Board of Trustees elects two alumnae

Cynthia A. Begin ’87 and Lindsey Rugg ’22 have been elected to the Nichols College Board of Trustees, beginning their terms in May and October, respectively.

Begin is a career financial regulator, having served in various roles with the Massachusetts Division of Banks for more than 25 years. She currently serves as first deputy commissioner and has held other positions during her tenure, including chief risk officer, senior deputy commissioner, and assistant general counsel. She participates in agency policy development and implementation and has oversight responsibility for agency operations and supervision programs. She holds a Juris Doctorate from Suffolk University Law School.

Cynthia A. Begin ’87 Lindsey Rugg ’22

Rugg is a customer relations advocate for Fidelity Investments. Her prior experience includes two internships, as a financial representative for Northwestern Mutual and a social media communications intern for the Rian Immigrant Center in Boston. Rugg was a four-year member of the Honors Program at Nichols and was named to the inaugural Nichols Senior Advisory Council. She served as class president and as a member of the Emerging Leaders Program, women’s varsity volleyball team, and the Economics Club.

Bison Builds Continued from page 5

commons. It houses the Academic Center for Excellence and Support (ACES), the college’s tutoring program; partitioned rooms for peer tutoring; meeting rooms for collaborative and group work; and round tables for group tutoring and discussions. In contrast to the reserved atmosphere of the main room, the vibe of the north wing is modern and eclectic, including a permanent glass and gas sculpture created by American artist Mundy Hepburn, nephew of Katherine Hepburn, who hosted an exhibition of his work in the fall.

The north wing has also been configured to house the IT Help Desk to accommodate the technology needs of students, particularly with the launch of Nichols’ free laptop program for first-year students this fall.

Opening night of the renovated Conant Library. Pictured are Library Director Carrie Grimshaw, President Glenn Sulmasy, VP for Operations Bob LaVigne, and First Lady Marla Sulmasy.

This fall, the library hosted a unique art exhibit of glass and gas sculptures by Mundy Hepburn.

The vibe of the new north wing is eclectic and electric, with a permanent ceiling sculpture by Mundy Hepburn. The main reading room is a popular spot for students.

Students create career magic in the Disney College Program

by Mauri Pelto, PhD

At Nichols College we leverage experiential learning opportunities to drive students out of their comfort zone and to build useful career experiences. This network of opportunities is built on a resourceful faculty and an engaged alumni body who share opportunities that our students can then pursue. In the last academic year, business students completed 329 professional internships. One important developed pathway is the Disney College Program (DCP).

The DCP provides internship experiences for students across the country to work at a preeminent company in the hospitality industry and learn how to become part of creating that magic. At Nichols it has become a tradition to have hospitality management students participate. The catalyst is Maryann Conrad, associate professor and chair of hospitality management at Nichols, who encourages students to overcome any fear and apply. The first student to heed that call was Nicole Gawlik ’15 MBA ’19, creating the first ripple in this pond of opportunity. Since then 16 additional students have completed the internship, and almost every student heard about the program or was encouraged to participate by Conrad and Gawlik. Students like Sarah Ward ’16, whose first thought upon hearing about the program from Gawlik was, “How do I get this chance?”

This illustrates the strength of the close-knit Nichols alumni community in their eagerness to help guide and prepare current Bison to take risks and pursue opportunities; simply, Bison helping Bison.

Despite the 20,000 DCP applicants a year for 4,000 positions, Nichols has managed a 100 percent acceptance rate. Why? Ask Disney. Supervisor evaluations, which are rare, were shared with Professor Conrad last spring on the service of two Nichols “cast members,” which is how Disney refers to its employees. Senior Abby Karalus worked at the Grand Floridian resort, where her supervisor noted: “Abby went above and beyond her normal daily tasks. During her time, we tested a new system with no written guidelines or instructions and Abby was there to help pilot the program giving real time feedback. With her help we were able to form this system into an entire new position which she helped create from the ground up. The feedback and creative problem solving she brought to the table helped the operation run even more efficiently for years to come.”

Junior Timmy Rynearson, who worked in food and beverage at Magic Kingdom, was also commended for going above and beyond by his supervisor who elaborated that he was “constantly offering a helping hand while also extending his shifts to relieve his other cast members, and getting trained in every area of the complex of Tomorrowland while also having great success in each area. I am so sad to see him go but also so very proud of him....

Nicole Gawlik, a Nichols pioneer in the Disney College Program, has helped other interns find the magic within at Disney.

I am hopeful we will get more students from Nichols College.”

Regardless of their role, DCP interns note the excellent training at Disney that prepared them for many scenarios and empowered them to make decisions that would enhance the guest experience. Among them are Gawlik, Gina Petruzzi ’17 MBA ’18 MSOL ’22, graduate student Cassidy Robinson, and Ashley Littlefield ’21 who worked in one of Disney’s many resorts; Ward, who was a vacation planner at EPCOT; Nikki LaBrack ’17 MBA ’18, who worked at one of the attractions; and senior Rachel Moran, who worked in sales at Magic Kingdom.

Each looks back at the experience as life changing, including expanding their horizons. They found that the solution to making a visitor experience magic often meant the cast members had to learn to embrace the uncomfortable and this can be the key in creating a memorable experience for guests. The training emphasizes that there is no small role at Disney, but that small details matter. They also learned the value of making contacts. “Networking with fellow interns is great but it is just as important to take the opportunity to meet with leaders at Disney when an opportunity arises,” LaBrack notes. Moran followed through on this advice, meeting Josh D’Amaro, chair of Disney Parks and Experiences, and Bob Chapek, CEO of Disney.

The skill set has empowered each in their careers. Gawlik and Petruzzi in their human resource roles at The Joseph in Nashville, Tenn., and Cornerstone Bank respectively, where they emphasize the importance of training and building community. Gawlik finds that “role play training is often uncomfortable, but the best way to simulate challenging scenarios that require problem solving.” Ward and LaBrack in their roles providing customer service as a Disney vacation planner, and account fleet coordinator at Enterprise respectively.

Gawlik worked as guest hostess at Magic Kingdom after graduation while completing a Nichols MBA, which has allowed her hospitality career to move forward, and she currently provides internships for Nichols hospitality students in Nashville. Ward and Littlefield continued in the hospitality industry after Disney: Ward at the Newport Hotel Group and then the Encore in Everett, Mass.; and Littlefield at the Hotel Viking in Rhode Island and now at the Sandpearl Resort and Spa in Clearwater, Fla. Seeing how the magic is made at Disney has given Nichols students a glimpse into the operations of one of the world’s leading brands and the confidence and career experience to make some of their own.

Rachel Moran meets with Josh D’Amaro, chair of Disney Parks and Experiences. At Magic Kingdom, Nicole Gawlik and Nikki LaBrack share Bison and Disney pride.

In addition to the Disney College Program, Nichols hospitality management students participate in Disney leadership programs, which inspire some to become interns.

PROFESSOR 007 SHARES HIS PASSION FOR JAMES BOND

by Jeff Susla

Late in 2021, when I was asked if I wished to teach a course on the James Bond phenomenon, I jumped at the chance. I had been a reader of Ian Fleming’s Bond thrillers since the fifth grade, and over the years, became a modest collector of Bond paraphernalia, and even have three first edition novels. I have also written on Fleming, and those pieces have appeared in the New York Times Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, and most recently, Artistic Licence Renewed: The Literary James Bond magazine.

I am not alone in my interest in the British secret agent with license to kill. During the pandemic, I competed in an online trivia contest hosted by the author of The James Bond Movie Encyclopedia. Of the 50 odd contestants, I lasted halfway through the event, bowing out after failing to name Jaws’ girlfriend in the 1979 film “Moonraker” (Dolly) and the numbers of the stolen atomic bombs in 1965’s “Thunderball” (456 and 457).

I recently attended a virtual conference at the South Atlantic Modern Language Association in Atlanta, where several papers on James Bond were presented. In addition to independent scholars, there were several academics who also spoke on topics ranging from “Social Networking and Distancing in the Bond Films”; “James Bond: Plays Well With Others?” to “Accent as a Marker of Class Distancing in the Cinematic World of 007.” I reviewed the conference for the Literary James Bond website and have been invited to present a paper at this year’s conference in Jacksonville, Fla.

So, clearly Ian Fleming’s creation means much to his followers. Fleming wrote 12 novels and nine short stories about James Bond. And while the thrillers grew in popularity over the time they were published, Fleming never lived to see how the cinematic Bond became such a phenomenon, dying before the 1964 release of the third Bond film, “Goldfinger,” which at the time broke all box office records.

In preparing for the course, I had wondered how to discuss the ongoing relevance of a seemingly dated cultural icon with our current generation of students who are likely unfamiliar with a character whose popularity once transcended cultures and political boundaries. Fortunately, current events greatly helped in shaping the content. The pandemic had eerie parallels to Ernst Stavro Blofeld’s thwarted biological attack on the British agricultural industry in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.” Some of the content of the debunked Steele dossier was reminiscent of the SMERSH plot to humiliate the British Secret Service in “From Russia With Love.” And espionage is always in the news.

More important, however, was Fleming’s prose quality. He was quoted as saying that to write a proper thriller, one simply needed to get the reader to turn the page. If I could show students the excitement inherent in a Bond novel, I thought that I could get them hooked. The films have their own levels of sophistication, gadgetry, humor, and action that have provided entertainment for 60 years. And then the music — the James Bond Theme with Vic Flick on electric guitar, and the Oscar winning best songs. The locations. The megalomaniac villains. Not to mention, a generation reared on the escapist fantasies of Harry Potter and video games (James Bond is popular in that genre). I was off and running.

While the Bond producers are currently looking for the next actor to play 007, the phenomenon, which reached its zenith in 1965, will go on as James Bond continues to thrill and entertain movie goers around the world. Consequently, I’ll continue instructing the course for as long as students show interest and I’ll continue toasting Ian Fleming, for I also enjoy a properly made martini (but eschew Bond’s exact specifications).

Featured in the 1962 Bond classic “Dr. No,” Laughing Waters at St. Ann Parish, Jamaica is now dubbed “Crab Key Beach.”

Jeff Susla is adjunct faculty in the English Department at Nichols College.

GoldenBison

1967 classmates Chuck Piazza and David Jones catch up on great times.

1973

Class Champion:

Jay Reese

(508) 359-7862 wjay.reese@gmail.com

1978

Submitted by Bill Fraser:

A smallish herd of Bison have been gathering every Super Bowl weekend since they graduated between 1978 and 1980, which means they have been getting together for the last 42 years. This past five years, we have supplemented that outing with a mid-August get together on the Coast of Maine at Cape Neddick Country Club, the golfing home of both Mike Villanova ’79 and Pat Hoey. Bill Fraser has a nephew in the lobster business and the picture will serve as an indication of what he does for us. The For more updates on alumni from the classes of 1972 and prior, watch for the next Golden Bison Bulletin.

Bob Keller ’69 submitted a photo of he and Ray Wentzel at their annual reunion in East Marion, NY. He reports: We played golf the first day and fished the second. Lots of fun and plenty of good old stories over some very good cocktails and food. It’s a tradition that we look forward to every year.

Art Rizy, Kent Tarrant, and Dave Fleming, Class of 1957, get together at the Publick House. Generations of Bison Pride:

Thomas Vangel ’62

(second from left), with his son Rodney Vangel ’89, daughter-in-law Darcy Vangel MSOL ’21, and granddaughter Hannah Vangel ’21.

gathered gluttons, who saw no reason for any plates or silverware are, from right, Mike

Villanova ’79, Tom Loricco, Gary Guglielmello ’79, Larry

Bean, Mike Nelson ’80 and Phil Robinson ’79. For those of you that are counting, that would be one film editor, one tight end, one tackle, one defensive end and a quarterback and a fullback. Other attendees included Marty

Power, Andy Higgins ’80,

Bill Strobel.

Just as a note, this group started with 60 lobsters…end of the night count: Nichols Bison 60, Lobsters 0.

If you will notice, not a one of the lobster eaters, by the expressions on their faces, was happy to be interrupted for a photo.

Finally, every year an award is given to the most deserving attendee. The award is the ‘Marty Power Most Generous Man We Know Award’ and this year’s recipient was Tom Loricco. Tom had missed his first Super Bowl Reunion the previous February due to COVID concerns but had tracked us down in a steak house in Houston and, sight unseen, had sent his credit card on down to us to pay for dinner. We like to encourage attendees to pay for things for the group, so Tom was this year’s worthy award recipient. ‘Keep it up Tom!’

1981

This fall, Keith Anderson, a co-founder of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, hosted a group of finance and economics students in New York City and shared his insights on the markets, the economy and how he carved his career path.

1985

Class Champion:

John Donahue

609-257-8717 Johndonahue1234@gmail.com

Please send your Class Notes news directly to your class champion. If you do not have a class champion, news may be forwarded to classnotes@nichols.edu. Digital images are preferred, but please do not crop them! The higher the resolution the better — 300 dpi (dots per inch) is best. Digital images may be sent directly to the Alumni Relations Office alumnioffice@nichols.edu. Prints may be sent to: Nichols College, Alumni Relations Office, P.O. Box 5000, Dudley, MA 01571.