro

by Alan Bisbort

Three Fairfield alumnae are influencing a generation of digital consumers.

Art History’s Dr. Katherine Schwab is working with a team to create a virtual Parthenon.

379k Followers and Counting

With a collective audience of 379,000 followers on Instagram alone, entrepreneurs Nina Poosikian ’17, MA’19 (@whatninaate), Kelly Larkin ’06 (@kellyinthecity), and Lauren Romano ’14 (@simplylaurenrose), are driving sales and creating brand awareness in the booming social influencer marketing industry.

Pictured above: Nina Poosikian ’17, MA’19 samples the fare at Back Door Donuts on Martha’s Vineyard.

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The Acropolis Reborn

A leading expert on the Parthenon’s metopes, 92 Pentelic marble blocks that formerly rimmed the temple’s peristyle above its columns, art history professor Katherine Schwab, PhD, is a major contributor to the virtual reality tour “Athens Reborn: Acropolis,” scheduled to launch in April 2022.

Pictured above: View of the Parthenon from the southwest, Athenian Acropolis.

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SPRING 2022

let ter from the presiden t universit y news academics

Engineering for Life

by Sara Colabella ’08, MA’11

Sriharsha Srinivas Sundarram, PhD, and his students are using 3D printing to grow tissue for bio-artificial organs.

14

24

Destination Backcountry

by Tess (Brown) Long ’07, MFA’11

Adventure guide David DiCerbo ’97 believes in the restorative power of the wilderness.

David DiCerbo ’97 is the founder of Destination Backcountry Adventures, the largest guided adventure company in New York state, leading outdoor expeditions on land and water, offering marathon and obstacle race training, and teaching map, compass, and survival skills.

universit y

Fairfield Elevated to Doctoral Universities Category

by Susan Cipollaro

A Conversation with Provost Christine Siegel, PhD, on Fairfield’s New Carnegie Status.

30 32

gr an ts & gif ts alumni notes

Profiles: 33 Orland Bergère ’51 Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of Fairfield’s First Graduates 35 Sarah Courtney ’03 Out Front, with the League of Women Voters

38 40

campus even ts donor profile Kaila (Anderson ’13) and Doug Freeman ’12, and Marissa Fitzgerald ’20

Pictured above: Canoes idle as the the sun sets on a peaceful lake in the Adirondack Mountains of northeastern New York state.

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Letter from the President

“ We have set our sights on becoming the modern, Jesuit Catholic University the world needs today, eager to engage creatively with our youth.”

Dear Friends, The last two years of the Covid-19 pandemic have transformed our world in all manners of ways, both big and small. At the same time, we at the University have taken comfort and drawn energy from the fact that the core purpose of what we do — forming young men and women of purpose to pursue lives of productive citizenship and societal stewardship — remains ever true.

In reflecting on this core purpose, this past November, I was fortunate enough to be in Rome to address a colloquium at the Pontifical Gregorian University on the life and work of St. Robert Bellarmine, the patron of our University.

It was an opportunity for me to meet in person with the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, the Rev. Arturo Sosa, S.J., and speak with him about Fairfield’s commitment to the ongoing work of Jesuit education, and in particular how the Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society, adopted in 2019, have been incorporated into our curriculum and academic programs.

While all the apostolic preferences are important to our work during this special Ignatian Year – it is the third of these preferences, accompanying “our young people in the creation of a hope-filled future,” that calls out to us as a University most immediately. We have entered a period of epochal change, Fr. Sosa Send your letters to the editor stressed, with the emergence of digital culture and of Fairfield University Magazine globalization, and it is the young people of today — to Alistair Highet at our students — who will be the leaders of this epoch. ahighet@fairfield.edu.

Our obligations as a University are to meet, supYour news could be featured in port, and encourage our young people during this an upcoming issue of Fairfield critical period, so they will have the tools they need University Magazine! Submit to build a just, harmonious, and peaceful world. your updates through Class Looking forward to next year on campus, we Notes within the Online received an unprecedented number of applicants Community and don’t forget for the Class of 2026, breaking our application pool to include a photo! Go to record for the 12th consecutive year with 13,200 fairfield.edu/alumnicommunity. applications in total, an increase of 5.25 percent over the previous year. We are also enjoying record numbers of applicants for our graduate programs 4 spr i ng 2022 | Fairfie l d Un i ve rs it y M aga z in e

in nursing, business, engineering, and education.

These students are attracted by the values based, student-centric, outcome-focused education Fairfield is renowned for offering.

As I have shared previously, the question of the value of a higher education has been long discussed but hard to quantify. However, thanks to our colleagues at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW), we now have a measure of ROI for students by institution.

CEW assessed the lifetime value of more than 4,500 post-secondary educational institutions. Fairfield does exceptionally well, ranking 54th out of all postsecondary institutions and 35th out of all traditional four-year universities, fourth in the Jesuit network and second only to Yale in the state of Connecticut.

This affirmation of our value comes at a momentous time, as we have been elevated by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education from a regional, master’s degree granting institution to the national doctoral, professional university category. This move reflects the degree to which we have evolved, having added more graduate and professional programs, and professional doctorates in nursing and education.

As we rise, so do our needs grow. Any visitor to campus this semester will see a great deal of construction underway. We are currently adding 84 beds in 14 new townhouse units, and in a few months plan to break ground on a new residence hall in the Quad area that will house 203 students. Meanwhile, as I write, construction crews are at work on the roof of our new Arena and Convocation Center, an appropriate home for our men’s and women’s varsity basketball teams, our volleyball team, as well as other University functions and community events.

It is a new epoch, as Fr. Sosa has said, and we have set our sights on becoming the modern, Jesuit Catholic University the world needs today, eager to engage creatively with our youth — a University rooted in the traditions of Ignatian pedagogy, but also a University speaking to students of today of all ages, helping them to build a hope-filled and harmonious future for us all.

With very best wishes and utmost gratitude,

Mark R. Nemec, PhD President

Universit y NEWS SOCCER’S MATT TURNER ’17 JOINS PREMIER LEAGUE’S ARSENAL

Application Numbers Reach All-Time High Fairfield University’s Office of Undergraduate Admission received an unprecedented number of applications for admittance into the Class of 2026, breaking the University’s application pool record for the 12th consecutive year.

As of January 2022, applications numbered 13,200 in total, an increase of 5.25 percent from the previous year.

In addition to being the largest on record, this year’s applicant pool is also more ethnically and geographically diverse than in previous years, with students representing 46 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and 78 different countries.

Early returns also indicate that the Class of 2026 appears to be the academically strongest on record, with notable increases in GPA and SAT scores.

“The momentum we are experiencing is so positive, rewarding, and exciting,” said Corry Unis, vice president for enrollment management. “The entire enrollment team is enthused by another record year for application activity, and we look forward to reviewing, selecting, and admitting another amazing class of F future Stags.” l

New England Revolution and U.S. Men’s National Team (USMNT) goalie Matt Turner ’17 will move to English Premier League’s Arsenal Football Club this summer. The deal is reportedly for $6 million and could be as much as $10 million with add-ons. Turner joined Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution in 2016, and worked his way into the national setup. He has represented the U.S. 13 times, including starting in all six of USMNT’s games prior to February in the 2021 CONCACAF World Cup.

As the news broke, USMNT Coach Gregg Berhalter noted that Turner “went to Fairfield University, was undrafted out of the college, now he’s playing with the national team and he’s headed to Arsenal.” He added, “It’s just an amazing story and it’s all down to him, his work ethic, his belief in himself, and his ‘never give up’ attitude.”

Arsenal is one of the biggest football clubs in the world and considered traditionally among the so-called big four of British soccer, alongside Manchester United, Chelsea, F and Liverpool. l

Matt Turner ’17 has been signed to the English Premier League’s Arsenal Football Club.

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Universit y NEWS DOLAN STUDENTS PUBLISH ESSAYS CO-AUTHORED

BY AI Last semester, graduate students in Fairfield Dolan’s Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) program used OpenAI’s cutting-edge artificial intelligence text generator tool, GPT-3, for an essay-writing experiment in a no-code artificial intelligence (AI) class taught

by MSBA program director and associate professor of analytics Philip Maymin, PhD. To co-author their essays with GPT-3 (Generative Pre-trained Transformer, third generation), the MSBA students chose their titles in advance, then typed a sentence or two before allowing the AI to complete the paragraph. Once GPT-3’s writing contributions were added, students reviewed the content and either continued on, or asked the AI to try again.

The resulting hardcover collection of essays, Baby AI: Cyborg Essays, was self-published in October 2021 and is available on Amazon. Essays on a variety of subjects include “The National Park Service” by Rachel Hakes ’21 and “Modern Monetary Theory” by Conlisk F Scholar Daniel Enright. l

Online Grad Ed Program Ranked in Top 30% by U.S. News & World Report Fairfield University has once again made great strides in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Online Graduate Education Program Rankings. In this year’s 2022 edition, Fairfield rose to #102 (tie) in the Best Online Master’s in Education Programs category, out of 337 schools—a significant increase from the 2021 edition where the University was ranked #176. Fairfield’s Online Master’s in Education program placed second in the state.

The latest rankings reflect the success of Fairfield University’s accredited master’s in educational technology program, housed within the School of Education

and Human Development (SEHD). The program is designed to equip and empower educators to transform learning and ensure success for schools in the evolving digital age. This contemporary training is ideal for educators of all disciplines looking to enhance their skill

sets or individuals contemplating career changes to teaching.

The methodology used by U.S. News & World Report for this ranking is broken into categories for engagement, expert opinion, faculty credentials and training, services and technologies, and F student excellence. l

Dolan Accounting Grads #2 Among Top Hires at Big Four Firms Higher education research group OnlineU recently published a study showing Fairfield University is second among colleges with the highest number of alumni working at Big Four accounting firms (Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, and PwC).

Analysis of LinkedIn alumni data of more than 300,000 accounting graduates, from nearly 100 colleges over the past decade, found 21.98 percent of Fairfield Dolan’s Accounting program alumni working at Big Four firms — second to Wake Forest — and in a virtual tie with Lehigh University at 21.95 percent.

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Fairfield Dolan continues to rise in national rankings.

Most recently, U.S. News & World Report ranked Dolan’s undergraduate Accounting program at #21 nationally, and Dolan’s MS in Accounting graduate program at #14 among the nation’s 2022 Best Grad Business Specialty Programs.

Fairfield Dolan’s Accounting program offers students an innovative and integrated approach to business studies.

Students acquire the conceptual and technical knowledge to develop, measure, analyze, and validate financial information.

The program focuses on preparing graduates to succeed in an environment that increasingly requires grounding in ethical, legal, and regulatory matters.

The importance of technology in accounting and financial reporting, auditing, and tax is also a focus.

In recent years, 95 percent of all Fairfield Dolan MS in Accounting program grads have secured jobs with one of the Big Four firms or a regional firm. In addition to offices across the U.S. and worldwide, Big Four firms have headquarters in New York City, conveniently located just an hour F south of Fairfield’s campus. l

SCHOOL PSYCH PROGRAM BOASTS 100% EMPLOYMENT RATE Fairfield’s School Psychology Program, which boasts a 100 percent employment rate, prepares candidates through rigorous coursework, competitive field placement experiences, and a hallmark theme of self-care infused throughout the curriculum.

A signature component of the master’s program and sixth-year program is the emphasis on selfcare, to protect against practitioner burnout. The program also prioritizes the fostering of school connectedness and social emotional learning (SEL) as a vehicle for whole-child development.

A new seminar on bilingual assessment being offered this spring is important because it provides school psychologists

with the skills to assess students in a culturally sensitive way.

The course will teach candidates how to differentiate learning disorders from the process of second-language acquisition, through non-biased assessment including testing in the student’s native language, bilingual testing, and adaptation of standardized instruments and techniques.

Students also engage in three field placements during the program: two weeks-long practicums — one usually in an urban district and another in an alternative school placement such as a behavioral intensive school or a community mental health setting — and a third placement in a F full-time, year-long internship. l

TORRES ’23 SETS WORLD RECORD AT U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Matthew Torres ’23 added another accolade to his swimming résumé on Dec. 18, setting a world record in the 1500m freestyle (S8) with a time of 17:42.44. The record-setting swim took place at the 2021 United States Paralympics National Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. Torres shattered the previous record, held by Robert Griswold of the United States (18:10.7).

ROBIN D.G. KELLEY, PHD: KEYNOTE SPEAKER FOR MLK JR. CONVOCATION

Fairfield University welcomed award-winning author and educator Robin D.G. Kelley, PhD, for the 2022 Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation on Feb. 2 at the Quick Center. The theme for this year’s observance was “‘The Wrong Side of the World Revolution’: King’s Internationalism and the Lessons for Today.”

Dr. Kelley is the Gary B. Nash Professor of American History at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Egan Students Represent Newly Accredited Program at Council on Social Work Education Meeting Last semester, the Marion Peckham Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies completed its three-year accreditation process for the Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) program. The program was awarded an eight-year accreditation through the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), having been found to be in full compliance.

Social work majors Ibelkis Tajada ’22 and Brigid Belger ’22 under the guidance of assistant professor of social work Tanika Eaves Simpson, PhD, represented Fairfield’s newly accredited social work program at this year’s 67th Annual Council on Social Work Education Meeting in Orlando, Florida. The students presented their original research, entitled “Transformative Learning and Social Change:

Community-Based Learning and BSW Education During a Pandemic,” to social work education professionals and students across the nation.

Describing her experience, Tajada said, “Attending the CSWE AMP conference provided great insight into what other social workers are doing around the country, and their perspective on what it means to be a social worker. Not only was it an opportunity to connect with other individuals with diverse roles, but it was also a space to show what some of Fairfield’s future social workers are doing in the community of Bridgeport.”

The five-year BSW/MSW social work program launched in 2019 as a result of the growing need for F social work professionals. l

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Universit y NEWS FAIRFIELD ENGINEERS PLACE IN STATEWIDE NEW PRODUCT BUSINESS COMPETITION Fairfield University School of Engineering had three winners at this year’s statewide 2021 Connecticut New Product Business Competition. The first-place team — Class of 2022’s Emre Aydin, Alexander Maier, Bibek Timalsina, Ky Duyen Le, and faculty advisor Isaac Macwan, PhD, assistant professor of biomedical engineering — received a $3,000 award for their product, “Nano-Material for Wound Healing.”

The Connecticut New Product Business Competition is an annual event open to all Connecticut residents and students. Hosted virtually by the Inventors Association of Connecticut, competing teams had the opportunity to pitch their products for a chance to win a share of $10,000 in encouragement grants. Each team presented a three-minute presentation and answered questions from the judges about their products and their plans to commercialize.

Judging criteria included: whether the product solved a real problem, if the product is superior or cheaper than alternatives or serves a new market niche, target market, knowledge about the industry, F and funding. l

Pogroms of 1918-1921 and Onset of the Holocaust On Monday, January 31, Jeffrey Veidlinger, PhD, Brodsky Collegiate Professor of History and Judaic Studies and director of the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, University of Michigan, delivered a lecture entitled “In the Midst of Civilized Europe: The Pogroms of 1918-1921 and the Onset of the Holocaust.”

This lecture was sponsored by the Judaic Studies Program in collaboration with the Bennett

Center for Judaic Studies.

Between 1918 and 1921, more than 100,000 Jews were murdered in the Ukraine during pogroms carried out by antiSemitic factions who blamed the Jews for the unrest of the Russian Revolution. Drawing upon archival materials, witness accounts, and trial records, Veidlinger discussed how these pogroms in the Ukraine created the conditions F for the Holocaust. l

Jeffrey Veidlinger, PhD

Class of 2021 First Destination Report The Career Center released its 2021 First Destination Report, a summary of post-graduation activities based on surveys completed by Fairfield graduates within six months of graduation.

An impressive 98 percent of the Class of 2021 has either secured full-time professional employment, admission to graduate degree programs, or participation in volunteer service programs according to this year’s survey, which was completed by roughly 78 percent of the 952 members of the class.

The average salary for employed students from the Class of 2021 is $62,719 (excluding bonuses), a slight increase from last year. In order, these industries had the highest average salaries: manufacturing, engineering, nursing, consulting, and financial services.

Similar to national trends, the majority of job placements

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Ninety-eight percent of the Class of ’21 has either secured full-time professional employment, admission to graduate programs, or participation in volunteer service programs.

were in the healthcare/nursing and financial services industries for Fairfield’s 2021 graduates.

Other popular industries where graduates found jobs include communication, marketing, science, and consumer products.

Over thirty percent of the Class of 2021 gained admission into graduate school, with just over half of those pursuing graduate F degrees in business. l

Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership Program Welcomes First Cohort Last semester the School of Education and Human Development welcomed its first cohort of students to the new Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership (EdD) Program. The program is designed for individuals who have already taken or seek to take on expanded roles and responsibilities in their grade-level teams, departments, schools, or districts. The three-year, hybrid, low residency program develops teacher leaders who

are advocates for social justice and who take actions as leaders with and for students, families, communities, and organizations for transformative change.

Program director Stephanie Storms, EdD, associate dean and associate professor of multicultural education welcomed the program’s first cohort of students to campus for a special dinner and opportunity to meet each other face-to-face. Program faculty and senior leadership F were also in attendance. l

JOANNE P. WILLIAMS, JD, NAMED NEW SENIOR VP FOR FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION Following a nationwide search that yielded a large, diverse, and talented pool of applicants, President Mark R. Nemec, PhD, recently announced that JoAnne P. Williams, JD, has been named as Fairfield University’s senior vice president for finance and administration. Williams started with the University leadership team on February 14, and in her new role, holds executive responsibility for planning, development, and management of the University’s financial, physical, and technological resources, and auxiliary services.

A native of Costa Rica, Williams’ personal and professional experiences have

JoAnne P. Williams, JD provided her opportunities to live and work in countries around the world — most notably in Central America and Europe — as well as here F in the United States. l

THEATRE FAIRFIELD HONORED IN BROADWAYWORLD’S 2021 REGIONAL CT AWARDS

Theatre Fairfield’s Woman and Scarecrow by Marina Carr, which was performed live and presented virtually last January, recently won Best Streaming Play (Non-Professional) in BroadwayWorld’s 2021 Connecticut Awards.

Woman and Scarecrow was Theatre Fairfield’s annual Independent Project, which is sponsored by the Jamie Hulley Arts Foundation (JHAF).

ANNOUNCING 2022 FAIRFIELD AWARDS DINNER HONOREES The Fairfield Awards Dinner will celebrate six members of the University community who exemplify the Jesuit tradition of professional excellence and service to the community. The annual dinner will be held on Wednesday, April 20, 2022, at 6 p.m. at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City.

Over the years, the Fairfield Awards Dinner has raised nearly $20 million in scholarship money for deserving students. “The dinner is also an opportunity for us to recognize some of the individuals who have made significant contributions to the vitality of the University community,” said Vice President for University Advancement Wally Halas.

The 2022 Awards Dinner honorees are: Michael Archbold ’82, Professional

Achievement Award; Maureen Errity Bujno ’90, Alumni Service Award; Rev. Gerry Blaszczak, S.J., Distinguished Faculty/Administrator Award; John and Lori Berisford P’21,’20, Parent Leadership Award; and George F. Keane ’51, posthumous special recognition.

Serving as this year’s co-chairs are Trish Comey Preston ’80 and Adrienne A. Johnson ’91. Johnson currently serves as the managing director and chief transformation officer of Equitable and is serving her second term as co-chair. Preston is senior vice president, business transformation, legal and franchise with MasterCard International. This will be Trish’s first year co-chairing F the Fairfield Awards Dinner. l

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Universit y NEWS Fairfield Dolan Dean’s Executive Forum Hosts JetBlue CFO Ursula Hurley ’04 The topic of the November Dean’s Executive Forum, “Leading and Managing in Uncertain Times,” was timely, given what the airline industry has endured during the Covid-19 pandemic. Fairfield Dolan hosted JetBlue’s CFO Ursula Hurley ’04, who spoke of the short- and longterm strategies she and her team put in place to keep the company afloat, and the lessons learned from the past year that was like none other.

As the company’s CFO, Hurley is responsible for JetBlue’s overall financial strategy, cash management, corporate finance, aircraft and engine transactions, strategic sourcing, and real estate.

Hurley, a management major

at Fairfield, started at JetBlue 17 years ago as an intern, a position she applied to on the Fairfield job board. “I liked the free flights so much that I asked if I could stay and work during my senior year,” she recalled. Eschewing her original plan to go into investment banking, she worked her way through the company, starting in accounting, financial planning and analysis, then treasury and procurement and strategic sourcing. Today, in addition to managing the company’s $13 billion balance sheet, she is president of the JetBlue Foundation, committed to supporting aviation-related education and STEM initiatives, and is a valued member of the F Fairfield Dolan Advisory Board. l

FAIRFIELD CO-SPONSORS COLLOQUIUM IN ROME Fairfield University and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome co-sponsored an international colloquium in November focused on the life and work of the University’s patron saint, Robert Bellarmine, S.J. Entitled “Rethinking Bellarmine Between Theology, Philosophy and History,” the three-day conference, held in Rome from Nov. 17 to 19, commemorated the 400th anniversary of the death of St. Bellarmine (1621-2021), a professor and rectorpresident of the Jesuit’s

Roman College — forerunner of the Gregorian — in the century after the death of St. Ignatius. Bellarmine was an Italian Jesuit and cardinal of the Catholic Church and a notable figure during the Counter-Reformation. He was canonized in 1930.

In his welcoming remarks to the assembly of scholars from around the globe, Fairfield University President Mark R. Nemec, PhD, shared his vision of a Jesuit and Catholic university, drawing on the F tradition of St. Bellarmine. l

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Women gardeners in the Kita region of the West African country Mali pose with their onion seed packets.

Anthropology Professor Cultivates Women’s Onion Collective in Mali Scott Lacy, PhD, associate professor of anthropology in the College of Arts and Sciences, and his non-profit organization African Sky, recently developed a program to increase household income and food security by facilitating an onion-grower cooperative with more than 200 women gardeners in the Kita region of the West African country Mali.

At the start of the Women’s Onion Collective in 2020, 232 Malian women were organized into groups of four, and each team received supplies, technical support, and a large box of onion seeds.

The women’s collective tended and harvested their gardens, producing onions for household consumption along with an abundant surplus for the regional market. This past summer, 239 members planted 24 kilos of onion seed, which translates to millions of individual seeds, and they are relishing another

Dr. Lacy has long focused on community food systems and household food security in Africa. bumper crop. Continuing its efforts, the Women’s Onion Collective has goals to expand over the next few years.

Dr. Lacy has long focused on community food systems and household food security in Africa, through cross-cultural fieldwork and collaborative plant breeding research. He has worked with many organizations and institutions across Mali, India, the Middle East, Cameroon, and the U.S., in addition to his academic F contributions to Fairfield. l

JOSEPH DIMENNA ’80 VISITS DIMENNA-NYSELIUS LIBRARY ON 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF REOPENING Joseph DiMenna ’80 came back to campus on Wednesday, December 1, 2021, to share his vast expertise on finance and investments with Charles F. Dolan School of Business students. During his visit, he toured campus and dropped by the DiMennaNyselius Library on the 20th anniversary of its reopening and renaming in honor of DiMenna’s generous support of the facility’s renovation and expansion.

“Mr. DiMenna met with student leaders, including members of Student Managed Investment Fund, and shared his recipe for success in the world of finance,” said Katsiaryna Bardos, PhD, chair and associate professor of finance at the Dolan School.

“He discussed that one has to like the learning aspect of investing and have passion for ideas and intellectual curiosity.

One has to recognize that investing is an art.” Students shared with Dr. Bardos that they found the meeting with DiMenna very inspiring and insightful. “It was gratifying to hear that Mr. DiMenna believes that a liberal arts education — like the one Fairfield University delivers — prepares better investors.”

DiMenna, who received a BS in finance from the Dolan School, is the managing director of Zweig-DiMenna Associates, a global investment management firm, where he has been a portfolio manager since he co-founded Zweig-DiMenna Partners with F Martin Zweig in 1984. l

2022 Bellarmine Lecture Explores Ignatian Spirituality of Pope Francis Rev. Thomas Massaro, S.J., explored the Jesuit sensibilities of Pope Francis and how they are shaping the papacy, in the 2022 Bellarmine Lecture he delivered on February 9 entitled, “Pope Francis, the Ethicist: Ignatian Roots, Jesuit Priorities, Contemporary Challenges.” The lecture was presented by the F Center for Catholic Studies. l

(l-r) Amelia Bowles ’24 and Caroline Wright ’24 helped set up a home for Afghan refugees resettling in Bridgeport.

FAIRFIELD STUDENTS RALLY TO SUPPORT AFGHAN REFUGEES As hundreds of refugees began arriving in Connecticut from Afghanistan in the wake of the country’s August 2021 Taliban takeover, Fairfield students involved in the Center for Social Impact’s Humanitarian Action Club sprang into action to assist local refugee resettlement agencies IRRC (Interfaith Refugee Resettlement Committee), CIRI (Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants) and IRIS (Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services).

Groups of student volunteers collaborated with the IRRC — a coalition

of Muslim communities, churches, and synagogues — to help set up two Bridgeport homes for 11 members of a large extended family of Afghan refugees.

The Humanitarian Action Club held its annual Fall Fest in November, and promoted humanitarian efforts on campus and in the community, and raised $800 in funds for CIRI, IRIS, and Girls Up — an organization that advocates for the education of girls around the world. The event was supported by the Fairfield University Student F Association (FUSA). l

Rev. Thomas Massaro, S.J. Fa i r f i e l d Un i v e r s i t y Mag a z i n e | sp rin g 2022 11

Engineering for Life Sriharsha Srinivas Sundarram, PhD, and his students are using 3D printing to grow tissue for bio-artificial organs.

by Sara Colabella ’08, MA’11

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E

very day in the United States, more than 15 people die waiting for the lifesaving gift of an organ transplant. The Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) reports that more than 100,000 adults and children are on the national organ transplant list, with nine people added to the number every day and only 37,584 transplants performed in 2020.

Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, hospitals have seen a tremendous decline in the number of organ donations and transplants, due to a lack of donors and other restraints. To address this ongoing issue, tissue scaffold research is paving the way to develop bio-artificial organs.

At the center of this groundbreaking research is Brinkman Family Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Sriharsha Srinivas Sundarram, PhD, and his team of engineering students. They are building three-dimensional tissue scaffolds in a lab, allowing living cells to grow and assist in the development of bio-artificial organs. This type of research has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives each year.

Typically made of bio-plastics on which cells can attach and grow, tissue scaffolds provide a pathway for cells, nutrients, and fluids, and serve as a building block in the development of bio-artificial organs.

In order for the living cells to grow like normal healthy cells, the surface of the scaffold must be porous or hollow.

“Think of a sponge, with all the channels throughout it,” Dr. Sundarram said. “Likewise, a tissue scaffold has to have channels. Because the three-dimensional printed scaffold is made of polymer, which is not a porous material, we must create the pores in order to increase surface area and roughness—allowing for better cell adhesion and growth during cell culture.”

A key innovation of the Fairfield study is its enhancement of the porous quality of the Left: Sriharsha Srinivas Sundarram, PhD, and his team of engineering students are building threedimensional tissue scaffolds to grow living cells and assist in the development of bio-artificial organs.

Hospitals have seen a tremendous decline in the number of organ donations and transplants, due to a lack of donors and other restraints. To address this ongoing issue, tissue scaffold research is paving the way to develop bioartificial organs.”

Above: Photos of a 3D-printed and microwavefoamed scaffold show the dual pore networks. material without using chemicals, thereby increasing the viability of the cells in the tissue scaffolds. Dr. Sundarram uses 3D printing to create the polymer structure, and then uses microwave energy to “foam” the material.

Carbon dioxide is added to the material and escapes under the heat of the microwaves, thus foaming the polymer.

Once the structure is formed, the scaffolds are seeded with cells and placed in bioreactor chambers that are fitted with sensors and fluidic networks that encourage cell growth.

Within 10 days, new cells should fill the entire scaffold.

“This method overcomes issues with earlier foaming techniques that required the use of harsh chemicals, lacked control over pore size and porosity, and were only able to foam thin films,” said Dr. Sundarram. “The combination of 3D printing and microwave foaming allows not only for greater control over the morphology of the scaffolds, but also the ability to foam the scaffolds in a repeatable and controllable manner.”

“Fabrication of a scalable, inexpensive system for the development of bio-artificial organs is a key outcome,” added the engineering professor. “The end result will hopefully be organ transplantation.”

In their study, Dr. Sundarram and his engineering student-researchers worked with biology students to grow tissue to conduct cell culture and drug sensitivity analysis using MCF7 breast cancer cells.

“The results showed that cell attachment and viability on the microwave-foamed scaffolds is higher compared to the traditionally foamed scaffolds,” explained Dr. Sundarram.

Dr. Sundarram’s student-researchers are Class of 2022 undergraduates from Fairfield’s mechanical and biomedical engineering programs: Nwachukwu Ibekwe, Stephanie Prado, Sean Feeney, and Clarissa Rotonto.

Ibekwe ’22, a mechanical engineering student from Nigeria, began working with Dr. Sundarram last year.

“I was looking for a research experience and this one piqued my interest because it was very intricate,” Ibekwe recalled. “I was also excited about using instruments like the scanning electron microscope, and about contributing to cancer research.”

In the School of Engineering labs, students design the scaffolds, test them, carry out procedures, and analyze cell growth and viability. They presented their research, “Micro-Bioreactor for Tissue Scaffolds,” at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition in November 2021.

Speaking of his research experience, Ibekwe described the value of learning how to work with materials and to see how different properties function at the nanoscale level — a scale that is 1000 times smaller than human hair.

“Learning how the properties of materials function at a nano level is very helpful,” said Ibekwe, who hopes to go into the aerospace industry someday. “This experience, my training, and the chance to learn how to use these machines will be very useful in my F future career.” l

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Fairfield Elevated to Doctoral Universities Category A Conversation With Provost Christine Siegel, PhD, on Fairfield’s New Carnegie Status

by Susan Cipollaro

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airfield Universit y

has moved into the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education’s Doctoral Universities category, as one of 73 new doctoral, professional institutions to be added. Fairfield was formerly classified among regional master’s institutions. The new classification was made official at the end of January 2022.

The Carnegie Classification is the most widely accepted classification system in higher education, and has been the leading framework for classifying all institutions of higher education in the United States for almost 50 years.

“We are excited that this distinction reflects the evolution and innovation of our academic programs, in particular the growth of our graduate and professional programs,” said Mark R. Nemec, PhD, Fairfield University President. “With this recategorization, we are on the road to becoming a University of national prominence and reputation.”

According to Carnegie’s Basic Classification description, the doctoral category includes institutions “that awarded at least 20 research/ scholarship doctoral degrees during the update year and also institutions with below 20 research/scholarship doctoral degrees that awarded at least 30 professional practice doctoral degrees in at least 2 programs.”

The new classification distinguishes Fairfield nationally, and recognizes the efforts of the University — under the leadership of President Nemec and Provost Christine Siegel, PhD — to offer doctoral programs that are preparing students at the highest level for service to others.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Fairfield University Magazine: In reference to the growth of the University, what doctoral programs has Fairfield added over the last few years that contributed to the change in the classification? What was the evolution?

Provost Siegel: Fairfield had always been in

the Carnegie grouping that was between a fouryear college and a doctoral university, because we had graduate programs in education, early on. Although we started as a college in the 1940s, we later grew out a business school and an engineering school. We’re a university, we’re comprehensive, and we offer master’s degrees. So that’s where we’ve sat since the Classification began in the ’70s, and as we

“As chief academic officer — personally and professionally — it’s more about really extending the good work that we do, as we educate and prepare people to go out and do good work themselves.”

Christine Siegel, Provost

grew out our professional schools and master’s degree programs through 2014.

As we looked at the graduate programs we offer — increasingly in the areas of practice such as nursing education — the higher-level degree became not just the master’s, but the practice doctorate. We have a doctorate of nursing practice. We have a doctorate of clinical nutrition.

We have a doctorate of education, which is called an EdD. These are doctoral degrees that are focused on practice out in the field and on professional training, not on research.

Around 2014 Carnegie began to recognize, within the classification of doctoral universities, this distinction between research universities and universities that offer doctoral-level professional degrees. As we build these programs out and add more doctoral programs, we now move into this new grouping: doctoral professional.

How are these programs reflective of Fairfield’s values as a Jesuit Catholic university?

We have added doctoral programs that are preparing people at the highest level for service to others. The very first one that we added was the DNP — Doctor of Nursing Practice — and within that we offer a couple of different tracks: for nurse midwives, nurse anesthetists, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners, and family nurse practitioners.

We are training nurses at the highest level to be in service to women — because midwifery is about women’s health — and in service to people who need to have serious medical procedures for which they need to be anaesthetized, and people with mental health concerns. As a Jesuit Catholic university, that’s where we went first in our doctoral

programs. To me, that’s aligned with being “men and women for others.”

Another doctoral program that just started this past September is the EdD, offered by the School of Education and Human Development. This program is really focused on school leadership, and right now the target audience is people working in the K-12 school system, who want to become leaders.

There’s a strong social justice orientation to this program; it recognizes that education is a work of social justice.

We are also anticipating, in the future, a new EdD track in higher education administration, recognizing that there is a need for really well-prepared leaders in higher education as much as at the K-12 level.

Also, our Dolan School is in conversation about a DBA — Doctor of Business Administration. We’ve done some initial exploratory studies for the DBA and would anticipate that, as with all of our Dolan programs, there would be a focus on social entrepreneurship and ethics in business.

How does this new classification impact college rankings?

To be clear, the Carnegie Classification is not a ranking, it’s just a descriptive category of what we offer as an institution.

Because our descriptor in Carnegie has changed, the group that we’re rated with by U.S. News and World Report also changes, and we move from those institutions that are ranked regionally to a set of institutions that are ranked nationally.

The related U.S. News and World Report change means that we can start to imagine ourselves — and start to position ourselves — as an institution of national stature, as opposed to just regional stature. We didn’t begin to do the things we are doing because we were trying to achieve these different descriptors or rankings, but these are measures of recognition of the work that we’re doing to expand our program offerings.

I think that we have to anticipate that our ranking is going to change because “regionally ranked institutions” is a smaller group to be ranked against. We’re going from regional to national; we’re not going to be number-one ranked.

It’s all part of national prominence. We’re excited about it and we’re proud. As chief academic officer — personally and professionally — it’s more about really extending the good work that we do, as we educate and prepare people to F go out and do good work themselves. l

Fa i r f i e l d Un i v e r s i t y Mag a z i n e | sp rin g 2022 15

THREE FAIRFIELD ALUMNAE ARE INFLUENCING A GENERATION OF DIGITAL CONSUMERS

Clockwise, from top: Kelly Larkin ’06 in Lincoln Park, Chicago; Nina Poosikian ’17, MA’19 at Edge in New York, New York; Lauren Romano ’14 at home in Connecticut.

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379k S

followers & counting

by Nicolette Massaro

ocial media was once a simple way of making connections with friends, but it has continued to evolve into a fully integrated component of our daily lives. Career recruitment, breaking news, and e-commerce sales all seem to have found a home on our phones.

And we consume digital material more enthusiastically than ever: On average, Americans spent more than 1,300 hours on social media in 2021. With that kind of attention, it is no wonder that commercial brands have found ways to meet their customers where they are, and are championing social media experts to drive sales and brand awareness.

This has created a new kind of entrepreneur: the social influencer. As masters of consumer behavior, influencers, bloggers, and content creators root

themselves in their passions and build online communities of users with like-interests. There’s an influencer for every industry. From $1.7 billion in 2016, influencer marketing growth is estimated to have reached $13.8 billion in 2021 and projected to reach $15 billion by the end of 2022.

Among Fairfield grads working in the space are Nina Poosikian ’17, MA’19 (@whatninaate), Kelly Larkin ’06 (@kellyinthecity), and Lauren Romano ’14 (@simplylaurenrose), who together boast a collective audience of 379,000 followers on Instagram alone.

Their content contains engagement and plugs for brands in a variety of different industries, from food and beverage to fashion and beauty, but with one thing in common — powerful consumer influence in a booming space.

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Clockwise, from upper left: Nina Poosikian ’17, MA’19 waterside in Hoboken, New Jersey; Nina’s Instagram campaign with Cheetos Mac ‘n Cheese on display; Nina’s scrumptious Instagram ad for Rave Apples with her apple crisp recipe inspired by her mom’s apple-pie filling.

about what felt true to herself: “I started to find my voice and really have a personality behind what I was posting, instead of the popular or trendy food posts I was doing before.” It was when she shifted her focus that brands like Cheetos began to reach out and connect organically for partnerships and sponsored campaign opportunities.

K

S

crolling through Nina Poosikian’s @whatninaate account on Instagram, you’ll find organic content ranging from favorite menu items from local restaurants, to personally curated recipes like her spicy vodka sauce. Between these organic day-to-day posts are sponsored content pieces paid for by third parties.

In February of 2020, Poosikian answered the call to take part in a product development campaign for one of her all-time favorite snack food brands. “I was able to work with the Cheetos and Frito Lay team and five other influencers to develop the packaging, naming, and overall look of the new Cheetos Mac ‘N

Cheese,” she said. “I received packages of possible flavor mixtures and helped develop the final product that is currently on store shelves.”

In an Instagram post from August 2020, Poosikian gushed, “They come in three different varieties — Bold & Cheesy, Flamin’ Hot, and Cheesy Jalapeno… I’ve been a diehard Cheetos fan all my life, they’re truly my favorite chip, and to be part of the process for this new line of products was such an amazing process to be a part of!”

But the Cheetos campaign wasn’t her first taste of success. As a student at Fairfield, Nina founded Spoon Fairfield, a subset of Spoon University — a nationwide collegiate-food blog that combines the talents of journalists, marketers, and event planners. Searchable as @spoonfairfield on Instagram, the account continues to document tasty meals cooked up both on Fairfield’s campus and downtown for an audience of nearly 9,000 followers today.

Poosikian recalled truly finding her voice about a year into running @whatninaate, veering away from what she thought her followers wanted to see and posting more

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elly Larkin has been working with iconic brands like J.Crew, Vineyard Vines, and Barbour for many years, and while you’ll see her stylized product selections on her Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest accounts, they also permanently reside on her blog: kellyinthecity.com.

“Instead of thinking about social media as my business I think of it as a tool that helps me run my business,” she said. She noted her favorite brand partnerships to be those that bring her husband and kids into the mix — venturing around Chicago (and around the country and world) to capture that special shot to act as a marketing piece. “I take photos as I normally would as a mother and photographer; I feel lucky that my job allows me to spend so much time with my family.”

Larkin’s approach has shifted over time, calling for a greater degree of focus. When she started in the early 2010s, she said, “there wasn’t any pressure! I posted whatever I wanted — whether it was a city scene or the shoes on my feet — in the moment, and interacted with the community a couple times per day. Over time, though, there was a shift away from the instant and toward more curated, perfect content.”

“Interestingly enough,” she continued, “we’re beginning to see another shift, this time away from perfection and back toward the instant. People want content that’s real.”

At right, from top: Kelly Larkin ’06 sporting a look

by J.Crew, J.Crew Factory, and Madewell; Kelly with her husband, Mitch, and their two daughters, Lucy and Emma, in Ocean City, New Jersey.

F

or Lauren Romano too, staying true to her own tastes and values has been the key to success.

“I know my audience trusts me to share things I truly love; they know I wouldn’t steer them wrong with any of my recommendations,” she said.

“Whether we have a large following or a smaller following, that relationship with our audience is what’s key.”

Her blog simplylaurenrose.com is a hub for all-things in the fashion and beauty space.

Her content is widely relatable and helps readers navigate the ins and outs of their

day-to-day lives. Some of her recent posts include “Affordable Workwear Haul,” “New Skincare Finds,” and “Must Have Back to School Tool.”

By day, Lauren is a Kindergarten teacher, and her range of content online and on social act as a guide for followers navigating dualpassion careers and side hustles.

A common thread in both of her jobs is kindness — practicing and encouraging kindness in her classroom and fostering it in the way she builds her online community; a commitment to good-will acts as another example of how Fairfield’s Jesuit-inspired education has prepared graduates to pay it forward.

“I have always worn LOFT,” she said, speaking of the fashion retailer that she champions on Instagram “and it was such a ‘pinch me’ moment when I found out they wanted to work with me.”

LOFT gives back to different organizations like St. Jude’s, Donor’s Choose, and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, giving greater purpose to Romano’s work as an influencer.

Consumerism can feel overwhelming, but influencers make purchasing decisions simple. Their job goes far beyond posting a pretty product image with “#ad” in the caption below. They go into great detail, from the product’s composition and how it should be used, to what makes it stand out against competitors; they weigh the pros and cons from product packaging all the way to product value; and even go as far as answering questions personally to further ease their fans’ inquiring minds — all to make a lasting impact and urge followers to become long-term brand F loyalists instead of one-off purchasers. l

Above, from top: Lauren Romano ’14 sharing one of her Valentine’s Day-inspired looks with items from LOFT; Lauren in a cozy ‘Be a Nice Human’ sweatshirt.

Fairfield grads are making an impact in this growing industry. For a glimpse of Larkin’s posts, go to @kellyinthecity; for Poosikian’s posts, visit @whatninaate, and look for Romano’s posts at @simplylaurenrose on Instagram.

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The

Acropolis Reborn

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Art History’s Dr. Katherine Schwab is working with a team to create a virtual Parthenon.

O

by Alan Bisbort

ne of the most significant historical treasures in the world, the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, stands on a flattish rock that rises above the city. It is dominated by its most storied structure, the Parthenon, on which construction began in 447 B.C. Over time, many scholars have contributed to our understanding of the Acropolis, which represents a critical milestone in the cultural history of the Western world.

One scholar making a significant contribution to this ongoing study is Katherine Schwab, PhD, professor of art history in Fairfield’s Department of Visual and Performing Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences.

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“I look at the metopes at various times of the day and in different light, draw them, photograph them. It is endlessly rewarding if one is patient. I make graphite drawings of the metopes, documenting everything.

I began doing this as a means to understand what was there.”

— Katherine Schwab, PhD, Art History Professor

Currently, Dr. Schwab is a major contributor to a project called “Athens Reborn: Acropolis,” a virtual reality tour that, when launched in April 2022, will bring one of the greatest ancient cultural heritage sites in the world back to its prime.

“Athens Reborn: Acropolis” is the brainchild of Indiana-based Flyover Zone, a world leader in virtual tourism that was founded in 2016

by Bernard Frischer, whose company has successfully produced the virtual tours “Rome Reborn” and “Egypt Reborn,” among others.

Frischer enlisted Dr. Schwab’s expertise to help with “recreating” the Acropolis as an interactive and immersive experience, presenting the site as it was at its peak, in the fifth century B.C. Among the structures to be “reborn” are the Propylaea (gateway to the Acropolis); the Erechtheion, a temple honoring Athenian king Erechtheus and the deities Poseidon and Athena; the Temple of Athena Nike; and the Parthenon, dedicated to the goddess Athena.

It is with the Parthenon, in particular, that Dr. Frischer sought Dr. Schwab’s help. The Fairfield professor is a leading expert on the Parthenon’s metopes (pronounce ‘mehtuh-pees’), 92 once-painted Pentelic marble blocks that formerly rimmed the temple’s peristyle above its columns. Each metope is 4.5 feet square and is usually comprised of at least two deeply sculpted images against a background. A big challenge for Dr. Schwab and the Flyover team was to recreate the original colors for the figures, their clothing, the horses, and the metallic additions, whether harnessing or weaponry.

“I discussed these pigments with a chemical engineer who works on the Acropolis,” said Dr. Schwab. “People forget that these

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previous page :

View of the Parthenon from the southwest, Athenian Acropolis. above : View of the Caryatid Porch, Erechtheion, Original Caryatids are on view in the Acropolis Museum and the British Museum. These cement copies by late sculptor Stelios Triantis were installed during the 1970s.

buildings on the Acropolis were painted and very colorful in their time. They weren’t just the color of the marble.”

An even greater challenge for Dr. Schwab is that many of the original 92 metopes are missing. Some were intentionally damaged in the sixth century A.D. when the building was converted to a Christian temple and antipagan zealots mutilated them with hammers.

“We can’t forget that, for a thousand years, the Parthenon was a temple dedicated to Athena,” said Dr. Schwab. “These were Olympian gods and, thus, pagan symbols.

One Byzantine scholar told me that the level of violence that was used to desecrate these metopes was an indication of the dire threat the images presented.”

Some of the other metopes were seriously damaged or destroyed by an explosion in 1687, when Venetian forces fired on the Parthenon, hitting a powder magazine housed there.

Fifteen of the best preserved metopes, part of the “Acropolis Marbles” were removed and eventually sold to London’s British Museum

by Thomas Bruce, 7th Lord Elgin, in 1816.

Another metope was removed to the Louvre in Paris. In all, approximately 60 metopes survive today, whole or in part.

“Only a few west metopes remain today on the building itself,” said Dr. Schwab. “We don’t

know why they weren’t damaged. Possibly it was because they depicted good versus evil and the early Christians who converted the Parthenon into a church left them alone.”

Every year, Dr. Schwab spends three to four weeks on the Acropolis. “I look at the metopes at various times of the day and in different light, draw them, photograph them,” she said.

“It is endlessly rewarding if one is patient. I make graphite drawings of the metopes, documenting everything. I began doing this as a means to understand what was there.”

After completing a set of drawings, Dr. Schwab works with Flyover Zone Art Director Mohamed Abdelaziz, who is in Egypt, for the 3D restoration. Meeting regularly on Zoom, they examine Dr. Schwab’s reconstruction drawings. Abdelaziz incorporates the changes into a set of plaster casts of the Parthenon metopes. After his initial “Sketchfab image” is created, Dr. Schwab offers edits, suggestions, or changes as needed.

Dr. Schwab’s familiarity with the extant metopes and her efforts to reimagine what those missing must have looked like are renowned. Her drawings, based on years of study of the existing metopes, have been exhibited at the Greek Consulate General in New York, the Greek Embassy in Washington, D.C., the University of Georgia, Creighton University, Willamette University, the Timken Museum of Art, Franklin & Marshall College, and the Parthenon in Nashville. Grayscale scans of Dr. Schwab’s drawings are on permanent display in the Acropolis Museum in Athens.

She is currently working on a script for a virtual “walking tour” of the metopes for Flyover Zone. “The goal is for my narration to make comments for each preserved metope, minimally explaining the action and, if we know, who is featured in the composition,” she said. “My narration will discuss interpretations for some of the metopes where we have numerous proposals but lack complete consensus.”

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he thread that ties Schwab to the distant Greek past began in childhood. “I was an avid reader in elementary school and got interested in Greek mythology, along with Egyptian mummies, but I gravitated to ancient Greece and Rome,” she said.

Schwab majored in ancient Greek civilization at Scripps College in Claremont,

California. “I spent my entire junior year studying in Athens, including on-site classes on the Acropolis,” she recalled. “It was a lifechanging experience.”

She received her master’s degree from Southern Methodist University and her PhD from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.

Dr. Schwab is curator of Fairfield University’s Plaster Cast Collection, which began in 1991 with a long-term renewable loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and has grown to more than 100 objects.

These facsimile casts of historic artifacts have been augmented with gifts from the Acropolis Museum in Athens, Yale University Art Gallery, Slater Museum, and individual collectors.

Further ties between ancient Greece and Fairfield were made in 2009 when Dr. Schwab organized the Caryatid Hairstyling Project, inspired by the coifs of female sculptures found on the Acropolis — specifically, the six marble Caryatids or maidens (korai) which stand in place of columns on the South Porch of the Erechtheion. In ancient Athens, hairstyles worn by women at public gatherings denoted their social rank and affluence. The project was an attempt to determine whether the sculptors invented an artistic convention or used real hairstyles of the day for these marble Caryatids.

Six Fairfield students volunteered for the project, allowing professional hairstylists to shape their hair to emulate the statues, with the result that the sculptors’ work was proven to have been modeled on real Athenian women of their day. Later, in 2015, Dr. Schwab also cocurated an exhibition, Hair in the Classical World, at the Fairfield University Art Museum.

The hairstyling project and exhibition are not unlike what Dr. Schwab and Flyover Zone are now, on a much larger scale, attempting to do with “Athens Reborn: Acropolis,” using present-day scholarship to revisit and reF create the ancient past. l For more information on “Athens Reborn: Acropolis,” go to flyoverzone.com above , from top:

Parthenon East Metope 14: Helios ascending above Okeanos.

Graphite drawing of proposed reconstruction by K.A. Schwab; 3D modeling by Mohamed Abdelaziz.

Parthenon East Metope 7: Hera driving a chariot. Graphite drawing of proposed Reconstruction by K.A. Schwab; 3D modeling by Mohamed Abdelaziz.

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DESTINATION

BACKCOUNTRY

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ADVENTURE GUIDE DAVID DICERBO ’97 BELIEVES IN THE RESTORATIVE POWER OF THE WILDERNESS.

by Tess (Brown) Long ’07, MFA’11

David DiCerbo ’97, a licensed wilderness guide, led a small group on a hiking and canoeing trip deep into an old growth forest in the Adirondacks. The night sky was so heavy with stars that it looked “like you could reach out and touch them.”

The whole group was struck “by how pristine the wilderness was,” he recalled. All except one woman, Janice, who just wasn’t quite feeling the spirituality of it all.

So, DiCerbo led the group out into the middle of a lake in their canoes to stargaze. He pointed out the Milky Way, a hovering, cloudy orb above them.

That seemed to change things for Janice, Dicerbo said. Lying on her back in her canoe, Janice went quiet, then wept at the beauty.

For DiCerbo, life is all about finding that moment of illumination that the wilderness can give us, and sharing it with others. Nature, he said, has “a way of centering things.” left:

A canoeist heads out to stargaze in the Adirondacks.

above: David DiCerbo ’97 holds a splake trout during an Adirondacks wilderness adventure.

DiCerbo founded Destination Backcountry Adventures (DBA) a decade ago on the “conviction that everyone should be able to experience the restorative power of authentic wilderness.”

His firm is now the largest guided adventure company in New York state. DBA was featured on The Today Show — DiCerbo took Megyn Kelly and her family on an overnight campout in New York’s Harriman State Park — and has also been written up in The Wall Street Journal and Men’s Health, among other outlets.

His company offers guided adventures: hiking, backpacking, canoeing and kayaking, and yoga trips, as well as classes that teach map, compass, and survival skills.

He also leads corporate training, marathon and Spartan race training, and more.

DiCerbo co-owns and runs the company with his wife and business partner Jessica Tackett. Last June, the couple welcomed their first child, daughter Camila, who hit the trails with her parents when she was just a month old. The couple manages a team of licensed guides

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and offers about 50 different adventures in New York’s Hudson Valley, Catskills, and Adirondacks, as well as out-of-state in Utah.

“Perspective is very easy to get in touch with, in the outdoors, because it exists all around you,” DiCerbo told Fairfield University Magazine on a recent Zoom call. “It’s so amazing to see how something can open someone’s mind and completely change their perspective on everything. It’s a really rewarding job.”

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ut it’s been a long journey and the road to entrepreneurship wasn’t always easy or clear. There have been “bumps in the road,” and both figurative and literal storms.

Once, out on the trail, he heard a scream, and then a commotion. A seasoned adventurer, DiCerbo put his “cold steel face on” because he knew he would have to deal with some blood.

One of DiCerbo’s fellow guides was holding his own head in his hands, blood “pumping from between them.” Was it just a nasty scrape, bleeding pretty badly? Or was this man’s skull fractured? DiCerbo calmly weighed the situation. At the time, they were four miles from the nearest road, and 40 road miles from the nearest highway. They were out there. Way out there. There was no way DiCerbo could treat him.

Luckily, DiCerbo — like the other guides that he trains and leads — has wilderness firstaid training and knew how to stabilize and evaluate the injury. He calmed things down and cleaned the laceration enough to be able to part the “jagged, horrible-looking five-inch split” with his thumbs.

There was good news and bad news.

DiCerbo had to tell his guide-in-training that he’d have to be evacuated. The good news?

“I told him, ‘your skull doesn’t appear to be fractured, so we don’t have to worry about

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far left: A Catskills winter expedition on Panther Mountain with (l-r): Brad Winer, Angie Alexander, and DBA co-owners, Tackett and DiCerbo. left: Participants in a corporate hiking trip at Minnewaska State Park in Ulster County, N.Y.

your brains falling out,’” DiCerbo said, seeking, at the time, to balance things with levity. They both had laughed, the wound was treated safely, all ended well. They lived to tell the story and are stronger for it.

B

orn in Danbury, Conn., and raised in an Irish-Italian American Catholic family who “always extolled the virtues of Jesuit education,” DiCerbo’s college search was almost exclusively for Jesuit schools.

When he set foot on campus he was “blown away” by the University. DiCerbo graduated with majors in history and politics from Fairfield, and a minor in Russian, Eastern European, and Central Asian Studies.

“I wouldn’t have changed my academic experience at Fairfield for anything in the world,” said DiCerbo, who also played rugby.

“We were taught to think, as opposed to being taught what to think,” DiCerbo continued. “I really feel that my time at

DiCerbo and Tackett enjoy a family hike with daughter Camila.

Fa i r f i e l d Un i v e r s i t y Mag a z i n e | sp rin g 2022 27

Fairfield prepared me very well for all my careers, culminating in this one.”

After graduation from Fairfield in the late nineties, he hit the nine-to-five grind, commuting and staring down traffic every day. Then he moved south, to the Florida Keys, went into education, and that’s “where the adventure bug really bit.” He lived near the water and was able to regularly fish and kayak.

He then found his way into educational publishing where he moved up the ladder at Houghton Mifflin (HM). DiCerbo was achieving all the traditional markers of success: promotion, financial stability, and respect. But it all felt “hollow” to him, so in 2008 when HM changed hands, he took a severance and shifted his path to find new meaning in his work.

“I think that’s very Jesuit,” DiCerbo said excitedly, raking his fingers through his hair, “that your work should have a higher meaning. That you should have a higher purpose than your own gratification.”

For about five-and-a-half months after that, he did nothing but hike in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Oregon. He realized that his time in the woods kept him centered.

“It kept me sane. It made me feel like a complete human being. And I thought, there must be hundreds of thousands of people in

above : DiCerbo and a backpacking group at the summit of Slide Mountain, the tallest in the Catskills. right:

DiCerbo and Tackett canoe with a client in the Adirondack wilderness; (lower) Jessica Tackett mediates at Zion National Park, Utah.

the greater New York City area who could also benefit.”

So, in 2011, DiCerbo — then based in Brooklyn, N.Y. — built DBA from the ground up. He went through the New York State licensing and certification process to officially become a guide and started his company based on a simple philosophy: time outdoors makes for better people, better people make for a better society.

“What we’re doing is trying to improve our society as a whole,” DiCerbo said. “For guides who can get along with that, it resonates very deeply.”

Within the first year, DiCerbo realized that DBA was having a “pretty outsized impact.”

He saw people who had never left their neighborhoods in Brooklyn climb mountains for the first time, and he taught a gaggle of city kids how to safely climb boulders. Mostly, it was the looks on their faces that convinced DiCerbo he could make an impact “on a real level.”

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As a result, another focus for DBA in the last few years has been on representation and access. “The number of times someone has said to me, ‘Oh my God, this is so beautiful out here. I thought the outdoors was really just for rich people,’” DiCerbo said with a laugh.

“It’s really quite the opposite,” he affirmed.

“In fact, New York State has two million acres of forest preserve that is free to access.”

In addition, DBA has partnered with Outdoor Afro and Latino Outdoors — both national non-profits aimed at increasing Black and Latinx representation respectively in conservation, outdoor recreation, and environmental education spaces — to assist in the effort to diversify the outdoor leadership

community as a whole.

In 2015, DBA started offering school and corporate adventures — everyone from Wall Street bankers, to programmers at LinkedIn, to eight-year-old rock climbers have been on treks with them — and those outings have grown in popularity during the pandemic.

“At the end of the day, I know I’ve emptied my tank and it was all for a really good cause,” DiCerbo said. “That’s my goal. I want to know that all that energy went toward something that is going to leave this place better than we found it. I feel incredibly blessed and fortunate to be in a position where we can F do this.” l Learn more at destinationbackcountryadventures.com

“PERSPECTIVE IS VERY EASY TO GET IN TOUCH WITH, IN THE OUTDOORS, BECAUSE IT EXISTS ALL AROUND YOU. IT’S SO AMAZING TO SEE HOW SOMETHING CAN OPEN SOMEONE’S MIND AND COMPLETELY CHANGE THEIR PERSPECTIVE ON EVERYTHING.” — David DiCerbo ’97

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Grants&Gifts

A Selection of Grants and Gifts Received from Private and Public Foundations, and Corporations

The Arts at Fairfield The Bank of America Charitable Foundation renewed its generous support of the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts with a gift towards the Quick’s Open VISIONS Forum speaker series. This gift will enable the Quick to present the third annual season of the Women and Leadership Series presented

by Bank of America, featuring prominent female speakers and discussion topics that align with the company’s mission to invest in women’s economic empowerment and leadership. The 2022 Women and Leadership Series will begin by featuring Isabel Wilkerson, an American journalist, on April 28.

College of Arts & Sciences Fairfield University was one of seven universities in the country to receive a prestigious $18,500 grant from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, as part of the Jean Dreyfus Lectureship. The grant, received by associate professor of chemistry Jillian Smith-Carpenter, PhD, and Amanda Harper-Leatherman, PhD, professor of chemistry, will support their mentorship of two undergraduate students conducting summer research in chemistry. Funding will also be used to bring leading researcher Renã A. S. Robinson, PhD, of Vanderbilt University to campus to share her expertise on aging and neurodegenerative diseases as they relate to racial health disparities.

The F.M. Kirby Foundation has renewed its support of the Adrienne Kirby Family Literacy Project with a generous $15,000 grant.

The project, directed by professor of psychology Judy Primavera, PhD, and implemented in partnership with Hall Neighborhood House in Bridgeport, enables Fairfield University

students to put their classroom learning into action as they support literacy development and early childhood education for the benefit of Bridgeport’s children and their families.

United Illuminating, an Avangrid company, has awarded $15,000 towards B.A.S.E. (Broadening Access to Science Education) Camp, an innovative summer camp experience designed to excite and engage high school students with research and exploration of careers in STEM. Created in 2007 by Shelley Phelan, PhD, chair and professor of biology, the program is available to students from underrepresented groups in STEM fields who are completing their sophomore or junior year of high school.

The majority of participants are female, a recruitment strategy that seeks to address the disproportionate under-representation of women in the sciences.

Marion Peckham Egan School of Nursing & Health Studies The Blue Bell Foundation awarded a generous $50,000 to the Kanarek Center for Palliative Care Nursing Education in honor of Donna Coletti, MD, founding medical director for Palliative Care Services at Greenwich Hospital and scholar-in-residence at Fairfield University, for her exceptional work in the field of palliative care.

The Renaissance Charitable Foundation gave $5,000 to support nursing education and our mission to train the next generation of caring healthcare providers through an educational experience rich in the Jesuit tradition of academic rigor and reflective practice.

A $2,000 grant from the CVS Health

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Foundation will provide scholarship

support for exceptional nursing students who are training to become family nurse practitioners. Recipients of this award are bilingual, demonstrate outstanding academic promise, and have aspirations to take nursing positions that support medically underserved populations following graduation.

Charles F. Dolan School of Business Phoenix Tower International has made a commitment that will strengthen the School’s entrepreneurial initiatives and nurture Fairfield students’ innovative talents.

Symmetry Partners has renewed its support of the Charles F. Dolan School of Business’s Finance program with a $10,000 grant.

School of Engineering Accurate Lock and Hardware renewed

its support of the School of Engineering with a gift toward the School’s scholar cohort program, which offers undergraduate students tangible professional relationships outside of the University that foster and shape their learning beyond classroom walls.

Servo Robot renewed its longstanding support with a $30,000 gift toward a new engineer-in-residence initiative in the School’s Innovation Lab. Fairfield University’s School of Engineering has been awarded a $20,000 grant from the Constellation E2 Energy to Educate grant program. The grant will support

SuSTEMability, an initiative designed and implemented by professors Elif Kongar, PhD, Uma Balaji, PhD, and John Drazan, PhD. This innovative program will engage engineering students and faculty with sixth- through

Fairfield University was one of seven universities in the country to receive a prestigious $18,500 grant from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, as part of the Jean Dreyfus Lectureship. eighth-graders at the Cesar Batalla School and the Wakeman Boys and Girls Club in Bridgeport, to teach them about sustainable energy using hands-on tools.

PursueCare gave $5,000 in support of the School’s first-ever StagHack event, which took place on October 24, 2021. The inaugural theme was “A Positive Disruption for the Common Good.” Teams of high-school-aged aspiring engineers collaborated with faculty and undergraduate student mentors to solve real issues in the biomedical and healthcare industry.

Four School of Engineering professors received funds from the University of Bridgeport Innovation Grant, for independent research projects. Three grants in the amount of $5,000 were given to: Susan Freudzon, PhD, assistant professor of electrical and bioengineering, for her project focused on training for robotic surgery; Doug Lyon, PhD, PE, professor of electrical and bioengineering, for his LiDAR Robotic Car project; and lecturer Andy Judge, PhD, for his work in creating a “Standalone Reticle Inspector.” A final grant was given to Mehdi Safari, PhD, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, for his work in designing and producing an inexpensive, portable, and simplistic solar desalinator that can function with minimal maintenance.

The NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium, via the University of Hartford, has granted funds to two School of Engineering undergraduates, Shaun Ormiston’22 and John Fee’22, for their respective research projects. Ormiston’s grant will enable him to work alongside Dr. Safari on the solar desalinator project and Fee’s will support his project, “Wireless Communication System Implementation with FPGA,” with Uma Balaji, PhD, chair and associate professor of Biomedical Engineering.

RBC Bearing granted $2,500 to support student research associated with a senior design project in the School of Engineering.

Undergraduate student Sara O’Neill ’23 works in a biochemistry lab. Fairfield’s Chemistry and Biochemistry Department was awarded $18,500 from the Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation, a prominent organization dedicated to the advancement of the chemical sciences.

The Bennett Center for Judaic Studies The Frank Jacoby-Lunin Foundation, maintained by Debby and David Zieff, gave $22,000 to support the 24th Jacoby-Lunin Humanitarian Lecture featuring LaTosha Brown, co-founder and executive director of Black Voters Matter, social activist, political strategist, and jazz singer. The free webinar “Black Voters Matter: Our Obligation to Democracy and Equality,” took place on November 9 and was a resounding success with more than 400 attendees.

General University Support & Scholarships The William T. Morris Foundation renewed its support with a $20,000 grant toward the Arthur C. Laske Jr. ’51 Memorial

Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded to a student from Connecticut with financial need, and a strong commitment to community service and those less fortunate.

The University received a grant in the amount of $10,900 from the William and Philip Carlson Fund to support arts programming and scholarships at Fairfield.

The Morrison Family Foundation made a $10,000 gift in support of the Fairfield Fund, which helps support financial aid, academics, career services, strategic initiatives, and other University priorities.

The McMahon Family Charitable Foundation made a $5,000 gift in support of the Fairfield Fund, which helps support financial aid, academics, career services, strategic initiatives, and other University priorities.

The Lavelle Fund for the Blind has renewed its support of the Brother Kearney Scholarship Program with a $3,475 grant.

Gifts from the Lavelle Fund for the Blind provide financial aid to undergraduate and graduate students who are legally blind and F demonstrate financial need. l

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Alumni NOTES 1960

S H A R E YO U R N E W S

’68 | Dr. Arnold Lettieri served as the delegate from Fairfield University for the Inauguration of Dr. Jonathan Scott Holloway as the 21st president of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, on Nov. 5, 2021.

1970

’71 | John Skoyles’ book of poetry, Yes & No, was published in late November 2021 by Carnegie Mellon University Press. His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and The Paris Review. ’72 | Rev. Christopher J. Samele MA’74, has retired from active ministry and is now residing at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Fairfield, Conn. He will be assisting there and at neighboring parishes when needed. ’75 | Andrew (“Dewey”) Egan recently published his second book, Haywire (University of Massachusetts Press), about the unraveling of Maine’s forest products industry. ’77 | Ann (Pantazis) Fidrych and the Mark Fidrych Foundation were recently honored as Hometown Heroes by the WooSox, the Boston Red Sox AAA affiliate. The Mark Fidrych Foundation, her late husband’s legacy, raises funds to support area sports programs that help to enhance the lives of individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities such as Challenger Division Baseball. The Foundation’s motto is “Making a Difference Locally.”

StagMates Tara Brennan ’12 and Francis Porcelli ’14 tied the knot on Sept. 11, 2021.

Pictured here with their proud parents: (l) Loretta and James Brennan ’66, P’12, and (r) Madeleine and Francis Porcelli, P’14.

Share your news! Simply log on to the FREE Alumni Online Community and post your Class Note. Not a member? Registration is easy at fairfield.edu/alumnicommunity. Sign up and log on today.

’78 | Maureen Griffin-Damone and her husband Curtis Damone have produced a TV show entitled It’s Never Too Late, which has just been picked up by Cablevision/Optimum/Altice. It premiered Oct. 5, 2021 on Cablevision.

Follow them every Tuesday night as they ride their motorcycles around the beautiful USA. ’79 | Luc R. Pelletier MSN, APRN, PMHCNS-BC, FAAN, a clinical nurse specialist, published peer-reviewed articles in the Journal of Nursing Administration and American Nurse Journal, and a chapter in the textbook Leadership and Nursing Care Management (Seventh Ed.).

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1990

’92 | Paul Berthiaume received a promotion to vice president at Matter Communications, the largest PR firm in Massachusetts, with satellite offices across the country. He is now responsible for leading the firm’s national Matter Health practice, made up of eight directors and 50 people, while also serving as the overall executive lead for the Boston office as well as a forthcoming Dallas office. ’94 | Mark Resnick has written his first book, Ten Days with Dad: Finding Purpose, Passing & Peace During the Darkest Days of Alzheimer’s and a Global Pandemic. Available March 13 on Amazon. To learn more about the book, visit markjresnick.com.

’97 | Ronald Jelinek, PhD, has published his first book of fiction entitled, Disruption: A Salesforce Braves the Storm (Wessex Press, 2022). The book profiles the experiences of a businessto-business sales rep and her sales manager as the two help their sales organization navigate the professional challenges leading up to and during the pandemic. The narrative is aimed at getting sales students and newly onboarded sales professionals to think about common sales concerns including sales process, relationship building, negotiating and closing deals in a complex, changing business environment. Dr. Jelinek is a professor of marketing at Providence College where he oversees the department’s business-to-business sales program. ’98 | Tiffany (Reda) Hourihan was promoted to global co-chief operating officer of Facultative Reinsurance at Aon, the world’s leading facultative intermediary, which provides clients with transactional services and risk advice in the facultative sector. ’99 | Nichole Mancone Fisher has recently accepted the position of university registrar at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Tex. She was previously the registrar at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Kelly Fagan Robinson has been named a research fellow of Clare Hall, University of Cambridge.

2000 ’04 | Ted Stevens was elected to a two-year term on the Hamden (Connecticut) Legislative Council. ’06 | Victoria Sylos-Labini, PsyD, president of the DC Psychological Association, was

Orland Bergère ’51 Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of Fairfield’s First Graduates

O

by Jeannine (Carolan) Graf ’87 rl and Bergère ’51 was one of 214 undergraduates to receive a diploma at Fairfield University’s first Commencement exercises on June 12, 1951.

Seven decades later, he made the familiar journey from his current home in Doylestown, Pennsylvania back to his original hometown of Fairfield, to represent the Class of ’51 at the 2021 Golden Stags reunion this past November.

He hasn’t missed a Golden Stags reunion in 20 years. “I wasn’t the only one [from my class] at the last reunion five years ago,” said 92-yearold Orland, “but I’m the only one now!”

Accompanied by his wife Nancy and son Timothy, Orland cheerfully reminisced over lunch at Alumni House — about his Connecticut upbringing, his classmates and professors, and the many blessings that sprang from his Fairfield days.

In the 1940s, Orland’s father had a business in Bridgeport’s garment industry and the family lived in the Greenfield Hill section of Fairfield. As a teen, Orland walked three miles each way to attend Fairfield College Preparatory School. He graduated from Prep in the spring of 1947 and joined the first cohort of University students on campus that fall.

“Fr. [ John] Donnelly taught ethics, Fr. [Gerard] Landrey taught chemistry, Fr. [Laurence] Langguth taught physics.” As if classes had ended just yesterday, Orland rattled off the names of his favorite Jesuit professors from 70 years ago. “Fr. [Arthur] MacGillivray taught the classics, and he wore a cape. When he recited Hamlet, he would jump up on the desk!”

With a major in math and minor in physics, Orland was recruited upon graduation to work for Remington Rand, a burgeoning computer company with offices in Rowayton and New York City. Remington’s first Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC 1) had just launched, and the company was in

great need of mathematicians.

The size of a single-car garage, UNIVAC 1 used magnetic computer tape (and later, punch cards) to input data that was then tabulated using vacuum tubes and state-of-the-art circuits before being either printed out or stored on tape.

“I knew circuits and I knew logic, so math and physics (l-r) President Mark R. Nemec, PhD, and Orland Bergère ’51 at the equipped me well for the work,” 2021 Golden Stags reunion this past November. said Orland, who credits his grandchildren, Nancy and Orland recently Fairfield liberal arts education with better celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary. preparing him for his engineering career than Orland wasn’t the only Stag from that era any narrowly focused program could have. to wed a college pal’s sister. Another friend, Of the engineers he worked alongside, he Robert Hayden ’52, married Orland’s sister, said, “Nobody else was as well-rounded as I Beverley. As a result, said the Bergères’ son was. They’d had no philosophy or history, no Timothy, “Growing up, family get-togethers poetry… Who else could recite ‘The Hound were like mini-Fairfield reunions!” of Heaven’?”

As newlyweds, Nancy and Orland had To his wife’s delight, Orland reeled off a settled in the town of Fairfield. Their six few lines of the Francis Thompson poem, babies were born within five years (“numbers then nodded toward Nancy and grinned. five and six were twins”), and they raised “She gets me!” their young family in a house just off of Except for the two years that he was draftBeach Road, up until Orland’s job moved ed into the army and sent to San Antonio, them to Pennsylvania in 1966.

Texas to work on projectile trajectories and With strong family and University ties, government computers, Orland worked for the Bergères have returned regularly to town the same employer his entire professional over the decades, although this most recent career. The company had changed names visit to Fairfield was no small feat, given several times and was known as Unisys the ongoing pandemic and Orland’s hipwhen he retired early at the age of 59. replacement surgery earlier in 2021.

In retirement, Orland set up a workshop “I have a new hip,” he boasted, then in his cellar where he restores old clocks. gestured toward his wife, “and she’s going to “They have to be 200 or more years old,” he have a new knee…we’ll be bionic!” said. “There’s no money in it, but it keeps me “Well, we had to come to his 70th alert, requires my engineering background. I reunion,” said Nancy with a laugh, “I mean, do it to save the antiquities.”

92 and still kicking — that’s pretty good!”

One of Orland’s closest friends at Fairfield “She was a ‘child bride,’” teased Orland, was his classmate Jack Merry ’51. Over a referencing their 4-year age difference. “She school break during their undergraduate doesn’t like creamy peanut butter, doesn’t like years, Jack invited his buddy for a visit to the brussels sprouts… Other than that, we’ve Merry family’s home in Portland, Maine. been very compatible for 65 years.”

While there, Orland met Jack’s younger sister, Nancy smiled at her husband. “Some of us Nancy. She was finishing high school and F never grow up.” l heading off to Wheelock College, in Boston.

Today, blessed with six children and 23 Fa i r f i e l d Un i v e r s i t y Mag a z i n e | sp rin g 2022 33

Alumni NOTES awarded the 2021 Early Career Psychologist Initiative Award from the American Psychological Association, for exemplary activities and initiatives accomplished in advocacy, leadership, and the practice of psychology. Under her leadership, the DC Psychological Association responded to the pandemic by providing the public with free supportive and educational services and resources. Dr. Sylos-Labini was interviewed for a documentary by the Palisades History Museum about the psychological impact of Covid.

2010

’11 | Eric Clayton has authored a new book, Cannonball Moments: Telling Your Story, Deepening Your Faith, to be published by Loyola Press in March 2022. A meditation on Ignatian spirituality and storytelling, the book shares a number of Clayton’s stories from his time at Catholic Relief Services, the Jesuit Conference, and more. Clayton was the St. Ignatius Loyola Medal recipient at Fairfield in 2011. His book is available on Amazon. ’12 | Katie Riconda started an organization called: ma mom advocates (mama). The goal of the organization is to fully support parents and caregivers during their postpartum journey, by pairing them with an advocate to help them with their needs such as: finding a therapist, doctors, doula, childcare, and support groups.

S H A R E YO U R N E W S

Elizabeth Lucas ’08 and Patrick Shelley — Oct. 2, 2021 Renee L’Heureux ’10, MS’11 and Adeline Reilly ’14 — Sept. 24, 2021 Ryan (Donahue) ’10 and John Rolleri — May 22, 2021 Catherine McIntyre ’12 and Daron Clamage — Sept. 25, 2021 Paige Jackson ’12 and Thomas Trapani ’12 — Sept. 25, 2021 Alice Guglielmoni ’12 and Ryan Birge ’05 — June 24, 2021 Tara Brennan ’12 and Francis Porcelli ’14 — Sept. 11, 2021 Stephanie Mejias ’13 and Raymond Avena ’11 — Oct. 30, 2021 Samantha Mazzeo ’14 and Robert Schwartz ’16 — Sept. 25, 2021 Jacqueline Leo ’14, MBA’18 and Michael Yerina ’18 — Sept. 11, 2021 Michelle Ferrara ’14 and Justin Furtado ’14 — Oct. 8, 2021 Jennifer Carder ’14 and Matthew Knightley ’14, MS’15 — Oct. 23, 2021 Callan (Danielson) ’14, MS’15 and Joe McConville ’14 — Aug. 28, 2021 Christina Serravalli ’15, MS’16 and Cole Higgins ’15, MS’16 — Oct. 23, 2021 Brianna Nunes ’16 and Joseph Bailey — Sept. 18, 2021

Marriages

Jacqueline-Ann Willsey ’17 and Dustin Dobbs — Nov. 5, 2021

Danielle Ackerman and John Paul Capuano ’01 — Oct. 23, 2021.

Kaadiana Barnes ’17 and Robert Padilla ’17 — Nov. 6, 2021

Jess Schaeffer-Helmecki and Michael Tellerico ’05 — Oct. 16, 2021.

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Kimberly (DeCarlo ’03) and Joseph DiPaola welcomed son, Sebastian Joseph, on June 10, 2021.

Seen here with proud big sister Siena Rose (2).

Share your news! Simply log on to the FREE Alumni Online Community and post your Class Note. Not a member? Registration is easy at fairfield.edu/alumnicommunity. Sign up and log on today.

Did you know?

Hundreds of companies match the charitable contributions made by their employees, employees’ spouses, or retirees.

You may double or even triple the impact of your gift! Please visit matchinggifts.com/fairfield to find out if your employer matches. If they do, complete your company’s matching gift form as you make your gift to Fairfield.

Make your gift today at fairfield.edu/give

Sarah Courtney ’03 Out Front, with the League of Women Voters

W

by Meredith Guinness hen Sar ah Courtney ’03 started her job at the League of Women Voters (LWV), it was October 2016, the eve of a pivotal presidential election. The national nonprofit was just four years from celebrating the centennial of both its founding and of women’s right to vote in America.

“It’s never slow,” Courtney joked recently in a conversation with Fairfield University Magazine, taking a few minutes away from her job as chief communications officer for the nonpartisan organization that was formed to help women take a larger, informed role in public affairs.

While the office is always humming, Courtney did join its ranks at a particularly busy time. In the five years since she rose from communications director to chief communications officer leading a staff of seven, the League has proven itself to be a vital voice for American democracy.

Its efforts to expand voter access and fight voter suppression mean LWV staffers and supporters are involved in advocacy and litigation not just in Washington, D.C., but across the country. Since the polarizing 2016 election, the League’s membership and supporter base has grown to more than one million strong, with more than 700 chapters in all 50 states, according to Courtney.

“There was certainly a reenergizing of the advocacy space,” she said. “We’re still fighting the good fight to defend our democracy.”

Raised in a suburb of Philadelphia, Courtney knew she was destined for a transformative education and career from a young age. To that end, she visited more than 30 colleges before deciding on Fairfield.

Her parents gave her plenty of choices and space, but one fact was evident, she said.

“The message was clear: You can go anywhere you get in, but you are going to college,” she said, laughing.

Fairfield checked off all of her preference

boxes – It was the right size, had a gorgeous campus, and was close to New York City but maintained a town vibe. She decided to major in communication with a minor in film and television.

The tragic events of September 11, 2001 informed her decision to enter the field of journalism.

“9/11 shaped my college experience,” said Courtney, who was already interning in the media industry on the day of the attack.

“I’ve always respected journalists as the first drafters of history.”

Courtney worked as a producer and assignment editor for major media outlets for a decade after graduation, covering the White House and reporting on multiple political campaigns. Along the way she honed her skills in a fast-paced and high-pressure environment, taking time to talk to the voters and hear their varied opinions and needs.

A brief stint as a consultant pricked up her ears to the ways nonprofit organizations were making a real difference in the world.

“It really opened my eyes to the nonprofit world,” she said.

When she spied a job opening at the LWV, it seemed like fate. “It was like the stars were aligning for me,” said Courtney, who now lives in D.C. with her husband Tim and their daughter Clara, 4.

The LWV was going through a transformation at the time, bringing in new leadership for a lean crew that was about to get much larger and focused, she said. As the Trump administration, Black Lives Matters, and the Covid-19 crisis merged, it seemed there was no shortage of hot-button issues, and women from all walks of life wanted to get involved.

“We’re still hiring,” she said of her busy team. “Democracy has been very much in vogue and continues to be an issue of national attention.”

Along with the absentee ballot and redistricting debates that have percolated since the 2020 election, the LWV is thinking “very strategically” about the state elections

Since the polarizing 2016 election, the League’s membership and supporter base has grown to more than one million strong, with more than 700 chapters in all 50 states, according to Courtney. and midterms, Courtney said.

“There are a lot of voters who will face new challenges voting in 2022,” she said of state voting laws that have changed around the country since the 2020 election. “Young voters, women, and people of color often experience the most barriers at the ballot box.

We are determined to make sure every voter has the information they need to participate in our democracy.”

On a practical front, Courtney took a lead role on the organization’s website relaunch, a crucial component in getting its message out. As keeper of the LWV’s digital presence, brand identity, media relations, and communications, Courtney has been instrumental in modernizing and shaping the League’s reputation and visibility.

Under her direction, the League has won multiple awards for website development and public service video production. Her leadership has helped her growing team broaden its engagement with key audiences.

“I’m so proud of the work we’ve done so F far,” she said. l

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Alumni NOTES Births

John J. Cincotta ’68, MA’71 (GSEAP) — Oct. 23, 2021

Kimberly (DeCarlo) ’03 and Joseph DiPaola — son, Sebastian Joseph, June 10, 2021.

Harold P. Fattig Jr. ’68 — Sept. 14, 2021

Amanda (Blaney) ’12 and Dominick Della Valle — son, Jackson Paul, March 9, 2021.

Kelly (Flynn) ’14 and Joseph Dunn ’14, MS’15 — daughter, Abigail Marie, Aug. 2, 2021

In Memoriam

Raymond B. Smyth ’68 — Sept. 22, 2021 James D. St. Clair ’69, MA’71 (GSEAP) — Oct. 13, 2021 Nicholas A. Martinelli ’69, MA’74 (GSEAP) — Dec. 6, 2021

S H A R E YO U R N E W S

Callan (Danielson ’14, MS’15) and Joe McConville ’14 were married on Aug. 28, 2021. The StagMates celebrated with more than 15 fellow Stags in attendance.

Ruben F. Bradford Jr. ’70 — Sept. 22, 2021 George C. Wagner ’71 — Nov. 20, 2021

Edward F. Fenton Sr. ’52 — Sept. 30, 2021

John Klein ’73 — Oct. 4, 2021

Norbert T. Fahey Jr. ’53 — Oct. 22, 2021

Charles F. Roche III ’75 — Nov. 25, 2021

William R. Smith Sr. ’53 — Sept. 22, 2021

Bernice (Nufrio) Drozd ’76 — Sept. 14, 2021

Neil J. Morrow ’56 — Sept. 26, 2021

James P. Horahan ’77 — Sept. 29, 2021

Robert M. Prescott ’57 — Nov. 18, 2021

James F. Nagle ’78 — Nov. 17, 2021

Donald H. Zucco ’59 — Dec. 11, 2021

Deborah A. (Namnoum) Reed ’78 — Nov. 26, 2021

Thomas S. Catalano ’61, MA’73 (GSC&PC) — Oct. 12, 2021

Angele T. (Kassar) Ekert ’83 — Nov. 2, 2021

Thomas F. Foley Sr. ’61 — Sept. 26, 2021

James R. Garraway ’83 (BEI) — Dec. 10, 2021

Roderick A. Dowling ’62 — Nov. 20, 2021

Richard J. Roche Jr. ’85 — Sept. 30, 2021

Robert T. Mace ’63 — Oct. 14, 2021

Maryanne (Stadnicki) Murphy ’86 — Nov. 8, 2021

Robert C. Haborak ’64 — Nov. 22, 2021

Claire C. (Fletcher) Sardinskas ’87 — Aug. 22, 2021

James J. Pelley ’64 — Aug. 24, 2021

John M. Lovelett ’94 — Nov. 24, 2021

Charles H. Ziegler Jr. ’65 — Nov. 27, 2021

John A. Picarazzi Jr. ’10 — Dec. 4, 2021

Vincent McDonald ’66 — Oct. 2, 2021

John (Tommy) Vigorita ’20 — Sept. 25, 2021

Eugene D. Micci ’67 — Nov. 5, 2021 36 spr ing 2 0 22 | Fairf ie l d Un i ve rs it y M aga z in e

Amanda (Blaney ’12) and Dominick Della Valle are the proud parents of son, Jackson Paul, born on March 9, 2021.

Share your news! Simply log on to the FREE Alumni Online Community and post your Class Note. Not a member? Registration is easy at fairfield.edu/alumnicommunity. Sign up and log on today.

50TH REUNION WEEKEND

G R A D U AT E S C H O O L S Rev. Christopher J. Samele ’72, MA’74 has retired from active ministry and is now residing at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Fairfield, Conn. He will be assisting there and at neighboring parishes when needed.

Robert V. Fontaine MA’70, CT’72 (GSEAP) – Nov. 17, 2021

fairfield.edu/classof 1972

Marriages

Dorothy J. Martino CT’72 (GSEAP) – Oct. 30, 2021

REUNION WEEKEND

Christina Serravalli ’15, MS’16 and Cole Higgins ’15, MS’16 — Oct. 23, 2021

Thomas S. Catalano ’61, MA’73 (GSC&PC) – Oct. 12, 2021

Class of 1972, register now for the “reunion of a lifetime!”

May 20-22, 2022

Classes of 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2002, 2007, 2012, 2017 June 10-12, 2022!

Register now at fairfield.edu/reunion

Make Your Impact All Year Gifts to Fairfield create real opportunities for our students every day.

Scholarships, academic excellence, and research – just to name a few.

Make your gift automatic — monthly or annual — by signing up today.

Visit fairfield.edu/give to learn more.

Jennifer Carder ’14 and Matthew Knightley ’14, MS’15 — Oct. 23, 2021 Jacqueline Leo ’14, MBA’18 and Michael Yerina ’18 — Sept. 11, 2021

John J. Cincotta ’68, MA’71 (GSEAP) – Oct. 23, 2021 James D. St. Clair ’69, MA’71 (GSEAP) – Oct. 13, 2021

Frank W. Langr III MA’73 (GSEAP) – Sept. 2, 2021 Nicholas A. Martinelli ’69, MA’74 (GSEAP) – Dec. 6, 2021 Sister Laura Marie Meskill MA’74 (GSEAP) – Oct. 16, 2021

Births

Lynn (Barney) Fischbeck MA’76 (GSEAP) – Nov. 29, 2021

Kelly (Flynn) ’14 and Joseph Dunn ’14, MS’15 — daughter, Abigail Marie, Aug. 2, 2021

Anita (Papalexis) Demas MA’77 (GSEAP) – Dec. 1, 2021

In Memoriam

Mary P. Mullan CT’77 (GSEAP) – Oct. 1, 2021 Lugenia (Aldrich) Shipp MA’78 (GSEAP) – Sept. 27, 2021

Robert S. Avery MA’56, CT’61 (GSEAP) – Nov. 30, 2021

Elizabeth M. Bodnar MA’80 (GSC&PC) – Sept. 20, 2021

Mary E. Connell MA’59, CAS’77 (GSEAP) – Dec. 3, 2021

Monsignor Nicholas V. Grieco MA’80 (GSC&PC) – Nov. 27, 2021

Edward C. Lovely MA’60, CT’70 (GSEAP) – Nov. 23, 2021

John G. Evans MA’82 (GSC&PC) – Nov. 22, 2021

Carmine P. Tosches MA’61 (GSEAP) – Dec. 8, 2021

Gerald E. Kuroghlian MA’83 (GSEAP) – Nov. 17, 2021

Monsignor Leon A. Mosko MA’62 (GSEAP) – Sept. 21, 2021

Roberta L. (Piccirillo) Cioppa CAS’89 (GSEAP) – Dec. 1, 2021

Carl L. Pawloski CAS’62 (GSEAP) – Oct. 8, 2021

Nancy (Register) Perry MA’97 (GSEAP) – Nov. 5, 2021

James J. Forcellina CT’64 (GSEAP) – Nov.1, 2021

Diane (McManemin) Warren CT’01 (Egan) – Dec. 6, 2021

Doris (Moskaluk) Mormile MA’69 (GSEAP) – Oct. 29, 2021 Fa i r f i e l d Un i v e r s i t y Mag a z i n e | sp rin g 2022 37

Alumni Alumni NOTES NOTES

SPRING 2022

S H A R E YO U R N E W S

Fairfield University Alumni Association fairfield.edu/alumni | 203-254-4280 Email us at alumni@fairfield.edu Fairfield Awards Dinner Cipriani 42nd Street WED., APRIL 20 | 6 - 10 P.M.

50th Class Reunion Class of 1972 FRI., MAY 20 – SUN., MAY 22

72nd Commencement SAT., MAY 21 | 9:30 A.M. GRADUATE EXERCISES SUN., MAY 22 | 9:30 A.M. UNDERGRADUATE EXERCISES

Reunion 2022 Class years ending in 2 and 7 FRI., JUNE 10 – SUN., JUNE 12

Quick Center for the Arts quickcenter.com | 203-254-4010 Follow us! @FairfieldQuick

Ryan (Donahue ’10) and John Rolleri celebrated their nuptials on May 22, 2021 in Newport, R.I. Share your news! Simply log on to the FREE Alumni Online Community and post your Class Note. Not a member? Registration is easy at fairfield.edu/alumnicommunity. Sign up and log on today.

Orin Grossman & Friends Mozart and Dvořák in the Afternoon SUN., MARCH 27 | 3 P.M.

Open VISIONS Forum Espresso: Zachary Small TUES., APRIL 5 | 7:30 P.M.

Steven Rivellino TUES., APRIL 12 | 7:30 P.M.

Theatre Fairfield Pride and Prejudice WED., APRIL 6 | 7:30 P.M. THURS., APRIL 7 | 7:30 P.M. FRI., APRIL 8 | 7:30 P.M. SAT., APRIL 9 | 2 & 7:30 P.M. SUN., APRIL 10 | 2 P.M.

Fredrickson Family Innovation Lab: Kyle Whyte* WED., APRIL 6 | 7 P.M.

Frédérick Gravel This Duet That We’ve Already Done (so many times) THURS., APRIL 7 | 7 P.M. FRI., APRIL 8 | 7 P.M. SAT., APRIL 9 | 7 P.M.

Open VISIONS Forum: Annual Student Forum: David Brooks WED., MARCH 23 | 7:30 P.M.

The Met: Live in HD Don Carlos (Verdi) SAT., MARCH 26 | 12 P.M.

Turandot (Puccini) SAT., MAY 7 | 1 & 6 P.M.

Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti)

David Brooks

TUES., MAY 24 | 1 & 6 P.M.

Hamlet (Dean) SUN., JUNE 5 | 1 & 6 P.M.

* Virtual Event: register for livestream at quickcenter.com ** Register for livestream at fairfield.edu/cs *** Register for livestream at fairfield.edu/bennett

38 spr ing 2 0 22 | Fairf ie l d Un i ve rs it y M aga z in e

A SELECTION OF UPCOMING CAMPUS EVENTS

Center for Catholic Studies

Bennett Center for Judaic Studies

Fairfield University Art Museum

Living Theology Workshops: The Catholic University and the Corporatization of Higher Education**

Tzipi Livni*** “Visions for the Future of Israel”

fairfield.edu/museum | 203-254-4046 Email us at museum@fairfield.edu

WED., MARCH 23 | 5 P.M. WED. APRIL 6 | 5 P.M.

Turandot National Theatre Live: The Book of Dust THURS., APRIL 21 | 2 & 7 P.M.

Hex WED., MAY 25 | 2 & 7 P.M.

Inspired Writers Series: Gregory Pardlo*

Kerry Robertson** “Co-Responsibility: Toward a New Culture of Leadership in the Church”

MON., APRIL 4 | 7:30 P.M.

16th Annual Lecture in JewishChristian Engagement: Burton Visotzky** “Fratelli Tutti: the Good Samaritan and the Rabbi” THURS., APRIL 7 | 7:30 P.M.

WED., MARCH 30 | 7:30 P.M.

THURS., APRIL 28 | 8 P.M.

NOW THROUGH DEC. 1, 2022 Bellarmine Lawn

Adger Cowans: Sense and Sensibility NOW THROUGH JUNE 18, 2022

Bellarmine Hall Galleries

Ronnate Asirwatham** The 5th Annual Canisius Academy Lecture

13 Ways of Looking at Landscape: Larry Silver’s Connecticut Photographs

WED., APRIL 13 | 7:30 P.M.

MARCH 25 – JUNE 18, 2022 Walsh Gallery, Quick Center for the Arts

THURS., APRIL 21 | 7:30 P.M.

Bank of America Open VISIONS Forum: Isabel Wilkerson

Leaves: The Endangered Species of New England

Leaves: The Endangered Species of New England

Fa i r f i e l d Un i v e r s i t y Mag a z i n e | sp rin g 2022 39

Young Alumni

GIVING BACK

Kaila (Anderson) Freeman ’13 and Doug Freeman ’12, and Marissa Fitzgerald ’20

W

hen asked what inspires them to remain engaged with Fairfield, young alumni share stories of their deep friendships with fellow Stags and the mentors who have made all the difference professionally. For StagMates Kaila (Anderson ’13) and Doug Freeman ’12, those special people continue to play important roles in their lives.

Take the Freemans’ June 2021 wedding, for instance. It was attended by 30 alumni, including five who served as bridesmaids and four as groomsmen. “It’s funny, because we didn’t meet at Fairfield,” said Kaila, a psychology major from Long Island, N.Y. “Looking back, we actually have pictures together at college events.”

Mutual pal Erik Kremheller ’13 introduced the newlyweds after graduation. “Our closest friends today are the friends we made at Fairfield,” said Doug, an economics major from West Caldwell, N.J. who minored in German and marketing.

Fellow young alumna Marissa Fitzgerald ’20 also understands those close-knit ties. As a firstyear, she applied for a position with Fairfield Phonathon, and through the program found dear friends who still connect through the same group chat. Her subsequent involvement with the

Student Alumni Association and the Senior Class Gift Committee further widened her circle of friends.

“All the friends I made through those programs are super-engaged alumni, because they saw how crucial the programs are for Fairfield to succeed,” said Marissa, a marketing major and graphic design minor from Guilford, Conn. She learned that without alumni donations and support, some students wouldn’t be able to attend Fairfield. “I got a generous scholarship, and I can say 100 percent, if I hadn’t received it, I wouldn’t have gone to Fairfield,” she shared.

Gratefulness for their experiences has prompted these young alumni to turn around and give back in many ways.

They volunteer their time by organizing events, making annual donations, attending festivities, and mentoring

40 spr ing 2022 | Fairfie l d Un i ve rs it y M aga z in e

Doug ’12 and Kaila (Anderson ’13) Freeman

Marissa Fitzgerald ’20

students, among other efforts.

Doug, a director at UBS Investment Bank, recently helped organize a campus event for students interested in careers in finance. While an undergrad, he was motivated by lessons learned from Associate Professor Phil Lane, PhD, of the Economics department.

Dr. Lane made the alumni introductions that led Doug to a pivotal internship at UBS. “Fairfield has really given me a ton of opportunities that I feel I need to pay forward,” said Doug. “I have learned how much difference you can make by just picking up the phone, answering a student’s email, or making annual contributions.”

Psychology professors Linda Henkel, PhD, Michael Andreychik, PhD, and Judy Primavera, PhD, helped Kaila excel. She’s now a school psychologist for the Westport Public Schools. “Doug and I want other people to have those same positive experiences,” noted Kaila.

The Freemans are members of The President’s Circle — a gift society of Fairfield’s leadership donors who give $1,000 or more annually to shape every aspect of our University. They regularly attend Alumni Family Weekend events and Friends of Fairfield Men’s Soccer gatherings. Doug’s four seasons on the men’s

soccer team included two Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championships.

Their campus visits also include catching up with Kaila’s cousin, Katie Allen ’24. “I tell my cousin and current students to take advantage of all the opportunities here,” Kaila said. Part of a legacy family, Kaila’s mom, Eileen Koneck Anderson ’85, is also a proud Stag alumna.

Marissa Fitzgerald feels a kinship to students too. Her passion for Stag Country led to her fulltime employment in Fairfield’s Development office. She’s the manager of Young Alumni and Student Philanthropy where she works closely to educate and encourage students and recent grads to give back through annual gifts and volunteerism.

This position also involves leading 20 Phonathon student callers.

“No matter what year you graduated, one year or 50 years ago, everyone has that special bond with fellow alumni,” she observed. “There is this common love for the University.”

The Freemans understand.

“Never underestimate the depth of the Fairfield network,” Doug said. “There are truly tons of alumni willing to engage and get involved. There is a real recognition of a shared bond.”

Kaila added, “It feels like a family.”

A Legacy Reflection

HOW FAIRFIELD HAS SHAPED THREE GENERATIONS OF THE ARNOLD FAMILY

by Scott Arnold ’90

W

hen my dad, Ted Arnold ’62, P’90, GP’25, first arrived on Fairfield’s campus in the fall of 1958 as a freshman, he joined a very small, all-male student body, all of whom wore jackets and ties as undergraduates. There were only a few buildings on the entire 200-acre campus back then, and most of his professors were young Jesuit priests “cutting their teeth” as teachers in the fledgling institution.

Fathers Victor Leeber S.J., William Carr S.J., and William Devine S.J., were among his youngest teachers in the 1950s and 1960s, and those very same men were my teachers too, except at the other end of their professorial careers in the 1980s.

When my dad arrived at Fairfield, the recently demolished Alumni Hall wasn’t even constructed yet. Fairfield University, back then, was in its infancy as a college. In those early years, Fairfield educated many servicemen returning from World War II who attended college on the government-sponsored G.I. Bill. For my dad, Fairfield presented the opportunity to receive a quality education and to explore his academic interests and Catholic faith under the tutelage and guidance of the Jesuits, who, of course, had done this type of work for a mere 450 years.

Fast-forward nearly 30 years later, when I arrived on Fairfield’s campus in the fall of 1986. By then, the University had experienced exponential growth, and its campus had expanded into dozens of buildings and dormitories, as well as a student body, both male and female, that numbered well into the thousands. The University’s academic reputation had grown significantly.

Fairfield was almost 50 years old by the time I arrived as a freshman, but despite the changes between my dad’s era and mine, the University was still doing what it was originally founded to do — educate the whole person and develop talents and skills that could be shared for the benefit and enrichment of others. Though the Fairfield that my dad and I attended was drastically different in many ways, the core mission and the original purpose of the school’s foundation remained the same. The University wanted to produce men and women for others, contemplatives in action. That’s what led my dad to a 40-year career as a teacher and school principal. That’s what led me to serve in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, followed by my own ongoing 30-year career as a teacher.

Fast-forward now to the fall of 2021. My son Brendan ’25 arrived on Fairfield’s campus, 63 years after his grandfather first enrolled, and 35 years after I arrived. Again, the University

has changed significantly. There are more new buildings and dormitories. There are classrooms, laboratories, and performing arts spaces that used to be parking lots or wooded areas. Fairfield’s student body is larger and more diverse, and my son’s class is the largest and most academically gifted class that the school has welcomed. But despite those changes, the adage still rings true: the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Fairfield has changed incredibly in the time that we three Arnolds each lived life in Stag Country. But, despite the many changes, there remains a very important and deeply significant connection between us, thanks to Fairfield. The Fairfield connection shared by my father, my son, and me, is knowing that this University is a special place which tirelessly seeks to cultivate and nurture the best within us — in mind, in body, and in spirit. My father and I received a tremendous education while attending Fairfield, and we were also shaped to become the people we became as we left the University to embark on “life”: people who try to share their gifts and talents, for and with others.

As my son blazes his own path through his Fairfield years, I’m hopeful that he will share this same connection. The Fairfield experience, no matter how much time passes, or how many changes occur, is still one that nurtures, cultivates, and educates the whole person. Not only for individual gain and upward mobility, but also for the enrichment and betterment of others. That’s what the Fairfield connection means to me. When my dad and I make it back to campus to visit my son, attend a basketball game, or to reunite with our classmates, we do so knowing that this place served as a tremendous influence during a very special time in life, and it helped each of us become the people that we are.

That’s my wish for my son too, as he lives life as a third-generation, 21st-century Stag.

To learn more about the Fairfield Legacy Association or to share your own Legacy story, visit fairfield.edu/fla.

Fa i r f i e l d Un i v e r s i t y Mag a z i n e | sp rin g 2022 iii

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• Networking with alumni and leadership • Signature events like Reunion and Alumni & Family Weekend • Seminars with today’s leaders and industry experts • Culturally rich performances and exhibits • News about Fairfield, students, alumni, and faculty STAY CONNECTED. CHECK YOUR EMAIL PREFERENCES NOW AT: fairfield.edu/subscribe From top: Alice Rodriguez ’20, Sydney Sarfo ’20, and Shawn Hall ’20 at the Class of 2020 Reception, October 2021; and Fairfield’s dance team and cheerleaders help Lucas the Stag energize fans with team spirit.

iv spr i n g 2 0 22 | Fairfi e l d Un i ve rs it y M aga z in e