Engineers in Motion
John Drazan and his teams of biomedical student researchers are studying athletic performance in the lab, and outside.
Soldier in Art
Fighting fascism through his illustrations, New Canaan-based artist Arthur Szyk was a prophetic genius of the 1940s.
Leaders in Education
Fairfield’s School of Education and Human Development is finding solutions to the national teacher shortage.
Pitch Perfect
Alumni Singers Return to Campus for Glee Club’s 75th Diamond Jubilee Concert.
Photo by Fairfield Media Center
Fairfield University celebrated 1,171 undergraduates, 519 graduate students, 49 doctorate recipients and 20 sixth-year certificate recipients at graduate exercises on Sat., May 20, in the Leo D. Mahoney Arena, and at the undergraduate ceremony on Sun., May 21, on Bellarmine Lawn.
On the cover:
The 75th anniversary concert on April 1, 2023, featured conductor Carole Ann Maxwell, DSM, P’02, accompanist Beth Palmer, the Festival Orchestra, and more than 180 alumni and student singers.
Photo by Owen Bonaventure
Fairfield University
Summer 2023 | Volume 46| Number 1
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 4-5, 8, 11-12, 31
Owen Bonaventure pages 2, 14, 16-25
Michael DiSanto page 35
Olivia Frzop page 6
Cassidy Kristiansen page 7
Jason Miczek page 15
James Casey Timmeny page 9
Contributed photos: pages 3, 6, 8-11, 26-28, 32-40
Fairfield University Magazine is published four times 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
Having paused their busy lives to travel for the occasion from as far away as Seattle, Washington, more than 100 former members of Fairfield choral groups returned to Stag Country on April 1 to perform music that evoked memories of a time in their lives when they were becoming independent and discovering their own voices in the world.
John Drazan, PhD, and his teams of biomedical student researchers are studying athletic performance in the lab, and outside.
With a focus on musculoskeletal development within athletic populations, Dr. Drazan is creating a new paradigm for the study of biomechanics — how people move, how they get injured, and how to prevent injuries — in which community engagement is valued as an important part of the research.
“As the longest-standing, oldest club at Fairfield, the Glee Club is not just an extra-curricular, it is embedded in who we are and what we do.”
Phd , University President
4 letter F ro M the P resident
5 U niversity news
12 st U dents Hands On
by robby PiazzaroliThe 2023 Innovative Research Symposium featured the largest number of student projects ever.
14 ed UC ation Leaders in Education
by tess (brown) long ’07, MFa’11
Fairfield’s School of Education and Human Development is finding solutions to the national teacher shortage.
26
Fighting fascism through his illustrations, New Canaan-based artist Arthur Szyk was a prophetic genius of the 1940s.
A new Fairfield University Art Museum exhibition, In Real Times – Arthur Szyk: Artist and Soldier for Human Rights, featuring more than 60 works from UC Berkeley’s Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, will run from Sept. 29 to Dec. 16 in the Bellarmine Galleries.
30 grants & gi F ts
32 al UM ni notes
P ro F iles :
33 Sister Carol Ann Nawracaj OSF, M’77 Nun, Teacher, Artist, Entertainer... NFL Football Coach?!
35 Joe DeCamara ’00
Winning in the Big Leagues of Sports Talk Radio
39 C alendar o F events
40 donor P ro F ile
StagMates: Robert ’08, MS’09 and Shelby (Mayor ’09, MS’10) Morton
We were undeterred by the spring rain as it fell on the Saturday morning of Commencement weekend, fortunate as we were to be able to move the graduate ceremony indoors to the Leo D. Mahoney Arena for the first time. The next day, the skies cleared and our 73rd undergraduate exercises returned to the Great Lawn at Bellarmine Hall. Overall, we conferred 1,171 undergraduate and 588 postgraduate degrees and certificates to our dry and cheerful Class of 2023.
As always, our Commencement celebrations were an opportunity for us – faculty, leadership and staff – to step back and reflect on what has been an exceptional year educating and developing children of God as individuals of purpose in service of the greater good.
We have accomplished much and we are blessed to be thriving as we anticipate the incoming Class of 2027. With the highest GPA and SAT scores, an admittance rate of less than 45 percent, and an all-time high yield of accepted students, this class is also the most geographically and culturally diverse group we have ever welcomed.
More prospective students are making Fairfield their first choice because we are one of the best values in higher education. Our graduate programs are ranked among the top in the country, our focus on undergraduate research is yielding more Fulbright award recipients and NASA research grants, and with several graduates heading to top doctoral programs at institutions like Tufts, Yale, and the University of Chicago, we are academically engaged at a level befitting our national prominence.
Our reputation for academic excellence continues to rise at a time when we are also being recognized for fiscal acumen and prudence. In April, Standard & Poor’s upgraded our credit rating to A (from A-). The agency cited Fairfield’s recent trend of growth and improvement, and our “proven ability to manage operating
adversity and budget effectively, leading to consistent full-accrual operating surpluses.”
In other words, we are well-positioned to meet the moment.
One of the challenges we have embraced – in keeping with the Ignatian tradition of traveling to new regions – is to bring our mission to students wherever we are needed. On Monday, June 5, representatives from our University and I celebrated a ribbon cutting for the Austin, Texas campus of our Accelerated Second-Degree Nursing program. It is an exciting venture, one we continue to learn from, and one that I am confident will be a success and perhaps open doors to other healthcare and additional programs in this region.
It was also a thrill this spring to welcome the first applicants to Fairfield Bellarmine, our associate’s degree-granting program in Bridgeport. As I write, renovations are underway at the former St. Ambrose parish site, scheduled to open for classes in the fall. With this initiative, undertaken in partnership with the Diocese, we are providing a pathway of access for capable and eager students of promise from traditionally underserved families. As Fairfield continues to evolve and innovate, we do so ever mindful of our call to ensure that our Jesuit values flourish in the 21st century. In March, I accompanied a group of Trustees and University leaders on pilgrimage to Spain, to follow in the footsteps of St. Ignatius. Stopping at the Abbey of Montserrat and the cave at Manresa where Ignatius deepened his conversion and developed the Spiritual Exercises, it was invigorating to be reminded that our mission at Fairfield is a transformative work of the Holy Spirit, one that has been resonating and finding expression for over 500 years. We are all – as members of the Fairfield community – servants of this ongoing work: always looking to the future, prudent in our thinking, prepared to respond energetically and creatively to what is asked of us, and to set the world afire. With utmost gratitude and very best wishes to you all,
Mark r. ne M eC, Phd President“Our reputation for academic excellence continues to rise at a time when we are also being recognized for fiscal acumen and prudence.”
S & P Global Ratings raised its long-term rating and underlying rating (SPUR) to A from A- on the Connecticut Health & Educational Facilities Authority’s various bonds issued for Fairfield University.
The upgrade is based on improved credit characteristics and reflects the rating agency’s assessment of Fairfield’s market position which it believes “demonstrated an impressive trend of growth and improvement in recent years, and the University’s proven ability to manage operating adversity and budget effectively, leading to consistent fullaccrual operating surpluses.”
In addition to enrollment growth aided by steadily increasing applications and growing first-year classes, Fairfield’s enterprise profile was assessed as very strong, characterized by improving student metrics and good financial leadership. Additionally, generous donor base, conservative and intentional budgeting, and financial management practices were contributing factors to the upgrade. l F
The total annual economic impact of Fairfield University is more than $987 million, according to the Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges (CCIC) 2023 Economic Impact Study. The University’s economic impact was measured in terms of both the direct and the induced economic impact of the University’s activity on the local economy.
Direct spending, defined as the amount of money spent directly by the University, University employees, students, alumni, and visitors, was valued at over $589 million, with $123 million contributed by employees alone, and above $56 million generated with direct spending by students and visitors.
The induced economic impact — the additional employment and expenditures
of local industries that result because of direct spending — was valued at nearly $400 million.
Included in the total amount is the opportunity that Fairfield University brings to the region with 7,171 jobs created, and the impact of more than 13,000 Fairfield University alumni who call Connecticut home.
The study found that Connecticut’s 15 non-profit independent institutions of higher education generate a total impact of $16.52 billion to the state’s economy, representing a direct economic impact of $10.1 billion in direct institutional spending for employee spending, university purchases, capital expenditures, student, visitor, and alumni spending, as well as another $6.4 billion in induced spending. l F
Fairfield University has announced that Philip I. Eliasoph, PhD, professor of art history and visual culture, will serve as special assistant to the president for arts and culture, beginning at the start of the next academic year.
In this role and working as a member of the University’s senior leadership team, Dr. Eliasoph will spearhead the University’s efforts to promote and enhance arts and cultural offerings to the greater community, work with partners
During spring break, Fairfield Dolan undergraduate and graduate students participated in experiential learning opportunities through two business immersion trips: one to Silicon Valley, Calif., and the other to Aix-en-Provence, France.
The inaugural trip to Silicon Valley was part of the Fairfield StartUp Program and Fairfield Dolan’s “Technology Ventures” class. The trip’s primary goals were to connect students with companies and alumni, and to provide real-world exposure to topics discussed in the course. Students visited multiple businesses including Apple, Google, NVIDIA, Salesforce, and Zoom.
across campus to enhance the quality of the overall Fairfield undergraduate experience, and more sharply define the profile of the arts at Fairfield.
Led by seven teams that recorded perfect 1000 scores, Fairfield University Athletics added another benchmark to its continued tradition of academic excellence with the release of the latest Academic Progress Rate (APR) from the NCAA. The most recent APR includes multi-year data from the 2018-19 through the 2021-22 academic years.
Fairfield shared the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference lead, with six MAAC programs earning a perfect 1000 multi-year APR score: men’s and women’s cross country, men’s golf, men’s swimming and diving, women’s soccer, and women’s tennis. The Stags’ seventh 1000 APR score
was earned by field hockey, which competes in the Northeast Conference.
Five additional Fairfield Athletics programs boasted a multi-year APR score better than 990: women’s lacrosse (997), women’s swimming and diving (997), softball (996), baseball (995), and men’s lacrosse (991).
Implemented in 2003 as part of an ambitious academic reform effort in Division I, the APR holds institutions accountable for the academic progress of their student-athletes through a team-based metric that accounts for the eligibility and retention of each student-athlete for every academic term. l F
Fairfield StartUp Program Director Chris Huntley, PhD, said “The students asked thoughtful questions of everyone we met, including company founders with fresh exits, startup coaches with amazing stories, professional investors with company portfolios, and even C-level executives.”
The MS in Management (MSM)’s Global Immersion Experience to France highlighted key cultural differences between France and the U.S. During the trip students focused on topics including starting a new business, employment laws and practices, sustainability, innovation, workforce management, government oversight and regulatory issues, as well as economic policies. “This is Fairfield Dolan’s first graduate global immersion experience,” shared MSM Program Director Lisa Stafford. l F
Fairfield concluded its fifth consecutive MAAC Championship campaign with a record of 14-5. Post-season ended in an 11-6 decision for #9 nationally ranked Loyola Maryland at the NCAA Championship First Round in Baltimore.
The Stags have won the last five MAAC Championships (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023) and earned four MAAC regular season titles in that time. Laura Field, named 2023 MAAC Coach of the Year, has been at the helm every title, in addition to serving as assistant coach for Fairfield’s 2009 and 2015 MAAC Championships.
On April 12, more than 600 Fairfield alumni, parents, friends, corporate partners, and student scholarship recipients gathered for the 34th annual Fairfield Awards Dinner, to celebrate six individuals for their professional achievements and to raise funds for the Alumni Multicultural Scholarship Fund and other student scholarships.
The community contributed more than $1.35 million through table sponsorships, journal advertisements, tickets, and fundraising contributions in support of student scholarships at Fairfield.
“We cannot thank our community enough for their commitment to making a Fairfield education accessible for students whose families may not have the resources to support their academic pursuits,” said Wally Halas, vice president for university advancement. “These donors are making a tremendous
difference in the lives of current and future students.”
Scholarship recipient
Kwahmyre Barbour ’23, this year’s Awards Dinner student speaker, shared how he has used the opportunity provided by Fairfield to find himself and shape his future. “Due to the generosity and unwavering support of donors like yourselves, I’ve been fortunate enough to inspire others and use my strengths to make a difference,” he said.
This year’s honorees were Andrew J. McMahon ’89, P’19,’13, chief executive officer and president of Guardian Life Insurance; Shannon Siwinski ’92, P’16, director and senior trader at BofA Securities, Inc.; Philip J. Lane, PhD, P’10, former Fairfield University associate professor and chair of the Economics Department; John Thompson III, P’23, vice president of
player development and engagement for Monumental Basketball’s Washington Wizards, Washington Mystics, Capital City Go-Go, and Wizards District Gaming, and Monica Moore Thompson, P’23, co-founder and executive director of the John Thompson III Foundation; and Deacon Patrick Toole, chancellor and secretary of the Curia, Diocese of Bridgeport.
Clockwise
“We cannot thank our community enough for their commitment to making a Fairfield education accessible for students whose families may not have the resources to support their academic pursuits.”
— wally halas , Vice President for University Advancement
In mid-March, President Mark R. Nemec, PhD, and Vice President for Mission and Ministry Rev. Paul Rourke, S.J., led members of Fairfield University’s Board of Trustees and senior leadership team on an Ignatian pilgrimage in Spain. The group of 14 pilgrims sought to follow in the footsteps of St. Ignatius, founder of the Society of Jesus.
The pilgrimage began in Bilbao and proceeded to Zaragossa. The pilgrims visited Xavier, the birthplace of St. Francis Xavier, and spent a day and a night in the stunningly beautiful Montserrat, where Ignatius held a knight’s vigil before the image of Our Lady. They visited his birthplace, where he convalesced after being wounded, and his former bedroom (now a chapel) where he handed himself over to God and began the journey that would eventually lead to the founding of the Jesuits.
They celebrated Mass in the cave of Manresa, where Ignatius composed the Spiritual Exercises. Offered on campus by Fairfield’s Murphy Center for Ignatian Spirituality, the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola are for
anyone who seeks greater inner freedom, deeper inner healing, a spirit of discernment, peace, and a clearer sense of God’s presence in their life. The pilgrimage concluded in Barcelona with visits to the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia, and to the church containing the sword Ignatius left behind as he began a life devoted to God’s service.
Initiated by Fr. Rourke and led by him and President Nemec, the trip involved months of planning, as part of an ongoing program of mission formation for Trustees and senior leadership.
“The pilgrimage allowed us to connect with the figure of Ignatius in a profound way: it gave us a felt knowledge, or ‘sentir’, to use Ignatius’s word, of the spiritual journey at the heart of Jesuit — and by extension — Fairfield history,” said Fr. Rourke. “As we journeyed in Ignatius’s footsteps, we bonded with each other at a deep level and found renewed inspiration for our mission of Jesuit Catholic higher education. More than one Trustee remarked that our journey ‘could not have gone better.’” l F
Bowman Hall, located in the Quad section of campus, will open this fall. Designed by Newman Architects and built by Gilbane Building Company, the new 46,000-square-foot residence hall will feature 165 beds, made up of singles and six-person suites. Named after Sister Thea Bowman, Bowman Hall will house the Sophomores Give Back program, which offers second-year students an opportunity to “give back” to the Fairfield residential community through service, programming, and mentorship. The granddaughter of a slave, Sr. Bowman was a lifelong educator who founded the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University and the National Black Sisters Conference. She spread intercultural awareness and built up the Black Catholic community by sharing its rich cultural and spiritual heritage through prayer, music, writing, teaching, and preaching.
Fairfield University President Mark R. Nemec, PhD, recently announced that Provost Christine Siegel, PhD, has committed to continuing to serve as Fairfield’s chief academic officer through the summer of 2028.
University President Mark R. Nemec, PhD said: “Dr. Siegel has been an exceptional leader for the University since her appointment as interim provost in 2017 and provost in 2018. Under her direction, the Office of the Provost has undertaken a series of initiatives to ensure that Fairfield excels as an exemplar in Jesuit higher education and to support the University’s standing of national prominence.”
Dr. Siegel’s leadership also encompasses Student Affairs where she oversees all aspects of student
life, working closely with colleagues across the University on cultivating a vibrant and inclusive living and learning environment, and responding to the evolving needs of current and future students.
Dr. Siegel serves as a commissioner for the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE), the institutional accrediting body that oversees standards for colleges and universities in our region.
Cardinal Robert McElroy of the Diocese of San Diego, shared a lecture titled “America’s Synodal Journey: God’s People Point the Path Forward” with the Fairfield University community on Feb. 23, presented by Fairfield University’s Office for Mission & Ministry. A panel discussion moderated by associate professor of religious studies Nancy Dallavalle, PhD, included professor of psychology Margaret
McClure, PhD, St. Anthony of Padua parish life coordinator Eleanor Sauers, PhD, and associate professor of chemistry Aaron Van Dyke, PhD.
Cardinal McElroy has a passion for the plight of the marginalized and is an outspoken advocate for the ‘radical inclusion’ of LGBT people, women, and other marginalized populations in the Catholic Church. He is also a staunch promoter of the pope’s synodal process. l F
The Zeta of Connecticut chapter of Phi Beta Kappa at Fairfield University inducted 37 students into the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society on April 30.
Each spring, Phi Beta Kappa inducts new members from among the most academically accomplished seniors and juniors. Election is based on academic standing (top 10 percent of the class), evidence of broad intellectual curiosity, independent work and thought, outstanding work in the liberal arts and sciences, and good character.
Fairfield is one of only six colleges and universities in Connecticut — and one of only 13 Jesuit schools nationwide — to have a Phi Beta Kappa chapter.
On Thursday, January 26, 2023, three students at Bridgeport’s Bullard Havens High School made Fairfield University history by becoming the first students to be admitted to Fairfield Bellarmine, the new two-year associate’s degree program for students in the Greater Bridgeport area.
Amid a small gathering of parents, guidance counselors, and teachers, Director of Admission Nakia Létang delivered the news in person to two of the students, while a third was present via livestream.
Students enrolled in Fairfield Bellarmine’s associate’s degree program will follow their chosen academic track while also satisfying the University’s unique Magis Core Curriculum — a common learning experience for all Fairfield undergraduates, grounded in the humanities and sciences. l F
2023
Seniors: Leif Alino, Gina N. Baglivo, Alessia L. Bandini, Jillian J. Bauknecht, Madeline E. Bosse, Alexa M. Buongiovanni, Phoebe A. Charpentier, Katharine Creamer, Bronwyn M. Cullen, Mia E. DeFelice, Shannon G. DiIorio, Kaitlyn M. Drake, Grace A. Gallagher, Julia E. Higgins, Madeline E. Hossler, Nya L. Jones, Francesca Klein, Kayla Leary, Eden M. Marchese, Jack Martorano, Tatiana M. Mesrobian, Caroline M. Meyer, Sarah C. Murphy, Michael C. Riggi, Cesar F. Rivera, Margaret E. Rzucidlo, Genuine Skill F. Salcedo, Katherine M. Samonek, Nicholas J. Silvia, Kevin T. Stush, James V. Vizzard, Rebecca R. Walsh, and Anna E. Weissenberg.
Juniors: Julia F. Jammalo, Madeline E. Kitlas, Emma R. Kramer, and Connor J. Padover.
Killian
Director of
Golf
Trophy
topped a field of 45 golfers to win the 2023 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Golf Championship. He is the first Stag to win the McLeod Trophy since 2014.
McGinley’s 54-hole performance at Disney’s Palm Golf Course in Lake Buena Vista was fueled by a historic 65 (-7) in Saturday’s second round. His 65 is the lowest single-round score in MAAC Championship history and the best round by a Stag at any event since 2015.
This March, 15 students from Fairfield University’s School of Engineering attended the 49th Annual National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Convention. During the fourday convention, engineering students Morwan Abbe ’23, Prince Addo MS’25, Leandra Aikins ’24, Lauren Ashong MS’26, Kafo Bagagnan ’23, David Camayo Ocampo ’25, Kaylee Christie ’23, Kareem Fridaus ’23, Kenneisha Norford ’23, Aniyah Pettway ’24, Kobi Okpoti ’23, Kameron Reynolds ’24, Christopher Rodriguez ’23, Ryan Van Allen ’26, and Alexander White ’25 met representatives from other engineering schools, attended empowering speeches delivered by prominent industry professionals, and participated in a variety of career networking opportunities.
One of the largest studentled organizations in the nation with over 600 chapters, The NSBE is dedicated to increasing the pipeline of black engineers in the industry. This year’s annual convention drew more than 10,000 participants and 300 companies. Companies in attendance included Tesla, Apple, Ford, Microsoft, General Dynamics, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and others. l F
On April 11, 2023, Fairfield University’s Charles F. Dolan School of Business signed a memorandum of understanding with professional training company Imarticus Learning, to teach Fairfield Dolan graduate students from India.
According to the terms of the agreement, the partnership will establish a two-part hybrid model with graduate courses taught online and also in the classroom at Fairfield University. Students will start by taking classes online from India and then transition to in-person classes at Fairfield. Programs in business analytics, finance, and cybersecurity will be offered.
“Fairfield Dolan continues to grow geographically to achieve its mission of developing principled leaders for a better world,” said Dolan School Dean
Zhan Li, DBA. International students make up 16.5 percent of Fairfield Dolan’s graduate student body. Dolan School Associate Dean Anca Micu, PhD, added, “With this partnership, the Dolan
School continues to expand the global presence of our industryrelevant graduate programs with an innovative program structure.” l F
Fairfield University welcomed the distinguished Reverend Nontombi Naomi on April 3 for an inspiring Open VISIONS Forum. This event was the 25th Annual Jacoby-Lunin Humanitarian Lecture, funded through generous Anonymous Friends of the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies.
Growing up in apartheid South Africa, Rev. Tutu is a civil rights activist who seeks to tear down divisions and bring groups of individuals together to learn from and celebrate their differences and shared humanity. l F
Lou Lopez Sénéchal ’22 became the first-ever Fairfield Women’s Basketball alumna to be selected in the WNBA draft when she was tabbed as the fifth-overall pick by the Dallas Wings mid-April.
Lopez Sénéchal, the 2022 MAAC Player of the Year and the 2022 MAAC Championship Most Outstanding Player, scored 1,598 points in her four years with the Stags. She spent her graduate season at national powerhouse UConn, leading the Huskies to a Sweet 16 appearance as an AP AllAmerica Honorable Mention.
Lopez Sénéchal cemented her legacy at Fairfield in her senior campaign, leading the Stags to the MAAC
Championship — their first in over two decades — and an NCAA postseason appearance in 2022. As the fifth overall pick in the WNBA draft, Lopez Sénéchal joins a Dallas Wings squad that went 18-18 overall to finish sixth in the league last season. l F
Having taught at Fairfield since 1981, Paul Lakeland, PhD retired at the end of the spring 2023 semester. A recognition of his scholarly contributions took place in the form of a panel discussion and reception on April 27. Panelists included Sr. Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ; Rev. Roger Haight, S.J.; and Massimo Faggioli, PhD.
Dr. Lakeland has served for ten years as chair of the Religious Studies Department and for six years as director of the Honors Program. In 2004, he was named the inaugural Aloysius P. Kelley, S.J., Professor of Catholic Studies and founding director of the
Center for Catholic Studies. Over the past 18 years, he has sponsored more than 100 major lectures and countless other workshops.
The author of ten books, Dr. Lakeland’s latest publication is The Wounded Angel: Fiction and the Religious Imagination (2017), which received the 2018 College Theology Society Award. Dr. Lakeland is a member of the American Academy of Religion, the American Theological Society, the College Theology Society, and the Catholic Theological Society of America, of which he was president in 2018-19. l F
Fairfield University’s Marion Peckham Egan School of Nursing & Health Studies and Charles F. Dolan School of Business programs have climbed in U.S. News & World Report’s 2023-24 Best Graduate Schools rankings. Fairfield Dolan’s Finance, Marketing, and Business Analytics programs improved their standing in this year’s report and are among the Top 20 in the U.S., and Fairfield Dolan’s Accounting program maintained a high ranking of #26 nationally. In the state of Connecticut, Dolan’s Accounting, Business Analytics, Finance, and Marketing programs were ranked #1.
2023-24 Best Graduate Business Specialty Programs:
• Finance #17 nationally, between #16 Fordham and #18 Creighton
• Marketing #15 nationally, between #14 Fordham and #16 Boston College and #16 Cornell
• Business Analytics #18 nationally, tied with Santa Clara, and between #16 Northwestern, #16 Arizona State University, and #20 NC State
• Accounting #26 nationally, tied with MIT and University of Wisconsin
• Part-Time MBA #76 nationally and #2 in Connecticut.
Among the best nursing schools that offer master’s degrees, Fairfield Egan ranked #73 in a tie with four schools, including Michigan State and Quinnipiac, and also tied with Quinnipiac for #2 in Connecticut, behind Yale.
2023-24 Best Graduate Schools – Nursing:
• #73 nationally, #2 in Connecticut among schools with master’s programs.
• #74 nationally, #2 in Connecticut among schools with DNP programs.
U.S. News and World Report’s rankings of nursing master’s and DNP programs are based on factors including faculty resources, research activity, quality assessment, program size, and student selectivity. l F
2023 Innovative Research Symposium featured the largest number of student projects ever.
by robby Piazzaroli
Are C ord - breaking 444 students from across all academic disciplines made live poster presentations in the RecPlex during this year’s Innovative Research Symposium on Thursday, April 20.
The featured student research represented all five University schools and covered a breadth of topics — the mental health challenges facing multilingual learners, ways to improve food safety in Sub-Saharan Africa, the loss of indigenous languages, and even a reimagining of hands-on surgical training tools for medical students.
Many of the students who participated in the symposium collaborated with hospitals, museums, elementary schools, and other local organizations and governmental programs to gather their research data.
Joseph Nizzardo ’25 and Olivia Beadoin ’23 of the College of Arts & Sciences worked with Bridgeport’s Beardsley Zoo to conduct a behavioral analysis of hatchling aggression among brook trout. Native to the rivers of the eastern U.S., brook trout numbers have been dwindling since the late 19th century, as a result of human interference. Conservation efforts to restore the fish populations have met numerous challenges, with a notable one being that brook trout being raised for release often show aggression toward each other.
Nizzardo and Beadoin’s research at the Beardsley Zoo set out to determine why this occurs, and to improve brook trout hatchlings’ survival and health. Using software technology — playfully dubbed “fishial recognition” — to identify the hatchlings based on unique facial features and markings, they tracked behaviors around food distribution, size, coloration, and location within the tank to determine aggression triggers. From their findings, the student researchers will offer recommendations to zoo caretakers on ways
More than 440 students presented research projects at the 2023 Innovative Research Symposium this past May, including (clockwise from top, l-r): School of Engineering graduate student Prince Addo MA’23, School of Education and Human Development graduate student Stephen Osika, biomedical engineering major Brianna Duswalt ’23, and nursing major Katherine Tenemaza-Rojas ’23.
to decrease aggressive behavior and improve aquaculture brook trout outcomes.
In another symposium poster presentation, biomedical engineering students Brianna Duswalt ’23, Kristen Alexander ’23, and Natalie Crawford ’23 showcased a laparoscopic surgery training dome that simulates the human abdomen and allows surgical trainees to practice laparoscopic surgery, also known as minimally invasive or keyhole surgery.
“Laparoscopic techniques are used 94 percent of the time in bariatric and abdominal surgeries, thus, the techniques learned from our device can be applied to improve a variety of medical procedures,” said Alexander.
Their training simulator, based on a senior research project design from last year, was improved to provide users with quantitative feedback – in real-time – on the quality of their laparoscopic incision and suturing skills. The team’s enhanced prototype includes an LED light that turns red when a threshold for potential patient tissue damage is surpassed, thereby alerting the user that such force on actual human tissue could risk injury to the patient.
“Current domes on the market are highly expensive and still require feedback from an in-person medical professional,” Duswalt noted. “Our dome eliminates the need for oversight, making it easier for medical students and residents to use and practice on their own time.”
t he ann U al sy MP osi UM event was held over two sessions, with the second session devoted to research by students in the Marion Peckham Egan School of Nursing
and Health Studies. Topics included the relationship between alcohol consumption and mental health, diet education for those undergoing chemotherapy, the prevention of nursing burnout in today’s healthcare climate, and other timely issues in the current news cycle.
Nursing student Katherine TenemazaRojas ’23 presented a unique look into mental health challenges encountered by immigrant pediatric patients — children who, without early detection, are often at higher risk for developing long-lasting mental health and behavioral health issues. In her project, Tenemaza-Rojas discussed how comprehensive mental health screenings, cultural sensitivity, and complete health histories can help support high-quality care for immigrant patients and their families.
“Pediatric nurses should be more aware of the challenges faced by immigrant patients,” she said. “Nurses who better understand the social and legal implications of immigration allow for advocacy at the bedside.”
The Innovative Research Symposium is a signature Fairfield event that highlights the strong emphasis the University places on hands-on learning and collaboration with faculty.
“This year’s Research Symposium once again demonstrated the incredible breadth of our students’ interests and capabilities,” said Jay Rozgonyi, associate vice provost for pedagogical innovation & effectiveness, and director of the Center for Academic Excellence.
He noted how the event is a perfect example of the power of Fairfield’s approach to teaching: “Our faculty members make personal connections with students, often going so far as to include them in their research work.”
“To a student,” he concluded, “this kind of opportunity is a game changer, both in the way it opens their eyes to new levels of learning, and in terms of the real-world experience it offers, which is highly prized by the employers who are looking to hire new college graduates.” l F
For more information about this year’s Innovative Research Symposium and the many student research projects presented, visit fairfield.edu/ innovative-research-symposium.
“This year’s Research Symposium once again demonstrated the incredible breadth of our students’ interests and capabilities.”
Jay rozgonyi , Associate Vice Provost for Pedagogical Innovation & Effectiveness, and Director of the Center for Academic Excellence
Fairfield’s School of Education and Human Development is finding solutions to the national teacher shortage.
by tess (brown) long ’07, MFa’11
ACC ording to re C ent data, public school education in the United States is in crisis. Last year, a National Center for Education Statistics survey of nine-year-old students showed “the largest average score decline in reading since 1990, and the first-ever score decline in mathematics.”
Meanwhile, school systems are struggling to attract and retain qualified teachers and other professionals. In a national survey by Education Week, nearly three-quarters of principals and district officials said they began this school year understaffed.
“This is a societal crisis, it’s not just an educational crisis, and we all have to care about this,” said Evelyn Bilias Lolis, PhD, MA’02, interim dean of Fairfield’s School of Education and Human Development (SEHD).
For those who do wish to make an entry into the field — to find a livelihood that’s both challenging and inspiring — Fairfield University’s SEHD has risen as a leader, helping its students find paths in education that lead to rewarding careers.
re C ently, two Fair F ield sehd alUM ni made headlines for making a difference: William King MA’15, and Jessica Baldizon MA’15, both graduates of the TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) program.
King was recognized as recipient of a 2023 Bridgeport Public Education Fund Inspiration Award for Outstanding Teaching. He is a mentor to his students at Central High School in Bridgeport, Conn., where he teaches English as a second language (ESL) and serves as the ESL department coordinator.
“To me, this recognition means that my students’ voices are being heard,” said King. “When we think of adolescents it’s difficult to imagine the power of their words and so I feel responsible to carry the messages of younger generations. I feel grateful for the
opportunity to echo my students’ voices.”
Baldizon was a 2022 Inspiration Awardwinner and this year received the 2023 Theodore and Margaret Beard Award, which provides a $20,000 unrestricted gift to an annual recipient through the Fairfield County Community Foundation, in partnership with the Bridgeport Public Education Fund.
For eight years since graduating from Fairfield, Baldizon has taught English to multilingual learners in grades three, four, and six at Cesar Batalla School in Bridgeport, Conn., the second-largest pre-K-8 school in the state.
For Baldizon, being recognized is not only a reflection of her efforts but also a nod to the support of the individuals and communities that have encouraged her along the way. “The Beard Award formally recognizes the tremendous amount of energy I’ve put into becoming a teacher,” she said. “It
acknowledges all the people — family and mentors — and moments that have brought me to the present day.”
Another of Baldizon’s affiliations is with The Connecticut Writing Project’s Ubuntu Academy at Fairfield, a two-week summer writing course designed for immigrant and refugee youth in grades nine through 12. She also runs Little Labs for Big Imaginations, a Connecticut Writing Project program for students in fifth through third grade. “By being involved in so many different communities, I’ve been able to have a more enriching career,” Baldizon said.
t he sehd , F or M erly known as the Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions began as a teacher certification program in 1950 and officially expanded into a graduate school in 1963.
Students in the school can specialize in tracks such as educational technology, elementary/secondary education, and bilingual education, or become dually certified in two of these areas. Most recently, the SEHD began offering a Doctorate of Education (EdD) in Educational Leadership program: a three-year, online, low-residency doctoral program with a focus on leadership and social justice.
Additionally, the SEHD offers paid internships with salaries up to $30,000 for students in the Teacher Preparation program, as well as other graduate assistantship and scholarship opportunities.
“Teacher Preparation programs in the SEHD prepare reflective educators who enter the workforce with the highest level of competence and the deepest level of care for others,” said Dr. Bilias Lolis. She went on to describe how SEHD is dedicated to meeting students’ needs – particularly those who want to get into the field as a second career.
“We need to make [teaching] accessible for people who want to enter this career,” she said. “They don’t all enter from undergrad. Becoming a teacher is going to check many boxes that the science of well-being and happiness tells us are meaningful, and there are opportunities opening up every single day.”
Learn more at fairfield.edu/SEHD.
“This is a societal crisis, it’s not just an educational crisis, and we all have to care about this.”
evelyn bilias lolis, Phd, Ma’02 , SEHD Interim Dean
Accompanist Beth Palmer and the Festival Orchestra performed with more than 180 alumni and student singers at the 75th anniversary concert, conducted by Carole Ann Maxwell, DSM, P’02.
by Jeannine (Carolan) graF ’87
The anniversary concert was several years in the planning, said conductor Carole Ann Maxwell, DSM, P’02, and in terms of ambition, “it was like nothing we’ve ever done before.” She worked closely with associate conductor Michael A. Ciavaglia ’04, DMA, to select songs to be performed by the alumni, alongside 75 current Glee Club members. Returning singers were sent copies of the music months in advance so they could learn any pieces that were new to them.
“Some of the songs were traditional, like the Fairfield University Alma Mater and ‘Viva la Musica’,” Dr. Maxwell noted. “The ‘Prayer of St. Ignatius’ was mostly traditional; at least three-quarters of the group knew it.”
The singers also performed selections that were less familiar to them, such as Mozart’s “Ave Verum Corpus” and “Do You Hear the People Sing” from Les Misérables. Of these pieces Dr. Maxwell remarked, “God bless them, they learned it all!”
Formed in 1947, the Fairfield University Glee Club holds a special place in University history as the oldest student club on campus. In its early years, founding musical director Simon Harak and faculty moderator Rev. John P. Murray, S.J., scheduled radio performances and in-person concerts throughout the Northeast and Midwest as a way to enhance the prestige of the new Jesuit University.
Dubbed the “Ambassadors of Song,” the group performed at cathedrals, colleges, and auditoriums from Boston to Washington, D.C., and even appeared several times on stage at New York City’s legendary Carnegie Hall. Their annual concert at the Klein Auditorium in Bridgeport, Conn., became a signature University event that routinely sold out.
Bringing home top prizes in choral
competitions, the Glee Club quickly established a reputation for excellence and helped put Fairfield University on the map.
When Fairfield’s campus went co-ed in 1970, the Glee Club elected to keep its membership all-male. So, their newly arrived classmates formed the Women’s Chorale and kept a separate schedule of concerts and performances.
In 1981, a third choral group, the co-ed Fairfield University Chamber Singers, was created by Dr. Maxwell. Six years later – and not without a measure of discord – all three groups merged to become the Glee Club that we know today.
Dr. Maxwell is the only person to ever lead the fully integrated Glee Club. Over a span of 43 years she has led student performances both nationally and in such places as Toronto, London, and across Ireland and Italy.
This past April, a group of student singers, family members, and friends again represented Fairfield University overseas, for what Dr. Maxwell described as “three marvelous performances in Rome, Assisi, and Florence,” including a liturgy at the Vatican.
Among notable off-campus performances scheduled for the coming year, the Glee Club will sing in November at historic Old St. Joseph’s Church in Philadelphia. In February of 2024, Dr. Maxwell and the singers will accompany the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra in a performance of songs from The Music Man
Immediately following an afternoon rehearsal, Glee Club alumni and friends gathered for an informal dinner before the concert. Among those mingling and sharing memories were Jack Hunt ’66, Emmett Casey ’70, and Mark Warren ’70 who remembered singing with founding Glee Club director Simon Harak.
Graduates from the ’70s and early ’80s
On Saturday April 1, more than 100 former members of Fairfield choral groups — spanning seven decades of University history — gathered at the Regina
A. Quick Center for the Arts to participate in the Fairfield University Glee Club’s 75th Diamond Jubilee Concert.
above : (l-r) Bensionian singers Sebastian Fox ’23, Kyle Fishbaugh ’23, Andrew Margaritis ’26, and Steven Burns ’24 perform a cappella.
at left: Siblings Doug Thompson ’01 and Jennifer (Thompson) Clark ’96 catch up with Dr. Carole Ann Maxwell (center); Class of 2022 pals Tobenna Ugwu and Clarissa Rotonto are all smiles at the dinner; and (l-r) Mark Warren ’70, Emmett Casey ’70, and Jack Hunt ’66 represent the early years of the all-male Glee Club.
above: Kevin Liniger ’18, MS’19 chats with Niamh O’Gorman ’18 and Elise Sullivan ’19.
right: Conductor Dr. Maxwell and Associate Conductor Dr. Ciavaglia soak in the end-ofconcert applause.
opposite page from top: A dozen members of the Class of 1998 recreate a group pose from 25 years ago with Dr. Maxwell; and Alex Pavone ’04, Rev. Keith Maczkiewicz, S.J.,’04, Michael Ciavaglia ’04, DMA, and John Primavera ’05 share memories from their years in Glee Club.
Annual income from The Carole Ann Maxwell, DSM, Endowment for Choral Music provides vital resources to the Glee Club and supports financial needs related to choral music at Fairfield. To make a donation, visit fairfleld.edu/give.
recalled singing in separate choral groups, and the rest – scores of alumni from 1987 onward – were former students of Dr. Maxwell’s combined Glee Club.
An avid Glee Club fan, Fairfield President Emeritus Jeffrey von Arx, S.J., was on campus for the dinner, as were former club advisors and chaplains Rev. James Hayes, S.J., and Rev. Walter Smith, S.J.
“She has given her whole musical life to Fairfield,” said Fr. Smith of Dr. Maxwell, recounting the story of how he first met and hired her to direct the Women’s Chorale back in 1980. “Carole Ann was the third and final candidate to meet with and sing for the girls as part of the interview process,” he recalled. “Eight months pregnant, she climbed three long flights of stairs in Canisius Hall, walked into the interview room, and just electrified the space; it was transformative.”
Fr. Smith remembered thinking, “I’ll be so surprised if the students don’t give this woman a standing ovation.”
They did. And the rest is Fairfield music history.
For Dr. Maxwell and accompanist Beth Palmer, the concert brought back fond recollections of the hundreds of students they have worked with over the years. Seeing the familiar expressions of the alumni singers performing in front of her, Dr. Maxwell said, “the memories just flooded back.”
“They are all so individual,” she added. “I was invited into so many of their lives and watched what they did for four years at Fairfield; I remember a lot of that.”
Among the rows of alumni on the concert risers were couples like the Dressels (John and Lucia [DeFilippis] ’86), who were in Glee Club together, and their daughter (Jennifer ’15) who also sang with Dr. Maxwell. There were siblings like the Barretts (Seamus ’16, Cameron ’18, Tiarnan ’19) and the Briggs (Mary ’14 and Harriet ’16). And there were classmates who became lifelong friends, like the dozen or so from the Class of 1998.
“This evening is... a celebration of Fairfield at its very best,” said Fairfield University President Mark R. Nemec, PhD, as he welcomed those in attendance. “As the longeststanding, oldest club at Fairfield, the Glee Club is not just an extra-curricular, it is embedded in who we are and what we do.”
As is customary, the audience stood for the singing of the Alma Mater. The allmale Bensonians a cappella group then combined with some of the returning alumni to perform Fairfield’s traditional “The Men in Red,” and “Hail Stags of Fairfield,” which was composed by three alumni in the ’50s. A stirring rendition of Mozart’s “Ave Verum Corpus” was dedicated in memory of deceased University choral singers.
At intermission, the alumni singers left the stage to sit in the audience and enjoy the second half of the concert, featuring student performances by the women’s a cappella group Sweet Harmony, the Bensonians, and the full Glee Club.
Following a standing ovation and a few words of gratitude from outgoing Glee Club chaplain Rev. Michael Doody, S.J., the anniversary concert concluded with a warm round of applause.
“Ta ta! Farewell!” Dr. Maxwell called out to the alumni in the audience. She beamed as they responded with the time-honored Glee Club members’ refrain: “Stay loose!” l F
Glee Club alumni often continue to share their musical talents after Fairfield. Perhaps the most well-known example of this is Peter McCann ’70, famous for his Billboard Chart-topping 1977 hit song “Do You Wanna Make Love.”
A Bridgeport native, McCann’s talents were apparent from the first week he arrived on campus and performed at a freshman orientation talent show. That year, he formed a vocal trio called Peter, Jimmy & George on campus and also joined the Glee Club, where he was a lead baritone.
His folk-rock band, The Repairs, enjoyed a successful regional run before being discovered in 1971 by Rolling Stones producer Andrew Loog Oldham. The band moved to Los Angeles after being signed to a subsidiary of Motown Records, and McCann wrote nine of the 14 songs on their debut album, “Already a Household Word.”
Signed by ABC Records as a staff writer, McCann went on to have a long career as a songwriter, publisher, and occasional recording artist. Of the 15 Top-100 songs he wrote, the most successful was his recording of “Do You Wanna Make Love,” which climbed to #5 in the U.S. in 1977. He also wrote “Right Time of the Night” for Jennifer Warnes, which climbed to #6 in the country and was #1 on U.S. Adult Contemporary charts that same year.
In 1987, McCann moved from Los Angeles to Nashville where he continued to write and publish hundreds of songs, while lobbying for songwriters’ and publishers’ rights in Washington, D.C., and lecturing on copyright issues at universities and law schools across the U.S.
In a Fairfield publication from the ’90s, McCann told an interviewer that his days on campus prepared him well for his career. “I was taught how to think at the University,” he said. “No matter what work you get into, that’s an invaluable skill.”
McCann passed away on January 26 of this year. He is survived by his wife of 41 years, Jacalyn Sheridan, and their son, Colin McCann. l F
One morning this past spring, School of Engineering graduate assistant and former Division I field hockey player Laia Vancells-Lopez was wearing electromyography sensors attached to her body to measure muscle activation patterns in her lower leg.
The exercises she was performing were part of an ongoing biomechanical engineering study in the Community Situated Biomechanics Lab, located at the new Innovation Annex on the southwest corner of campus.
Vancells-Lopez completed a series of jumps and exercises while assistant professor of biomechanical engineering John Drazan, PhD, and fellow graduate assistant John Minogue viewed the data on a large screen on the lab’s back wall.
Their research is focused on musculoskeletal
biomechanics — the study of how people move, how they get injured, and how to prevent injuries. It is a subject Dr. Drazan is deeply passionate about.
He is not your ordinary engineer researcher. A former college basketball player, Dr. Drazen wasn’t originally interested in pursuing a career in the STEM field. That all changed when his high school physics teacher showed him how to apply physics to sports.
“He introduced me to the entire field of sports science, and all of a sudden I knew why I had been learning calculus and physics. I could use the impulse momentum theorem (a formula for calculating how the power of an impulse translates into action) to calculate how high I could jump, based on the force I’m producing. Or, use parabolic arcs to understand how the ball goes into the basket when I take a jump shot. This was transformative for me.”
“Sports, and studying sports through a scientific lens, was the spark that led me into my entire career,” he continued, “so being able to do biomechanics research now professionally, both for musculoskeletal health and sports performance, is outrageously exciting.”
The Achilles tendon, Dr. Drazen’s particular area of research, is a band of tissue vital to ankle biomechanics and general human movement. Used to transfer forces from the triceps surae — the calf muscles — to support the leg during stance phase in walking and running, it also stores energy then releases it when you take a step forward.
“One of my favorite things that I ask my students is: How would you describe walking to an alien who has no idea what walking is?” said Dr. Drazen. “My favorite answer to this is: Falling forward repeatedly and catching yourself.”
The ankle, he explained, rotates when you’re tipping forward. This energy is stored in the tendon, then released to push yourself forward to be caught by the other leg – offering
“One of my favorite things that I ask my students is: How would you describe walking to an alien who has no idea what walking is? My favorite answer to this is: Falling forward repeatedly and catching yourself.”
— John drazan, Phd , Assistant Professor of Biomechanical Engineering
humans a very energy-efficient mode of locomotion. “Understanding how the triceps surae and the Achilles tendon mediate this walking pattern, both in healthy and unhealthy people,” he noted, “is very important to helping people maintain their quality of life.”
Dr. Drazan’s research asks questions about how physical activity patterns influence muscular structure and function over the life span. “Is [professional basketball player] LeBron James who he is because this was who he was always destined to be?” he debates, “Or did his activity patterns during development influence his final muscular structure and functions?”
His goal is to conduct long-term studies in musculoskeletal development within athletic populations, to better understand how physical activity patterns early in life may lead to the development of pathologies like Achilles tendinopathy or tendonitis later in life.
In a concurrent study, Dr. Drazen is collecting data from subjects to analyze the differences in the Achilles tendon loading pattern between older and younger basketball players.
Most commonly, people experience an Achilles tendon rupture mid-stance, and most often it happens in recreationally active males
between ages of 30 and 50. “Is this pattern due to an intrinsic change within the tissue, such as degradation of the tendon quality,” Dr. Drazan ponders, “or is it due to changes in loading patterns due to heavier weight? We are going to dig into that.”
Dr. Drazan collects data both in the lab and outside, using a combination of state-of-the-art equipment and lowcost, in-house designed mobile devices.
In the lab, the biomechanical engineering professor and his student research assistants use wireless electromyography devices to track activity patterns in muscles. Infrared cameras and motion tracking equipment record and digitize the movements of a person wearing reflective markers. The lab’s instrumented force plates measure the gravitational forces an individual applies during different movements. Outside the lab, Dr. Drazan and his students collect data using an instrumented insole sensor in the form of a shoe insert, called Loadsol.
To complement the use of these profession-
al research tools, Dr. Drazan encourages the design of devices built by Fairfield engineering students. “One of the great things about being at Fairfield is working with undergrads and inviting them to help me solve problems we face in research,” he said.
For example, three of his students: Dominic Olivieri ’23, Julia Kilroy ’23, and Conor Landry ’23, designed an instrumented walking pole under his guidance. Assistive walking poles are commonly used by post-surgical patients and those with injuries; they work by redistributing weight load from the lower body to heal injuries. The student design team hopes their device can be studied in the lab to determine its effect on loading patterns during use.
Another senior design team made up of Conor Landry ’23, Omar Jack ’23, Alex Hemmat ’23, and Eric Hawkinson ’23, worked with Dr. Drazan to create a series of portable, do-it-yourself (DIY) assessment tools that measure a student’s athletic performance through drills that mimic the NBA Draft combine — an event where prospective rookies are tested and evaluated to assess athletic ability.
This year, Dr. Drazan and the students brought their DIY technology to sporting events across the nation, culminating with a trip to the NBA All-Star Weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah. There, they worked in partnership with project sponsor 4th Family Inc., teaching 250 student participants about muscle memory, fast-twitch muscle fibers, and data collection, while demonstrating how STEM and athletics work together.
This type of community outreach, noted Dr. Drazan, reaches students who are underrepresented in STEM, and who – like himself in younger years – may not have awareness or interest in the field.
“One of the reasons I love engaging youth in STEM in the context of sports, is that young athletes are filled with questions about how to get better at their sport,” he said. “When we do programs that engage students in math and science through sports performance training, it’s a natural match and it allows us to engage new populations in STEM.” l F
left: Graduate assistant John Minogue analyzes data in real-time.
above: Graduate assistant Laia VancellsLopez completes a series of jumps and exercises to activate muscle patterns in her lower legs.
hough Arthur Szyk (1894-1951) died more than 70 years ago, the work of this prophetic artist, master miniaturist, cartoonist, and book illustrator never seems to age. Indeed, his work is as prescient and, yes, real in these fraught times as it was when he created his indelible images as bulwarks against Nazism in the 1930s and ’40s.
In Real Times – Arthur Szyk: Artist and Soldier for Human Rights, which opens September 29 and runs through December 16, contains more than 60 works from the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at UC Berkeley. The works range from incendiary political cartoons and magazine covers to illustrations of critical Jewish texts. Together, they speak to Szyk’s devotion to human rights and his excoriation of antisemitism, fascism, and racism.
“It’s hard to describe Szyk because he is many things,” said Carey Mack Weber, Frank and Clara Meditz Executive Director of the Fairfield University Art Museum. “He’s Polish to his core, and he’s Jewish, and he’s a miniaturist and a cartoonist. I like to call him an art activist.”
He was also extremely popular during the war years. Esquire magazine has said that Szyk’s anti-Axis cartoons were more popular among the Allied soldiers than its pinups of Betty Grable.
“They couldn’t wait to see what he’d come up with next,” said Weber. “The images were graphic and carried a real punch. He just
wanted to make people aware of what was happening, almost like shaking them out of their complacency: ‘Wake up, people, to what is going on!’”
Fairfield professor of art history and culture Philip Eliasoph, PhD, curator of the Bellarmine Galleries exhibition, said, “Szyk’s depictions of Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito, and others use the visual language of satire and caricature. It’s a long tradition dating back to Daumier and Goya.”
Szyk created numerous covers for Collier’s and The Saturday Evening Post, two of the most popular weekly magazines in America during the war years. He also created art for bond drives and production campaigns, all of which put his work in front of millions of Americans on a regular basis.
“Even though all of his magazine covers were topical, the richness and iconography of Szyk brings such depth of story to every image,” said Dr. Eliasoph, who has produced a catalog to accompany the exhibition. “While Szyk may have been speaking for the Jews, he understood the universality of human rights.”
FIGHTING FASCISM THROUGH HIS ILLUSTRATIONS, NEW CANAAN-BASED ARTIST ARTHUR SZYK WAS A PROPHETIC GENIUS OF THE 1940s. A MAJOR NEW EXHIBITION AT THE FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY MUSEUM OF ART GIVES HIS WORK A LONG OVERDUE EXAMINATION.
Arthur Szyk, My People. Samson in the Ghetto (The Battle of the Warsaw Ghetto), 1945, watercolor, gouache, ink, and graphite on board. Courtesy of Taube Family Arthur Szyk Collection, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, University of California, Berkeley.
Arthur Szyk was born in Lodz, Poland, and his early graphic talents compelled his father to send him to study art in Paris when he was 15. There, for the next four years, he immersed himself in classical art and the illuminated texts of his Jewish heritage, while also contributing topical cartoons to satire magazines. His stature as a book illustrator continued to grow in Europe, where he traveled and exhibited his work freely throughout the 1920s and early ’30s.
Two events gained Szyk notice in the U.S.: first, in 1934, the Library of Congress exhibited Washington and His Times, 38 watercolors by Szyk
depicting events from the American Revolution. Next, at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, 23 of his paintings were included in the Polish Pavilion, all of them celebrating the contributions Poles have made to American history and the strong ties between the two democracies.
The work that ultimately gained Szyk worldwide notice and fame was his illustrated edition of The Haggadah, which he’d worked on in the years 1934-36, but which wasn’t published until 1940.
“His masterpiece, The Haggadah, was published in London,” said Dr. Eliasoph. “Printed on vellum, it was at the time the most expensive book ever sold [at $520 a copy]. Even though it made him world-famous, he was
just trying to be a servant of the Jewish arts.”
During the early ’30s, Szyk was watching Europe slowly devolve into an antisemitic nightmare. When Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, the artist had already relocated to London, and by 1940, he had moved to the U.S., splitting time for the rest of his life between New York City and New Canaan, Connecticut.
The Nazi invasion of Poland in September 1939 — the precipitating event of World War II in Europe — was a deeply upsetting wound that became personal when he learned that his mother and brother in Lodz had been sent to the death camps.
Szyk hunkered down and, for the duration of the war, devoted his talents and prodigious
ESQUIRE MAGAZINE HAS SAID THAT SZYK’S ANTI-AXIS CARTOONS WERE MORE POPULAR AMONG THE ALLIED SOLDIERS THAN ITS PINUPS OF BETTY GRABLE.
Far left: Arthur Szyk, The Silent Partner. “In this game, Adolph [sic], two aces is more than three kings,” 1941, watercolor, gouache, ink, and pencil on paper. Courtesy of Taube Family Arthur Szyk Collection, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, University of California, Berkeley.
Left: Arthur Szyk, Defenders of Warsaw, 1939, watercolor, gouache, ink, and graphite on paper. Courtesy of Taube Family Arthur Szyk Collection, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, University of California, Berkeley.
Below left: Arthur Szyk, New York City, 1944. Courtesy Irvin Ungar, Curator emeritus, The Arthur Szyk Society.
energies to the Allied cause, to human rights, and to democracy. His drawings appeared everywhere: in Time, Esquire, The Saturday Evening Post, Collier’s, on posters and postcards, and in war production campaigns for U.S. Steel. In these years, Szyk had more than 25 exhibitions of his work – illustrations in watercolor, gouache, and ink.
Eleanor Roosevelt visited a Szyk exhibition at the Seligman Galleries in New York and was moved to write about the artist more than once in her widely syndicated newspaper column, “My Day.” She referred to him as a “soldier in art” and told her millions of readers, “I know of no other miniaturist doing quite this kind of work. In its way it fights the war against Hitlerism as truly as any of us who cannot actually be on the fighting fronts today. This war is personal for Mr. Szyk. I do not think he will lose it.”
In Real Times is organized around the theme of human rights. “This theme ties in so well with Fairfield University, where human rights are a core part of the Jesuit mission and curriculum,” said Dr. Eliasoph. “The Jesuits call it social justice and the Jews call it Tikkun olam: ‘to fix the broken world’.”
Along with the exhibition, a two-day symposium (Oct. 4-5), “Arthur Szyk: Art-PropagandaMemory,” is planned. Speakers include Glenn Dynner, PhD, director of the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies at Fairfield; Gavriel Rosenfeld, PhD, Fairfield history professor and president of the Center for Jewish History in New York City, which is also a co-sponsor of the exhibition; Ellen Umansky, PhD, Fairfield professor emerita of Judaic studies; Francesco Spagnolo, PhD, curator from the Magnes Collection at UC Berkeley; and Stephen Luckert, PhD, senior program curator at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, who will
Last September, Dr. Gavriel Rosenfeld, Fairfield history professor and director of the College of Arts and Sciences’ Judaic Studies program, was named the new president of the Center for Jewish History in New York City. It is a prestigious and well-deserved honor for Dr. Rosenfeld, a specialist in the history of Nazi Germany and Holocaust studies. The Center for Jewish History holds, in its five archives, the world’s largest collection of Jewish history and culture outside Israel (including some of Arthur Szyk’s papers).
The center is also one of the cosponsors of the In Real Times – Arthur Szyk: Artist and Soldier for Human Rights exhibition. Dr. Rosenfeld is a contributor to the catalog and will be a speaker at the symposium.
“My essay for Philip’s book takes a counterfactual approach by pondering, ‘What if Szyk had been born 100 years later? [in 1994 rather than 1894],” said Dr. Rosenfeld. “He’d be creating memes about Putin and Trump. I wrote this in the form of exchanges among fake Twitter tweets.”
The enigma of Szyk fascinates Dr. Rosenfeld. “He was counter-cyclical, following the topical trends even while as an artist he was influenced by Renaissance and medieval illuminated manuscripts,” he said. “At the time, he was seen as old-fashioned, like Norman Rockwell. But he had to be comprehensible to the man on the street to get his message across. And he was.”
Dr. Rosenfeld is currently on a leave of absence from the University, to carry out his duties in New York. “There are many things I miss about Fairfield, mostly teaching instead of fundraising,” he said. l F
deliver the keynote address.
“We’re bringing Szyk back home to Connecticut,” said Eliasoph. “When he moved to America in 1940, he and his family first lived in a rental cottage at Compo Beach in Westport; in 1946, he bought a home in New Canaan, where he lived until his death in 1951. Here was this great cartoonist living among us.” l F
Two faculty members have won Fulbright Global Scholar Awards for the 202324 academic year. The recipients are Brian Walker, PhD, professor of biology in the College of Arts and Sciences and Tanika Eaves Simpson, PhD, MSW, assistant professor of social work in the Marion Peckham Egan School of Nursing & Health Studies.
“Fulbright Scholar Awards are incredibly prestigious,” said vice provost for undergraduate excellence Mark Ligas, PhD. “And the fact that Fairfield has two appointed faculty — for an institution of our age and size — is a testament to our faculty’s academic strength, growth, and ultimately the real impact they will have on the world at large.”
Dr. Walker’s research on the effects of human disturbances on wildlife — focusing mostly on bird species, and most intently on penguins — will take him to Chile, New Zealand, and South Africa. He will spend six to eight weeks in each location where he plans to develop a consortium of penguin biologists interested in pursuing “the plague of microplastics on our environment.”
Dr. Eaves Simpson’s work will take her to Australia where she will conduct new research in her field. In the recent past, her research interests have included care of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) individuals and families who were pregnant, birthing, and parenting infants. Additionally, Dr. Eaves Simpson has researched global workplace support practices for infant-family professionals.
Fulbright Global Scholar Awards are competitive fellowships that provide
unique opportunities for scholars to teach and conduct research abroad. Fulbright scholars also play a critical role in U.S. public diplomacy, establishing long-term relationships between people and nations. As Fulbright scholars, Dr. Walker and Dr. Eaves Simpson are in the company of 62 Nobel laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, 78 MacArthur fellows, and thousands of leaders and world-renowned experts in academia and many other fields across the private, public, and non-profit sectors.
A team of science and mathematics faculty members at Fairfield University has been awarded a $378,000 grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s (HHMI) Inclusive Excellence 3 Initiative. The grant is aimed at transforming the introductory experience for STEM students, with the goal of improving retention and success for all students, especially for students of color and others who have been traditionally excluded from these disciplines. Fairfield University is part of a 14-institution Learning Community Cluster (LCC) that was collectively awarded $8 million for this 6-year collaborative effort. In addition to the individual institutional awards, the entire LCC will share approximately $2 million to jointly explore, develop, and implement new approaches, programs, and structures that will reshape the first-year experience for STEM students across all 14 participating campuses. The F.M. Kirby Foundation has awarded a $15,000 grant to visiting assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences Jeanne Peloso, PhD, for her project to create programming at the Hall Neighborhood House, which provides comprehensive services that educate and enrich residents of all
ages on the East Side of Bridgeport, Conn. The Brinkman Family Foundation awarded $4,000 to Linda Henkel, PhD, professor of psychology and chair of the Psychological and Brain Sciences Department, for faculty-student research. Dr. Henkel’s research areas include memory errors and distortions; confusions between real and imagined memories; eyewitness accuracy; false confessions; source monitoring; and reminiscence and collaborative remembering in older adults.
A $99,805 grant from the Benina Foundation will provide funding for equipment (computers and accessories, projectors, solar energy panels) to support and enhance the educational and crosscultural partnership between Fairfield University’s Center for Social Impact and Loyola High School in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. This partnership aims to establish learning communities that provide continued professional development for teachers, Ignatian pedagogy, and educational technology and enrichment opportunities for students.
With the renewed support of a recent $20,000 grant from the Marie and John Zimmermann Fund, Fairfield University’s Center for Social Impact has continued to grow the number of college mentors and middle school mentees in its JonesZimmermann Academic Mentoring Program (JZ-AMP) at Cesar Batalla School in Bridgeport, Conn
A grant from Avangrid was made in the amount of $5,000 support of the Center’s academic enrichment programming at Cesar Batalla School and Wakeman Boys and Girls Club, and to support the CARROT study, a community-engaged research project
with the Green Village Initiative aimed toward understanding the social, health, and economic impacts of community gardens.
Fairfield University’s Marion Peckham Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies has been awarded $2.45 million from the Connecticut Health Horizons Initiative, a three-year higher education program launched by Governor Ned Lamont. The program is designed to address the shortage of nursing and behavioral health providers in the state of Connecticut.
The Egan School has been awarded $100,000 in funding from the American Association of Colleges and Nursing (AACN) to accelerate innovation in nursing education. The funding will be used to develop and implement innovative competencybased learning and assessment strategies into the curriculum. Fairfield Egan was awarded funding alongside Creighton University, Johns Hopkins University, and Texas State University, among others.
New York University and The Leona
M. & Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust granted $25,450 to Anthony Santella, DrPH, MPH, MCHES, professor of public health and Master of Public Health program director at Fairfield Egan, for his research project entitled “Homeless/Shelter Population Enhanced Primary/Specialty Care Rates.”
Erica Wuchiski, MSN, RN, visiting assistant professor and Accelerated Master’s Entry to Practice Nursing (MEPN) program director at Fairfield Egan, received a grant of $4,000 from CVS Health Foundation to go towards scholarships for nursing students.
The NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium (CTSGC) awarded Fairfield University School of Engineering a record number of research grants to fund research and design projects this year. In fall of 2022, John Drazan, PhD (Biomedical Engineering) and Naser Haghbin, PhD (Mechanical Engineering) received grants. In spring 2023, funding was awarded to: Danushka Bandara, PhD (Computer Science); Djedjiga Belfadel, PhD (Electrical Engineering); Susan Freudzon, PhD (Biomedical Engineering); and Sriharsha Sundarram, PhD (Mechanical Engineering).
Senior engineering students Manjot Singh ’23, James Kueny ’23, and Kyle Hochenberger ’23 have also received NASA grants, and Alexa Fiorica ’23 was awarded an undergraduate scholarship. The NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium is a federally mandated grant, internship, and scholarship program that is funded as a part of NASA Education.
The Brinkman Family Foundation awarded $80,000 toward the School of Engineering’s participation at the International Baja SAE Competition. “The Baja Design Competition is an international event that requires students to go through the entire design process, which includes
fabrication and testing, cost analysis, conformance to design standards, technical report writing, and project management,” explained Sriharsha Sundarram, PhD, the Brinkman Family Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, who serves as SAE Baja co-advisor with adjunct professor Robert Wojna.
Fairfield University’s School of Engineering has been awarded a $25,000 E2 Energy to Educate grant from Constellation, in support of student STEM, energy, and sustainability projects. The grant will support Fairfield’s SuSTEMability, an initiative that will engage Fairfield engineering students and faculty with educators from Cesar Batalla School and the Wakeman Boys and Girls Club
Bank of America’s foundation gave the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts a grant of $35,000 for Open VISIONS Forum programming. For additional arts programming, the Carlson Fund (Fairfield County’s Community Foundation) gave $7,161 to the Quick Center.
CT Humanities supported programming at both the Fairfield University Art Museum and the Quick Center for the Arts with respective $5,000 grants. l F
’70 | John Huff has retired as a judge of the circuit court of Cook County, Ill., after presiding for 14 years in the Juvenile DepartmentChild Protection Division. He and his wife Alice Angelo Huff will celebrate their 52nd wedding anniversary in August at their Door County, Wis., retreat with sons Jonathan and Christopher ’04, Chris’s wife Elizabeth, and grandsons George and Oliver. Prior to his judgeship, Huff was a founding partner of the law firm of Huff & Gaines Ltd. in Chicago, where he was a trial lawyer for 19 years. Previously, he was a litigation partner with the Chicago office of Winston & Strawn after serving as a judicial law clerk with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. A 1973 graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, Huff welcomes contact from his Fairfield classmates at jhuff48@gmail.com.
’75 | Donna (Schinella) Berger has authored a book, Living Through Loss - A Memoir of Recovering Joy After Cumulative Grief, published December 2022. It is a journey of faith through untold grief, into a life filled with hope and joy.
’79 | Luc Pelletier recently co-edited HQ Solutions: Resource for the Healthcare Quality Professional (fifth ed., Jones & Bartlett Learning), and co-authored three sections in the book on patient safety, regulatory and accreditation, and population health and care transitions. The text serves as the core curriculum for those preparing to sit for the Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) examination. He published an article, “Newly Licensed Nurses’ Stress and Intent to Leave During a
Wesley John was born on March 8, 2023 to proud StagMates
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.
Pandemic,” in the Journal for Nurses in Professional Development (2023, 39[1], 44-50). Pelletier is a clinical nurse specialist at the Caster Institute for Nursing Excellence at Sharp HealthCare in San Diego, Calif.
1980
’83 | Jane Campion wrote a cookbook, Jane’s Divine Recipes. The book includes everything from chicken piccata to Beef Wellington and crème brûlée.
’85 | Susan (Truss) Seabrooks has earned her master’s of public health degree at the University of Washington.
’86 | Kathleen Giblin has been named senior vice president, clinical operations at Amerihealth Caritas. Giblin is an accomplished healthcare executive consistently recognized for exceeding expectations. She is an expert in strategic planning, building new lines of business in start-up mode, new product development, and effectively recruiting, managing, and motivating staff to exceed performance objectives.
’89 | Hank Nowak began his new role as senior vice president of commercial operations at Infinity Laboratories in Castle Rock, Colo., this past March. Nowak will be responsible for leading the sales and marketing strategy of the company, driving organic growth and ensuring commercial excellence. With more
than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical services industry, Nowak brings a wealth of expertise and knowledge to the role. He has held a variety of senior-level business development and marketing positions throughout his career, with organizations such as DSM, Patheon, Metabolon, and CoreRx.
Brian Russell has directed three award-winning short films since 2021, and a fourth is in production. Past Prologue, his most recent film, starring two-time Tony Awardwinner James Naughton, is on the festival circuit now, including at Connecticut’s own Norwalk Film Festival and the Ridgefield Independent Film Festival. His films have won awards for Best Comedy (Chain NYC Film Festival), Best Romance (Jersey Shore Film Festival and Chain NYC), Best Musical Score (Beaufort International Film Festival), and have been nominated in a number of festivals.
’90 | Cheryl (Sousa) Paddock RN, BSN was awarded the Nightingale Award for Nursing Excellence in May 2022. She was nominated by her boss, Nancy Scheetz ’83 RN, BSN, MSN, APRN, for her role of Quality Assurance RN for the Farmington Valley VNA.
John P. Shea Jr. of nationwide employment law firm Jackson Lewis P.C. has been elevated to principal. Shea is an attorney in the firm’s Hartford office and represents public and private employers in labor and employment law matters.
’92 | Shannon Murphy-Reilly will be celebrating her 29th anniversary at the PMA Companies
gabrielle (Castro ’12) and ChristoP her roy ’12.
As a C hild growing UP in Manville, N.J., Sr. Carol Ann Nawracaj OSF, M’77 dreamed of becoming a nun, a teacher, an artist, and an entertainer. “I became everything,” she recently told Fairfield University Magazine during a Zoom interview, “...and then some!”
In 1960, at the age of 14, she entered the congregation of Bernardine Franciscan Sisters. During her postulancy in Reading, Pa., she began dabbling in magic to entertain her fellow postulants and novitiates. The problem was, “none of the tricks worked.”
“My one early success,” she joked, “was making the other sisters disappear... just by announcing that I had a new trick to show them.”
Undeterred, Sr. Carol Ann kept practicing and eventually built up enough of a repertoire of professional tricks to join the Society of American Magicians. She
she regularly incorporated tricks into her lesson plans during her decades-long career as an educator, and continues to perform magic at charitable events and public speaking appearances (and during Zoom interviews, for the record).
sr. Carol ann P ro F essed her P er P etUal vows in 1970, and graduated from Alvernia College the following year with a BA in elementary education. She spent the summer of 1974 on Fairfield University’s campus, taking classes toward her master’s degree in special education.
As luck would have it, the New York Giants football team was holding their preseason summer training camp at Fairfield that year. Sr. Carol Ann, a gifted artist, volunteered to create hand-lettered banners to welcome them.
The only thing she knew about football at the time “was that it was a sport.” Still, when Giants owner Wellington Mara and then-Head Coach Bill Arnsparger thanked her personally for the signs and invited her to attend practices, Sr. Carol Ann’s curiosity was sparked. By the end of the summer, she had become a fixture on the sidelines, a student of the gridiron, and a die-hard Giants fan.
team; she even performed at Lawrence Taylor’s Hall of Fame induction. She’s used her artistic talents to design the Giant’s Christmas cards and to create one-ofa-kind gifts and mailings to inspire and congratulate players. Her special “playbook” contains Giants-themed word puzzles; her illustrated “pray book” cites scripture passages that relate to game situations. Each year, she presents the team with a homemade scrapbook of news clippings.
The Giants have played in five Super Bowls, and have won four. Their honorary coach has been a guest of the team at all of them. After winning their first – Super Bowl XXI in 1986 – both Phil Simms and Sr. Carol Ann were named MVP: “He was the most valuable player and I was the most valuable prayer.”
Sr. Carol Ann regrets bringing a friend with no football literacy to the only loss. “I didn’t pray enough at that one,” she said, “because I spent the whole time talking and explaining the game.”
has performed for David Copperfield, on Entertainment Tonight, and at the Newman’s Own holiday party, back in 1998. At the time, she was working at Villa Maria in Stamford, Conn., a school for children with learning disabilities. When asked how the party gig went, she gushed, “I got a standing ovation, a hug from Paul Newman, and a $5,000 donation to our school!”
“I like to say that MAGIC is an acronym for Motivate And Give Inspiration to Children,” said Sr. Carol Ann, noting that
Her friendship with Giants players and coaches continued and in 1981, someone tipped Sr. Carol Ann off that the team was looking for a new defensive coordinator. For fun, she applied, listing her current employer as “the Good Lord.”
Ray Perkins, coach at the time, named her an honorary assistant coach, noting in his appointment letter that he took it as a “heavenly premonition” that Sr. Carol Ann had only ever been present at “home games in which the Giants have been victorious.”
That season – for the first time in 18 years – the Giants made it to the playoffs.
sr. Carol ann has U sed Magi C tri C ks in her motivational presentations to the
Her coaching contract has been renewed by every new head coach, most recently Brian Daboll. Quick to point out that she is “not a recruiter – that’s God’s job and I’m not taking it away,” Sr. Carol Ann also currently serves as vocation director and aspirant director for the Bernardine Franciscan congregation.
When sharing her remarkable vocation story, young people often ask how it all began. “I credit being open to God’s presence in every minute of my day and in every person I meet,” she said. “And I always mention Fairfield University.”
“I tell them that I didn’t plan any of it, it just happened...sometimes God really surprises me.” l F
“I credit being open to God’s presence in every minute of my day and in every person I meet. And I always mention Fairfield University.”
in Blue Bell, Pa., where she was recently promoted to director of infrastructure.
’93 | Debra DeShong has been added to the National Menopause Foundation board of directors.
DeShong, an English major while at Fairfield, is an advocacy communications expert with more than two decades of experience in public policy, communications, and international relations. She most recently served as the executive vice president of public affairs for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). Prior to joining PhRMA, DeShong was senior vice president of global corporate communications and industry affairs for MGM Resorts International, where she oversaw both external and internal communications as well as the development of messaging strategies for issues impacting the company around the world.
’94 | Nicole Caruso Garcia was named a finalist for the Able Muse Book Award and the Richard Wilbur Award, for her full-length debut poetry collection, Oxblood (Able Muse Press, 2022). Her writing has also been included in the 2021 Best New Poets anthology. Garcia has joined the executive board at Poetry by the Sea, Inc. (nonprofit), an annual poetry conference at The Mercy by the Sea Center in Madison, Conn. The conference, founded by the late Kim Bridgford, PhD, a former Fairfield University professor, emphasizes diversity, inclusiveness, community, and artistic excellence for an international community of poets, students, and scholars. Learn more at poetrybytheseaconference.org and nicolecarusogarcia.com.
’98 | Patrick Costello is currently the showrunner and an executive producer for Rennervations,
on Disney+. Costello is a veteran unscripted creative executive, writer, and director who oversees ambitious and premium projects in development and physical production. For more than two decades, he has helped build the genre’s most adventurous and successful series, including Survivor, The Apprentice, The Amazing Race, Hell’s Kitchen, Deadliest Catch, Deadliest Roads, Top Gear USA, Truck Night In America, 60-Days In, and now, Rennervations. He has produced television in over 30 countries on six continents in jungles, oceans, deserts, forests, glaciers, cities, jails, racetracks, winding mountain roads, an occasional war zone, and edit bays in Los Angeles and New York. He splits time between Venice, Calif., and Thousand Islands, N.Y., with his wife and three sons.
’99 | Kristen Record, a longtime Bunnell High School teacher in Stratford, Conn., will be inducted into the 2023 class of the National Teachers Hall of Fame. A 22-year veteran of teaching, Record is a physics teacher for grades 9 through 12. She is the sixth teacher from Connecticut to be inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame. 2000
’00 | Patrick Fitzpatrick has been promoted to the position of senior director — ethics & compliance, global privacy at Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis, Ind.
’03 | John Chenier joined Tufts University’s Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine as director of recruitment outreach overseeing master’s and doctoral student recruitment and pre-college veterinary programming.
Consider making your gift to Fairfield a monthly affair! Recurring giving provides immediate impact for students and the Fairfield community.
Set it and forget it at fairfield.edu/give.
unique aspect of
generation
is that all four of us worked either
or
obtain
The University is proud of our legacy tradition. Our legacy families consist of students and alumni whose family members — including parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren and/or siblings — attended or currently attend Fairfield. Visit fairfield.edu/FLA to learn more.
“The
our story of being a three-
Fairfield Stag family
part-time
full-time to
our degrees. The combination of having a strong work ethic as well as a solid foundation of a Fairfield education has grounded us to have successful and fulfilling lives.”
Christina (raCkiewiCz) Prete ’93, M ba’99, P’23
Joe d e C a M ara ’00 loves to talk. He’ll talk about events in the sports world to anyone who turns the dial to listen to him on the Sports Radio 94 WIP (Philadelphia) Morning Drive show, which he hosts with Jon Ritchie from 6 to 10 a.m. weekdays.
“I absolutely love what I do,” said DeCamara. “I consider myself very lucky to do it. We reach a big audience, so it’s gratifying to have gotten to this point.” In 2022, national website Barrett Sports Media named DeCamara’s show the second-best talk show in his time slot, out of all local sports shows in America.
Being a history major may not seem like an educational background that would lead to a career in sports radio, but DeCamara said his studies at Fairfield helped on his career path.
months after graduating from Fairfield. Since then, I have not abandoned the principles of these two points.”
DeCamara began his radio career in 2001 as an intern at 1490-AM WBCB, a radio station owned by Philadelphia Eagles play-by-play announcer Merrill Reese. Four months into his tenure at WBCB, he landed his own show, Monday and Thursday nights, after Philadelphia Phillies games. A couple of years later, Reese helped him secure a job producing WYSP-FM’s Eagle’s pre- and post-game show.
DeCamara moved to Phillie-based 94 WIP Sportsradio in 2004 to work as Howard Eskin’s producer; he joined 97.5 The Fanatic as part of their launch in 2005. That same year, he also returned to Fairfield’s campus, to teach a sports broadcasting course.
In 2007, DeCamara was promoted to assistant program director at The Fanatic, and in 2011 he began hosting his own weeknight show. He also hosted the station’s Eagles Pre-Game Show and a Wednesday show with former Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski. In 2013 he began hosting a weekend show on National ESPN Radio, and said working at ESPN gave him the confidence to believe “I can hang with this group.” In 2015 his show on The Fanatic was lengthened to four hours a night. In 2016, DeCamara left The Fanatic to rejoin WIP, this time as midday show host alongside Jon Ritchie.
On-air workday pleasures are many for DeCamara. He enjoys discussing the big stories and “hot” topics of the day; forging relationships with callers — and, by extension, the listeners who tune in daily; “fun” interactions with his co-hosts; and his proximity to notable figures in Philadelphia and national sports. “I have become friends with many sports figures I grew up watching,” he noted. “That blows my mind. It has enriched my life.”
Through the years many high-profile individuals have been on DeCamara’s show, including: Joe Frazier, Roger Goodell, Eric Lindros, Mark Messier, Mike Schmidt, Dwight Gooden, Donovan McNabb, Michael Irvin, Barry Sanders, Steve Young, Grant Hill, Moses Malone, and many others.
“The biggest thing I learned is that, with the exception of kings and queens, almost all of the famous people we study in history books have two things in common: a tremendous passion for what they pursued professionally and a willingness to take risks. I credit Fairfield for helping me understand this. I leaned on this knowledge when I embarked on my career path 18
DeCamara landed the coveted WIP Morning Drive talk show in February of this year. “It has been a long and winding road,” he said. “It was not easy to carve out a career in sports radio. Many years were tough, especially the early years. There was a lot of rejection. Every step for me, every small victory felt like a big deal. I’m eternally grateful for the many people who have helped me along the way.”
DeCamara chose to attend Fairfield for a rather simple yet important consideration: “I recognized it would be a great college for me to attend.” He credits the late mathematics professor Benjamin Fine, PhD, and David McFadden, PhD, and William Abbott, PhD, both of the History Department, as his three most memorable instructors at Fairfield. His favorite memories of Fairfield involve “being with my friends. I forged so many lifelong friendships at Fairfield.” Nowadays when he isn’t talking sports or attending games, DeCamara enjoys reading, exercising, and traveling.
As for where the winding career road will take him, DeCamara said, “Right now I’m just focused on doing the best job I can with my current show. I imagine more will develop in time, but it’s nice to not be chasing the next thing. I did that for so long. Right now, I want to appreciate where I’m at and hopefully do an exceptional job at it.” l F
“Almost all of the famous people we study in history books have two things in common: a tremendous passion for what they pursued professionally and a willingness to take risks. I credit Fairfield for helping me understand this.”
’05 | Enrique Iturralde has been selected to receive a 2023 “Top Lawyer Under 40” Award by the Hispanic National Bar Association. The award honors exceptionally accomplished attorneys from all segments of the legal profession who have demonstrated professional excellence, commitment to the Hispanic community, and dedication to improving the legal profession. Greg Turner has been named a partner in BDO USA, LLP’s professional practice. Turner is on the Quality in the Regions team and serves the Northeast region, providing technical support to engagement teams on accounting, auditing, reporting, and risk matters. He also brings subject matter expertise in the areas of business combinations, internal controls, and critical audit matters.
various roles in the fundraising office during a discovery phase and throughout an endowment growth campaign, as well as two phases of construction related to the capital project to renovate the educational spaces.
’10 | Ryan Donahue Rolleri, associate director at Moody’s Analytics, was named Rising Star for Sales, Marketing, and UX in the Women in Technology & Data Awards 2023.
’17 | Mackensie duPont
Crowley has joined the public engagement team at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography, one of the world’s premier academic institutions of oceanography and ocean exploration. She will be managing the school’s digital presence and communications.
’18 | Jamison Wellman has been employed by his Jesuit high school, St. Joseph’s Preparatory, in Philadelphia, Pa., since graduating from Fairfield. He has served in
’21 | Chloe Riven ran the 126th Boston Marathon to raise money for Dignity Matters, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that provides free menstrual care, underwear, and bras to homeless and low-income women and girls in Massachusetts, to help them stay healthy, regain confidence, and live with basic dignity. The organization currently supports 15,000 women and girls each month. Riven learned about Dignity Matters through her friend and fellow Fairfield BSW alumna Brigid Belger ’22. Brigid’s mother, Maureen Winkler-Belger ’87, has been with Dignity Matters since it began in 2016 and is currently part of the development team.
’23 | Peter S. Baron has authored the book, If We Only Knew: How Ignorance Creates and Amplifies the Greatest Risks Facing Society. Baron is the founder of Fairfield University’s Honors Social Justice Book Club; through this role, he organized and hosted a two-part series of events at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts, titled “Are the Racist Ideas of Today the Same as the Racist Ideas of the Past?” He also organized and moderated the event, “Happiness in the 21st Century,” with best-selling author Eric Weiner.
MikolaJCzyk ’16 were married on July 29, 2022.
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.
lindsay (sC h M idt ’12) and Christopher Weber are the proud parents of Charles Christopher born on December 23, 2022.
Lindsay Bohnsack ’07 and William Sherman — April 1, 2023.
Kelsie Sommae and Sean McGonigle ’08 — April 1, 2023.
Julia Schuble ’10 and Nicholas Raatz — Oct. 22, 2022.
Genevieve Leclerc ’11 and Edward Urena — Feb. 23, 2023.
Aileen Monahan ’14 and Tyler Mitchell — Aug. 26, 2022.
Carly Damm ’15 and Kevin O’Shea — Dec. 10, 2022.
Shelby Butwell ’16 and Brett Mikolajczyk ’16 — July 29, 2022.
Maeve Quinn ’16 and Colin McLinden ’15 — March 4, 2023.
Claire (Carter ’08) and Daniel Rogan ’08, MS’09 — daughter, Vivian Grace, Oct. 7, 2022.
Kathleen (Barr ’12) and David Lath ’13 — daughter, Julia Lane, Aug. 29, 2022.
Gabrielle (Castro ’12) and Christopher Roy ’12 — son, Wesley John, March 8, 2023.
Meredith (Davide ’12) and Todd Lake ’12, MS’16 — son, Weston Robert, Jan. 4, 2023.
Lindsay (Schmidt ’12) and Chris Weber — son, Charles “Charlie” Christopher, Dec. 23, 2022.
Shannon (Burr ’13, MA’15) and Josh Robichaud ’13 — son, Milo Aster, Oct. 15, 2022.
Amanda (Sharpe ’13) and James Poe — son, Quinn Anthony, Dec. 3, 2022.
Andrea (Cladis ’19) and Matthew Hodge — daughter, Sophia Bequin, May 27, 2022.
Francis J. DiScala Sr. ’51 — March 16, 2023
Donald A. Swanson ’51 — June 5, 2022
John K. Doheny Sr. ’53 — Jan. 13, 2023
James P. Roach ’54 — March 6, 2023
Thaddeus A. Figlock ’56 —
Jan. 21, 2023
Robert E. Mascola ’56 —
Jan. 17, 2023
James J. Bigham ’59 — March 8, 2023
Frank F. Marcucio Jr. ’61 —
Jan.12, 2023
Jerome J. Burke ’62 — March 31, 2023
Michael W. Hurley ’62 — Jan. 24, 2023
Thomas L. Nucifora ’62 — Dec. 20, 2022
Michael W. Elgee ’64 — Jan. 6, 2023
William H. Stewart Sr. ’64 — Feb. 15, 2023
Joseph A. Rapier Sr. ’66 — August 20, 2022
Paul J. Donoski ’69 (BEI) —
Feb. 3, 2023
Ralph J. Martone Jr. ’69 (BEI) — Jan. 4, 2023
Peter J. McCann ’70 —
Jan. 26, 2023
Charles P. Scalesse ’70 —
Jan. 12, 2023
Joseph M. Corriveau ’72 —
Jan. 10, 2023
Michael N. Roth ’72 —
April 8, 2023
Charles D. Schieck ’75 —
Dec. 22, 2021
BOSTON • PHILADELPHIA • CHICAGO
NORTHERN NEW JERSEY • SAN FRANCISCO NYC • FAIRFIELD-WESTCHESTER HARTFORD • WASHINGTON, D.C.
Want to get involved? Join your Alumni Chapter Leadership Team and help plan events.
For more information contact Scott Hibson at shibson@fairfield.edu or 203-254-4000 ext. 2374
For a complete list of upcoming events go to: fairfield.edu/alumnievents
George D. Muscio ’76 — March 22, 2023
Richard M. McGannon ’79 —
Jan. 23, 2023
Robert S. Gallagher ’80 —
Feb. 17, 2023
Marianne L. (Kenney) Lordi ’80 — March 7, 2023
Michael F. McKernan ’80 —
March 3, 2023
William C. O’Donnell ’86 —
Feb. 1, 2019
Isabel V. (DeOliveira)
Goncalves ’91 — Feb. 16, 2023
Danni L. Cornieles ’92 —
Feb. 22, 2023
Charles A. Boursiquot ’93 (BEI) — Feb. 16, 2023
Steven D. Woodward ’96 —
April 1, 2023
Greg A. Francis ’97 —
April 3, 2023
Henry S. Holowinko Sr. ’99 —
March 19, 2023
Erin H. (Sawyer) Spear ’99 —
Feb. 28, 2023
Edward L. Baker ’01 —
March 1, 2023
Joseph G. Crudo Jr. ’01 —
Feb. 25, 2023
Jillian N. Brown-Kelly ’04, MA’11 (GSEAP) — Jan. 15, 2023
Bianca N. Colón Hernández ’19 — April 2, 2023
andrea (Cladis MFa’19) and Matthew Hodge welcomed daughter Sophia Bequin on May 27, 2022.
The Fairfield University Art Museum welcomes in-kind gifts of museum-quality artwork! Please contact Marie-Laure Kugel, Fairfield Arts Director of Development, at mkugel@fairfield.edu to discuss the possible donation of works of art to the Museum.
Claire (Carter ’08) and Daniel Rogan ’08, MS’09 — daughter, Vivian Grace, Oct. 7, 2022.
Meredith (Davide ’12) and Todd Lake ’12, MS’16 — son, Weston Robert, Jan. 4, 2023.
Daniel P. Heffernan MA’54, CT’69 (GSEAP) — March 30, 2023
Cecilia A. (Berger)
MacDonald MA’63 (GSEAP) — Feb. 17, 2023
David J. Petrosky (GSEAP) MA’63 — March 6, 2023
Alan D. Basney MA’64 (GSEAP) — Feb. 10, 2023
aileen Monahan ’14 and Tyler Mitchell tied the knot on Aug. 26, 2022 in Spring Lake, N.J. with many fellow Stags in attendance including the bride’s father, sisters, cousins, aunts, and friends.
Share your news! Simply log on to the Alumni Online Community and post your Class Note. Not a member? Registration is easy — www.fairfield.edu/alumnicommunity. Sign up and log on today.
Agnes D. McCarthy MA’66 (GSEAP) — Jan. 25, 2023
Carl A. DaCruz MA’67, CT’79 (GSEAP) — Dec. 26, 2022
Neil P. Kwiatkowski MA’70 (GSEAP) — March 18, 2023
Margaret (Muhlmeister)
Ragozzino MA’71, CT’76 (GSEAP) — Jan. 13, 2023
Mary T. (Gibbons) Murphy
MA’73 (GSEAP) — March 12, 2023
Reverend R. Bradley Beaupre MA’74 (GSEAP) — Feb. 15, 2023
Myra J. (Kipnis) Zeleznik
MA’75 (GSEAP) — Jan. 7, 2023
Anne M. (Pisani) Rowton MA’77 (GSEAP) — March 15, 2023
Marcia (Larson) Street MA’78 (GSEAP) — Feb. 4, 2023
Ralph D. Mastrony MA’81 (GSC&PC) — Jan. 27, 2023
Marcia (Sperry) Cousins MA’88 (GSEAP) — March 3, 2023
James D. Gronberg MA’89 (GSC&PC) — March 20, 2023
Carol L. Tierheimer MA’90 (GSEAP) — Jan. 30, 2022
Doretta C. (Cherniak) Sackville MA’94 (DSB) — March 29, 2023
Louis N. Jean-Pierre MA’02 (GSEAP) — Feb. 19, 2023
Jillian N. Brown-Kelly ’04, MA’11 (GSEAP) — Jan. 15, 2023
Benjamin Fine MFA’13 (CAS) — March 11, 2023
Sarah A. (Pinheiro) Gelish MA’15 (SEHD) — Feb.13, 2023
“Donating art to the Fairfield University Art Museum was so easy! It’s exciting to know that the pieces I donated will complement the classroom experience and be enjoyed by thousands of University students, faculty, staff, and community members.”
— Mike vigario ’08
fairfield.edu/alumni | 203-254-4280
Email us at alumni@fairfield.edu
Golden Stags Reunion
SUN., OCT. 1
quickcenter.com | 203-254-4010
Follow us! @FairfieldQuick
NT Live
Good
SUN., JULY 16 | 3 P.M.
Summer Intensives
Camp Sessions:
Jazz Dance Class
JULY 10 – 13 | All Ages
Singing for the Stage
JULY 10 – 13 | Ages 8–11
JULY 17 – 20 | Ages 11+
Paper Collaging
JULY 10 – 13 | All Ages
JULY 24 – 27 | All Ages
Contemporary Dance Class
JULY 17 – 20 | All Ages
Digital Collaging
Open VISIONS Forum
Women & Leadership Series
Zanny Minton Beddoes
Editor-in-Chief, The Economist
WED., SEPT. 27 | 8 P.M.
Art Museum
fairfield.edu/museum | 203-254-4046
Email us at museum@fairfield.edu
Missoula Children’s Theatre
Camp Sessions:
Hercules
JULY 10 – 14
Rapunzel
JULY 17 – 21
King Arthur’s Quest
JULY 24 – 28
Cinderella
JULY 31 – AUG. 4
Beauty Lou and the Country Beast
AUG. 7 – 11
The Secret Garden
AUG. 14 – 18
JULY 17 – 20 | All Ages
JULY 31 – AUG. 3 | All Ages
Acting and Audition Prep
JULY 24 – 27 | All Ages
Musical Theater Dance Class
JULY 24 – 27 | All Ages
Dance Like a Professional
JULY 31 – AUG. 3 | All Ages
Introduction to Fashion Design
JULY 31 – AUG. 3 | Ages 10–14
Wizard Academy
JULY 31 – AUG. 3 | Grades 3-5
Introduction to Circus Skills
AUG. 14 – 17 | Ages 8 & Up
nora chipaumire
Not Waiting...
THURS., SEPT. 14 | 8 P.M.
FRI., SEPT. 15 | 8 P.M.
In Real Times. Arthur Szyk: Artist and Soldier for Human Rights
Opening Night Lecture and Reception
SEPT. 28 | 5 P.M.
Exhibition Runs:
SEPT. 29 – DEC. 16
Bellarmine Hall Galleries
Szyk: The Interactive Experience
SEPT. 29 – DEC. 16
Walsh Galleries
Bridgeport, Connecticut native Rob Morton ’08, MS’09 spent his formative years on the Fairfield campus, first as a high school student at Fairfield Prep, followed by five years at the University for his BS and MS accounting degrees.
“During my second year at Prep, I took a job in the kitchen of the old Jesuit residence to help pay for my books,” Morton recalled. While there, he befriended former University President Aloysius P. Kelley, S.J., who encouraged him to continue his studies at Fairfield University. A generous scholarship helped Morton nail down that decision.
As a sophomore honors student, Morton had a serendipitous encounter with a certain first-year accounting major from Ohio, Shelby Mayor ’09, MS’10, while working on a group project in the Charles F. Dolan School of Business tutoring room. Both went on to earn master’s degrees in accounting, then joined PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as licensed CPAs. They’ve been together since 2010 and they married in 2015, with former University President Jeffrey von Arx, S.J., giving the blessing at their reception.
Morton’s trajectory in the accounting field and his curiosity in how the world works was ignited when he took economics
with Philip Lane, PhD, former associate professor and chair of the Economics Department; both teacher and subject soon had him hooked. “Economics really put me on a path to understanding how the world turns, for good and for ill,” he said, “which aligns with the Jesuit focus on social justice.” The exposure to a breadth of disciplines is important, he added, “because we need to learn to operate in a world where we’ll be constantly challenged. It’s important to have the tools to know how to make difficult decisions that are beyond simple matters of debits and credits.”
The opportunities and experiences the Mortons had access to as students inspired them to give back to the University that gave them so much. Their support began with a Senior Class Gift in 2008, and since then, Rob and Shelby have contributed to multiple areas across the University — from campus spirituality to the Fairfield Fund. More recently, the Mortons stepped in to dedicate the Dolan School’s
new accounting tutoring room in honor of a friend, Michael LaMare, a Vietnam veteran who worked with Rob back in the kitchen of the old Jesuit residence. “Mike and I kept in touch even after I graduated, but he passed in 2018, and I didn’t have a chance to say goodbye,” said Morton. “He worked on campus for two decades, and I learned so much from him. It was a way for me to say thank you.”
The Mortons also recently established an endowment scholarship fund that provides financial aid to students who need assistance with tuition and expenses. This fund is named in honor of beloved professor Dr. Lane, who recently retired after 40 years at Fairfield. It’s a commitment that is all the more appreciated and meaningful, as the Mortons faced an unexpected hardship in March 2022 when Shelby suffered a severe stroke. Her rehabilitation journey is ongoing, but they are grateful for the incredible amount of support from both Fairfield and PwC.
It’s the relationships built over the years that inspire them, said Morton, who peppers his conversation with acknowledgements to Drs. Dawn Massey, Joan Lee, Dina Franceschi, Milo Peck, and Mark LeClair, along with Rev. Charles Allen, S.J., former special assistant to the President and University chaplain.
While a person’s achievements are often attributable to hard work, Morton noted that it’s easy to forget that success is built on a foundation of the time, resources, and generosity of countless members of this University’s community. “We support Fairfield because we understand that we did not build our life together on our own,” he said. “I don’t know if I deserved that scholarship more than someone else, and it’s impossible to pay back all of the people here who helped us become who we are. Instead, we pay it forward. We were ready to be part of [the donor] community sooner rather than later, with the hope that we could impact more students.”
“We support Fairfield because we understand that we did not build our life together on our own.”
Company matching gifts are one of the easiest ways to double or triple your impact to Fairfield University.
We offer a search tool to identify if your company has a qualifying matching program. While making your gift – or after – this tool offers up-to-date directions on how to add to your giving. Additionally, our annual giving team is happy to help navigate your questions.
Each year an estimated $4-7 billion dollars in company matching gifts go unclaimed — find your potential impact at Fairfield.edu/matchinggift.
