Manhattan Magazine Winter 2020

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NATIONAL CHAMPION JASPER DANCERS

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ON CAMPUS Several professors are recognized with grants, new trustees join the board,

EDITOR Kristen Cuppek DESIGNER Kat Lepak

three recent graduates earn Fulbright Awards, and so much more.

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SPORTS The Cross Country Invitational draws

ASSISTANT EDITOR Cecilia Donohoe CONTRIBUTORS Patrice Athanasidy Kelly Carroll John Dove Christine Loughran Barry Moskowitz Kevin Ross Amy Surak

runners from across the nation, plus news and recaps of the spring season.

32 READY FOR PRIME TIME A new mobile production unit is giving students the hands-on training needed to produce live broadcasts for ESPN.

38 JASPER DANCERS ARE NO. 1!

The Jasper Dancers prove they are the best in the country in hip-hop at the

INTERN Madison Smith PHOTOGRAPHERS Ben Asen Harriet Carino Josh Cuppek (cover) Brian Hatton Emma McDonald Sara Milano Kania Pollock Published by the office of Marketing and Communication Manhattan College Riverdale, NY 10471 magazine@manhattan.edu Lydia Gray Assistant Vice President, College Advancement and Executive Director, Marketing and Communication

college national championships.

48 REDUCING NYC FOOD WASTE A group of Jasper environmental engineers are helping New York City to sustainably process food waste.

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COMMENCEMENT The College celebrates recent grads at its Commencement ceremonies in May.

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DEVELOPMENT Meet a student scholarship recipient, and a new capital campaign launches.

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ALUMNI Reunion Weekend, alumnotes, Jasper profiles, and reminiscences about a long-lost tradition.

ON THE COVER The Jasper Dancers get the Sixth Borough student cheering section excited for basketball season at Manhattan Madness in October.

68 OBITUARIES In memoriam, George Mahoney, John Greeley, Dominic Maiello

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School of Science Welcomes Alumni Back for First Symposium Emilio Emini ’75, director of the tuberculosis and HIV program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, served as the keynote speaker at the School of Science’s first symposium. Students also showcased their research at a poster presentation at the event, where guests, including the school’s advisory board, could discuss a variety of topics.

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T THE FIRST-EVER SCHOOL OF SCIENCE ALUMNI SYMPOSIUM, alumni from various years returned to their alma mater to tour and view the progress being made on the new Patricia G. and Cornelius J. Higgins ’62 Engineering and Science Center, meet current students, and hear from a prominent classmate, Emilio Emini ’75.

Emini, director of the tuberculosis and HIV program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, discussed the challenges and opportunities he has encountered in his work.

He joined the foundation four and a half years ago, after retiring as senior vice president of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. He previously served as the senior vice president of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

After receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Manhattan, he went on to earn a Ph.D. in virology at Cornell University.

Emini discussed the foundation’s goals when it comes to controlling the global HIV and tuberculosis epidemics.

“We are very far from conquering both of these epidemics, and they will resurge if we don’t keep a very careful eye on what is going on,” he said. “The mission of our HIV and TB program is to accelerate the reduction in the incidence of HIV infection with the goal of achieving sustained epidemic control.”

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Reviewing the progress that has been made in the treatment of HIV and TB in the years since they were first discovered, Emini noted that he has traveled to infected regions in Africa to speak with those affected by HIV and to see the disease firsthand.

“Although proportions of HIV have dropped substantially over the years, the number of people living with HIV has gone up because people are now able to live with HIV without dying immediately,” he said.

Emini shared the accomplishments that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has made in the field of HIV and TB research, including working to create more effective contraception and medicines in order to combat HIV. He noted that these should become available to the public within the next few years.

“We’re hoping to identify and characterize hard-to-reach populations for testing, and improve the delivery and use of effective prevention intervention with HIV,” Emini said.

He also emphasized the need for improvements in the field of tuberculosis research.

“TB is the top infectious killer in the world.

However, many don’t see it that way,” he continued. “We need faster diagnosis of the active disease at the point of first contact.

We need faster initiation of treatment to

quickly lessen transmissibility.

However, most importantly, we need stronger development of a vaccine to prevent the infection of this disease on a wide scale.”

The more than 30 alumni in attendance also had the opportunity to watch poster presentations by 28 student participants in the School of Science Summer Research Scholars program, a highly competitive, paid research program.

Typically, around 30 students are selected for the program and are paired with a faculty mentor who oversees and assists with their project. At the end of the summer, students are required to write a report for publication in The Manhattan Scientist, an academic journal that highlights student research projects, as well as present their work in a college-wide research seminar with other scholars. At the symposium, the students presented on a variety of topics, ranging from the mechanical stresses of tree branches to air pollutants causing childhood asthma in the Bronx.

The symposium closed with a reception following Emini’s presentation, at which students were encouraged to network with alumni for potential mentorships and internships.

“The symposium went very well,” says John Wasacz, professor of chemistry and biochemistry. “The audience ranged from undergraduates, through alumni of varied backgrounds, to faculty from all the sciences.

It was an excellent unifying event.”

Business Faculty Receive Grant for Financial Literacy Initiative

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HE O’MALLEY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS is working to enhance the financial know-how of its students and the greater Bronx community. And thanks to a new grant, the business school is one step closer to making this happen.

New American Colleges and Universities (NAC&U), a national consortium of selective, small to mid-size independent colleges and universities, has awarded a Collaboration, Growth, and Innovation (CGI) grant to Amira Annabi, assistant professor of finance, and Aileen Lowry Farrelly ’95, assistant dean and accounting faculty member in the O’Malley School of Business.

Together, the two faculty aim to create a Center for Financial Literacy on campus that benefits Manhattan students and the College’s neighbors in the Bronx. They will work in collaboration with Ryan Decker, assistant professor of economics and finance and director of the Center for Financial Literacy at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois.

North Central College established a Center for Financial Literacy last year, and Manhattan College would like to explore the feasibility of establishing a similar

center on its campus. The grant will allow them to share ideas, concepts and best practices around establishing and operating a Center for Financial Literacy.

“We believe our school’s location, near one of the poorest congressional districts in America, along with its Lasallian mission, makes it an ideal candidate for a financial literacy center, designed to serve not only its students but also the surrounding underserved community,” Annabi says.

In addition to launching a financial literacy initiative, the faculty hope to create an online platform with resources that will benefit both of their communities and potentially lead to additional financial literacy projects among other NAC&U institutions.

“Improving financial literacy for both on-campus populations and the greater community is aligned with NAC&U’s mission of higher education as a service to society,” says Sean Creighton, president of NAC&U. “We’re happy to support a collaboration that has the potential to be shared across our consortium and bring value to all of our members and their communities.”

Chemical Engineering Professor Awarded Major Research Grant ARAVIND SURESH, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR of chemical engineering, has received a three-year Major Research Instrumentation Program grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The grant, which totals nearly $300,000, is in support of Suresh’s proposal to build a chemical vapor deposition instrument with novel capabilities for producing polymer thin films. A majority of the operators for the proposed instrument would be undergraduate students from Manhattan College.

“The opportunity to be trained on a state-of-the-art instrument and to participate in interdisciplinary research projects and publications

would greatly benefit the students when they interview for jobs or apply to Ph.D. programs around the country,” Suresh says.

In addition, the instrument would be used in undergraduate courses to teach reaction kinetics from the standpoint of solid film growth, a topic that is typically not covered in chemical reaction engineering courses and would be of unique value to students.

Keeping in line with Manhattan College’s initiative to expand the engineering master’s degree programs, the proposed budget includes a request for funding to support a graduate assistantship for the duration of the grant. The graduate assistant would oversee operation of the instrument, mentor the undergraduate students, and report directly to the principal investigator.

In January 2020, Manhattan College is scheduled to host the Northeast Complex Fluids and Soft Matter workshop, where the NSF-funded instrument will be featured to attract external users and collaborations from nearby institutions.

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Students Showcase Innovations in Shark Tank-Style Competition

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T THE COLLEGE’S ANNUAL INNOVATION CHALLENGE this past spring, nine teams of students from the O’Malley School of Business, School of Engineering and School of Science brought their A game to compete in the same manner as budding entrepreneurs do on the TV show Shark Tank. The teams pitched their inventions and innovations to a panel of Manhattan College alumni and faculty entrepreneur judges that awarded a total of $5,000 in startup cash to three winning teams.

Taking home first prize of $2,500 was the team of Karthik Maddur ’19, an electrical engineering major, Praise Omiponle ’19, a global business and management major, and Kishan Thakurdin ’19, a mechanical engineering major. The three students created QuickMech, a smartphone app that allows users to find local car mechanics in their area.

“Let’s face it. Auto repairs are very expensive, and trying to find the best price you can is very time consuming,” Thakurdin said during the team’s presentation.

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from different mechanics, thus saving time and allowing for transparent price comparisons. Users also are able to post photos of vehicle damage to the app, and mechanics can provide users a direct quote on the price of repair services.

In their market research, the team found that nine out of 10 users surveyed would sign up for the QuickMech app, and 10 local body shops would subscribe to advertise their services, thereby building the app’s revenue base.

The second prize of $1,500 went to the combined engineering and business student team, ButtonBlitz: Tom Englert ’19, Chris Garritano ’19, Madison Jennings ’19, Nicole Miller ’20, Tara O’Shea ’19 and Gianna Pavone ’19. They created a toy for children with special needs to help improve their motor skills, and focused on toys that may be less stimulating for children with Down syndrome, which affects one in 700 babies in the United States. The group is planning to attend World Down Syndrome Day and patent their toy in order to market it to parents and families.

The UNLINK team captured the thirdplace prize of $500 for their plan for transit safety. The team of Lauryn Hughes ’22, Grace McNamara ’22, Grace Taggart ’22 and Caroline Voigt ’22 identified RFID technology, similar to a store security tag, that can alert distracted, headphone-wearing commuters to their surroundings — an innovation that could save lives at dangerous crossings.

“We were very impressed by the business ideas students came up with and how they developed them,” said Donald Gibson, dean of the O’Malley School of Business.

“This challenge showed how innovative Manhattan College students can be.”

New Mobile Site Gives Guided Tour of De La Salle Chapel Windows VISITORS TO THE COLLEGE’S CHAPEL OF DE LA SALLE AND HIS BROTHERS can now access a new mobile site and audio tour to guide them through the historic stained glass windows.

This collection is widely considered the most beautiful and complete artistic reflection in stained glass of Saint John Baptist de La Salle’s life and his work with the Brothers of the Christian Schools. Ten windows guide viewers through key moments in the Saint’s life — from his childhood in Reims, and the vows he took with his Brothers, to his death in Rouen and his glorification in heaven. Two additional windows — depicting the Nativity of our Lord and Jesus as a teacher — help to provide the gospel context for the De La Salle narrative.

To access the tour and learn more about the collection’s history, go to webapps.manhattan.edu/ illuminations.

The Chapel of De La Salle is open during the academic year for selfguided tours and reflection.

International Studies Major Secures Scholarship to Study Abroad

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UTUMN HERNDON ’19 IS ONE OF APPROXIMATELY 1,000 college students nationwide to receive a competitive Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship.

“I applied to five different scholarships hoping that I would be able to just get one,” Herndon says. “I was both honored and surprised to be picked for the Gilman Scholarship.”

The scholarship of $4,500 enabled Herndon to study abroad in Panama this past summer.

“Autumn is such an amazing student, and we are so grateful for the work of Brother Dan Gardner in guiding her through the application process,” says Ricardo Dello Buono, professor of sociology and director of the study abroad program at Manhattan College. “As a former Fulbright professor in Panama, I am very happy to finally see a student going to study and perform service there.”

A native of Clifton Park, New York, Herndon plans to graduate this December with a bachelor’s degree in international studies and a concentration in Latin America and the Caribbean.

While at Manhattan, she has gained practical experience through two internships. At Corewoman, an organization dedicated to helping women develop the skills necessary for leadership roles in business, she assisted the research team in gathering data on political gender gaps in Latin America. She was also an intern at the Center for Italian Modern Art in New York City, where she worked with the Center’s

development staff on public relations and events.

Herndon traveled to Panama mainly to study the culture.

“In Panama, time runs differently, and the value systems are different than what I was used to,” she says. “In the United States, we see our work lives take priority. In Panama, their values were focused on family, and work came second. This kind of lifestyle is something I want to apply to myself.”

While in Panama, she took classes in marine biology and Spanish. She studied marine life in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, and the population changes over time for the purpose of sustainable ecotourism. She also taught English classes on the island of Nalunega.

“This experience was an eye-opening one; it showed me a different standard of living,” Herndon says. “Being on an island, there was no running water and no septic or garbage system, so trash was either burned or dumped into the ocean.”

Herndon was also one of a rare few scholarship recipients to write about her experiences on the Gilman Scholarship online blog.

The Gilman Scholarship has enabled more than 25,000 outstanding Americans to engage in meaningful educational experiences abroad.

The program has successfully broadened U.S. participation in study abroad programs, while emphasizing countries and regions where fewer Americans traditionally study. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Gilman Program is supported by the Institute of International Education.

“This is the kind of opportunity I wish everyone could have,” Herndon says. “This experience expanded my worldview and opened the door to overseas connections.”

In November, Herndon learned that she also was awarded a Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship, which supports her studies in a graduate program of her choice in foreign affairs.

Autumn Herndon ’19, who received a Gilman Scholarship to study in Panama, taught English to the students of Escuela Nalunega. She and her students also performed a U.S.-themed hip-hop dance on her last day to celebrate all of the students’ hard work.

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New Members Join Board of Trustees

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OUR NEW MEMBERS HAVE JOINED the Manhattan College Board of Trustees: Thomas Kuster ’86, Thomas Meloro ’86, Robert Pulver ’69 and Brother Robert Smith, FSC. KUSTER is the chief executive officer and founder of Merit SI, a solar power plant and energy storage company that leverages proprietary smart-grid controls technology to develop and execute renewable energy programs for industrial clients. Previously, as senior vice president of Global Systems Engineering at First Solar, Kuster spearheaded the company’s mission to safely lower the cost of delivered solar electricity, while overseeing design and engineering activities for utility-scale solar power plants. He received several patents during his tenure at First Solar. In 2004, Kuster co-founded DT Solar, later Turner Renewable Energy, the system integration firm acquired by First Solar in 2007. His career also included management positions at natural gas utility NUI, Air Products & Chemicals and AT&T-Bell Laboratories.

MELORO is a partner in the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, a leading international law firm, with 700 attorneys practicing in offices in six countries. He is chair of the intellectual property department and a partner in the firm’s litigation department. Meloro focuses on litigation and transactions concerning patents, trademarks and trade secrets, and his practice has spanned technologies and industries ranging from pharmaceuticals to telecommunications. Chambers USA, a guide to top law firms and lawyers, ranks Meloro among the leading attorneys in his field. He also is recognized by Best Lawyers in America for his work in patent litigation.

Meloro has served as president of the New York Intellectual Property Law Association and is a founder of the Hon. William C. Conner Inn of Court.

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PULVER is the former chairman of All-State Industries Inc., a company he worked for since 1974 before its sale in February 2019. A chemical engineering graduate, Pulver also served as president and chief executive officer of All-State Belting, a conveyor belt distributor. In 1996, All-State Industrial Rubber acquired Alert Manufacturing for an estimated $5 million. In 2015, he established the Walter C. Camas ’52 Scholarship at Manhattan College in memory of his uncle. The scholarship provides tuition assistance to upper-level students enrolled in the O’Malley School of Business who demonstrate high academic achievement.

A member of the Manhattan College Board of Trustees from 2002 to 2017, BR. ROBERT is senior vice president for university initiatives and special adviser to the president at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. He is responsible for developing new initiatives and partnerships, as well as

networking with the international Lasallian consortium of colleges, universities and secondary schools. Br. Robert also works to advance the school’s Lasallian Catholic tradition while continuing to provide quality, affordable and creative educational opportunities to its students. A Saint Paul native and 1976 graduate of Saint Mary’s, his many roles at the Winona campus include associate professor and chair of the Theology department, associate dean for the School of Education, vice president of mission, and director of the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching. He also served as dean of Christ the Teacher Institute for Education at the Saint Mary campus in Nairobi, Kenya. He previously was vice chancellor and vice president for academic affairs at Bethlehem University in Bethlehem, Palestine.

Business School Starts an Honors Program

Record-Breaking Year for Fulbright Awards

IN A MOVE BEFITTING ITS ROLE as a pipeline of talent to the business and finance communities of New York City and beyond, the O’Malley School of Business has launched a new Honors program that capitalizes on both the caliber of its faculty and quality of its students.

In its inaugural semester, the program has enrolled 25 first-year students, each of whom were invited to participate based on their high school academic performance, extracurricular activities and leadership potential.

“We’re excited to welcome our first cohort of students to this path-breaking Honors program. It’s designed to provide an impactful experience for talented, highly qualified and highly motivated business students,” says Donald Gibson, dean of the O’Malley School of Business. “They will develop cutting-edge business skills while working with our top-notch faculty and forming contacts with top business leaders, all within the framework of Manhattan’s Lasallian values.”

The honors curriculum will enhance students’ business and interpersonal skills through seminar-style core classes, major courses and a senior capstone research experience. Students will have opportunities to participate in career-related networking activities and business field trips. At least once per semester, students will attend a business-related lecture or event in New York City. Events offered for the fall include a screening of In Money We Trust at the Museum of American Finance and a discussion at the European American Chamber of Commerce about the ways millennials and Gen Z are transforming business.

Sebahattin Demirkan, associate professor of accounting, CIS and law, is teaching the Honors 201 accounting course this fall, which most of the cohort are taking together. Business analytics major Gemma Franzetti ’23 recalls enjoying the rigor of the honors classes she took in high school in Mahopac, New York. When invited to join the business Honors program at Manhattan, she found the prospect appealing.

“I thought this would provide a great opportunity to continue to push myself,” she says.

Maura McCarthy ’23, a management major, expects the challenging Honors program curriculum will help propel her toward her goal of joining the Peace Corps and eventually working in the nonprofit sector.

This fall, the Maryland native plans to attend an event at the 92nd Street Y featuring investor and philanthropist Charles Schwab.

A member of the College’s rowing team, McCarthy enjoys the “community feel” among the honors students in her accounting class.

“Dr. Demirkan is always bringing in real-world examples of accounting principles, and updates us on his research,” she says.

Demirkan, in turn, sees the honors cohort as one of great promise and potential. “These students are determining the future of the program,” he says. “I think of them as pioneers.”

ARNING THEIR DISTINGUISHED SPOTS in the Manhattan College annals, three recent graduates — Natalia Alvarez ’19, Emily Hay ’19 and Alia Flanigan ’19 — have earned Fulbright English Teaching Assistant awards for the 2019-2020 academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. This is the first time that more than one Manhattan College student has received a Fulbright award during an academic year.

An international studies major, Alvarez is teaching in Brazil. Both Flanigan, an international studies major, and Hay, a special education/ adolescent education major, are teaching in Malaysia.

“Each of these students has different backgrounds and experiences,” says Cory Blad, professor and chair of sociology at Manhattan College, and a faculty adviser for students interested in the Fulbright Program. “Yet all three are outstanding examples of how intelligence and a willingness to put in significant effort creates amazing opportunities.”

Alvarez, Flanigan and Hay are part of a group of 2,100 U.S. citizens who are conducting research, teaching English and providing expertise abroad through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.

The program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program and is designed to build lasting connections between the people of the United States and those of other countries.

Participating governments and host institutions, corporations and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the program, which operates in more than 160 countries worldwide.

Since its establishment in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the Fulbright Program has given more than 390,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists and professionals of all backgrounds the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.

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High-Achieving Seniors Inducted Into Epsilon Sigma Pi

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TUDENTS, FACULTY, PARENTS AND said. “And that is what the quintessential FRIENDS gathered in the Chapel teachers, like parents, do. They leave an of De La Salle and His Brothers in indelible imprint, they form the character October to celebrate the newly inducted of those whom they teach.” class of Epsilon Sigma Pi at the Fall Honors Br. Patrick concluded his speech Convocation. Membership in Epsilon Sigma with commemorating the great Pi is the highest academic honor that a accomplishment that these honor Manhattan College student can achieve. students have achieved.

With 231 students inducted, the fall 2019 “It is not so much we who honor them, class is one of the largest Epsilon Sigma Pi but we join with them in celebrating the induction classes that Manhattan College honor they have conferred on themselves … has ever seen. that which will lead them out of ignorance “It’s fulfilling to have your hard work — educate them — into the happiness of and dedication to your coursework pay well-conceived and well-directed lives off,” says mechanical engineering major as adult human beings,” he said. “This is Michael Calicchia ’20. Calicchia also is a the aim of all education and especially Brother Patrick Horner, FSC, professor of English, delivers the member of Pi Tau Sigma, the mechanical the education of the whole person as faculty address at the Fall Honors Convocation in October. engineering honor society, and Tau envisioned and put into practice by Beta Pi, the national engineering honor society. In addition, he has Saint John Baptist de La Salle and continuing today through the maintained a 4.0 grade point average throughout his three years at work of all the members of this Lasallian educational community of the College.

Manhattan College.”

The Fall Honors Convocation began with remarks from Brother The new inductees then received their Epsilon Sigma Pi Honor Patrick Horner, FSC, professor of English at Manhattan College. Br. Society certificates and keys from President Brennan O’Donnell and Patrick received his Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Provost William Clyde before reconvening with family and friends for Albany and previously taught at La Salle Institute in Troy, New York. a reception following the induction.

He discussed the importance of a Lasallian education, the joys of In closing, O’Donnell congratulated and acknowledged the teaching, and the excitement of scholastic achievement.

College’s best and brightest: “Your induction into Epsilon Sigma Pi Addressing the inductees, Br. Patrick broke down the etymology recognizes not just your success in the demanding curriculum of of words such as “education,” “student,” “faculty,” “professor” and Manhattan College but also your success throughout your lives thus “convocation.” Perhaps most profound was his analysis of the word far in the virtues of scholarship: paying attention, not settling for “teacher.” the easy answers that often stand in the way of the right answers, “It captures the full depth of what education requires, for, as the appreciating complexity, adjusting to adversity, and maintaining dictionary tells us, the Anglo-Saxon word taecan is related to the high standards for yourself.” word token, meaning a sign or mark, or even better, character,” he

Listen Up! New Major in Sound Studies to Launch A NEW MAJOR IN SOUND STUDIES will be offered to Manhattan students beginning in fall 2020. Presenting a critical approach to listening and performance, the major will incorporate studies in music editing and recording, audio technology, acoustics, musicology, popular music and music theory, as well as performance in piano, voice and guitar.

Students who major in sound studies will develop a critical awareness of the

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history of music and its impact on society.

They will create, capture and edit sound in order to cultivate and apply new approaches to music performance, research and education, while also supporting collaborations between music, science and technology. Core areas of study will include music theory and analysis; music history and culture, including the history of audio technology; performance studies via a specific instrument; and digital audio

recording and sound design.

Combined with internship opportunities in New York City, the sound studies major will open up job possibilities in sound design for theater, film and gaming; acoustics; sound engineering; instrument building; audio recording; and music education.

Students also can go on to pursue graduate study in musicology, ethnomusicology and media studies.

Conference Explores Student Activism and Advocacy

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NE OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF WOMEN’S WEEK this spring was the third annual Lasallian Women and Gender Conference, a daylong event hosted by the Lasallian Women and Gender Resource Center. Themed “Student Activism and Advocacy,” the conference featured speakers from a range of nonprofit organizations based in New York City. Throughout the day, Manhattan students took advantage of breaks in their class schedules to attend various sessions that prompted audiences to reflect, participate and exchange ideas about the positive impact they can have on their communities.

The day kicked off with a discussion led by Sasha Ahuja, chief of staff for Girls for Gender Equity, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit committed to the physical, psychological, social and economic development of girls and women through education, organizing and physical fitness. “We need to make sure that those of us who are affected by the issues are at the forefront of the conversation,” she noted.

Ahuja then initiated a thoughtful conversation by inviting attendees to share their needs at the present moment and the issues they hoped to address at the conference. Answers encompassed personal goals for being better allies with marginalized groups; the desire for women and people of color to feel a sense of belonging at elite institutions; and questions about the possibilities for and limits of institutional change.

A lunch panel on innovations by local activists featured a range of speakers, including Samelys Lopez of the Bronx Progressives; Mustafa Sullivan, the executive director of FIERCE, an organization dedicated to building New York City’s leaders for LGBTQ and young people of color; and Chhaya Chhoum, executive director of Mekong NYC, which aims to improve the quality of life of the Southeast Asian community in New York City. The panel discussed their beginnings as activists and the way organizing and advocacy play out within their organizations.

“One of the reasons that I’m involved in politics is because I don’t truly trust the system as it’s been set up,” Lopez said. “I think it’s important for us to rise as a community and redefine the political narrative, so that it can reflect the experiences of people like us in this room.”

Chhoum discussed her experience of being resettled in the Bronx in the 1980s.

“We were pretty much inserted into urban poverty,” she said.

“That experience taught me not only to fight but also to advocate for my family … One of the biggest issues we are working on right now is around mental health services for Southeast Asian elderly, as well as young folks; trauma is intergenerational.”

The panel was followed by poster presentations of student research on gender and sexuality. Poster topics included Women in Christianity, Feminists Take Back Judaism, and Game of Thrones and Gender Representation.

(Left to right) Chhaya Chhoum of Mekong NYC, Mustafa Sullivan of FIERCE, and Samelys Lopez of Bronx Progressives headed a lunch panel on local activism. They discussed the ways in which they became involved in activism and offered student activists advice based on their own experiences.

In the afternoon, Adaku Utah, co-founder and co-director of Harriet’s Apothecary, led a session on self-care and healing. Harriet’s Apothecary works to create accessible and affordable healing spaces that serve the needs of black, indigenous and people of color. She led a meditation centered on the question, “What do we need to be so that we can all be free?” and encouraged participants to reflect on their physical responses.

“The more we’re able to connect with ourselves and each other, the more we are able to choose lives that are of our own design and choose lives that help us not only be free, but also support the freedom of our fellow folk,” Utah said.

The day culminated with a workshop, “How to be an Activist,” led by Adolpho Abreu, organizing director of the Northwest Bronx Clergy Coalition. He outlined the seven elements of organizing, from identifying a target and allies, and building a base, to negotiation and action.

He emphasized the importance of engaging with affected populations in community organizing, noting that elected officials sometimes neglect their constituents when making zoning decisions, for example.

“The reason why some of these policies haven’t worked is they’re not actually exposing the root of the problem,” he said. “The people who are most impacted have been left out of the conversation.”

To cap off the day, participants broke into groups and were assigned roles in a problem-solving exercise in a hypothetical rescue effort that put into practice many of the concepts that had been explored throughout the conference.

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At Horan Lecture, Noted Architect Makes the Case for “Infrastructure of Opportunity”

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RCHITECT VISHAAN CHAKRABARTI’S VISION FOR A RADICALLY redesigned Penn Station was lauded by The New York Times in 2016. His TED talk on designing timeless cities has 1.2 million views. And, in the past year, both The Times and The Atlantic published his opinion pieces about tech giant Amazon’s proposed headquarters in New York City and the project’s subsequent implosion. Suffice it to say that when Chakrabarti took the podium at the April 2019 Horan Lecture at the University Club, the audience was all ears.

Founder of Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU), a New York-based architecture firm, Chakrabarti teaches design and urban theory at Columbia University. His book, A Country of Cities, argues that a well-designed urban world would result in greater prosperity, as well as many ecological and sociological benefits. Previously, he was a principal in major global architecture firms and served as the director of planning for Manhattan under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Chakrabarti opened the lecture with his take on the furor that surrounded Amazon’s plans to build a new headquarters in Long Island City. While acknowledging the validity of some criticism of the project, he voiced dismay at the loss of thousands of potential jobs.

“I know the people who negotiated a lot of the deal, and they are very hard-working women and men who work in city and state government … One rather famous elected official was quoted as saying, ‘We don’t need Amazon’s scraps.’ What I found astonishing is to call 25,000 direct jobs, potentially 50,000 jobs total, ‘scraps.’”

He then focused on the possibilities for responsible growth in urban design, illustrating his remarks with slides of architecture projects around the globe.

Citing a statistic that nearly two billion people around the world are emerging from poverty, he said, “As these folks enter the middle class, they are emulating a lifestyle that we have created largely in the United States — a suburban, very fossil-fuel heavy existence.”

Despite the perception that the world is becoming more urbanized, most growth, he contended, isn’t urban, but suburban.

In the U.S., the passage of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 and construction of the Interstate Highway System contributed to the diffusion of the population from urban centers to the suburbs. As a result, we are faced with challenges like housing shortages and lengthy commutes. Instead, Chakrabarti advocates for a more compact form of living.

A preferable alternative to suburban sprawl, Chakrabarti noted, is known as “ecodensity,” which he describes as developments with 30 units per acre or more — the density required to support mass transit, mainly rail.

“I think a lot of our work ahead is building what I like to call an ‘infrastructure of opportunity,’” he said. “Not just infrastructure as we traditionally think of it, but things that create social mobility: affordable housing, cultural institutions, health care, schools.”

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Vishaan Chakrabarti, founder of Practice for Architecture and Urbanism, takes on the controversy surrounding Amazon’s plan to build its headquarters in Long Island City, as well as responsible growth in urban design, at the Horan Lecture in April.

Pointing to the success of New York City’s High Line, Chakrabarti noted that such architectural innovations generate the construction of new housing nearby. “What we are seeing is this idea of marrying the city with this idea of the village,” he said. “The geography and the territory of the city is completely changing.”

He then discussed several of PAU’s diverse projects, including the Domino Sugar Refinery waterfront site in Brooklyn; a shopping mall and cultural center in Mongolia; and a 10-acre urban village in East New York that will encompass affordable residential units, social services and a school. With each, Chakrabarti noted that he strives to integrate nature and unite the site’s history with the future.

“People feel their culture, their stories, their neighborhood embodied in the new,” he said, “which is often what we don’t see when we see big blue skyscrapers that feel anonymous.”

Concluding, Chakrabarti reiterated his call for urban growth, as exemplified by New York success stories.

“When you grow the city, it gives us the wealth to invest $100 million in the High Line and get extraordinary tax returns from it,” he said. “To build 100% affordable housing in East New York, to build Brooklyn Bridge Park, to build Governors Island … Growth is an enormous engine, and it’s critical that we keep growing in the right and smart ways.”

A New Curriculum for the Postwar Era

The College Receives Second Grant Supporting Leo Hall Renovations MANHATTAN COLLEGE HAS RECEIVED A SECOND GRANT for $1 million from the Higher Education Capital Matching Grant Program (HECap) board to support the fourth phase of renovations to Leo Hall, which includes labs for mechanical and electrical engineering.

The HECap board provided matching grants to 35 private, nonprofit colleges and universities in New York for projects that provide critical funding, create prevailing wage construction jobs, and drive investment in communities across the state.

New York’s private, nonprofit colleges and universities generate $88.8 billion in economic impact annually and support more than 415,000 jobs statewide. For every $1 in state matching funds, Manhattan College — like other private, nonprofit colleges and universities in New York — must provide $3 in support of this project.

“New York has a world-class education system, and we must continue to invest in our educational institutions to provide New York students with an optimal living and learning environment to succeed,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said. “These investments in our college campuses will not only benefit our next generation of leaders, they will also strengthen our communities and provide an economic boost to the entire state.”

“The HECap program is a perfect example of how private and public partnerships can work together to positively impact all New Yorkers,” says Mary Beth Labate, president of CICU. “We are grateful that the governor and the legislature approved another round of HECap funding during the 2019-20 legislative session.”

The renovations to Leo Hall are part of an overhaul of the College’s south campus, which includes the construction of the Patricia G. and Cornelius J. Higgins ’62 Engineering and Science Center. Slated for completion in fall 2020, the Higgins Center will be the cornerstone of Manhattan College’s modernized facilities that support its engineering and science programs.

Students explore the new arts curriculum circa 1949-50.

SEVENTY YEARS AGO, after extensive faculty work and study, a new liberal arts curriculum was accepted and inaugurated for the fall 1949 semester. This highly innovative program attracted considerable and favorable attention to the College from intellectual circles throughout the Catholic world — and perhaps constituted one of Manhattan College’s most important postwar achievements.

Humanities formed the basic structure of the program, which focused especially on the study of Christian civilization in the West. History was the integrating discipline that held the core together, while theology was required as a necessary basis for a true Christian humanism. The program valued learning for its own sake, enshrining humanities education as critical to personal development and as more fundamental than professional training in a specialized field.

The program’s organic, integral character offered an opportunity for students to critically evaluate their environment and provided them with the tools to challenge and change prevailing orthodoxies. It minimized textbooks and surveys in favor of detailed engagement with classic literature, including texts that were rarely read in Catholic contexts. The philosophy course, for example, embraced not only the theology and philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas, but also the key works of the great philosophers of the ages. This embraced and allowed those considered “harmful,” as well as the “good” ones.

Lastly, there were required readings from the “Index” of onceforbidden books that included Locke, Rousseau, Marx and Machiavelli.

The curriculum’s advocates believed that the program would equip students to cope intelligently with postwar society and broaden their global perspectives.

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LASALLIANLOOK

Mission and Philosophy Crossover: Center for Ethics Highlights Effective Altruism “WANT KETCHUP WITH THAT?” is not a question one expects to hear in the Alumni Room of the O’Malley Library. But such was the case one afternoon this fall, when plant-based Impossible Burgers were served up during a discussion led by Scott Weathers, senior policy specialist at the Good Food Institute (GFI).

Weathers was at Manhattan to discuss GFI’s work to lessen society’s reliance on meat and animal agriculture and thus, reduce health and environmental consequences. The event was just one of several activities the Manhattan College Center for Ethics has scheduled for the 2019-20 academic year, all of which are centered around the theme of effective altruism.

Heidi Furey, assistant professor of philosophy and director of the Center for Ethics, explains that effective altruism is a philosophical and social movement that advocates using reason and evidence to determine ways to do the most good in the world. She notes that the concept is consistent with the College’s emphasis on social justice and real-world impact.

“It’s a global version of Manhattan’s Lasallian mission,” she says. “I want to be able to expose people from different schools and areas of the campus to some of the ways in which effective altruism can connect with interests they already have.”

Megan Dreher ’20, a communication and philosophy double major, is the undergraduate co-director for the Center for Ethics. This winter, she’ll be leading a reading group of the book The Life You Can Save, by Peter Singer, one of the founders of the effective altruism movement.

Representatives from his organization, also called The Life You Can Save (TLYCS), will visit campus in December to donate copies of the book’s 10th anniversary edition.

“When I first heard of effective altruism, I thought of it more as a philanthropic endeavor versus a philosophical one,” Dreher recalls.

“What’s cool is that it can be both at the same time.”

TLYCS will also hold campus-wide Giving Games, in which participants consider donating funds to one of several charities and make an initial choice based on short fundraising pitches. A facilitator then provides further information on the impact of the nonprofits, the evidence supporting their work and the program’s potential challenges and opportunities. Participants divide into groups and discuss which charity should be awarded the funds. The money at stake is real, provided by TLYCS. Other events include a screening and discussion of income inequality in the dystopian film Snowpiercer; a lecture on artificial intelligence policy and effective altruism led by Carrick Flynn, research fellow at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology; and a career panel led by Rachel Cirelli, director of career development, focused on the 80,000 Hours Project, an organization

12 N winter 2020

that provides research and support to help people switch into careers that effectively tackle the world’s most pressing problems.

Furey notes that the variety of event formats is intentional.

“One of the things about effective altruism is doing the things that have maximum impact educationally,” she says. “Some people get something out of a lecture. In the Giving Games, for example, people get maximum impact from participating.”

“I always love finding the crossover between philosophical work and the Lasallian mission,” Dreher says. “I think we’re very unique at this College that we can have a Catholic lens to something that is inherently a moral issue, or a moral and philosophical issue.”

Back in the Alumni Room, as students and faculty enjoyed their burgers, Weathers discussed his own career trajectory. After earning undergraduate and graduate degrees in public health, he went on to work on antipoverty initiatives in Kenya and India. Eventually, he became passionate about effective altruism and was drawn to work that addressed alternative food production on a global scale.

He recalled, “I started thinking about other ways I could make a difference.”

Similarly, Furey hopes that the initiative may help students gain insights into careers that realize who they are as a whole person and their value commitments in particular.

“Manhattan College cares about making values a part of people’s lives,” she says. “I’ve waited my whole life to use philosophy to make a difference, and this is one of the only places you can actually do it.”

COURSE SPOTLIGHT

Human Behavior in the Organization (MGMT 315) Course Description: WITH WORKPLACE BEHAVIOR VIOLATIONS and scandals seemingly headlining the news every day, there has been an increased emphasis on establishing appropriate workplace conduct and understanding which behaviors are (and aren’t) acceptable. Human Behavior in the Organization (MGMT 315) examines workplace behaviors, how organizations and people in them function, and which skills are particularly beneficial with regard to upper-level management. Students are encouraged to explore issues that managers face regularly and how to analyze these issues from a managerial standpoint.

Combining economics, psychology and management, the course facilitates thoughtful analysis regarding organizational structure, interaction between employees and organizations, and how these topics will impact students upon graduation and entrance into the workforce. The course is conducted through discussions, online interactive activities, workplace simulations, group work and analysis of current events.

Upon completion of this course, students will be better informed and able to participate effectively in a professional environment, as well as more prepared to deal with a variety of different situations that could arise in the workplace.

Text: Stephen P. Robbins and Timothy A. Judge, Organizational Behavior, 18th Edition (2016); Harvard simulation and case packet; additional readings, handouts and videos Lectures: Tuesdays and Fridays, 11 a.m.–12:15 p.m.

Professor: Reut Livne-Tarandach About the Professor: Reut Livne-Tarandach is an assistant professor of management and marketing at Manhattan College and a research fellow for the International Humanistic Management Association. She has published works exploring rhetoric, behavior in organizations, and developmental theory. She received a master’s degree in organization research from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology and a doctorate degree in organizational studies from Boston College. Before Livne-Tarandach decided to delve into teaching, she was an organizational consultant, human resources manager and an officer in the Israeli Air Force.

Another Newman Civic Fellow Added to College’s Ranks

RABEA ALI ’20 HAS BEEN NAMED A NEWMAN CIVIC FELLOW, one of 262 students in the nation to receive the award from Campus Compact, a Boston-based nonprofit organization working to advance the public purposes of higher education.

Ali is a management and marketing double major, with a minor in religious studies. She is president of Manhattan College’s Muslim Student Association and collaborates with other groups on campus to host interfaith events, including the Multicultural Center, Campus Ministry and Social Action, and the Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith Education Center.

Through her collaborations in interfaith work, Ali aims to educate others on implicit bias, inclusion and the growing effects of Islamophobia, racism and anti-Semitism in the United States.

She has also collaborated with New York-based advocacy groups, like the Council on American-Islamic Relations New York, in order to educate students on their constitutional rights. In addition, Ali was a fellow of the Women in Faith Fellowship, which works toward finding a common ground, learning from others, and helping communities to come together.

The Newman Civic Fellowship is a one-year fellowship for community-committed college students from Campus Compact member institutions. The fellowship honors the late Frank Newman, one of Campus Compact’s founders, who was a tireless advocate for civic engagement in higher education.

Through the fellowship, Campus Compact provides a variety of learning and networking opportunities emphasizing personal, professional and civic growth. Each year, fellows are invited to a national conference in partnership with the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. The fellowship also provides fellows with pathways to apply for exclusive scholarship and postgraduate opportunities.

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Mechanical Engineer Earns Prestigious Goldwater Scholarship MIGUEL DIAZ ’20, A MECHANICAL ENGINEERING MAJOR and physics minor at Manhattan, is one of 496 college students across the United States to receive the Barry Goldwater Scholarship.

Reflecting on his experience, Diaz notes that he was both surprised and honored to receive the award, and ultimately was grateful to get the extra support he needed to forge ahead.

“Receiving this scholarship completely changed my outlook in terms of my future goals,” Diaz says. “I have the ability to reach for more, and it was this scholarship that helped me realize this. It gave me the extra push that I needed.”

Diaz, who was born in Puerto Rico and spent most of his childhood in the South Bronx, hopes to pursue a career in the

aerospace industry after graduation. A member of the Tau Beta Pi and Pi Tau Sigma honor societies, he also is part of the College’s jazz band and orchestra.

“I have found Miguel to be a mature and passionate student who is dedicated to join the aeronautic industry and fulfill his passion about outer space. He has a curious mind that will help him to be a good researcher,” says Peyman Honarmandi, associate professor of mechanical engineering, who supervised Diaz’s research during the summer of 2018.

The Goldwater Scholarship is awarded to college sophomores and juniors who intend to pursue research careers in the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering. During its 30-year history, the scholarship has been awarded to thousands of undergraduates, many of whom have gone on to win other prestigious awards. It was established by Congress in 1986 to serve as a living memorial to honor the lifetime work of Senator Barry Goldwater, who served his country for 56 years as a soldier and statesman, including 30 years in the U.S. Senate.

Business Analytics Teams Break Down New York’s Renewable Energy Plans

S

TUDENTS FROM 17 COLLEGES AND the skills we’ve learned and apply it to a UNIVERSITIES from the United real-life scenario.”

States, Canada and Romania The group — which included an arrived in Riverdale this spring to compete economics major (Cheng), a mathematics in Manhattan College’s annual Business major (DePinho), a finance and business Analytics Competition. analytics major (Freund), and a computer Each team was tasked with creating information systems major (Tamas-Leloup) a presentation based on the electricity — brought a diverse mix of academic data from the New York Independent backgrounds to the task. At the beginning of System Operator and the Energy the semester, they began working on what Information Agency. became a four-month, noncredit project, The Manhattan College group of Heyi and met outside of their scheduled classes Cheng ’20, Anthony DePinho ’19, Chris with Alin Tomoiaga, assistant professor of Freund ’20 and Jean-Baptiste Tamasbusiness analytics.

Leloup ’19 analyzed the data provided In the first phase of the competition, and applied their conclusions to New York the group created a poster presentation Governor Andrew Cuomo’s plan to boost the that was judged by professionals from the state’s clean energy standard from 50% to healthcare, environmental resource and 70% renewable electricity by 2030. data science fields. After the first day of the “It’s been really interesting to apply competition, the students received a second data to this situation,” Cheng says. “We’re data set to analyze and present on the fortunate to be working in the energy sector, following day. especially the renewable resource goals In the end, the team from Elon University we’ve been studying. It’s been cool to use took first prize in the competition and took 4 N fall 2018

home $5,000. The Manhattan College team came in third place in the 19-team field, winning $1,000.

“I am very proud of the team,” Tomoiaga says. “They were excellent. One judge said that the level of their visualizations was on par with any other high-level Wall Street presentation he had seen.”

Math Course Partners with NYC to Analyze Participatory Budgets THERE COMES A TIME IN EVERY STUDENT’S COLLEGE CAREER when they sit in a class lecture and wonder whether the topic at hand will ever be used in the “real world.” Ira Gerhardt, associate professor of mathematics, proves to his students that a class lecture does not have to be limited to traditional styles of teaching. His course, Topics in Mathematics: Mathematical Modeling, asks students to apply the concepts learned in class to solve real-world problems.

In the spring of 2015, Gerhardt initiated a program based on the question, “Can you take the areas where math is used in a classroom and apply it to a data source in the real world?” The class connected with the College’s Institutional Effectiveness office to gather data on current students to analyze how they would engage with the curriculum based on their socioeconomic backgrounds.

“We have also worked with Animal Care Centers of New York and the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, acting as an analytics consultant to improve their business,” Gerhardt says.

In the spring of 2019, the class partnered with Participatory Budgeting New York City (PBNYC), a City Council program that takes a community-level democratic approach to public spending in which local people directly decide how to spend millions of dollars in public funding. PBNYC provided the students with data from the participatory budgets for the last four years, and had them prepare analysis charts using different programming languages.

“This was an opportunity to present real change in the community,” Gerhardt says.

In class, the students first learned the programming language R for five weeks. The students formed teams and, during the next 10 weeks, decided how to interpret the data.

“Dr. Gerhardt worked to help us understand the projects assigned to us and constantly encouraged us to put our best foot forward when it came to the analysis of PBNYC data,” says Megan Haugh ’20, a math major. “He kept us engaged in our projects by letting us meet

with our groups during class time and having us submit progress reports to update him on our experiences with the project.”

Last May, the class assembled in Leo Hall and gave four presentations to PBNYC council members. Each presentation analyzed blocks of data from each district and was designed to provide feedback that can be used in future city budgeting decisions. Topics ranged from levels of community involvement in individual districts, to budget preferences based on demographic data. In the future, council members will use the data to better understand preferences and characteristics of NYC district demographics.

“The presentations were able to give the PBNYC council great insight on statistical information and advice to improve their tactics for the future,” says Lizzy Reid ’20, a mechanical engineering major. “I personally have learned so much in this course and have learned how to present math in a fun and easy way for people to understand and enjoy.”

“The presentations went really well,” Gerhardt says. “I think the clients and the

audience appreciated the culmination of different majors working together to analyze such large quantities of data. Every year, the students never fail to make me proud.”

The course will reboot in the spring of 2020, when a new group of students will have the opportunity to gain both knowledge and experience in the classroom.

Students in math professor Ira Gerhardt’s Topics in Mathematics: Mathematical Modeling class partnered with the City Council’s Participatory Budgeting New York City program to work on making real change in the community. The students analyzed blocks of data from each district and provided feedback that can be used in future city budgeting decisions, which they presented to the council members.

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Change of Command at College’s AFROTC

KENNETH RATHGEBER ’70, CHAIR OF THE COLLEGE’S BOARD OF TRUSTEES, announced that the board has extended the contract of President Brennan O’Donnell through the 2023-24 academic year.

O’Donnell has served as the 19th president of Manhattan College since July 1, 2009.

“Brennan O’Donnell has been a tremendous leader for Manhattan College during the past decade,” Rathgeber says. “He has provided a strategic vision that has enriched the College’s academic offerings, raised the profile of the institution, and has upheld the longstanding commitment to our mission of providing a quality education for every student that steps on campus.”

Among many advances during O’Donnell’s tenure, Manhattan College has expanded its academic offerings and increased student support services. The College is exceeding expected results in areas like starting salaries and mid-career earnings, warranting a “valueadded” label from institutions like Forbes, Brookings and PayScale.

Since 2009, undergraduate enrollment has increased 15%, graduate enrollment has increased 21%, and applications to the College have increased 55%. The incoming class of 2022 was selected from the largest application pool ever and has one of the strongest academic profiles in recent history, with an average SAT score of 1164 and an average high school grade point average of 88.8.

The College also has undertaken major facilities upgrades under O’Donnell’s administration. The Raymond W. Kelly ’63 Student Commons opened in 2014, and the Patricia and Cornelius Higgins ’62 Engineering and Science Center will open in the fall of 2020.

During the past decade, fundraising has increased significantly, with $129 million received in restricted and unrestricted contributions, including more than $16 million during the last year.

For the first time in the College’s history, Manhattan’s endowment is more than $100 million, an increase of 130% from 10 years ago.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to work over the past 10 years with so many talented and dedicated people in serving the mission of the College,” O’Donnell says. “We are proud of what we’ve accomplished as we look forward to meeting new challenges. I am grateful to the board for its constant and continuing support and look forward enthusiastically to the work that lies ahead.”

A DECORATED OFFICER WITH TWO DECADES OF EXPERIENCE in the Air Force, Lieutenant Colonel Paula Kelly is the new commander of the Air Force ROTC, Detachment 560, hosted at Manhattan College.

She took command of the detachment in July.

Air Force ROTC is the Colonel Thomas Bongiovi, commander, Northeast Region, AFROTC, passes the guidon to largest commissioning Lieutenant Colonel Paula Kelly at the Detachsource for the Air Force, ment 560 Change of Command ceremony in July. developing air and space leaders for the United States. Overall, Air Force ROTC commissions more than 2,000 second lieutenants each year in a variety of career fields, such as pilots, cyber officers, engineers and a host of career paths.

“One of our Air Force core values is ‘service before self,’” Lt. Col. Kelly says. “That’s in line with the mission and vision of Manhattan College and how both institutions approach teaching and mentoring our students. Encouraging students to serve something bigger than themselves in support of their nation — this ideal is one that both our programs share, which serves as a foundation for our partnership.”

Manhattan College has hosted AFROTC since 1951. The detachment and Manhattan College share a proud heritage of serving a student population for the greater New York City area.

As commander, Lt. Col. Kelly oversees all operations and policy for the detachment and is responsible for the training and mentoring of more than 150 cadets from 33 colleges, universities and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy as they pursue officerships in the United States Air Force. She also chairs Manhattan College’s department of Aerospace Studies.

Lt. Col. Kelly entered the Air Force in 2000, earning her bachelor’s degree at the United States Air Force Academy and her master’s degree from the Naval Postgraduate School. As an Air Force officer, she has held numerous positions at the flight, group, wing, AF, COCOM and NATO coalition staff levels. Lt. Col. Kelly has served on three deployments; most recently deployed to Afghanistan as the director CJ-1, Train, Advise, Assist CommandAir (TAAC-Air), located in Kabul.

Air Force ROTC offers high school and college students opportunities to earn scholarships and monthly stipends while they work toward their goal of receiving a commission in the Air Force. The program allows students to try out the Air Force for up to two years without incurring any obligation.

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Photo credit: 2Lt T. deRozairo

Board of Trustees Extends President’s Contract

NIH Grant Funds Innovative Research on Biofilms

I

N A MILESTONE ACHIEVEMENT FOR THE SCHOOL OF SCIENCE, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a second major grant to a faculty member in support of cutting-edge research.

Sarah Wacker, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, has received an Academic Research Enhancement Awards (AREA) grant of $383,078 to fund her research on how bacteria come together to cause infections.

“This grant will allow me to dramatically expand my research agenda by providing extra resources to conduct experiments, outsource experiments that require instrumentation we don’t have and purchase new equipment,” Wacker explains.

Wacker is studying how to identify and characterize environmental signals that bacteria recognize when forming communities known as biofilms. These communities have roles in a variety of settings and can lead to chronic infections that are difficult to treat.

The proposed research will answer fundamental questions about how cells choose a particular fate and how environmental signals are integrated into the decision to form a multicellular community.

Undergraduate students will be involved in all aspects of this research, from isolating plant materials to testing their binding to specific proteins and identifying how proteins interact with one another.

AREA grants stimulate research at educational institutions that provide baccalaureate training for a significant number of the nation’s research scientists but that have not been major recipients of NIH support. Awards provide funding for small-scale, new or ongoing health-related meritorious research projects, enhancing the research environment at eligible institutions and exposing students to research opportunities.

The award comes two years after Bryan Wilkins, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, received a major grant in support of his research on the biochemical processes that protect the DNA structure and sequence of living cells.

Wacker’s grant will combine the training of Manhattan College undergraduate students in protein biochemistry, molecular biology and microbiology with research exploring the mechanisms that drive bacterial biofilm formation.

“Importantly, the grant will also allow me to pay students to work on my research projects, which I hope will attract some of the best student researchers and allow them to dedicate more time to research,” Wacker says. “These students will learn many modern techniques, have the opportunity to work on meaningful research, and learn important skills of how scientific research is conducted.”

Through their participation in the research, students will have the opportunity to explore complex scientific questions using modern techniques — allowing them to build strong scientific analysis skills, as well as a solid foundation in biochemical and biological techniques.

Their training and learning experiences will result in advances in the fields of bacterial biofilm formation and protein signaling.

(From left to right) Alexis Brown ’19 and Sarah Wacker, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, study bacteria that lives in the soil and on the roots of plants.

Furthermore, the successful completion of this grant may help to develop methods to prevent or disrupt biofilms associated with infections.

“The grant recognizes that the exciting research happening at Manhattan College with undergraduate students is of similar quality as that being done at major research institutions,” says Jianwei Fan, professor of chemistry and biochemistry and chair of the department.

“It certainly will enhance the reputation of the school, provide important resources to help move the research forward, and involve more students in doing scientific research.”

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Rocking and Topping the Rankings In catching up with the class of 2018, these recent graduates are doing well in their pursuit of employment and their chosen career paths, according to a report from the Office of Career Pathways.

90%

of Jaspers report that they are employed or in graduate school.

86%

of those that report having accepted employment indicate they are employed full time. (including those enrolled in graduate school and working)

87% 87%

say that their employment is related to their field of study,

27% 18 N winter 2020

indicate it is in their desired industry.

of the class of 2018 is enrolled in graduate school.

Money Manhattan College is No. 1 on the list of Money’s annual rankings of the most transformative colleges in America.

YES, YOU READ THAT CORRECTLY — WE’RE NO. 1!

Money uses a unique “value-add” analysis to identify which colleges do an exceptional job at helping students perform better than they would if they enrolled somewhere else. So, what is key to Manhattan College’s success? Deeply individualized attention to every student, according to faculty and staff. The College gets involved in students’ academic life early and stays engaged through graduation.

Jaspers also utilize the College’s Center for Career Development, alumni network and its New York City location to their advantage in earning spots at competitive internships, and research and job opportunities at companies such as American Express, Google, NBCUniversal, Tesla and IBM.

U.S. News & World Report In the 2019 America’s Best Colleges report issued by U.S. News & World Report, Manhattan placed at No. 13 among 179 colleges and universities in the Regional Universities–North category — jumping two spots from last year. It is the fourth consecutive year that Manhattan College has been ranked in the top 15 of that category, and the 13th consecutive year that it has placed in the top 20.

The College also was recognized among the top performers in social mobility, a new category that was included in this year’s report.

Manhattan College’s undergraduate programs in its School of Engineering and the O’Malley School of Business received recognition, as well. Notably, Manhattan was tied for 38th nationwide in the Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs category at schools where a doctorate is not offered.

And the College’s commitment to student veterans was once again noted by U.S. News. The College was ranked seventh out of 53 colleges among Regional Universities–North for Best Colleges for Veterans.

To place each school in its ranking, U.S. News strictly maps its categories to the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education’s Basic Classification system, which is the accepted standard in U.S. higher education.

37%

of grads that accepted employment entered the engineering industry.

Another 13% went into the business field, while 8% entered the finance and accounting industries.

Forbes

PayScale

Manhattan College has been named one of Forbes 300 Best Value Colleges, which continues to show the return on investment that Manhattan graduates receive.

This is the fourth consecutive year that Manhattan College has been included on the Forbes list of Best Value Colleges, which is “the definitive guide for those looking for an excellent return on one of the most important investments of their lives.”

Forbes compiled its annual ranking of the 300 Best Value Colleges by comparing data on 645 colleges and universities across the country, and scored in the following six areas: quality, net price, net debt, alumni earnings, timely graduation, and access for low-income students.

PayScale placed Manhattan No. 41 among more than 1,500 colleges and universities in its 2019 College Salary Report.

The report is based on the alumni salary data of 3.5 million respondents, representing more than 4,000 colleges and universities across the U.S. Manhattan College alumni report an early career salary of $64,000, which is the typical median salary for those with 0-5 years of experience in a field. Jaspers also report a mid-career salary of $125,700, which is the typical median salary for those with more than 10 years of experience.

In addition, PayScale notes that the most lucrative professionals among Manhattan alumni are engineering project managers, who earn a median annual salary of $92,000. Operations managers and electrical engineers also are approaching the top of the pay scale at $87,000 and about $78,000, respectively.

The Princeton Review Manhattan is one of the nation’s best institutions for undergraduates to earn their college degrees, according to The Princeton Review, in its 2019 college guide, The Best 385 Colleges.

Only about 13% of America’s 3,000 four-year colleges are profiled in the book, which is one of The Princeton Review’s most popular publications. The company chooses the colleges based on data it annually collects from administrators at hundreds of colleges about their institutions’ academic offerings.

The Princeton Review also considers data it gathers from its surveys of college students who rate and report on various aspects of their campus and community experiences for this project.

Manhattan College students are quoted as saying the College “gives you room to take initiative, but also does a good job of keeping students on track.” Manhattan has “an outstanding internship program,” and “good rates at helping students find jobs after college,” especially with the help of past Jaspers in the strong alumni network.

Students also say the College’s location — the last stop on the No. 1 train — can’t be beat for ease into the more bustling parts of New York City, but if you stay on campus, “the size of the school is large enough that there are plenty of people to meet and activities to participate in.”

3%

Approximately

accepted public service jobs in government, advocacy roles, or fellowships in service including AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, Lasallian Volunteers and Jesuit Volunteer Corps.

U.S. News & World Report/College Factual In the 2020 Best Graduate School rankings released by U.S. News & World Report, Manhattan College’s O’Malley School of Business was included in its list of best part-time MBA programs.

The Manhattan College MBA program is open to all qualified students who have completed an undergraduate degree at an accredited institution of higher learning. The program can be completed as a part-time or a full-time student.

In College Factual’s annual nationwide ranking of U.S. colleges and universities, the website, created to help students discover a college and career they love without debt holding them back, named Manhattan College’s Accounting program a Best Value for the Money.

Based upon PayScale survey data, students graduating from Manhattan with a degree in accounting realize early-career earnings of $60,932 and mid-career earnings of $81,143. This is above the national average of $44,539 for early-career earnings and the national average of $75,228 for mid-career earnings of all colleges and universities reviewed by College Factual.

In addition, about

9%

are working in education.

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Nationally Prominent Figures Inspire Students at Eighth Annual Lecture Series MANHATTAN COLLEGE’S STUDENT ENGAGEMENT LECTURE SERIES brings students and faculty together through a succession of inspirational stories, captivating speakers and motivational outreach.

This year was no different as students and faculty packed the Kelly Commons to hear two nationally prominent figures share their stories.

In October, renowned activist, Time 100 honoree and 2018 Glamour Woman of the Year, Rachael Denhollander, discussed her fight against sexual abuse and advocacy for victims. She gained national attention when she was the first woman to publicly accuse Larry Nassar, Michigan State University and Team USA gymnastics doctor, of sexual abuse. Nassar became the central figure in one of the largest sexual abuse scandals in the United States to date.

Denhollander presented her story with emotional poise and eloquence to an invested audience. At just 15 years old, she was first treated by Nassar in 1999.

“I knew something was wrong after the first checkup on the examination table,” she said, but endured two more years of abuse, believing in the institutions that supported Nassar. “I trusted the community around me. He had been around for so long and wrote books and had patents. I tried to deny there was anything wrong.”

In 2016, the Indianapolis Star ran a report on the sexual abuse experiences of gymnasts, which gave validity to her long-held suspicions.

“USA Gymnastics was keeping the situation an open secret among themselves,” she said. “Victims who had spoken up in the past had been silenced.”

During the next two years, Denhollander worked to put pressure on USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University.

“I received a lot of blowback,” she said. “People claimed I was just doing it for the money and political gain. It did not matter. The feeling I got when 167 women stood up at his trial was all worth it.”

Denhollander urged members of the audience to provide support for sexual assault victims.

“The damage of these heinous actions impact people for their whole lives,” she said. “People who are victims of sexual assault are 26 times more likely to be addicted to drugs, and four times more likely to commit suicide. The time for advocacy is now.”

Following her lecture, the audience had the opportunity to submit questions. Denhollander was asked about the best way for colleges to prevent these scandals and how to deal with them effectively.

“The best thing for a college to do is to have a trauma trained staff that has experience filing reports and handling evidence,” she explained. “This way, survivors can connect to responsible resources during the process.”

In closing, she offered advice to victims of sexual assault, stating they should hold onto three things: who they are, how they value their identity, and their motivation to do what is right.

Earlier in the semester, in a lecture spoken solely in Spanish, Yankee third baseman and Colombia native, Gio Urshela, spoke to baseball fans and sports lovers alike about his story as a rising star in Major League Baseball. Two students translated the lecture by typing on a digital screen in real time. The lecture touched on topics ranging from his Colombian upbringing, his passion for New York, and his journey as a baseball player.

As the discussion came to a close, the audience lined up to ask questions of the newly crowned American League East champion. One student asked how Manhattan College students can reach their goals.

With a smile on his face, Urshela emphasized the importance of always staying dedicated and disciplined in pursuit of one’s dreams.

The College’s Student Engagement Lecture Series drew packed crowds for talks from Rachael Denhollander (bottom), renowned activist and the first woman to publicly accuse Larry Nassar of sexual abuse, and Yankees third baseman Gio Urshela (top).

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LECTURE CIRCUIT

O’Malley School of Business Panel Addresses U.N. Sustainable Development Goals

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HE UNITED NATIONS’ SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGs) — a list of 17 global goals for the year 2030 — have been a primary focus in the news, politics and business organizations, as well as for the students and faculty at the College. These goals, including equality for all, educational reform, environmental concern, and ending world hunger, all resonate with the College’s core Lasallian values.

In March, students primarily from the O’Malley School of Business gathered in the Kelly Commons for the People, Planet and Profits: Lasallians Leading the Way panel, for which five professionals addressed their work toward sustainable development for the future.

“So far, 9,800 companies have signed the sustainable development goal compact,” said John Paluszek ’55, executive editor of Business in Society, which reports on and analyzes major social issues and how business is addressing them via corporate social responsibility and sustainable development. “Four thousand of these companies are institutions such as colleges and government programs. We have established a presence in 170 countries and represent every industry sector.”

“We are the drivers of sustainability,” said Florencia Librizzi, senior manager for the United Nations-supported initiative, Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME). “Change toward a cleaner and better future is from the inside out.”

She noted that individuals from the community are the most important factor, not the big businesses, and stressed the importance of interconnectivity for the technology-fluent generation. “Social media is increasing the accountability of individuals to make a difference to reach toward the SDGs,” she noted.

Next, Dan Bena ’84, founder and CEO of Dan Bena Inc. and former head of sustainable development and corporate water steward at PepsiCo, discussed his involvement in sustainability.

“Last year, I, along with PepsiCo, was able to bring 22 million people clean water,” he said, emphasizing the financial performance of the SDGs for businesses and the economy. “Attaining the SDGs can create 83 million jobs and a $12 trillion addition to the GDP.” Sustainable development goals are being met in the Bronx by Brendan Mitchell, who works in the University Neighborhood Housing Program (UNHP). The goal of his program is affordable housing in the Bronx, as well as providing legal assistance, income tax preparation, first-time homebuyer reviews, and refurbishments of old apartments. This group has seen support from businesses that allow them the funds to continue initiating sustainable development.

“In 2015, UNHP partnered with Con Edison, which contributed 50% of the cost for switching incandescent lights to LED lights in poorly maintained housing complexes in the Bronx,” Mitchell said.

Poonam Arora, department chair and associate professor of marketing and management, provided the audience with a detailed analysis of how language affects our attitude toward the SDGs. She noted that the most frequently used words in businesses are “win,” “dominate” and “war,” and that businesses have shown little concern for increasing global insecurities. Her study showed that by changing the frequently used language, companies are more receptive to environmental and social causes.

While there is still a lot of work to be done, there is certainly a growing concern for equality and fairness on a global scale. According to the 2017 BP Statistical Review of World Energy, annual U.S. carbon dioxide emissions have declined by the largest margin of any country in the world since 2005.

During a Q&A format at the panel’s conclusion, students and faculty sought answers to important social questions, such as how climate change and government corruption are affecting our ability to achieve the sustainable development goals.

John Paluszek ’55, executive editor of Business in Society, moderates a sustainable development panel including Florencia Librizzi, senior manager for the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Management Education, Dan Bena ’84, founder and CEO of Dan Bena Inc., Brendan Mitchell, who works for the University Neighborhood Housing Program, and Poonam Arora, department chair and associate professor of marketing and management at Manhattan College.

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LECTURE CIRCUIT

International Youth Activist Advocates for a Better Global Community

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T THE YOUNG AGE OF 19, environmental activist, leader and speaker Kehkashan Basu has already made an impact on the global community by advocating for children’s rights, promoting gender equality, mitigating climate change and uplifting downtrodden communities. Basu spreads a message of peace, happiness and sustainability while helping young people confront environmental and social challenges.

“The goal is to get children to make their own solutions for the problems they are facing and growing up in,” she said.

Basu is the founder of the Green Hope Foundation, which seeks to provide a networking platform for children to tackle sustainability issues. She is the recipient of more than 10 international awards for her work in environmental advocacy and has been appointed to six different social action organizations. In 2018, she was awarded the International Children’s Peace Prize for her impact on the global community.

This fall, the Political Science department and Campus Ministry and Social Action invited Basu to engage students and faculty about her work to improve the lives of impoverished children around the world.

“We have worked with Syrian refugee camps, children diagnosed with HIV, and the children of prisoners,” she said. “We provide clean water to these areas and other relief structures to help those in need. In order for there to be sustainable development, we also have a focus on education. We feel that is key.”

Basu described her work on the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs), a collection of 17 global objectives set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015. They include ending world hunger and providing education for all by the year 2030 (see story on page 21). In order to reach these

22 N winter 2020

goals, Basu has traveled around the world to bring relief to neglected regions.

“We have gone to Gurjarat, India, to give the people lamps,” she said.

“We have been able to see community improvement because now these people can be productive at all hours. We have also engaged in beach and park cleanup and mangrove (natural barrier) preservation by conserving, replanting and rejuvenating these natural barriers.”

Basu urged Manhattan College students to help in the fight against climate change.

“As a student you can live a zero-waste lifestyle, eat locally grown food, be meat free once a week, and carry around a metal water bottle instead of using plastic ones,” she said. “Taking it one step further, you can replant trees, turn off the tap water, use paper straws and continue to upcycle.”

Upcycling is the process of transforming byproducts, waste materials, useless or unwanted products into new materials or products of better quality and environmental value.

At the end of the lecture, the students wrote down simple solutions that all students can participate in at the College.

Ideas ranged from having a meat-free day in Locke’s Loft to shortening shower time.

“There are so many problems on the planet, and my team helps make a grassroots-level action for the devastating impact of climate change,” the young activist said. “It is part of my conscience to do something for future generations.”

For now, Basu’s journey continues.

Her next stop is in Asia, where she will provide support to exploited children and work to bridge the gender gap, so no one is left behind.

Kehkashan Basu, founder of the Green Hope Foundation, talks with students about her work improving the lives of impoverished children around the world and also urges them to help in the fight against climate change.

“It is part of my conscience to do something for future generations.”

LECTURE CIRCUIT

A Personal Conversation with the Rev. James Martin A LARGE AND ATTENTIVE AUDIENCE GATHERED IN SMITH AUDITORIUM in October to hear from a prominent voice in the Catholic Church today, the Rev. James Martin, S.J. The event was held as part of the Agitating the Charism lecture series coordinated by the Catholic Studies and Women and Gender Studies programs. The series seeks out thinkers and activists who work on the margins of religious, especially Catholic, communities.

A Jesuit priest, best-selling author and editor-at-large of America magazine, Fr. Martin advocates for greater understanding and acceptance of the LGBTQ community within the Church. His most recent book is Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter Into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity (2017). He is also consultor for the Vatican’s Secretariat for Communication.

Fr. Martin sat down with Natalia Imperatori-Lee, professor of religious studies, for a wide-ranging conversation that covered his recent audience with Pope Francis, how he discovered his vocation to the priesthood, and his advice for those who seek to advocate for LGBTQ and other marginalized communities within the Catholic Church.

Imperatori-Lee began the conversation by asking for an overview of what the Church teaches about the LGBTQ community.

“The most fundamental Church teaching that we have is the Gospels,” Fr. Martin responded. “It’s the example of Jesus … We see someone who consistently reached out to people on the margins, people like tax collectors, people with illnesses, Pharisees and Roman centurions, prostitutes and all sorts of people who were considered external, or other. Jesus is always reaching out to those people.” In addition to the Gospels and the catechism, he continued:

“an informed conscience is, according to the second Vatican Council, the final order of moral decision making.”

He noted that many people in the Church do not live in full accordance with Catholic teachings. “Everybody is imperfect, and all of us are struggling in some way,” he said. “The LGBT person is the only one who is looked at as the sinner.”

Having just returned from a visit to the Vatican, Fr. Martin also discussed his audience with Pope Francis, which was publicly announced. This fact in itself was significant, Fr. Martin noted. “In Vatican language,” he said, “he’s sending a message of the importance of LGBT people.”

Imperatori-Lee then remarked on Fr. Martin’s unusual path to the priesthood, which he entered after working in corporate finance for General Electric. “How do you make your way from that Wall Street-y, midtown business world to where you are today?” she asked.

Describing himself as “the classic yuppie” and not particularly religious, Fr. Martin recalled, “I was just following rules … I didn’t know anything about Catholic social teaching or doctrine.” However, he began to feel as if he was in the wrong place. A

documentary on the life of the Trappist monk Thomas Merton caught his attention.

“So I read his book and started to think about doing something different.” Eventually he learned about the Jesuits, and he said, “They really appealed to me … It was the best decision I ever made.”

His experience, Martin told the audience, is applicable to anyone. “That’s how God calls us to do what we’re meant to do … through our deepest desires, which I think is kind of beautiful,” he said. “To reference your holy desires is an important thing.”

Imperatori-Lee then presented Fr. Martin with questions that had been submitted by the audience and members of the LGBTQ Student Group. “What do you think it’s going to take for change on the front of the relationship between the LGBTQ community and Catholics to happen?” she asked.

Referencing the work of people like Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J., who has advocated for the abolition of the death penalty, Fr. Martin stated that change in the Church is possible.

“I think that her advocacy has helped,” he said, noting that the catechism was recently revised to fully reject capital punishment.

In light of this, he said: “Be hopeful. Trust in the Holy Spirit. Trust that if you are doing what you think is right, you’re working out of your conscience, and are advocating for a group of people who you feel are marginalized … trust that the Holy Spirit is with you.”

Fr. Martin closed the evening by advising those who wish to help any marginalized group to be creative in their outreach.

“The message of the Resurrection is the message of the Church, which is not only that Christ is risen, but it is that hope is stronger than despair,” he said. “That love is stronger than hate, that life is stronger than death, and that the most important thing is that nothing is impossible with God.” MANHATTAN.EDU N 23

SPORTS

Manhattan College Stays the Course at Long-Running Cross Country Invitational

by Tom Pedulla ’78

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ACH OCTOBER, MORE THAN 8,000 SCHOLASTIC RUNNERS converge on Van Cortlandt Park to compete in the Manhattan College Cross Country Invitational, a tradition-rich meet that stands apart from the crowd.

Its origins can be traced back 94 years. The First Annual Manhattan College Cross Country Interscholastic Meet was held at Van Cortlandt Park in October 1925. Manhattan had recently relocated to Riverdale, located just opposite the grounds of Van Cortlandt Park, and the College’s newly minted track coach, Pete Waters, sponsored the event. Participants included more than two dozen teams and 200 individual entries from local and out-of-town schools represented by the Public School Athletic League, the Catholic School Athletic League and vocational high schools.

Throughout the 1920s-1940s, the course was changed on several occasions, which resulted in a wide variation of winning times, but the event continued to grow. The Manhattan Meet was held 24 N winter 2020

consistently until World War II intervened. It regained momentum soon after the war’s conclusion under the guidance of legendary Manhattan College track coach George Eastment.

As the College’s track program gained international attention during the 1950-60s, the high school meet became an afterthought.

In 1973, Ed Bowes ’64, a former Manhattan College cross country runner and coach at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School, picked up the mantle and re-established the meet as the Manhattan College Scholastic Invitational. Under the sponsorship of the College’s Spiked Shoe Club, the first gathering brought in more than 4,000 athletes representing more than 200 schools from several states.

Bowes has served as the event’s director for more than 40 years, overseeing its growth into one of the nation’s premier events — attracting high-caliber athletes from coast to coast. Matt Centrowitz, director of Manhattan’s cross country and track and field programs, likens the experience for young runners to “playing at Carnegie Hall.”

Jim Doyle, a renowned cross country coach at Bishop Hendricken High School in Warwick, Rhode Island, has been bringing his teams to the prestigious meet since 1984. He views it as one of the highlights of his calendar.

“It’s an opportunity for us to compete against the very best teams, not only on a regional basis but on a national basis,” he says. “It gives you a good idea of how you rank among the teams.”

The College could not ask for a better way to showcase all that it offers.

“Manhattan is a great school with a great tradition in athletics,” says Kerri Gallagher, head coach of the men’s and women’s cross country, middle distance and distance teams. “Our alumni are very successful in their diverse fields, and the athletic tradition is very strong, especially with the track and field and cross country programs. This is a great way to introduce that to a lot of young runners.”

This year, organizers have built on previous successes by adding events on the Friday preceding the Oct. 12 invitational. U.S. Olympic silver medalist Leo Manzano headlined the day of festivities, and coaches from Manhattan and other area colleges took part in a panel discussion moderated by Kevin Monaghan ’77, senior vice president and managing director of digital services at NBC Sports.

They discussed topics including the transition from a high school training regimen to a college-level one. In addition, campus tours were offered to the visiting athletes, along with a Taste of the Bronx pasta dinner in Kelly Commons.

Some of the high school students who attended this year’s meet may well return to Riverdale as Manhattan College student-athletes.

It’s not unprecedented.

Amir Khaghani ’19 competed in the Manhattan College Invitational as a student at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland. He went on to attend Manhattan as a student-athlete and currently serves as a graduate assistant in Athletics Business Operations while he pursues his MBA. Khaghani believes that his background as a runner contributed significantly to his academic success, observing that his workout regimen led him to build not only physical but mental strength.

“You really have to have the discipline to do the running,” he says.

“It’s not easy to do a 15-mile run after you’ve run the other days of the week. We know it takes a lot of hard work to accomplish our goals.”

The Manhattan College Invitational was an effective tool in recruiting Khaghani. He knows that he’s hardly alone.

“It’s great to have the Manhattan name attached to this,” he says.

“Because they are running in the Manhattan College Cross Country Invitational, it really plants the name in their heads.”

The 2.5-mile high school course at Van Cortlandt Park is so wellrespected that it is known as the “mecca of cross country.” The late Steve Prefontaine is just one of the greats who displayed his speed and stamina there.

“The course is demanding, but it’s very fair,” Centrowitz says. “It has some flats. It has some uphills and some severe downhills. If you’re a good hill runner, you have a shot. If you’re not such a good hill runner, you still have a shot. And that’s what the name of the game is, your skills and your strengths against your opponent.”

Forty races are offered throughout the day for runners at various levels, from freshmen through varsity. Bowes, inducted into Manhattan’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002, always demanded that races run like clockwork. They still do.

Due to large fields, participants find it critical to gain good early position when leaving the parade grounds because it is so difficult to weave through clusters of runners during the rugged hilly sections of the course. A downhill dash all but slingshots competitors back onto the flat section, where they face the ultimate test of endurance.

“You’ll see the finish line, but it’s so far away and you’re sprinting all out,” Doyle says. “That’s where the times are really made.”

Current and past Jaspers volunteer as course marshals and work the finish line, making sure participants receive direction and are applauded at the end. That is all part of the sport’s esprit de corps.

When the long but inspiring day is done, race organizers have been known to join former Manhattan runners in recalling past victories and to raise a glass to another successful meet.

More than 8,000 high school runners arrived in Riverdale to compete in Manhattan College’s Cross Country Invitational in early October. It’s a meet that goes back 94 years but gained prominence in the 1970s under the direction of Ed Bowes ’64, a former Jasper cross country runner. Sponsored by the College’s Spiked Shoe Club, the 1973 invitational brought in more than 4,000 athletes representing more than 200 schools from several states. Today, the 2.5-mile course in Van Cortlandt Park attracts runners from 15 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and Canada, and more than 450 schools to prove their prowess in 40 races in what’s known as the “mecca of cross country.”

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SPORTS

SPORTSSHORTS KAISHIAN WINS JOSEPH J. GUNN ’30 ALUMNI MEDAL Emma Kaishian ’19 received the College’s Joseph J. Gunn ’30 Alumni Medal at the Spring Honors Convocation, which is given to a graduating senior who embodies the Lasallian mission and has made a significant contribution to the College.

Kaishian was a four-year starter on the women’s lacrosse team and earned a spot on the Dean’s List for all four years. A native of Yorktown Heights, New York, Kaishian served as captain during the 2019 season — one of the best in program history. The team matched the program record for wins in a season (11) and qualified for the MAAC Tournament for the first time in a decade. She also was the first Jasper to be selected to the All-MAAC First Team since 2009.

A kinesiology major, Kaishian spent more than 500 hours working as an athletic trainer’s aide and currently trains other work-study students. She also has volunteered at the College’s Safe Halloween, Winter Wonderland, St. Baldrick’s event, Manhattan College Games and Relay for Life. She was a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and participated in a service trip to New Orleans to assist families affected by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

FLANIGAN EARNS FULBRIGHT AWARD Alia Flanigan ’19 of the women’s rowing team was awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant award for the 2019-20 academic year (see story on page 7). An international studies major, Flanigan is teaching in Malaysia this year.

Flanigan was a member of the first-ever four-year varsity senior class in program history. She also was a member of the Second Varsity boat that collected MAAC Weekly honors upon its defeat of local rival Iona. Flanigan helped to lead Manhattan to the firstever Fall Metropolitan Championship in program history and was a member of the Second Varsity Eight that placed sixth at the MAAC Championship. Following graduation, she was one of 11 Jaspers cited by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association with a 2019 Scholar Athlete Award (3.5 cumulative GPA or higher).

SCHREIER HELPS USA GET GOLD AT MACCABI GAMES Daniel Schreier ’22 led the United States men’s basketball team to gold at the 15th European Maccabi Games. Schreier scored 14 points with six rebounds in America’s 73-63 win over Russia in the championship game.

The California native is one of 200-plus athletes who play for Maccabi USA, a volunteer organization that seeks to enrich the lives of Jewish youth in the United States, Israel and the Diaspora through athletic, cultural and educational programs. The Americans joined 2,000 Jewish athletes from 29 countries to participate in 22 different sports. The European Games are a high-level athletic competition held every four years, two years after the World Maccabiah Games.

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KELLY IS NAMED A NOMINEE FOR NCAA WOMAN OF THE YEAR Mikeisha Kelly ’19 of the track and field team was named the MAAC nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year award, which honors the top graduating female student-athletes in the nation for their efforts in athletics, academics, community service and leadership.

A four-year member of the indoor and outdoor track and field program and a team captain, Kelly won MAAC gold in 2018 as a member of the Jaspers’ indoor 4x400-relay team. She also holds a school record as a member of the indoor distance medley relay squad that recorded a time of 11:50.06 in the event at the 2018 Boston University Terrier Classic. The communication major was a six-time MAAC All-Academic Team selection, six-time Dean’s List recipient, and an inductee of the College-wide honor society Epsilon Sigma Pi. In June, Kelly was among a record 585 female college athletes to be nominated. She progressed on and ultimately made the list of 148 athletes (and one of just 64 D1 nominees) eligible for the award.

JASPERS ARE AT THE TOP OF DIVISION IN COMMUNITY SERVICE Six Manhattan College athletic teams earned national recognition for their community service during the 2018-19 academic year as tracked

by Helper Helper, an official NCAA volunteer management platform that allows teams to coordinate their volunteer service initiatives.

Jaspers on the men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s swimming, women’s basketball, and volleyball teams all landed in the top 10 for their respective sports, with men’s lacrosse taking home first place out of all Division I men’s lacrosse programs. This past year, NCAA Division I, II and III teams generated more than 474,000 service hours, resulting in a $12 million economic impact, according to Helper Helper.

DINGLER STARTS AS WOMEN’S LACROSSE HEAD COACH Jenna Dingler was tabbed as the next head coach of the women’s lacrosse program. Dingler, a Turnersville, New Jersey, native, has spent the last two seasons as the head coach at Division II Caldwell College. During her time there, she oversaw the development of four All-Central Atlantic Athletic Conference (CAAC) selections. In Dingler’s first season, the Cougars advanced to the CAAC Final Four for the first time in program history.

PARDALIS RECEIVES CONNECTICUT HALL OF FAME HONORS Softball head coach Tom Pardalis was inducted into the Connecticut Scholastic and Collegiate Softball Hall of Fame in May. Pardalis, who is in his 11th year at the helm of the Jaspers’ program, was recognized as the 2019 College Coach inductee during the organization’s 30th annual banquet. Pardalis has led Manhattan to seven seasons with at least 25 victories, including the squad’s first 30-win season in 23 years (2016). The Jaspers also have made seven appearances in the MAAC Tournament during his tenure and reached the championship game in 2014.

All in the Family

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T 6’10” TALL AND WITH PARENTS WHO WERE BOTH collegiate basketball stars, John Cain ’20 (M.S.) might strike casual observers as someone destined to excel at college hoops. But, in choosing a different athletic path as a baseball pitcher, Cain has carved out a destiny all his own.

The basketball legacy Cain inherited is an impressive one: His father, Tim Cain ’85, ranks as the third all-time leading scorer John Cain ’20 signed on as a free in men’s basketball history at agent with the Los Angeles Angels.

Manhattan with 1,872 points.

The former forward remains the only member of the Jaspers to receive All-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference honors all four years and was inducted into the conference’s Honor Roll this year. His mother, Alison, excelled in basketball at Fairfield during the same time period. She was a four-year starter who also was a force offensively, closing her career as a 1,000-point scorer.

Cain’s younger siblings, too, have distinguished themselves in basketball. Kate, 20, a junior at Nebraska, is the starting center for the Cornhuskers. Chris, 17, is a high school senior who aspires to play Division I college basketball. Nevertheless, Cain saw the writing on the pitcher’s mound from an early age.

“It was pretty clear when I was younger that baseball was always going to be my sport,” Cain says. “By the time I was 13 or 14, I knew I was going to play baseball over basketball.”

After signing as a free agent last June, the lefthander looks forward to going to spring training with the Los Angeles Angels in February. He spent this fall working toward his master’s degree in mechanical engineering at Manhattan.

Last summer, he competed for the Angels in the Arizona League.

Although mononucleosis sidelined him for a significant time, he did not allow a run in two appearances spanning more than three innings. He yielded just one hit while striking out six with two walks.

“I was excited to be a part of it,” Cain says. “I’m looking forward to working hard in the offseason and, hopefully, making something happen when I get out there next year.”

Cain earned his undergraduate degree at Lafayette College, but lost his junior season to an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery. He eventually used his final year of eligibility to pursue his master’s degree at Manhattan, and compiled a 9-4 record with 96 strikeouts in 98 innings last season.

Cain’s baseball prominence led to a confession from his father, one of the top performers in Manhattan’s proud basketball history.

“I always thought the most fun thing to do in sports was to pitch,” the Cain patriarch admits.

FUNFACTS

12

Men’s lacrosse stunned defending MAAC Champion Canisius to snap a 12-match losing streak to the Golden Griffins

5 59

John Cain ’20 became the fifth Jasper in the past three years to sign with a Major League Baseball organization

Walks earned by Lauren Pitney ’19, which led the Division I ranks and set a softball school record

2

9

NCAA-leading complete games fired

by T.J. Stuart ’20 of the baseball team

Elizabeth McCabe ’20 and Ella O’Brien ’21 earned All-MAAC honors, giving women’s rowing multiple allleague performers for the first time in program history

83.3

Percentage of penalties killed off by men’s lacrosse, leading the nation for a second-straight year

6

1

Preston Shortell ’20 became the first Manhattan golfer to be named MAAC Player of the Week in program history

Manhattan College teams ranked among the top 10 in their respective sports in community service, according to the volunteer-hour tracking app Helper, Helper (women’s basketball, men’s lacrosse, women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, volleyball)

3

Gold medals won by Niasia Boone ’20 at the 2019 MAAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships (100 meters, 200 meters, 4x100-meter relay)

2009

Last time that the women’s lacrosse team qualified for the MAAC Tournament; making 2019 their first return in a decade

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SPORTS

Outdoor Track & Field MANHATTAN TRACK AND FIELD ENJOYED A DECORATED 2019 outdoor season, returning home from the MAAC Championships with five gold medals, including three for sprinter Niasia Boone ’20, who won the women’s 200 meters, 100 meters and 4x100-meter relay. Teammate Will Stallings ’19 won gold in the men’s 400-meter race, while thrower Enrique Martinez ’20 won the men’s hammer throw event.

Martinez and fellow throwers Ryan Addlesberger ’19 and Eric Waugh ’19 qualified for the NCAA East Regional Preliminaries, heading to Tampa, Florida, in May. Martinez finished 36th in the men’s hammer throw. Addlesberger, competing in his second-straight regionals, placed 45th in the men’s shot put, while Waugh earned 44th in the men’s discus.

Martinez and Addlesberger both claimed Metropolitan Championships in their respective events, while Alexandra Preckajlo ’21 won gold in the women’s discus throw.

The Jaspers also earned accolades in the classroom, placing 31 student-athletes on the MAAC All-Academic Team. Distance runner Amir Khaghani ’19 was named to the Google Cloud Academic AllAmerican Division I Cross Country/Track and Field Third Team.

Khaghani, who graduated in May with a double-major in accounting and business analytics, was one of 15 student-athletes picked to

the men’s NCAA Division I Third Team, and the only MAAC studentathlete (man or woman) to receive All-American honors for cross country and track.

Khaghani and Boone were both honored at the third annual Jasper Academic and Sports Performance Yearly Showcase Niasia Boone ’20 (JASPYS).

Khaghani, who is currently pursuing his MBA at Manhattan, was recognized as the athletic department’s top scholar, while Boone was named female student-athlete of the year.

Men’s Lacrosse THE MEN’S LACROSSE TEAM continued to make strides under the direction of fourth-year head coach Drew Kelleher in 2019. The Jaspers’ six wins and three All-MAAC selections were the most by the team since the 2010 season. Manhattan also again led the nation in man-down defense, yielding just five man-up scores with an 83.3% success rate.

The Jaspers opened up the season with a thrilling 11-10 win over Wagner, as Parker Giarratana ’19 scored four goals with two assists en route to being named MAAC Player of the Week. Brendan Krebs ’21 was also lauded by the MAAC as the Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in the victory, making 13 saves with a .565 save percentage. Manhattan posted another impressive nonleague win at perennial Northeast power Bryant, rallying from an early four-goal deficit. The Jaspers also defeated Hartford and NJIT in posting their first winning nonconference record in 10 years.

During MAAC play, Manhattan bested St. Bonaventure before toppling defending MAAC champion Canisius 6-5, thanks to scoring the final five goals of the game. Giarratana delivered the game-winning score against the Golden Griffins, which also doubled as the 100th of his career — making him just the second Jasper to hit the milestone.

Krebs was voted to the All-MAAC First Team after ranking sixth nationally with a .569 save percentage. His inclusion on the team marks only the third time in program history that a Jasper goalie has made an all-MAAC First Team.

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Luke Hanson ’20 and Brandon Grinnell ’20

Giarratana also collected All-MAAC Second Team honors while becoming the sixth student-athlete in program history to earn league recognition three times. His 103 career goals rank second in program annals, while his 165 points are third. In addition, Dylan DeMuro ’19 was a second team pick and became the first Manhattan defender to be honored by the league since 2010. He scooped up the gameclinching ground ball against Canisius and led a defense that ranked 19th nationally.

Sam Taraian ’22

Golf LED BY FIRST-YEAR HEAD COACH Phil Wildermuth, Manhattan placed eighth at the MAAC Championships.

An almost entirely new team, the Jaspers boasted just one returning student-athlete in Preston Shortell ’20. Shortell made history as he became the first-ever Manhattan student-athlete to be named Golfer of the Week after placing 16th at the Alabama State Spring Kickoff.

Sam Taraian ’22 paced the Jaspers at the MAAC Championship, placing among the top 20.

Shortell and Brendan Leslie ’21 were each named to the MAAC All-Academic Team, as the program also earned NCAA APR Public Recognition for the sixthstraight year.

The APR, which is in its 14th year, is an annual scorecard of academic achievement calculated for all Division I sports teams on a national level. It measures eligibility, graduation and retention each term while providing a clear picture of the academic performance for each team in every sport. Public Recognition Awards are given to those teams that rank among the top 10% in their sports.

Women’s Lacrosse

WOMEN’S LACROSSE POSTED ONE OF THE FINEST SEASONS in program history in the spring of 2019, as the Jaspers returned to the postseason for the first time in a decade while matching the program record for wins with 11.

Fueling the Jaspers’ fantastic season was the play of Molly Fitzpatrick ’19, Emma Kaishian ’19, Caitlin Murphy ’19 and Nikki Prestiano ’19, as each member of the quartet earned All-MAAC honors.

Kaishian became the first Manhattan student-athlete to earn first team accolades since the 2009 season, before later garnering Google Cloud Academic All-District recognition for her prowess in the classroom. A true epitome of the Jasper green and white, she also was awarded the Joseph J. Gunn ’30 Alumni Medal, which is given to a graduating senior who embodies the Lasallian mission and has made a significant contribution to the College.

Grace Lipponer ’22 helped aid the Jaspers’ six-win improvement as the first-year standout notched a school-record four MAAC All-Rookie citations en route to recording 24 goals and 12 assists.

As a team, Manhattan hosted the first-ever MAAC Women’s Lacrosse Tournament in program history at Gaelic Park, and finished the regular season in fourth place after being predicted to finish last in the preseason poll.

Despite dropping a one-goal heartbreaker in the tournament, Fitzpatrick concluded with a career-high six goals to put the finishing touches on an impressive season that saw her rank fourth in the MAAC with 2.76 goals per game. Additionally, her 47 total goals are the fourth-most in program history and the most by a Jasper since 2009.

Prestiano led the defense, ranking 10th in the nation with a MAAC-best 9.16 goals against average and a school-record matching 11 wins.

She also finished her career fourth in the all-time Manhattan career annals with 539 saves.

Rounding out the all-league performers for the Jaspers was Murphy, who scored 26 goals with 16 assists.

Following the Emma Kaishian ’19 spring season, Jenna Dingler was named the next head coach of the women’s lacrosse program. Her first team in Riverdale will be aided by the 19 returning letter-winners, including seven starters.

MANHATTAN.EDU N 29

SPORTS

Rowing

The women’s rowing Varsity Eight, the program’s top boat, comprised of coxswain Elyse Holmes ’22, and rowers Ella O’Brien ’21, Emily Hughes ’22, Amayda Arroyo ’21, Elizabeth McCabe ’20, Zoe Nikolopoulos ’20, Lauryn Hughes ’22, Katherine Sexton ’20 and Rachel Foertch ’21 compete in the MAAC Championship on the Cooper River in New Jersey.

MANHATTAN PLACED A SCHOOL-RECORD two student-athletes on the All-MAAC Second for the first time in program history as Elizabeth McCabe ’20 and Ella O’Brien ’21 helped to lead Manhattan to an eighth-place finish at the MAAC Championship. The pair became the first duo in program history to earn all-league honors.

At the MAAC meet, the Jaspers placed fifth in the Grand Final of the Varsity Four I, while also taking sixth in the Grand Final of the Varsity Eight II. Manhattan celebrated the first four-year varsity senior class with the program’s first-ever Metropolitan Championship. The team of Rachel Foertch ’21, Katherine Sexton ’20, Lauryn Hughes ’22, Zoe Nikolopoulos ’20, Amayda Arroyo ’21, Emily Hughes ’22 and McCabe with O’Brien on the stroke, and coxswain Elyse Holmes ’22 defeated Iona and Sacred Heart to win the Varsity Eight.

Following the meet, the Jaspers christened three new boats. The first boat is titled the Signum Fidei (Sign of Faith) in reference to the Lasallian tradition and the team’s gratitude to the College. The second boat is named the Marianne R. Reilly ’82, acknowledging the work that the College’s director of intercollegiate athletics has

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done for the department and women’s rowing program. The third new boat is named Powerful Women.

Manhattan also made waves by sweeping the MAAC weekly awards for the first time in program history after besting local rival Iona in a dual meet. The Varsity Eight clocked a 7:17.6 to breeze past Iona, which posted a mark of 7:33.2. In the second Varsity Eight, the Jaspers dominated from start to finish, winning by well over a minute with a time of 7:35.3. Manhattan completed its historic performance by winning the Varsity Four by more than 22 seconds with a mark of 8:35.8.

Out of the water, Alia Flanigan ’19 earned a prestigious Fulbright Award, while the Jaspers placed a MAAC-best 19 student-athletes on the MAAC All-Academic Team. Additionally, 11 members of the team were lauded by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association with 2019 Scholar Athlete Awards.

Softball

INFIELDER LAUREN PITNEY ’19 EARNED softball’s first MAAC Defensive Player of the Year award after compiling a total of 93 putouts in 48 games this past season. Pitney assisted on 13 double plays, helping the Jaspers to a top-40 Division I ranking in double plays per game. Recording only six errors throughout the year, she added 82 total assists and finished her senior season with a .967 fielding percentage.

Also earning All-MAAC First Team honors, Pitney led the Jaspers in batting average (.410) this year, while topping the nation in walks per game with a program-best 59 this season. She ranked third in the nation in on-base percentage (.617) and 57th in slugging percentage (.744), on her way to her third All-MAAC team selection.

Pitney was just one of three Jaspers earning postseason accolades. Annie Moore ’22 was named to the All-MAAC First Team, while she and pitcher/utility player Jessie Rising ’22 were named to the MAAC All-Rookie Team.

Moore completed her first year in Riverdale with 13 doubles, tying for sixth on the program’s single-season list. Her 38 RBIs was a team high — just two short of the program’s single-season top 10. Rising appeared in the pitcher’s circle in 33 games for the Jaspers and tied for fifth place on Manhattan’s single-season list.

Moore and Pitney were also recognized by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA), with Moore earning First Team All-Region honors, and Pitney garnering a place on the All-Region Third Team, the third NFCA recognition of her career.

Outfielder Adriana Gambino ’20 earned Google Cloud Academic All-District Team honors, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America. A civil engineering major, Gambino started in 50 games for the Jaspers last season and led the team with three triples while batting .291 with 44 hits and 16 RBIs on the year.

T.J. Stuart ’20

Baseball

POWERED BY A FIERCE OFFENSE and strong starting pitching, Manhattan won 26 games and returned to the MAAC Tournament after a one-year absence.

Seven student-athletes garnered all-league honors, highlighted by unanimous MAAC Rookie of the Year and Freshman All-American Nick Cimillo ’22. The first-year standout paced the team in all three triple crown categories (.350, 7 home runs, 36 RBIs) and joined catcher Matt Padre ’21 on the All-MAAC First Team. Right-handed pitcher T.J. Stuart ’20 and Jake Knop ’21 were each tabbed to the All-MAAC Second Team, with Jonathan Barditch ’22, Sam Franco ’22 and Cimillo named to the MAAC All-Rookie Team.

While the Jaspers stood out at the postseason awards show, it was their performance at the MAAC Tournament that was the story of the season.

Graduate student John Cain ’20 struck out nine over eight innings in lifting the fifth-seeded Jaspers to a 6-2 win over No. 4 Marist in the first round, with Cimillo homering and driving in four to fuel the offense. They then took down top-seeded Canisius 5-3, thanks to

Lauren Pitney ’19

Stuart’s NCAA-best eighth complete game of the year.

Stuart got stronger as the game went on — not allowing a hit over his final four innings of work while facing just two over the minimum. For his efforts, Stuart was tabbed to the MAAC All-Tournament Team, along with Barditch, who hit .533 with three multi-hit performances.

Cain’s tournament performance capped a fantastic season that saw the fifth-year senior finish with a MAAC-best nine victories, 96 strikeouts and a 4.13 ERA. He opened the season with a win over reigning NCAA Super Regional participant Stetson and never looked back. The hard-throwing lefty then became the fifth former Jasper in the last three years to sign with a Major League organization when he inked a free agent contract with the Los Angeles Angels (see sidebar on page 27).

Expectations will be high for 2020, as the squad will return 10 position players that started at least 20 games, as well as the bulk of the pitchers from a staff that recorded a school-record 429 strikeouts.

MANHATTAN.EDU N 31

READY FOR PRIME TIME

BY CECILIA DONOHOE

How the MAAC’s contract with ESPN and Manhattan College’s new sports media production concentration are coming together for a unique hands-on learning opportunity for communication students

I

t’s 6:50 p.m. on a Friday in early November, and Draddy Gym is abuzz with activity as the Manhattan College women’s basketball team warms up for the first game of the 2019-20 season, an exhibition contest against Bloomfield College. The Pep Band tunes up, the Cheerleaders and Jasper Dancers take their places, and the fans file into the storied gymnasium. Alongside the pregame fanfare, however, a keen observer might notice preparations of another kind.

Behind the bleachers and alongside the court, a small cadre of students and faculty are readying video cameras, checking microphones, and hurrying outside to the mobile production unit (MPU) parked in the lot beyond the gym doors. Ten minutes from now, they’ll begin to record and produce the game just like the pros do.

Similar to the basketball players, for this group of students, tonight is the result of months of preseason training and practice. Since last spring, they’ve been learning to operate the cameras and technical equipment needed to produce live sporting events. Although the women’s exhibition game won’t air tonight (later in the month, all of the Jaspers men’s and women’s home basketball games will be broadcast live on ESPN3 or the streaming platform ESPN+), the game presents the first opportunity for the students to put what they’ve learned into practice under the same high-pressure, high-focus conditions of a live, televised sports broadcast.

The seeds for this ambitious endeavor were planted back in the fall of 2016, when the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) issued a stipulation that all member institutions show their games on ESPN+, per an agreement with the sports network. To facilitate the broadcasts, the College purchased an MPU, which arrived on campus last spring. Fitted with a Ross Carbonite switcher, Ross 32 N winter 2020

Xpression graphics, Envivo replay and audio controls for a broadcast with 4K capability, the truck features a bounty of cutting-edge production equipment.

As it happened, the Communication department had recently launched a concentration in sports media production to support students seeking a career in the lucrative niche of sports entertainment. The chance to use the MPU as a remote “lab” in which the students could produce high-definition, multicamera live events was too good to pass up.

Joe Ruggiero, bringing experience in production at the MAAC, World Wrestling Entertainment and ESPN, came on board to teach Advanced Sports Media Production classes and oversee live productions. His mandate is to develop the sports media production program so that eventually all of the College’s home athletic contests can be broadcast. Wiring for Gaelic Park is planned so that sports, including soccer and lacrosse, can join the televised lineup.

Throughout the spring and fall semesters, Ruggiero and Michael Quinn, visiting associate professor of communication, familiarized students in sports media production classes with conducting operations out of the MPU and provided instruction in replaying footage, switching cameras and manipulating audio.

According to Thom Gencarelli, professor of communication, other colleges use their MPU for instructional purposes — to a certain extent. However, he says of MAAC schools and competitor colleges in the Northeast, “No one else has a full-fledged communication program where all of this work [broadcasting games] is done as part of the curriculum.”

Communication major Aedan Roney ’21 notes that previous TV production classes he’s taken have focused on news broadcasts and talk shows.

(Top) As director, Joe Ruggiero is at the center of the action in the mobile production unit (MPU). Keeping pace with the game, he issues nonstop instructions to everyone working the controls in the truck, as well as the camera people in Draddy Gym. (Below, left) The MPU is equipped with all the systems needed to produce live events. Initially, men’s and women’s basketball home games will be broadcast on ESPN3 and ESPN+, but more sports will be produced in the future. (Right) Elyse Holmes ’22 operates camera 4 and emphasizes the importance of paying attention when live.

MANHATTAN.EDU N 33

The crew stays focused for every minute of the game.

(This page, top) Multiple screens in the MPU display feeds from the four cameras. (Below right) Ruggiero and Tien Tran ’21 select a file to replay. (Opposite page, top) Julio Viguera ’22 and Gabrielle Gannon ’20 operate cameras 1 and 2 from a lift above the bleachers.

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PRODUCTION NOTES • Camera 1 is the most cut-to camera in the MPU. • The MPU stocks 12 extra camera batteries; cameras can and do run low!

• Don’t let the screen go dark. If one of the cameras malfunctions, the person controlling the switcher will quickly bring up the feed from another.

• No action on the court? Zoom in on a fan, coach or player.

• The camera often follows the most recent “star of play.” That is, the player, coach or referee who’s done something of interest, either good or bad!

• “Ref butt” blocking the view is an occupational hazard for courtside camera operators, and a tough one to entirely avoid.

• The graphic on the bottom of the screen that displays the score is known in the biz as the “score bug.”

• While producing games for ESPN, students do not wear branded Manhattan College gear.

During this time, they are neutral parties.

“The truck has similarities to the studio in Leo Hall, but it’s also got a lot of differences,” he says. “They’ve both got technical directors, audio and camera people, but the way in which each of those positions is carried out is very different.

There’s a sense of urgency to live productions that I think is exciting. I’m looking forward to learning how to shoot movement better.”

With seven men’s and women’s basketball games to produce in the fall 2019 semester, and 20 more in the spring, it was decided that the women’s exhibition game would be a dry run — a dress rehearsal of sorts — before the live broadcasts begin.

“We’re going to keep it simple,” Ruggiero says. “I reminded the students that we’re not going to be live this time, so it’s OK to mess up. We’ll learn from any mistakes.”

Back in Draddy, the intrepid crew members report to their stations. Working the cameras are communication majors Julio Viguera ’22, Gabrielle Gannon ’20, Elyse Holmes ’22 and Tim Youtkus ’21. Viguera (camera 1) and Gannon (camera 2) are positioned on a lift behind the bleachers, while Youtkus and Holmes are posted under both basketball nets (cameras 3 and 4). In the truck, Tien Tran ’21 is on replay, Mark Legrand ’20 is assigned to audio, while Tommy Courtney ’22, one of the first students who enrolled in the sports media

production program, operates the switcher and serves as technical director (TD). Quinn mans the graphics board while Ruggiero directs. Michael Grabowski, associate professor of communication and chair, is on hand to observe — and pitch in as needed.

Two minutes to game time. At the front of the MPU, two large screens display the live and preview feeds, with smaller screens showing the feeds from each of the four cameras.

Over a headset, Ruggiero dispenses last-minute instructions to the crew.

“Cameras 3 and 4, if the players are coming toward you, make sure we get their faces, no backs of heads,” he says.

“Whoever the ‘hero’ is, follow them into the opposite court, and make sure to get the shot clock. When the game starts, follow the ball. Do like you’d normally do, and we’ll adjust from there.”

Then it’s game time, and they’re rolling.

As the players tipoff, Ruggiero issues a rapid-fire stream of directions to the students in the truck and those on the cameras. They’ll need to stay alert in order to pick up on their cues.

“Ready 3, take 3,” he instructs Courtney, who switches the feed to show footage of a player from camera 3.

“That’s it, follow her,” he says to Youtkus.

MANHATTAN.EDU N 35

“Ready 3, take 3 ... that’s it, follow her.”

Back to Courtney, “Ready 1, take 1.”

Since there is no game commentary tonight — professionals will be on hand once the regular-season games begin — Grabowski jumps on the announcer’s headset to provide the crew with practice at taking cues from the commentators’ remarks.

The game is in full swing now, and Ruggiero wants a replay of a layup. “Give me the camera 4 view and clip it,” he tells Tran, who takes a moment to isolate the footage of the play and tee it up for Courtney.

A brief lull in the game action provides a learning opportunity.

“See how much time we have until the ball comes down the court?” Ruggiero says, addressing the entire crew. “That’s why we’re able to stay on camera 3 for an extra few seconds. If the players are moving fast, I might not be able to cut to 3 and instead stay on camera 1.”

The Jaspers take a commanding lead over Bloomfield.

Ruggiero’s barrage of instructions doesn’t stop. The students keep up, gaining competence and confidence as they go. As predicted, some things go awry, but the students are quick to troubleshoot and figure out solutions.

Holmes adjusts her camera tilt to cut dead airspace from a shot. Viguera momentarily runs into trouble with camera 1, and the screen goes black for a second. Following Ruggiero’s instructions, Gannon zooms out on camera 2 to replace the 36 N winter 2020

lost perspective, and Courtney quickly replaces Viguera’s blank feed with Gannon’s. Meanwhile, Tran continuously preps replays, becoming quicker and more accurate each time.

At halftime, a few crew members switch positions to get practice on different cameras and equipment. Youtkus is now on audio in the truck, with Legrand replacing him at camera 3. Holmes goes on the lift to take camera 2, while Gannon assumes Holmes’ spot by the court at camera 4.

During the second half, the crew’s attention stays focused on the game and their specific tasks. There’s no downtime; they must stay attuned to Ruggiero’s commands.

“Every game is a performance, and you’re on,” Quinn remarks. “You can’t take 10 minutes off to check your phone during the action. You have to be performing like it’s a musical instrument.”

On the court, the Jaspers are overwhelming their opponents. To the production crew, this isn’t a cheering matter, but an aspect that must be integrated into the game narrative that is shaped during every live sports event.

“Obviously, we have a blowout game here,” Ruggiero observes. “So what’s the story of this game? Probably a specific player.”

“Number 15?” Youtkus suggests, referring to Jasper guard Lizahya Morgan ’21.

“Yes, or number 11 [guard Emily Lapointe ’23], who’s a freshman and having a great coming-out game,” Ruggiero

replies. “The story could really be Manhattan College and the way they’re shooting the ball and playing defense.”

As the game comes to an end, Youtkus cues the music, bringing up the sound from the gym from the cameras in anticipation of a commercial break.

“If we had to put this game on ESPN today, we’d be OK,” Ruggiero says. “This is a good mock run. I’m proud of everyone.”

After an intense two hours, the crew takes a moment to reflect on the experience.

Holmes found that she needed to react quickly, especially when she was filming courtside.

“We need to be aware of where the ball is and anticipate where it’s going to go, so that we get the whole scene,” she says. “I’m really excited to put ESPN on my résumé. This is my first ‘job’ in the sports media industry, and I’m already loving it.”

As technical director, Courtney performed one of the more demanding production roles. He plans to work as many games as he can.

“To finally put what I learned to use was a great experience,” he says. “There was a lot that I had to learn on the spot, and with the production being live, I had to adapt to calls being made on the fly.”

Having a role behind the scenes of a sport he loves to watch was an instructive experience for Youtkus.

“I’d like to sit on camera 3 again, but I’m excited and ready for any job Joe has for me to do during the course of the season,” he says. “I want to increase my skill with the camera, as well as learning specific jobs in the truck like the technical director, replay and graphics.”

“Our students were well-prepared and did remarkably well,” Grabowski comments. “This dress rehearsal was to identify any last bugs in the system, so that we’re fully ready to broadcast flawlessly. They’re ready to fill out most of the crew for the first broadcast on Nov. 10.”

In addition to those taking the sports media production concentration, students in the College’s athletics programs will also benefit from the initiative.

“Not only will we gain higher visibility to a wider audience of Jasper fans via the ESPN platforms, but students will gain invaluable firsthand experience in production that they can take directly into their first jobs,” notes Kelly Carroll, assistant director of sports communication, digital and emerging media. “Being able to showcase Manhattan also helps us recruit prospective student-athletes.”

Like his peers, Tran is already looking forward to returning to the MPU. “Being able to see along the way how the program has come to the point where we finally worked at a game is amazing,” he says. “I didn’t expect everything to run as smoothly as it did, but Joe is a great director and guided us through everything. Plus, the more experienced students made the whole production a lot easier.”

“Give me the camera 4 view and clip it.”

(Opposite page) Tommy Courtney ’22 has been preparing for his role as technical director for a year. As the switcher operator, he displays graphics and replays, pulls up the score bug (see production notes, page 35), and controls which camera feed appears on viewers’ screens. (This page, top) In the MPU, there’s an economy of speech. Using brief, clipped phrases, Ruggiero keeps the crew on their toes. “Ready red, play red. Cut 1. Camera 2, you’re crooked. Music!”

(Below) As the game progresses, Tran grows increasingly adept at preparing replays, which Courtney will have to pull up on screen at a moment’s notice. “The experience helped me to understand the workload — and workflow — of a live broadcast,” Tran says.

He adds, “There’s a lot of potential in this program and this group, and a lot of room for us to keep learning.”

Manhattan’s home basketball games for the 2019-20 season will air on either ESPN3 or ESPN+. Check the schedule, tune in and remember: Jaspers won’t only be in front of the camera, but behind it, too.

MANHATTAN.EDU N 37

JASPER DANCERS

SEIZE THE TOP SPOT

at National Championship

Story by Kristen Cuppek

The No. 1 dance team in hip-hop in the nation, the Jaspers show off their moves at Manhattan Madness in October. One of their favorite events, Madness gives them the chance to have some fun while pumping up the crowd for basketball season.

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Photos by Josh Cuppek

In Eminem’s chart-topping and Grammy award-winning hit Lose Yourself, the rapper asks:

“If you had one shot or one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment, would you capture it or just let it slip?”

These first few lines capture the essence of the song — a song that motivated, inspired and spurred on the Jasper Dancers, who told their story through its lyrics and whose resulting performance earned them a national title.

In April, the Jasper Dancers won the 2019 National Dance Alliance (NDA) Collegiate Championship in Division I Hip-Hop in Daytona Beach, Florida. It’s a tremendous feat for the team and for the College — it’s the first time that any Manhattan College team has won a national title since 1973.

MANHATTAN.EDU N 39

“We were just done with the stereotypical style ... ‘Let’s change it up.

We need something different.’”

Megan Dreher ’20

T H E R O A D T O D AY T O N A

I

t was a risky move to use Eminem’s song for their nationals routine. For one, teams usually compete to a medley of popular hip-hop songs, not just one song. But also, it wasn’t simply about putting together a dance routine. The dancers wanted to tell a story — their story — and that’s typically not done on the Daytona Beach Bandshell.

Lose Yourself is about empowerment, about seizing the opportunity because “you only get one shot.” Yet, it’s also about the struggle of the underdog, something the dancers took to heart.

Two years ago, they had made it to their first finals round — ever — and took fifth place at the championships. Not only were they proud to have scored high enough in their preliminary round to make it to the hip-hop finals, but also the fact that they were just a few spots shy of No. 1 was nothing short of historically amazing.

“We came in fifth place at nationals my freshman year, and it was the first time we ever made it to finals — like ever — in the history of the Jasper Dancers,” Taylor Aloisio ’20 says. “That was a really, really big accomplishment for us.”

“That feeling was so indescribable of being able to dance from little Manhattan College in the Bronx with an undergraduate population of literally a quarter of what some of these other schools have,” says Megan Dreher ’20, one of the team captains. “At that point, I think we were 12 girls on the stage, and to come in fifth freshman year was insane. We were top five in the nation!”

Perhaps they went into the following year’s championship still glimmering from their previous finals showing, or perhaps they were just a little too confident, but they didn’t make it to finals in 2018. To say it was a blow would be an understatement.

“We came back our sophomore year, kind of cocky, expecting to make finals again, and we didn’t,” Aloisio explains. “I don’t think we had the right mindset going into it. We just expected to go into finals again because we did it the last year. We ended up coming in 11th place in hip-hop. That was a huge shock for us, and we didn’t feel that we deserved that place.”

“It was completely devastating,” Dreher says. “I think we went down there with the wrong type of mentality. We thought we were 40 N winter 2020

playing it safe, maybe we just weren’t in it the same way that we were the year before. That kind of lit a fire under all of us, including my coach.”

“A knife to the heart is exactly what it felt like,” says coach Kaitlyn Marquette, who has helmed the team for about six years. “I felt like I completely let my team down, and there was no way I was going to go through that again. I had to do everything in my power to ensure we would make finals. A new concept, a different approach to choreography, and a challenging practice regimen was the only way I was going to feel like we gave it our all.”

It was through this complete overhaul and with a nothing-to-lose mentality that the dancers decided to take big risks and go back to the competition with a renewed sense of purpose and, let’s face it, for redemption.

“We were just done with the stereotypical style. Everyone goes down there and does a mix of three kinds of current hip-hop songs,” Dreher says. “This year, we all just said, ‘No, we’re not doing that.

Let’s change it up. We need something different.’ We did one song [Lose Yourself], it was more of a lyrical hip-hop, and we told a story, and that was the story of the underdog. That’s what we were because no one thinks of Manhattan College as being anything special in terms of the dance world.”

Their risk paid off. The Jaspers finished the preliminary round in first place. They were going into the final round as the No. 1 team in the country — an accomplishment that was surprising, daunting, exciting and, most of all, unreal.

“Coming back last year, we really wanted to prove ourselves and show that we were capable of much more than anybody ever expected from us,” Aloisio says. “It was a real risk to do what we did because it was so different from any other hip-hop dance that anybody was doing. In the song, it talks a lot about doing what you need to do, coming back better than ever, and not letting other people knock you down and tell you can’t do something. That was the story that we were trying to convey in the dance, and I think the judges really read that.”

The Jasper Dancers went into the final round of the National Dance Alliance Collegiate Championship in Division I Hip-hop as the team to beat. On the famed Bandshell in Daytona Beach, Florida, they went big and proved to the judges, their fellow competitors and the crowd that they are a team to be reckoned with.

The Jaspers beat out 12 other teams, including Weber State University, a school with a population of 26,000 students that has won back-to-back national dance championships.

Marquette remembers as they started announcing the various teams in ascending order and hoping that she didn’t hear the word “Manhattan” in that stressful stretch to naming the champions.

“It honestly felt unreal, like an out-of-body experience, or a dream that was actually happening,” Marquette says. “I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t cry — it was pure adrenaline. I remember when they were getting ready to call second, standing on the side of that stage, squeezing my hands together, looking down, just repeating over and over in my head ‘please don’t say Manhattan, please don’t say Manhattan.’ When they didn’t say our name, it was a feeling of utter disbelief. I can’t believe we just accomplished that.”

It was an indescribably surreal moment for the dancers, as well.

“It was unreal,” Aloisio exclaims. “It was like nothing I could ever explain. I’ve never had an experience like that in my life. I can still remember the feeling now of what it felt like. I can remember what I was looking at, where I was on the stage, and I just felt like all of the hard work that we put in the whole season and how much work I’ve put in since my freshman year, it was all worth it.”

“I think we were all just in shock,” Sedraya Fletcher ’20 describes, in disbelief. “It was like, ‘Are you sure? You want us to have this big trophy?’”

“It was something that was never expected,” adds Taylor Malangone ’20, also a captain. “We were all just shocked. I’m getting chills thinking about it. I never thought in my time here that we would’ve gotten that far.”

“I think it was just such a sense of shock,” Imogene Donovan ’22 says. “I had faith in us as a team, but we’re such a small team and compared to these big schools that have all these resources and funding, it just seemed out of reach to win. It’s almost indescribable, the happiness, the joy, all the tears, the sweat and the hard work put into something and then getting recognized for that hard work and showing everybody that we are a force to be reckoned with. It just was so amazing.”

“I still think about it every day and kind of go like, ‘Wait, that happened?’” Dreher recalls. “It wasn’t a dream.”

For the first time, the Jasper Dancers also competed in the jazz category at the national championship this past April and placed 17th out of 23 teams. With every new experience comes some tribulations, and they aren’t dismayed.

“We just wanted to dance the best we could regardless of what that meant to the judges,” Marquette explains. “I think there were a lot of nerves and technical bobbles that held us back from finals.

But having that year under our belt, the team feels more confident in executing the dance and placing higher than they did last year.”

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W H AT I T TA K E S TO B E T H E B E S T While the Jasper Dancers are considered a club, a part of the Spirit Squad that includes the Cheerleaders and Pep Band, their devotion and commitment aren’t any less than any other student-athlete.

They train vigorously, work out regularly and compete nationally.

During the fall semester, they practice three times a week, but those practices amp up to five or six days a week during the spring semester when they are gearing up for the NDA Championship. And the fact that their practices start at 9 p.m. on weekdays and at 9 a.m. on Sundays gives a whole new meaning to the word motivation.

“We train, we work out, we do things that a normal team would do, which a lot of people don’t realize,” Malangone says. “We’re still exercising, we’re running, doing pushups, doing sit-ups, going to the gym. We’re practicing early mornings on the weekends. We have 10hour practices occasionally, which some sports teams don’t even do at all.”

On Mondays, they focus on ballet and jazz techniques, and on Wednesdays, they focus on hip-hop and hip-hop tricks. Sundays are for choreography. They also have workouts twice a week, where they focus on dance-related exercises, such as jumps, turns and tricks.

On top of that, the dancers are expected to build up their stamina on their own time, and Marquette conducts regular fitness assessments to make sure they are improving. Hip-hop, especially, requires serious stamina, so it’s important to maintain it throughout the year with cardiovascular activities like running.

“When we’re in nationals season and even prior to, my coach is working on our stamina,” Fletcher explains. “With most sports, you’re exerting energy in loads. You exert energy and you rest, you exert and you rest. But with dance, it’s like a minute and a half of just giving it your all, and you can’t let it decline at any point because that’s when you get points taken off.”

The dancers learn about six or seven routines during basketball season for timeouts and halftime, which are typically 45 seconds to a minute long and vary from jazz and hip-hop to pom styles. But there are also more than 10 sideline routines, which they perform alongside the Pep Band. For every song that the Pep Band plays, the Jasper Dancers have a choreographed routine — they aren’t just winging it courtside.

They prepare throughout the fall semester for basketball season, and by Manhattan Madness, which is during the last week of October, they have all of these routines down pat. That’s when they start preparing their choreography for nationals.

They compete in hip-hop and jazz. Marquette choreographs the jazz routine and works with a friend of hers (and fellow dancer) to create the hip-hop routine. If memorizing about 20 routines sounds demanding, just wait until the preparations for nationals begin.

“Those routines are no longer than two minutes, and they are a lot more difficult,” Marquette explains. “Our basketball dances are more for fun, just to get the crowd excited, but the nationals routines are on another level. They’re judged on difficulty, on skills and uniformity, so overall, there are a lot more components to the nationals routines than the basketball routines.”

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The intensity changes, and all-day practices aren’t unheard of when nationals are only weeks away.

“In the spring, practices get a lot more rigorous just to make sure that we’re on our game,” Aloisio says. “Practices are not only more frequent, but they are longer. It’s very physically demanding. Our bodies are really tired and sore, but it’s so worth it in the end.”

With so many hours devoted to their choreography and conditioning, the Jasper Dancers are constantly asked why they practice so much.

Marquette is used to it and explains: “We have one chance when we’re at nationals. You have two minutes to do your routine perfectly, and that is it. That’s all you have. You don’t have a second chance. There are no timeouts. So it takes time to build up the perfection that is needed for those two minutes.”

“It’s a year’s worth of practice for two, 2-minute dances. So, four minutes total of your life,” Dreher emphasizes. “And if you’re lucky, you get to do it again. If you’re lucky, if you can make it to finals, you do it one more time, and then you again only have two minutes to prove yourself there.”

In between practices, workouts, games and their academic studies, the dancers also find time to participate in community events, such as the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk and the Tunnel to Towers race, as well as to join various Student Engagement activities and the Manhattan contingent in the Veterans Day parade. Last year, they even held their first youth clinic for ages 6-13 and had more than 60 kids get involved.

Taylor Malangone ’20 (this page) and Sedraya Fletcher ’20 (opposite page) bring their all to each practice, whether they are learning a new routine or working on one they already know.

“... We’re running, doing pushups, doing sit-ups, going to the gym. We’re practicing early mornings on the weekends. We have 10-hour practices ...”

Taylor Malangone ’20

MAKING THE TEAM Tryouts for the dance team happen during Manhattan’s orientation in June. The majority of the students trying out come from local dance studios, and some have even competed with their studios, but what they all have in common is they want to continue dancing while in college.

“I’ve been dancing since I was 3 years old, so it wasn’t something I was ready to give up yet,” says Malangone, who considered it a plus that she also would get to compete.

Dreher, who has also danced since she was 3 years old, wasn’t planning on continuing it in college. She was actually deciding between joining the Players or the dance team, and of course, tryouts and auditions were the same day.

“The first day of dance tryouts was the day before the Players audition, so I figured ‘I’m going to go to the first day of tryouts, see how it goes and take it from there,’” Dreher says. “I absolutely loved it the first day. I tried out, made it, and the rest is history. I’ve been super involved with it ever since.”

For Donovan, who was on her high school’s dance squad, being able to join a dance team was a crucial requirement in choosing a college.

“I danced all my life. It was always just something I did, and I did it competitively,” she says. “There was no question that I was going to continue dancing in college. When I was looking at schools, it was a determining factor.”

She researched the Jasper Dancers, watched videos of their performances, and was impressed by what she saw, which helped to

clinch Donovan’s decision to attend Manhattan College.

Fletcher, who has been a competitive dancer since she was 12, with a few breaks here and there, heard about the dance team during orientation and though not quite prepared with the appropriate gear, she tried out anyway. She didn’t make the team, but after her experience at tryouts, Fletcher was determined to become a Jasper Dancer.

“Over the summer, I would be in the gym, I’d go back to my studio, work on stretching, work on my turns and everything,” she says. “And then I tried out again fall semester, and I made it.”

It’s a competitive team — they compete at nationals after all — and tryouts reflect this.

“They get judged on their performance, how well they pick up the choreography, how well they execute it,” says Marquette, who was also a member of her college’s dance team. “It’s required to really dance with a huge stage presence — you’re performing in front of hundreds of people at games, thousands of people at competitions, so you need to be able to perform. Are you dancing with confidence, and are you dancing with strength behind your movements? I look for that.”

After graduating from SUNY Brockport with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts in performance and choreography, Marquette spent four years as a member of the Gotham City Cheerleaders, the unofficial cheerleaders for the New York Giants, as well auditioning and even appearing as a dancer on a TV show in India.

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(Top) When the second-place team was announced, and it wasn’t Manhattan College, the dancers, who were anxiously waiting on stage for the results, were filled with a mix of emotions. Screaming, smiling, crying, jumping, dropping, it was a dreamlike moment for them — one they still describe as unreal. (Bottom) Megan Dreher ’20 reaches high for a kick. The dancers are required to attend workout sessions just for kicks, jumps and tricks, on top of their regular practices.

“We all can come together and have such different backgrounds, all different majors, all different interests, but dance is the one thing that brings us together.”

Taylor Aloisio ’20

IT’S STILL A SISTERHOOD But with all the emphases on technique, strength and practice, Marquette still hones in on the familial bonds of the team. During tryouts, Marquette asks each student why they want to be a Jasper Dancer on their application.

She says the top three responses are: “I’ve danced my entire life, and I don’t want to stop in college;” “I want to compete on the collegiate level;” and “I want a family coming into college. I want a group of girls that I know that I can count on and have the same interests and passions as I do.”

This family aspect is something that is palpable right away when meeting the dancers and seeing them perform together. Marquette notes that the process usually happens fairly quickly.

“They put in the effort inside and outside of practice to make sure

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that everyone is feeling comfortable and welcome and a part of the unit,” she says. “We do bonding exercises at practices, too, to get to know one another but also to trust one another.”

Aloisio points to the strong camaraderie — despite their differences — of the team, which helped in her transition to college life and to which many of her teammates also can attest.

“We all can come together and have such different backgrounds, all different majors, all different interests, but dance is the one thing that brings us together,” she says. “And we’re all there for each other, we support each other. It made my transition coming to college a lot easier having that support system.”

“Coming in my first year of college, I wanted somewhere where I could feel comfortable and make friends,” Fletcher says. “We are

Imogene Donovan ’22 and Madeline Donohue ’21 are excited to receive their national championship jackets and rings, which were distributed during a special recognition at Manhattan Madness.

so close, we’re basically family. I feel that they’ve literally made my college experience. I can’t give them enough praise. That’s definitely my top reason for being on the team and definitely wanting to come back — it’s the girls that I met.”

Donovan leaned on that support during her transition at Manhattan, which she found more difficult than she expected.

“I have a sense of family away from home,” Donovan notes. “I love dancing with them. I love competing. Coming in freshman year, I wasn’t expecting it to be such a hard transition, but it was difficult socially and adjusting to not being at home with my family. It was good that I had a solid group of girls that were always there for me, always making me feel comfortable.”

And it’s not just the teammates, themselves, contributing to that

family vibe — they also feel that way about their coach.

“I think the best part about the team is that it’s not just about the dancing, we’ve really tried to cultivate a very familial environment,” Dreher says. “And my coach, Kaitlyn, has done a tremendous job of contributing to that, and we just really are a group of girls that care so deeply for one another, not just while we’re dancing and while we’re at practice, but outside of it. These girls have become my best friends, and I know they’re lasting friendships. They’re just good people, and it’s an added bonus that we get to dance together five times a week.”

“Kaitlyn, our coach, is great,” Fletcher adds. “She’s been a big help to me, whether it’s with stuff going on in dance or in my personal life.

We call her our mom.”

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MORE THAN JUST ROUTINE SKILLS Although the dancers obviously have the opportunity to improve their techniques and learn new types of dance, they also have learned other valuable skills while on the dance team, such as time management and prioritization.

“I already had pretty good time management skills, but being on the team here is on another level,” says Aloisio, who is studying childhood and special education and student teaching at PS7 in Kingsbridge this fall. “I don’t think people really understand how much we do and the hours that we put in to be on the team. Five days a week, I’m in a classroom from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and then I have homework to do. I’m taking graduate classes at the same time, and I have practice. I learned a lot in my four years of how to manage my time correctly.”

“Especially being an engineering major,” notes Malangone, who is studying civil engineering and a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and Society of Women Engineers. “The time needed to balance schoolwork, studying and dance — it’s definitely difficult.

There are still things that I need to work on, but it has helped me so much. And also definitely determination, willpower, pushing myself more than I ever thought I could.”

These additionally acquired aptitudes are especially important to Donovan, a marketing and management major, who attributes a good deal of the skills she’s learned in her two years at the College to the dance team.

“I think that the team provides me with skills on how to communicate with other people,” she says. “I’ve learned a lot about being a leader for other people and about organization, prioritizing, not letting little things get to you and focusing on bigger, more

positive things. I’ve learned a lot about time management, which I think has helped me with school in general, and it’s provided me with a lot of structure, for which I’m very grateful. But I think that just being on a team provides you with those life skills that you’ll carry on.”

Dreher, a double major in philosophy and communication, who is also editor-in-chief of The Quadrangle, co-director of the Center for Ethics, and vice president for communication for Student Government, echoes those more personal skills.

“I’ve learned to not take things personally,” she says. “When you’re dancing, you’re going to get feedback. So why take it personally? And I think dance, as we say all the time, is a very emotional thing, and people take it too personally. So I’ve learned to kind of remove that aspect of it to just realize that any feedback I’m getting is only going to make me a better dancer.”

Fletcher, a communication major who is a member of the Public Relations Student Society of America and the Black Student Union, credits her coach with teaching her important skills during her four years as a dancer.

“I’ve learned so much from Kaitlyn — Kaitlyn is just amazing,” Fletcher says. “From her, I’ve learned what it means to commit to something, and that’s anything in life. If you want to do something, you have to commit mind, body and soul to it. No one in life is going to hand you anything. And if you want something, you have to go for it wholeheartedly, put your all into it. That’s definitely the biggest thing I’ve learned as a Jasper Dancer.”

“... I’ve learned what it means to commit to something ... And if you want something, you have to go for it wholeheartedly, put your all into it.”

Sedraya Fletcher ’20

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CHASING ANOTHER CHAMPIONSHIP At this year’s Manhattan Madness, the Jasper Dancers were recognized with their championship jackets and rings. They got to take the stage and be celebrated by the College community for not only their victory but also for the athletes that they are.

Marquette, who noted that this was a “win for all the underdogs out there,” emphatically announced: “We will fight and bring you back another national championship!”

As they look forward to the spring semester and preparing for that championship, the Jasper Dancers know what they need to do, and what’s expected of them. They won’t rest on their laurels or let themselves think for one minute that as returning champions, they’ll have it easy.

“There’s definitely a target on our back this year, for sure,” Donovan says. “We even felt it at finals last year. People are hungry for a win, and that just pushes me more to prove that we’re here to stay. We can’t get comfortable where we are. We have to continue to be hungry for another win. Because nothing’s guaranteed. And we’ve got to work the same amount that we did last year, this year, so that we can win again.”

While the team is nervous about competing at nationals in April 2020, they are excited to prove they have staying power.

“I’m definitely nervous because anything could happen,” Malangone says. “We could go from being first to last. But I’m also excited because we have such a different team this year with eight new members. Having all these new people, and they’re all so talented in different ways, I’m really excited for what we’re going to look like as a group and bring to the stage.”

“Because of how well we did last year, we know that a lot of teams are coming for blood,” Fletcher says. “We have to show that it wasn’t just luck — that this little team from Bronx, New York, didn’t just happen to place first. Now we have something to prove — that we can get there, and we can stay there, too. We are a force to be reckoned with.”

Marquette hints that they are planning something different for nationals and striving yet again for a performance that is unique and memorable — a strategy that served them well this past April. But what will remain the same is the drive and effort that propelled them to the final round and ultimately the No. 1 spot.

“We are trying to stay one step ahead of the game; we have to stand out,” Marquette says. “We are approaching it as if we are in last place again — pushing every physical and mental boundary that we can, and never losing sight that a championship takes hard work. Nothing gets handed to you, and nothing is guaranteed.”

Like Eminem concludes in his song, and the Jaspers know from experience, “You can do anything you set your mind to.”

(Top) Taylor Aloisio ’20 gets the Sixth Borough student cheering section warmed up to welcome the men’s and women’s basketball teams at Manhattan Madness.

(Bottom) After winning first place at nationals, the championship team and their coach, Kaitlyn Marquette, ran down to the beach with their trophy and banner to continue celebrating with each other and to capture the amazing moment.

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A Win-Win Situation:

THROUGHOUT THE 2018-19 ACADEMIC YEAR, Arijit Ghosh ’20 (M.S.) made a weekly trek from Riverdale to Brooklyn’s Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, the largest water resource recovery facility operated by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). There, he collected samples of food waste both prior to and after being treated by one of the facility’s massive anaerobic digesters.

For Ghosh, those trips and the subsequent laboratory analysis he conducted spurred a previously untapped interest in the field of wastewater treatment — and the ways it can benefit the planet.

“I was lucky to get my hands on that project,” Ghosh recalls. “It opened my eyes.”

Ghosh’s work, and that of several other students and faculty in Manhattan’s environmental engineering program, was part of a large-scale study in which 48 N winter 2020

the College partnered with the DEP and sanitation firm Waste Management to help the city ramp up its capacity to sustainably process food waste. Currently, approximately 40% of such waste ends up in landfills.

Lasting more than three years and funded by a $197,000 grant by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the project’s goal was to determine the efficiency and impacts of codigestion on Newtown Creek’s eight massive egg-shaped anaerobic sludge digesters. Codigestion is a process that adds energy-rich organic waste materials such as food scraps to wastewater digesters. The “digester eggs,” as they’re called, are 140-feet tall and can each hold three million gallons of sludge.

Robert Sharp, professor of civil and environmental engineering and the Donald J. O’Connor Endowed Faculty Fellow of Environmental Engineering, explains that co-

digestion not only diverts food waste from landfills but it also produces and captures much greater quantities of methane — the natural gas that can then be used to heat businesses and homes, as well as to power the plant itself. Another byproduct is a biosolid slurry that can be dewatered and used as a fertilizer.

“Everything that leaves the plant should have a beneficial re-use,” he says. “The city wants these plants to become as green and energy-neutral as possible.”

The project’s origins can be traced to 2015, when the New York City mayor’s office announced OneNYC, an ambitious plan to achieve carbon neutrality and drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Included in the plan is an initiative called Zero Waste, which aims to eliminate all waste sent to landfills by 2030. Manhattan College, with its reputation for excellence

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Jaspers Are Helping NYC Reduce Food Waste

Waste comprises an important part of the City’s GHG [greenhouse gas] emission profile. When our organic trash goes to landfill, it decomposes and generates methane, a greenhouse gas roughly 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide ... our carbon footprint will shrink if we reduce the amount of waste generated by New Yorkers, and encourage sustainable products that - ONENYC 2050: A LIVABLE CLIMATE can be more easily recycled at their end of life. in environmental engineering (“We have a big footprint for a small group,” Sharp acknowledges) was soon brought on board to conduct testing and monitoring of the co-digestion effort. Of the NYSERDA grant, Manhattan received $150,000.

To prepare for such a sizeable undertaking, an initial bench-scale (smallscale) study was conducted before the project commenced. Under the supervision of Sharp and Jeanette Brown, research assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, graduate assistant Allen Fok ’13, ’15 (M.S.) helped build three small-scale digesters, then ran tests that mixed various ratios of sludge from the Newtown Creek facility with food waste processed by Waste Management.

Now a project engineer for the environmental consulting and management firm Roux, Fok says the experience prepared him for the realities of his field.

“I had to go to the plant and interface with operators, vendors and clients,” he says. “My professors groomed me to be not just a good student, but a good project manager as well.”

Once the project began in earnest in 2016, students retrieved food waste samples from Newtown Creek and Waste Management sites at least once a week and brought them back to campus for testing. Conducted yearround, the study required a big commitment on the part of all involved. Once a week, Manhattan’s research team held a conference call with the DEP and Waste Management to review the data and make recommendations.

They noted that a digester, which works like a biochemical stomach, can behave in ways similar to a human stomach.

“There were some weeks where the digesters were burping and foaming,” says Eduardo Torres ’18. “We had to sit down

and look at the data and see what’s causing the problems in order to get back on track.”

He notes that his participation in the codigestion study was “a great talking point in job interviews.” He’s now employed at Carollo Engineering, a firm that specializes in the planning and construction of water and wastewater facilities.

Jeff Liebowitz ’18 (M.S.) also notes that the research experience helped him to obtain work in the water and wastewater engineering sector. Now an assistant project engineer at The Chazen Companies, he notes, “Professionally, it helped because I gained a year toward my professional engineering license, which is one of my goals.”

The multiyear endeavor wrapped up this spring, and Sharp just completed the project report, which he calls “a complete success.”

“We’re understanding how resilient those specific eggs are,” Sharp says. “The facility is able to handle and produce more gas, and to handle food waste addition to the levels the city wants. The results helped convince [the city] that they can keep building the program … It’s been a great experience for the students, and I think the DEP is happy.”

“The study proved that waste products are no longer ‘waste,’ but a resource,” Brown explains.

The students and alumni who worked on the project throughout the years are unanimously pleased at having played a role in an endeavor with such beneficial outcomes.

“Seeing how much waste is produced in New York and working on a project where you can help reduce the amount that goes into landfills and increase natural gas is a pretty good sensation,” Torres says. “It’s nice to work on a project that can be really helpful for the whole country … it’s a win-win.”

During the three-year study, Manhattan’s environmental engineers made frequent trips to the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Here’s some intel they picked up:  Constructed in 1967, the plant added the digester eggs in 2010. Covering 54 acres, the facility serves more than a million New Yorkers. Its public amenities include a visitors’ center with a manmade waterfall and a nature walk along the Newtown Creek.  The digester eggs handle 1.4 million gallons of sludge and food waste daily from Brooklyn and much of Manhattan.  At night, the facility is illuminated with dramatic blue lights that can be seen from miles away. New York-based lighting design firm L’Observatoire International, which created the lighting scheme, received a Commendable Achievement distinction in the exterior lighting category in the 2009 Architectural Lighting Design Awards.  Free tours of the digester eggs are offered three times a year, including a popular Valentine’s Day tour. Visitors can view the city skyline from a glass walkway atop the eggs. Interested? Sign up at the Open House New York website.  The biggest difference between the process that occurs in the gigantic digester eggs at Newtown Creek and the breakdown of organic matter in your backyard composter is — you guessed it — oxygen. Composters use it; anaerobic digesters don’t!

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COMMENCEMENT

T

he Manhattan College community celebrated the undergraduate and spring Commencement exercises, as well as Spring Honors, this past May with more than 1,000 students who received their degrees in joy-filled and inspiring ceremonies. With shining faces and wide smiles, members of the class of 2019 donned caps and gowns and processed into Draddy Gymnasium to the strains of Pomp and Circumstance. Looking on with pride were the faculty, friends and loved ones who played such important roles in

the graduates’ educational journeys. The valedictorians shared insights gleaned from their experiences in college and beyond, and the Commencement speakers imparted wise observations from lives of achievement and service. The occasion encompassed several distinctive elements: time-honored tradition, the deep gratification of a goal reached, and the excitement and anticipation of all that lies ahead. As the newly minted graduates accepted their diplomas, they also gained indelible memories of unique milestones in their lives.

A Portrait of Commencement 50 N winter 2020

UNDERGRADUATE COMMENCEMENT Sonia Sotomayor, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. Emphasizing the importance of education in exposing young people to what the world has to offer, she said, “You have to learn how to dream big.” In her valedictory address, Donya Quhshi ’19, who immigrated to America from Yemen at the age of 9 and majored in marketing, paid tribute to the sacrifices her mother made for her children’s education. Anyone seeking knowledge would have God by their side, Quhshi recalled her mother saying. In recognition of her many contributions to Manhattan, the Joseph J. Gunn ’30 Alumni Medal was presented to Emma Kaishian ’19.

Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, honorary degree recipient

Donya Quhshi ’19, valedictorian

Emma Kaishian ’19, Gunn Medal winner

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COMMENCEMENT SPRING (GRADUATE) COMMENCEMENT Honorary degree recipient Robert Pulver ’69, former CEO and president of All-State Industries, discussed the habits of thinking that lead to success, including problem-solving and the flexibility to apply one’s skills in new directions. Valedictorian Raymond Maresca ’18, ’19 (M.S.), who studied applied mathematics/data analytics, reflected on the privileges bestowed by a graduate degree. “We must lead by putting ourselves in uncomfortable situations, not only to induce personal growth but to set examples for others,” he said.

Raymond Maresca ’18 ’19 (M.S.), valedictorian

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Robert Pulver ’69, honorary degree recipient

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DEVELOPMENT

James Patterson ’69 Supports the Newest Class of Scholars

T

wenty Manhattan College students will receive a James Patterson ’69 scholarship for the 2019-20 academic year. It is the eighth consecutive year that Patterson, the best-selling author and philanthropist, has supported the program, which awards scholarships to 10 juniors and 10 seniors from the Schools of Liberal Arts, Education and Health, Engineering, Science and the O’Malley School of Business.

All 20 students received the scholarships based on merit, need and involvement in activities that are tied to the College’s Lasallian mission.

“I’m delighted to recognize and reward these Manhattan College students who not only excel academically but are incredibly active on campus,” Patterson says. “These students are our future leaders and educators. I’m proud to continue to support them during their time as Jaspers.”

THE SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS INCLUDE: Juniors Albiona Brahimaj, mathematics (Bronx, N.Y.) Nadia Itani, civil engineering (Emerson, N.J.) Mary Kret, exercise science (Tuckahoe, N.Y.) Bryan McKeon, civil engineering (Staten Island, N.Y.) Nesibe Memedovski, allied health (Bronx, N.Y.) Ricardo Mendez, accounting (Pearl River, N.Y.) Angely Morillo, finance (Bronx, N.Y.) Ahmed Murshed, civil engineering (Yonkers, N.Y.) Margaret Osorio, English/art history (Bronx, N.Y.) Edelysa Perez, sociology/psychology (Bronx, N.Y.) Seniors Taylor Aloisio, childhood education (East Rockaway, N.Y.) Shannon Colford, Spanish/communication (Epping, N.H.) Miguel Diaz, mechanical engineering (Bronx, N.Y.) Patricia Egan, philosophy/psychology (Shrewsbury, Mass.)

Sonia Ethakkan, chemical engineering (Lewisville, Texas) Hasan Hamid, mechanical engineering (Astoria, N.Y.) Kelly Kret, mechanical engineering (Tuckahoe, N.Y.) Amanda Lazkani, chemical engineering (Staten Island, N.Y.) Kyle Plitnick, Spanish (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) Melissa Samanoglu, psychology (Ramsey, N.J.)

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The scholarship program awards $5,000 to each of the 20 recipients.

All seniors are eligible to apply to receive one of four additional $2,500 awards based on essay submissions that outline their aspirations after graduation.

“We’re deeply grateful for James Patterson’s continuing generosity and support of the mission of his alma mater,” says Brennan O’Donnell, president of Manhattan College. “Such support is a major driver of the College’s recent designation by Money as the ‘most transformative’ college in the country. This year’s Patterson scholars are some of our brightest stars, students who are making a difference on campus and who we are confident will do great things after graduation.”

Patterson has created many enduring fictional characters and series, including Alex Cross, the Women’s Murder Club, Michael Bennett, Maximum Ride, Middle School, and I Funny. Among his notable literary collaborations are The President Is Missing with former President Bill Clinton, and the Max Einstein series, produced in partnership with the Albert Einstein Estate. The National Book Foundation recently presented Patterson with the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community. He is also the recipient of an Edgar Award and six Emmy Awards.

With the Help of a Burde Scholarship, Chen Constructs a Bright Future

C

ivil engineering major Clio Chen ’21 laughs now when she remembers struggling with the physics concepts in her sophomore year Statics course. Feeling out of her depth, she’d inform Medhi Omidvar, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, “I’m probably not going to pass this class.”

Those fears didn’t last long. Her hardworking fellow students and Omidvar soon boosted her confidence — and her determination to succeed.

“Dr. Omidvar had high expectations for me,” she recalls. “When I expressed doubts, he’d just say, ‘You’re going to get an A.’” And, of course, she did.

Chen’s dedication and work ethic has been on full display during her time at Manhattan. A resident of Brooklyn, she makes a daily two-hour, two-subway journey to reach the Riverdale campus.

“You don’t know the struggle until you’re commuting for finals week,” she jokes. “Sometimes I don’t know whether I should use the time to sleep or to study!”

The commute is one she’s happy to undertake in pursuit of her goal of a career in construction, which she’s had in her sights since she was a student at Stuyvesant High School. There, she participated in the ACE (architecture, construction and engineering) Mentor Program of America and the New York City School Construction Authority’s (SCA) summer internship program.

Through the SCA, Chen interned at Turner Construction, where she was impressed by several Turner employees who also are proud Jaspers, including Brian Lowery ’65.

“He was such a motivational factor for me,” she says. The ACE mentor program also put her in contact with alumni who work at the construction company Skanska. She notes, “Their experience made me see Manhattan as a possibility.”

Inspired, she applied to the College, and upon admission, was awarded the Francis R. Burde ’49 Scholarship. It made a difference for the first-generation college student and her family.

“I was really happy about the scholarship,” she says. “I thought it was only for one year, so it was a nice surprise when it appeared on my financial aid letter the following year.”

At Manhattan, Chen stays involved in the College community by reporting for the Commuter Chronicle and as a member of several student chapters of engineering organizations, including the American Society of Civil Engineers. She was recently nominated for membership

in Chi Epsilon, the civil engineering honor society. This fall, she attended WE19, a conference and career fair hosted by the Society of Women Engineers in Anaheim, California.

Now, having an impact in her field while staying true to herself is one of her career goals. “I want to be professional, but also personal, because that’s just me,” she says.

One of Chen’s chief areas of interest in construction is sustainable project engineering. “Sustainability will prove to be more cost-effective in the long run,” she comments. “Climate change will hit the construction industry hard, so we have to consider environmental factors.”

She also wants to connect research innovation to real-world applications, noting: “I aspire to work on projects that integrate design engineering and construction management while contributing to infrastructure and the built environment.”

Chen continues to gain hands-on experience in the field. She interned at Turner Construction through its YouthForce 2020 internship/scholarship program in 2018 and plans to return in the summer of 2020. Last summer, she held a research fellowship at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where she studied the effects of non-Newtonian fluids (fluids that don’t follow Newton’s law of viscosity) on the structural performance of concrete specimens.

“I didn’t know anything about the topic at first,” she says. “It was intimidating but really fun.”

Chen’s time at Manhattan has presented a wealth of possibilities, including the goal of earning a master’s degree in civil engineering — an option she didn’t consider when she began college. Citing the support and advice of Anirban De, professor of civil and environmental engineering, she says Manhattan’s faculty have fostered her expanded ambitions. Moujalli Hourani, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, has also been influential.

“When you have professors like [Hourani] around you, it’s not only intense in terms of coursework, but also it brings out your fascination,” she says. “You remember each moment.”

Again, Chen notes the importance of the Burde Scholarship in making her Manhattan education possible.

“I totally appreciate the donors because if not for them, I wouldn’t be here,” she says.

As for that two-hour commute? It’s a safe bet that, during finals week or otherwise, Chen is not asleep.

MANHATTAN.EDU N 55

DEVELOPMENT

Construction has been underway on the new Patricia and Cornelius Higgins ’62 Engineering and Science Center (viewed from Tibbett Avenue and 238th Street), as well as Leo Hall and the RLC.

Setting Sights Higher: Manhattan Launches Capital Campaign

M

anhattan College has launched the public phase of the largest capital campaign in its long history — a $165 million fundraising effort to secure the transformative power of its Lasallian Catholic mission at a time of dramatic change in American higher education.

The goal of Invest in the Vision: The Campaign for Manhattan is to ensure the College’s continuing success at preparing students for ethical leadership in their communities and careers. The effort aims to generate the vital resources that Manhattan needs to keep current with evolving academic technologies, provide the up-to-date facilities Jaspers deserve, and assist the growing number of talented students who lack the financial means to complete their degrees.

President Brennan O’Donnell announced the launch at the annual President’s Dinner at the Mandarin Oriental New York on Sept. 19.

“Our vision,” O’Donnell told the more than 300 guests, “is to make Manhattan ever stronger in its ability to be what it has been for more than 165 years — a beacon of hope and a ladder of opportunity for those who are going to build the future of our city, our country and our world.”

By the time of the dinner, the campaign already counted 23 gifts of $1 million or more that were made during its “silent phase.” With an additional 163 gifts of at least $100,000, the effort had raised $120 million toward its $165 million goal.

“We stand before you tonight to say ‘thank you,’” said Thomas Mauriello, vice president for advancement and the evening’s master of ceremonies. “You directly impact our students by helping us to fulfill our mission.”

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Invest in the Vision has identified three main priorities the College must address to serve the educational needs of new generations of students.

ENHANCED FACILITIES ($80 MILLION): Success in today’s technology-driven world demands new and refurbished classrooms, laboratories and other academic spaces. On the north campus, century-old buildings require refurbishment. At the new south campus, construction proceeds on the 30,000-square-foot Patricia G. and Cornelius J. Higgins ’62 Engineering and Science Center, along with critical renovations in Leo Hall and the Research and Learning Center. Student residences need upgrades, while new art studios and performance spaces will provide a home for the arts at Manhattan.

ENDOWMENT — SCHOLARSHIPS AND FACULTY DEVELOPMENT ($50 MILLION): As a Lasallian Catholic college, Manhattan serves all students regardless of means. To sustain this mission, the College must strengthen its ability to offer endowed scholarships — permanent funds that supply annual assistance for worthy Jaspers. A quality education also depends upon retaining and attracting outstanding professors. Endowed faculty chairs, research support and other expanded services will help Manhattan to compete with betterendowed institutions.

UNRESTRICTED SUPPORT ($35 MILLION): Unrestricted funds provide the strategic flexibility the College needs to address constantly arising challenges and opportunities — all for the benefit of students. Gifts help to enhance teaching and learning resources, student activities, scholarships and financial aid, athletics and campus facilities.

As of late September, the atrium of the new Engineering and Science Center began to look more like the finished space, as shown in the rendering below.

The campaign builds upon a decade of growth for the College. Ten years ago, Manhattan’s incoming class comprised 693 full-time freshmen from a pool of about 5,000 applications. The fall 2019 incoming class totaled 856 freshmen selected from more than 8,700 applicants. Total undergraduate enrollment increased by more than 10% during the same period.

Support for the College also has climbed. In 2009, alumni and friends contributed just under $9 million in annual giving. Gifts to Manhattan increased with the construction of the Raymond W. Kelly ’63 Student Commons. When the commons opened in 2014, annual giving had reached $15 million. This past year, the number reached an all-time high of $16.5 million. In addition, the College’s endowment has grown to $102 million during the past decade — an increase of 137%.

Buoyed by the news, guests at this year’s President’s Dinner expressed support for Invest in the Vision.

“It definitely is gratifying to hear about all the progress on the south campus and to know that the capital campaign is off to a strong start itself,” said Thomas Meloro ’86, a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and a Manhattan College trustee.

According to Robert S. Lowenwirth ’80, a senior vice president at Citibank: “The news about the campaign was a surprise, but it was a good surprise. I’m glad the College understands the need to grow while sustaining its vision.”

President Brennan O’Donnell announces the launch of the College’s new capital campaign, Invest in the Vision: The Campaign for Manhattan, at the President’s Dinner in September, along with the money already raised toward its $165 million goal.

MANHATTAN.EDU N 57

ALUMNI

Reunion Weekend 2019 NEARLY 500 JASPERS returned to Riverdale for Reunion Weekend this past June. Young alums reconnected at their spring kickoff while others joined the Golden Jaspers cruise around New York Harbor. The classes of 1969 and 1994 celebrated their golden and silver anniversaries and received medals from President Brennan O’Donnell to mark the occasion. James Patterson ’69 even hosted a Saturday morning book signing. Some future Jaspers were also spotted at the BBQ on the Quad.

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FROM THE COLLEGE’S ARCHIVES

What Ever Happened to ... the Original Quadrangle Trees?

T

HE STONE STEPS LEADING UP through the graceful archways of Manhattan College open upon the iconic Quadrangle — the true heart of the campus. Students enjoy countless hours playing ball, socializing, sunning or studying on the lush expanse beneath the colorful zelkova trees. But the dense, rounded canopies that provide shade and color to the Quadrangle are not original to the campus. What ever happened to the trees planted 95 years ago?

In the spring of 1924, soon after the main buildings of the “new” Manhattan College campus in the Bronx were completed, 12 Norway maple saplings were planted on the freshly seeded Quadrangle. The maples outlined the proportional rectangular shape of the space and achieved their effect of symmetrical beauty and sylvan splendor.

The trees, flush with dark-green leaves and pale-yellow blossoms, provided the backdrop to many historic moments.

Their sprouting canopies offered shade to spectators witnessing the annual springtime Commencements that were originally held outside on the Quadrangle, from the 1920s until the 1960s, before the graduating classes grew too large. The vibrant trees skirting senior walk beheld the numerous tapping ceremonies by Pen and Sword, the honor society that maintains one of the leading traditions on campus. Throughout the decades of the 20th century, under the watchful eye of the spreading maples, students bowed their heads in hushed prayers or beanie-clad freshmen sang, danced and entertained during the initiation hazing ritual conducted by sophomores. The stark gray trunks also provided the scaffolding for tents and huts that were erected on the Quadrangle during a tuition protest in March 1970. Demonstrating students kept a round-the-clock vigil, transforming the Quad into “liberation square” or “tent city” bolstered by the groaning branches.

In the 1990s, after nearly 70 years, the grand maples succumbed to an incurable

and destructive soil-borne disease. While the deadly fungus had been evident for several years and dead limbs had been discreetly pruned away, in the fall of 1996, a decision was made by the board to systematically remove and replace all the Quadrangle trees. In early November 1996, a destructive storm contributed to the damage. And so, over the Thanksgiving holiday, the trees were felled. Some portions of the original trunks were made into Manhattan College monogrammed pens, while other samples were preserved by sentimental alumni.

Since the incurable verticillium wilt could not be eliminated from the soil, the replacement zelkova trees were chosen because they were specifically resistant to the fungus. The new trees were also desirably dense, symmetrical, upright, swift-growing and overall appropriate for the confined space. For nearly 25 years, the zelkova trees have proven majestic and beautiful, maintaining a cacophony of color and survivability — and contributing so much to the history and character of the Quadrangle.

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ALUMNI

ALUMNOTES 1961

Joseph Bolze has been up to a lot since his time at Manhattan College, including copyrighting information on lightning formation and celestial polarity. Bolze is also a registered member of the United States Masters Swimmers after achieving 80 top 10s in all strokes since 1982. In addition, he is celebrating his 50-year anniversary with his wife, Sandie. He has three great-grandchildren and recently got to watch his daughter marry General Mike Garrett of Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

quickly became an award-winning dynasty.

He was also honored for his work with children born with birth defects.

1967

Michael McGuirk is a physics lecturer at Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont, and has conducted research on electromagnetic waves and the interaction between light and matter. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics.

1968

Thomas O’Malley was recognized at Boston College’s 2019 Commencement exercises, for which he received an honorary Doctor of Business Administration.

Walter Olsewski was nominated for the Collegiate Scholastic Award by the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association. A former swim coach at Manhattan College, he was also a member of its swim team.

1966

1972

1963

John Roth was honored with a distinguished service award from the Manhattan College Kinesiology department for his work in establishing a gymnastics program in the Lakeland Central School District, which

Thomas Eastment has served as senior counsel at Baker Botts LLP since 2016 and previously served as a partner at the firm.

Gennaro Maffia received grants for his work on process intensification and sustainability

from the Department of Energy in 2016. He works as a professor in Manhattan’s department of chemical engineering, and served as interim department chair from 2014 to 2016.

1973

T.J. Elliott will be a speaker at Truth on Trial: A Public Relations Society of America New York Interactive Debate for Communicators.

Elliott is the knowledge broker at the Educational Testing Service.

Garrett Keenan retired from teaching at the New York City Department of Education in 2009 after 31 years. He continues to substitute teach in his free time.

1974

William Groneman III was honored with the Western Writers of America Branding Iron Award. He is also an Alamo Society Hall of Fame inductee.

Joseph Maguire was named the acting director of national intelligence by President Donald Trump on Aug. 8, 2019. Prior to this appointment, Maguire served as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center and

Jasper Wins Humanitarian Award for Physical Therapy Work and Legacy EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING, SPREADING THE CATHOLIC FAITH, and community outreach have been central tenets for Dennis O’Connell ’77 and his wife, Janelle, throughout their careers.

For the past 25 years, the couple has served as physical therapy professors at Hardin-Simmons University (HSU) in Texas.

Longtime members of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), they were honored with its Humanitarian Award this past June. The award has three main criteria: extraordinary humanitarian services and volunteerism, advancement of physical therapy, and establishment of a legacy.

O’Connell, a Yonkers, New York, native, began his physical therapy career when he graduated from Manhattan College with a B.S. in physical education.

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“Manhattan gave me a great experience, and the professors taught me what it meant to be professional,” he says.

O’Connell later received a Ph.D. in exercise physiology from the University of Toledo and a doctorate in physical therapy from HSU. He remembers being drawn to HSU’s focus on “an education enlightened by faith” — part of the Baptist university’s motto. This was the kind of community O’Connell had found so compelling at Manhattan and had sought in his professional life.

While teaching at HSU, the O’Connells founded the Physical Therapy Ministry program in 1999. Once per year, the program brings students and faculty to countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, Peru and Haiti to engage in community service, and

provides walkers, crutches and canes to those in need. O’Connell also shares the Gospel with the people they serve. He and Janelle will lead another group to Thailand next year.

Of the APTA award, O’Connell humbly remarks: “This is not about us, it’s about the students that have gone on these trips and experienced what our program is all about.

We act as the hands and feet of the Lord.”

1983

JASPER BOOKSHELF Robert Collins ’60 details how to create a strong and individualized business culture that will set readers apart from their competitors in his first book, Vision Powered Management: A Leadership Process for Shaping 21st Century Management (Outskirts Press, 2019). Collins writes about creating a modern business environment that’s capable of keeping up with the ever-changing nature of society. Now retired, Collins was the former vice president of GE and CEO of its factory automation business.

Albert Marra ’69 recently wrote Southampton Summers (New Dominion Press, 2019), which he co-created with 14 of his family members. The book focuses on the experiences of five generations of the Marra, Maffei and Saracino families at their beachfront homes. Marra was previously a senior contracts manager with the U.S. Public Health Service for 34 years. He is the recipient of various awards from the U.S. Surgeon General, and the U.S. Secretaries of Education and Health and Human Services. Southampton Summers is Marra’s first book.

Joseph Maresca ’73 published his 29th Kindle e-book, Homelessness: How We Can Do Better (Amazon Digital Publishing, 2018). The e-book discusses the growing homeless population and how we can help assimilate these individuals into society, mainly by making housing and stable jobs available. Maresca is an accomplished accountant and has graded thousands of CPA examinations, all while serving on the Publications Committee for The CPA Journal.

was president/CEO of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. Maguire officially became acting director on Aug. 15.

1976

Tim McManus has been appointed to Turner & Townsend’s Americas board of directors, where he will assist with North American growth priorities. He brings more than 40 years of professional services experience and is recognized as an expert on the development and delivery of global capital projects and programs.

1977

William Bryk was appointed to the Zoning Board of Adjustment by the board of selectmen in Antrim, New Hampshire. Bryk was a former editor for The Quadrangle and has published articles in online magazines such as The Daily Beast and Splice Today.

Kevin Krewell published an article in the EE Times focusing on the highlights of the 2019 Hot Chips Conference, a symposium on highperformance computer microchips.

1978

Elsie Rodriguez was honored as an Icon of the Hudson Valley at Museum Village’s 10th annual Fundraising Gala on Oct. 25 in Monroe, New York. Rodriguez is the superintendent of the Monroe-Woodbury School District in Orange County, New York.

1985

John Banks has been appointed to the board of directors of New York Cruise Lines Inc. He previously served as the chief of staff and deputy director of finance for the Council of the City of New York. He majored in government and economics at Manhattan.

1987

Jeanette Brown was named a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Brown is a research assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Manhattan College, and has previously received the Manhattan College Distinguished Career Award. She received her Master of Science at Manhattan in environmental engineering.

John Mirando has been named the acting city manager of the Long Beach City Council in Long Beach, New York. He previously was the city’s commissioner of public works.

Mirando received a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering.

1988

1979

John Dinelli has been named as site vice president at Entergy Nuclear’s Arkansas Nuclear One plant. He was promoted from his role as Waterford 3 site vice president.

Steven Leidenfrost recently joined Asta Funding Inc. after working in public accounting and management consulting for 25 years.

Prior to this position, he was an executive director at Morgan Stanley.

Tom Scarangello, CEO and chairman of Thornton Tomasetti, has been promoted to executive chairman. He holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in civil engineering from Manhattan.

Brendan Weiden, P.E., served on the NYC Cultural Development panel on Museum Design and Construction, hosted by the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties on Sept. 18. He is a partner at Jaros, Baum & Bolles.

1982

Donna McGrail recently became a mathematics teacher at Scarsdale High School in Scarsdale, New York. She received a chemical engineering degree from Manhattan College but went on to teach full time after discovering her true passion.

Len Caputo works as the director of asset information at the New York Power Authority and previously worked in its information technology and operations.

1991

1992

Vince Perfetti has been named chief transformation officer and senior vice president of technology at Nu Skin Enterprises in Provo, Utah.

Michael Squarzini, managing principal at Thornton Tomasetti, has been promoted to co-CEO. He holds a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from Manhattan.

MANHATTAN.EDU N 61

ALUMNI 1995

Patrick McGrath was honored with a distinguished service award from the Manhattan College Kinesiology department for his mentorship of children with severe behavioral and emotional problems.

For Alumna, Catholic Education Extends Beyond Manhattan

1997

Jaime Lyn Garber is a board-certified podiatric physician and surgeon at Alliance Foot & Ankle Care, which she founded in Monroe, New York. She graduated from Manhattan College with a B.S. in chemical engineering.

1998

Ron Gonzalez was the recipient of a distinguished service award from the Manhattan College Kinesiology department for his many accomplishments within the field of education. These include his work as founding principal at Leadership Institute High School, education administrator for New York City’s Department of Education, and principal at Mount Vernon High School.

1999

Marysol De La Cruz was honored with a distinguished service award from the Manhattan College Kinesiology department for her work with the UNICEF KidPower pilot program. She also was promoted to the New York City Department of Education’s Office of School Wellness Programs.

Michael Gentile was promoted to vice president of education sales and marketing at Penguin Random House, where he provides oversight for education sales across its children and adult divisions. He celebrated 18 years at the company this past May. Jennifer Tauber opened her own podiatry practice, New Canaan Podiatry, in Connecticut. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in biology.

2000

Tom Argiro and Kate Messenger Argiro ’02 welcomed a daughter, Annelise Jane, on May 17, 2019. Annelise is their fourth child. They also have two sons, Tommy and Jack, and one daughter, Lila Claire.

2001

Kevin Bisceglia was named an assistant professor of chemistry at Hofstra University.

He holds a B.S. and an M.E. in environmental engineering from Manhattan College.

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SUSAN NATALE ’96 IS A TRUE BELIEVER in the value of a Catholic education. Appointed as the first female principal at All Hallows High School in the Bronx in July 2019, Natale has been a Catholic school educator for 24 years.

After graduating from Manhattan with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, the Yonkers native went on to teach math for 10 years at The Ursuline School, a private all-girls Catholic middle and high school in New Rochelle, New York. She then served as assistant principal at Iona Preparatory School, a Catholic all-boys preparatory school in New Rochelle, for 13 years.

“To me, everything starts with education,” Natale says. “Being able to help students who thought they would never be able to grasp a concept, and seeing their eyes light up once they understand — education is really the basis for everything else.”

As principal of All Hallows, Natale is working to advance its STEM program by providing every student with a Chromebook and having all teachers complete Google Level 1 certification.

“We are working to become a STEM-certified school, and I’m currently establishing alumni connections for the ACE Mentor Program in STEM, Architecture and Engineering,” she says. “I am mainly focused on providing our students with opportunities that they wouldn’t have had otherwise.”

Natale credits Manhattan College for many of her professional achievements.

“I spent much of my time down in the math and engineering building at Manhattan,” she recalls. “The math department is wonderful, dynamic and full of energy. I loved math before I came to Manhattan, and I loved it even more after.”

Natale also emphasized her strong bond with Rosemary Farley, professor of mathematics, noting that the personal relationships with professors that Manhattan offers are incredibly beneficial.

“Dr. Farley, in particular, made such a large impact on me,” she says. “I remember conducting independent studies with her and presenting at Skidmore College. The fact that my professors showed me how much they cared about their students made me care so much about what I was doing.”

Reflecting on her successes, Natale concludes that her greatest accomplishment is evident in the achievements of her former students.

“My job as an educator is to help students become who they truly are and explore their talents openly,” she says. “When the students come back and tell me about everything they’ve achieved after graduation — that is certainly what I’m most proud of.”

2003

Arthur Alzamora Jr. has been honored with the Thomas C. Kavanaugh Service Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

He is currently the vice president and senior associate at Langan Engineering and Environmental Services.

2005

Melissa Payne was featured in an article on EdWeek.org regarding implicit biases in schools. She has been a New York City public school guidance counselor for 14 years.

2006

Chris Barsi currently teaches mathematics and physics at the Commonwealth School in Boston. He also serves as a mentor for student research projects and as the robotics team adviser.

Gerrit Stam has joined Forward Mortgage as a lending specialist.

2007

Lindsay Brown currently works as the managing editor of Eco-Chick.com and wrote an article reviewing Kendall and Kylie Jenner’s Topshop clothing line for FromTheGrapevine.com.

Elizabeth O’Connor published an article for TheHill.com on the issue of whether insurance companies are driving people away from becoming doctors. O’Connor currently works as a legislative fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

Brian Searls has been named as a partner at Chartwell Law’s Philadelphia office.

Jennie Wassmer was named the New York State Art Teacher of the Year for Region 7, which includes Orange, Rockland, Sullivan, Putnam, Ulster, Dutchess and Westchester counties. Wassmer was promoted in July to assistant principal of Albertus Magnus High School in Bardonia, New York. She has been teaching for more than 25 years.

2009

Carl Naumann became the AVP/security officer/assistant bank secrecy act officer at Ulster Savings Bank. Naumann will be working on updating and perfecting the security and fraud programs at the bank.

2011

2012

MARRIAGES

Thomas Decina was recently a groomsman at the wedding of Nicholas Gizzo and Erica Clauss on Sept. 21.

Decina and Gizzo both graduated with chemical engineering degrees.

Becca Falborn has been nominated for Forbes Magazine’s “30 Under 30” feature, which highlights young, standout leaders across a variety of different fields. Falborn is an executive producer at Sound Lounge and majored in communication.

1972

2013

Nicholas Gizzo and Erica Clauss, 9/21/19

Marcel Martino and Christa Orsino, 9/28/19

2006

Christine Crespo and Marc Ewen, 10/4/18

2010

Neal Siena and Kristen Braun, 10/5/19

2012

Kevin Laue recently spoke at Jasper High School in Jasper, Alabama, about his experiences as the first basketball player with a disability in the nation to receive a Division I scholarship. He discussed how he has cultivated his disability into a strength.

Laue is now working with Varsity Brands to promote its Believe in You campaign.

Jeanette Settembre has joined Fox Business News as a reporter and will cover lifestyle, food and business news.

2014

2014

2003

Christopher Fusco and Alyssa Maccarrone ’15 were married on June 22, 2019. They met while on the swim team at Manhattan College. Many Jasper alumni were in attendance at their wedding.

Fusco majored in chemical engineering and currently works for Exxon/Mobil.

Maccarrone majored in communication and works for Spark Foundry USA. Timothy Koch began a two-year term in the Peace Corps in June. He is stationed in Ethiopia and will be working as an education volunteer working on community-based development projects to improve the lives of Ethiopian citizens.

Christopher Fusco and Alyssa Maccarrone ’15, 6/22/19

BIRTHS

2000

Tom Argiro and Kate Messenger Argiro ’02, daughter, Annelise Jane, 5/17/19

Matthew Haddad and Jenna Haddad, daughter, Kayla Nichole, 5/15/19

2008

Thomas Salogub and Suzanne Tiffany-Salogub, daughter, Erin Tiffany, 6/3/19

2011

Timothy Tully and Teresa Tully, son, Thomas G., 4/9/19

2012

Geoffrey Hart and Christina (Gutenberger) Hart, daughter, Kayleigh, 5/27/19

2015

Tina Fickeria began working as a bioanalytical scientist with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in Tarrytown, New York, after receiving her master’s degree.

Christopher Melillo was awarded the Young Professional of the Year Award by the American Water Works Association.

He currently works as a water supply engineer at D&B Water Supply Division.

Nate Burke was honored as a Champion of Albany in its Police Athletic League (PAL).

A member of PAL since he was 13, he has gone on to serve as a mentor to local children. Before attending Manhattan College and joining the track and field team, he had started the PAL’s track program.

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ALUMNI

“IT’S BEEN AN EVENTFUL FEW MONTHS,” says Mark Blenner ’04.

That’s something of an understatement.

Since last spring, Blenner, the McQueenQuattlebaum Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Clemson University, has been making a name for himself in science’s highest echelons.

Last spring, he was named Clemson’s Junior Researcher of the Year. This fall, he began a sabbatical with NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California. And, perhaps most notably, in July, Blenner received word that he’d been awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, or PECASE. Bestowed by the National Science and Technology Council, the PECASE identifies a cadre of outstanding scientists and engineers who will broadly advance science and the missions important to participating U.S. agencies. Blenner was nominated for the award by NASA for his work that could someday help enable missions to Mars.

“I feel very fortunate and lucky to win it,” he says. “It helped fund additional work with NASA, so that’s going to extend our project a couple more years.”

Blenner and his team are working to engineer yeast to convert respiration carbon dioxide, algae biomass and urine into 3D printable plastics and nutritional omega-3 fats, a process known as space biomanufacturing. On missions to Mars, astronauts could use the plastics to make tools, and the omega-3s could help maintain their health.

He explains: “NASA needs to produce products to help astronauts survive in a setting where there are not a lot of resources available and where bringing resources from Earth is at an incredibly high premium … I always say it’s like extreme camping, where you’re stuck with using whatever’s in your backpack and what’s around you.”

Another aspect of his research, sponsored

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by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, focuses on creating sensors that can detect the presence of nuclear weapons, which emit a unique type of radiation. By looking at the environment, Blenner and his colleagues are able to detect the responses of plant life. “The cells are showing a bit of stress, but we don’t know exactly what it means,” he notes.

The Flushing, New York, native traces his interest in science and engineering back to his years in the science research program at St. Francis Preparatory School. The program director, Mary Ann Spicijaric ’88, suggested that he apply to Manhattan. Although the College was not initially on his radar, Blenner was won over by the encouragement and personal interest he received from faculty.

He recalls with appreciation the efforts of John Wasacz, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, for his help in sourcing scholarship aid, despite the fact that Blenner was majoring in chemical engineering rather than chemistry.

“It was really a wonderful selfless act on his part, and I think it speaks strongly to his and the institution’s integrity,” he says.

After graduating, Blenner went on to attend Columbia University for his Ph.D. “I was able to do research through all four of my years at Manhattan; I think that was a big factor in my wanting to go into a career that involved research,” he says.

At Clemson, Blenner leads a program aimed at increasing diversity in engineering.

“In chemical engineering, as in most STEM disciplines, there’s just not enough of a pipeline of historically underrepresented

groups, whether they’re women or African American or Latino,” he says, noting that systemic issues prevent many people from these groups from getting into college.

“We can try to create a more supportive environment for those who make it this far into a Ph.D. program, so that they can be more competitive and likely to go into academia and become role models themselves.”

In the near future, it looks like Blenner’s life will remain eventful. Just before relocating to California for his NASA sabbatical, he and his wife, Diane, welcomed a daughter, Elizabeth, who joined big sister Evelyn at home, both of whom Blenner proudly describes as “amazing.”

Despite the awards and accolades, this Jasper hesitates to spend too much time discussing his accomplishments.

“The most important thing I do is train the next generation of researchers and developers how to think, how to solve problems, and how to ask and answer interesting questions,” he says. “I think the most impact my career’s ever going to have is the people that will get trained in my lab.”

Photo Credit: Clemson University

Chemical Engineer Wins Presidential Early Career Award

A Jasper Winds Her Way to a Career in Millinery WHEN YOU ENTER WYNONO & COMPANY from picturesque Main Street in Cold Spring, New York, it feels like you’ve walked into someone’s home. The mid-century décor and welcoming atmosphere at this hat and vintage clothing shop feels personal. And that’s because it is.

When Melanie Leonard ’08 opened the store in April, she infused it with inviting and comfortable vibes.

A double major in sociology and criminal justice with a minor in communication, Leonard describes her path after graduation as “winding.” She ventured to London through the BUNAC program, which gives grads the opportunity to gain work experience abroad.

“I went over there thinking I was going to get some sort of a communications job, but ended up instead working at a pub,” she says, “which was kind of amazing.”

When Leonard returned stateside, she worked in advertising for about six years, but got the travel bug again and headed to Thailand and Vietnam, ultimately staying in Indonesia for three months. She also had stints cutting prints for renowned photographer Jesse Frohman, and doing marketing for a brewery in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

There, she befriended a customer, Ashley Ruprecht, who was always clad in hats. Ruprecht, it turned out, is a milliner and invited Leonard to her studio, where she ended up apprenticing for a year.

“After that, I just kind of fell in love with it,” she says.

Leonard also worked with milliner Anya Caliendo, from whom she learned couture techniques. She then started making custom hats for people on the side in Brooklyn.

“It’s really cool because my career just went this whole different route, and then it just kind of kept going,” she says.

Now she’s almost nine months into owning her own store, and it’s been a great experience. The name Wynono is in honor of her son, Wyatt, who passed away three years ago. “Wynono was usually a name given to your firstborn son,” she explains. “It’s from the Sioux nation. It was my way of commemorating him.”

Leonard makes all of the hats she sells, and she’s using classic techniques and processes that are centuries old.

“We utilize wooden blocks — most of these are from the 1920s,” she says. “You pick your crown depending on the size, and you steam the felt. You pull, once it’s wet enough, when the fibers get loose enough.”

In addition to being hand-blocked, the hats are all hand-sewn, using locally and personally sourced, guilt-free (shaved, not from pelts) fur, felt, suede, wools and straws.

While Leonard doesn’t claim to make every kind of hat, she pretty much can. Although some styles, such as fascinators, aren’t her cup of tea. But what she does love are bold styles.

“The hats that I make are really strong,” Leonard says. “I love asymmetric shapes and angles. I love all of the hats I make that some might call a fedora, which are usually about half an inch or an

inch taller crown than a mainstream hat. It has this extra sharp detail to it.”

Hand-sewn hats can be labor-intensive. While she’s become faster at creating them, it still takes time to craft a quality hat.

It also depends on the style; some hats can take three hours, others can take 37 hours.

Leonard loves the challenge of creating hats though. She was recently asked to make a hat that resembles “an evil crown” for a video shoot.

“I love when someone asks me, ‘We need this in a day. Can you do something?’” she explains. “I love the pressure and feeling of having to make something out of nothing.”

That hat, she admits, ended up being very theatrical. But that’s part of the fun. Those types of requests come in fairly often. Her creations have been featured in fashion magazines, such as Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, among others. A floral hat in the front window was in Vogue.

Leonard notes that many of the hats she previously made consisted of loud colors. But now, she finds that her hat palette has calmed down as a byproduct of the vintage 1960s and ’70s clothing she sells, sourced from estate sales around the country.

“I think because I get to express myself in the colors with the clothing in the store that now the hats are taking a more neutral, mature tone, which is kind of surprising to me because I’ve never designed like that,” she says.

Leonard has been taking her cues from her customers, too.

“I’ve been watching how people feel in them,” she says. “I’ve been watching how the shapes work on people. It’s become really personal.”

Shoppers tend to come in for fedoras, but her angular hats are selling well, too. “There’s a large-brimmed fedora that’s called the Aurora. It’s rabbit fur felt with a silk dupioni band,” she says. “It looks great on people — on so many different face shapes and heights.”

Looking ahead, Leonard faces some challenges with production, as she’s a one-woman shop. She’s also trying to feel out her business direction and considering the idea of becoming more of a brand.

But for now, Leonard is enjoying her interactions with and seeing her influence on her customers. “I really love not just hats but fashion to be fun, and I always just tell people that I love it as a form of selfexpression,” she says. “In only six months, seeing how many people have this complete shift in their mentality or their confidence, or they’re realizing this is fun — it does make me feel good.”

MANHATTAN.EDU N 65

ALUMNI

From Seed to Cup: A Jasper Puts His Own Stamp on a Family Coffee Tradition

I

N THESE CAFFEINATED TIMES, people have been heard to joke that coffee runs in their veins. But Sal Santuccio ’13 has them beat: The third-generation coffee purveyor can trace the aromatic beverage through his bloodline. His Cubanborn grandfather started the Pan American Coffee Company in Hoboken, New Jersey, roasting beans on the kitchen stovetop and selling his coffee door to door.

Almost six decades later, Santuccio and his cousin, Bernadette Gerrity, have put a new slant on the family tradition with their own coffee brand, Hudson Roasters. Their aim? To promote fair trade and sustainable practices while providing a premium coffeedrinking experience.

For Santuccio, it was an idea that had been percolating since his high school summers, when he helped out at Pan American, now run by his mother, Ruth Santuccio, and her sister, Edilia Gerrity.

He began to appreciate the volume and significance of the production side of the business. Later, while double majoring in business management and international business, he became interested in “the whole seed-to-cup process.”

After graduation, he joined a commodities trade house for two years before returning to work for Pan American.

He and Gerrity would often discuss changes in the coffee market, the effect of climate change on coffee farmers, and consumer interest in the origins of their favorite brew, including its sustainability.

“During that time, we were saying, ‘There are so many good coffees out there, and no one is showcasing them,’” Santuccio recalls.

“We thought if we used our expertise and connections, we could put a nice brand together that signifies what we believe in.”

In 2015, the cousins launched Hudson Roasters, named for the New Jersey county in which Hoboken is located. They started small, working full time during the day, then renting off-time and equipment at the Pan American facility to roast and package the 66 N winter 2020

beans at night. Gerrity, who worked for a coffee importer and knew which beans were produced sustainably, sourced the product.

Beginning with an Ethiopian coffee, the cousins sold 12-ounce bags at a Hoboken farmer’s market on Saturdays. Santuccio’s family, he laughs, regarded the young enterprise as “cute.”

The brand quickly gained a loyal following in the community, and local cafés began featuring Hudson on their menus. For a while, Santuccio even personally delivered bags of coffee door to door.

“People were having a blast with it,” he says. “It was almost parallel to how my grandfather started.”

Colombian and Guatemalan coffees joined their product range, then offerings from Papua New Guinea and Costa Rica, too.

“The farmer’s market prepared us — and propelled us — for what was to come,” Santuccio says.

Once restaurants began putting in regular 50-pound orders, the business outgrew the door-to-door model.

As the label expanded, Santuccio used strategies he learned at Manhattan.

“The marketing classes were always very interactive,” he says. “That experience led me to create my own business plans and marketing concepts, and even to map out

my sales route on Google Maps, which we practiced in class.”

Although both cousins do a little bit of everything, Santuccio is mainly responsible for operations, production and logistics, while Gerrity handles marketing and sales.

“I try to visit the place of origin once or twice a year to see our processing being done,” Santuccio says. “It’s hard to directly source everything from one farm. I visit certain regions and the co-op where the coffee is consolidated … It’s fulfilling when you see where the money is going. The people in the coffee industry are brilliant, beautiful and kind.”

As the label expands into e-commerce and takes on large clients like co-working venture Nomadworks, Hudson Roasters has remained committed to selling coffee that makes a positive difference in the world.

Their Colombian and Guatemalan lines are certified by Fair Trade, a nonprofit that works to address the economic, social and environmental needs of producers. Hudson was recently featured in a Fair Trade pop-up store at South Street Seaport in New York City. Santuccio admits that obtaining the certification took extra work.

“It does have challenges,” he says, “especially if you’re not familiar with the programs and the paperwork that goes into the certification.”

The other three offerings are sourced responsibly, with farmers receiving top dollar for their premium beans. It’s all in keeping with Santuccio and Gerrity’s belief that “doing your best is the best you can do.”

Recently the duo added a coffee body scrub to their product line, a step toward their long-term vision of making Hudson Roasters a lifestyle brand. They’ve come a long way from the “cute” startup that began only two years ago.

“Our mothers are very supportive,” Santuccio says. “They like to throw in their ideas for the brand, what they think we should do. And now we bring what we learn back to them.”

In Sustainability, Environmental Engineer Sees the Human Impact AN ENGINEER AIMS TO MAKE connections and find solutions to the world’s problems, Jean Rogers ’86 remembers her father telling her as a teenager.

She learned this to be true while earning undergraduate and master’s degrees from Manhattan in civil and environmental engineering, and afterward, while pursuing her Ph.D. at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Later, after Rogers had crossed industry lines into the business sector, she discovered that these are also goals of the sustainable investor, who measures both financial and social returns when deciding to buy stock in a company.

Rogers founded the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) in 2011 to produce standards for reporting the environmental, social and governance performance of a company to investors. Using them, investors can see a company’s sustainability impact, which might include its environmental footprint, or how its business practices account for gender equity and healthcare for employees. SASB links these issues to financial risk.

“I felt this sense of urgency that all industries needed to move in a more sustainable direction in order for them to provide a better future,” Rogers remembers.

SASB sought to solve a problem, which is a goal that was already familiar to her.

Rogers is a registered professional engineer in Illinois and California, and, prior to founding SASB, worked as a principal at the global engineering consultancy Arup. It was during that time that she noticed LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification by the U.S. Green Building Council was becoming the baseline for creating infrastructure. Why not apply that level of standardization to capital markets as well?

“I thought, ‘We need that for every industry, to articulate what matters and a systemic approach to where industries needed to go,’” she recalls.

In eight years, SASB has used its framework for sustainable reporting to analyze nearly 80 industries, from food and beverage and consumer goods to healthcare and transportation. The nonprofit has since been delegated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as an authority and valuable resource for companies developing their reporting frameworks.

Today, sustainability has increasingly become more important to consumers, as well as investors, and companies that adopted standards from the SASB have since built sustainability into their central business models. Longtime supporters of the nonprofit include Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg L.P. and former mayor of New York City, as well as Goldman Sachs. The tagline for Vanguard Group, a multinational financial services and advisory firm that currently is part of the SASB Investor Advisory Group, is appropriately, “Changing investing, one decent act at a time.”

Over time, the SASB has had a sustainable impact on capital markets, and so has Rogers. In 2015, 2016 and 2017, she was listed among the Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting by Accounting Today. In 2018, Rogers was named to Barron’s list of Top 20 Influencers of Sustainable Investing, the same year she was recognized as the Business School for the World Society of Progress Medal Laureate. In 2018, she also stepped down as chair of SASB and turned to consulting, speaking and full-time projects focusing on the future of sustainable investing and the SASB. When Rogers considers her various accomplishments, she refers to Manhattan College as being integral to the successes that came later.

“My engineering degree as an undergraduate really helped me to understand the fundamentals, and to solve and troubleshoot problems.

Because of these things, I initially found the confidence to take on different projects,” she says.

As a college student, however, Rogers remained unsure about her long-term career ambitions. But the writing was on the wall one day in Leo Hall, almost literally. A poster promoting the American Society of Civil Engineers read, “Civil Engineering: A People-Serving Profession.”

“That’s when it clicked for me,” Rogers says with a laugh. At the time, she was learning about water and wastewater treatment methods from James Mueller, professor emeritus of environmental engineering. What Rogers remembers most is that Mueller taught these foundational concepts in a way that demonstrated real-world impact.

Nowadays, this is how Rogers educates her 13-year-old daughter, Cameron, about the environment. Rogers drives an all-electric car, has solar panels on her house, and has made outdoor experiences a priority.

“The decisions you make today have consequences, and her generation is going to be feeling the effects of climate change and will be making life choices because of it,” she says.

Throughout her career, Rogers has championed the idea that efforts large and small can make a difference. This could mean protecting the waterways in local parks from harm or founding a company like SASB, which offers sustainability-minded investors a pathway to making the best decisions with their money.

“As Ghandi expressed so eloquently, ‘We have to be the change we want to see in the world.’ There are so many ways each of us can contribute to a more sustainable future,” Rogers says. “I’m grateful my engineering education has given me the confidence to tackle some of the biggest problems our society faces.”

MANHATTAN.EDU N 67

OBITUARIES

INMEMORIAM

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

1954

1958

1965

Robert J. Levine, 7/7/19 Dominic J. Maiello, 5/22/19

1948

Emery J. Chagnon, 2/2/19 Patrick J. Fitzgerald, 4/25/19 Frank T. Flood, 5/8/19 Robert D. Hall, 4/10/19 Frank P. Healy, 8/18/19 Thomas M. O’Brien, 4/12/19 Harry A. Parsons, 8/14/19

Raymond A. Brengs, 8/9/19 Ralph C. Cicero, 6/13/19 Joseph P. Green, 7/20/19 Gerald J. McGrath, 9/18/19 Ilhor D. Moch, 2/4/19 John S. Riedel Jr., 7/22/19 Richard V. Robilotti, 3/30/19

William J. Carroll, 8/5/19 George E. O’Keefe, 6/15/19

1955

Leo E. Barron, 8/1/19 Joseph J. Carroll, 6/29/19 John C. Clegg, 5/4/19 James E. Greene, 5/20/19 Gerald J. Markey, 7/29/19 Eugene J. Nodell, 6/12/19 Stephen L. Popp, 3/27/19 John J. Termeer, 5/27/19

1959

James K. Doran, 9/7/19 Peter J. Hauser, 8/10/19 Paul J. Nassetta, 6/16/19 William C. Urban, 4/28/19

1944 Ralph M. Esposito, 5/11/19

Harold K. Coyle, 8/13/19 Thomas F. McNamara, 4/13/19 William A. Mechmann, 4/1/19 George B. Rodenburg, 5/8/19

Robert L. Citarell, 4/26/19 George L. Mahoney, 5/30/19 Jack R. Mertz, 9/4/19 Robert P. Otten, 8/30/19 Pasquale Palma, 6/13/19 Donald K. Prokop, 5/17/19

1950

1956

Kenneth Courtney, 8/23/19 James J. McCullough, 3/30/19 Patrick J. McKeown, 3/11/19 Edward L. McLean, 6/26/19 William A. McManus, 6/28/19

Bernard W. Bostick, 4/19/19 William G. Bowe, 4/26/19 James F. Cosgrove, 7/7/19 John J. Healy, 5/8/19 John C. Morris, 4/18/19

Frank J. Cain, 7/22/19 Edward P. Cronin Jr., 6/30/19 Edward Galluzzo, 4/17/19 James J. Grant, 8/14/19 John P. Leonard, 4/1/19 Joseph M. Mazza, 4/14/19 James F. McMahon, 5/2/19 Eugene C. O’Hare, 6/7/19 John E. Roe Sr., 7/14/19 Francis J. Schmitt, 3/2/19 John R. Vorst, 5/21/19 James J. Vreeland, 5/15/19

1952

1957

Anthony A. Parra, 3/7/19 Raymond S. Pizzo, 4/20/19 Edward J. Quinn, 2/23/19

Charles F. Cheswick, 6/5/19 Anthony J. DiPalo, 7/2/19 Patrick J. Garvey, 7/11/19 Lewis A. Moran, 7/12/19 Stanley A. Rostkowski, 9/7/19

1949

1951

1953 William G. Crane, 7/2/19 Frank V. Krescanko, 6/7/19 John P. Tobin, 9/12/19

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John J. Cantwell, 3/31/19 Paul J. Corigliano, 4/12/19 Thomas M. Duffy, 8/22/19 Thomas A. O’Brien, 8/27/19 Paul G. Rosso, 3/16/19 John N. Schoenberger, 9/11/19 John J. Walsh, 6/11/19

1966

1967

Roch R. Cappelli, 7/13/19 William R. Donnelly, 8/22/19 James B. Ducey, 9/7/19

Gerald J. Abruscato, 7/13/19 Gerard K. Devine, 5/22/19 Robert F. McGurrin, 4/29/19 John J. McVetty, 5/5/19 Thomas J. Moran, 8/8/19 Paul F. O’Connor, 6/25/19 Mark Peschiera, 5/1/19

1961

1968

Dennis P. Cummings, 8/2/19 David D. Fitzgerald, 4/28/19 John J. Greeley, 8/10/19 John J. Sheehan, 9/1/19

Richard W. Burns, 6/12/19 Andrew V. Galway Jr., 9/9/19 Frank R. McCormick, 3/21/19

1962

John J. Brooks, 9/1/19 Sr. Mary R. Caulfield, S.C., 9/2/19 Robert A. Desiano, 12/11/18 Sr. Mary Adrian Rahilly, R.D.C., 8/28/19 Marcy J. Ramos, 4/1/19 Frank M. Siskowski, 1/17/19 Richard Whiteside, 3/6/19

1960

William Coyle, 9/20/19 William J. Doyle, 9/20/19 Robert J. Ferara, 7/23/19

1963 John F. Kane, 7/3/19 Joseph P. Moore, 7/10/19 James P. Mulrane, 4/23/19 Thomas J. Nestor, 6/2/19

1969

1970

1976

Michael J. De Lorenzo, 8/21/19 James M. Maloney, 6/23/19 Norman R. Smith, 5/6/19

Fernando R. Caserta, 9/12/19 Barbara B. Curran, 7/14/19 Walter J. Hojsak, 8/29/19 John S. Ryan, 6/17/19

1971 Sr. Marita R. Bronner, S.C., 6/8/19 James J. Crane, 6/26/19 Martin R. O’Meara, 8/27/19 Nicholas Raccioppo, 8/24/19 William C. Relihan, 8/26/19

1977

1972

1980

Sr. Georgette Dircks, S.C., 8/13/19 Richard B. Krall, 3/30/19 Donald W. McKeen, 7/24/19 Thomas J. Murtha, 7/10/19 William V. Ringwood, 5/18/19

Gerard J. Bocker, 8/19/19 Terence McNeil, 12/23/18

1973

1989

Leo J. Bisceglia, 4/28/19 Sr. Alfred Marie Toole, O.P., 9/7/19 Theodore J. Wlodkowski, 5/17/19

John A. Narciso, 7/31/19

1974

Elissa De Benedictis, 9/18/19

Julia M. Michaels, 11/21/18 William J. Reith, 6/6/19

1975 Robert P. Kulaya, 4/30/19 Joseph M. Riley III, 3/21/19

Thomas H. Lewis, 3/9/19

1978 Robert L. Hodge Jr., 2/28/19 Dru A. McCormack, 5/16/19

1983 Thomas Baxter, 6/28/19 Salomon Sainvil, 4/28/19

1991 Jennifer A. McGeown, 5/5/19

1992 2003 Eileen M. Antonison, 5/31/19

2008 Justin R. Campbell, 5/29/19

2018 Max Whitwell, 3/12/19

OBITUARIES

George Mahoney ’55 GEORGE L. MAHONEY ’55, assistant professor of history at Manhattan College for nearly four decades, died on May 30, 2019. He was 85.

After two years in the United States Army, Mahoney taught American and European history at Manhattan College from 1960 until his retirement nearly 40 years later.

During his tenure, Mahoney was a member of Phi Alpha Theta, the history honor society. A longtime resident of Somers, New York, he was the author of Somers Confederates: James Wright and His Nephews, which uncovered divisions in New York State at the time of the Civil War. An alumnus of both Manhattan Prep (1951) and Manhattan College (1955), Mahoney also was the father of three Manhattan alumni. His daughter Maura Mahoney ’87 says: “None of us ever took a class with him — we would, however, swing by his office for a ‘student loan’ — but several of our friends did. At the time, he taught a course called American Biography, and one of the books was James Flexner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, The Indispensable Man. Our friends got such a kick out of him and the class, they nicknamed it ‘the Indispensable Class,’ which he found very entertaining when we told him.”

While at Manhattan Prep, Mahoney was valedictorian and captain of the baseball team. He earned his master’s degree in history from Columbia University.

“George Mahoney lived the Manhattan College experience as few others have — from shortstop at the Prep to College graduate to a don in the history department,” recalls classmate and former trustee, John Paluszek ’55. “His Prep batting average has faded into the mist of many decades, but his impact on many hundreds of Manhattan history students endures.”

Mahoney is survived by his wife of nearly 56 years, Rosemary Kane Mahoney, a 1956 graduate of the College of Mount Saint Vincent; his children, George ’86 (Teri), Maura ’87 (Keith) and Kathryn ’91; his grandchildren, Maeve, Honor and Daniel White, and Luke, Rosemary and George Mahoney.

“George Mahoney lived the Manhattan College experience as few others have — from shortstop at the Prep to College graduate to a don in the history department.”

–JOHN PALUSZEK ’55

70 N winter 2020

John Greeley ’61 JOHN J. GREELEY ’61, STD, formerly Brother John Cosmas, FSC, who served as an assistant professor of religious studies in the early 1970s, died on Aug. 10, 2019.

He was 89.

Greeley taught at Manhattan College from 1970 to 1973 as Br. John, before leaving the College to teach in Ethiopia. He served as a Christian Brother from 1947 until 1980, when he received dispensation from his vows.

“Br. Cosmas was one of the very first to support the Pacem in Terris Institute and championed the creation of the B.A. in peace studies,” says Joseph Fahey, retired professor of religious studies and founder of the Peace Studies program at Manhattan College.

“The students and faculty loved him.”

As a Christian Brother, Greeley taught a number of classic subjects, including Latin and Greek. In New York, he served at St. Patrick’s Parish in Newburgh, La Salle Military Academy in Oakdale, and Bishop Loughlin High School in Brooklyn. He taught at De La Salle College in Washington, D.C., and was the subdirector of the Christian Brother Novitiate in Narragansett, Rhode Island, in the 1960s.

In 1980, he began his tenure at Salve Regina University in Rhode Island. While there, he served as chair and professor of religious studies and theology, and retired as professor emeritus.

A graduate of The Catholic University of America, Greeley earned his master’s degree in the classics from Manhattan College. He returned to The Catholic University of America for both his licentiate in sacred theology and his doctorate in sacred theology.

He was a member of the Catholic Theological Society of America, the Religious Education Association and the College Theological Society, as well as Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Eta Sigma.

John is survived by his wife, Mary Louise Greeley; their son, John J. Greeley Jr.; and his sister, Mary Ann McNamara.

Dominic Maiello ’43

DOMINIC J. MAIELLO SR. ’43, who taught accounting at Manhattan College for more than 40 years, died on May 22, 2019. He was 99.

In the 1940s, Maiello worked as an auditor for Pricewaterhouse and Ernst & Ernst. During his long tenure at the College, he regularly helped students forge connections in the accounting field as they began their careers.

“Professor Maiello was an exacting and highly professional academic,” says Faraj Abdulahad, former dean of the College’s School of Business. “He had a great impact on the professional careers of many accounting graduates. He was considered by his colleagues to be the gatekeeper for students who wanted to pursue careers in the accounting profession.”

A native New Yorker and graduate of Manhattan College, Maiello earned his MBA at New York University.

He also was a member of the American Accounting Association.

He is survived by his wife, Anna (Sanza) Maiello; his son, Dominic J. Maiello, M.D. (Marie); granddaughters, Christine Maiello-Rosen (Benjamin), Jennifer Malko and Samantha Maiello; and several great-grandchildren.

MANHATTAN.EDU N 61

PHOTO BY SARA MILANO ’21

PA R TING SHOT

72 N winter 2020

Nearly a dozen Jaspers traveled to Foley Square in September for the New York City Climate Strike, one of many demonstrations that took place worldwide that day. Carrying homemade signs, the group led by Campus Ministry & Social Action joined thousands of activists marching for immediate action on climate change, fossil fuel usage, and an environmentally focused government policy.

HEY JASPERS! Thanks for taking the time to fill out the readership survey this summer. Now, show us your socks!

Did your socks hit the beach, hike through the trails, or travel abroad? Or did your socks stay in town, meet up with friends for brunch, or get stuck waiting on the No. 1 train? Let us know and share your pics with us at magazine@manhattan.edu.

A LASALLIAN CATHOLIC COLLEGE SINCE 1853 Published by the office of Marketing & Communication Manhattan College 4513 Manhattan College Parkway Riverdale, NY 10471

With a few pops of bright color and some filtered sunshine, autumn made its debut on campus in late October.

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