ON CAMPUS

Stephen Squeri ’81, ’86 (MBA) Donates $10 Million to Manhattan College

AMERICAN EXPRESS CHAIRMAN AND CEO STEPHEN SQUERI ’81, ’86 (MBA) has made a $10 million donation to his alma mater. Squeri’s gift will be contributed to Manhattan College’s Invest in the Vision capital campaign and has helped the College surpass its goal of raising $165 million five years ahead of the initial target date. The gift will go toward enhancing Manhattan College’s facilities and infrastructure.

In recognition of Squeri’s contribution, the on-campus building that houses both Smith Auditorium and the Chapel of De La Salle and His Brothers will be named Squeri Hall to honor the Squeri family’s longstanding generosity to Manhattan College. Those ties began with Joseph Squeri ’54, Stephen Squeri’s father, who earned a Bachelor of Science in business management from Manhattan College and served in the United States Marine Corps before pursuing a successful career working at Colgate, CBS and Bloomingdale’s.

“I am very grateful for the education I received at Manhattan College,” Squeri says. “The core principles reinforced throughout my time there are all about leading a purpose-driven life by empowering others to reach their full potential and giving back to our communities. My hope is that this gift, in honor of my father and my family, will help the students and faculty of Manhattan College continue to develop intellectually and spiritually, live with purpose, and achieve their full potential.”

“With this extraordinary gift, Steve and his wife, Tina, add an exciting new chapter to the long history of the Squeri family’s truly exemplary support for Manhattan College,” says Brennan O’Donnell, Ph.D., president of Manhattan College. “Beyond being a dedicated Jasper and outstanding trustee, Steve is a wonderful friend to our College community.”

Since becoming the chairman and CEO of American Express in February 2018, Squeri has been fostering a culture focused on backing customers, colleagues and communities to make a difference in people’s lives in ways that matter most to them. Under his leadership, American Express has launched innovative payment, financial management and lifestyle offerings for consumers and businesses, expanded strategic partnerships, enhanced digital capabilities, and reshaped its strategy to drive growth in international markets.

Additionally, Squeri spearheaded the development of the company’s environmental, social and governance framework and established the office of Enterprise Inclusion, Diversity and Business Engagement.

Squeri is a member of the Business Roundtable, The Business Council, and the American Society of Corporate Executives, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Partnership for New York City. He also sits on the board of trustees of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and The Valerie Fund.

A native of Queens, New York, Squeri is deeply committed to giving back to the community and advancing opportunities for education and economic development. He serves on the board of trustees at both of his alma maters: Manhattan College and Monsignor McClancy Memorial High School.

“Steve’s gift, the second largest in the history of the College, will have a lasting impact on Manhattan College,” says Thomas Mauriello, vice president for College Advancement. “It will allow us to move forward in our work of continuous improvement to the College. We will always be grateful for his remarkable generosity.”

A story about the upcoming dedication ceremony will follow in the next issue.

O’Donnell Concludes His Presidency

IN COLLABORATION WITH MANHATTAN COLLEGE’S BOARD OF TRUSTEES, President Brennan O’Donnell, Ph.D., announced that he will transition to the role of president emeritus and professor of English at the College, after a long-planned sabbatical in July 2022.

Brother Daniel Gardner, FSC — who currently serves as assistant director in the Center for Graduate School and Fellowship Advisement — will serve as interim president during the search for O’Donnell’s successor.

The College’s 19th president, O’Donnell joined Manhattan in 2009 and guided it through a critical period of transition and growth, as well as the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I am proud of my years here and all that our community has accomplished during my 13-year tenure,” O’Donnell says. “I have loved my time leading this great institution, but I am also excited to return to the work of teaching, scholarship and service that first attracted me to higher education.”

William Dooley ’75, chair of the board of trustees, says that O’Donnell initially approached board representatives a year ago to explore his options to complete his current term in June 2022, prior to a sabbatical before transitioning to the faculty. The board chair and the president agreed to postpone the decision while addressing anticipated challenges of the approaching school year.

“We appreciate Dr. O’Donnell accommodating our request that he delay his decision and continue to serve fully invested as president as we navigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, completed the College’s once-a-decade Middle States self-report process, and identified an ideal standout candidate to serve as interim president,” Dooley says.

“This was not an easy decision, but after much reflection and prayer, I knew that the time was right,” O’Donnell says. “The future is bright for Manhattan College, and I am confident that the College will be in good hands with Brother Daniel guiding the ship while the search for a new president moves forward.”

“We celebrate Brennan’s many achievements during his 13-year tenure,” Dooley says. “In that time, Manhattan has consistently ranked high in academic-quality surveys such as U.S. News & World Report and the Princeton Review, while distinguishing itself especially as a top college for return on investment and for supporting military veterans. He has spearheaded the building and opening of both the Raymond W. Kelly ’63 Student Commons in 2014 and the Patricia and Cornelius J. Higgins ’62 Engineering and Science Center in 2021.”

“On his watch, the College developed many new academic and student-support programs, including the reestablishment of the MBA program in the O’Malley School of Business, the Arches first-year learning and living community, and the Career Pathways program, which integrates academic support, advising and career development programs,” Dooley continues. “He provided leadership for the Invest in the Vision capital campaign, which has surpassed its $165-million goal years ahead of schedule. During his time as president, the College’s endowment grew from $40.4 million in 2009 to $148.2 million in 2021.”

In announcing the appointment of Brother Daniel as interim president, ahead of launching a national search for a permanent successor, Dooley pointed to his commitment to the Christian Brothers’ tradition of carrying out Saint John Baptist de La Salle’s mission of uplifting lives through education and his dedication to living out the Lasallian core principles and values.

“We are deeply grateful that we have two leaders as committed to the Manhattan College community as Dr. O’Donnell and Brother Dan Gardner. Their dedication to the College, its staff, students and faculty cannot be overstated,” Dooley says.

Full coverage about O’Donnell’s accomplishments as president will appear in the next issue.

The HGI Center Celebrates 25 Years

Frederick Schweitzer, Ph.D., professor emeritus of history and founder of the Holocaust Resource Center, speaks at the center’s 25th anniversary celebration.

“THE HOLOCAUST IS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF EDUCATION, most especially for our students, so they will know its lessons and be committed by their knowledge and moral perception to opposing bigotry and prejudice, genocidal ideologies, and Holocaust denial, wherever and whenever such threats arise,” wrote Frederick M. Schweitzer, Ph.D., professor emeritus of history, in a message to Brother Thomas Scanlan, FSC, in 1995. Brother Thomas, who was president of Manhattan College at the time, approved Schweitzer’s request to start a Holocaust Resource Center.

The year 1995 also marked the 50th anniversary of the liberation of victims of the Holocaust and the end of World War II, as well as the 30th anniversary of Vatican II’s Nostra Aetate, the declaration by Pope Paul VI on the relation of the Catholic Church with nonChristian religions of the Second Vatican Council. This was the first document in Catholic history to focus on the spiritual relationship between Catholic and Jewish people.

“The Center got off to a flying start with a renowned historian of the Shoah each semester, teachers’ workshops (meeting an acute need at the time), exhibits of art and photographs instructive of the Holocaust, model seders at Passover, and trips for students to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.,” Schweitzer says.

As founder of the Holocaust Resource Center, Schweitzer spent half a century at Manhattan College researching and writing on Jewish history and Catholic-Jewish relations to implement Nostra Aetate. The College established a yearly lecture series in his name.

Now, more than 25 years later, the center is called the Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith (HGI) Education Center, and focuses on promoting Jewish-Catholic-Muslim discussion and collaboration through educational programming. The HGI Center primarily serves the College community, the local Riverdale area, and educators, but it also seeks to expand its reach worldwide.

“I think that what it says about Manhattan College is that being a Catholic College, it really is reaffirming our Lasallian principles and the sense of God here,” says Mehnaz Afridi, Ph.D., director of the HGI Center. “Thinking about taking responsibility as Catholics, as Christians, about the Holocaust, dealing with how we have to be responsible for the past and care about other faiths.”

Afridi is a professor of religious studies at the College and teaches courses about Islam and the Holocaust. She is a board member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and published Shoah Through Muslim Eyes (Academic Studies Press, 2017), which follows her own journey with Judaism as a Muslim.

During the past 10 years of Afridi’s tenure, she has played an integral role in expanding the HGI Center’s reach to encompass genocides in Cambodia, Armenia, Syria and now Ukraine. Afridi has also implemented several other programs, including interfaith events, Holocaust Remembrance Day, community projects on interfaith and Holocaust awareness, events on Jewish and Muslim relations, community activism against hate, and art exhibits on reconciliation and the Holocaust.

Holocaust survivor Martin Spett is another important figure in the HGI Center’s history. He served on the Center’s board and contributed his own story of survival through paintings and a memoir. He passed away in 2019. Martha Frazer, retired assistant director of the HGI Center, introduced Spett to the College community. She conducted interviews with second-generation Holocaust survivors, which are preserved on the center’s website.

Last October, Manhattan College celebrated the HGI Center’s 25th anniversary in the Kelly Commons. Guest speakers included Elena Procario-Foley, Ph.D., chair of the HGI Center’s board; Brennan O’Donnell, Ph.D., president; Jeff Horn, Ph.D., past HGI Center director; Schweitzer; and Afridi.

Guest speaker Elisha Wiesel spoke on behalf of his father, Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize laureate, writer and activist who documented the horrors he witnessed in concentration camps as a teenage boy.

“Elisha was amazing, and we were honored to have him speak because of the legacy of Elie Wiesel,” Afridi says. “He spoke about memory and how important it is to have generations know about the tumultuous events of the Holocaust.”

Attendees also had the opportunity to take a tour of the Herman and Lea Ziering Archive Collection, which is housed on the fifth floor of the O’Malley Library. Produced by first-year students, the collection opened in 2019.

Schweitzer concluded the event with optimistic words for the center’s future. “Here I must stop, but not without hailing Dr. Afridi and her students who are qualifying to be docents — the next generation,” he said. “You’re taking upon yourselves this supremely important, difficult and unending effort.”

Management and Marketing Professor Gains $5 Million Grant

Poonam Arora, Ph.D.

POONAM ARORA,

PH.D., professor and department chair of management and marketing, along with researchers from six other institutions, has been awarded a five-year, $5 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant. The grant seeks to understand the socio-environmental and economic drivers affecting resilience to

coastal hazards in North Carolina.

Grant funding will support work to strengthen coastal resilience in communities along the Albemarle-Pamlico estuary system of coastal North Carolina. The project, led by East Carolina University, will also include the creation of the Coastal Environmental Justice Institute, which serves as the central coordinating hub to create connections within the community, coordinate service opportunities, and communicate with community stakeholders.

At Manhattan College, the focus will be on how STEM and non-STEM fields can be integrated to better prepare and inform the next generation of decision-makers in the community.

“This is a great opportunity for our students to experience sustainability as a value driver for businesses, an important theme for the O’Malley School of Business in a real-world setting,” Arora says.

The research, funded as part of the Coastlines and People initiative, integrates behavioral decision-making, hydrological science, and systems modeling to help vulnerable coastal communities.

The team of academic researchers is working across many fields, with experts in environmental and marine science, business and management, to enhance resilience for marginalized populations that are often disproportionately affected by poor water quality, hurricanes, floods, droughts and rising sea levels.

A Jasper Leads the NYSE

LYNN MARTIN ’98, who graduated from Manhattan College with a major in computer science and a minor in finance, took the helm as the next president of NYSE Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE: ICE), this past January. NYSE Group includes the New York Stock Exchange, the world’s largest stock market and premier venue for capital raising, as well as four fully electronic equity markets and two options exchanges.

“Taking my place among those who have led the NYSE is both an honor and a responsibility,” Martin wrote in an op-ed for Fortune in January. “More important, though, it is a journey, one that I will take with our NYSE staff, ICE colleagues, listed companies, market participants, regulators, lawmakers, and others. Data and technology allow each of us to do much more, much faster, but at the core of any successful enterprise is people collaborating toward common goals. It is important that we keep this in mind as we move into a future that will demand the best combination of humanity and processing power that we can muster.”

The 68th president of NYSE, Martin is also chair of Fixed Income & Data Services at ICE, which includes ICE Bonds execution venues, securities pricing and analytics, reference data, indices, desktop solutions, consolidated feeds and connectivity services that cover all major asset classes.

As she moves forward, Martin will be guided by three core beliefs, which she believes will only become more relevant as time presses on: every company is a technology company; ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) will grow in importance; and the U.S. capital markets are without equal.

Most recently, Martin was president of Fixed Income & Data Services and earlier served as president of ICE Data Services, COO of ICE Clear U.S., and in a number of leadership roles, including CEO of NYSE Liffe U.S. and CEO of New York Portfolio Clearing. She began her career at IBM in its Global Services organization, where she served in a variety of functions, predominantly as a project manager within the financial services practice.

In October, she was the recipient of Manhattan College’s De La Salle Medal, which is conferred annually by the College’s board of trustees to honor executives who exemplify the principles of excellence and corporate leadership (see story on page 44).

Martin has an M.A. in statistics from Columbia University. She serves on the Manhattan College Board of Trustees, as well as the Advisory Board of the School of Science, and is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society.

Entrepreneurs@MC Fosters a Unique Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

MANHATTAN’S NEWLY LAUNCHED ENTREPRENEURS@MC program is helping enterprising students from across the College to launch their own businesses in a world transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The end goal of the program is to provide students with the tools they need to turn great ideas into profitable businesses.

Through Entrepreneurs@MC, students connect with peers who have similar entrepreneurial interests. They form teams and participate in workshops in marketing, business models, funding and idea pitches. The program also connects participants with alumni mentors, such as Mike Kelly ’80, managing director at Yellow Thread Ventures, and Julia Sutton ’90, founder and adviser of Exhale Enterprises, and prepares them to compete for startup funding of up to $10,000 through the O’Malley School of Business’s Innovation Challenge.

The idea for Entrepreneurs@MC sprang from the Innovation Challenge, which has been showcasing students’ ideas for exciting and practical products or services for the past nine years.

Winston Peters ’02, adjunct professor of management and marketing, runs the program. The head of his own consulting agency, Peters has worked with brands throughout the metropolitan area. He aims to expand the program to students in academic programs beyond business, especially engineering.

“We seek to empower our students with an entrepreneurial energy as we provide a portfolio of new ideas,” Peters says. “Entrepreneurs@ MC will propel students to make an innovation imprint on the everchanging New York City business landscape and beyond.”

Peters sees Entrepreneurs@MC evolving as a business solution center for great startups. The program is designed to prepare entrepreneurs for professional work and explore the world of innovation. It gives students a glimpse into the process of creating and running a business.

Guadalupe Zamata Ovalle ’23, a chemical engineer with a concentration in biopharmaceutical engineering and minors in chemistry, mathematics and management, has been participating in Entrepreneurs@MC programming. So far, she has connected with mentors and is in the process of launching her own venture in the personal care industry. She uses formulation technologies to incorporate sustainable ingredients to develop high-quality and environmentally friendly products.

“I am looking forward to seeing this idea come to life and, most importantly, have fun with this venture,” she says. “The knowledge that I am gaining from this program is very valuable and is completely shaping the pathway of my career by opening new opportunities.”

Student Veterans Organization Receives Local Community Service Award

MANHATTAN COLLEGE’S STUDENT

VETERANS ORGANIZATION has earned the Irving Ladimer Community Service award, presented by Bronx Community Board 8 (CB8).

The CB8 Parks & Recreation Committee and Special Committee on Veterans Services nominated Manhattan College’s Student Veterans Organization for beautifying and cleaning Van Cortlandt Park’s Memorial Grove and other green spaces, participating in the American Red Cross Blood Drive, organizing an annual Toys for Tots collection drive, and for organizing events that help those in need.

As a Military Friendly school, Manhattan College is proud to have their Veterans Success Center partner with the Air Force ROTC Detachment 560 to support many of these efforts.

The College’s Veterans Success Programs facilitate the successful transition from military to civilian and academic life, and from academic life to post-collegiate life. The program achieves this through connecting veterans with stress reduction techniques, student veteran peer bonding, academic support and career preparation.

The Community Service award is named for Irving Ladimer, a longtime community advocate and supporter of the College’s Holocaust Genocide and Interfaith Education Center. The CB8 Community Service award is designed to acknowledge the many volunteer efforts of groups and individuals within the neighboring community. The only criteria for the award is that the nominee has acted on a volunteer basis to improve or enhance the quality of life of those living or working within the CB8 area, which includes the neighborhoods of Fieldston, Kingsbridge, Kingsbridge Heights, Marble Hill, Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil and Van Cortlandt Village.

40 Years Ago, Manhattan College Rose to the Challenge of Computer Literacy

BY 1980, THE MAGNITUDE AND IMPORTANCE of computers began to influence the Manhattan College curriculum. Since the mid-1960s, the College had invested in small-scale mainframe, punch-card computer systems, located in the Computer Center of the Leo Engineering Building, and mainly used for data processing, storage and academics. During the 1970s, Manhattan continued to transition from using punch cards to magnetic storage and established an additional computer center in De La Salle Hall. But it was the proliferation of personal computers in the 1980s that helped to introduce computing as an instructional tool in the science and engineering curricula.

Computer literacy quickly became one of the leading challenges in education, and the College responded by expanding the computer-assisted learning opportunities in all academic programs. In the fall of 1982, IBM provided a $200,000 grant to educate faculty in computer technology. That same year, a computer science major was established in the mathematics department, and the College acquired a new VAX11/780 computer system and set about upgrading and increasing its computer facilities. In 1981, Manhattan also purchased the Sloan Building at 5845 Broadway (3840 Corlear Avenue), a former furniture showroom and warehouse. The facility eventually developed into the Research and Learning Center (RLC), an academic computer center with computer laboratories, a campus-wide telecommunications network, and learning laboratories for engineering, science and business students.

The College Gets $5 Million Grant for Leo Hall Renovations

MANHATTAN COLLEGE WAS ONE OF 35 PRIVATE COLLEGES

that was awarded a Higher Education Capital (HECap) Matching Grant last year, receiving $5 million for Leo Hall renovations.

“We are grateful to our representatives in Albany for their commitment to the HECap program and their support of higher education,” says Brennan O’Donnell, Ph.D., president of Manhattan College. “The funds will help enormously in our efforts to educate the innovators, researchers, problem-solvers, and builders of the next generation.”

The renovations in Leo Hall are part of an overhaul of the College’s South Campus, which includes the newly opened Patricia and Cornelius J. Higgins ’62 Engineering and Science Center.

Led by the governor, State Senate and State Assembly, the Higher Education Capital Matching Grant Program has enabled campuses across the state to make critical investments in their infrastructure and equipment while creating construction jobs. Campuses that receive grants are required to invest at least $3 of their own funds for every $1 of state funds they receive.

Since the program’s inception, HECap grants have created more than $1 billion in infrastructure spending across New York and more than 14,000 jobs, including 7,000 construction jobs.

Marking 50 Years of Phi Beta Kappa

THE EXPRESSION, “LOVE OF WISDOM IS THE GUIDE OF LIFE,” recognizes scholarly inclination, celebrates intellectual distinction and represents the cause of liberal education.

Indeed, it is the dictum of Phi Beta Kappa ( ), one of the oldest and most prestigious academic honor societies in the United States. It distinguishes liberal arts students who have demonstrated the highest ideals of scholastic excellence. Earning membership into its ranks remains an important hallmark of academic achievement. , the first American society bearing a Greek-letter name, was founded in 1776 by students at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, as a philosophic society of gentlemen appointed through an oath of secrecy and even a special handshake.

Its prestige and influence grew significantly over time, as did its exclusiveness. Only a small percentage of graduates in liberal arts qualify for membership, and an even smaller percentage of universities and colleges are awarded chapters. In 1883, 25 chapters existed in the United States, and by 1928, the total had risen to 115. This was especially true for Catholic schools, where applications and acceptances trailed significantly behind nonparochial institutions. In 1958, out of the 250 Catholic colleges and universities in the U.S., only two had charters. By the time Manhattan College earned its charter in 1970, only 200 colleges and universities, out of 2,500 schools in America that offered liberal arts programs, had been accepted into .

Although initial queries concerning the establishment of a chapter began as far back as 1936, the College’s first serious pursuit of a chapter began in 1959, with an inquiry and a preliminary application following in 1961. Chapter recognition was the culmination of more than a decade of intensive work, continuous preparation and rigorous examination. Manhattan College earned the coveted gold key when its Phi Beta Kappa charter was approved in the fall of 1970. The College was the first Christian Brothers institution and only the sixth Catholic school to achieve this impressive honor.

Several factors helped the College achieve charter approval. During the late 1960s, consideration of contemporary societal problems led to the development of a diversity of programs at the College in general and the School of Arts and Science in particular. Fields of study that dealt with racism, peace, poverty, urban planning and art forms helped enhance the liberal arts program at Manhattan. The addition of impressive new faculty members who held doctoral degrees and Phi Beta Kappa membership, as well as the high number of successful alumni who pursued advanced degrees and made significant contributions in academia, also strengthened the academic program and helped the College pursue society affiliation.

There were several Christian Brothers, lay faculty and administrators who worked strenuously to bring chapter recognition to Manhattan College. However, the true leader of the project was Brother Abdon Lewis Garavaglia, FSC, dean of the School of Arts and Science and chairman of the Phi Beta Kappa faculty members. Brother Abdon Lewis spearheaded the negotiations, prepared the reports, heeded the advice of fellow academics by sustaining careful scrutiny and eventually achieved the goal during his long tenure at the College. When the Upsilon chapter was officially installed just over 50 years ago on February 12, 1971, at a dignified ceremony in Thomas Hall, membership was granted to 23 faculty who were members of Phi Beta Kappa. Bentley Glass, Ph.D., renowned geneticist and immediate past president of the United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa, presided at the ceremonies, where he tendered honorary membership to the president of Manhattan College, Brother Gregory Nugent, FSC.

Membership in the national organization of Phi Beta Kappa remains available to future graduating classes. To be considered for admission, undergraduates must have completed a minimum of 90 credits within the liberal arts from the School of Liberal Arts and School of Science; demonstrated a high level of achievement in their coursework and a serious commitment to liberal studies; earned a GPA of 3.75 for the previous five semesters; and possess demonstrated fluency in a second language to at least an intermediate level.

Induction into Phi Beta Kappa opens up to Manhattan College students the social and scholarly resources of the society in general, as well as bestowing upon them the important qualification of academic excellence, which is understood and respected in every college and university in America.

Lawrence Udeigwe Awarded MIT Visiting Professorship and Grants

LAWRENCE UDEIGWE, PH.D., ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS at Manhattan College, has been awarded a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Visiting Associate Professorship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The appointment lasts for one year, during which Udeigwe will: continue research on modeling neural plasticity, especially as it pertains to the primate visual system, and its application to computer vision and autonomous driving; develop and teach a graduate seminar course that explores practical and philosophical questions regarding the use of simulations to affirm experimental results and eventually build theories in neuroscience; and assist the MIT Brain and Cognitive Science Department in developing diversity, equity, inclusion and justice (DEIJ) initiatives and policies that promote and foster the success of young and rising underrepresented minority scientists and applied mathematicians.

“The impact of my work during this appointment will definitely not stop at MIT,” Udeigwe says. “It will be felt at Manhattan College when I return home. I believe my research work with students will get deeper and more interdisciplinary. I will also be in a better position to develop and get funded for DEIJ initiatives among student researchers, especially students from underrepresented communities and military veterans.”

In 2020, Udeigwe was awarded a National Science Foundation Research Grant, and in 2021, he was awarded a Department of Defense research grant of $371,000 from the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Army Research Laboratory to support his work on Hebbian Learning. In this work, Udeigwe uses analytical and numerical methods to explore and model the dynamical interactions between synaptic plasticity and a set of accompanying biologically stabilizing mechanisms known as homeostatic plasticity.

At Manhattan College, Udeigwe introduced and created new courses in computational neuroscience and applied dynamical systems that he has taught to both graduate and undergraduate students since the fall of 2018.

Lawrence Udeigwe, Ph.D.

Jaspers Raise Money for Local Schools

AS THE 2021-22 SCHOOL YEAR APPROACHED, students in the Manhattan College Lambda Pi chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, the international honor organization for financial information students, had more than just their classes on their minds. They came together to raise money for teachers and students in two Bronx elementary schools.

The students “adopted” a second-grade special education class at P.S. 157, taught by Rosemary Burti ’15. As part of the supply drive, the group raised more than $2,000 in supplies and cash for P.S. 157, thanks to the generosity of faculty, alumni, students, friends and family. The group was also able to donate an additional $500 to I.S. 254X, another Title 1 school in the Fordham section of the Bronx.

“Beta Alpha Psi believes in stewardship and that we have the opportunity to make the world a better place by starting small in our community,” Samantha Russo ’22 says. “We felt that it was important to make sure every child was prepared for this new adventure of an academic year, as most of them would be going to school for the very first time.”

As a result of the students’ efforts, I.S. 254X also received an additional $1,000 gift card, sponsored by KPMG, to First Book at the 2021 Beta Alpha Psi Annual Conference.

Samantha Russo ’22 (left) and her fellow Beta Alpha Psi members held a supply drive to make sure that secondgrade students at P.S. 157, taught by Rosemary Burti ’15 (right), were properly prepared for the new school year.

Trustees Appointments and Additions

WILLIAM DOOLEY ’75, former executive vice president of investments and financial services at AIG (American International Group), was appointed the next chair of the Manhattan College Board of Trustees last year.

Brother Frank Byrne, FSC, former president of Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft, New Jersey, and Moira Kilcoyne ’83, retired managing director and CIO of Morgan Stanley, both members of the board of trustees, were also appointed as vice chairs.

Dooley succeeds Kenneth Rathgeber ’70, who served as chair since 2012. A member of Manhattan College’s board of trustees from 2007-2020, Dooley served AIG for 37 years before his retirement in 2015.

He served in various senior roles in AIG’s domestic and international areas. As executive vice president of investments and financial services, Dooley had overall responsibility for AIG asset management. He joined AIG in 1978 and was elected AIG vice president in 1996, senior vice president in 1998, and executive vice president of investments and financial services in 2010.

Prior to joining AIG, Dooley was employed by European American Bank in New York. He received a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Manhattan College and a Master of Business Administration in finance from Pace University.

His charitable interests include the Archdiocese of New York, with particular interest in the Inner City Scholarship Fund. Throughout many years of service to his community, Dooley has served as a member of the Diocesan Finance Council, Diocese of Trenton, as well as the Christian Brothers International Board of Counselors. He is also involved with various clubs and organizations, including his local parishes, and the Christian Brothers Academy. Brother Ernest Miller, FSC, D. Min., has been appointed to Manhattan College’s Board of Trustees. Brother Ernest serves as vice president of mission, diversity and inclusion at La Salle University, and previously served as vice president of mission, since joining La Salle in August 2015. During the 2020-21 academic year, he co-chaired the La Salle Joint Commission on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Brother Ernest has worked to revise or implement new missionfocused initiatives for faculty, staff and administrators. He also works with students inside and outside of the classroom to grasp the

William Dooley ’75, former executive vice president of investments and financial services at AIG, was appointed chair of the Manhattan College Board of Trustees this past year. Brother Ernest Miller, FSC, D.Min., vice president of mission, diversity and inclusion at La Salle University, also joins the board. long arc of the Lasallian story and vision. A native of New Orleans, Brother Ernest joined the Brothers in 1993, in Philadelphia, to begin his initial formation. In 1998, he made his first profession of vows, and in 2003, he made his final profession of vows. He served three years (2009-2012) as the associate director for mission and ministry in the District of Eastern North America (DENA), the geographic area for all the Brothers’ communities and Lasallian ministries in seven states, Washington, D.C., Ontario, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Before the creation of DENA in 2009, he served two years (2007-2009) as director of education and Lasallian mission formation in the former District of Baltimore, which encompassed the Lasallian educational ministries in the Mid-Atlantic region. Brother Ernest earned a Doctor of Ministry at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago; an M.A. in international affairs from The Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University; an M.A. in education from La Salle University; a master’s in liberal studies from Georgetown University; and a B.A. in political science from Loyola University New Orleans.

The Players Earn Nominations from the Kennedy Center

FOUR MANHATTAN COLLEGE STUDENTS — Matthew Blackwood ’22, Isabelle Campbell ’22, Maren Kain ’22, and Sami Rini ’22 — were nominated for the Irene Ryan Acting Award at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Region 1 (New England and New York) Festival in January.

The Irene Ryan award highlights exceptional student performers who want to further their education. Kain, Rini and Blackwood (who advanced to the semifinal round) received the nomination based on their performances in the fall 2021 Manhattan College production of Significant Other. Campbell was nominated after her performance in Oedipus Rex in spring 2021.

“This is a huge achievement for our students. I’m so proud of the work we’ve been able to accomplish in the past year,” says J.R. Caldwell, an adjunct faculty member in the music and theater department and director of the Manhattan College Players.

Significant Other was also in the running to be shown as an example of outstanding theater at Region 1. In addition to Oedipus Rex, Significant Other is the second production from Manhattan College that was up for consideration.

In 2021, the Manhattan College Players also received the Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Award for their production of The Laramie Project. The Players’ production was chosen as one of the top 10 college and university productions in Region 1 from the fall 2020 semester, and also garnered three other national awards.

The Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Awards recognize programs in higher education using theatrical productions to promote long-term societal impact through an artistic lens, to encourage empathetic exploration of the complex cultural and physical world, and to advocate for justice on campus and throughout the world.

“This was so exciting for the students and the school,” Caldwell says. “It is a huge honor for our students and school to be recognized for the second time this school year.”

A few stills from the Manhattan College Players in action during their production of The Laramie Project, which won several awards, including the Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Award. Four of the Players also were nominated for the prestigious Irene Ryan Acting Award at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Region 1 this past January.

Rooftop Garden Sprouts College Readiness Initiative

THIS PAST SUMMER, MANHATTAN COLLEGE’S ROOFTOP COMMUNITY

garden served as an urban laboratory for some local teenagers. The garden is a key part of a new college readiness initiative that Manhattan College is offering to high school students in the Bronx and Manhattan. Dart Westphal, adjunct professor of environmental studies, is teaching a college-level course, Sustainable Cities, with a focus on the communities around Van Cortlandt Park.

Students who participate in the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance’s Urban Ecology Teen Internship are enrolled in the course at no cost. Current Manhattan College students have also served as mentors in the community garden.

After completing the course in August, the group of 16 teenagers earned three college credits. In the course, students examined environmental topics such as methods of stormwater capture, issues, storage and distribution. Students also looked at how Van Cortlandt Park and the surrounding area exemplifies sustainability.

“Van Cortlandt Park is becoming a ‘field school’ for Manhattan College students in the liberal arts, sciences and engineering,” Westphal says. “This is a great opportunity for us to continue to strengthen that relationship with the park and our greater community.”

The New Yankee Stadium Community Benefits Fund also has supported the initiative with a $5,000 grant.

Established in 2012, the rooftop community garden was designed and built by Manhattan College students to provide food for the community and hands-on learning for their peers. It has become a key component of Manhattan College’s work toward making its campus more sustainable and decreasing its carbon footprint.

The garden produces about 200 pounds of food annually, including watermelon, corn, tomatoes, bell peppers, spinach, squash, broccoli, lettuce, pumpkins and beans. The food is distributed to Bronx residents at the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance Teen Market.

LASALLIANLOOK Manhattan Celebrates 10 Years as a Fair Trade College

ON A WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON IN FEBRUARY, the second-floor lounge of the Kelly Commons was, as usual, bustling with students taking breaks between classes and meeting up with friends. On this day, however, they were also enjoying the added bonus of free chocolate, coffee, iced tea, and ice cream — all certified fair trade. The event was a celebration of Manhattan’s 10th anniversary of its designation as a Fair Trade College, conceived by the grassroots organization Fair Trade Campaigns as a way to engage college students in combating global poverty.

Fair trade promotes just wages and safe working conditions for farmers and artisans in developing nations. This practice empowers communities around the world and gives them the tools to grow and thrive.

“Fair trade is working toward creating a better world in a sustainable way in systems that already exist,” explains Jacquie Martin, coordinator of social action and campus ministry. “Through everyday purchases and actions, you’re contributing positively toward social justice.”

Back in 2012, Manhattan was the first college in New York City — and the fifth in the country — to earn the Fair Trade label. Lois Harr, who recently retired as director of Campus Ministry and Social Action (CMSA), notes that official Fair Trade recognition was no simple matter, taking several years to achieve. The criteria for becoming a Fair Trade College include having at least two fair trade products available in college-owned or operated outlets; using fair trade products at internal college meetings and college-hosted events; developing a fair trade resolution and procurement policy; and committing to fair trade education and awareness-raising.

“It’s totally in line with the College’s Lasallian values and mission statement to be in service to fellow human beings, promote Catholic social justice and concern for the poor,” Harr says. “This is a no-brainer as an example of Catholic social teaching.”

The idea was planted in 2005, when Catholic Relief Services sponsored a presentation on fair trade coffee being produced by co-ops in Central America. Then, during a L.O.V.E. trip to Ecuador in 2007, participants learned about the poor working conditions of flower workers in Peru, Ecuador and Costa Rica.

“They told us, ‘If you’re going to the store in January, the flowers are not being grown around the corner,’” Harr recalls. “‘Look for the Fair Trade seal and buy those flowers.’”

Inspired, students and staff worked under the auspices of CMSA and JustPeace to raise awareness about fair trade practices and how to be educated consumers. To increase the availability of products, they approached the campus food service provider and convinced them to stock fair trade coffee. From there, the campus bookstore began to stock fair trade T-shirts, chocolate, nail polish and other items.

“We did education and engagement and worked with procurement people to tell vendors to carry fair trade products,” Harr says. “We had a genuine collection of people who cared. It was great fun and a way to do something very concrete.”

In the 10 years since attaining Fair Trade College status, fair trade products and events have become a common sight around campus. Students in the O’Malley School of Business hold Fair Trade Fuel events around holidays, with pop-up sales of gifts at Christmastime and flowers for Valentine’s Day. CMSA has led social justice excursions to retailers like Patagonia, which sells fair trade clothing, and hosted presentations by representatives of Greyston Bakery, which practices open hiring, and Madewell, a purveyor of fair trade denim.

“We try to focus on educating and helping our students be more ethical consumers,” Martin says. “So in a few years, when they have a job, an apartment and income flow, they will keep these considerations in mind.”

At the 10th anniversary celebration in the Kelly Commons, Mary Derhaag ’24 was handing out samples of Sarilla, a canned tea made with fair trade tea leaves from Rwanda.

“I think everyone should support fair trade,” she says. “It’s something like 40 cents extra a kilo to get fair trade tea picked. It’s such a simple thing to pay that small bit extra and makes such a big difference for communities that do so much for us.”

Rock and Pop Album Composition (MUSC 303)

Course Description: Contemporary music constantly evolves, so it is beneficial for students to learn where current artists gained their inspiration. Rock and Pop Album Composition explores classic albums that heavily influenced current music, provides an in-depth analysis of these works, and gives students the hands-on experience of recreating the songs and performing them live.

The course begins with a thorough formal structural analysis of the individual songs appearing on a selected album. The class explores the entire album’s larger formal structure through an in-depth examination of its core keys, harmony, modalities and tonal modulations. Under the instructor’s guidance, students also transcribe sections of the album related to their individual performance using specialized software.

The weekly, three-hour class is divided between a onehour lecture and a two-hour live performance. Students learn the history of classic albums and then perform the music for a live audience at the end of the semester. The lectures and performances give students the technical abilities to create music using online software, and a deeper understanding of and appreciation for the album.

Texts: • Leon Stein, Anthology of Musical Forms – Structure &

Style: The Study and Analysis of Musical Forms (Alfred

Music, 1995) • Thomas MacFarlane, The Beatles Abbey Road Medley –

Extended Forms in Popular Music (Scarecrow Press Inc., 2008) • Kendall Durelle Briggs, The Language and Materials of

Music (Highland Heritage Press, 2011) Lectures: Thursdays, 3-6 p.m. Professor: Andrew Bauer

About the Professor: Andrew Bauer is the director of performing arts for Student Engagement and an adjunct professor for the Music and Theater department at Manhattan College. He holds a Bachelor of Music (flute minor), from the Manhattan School of Music and a Bachelor of Arts in music and English from Bard College. While in college, he perfected composition and orchestration, which led him to pursue a master’s degree in classical composition and electronic music at the Manhattan School of Music. Before Bauer joined the College, he worked and performed with the Blackfriars Repertory Theatre, Music Theater International, Cherry Lane Music Company, and Rodgers & Hammerstein Theater Company, among others.

CRISTINA PÉREZ JIMÉNEZ, PH.D.,

assistant professor of English, was awarded a research stipend in the competitive U.S. Latino Digital Humanities Grants-in-Aid program, funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by the University of Houston. Her project was one of only nine national grant recipients. The grant will support Pérez Cristina Pérez Jiménez, Ph.D. Jiménez’s development of a digital humanities project entitled “The Latino Catskills,” which digitizes, documents and preserves the longstanding though effaced presence of Latinos in New York’s Catskills region from the late 19th century through the 1970s.

“The Latino Catskills” is a digital project that resituates the rural Catskills region, located 100 miles northwest of New York City, as a generative space of Latino culture and identities. As this project documents, from the late 19th century through the 1970s, the Catskill Mountains were a popular summer destination for countless Spaniards, Cubans, Puerto Ricans and others of Latin American descent.

These Latino travelers took day trips (known as giras) or stayed at private dwellings and the many resorts owned by fellow Spanish speakers, such as the historic Villas Hispanas in Plattekill, New York. “The Latino Catskills” reconstructs this important archive of Latino culture, recentering recreation and leisure as important aspects of the Latino experience, and complementing dominant narratives of New York Latinidad, which have traditionally focused on the racialized experiences of urban poverty and toil.

In 2019, Pérez Jiménez was one of 24 scholars nationwide to receive a Ford postdoctoral fellowship, a national fellowship administered by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on behalf of the Ford Foundation.

A member of the English department since 2016, Pérez Jiménez received her Ph.D. from Columbia University and teaches courses on Latinx and U.S. multiethnic literatures, as well as Caribbean and postcolonial studies.

Cristina Pérez Jiménez Receives U.S. Latino Digital Humanities Grant

Ahmid Mohammed Murtada ’22 Awarded Gilman Scholarship

AHMID MOHAMMED MURTADA ’22, a student in the O’Malley School of Business, received a $4,000 Gilman Scholarship, which enabled him to study abroad in Venice, Italy, during the spring semester.

Prior to coming to Manhattan College, Murtada served in the U.S. Army at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he was an automated logistical specialist and a human resources specialist.

After an honorable discharge, Murtada came to Riverdale, where he is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in computer information systems. Fluent in Arabic, Hausa and English, he is a member of Manhattan College’s Investment Club and its Student Veterans Organization.

Murtada is the fourth Manhattan student to receive a Gilman Scholarship, joining students who have studied abroad in Madrid and Malaga, Spain, and Panama throughout the past decade.

The Gilman Scholarship has enabled more than 25,000 outstanding Americans of diverse backgrounds to engage in meaningful educational experiences abroad. The program has successfully broadened U.S. participation in study abroad, while emphasizing countries and regions where fewer Americans traditionally study.

The Gilman Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and is supported in its implementation by the Institute of International Education.

Model UN Team Collects Accolades After Returning to the Conference

IT WAS THE FIRST IN-PERSON National Model UN conference for the Manhattan College team in a couple of years, but this past fall, the students in the College’s delegation overcame any nerves about attending a 700-person conference. In fact, they even returned from Washington, D.C., with an honorable mention award and two awards for outstanding position papers.

“The students did an amazing job,” says Pamela Chasek, Ph.D., professor of political science and adviser to the Model UN team. “This was especially sweet since we haven’t participated in an inperson conference in two years, and only one person on the delegation had ever been to an in-person Model UN conference.”

Sixteen students formed the Manhattan College delegation that represented the People’s Republic of China. Hailey Peña ’22 and Mia Brito-Karcher ’22 each won a position paper award in UN-Women, and Carolyn Allen ’23 and Shaelyn Poulin ’25 earned a position paper award in the UN Environment Assembly.

College Dedicates New Space for Women Engineers

ANEW SOCIETY OF WOMEN ENGINEERS (SWE) room was recently opened as part of the remodeled Leo Hall. Located on the first floor and adjacent to the Helene & Kenneth Orce ’65 Student Center Commons study area, the SWE room features couches, chairs, tables and whiteboards for study sessions or meetings.

“The new Society of Women Engineers space is an example of the College’s and School of Engineering’s commitment to encourage increased enrollment of and success for outstanding women engineering students,” says Tim Ward, Ph.D., dean of the School of Engineering.

“When Leo Hall was renovated over the last three years, the SWE room found a new location in a brandnew space,” Ward adds.

In October, the College held a formal dedication ceremony for the space and invited some of the School of Engineering’s illustrious alumnae.

“The ribbon-cutting event was super special to dedicate our space and get to celebrate as a club, as well as to invite back alumni who helped get our club to where it is today,” says Ashley Hickey ’22, former president of SWE and a civil engineering major, who spoke at the event.

Noreen Krall ’87, J.D., was the guest speaker at the dedication. An electrical engineer-turned-lawyer who serves on the College’s board of trustees, Krall is former vice president and chief litigation counsel for Apple Inc. She also funded the Noreen Krall Endowed Scholarship to Advance Women in Engineering, which will be given out for the first time this fall.

“I was delighted to be part of the dedication,” Krall says. “The suite provides a comfortable place where the women engineering students can meet, study together and grow their networks. It is encouraging to see how Manhattan College is providing support for women in engineering now and in the future.”

Connie Pisani Zambianchi ’06, president of Amaracon Testing & Inspections LLC, also spoke at the event. She was part of the original cohort of engineering students to first have access to a space for SWE meetings and events. She remains committed to the next generation of women engineers and computer science majors at the College.

“Today, I am still very close with the women from my engineering program who shared this space with me; we’re not only there to support each other in our careers but also in our personal lives,” Zambianchi says. “We learned these values in our time and in our own space at Manhattan College, and this is what SWE is all about.”

Francesca Bernhardt ’23, a mechanical engineering major and the newly elected president of SWE, is excited about the space.

Guest speaker Noreen Krall ’87, J.D., former vice president and chief litigation counsel for Apple Inc. and a member of the College’s board of trustees, helped to officially dedicate the newly opened Society of Women Engineers (SWE) room in Leo Hall. The revamped space is a great spot for doing homework, group collaboration or just catching up with fellow engineers. “The SWE room has been a great resource for engineering students, as it provides a guaranteed space for students if they want a place to get homework done, collaborate on group projects or club meetings, or even just relax with friends in between classes,” Bernhardt says. A nonprofit organization founded in 1950 to provide women with an environment to achieve success in engineering, SWE currently counts 50 active members at Manhattan College, and the number keeps growing. Jessica Wilson, Ph.D., faculty adviser and associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and graduate director of the Environmental Engineering program, explains that SWE is working to set up a Women in Engineering alumni group. “The goal is to make sure SWE has the resources they need and to serve as mentors for students,” she says. As a result, SWE hosted a social networking event on April 4 at the AECOM office, an infrastructure consulting firm, for alumni and students. “We are so proud to offer the SWE room as an inclusive space for all people on campus to use as they please,” Hickey says.

Civil Engineers Assist the Department of Defense

MANHATTAN COLLEGE CIVIL ENGINEERING STUDENTS have been helping the United States Department of Defense be environmentally sound and more cost-efficient, thanks to a $560,000 grant from the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) with the Department of Defense.

In 2019, Mehdi Omidvar, Ph.D., associate professor of civil engineering, in collaboration with colleagues at New York University and the Southwest Research Institute, received $1.8 million in federal funding to predict the location of buried weapons at formerly used defense sites, in an effort that could save the federal government millions of dollars and turn old military testing grounds into residential and commercial recreation sites.

A handful of Manhattan College recent graduates have worked on the project during the past three years, including Dylan Grace ’20, ’21 (M.S.), Brian Kenneally ’21 (M.S.), Rachel White ’20, ’21 (M.S.), and Rachel Foertch ’21.

The U.S. military has identified more than 10,000 former defense sites across the country that were used for weapons practice. SERDP is working with the Manhattan College group, and others, to create a method to predict where there are any unexploded ordnances, or already used munitions, in the ground.

“In application, this is a problem that has both geotechnical and environmental aspects,” says Kenneally, who earned his bachelor’s degree in physics at the University of Richmond before pursuing a master’s degree in environmental engineering at Manhattan.

“[The work] is going to be used for environmental remediation projects at these sites,” he explains. “When there are these different unexploded ordnances in the ground, they pose a serious risk of explosion. There are also chemicals that can find their way into drinking water. In addition to the need to save taxpayer dollars and get the land to be usable for private use, there’s a serious environmental application to this.”

The group is working on a multifaceted approach to predict the burial depth of these unexploded ordnances in the ground. They have put together state-of-the-art ballistic testing facilities at the College and use laser light to track projectile motion in a variety of soil targets.

These experiments are then used to develop mathematical models to predict the burial depth of different munitions. The group is also developing advanced numerical simulations that further their understanding of the problem.

“This project involves a lot of applied physics,” Omidvar says. “We are in a unique position to run experiments and gain an indepth understanding of this complex problem. We then take these observations and translate them into mathematical relationships. Our students are able to apply what they have learned in class to a very challenging problem that has important real-world applications.”

“It brings out the aspects of the engineering education that are the focus of our programs,” he continues. “Working on this project has empowered our students to elevate their capabilities. At the same time, the interdisciplinary nature of this work allows them to apply their engineering knowledge to problems beyond the classroom.”

Grace has been heavily involved in the experimental campaign, where he uses a projectile launcher and a photon Doppler velocimeter to measure projectile velocities in soil targets.

“We’re able to approach this problem from the ground up and build something and operate it, and make it work,” Grace says. “It’s rewarding to see all of the complex components of the project come together after months of planning and design. We are analyzing the data from our experiments, and are gaining a deeper understanding of the problem. We then have to explain what we’re doing and describe the results to our collaborators.”

An important part of the group’s work is creating a set of computer simulations. The Manhattan team is producing its own data and training its systems to simulate different scenarios. That is where White comes in.

“I never expected myself to know this much about computers or simulating in general,” White says. “I’ve had a lot of opportunities to challenge myself and find out what I’ve been capable of.”

She has created computer advanced simulations that accurately predict the experiments that Grace is carrying out. White also collaborates with NYU researchers who provide the soil properties needed for the mathematical models in her simulations.

“I have gained valuable skills working on this project, such as collaborating with other researchers, and presenting our results in technical documents and publications. I have also had the opportunity to mentor other undergraduate students on the project,” White says.

By the end of 2022, the group will submit their mathematical models to the Department of Defense for predicting results of fullscale live-fire tests. The tools developed by the team then will be used in remediation of formerly used defense sites across the country.

Mehdi Omidvar, Ph.D., associate professor of civil engineering, collaborates with engineering students Dylan Grace ’20, ’21 (M.S.) and Rachel White ’20, ’21 (M.S.), and Anirban De, Ph.D., chair and professor of civil and environmental engineering, on a project for the Department of Defense, made possible through federal funding.

Micaela Beatty Wins Distinguished Service Award from Phi Epsilon Kappa

MICAELA BEATTY ’21, who graduated last May with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science, was one of three students nationwide to win the R.R. Schreiber Distinguished Service Award and the Scholastic Achievement Certificate from the Phi Epsilon Kappa (PEK) honor society.

The award recognizes a student who clearly exhibits leadership and performs outstanding chapter, community and/or professional service on behalf of the chapter and the fraternity.

A two-year member of PEK, Beatty was the sergeant-at-arms and media coordinator of the Manhattan College chapter.

Beatty was active in a variety of community service events, including preparing lesson plans for students with disabilities at Kingsbridge Heights Community Center. She also volunteered at the Fordham Bedford Community Center, and helped students with Englishspeaking skills and assisted them with their citizenship tests.

During her time at Manhattan College, Beatty was the Kinesiology department student ambassador, and a member of the Dean’s list, Epsilon Sigma Pi, Alpha Epsilon Delta and a merit-based scholarship recipient.

MASTER OF SCIENCE IN ACCOUNTING

Students will have the opportunity to earn a master’s degree in accounting starting in the fall of 2022 in the O’Malley School of Business.

The Master of Science in Accounting program provides students who have previously earned undergraduate business degrees with the knowledge, skills and professional competencies necessary to begin a successful career in accounting. Students from the College’s undergraduate programs, or any other undergraduate institution, are eligible to apply.

The 30-credit, full- or part-time, one-year program provides a CPA licensure qualifying curriculum structured to meet the education requirements of the State of New York accountancy regulations.

It builds upon the excellence of the AACSB-accredited O’Malley School of Business faculty and the strengths of its undergraduate accounting and professional accounting MBA programs to meet the needs of graduate students who wish to enter this profession.

The program is online for maximum flexibility, with both asynchronous and weekly live virtual sessions to interact in real time with faculty and other students.

ADVANCED CERTIFICATE IN GREEN POWER AND SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

Students can earn an advanced certificate in green power and sustainable energy, thanks to a partnership among the School of Continuing and Professional Studies, School of Engineering and O’Malley School of Business.

The advanced certificate program begins in the summer of 2022 and is designed to be completed within one academic year. The program is a 15-credit hour, postbaccalaureate level, interdisciplinary program that provides highly relevant training in areas essential to the field of green power and sustainable energy. These areas include, but are not limited to, engineering, business analytics, economics, finance, sustainability, and organizational leadership.

It is designed to appeal to a wide range of individuals who are interested in renewable energy and sustainability. The courses in the advanced certificate program also can be applied toward master’s degree programs.

DIGITAL MEDIA ART MAJOR

As of this spring, the College now offers a digital media art major. The digital media art minor includes four courses: Digital Drawing, Digital Photography, Digital Video and Graphic Design. To fulfill the major, four additional subject areas have been added: Web Design, Game Design, Animation and Immersive Media (VR/AR/MxR).

One of the main goals of the new major is for students to develop a critical awareness of the history, theory and practice of digital media art as an agent of social change, which aligns it with Manhattan’s mission of person-centered learning and civic engagement.

The College’s New York City location offers students unrivaled access to some of the industry’s most sought-after internship and career opportunities, including an exclusive internship collaboration with Ogilvy, the global New York City-based advertising agency. In addition, recent digital media art minors have gone on to positions as graphic designers at leading institutions, including the Guggenheim Museum and Chobani Yogurt.

Additions to the Curriculum

Rankings and Recognitions

PAYSCALE

Manhattan College is one of the top places in the United States to earn a bachelor’s degree, according to Payscale’s 2021-22 College Salary Report.

The report, which is based on data updated in September 2021, ranks Manhattan College as No. 47 among more than 1,500 colleges and universities included in the survey.

Among the 464 Manhattan College alumni that provided survey responses, the average early career salary is $68,000 and average midcareer salary is $136,100.

Payscale also placed Manhattan College in the top 100 in its College Return on Investment (ROI) Report. Manhattan was ranked No. 85 of 1,978 schools listed in the survey. Payscale notes the 20-year net ROI of a Manhattan College graduate as $614,000, which is calculated as the difference between the 20-year median pay for a bachelor’s degree recipient and the 24-year median pay for a high school graduate minus the total four-year cost.

U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT

For the sixth consecutive year, the College is ranked among the top 15 Best Regional Universities in the North by U.S. News & World Report. Manhattan took the 13th spot among 175 colleges and universities.

Manhattan College was also recognized among the top colleges in the region for student veterans, undergraduate teaching, and its School of Engineering.

Among student veterans, Manhattan ranked fifth, moving up one spot from last year. For the second year in a row, the College placed seventh in the region for the undergraduate teaching category. Manhattan College was also recognized among the top schools in the region for undergraduate engineering, coming in at No. 39.

U.S. News provides rankings of more than 1,800 best colleges and universities, as well as hundreds of best graduate school programs. The company chooses the colleges based on data it annually collects from administrators at hundreds of colleges about their institutions’ academic offerings.

U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT MBA RANKINGS

For the first time, the O’Malley School of Business was listed in U.S. News & World Report’s 2022 best part-time MBA rankings, indicating the value and quality of the program amid strong competition.

The O’Malley School of Business MBA program, launched in 2010, was designed to be flexible, innovative and interdisciplinary. The program primarily draws working professionals from the New York metropolitan area and also welcomes recent graduates eager to add a recognized career-enhancing degree to their portfolio.

U.S. News & World Report ranks MBA programs in categories of full time, part-time, online and executive programs. The College’s MBA primarily draws students who work full time while completing their degree. The publication bases the ranking of schools on several factors, including a peer assessment by U.S. business school deans, average GMAT and GRE scores, average undergraduate GPA, and the number of years of work experience of part-time MBA students.

The O’Malley School of Business is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) — among the top 5% of business schools worldwide holding this distinction.

THE PRINCETON REVIEW

Manhattan College is one of the nation’s best institutions for undergraduates, and one of the best colleges in the Northeast, according to The Princeton Review. The education services company profiles and recommends Manhattan College in the 2022 edition of its annual college guide, The Best 387 Colleges.

In the College’s section, students say Manhattan College’s location — the last stop on New York City’s No. 1 subway train — can’t be beat for ease into the more bustling parts of the 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.”

Students also boast of the campus’s true diversity and tight-knit community: “Coming back to school at Manhattan after a break is like going to a family reunion,” a student says. “You meet people from New York to Alaska” and “all over the world.”

Only about 14% of America’s 2,700 four-year colleges are profiled in the book, which is one of The Princeton Review’s most popular publications.

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY’S CENTER ON EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE

Manhattan College has been recognized as a college that provides a high return on investment (ROI) to low-income students. A study by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce ranked Manhattan College 95th out of 3,380 universities on ROI during a 40-year period. That places Manhattan among the top 3% of all colleges and universities in the country.

The Georgetown study gives additional weight to such factors as the percentage of low-income students who are enrolled, their graduation rates, and their long-term ROI, all factors that proved beneficial to Manhattan College’s placement in the rankings.

A second study by Third Way, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., also rated higher education institutions by economic mobility. Manhattan College placed among the top 25% of all institutions surveyed, 323rd out of 1,321 institutions.

WASHINGTON MONTHLY

Manhattan College has been recognized for the work that members of the community are doing to kick-start voter engagement on campus. Washington Monthly has included Manhattan College on its annual list of colleges that do the most to turn students into active citizens.

Student voting on the Manhattan College campus increased significantly in the last election, rising to 59.6% in 2020 from a rate of 41.3% in 2016. This earned the College its first silver designation from the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, a competition in which more than 1,400 colleges and universities strive to reach full voter participation.

Kiambra Griffin, director of women’s basketball operations at the College, was also selected as one of two recipients of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge’s 2021 Standout Athletic Coach Award.

Griffin connected with Margaret Groarke, Ph.D., professor of political science, to engage participants in the Black Lives Matter Vigil to make sure students, faculty and staff were registered to vote before the 2020 election. Because of Griffin’s efforts, the women’s basketball team was the first team on campus to achieve 100% voter registration, and other teams in the athletics department quickly followed suit.

Due to the efforts of the College’s voter engagement committee, 76.4% of eligible Manhattan College students were registered to vote in 2020, and 78.1% of registered students voted in the 2020 elections. The rate of registered students increased by nine percentage points from the 2018 elections.

MILITARY FRIENDLY

Manhattan received Military Friendly School’s highest designation, a Top 10 ranking at No. 8, among all private institutions that do not award a doctoral degree.

Last year, Manhattan College received a gold-level designation from Military Friendly Schools. It was the first time that the College had received the gold-level designation, and this marks the first year that Manhattan College has been included among Military Friendly School’s Top 10 institutions.

This also is the eighth consecutive year that Manhattan College has been recognized as a Military Friendly School.

Institutions earning the Military Friendly School designation were evaluated using both public data sources and responses from a proprietary survey. More than 1,800 schools participated in the 2022-23 survey, with 665 earning the designation.

Methodology, criteria and weightings were determined by Viqtory with input from the Military Friendly Advisory Council of independent leaders in the higher education and military recruitment community.

MILITARY TIMES

Manhattan College is one of 297 higher education institutions included in Military Times’ Best for Vets: Colleges 2021 list.

Each year, Military Times sends its survey to colleges and universities across the nation asking about their programs for veterans. The survey results are then analyzed, along with public data about colleges and universities obtained from the Department of Education and Department of Veterans Affairs, and turned into an official ranking. Manhattan College ranked 11th among 42 institutions in the Northeast.

Engineering Students Secure Scholarships from American Society of Highway Engineers

SEVEN STUDENTS AND RECENT GRADUATES IN THE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

received scholarships from the New York Metropolitan Chapter of the American Society of Highway Engineers last summer: Angel Castro ’23, Odette Dominguez ’21, Alyssa Hirani ’21, Mohamed Karim ’21, Ahmed Murshed ’21, Stephen Murphy ’22 and Christopher Perdios ’23.

Murshed received a $2,500 Arora and Associates scholarship, while Castro, Dominguez, Hirani, Karim, Murphy and Perdios received $1,000 scholarships.

A total of $25,000 in scholarship awards were presented to students attending CUNY City College, Manhattan College, New York University and Columbia University. The scholarships were supported by firm sponsors, including GPI, AECOM, Arora and Associates and Jacobs Engineering.

Alixandria James ’23 Named Newman Civic Fellow

CAMPUS COMPACT, A NATIONAL

COALITION OF COLLEGES AND

UNIVERSITIES working to advance the public purposes of higher education, has named 173 student civic leaders who make up the organization’s 2022-2023 cohort of Newman Civic Fellows. Alixandria James ’23, a public health major in the School of Education and Health, joins students from 38 states, Washington, D.C., and Mexico to form this cohort.

“As a public health major, I aim to better understand the intricacies of our healthcare delivery system, with the intention of expanding healthcare access, improving quality, and lowering costs,” James says. “Both the healthcare and education systems are responsible for providing services that are fundamental human rights, however, certain populations continuously fall through the cracks.”

James is an Outreach Program intern with New York-Presbyterian’s Division of Community and Population Health. As part of the Outreach Program, she helps provide basic, preventive healthcare services to Black and Brown communities throughout New York City.

The Newman Civic Fellowship recognizes students for their exemplary commitment to creating positive change in communities locally and around the world. The fellowship is named for the late Frank Newman, one of Campus Compact’s founders, who was a tireless advocate for civic engagement in higher education. In the spirit of Newman’s leadership, fellows are nominated by Campus Compact member presidents and chancellors, who are invited to select one outstanding student from their campus each year.

Through the fellowship, Campus Compact provides these students with a year of learning and networking opportunities that emphasize personal, professional and civic growth. Each year, fellows participate in numerous virtual training and networking events to help give them the skills and connections they need to create large-scale positive change.

Ally Mejia ’22 Lands Fellowship at Television Academy Foundation

A COMMUNICATION MAJOR AT MANHATTAN COLLEGE earned a nod from the Television Academy. Ally Mejia ’22 served as a public relations/ publicity fellow this past summer through the Television Academy Foundation’s program.

Originally from Yorba Linda, California, Mejia attended Orange County School of the Arts in Santa Ana, California.

“It is an honor to know that I was chosen for this prestigious fellowship by Television Academy members,” Mejia says. “It feels incredibly validating to know that the same people who vote on the Primetime Emmy Awards recognized my dedication and hard work.”

Typically, the Television Academy Foundation’s annual internship program provides 50 internships at top Hollywood studios and production companies to college students nationwide each summer. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Television Academy Foundation had to re-imagine its internship program last year and offered 50 students, selected from across the country, the chance to either intern remotely or enroll as a summer fellow.

The Summer Fellows Program includes virtual one-on-one visits with professionals in a student’s field of study, online panels with leaders in the television industry, and customized seminars covering personal brand building and navigating the job market ahead. Fellows also become lifelong members of the foundation’s alumni family, giving them access to events and networking opportunities as they build their careers in the industry.

LECTURE CIRCUIT

Tiny Talk Highlights Puerto Rican Artists

Poesia, a poster by poet Nicole Cecilia Delgado, who was featured in a Tiny Talk on the contemporary Puerto Rican art scene, delivered by English professor Cristina Pérez Jiménez, Ph.D., last fall.

CRISTINA PÉREZ JIMÉNEZ, PH.D., ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH, presented a Tiny Talk about the contemporary Puerto Rican art scene last fall. Her presentation, Debt, Being and Puerto Rican Art, highlighted four artists: poet Nicole Cecilia Delgado; contemporary visual artists Frances Negrón-Muntaner and Sarabel Santos Negrón; and photographer Adál Maldonado, all of whom have created works that respond to the ongoing financial crisis in Puerto Rico.

Pérez Jiménez noted that Delgado’s work reflects the grit and determination of Puerto Ricans while living under the difficult conditions of the present-day Puerto Rican economy. The artist’s goal, she explained, is to inspire others to not only survive but also to live with dignity, achieve real quality of life, create community, and find joy while doing so.

“What really strikes me about Nicole’s poems is that, amidst this accumulation of crisis and disaster, she remains defiant,” she said. “She manages to convey humor and playfulness, often by word play.”

Pérez Jiménez then described Valor y Cambio (value and change), an “artivism” project in which visual artists Negrón-Muntaner and Santos Negrón constructed an ATM-like machine. Participants are asked to record a video explaining what they value and in turn, receive one of six specially made community currency bills featuring impactful Puerto Rican historical figures. The bills can be used in participating local businesses for treats like a cup of tea or theater tickets.

“Money can give us stress and anxiety, and plenty of worry,” Pérez Jiménez said. “The idea that this project can reconceptualize the modes of exchange of money, in a way that can bring so much joy, is incredibly powerful for me.”

Pérez Jiménez then presented work by the photographer Maldonado. His project, Puerto Ricans Underwater, is a series of self portraits taken underwater in Maldonado’s bathtub. The models hold props or items that help tell their stories, thus capturing the feeling of drowning in debt that many people experience in Puerto Rico.

“These projects raise very interesting questions, not just in terms of Puerto Rico, and not just in terms of debt in Puerto Rico, but to all of you,” Pérez Jiménez concluded.

“What really strikes me about Nicole’s poems is that, amidst this accumulation of crisis and disaster, she remains defiant.” —CRISTINA PÉREZ JIMÉNEZ

LECTURE CIRCUIT

Alumna Discusses Therapy for Anxiety at Noberini Psychology Colloquium

ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF MENTAL ILLNESS, approximately 40 million people in the United States live with an anxiety disorder, including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. The symptoms of an anxiety disorder can make daily life challenging, sometimes making it impossible to complete everyday tasks, such as driving or going to the local supermarket.

Bridget Gerstel ’11, a graduate student at William James College, returned to Manhattan last fall to discuss her research on exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP) at the Noberini Psychology Colloquium. ERP is a less well-known therapeutic technique that encourages clients with anxiety to expose themselves to the thoughts, images, objects and situations that make them feel anxious or panicked.

Gerstel, who majored in psychology at Manhattan, explained that ERP is used over a length of time, sometimes even years. Studies have shown that it can help clients confront and overcome their fears. In an ERP session, the therapist and client work together to either imagine an anxiety-provoking scenario or complete a stressful task. An example of this would be someone who fears acting inappropriately in a crowded shopping center. In ERP, clients would walk through a busy shopping area with their therapist while letting those anxious thoughts run through their minds. The goal of the therapy is to expose patients to their fears in a safe and controlled environment.

“ERP has very strong clinical support for being used as treatment for a panic disorder,” Gerstel said. “Yet what I found was that not a lot of providers are using it. Even when they are using it, with good intentions, they do not realize they are not using it correctly, because it is a confusing treatment.”

Noting that ERP might be perceived as an extreme or even counterproductive type of treatment, Gerstel explained that the research has proven otherwise.

“Experiencing the distress is actually helpful, and it’s also, again, guided by the patient,” she said. “We do not want the patient to be put in a situation where they feel uncomfortable.”

Gerstel created an educational video about ERP with the help of one of her William James professors. In the video, Gerstel portrays someone experiencing a panic attack at a busy shopping mall. Her professor, portraying the therapist, walks beside her and guides her through the exposure. Gerstel follows her professor’s advice to tune into her heart rate. They make their way to the second level of the mall, farther away from the exits and, therefore, more challenging. “He kept encouraging me to tune into my feelings, explain what I was feeling, and where I was feeling it,” Gerstel explained.

The goal of the video is to provide correct information on ERP therapy, who should be receiving the treatment, and how it can be applied.

“We found that individuals who watched the orientation video did have improved knowledge of ERP,” Gerstel noted. “However ... they remained neutral on decisions to seek it out or recommend it to others.”

During the Q&A period, an attendee shared that they had used ERP to address OCD in their own life.

“Even though it was uncomfortable at the beginning,” they said, “I can honestly say [ERP] changed my life for the better.”

Bridget Gerstel ’11, a graduate student at William James College, returned to her alma mater to discuss her research on exposure and response prevention therapy, a technique that encourages clients with anxiety to expose themselves to the thoughts, images, objects and situations that make them feel anxious or panicked, at the Noberini Psychology Colloquium on campus.

LECTURE CIRCUIT

Military Service Meets Catholicism at Mission Month Lecture

PHIL KLAY, A FORMER U.S. MARINE VETERAN of the Iraq War and winner of the National Book Award, livestreamed a lecture to the Manhattan College community in April to discuss his collection of short stories and reflect on the experiences of others on the front lines. Titled Catholic Imagination in a Suffering World, the lecture was part of the Human Journey Colloquia sponsored by the Center for Catholic Studies at Sacred Heart University, as well as Manhattan College’s Mission Month celebration. The series showcases Catholic thinkers whose works unite the Catholic intellectual tradition with contemporary culture.

Klay began by relating his experiences with war and service, and shared stories of writing poetry and novels during training camps. He also recounted the stories of fellow soldiers and how they related to his Catholic upbringing. Klay then described his spiritual journey throughout his time in the Marines, and how it influenced his short story collection, Redeployment (Penguin Books, 2014). The stories detail the realities of life on the front lines in Iraq, including the perspectives of missionaries and their perceptions of violence. He intertwines the themes of helplessness and survival and shows the struggles of the characters to make meaning out of chaos.

Klay discussed his initial ideas for Redeployment and how he aimed to start conversations about the American military presence in Iraq.

“I think we don’t quite know what to make of our wars, in part because we’re still involved,” he said. “It seems that after every war, we start to think about what the contract between citizen and soldier is exactly, what to make of those who serve, and what to make of our responsibility for the wars fought in our name. There’s plenty that frustrates me, but there are also a lot of great voices in the conversation now.”

Klay drew inspiration for the stories in Redeployment, including the profoundly Catholic “Prayer in the Furnace,” from his Jesuit education at Regis High School in New York, where he was introduced to the study of theology and writers such as Flannery O’Connor. He expressed gratitude for his phenomenal teachers, who heavily influenced his exploration of faith in his writing. He discussed the ways Catholic literature quickly gets to deep, dark places, an idea that applies to “Prayer in the Furnace.”

“Catholic literature takes the idea of sin seriously,” he says. “It pays serious attention to suffering, to human fallibility, and the importance of ritual and community in human life. With war fiction, it’s not enough to assume that the presence of life-and-death decisions provide you with the basic materials for moral storytelling.”

Born in Westchester County, New York, and a graduate of Dartmouth College, Klay served as a public affairs officer in Iraq’s Anbar Province from 2007 to 2008. After being discharged, he received an MFA from Hunter College. Among many distinctions, Redeployment received the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation’s James Webb Award for fiction dealing with U.S. Marines or Marine Corps life, the National Book Critics’ Circle John Leonard Award for best debut work in any genre, the American Library Association’s W.Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction, and was shortlisted for the Frank O’Connor Prize. His most recent release, Missionaries (Penguin Press, 2020), received praise from the Los Angeles Times and was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2020. Klay currently teaches fiction at Fairfield University.

Former U.S. Marine and National Book Award-winning author Phil Klay talks about his short stories and military service in the context of his faith during a Human Journey Colloquia, which was part of a lineup of activities in celebration of Manhattan College’s Mission Month in April.