Fall 2016 Alumni Magazine

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ILLUMINATING OUR LASALLIAN HERITAGE

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ON CAMPUS The Center for Student Success opens, Jaspers score big at Business Analytics Conference, Study Abroad program expands to Africa, and so much more.

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SPORTS Athletics has a new a director, plus news and a recap of the spring season.

30 THE DE LA SALLE WINDOWS The chapel is now home to an exquisite and historic collection of stained glass masterpieces depicting the

EDITOR Kristen Cuppek DESIGNER Kat Lepak ASSISTANT EDITOR Christine Loughran STAFF WRITERS Patrice Athanasidy Liz Connolly Bauman Pete McHugh Sarah R. Schwartz

College’s Lasallian Catholic heritage.

36 THE CAMPUS MASTER PLAN A new Campus Master Plan sets Manhattan on an exciting course of renovations and additions to the

CONTRIBUTORS Joe Clifford Kelsey LaCour Thomas McCarthy Kevin Ross Amy Surak

campus landscape.

40 THE NEW MURAL DEBUTS A vibrant new mural created by students is unveiled on campus this spring — the first public work of art.

44 COMMENCEMENT

GRADUATE ASSISTANTS Abdias Myrtil Katherine Psaltakis PHOTOGRAPHERS Josh Cuppek (cover) Patrick Faccas Chris Taggart

Manhattan celebrates recent grads at its Commencement ceremonies.

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DEVELOPMENT The legacy of an influential professor, and a grateful scholarship recipient.

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ALUMNI Reunion Weekend, chapter spotlight,

Published by the office of Marketing and Communication Manhattan College Riverdale, NY 10471 Lydia Gray Assistant Vice President for College Advancement, Executive Director of Marketing and Communication

alumnotes, Jasper profiles and more reminiscing about a long-lost tradition.

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OBITUARIES In memoriam, Nicholas Bartilucci, Peter Powers, George Prans, Arthur Fox Jr., Sr. Frances Cardillo, Estelle Fryburg, and the Rev. George Hill

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PARTING SHOT

ON THE COVER Saint John Baptist de La Salle Teaching, a newly installed stained glass window acquired by the College that now resides in the Chapel of De La Salle and His Brothers.

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Jaspers Take Top Spot at Burgeoning Business Analytics Conference

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HERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A HOME TEAM ADVANTAGE when you’re staring down a set of raw data and a panel of distinguished judges.

But the Jaspers didn’t need it at Manhattan College’s second annual Business Analytics Conference and Competition (BAC @ MC), which drew nearly 100 participants from 19 colleges and universities from the U.S., Canada and Israel. The winners of the twoday competition were announced at Microsoft’s New York City headquarters, as the teams took advantage of being in the country’s financial capital to network with the industry’s top executives.

Despite stiff competition, Manhattan computer science major Tylor Borgeson ’16, business analytics majors Dennis Eriksson ’17 and Marc Stefan Hoeller ’17 distinguished themselves in several different areas by bringing more meaning to the data, provided by Gilt.com. Their data visualization and their Gilt.com branded Powerpoint presentation earned them the title of first place and a $2,000 grand prize.

BAC @ MC features a two-phase competition, both of which require student teams to analyze, and glean business insight from a competition-specific dataset. Phase one began in February when the first set of data and questions were made available to the teams. Students worked at their home institutions to analyze the data, develop solutions to the questions, and prepare a poster to present at day one of the competition. Phase two began on the end of the first day of the competition, when the teams were provided with additional questions and data on a similar theme. Students then had approximately 20 hours to prepare and present their solutions to the judging panel on the second day.

“It’s a great opportunity for students to get handson experience in business analytics, and especially with Gilt.com,” Eriksson says. “Personally, I really like fashion and online sales, so I really enjoyed working with and interpreting the data sets. I learned so much — not only during the conference and competitions itself, but in preparation for the conference, from getting the data in February up until the very end.”

The week’s events also included a lively keynote from Anne Robinson, executive director of strategy and forward supply chain at Verizon Wireless, which kicked off the events on May 25 in the Kelly Commons.

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Robinson has had an illustrious career at Verizon Wireless, and as former president of INFORMS, the largest international society in the world for professionals in the field of operations research, management science and business analytics. As a business analytics leader in the telecommunications industry, she gave participants some insight into what to focus on during the competition and throughout their careers.

“Beyond understanding the data for business purposes, the one thing I really don’t want you to forget is the soft side of things,” Robinson said, listing teamwork, project management, change management, communication skills, networking and practice as crucial experiences to succeed.

“The smartest group of people you will ever work with are in this room right now,” she said. “When you get into the company environment with people of all different backgrounds, you need to be able to work together. Practice that here.

Work with people you might not love, but you think are smart, and figure out how to bring those styles together.”

The winning team attributed guidance from their faculty adviser Musa Jafar, Ph.D., associate professor of accounting, law and computer information systems, to their victory. Eriksson, who has taken three classes with Jafar, said having a good relationship with him made all the difference. Jafar took the time to have one-on-one sessions with members of the team, teaching them how to use four to five different analytical tools.

“It was fun because we went to Microsoft, and we met one of the people who is working on developing RStudio,” Eriksson says. “It was fun to meet and talk with people who are in charge of tools that we use in the field.”

Not only did the Manhattan team win the two-day Business Analytics Conference and Competition, which the College hosted for the second year, but also the Jaspers got the chance to claim their award at the New York City headquarters of Microsoft. The tough competition drew nearly 100 participants from 19 colleges and universities.

Chemical Engineers Respond to Flint Water Crisis

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N A DEVELOPED COUNTRY such as the U.S., most of us consider clean drinking water a basic right, like food or shelter.

But when that isn’t the case, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) steps in. If lead exposures reach 15 parts per billion (ppb), the EPA might suggest that city officials update the pipes or insert anticorrosive agents in an affected water supply.

Roughly a year after the levels in some areas of Flint, Mich., measured 5,000 ppb, two Manhattan students, Ray Lumokso ’16 and Nazmul Sakib ’16, chose the contamination crisis as the subject of a semester-long assignment in Modern Separation Processes (CHMG 714), a graduate-level chemical engineering course.

Incorporating ion exchange technology, the students designed a water separation filtration system. It was inexpensive, costing the average consumer about $100 each, and able to extinguish lead concentrations up to 1,000 ppb. After four months of researching, brainstorming and prototyping, they presented their findings to classmates in May. Lumokso and Sakib were one of several two-person teams required to properly form and execute a solution to a problem that affects society. The goal was to develop skills essential for the workplace.

So why, of all the environmental issues facing our world today, did Sakib and Lumokso choose the Flint water crisis? To Sakib, it was a no-brainer.

“Clean drinking water should be a standard privilege, and what happened in Flint wasn’t in a third-world country,” he says.

“It’s an issue close to home that students can tackle.”

It’s an important one. Roughly a year after the city began drawing its water supply from the Flint River in April 2014, more than double the amount of children there had above-average levels of lead in their blood. The water source has since been switched, but the damage had already been done. Lumokso and Sakib pointed out that elevated blood levels can degrade the central nervous system, may cause developmental and behavioral problems, and even result in death. They had to do something.

“Engineering is about making something more accessible,” Lumokso says.

In this instance, it was also about utilizing their resources. Chris Fanelli ’09, who received a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering from the College, played in an after-work Riverdale kickball league with Lumokso, and shared with him an article on water treatment technology that had been

distributed by the Chemical Engineering Professional Society (AlChE). Fanelli’s suggestions were dredged from his experience as a senior scientist at the water qualityfocused firm, Mutch Associates, LLC. “Especially in the engineering community, there is a lot of overlap and knowledgesharing to be done,” he says. “I helped Ray [Lumokso] out because he had an idea for a way to affect change but maybe didn’t have that first push toward where he should have been looking for the information.”

The team stands by their water filtration system, and they hope to persuade an underclassman to continue its development this year.

President Presides Over MAAC THE METRO ATLANTIC ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (MAAC) Council of Presidents has announced that Manhattan President Brennan O’Donnell will lead the league’s Council of Presidents for a two-year term, which began on July 1.

As MAAC President, O’Donnell will work with MAAC Commissioner Richard Ensor on the oversight of the league, develop governance agendas for various governing bodies, serve as the chair of the executive committee, which handles major business decisions between the Council of Presidents meetings,

and oversee and sign all of the major league contracts.

O’Donnell has served as MAAC vice president for the past two years, and succeeds Canisius College President John Hurley in his new role as president. He also has served as a board member for the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, and Lewis University.

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Bethlehem University Students Join Summer Research Program

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N ITS FOURTH YEAR, the College’s Summer Research Program is not only filled with ambitious Manhattan students investigating a variety of topics, such as how to build a better robot, but also, this year, the program included two students from Bethlehem University, a Lasallian university on the West Bank of Palestine.

Brother Jack Curran ’80, FSC, Ph.D., Manhattan College’s vice president of mission, was the vice president of development at Bethlehem University prior to returning to Riverdale in 2013. Since his return, Br. Jack has been exploring ways to establish an ongoing partnership between the two Lasallian institutions.

From Bethlehem to the Bronx Enter Sari Masri and Nasri Yatim, two Bethlehem University students who came to Riverdale this summer to join Manhattan’s Summer Research Program.

“Here at Manhattan, we want to work within the global Lasallian network,” says Cory Blad, Ph.D., associate professor of sociology, who co-directs the research program with Rani Roy, Ph.D. “This partnership has the potential to be a great thing for the Lasallian community.”

Eager to learn and explore their new surroundings, Masri and Yatim quickly acclimated to their summer home in New York. Within a week, the pair had browsed the aisles at a nearby Target, sampled the finest pizza in Riverdale, and enjoyed the annual Fourth of July fireworks.

A computer information systems major at Bethlehem University, Masri worked with Zahra Shabazi, Ph.D., assistant professor of

mechanical engineering, on using a 3-D printer to build plastic parts that resemble a two-foot-tall robot that can move, scoop and perform basic motor functions. Masri used a 3-D printer for the first time to build the robot, and then created a user interface on his personal computer to program the robot and direct it on how to move on a table top, scoop items, and then drop those items into jars or other storage containers.

“The idea is to use motors to create the motion, then 3-D print all the parts and connect them to each other,” Shahbazi explains. “3-D printing is fascinating. It’s easy to do, yet Sari can design complicated parts. He can do all sorts of different applications with the program he built.”

Making Sense of the Twitterverse Also a computer information systems major, Yatim collaborated with Musa Jafar, Ph.D., associate professor of accounting, CIS and law in the School of Business, on an analytics project studying trends and interactions on Twitter to gain a better grasp of the conversations happening on the highly popular social network.

Having coded at Bethlehem University for three years, Yatim built a digital platform that can incorporate Twitter users’ locations, uses of hashtags and keywords to build a database that studies what is trending daily, weekly and even annually.

“After I finish building infrastructure to hold the data, I can go the extra step forward for doing the data analysis for understanding people’s behavior on social media, understanding how they think,” Yatim says. “After that, I can start building user networks — who follows who, who’s friends with who. I can try to predict some behavior and try to compare what certain high-profile users were thinking a year ago and what’s changed.”

While Masri and Yatim will not present their research projects with their new friends from Manhattan College, they will give presentations to their colleagues and faculty at Bethlehem University. Meanwhile, Jafar will continue Yatim’s work in building the database to see how additional computer applications can continue to analyze and monitor the Twitterverse for interesting trends and discussions.

“This has been not only a great experience for Sari and Nasri but also for all of our students this summer,” Blad says. “It highlights the diversity of all of the schools within the College and how we go about doing it, from independent undergraduate projects to student-faculty partnerships. The program is something that has grown a lot faster than we ever thought it would.”

Two students from Bethlehem University joined the Jasper Summer Research Scholars at the College this year. One of the international students, Nasri Yatim, collaborated with Musa Jafar, Ph.D., from the College’s School of Business, on an analytics project studying trends and interactions on Twitter to gain a better grasp of the conversations happening on the popular social network.

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Jasper Engineers Earn EPA Grant THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA) recently announced that a team from Manhattan College was one of 38 groups from universities across the country to receive a $15,000 grant for a research proposal toward a sustainability project.

The grant is part of the EPA’s People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) program, a student-design competition where college and university students can benefit people, promote prosperity, and protect the planet by designing solutions that move us toward a more sustainable future.

Led by Goli Nossoni, Ph.D., assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Manhattan College, Feksi Basha ’16, Umar Miah ’17 and Daniel Hussey ’15, ’17 (M.S.) are working to determine the efficacy of a new sustainable concrete to alleviate corrosion of steel reinforcement in the presence of chloride.

The proposed project intends to improve the health and welfare of people, especially in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, by using a hazardous waste byproduct of the mining industry in a sustainable application. This application has the potential to result in corrosion resistant infrastructure that can save up to $5.2 billion annually in the cost of maintaining the country’s aging infrastructure. The research will also benefit the planet’s future environment by reducing the demand for natural aggregate and replacing it with a hazardous byproduct, resulting in the removal of the byproduct from the environment.

Since being awarded the EPA P3 Phase I grant, the Manhattan College team became eligible to compete for a Phase II grant, an award up to $75,000 to further the project design, implement it in the field, and move it toward the marketplace. The trio of Jaspers showcased their research and competed for that grant at the 12th Annual EPA P3 National Sustainable Design Expo at the USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C., this past April.

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New Deans Appointed KAREN NICHOLSON Longtime Manhattan College education professor Karen Nicholson, Ph.D., has been named dean of the College’s School of Education and Health.

Nicholson is the founder of the College’s Center for the Study of the Future of Education, which seeks to contribute to the academic discussion regarding key educational issues that impact teaching and learning in the 21st century. She also has led the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation reaccreditation process for the School of Education and Health, after leading the successful Middle States accreditation process in 2012.

A member of the Manhattan College faculty since 1994, Nicholson has been honored as a Distinguished Lasallian Educator by her peers at the College. Prior to joining Manhattan College, Nicholson spent five years on the faculty of Penn State, Harrisburg, five years on the faculty of West Virginia Institute of Technology, and six years as an elementary school teacher in Charleston, West Virginia.

Nicholson received a Bachelor of Science from West Virginia State University, a Master of Arts from West Virginia College of Graduate Studies, and a Ph.D. from Ohio State University.

CHERYL HARRISON Cheryl Harrison, Ed.D., who has served as executive director of Manhattan College’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS) since 2011, is now dean of that school.

Since her arrival at Manhattan College, Harrison has brought a vast range of experience in adult education, as faculty and administrator in both academic and corporate environments, including Tufts University, Quinnipiac University, Cigna, Aetna and NYNEX. Her work has centered on the design of leadership and management competency models specifically focused on the development of executive and high-potential employees for succession planning and organizational building.

Harrison completed her doctoral work at Harvard University, where she spent several years conducting management research on issues such as leadership, succession planning, diversity, and middle- and senior-level management development training. She also holds a master’s degree from Boston University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California.

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New Communities’ Popularity Soars for Fall Semester

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HE POSITIVE BUZZ SURROUNDING last year’s newly debuted Common Interest Communities (CICs) has reached all corners of the College’s campus, and more than 200 students signed up to live among like-minded classmates in the next academic year.

This is more than double the number of program participants compared to last year, who, for the first time, lived together in designated areas of the College’s residence halls and enjoyed the freedom to collaborate on projects that honed their individual talents.

Independently the groups thrived, and together they had something in common.

Passion. It’s what you saw on the faces of residents living in the Performing Arts and Visual Culture Community, whose members helped to paint Blossom, the College’s first campus mural. It was also evident in the planning and hosting of Latinofest, a celebrated cultural event that members of Nuestra Casa, the group dedicated to promoting Hispanic traditions on campus, contributed to in November. In a newly drafted addition to the College’s Student Handbook, passion was also woven into the eco-friendly suggestions that the Environmental Issues and Sustainability residents offered on sustainable living.

Meanwhile, the Entrepreneurship community was busy making longer-term goals in its debut year. Collaborations with School of Business professors, clubs and organizations are also in the works, as are on-campus speaker series with alumni who could offer insights into the business world.

“A sign of success for us was that members of the various CICs were involved in some of the College’s highest-profile projects from the 2015-16 academic year,” says Andrew Weingarten, director of Residence Life.

Those positive results translated into a significant jump in the program’s overall enrollment. As of July, 212 students of all class years had registered to live in a CIC for the fall semester. These include the four from last year, as well as the College’s new Lasallian and Health & Wellness (substance free) communities.

“... various CICs were involved in some of the College’s highest-profile projects from the 2015-16 academic year.”

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Residents in the Performing Arts & Visual Culture Common Interest Community paint the beginnings of a mural that will soon decorate their floor in Lee Hall.

For 2016-17, more than 80 students are scheduled to live in the Performing Arts and Visual Culture CIC. Entrepreneurship will have 53.

The Lasallian community has attracted nearly two dozen students, who, according to resident assistant Alannah Boyle ’18, will engage in activities embodying the work of the College’s founder, Saint John Baptist de La Salle.

“As I learn about the programs that other universities have in place, I realize that there is a lot of room to grow in terms of embracing our Lasallian heritage at Manhattan College,” says Boyle, a peace studies and philosophy major. She also points out the importance of togetherness for this particular group.

“There is a large benefit of being part of a Lasallian community, spiritually, intellectually, and in knowing there are like-minded people in the world who are eager to get to know you,” Boyle adds.

The nearly 30 students who are registered to live in the Health & Wellness community, also in its first year, pledge to abstain from all alcohol, drugs and other substances. Planned trips to a trampoline park, yoga studio and outdoor gyms have already been slated for the fall semester, and residents will have the opportunity to meet with fitness instructors, personal trainers and nutritionists to guide them toward healthier lifestyle choices.

From Engineering Labs to Energy Caucus

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HE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY recently searched for academic researchers to help study process intensification, reduce the carbon footprint, and bring novel catalysis to commercialization. The Cabinet-level department found an able and willing group at Manhattan College’s School of Engineering.

Under the guidance of chemical engineering professor Gennaro Maffia ’72, ’73, graduate students Sebastian Garcia ’15, ’16 (M.S.), Eugene Heerschap ’15, ’16 (M.S.) and Olivia Mason ’15, ’17 (M.S.) are working with Anne Gaffney, Ph.D., a senior laboratory fellow at the Idaho National Laboratory. A former colleague of Maffia’s at ARCO Chemical, when they worked on the 1970s Alaskan Pipeline Project, Gaffney is leading a project with the United States Department of Energy.

In 2014, Senators Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Jim Risch, R-Idaho, announced the launch of the Senate National Laboratory Caucus.

The bipartisan caucus aims to highlight how the multibillion dollar facilities help to meet the nation’s innovation, economic development and security goals. Gaffney recently presented the Manhattan students’ work on the floor of the U.S. Senate to the Energy Caucus.

“We are looking at all different angles to see how this project could be economically feasible and environmentally sound,” Mason explained. “After Dr. Gaffney presented to the Senate, I spoke with her, and we were both extremely excited that we could make a huge difference in the world with this technology.”

The students have been working in the College’s labs in Leo Hall and the Research and Learning Center, using a process simulator called ASPEN-HYSYS — “a video game for chemical engineers,” says Heerschap. The group has designed several processes, including one in which they have been able to condense previously flared gas into a liquid to allow for easier transportation and to recover this valuable resource.

“We need to reduce our carbon footprint and find more high-tech ways of intensifying traditional processing,” Mason says.

“Moving from petroleum to natural gas is one of the first steps in making a difference and having a cleaner world with cleaner burning energy.”

Graduate students Olivia Mason ’15, ’17 (M.S.) and Garcia, Heerschap, Eugene Heerschap ’15, ’16 (M.S.) are helping to Mason and 15 other revolutionize the petrochemical industry. chemical engineering students, including a collaborating team at Drexel University, have been working on this project since the summer of 2015. Since January, the group has met regularly via teleconference with scientists at the Idaho National Laboratory. Heerschap and Mason even went to Idaho and presented their research at an open house at the Idaho National Laboratory in March.

“The students have been very impressive in performing and presenting this work,” Maffia says. “This is a long-term project with global implications, and they are representing themselves and the College in fine form.”

The Manhattan team will continue to work on the project with the National Laboratory providing the effort’s engineering portion to potentially revolutionize the petrochemical industry.

Expanding Into New Areas of Inquiry

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COUPLE OF NEW OFFERINGS were established this year — the first is in the graduate counseling program, and the second is an undergraduate major in business analytics. Both of these additions to the academic portfolio encourage students to explore ways of thinking that are necessary to meet industry demands.

Manhattan College’s School of Education and Health now offers a 60-credit graduate-level program in marriage and family therapy. It is registered by the New York State Office of Professions to offer the master’s degree for license eligibility in marriage and family therapy.

The program prepares students to work in a variety of settings, and students will have the ability to participate in internships in New York City metropolitan and regional agencies, hospitals and community

organizations. Graduates of the program are eligible to seek initial employment toward meeting the 1,500-hour post-degree, supervised experience required for licensure. Passing a state-approved licensure examination is also required.

In addition, the College is introducing business analytics as an individual undegraduate major for the fall semester. Business analytics was previously a co-major within the School of Business. The business analytics major offers a curriculum that will leverage quantitative methods and evidence-based decision-making in support of business performance. The program uses a cross-disciplinary approach to allow business students to be effective leaders, capable of dealing with large, dynamic and complex data.

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Thomas Hall Transformed

Since opening for business in September, the College’s new Center for Student Success has become a bustling mini-metropolis of student activity. One of the most prominent additions to the Quad-level floor of Thomas Hall — a space formerly occupied by the dining hall Dante’s Den — is the new location of the Center for Academic Success, which saw a 20 percent increase in student visitors in the first two weeks, compared to the same time last year. Welcomed by a long, curved entryway that leads to an open floor area and breakout rooms, the study hub is ideal for one-on-one tutoring sessions, exam preparation, and everything in between.

Also found in the Center for Student Success are the offices of Financial Aid, Graduate Admissions, Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program, Higher Education Opportunity Program, the Specialized Resource Center, and Study Abroad. The office of Career Pathways, which houses the Center for Career Development and the Center for Graduate School & Fellowship Advisement, is comprised of two wings — one for students, and the other for employers who come for on-campus recruiting. There, students drop in anytime for résumé-writing assistance, advice on how to secure an internship, and to meet with a career adviser.

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Second Newman Civic Fellow

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HE COLLEGE HAS BEEN HONORED WITH BACK-TO-BACK recognition for its communityminded students by Campus Compact. David Caiafa ’19 is one of 218 students from colleges and universities across the U.S. selected to receive the prestigious Newman Civic Fellow for his youth volunteer work in the Bronx. The award honors inspiring student leaders who have demonstrated a commitment to finding solutions to challenges faced by their communities.

Caiafa’s recognition derives from his dedication to the Renaissance Youth Center (RYC). Combining his experience as a high school athlete and youth peer leader, Caiafa worked as an assistant coach for the RYC basketball program, which inspired the Jasper to commit as much effort as possible to enhancing the young athletes’ experiences in the program. Caiafa also was instrumental in creating a mindfulness workshop for the preteen boys. He taught them to use breathing and visualization exercises to calm their minds and bodies and to focus, reducing reactivity and increasing cooperation and positivity.

“My goal is for the kids at RYC to realize that this could be a solution to their stressors,” Caiafa says. “Even if I just change one life, I know I did something to help change the world.”

Campus Compact is a national coalition of nearly 1,100 college and university presidents who are committed to fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education to improve community life and to educate students for civic and social responsibility. This award honors the late Frank Newman, one of Campus Compact’s founders and a tireless advocate for the civic engagement of higher education. In its first-ever recognition of a Manhattan student, Campus Compact named Freda Tei ’16 a Newman Civic Fellow last year.

Jasper Strives to Improve Water Quality in Neighboring Van Cortlandt Park BEING A MANHATTAN COLLEGE student — and ultimately, a New Yorker — means falling into step with the city’s fast-paced lifestyle and seizing once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. It’s also about knowing when and where to relax. For Jaspers, that’s Van Cortlandt Park, a thousandacre expanse offering two public golf courses, wetlands, a brook, playing fields and more. Located at 242nd Street and Broadway, the city’s third largest park also features the Bronx’s largest freshwater lake.

Since December 2015, civil engineering major John Abbatangelo ’16 has worked alongside The Friends of Van Cortlandt Park (FVCP) to improve water quality. Recently, Manhattan College, through the Civil and Environmental Engineering department, forged its first official partnership with FVCP to contribute to the Wetland Stewardship for a Healthier Bronx project.

As described in a proposal to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Environmental Justice Small Grants Program: “The project aims to identify sources of water quality impairments, complete wetland restoration projects, and create a wetland plan by mapping potential sites for green infrastructure to restore the 56-acre Tibbetts Wetlands within Van Cortlandt Park in the northwest Bronx.”

Every week, Abbatangelo, an intern for FVCP and a lab assistant for Manhattan’s Civil and Environmental Engineering department, meets John Butler, ecological project manager for FVCP, to monitor the water quality at six sites along Tibbetts Brook and Van Cortlandt Lake, into which the brook flows.

The project has received funding through grants from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and the EPA. With the recent renewal of NFWF’s Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant Program, FVCP plans to continue the water monitoring project into 2017.

Originally, Tibbetts Brook was above ground and naturally flowed into the Harlem River. In the early 1900s, it was decided that the land was too wet for development, so the brook was forced into the sewer system south of the lake. On an average dry day, 4 to 5 million gallons of water from Van Cortlandt Lake enter the Broadway sewer and are treated unnecessarily at Wards Island Wastewater Treatment Plant.

“What the organizations involved want to do is daylight Tibbetts Brook,” Abbatangelo explains. “Daylighting involves bringing all of this back above ground. They are going to try and let it flow naturally into the Harlem River. One of the main points about this project is to make sure that water in Tibbetts Brook and Van Cortlandt Lake is of good standing, so it can enter the Harlem River without causing any water quality problems.”

Assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering Jessica Wilson, Ph.D., has mentored Abbatangelo for the past several months on best practices to use in the lab. She frequently meets with him to analyze the data and spot any trends. Wilson’s colleague Kirk Barrett, Ph.D., assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering and a certified professional wetland scientist, initiated a connection with FVCP and the Bronx Council for Environmental Quality (BCEQ) and has

worked with the organization since starting at Manhattan College in 2011 to build a formal relationship.

During the summer, Abbatangelo started exploring the possibility of expanding the data collection to monitor rainfall and precipitation data, wind speed and direction with the creation of a weather station. In addition, he conducted tests alongside a few summer scholars evaluating pollution levels on the Saw Mill River, to compare and contrast with his ongoing data.

On July 13, Abbatangelo, Butler and Alex Byrne, FVCP’s environmental educator, shared the six months of data findings at a workshop hosted by BCEQ, the Hudson River Foundation for Science and Environmental Research, Inc., along with the College’s Environmental Studies program, through the New York-New Jersey Harbor & Estuary Program. The workshop focused on water quality and coastal shoreline issues in the Bronx, and topics discussed included public access and education for water quality and wetland restoration.

“The hope is the data will demonstrate further funding needs to make the wetlands healthier,” says Christina Taylor, executive director of FVCP.

Civil engineering major John Abbatangelo ’16 trains high school students to test the clarity and visibility of water in the Van Cortlandt Lake Outfall, which feeds directly into the municipal sewer system.

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M.A.R.S. Continues Celestial Course BRANDY WILSON’S OWN SOUTHERN DRAWL made the love story she wrote about a Texas girl falling for a cross-dressing Midwestern blues singer come alive for students who attended a reading of her breakout novel, The Palace Blues.

Standing before an enthusiastic group of students on February 25, she began Manhattan’s Major Author Reading Series (M.A.R.S.) with a few pages of her first book, published in 2014. Wilson later said that she was impressed with the students who came to the talk, and how they were both attentive and inquisitive, asking questions that engaged her both as a writer and as a reader.

“Overall, it was one of the best visits I’ve had with my book,” says Wilson, who serves as a professor of literature, writing, and gender and women’s studies at the University of Memphis.

Since publishing the The Palace Blues two years ago, Wilson and her novel have been praised in the literary world. She’s received three Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference scholarships and won the Astraea Emerging Lesbian Writers Fund Finalist Award. She’s also been named a Lambda Literary Award Finalist for Lesbian Fiction.

Next up in the College’s lecture series was Sam Lipsyte, a short story writer whose style was once referred to by Vanity Fair as “so funny you might lose an eye.” On March 31, he gave audiences a peek into his forthcoming book, Hark, which follows a number of works published in The Washington Post, GQ, Esquire, and The New York Times Book Review.

To what does Lipsyte attribute his success thus far? Dedication.

“Get a pencil, some paper,” he told aspiring writers. “You have to designate certain hours where you will do nothing but give your heart and mind to your work. You wouldn’t text while you prayed, would you?” he asked, rhetorically.

Closing the spring edition of Manhattan’s M.A.R.S. was poet Jennifer Perrine, who serves as director of the women and gender studies program at Drake University. The longtime professor has been

heralded for a few bodies of work: The Body Is No Machine and In the Human Zoo. Perrine’s latest work, a collection of poems called No Confession, No Mass, is what she read from during her campus visit on April 28.

The works address gender discrimination, violent sex crimes, and other difficult issues, and received the 2014 Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry.

“The questions students asked had a great way of building off one another,” said Perrine, regarding the Q&A that took place afterward.

“I could tell that the audience members were listening not just to me but also to each other.”

Before concluding, the accomplished poet left students with a few words of wisdom.

“No one will check in with you to find out why you’re not writing, so you have to create your own accountability,” she stressed. “Treat it like an opportunity to learn, or like a chance to socialize with your characters — whatever it takes to motivate you to keep returning to it over and over again.”

Kicking off the Major Author Reading Series in February, Brandy Wilson read from her breakout novel, The Palace Blues, and was just as impressed with the inquisitive students as they were with her lively retelling.

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Model UN Team Wins Big at NYC Conference

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HROUGHOUT THE PAST TWO DECADES, the College’s Model United Nations (UN) team has not only learned how the UN works but also has achieved repeated success at the bi-annual conferences in New York City and Washington, D.C. At the world’s largest UN simulation in New York City, the spring 2016 conference was no different than other years with the Jaspers receiving a Distinguished Delegation Award.

In late March, the Jasper team of 18 gathered along with more than 5,000 college students from around the world to represent the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and two additional students represented Russia on the Security Council. As the team tackled issues on behalf of the UAE, they worked to resolve many topics consisting of: Cyber Security and Protecting against Cyber Warfare; Efforts to Control Weapons of Mass Destruction; Financing for Development; Strengthening Rural Education; and Effects of Terrorism on

the Enjoyment of Human Rights.

Pamela Chasek, Ph.D., professor and chair of the government department, and director of the Model UN program, mentored the team during the conference. In fact, Chasek introduced the keynote speaker Olav Kjørven, director of UNICEF’s Public Partnerships Division, during the opening ceremony and also participated in one of the delegate seminars.

In addition, three pairs of students were recognized with Outstanding Position Paper Awards for papers submitted in advance of the conference. The student teams and paper topics were: Marissa Schmidt ’17 and Margaret Kavanagh ’16 (United Nations Environment Programme); Syed Shabab ’16 and David Suthar ’16 (General Assembly Second Committee); and Kevin Nickels ’16 and Mahamoud Diop ’17 (Russia on Security Council).

Nickels and Diop represented Russia at the conference and also received an Outstanding Delegation Peer Award.

Transforming Borders on and off Campus

JUST DOWN THE HILL FROM CAMPUS is the No. 1 subway stop and one of the entrances to Van Cortlandt Park. Currently, the chain-linked fence entrance leaves much to be desired and is not exactly a welcoming site to visitors. But that’s all about to change thanks to the help of some persistent Manhattan students — the fence will be removed and redesigned as part of a Parks Without Borders initiative.

Launched in late 2015 by New York City

Parks, Parks Without Borders was created to fund city park capital projects and remove or lower fences, enhance park entrances, edges and spaces next to city parks. Supported by the Mayoral OneNYC $40 million funding campaign, Parks Without Borders created an online survey, through which New Yorkers could nominate any neighborhood park. Van Cortlandt Park was one of the parks selected for transformation, along with seven other locations in New York City.

In early 2016, President Brennan O’Donnell, a member of the Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy board, alerted Student Engagement to the initiative, who then assisted in spreading the word to encourage students to vote for Manhattan’s neighborhood park. The initiative was presented at a Student Government meeting and also frequently promoted on social media.

“Van Cortlant received more than 260, the most votes of any park in the Bronx, to win this nomination. We reached out to all the athletic leagues and park user groups for their help in getting the word out to vote,” says Margot Perron, administrator/president of the Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy. “We are especially grateful to the Manhattan College community for further reaching out through its social media networks to help make this happen.”

In the coming months, the redesign of the Van Cortlandt Park entrance at 242nd Street will begin with a planning phase at a local scoping meeting to allow for input from the community. The final design will take approximately three to four years to complete.

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Two Alumni Join Trustees

JOHN DESMARAIS ’85 and JAMES MOTHERWAY ’83 are the newest members of Manhattan College’s board of trustees.

Desmarais is the founding partner of Desmarais LLP, a New York intellectual property law firm focused on litigation of complex, technology-driven disputes. He is also a founding member of Round Rock Research, LLC and SoundView Innovations, LLC, patent-holding companies he formed to license the technology they own.

With more than 25 years of experience in patent law and intellectual property litigation, Desmarais has been recognized for several significant trademark and patent dispute wins, including one of the largest jury verdicts of all time — a $1.53 billion award for Alcatel-Lucent vs. Microsoft in 2007. He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Manhattan College, where he graduated magna cum laude and earned the chemical engineering medal. He received his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1988.

Motherway is a managing director and global head of audit at BlackRock, Inc., a global investment management firm based in New York City. Founded in 1988 initially as a risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager, with more than $4.5 trillion in assets under management.

Prior to joining BlackRock in 2011, Motherway spent six years with Bank of America as senior vice president and general auditor. He graduated magna cum laude from Manhattan College with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and went on to earn an MBA in finance from Columbia Business School in 1990. A certified public accountant, he currently serves on the Manhattan College School of Business advisory board and is a business mentor for students.

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Oh Captain, My Captain A CENTURY AND A HALF AGO, a group of cerebral students established the College’s first cultural society, the De La Salle Literary Club. Membership was awarded to seriousminded scholars admitted on literary merit, which eventually earned the club a reputation as the most aristocratic of the literary societies.

Ponderously academic and intellectually curious, these erudite young men created a periodical, “which they might not be ashamed to hand down to posterity, and in which too, they might sharpen their wits and whet their pens for the future benefit of society” (Meeting Minutes, 1865). The Album was published in script, not print, and featured contemplative essays, nuanced poems and thoughtful compositions submitted anonymously under creative pseudonyms such as Nemo, Lover of Nature, and Delineator.

By the 1880s, the club adopted the name St. Joseph Literary Union and the Jaspers Literary Union, and continued to publish The Album until 1884, when it was disbanded.

The College’s first cultural society, the De La Salle Literary Club, pictured here in 1873, had a reputation for being the most aristocratic of literary societies due to its strict policy of only admitting serious-minded scholars with literary distinctions.

Innovative Jaspers Impress the Judges

EXTRAORDINARY IDEAS OFTEN COME FROM EVERYDAY PROBLEMS. That was a key takeaway at Manhattan College’s 2016 Innovation Contest, where the two winners, Megan McKee ’17 and Daniel Hey ’19, drew inspiration from their own frustrations.

The competition, now in its third year, invites teams of students from across the College to pitch their ideas and business startups to a panel of faculty, alumni and entrepreneurs — a format familiar to fans of ABC’s reality show Shark Tank.

Selected teams presented their business plans in March, vying for the grand prize of $250. And for the first year ever, there were two winners: one in the category of business, and the other for social responsibility.

McKee, a double major in marketing and global business, won the social category for her Global Aid Kit, designed to encourage the ease of consumer preparedness. Each kit provides small, TSA-approved items to address the specific needs of a traveler based on his or her destination. For instance, a traveler going to Africa will have a kit that includes DEET insect repellent, water purification tablets, and oral rehydration packets.

As a thrill-seeking globetrotter, she has often found herself spending exorbitant amounts of time and money visiting doctors and purchasing over-the-counter medications abroad. Even if she remembered everything, luggage space was always an issue.

“I figured, there has to be a simpler, more convenient way,” McKee says. “Packing is stressful enough as it is, and it’s so common to over-

look important necessities. Extensive research and analysis is making it possible for these kits to take into consideration the needs of each individual traveler’s destination and activity level.”

Finance major Hey won the business category for his mobile app Angel Ventures. It brings angel investors — those who provide financial backing for small startups or entrepreneurs — to the mobile world, so virtually anyone with a smartphone can invest in earlystage startup companies before they go public.

“The inspiration came from the fact that I plan on being a venture capitalist and/or an entrepreneur once I graduate,” Hey says, noting that it’s difficult for young investors to get their ideas noticed. “Earlier during my first semester, I wanted to think of an idea that combined these two fields, and that is when I thought of Angel Ventures.”

Both Hey and McKee plan to put their winnings toward developing their products. However, the feedback they received from the judges may prove to be even more valuable.

“It was a great opportunity to receive critical feedback on my progress thus far,” McKee says.

“I got to see how the judges reacted to the different styles of presenters, and I think that will help me going forward if I do have to present again,” Hey adds.

What’s their advice to future entrepreneurs?

“The best ideas are the ones that come to you naturally,” Hey says, noting that it’s best to jot down ideas — however small — that come to you immediately. “Start thinking about it in terms of marketability and the business model with any idea you have. It’s during this that you’ll discover the flaws and the viability of the idea, and if you want to pursue it, first make sure it doesn’t exist already. Then create a business summary you can show someone else for feedback.”

“Be driven; be competitive,” McKee advises. “There are no participation trophies in the real world — success is earned, not given. Never take no as an answer from someone who doesn’t have the same vision and beliefs. Stay humble, prove them wrong, and know the world doesn’t owe you anything.”

At the College’s 2016 Innovation Contest, Megan McKee ’17 and Daniel Hey ’19 took the top spots for their business plans, which they presented in March. It was the first time, at the third annual event, that there were two winners.

McKee impressed the Shark Tank-like panel in the social responsibility category with her Global Aid Kit idea, while Hey wowed them with his mobile app, Angel Ventures.

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LASALLIANLOOK

Students Learn Leadership and Unity in Mexico City

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WEEKLONG TRIP TO MEXICO CITY this summer strengthened the Jasper bond between Alannah Boyle ’18, Hunter Brea ’19, Patrick Estanbouli ’18 and Patrick Faccas ’17, who, as a team, devised a plan to unite all Lasallian universities in the U.S. While attending the fifth International Lasallian Leadership and Global Understanding Program, held from July 3-16, the Manhattan foursome designed a logo to be shared by similar faith-based institutions. Colored red, white and blue to highlight the French heritage of our patron saint, John Baptist de La Salle and centered by a Lasallian star, the symbol was created for a project that drove home the conference’s overall themes: leadership and collaboration within the greater Catholic higher education community.

“We realized there was no real way to distinguish Lasallian universities in the U.S., and we thought this one would be really helpful in setting these groups apart,” says Faccas, whose team began talks with the Manhattan administration in the fall to implement the logo here and at other colleges.

Eventually, they hope to employ it around the world.

Faccas was one of nearly 30 students from the U.S., Brazil, Colombia, France and other countries to participate in the conference, which is attended each year by the College and took place at the Universidad La Salle Cuernavaca. Brother Jack Curran ’80, FSC, Ph.D., and Hayden Greene, the College’s director of multicultural affairs, served as instructors of the program, and helped to organize, among other things, a spirituality workshop that encouraged groups to act out, sing or play a game telling the story of De La Salle. This was one of several activities enjoyed by conference attendees.

“During their week in Mexico City, our students represented the College extremely well. They personified the teachings of our patron saint, John Baptist de La Salle, whose legacy reminds us of the importance of building a community built on faith,” said Br. Jack, after his return home to the U.S. Faccas, who snapped thousands of photographs of Mexico City, found that the trip laid a solid foundation for the person he wants to be in the future.

“It was a wonderful discovery of myself and the life I want to build with Lasallian values in my heart,” he says.

(Counter-clockwise) Brother Jack Curran, FSC, Ph.D., leads a group activity at the Tetela Retreat House in Cuernavaca, Mexico, during the fifth International Lasallian Leadership and Global Understanding Program held in July. The Jasper delegation designs a logo based on the conference’s themes of leadership and collaboration. Patrick Faccas ’17 bonds with a fellow college student at Universidad La Salle Cuernavaca, which hosted the international conference. Students take in the sites and visit the Aztec temples in Tenochtitlan during the weeklong trip.

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COURSE SPOTLIGHT

Microeconomics (ECON 203) Course Description: FEWER THAN 20 MILES FROM WALL STREET, Manhattan College students are learning to compete in one of the world’s largest financial capitals.

In Microeconomics (ECON 203), taught by Natalia Boliari, Ph.D., assistant professor of economics, students begin to learn ways of looking at the world from an economic standpoint. The course focuses on the behavior of individual decision-makers, such as consumers and firms, and analyzes different market structures through scientific method and empirical testing.

Once students are comfortable with these skills, they explore opportunities for trade between states and other countries. After comparing national and global markets, students apply game theory to create interactive, real-world economic situations that test their knowledge. Microeconomics offers students a thorough understanding of the effect of everyday actions, even as small as buying and selling goods, and provides them the experience they need to make better economic choices in the future.

Text: Daron Acemoglu, David Laibson, and John A. List, Microeconomics MyEconLab with Pearson eText Access Card Lectures: Tuesday and Friday, 11-12:15 p.m. and 12:30-1:45 p.m.

Professor: Natalia Boliari, Ph.D. About the Professor: Since 2009, Boliari has shared her love for economics and finance with her students at Manhattan College.

She has taught a variety of courses about micro and macroeconomics, the economics of public issues, and money and banking. Her current academic interests focus on the roles of institutions and policymaking in the context of advanced economies. Boliari also is currently doing research on international trade and the formation and impacts of regional trading agreements. She has an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Carleton University.

Engineers Behind the Wheel and Under the Dash

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INCE MANHATTAN’S MINI BAJA CLUB FIRST STARTED ON CAMPUS IN 1993, students have had the opportunity to join and build an off-road car. At the end of the academic year, Jasper Racing tests its vehicle’s ability at the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Baja competition.

“It gives you a real-world perspective of a challenging engineering project from the very beginning to the end,” says Devon Keane ’16, a master’s student in mechanical engineering. “We learned how to budget, spend our finances and fundraise, the importance of professional engineering design, analysis, manufacturing and assembling, and testing. Realistically, every discipline of engineering was covered with the team working together.”

In early June, the 2015-2016 team brought their car to Rochester Institute of Technology and Hogback Hill Motocross and tested its ability at SAE’s 2016 World Challenge. The four days of racing on rough terrain included hill and rock climbs, a fourhour endurance race, and acceleration and maneuverability challenges.

“The project teaches the students how to work as a team and how to plan a project with the constraints that all engineers have to face in a real manufacturing environment,” says Graham Walker, Ph.D., adviser to the Mini Baja club and professor of mechanical engineering.

According to SAE, “the goal is to design and build a single-seat, allterrain, sporting vehicle whose structure contains the driver.”

Not only are teams tasked with building the vehicle but also they plan and create a sales pitch to present to judges and have their design accepted for manufacture by a fictitious company.

“This year’s Baja SAE vehicle had one major innovation, a progressive

gearbox, which had five forward gears and a reverse gear,” Walker adds. “This was innovative in that most Baja vehicles use some combination of a continuously variable transmission (CVT).”

The Manhattan team designed and built for the first time a fivespeed transmission (shifter mechanism, reverse-capability transmission) vs. the traditional CVT, while Briggs & Stratton Corporation donated the 10-horsepower Intek Model 19 engine. The team also created the suspension, brake system, and computer system to digitally determine each gear position.

In the past, the team has created CVT designs, which have a higher risk for engine stalls during the competition. This year, they stepped outside the box and designed a manual transmission with reverse gears. The team also utilized the College’s 3-D printer to design an aluminum gear case for the changeable gearbox.

“What was so unique about the semi-automatic transmission was that it provided our team with so much versatility,” Keane says. “The driver had the ability to select the proper gear ratio depending on the driving conditions present.”

After the four days of races, the team walked away with a score of 15 out of 15 on their format portion of the cost analysis report. They received an overall position of 89th and placed 64th for the design report and sales presentation.

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Out of Africa

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IX COLLEGE STUDENTS and a professor Fueled by the success of the ventured to Ghana, West Africa, this summer, Ghana trip, Clark is working with chartering a new course for Manhattan’s Study the College’s Study Abroad office to Abroad program. The two weeks they spent there, plan a return to Africa in 2017, this under the direction of Jawanza Clark, Ph.D., associate time to Cape Town, South Africa. professor of religious studies, marked an important “I want to drum up support for trip for the College — its first to the continent. study abroad and expand the interClark, who studied at the Institute of African est in the program among our stuStudies, a research institute at the University of Ghana dents,” he says.

Legon, while completing his doctoral dissertation at Allison Vaccaro ’18, an educaEmory University, was instrumental in planning the tion major who traveled to Ghana overseas course. this summer, fulfilled a lifelong His research at Manhattan College centers on Afrigoal by accompanying her classcan theology and Black liberation, as does his teaching. mates to the continent.

Particularly influential was a course he taught in the “It’s been my dream to come to fall of 2013 on African Christianity.

Africa for as long as I can remem“That experience convinced me that Manhattan ber, and the experience exceeded students would be better served if such a class was every expectation,” she says. taught in Africa as a study abroad course,” Clark “Everything I saw, and everything I remembers. learned in Ghana was completely He also elaborated on how RELS 300 came to fruidifferent than what you’d learn in tion. In August 2015, Clark attended a conference in a classroom.”

Pretoria, South Africa, where he connected with renowned Ghanaian religious studies professor, Kofi Asare Opoku. Opoku, along with Michael Williams, executive director of the Aya Centre, was essential to making the class a reality. The Aya Centre is an organization that works with international groups to tailor site visits to the religious theme of the course.

During their two weeks in Ghana, the Manhattan students traveled to Accra, its capital city, as well as to Cape Coast and Kumasi. There, they saw two slave castles from the 15th and 16th centuries, Elmina Castle and Cape Coast Castle, which left them with haunting first impressions, as they stood where thousands of Africans unwillingly entered and never returned.

The Manhattan College group also spent a day in the rural village of Krofu. After being warmly welcomed by the chief and elders of the village, they met with a classroom of middle school students, with whom they exchanged Ghanaian and American nursery rhymes. Clark hopes to establish a sponsorship with the school in the near future, noting that the students there are in need of hundreds of educational books and supplies.

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On a new study abroad trip to Ghana, West Africa, six Jaspers spent much of their time in the capital city of Accra, and had the opportunity to visit several historic sites, including Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park. Sarah Caruso ’17 and Alex Ligay ’19 play with the some of the children after visiting a classroom in Krofu, a small rural village in West Africa, where they met the village elders and sang nursery rhymes with the students.

Prospective Students Survey College Programs Amid Scenic City Views TWO ALUMNI PAID A VISIT THIS SPRING to the midtown office of Mutual of America Life Insurance Company, a space that also serves as its global headquarters. One had a degree in business and the other in liberal arts, and both spoke at a twilight reception on April 19 for students accepted into the the Schools of Liberal Arts and Business.

First to take the stage was Bernadette Kelly-Finch ’95, now an executive director at Morgan Stanley. She, like Christopher Gorman ’05, who spoke later about his role in the marketing and external relations department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, shared her experiences before, during and after College.

Addressing high school seniors who attended the New York City reception, Kelly-Finch began with a throwback to her own childhood. The oldest of four children growing up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, she had no prior insight into the college application process. As such, she’d requested just three things of her dream school: it needed to possess a reputation for excellence, a ranking in U.S. News & World Report, and it had to be a place where her opinions and ideas mattered. Manhattan College had all three.

“I visited, and it just felt like home,” recalled Kelly-Finch, who majored in management at the College before working her way up to high-level positions at JPMorgan Chase & Co., and the Bank of Ireland. She’s now a top administrator at Morgan Stanley, which has corporate offices across the world.

Circling back to her teenage years, Kelly-Finch closed her address with a piece of advice she received in high school from a boy who was, at the time, a current Manhattan student.

He was wearing a College sweatshirt and said, “Manhattan College is one of the best schools out there, and I guarantee you’re going to love it.”

Next to address prospective Jaspers, who attended the April event to meet faculty members from the Schools of Business and Liberal Arts, was Gorman. The former government major now works at The Met as manager of marketing and external relations. Before that, he was an undergrad traveling into Manhattan on the No. 1 train.

“Manhattan College became my portal for understanding the city. Without it, I wouldn’t have had the skills to go out into the world,” he told the audience at the event, which was hosted by Tom Moran ’74, chairman of the board of Mutual of America.

In his address to the group, Provost William Clyde, Ph.D., spoke similarly about that connection.

“New York City is a real part of the educational experience of our students. I like to say we have a 30-acre main campus and a million-acre extended campus that our students visit for

internships, cultural events, service experiences and, many, ultimately for jobs,” he said.

But students don’t always need to hop on the No. 1 train for those opportunities, though it’s definitely a convenient option from the nearby 242nd Street-Van Cortlandt Park MTA Terminal. The city also comes to them by way of on-campus speaker series, alumni panels and other functions. Companies with city offices regularly participate in recruiting events held in Riverdale.

Being reminded of these and other resources — in a midtown high-rise building, no less — underscored the reception’s purpose: to inspire potential Jaspers to join the Manhattan College community, and with the experiences and knowledge that come along with its membership, create a legacy all of their own.

Dylan McLaughlin ’16 describes his experience in the College’s School of Business to Adam Maldonado ’20, an accepted student who participated in the College’s reception for liberal arts and business students, held at Mutual of America’s midtown headquarters.

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Racking up the Rankings Manhattan continues to be a consistent presence among the nation’s top resources for college rankings. Below is a roundup of the latest lists and standings.

Money Money magazine ranks Manhattan College No. 3 on its list of the 50 colleges that add the most value.

Five years after graduation, Manhattan College alumni earn an average salary of $58,000, which is 32 percent higher than similar schools, and more than $7,500 higher than the averages reported by graduates of nearby schools, such as New York University and Fordham University.

In addition, Manhattan College is the top Catholic school on the list of colleges that add the most value. The magazine also notes that 92 percent of Manhattan students receive financial aid with 67 percent of students receiving need-based aid, based on sources including the U.S. Department of Education, Peterson’s PayScale.com, and Money/College Measures calculations.

Within the publication, current Manhattan College students said: “I have so many resources here,” and “the internships given out are helpful for finding a career and being inspired to work toward specific jobs in the future.”

PayScale In PayScale’s annual College Return on Investment Report, the College snags the top spot among Catholic colleges for earning potential and career readiness upon graduation. Manhattan ranked in the top six percent, 30th among private colleges and universities, and 55th among the 962 schools included in the list.

Manhattan College’s 20-year net return on investment is $615,000, calculated as the difference between the 20-year median pay for a bachelor’s degree graduate and 24-year median pay for a high school graduate minus the total four-year cost.

The survey found that graduates of the College are working in a number of different fields, including the consulting, engineering services, and telecommunications industries. A large chunk of alumni are employed in the civil engineering services industry; in fact, it is the most popular job sector for this population. Following graduation, Jaspers earn a typical median mid-career salary (10-plus years of experience in their field) of $112,000.

Forbes Manhattan College ranks among the top 100 colleges in the United States on Forbes’ list of Best Value Colleges 2016: The 300 Schools Worth the Investment.

The College placed seventh among all Catholic colleges and universities across the country, and is among the top 50 schools in the Northeast region. Manhattan jumped more than 100 places from its

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previous rank of 198 in the nation to place 97th in the 2016 survey.

The Forbes list incorporates data from multiple sources, including the Brookings Institution and PayScale. Tuition costs, school quality, graduation success rates and post-graduate earnings are among the data points considered when Forbes completes its ranking system.

U.S. News & World Report Manhattan College ranks No. 15 among the best regional universities in the North, according to U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges 2017 listings. Manhattan moves up two spots from last year and has rated among the top 20 out of 138 schools ranked in the category for the last decade.

For the second straight year, the College is recognized as an attractive college for veteran students, rated eighth among 52 regional universities in the North. Last year, Manhattan ranked 13th among best colleges for veterans in the first year U.S. News ranked colleges within the category.

Manhattan College also achieved high marks in graduation rate performance, exceeding its predicted graduation rate for the entering class of 2009 and graduating seven percent more students than anticipated. U.S. News also highlighted the College’s 13:1 student to faculty ratio and increased first-year student retention rate.

In addition, the College’s School of Engineering was recognized in the Best in Undergraduate Engineering category. This ranking is based on surveys of engineering deans and senior faculty at undergraduate engineering programs accredited by ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology).

The Princeton Review Manhattan College is one of the nation’s best institutions for undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review. The education services company features the College in the new 2017 edition of its flagship college guide, The Best 381 Colleges.

Only about 15 percent of America’s 2,500 four-year colleges are profiled in the book, which is one of The Princeton Review’s most popular guides. Published annually since 1992, it includes detailed profiles of the colleges with rating scores for all schools in eight categories, plus ranking lists of top 20 schools in the book in 62 categories based on The Princeton Review’s surveys of students attending the colleges.

In its profile on Manhattan, The Princeton Review praises the College for its “internationally recognized faculty, sought-after leaders and real-world consultants in their fields.”

The Princeton Review does not rank the colleges from 1 to 381 in any category. Instead, the lists are entirely based on its survey of 143,000 students.

Celebrating a Scholar and a Legacy

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N MAY, THE UPSILON OF NEW YORK CHAPTER OF PHI BETA KAPPA announced that Paulina Ochoa-Figueroa ’17 received an inaugural scholarship in honor of the late Brother Francis Bowers, FSC, former Manhattan College provost and dean of the School of Arts and Sciences.

A native of New Rochelle, N.Y., Ochoa-Figueroa is a Spanish major who was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in the spring of 2016 and is a member of Sigma Delta Pi, the College’s Spanish Honor Society.

She spent the 2016 spring semester in Madrid, with the assistance of the Major John H. Mark ’00 Scholarship. During her time in Madrid, Ochoa-Figueroa worked for Caritas, the official confederation of the social and charitable action organizations of the Catholic Church in Spain.

A founding member of Manhattan’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter, Br. Francis spent 54 years at the College before he passed away in December 2013. During his time at Manhattan, Br. Francis served as associate professor of English and world literature, chair of the graduate and undergraduate English departments, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, provost and academic vice president of the College, and academic adviser for intercollegiate athletics.

“Br. Francis exemplified the value of a liberal arts education,” says Jennifer Edwards, Ph.D., chair of the history department. “This is an ideal way to celebrate his legacy and memory.”

LECTURE CIRCUIT

Discussing the Future of Borders

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HE BORDER CONFLICTS in Israel and Palestine, Syria and Turkey, as well as the U.S. and Mexico, created context for this year’s Peace Week theme. The annual Peace Week lecture series concluded with The Responsibility to Protect and the Future of Borders presented in March by Sim­on Adams, Ph.D. Every year, the Peace Studies department presents a week of lectures that are centered on a relevant topic. This year is also significant because it marks the 50th anniversary of the Peace Studies department at Manhattan.

Adams is executive director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect. The Australian human rights leader is a member of the United Nations Security Council, as well as the General Assembly and Human Rights Council. He’s also authored four books involving international conflict, and has written for The New York Times, The Australian, Huffington Post, and The International Herald Tribune. His lecture focused on the topic of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and international law. The responsibility to protect

was affirmed by the United Nations at the 2005 World Summit and is a global political commitment to prevent mass crimes against humanity, including genocide, war crimes and ethnic cleansing.

The Global Centre is the leading organization for the Responsibility to Protect, a global commitment supported by all member states of the United Nations. Among other duties, the group advises governments, monitors tragic atrocities in the world, and advocates with policymakers to promote a strengthening of international peace. Adams discussed his work advocating for the Central African Republic (CAR), a country that most ambassadors would have trouble finding on a map if its location was not in the name. The population of CAR has been monitored by the Global Centre since 2013, when that country’s president, François Bozizé, was overthrown by a Muslim rebel alliance.

The necessity to see the world without borders was stressed by Adams. The Global Centre promotes the international movement for human rights that will continue to

improve peace and quality of life, especially for CAR. Adams believes in the “Spiderman Theory” of international relations, that with great power comes great responsibility. He stated how politicians and governments tend to have a bias toward short-term solutions when it comes to certain conflicts. The Global Centre aims to transform the way that countries support each other to get to a point of equality without borders.

The lecture series continued with an open Q&A session from students. Students asked Adams questions about how he is personally able to cope with the tragedies he encounters, given that it’s the nature of his career.

He answered that compartmentalizing is necessary — the ability to separate the devastation in one part of his life, from his own personal experiences. Reflecting on that devastation, Adams left the audience with an important parting message.

“We have to protect individuals, not those who abuse them,” he said.

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LECTURE CIRCUIT

Understanding the Terror Attacks in France A NEW YORK CITY EDUCATOR whose career has been largely defined by her study of French culture came to campus in March to discuss the terror attacks that devastated the French people last year.

Catherine Raissiguier, Ph.D., a women and gender studies professor at Hunter College, began her talk with a disclaimer: that to understand the Charlie Hebdo shooting on Jan. 9, 2015, as well as Al-Qaeda’s attacks on multiple Parisian venues in November, it’s necessary to learn about the country’s history.

“If I cannot answer any questions, I at least want to raise points for debate,” she opened the lecture by stating.

From there, Raissiguier addressed the issues that have plagued France for generations, such as identity crisis, gender and race discrimination. These are topics featured in Reinventing the Republic: Gender, Migration, and Citizenship in France, a book that she published in 2010.

She then spoke about the Charlie Hebdo shooting, which took the lives of several cartoonists at the satirical newspaper, as well as its publisher. The longtime weekly was targeted in January of 2015 for its parody of Muhammad — the depiction of whom is forbidden by some followers of the Islamic faith.

Raissiguier, who went to college in France before moving to the U.S., explained that Charlie’s acid humor, irreverence and frankness in its portrayal of all religions are characteristic of a Franco-French humor that’s existed since the 1970s. But as newcomers move into the country and its original audience fades away, its intention and various digs often get lost in translation.

“There is nothing sacred, not religion, not political figures, and you’re supposed to laugh at everything,” she says of the humor depicted in Charlie cartoons.

Fast-forward to Nov. 13, 2015, when 130 French people and tourists were killed and hundreds more wounded in a series of coordinated shootings led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). That evening, a sports stadium just north of Paris, and the Bataclan Theater, a popular music venue in the city, were attacked, as well as several cafes and restaurants.

Given these tragic events, Raissiguier stressed the need for France and countries all across the world, for that matter, to embrace the idea of community and tolerate all races and faith groups.

This lecture was sponsored by the Modern Languages and Literatures, History, and Sociology departments. The student organization, JustPeace, also helped to organize the event.

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A tribute to Charlie Hebdo victims at Place de la République in Paris in January.

LECTURE CIRCUIT

Leading Scholar of Asian Feminist Theology Enlightens

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FIFTH FLOOR MEETING ROOM IN THE KELLY COMMONS was filled to capacity in March with students waiting to meet a woman described by Manhattan College religious studies professor Michele Saracino, Ph.D., as “a tour de force in the theology field.”

She’s talking about Kwok Pu Lan, Ph.D., a leading scholar of Asian feminist theology who spoke at this year’s Judith Plaskow Lecture on Women and Religion. Her talk, entitled Asian Theology, Feminism, and Postcolonial Criticism, was part of an annual event at the College and focused on the role of women in our society, predominantly in the second half of the 20th century. She also discussed the subject of Chinese people in general, and how their place in the world changed during that period.

Lan, the William F. Cole Professor of Christian Theology and Spirituality at the Episcopal Divinity School in Massachusetts, began studying religion in the early 1970s.

This is when she learned and, subsequently, identified with, the teachings of Taiwanese theologian C.S. Song, who said God’s influence could be seen in all cultures, not just Western ones.

Throughout history, women have viewed the Virgin Mary as a role model, Lan explained. This cornerstone of Asian Feminist Theology connects to the idea of postcolonial imagination, which ties a culture’s perspective on God and his teachings to its collective traditions and experiences.

For instance, a woman in Brazil might picture the Virgin Mary looking a certain way, whereas one in Italy might envision her differently.

As for her own role model, Lan looks to Judith Plaskow, Ph.D., the Manhattan College professor emerita for whom the speaker series is named. Founded in 2012, the Judith Plaskow Lecture on Women and Religion invites experts in the field to speak on gender and religion, religion and globalization, and religion and multiculturalism.

Lan, who served previously as president of the American Academy of Religion, recalls how star-struck she was meeting Plaskow for the first time. Twenty-five years later, she sent the famed theologian a picture she snapped of their first interaction as a token of gratitude for the achievements she’d made in women and religious studies.

But Lan has accumulated her own career achievements. Since 2000, she’s published a number of books, including Introducing Asian Feminist Theology and Postcolonial Imagination and Feminist Theology. Lan also co-edited two groundbreaking volumes, Empire and the Christian Tradition: New Readings of Classical Theologians and Off the Menu: Asian and Asian North American Women’s Religion and Theology.

In her lecture on Asian Theology, Feminism and Postcolonial Criticism, leading theology scholar, Kwok Pu Lan, Ph.D., referenced the Virgin Mary and how various cultures view her differently, based on their collective traditions and experiences.

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SPORTS

New Athletics Director Scores Another First

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HIRTY-FOUR YEARS AFTER GRADUATING from Manhattan College, former women’s basketball player Marianne Reilly ’82 has found herself right back in Draddy Gymnasium. Her role as a Jasper has come full circle — the first woman to be inducted into Manhattan College’s Athletic Hall of Fame, Reilly is now the College’s first female director of intercollegiate athletics.

Reilly didn’t go far, geographically, in the time she spent away from Manhattan College. She spent the majority of her professional career just across the Bronx at Fordham University. Upon graduating from Manhattan, Reilly spent two years as an assistant

Marianne Reilly ’82 continues to break ground at the College, initially as a member of the first women’s basketball varsity team, then as the first woman to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, and now as the first female director of intercollegiate athletics.

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women’s basketball coach for the Rams before landing the head coaching job at the College of Mount Saint Vincent. After two seasons with the Dolphins, Reilly took another trip across the Bronx back to Fordham, where she would spend the next 30 years.

It was upon this return that she began her transition to the administrative side of sports, and was given the title of assistant director of the Lombardi Center. When asked why she chose to make this transition, Reilly describes working as an administrator as a combination of teaching, athletics and business, with the added benefit of spending less time on the road.

“This is the best blend of teaching and lesson planning while still being involved with athletics,” Reilly explains.

“It combines the two really well, where I’m home based. I still travel, but I have my staff and coaches to mentor and work with back on campus.”

She spent six years in that position, where she oversaw intramural and club teams, scheduling for the center and managing its staff. In 1993, she became the assistant athletic director for compliance and senior woman administrator for the athletic department, and was responsible for academic compliance and eligibility. In 1996, Reilly was named senior associate athletic director, where she spent the next 20 years developing Fordham’s NCAA compliance program and certifying academic eligibility; leading Fordham’s life skills program; and serving as the primary sport administrator to several successful intercollegiate programs.

In her time as an athletic administrator, Reilly has used the skills she obtained while playing and coaching to sculpt how she approaches her career.

“As an administrator, it is extremely important to understand the strong influence a coach has on a student-athlete’s life,” Reilly says. “That has resonated with me throughout my career and has influenced many of my career decisions. As a coach, I was extremely sensitive to the fact that I was coaching young adults, and they were in very formative years of development ... and when I became an administrator, I wanted our coaches to understand that they are role models who are instrumental in the development of their studentathletes on and off the field and in life after college.”

This is just what she plans to do for the student-

Women’s Basketball Has a New Coach athletes at Manhattan College — ensure that they have great experiences in their years as Jaspers, just as she did. While Reilly had a positive experience playing for Manhattan, she recalled some struggles she faced as a part of the school’s first varsity women’s basketball program.

Having just made the transition from a club team to a varsity program, the women had to face questions from classmates in other established sport programs about sharing resources within the department. While the team was successful on a local level, they shortly faced powerhouse teams such as Rutgers and Duke, suffering lopsided losses. While Reilly could choose to think of these experiences as difficult moments in her basketball career, she instead used them as lessons and motivations.

“Those moments helped me to prepare to accept challenges in my life,” Reilly says.

“To learn how to get through those difficult moments, to handle wins and losses gracefully, to speak up and not just sit on issues of concern while learning to work in a team setting — all of those are transferrable skills in any career you choose.”

Reilly returns home to Riverdale for the challenge of putting her own stamp on a place she knows and loves. Some may question why she did not make this move earlier in her career, and Reilly will tell you that timing is everything.

While working at Fordham, she was the primary caregiver for her aging parents. She often would have dinner and check in on them and return for evening games back on campus. After her father passed away seven years ago, she knew it was time to redefine herself, and what better place to do it then at the College that made her the person she is. Reilly is excited about the opportunity and has plans to elevate Manhattan College athletics.

“We have to review our programs and outline the resources that are needed to be consistently successful in the MAAC Conference,” she says.

“We will be strategic as we plan the infrastructure for success because our goal is for our student-athletes to have a rewarding academic and athletic experience at Manhattan.”

BECOMING HEAD BASKETBALL COACH of a Division I college is the career goal Heather Vulin always wanted to achieve. It took her from the Midwest, where she played with many successes at MinnesotaMorris University, to the East Coast, where she made a few detours before landing at Manhattan. On April 25, Vulin officially became the College’s fifth-ever head coach of the women’s basketball program, and has already gotten more than she bargained for.

“The opportunity to work at a place as special as Manhattan College has fulfilled a lifelong dream of mine to not only be a Division I head coach but to be at a place that values people and prepares them to be the best version of themselves by the time they graduate,” Vulin says.

She comes to the College with 16 years of coaching experience at the college level. A year after graduating from Minnesota-Morris, Vulin served as a graduate assistant under Hall of Fame coach Amy Ruley at nearby North Dakota State. The two seasons she spent there, beginning in 2000, would ultimately prove to be a career-changing and life-altering move.

Vulin was offered and accepted a position as an assistant coach at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., more than 1,300 miles away from her family, and the only basketball landscape she ever knew.

It was a match made in heaven, as the Pioneers won often. Just two years after she arrived, head coach Ed Swanson promoted Vulin to recruiting coordinator, giving her free reign to shape a roster that would win two Northeast Conference titles, highlighted by the 2008-2009 squad that posted a perfect regular season record in league play en route to the championship.

During this breakthrough moment in her coaching career, she achieved something bigger than any title. She met her future husband. Kevin Vulin had just returned home to coach at Sacred Heart (his alma mater) for the men’s basketball team. The two began dating and the rest, they say, is history — the couple now has two children, Jack (5) and Ava (2).

While Connecticut was a memorable stop on her journey, it wasn’t her final destination, so Vulin took another assistant coaching position at Villanova in the Big East in 2008. She helped the Wildcats return to the NCAA Tournament in 2009 and 2013, before moving on to Virginia Tech in the ACC for the 2015-16 season.

After helping the Hokies improve their win total by seven games, it was time to move again, and this time that place would be Riverdale.

Here, she’s excited to contribute to the illustrious Jasper sports legacy and achieve successes that are all her own.

“I’m excited to build a championship program that will proudly represent Manhattan College on and off the court with student-athletes that will embrace our Lasallian experience.”

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SPORTS

SPORTSSHORTS RYAN IN RIO Manhattan College assistant track and field coach Joe Ryan ’81 was tabbed as head coach of Guyana’s track and field team for the 2016 Rio Olympics. This was Ryan’s third straight Olympics appearance as a member of the Guyanese delegation, and his second as head coach.

He previously served in the role at the 2008 Games in Beijing. Ryan was also Guyana’s head coach at the 2015 World Championships.

NCAA WOMAN OF THE YEAR NOMINATION Recent Manhattan College graduate Elena Bowman ’16 was nominated for the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year Award. She is one of the 517 women nominated for this prestigious award, which honors athletes who have excelled in the classroom, on the field, in helping their community, and in leadership roles.

In her four years on the softball team, she was a three-time First Team All-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) selection.

Bowman finished her career as Manhattan’s all-time leader in games played (198), home runs (52), walks (134) and slugging percentage (.723), while ranking second in RBIs (154). Bowman is also third in hits (201), doubles (38) and runs scored (130).

In addition, Bowman was one of 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS (Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement For Staying in School) Award, which celebrates achievement in the areas of community, classroom, character and competition. She was named Second Team Senior CLASS All-American.

MAAC 35TH ANNIVERSARY TEAM INCLUDES FOUR JASPERS Four former Manhattan College student-athletes representing four different sports were named to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) 35th Anniversary Team for spring sports. Chris Cody ’06 (baseball) and Aliann Pompey ’99 (track and field) represented Manhattan on the first team, while Eugene Tanner ’05 (lacrosse) and Jennifer Drum ’95 (softball) were second team selections.

In 2006, Cody had an impressive 12-2 record pitching for the Jaspers, including a complete game win over No. 6 Nebraska in Manhattan’s first-ever NCAA Tournament win. He also had a 1.42 ERA that season, which was the fourth-lowest in the country. Cody is Manhattan’s career leader in victories (29), complete games (19) and strikeouts (295).

Pompey became Manhattan’s first female national champion when she won the 400 meters at the 2000 NCAA Indoor Championships. She set an NCAA record of 1:09.23 in the 500 meters at the 2000 ECAC Indoor Championships. She represented her native Guyana at four Olympics (2000-2012) and eight World Championships, and was the gold medalist in the 400 at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Tanner is the Jaspers’ career leader in assists (89) and points (186), and ranks second all-time with 98 goals. In 2002, he was named MAAC Rookie of the Year, as the Jaspers went undefeated in conference play and won the MAAC Championship. Tanner was also selected to the All24 N fall 2016

MAAC First Team three times. He scored 51 goals that season, and his average of 3.19 goals per game is still the MAAC single-season record.

Drum was a three-time All-MAAC selection and a three-time MAAC All-Tournament Team honoree, as well as the 1995 MAAC Player of the Year. She ranked second nationally in triples three times and was named First Team All-Northeast Region in 1993. Drum holds the MAAC career records for triples (36) and runs scored (173). She’s also the Jaspers’ all-time leader in hits (243), and is second in program history in batting average (.429), slugging percentage (.700) and total bases (396).

The MAAC recognized 47 student-athletes from its current and former member schools. They join the 49 honorees from fall sports that were announced in January.

SANTISTEBAN BEGINS PRO BASEBALL CAREER WITH TRAVERSE CITY Christian Santisteban ’16, the 2016 MAAC Player of the Year, began his professional career with the Traverse City Beach Bums of the independent Frontier League in Michigan on June 21.

During the 2016 season, Santisteban ranked among the MAAC leaders in batting (.367, second), hits (76, second), doubles (21, third), home runs (7, sixth), RBIs (46, third), on-base percentage (.453, fourth), slugging percentage (.570, fourth) and walks (30, seventh).

Santisteban also earned Collegiate Baseball Louisville Slugger Third Team All-American honors and finished his career sixth in school history with 220 hits and second with 63 doubles to go along with 16 home runs and 121 RBIs. LOUISVILLE SLUGGER FRESHMAN ALL-AMERICAN Fabian Pena ’19, the 2016 MAAC Rookie of the Year, was named to the Collegiate Baseball Louisville Slugger Division I Freshman AllAmerican Team after an outstanding rookie campaign.

Pena, the 2016 MAAC Rookie of the Year, finished his first campaign with Manhattan among the MAAC leaders in batting (.350, fourth), hits (75, third), doubles (22, first), home runs (9, third), RBIs (54, first), total bases (128, first) and slugging percentage (.598, first) while throwing out 51.9 percent (27 of 52) of base runners. He finished his rookie campaign with MAAC All-Tournament Team honors after hitting in all four of the Jaspers’ tournament games, including three multi-hit performances, en route to batting .421 (8 for 19).

GIARRATANA NAMED ONE OF THE TOP 25 FRESHMEN IN COUNTRY Parker Giarratana ’19 was named the 22nd-best freshman by Inside Lacrosse in the publication’s annual Division I Freshmen Rankings.

The unanimous MAAC Rookie of the Year finished third in the league with 2.07 goals per game and ninth with 0.87 assists each time out, becoming just the fifth Jasper to notch at least 30 goals in a season and finishing with 31. He also notched five MAAC Rookie of the Week awards while recording five hat tricks, highlighted by five-score performances at NJIT and Wagner.

DEPARTMENT PROMOTIONS Douglas Straley was promoted to associate athletic director for sports medicine and athletic performance.

Straley, who is in his 13th year at Manhattan, was promoted to assistant athletic director for sports medicine in August 2009, after previously serving as director of sports medicine. A member of the National Athletic Trainers Association and the National Strength and Conditioning Association, Straley is certified as a strength and conditioning specialist, and as an athletic trainer, as well as in CPR and first aid. In addition, he holds certification in Functional Movement Screens and is trained in the Graston Technique.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL STAFF ANNOUNCED Manhattan College head women’s basketball coach Heather Vulin announced that Sahar Nusseibeh, Dominique Bryant and Allie Bassetti will serve as her assistant coaches during her first campaign. Nusseibeh comes to Manhattan from Bowling Green, and Bryant was most recently an assistant at MAAC rival Marist. Bassetti was previously the director of basketball operations at American.

Nusseibeh will serve as the Jaspers’ recruiting coordinator. Prior to her stint at Bowling Green, she completed internships with the WNBA and worked with USA Basketball.

Nusseibeh was a graduate assistant at Cincinnati for two years before serving as an assistant coach at Holy Cross from 2011-13. She played four years at American, graduating in 2009.

Bryant spent three seasons at Marist and helped the Red Foxes make two postseason appearances. She also assisted with recruiting, scouting and film breakdown, as well as coordinating community service events and running Marist’s annual basketball camps. A 2011 graduate of Saint Joseph’s, she was a four-year letter-winner and a two-time team captain for the Hawks.

Bassetti began her collegiate coaching career as an assistant at Rowan, her alma mater, before moving on to American in 2013-14. She was also the head coach of the Philadelphia Belles Nike Travel Team from 2008-12 and practice coordinator for the Philadelphia Belles Amateur Athletic Union squad from 2008-11.

She has also worked as an assistant events coordinator and site director at U.S. junior national tournaments, and been both a clinician and counselor for Blue Star Basketball.

FUNFACTS

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consecutive Olympic appearances for assistant track and field coach Joe Ryan ’81, who served as Guyana’s head coach for the 2016 Rio Games

anniversary of Lou Jones ’54 winning a gold medal in the 4x400-meter relay at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics

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years since the softball team had won 30 games before notching 30 victories during the 2016 season

place for the men’s golf team at the MAAC Championships, equaling the best finish in program history

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career home runs for softball player Elena Bowman ’16, a program record and the second-most in MAAC history

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Manhattan baseball players took part in wood-bat summer leagues

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the rank for Parker Giarratana ’19 of the men’s lacrosse team among all Division I freshmen, according to Inside Lacrosse magazine

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former Jaspers named to the MAAC’s 35th Anniversary All-Time Team for spring sports. Aliann Pompey ’99 (track and field) and Chris Cody ’06 (baseball) were selected to the first team, while Eugene Tanner ’05 (lacrosse) and Jennifer Drum ’95 (softball) represented the College on the second team.

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years of coaching experience for new women’s basketball head coach Heather Vulin. Manhattan is her first head coaching job after stints as an assistant at North Dakota State, Sacred Heart, Villanova and Virginia Tech.

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the score for Ryan Lynch ’18 at the MAAC Golf Championships, which earned him second place individually

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SPORTS

Softball IN 2016, THE SOFTBALL TEAM did something it hadn’t done in 23 years — win 30 games. The Jaspers also set a program record with 14 MAAC victories and earned the No. 2 seed for the MAAC Tournament.

The postseason appearance was Manhattan’s third straight and fifth in seven seasons under head coach Tom Pardalis.

Senior Elena Bowman capped her outstanding career with selections to Briana Matazinsky ’18 the All-MAAC first team and All-Northeast Region second team. She was also one of 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award, earning second team Senior CLASS All-America status. Bowman became just the second player in MAAC history to belt 50 career home runs and graduated as Manhattan’s all-time leader in that category (52). She recorded her 200th career hit against Quinnipiac in the MAAC Tournament, which made her the third player in program history to reach that plateau.

Sophomores Briana Matazinsky and Shannon Puthe were also named first team All-MAAC and second team All-Region. Matazinsky

hit .338 and led the team with 36 RBIs to go along with 51 hits, seven home runs, 11 doubles and 32 runs scored. She was the ace of the pitching staff, as well, recording 11 wins and 84 strikeouts while posting a 2.49 ERA. Puthe, in her first season with the Jaspers after transferring from Saint Joseph’s, stole 26 bases (one shy of the single-season school record) and smacked 11 doubles to go along with four triples. She hit .467 and slugged .717 in conference play.

They were joined on the All-MAAC first team by junior Jenn Vazquez, who was honored for the second straight year. Freshman Alexa Dawid, meanwhile, earned a place on the MAAC All-Rookie team.

Manhattan also saw six different players recognized with MAAC weekly awards during the season.

As a team, the Jaspers set a school record with 73 stolen bases.

They also established program marks for runs scored (258) and RBIs (228) in 2016. Individually, senior Anna Crowley led the MAAC with six saves, and set a new program standard for both a season and a career.

The Jaspers were honored by the NCAA for their success in the classroom with the Academic Progress Rate (APR) Public Recognition award. This is the second straight year in which Manhattan earned the award, which goes to those teams that rank among the top 10 percent nationally in the multiyear APR. Manhattan had nine players selected to the MAAC All-Academic Team. In addition, Matazinsky was named to the College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-District Team.

Women’s Rowing THE WOMEN’S ROWING PROGRAM competed in its first season as a full-fledged intercollegiate sports program at Manhattan College. Under the direction of head coach Jim Foley, the 24 women on the roster have made history as the first intercollegiate student-athletes in a sport that has one of the deepest traditions at Manhattan College.

The Jaspers competed for the first time at the prestigious Head of the Charles Regatta and participated in 10 events in their inaugural season.

Led by team MVP junior Lorraine Piccorelli, Manhattan competed in the Metropolitan Championships and Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta before concluding their initial campaign with a 10th-place finish at the MAAC Championships.

Six Jaspers — Piccorelli, juniors Megan McKee, Arbnore Misini and Kathryn Watroba, and sophomores Krysta Jurkovic and Amy Sniffen — earned a spot on the MAAC All-Academic team at the end of the season.

After fielding a crew that included 10 freshmen and seven sophomores during its first season, Manhattan will have a much more experienced team in 2016-17. The Jaspers return all but one letter-winner and will look to build upon a successful inaugural year.

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Golf IN ITS FIRST SEASON under head coach Frank Darby, the men’s golf team enjoyed one of the best campaigns in program history.

Sophomore Ryan Lynch finished second individually at the MAAC Championships, and the Jaspers finished second at the conference tournament, their best showing in program history.

Entering the MAAC Championships as the No. 7 seed, the Jaspers were in first place by one stroke after the first day. Junior Jon Keyes was the individual leader after shooting an opening-round 70. Lynch moved into second place on day two, as Manhattan extended its lead in the team standings to four strokes. The Jaspers and Siena ended the third round deadlocked at 890, meaning the MAAC title would be determined in a playoff, which the Saints won by two strokes.

After beginning the fall season with tournaments at Rutgers and Columbia, Manhattan placed third at the Jasper Invitational on Oct. 12. The Jaspers then posted the best score of any team on the second day of competition at the Lehigh Invitational the following weekend, carding a 305. Manhattan finished 11th overall at the event, while sophomore Johnny Schob tied for fifth with a two-day score of 152.

Two days later at the Glen Oaks Shootout, sophomore Charles Seward led the Jaspers to fourth place in the team standings by finishing fifth individually (113).

Manhattan began the spring portion of its schedule in Arizona and also participated in the Wildcat Invitational at Villanova before posting an impressive eighthRyan Lynch ’18 place showing at the Lafayette Invitational on April 3-4. Lynch was Manhattan’s top finisher in the tournament, placing 23rd overall with a score of 154.

The Jaspers then placed fourth as a team at the spring Glen Oaks Shootout, with Lynch and Keyes posting identical scores of 78 to tie for fifth.

Four members of the squad were selected to the MAAC AllAcademic Team. Seniors James Edgeworth, Michael Giannico and Ross Ketner were honored along with Seward. In addition, Manhattan received the NCAA APR Public Recognition Award for the third consecutive year. This award is presented to those programs that rank among the top 10 nationally in the multi-year Academic Progress Rate (APR) in their given sport.

Outdoor Track and Field IT WAS ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL SEASON for the men’s and women’s outdoor track and field teams. The men won their first Metropolitan title since 2012 and finished second at the MAAC Championships. The women’s squad was third at the Metropolitan Championships and fourth at the MAAC Championships.

Manhattan used a balanced team effort to win the men’s crown at the Metropolitan Championships. Senior Bobby Gebhard captured individual titles in both the long jump and triple jump, while senior Blerim Pocesta (hammer throw), junior Stefan Hoeller (decathlon), junior Tom Diliberto (3,000-meter steeplechase) and freshman Amir Khaghani (5,000 meters) were also victorious at the Mets.

Sophomore Charlene Pohl set the tone for an equally prolific effort from the women’s team at the Metropolitan Championships by winning the heptathlon. Freshman Ellinor Persson contributed points in three different events, and senior Lorraine Brancale took first place in the 10,000 meters.

The Jaspers set a pair of school records at the 122nd edition of the historic Penn Relays. The quartet of Gebhard, Hoeller, sophomore Dennis Eriksson and freshman Sean Mirando took ninth in the shuttle hurdles at the Championship of America with a school record of 1:01.37. The school mark also fell in the women’s distance medley relay, as sophomores Alexa Roda, Kathy Cadet and Kelly Gorman joined with freshman Erin Spadaccini to notch a 11:48.28 time, which was good for second place in the event.

At the MAAC Championships, Manhattan swept the Most Out-

standing Performer for Field Events honors.

Junior Hayden Clarke won the award on the men’s side after setting a meet record in the long jump. Persson, meanwhile, won both the long jump and triple jump, as well as running a leg on the 4x100-meter relay, to earn the women’s honors.

Joining Clarke and Hayden Clarke ’17 Persson as conference champions were sophomore Paige Chapman (women’s 100), junior Marisa Robbins (women’s pole vault) and Pocesta (men’s hammer throw). The Jaspers were also well-represented on the MAAC AllAcademic Team, with 14 men and eight women being honored.

Two men qualified for the NCAA East Preliminary Round in Jacksonville, Fla. Pocesta made his third straight appearance in the hammer throw and finished 43rd overall, while Clarke took 45th in the long jump. In addition, freshman Nick Matson ran the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase at the USA Junior Championships and placed 12th.

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Baseball THE BASEBALL TEAM RETURNED to the MAAC Tournament after a one-year absence thanks to an impressive late-season stretch that saw the Jaspers win seven of their last nine conference games.

Manhattan improved its sixth-place regular season thanks to claiming a pair of wins over Monmouth and finished fourth at the tournament, which was held at Dutchess Stadium for the second straight season.

Senior Christian Santisteban led the charge, batting .367 with a circuit-leading 76 hits, 21 doubles, seven home runs, 46 RBIs and a .570 slugging percentage en route to being named the MAAC Player of the Year to go along with First Team honors. The Sunshine State native also became the first Jasper to earn Louisville Slugger All-American accolades since Chris Cody in 2006 with his third team appointment. Following the year, Santisteban inked a professional contract with the Traverse City (Michigan) Beach Bums of the independent Frontier League.

Helping to lead the offense was freshman Fabian Pena, who hit .350 with 75 hits, a school-record matching 22 doubles, nine home runs and a league-leading 54 RBIs. He was named MAAC Rookie of the Year and received First Team honors.

Defensively, he threw out 51.9 percent (27 of 52) of runners on the bases while securing Louisville Slugger and D1Baseball.com Freshman All-American honors.

Pena, who earned four weekly MAAC rookie accolades, was also named to All-Tournament Team after hitting safely in all four of Manhattan’s MAAC Tournament games in posting a blistering .421 average with two home runs and seven RBIs. He was joined on the All-Tourney team by junior LHP Joe Jacques, who fired a three-hitter in an elimination game victory over Monmouth. The crafty Christian Santisteban ’16 lefty struck out four and allowed just an unearned run and faced the minimum 19 hitters over the final 6.1 innings in collecting his fifth straight victory.

Also having a big hand in the late-season push was junior Jose Carrera, who hit safely in each of his last 10 games en route to batting .314 with a team-leading 48 runs. He matched Pena with a MAAC-best 22 doubles to go along with 74 hits, a team-high 20 stolen bases, four triples and 26 RBIs. On the mound, sophomore Tom Cosgrove had a breakout campaign in his second season, striking out 80 over 90 innings of work while recording five wins and a 3.70 ERA. He earned MAAC Pitcher of the Week honors after a brilliant nine-strikeout complete game victory at Niagara, while allowing just an unearned run over nine innings in helping to fuel the Jaspers’ run to the playoffs.

Junior Joey Rocchietti matched Cosgrove with five victories while pitching to a 3.87 ERA with 54 strikeouts over 88.1 innings, highlighted by a shutout against MAAC Champion Fairfield to go along with complete game wins against Canisius and Marist.

Out of the bullpen, junior Shawn Kanwisher paced the team with seven wins, four saves and a 2.57 ERA. He also struck out 57 over 49 innings while giving Manhattan one of the top bullpen arms in the league.

The Jaspers also posted three walk-off victories on the year, including a thrilling triumph over Canisius that secured head coach Jim Duffy’s 100th career victory, as the fifth-year skipper became just the fourth mentor in school history to reach the career milestone.

Manhattan placed eight on the MAAC Academic Honor Roll and returns 28 letter-winners in 2017.

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Women’s Lacrosse THE WOMEN’S LACROSSE TEAM recorded four wins on the year, including a thrilling 12-11 overtime decision in the home opener against UMass Lowell on Feb. 24. The Jaspers notched another one-goal victory, 9-8, at Central Connecticut on March 16, and followed up that triumph by knocking off New Hampshire 13-11 three days later at Gaelic Park.

Two Jaspers were recognized by the MAAC for their play in the seasonopening 14-9 victory at Army West Point on Feb. 12. Senior Megan Yarusso scored nine goals in the game and was named MAAC Offensive Player of the Week, while freshman goalie Nikki Prestiano made nine saves in her first collegiate win to earn MAAC Defensive Player of the Week honors.

Emma Kaishian was selected to the MAAC All-Rookie Team after an outstanding freshman campaign. She started 16 games on defense and ranked fourth in the league with 2.43 ground balls per game. In addition to leading the team with 39 ground balls, Kaishian finished second on the squad with 14 caused turnovers.

Senior Stefanie Ranagan also had a stellar campaign. She led the Jaspers with 32 goals and 75 draw controls, and her 4.41 draw controls per game were the most in the MAAC. Ranagan graduated as Manhattan’s all-time leader in draw controls (248). She and Yarusso both recorded their 100th career points during the season, while fellow seniors Kaitlyn Cunningham and Claire Roediger each surpassed the 50-goal mark in their careers.

Manhattan enjoyed a successful year in the classroom as well. Eight members of the squad were selected to the MAAC All-Academic Team.

Men’s Lacrosse

Parker Giarratana ’19

THE MEN’S LACROSSE TEAM posted three victories and was in the thick of the playoff race until the final week of the season under firstyear head coach Drew Kelleher.

Highlighted in Kelleher’s first season at the helm was a thrilling come-from-behind victory on the road at defending MAAC Champion Marist, in which the Jaspers scored three times to force overtime.

Freshman standout Parker Giarratana led the Manhattan attack, ranking third in the league with 2.07 goals per game and ninth with 0.87 assists each time out. He was named MAAC Rookie of the Year to go along with second team honors. He also was tabbed as the 22nd-best freshman in the nation by Inside Lacrosse. Giarratana became just the fifth student-athlete in school history to notch at least 30 goals in a season, and finished with 31.

A five-time MAAC Rookie of the Week honoree, Giarratana scored four times to pace the Jaspers to the aforementioned thrilling 11-10 overtime victory over a Marist team that

Stefanie Ranagan ’16

earlier in the week defeated No. 8 Stony Brook.

Senior Nick Strano fueled the comeback with three goals, including the game-tying score, in the fourth quarter before delivering the game-winner just 21 seconds into overtime.

Sophomore goalkeeper Michael Zingaro also had a breakout campaign, finishing second nationally with 13.47 saves per game.

Zingaro earned MAAC Defensive Player of the Week following Manhattan’s 14-5 win over NJIT thanks to registering a career-high 21 saves.

He capped his impressive performance by coming out of the crease to register a rare goal by a goalkeeper.

Junior Matt Garvey was a major contributor for the Jaspers with 16 goals and a team-high 15 assists, while freshman Dylan DeMuro was selected to the MAAC All-Rookie team.

Manhattan placed eighth on the MAAC Academic Honor Roll and will return 23 letterwinners in 2017.

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Illuminating Our Lasallian Heritage

By Christine Loughran

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COLLECTION OF STAINED GLASS WINDOWS now ensconced in the Chapel of De La Salle and His Brothers is as arresting in beauty as it is emblematic. Together, the masterpieces immortalize Manhattan College’s Lasallian Catholic heritage by chronicling the Life and Work of Saint John Baptist de La Salle, whose spirituality, excellence in teaching and unparalleled commitment to social justice provide students, as well as the Manhattan community, with an ideal role model for character. They also highlight moments significant to our community’s faith, such as the Nativity of Our Lord.

However, the windows themselves have their own story to tell. Before their installation at the College in early 2016, they had already lived more than a hundred years.

Created in the early 1900s by renowned French workshop, L. Mazuet et fils of Bayeux, the De La Salle windows were originally located at the Christian Brothers’ Novitiate in Pocantico Hills, N.Y., from which they were transported in 1930 to the chapel of the Brothers’ Novitiate in Barrytown, N.Y. After this property was sold by the Brothers’ community in 1974, the windows suffered years of neglect.

Their long journey back to the Lasallian community began in 2002 when James Casey and John Hannaway, who knew and loved the windows from their time in the Novitiate, worked to bring these hidden gems back into the light. During the next five years, the leadership of the College worked closely with the District Council of the District of Eastern North America in the complex process of reclaiming and preserving these treasures, and installing them where they belong, in the heart of the College’s campus. The faithful generosity of so many members of our Lasallian community is recognized on plaques in the lower righthand corner of each window and in the chapel’s main vestibule.

Ten of the windows tell the story of our founder, who was proclaimed Patron Saint of Teachers in 1950. Shown in the series are embodiments of De La Salle’s childhood in Reims, France, and the vows he took to the Brothers, as well as his service to the poor (represented in the window to the right).

Two additional windows help to provide the Gospel context for the De La Salle narrative, including the depiction of Jesus as a teacher.

Following a yearlong restoration process by Rohlf’s Stained and Leaded Glass Studio, the newest additions to the College’s chapel were unveiled at a Mass and dedication ceremony on April 7, 2016. Here, where they can be cherished and displayed, the De La Salle windows connect present-day Manhattan firmly with its rich past. As powerful works of art, they also tell the story of De La Salle in ways that touch the heart and mind, and inspire a deep appreciation of the life and work of De La Salle, as well as that of the Christian Brothers.

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REMOVAL AND RESTORATION In rehabilitating the De La Salle windows to their former magnificence, Manhattan commissioned Rohlf’s Stained and Leaded Glass Studio, a family owned and operated firm that has been in business since 1920. In that time, the studio has completed projects for Grand Central Terminal and the Basilica of Saint Patrick’s Old Cathedral, among other iconic landmarks in New York City and throughout the U.S.

Photos: Josh Cuppek

To begin their work with the De La Salle windows, Rohlf’s transported the pieces from Barrytown, N.Y., where they resided since 1930 at the Brothers’ Novitiate, to the studio’s headquarters in Mount Vernon, N.Y. There, a team of artists, craftsmen, conservators and designers spent a year re-leading each of the window’s sections with sodder, putty and reinforcing bars. They were then re-framed with triple-glazed aluminum frames that fit inside the College’s Chapel of De La Salle and His Brothers. The last step was adding a one-inch layer of insulated glass on top of each window to ensure longtime preservation.

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THE WINDOWS ARRIVE AT MANHATTAN The De La Salle Stained Glass Window Collection arrived on campus in early 2016, and the whole installation process took about six weeks. Since then, the collection has been admired on a regular basis for the first time in 40 years. Prior to that, the windows had fallen into a state of disrepair after the Barrytown property was sold by the Brothers’ community in 1974.

At Manhattan, they’re not only visible; they’re also the backdrop for all major campus events and weekly Masses held in the chapel. (Bottom right) President Brennan O’Donnell views The Childhood of Saint John Baptist de La Salle, a scene that takes place in Reims, France, where De La Salle grew up as the eldest of 11 children. De La Salle, his parents and siblings can be seen in the foreground, and his childhood home is illustrated in the background.

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Photos: Christopher Taggart

THE DEDICATION CEREMONY More than 400 guests attended the Mass and De La Salle windows dedication ceremony on April 7, 2016, the Feast of Saint John Baptist de La Salle. To unveil the collection, blackout curtains that covered the chapel windows were removed one by one, and the significance of the scenes displayed in each were described to the audience. (Center left) Brother Dennis Malloy, FSC, gives the ceremony’s invocation and acknowledges John Hannaway and James Casey for their perseverance in reclaiming the collection. (Center right) Brother Gustavo Ramírez Barba, FSC, Ed.D., General Councilor for Lasallian Higher Education at the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, was awarded a Doctor of Pedagogy from the College at the ceremony. (Bottom right) The Most Rev. John J. Jenik, Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese of New York, presents and blesses each of the windows, along with the Rev. Erwin H. Schweigardt ’61, Ph.D. (not pictured).

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A new residence hall and STEM center, as proposed in the renderings, are part of the College’s campus master plan.

Unveiling the Campus Master Plan Story by Kristen Cuppek and Christine Loughran

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o equip Manhattan College’s ever-growing number of students with the skills needed to excel in a constantly changing technological landscape, its leaders understand that change is essential.

A new campus master plan recently approved by the board of trustees details a number of upcoming developments and upgrades — including a facelift of existing facilities and the groundbreaking of a new residence hall and green space — that will be carried out during the next 10 years. Together, the additions will provide a modern setting for learning, teaching and living, while maintaining the rich heritage of the College’s Lasallian Catholic tradition.

The opening of the Raymond W. Kelly ’63 Student Commons in 2014 fulfilled a significant spatial need for student life and a steadily growing residential population, and the success of that project has propelled the College into the next phase of growth for the future.

Developed during an 18-month period, the plan is ambitious in its pursuit of improvements and renovations but follows a sustainable financial approach.

“The plan continues the decades-long project on which we have so far been so successful — in transforming the College from majority commuter to majority residential, providing the campus environment needed to support academic programming, cocurricular activity and athletics, and accommodating a growing residential population while continuing to integrate commuter students into campus life,” says President Brennan O’Donnell.

Through the master plan’s delivery, Manhattan College will achieve the following main goals.

Preserve and contemporize the north campus.

The heritage buildings facing Manhattan College’s Quad will be a focus for increased general maintenance spending and renovations. The upkeep will modernize their internal spaces and preserve historic appeal.

Create a true south campus.

The physical appearance and activity of the south campus will be revamped through the introduction of a south quad, student housing, a new science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) center, and the creation of a westward-facing entrance to Leo Hall.

Strengthen connections between the campuses.

Enhancing the south campus will increase the impact the student commons has had in providing a connection to the north campus.

In addition, 17 master plan projects will be delivered by 2025. Some of these have already happened, such as the new Center for Student Success, which opened this fall in the space formerly known as Dante’s Den. The space has been converted into a one-stop shop for student tutoring and career development.

“The plan continues the decades-long project on which we have so far been so successful ... providing the campus environment needed to support academic programming, cocurricular activity and athletics, and accommodating a growing residential population while continuing to integrate commuter students into campus life.”

NORTH CAMPUS The historic buildings of the north campus, with the Quad at their center, are integral to the visual identity of the College and will remain intact. However, as these buildings approach their centennial year in 2024, investment is needed to modernize their internal spaces and provide more innovative learning environments. Sixty-three percent of the College’s gross square footage is more than 50 years old, and there has been limited investment in academic facilities throughout the past 30 years, with spending concentrated on student residences, parking, the O’Malley Library and Kelly Commons.

During this time, teaching and curricula have significantly evolved, technology has advanced, and student and faculty expectations have increased.

This investment in the north campus will be focused at the level of buildings directly accessed from the Quad. The intention is to provide a series of showcase spaces, which advance academic opportunities within the College’s historic core and most prominent location.

In addition to the newly opened Center for Student Success, the master plan initiatives that will preserve and contemporize the north campus consist of the following plans.

• Classroom renovations – Classrooms will be updated with flexible furniture, additional technology, multiple writing surfaces and teaching walls to support active learning.

• De La Salle Hall – The Quad level of De La Salle will be renovated to create a Center for Experiential Learning for the School of Business.

• Hayden Hall – Learning spaces will be upgraded as part of a multimillion renovation of Hayden Hall.

• Smith Theater – Smith Auditorium will be converted into a black-box theater seating approximately 200 people.

• Draddy entrance and landscape – Draddy Gymnasium will be outfitted with a new main entrance, landscape enhancements and replacement of facades that face Walsh Plaza and the walkway to Horan and Lee Halls.

Architectural drawing provided by Cube3 Studio

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SOUTH CAMPUS Currently, the blocks between West 238th and West 240th streets, which contain Leo Hall, the Research and Learning Center and the College’s maintenance building, are referred to as south campus, but the name is misleading as this section hardly resembles a true campus.

With its auto-repair shops and factory buildings (as Leo Hall once was), the area is more reminiscent of a light industrial zone. The College owns the majority of these buildings, and under the master plan, will utilize those rights to revitalize the campus’ southern boundary.

At the heart of the revamped south campus will be a new state-of-the-art, 30,000-square-foot STEM center that is architecturally distinct, with its own entrance and vertical circulation. The center will form an internal continuation of Leo Hall and primarily contain modern, technologically advanced laboratories, as well as wet labs, computer labs, classrooms and a common space.

Tim Ward, Ph.D., P.E., dean of the School of Engineering and professor of civil engineering at the College, anticipates that these new additions will encourage teamwork between STEM students.

“With its new classrooms, laboratories and top-ofthe-line maker spaces, the new facility will allow students entrenched in the College’s engineering and science programs to better collaborate on all types of projects,” Ward says. “The features that will be incorporated into Hayden Hall also will be available in the soon-to-be upgraded Leo Hall, as well as this new center.”

In addition to teamwork between students, the enhanced STEM facilities and south campus will give the College an edge in recruiting strong prospective students, who are looking for the latest technology.

“Our faculty does tremendous work with our students in our current facilities, but we are in danger of falling behind if we do not make this significant investment,” O’Donnell says. “The vision is to create a true south campus that will be in its own way as functional, accommodating and attractive as the north campus, with Kelly Commons as the strong link between north and south.”

“... the new facility will allow students entrenched in the College’s engineering and science programs to better collaborate on all types of projects.”

The master plan to create a south campus includes several exciting initiatives.

• T he STEM center will be built to the south of Leo Hall, and will feature modern, technologically advanced laboratories and be on the cutting-edge of innovative educational design. Along with the new STEM center, the westward facing side of Leo Hall (considered the back entrance) will be renovated to create a new front and grand entrance.

•A 300-bed, apartment-style residence hall will be constructed on the site of the College’s current Robert A. Mahan Physical Plant Complex on West 238th Street.

•A n outdoor recreation space will be created, which is ideal for events, activities and games, and will encourage collegiate activity and bring a similar atmosphere to the south campus that the Quad provides for the north campus.

• In addition, Leo Hall will be renovated to improve the engineering and science facilities. Office space in the Research and Learning Center also will form part of the south campus’ STEM enhancements.

Currently, the College’s STEM facilities, including classrooms, labs and offices, are dispersed among three buildings: Hayden and Leo Halls and the Research and Learning Center. Consolidating these functions in a new and refurbished center will further connect the corresponding disciplines.

Architectural drawing provided by Mitchell Giurgola Architects

STRENGTHENING CAMPUS CONNECTIONS Since its opening in 2014, the Raymond W. Kelly ’63 Student Commons has bridged Manhattan’s north and south campuses and functioned as a central meeting space for the College community. This connection will be further strengthened by the new STEM center, residence hall and green space, and will make the south campus a destination for both learning and living.

“One of the main objectives of the campus master plan was to create a true south campus and, while doing so, strengthen the connections between the campuses,” says Andrew Ryan, vice president for facilities. “The creation of a new quad, residence hall and STEM center will more fully develop the south campus and advance the College’s ability to meet the goals of 21st century higher education.”

The process of developing the Manhattan College campus master plan was led by Perkins Eastman in collaboration with E.I. Mills + Associates, and a team of specialized consultants. It was directed by a steering committee of faculty, students and staff, and informed by a wide range of engagement across the Manhattan community.

During the next three to six months, the College’s in-house maintenance department, Physical Plant, will relocate from the Mahan building to the ground floor level of the Broadway parking garage. In the first quarter of 2017, demolition is scheduled to begin on the Mahan complex, and preparations for the excavation and groundbreaking for the new residence hall will take place in late summer 2017.

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College’s First Public Artwork Paints World Around Campus

By Christine Loughran

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O PEOPLE UNFAMILIAR WITH THE METRO AREA, the New York City subway map might seem like a mishmash of colorful squiggles and numbers only a mad scientist could make sense of. Manhattan students, on the other hand, know it’s a guide to all five boroughs. Navigate it correctly, and you can get anywhere.

The city’s public transit system makes a lot of the College experience possible, which is why a charcoal and red image of the No. 1 train is one of the most prominent components of Blossom, a newly painted campus mural showcasing student life. Now

stretched across the wall underneath Founders Bridge, the artwork pays tribute to the subway that students board from the nearby 242nd Street-Van Cortlandt Park MTA Terminal to art museums and community outreach projects around the five boroughs. It’s also how they travel to internships that’ll land them their post-graduate dream jobs.

Strung across the top of the mural, which was created by 12 student artists in the spring of 2016, is a rendering of the New York City skyline at sunset, an homage to the College’s inspiring location and hometown.

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Our Campus But this transformative, mission-based piece doesn’t only remind us of our urban connections. It also reminds us that equally significant Manhattan memories are made in Riverdale, and for that, there’s the image of the roof and cupola of the Chapel of De La Salle and His Brothers, a space many consider to be the heart of the campus. It’s where weekly Masses are held, not to mention holiday traditions such as Lessons and Carols, and other College events occurring throughout the academic year. Recently outfitted with restored stained glass windows that were originally created in the early 1900s, the chapel also embodies our Catholic identity.

Centered between the chapel and subway is a Lasallian star, which reminds us to lead and serve our community.

Below them is a pair of clasped hands, painted in a swatch of brown and beige hues to represent the chapel’s new stained glass windows, as well as the diversity of the student body.

Our People Equally as diverse is the group of students that painted Blossom, which was revealed on May 18.

Natalia Alvarez ’19, Taylor Brethauer ’19, Liz Bruchansky ’18, Robert Constant ’19, Leah Cordova ’17, Dan Dixon ’17, Jean Manning ’16, Cheyenne McElhiney ’17, Carlos Perez ’16, Leah Reiner ’19, Paul Roditis ’17 and Allison Tantakarn ’19 hail from four of the College’s five undergraduate schools.

McElhiney, a psychology major, found common ground with her fellow artists.

“We’re more similar than we think. Not everybody working on the mural is an arts student, but [we] had a lot of artistic skill here, regardless,” she says.

It’s also what made the mural special, according to Mark Pottinger, Ph.D., former chair of Manhattan’s visual and performing arts department. He orchestrated the planning and development of Blossom.

“From first-year students to seniors, the student muralists represent the academic and cultural diversity of the campus, and what happens when all of us come together and say with a collective voice, ‘WE can do this!’” says Pottinger, who also serves as associate professor of music at the College.

Our Future Blossom was completed in partnership with Creative Art Works, a nonprofit that provides dynamic visual arts and multimedia experiences to thousands of New York City youth each year. It is the first public artwork on Manhattan’s campus.

For the Manhattan College community and its future generations, the mural will serve as a symbol of what can be wrought from a combination of academics, creativity and hard work. Exiting campus for the final time as students, all Jaspers leave with a well-founded map to success they’ve been slowly constructing throughout their time here. In years to come, this is something they’ll master in style, just like they did the New York City Subway system.

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From April to May, students majoring in a variety of disciplines spent three days a week attending paint sessions for Blossom, the first public artwork on Manhattan’s campus. They were chosen from a pool of nearly 80 undergraduates who expressed interest in contributing to the project, administered by the College’s Visual and Performing Arts department. Now displayed on the wall adjacent to the lower level of Thomas Hall, the vibrant mural is visible to those traveling to and from residence halls, the Quad and Manhattan College Parkway, and will serve as an enduring symbol of the College's missionbased values, diverse student life, and dynamic New York City location.

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COMMENCEMENT

A Four-Year Journey Framed by Faith

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STEEMED GRADUATES AND AN HONORED GUEST of the College’s undergraduate Commencement events addressed more than 780 seniors and their families with speeches that paid homage to the College’s Catholic Lasallian roots, and implored them to reflect upon their faith, the Manhattan College experience, and who they are as people.

The morning of May 22, finance major Michael Giannico ’16 spoke at the Baccalaureate Mass about his four years at Manhattan. In particular, he highlighted a spiritual journey he embarked on as a junior, during a two-day Kairos retreat that allows students to spend a weekend in Goshen, N.Y. Participants were encourage to focus on their relationship with God, themselves and each other.

“It really was an eye-opening experience. It helped me see a part of my peers that I never realized before,” explained Giannico. “It was an experience where judging was put to the side, and naturally this feeling of love took its place.”

Later that afternoon, Manhattan College presented Brother Robert Schieler, FSC, Superior General of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters during 44 N fall 2016

the undergraduate Commencement.

A native of Philadelphia, Br. Robert was elected Superior General in May of 2014 at the 45th general chapter in Rome. He is the 27th successor of Saint John Baptist de La Salle, the Institute’s founder, and leads the largest order of religious Brothers in the Church dedicated to education.

Prior to being elected to this top leadership post based at the Brothers’ Generalate in Rome, Br. Robert served for seven years as General Councilor for the Lasallian Region that includes the United States and Canada, now called the Lasallian Region of North America (RELAN).

Br. Robert also delivered the keynote address that encouraged the class of 2016 to respect the inherent dignity of all persons.

“We, with Pope Francis, hope that you will build bridges to unite people for the common good and tear down walls that alienate us from one another,” Br. Robert said. “Use your energy, your friendliness, and your generosity to create a better world for everyone. Be welcoming. Love the stranger. Be kind to those fleeing persecution, hunger and war.”

Getting To Know the Valedictorian “I know that I could never be speaking to you today had it not been for the sacrifices of my family and some of my professors who did much more than their job descriptions entailed,” said valedictorian John Trieste ’16 at the 2016 Commencement ceremony.

As Trieste explained in his speech, the example set by his family and professors encouraged him to try and do the same for his peers. On a regular basis, he would tutor and mentor his fellow classmates.

“I attempted to show them that I had faith in their abilities and that those students deserved to have faith in themselves,” he explained.

Trieste was awarded the Donald J. Carty Valedictory Medal at the College’s Spring Honors Convocation on May 19.

As a double major in economics and finance, he not only used his skills to teach others but also to compete as part of the College’s record-breaking Fed Challenge team in a national competition, held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Last year, the team made it to the finals of the competition, and in 2014, the team advanced to the semifinals.

During his time at Manhattan, Trieste was a member of Beta Gamma Sigma (international honor society), Omicron Delta Epsilon (international honor society in economics) and the Financial Management Association (only national honor society specifically for finance).

He also worked as a research assistant for the department of Economics and Finance, and collaborated on a project that analyzed the impact of unconventional monetary policy on mortgage rates, and in particular, quantitative easing, which is attributed to a large amount of research developed after the financial crisis.

Trieste conducted research with Hany Guirguis, Ph.D., chair of the economics and finance department and adviser to the College Fed Challenge team, and presented at a handful of conferences. He recently submitted a paper, “The Impact of Monetary Policy on Mortgage Rates,” for publication.

In addition, Trieste served as director of investments and market strategist for the Investment Club, and supplemental instructor fellow for the College’s Center for Academic Success. He also gained professional experience working as a summer analyst with Weiss MultiStrategy Advisers LLC and Zolio Inc. Trieste recently started a yearlong master’s program in finance at London’s Imperial College. He aspires to continue to work in macroeconomics and eventually pursue a doctorate to work in academia or in a policymaking position.

(From left to right) Economics and finance double major John Trieste ’16 delivers the valedictorian address at Commencement in May. Encouraging graduates to create a better world, Brother Robert Schieler, FSC, Superior General of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, is awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. Having earned their degrees, the College’s newest graduates celebrate their accomplishments.

Valedictorian John Trieste ’16, a double major in economics and finance, also encouraged his fellow classmates to “use the knowledge and skills garnered during your education to live out the Lasallian goals.” He used a verse from Corinthians to reference the importance of helping others.

Trieste closed with feelings similar to the words expressed by Br. Robert: “If you forget every textbook you opened or lecture you attended but remember this petition and the actions of those realizing Manhattan’s mission, then you will have gained something truly valuable in your education.”

Before Trieste asked his classmates to follow Manhattan’s mission and “use your gifts to better the lives of those around you,” his fellow classmate Natalie Heinitz ’16 also was recognized for embodying the College’s mission and for her significant contributions to the College. Heinitz, a double major in communication and government, received the Joseph J. Gunn Alumni Medal at the Spring Honors Convocation three days earlier.

Since her sophomore year, Heinitz has been involved with the Lasallian Outreach Volunteer Experience (L.O.V.E.) program, served on the Quadrangle staff during her four years, and was a student representative on the College’s Advisory Committee on Campus Safety. She has interned with Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign since October 2015 and continued to work for the campaign after graduation.

In addition, six other seniors began their post-graduation careers following in the mission of Manhattan and serving in the Lasallian tradition. Madison Cona, Jo-Ann Mullooly and Kathryn Varone joined the Lasallian Volunteers, while Meghan Dinegar and Katherine Hyche are participating in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps.

President Brennan O’Donnell spoke at the end of the ceremony and urged the graduates to use their education and talents to the best of their ability.

“It’s a vision in which each of us has vitally important work to do, and in which the project of a human life is to find that work and do it,” O’Donnell said.

“In conventional religious language, this is of course called ‘vocation,’ the idea that each of us is called to contribute in our own distinctive way.”

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COMMENCEMENT

Fearless Graduates Look Forward to the Future

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MANHATTAN COLLEGE IS NOT JUST ANOTHER COLLEGE, and this is not just another degree,” said valedictorian Marisa Lafalgio ’15, ’16 (MBA) at the 2016 Spring Commencement. “And I am honored to say that I have been a part of this community.”

The excitement in Lafalgio’s voice resonated with her fellow speakers and more than 200 classmates, as was evident by their smiling faces the afternoon of May 21 in Draddy Gymnasium. That day, the Schools of Business and Engineering awarded master’s degrees, the School of Education and Health awarded master’s degrees and professional diplomas, and bachelor’s and master’s degrees were conferred upon students graduating from the School of Continuing and Professional Studies.

In her address to the College community, Lafalgio shared her personal story, which described the challenges she endured as a teenager and how she faced them head-on with motivation and perseverance.

A first-generation student, Lafalgio received her bachelor’s degree from the College’s School of Business in three years and earned her MBA in professional accounting this year. During her time at Manhattan, she participated in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (V.I.T.A.) program, and assisted elderly and low-income citizens with their tax preparations. She also volunteered as a tax preparer with AARP, Inc. and performed additional volunteer service at the nearby Methodist Home and Kingsbridge Heights Community Center.

Lafalgio joined Ernst and Young’s assurance services practice in September.

In closing, she encouraged her fellow graduates to: “always smile because life is too short to be anything but happy. Remember where you come from and practice

(From left to right) The newest members of the College’s Alumni Society gather to celebrate and capture their proud achievements at Spring Commencement in May. Valedictorian Marisa Lafalgio ’15, ’16 (MBA) urged her fellow graduates to live for the day and to remember the values they learned at Manhattan College. Former dean of the School of Education and Health, William J. Merriman ’73, Ph.D., who received an honorary Doctor of Pedagogy, advised the graduating Jaspers to not worry about the future, but rather, to leave it in God’s hands.

your Lasallian values. And live for today. Do not dwell in the past, or worry about the future.”

Afterward, the College celebrated the longtime service and accomplishments of William J. Merriman ’73, Ph.D., outgoing dean of the School of Education and Health, who served as the keynote speaker. He encouraged the graduates with a verse by the founder of the De La Salle Christian Brothers, Saint John Baptist de La Salle. “‘Do not have anxiety about the future, but leave everything in God’s hands, for God will take care of you,’” he said.

Merriman received an honorary Doctor of Pedagogy at the College’s Spring Commencement and returned to the School of Education and Health as a faculty member this fall.

He started as a faculty member at Manhattan College in 1987 and served as dean of the School of Education and Health beginning in 1997. His first position at the College was assistant professor in the department of Physical Education and Human Performance. He was soon promoted to an associate professor, and rose to the rank of professor in 1997.

Merriman received Manhattan College’s Lasallian Educator of the Year award in 2001. In 2005, he led a faculty team that achieved national accreditation of the teacher education programs for the first time from the Teacher Education Accreditation Council.

“I would add that the knowledge and skills that you have acquired at Manhattan College can take you wherever you want to go,” Merriman said, in parting.

The Spring Commencement concluded with President Brennan O’Donnell offering a farewell Benediction to the class of 2016.

“And, finally, I ask for you, that our loving God will make you throughout your life someone who passes on to others the good that has been done for you, a voice that says to others, as others have said to you, ‘yes, you can! And I am here to help,’” O’Donnell said.

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DEVELOPMENT

Liberal Arts Scholarship Continues the Legacy of a Loyal Professor

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ORING OVER AN ORIGINAL DRAFT OF HER FAVORITE WALT WHITMAN POEM, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, in the New York Public Library’s rare books section was a dream come true for English major Katherine Rojas ’19. It’s also a dream that wouldn’t have been realized without the late June Dwyer, Ph.D., a former chair of the English department and professor emerita of the College, who died in November of 2015.

Rojas is one of two students currently receiving the June Dwyer School of Liberal Arts Scholarship, an award that was established in 2011 to benefit individuals enrolled in a humanities or interdisciplinary studies program. She, along with fellow sophomore and English major Colin Dunn ’19, were selected as recipients during their freshman year.

Since then, Dunn has enjoyed the opportunity to meet up-andcoming writers participating in the Major Author Reading Series (M.A.R.S.), to celebrate his Irish-American heritage as a member of the Manhattan College Gaelic Society, and, above all, to make the most of his education.

“I try to cherish the days I have here at Manhattan. Learning is a privilege, and I am just so grateful for the scholarship and to the late Ms. Dwyer for the experience I am having at my dream school,” he says. “While I am only a sophomore, I know that the education I’ve had here will allow me to move forward with my life after college, get a great job, and live the life I was intended to.”

Meanwhile, Rojas has been taking advantage of other College opportunities. She’s currently a student worker in the Archives at Manhattan and an intern at the Fordham-Bedford Housing Corporation, two jobs that the Florida native is toggling with her studies as an English and art history double major.

Financial assistance from the College helped make all this possible.

“... She is the true embodiment of a benefactor ...”

“I wouldn’t have been able to come to Manhattan otherwise,” says Rojas, who attended a high school in Miami that focused primarily on science and technology and very little on the arts. “The people here are like nobody I’ve ever met before. You receive exposure to such a wide array of subjects.”

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Fittingly, this was a pillar of Dwyer’s teaching philosophy. From 1981, the year she began at Manhattan, until her retirement in 2010, her goal was to provide a well-rounded education to her students. That’s why she taught courses on everything from business writing to British literature, and her dedication didn’t waver in retirement.

Brother Patrick Horner, FSC, a former colleague of Dwyer’s and current English professor at the College, remembers the span of her generosity, both on and off campus.

“She hosted the English department Christmas party at her Manhattan apartment every year, and was just always a presence,” he says.

Even after her passing, Dwyer still remains a fixture at the College. The contributions she made during her lifetime continue to fund the School of Liberal Arts Scholarship. In the future, an estate gift will benefit an endowed scholarship in her name.

According to Rocco Marinaccio, Ph.D., a professor of English who worked alongside Dwyer for 15 years, her continued contributions to the College are in line with her character.

“June’s only sense of money was how it could benefit others. She is the true embodiment of a benefactor,” he says, before recounting a sunny afternoon he spent poolside at her home in Germantown, N.Y. He asked if she missed her late husband, Casey, with whom she contributed to various philanthropic causes. “‘On beautiful days like this,’ she said, as we sat by the pool. ‘So that’s when I donate [to Manhattan].’”

Sociology Major Makes the Most of Her Scholarship and Academic Opportunities

U

PON HER ENROLLMENT AT MANHATTAN COLLEGE, Ashley Sanchez ’17 achieved something that no one else in her family has before — she’s the first in her family to attend college.

And she’s been doing big things since day one on campus. Sanchez attributes part of her success to the Jiri and Zdena Horak Scholarship, a financial aid award given to undergraduates studying government and politics. Hailing from California, she has been taking advantage of the academic and social opportunities at the College and in New York City due to the Horaks’ generosity.

Sanchez had little hesitation about moving to the East Coast to attend college. Although she admits to being homesick occasionally, she is happy with her decision to expand her horizons and attend a New York City college.

“The moment I stepped onto Manhattan College’s Quad and looked up at the chapel, I knew this was my home,” she says.

A sociology major with a concentration in crime, law and social justice, as well as a minor in communication, she appreciates the small class sizes and personalized attention from professors. She also knows that she has a big support system back on the West Coast.

Sanchez has been busy immersing herself in campus life, too. A prominent member of the Government and Politics, Sociology, and Law and Society clubs, she even contributes to the student newspaper, The Quadrangle. Additionally, Sanchez spent a semester abroad in Barcelona during her sophomore year — a journey that, she says, allowed her to receive a global education and to grow as an individual.

Most importantly, being at Manhattan College has afforded Sanchez the opportunity to pursue her dream of becoming a lawyer. She took a course entitled Criminal Justice Ethics, which enabled her to visit Rikers Island and learn firsthand about the criminal justice system. Sanchez was also able to attend the American Society of Criminology Convention last year, which provided her a glimpse of the research in her chosen field. Her goal after graduation is to attend law school to study criminal law and become a trial attorney — the first lawyer in her family.

For now, Sanchez juggles a hectic schedule of being a full-time student, serving as a resident assistant in Horan Hall, which requires more than 30 hours a week of work, and studying for the LSAT. Her work ethic is admirable, as is her drive to do the best she can and make the most of the opportunities Manhattan has given her.

“Never tell anyone their dreams are too big or unobtainable,” Sanchez says.

“Anything is possible with hard work and dedication.”

The Jiri and Zdena Horak Scholarship was founded in 2012 by Zdena to honor her husband and his notable career, which included serving as professor of government and political science at the College for 30 years, as well as chairman of the department; chairman of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia; and later, leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party. Their generosity in providing tuition assistance enables students, like Sanchez, to pursue their dreams of having a career in a government or political field.

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2016 THREE DAYS, 650 JASPERS. That’s how many College alumni returned to Riverdale the weekend of June 3-5, for the most well-attended reunion celebration in recent history. In its 147th year, the annual event boasted a milestone anniversary for the class of 2006, whose members commemorated 10 years with a $25,000 gift to their alma mater.

At a Golden Jaspers Luncheon on Saturday, the class of 1966 celebrated their 50-year anniversary with a $400,000 donation to Manhattan. The evening prior, this same group set sail on a Golden Jaspers cruise along New York Harbor, as later class years enjoyed a Young Alumni Reception. In addition to these activities, the weekend included favorite traditions like the Green and White Picnic and the Saturday evening Reunion Dinner, which was extra special for 1991 graduates celebrating 25 years with a champagne toast.

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1. Jay Conefry ’66, Maryellen Conefry, Jane McAuley, Alec McAuley ’66, Ginny Brooks and Kevin Brooks ’66 marvel at New York City sights on the Golden Jaspers cruise.

6. Frank Sheridan ’46 celebrates 70 years since graduating from the College and receives an anniversary plaque at the Golden Jaspers Luncheon.

2. Tiffany Richards ’06 and Russell Stevens ’06 attend the Young Alumni Reception.

7. Members of the class of 1966 commemorate their 50th anniversary with a group photo on the steps of Smith Auditorium.

3. P resident Brennan O’Donnell and Kathleen White ’14 dominate the selfie game at Reunion Weekend’s annual Green and White Picnic.

8. Denise Passarelli ’06 shows off the skills of her company DeniseMakesCakes with a towering treat she created for the reunion dinner.

4. L ogan Parisi, son of Michael ’05 and Leah Parisi ’07, contemplates his Jasper lineage and imagines his future at the College.

9. Yvonne Williams ’96 and Linelle Shepp ’96 grab dinner on the Quad for the first time in 20 years.

5. D enise Passarelli ’06, Shamar Frisby ’06, Nathan Histed, Maria Perillo Salta ’06 and Lisa Santoro ’06 reminisce about their years at Manhattan.

10. D an Wasilewski ’11, Daniel Crawford ’11, Kristin Walsifer ’11, Michael Agazzi ’11 and Elizabeth Kennedy ’11 become the faces of @JasperAlumni’s Instagram account.

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FROM THE COLLEGE’S ARCHIVES

Whatever Happened to … the Engineer’s Ball?

F

OR ONE NIGHT EACH YEAR, Manhattan College engineers traded in their slide rules, T-squares and calculators for sport coats and dancing shoes, as they celebrated the annual Engineer’s Ball. For more than 40 years, under colored spotlights, and often accompanied by their better halves, Jaspers danced the night away to fashionable music performed by live bands and popular orchestras.

The idea for an Engineer’s Ball came from the senior engineering class of 1937, which consisted of 43 students. At their December 1936 class meeting, plans were discussed for the inauguration of a yearly social, which would be known as the Engineers Annual Dance. Several sites were initially considered, but to save on costs, Manhattan’s gymnasium (now Alumni Hall) was selected as the most appropriate location. The price of a ticket was $1, and proceeds were directed toward the class gift and the class alumni funds. Students from all schools, not just those from the School of Engineering, were invited.

The first annual ball was held on Feb. 5, 1937, and was attended by approximately 800 students and their dates. During the course of the evening, five Christian Brothers and all engineering faculty members were present to supervise the party. Dance cards, a common way of keeping track of dance partners, were put to good use as the Jaspers waltzed, jitterbugged and foxtrotted to a local swing band. The inau-

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gural ball proved a banner success and quickly became one of the most popular dances at the College.

After two years at maximum capacity in Alumni Gym, the event was moved offsite to the ballrooms of area hotels. The Concourse Plaza Hotel, at 161st Street and Grand Concourse, and the Hotel Commodore on 42nd Street near Grand Central Terminal, grew popular and hosted the dance for several years.

In 1942, despite the Second World War, the School of Engineering successfully celebrated its Golden Jubilee. The Engineer’s Ball was the first of a series of commemorative affairs the school sponsored in order to celebrate its 50th year. Ticket sales exceeded expectation, and several alumni attended the affair.

Throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, the ball remained the highlight of the College’s social calendar. It also continued to be the largest and most inexpensive of the big dances sponsored by Manhattan. The Businessman’s Ball and the Arts and Sciences Ball also shared the social season. Funds raised by the event through ticket sales, ads in the Dance Journal, and raffles funded building initiatives and scholarships. Popular raffle items included Broadway tickets, phonographs and mink stoles. The increasing presence of alumni throughout the years helped shape the ball into an evening of reminiscing and networking. In 1962, for example, more than 650 student Jaspers mingled with about 425 alumni.

By the 1980s, however, the annual dance faded from the social landscape. For the most part, formal dances fell out of favor in society in general. In 1992, the College feted the School of Engineering’s centenary with several commemorative events, including a Centennial Alumni Engineers Ball, but the traditional annual ball ceased to exist.

Plans are developing to once again celebrate the long-standing tradition in the coming year, and the office of Alumni Relations invites alumni to join the planning committee. Contact the office at alumni@ manhattan.edu or visit its website at manhattan.edu/alumni.

Regional Chapter Spotlight: Jersey Jaspers WHETHER THEY RESIDE AT THE JERSEY SHORE full time or enjoy a weekend getaway at the beach, taking part in summer events at the popular shoreline has provided a platform for past Manhattan graduates, current students, parents and friends of the College to connect with each other and learn about goings-on in Riverdale.

This was especially prevalent in July and August for members of Manhattan’s Jersey Shore Chapter, who are celebrating their Jasper pride more than ever.

The ninth annual Spring Lake, N.J., luncheon was held on July 22 at the Essex & Sussex, where the Manhattan flag flew proudly along the coastline and welcomed a record number of guests. The planning committee of Jim Browne ’58, Tom Delaney ’71, Bill Harkins ’67, Ken Kelly ’54, Jim Smith ’60 and Ray Wuertz ’76 worked tirelessly to ensure a strong turnout of nearly 150 Jaspers and friends. Attendees enjoyed a talk about the promising future of Manhattan athletics by Marianne Reilly ’82, director of intercollegiate athletics, who was joined by several administrators and coaches from the department.

Alumni members of Spring Lake Golf Club gathered on Aug. 19 for the fifth annual golf outing. Hosted by trustee Pat Boyle ’75, the day featured a competition between Manhattan College graduates who belong to the club and foursomes from Boston College, La Salle, Villanova and Providence.

On August 27, Jaspers of all class years gathered for a Day at the Races at Monmouth Park Racetrack. Held in Oceanport, N.J., the annual event was hosted by Kelly and Jim O’Brien ’60.

With more than 30 regional chapters nationwide, and alumni spread all across the country, the College needs your help bringing

Alumni members of the Spring Lake Golf Club gathered for the fifth annual outing hosted

by Manhattan trustee Pat Boyle ’75 in August. The day features a friendly competition with foursomes from Boston College, La Salle, Villanova and Providence.

fellow Jaspers together. The Alumni Society relies on volunteers to assist with planning regional chapter events throughout the year.

For more information about getting involved and helping to plan an event near you, contact the Alumni Relations office at alumni@ manhattan.edu.

Jaspers Hit the Green at Open

(From left to right) Fred Marro ’77, Tom Lindgren ’78, Jack Powers ’58, Joe Berkery ’60, Gerald Oswald ’74 and Brian Mahoney ’71

MORE THAN 150 GOLFERS and guests joined the College for its 28th annual Jasper Open on Monday, May 9, at the College’s new venue, the Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y. This signature event brings together alumni, corporate partners, and friends for a fun-filled day of golf and camaraderie that benefits the Fund for Manhattan. A record amount of nearly $190,000 was raised to provide unrestricted support for students. The evening’s reception featured remarks by President Brennan O’Donnell and representation from the Manhattan College Athletics department.

Save the date for the 29th annual outing, which will be held on Monday, May 8, 2017 at the Westchester Country Club. For more information, visit manhattan.edu/jasperopen.

The winning foursome comprised of Mike Connors, Mike Connors Jr. ’93, Mike Karger and Andy Ryan ’81 will represent the Jaspers in the Acura College Alumni Team Championship in Pinehurst, N.C. Go Jaspers!

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ALUMNOTES 1952

William Schoen, P.E., hopes to complete his book An Engineer’s Life this year.

1953

Father Maurice Zerr, M.M., celebrated the 65th anniversary of his ordination in the Maryknoll Society in June. He served his entire 51-year missionary career in East Africa. Although he retired in 1990, he continued to live in Kenya for a while longer, devoting much of his time to retreat work in schools and with religious groups. Fr. Zerr returned to the United States in 2006 and now resides at the Maryknoll Mission Center in New York. He remains grateful to God for family, friends and the African people who touched his life.

1954

Thomas Skrobala and his wife, Jean, reported their plans to celebrate 60 years of marriage on Sept. 8: “We look forward to having five of our nearby children join in the celebration (our sixth child is currently assigned overseas). Most of our 15 grandchildren will also be with us at that time.”

1955

John Paluszek was recently featured in a video dialogue on history, contemporary public relations and its role in society, courtesy of the Museum and Library of Public Relations and the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication. The full video can be found on YouTube.

1957

John Murray recently stepped down from his position as a foundation board member of the Massena Memorial Hospital Foundation, in New York. He was the foundation’s first paid employee, serving as director from 1991 to 1993, and has been a board member for the past two decades. Murray and his wife, Helen, who recently marked their 56th wedding anniversary, are looking forward to taking a step back and enjoying their time together.

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1961

Edward Kennedy continues to sing (22 years) with the Hibernian Festival Singers. He writes, “We sang at the 100th anniversary of the Easter Uprising at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, as well as concerts in Carnegie Hall!”

1963

Michael Crowley writes, “Olivia and I continue to enjoy retirement on our walking tours. Last autumn, we walked for two terrific weeks in the Italian Lakes! Best wishes to all from Liberal Arts 1963!”

1967

Joseph McCourt, U.S. Army Vietnam War veteran, served as the grand marshal of the 2016 Fanwood-Scotch Plains Memorial Day Parade.

He has been a part of the parade committee since 1992.

1968

William Walsh, Esq., a prominent environmental law attorney, recently joined Clark Hill’s Environment, Energy & Natural Resources Practice Group in Washington, D.C. Group chair Ken von Schaumburg said in a press release: “Chambers USA-ranked Bill Walsh joins the firm at a critical time in the history of chemical regulation, which affects every manufacturing and production sector. Well-known for advising trade associations and industry clients on an array of environmental laws, Bill will focus on the newly amended Toxic Substance and Control Act (TSCA), and business risks related to regulations to be promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.”

1967

Thomas Nipper retired from orthopedic surgery three years ago. He writes, “I am an expert witness evaluating auto-accident and workers’ compensation claims.”

1969

Vincent O’Malley, Esq., recently achieved a career milestone: 40 years as an assistant U.S. Attorney – Sr. Litigation Counsel at the New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s Office.

1970

Raymond Valenti has been a freelance tutor in mathematics since he retired from teaching full time in 2009.

1976

John Hannon and his wife, Kerry, have retired and are moving to Naples, Fla. Robert Sweeney, a veteran guidance counselor with extensive experience in college admissions, will serve as interim director of guidance in the Somers, N.Y., schools until July 2017.

1977

William Bryk, Esq., lives quietly with his wife, Mimi Kramer-Bryk, in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, with their cats and his law practice.

William Farber, associate professor of secondary education at Mercy College, is the principal investigator in a research project that will examine whether veterans can make good math teachers and strong role models for at-risk students. The project, which was awarded a $1.2 million National Science Foundation grant, will award 20 scholarships during the next four years.

Farber, who served in the U.S. Navy in Vietnam, described the program as a “personal quest” that combines his love of math with his respect for the military.

1978

Louis Judice presented a talk on railroading in Hunterdon County as part of the High Bridge Cultural and Heritage Committee History and Historic Preservation Lecture Series in February. He has held a lifelong interest in railroading and model railroads. A Hunterdon County resident for more than 20 years, Judice has actively served Bethlehem Township as mayor, township committee member, and planning board member. He is a member of Bethlehem Presbyterian Church and a Life Member of the Hunterdon County Historical Society.

1987

JASPER BOOKSHELF Henry Petroski ’63 published his 19th book, The Road Taken: The History and Future of America’s Infrastructure (Bloomsbury, 2016). The Road Taken explores America’s infrastructure and explains how essential their maintenance is to the nation’s economic health. Recounting the long history behind America’s highway system, Petroski reveals the genesis of our interstate numbering system, the inspiration behind the center line that has divided roads for decades, and the creation of such taken-for-granted objects as guardrails, stop signs and traffic lights — all crucial parts of our national and local infrastructure.

Thomas Reynolds ’91 wrote The Game (DonnaInk Publications), a historical fiction novel released in September 2015. The story begins with an immigrant from Ireland who comes to America in 1739. His sons and grandsons play roles in the Revolutionary War and pre-Civil War periods. They are followed by four generations of Major League Baseball players, through Reconstruction, the Roaring Twenties into the Depression, the 1960s/1970s, and a modern descendent. Reynolds is currently an editorial consultant for Aois21 Publishing.

Bruce Venter ’70, Ph.D., published The Battle of Hubbardton: The Rear Guard Action that Saved America (Arcadia Publishing, 2015), which details the events of the Vermont battle that may have led to the Patriots’ Revolutionary triumph. Venter is president of Americas History, LLC, a tour and conference company that offers tours of Revolutionary War battlefields and historic sites. He also serves as first vice president of the American Revolution Round Table of Richmond.

1981

Joseph Ryan, the Manhattan College track and field team’s associate head coach for sprints and hurdles, marched into Rio de Janeiro’s famed Maracana Stadium as a part of the delegation from Guyana during the Opening Ceremonies of the 2016 Olympic Games. This is Ryan’s third straight trip to the Summer Olympics. He is the head coach of the Guyanese track and field team.

1983

Denise Menelly joined CIT Group as executive vice president and head of technology and operations. Previously, she spent six years with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, most recently as head of enterprise shared services.

Joseph Leader is the new chief operating officer in charge of rail, bus and paratransit services, bringing 30 years experience in transportation operations to the position.

Until this year, Leader served as senior vice president of the Department of Subways, New York City Transit, which includes 27,000 employees, 800 track miles and 469 stations.

He previously served as chief of safety investigations for NYC Transit.

1985

Theresa Bell was inducted into the National Association of Professional Women’s 20162017 VIP Woman of the Year Circle for her leadership in investments. As a professional business writer, her skill set includes excellent financial writing, analytical and project/ time management techniques, as well as in-depth knowledge of equities, fixed income, alternative investment strategies and outsourced investment solutions. Additionally, she volunteers at Operation Hope, which provides several services to neighbors in need, and is extremely active in her hometown parish of St. Emery’s in Fairfield, Conn.

Richard Ward, senior director at TIAA Health, was the featured speaker for the Knowledge Group’s live webcast entitled “Addressing An Aging Workforce in Higher Education” in June.

In his role, he manages the TIAA Retirement Healthcare Program and the Emeriti Retirement Health Solutions defined contribution health savings programs. He joined the organization in 1987.

1989

MaryAnn McCarra-Fitzpatrick has four collages appearing in an e-zine, the bi-annual “F.A.L.D.” published by Nostrovia! Press.

John Banks III and his wife, Lisa Gomez, were named among Crain’s Power Couples in New York Business. This inaugural list features the top 20 couples who reflect the vibrancy of New York business across many different industries, from real estate and politics to fashion and entertainment. Crain’s New York declared John and Lisa “two of the most influential figures working at the intersection of politics and real estate in New York City today.” Lisa is the COO of L+M Development Partners, an affordable housing developer, and John is the president of the Real Estate Board of New York, one of the state’s most powerful lobbying groups.

1990

1986

Holly Farmer and Colleen Mannion ’97, former Manhattan softball players, completed the Ironman at Lake Placid on July 24. Holly finished in 15:59:05, and Colleen finished in 16:10:53.

Jorge Chaves Dominguez was named president of Parsons Brinckerhoff’s Latin America region. In his new position, he will oversee more than 1,100 employees in offices in Colombia, Chile, Peru, Mexico, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Karen Haunss, M.D., is a practicing ear, nose and throat physician in Great Neck with specialty in balloon sinus surgery.

1991

Deo Religioso’s paper “Observation Leads to Improved Operations in Nuclear Medicine” was published in the March/April edition of Radiology Management. The paper defines the steps necessary to implement sustainable organizational changes following initial observations.

1994

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1995

Michael Reinhart Jr., with his wife Anne and daughter Caitlin, welcomed twins Felicity and Michael Thomas in May.

1998

Ronald Quinlan was appointed commercial property editor for Independent News & Media. In his new role, he will provide authoritative news coverage, analysis and commentary on the workings of the commercial property sector for the Sunday Independent, Irish Independent and independent.ie

1999

Mark Niciu, M.D., Ph.D., is a clinical fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Md., where he is investigating whether anesthetic ketamine can be developed into a safe and effective antidepressant.

2001

Michelle Hololob has been a creative arts therapist for more than 13 years, and also serves as an adjunct instructor at Hofstra University’s master’s level art therapy program. She received the New York Art Therapy Association’s Pam Clark Distinguished Service Award for 2016.

Daryl Palmieri, former Jaspers basketball player, was named the 2015-16 Union County (N.J.) Boys Basketball Coach of the Year after leading his Westfield High School basketball team to its first conference title in 40 years.

2002

Kerri Anne Burke married Alan Delozier on Oct. 10, 2015, at St. Barnabas Church, in Woodlawn, N.Y., followed by a reception at the C.V. Rich Mansion in White Plains, N.Y. Kathleen McGowan completed the 2016 Boston Marathon and qualified for the 2017 Boston Marathon with a time of 3:24:48. She is a certified running coach and the assistant coach for Gotham City Runners.

2003

Erin McTernan, DMD, took over the All Smiles Family Dentistry practice in Waterloo, N.Y., and changed the name to All Smiles of the Finger Lakes.

2004

Kerry Conroy is the new principal of La Salle Academy in New York City. She was promoted from her former role as assistant principal for academic affairs.

Jean-Pierre Seon was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of New York in June at St. Joseph Co-Cathedral in Brooklyn. After graduating from Manhattan College, he was director of Campus Ministry at Holy Cross High School in Flushing, Queens.

2007

Andrew Kranichfeld published his second children’s book, Oliver Saves the Nature Center, which draws on factual aspects of his life. The titular Oliver is his real-life brother. The story also involves the Rye Nature Center, where Kranichfeld is a volunteer. He hopes to motivate young readers to care about the environment, but he also brings with him a message of hope and inspiration: despite cancer and blindness, he has been able to become an author, manage social media for the Post Road Market, and participate in athletics through running and yoga.

2008

Andrew Sandler was elected as Community Board 7’s district manager in January. With six years of governmental experience, Sandler oversaw many capital investment projects at Mosholu Parkway, including former Council-

From RA to FDNY, Alumni Continue to Serve After Graduation OUT OF 320 RECRUITS training to become New York City firefighters, what are the odds that two Jaspers would be stationed in the same borough? Carlos Morales ’14 and Michael Scire ’13, who both previously worked as Resident Assistants (RAs), have found themselves working together again — this time in two Manhattan divisions of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY). Morales reports to Engine 39 on the Upper East Side, and Scire is downtown, at Ladder Company 3.

Although they resided in different buildings at the College — Morales was in Overlook Manor, and Scire worked in Jasper Hall — they became friends during RA training the previous summer. They discovered a shared love for helping others and giving back to their school. After college, neither of them knew of the other’s plan to become an FDNY firefighter.

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Scire had been inspired to work with the FDNY from an early age.

“I grew up in Brooklyn with an FDNY firehouse on my block. To say the least, I was spoiled as a young boy getting to see the fire trucks everyday,” he says.

Scire’s dream of working with those he idolized came true when he aced the exam to gain entrance into the academy.

Upon each of their arrivals, it took a few days for Morales and Scire to even recognize each other because their heads had been shaved for training. A reunion followed the first morning roll call when they bumped into each other and immediately began to reminisce about their Jasper experiences.

The rest is history. Morales and Scire completed a grueling 19-week preparation course and graduated with each other’s support and words of encouragement.

They both agree that their involvement in the RA program gave them ample preparation to succeed after graduation. This and other Manhattan experiences supplied them with the tools needed to become strong leaders and to lend a hand to those who need one.

“I’ve always enjoyed assisting others during their time of need, which is why I became a firefighter,” Morales says.

man Oliver Koppell’s $100,000 funding of the energy efficient metal halide light system for the Bronx Victory World War I Memorial implemented under Councilman Andrew Cohen, Harris Field’s surface remediation, Williamsbridge Oval Park’s renovation and Whalen Park’s reconstruction. “The support from Community Board 7 has been overwhelming following my appointment as district manager,” he said in a recent Bronx Times article.

“That makes it important that I live up to their hopes and expectations.”

2009

Michelle Westby-Griffen is a special education mathematics teacher at Newfield High School in Selden, N.Y. She married John Griffen in Smithtown, N.Y., on April 9, 2016.

2011

Malin Marmbrandt, former Manhattan College track and field star, represented her native Sweden at the European Athletics Championships in July. She competed in the qualifying round of the women’s long jump and finished in a tie for 19th place.

2012

BIRTHS

1995

Anne & Michael Reinhart, son, Michael Thomas, daughter, Felicity, in May 2015

2001

Teresa (Andrade) & Timothy Shadi ’00, ’02 sons, Connor Julio and Owen Vincent, 6/3/16

2003

Whitney Anne & Gavin Thomas Cosgrove, son, Thomas Jasper, 4/10/16 Irene & Declan Mulcahy III ’03, ’05, son, Dylan Patrick, 1/14/16

2007

Megan & Joseph Carpentieri ’08, son, Christopher Joseph, 12/24/15

MARRIAGES

2002

Kerri Anne Burke & Alan Delozier, 10/10/15

2009

Robert Scott & Brittany Urban, 7/31/15

Sthelyn Romero and Brian Singh ’11, ’12 (MBA) will tie the knot on Nov. 12. He is an accountant with Zerega Frozen Logistics, while she is a paralegal working toward her BIA accreditation with the Immigrant Protection Unit at New York Legal Assistance Group.

Michelle Westby-Griffen & John Griffen, 4/9/16

2013

Anthony Contino received an Ed.D. in e-learning and online teaching from Northcentral University on Oct. 15, 2015.

Matthew Wellington, the field director for U.S. PIRG’s antibiotics program, oversees campaign operations with organizers and volunteers across the country to stop the overuse of antibiotics on factory farms. In the fall of 2015, Wellington coordinated a successful campaign to convince Subway to stop serving meat raised with routine antibiotics.

The “eat fresh” chain committed to a strong antibiotics policy after seeing the widespread consumer support that U.S. PIRG and partners generated nationwide.

A Top Teacher

ADVANCED DEGREES

1976

NOT ONLY DOES MANHATTAN COLLEGE provide students with a quality education but it also teaches them how to use their knowledge to improve the lives of others. School of Engineering alum Robert O’Connell ’71 has used his expertise of electrical engineering to do just that.

O’Connell has been teaching various engineering courses at the University of Missouri for the past 36 years and has excelled in his field as a professor. Most recently, he accepted one of the school’s coveted William T. Kemper Fellowships for Teaching Excellence.

Each spring, the fellowships are awarded to the University of Missouri’s five most exceptional teachers, and the prize includes a $10,000 stipend. Kemper, the benefactor of the fellowship, strongly believed that education improves the overall quality of life.

O’Connell has made his classes more student-centered by using team-based learning to help students who are at risk for dropping out of the engineering program.

“Many other excellent instructors devote their entire careers to improving student learning, and they are never recognized, which is unfortunate. I got lucky,” he says.

A highly involved and regarded professor, O’Connell is known for creating a strong level of student engagement. He also runs the university’s Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering club (IEEE), advises the IEEE honor society, Eta Kappa Nu, and has established a summer study abroad program to help students gain global knowledge of engineering.

In addition, O’Connell has conducted extensive research concerning power electronics, power quality problems in power systems, and engineering education, and he has published numerous articles regarding his work.

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Protecting and Preserving America’s National Parks

O

N AUG. 25, THE UNITED STATES celebrated an important milestone in its history — the National Park Service turned 100 years old. The centennial commemoration kicked off the second century of stewardship of America’s national parks and engaging communities through recreation, conservation and historic preservation programs. At the helm of this stewardship, and for one of the largest and most visited places in the National Park System, is a Jasper, Lizette Richardson ’84.

Richardson is the superintendent of Lake Mead National Recreation Area, a role she began last October, where she is responsible for overall park operations, including law enforcement, facility maintenance, concession, natural and cultural resources, and all administrative functions. Her job is actually more in line with a mayor of a big city, when considering the scope of her territory — comparable to the state of Delaware.

At nearly 1.5 million acres across Nevada and Arizona and with more than seven million visitors annually, Lake Mead National Recreation Area was established as the National Park Service’s first national recreation area in 1964. It encompasses two large reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Mohave, and provides diverse inland water recreational opportunities in an otherwise arid environment. The park also has substantial natural and cultural resources, and includes nine designated wilderness areas, making it America’s most diverse national recreation area.

Given the size and diversity of the area, there’s always something new going on at the park each day.

“I could be dealing with our national and regional personnel on service-wide policy issues, providing input on a major capital improvement, dealing with a law enforcement incident, preparing budget requests, meeting with local partners on volunteer and youth 58 N fall 2016

programs, or responding to media inquiries,” Richardson says.

And there are definitely challenges. Having previously worked at Lake Mead as its chief of maintenance and engineering for eight and a half years, she was familiar with the challenges of running one of America’s largest national park units.

“One of our biggest challenges right now is the 16-year drought that has led to lowering water levels in Lake Mead,” Richardson notes.

“Another challenge is our aging infrastructure.

Lake Mead is a big park, which translates to big needs.”

But her goals remain the same: to focus on people, programs and partnerships.

“Our park vision is to inspire and challenge everyone to find their connection to Lake Mead National Recreation Area and enjoy the adventure,” she says.

Richardson especially enjoys working with youth in the community, building relationships with the park’s partners, and working with such a dedicated team. She’s also proud of the park’s contribution to the local economy.

“Last year, visitors spent $311 million in gateway communities,” she says. “That spending supported 4,100 local jobs.”

But one of her favorite aspects of her job is encouraging young women who are interested in math and science to pursue their dreams.

As the first female superintendent of Lake Mead — an accomplishment of which she is quite proud — this one hits close to home.

“One of my passions is mentoring women to take future leadership roles in the agency as the National Park Service prepares for its next century,” she says.

Prior to becoming superintendent, Richardson was responsible for developing policy, and implementation of planning, design and construction for all National Park Service major capital improvement programs. One of her key accomplishments was developing policy to address the impacts of natural hazards and climate change on facilities across the entire National Park Service.

Before coming to the National Park Service, she was a project manager with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Air Force, managing large multimillion dollar projects.

Born in Manhattan, Richardson grew up in the Bronx, near Van Cortlandt Park. The first in her family to graduate from college, she chose Manhattan because of its well-known reputation in engineering and for its proximity to home. She graduated from the College in 1984 with a degree in civil engineering, and is a registered professional engineer in Nevada. Her younger brother, Antonio Sukla ’89, even followed in her engineering footsteps.

“Pursuing a degree in civil engineering allowed me to have an impact on all aspects of private or public infrastructure projects that improve the quality of life for the public,” she says.

And having an impact on the Park Service is inevitable for this pioneering alumna, as she stewards Lake Mead into its next century.

Alumnus Builds Hop-on, Hop-off Tour Business in Costa Rica

A

SK ANDRES OREAMUNO ’14 what makes San José special, and he’ll begin rattling off fun facts about Costa Rica’s capital city. For instance, did you know that it still holds a piece of the Berlin Wall, or that it was the third city in the world — behind Paris and New York — to have electricity?

In just under two years, the 25-year-old College graduate has founded and developed City Square Tours, a hop-on, hop-off tour bus company that connects tourists with the rich history and culture of San José.

Every hour and a half, seven days a week, the bus embarks on a journey featuring 50 of the city’s most notable attractions, including the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, the Jade Museum, the Old Solera Pharmacy Flat Iron Building and the Central Market, to name a few. There are 12 stops and two different routes, and patrons can begin and conclude the tour wherever they choose. This past May, City Square Tours

Andres Oreamuno ’14 poses with his City Square Tours bus for an interview with the Costa Rican business newspaper, La Republica.

expanded its list of offerings with a guided tour of two microbreweries — Cervecera del Centro, famous for its Cerveza Ambar beer, and the Costa Rica Craft Brewing Company.

Both are located in San José.

The former College business student operates his business with a tight-knit team of five, which allows him to work directly with customers. It also lends some versatility to his schedule.

“My daily role is very dynamic,” Oreamuno says during a rare moment of early-morning peace at the office. “On any given day, I’m not sure what I’ll be doing. I could be leading the tour or popping by different hotels in San José to promote City Square Tours.”

On an average day, 12-15 or 25-30 travelers who hail mostly from the U.S., Europe, Latin America, and other cities in Costa Rica might register for a tour.

When Oreamuno serves as a guide, he volunteers his cell phone number and distributes wristbands that have City Square Tours’ main number on them, should anyone get separated. His team also shuttles customers from their hotels to business headquarters and back again, which, on occasion, has required the ordering of Uber vehicles.

The Costa Rica native’s commitment to his customers symbolizes the dedication he has to his business and the city he calls home.

“It’s a challenge, but starting your own business is something you have to really believe in. Every day you have to want to give it your all,” he says.

Oreamuno founded City Square Tours in October 2014, but it was in the works long before then. Four years earlier, he took a hop-on, hop-off tour of Chicago, and was inspired. After fine-tuning his skillset at Manhattan, he pooled the money he’d earned from summer jobs, birthdays and graduations throughout the years to build

its foundation. To purchase the company tour bus, he sold his car.

Last winter, Oreamuno was able to share the knowledge he’s absorbed in two years with students in the College’s School of Business, who spent a week observing the market strategy and management of different companies in Costa Rica. They spent three days in San José during the study abroad trip in January.

Carolyn Predmore, Ph.D., a marketing and management professor at the College, led the trip to Latin America, where she made sure her students spent ample time touring San José with Oreamuno.

“Andres was beaming when he talked about City Square Tours, and he was so eager to show it off. He wanted to make sure that we saw and experienced the best of the city,” she says.

When Predmore taught Oreamuno as an undergrad, he was already developing great business sensibility.

“He was always focused, and I knew that once he found what he really was interested in and saw how all the parts would work, he’d succeed,” she remembers.

The same can be said of his Manhattan education. When Oreamuno looks back on his years in Riverdale, he considers all of his experiences significant because they’ve made him the company owner he is now — the professors he had, the knowledge he gained, and the collaboration with other students.

“Manhattan College helped me to develop into an innovative entrepreneur by providing me great professors, like Dr. Predmore, who became my mentors,” he says. “It also gave me an awesome family of friends, some of whom have already visited Costa Rica.

Overall it was an awesome life experience.”

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ALUMNI

Air Force Alum’s Adventures on the North Pole

A

YEAR AFTER GRADUATING from Manhattan College and leaving New York City, life and daily scenery has changed immensely for Matthew Bennett ’15. For one, his whole concept of night and day has changed — he now experiences 24 hours a day of darkness in the winter, and all-day light in the summer. That’s because Second Lieutenant Bennett is now in the U.S. Air Force and resides in North Pole, Alaska.

Since the fall of 2015, Bennett has served as a civil engineering project programmer for Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska.

“Getting to wear the uniform in the world’s greatest Air Force is enough to get me excited to go to work every day,” Bennett says. “I had great mentors growing up, and I feel like they really helped shape who I am now, so I try to be that positive mentor for others.”

In his role, Bennett is helping to coordinate planning for the newest fighter jets F-35s, set to arrive in 2020 with significant expansions to the base. The base will double in size and will need new buildings, offices and hangers to store the fighter jets. He is also inspecting the base to make sure it has the proper utilities to handle the upgrades and requesting funding from the government for the entire project.

“Matthew is a young man who has the potential to be a leader in the engineering industry and in public life,” says Moujalli Hourani, Ph.D., associate professor of civil and environmental engineering.

Bennett entered Manhattan College as a freshman in the fall of 2011 eager to explore New York City, major in civil engineering, and join the College’s detachment of the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC), which the College has hosted for more than 60 years — the only one of its kind in New York City.

“Matt embodied the Air Force core values — integrity, excellence and service during his time at Detachment 560,” says Captain Kevin Limani, assistant professor of aerospace studies with Air Force ROTC Detachment 560. “The one trait of Matt that left a lasting impression on me was his desire to mentor the younger cadets in the program.”

When Bennett started the college search in high school, he visited Manhattan and New York City for the first time. He grew up in Huntingdon, Pa., a rural town close to Penn State University, and was eager to attend a college with an established civil engineering program and AFROTC. “Being around the city helped me grow,” Bennett explains. “That helped me to learn to adapt and learn to be diverse and see what other people’s opinions were.”

During his time at Manhattan, Bennett not only participated in AFROTC but also several other activities. He was a resident assistant, a member of the student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers and Chi Epsilon (the civil engineering honor society), and worked for the campus events office. As a sophomore, he also took part in a Lasallian Outreach Volunteer Experience (L.O.V.E.) trip to Montana, as well as played several intramural sports.

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“Dr. Hourani was always really tough on me and my classmates. He was tough on us because he knew we were capable of doing what he was asking of us,” Bennett says. “He would push us to no end because he really cared about us. From my senior year to present time, Dr. Hourani has been there for me.”

Fast-forward to summer of 2015, and Bennett officially graduated from Manhattan and became a part of the Air Force at the commissioning ceremony. Since he planned to have a gap year before reporting to duty at Eielson Air Force Base, Bennett began a civil engineering position at STV Group, Inc., thanks in large part to Milo Riverso ’81, Ph.D., P.E., president and chief executive officer of the company, with whom he was introduced to by Hourani.

At the end of the summer, Bennett was notified that the Air Force was calling him to duty sooner than expected, so he left STV and prepared to move to Alaska. Because he needed to transport all of his belongings to Alaska, Bennett planned to drive from his hometown in Pennsylvania and visit several attractions along the way. He was able to see state parks, such as the Badlands in South Dakota and Yellowstone in Wyoming, and in Canada, he explored sites such as Calgary, Banff National Park, Lake Louise and Jasper National Park.

Almost one year later, Bennett is immersed in Alaska and enjoying the outdoors on his days off — playing hockey and ice fishing in the winter, and catching salmon and camping in the summer. One of the coolest job perks is having the Northern Lights as a backdrop. He will be stationed in Alaska for two more years until his next adventure.

“Not too many people can say they grew up in a small town, spent four years living in the big city, and then moved to the North Pole,” Bennett says. “I have a very unique opportunity right now to learn and grow as an individual and civil engineer. I get to do things people only ever dream about doing.”

Growing Queens’ Business Community with Bronx Roots Intact

Q

UEENS. It’s home to your butcher, your baker, and your candlestick maker, and they all need to stay in business for the borough to thrive. Tom Grech ’93 (MBA), who serves as executive director of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, riffs on the popular nursery rhyme to connote the area’s storied past and the importance of preserving it.

To do this, he advocates for local proprietors large and small, as well as the borough’s seven colleges, including York College in Jamaica, where Grech is a member of its foundation’s board of trustees. His job is to connect the chamber’s total number of members, which now includes more than a thousand, and who are divided into several categories, including: advertising and media, arts, culture and entertainment, home and garden, health care, business and professional services, among others.

“Sure, we have the New York Mets and Con Edison, but we never want to ignore the mom and pop businesses — the bodegas, the falafel stands, and our smaller restaurants,” Grech says.

Since he began as director in June 2015, the Astoria native has grown the total number of chamber members by 30 percent. They reside in all of the borough’s largest populated neighborhoods, which he’s able to reference on a map of zip codes in the organization’s Jackson Heights headquarters.

“We’re all in this together,” Grech says of the borough-wide professional sphere. “It’s incumbent on me to strengthen businesses in the different communities of Queens.”

To show the borough’s wide geographical range, he and the chamber distribute This is Queensborough, a monthly journal that updates residents on health care, technology and commercial happenings from College Point to Far Rockaway, and from Ridgewood to Bayside.

But that doesn’t mean Queens is its own city — though if it were, it would be the fourth largest in the U.S., behind Los Angeles and Chicago. Comprised of nearly 130 nationalities, the borough is a melting pot, as well as a vital part of the larger New York City community, which the College alumnus has been an active member of throughout his adult life.

While working toward a master’s degree in international business from Manhattan, Grech trekked up to the Bronx during the week and on Saturdays. There, he studied with Joseph Bonnice, Ph.D., a longtime marketing and management professor with whom he kept in touch long after graduation. At the beginning of the semester, they discovered a commonality — both of their families emigrated to the U.S. from Malta, a little-known island in the Mediterranean Sea. During the time he was in Bonnice’s class, Grech traveled often to Chile, Mexico and other countries in South America, opening offices there for the international printer, RR Donnelley & Sons Company.

He’d come back after each trip to report to his classmates on the different places he’d visited and what he had learned. For Grech, drives to Riverdale at that time were accompanied by Spanish languagelearning cassette tapes, which he used to prepare for each trip. When Bonnice passed away in 2003, 10 years after Grech graduated with his MBA, he received a letter from Bonnice’s wife, Gloria, who told him of the impact he had on her husband’s teaching career.

“You’re a composite of the places you’ve been and the people you’ve met,” says Grech, whose connection to the College doesn’t end there. In 2009, he represented the University of Scranton, his undergraduate alma mater, at the presidential inauguration of Brennan O’Donnell.

During the next four years, the prediction is that the Queens Chamber of Commerce will continue to grow and its members will continue to prosper. When Grech began as director, he vowed to double its membership by the year 2020. Moreover, his long-term goal is to solidify the borough’s place in New York City and the country.

To highlight this point, Grech repeats a tagline he uses often.

“Queens used to be the borough you traveled through, now it’s the one you travel to,” he says. “It’s a destination.”

Strategizing ways to grow commerce in Queens is a big part of the job for Thomas Grech ’93, who serves as executive director of the borough’s Chamber of Commerce, and has increased the total number of members by 30 percent since he began this role last summer.

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OBITUARIES

INMEMORIAM

Manhattan College records with sorrow the deaths of the following alumni: 1943

John J. Di Nucci, 1/22/15 The Rev. Robert J. Kayser, 11/28/15

1944

Neal J. Dean, 7/28/16 Arthur J. Fox Jr., 5/11/16 Edward T. Monigan, 8/3/16 Joseph J. Ryan, 8/24/16

1945

Arthur K. McCormack, 5/26/16

1947

Victor J. DiRocco, 1/3/16

1948

James R. Horris, 7/31/16 John P. Morgan, 7/15/16 Burton T. Ryan, 2/19/16

1949

Edward Howard, 8/8/16 William J. Lander, 12/21/15 Peter V. Martino, 8/17/16 Thomas F. McGrane, 7/13/16 Edward J. Regan, Esq., 2/7/16

1950

William L. Armstrong, 4/12/16 Daniel J. Haggerty, 6/5/16 Thomas J. Hicks, 7/15/16 Clarence J. Hoeffner, 5/31/16 George J. Kaigh Sr., 1/24/16 John J. Lawler, 11/24/15 Col. Donald N. McKeon, 7/19/16 Mario A. Vanni, 7/29/15 Roger G. Winslow Sr., 6/20/16

1951

Valentine P. Brose, 6/13/16 Edward J. Byrnes, 2/19/16

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Ralph A. Celentano, Esq., 7/7/16 Frank A. Clemente, 3/22/16 James J. Conaty, 7/30/16 John T. Haaf, 7/14/16 Howard J. Kelly, 2/11/16 Francis D. McDonough, 7/13/16 James J. Meyer, 4/13/16 Joseph C. O’Reilly, 2/12/16 Paul E. Tone, 8/16/16 William J. Orlando, 6/29/16 Leonard A. Petersen, 6/6/16 John J. Vogt, 9/11/16

Edward T. Lynch, 8/11/16 Anthony Moran, 7/9/16 John R. Sexton, 9/6/16 Edward F. Stevens, 8/1/16 Thomas J. Walsh, 8/13/16

Richard G. Baker, 8/19/16 James J. Gilmore, 1/11/16 William F. Hickey, 7/21/16 Ramon R. Joseph, M.D. 2/17/16 John S. McCabe Sr., P.E., 2/19/16 Walter P. Soboleski, 6/23/16 Alfred T. Villeneuve, 7/15/16

John J. Ackermann, 4/25/16 Brian M. Egan, 8/6/16 Joseph P. Sullivan, 6/5/16

1952

1953

James J. Crawford, 8/27/16 Henry J. Oswald Jr., 7/15/16 Anthony J. Peluso, 5/23/16 Peter A. Schoenster, 5/2/16 Robert M. Traynham, 7/7/16

1956

Patrick J. Devine, 12/19/15 John C. Eichner, 7/17/16 Edward G. Fattell, 5/1/16 Joseph B. Gormley, 3/26/16 Stanley J. Jagodowski, 1/17/15 John J. Lennon, 7/31/16 Robert E. Smith, 4/9/16 Thomas G. Wetheral, 8/6/16

1957

1958

Daniel J. Hamilton, 4/20/16 George H. Schiller, 2/19/16

1959

James J. Barry, 9/5/15

1960

Richard J. Gerlock, 6/27/16 Patrick J. O’Donnell, 6/13/16 John P. Skahill, 3/16/16

1961

Mark L. Auriana, 3/5/16 Edmund J. Bozek, 7/10/13

1954

1962

Nicholas J. Bartilucci, 7/17/16 Joseph P. Squeri, 2/15/16

Richard J. Harrison, 8/12/16

1955

Harry F. Beaton, 9/2/16 Deacon Donald G. Bruckner, 2/1/16 Raymond V. Hussey, 4/18/16

1963

Saverio N. Laudadio, 7/10/16

1964

John J. Cahill, 4/17/16 Laurence R. Keefe, 8/17/16 Douglas H. Nicholas, 2/24/16

1965 Peter J. Powers, 7/7/16

1966

James F. Egan, 2/28/16 Patrick J. Mullany, 9/7/16

1967

Dolores T. Harrison, 3/22/16

1969

Edward L. Jawor, 4/11/16 Frank T. McElderry, 4/26/16

1970

John J. Bert, 7/25/16 Sr. Rose M. Dormer, S.C., 5/10/16 Joan Sullivan Kowalski, 8/20/16 Katherine M. Martin, 2/19/16

1971

John M. Adamczak, 3/20/16 Hugh D. Kiernan Jr., 3/22/16 Br. John Norton, FSC, 3/18/16

1972

The Rev. Peter Paul Brennan, 8/1/16 Anthony P. Connolly, 7/25/16 Dennis R. Gallagher, 9/1/16 George F. Gardner, 12/15/15 Arthur J. Larkin, 8/25/16

1973

Lois Avrick, 6/4/16 Michael P. Ferry, 4/18/16 Paul R. Valkovitch, 7/22/16

1977

John M. Lenane, 8/21/16

1978

Richard J. Colbert, 5/24/16

1980

Steven J. Barry, 7/17/16

Nicholas Bartilucci ’54

1982 Michael D. Bruno, 4/27/16 Mariann Knirsch-Florence, 4/12/16

1983

Joseph A. McGuinness, 2/12/16

1984

Denis M. Golden, 7/27/16 William P. Lynch, 6/17/16 Christopher E. Motlenski, 3/7/16

1987

Mary C. McNamara, 6/19/16 Gary S. Zito, 9/2/16

1991

Robert E. Sullivan, 5/13/16

2000

Todd M. Ghattas, 7/10/16

2013

Larissa S. Waden, 6/26/16

2015

Thomas G. Turiano, 3/30/16

NICHOLAS J. BARTILUCCI ’54, a dedicated engineering alumnus who served as a member of Manhattan College’s School of Engineering Board of Advisors and a generous supporter of the School of Engineering, died on July 17. He was 85.

Former president and chairman of the board of Dvirka and Bartilucci Consulting Engineers in Woodbury N.Y., Bartilucci also served for more than 40 years as commissioner of the Jericho Water District. He dedicated his career to caring for New York’s environment in a number of leadership roles in several key organizations, including the New York Water Environment Association (NYWEA).

Bartilucci was one of the initial engineers on the incorporation of the New York Water Pollution Control Association (now NYWEA) when it was founded in 1976.

He served for more than 30 years as the association’s treasurer and also dedicated time to both local and national environmental issues.

A loyal alumnus, Bartilucci shared his expertise with Manhattan College as a member of the School of Engineering board of advisors, and donated generously to the school and its programs. He was honored by the College in 2010 with a new conference space in the School of Engineering, the Nicholas J. Bartilucci ’54 Conference Room.

“Nick Bartilucci is a well-respected pioneer in the industry. He has been a great long-term friend to Manhattan College, specifically the School of Engineering,” said Dean Tim Ward, Ph.D., P.E., at the time of the dedication. “We saw an opportunity to honor Nick, and we knew it was the right thing to do.”

“Nicholas Bartilucci was a loyal and faithful alumnus. He loved Manhattan and was proud of his Catholic Lasallian education,” says Moujalli Hourani, D.Sci., associate professor of civil and environmental engineering. “Nick was a founder and very active member of the advisory board of the Civil and Environmental Engineering department. He gave generously financially to support environmental engineering education. The conference room will keep his memory alive forever and after.”

Bartilucci earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the College and a master’s in civil engineering from New York University. He served in the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps in the Panama Canal Zone.

He gave generously of his time and talents to a number of organizations throughout his career, including serving as trustee of the Village of Laurel Hollow and vice president of the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum. Bartilucci was a board member of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Association and first vice president of the Center for the Developmentally Disabled. He also was active in his church in Syosset, Saint Edward the Confessor Church, and a member of the American Legion.

Bartilucci is survived by his wife, Joan; children, Lisa (Robert) Rooney, Mark (Becky Quinn) and Paul (Helene); grandchildren; great-grandchildren; and sister, Eleanor Free.

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OBITUARIES

Peter Powers ’65 PETER J. POWERS ’65, chair and CEO of Powers Global Strategies, LLC, former first deputy mayor of New York City, and former member of the board of trustees and honorary degree recipient at Manhattan College, died on July 7. He was 72.

Powers was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws in 1995 from the College during his tenure as first deputy mayor of New York City. In part, the citation read: “Mr. Powers is known to be the calm center of the swirling storm of city government. In a time that calls for far-reaching change, decisive action and political toughness, his effective management, steady hand, confidence and trust have contributed greatly to the many early accomplishments of the Giuliani administration.”

After receiving his honorary degree, Powers discussed how the College influenced his life, career and friendships.

“As you know, my closest friend is my Manhattan College roommate [former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani ’65]. If you asked a lot of people in this city who we are, they would say, ‘oh yes, the mayor and the first deputy mayor,’” he said. “If you asked us, we would say, ‘we are a couple of Christian Brothers’ guys who wouldn’t be where we are without the Brothers and Manhattan College.’”

A Queens native, Powers graduated from Bishop Loughlin High School, Manhattan College and New York University Law School, where he earned an LL.M. in taxation. Also a Certified Public Accountant, he began his career practicing tax law in New York City.

After leaving City Hall in 1998, he formed the firm Powers Global Strategies, LLC, serving as chair and CEO. Based in New York City and Washington, D.C., the firm advises numerous multinational corporations in the top tier of the Fortune 500 on a broad range of issues from public policy research and strategic planning to crisis management.

During his political days, Powers’ ground game strategy was considered a key factor for the mayoral victory giving Giuliani the largest win for a Republican since Fiorello LaGuardia. Powers then brought that same leadership to City Hall as first deputy mayor, where he was responsible for running the day-to-day operations of New York City.

Powers served on numerous boards, including the College’s board of trustees from 2000-2004, Fox Entertainment Group, Mutual of America Life Insurance, International Steel Group Inc., GFI Corporation, and the Partnership for New York City. He also served as chairman and director of Giuliani LLC and as chairman of the New York City Public Initiatives Corporation.

He is survived by his wife and business partner, Sylvia Ng; his daughters, Heather (Scott) McBride and Krista (Jeff) Harvey; his grandchildren, Eve, Catalina, Luke and Patrick; and two older brothers, Don and Jack.

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George Prans GEORGE PRANS, PH.D., associate professor of electrical engineering at Manhattan College for more than 40 years, died on April 27. He was 73.

Prans began at Manhattan College as an assistant professor in 1975 and was promoted to associate professor in 1982. During his tenure at the College, he taught everything from introduction to engineering to electrical system analysis. His main research was on the use of solar power and electricity to power cars.

In recent years, he worked with Robert Mauro, Ph.D., professor of electrical engineering on curriculum and planning in the development of new material for the freshman ENGS-115 course. It included a new electrical engineering module that enabled students to build their own LED flashlights.

“This past year, we upgraded the computer engineering material in this course to allow students to work with the new Lego EV3 Robotic Systems,” Mauro says. “This module is hugely popular with the students.”

Prans was a dedicated member of the College community. He served on the College Senate, the promotion and tenure committee for six years, the facilities planning committee of the board of trustees, and the electrical and computer engineering consultors committee. Prans also served on the Council for Faculty Affairs, which he chaired for three years, and the Faculty Welfare Council.

“George Prans was a private person, rather offbeat and unique,” says Romeo Pascone, Ph.D., professor of electrical engineering.

“He had a mechanical and electrical engineering background, and, hence, was a very handy engineer who built his own house in Vermont basically from scratch.”

When talking about his teaching style, Pascone says: “He carried this basic and hands-on understanding over to the classroom and was an old-fashioned and very good teacher with high standards who was generally appreciated by the students. He loved the teaching profession and was reliable and dedicated to the Electrical and Computer Engineering department. He could be funny at times with a dry sense of humor and showed a healthy interest in the world.”

A graduate of Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, Prans earned his bachelor’s, three master’s degrees and doctorate there.

On the graduate level, his degrees were in physics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering with funding from NASA and the National Science Foundation. His doctorate was in electrical engineering, and he served as a visiting professor at Stevens in 1974.

A lifetime member of the Institute of Electric and Electronic Engineers, he was a member of Sigma Xi, Eta Kappa Nu, and Tau Beta Pi. He is survived by his wife, Sharyn Finnegan; his daughter, Kate Finnegan-Prans; and his brother, Richard Prans.

Arthur Fox Jr. ’44 ARTHUR J. FOX JR. ’44, an active alumnus and honorary degree recipient who served as editor-in-chief of the Engineering News-Record (ENR) for nearly 25 years, died on May 11 in Rockville, Md. He was 92.

During his long tenure at ENR, Fox grew the industry trade journal into a globally recognized publication, which is often called the “Bible” by those within the engineering field. He handled tough news stories and made his editorial page a place to discuss controversial issues, not always taking the side that put engineering companies in the best light. This approach gave ENR a reputation that was trusted by engineers and the community at large.

Fox had a 40-year career at ENR and was given the title of editor-in-chief emeritus upon his retirement in 1988. He was known for traveling around the world to cover stories with a national impact, such as the U.S. military buildup in South Vietnam and the Soviet Union’s record-setting dams. Fox reached beyond the print medium and served as a leader within the industry. Having held numerous positions in the organization including president, he worked with the American Society of Civil Engineers to strengthen their code of ethics and to build unity among the industry’s members.

The recipient of numerous awards within the industry, Fox was also honored by Manhattan College in 1981 with an honorary Doctor of Science. The citation recognized his dedication as an alumnus, stating: “… he is best known for his unstinting help when help is needed. As a recipient of both the Bronze Star as a young sergeant in 1945 with the Engineer Combat Battalion, and of the American Consulting Engineer Council award in 1975, he is among an elite group that includes Herbert Hoover and Dwight Eisenhower.

A past recipient of the College’s Distinguished Alumni Award, he became the first Manhattan graduate to be named president of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1974.”

Fox served the College in many ways throughout his years as an alumnus, including as president of the Alumni Society and chair of the Consulting Committee on Civil Engineering for the Manhattan College Council for Engineering Affairs. He also served on the College’s Curriculum Advisory Committee.

In addition, he spearheaded a scholarship program through The Moles, a group of engineers known for working on construction projects underground. Founded in 1998, it provides tuition assistance to deserving students studying civil engineering.

“Art was a loyal, much-admired alumnus throughout his personal and professional life,” says Brother John Muller, FSC, associate professor emeritus of government.

“I’ve known Art through engineering,” adds George Tamaro ’59.

“He was the epitome of a gentleman. He was a good representative of Manhattan and a good representative of ENR.” Fox earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1944. He also served as an instructor at the College in engineering, drawing and descriptive geometry from 1946-47. Fox served with the 87th Infantry Division and 312th Engineer Combat Battalion during World War II, reaching the rank of sergeant.

He began his career as a structural design engineer at Sanderson & Porter in New York City before beginning his ENR tenure as an assistant editor in 1948.

Fox held numerous professional memberships and offices, including being elected to the American Academy of Environmental Engineers. He also served as a member of the Board of Governors for the New York Building Congress, and a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers, Water Pollution Control Federation, and American Institute of Architects, to name a few.

He is survived by his daughter, Jane Fox, and son-in-law, Jack Riordan; his three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

His son, John, predeceased him.

Contributions in his memory may be made to Manhattan College’s Arthur J. Fox Jr. Scholarship.

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OBITUARIES

Sister Frances Cardillo, OSF

SISTER FRANCES CARDILLO, OSF, associate professor emerita of biology and former chair of Manhattan College’s biotechnology program, died on May 9 at the St. Elizabeth Motherhouse. She was 84.

A native of Rome, Italy, Sr. Frances joined the Franciscan Sisters before graduating from college, and began her career at a number of high schools for the Congregation, teaching science and math.

In 1967, Sr. Frances began teaching at Ladycliff College in Highland Falls, N.Y., before joining the Manhattan College/ College of Mount Saint Vincent biology department in 1976.

During her tenure, Sr. Frances embarked on a sabbatical studying cancer cell research at the world famous Wistar Institute in Philadelphia.

She considered the work a great honor and the experience key to creating the biotechnology program at Manhattan. At the time, the College was the first in New York State to offer an interdisciplinary Master of Science in biotechnology.

Sr. Frances made the most of technology as it became available, often incorporating it into the classroom. An early author of computerized instruction, she developed detailed and accurate illustrated modules on plant structure, plant classification, and plant life cycles with the assistance of several students.

“Sr. Frances ran a summer tissue culture workshop that attracted academics from other institutions,” adds Leo Alves, Ph.D., associate professor of biology. “Tissue culture methodologies have come to be extensively used in the fields of bio-medical research and drug development, career paths pursued by a number of Manhattan College and College of Mount Saint Vincent Biology department graduates.”

Michael Judge, Ph.D., professor of biology at Manhattan, observed: “Sr. Frances was a strong advocate for using computers within biology courses. Long before others, she recognized that future biologists would need to be computer literate.”

In 2002, she returned to the Sisters Community in Allegany. Ahead of her time again, she became a strong advocate for Canticle Farm, which expanded the agricultural ministry for citizens in the community.

Sr. Frances fully retired in 2009 to the St. Elizabeth Motherhouse.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in education from the College of St. Rose in Albany, as well her M.A. in biology. Sr. Frances continued her studies at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, N.Y., where she earned her Ph.D. in biology in 1967.

A prolific writer, she was a member of numerous professional organizations, including the American Association of the Advancement of Science, the New York Academy of Sciences, American Women in Science, and the American Society of Botany. She was honored throughout her career, including being named an Outstanding Educator in America in 1975.

Sr. Frances is survived by several nieces and nephews.

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Estelle Fryburg ESTELLE FRYBURG, ED.D., associate professor emerita of education and a leader in reading literacy, died on June 1. She was 86.

Joining the faculty in 1972, Fryburg brought her reading expertise to campus and soon made Manhattan College a center for reading literacy in the New York City area.

During her tenure, the College ran literacy conferences and workshops, and created programs for students in the local area.

Fryburg, who had developed methods for testing, regularly shared her knowledge at conferences around the world, and even took a number of trips to and worked with students in China. She created collaborative programs that brought graduate students together with local students to provide literacy training right on campus as part of the graduate education curriculum.

Fryburg was also a prolific writer within the field.

She is the author of Reading and Learning Disability: A Neuropsychological Approach to Evaluation and Instruction. Published in 1997, the book has served as a resource for teachers, psychologists, physicians and other professionals for nearly two decades.

“Estelle Fryburg was the director of the M.S. education program in reading. In this role, she trained a large number of knowledgeable reading teachers in the New York City Department of Education,” says Elizabeth Kosky, Ed.D., director of the graduate special education programs. “Estelle was an active member of the International Reading Association and founder of a chapter at Manhattan College. Due to her leadership, students and alumni of the program were very involved in this organization.”

Sister Remigia Kushner, CSJ, director of the school leadership program, adds: “My recollection of her is as someone who never stopped learning. Manhattan had barely begun using computers, and Estelle was right there trying to learn. Because she was the educational research guru at the time, she wanted to make sure her students had the best she could offer.”

Fryburg earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from The City University of New York, and her Ph.D. from New York University.

She is survived by her sons, M.H. and David Fryburg; daughter-in-law, Julie Fryburg; and grandchildren, Jesse, Daniel and Lily. She was predeceased by her husband of 62 years, Carl Fryburg.

The Rev. George Hill THE REV. GEORGE HILL, chaplain at Manhattan College since 2007, passed away on Sept. 14. He was 73.

Fr. Hill came to Manhattan College in 2007 after 10 years as the parochial vicar at St. Raymond’s Parish in the Bronx.

Guided by a “ministry of presence,” Fr. Hill was frequently seen at campus events and activities. In an interview with The Quadrangle, he said: “I have always believed in a ministry of presence, I am almost never in my office because I like to make myself visible to the students if they ever need anything.”

While at Manhattan, Fr. Hill touched the lives of thousands of students. He presided over many of the College’s Catholic services, including Mass on Sundays, holy days and Jasper nuptials. He began a weekly meditation program that became highly popular with Manhattan College students, and traveled with many of the Jaspers’ intercollegiate athletics teams all across the country.

Fr. Hill was a key figure in liturgies on campus, such as Ash Wednesday and the annual Commencement Mass. He was an integral part of the spiritual events at the College, including welcoming Cardinal Timothy Dolan to the Commencement Ceremony in 2012 and planning and presiding over dedication events, from the student commons to the windows in the Chapel of De La Salle and His Brothers.

“We are grateful to have had him as our campus pastor for the past nine years,” says President Brennan O’Donnell. “He was a wise counselor, a gentle spiritual guide, and a loving friend to students and colleagues alike. Fr. George will be sorely missed in our daily life on campus; but we take comfort in our faith that he is present among us whenever we follow his example and ‘do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.’” “Father George was a wonderful college chaplain,” adds Lois Harr, director of campus ministry and social action. “He was available for everyone — students, faculty, staff. He had a special place in his heart for athletes and commuters, and he regularly scheduled meditations in the residence halls. If Fr. George taught us one thing, it was never to let good things compete with one another. Find all the good you can and participate in as much of it as you can.”

She recalls their regular morning coffee dates, where they’d talk about everything — work, faith, life — and how much she especially loved discussing Scripture with him.

“He always had a way of genuinely, faithfully unfolding deeper and deeper meaning,” she says. “We could talk about things that really matter, about meaning and purpose.

George was my friend, and I will miss him.”

Earlier in his career, Fr. Hill was a licensed mental health counselor in New York State, provided therapy out of an office at St. Bernard’s Parish in Greenwich Village, and served as a chaplain and bereavement counselor at the Bailey House in Harlem, where he worked with patients suffering from HIV and AIDS. Prior to his time at the Bailey House, Fr. Hill worked at the Abbey of the Genesee in Piffard, N.Y. He was the retreat director at the monastery of strict observance, where the monks observed a policy of silence. It was there where Fr. Hill learned about meditation, a practice he carried to his role in Riverdale.

A native of Worcester, Mass., Fr. Hill graduated from St. John’s Prep and the College of the Holy Cross, where he received a bachelor’s degree in English. He received a master’s degree at Assumption College and a Master of Divinity from St. Bernard’s Seminary in Rochester, N.Y. He is survived by his siblings, Thomas (Beth) Hill, Richard Hill, John (Rebecca) Hill, and Marilyn (William) Brank. He is also survived by six nieces and nephews.

A memorial Mass was held in the Chapel of De La Salle and His Brothers at Manhattan College. A funeral mass was celebrated at St. Peter’s Church, Worcester, Mass. Interment followed at St. John’s Cemetery.

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PHOTO BY JOSH CUPPEK

PA R TING SHOT

68 N FALL 2016

On a bright, sunny day this past summer, Manhattan’s newest Jaspers gathered on the Quad for Orientation to get an introduction to college life before starting their freshman year.