OSWEGO Alumni Magazine: Spring 2014

OSWEGO ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OF THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT OSWEGO n VOL. 40, NO. 2 n SPRING 2014

Here’s Alice Novelist Alice McDermott ’75 credits Oswego with nurturing her passion

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n $7.5 Million Estate Gift

to Fund Scholarships n Creative Arts Alumni and Faculty Vignettes n Diplomat Heraldo Muñoz ’72 Writes about ‘Getting Away with Murder’

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Get Your

Passport to Oswego!

A Journey You Will Never Forget.

Visit the hottest destinations on campus, including the new Richard S.Shineman Center for Science,Engineering and Innovation (complete with a new planetarium and weather— or sunset!—observation deck),the renovated Rice Creek Field Station and the overhauled School of Education’s Park Hall as well as Romney Fieldhouse and favorite “hot spots” along Lake Ontario.

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S DON’T MIS ST THE BIGGE ENT ALUMNI EV R! OF THE YEA

1939, 1944, 1949, 1954, 1959, 1964, 1969, 1974, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1989, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010

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Everyone is welcome, but special events are planned for these milestone classes and groups:

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ALL class years, Greeks and groups are welcome!

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For more information: Alpha Delta Eta, Alpha Sigma Chi Beta Tau Epsilon – 75th Anniversary, Delta Chi Omega/TKE, Delta Kappa Kappa, Delta Phi Epsilon, GOLD Alumni, Mu Beta Psi – 20th Anniversary, Omega Delta Phi, Phi Sigma Phi, Phi Lambda Phi – 55th Anniversary, Pi Delta Chi, Psi Phi Gamma, Sigma Gamma, Sigma Tau Chi, Theta Chi Rho, Zeta Chi Zeta – 45th Anniversary

Reunion Hotline: 315-312-5559 Email: reunion@oswego.edu Advance registration is required and can be completed online. alumni.oswego.edu/reunion @OswegoAlumni #OswegoReunion facebook.com/oswegoalumni Take advantage of early-bird pricing and register by May 16!

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SPRING 2014

OSWEGO

Alumni Association of the State University of New York at Oswego Vol. 40, No. 2

A Transformative Legacy 5

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Lorraine Marano’s $7.5 million bequest to Oswego—the largest single gift in college history—establishes a scholarship endowment that will educate future generations of students in perpetuity.

Here’s Alice

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Award-winning novelist Alice McDermott ’75 recalls how her SUNY Oswego experience affirmed her passion for fiction writing.

The Creative Arts

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These snapshots of alumni and faculty showcase the range and impact of Oswego’s Creative Arts programs.

Keeper of the Torch

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The Oswego Alumni Association connects graduates to their alma mater and each other through diverse programs that have evolved throughout the association’s history.

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Campus Currents Calendar Class Notes Weddings In Memoriam The Last Word

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ON THE COVER: Best-selling novelist Alice McDermott ’75 at her office at Johns Hopkins University, where she is Richard A. Macksey Professor for Distinguished Teaching in the Humanities. Photo by Will Kirk, Homewood Imaging and Photographic Services in Baltimore.

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OSWEGO Alumni Magazine

President’s Desk I

remember the moment vividly.

Last June, sitting in the Princeton Club in Manhattan, listening as New York Times reporter and emcee Sam Roberts reflected President on the exceptional Deborah F. Stanley quality of writers in the room, I was filled with pride to be representing SUNY Oswego, as one of our own—Alice McDermott ’75—was inducted into the New York State Writers Hall of Fame. As president of such a wonderful institution, I am fortunate to be able to share in the accomplishments of our prestigious alumni and faculty. We celebrate these moments as one community, connected by our Oswego roots.

At Oswego, we strive to uphold our founder’s vision to raise the college “to its highest degree of usefulness.” We are equally committed to empowering our students, employees and alumni to pursue meaningful lives and to improve the quality of life for all people. In this issue, we pay tribute to our creative artists—to the writers, like Alice, to the filmmakers to the musicians who elevate their communities through their art form.

Art is said to be the language of the soul. As we have seen throughout history, art provides an outlet for people to communicate powerfully about conflict, love, friendship, sorrow, joy, the whole gamut of human experience. At Oswego,

we offer a rich array of opportunities for students to participate in, view and engage with the arts. We believe this is a central component of our campus and what an Oswego education entails.

Oswego’s creative arts programs and events also build a natural bridge to the regional community. Our musical and theatrical performances, art exhibitions, living writers’ series and other events draw people to campus and improve their quality of life. We are seen as an important cultural and economic resource for the region.

In fact, I have some very exciting news to share regarding our community. SUNY Oswego has received the largest single gift in its 153-year history: a $7.5 million gift from the estate of Oswego County resident Lorraine E. Marano. The former school librarian believed in the value of education. She saw how an Oswego education had a transformative effect on our students and wanted to see those opportunities continue for students from all backgrounds. Her extraordinary generosity will help keep college affordable for future generations of Oswego students. (See page 14 to read more about this historic gift.)

These are exciting times at SUNY Oswego. Like the artists in this magazine, we continue to create, rework and push beyond the boundaries of past generations.

Elizabeth Locke Oberst Publisher Margaret D. Spillett Editor Linda Loomis ’90 M’97 Associate Editor Tyler Edic ’13 Associate Editor Online Magazine Jim Russell ’83 Staff Photographer Kiefer Creative Graphic Design Lisa Potter In Memoriam Michael Bielak Julie Harrison Blissert Aimee Hirsch ’14 Heraldo Muñoz ’72 Kaitlin Provost ’12

Jeff Rea ’71 John Shaffer Brittany Sperino Horsford ’14 Contributing Writers Chris Goodknews Cardwell Chuck Perkins Photography Tyler Edic ’13 Homewood Imaging and Photographic Services Michael Lamont Anneke McEvoy Laura Pavlus ’09 Jeff Rea ’71 Contributing Photographers Kari L. Hively ’15 Brittany Hoffmann ’14 Jillian Phipps ’14 Sarah Turner ’16 Interns

The Oswego Alumni Association, Inc. Board of Directors Keith Chamberlain ’87 President Nancy Smith Salisbury ’93 First Vice President Donna Goldsmith ’82 Second Vice President Elizabeth Locke Oberst Executive Director Tim Barnhart ’02 Marc Beck ’93 Paul Brennan ’93 Michael Byrne ’79 Mike Caldwell ’70 Lisa Court ’83 *John Daken ’66 **Kerry Casey Dorsey ’81 Jerry Esposito ’70 Maureen Flynn Kratz ’04 Ana Rodriguez King ’94

Don Levine ’78 Steve Messina ’91 Josh Miller ’08 Cathleen Richards ’09 Mark Salmon ’93 Dan Scaia ’68 Lisa Marceau Schnorr ’87 *William Schreiner ’92 *Jennifer Shropshire ’86 Christie Torruella Smith ’08 Jeffrey Sorensen ’92 **Deborah F. Stanley Amy Vanderlyke Dygert ’01 Koren Vaughan ’95 Rick Yacobush ’77 Thomas Yates ’89 * At large ** Ex officio

State University of New York at Oswego Deborah F. Stanley President Lorrie Clemo Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Nicholas Lyons Vice President for Administration and Finance

Kerry Casey Dorsey ’81 Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Jerald Woolfolk Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management

Office of Alumni and Parent Relations King Alumni Hall, SUNY Oswego, Oswego, NY 13126 Phone: 315-312-2258 Fax: 315-312-5570 Email: alumni@oswego.edu Website: alumni.oswego.edu

the Editor’s Pen F R O M

facebook.com/oswegoalumni

@oswegoalumni

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Margaret Spillett OSWEGO

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’m all about signs—just ask any of my family and friends. Yes, I’m one of those people who takes guidance from the “universe,” the “divine” or whatever term you prefer. That’s why my heart started pounding with excitement late last summer. Betsy Oberst from the SUNY Oswego Alumni Office was calling. It was a sign. The stars were aligning, and I had no doubt where I was supposed to be. I eagerly accepted the offer to become the new editor of the OSWEGO Alumni Magazine.

Although I am not an alumna of Oswego, I consider this to be a homecoming of sorts. As an avid angler—particularly ice fishing—and a lover of all forms of water, I can’t imagine a more perfect spot at continued on page 6

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OSWEGO is published three times a year by the

Oswego Alumni Association Inc., King Alumni Hall, State University of New York at Oswego, Oswego, NY 13126.

It is distributed free of charge to alumni, friends, faculty, staff and families of current students, with support from The Fund for Oswego. Printed April 2014

OSWEGO Alumni Magazine is printed on recycled paper with inks that are non-toxic, contain no heavy metals, and are composed of bio-derived renewable resources ranging from 25-40% (as a percentage of total ink weight).

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Alumni-In-Residence Visits Deepen Students’ Exposure to a Range of Professions The Forecast for Forecasters

semester in the Shineman Center for Science, Engineering and Innovation. ational weather scientist James “Forecasting science has drastically LaDue ’86 discussed extreme improved,” said LaDue, who earned a natural disasters and the state of B.S. in meteorology at Oswego. “We meteorology during a presentation last can tell with pretty good confidence where there will be a tornado. But while forecasting has improved, getting the desired reaction from the public remains a challenge.”

LaDue, a meteor­ologist instructor at the National Weather Service Warning Decision Training Branch in Norman, Okla., said NWS is working to improve communications with the public, and mobile technologies can help NWS customize Lecturing last semester, National Weather Service meteorolowarnings to people based gist instructor James LaDue ’86 describes several extreme on their specific location.

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“We can’t issue a one-size fits all warning and accommodate everyone,” he said. “Warnings have to be personalized.”

Through his work, he has witnessed devastating destruction as well as stories of good planning, preparation and execution of emergency plans. LaDue shared ideas of how we can improve the resiliency of our communities to severe weather through smarter building construction, different kinds of materials and better design.

He concluded the talk by predicting the future role of the human forecaster in meteorology will be more about risk management and interpretation of data than on creating models and calculating statistics, which computers are already doing better and faster than humans.

“I encourage meteorology students to take courses in crisis communications, risk management and human behavior in addition to their meteorology courses,” he said. l —Margaret Spillett

tornadoes that ripped across Oklahoma in May 2013.

When Hollie Elleman Calderon ’81 began thinking about college, she recalls how many people believed that female college graduates would get married, have babies and not work until their children were grown.

“Thank goodness I had parents who told me I could be anything I wanted to be,” said Calderon, now a senior vice president at JP Morgan Chase. She returned to campus Nov. 14 to deliver a talk, “Smart Moves in the Workplace: Strategies for Achieving Success,” part of the Ernst & Young Fall 2013 Lecture Series.

“Conditions for women in the workplace will change when more women assume leadership roles and when women start thinking differently about themselves,” she said.

She shared lessons learned on her road to success, including becoming aware of and overcoming fears about seeking a highimpact career. She described the qualities sought by management teams and gave students advice about how they can differentiate themselves and make a positive impact on their organizations.

“Keep your goals in the front of your mind and in the mind of those around you who have the power to make it happen and sometimes make it not happen,” she said.

JIM RUSSELL ’83

Evolution in the Workplace

Hollie Elleman Calderon ’81 speaks with attendees following her presentation, “Smart Moves in the Workplace: Strategies for Achieving Success,” part of the Ernst & Young Fall 2013 Lecture Series.

Calderon’s lecture was supported by Robbi and Robert Feinberg ’78 and Ernst & Young; and it was co-sponsored by Women’s Studies and the Institute for Global Engagement. l —Margaret Spillett 3

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Alumni Association Hosts Dessert Reception for December Graduates JIM RUSSELL ’83 JIM RUSSELL ’83

Members of the Class of 2013 and their families joined together Dec. 13 for a Commencement Eve Dessert Reception and Champagne Toast in the Sheldon Hall Ballroom. The event was sponsored by the Oswego Alumni Association, with support from The Fund for Oswego and Auxiliary Services. Inset: Jenna Arcese ’14, center, and mistress of ceremonies Ariel Hutchison ’13, right, present the Class of 2013 Senior Legacy Gift—a check for $5,798.87—to Interim Director of Alumni Relations Laura Pavlus ’09, left.

Regional sales and marketing director with ProAct Erison Rodriguez ’05 M’09, who earned a B.S. in marketing and an MBA from Oswego and served as the keynote speaker, told graduates, “If you could take one thing from me tonight, I ask that it be this: Understand that the investment you’ve made in your education gives you the right to make choices in your professional lives. It doesn’t entitle you to anything … Success and achievements in life take hard work and sacrifices.”

Oswego Business School, Online MBA Program Earn National Rankings

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swego’s School of Business appears on Princeton Review’s 2014 list of the nation’s most outstanding MBA-granting business schools for the 10th consecutive year. Oswego’s online MBA tied for 14th among online graduate business programs—the highest of any institution in the state, according to U.S. News’ 2014 “Best Online Degree Programs: Business (Graduate)” rankings, published Jan. 8.

Princeton Review features Oswego in its new book, The Best 295 Business Schools.

“We recommend SUNY Oswego as one of the best institutions a student could attend to earn a business school degree,” wrote Robert Franek, Princeton Review’s senior vice president and publisher. “We chose the schools we profile in this book based on our high regard for their academic OSWEGO

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programs and our reviews of institutional data we collect from schools.”

The online MBA ranking affirms Oswego’s successful translation of campus-based instruction to serve students anywhere, said SUNY Oswego President Deborah F. Stanley.

“This ranking reflects our emphasis on providing real-world opportunities and outstanding teaching to ensure that Oswego students receive the best possible preparation to enter the business world,” she said. “The professors teaching our online students have excellent backgrounds, and our well-connected alumni working in the field help students with job placements, co-ops and other hands-on experiences.”

The U.S. News rankings of online MBA programs emphasize such factors as student

engagement (in which Oswego ranked fifth overall), peer reputation, admissions selectivity, faculty credentials and training, student services and technology.

Oswego’s School of Business, accredited by the International Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, was the only school in New York State to crack the list’s top 30 online graduate business programs.

Dr. Richard Skolnik, dean, said the quality of the online MBA “reflects the investment SUNY Oswego has made in online education.” l —Office of Public Affairs

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Fred Festa Receives SUNY Oswego Presidential Medal during December Commencement

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“. . . if you approach life as a series of lessons, as a series of self-reflections, as a series of events from which you can learn and improve, you will ultimately accomplish everything you want to.”

—Fred Festa ’81

Chairman and chief executive officer of W.R. Grace & Co., Festa gained experience as he ascended the management ranks over two decades with General Electric, Allied Signal, ICG Commerce and Morgenthaler Private Equity Partners.

Under his leadership, the revenue of Grace, a global specialty chemicals and materials company, grew 60 percent, from $2 billion in 2003 to $3.2 billion in 2011.

Festa, a 1981 magna cum laude graduate of the business administration program, delivered the Commencement address, sharing lessons he has learned

JIM RUSSELL ’83

uring December Commencement, SUNY Oswego President Deborah F. Stanley awarded the Presidential Medal to Fortune 100 business leader Fred Festa ’81.

“Your success as a business leader has been extraordinary,” she said. “What’s more impressive, however, is your ability to look beyond the bottom line to the backbone of any successful venture—the people. Throughout your life, you have maintained a strong sense of service to others and support for your community.”

Presidential Medal Recipient Fred Festa ’81 addresses 2013 graduates during December Commencement in the Campus Center arena.

about leadership and professional development.

“I can tell you, if you approach life as a series of lessons,” he said, “as a series of self-reflections, as a series of events from which you can learn and improve, you will ultimately accomplish everything you want to.”

Festa and his wife, MaryLynn Barbero Festa ’82, established the Festa Graduate Leadership Fellows Program to provide exceptionally motivated individuals an opportunity to pursue leadership experience in a professional environment. An inductee into the 2012-13 World Council and Assembly on Cooperative Education (WACE) Hall of Fame, Festa helped establish the W.R. Grace Internship Program at Oswego.

Festa owns the minor league Greenville (S.C.) Road Warriors hockey 5

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team, an affiliate of the New York Rangers. At Oswego, the Festas have also established the new Festa Graduate Assistantship Award for Men’s Hockey.

He has shared lessons on leadership with Oswego students as the keynote speaker at the 2011 Future Oswego Leaders Conference, as a 2010 recipient of the School of Business Beta Sigma Gamma Award and through a 2004 visit to chemistry and business classes with the Oswego Alumni Association’s Alumni-In-Residence program. l —Margaret Spillett

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College Names New Vice President

Speaking in creative writing classes and at the Oswego Chapter of the International English Honor Society meeting in November, Kristin Quinn ’08 offered advice about career paths for writers. She is managing editor of Trajectory magazine, published by the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, where she is communications and publications manager.

Quinn was a journalism major Kristin Quinn ’08, communiwith a minor in creative writing; cations and publications she was in the honors program manager at the U.S. and worked as managing editor of Geospatial Intelligence the Oswegonian during her underFoundation in Washington, graduate years. She completed an D.C., returned to campus last accelerated master’s program in fall to share advice about newspaper and online journalism at establishing a career as a Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse writer and editor.

School of Public Communications.

In Washington, D.C., Quinn began her career as a writer for a trade publication in the printing industry, then moved to Gannett Government Media, where she wrote about aerospace and defense technology and traveled nationally and in Europe for conferences.

Quinn highlighted the success of several of her Oswego classmates who have also pursued careers in publishing. She advised students to use their skills to support not-for-profit organizations as a means of gaining experience and as a matter of responsible citizenship in a community. She is a volunteer working to raise awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement. l —Linda Loomis ’90 M’97

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TYLER EDIC ’13

Journalism Alumna Shares Career Tips

continued from page 2 which to work. I hope I never take for granted the picturesque views of Lake Ontario I enjoy every day as I walk across campus. The college colors are even familiar, as my high school in Elmira, N.Y., shared in the green and gold. I belong here.

My new coworkers in the Office of Alumni and Development warmly welcomed me and immediately made me feel like a valued member of the team. As I get to know the people in the organization with my “newbie” eyes, I see that these individuals show that level of care and consideration for everyone with whom they interact. They make everyone feel like we belong here.

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erald Woolfolk is the new vice president for student affairs and enrollment management, effective Jan. 1.

She succeeds Joseph Grant who retired in 2012.

Woolfolk oversees admissions, financial aid, auxiliary services, residence life and housing, student conduct and compliance, Mary Walker Health Center and the counseling center, campus life, athletics, student advisement, orientation and career services.

Woolfolk had been vice president for student affairs, enrollment management and diversity at Mississippi Valley State University since 2011 and was previously vice president for student affairs at CUNY’s College of Staten Island.

“Across 25 years in higher education administration at three institutions, Dr. Woolfolk has built a record as a strategic innovator in student affairs who sets clear and high goals and provides the leadership to achieve them,” President Deborah F. Stanley said. “We are delighted to welcome her to SUNY Oswego.”

Woolfolk is active nationally in her field. She is an accreditation evaluator for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. Higher education institutions in Delaware, Alabama, North Carolina and Arkansas have retained her as a consultant on accreditation, strategic planning, enrollment management and organizational management.

Woolfolk earned a doctorate in urban higher education at Jackson State University in Mississippi. She began her career as a counselor at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff after earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Jackson State and a master’s degree in counselor education from Iowa State University. l —Office of Public Affairs

My new position with the alumni magazine feels like a return to the core of my professional identity as a writer.

Writing has been the common thread for me, as initially I was a writer of articles as a daily newspaper reporter, of stories as a magazine writer, of marketing and development pieces as a communications director and, most recently, of news releases and promotional messages as a public relations director.

I am thrilled that my first issue as editor depicts a cover story by fellow writer Linda Loomis ’90 M’97 about a nationally best-selling and award-winning novelist, Alice McDermott ’75. I chuckled as I read Alice’s recollection of the late Writing

Professor Dr. Paul Briand’s troubling analysis of her: “You are a writer,” he said, “and you’re never going to shake it.”

As May approaches and I look forward to participating in my first Torchlight Ceremony, I hope I carry the torch for the magazine as aptly as the editors who preceded me did. I hope also in time that I can demonstrate to you—the Oswego alumni and campus community—that I do belong here, and to paraphrase Dr. Briand, that you’re never going to shake me!

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Events

Start-Up NY at Oswego Identifies Prospects, Assembles Board

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ast fall, Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched Start-Up NY, providing major incentives for qualifying businesses to relocate, start up or expand in this state through affiliations with colleges and universities.

Businesses will have the opportunity to operate free of state and local taxes on or near academic campuses, and their employees will pay no state or local personal income taxes for 10 years. Participating companies must add new jobs, providing an economic lift to the surrounding community that does not endanger nearby competitors.

“Linkages with Oswego’s academic strengths will be critical to building our Start-Up NY partnerships,” President Deborah F. Stanley said. “In a successful partnership, SUNY Oswego and the company will work together in a key area

Visit alumni.oswego.edu for complete listing.

May 8 NYC Alumni and Friends Event* May 9 Oswego College Foundation Board of Directors Meeting**

of the college’s competency for mutual, complementary benefit.”

The president has selected three initial sites for tax-free zones to attract new and expanding businesses to campus: the Romney parking lot bordering State Route 104; Mackin Hall on Sheldon Avenue; and the lake-view tennis courts and adjacent parking lot on Rudolph Road. Potential exists to add properties within a mile of the Oswego campus, SUNY Oswego Phoenix Center and SUNY Oswego Metro Center in Syracuse.

A 25-member Economic Development Advisory Board has been meeting with business prospects, some of them global companies. l —Office of Public Affairs

May 16 Commencement Eve Torchlight Ceremony* May 17 Commencement June 1 Theatre Alumni Reunion in NYC* June 5-8 Reunion 2014* June 7 Oswego Alumni Board of Directors Meeting* July 24–27 City of Oswego’s fantastic Harborfest! On-campus housing available to alumni, friends and family.* August 1 Brew at the Zoo in Syracuse, N.Y.* August 2 NY Mets Game in NYC* August 4 Emeriti Luncheon** August 22 Welcoming Torchlight Ceremony* August 29 Green and Gold Day* September-October GOLD Welcome to the City Parties* JIM RUSSELL ’83

October 3–4 Soccer Alumni Reunion* October 16 10th Anniversary Dr. Lewis B. O’Donnell Media Summit*

Mark Your Calendars Now: June 4–7, 2015 Reunion 2015* * Alumni and Parent Relations, 315.312.2258 ** University Development, 315.312.3003

Check Out Our New Website!

Bookmark Our New Home Page!

alumni.oswego.edu Pamela Caraccioli has been working on Start-Up NY and other business partnerships and development projects at SUNY Oswego since she was named deputy to the president for external partnerships and economic development in July.

Special Anniversary Celebration November 14–15 Men’s Ice Hockey 50th Anniversary*

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Ninth Annual Media Summit Brings Top Communications Professionals to Campus or the first time since its debut nine years ago, the Dr. Lewis B. O’Donnell Media Summit featured an all-Oswego alumni panel whose expertise in sports media aligned with the theme, “Get in the Game.”

Jay Beberman ’89, Bloomberg News managing editor for sports; Donna Goldsmith ’82, former chief operating officer at World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.; John Kucko ’87, sports director for WROC television in Rochester, N.Y.; and Steve Levy ’87, ESPN “SportsCenter” anchor, spoke on sports-related topics, prompted by questions from moderator Louis A. Borrelli Jr. ’77, chief marketing officer of NimbleTV. They discussed such hot topics as steroid use, racial diversity in broadcasting, the decline in high school athletics parti­ cipation, compensation for Division I athletes and taking American sports to an international market.

The summit began with informal conversation, “Wake Up with Steve and Lou,” and breakfast for students. The panelists and five additional alumni who are early in their professional development visited classes throughout the day.

Following the panel, the young alumni “Career Connectors” participated in roundtable discussions with students. They shared advice on how to transition from student to media professional, build effective resumes and make job-seeking successful.

Career Connectors were: Ben Amey ’10, reporter for WETM-TV in Elmira, N.Y.; Lewis Karpel ’12, photojournalist for WSTM-NBC3/WSTQ-CW6/WTVH-CBS5/ CNYcentral.com in Syracuse, N.Y.; Stephanie Robusto ’11, field reporter at WMBF News in Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Samantha Shelton ’11, assistant web editor for FITNESS Magazine in New York City; and Maria Urda ’12, promotional log editor for Fox Sports I in Charlotte, N.C. Borrelli closed the summit with an inspiring sendoff. “The experience you get

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10th Anniversary Dr. Lewis B. O’Donnell Media Summit is scheduled for Oct. 16, 2014. here is real,” Borrelli said. “It matters. It means something. Oswego media students: professionals with a GPA.”

About the Media Summit SUNY Oswego’s annual Media Summit is named in memory of Dr. Lewis B. O’Donnell, professor emeritus of communication studies. “Doc” O’Donnell died Aug. 28, 2007, but his influence lives on in hundreds of broadcasters whose careers he helped launch. Louis A. Borrelli Jr. ’77 founded the summit through a leadership gift in 2005. In 2007, a significant gift to Oswego made by Al Roker ’76 of NBC’s “Today” show, including a matching gift from NBC, provided the funding to rename the summit in honor of Dr. O’Donnell.

The 2013 summit was organized by Dr. David L. Moody, faculty advisor; Janelle Francisco ’14 and Marissa Sarbak ’15, student event directors; and a team of SUNY Oswego students, with support from the Office of Alumni Relations. l —Margaret Spillett

Find the Founder

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n the winter 2014 issue, the Sheldon statue can be found in the middle, left side of the upper right-hand photo in the Rice Creek spread on page 33.

Grand prize winner of a College Store gift certificate and Sheldon Hall print is Edward Przywara ’00. Winning Sheldon Hall prints are Ruth Levy ’58, Sandra Sondej Mealy ’68, Stewart Anderson ’76, Nancy Merringer Morrison ’89 and Matt Knepley ’91.

A tiny replica of the Sheldon statue pictured here is hidden somewhere in this issue. Find the Founder and send us a letter with the location and page number, your name, class year and address. We will draw one entry at random from all the correct answers and the winner will receive a $25 gift certificate to the College Store and a print of Sheldon Hall. The next five entries drawn will receive Sheldon Hall prints. Send your entry to Find the Founder, King Alumni Hall, 300 Washington Blvd., Oswego, NY 13126.

Entries must be postmarked by June 1.

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Getting at the Heart of Lake Effect Snow Storms PROVIDED

“An NSF grant two years Last spring, SUNY Oswego Associate Professor of Meteorology Scott Steiger ’99 and a team ago gave us some insight into received a $320,000 National of collaborators, supported by National Science Foundation grants, the detailed structures of the Science Foundation grant to fly into the heart of lake effect snowstorms to study their structure snow bands,” Steiger said. fly and drive into the heart of and improve forecasting.

“There were a lot of instances lake effect snowstorms to study of spinning air—we call them their structure and improve vortices—about a hundred forecasting. Field work began in meters wide. They could have December. been related to waterspouts; “We are getting awewe really don’t know. We want some data from this storm!” to investigate how and why said Associate Professor of these areas of rotation form Meteorology Scott Steiger in the snow band. Rotation ’99 after a mid-December snow can influence where the band storm that hit Oswego County moves and how heavy the and other parts of Central and snow gets.”

Northern New York. He and Another goal, he said, is a team of collaborators from The project involves Steiger, Professor to see whether there are ways to better three universities and the Center for Severe Robert Ballentine, Oswego alumni Ted estimate snowfall rate based on radar data.

Weather Research collected lake effect data Letcher ’09, a graduate student at the Students on the ground will take measurewith the help of a King Air plane, a Mobile University of Albany, and Jason Keeler ments at preselected sites and integrate Integrated Profiling System and three ’07, a graduate student at Illinois-Urbana, aircraft data for comparisons.

Doppler-on-Wheels radar-equipped trucks. as well as dozens of Oswego students.

The third goal is to determine how and The project—called OWLeS (Ontario Steiger’s team is studying long-fetch why lake-effect clouds sometimes become Winter Lake-effect Systems)—consists lake-effect storms, whose snow bands run electrified and produce lightning. of nearly $4 million in three companion NSF parallel to the long axis of Lake Ontario “This is kind of the climax of my life in grants. One grant, for nearly $1 million, and can turn into relentless snow machines. terms of my passion with weather, because supports the involvement of scientists and The first phase of their research, which I’m going to be able to get up close and equipment from the University of Wyoming, included five research flights into the heart personal with lake-effect snowstorms University of Alabama-Huntsville, University of the December storms, was highly sucand understand how these things work,” of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the cessful, since the weather was unusually Steiger said. l Center for Severe Weather Research in biased toward long-fetch events.

—Office of Public Affairs Boulder, as well as SUNY Oswego.

JEFF REA ’71

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International Student Reception President Deborah F. Stanley welcomed 221 students, representing 21 countries, during the International Student Reception on Jan. 31 in the Sheldon Hall Ballroom.

International-themed student organizations displayed materials and projects created by their clubs at tables around the room. Students in the NihonGo Japanese Language and Culture Club arrayed examples of Japanese origami, calligraphy and brushes, fans, umbrellas, Sudoku and thoroughly

American cookies. Kaylina Rivera ’15 and Arnaldo Martinez ’15, two officers of the Latino Student Union display Latin American Heritage Cards, co-founded by Newton Paul ’97 M’99 and Yorick Kemp ’97, which give capsule histories of 52 prominent leaders among Latinos.

During spring semester, 198 SUNY Oswego students are studying abroad in 21 different countries through 40 distinct programs. l

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Return on Investment Initiative Provides Financial Boost ation ROI could provide graduates with funds for job-hunting expenses or graduate school applications and help SUNY Oswego graduates transition from college into the next phase of their adult lives.

The Graduation ROI supplements the original Oswego Guarantee commitments:

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raduates who complete their degrees in four years receive a return on investment of $300 through a new provision of the Oswego Guarantee. President Deborah F. Stanley initiated the Oswego Guarantee ROI with December 2013 Commencement.

“We are enhancing the guarantee we introduced over a decade ago to remind students of the value and financial benefits of earning their baccalaureate degree in four years or less,” Stanley said.

Kristi Eck, the president’s interim chief of staff, said the new Oswego Gradu-

n necessary classes will be available to complete a baccalaureate degree in four consecutive years or the college will enroll the student in the course or courses tuition-free; n the college will continue to make small classes available to encourage discussion and interaction between students and faculty; n and Oswego pledges to hold each student’s cost for room and meal plans constant for four consecutive years.

For more information on the Oswego Guarantee and the Graduation ROI, visit www.oswego.edu/guarantee. l —Office of Public Affairs

Oswego State Inducts Four New Members into Athletic Hall of Fame Swimmer Anne Sarkissian DeRue ’04, right, wrestler Brian V. McGann ’70, center, and lacrosse and soccer player Kathryn “Kat” Stead ’05, left, were inducted into the Hall of Fame during a ceremony on Nov. 2 in the Sheldon Ballroom. They joined the ranks of 78 other accomplished individuals who have been voted into the college’s Athletic Hall of Fame. Not pictured is baseball player Bob Brutsch ’71.

LAURA PAVLUS ’09

Students Network with Alumni and Explore Careers at NYC Event More than 100 students gathered for the 2014 New York City Career Connections event over winter break to visit with a few well-known employers and network with more than 30 Oswego alumni who live and work in the metro-New York area.

Selected students visited one of four employers: Madison Square Garden, a sports, music and entertainment venue; Kellen Communications, a national public relations agency, hosted by Joan Reinhart Cear ’80 and Stephanie Meyering ’08; KPMG, a global network of professional audit and tax firms, hosted by Bob Garrett ’83; and FOX, an American commercial broadcast television network, hosted by Bill Shine ’85.

The trip culminated with a networking fair for students to learn how to develop professional contacts and explore different careers in the area. Fox Networks Group Talent Acquisition Manager Emanuel Adjekum ’05 delivered the keynote presentation at the fair. NYC Career Connections is sponsored by the Oswego Alumni Association, with support from The Fund for Oswego. l

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Oswego One of Six SUNY Colleges to Debut Open SUNY

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he SUNY system has selected SUNY Oswego’s nationally ranked online master’s in business administration and MBA in health services administration to join only six other degree programs in the soft launch this spring of Open SUNY. SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher introduced the new Open SUNY degree programs during her annual State of the University address Jan. 14 in Albany.

“Open SUNY will provide our students with the nation’s leading online learning experience, drawing on the power of SUNY to expand access, improve completion and prepare more students for success,” Zimpher said.

The first Open SUNY degrees were chosen based on factors including student interest, accreditation, and capacity to meet current and future workforce demand throughout New York state.

“We are proud to have our online MBA and our MBA/HSA as the only graduate programs in the first wave of Open SUNY,” SUNY Oswego President Deborah F. Stanley said. “All the qualities that make our programs great will be available throughout SUNY and beyond as premier online offerings.”

Open SUNY support network Campuses with bachelor’s and associate’s degree programs in the initial rollout of Open SUNY are Stony Brook University, Empire State College, SUNY Delhi, and Broome and Finger Lakes community colleges. Students will enroll in each program through the campus that hosts it. Open SUNY will eventually encompass every online course offered at every SUNY campus, the chancellor said, “and make them easy to find and accessible for every SUNY student.”

SUNY’s signature initiative will offer online courses and programs with a comprehensive suite of support and services to aid in degree completion. Builtin supports will include 24/7 assistance for students, whether they need technical help, tutoring, financial planning or academic advisement services, as well as a Center for Online Teaching Excellence where faculty can opt-in to training programs and online forums to broaden their knowledge about developing effective online courses or share best practices and learn directly from colleagues across SUNY. l —Office of Public Affairs

JIM RUSSELL ’83

Stephen Aschkenes ’14, a marketing major at SUNY Oswego, said the three online courses he has taken proved to be rigorous and collaborative.

He was chosen to attend a brainstorming session on Open SUNY last fall.

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Oswego Expands Its Global Connections in China and India SUNY Oswego administrators recently announced two new partnerships that will expand international exchanges and opportunities for campus members.

In November, SUNY Oswego and Communication University of China in Beijing signed an agreement that could send as many as 20 Chinese students a year to Oswego to complete their undergraduate degrees in broadcasting and mass communications, journalism and public relations. The door also is open for SUNY Oswego students to study at the university known as “a cradle of China’s radio and television talents.”

The five-year renewable pact with CUC represents the latest in a growing number of links with universities in Asia, particularly in Korea and China, as well as a new exchange agreement with St. Xavier’s College in Kolkata, India. That agreement lays the foundation for student, faculty and staff exchanges for semester-abroad and visiting-scholar programs, collaborative research, cross-cultural art opportunities and professional development.

Oswego’s chemistry program has a degree-completion agreement with Zhejiang Gongshang University in Hangzhou. Another pact offers students of Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, also in Hangzhou, and Oswego the opportunity to complete degrees at each other’s institutions in business administration, human resource management and marketing. A similar agreement exists with Nanjing University of Science and Technology.

“These agreements are an important part of our overall strategy to become more internationally connected and to develop partnerships that offer reciprocal benefits for students and faculty across institutions,” said Lorrie Clemo, provost and vice president for academic affairs. l —Office of Public Affairs

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O-RITE Teacher Training Model Results in Lasting Benefits hree-year funding for the Oswego Residency Initiative for Teacher Education expires in August. But the positive effects of the clinically rich O-RITE model are being felt by the 31 participants, secondary students and mentors in highneed placement schools, and faculty in the department of curriculum and instruction.

Barbara Garii, school of education associate dean, and Anneke McEvoy, O-RITE project manager, say success has exceeded expectations. At program end, two classes of graduate students will have earned dual certification in special education and secondary science, math, or teaching English as a second or other language, and they will teach in highneed schools. They have participated in a 13-month program, including online coursework taken while engaged in two 20-week school placements, and a series of cohort-building campus residencies.

Federal Race to the Top funding provided $10,000 to cover tuition plus stipends of $30,000 for each participant.

“The intense demands on their time required the stipend,” Garii says. “They were fully engaged for more than 180 days in classroom placements, then they spent evenings in online classes and weekends meeting academic requirements.”

McEvoy says O-RITE builds on Oswego’s history of training students to “teach where they’re needed most.”

The challenge now is to find ways to retain the positive aspects of the program. Among them are: n Graduate students received daily support from mentor teachers as they develop meaningful relationships with school communities. n Mentors benefitted from the candidates’ current, creative pedagogy. n Faculty who observed O-RITE are now considering expanded clinical components in existing programs. n Oswego School of Education alumni are supporting teacher candidates in clinically rich programs across the state. n Oswego faculty members participated through online teaching. n Dual certification means O-RITE teachers will support learning for all students.

McEvoy says the most important take-away of O-RITE will be felt in the secondary schools where the graduates teach.

“We are confident that each of them is going to have a tremendously positive influence in the classroom,” she says. l — Linda Loomis ’90 M’97

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O-Rite participant Jean Pierre Rosas M’13 teaches English as a second language at Westside Academy at Blodgett in Syracuse, N.Y.

JIM RUSSELL ’83

President Stanley Invites Public to Cruise the Campus College President Deborah F. Stanley invited the public to participate in Cruisin’ the Campus at the Holidays, from Dec. 23 to Jan. 26. “SUNY Oswego has many exciting and engaging activities and venues for families and individuals to explore and enjoy,” Stanley says. “Cruisin’ the Campus is a new program that offers everyone a variety of recreational and entertainment options on our campus during times when most of our students and faculty are taking a break from regular classes.”

Community members could try out the new planetarium in the Richard S. Shineman Center for Science, Engineering and Innovation, the renovated Romney Field House track, Rice Creek Field Station’s nature trails, Campus Center ice skating rink and various other opportunities for recreation. l

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SPORTS [Fall 2013 Sports Round-Up]

Sabrina Sutton ’14

Volleyball

Field Hockey

swego volleyball finished its season with the outstanding record of 20-14, achieving its first 20-win season since 1994.

Stephanie Bailey ’15 led the Lakers in kills (209), while Sabrina Sutton ’14 (317) and Rachael Ruggaber ’15 (386) led the team in digs, each with more than 300. Another milestone earned during 2013 was Head Coach J.J. O’Connell’s 300th victory. O’Connell has had great success in the coaching ranks, including 10 years at Stevens Institute of Technology in which the Ducks made the NCAA Championships seven of those seasons. Graduating only three seniors, the volleyball team has high hopes for next year.

he field hockey team ended its season with a record of 5-9. Rachel Johnston ’14 led the team in scoring with five goals, while classmate Ashley Fiorille ’14 led the team in total points with 10 on six assists and four goals.

Fiorille and Ashley Collins ’14 both earned SUNYAC All-Conference honors.

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he Department of Athletics had several teams reach milestones during the fall season. Oswego is proud to be laying the groundwork for success, as many squads are trending upwards with various improvements in 2013.

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swego men’s cross country had a good year, placing sixth in this year’s SUNYAC Championship. Eight Laker men ran personal records in the 8K. Damian Archie ’14 M’15 finished first for the Laker crew in 37th, while Nick Montesano ’14 and Ben Sweet ’13 finished second and third, respectively. In the Atlantic Regional Championship, senior Ryan Korzinski ’14 finished first for Oswego in 76th place out of 275 runners. The men’s team ended up placing 16th out of 39 schools.

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he women’s cross country team had four Laker runners finish in the top 70 of the SUNYAC Championship. Emily Yerdon ’15, who placed 39th, led Oswego. Yerdon continued her strong efforts into the Atlantic Regional Championships, finishing first for the Lakers again, placing in the top 100 (90th).

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he men’s soccer team found itself in several tough situations, coming up empty with an overall record of 0-10-5, despite taking seven of 15 games to overtime. Leading the team in his senior season was Mike Naab ’16, with four goals. The young team will look to use the 2013 season as a growing experience toward next year’s campaign.

—Michael Bielak Damian Archie ’14 M’15

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Men’s Cross Country

CHUCK PERKINS PHOTOGRAPHY

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swego State women’s soccer team ended the year with a record of 10-7 improving from its 7-9 record last year. The Lakers finished the year strong, earning a bid to the SUNYAC Championship for the first time since 2002. Leading the team was Nikki Liadka ’14 and Tia Segretto ’15, who netted 10 and nine goals, respectively. Also benefitting the team were All-SUNYAC honorees Bailey Waterbury ’15, Georgia Traynor ’15 and Bri Dolan ’15. In his seventh season, Head Coach Brian McGrane earned Coach of the Year in the conference.

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$7.5 Million Marano Bequest Plants Seeds of Learning for Student Scholars he late Lorraine and Nick Marano may have never imagined that their farming endeavors would grow a legacy of learning for future generations of SUNY Oswego students. When Lorraine E. Marano designated $7.5 million from her estate to benefit SUNY Oswego, she did just that.

The bequest—the largest single gift in the college’s 153-year history—establishes the Nunzio “Nick” C. and Lorraine E. Marano Endowment, which will be used primarily to fund scholarships for students with financial need, especially those who are first-generation college students.

“Lorraine Marano’s profound understanding of the transformative powers of public higher education is affirmed by this extraordinarily generous gift,” says Oswego President Deborah F. Stanley.

“Her gift will help put a college education within reach for many students, fulfilling their hopes and dreams and investing in a better future for all of us, as our graduates forge productive lives in their communities. We are deeply honored by her confidence in establishing the Marano family legacy at SUNY Oswego. It will live on for generations.”

Lorraine Marano openly discussed her admiration for SUNY Oswego and believed the college was worthy of a gift of such magnitude because of the benefits it accords to students through academic programming, committed faculty and staff and strong, imaginative leadership.

An estate gift of this size reinforces the important role Oswego plays in the region and recognizes the college’s strong track record of success and prudent decision-making, said Jack James ’62, a retired Marine Corps colonel and chair of the Sheldon Legacy Society Steering Committee, which honors those who include Oswego in their estate plans.

“That she wasn’t an alumna made her gift even more remarkable,” says James, a College Foundation board member, a

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cuse University. She worked many years as a librarian at Cherry Hill High School East in New Jersey, and then worked for Resorts International and Tropicana Casinos in Atlantic City. Lorraine died on Oct. 1, 2013, at the age of 67.

“A highly educated woman, Lorraine believed in the value of education and considered this a gift to the entire community,” says Theresa A. Sugar Scanlon, a close friend of Lorraine. “She hoped to help keep a college education affordable for all students, especially those who are the first in their families to attend college.”

Nourishing the Minds of Future Generations Reunion volunteer and the former chair of The Fund for Oswego. “Here’s a person who has been in the area a long time and sees what the college has done for the community—the economic impact, the cultural activities, lectures and sporting events. The Marano gift will help plant the seeds for success to grow everywhere our students go.”

Agricultural Innovator and Edu­ca­tional Enthusiast The late Lorraine and Nunzio “Nick” Marano had a prosperous agricultural business located on a muck farm in Scriba.

Nick was a communicant of Sacred Heart Church in Scriba and a former officer of Marine Midland Bank in Phoenix, and Lorraine served as the organist at Sacred Heart Church in Scriba and St. Peter’s Church in Oswego from 1991 to 2004.

A Scriba native, Nick owned Mar­ano Vacuum Cooling and Sales Inc. in his hometown and held a seat on the New York Mercantile Exchange until his death in 2002.

Originally from Philadelphia, Lorraine Marano graduated from Glassboro State College (now Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J.) with a bachelor’s degree, Drexel University with a master’s degree and the accelerated paralegal program at Syra-

Joan Carroll, associate professor of accounting and Faculty Assembly chair at Oswego, said the gift will have a direct impact on the education that unfolds within the classroom and is a vote of confidence.

“The Marano Scholars will no doubt work hard and deeply engage in learning to honor this bequest,” Carroll says. “Receiving a gift of this magnitude signifies to the entire campus that we are making a difference, that our work is worthy of such an investment.”

James adds that the Marano bequest will encourage others to consider sup­porting Oswego.

“This gift will make others take note of SUNY Oswego,” James says. “The college inspires confidence that this institution will use donors’ investments wisely.

When you leave a bequest to Oswego, you’re leaving more than memories. You’re leaving a true legacy that will outlive you and your family—an investment in the future.”

Just as their farm provided a bountiful harvest for the region, the Maranos— through their bequest—will nurture the minds of Oswego students in perpetuity.

—Margaret Spillett

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First 24-Hour Challenge Raises More Than $100k On 11-12-13, 605 alumni and friends participated in SUNY Oswego’s firstever 24-Hour Challenge, and contributed $101,823.79 to The Fund for Oswego, exceeding three goals announced throughout the day.

Loyal alumni Jim Kaden ’78 and former Oswego Alumni Association board member Debbie Adams-Kaden ’78 donated $11,121.30 to The Fund for Oswego before noon, when 100 donors— the first goal—made gifts.

To secure his gift of $11,121.30, College Foundation board member Bob Moritz ’85 set the bar higher, more than doubling the original goal to 250 donors.

Enthusiastic donors surpassed that number before the end of the workday, but the Telefund students were just getting warmed up.

To keep the momentum going, another generous alumni couple issued a third challenge of 500 donors to secure their $11,121.30 gift to The Fund. By 11:30 p.m., donors met that final challenge, and gifts continued to roll in right up until midnight EST.

“Each of the three separate chal­ lenges unleashed a new level of excitement and energy among our constituents that far exceeded our expectations,” said Joy Westerberg Knopp ’92, director of annual giving. “We received gifts from members of the Class of 1940 through the Class of 2014! The response from Oswego’s alumni, faculty, staff, parents and friends was absolutely fantastic.”

Kristine Hyovalti Bushey ’72, administrative assistant in Student Affairs who has worked at Oswego for 27 years, said she was impressed by the generosity of the alumni challengers and wanted to help reach the goal. “It was exciting to think about the possibilities created by that kind of generosity, rather like ripples on a pond: far reaching and touching so many different people,” Bushey said. “We can make a difference in the lives of students, just as Oswego made a difference in our lives.”

Oswego College Foundation board member Louis A. Borrelli Jr. ’77 kept the conversation exciting on the Facebook event page, and even came up with sug-

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enita Zahn ’76, an anchor for WNYT-TV in Albany, N.Y., and an avid supporter of SUNY Oswego, says she always knew she wanted to give back to her alma mater. After her father died, Zahn put part of the money she inherited toward her master’s degree. The rest she donated to SUNY Oswego.

“For me, going to college was a financial stretch,” Zahn says. “Any little bit would’ve helped.” Zahn gave $15,000 to establish the Benita Zahn ’76 Endowed Theatre Fund.

She says she hopes the fund will “take a little bit of the worry away” from students struggling financially.

The endowment will support full-time students majoring in theatre who show exceptional levels of dedication and involvement in the department. “The study of theatre gives students the ability to dream and the support to act on their dreams,” Zahn says. Her own time as a student of theatre significantly influenced her approach to life.

“No one ever told us no,” she says.

“They said ‘let’s find a way to make it happen.’”

Zahn has often contributed her time and expertise to Oswego.

She served on the 2005 Reunion committee, served as the 2008 Torchlight Commencement Eve speaker and was a panelist at the 2010 Dr. Lewis B. O’Donnell Media Summit. She is a member of the School of Communication, Media and the Arts Advisory Board.

“Involvement has really enriched my life by allowing me to meet the next generations of SUNY Oswego students,” Zahn says. “It’s been good to be able to share my experiences and to see the school blossom and change with the times.”

—Brittany Sperino Horsford ’14

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Benita Zahn Makes $15,000 Gift In Support of Students’ Dreams

gested donation amounts playing off the 11-12-13 theme. He posted: “Some ideas—$1,112.13 or 111.21x3=$333.63 or 11.12x13=$144.56.”

Although she is currently between jobs, Lisa Valentine O’Beirne ’86 posted to Facebook that she couldn’t make a huge gift, but she gave “at least something and the matching will help.”

Indeed, every gift helped secure the $33,363.90 in matching funds from the Kadens, Moritz and the anonymous alumni couple, and the 605 gifts from other challenge participants totaled an impressive $68,459.89.

“It was an exciting day here,” Knopp said. “Our alumni really showed their Oswego pride, and I am so proud to say I am an Oswego alumna!”

—Margaret Spillett

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Giving the Gift of Education

Celebrating Two Dozen Years of Continuous Support:

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Kevin Bryans ’89 Endows New Scholarship

throughout my life, helping me establish goals, study diligently and stay focused,” Ed Kelly says. “This allowed me to achieve my objectives.”

Thanks to his mother’s support, Kelly has had a successful career as the proprietor of two engineering firms.

Florence Williams Kelly died in 1962, but the memorial scholarship for education majors created by her son has ensured that her love of teaching and her commitment to public education live on.

“Through education my mother achieved a career in which she was able to give her heart and soul every day,” Kelly says. “She both nurtured and educated the many children who passed through her classroom for 20 years. She would be very proud to be helping deserving students begin teaching careers at this local level.”

—Brittany Sperino Horsford ’14

d Kelly says he has long wanted to generate a legacy for his mother, Florence Williams Kelly ’31, an alumna who loved teaching and recognized the opportunities it brought to teachers and to students. Kelly’s gift to establish the Florence Ellen Williams Kelly ’31 Scholarship commemorates the contributions she made through her life’s work.

While Kelly himself is not a SUNY Oswego alumnus, his mother, by her example and through the memories she shared, conveyed to him the quality of education she had received at her alma mater. Florence Williams Kelly’s career as a first-grade teacher in Middletown, N.Y., afforded her opportunities to influence the educational experiences of children at one of the most important learning times in their lives.

“Her teaching influence guided me

JIM RUSSELL ’83

LECET Gift Helps Oswego For 16 years, the New York State Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust (LECET) has consistently supported SUNY Oswego’s Presidential Scholars Program. Bill Shannon, business manager for the Upstate New York Laborers’ District and LECET representative, presented a check for $25,000 to President Deborah F. Stanley in the autumn.

The funds help Oswego attract the nation’s best and brightest students who are in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class, have SAT scores higher than 1,200 and GPAs higher than 90.

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ince graduating, Kevin Bryans ’89 has given a gift to his alma mater every year. As a newly minted alumnus, he committed his unwavering support with an initial gift of $25 to The Fund for Oswego, hoping to increase his gift as he progressed through his career. He has now become a generous leadership donor.

“I am proud of what SUNY Oswego, the School of Business, President Stanley and the faculty and students have accomplished,” Bryans says. “I am honored to be an alumnus and a volunteer and to contribute to Oswego’s success.”

Today, as chief financial officer and shareholder of Polaris Library Systems, Bryans says he is able to increase his level of support for Oswego. His most recent and largest gift to date establishes the Bryans Family Endowed Scholarship, which will support accounting students in the School of Business.

His generosity to Oswego goes beyond financial gifts. He has also given back his time, serving on the School of Business Advisory Board for several years and on the School of Business dean search committee. Bryans is the current Class of 1989 Reunion Giving chair.

Bryans credits his education at Oswego for giving him the necessary knowledge to advance as a certified public accountant. His brother, John Bryans ’86, also graduated from Oswego with a degree in accounting and has a successful CPA firm in the Albany area.

Kevin is proud of Oswego’s role in his family’s life, and says his time here was “a valuable and fulfilling experience.

“We are proud to give back to the college, the School of Business, the faculty and students with the Bryans Family Endowed Scholarship,” he says.

“We certainly hope to continue to do so long into the future.”

—Kaitlin Provost ’12

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Former Campus Leader Establishes Scholarship

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or Kay Benedict Sgarlata ’65, Oswego planted in her a seed that dropped from the pedagogical tree of its founder, Dr. Edward Austin Sheldon. Now, she and her husband, Anthony, have established a scholarship that she hopes will do the same for future generations of Oswego students.

A former elementary teacher, Kay Sgarlata says she was drawn to Oswego, like many educators before her, to gain the foundational knowledge and practical experience, which were integral to Dr. Sheldon’s vision when he founded the Oswego Primary Teachers’ Training School.

“His work isn’t trite or fanciful,” she says. “It is rock hard, concrete pedagogy that people flocked to Oswego to garner. I was just one of those 100 years later that took advantage of that.”

The 1973 West Genesee Central School District (Camillus, N.Y.) Teacher of the Year, Sgarlata credits

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Oswego for not only helping her achieve her goal of becoming a qualified teacher but also for providing her with a greater worldview and being part of a valued institution.

“When I think of Oswego, the term alma mater truly applies,” says Sgarlata, who has served the college as a former governor-appointed member of the College Council, former Oswego Alumni Association president and a current member of the Scholarship Committee—a role which makes her keenly aware of the impact a scholarship can make.

“I read students’ essays every year, learn about the hardships their families face and admire them for their courage to pursue college,” she says. “I am grateful that my husband and I are able to contribute to the college and establish a scholarship that will assist students in their college careers.”

—Margaret Spillett

A proud Oswego alumnus, husband and father, Timothy Barnhart ’02, his wife, Andrea, and children Lindsay and Kyle, are pleased to provide a scholarship that will help ease the financial burden of higher education for future Oswego students.

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Timothy Barnhart ’02 says he always believed in the power of student involvement and in giving back. A loyal Oswego volunteer, he is a seven-year member of the Oswego Alumni Association Board of Directors, a former member of the GOLD Leadership Council, active in the Alumni-In-Residence program and the Alumni Sharing Knowledge program and a speaker for several Oswego events.

Now, he has expanded his giving through the Timothy Barnhart ’02 Scholarship, to be awarded to a School of Business student who is active on campus.

Barnhart, who majored in communication studies and business administration and was a resident assistant, president of Student Association and a member of theater productions, says he was the recipient of others’ gifts during his undergraduate years.

Even though the scholarship bears Barnhart’s name, he says it honors his Oswego leadership mentors. “The generosity of other people inspired me to give,” Barnhart says. “Had I not had those opportunities, I don’t know that I would have the level of success that I’ve had.”

Barnhart, who lives in Baldwinsville, N.Y., with his wife and two children, is managing director of Northwestern Mutual in Syracuse. He has been with the company since he graduated, having completed an internship there his senior year.

“In the role I now have with Northwestern Mutual, I often reference Oswego and the leadership positions that I held,” he says. “Oswego’s influence remains with me in things that I do every day.”

Grateful for the support, mentors and enrichment opportunities he had at Oswego, Barnhart says he is pleased to be in a position to help current and future students develop leadership skills and achieve their career goals.

— Aimee Hirsch ’14

Helping the Dream of an Oswego Education Take Root

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Here’s

ALICE: Award-Winning Author of Seven Novels

By Linda Loomis ’90 M’97

“Well, I have bad news for you kid. You’re a writer, and you’ll never shake it.”

—DR. PAUL L. BRIAND (1920 – 1986)

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WILL KIRK, JHU

PREFACE:

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The artist’s life began early for Alice McDermott ’75. She was always writing, creating stories, as children do, as a means of shaping and controlling her world. At a very young age, she was in love with short stories and novels, in love with fiction.

Here’s Alice. She is filling page after page with her own fictional stories.

She is keeping a series of notebooks. She is, at 12 or 13, completing a novel on loose-leaf portfolio paper.

Does she think she can be a writer? No. “Writing was something other people could do,” McDermott says.

“It was a secret thing that nobody ever said could be done by someone like me, a middle-class girl from Long Island.”

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The Josephite nuns who taught McDermott and the other girls at Hempstead’s Sacred Heart Academy in the late 1960s provided them with a comprehensive reading experience that extended even beyond the school year.

The renowned SHA summer reading lists were comprised of six or seven books with reports due the first week of school.

Here’s Alice. She is reading Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters, Melville and Dickens. She is reading Seventeen and the Saturday Evening Post. She is reading Jacqueline Susann and Leon Uris.

Does she think she can be a writer? No. “I was a totally indiscriminate reader,” McDermott recalls. “I read the classics and the commercial blockbusters as well as all the good and bad fiction in magazines of the day. But it still felt as if becoming an author was a distant, almost sacred thing.”

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High school graduation loomed, and, long past the point at which a certain nun should have stopped giving academic advice, she told the girls of Sacred Heart not to go to “one of those public colleges, where the boys and the girls are all put together.”

Here’s Alice. She, rebelliously, ignores the nun’s advice and chooses SUNY Oswego, where her love of reading inspires her to take English classes.

Does she think she can be a writer? Well … yes.

“In the fall of my sophomore year, I was studying nonfiction writing with Dr. Paul Briand,” she says. “It was one of the wonderful moments in my life.

Dr. Briand told me, ‘You are a writer.’”

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t the pinnacle of a literary career that has garnered her some of the most prestigious awards in letters, Alice McDermott ’75, author of seven literary novels, and dozens of short stories and articles, values her foundational experiences as a student at SUNY Oswego. She says it is at Oswego that the affirmation from English depart-

ment faculty members helped her recognize for the first time that she could be part of the American literary tradition.

An avid reader and creative writer from childhood, McDermott grew up as a storyteller, and at her all-girl high school, her writing found an appreciative audience in her peers.

“We had a lot of assemblies, and every assembly had a skit,” she recalls. “I

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liked to write them, and by my junior and senior year, I was known as the go-to girl for skit writing.” Still, although she was expecting to go to college, she was not intending to pursue a degree that would lead to a career as an author.

When McDermott applied to SUNY colleges, Oswego became a top choice.

Her older brother was enrolled nearby at Syracuse University, and the family saw the logic of Alice having rides to Central New York for a couple of years.

At first considering a major in sociology, McDermott later decided on a degree in English.

“Oswego is where I learned about the craft of writing, where thoughtful professors were concerned about how students could be taught to be better writers,” McDermott says.

Professor Emeritus Lewis Turco, founder of Oswego’s English Writing Arts program, recalls McDermott as an excellent student, a serious writer. “But she was Briand’s from the start. She knew she wanted to write fiction,” he says.

EPIPHANY

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cDermott’s epiphany in Dr. Briand’s Nature of Nonfiction class, when he declared her “a writer,” stems from the first assignment. He asked students to write an autobiographical essay, and McDermott told a story of something that happened to a first-person narrator. She wrote with the pronoun “I.” What happened to the narrator had not, however, happened in real life to McDermott. Thus, a short story was born.

She recalls sitting in the large lecture hall while Dr. Briand used an overhead projector to display her text on the screen, as he did with all student work.

She recalls seeing her words scrutinized, her commas deleted, her sentences shaped. She recalls that when he finished, he said, “McDermott, I want to see you after class.”

It was then, after class, that Dr. Briand made his declaration: “Well, continued on page 20

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’ ALICE MCDERMOTT MILESTONES 1975 B.A. SUNY Oswego James E. Moreland Award, outstanding senior in literature

1978 M.A. University of New Hampshire

1982 A Bigamist’s Daughter

1983 Oswego Alumni Association Distinguished Alumna Award

1987 That Night Finalist: Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, PEN Faulkner Award, Los Angeles Times Book Prize

1992 At Weddings and Wakes Finalist: Pulitzer Prize

1993 Honorary Doctor of Letters, State University of New York

1998 Charming Billy National Book Award

1999 American Book Award Finalist: Dublin IMPAC Literary Award

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continued from page 19 I have bad news for you kid. You’re a writer, and you’ll never shake it.”

A university teacher herself—she was appointed in 2002 as a professor at Johns Hopkins University—McDermott now takes advantage of opportunities to encourage student writers as she was encouraged at Oswego. She says Briand’s affirmation in that long-ago class was transforming.

“It was so generous and kind of him to tell me that,” she says. “It was as if I had just been waiting to hear it. Coming from a respected writer, from an innovative teacher, it meant everything to me.”

LEARNING TECHNIQUE

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n the early 1970s, beginning to believe that she could become an author, McDermott focused on literature and creative writing courses. Her undergraduate work was so strong that faculty members selected her in 1975 to receive the James E. Moreland Award, given to the outstanding senior in literature.

“Oswego was innovative,” she says.

“It was uncommon to have so many options within the English degree. I took workshop classes in nonfiction and poetry, but it was my second class with Dr. Briand, a tutorial, that shaped my future as a novelist.”

Tutorial classes were limited to five students who never met as a group but, rather, wrote independently and met individually with a professor.

McDermott recalls those sessions like this: “I’d go in and meet with Dr. Briand, my draft in hand. He’d take it.

He’d begin to read aloud. He’d stop.

‘Why that detail?’ he’d ask me. ‘Why a yellow dress? Why not a red dress?’ If I hedged, if I said I just picked the color randomly, he’d say, ‘You have a choice in every word. You make every detail say what you want to say.’”

Having declared all that, Dr. Briand passed along one more golden nugget: “And when you have said it, stop.”

LITERARY STYLE

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riand’s advice to “stop” might be the defining characteristic that has shaped McDermott’s oeuvre. Her writing is spare, sensuous and densely constructed. In a review of Someone (New York Times, Sept. 6, 2013) Leah Hager Cohen observes, “Such is the crisp purposefulness of McDermott’s prose.

Her sentences know themselves so beautifully: what each has to deliver and how best to do it, within a modicum of space, with minimal fuss.”

McDermott says her work “assumes a certain confidence in the reader.” Thus, it is not for everyone.

“My writing asks a lot of the audience,” McDermott says. “Not every reader is looking for this kind of fiction.

I am aware, always, of the agreement between the reader and the writer. Dr. Briand nurtured that in me.”

In terms of technique, McDermott says she is always conscious of her choices as a writer. “Will you, as a writer, pay attention to each sentence?” she asks.

“The art and the architecture of each sentence is something Dr. Briand taught me to see.”

He also was the person who urged McDermott toward the graduate writing program at the University of New Hampshire and connected her with the legendary advocate of process writing, Donald Murray.

COLLEGE LIFE

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cDermott says her Oswego experience was, academically and socially, more than she expected when she chose a public school. She lived in Onondaga Hall for two years, then she took a year abroad at the University of Nottingham with 15 others.

“We became students in the British tradition while there,” she says. “For the entire year we studied only one subject: literature.” Upon her return for senior year, McDermott discovered she had met the maximum number of credits she could accrue in the English department.

She was especially disappointed to face

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WILL KIRK, JHU

excitement of being back on campus, of being together again.” She recalls ducking inside from the howling wind and snaking in line across the muddy floors to register for spring semester.

Missing the large shopping malls of home, downstate students adjusted to commerce in Oswego. “We’d walk or hitchhike into town,” McDermott says. “We went to Green’s five and dime to pick up things for our dorm rooms. We bought Christmas presents at a little gift shop run by a retired Oswego English professor. We made good use of the sub shops.

The bank on Bridge Street gave a hardcover dictionary to any student who opened an account. I still have mine.

And, of course,” she adds, “on weekends we were at Buckland’s or Broadwell’s. In the spring, we were at Nunzi’s.”

McDermott recalls students of that period, when the legal drinking age was 18, also frequented the Rathskeller, a tavern downstairs at Hewitt Union. Designed and built by students, it included multiple seating levels, professional-grade stage and sound, murals and a bar.

In the SUNY Oswego tradition, McDermott and many of her classmates maintain their campus friendships. Four couples with Oswego connections will travel to Italy this spring.

One of the couples, Jim and Mary Ellen Lisiak Ryan, can thank McDermott for their romance; she introduced them at Broadwell’s. Doris Miele Caliguri ’75 and her husband, Frank, will be on the trip. She recalls being the only Italian girl hanging out with “a bunch of Irish kids.”

On St. Patrick’s Day, she simply became “Dotty O’Miele.” Unable to condense 42 years of friendship into a few sentences, Caliguri says, “The Oswego legacy is still being formed.”

A birthday plaque from McDermott hangs in the home of Elizabeth Evans continued on page 22

graduation without having taken a class from Turco.

“I appealed to Professor Turco, and he arranged for me to receive a ‘dispensation’ so I could take his poetry class in my final year,” McDermott says.

“The most wonderful thing about being an English major at Oswego?” she asks, then answers her own question: “I got a full background in literature there, including two wonderful Shakespeare seminars. From Beowulf and Edmund Spenser’s The Fairie Queen, right up to the works of Faulkner, Fitzgerald and Hemingway, I learned about the literary tradition I was secretly hoping to join. ” Dr. James Perdue was president when McDermott was a student. In those days, students registered in the gym, standing in line and moving up to the table to sign in. Reaching the front only to find the class had just filled was cause for groaning, but McDermott also recalls the festive atmosphere of the experience.

“In the fall, it was like a big reunion,” she says. “We were all eager to see one another, and we could just feel the

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2002 Child of My Heart Appointed Richard A. Macksey Professor, Johns Hopkins University

2006 After This Finalist: Pulitzer Prize

2008 Corrington Award for Literature

2008 Morgan Writer in Residence, University of North Carolina

2010 F. Scott Fitzgerald Award for Literature

2011 D’Angelo Scholar-In-Residence, St. John’s University, N.Y.

201 3 Inducted into New York Writers Hall of Fame

201 3 Someone Semi-finalist: National Book Award

2014 Finalist National Book Critics Circle Award

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THE ARTIST

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hile authors don’t generally attain celebrity status, McDermott, with the positive reviews of her work and the high-profile awards she has earned, comes close. Her fourth novel, Charming Billy, has been printed in 57 editions in seven languages, and is held by 3,358 libraries worldwide. It won the American Book Award and the National Book Award.

Her novels have been included on the New York Times bestseller list, shortlisted for major prizes, including the Pulitzer, and reviewed positively. In spring 2013, McDermott was inducted into the New York State Writers Hall of Fame, along with literary luminaries Walter Mosley, Marilyn Hacker and Calvin Trillin.

“Deborah Stanley came to Man­hattan for that,” McDermott says, “and it pleased me tremendously—so generous of her.

Other recipients were impressed that my college president had come to celebrate with me.”

President Stanley says, “I was delighted to represent the students, faculty and staff of Alice McDermott’s alma mater in a celebration of her longstanding success as a writer. She has touched so many people through her memorable stories and characters and is an inspiration to our students.”

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FROM THE ARCHIVES

continued from page 21 Corcoran ’76, who, with her husband, John, will join the Italy excursion. It says: I like you … you knew me when I was young and stupid.

“That plaque about sums it up,” Corcoran says. “I clearly remember the day of senior awards. I was sitting with Alice when she was recognized as the outstanding senior in the English department. I never would have known it from Alice. She always seemed ready to party.

Those were the days.”

Recalling the undergraduate revelry and the good lives they’ve shared since graduation, McDermott says, “We have been together through dating, engagements, job hunts, weddings, births, joys and troubles. We are Oswego friends for life.”

Alice McDermott ’75 with her family at the presentation of her honorary doctor of letters degree from the State University of New York in 1993.

The hall of fame honor came just a few months before the publication and promotion of McDermott’s seventh novel, Someone, which resonates with the protagonist’s ongoing quest to understand the ordinary events and their consequences in her life. Details are revealed in spiraling waves of time that carry the reader from Marie’s childhood in the immigrant neighborhood where she lives with her parents and saintly brother, to her dignified acceptance of the burdens and blessings of age.

As the Richard A. Macksey Professor for Distinguished Teaching in the Humanities at Johns Hopkins, McDermott conducts writing seminars and conveys to students many of the same principles she acquired at Oswego.

“There is something wonderful about working with students, being reminded that the struggle is the same every time,” she says. “It’s good to be reminded, and it’s also good to be the one to cheer new writers on, to say, ‘There is good material in there. Let’s work to find it.’”

Having completed the book tour for Someone —“The biggest distraction to writing is to publish a book”— the author focuses on her next project.

“When I’m working,” she says, “I try to approach it as if I have a regular job: just keep a routine, just give it time. Write and write. Write more than I need.”

Recalling an incident from a women’s seminar in Los Angeles, when her oldest child was 2 and she was obviously pregnant with a second, McDermott says the novelist Diane Johnson gave her advice.

“Diane told me to put the children on the school bus in the morning, go to

the kitchen table and—she illustrated this advice with a dramatic sweep of her arm—clear everything off the table and sit down to write. She told me that way, I’d get in a day of writing. And when the children came home, I could pick it all up and do the dishes,” McDermott says.

“While raising three children, I learned to take whatever time I could get to write.”

Those three children are now adults, pursuing their own passions. The elder son, at 28, is a jazz pianist in New York City; the daughter, 25, is a visual artist and a curator of performance art in D.C., and the younger son, 20, a student at Fordham, plays traditional Irish music.

McDermott’s husband is a scientist at the National Institute of Health.

Only Rufous, the family’s 11-yearold labradoodle, poses a possible distraction. But his call for daily walks suits the author. “When I’m at my desk, eight hours can go by before I realize it,” she says. “It’s nice to have Rufous to remind me to go out and get some fresh air.”

IF YOU CAN DO ANYTHING ELSE

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n a Sept. 11, 2013, essay for “The 6th Floor,” a blog of the New York Times Magazine, McDermott relates three incidents in which successful writers are dispirited—by critics, by the press and by the pressures of producing their next success. She concludes with this advice, which she offers her students: If you can do anything else, kids, do it.

“I tell my students, if you can do anything other than pursue this literary fiction thing and still sleep at night and wake joyful in the morning and know that the hours of your days have been well spent, then you should do that – that other thing.”

McDermott says the advice clarifies what she—like other artists—knows deeply. She can’t do the other thing.

She has known since her sophomore year at SUNY Oswego the inevitability of her vocation, the certainty of her calling.

Here’s Alice. She is a writer. l

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Creativity… demands risk-taking rejects prevailing thoughts bubbles up from within spawns innovation follows no rules accepts mistakes begets creativity thrives at Oswego The Creative Arts programs at Oswego encompass a range of academic disciplines, including fine arts, music, theatre, film and creative writing. The work of faculty and alumni enrich the cultural environment of the Oswego campus and communities around the world. Some focus on aesthetics and originality. Others dedicate themselves to merging function and purpose with beauty. All combine skill and imagination to provoke thought, arouse emotion and elevate the human experience. These creative artists, to paraphrase Pablo Picasso, “wash the dust of daily life off our souls.”

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ARTSwego Brings the Creative Arts to Oswego paid by SUNY Oswego students.

Those resources are supplemented by generous patrons and frequent programming grants from funders like the National Endowment for the Arts, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation and CNY Arts. Private foundations such as the Gifford Foundation and Richard S. Shineman Foundation are also important allies in projects that extend ARTSwego’s reach beyond the campus.

A comprehensive calendar of events is maintained at oswego. edu/arts with links to video previews and purchasing details for ticketed events. All programs are open to the public.

provides support for programming carried out by other academic departments and campus organizations such as the music department, art department and creative writing program.

In February, ARTSwego’s small staff was focused on an ambitious project that brought the 12-member cast of The Acting Company to Waterman Theatre for performances of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Sir Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Students from 12 classes attended the performances and explored these related plays from the viewpoint of their respective disciplines, from literature to psychology to philosophy.

All of this is made possible by the voluntary student arts fee

JIM RUSSELL ’83

Since its creation 25 years ago, the ARTSwego program at SUNY Oswego has supplemented classroom experiences available to students by bringing outstanding professional artists to the campus for performances, exhibitions, screenings and readings.

Frequently, guest artists also participate in extended residencies that build connections with public schools and other partnering organizations in nearby communities.

In a typical year, ARTSwego presents 10 to 12 performing arts programs—including dance, drama and classical, contemporary and world music—through its main stage season and the affiliated Ke-Nekt Chamber Music Series. Through two advisory committees, ARTSwego

—John Shaffer

MICHAEL LAMONT

George “Nick” Gianopoulos ’07, right, top, composer-inresidence for the LA-based Symbiosis Chamber Ensemble, turns pages for Oswego music professor Robert Auler, who performs Gianopoulos’ classical piece, “Theme and Variations,” during a concert in Sheldon Hall Ballroom.

The Acting Company’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead played on campus in February.

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Enrolling without specifying a major, George Nicholas Gianopoulos ’07 expected his SUNY Oswego journey to proceed “con variazioni,” with changes. He was leaning toward computer science, when—as one of 126 students enrolled in MUS 101, a general education music appreciation course—he discovered his passion.

He played no instrument.

He did not read music. He insists no one would care to hear him sing. Still, he was about to become a musician.

“The class met in Lanigan Hall,” Gianopoulos recalls.

“Often, Dr. Juan LaManna played passages on the piano. It was incredible music. Music I hadn’t known existed.” Captivated, Gianopoulos registered for Introduction to Music Theory. He enrolled in piano lessons, having never played a piano, and quickly moved to private instruction with professor Robert Auler, D.M.A.

JIM RUSSELL ’83

JIM RUSSELL ’83

JIM RUSSELL ’83

Composer Nick Gianopoulos and His Life ‘Con Variazioni’

Declaring a music major and arts management minor, Gianopoulos became what former department chair Dr. Julie Merchant calls “a very fine student.” She helped him set up an internship with the Syracuse Youth Orchestra, where he marked parts and learned behind-the-scenes skills.

“Nick is one of our success stories,” Merchant says. “Hard work on his part and close mentorship on the part of faculty helped him reach his dreams.”

Dr. Auler, who performed Gianopoulos’ “Theme and Variations,” Op. 15, No. 5, on campus last fall, says, “Certain students make your teaching career truly awesome. Nick is one of those.

He had so much desire to learn.” He says Gianopoulos progressed quickly, taking on students of his own and working as a church musician.

For his senior recital, he performed challenging compositions

by Mozart, Schumann, Rachmaninoff and Chopin.

Gianopoulos now works in marketing for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. He is composerin-residence for the Symbiosis Chamber Orchestra and has a commission to create brief cello pieces for Music@Mimoda, an L.A. arts club.

As he immerses himself in music, Gianopoulos is astonished by his career path. “I owe so much to the Oswego faculty,” he says. “Oswego was the platform from which I could discover my passion for music and pursue it without being judged prematurely.”

To hear a sample of his music, visit Gianopoulos’ website at: www.georgengianopoulos.com.

—Linda Loomis ’90 M’97

Synergy of Pen and Pupil Enlivens This Writer’s Life Donna Steiner encountered the mantra, “Show, don’t tell” when, as a freshman, she shared a “terrible” poem she’d written with her Syracuse University roommate, poet JoEllen Kwiatek. It was the first time Steiner had, with trepidation, shown her writing to another.

Steiner kept writing, but she didn’t envision it as a career.

Nor did she consider an academic future. Yet, she has found success in both fields.

Since 2003, Steiner has been part of the Oswego Creative Writing faculty, teaching poetry and nonfiction, her current focus.

She’s published more than 50 essays and poems and earned dozens of awards. Her students revere her, and she reciprocates with respect for their work.

“I love teaching at Oswego,” she says, “and I love the practice of writing—research, drafting, revision.”

The efficacy of Steiner’s practice is evident in Elements, her 2013 Sweet Publications chapbook. It is comprised of five essays, beginning with “Sleeping

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With Alcohol” and including “Elements of the Wind,” which provides the title.

Steiner won first prize in the 2013 Enizagam poetry contest, and “Studying The Trees” has been nominated for Best American Essays 2014 and a Pushcart Prize. In 2011, she was named an NYSFA Nonfiction Fellow, a competitive designation that comes with a cash grant for the artist to use at her discretion.

Steiner coordinates Oswego’s Living Writers Series, in which visiting authors read and lecture on campus. That cross-genre course familiarizes students with realistic aspects of careers in writing.

The symbiosis of teaching and writing inspires Steiner.

Like all successful artists, she discovers by creating. Like all effective teachers, she learns from students.

“I love seeing my students’ skills develop,” she says. “I watch them, pens in hands, thinking, working. I am always delighted by what they write.”

—Linda Loomis ’90 M’97

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Professor Opens Ears and Minds to Classical Music Juan Francisco La Manna tells the story as it has been told to him. He’s at a family gathering. He’s 4. He jumps atop a table and sings a rousing aria from Rigoletto.

The amused adults are unified in their response: piano lessons.

As a teenager in Venezuela, La Manna was simultaneously attending high school and, through a highly competitive system, the conservatory. He intended to follow his father into medicine until he and his conservatory friends attended a performance of Rachmaninoff’s third piano concerto.

“It was the most powerful sound I had ever heard,” La Manna says. “Tears came to my eyes. I might not have been conscious of it, but that was the moment I chose music as my profession.” His parents were delighted.

After earning a baccalaureate and a master’s degree in piano at Indiana University, La Manna completed doctoral studies in conducting at the Conserva-

tory of the University of Missouri. He was conducting two orchestras and teaching at two colleges when he applied to Oswego.

He accepted Oswego’s offer in 1997 and has, he says, fallen in love with the community and the college, where “most students exhibit enthusiasm and desire to learn.”

La Manna does some acting with Oswego Players, maintains a piano studio, conducts the college-community orchestra and has been guest conductor for the Naples Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Syracuse’s Symphoria and Teatro Lirico d’Eurpopa. He teaches piano, conducting and orchestration courses as well as a music appreciation course that fulfills the fine arts general education requirement.

“I really enjoy that large group course,” La Manna says.

“I’ve had positive contact with students who appreciate the opportunity it gave them to learn about classical music. It does open the ears and the minds of many.”

—Linda Loomis ’90 M’97

Cinema and Screen Professor Finds Film Crucial While more movie studios, like Paramount, are transitioning to entirely digital picture releases, Professor Jake Dodd maintains that JIM RUSSELL ’83

Dr. Juan La Manna conducts a rehearsal of the Oswego CollegeCommunity Orchestra.

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working with film isn’t a thing of the past. In fact, he says quite the opposite.

“Film isn’t going away any time soon.”

Dodd, an award-winning independent filmmaker, instructs film and cinema courses in Oswego’s budding Cinema Screen Studies program.

“If the students are only working with video, then you are limiting their voice,” he says.

“Each film a person makes has unique characteristics to the film—like a signature.

“With film, students are forced to conceptualize how the finished product will look in their heads,” Dodd says. “When everything is planned out, you only shoot what you need. People who say that film is too expensive are just using that as an excuse.”

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JIM RUSSELL ’83

Texas Poet Credits Oswego With Changing her Life PROVIDED

Viktoria Valenzuela ’10

Jake Dodd, second from left, explains a film shot to students.

Film emotes an aesthetic that cannot be recreated digitally. In addition, he says the film industry has been established long enough for all components to be reusable; even the light sensitive silver halide on film stock is collected and recycled. Inversely, “with digital you need to buy a new camera every five years when yours becomes out of date.

“There are some merits to digital filmmaking,” Dodd admits, “but the skills you learn working with film, like careful planning and attention to light, translate to digital and will ultimately make you a better filmmaker.”

He was first exposed to working with film while earning a B.F.A. in film, photography and visual arts at Ithaca College, though he grew up enjoying movies from directors like Steven Spielberg. He taught his first film

course while working as a graduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

He joined Oswego in 2011.

He credits Dr. Amy Shore and Dr. Bennet Shaber for seeking out someone with experience in 16 mm and experimental film.

Dodd says throughout college, he worked in an oil refinery to fund his films. His advice to aspiring filmmakers?

“If your dream is to make films, start now, and don’t ever stop making films.”

Viktoria Valenzuela ’10 dispels every stereotype of the isolated writer. No garret room, no solitary pursuits for this San Antonio author. It’s as if, having found her voice at SUNY Oswego, she can’t stop using it.

Valenzuela’s calendar is as packed with commitments as her poetry is rich with images—a writing workshop at Gemini Ink, a book release party for her teen students’ work, an arts event. She helped organize 100 Thousand Poets for Change San Antonio, Texas, a response to the BP oil spill, and she constantly writes for performance and publication. For her, being a writer and being an activist are the same.

Valenzuela arrived at SUNY Oswego with a community college background and two young children. It was a dismal period, and she was ready for change.

“At Oswego, I became my most power-filled self,” Valenzuela says.

“My professors pushed me in directions I never knew I could travel.

And, becoming a McNair scholar changed my life.”

The Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program prepares students from underserved populations to succeed in graduate school. With program mentors Dr. Patricia Clark, now English department chair, and former Oswego professor Ira Sukrungruang, Valenzuela wrote her thesis on “The Absent Cultural and Literary Voice of Young Chicana Mothers.”

“Dr. Clark called it ‘ambitious,’” Valenzuela says. “She was right. But I worked hard because I never wanted to let her down.” A move to San Antonio, precipitated by her father’s failing health, kept her from accepting a graduate school scholarship but enabled her to form friendships with some of the authors she studied: Sandra Cisneros, Josie Mendez Negrete, Lorna Dee Cervantes and Norma E. Cantu.

“Gloria Anzaldua’s work informed my thesis,” Valenzuela says, “and her best friend will be my doula this winter.”

Valenzuela will use the respite following her third child’s birth to write. She’ll begin a biography of her grandfather, whose music the Westside Horns played as she performed a dramatic reading at the citywide arts festival Luminaria San Antonio. She’ll complete a chapbook that reminds her of her studies with Professor Donna Steiner.

“She shaped my writing,” Valenzuela says. “I channel her every time I create. I have traveled far from Oswego, but I still carry all the good things that happened to me there.”

—By Linda Loomis ’90 M’97

The earth as a mother A blue planet seeks to rock us to bliss in every echo and vibration under the ground.

We tread here, but she is the one who magnetizes our steps to her heart.

—Tyler Edic ’13

—Viktoria Valenzuela ’10

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JIM RUSSELL ’83

Developing Dichotomies into Balance Black and white. Animalistic and humanistic. Public and private. Technique and passion. Professor Juan Perdiguero has manipulated opposing elements into a harmonious and satisfying life as an artist and a teacher.

Using only paper towels, cotton swabs and his hands, he draws large-scale, lifelike images of mostly dogs and monkeys by wiping away black etching ink from non-absorbent, luminscent photographic paper—a technique he spent 20 years perfecting.

“I wanted to bring together painting, drawing and photography,” says Madrid native Perdiguero. “I wanted to create a process and an image that was very hybrid—a combination of different approaches. I am fasci-

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nated by how the combination of dark and light works to generate form. I wanted to create an image that was very photo-realistic from a distance, but generated completely by hand.”

The result is a 12-hour process that generates intense images meant to spur the viewer into thinking about their conflicting human and animalistic nature. “A mind game,” he says.

He describes his passion for teaching and creating art as showcasing two distinctly different sides of his own nature.

“Making art is a very intimate and personal thing,” he says. “It nurtures the relationship I have with myself.”

When he teaches, he says he has to dissect his private art-

making moments into teachable lessons that help students develop their own ideas that connect to technical art processes.

“I’m very shy, but when I’m in front of the classroom, suddenly something happens and I just open up, all my energy flows, I start talking a lot and engaging with my students,” he says. “It’s very satisfying when you see that the students synthesize all the information and create art that is personal and unique to them.”

“I have great balance in my life,” he says.

—Margaret Spillett

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Curtain Up on Professor’s Plays and Pedagogy Brad Korbesmeyer teaches advanced playwriting in Lee Hall dance space because, he says, “Plays are not for the page; they’re for the stage.”

In his 22nd year at Oswego, Korbesmeyer is associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. But, this recipient of the President’s Advisor of the Year Award and Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching is drawn to interactions with students. That’s why he teaches one playwriting course a semester.

Korbesmeyer says Oswego creative writing students are prepared for the vicissitudes of arts careers, and he credits Leigh Allison Wilson, program director, and the faculty with ensuring that graduates have marketable skills.

“Still,” he says, “it takes a leap of faith. Writers don’t have that transitional internship or student teaching experience to ease them forward. But they have a sophisticated understanding of what’s important. They know a big pay-

Ryan Sprague ’06

Professional Playwright Credits Oswego for Success Ryan Sprague ’06 has had a one-act play, Some Just Do It Naturally, selected for the Outworks GLBTQ Play Festival in Baton Rouge, La. It is a revision of his first student work at Oswego.

Sprague’s thriller, East in Red, was produced at Kraine Theatre in New York City in February, and several other plays have had staged readings and workshops.

His student-written play Reach, nominated for a Syracuse Area Live Theater award in 2012, has been made into a feature-length film, Reverie Lane, for which he did the screenwriting.

“I give credit for my playwriting career to Professor Brad Korbesmeyer,” Sprague says, and he thanks “staunch supporter” Dr. Patrick Murphy for teaching

check alone will not give their lives meaning.”

Korbesmeyer says the program provides depth, through a progression of three genre-specific courses; breadth, through classes across all genres—recently including screenwriting—and community, through small classes and workshops. “We are one of a handful of undergraduate programs to bring all these strengths together,” he says.

Like other professors, Korbesmeyer models the writing life. Twain’s Last Chapter had a staged reading at the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Conn., last year, and a play is “percolating” from his recent trip to Botswana.

“All successful artists integrate their work into the pattern of their lives,” Korbesmeyer says.

“Art demands a tempo and a temple. When I show up at this time and in this place, I am reminded: I am a writer.”

— Linda Loomis ’90 M’97

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PROVIDED

JIM RUSSELL ’83

Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Brad Korbesmeyer

him to read between the lines of dialogue to get the true meaning of a play.

In the Oswego theatre department, Sprague was mentored by Mark Cole ’73.

“He taught me to step out of the box and to never be afraid to try something different.”

Inspired to be courageous for art, Sprague moved to Queens, where he spends daytime researching outlets and submitting his work. Freelancing for magazines helps pay bills.

“My creativity is sparked at night,” Sprague says. “That’s when I work on plays, doing whatever I can to translate my feelings into my characters.”

— Linda Loomis ’90 M’97

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Long Run in Theatre Department Closing for Professor, Actor, Playwright

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played Fool in Syracuse Shakespeare Festival’s February production of King Lear, Rev Sholdeur in the 2013 independent film Impossible Choice, and many other critically acclaimed roles. His Poe/Play, a biographical piece, has been produced at high schools, festivals and professional venues in New York City and London.

Oswego alumni remember participating in or attending productions of Twelfth Night, Antigone, Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure and other Mark Coledirected hits. Integrating his interest in local history, writing and performing, he created The Glass Coffin: a Ghost Story, On the Terrace of the Pontiac Hotel, and Speaking of Sheldon, for the 2011 sesquicentennial of SUNY Oswego, when Robin Curtis ’78 joined the Chamber Readers to

bring to life the words of founder Edward Austin Sheldon.

Cole, who served as chair from 1995 to 2009, developed and updated theatre department courses and upheld the practice of participatory learning. He worked collaboratively to produce an annual Renaissance Madrigal Banquet, a dramatic portrayal of campus life for incoming freshmen and the summer theatre institute.

Assessing his career, Cole says he’s glad the one-year commitment stretched to a satisfying 35 years of helping students learn and love theatre by taking chances and embracing process.

“For me, a course, a production, a workshop is never about what I’m going to teach,” Cole says. “It’s about what I’m going to learn.”

—Linda Loomis ’90 M’97

—TOM STOPPARD

In 1979, Mark Cole ’73 debuted as an instructor in Oswego’s department of speech and theatre. He agreed to a one-year commitment. Thirty-five years later, the curtain falls on his final exit from a remarkable performance.

He says he doesn’t know exactly how retirement will play, but he will continue to write and perform.

Teaching and acting come naturally to Cole, whose family is replete with musicians and educators. He earned an M.F.A. in performance at New York Univer­sity in 1978, finding it “tremendously energizing” to study in the heart of American theatre.

Cole brought that energy to Central New York, where, in addition to his Oswego contributions, he has enriched the arts as a playwright, actor and director. He

“ … look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else.”

JIM RUSSELL ’83

Mark Cole ’73 teaches during his final semester before retirement.

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Keeper ��Torch

The Oswego Alumni Association ensures the bonds among 78,000 alumni remain strong.

O

BY MARGARET SPILLETT

n Commencement Eve for nearly 90 years, SUNY Oswego alumni have ceremoniously passed the torch of learning from one generation to the next, with the charge—penned in 1936 by then Chair of the English Department Dr. Lida S. Penfield ’19—to carry the “light transferred from our school, through us, to others.” As light passes from one candle to the next during the Commencement Eve Torchlight Ceremony, the newly minted Oswego graduates one by one add their strength to the hearth of their alma mater so that “its glory may never be dimmed.”

In many ways, the Oswego Alumni Association serves as the keeper of the torch for our nearly 78,000 alumni today. Through regional events, Greek and campus reunions, posts to social media or distribution of the OSWEGO Alumni Magazine, the OAA rekindles alumni’s passion for their alma mater, helps them maintain their connections to each other and keeps the light on for them in King Alumni Hall—their home on campus.

“Our alumni association plays a vital role on this campus,” says College President Deborah F. Stanley. “We see it as an integral partner in connecting our powerful alumni network to the college community and the activities unfolding on campus. One of my favorite Dr. Edward Austin Sheldon quotes is, ‘We have one interest continued on page 32

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continued from page 31 and one aim—to raise this school to its highest degree of usefulness.’ The Oswego Alumni Association is the embodiment of Dr. Sheldon’s wish. The Oswego Alumni Association helps collect the expertise and passion of our alumni as they give their time, talent and treasure to support our students and carry forward our academic mission.”

Six priorities have fueled the OAA’s success throughout its history: recordkeeping, communication, fundraising, alumni services, reunions and alumni recognition (See Programs Snapshot), says Kay Benedict Sgarlata ’65, an author and a retired teacher from Syracuse who served on the board of directors for years, including as president from 1990 to 1995.

“I really don’t think the mission or goals of the alumni association have changed much throughout its history,” Sgarlata says. “Every man and woman who came to Oswego and graduated are members of this club. Our educational experience and love for Oswego unite us.”

Glowing Embers

E

dith Maloney Knight ’50, a retired elementary teacher and a long-time former board member from Oswego, has witnessed the dramatic growth the alumni association has had in her lifetime.

She recalls a small group of Oswego-area alumni gathering for socials, organizing alumni trips to wineries and tourist attractions and occasionally pairing up with admissions staff to recruit high school students to Oswego.

Volunteers have always been a vital part of the OAA, and Knight coordinated fellow alumni and students to work the phones for the annual telefund, remembering to write down any address change or professional and personal updates that alumni shared with them.

“This was before computers,” Knight says. “We had stacks of paper and files that we made sure got passed on to try to

1980 Patricia Ruppert Brown ’72 named association director

1861 Oswego Primary Teachers Training School founded by Edward Austin Sheldon 1867 First alumni meeting held in Normal Hall 1886 Oswego Normal School Alumni Association established at the college’s 25th anniversary; first reunion held

1973 Fundraising programs began

1983 Margaret “Peg” Lowery ’74 named association director

1936 First Commencement Eve Torchlight Ceremony held

1975 First Annual Fund campaign provided means for 19 scholarships and part of a graduate assistantship

1961 College centennial celebrated

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1981 Oswego Alumni Association becomes officially incorporated

1973 First full-time alumni relations director Robert Sweeney hired

1910 New York State purchased 27 acres along Lake Ontario for Oswego Normal School

1960 Distinguished Alumnus Award first presented

keep the files up to date. But people move, women get married and people change jobs. Record-keeping is never done.”

Nor is there any pause in changes on a college campus.

During Knight’s years on the alumni board, the OAA created gift club designations to recognize alumni who contribute to The Fund for Oswego at specific levels.

The association also hired employees to enhance what the alumni volunteers had accomplished.

SUNY Oswego, founded as a normal school, remained a college exclusively for teacher education until 1962, evolving after that point to its present configuration as an institution of higher learning with four primary colleges: the School of Business, the School of Education, the School of Communication, Media and the Arts, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Growth and diversification of programming resulted in alumni from a broad range of academic disciplines working in equally diverse careers throughout the world.

1985 Senior Challenge program introduced; the statue of Edward Austin Sheldon refurbished as a senior class gift

1977 Steven D. Sucher ’74 named association director 1979 Richard Collins ’77 named interim director

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S N A P S H OT:

Programs Affinity Group Reunions

Alumni Awards Program Alumni-In-Residence Alumni Records Management Alumni Sharing Knowledge (ASK) Athletic Hall of Fame Backpack to Briefcase Future Alumni Network (FANs) Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) Legacy Student and Parent Reception Lunch and Learn webinars NYC Career Connections Regional Events Program Reunion Weekend Senior Class Program Torchlight Ceremonies

Adding A Fresh Spark

A

lumni association staff and board members consciously started to recruit a more diverse board.

“We reached out to those alumni who were in communication with the alumni office on a regular basis or who were donors to serve on the board,” Sgarlata says. “Our board took on a new dimension of a greater worldview. We had people in public relations, administration, banking, law and other fields.

We made major leaps to become a very professional board, with members who attended meetings consistently, shared their expertise generously and supported the college financially.”

For the past 30 years, Betsy Oberst has worked for the association, and she currently serves as its executive director and as associate vice president of alumni relations and stewardship.

1986 OAA centennial celebrated with college’s 125th anniversary

1994 Division of Alumni & University Development established

1987 Alumni Mentor program introduced (now Alumni Sharing Knowledge ASK)

1994 Alumni-In-Residence (AIR) program initiated

1990 Welcoming Torchlight Ceremony initiated

1995 Betsy Oberst named association director 1996 First Return to Oz Alumni of Color reunion held

“The board is the face of our 78,000 alumni and advises us on how best to serve those graduates,” Oberst says. “The members represent a variety of majors, occupations, regional locations, class years and backgrounds. We have a terrific group of volunteers who have worked hard to develop a thoughtful strategic plan to guide our work.”

Jennifer Shropshire ’86, a management science graduate and a partner at Edward F. Swenson & Associates Inc. in Philadelphia, said she joined the board in 1997 during the initial period of diversification and has been part of creating three strategic plans for the association.

“Every strategic plan has gotten better both in terms of focus, and also in terms of the association’s ability to achieve the objectives called for in the plan,” says Shropshire, who served as continued on page 34

2008 First capital campaign Inspiring Horizons reaches $23.85 million, thanks to more than 22,000 donors 2008 GOLD Welcome to the City series launched 2008 Reunion Weekend crowds reached record heights, totaling near 1,400 people

1991 OAA moved to King Alumni Hall 1997 Golden Alumni Society established 2001 NYC Career Connections launched 2001 Athletic Hall of Fame established 2006 Future Alumni Network (FANs) program initiated 2008 Graduates Of the Last Decade (GOLD) program launched

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continued from page 33 president from 2004 to 2008 and remains active as a board member and as the national chair of The Fund for Oswego with the College Foundation. “We now have a board that I have always wanted.

We talk about measurable outcomes as a matter of course.”

Current Board President Keith Chamberlain ’87, a communications graduate and the director of business development at EDUCAUSE in Boulder, Colo., said before he got involved with the association, he thought it simply produced the magazine and organized reunion.

“Now, I realize that association board and staff do so much more— GOLD events, Alumni-In-Residence, NYC Career Connections, Athletic Hall of Fame luncheon, communication studies dinner and on and on,” Chamberlain says. “We’re always looking to develop professional and meaningful interactions with a broad group of alumni so that Oswego remains an important part of the post-college experience.”

He outlines the OAA’s current goals to:

Then & Now ALUMNI MEMBERS

108 in 1867

78,000 in 2014 BULLETIN (MAGAZINE) MAILING LIST

3,000 in 1950

89,275 in 2014 ALUMNI RESIDENCE

1867: Nearly All Within New York State

2014: All 50 U.S. states; more than 40 other countries 66% NYS • 4% Fla. • 2.5% N.C. 2.2% N.J. • 2% Calif. • 2% S.C. 1.6% Mass.

n Position the association as a valueadded component on campus and within the broad alumni network

n build and sustain a strong infrastructure, including the staff and the board of directors

n Help build a culture of alumni supporting the college by sharing their personal, professional and financial gifts

n Engage alumni and friends in activities and programs

Oberst says she and the staff have been working with Chamberlain and the

S N A P S H OT:

Communications Lake E-ffect e-newsletter, monthly, reach 37,425 Parents e-newsletter, monthly Sept. through May, reach 1,500+ ASK mentors e-newsletter, quarterly, reach ~575 Oswego Social Digest, monthly, reach 37,210 OSWEGO Alumni Magazine (print and online), three times a year, reach 89,275 Total annual email campaigns 348; reach ~2 million+ Twitter 1,808 followers Facebook 4,167 likes LinkedIn 5,376 group members OSWEGO

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other board members to embrace change and be ready to adapt to the current and future needs of their alumni members.

“We are continuously looking to create opportunities that are meaningful to our alumni,” Oberst says. “For example, during the downturn in the economy, we tried to connect alumni to career services support and to other alumni working in their fields.”

Burning Ever Brighter

A

s higher education evolves with more online program offerings and technologies that enable remote learning and connection, the association will revise and update its services and events for alumni who may never have stepped foot on the physical campus.

“The type of programs, services and other ‘traditional’ activities will certainly have to adapt to the new norms, whatever they may be,” Chamberlain says.

“Our staff will need to accommodate the new reality, especially as consumers continue to adapt to the ‘marketplace of me’—a world filled with custom, personspecific experiences.”

However, past and present OAA leaders agree that nothing will take the place of meaningful personal and professional relationships.

“Social media keeps recent alumni far more united than we ever were from the Class of 1965,” Sgarlata says. “But there is nothing that replaces sitting down next to somebody, sharing stories and spending quality time with them.

That goes way beyond the sound bites available on social media.”

Chamberlain concludes: “No matter what the future looks like, the Oswego Alumni Association will always be about ensuring connections with our growing numbers of alumni are made, kept and nurtured.”

And, alumni can take comfort know ing that the OAA will be keeping the torch to ensure its flame never wanes. l Reporting about the history of the association was pulled from Dorothy Rogers’ book SUNY College at Oswego: Its Second Century Unfolds (1988, The College).

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JUNE 5-8

1949 65th

Class Notes JUNE 5-8

1954 60th

JUNE 5-8

1959 55th

1944 70th

NOTE S

Call us at: 315-312-2258 Email us at: alumni@oswego.edu Fax us at: 315-312-5570 Visit our website at: alumni.oswego.edu

JUNE 5-8 JUNE 5-8

Alumna Applies Legal Skills to Help Nonprofits 1964 50th

1944 70th 1944 70th JUNE 5-8 JUNE 5-8

1949 65th 1949 65th JUNE 5-8 JUNE 5-8

Walter Kluge ’51 helped start 1954L.60th 1954 60th the Laker Track program alongside Miles B. Borden ’50 in 1948. His JUNE 5-8 5-8 most fond memories ofJUNE Oswego were made on the athletic field.

Walter now enjoys the mild weather 1959 55th 1959 55th of the Blue Ridge in Brevard, N.C. 5-8 Stanley T. Warren ’51 JUNE is retired JUNE 5-8 from the Florida Department of Education. He resides in Bartow, 50th 1944 70th Fla.,1964 with50th his wife, Gloria, and has 1964 three grandchildren.

JUNE JUNE 5-8 5-8

JUNE 5-8 Ann Marian Davis Bellenson ’52 retired from teaching English as a1969 second 45th 1949 65thlanguage and a U.S. 1969 45th citizenship course at the Simi Valley Unified School District in JUNE JUNE 5-8 5-8 JUNE 5-8 California.

1974 40th 1954 40th 60th 1974 JUNE 5-8 5-8 JUNE JUNE 5-8

’83, ’84, ’85

’83, ’85 30th’84, Reunion Donald L. Brooks ’54 is a retired 30th1959 Reunion guidance55th counselor with the Greenwich (N.Y.) Central School JUNE 5-8 District and was an interviewer JUNE 5-8 with the admissions office at Skidmore1989 College.

25th Donald resides in 1964 1989 50th 25thwith his wife, Mary Greenwich Anne Brown. The couple has 10 JUNE 5-8 grandchildren.

JUNE 5-8 JUNE 5-8 ’98, ’99, ’00 ’98, ’99,Nessman ’00 Sylvia Milch ’54 cele15th Reunion 15th 1969 Reunion brates her45th 60th wedding anniversary

with her husband, Ed. She enjoys JUNE 5-8 5-8 JUNE writing and is proud to serve as a JUNE 5-8 writer for Gold Coast Cancer Fundraising in Florida.

2004 10th 1974 40th 2004 10th

JUNE JUNE 5-8 5-8

’08, ’09, ’10 ’83, ’84,’10 ’85 ’08, ’09, 5th Reunion

1949 65th

JUNE 5-8 Any attorney

worth her salt JUNE 5-8 could make a case 1969 45th that the results retired attorney 1954 60th JUNE 5-8 M. Catherine JUNE 5-8 Richardson ’63 1974 40th H’05 has achieved in her exceptional 1959 55th JUNE 5-8 legal career are balanced equally ’83, ’84, ’85 JUNE 5-8 by the impact she 30th Reunion has made through her volunteer work. nearly 40 years, Richardson has donat1964For 50th JUNE 5-8 ed her time and talents to a wide range of civic and community organizations JUNE 5-8 locally and more 1989 25th recently on national boards as well. Her latest accomplishment is being elected chair of the 1969 45th Board of Trustees of SRC Inc., a not-for-profit JUNE 5-8 research company in North ’98, ’99, ’00 and development JUNE 5-8 Syracuse, N. Y .

15th Reunion “I am proud to help this major employer and accomplish its goals,” says 1974innovator 40th JUNE 5-8 Richardson, who has served on SRC’s board for more than 15 years.

“I5-8 also felt it was an JUNE 2004 10th honor and my responsibility to show that a ’83,woman ’84, ’85 can lead a board of a STEM-focused 30th Reunion JUNE 5-8 company.”

1944 70th The position allows Richardson to revisit ’08, ’09, ’10 JUNEand 5-8 mathematics, pasroots in the sciences 5th her Reunion sions which she said the great Oswego faculty

1989 65th 25th 1949

JUNE 5-8

and enjoys arranging neighborhood parties.

Bernard E. Farrow ’61 and his wife, Arlene Mendelson Farrow ’61, have four grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Bernard is employed with the Craggy Correctional Center as a substance abuse counselor and Arlene works full time, taking care of the home, Bernard and their pet, Lucy. The couple resides in North Carolina.

2004 10th 1959 55th JUNE 5-8 5-8 JUNE

’08, ’09, ’10 ’59 moved to his new Jerry Passer 5th Reunion home in Fuquay-Varina, N.C., in 1964 50th November. He plays tennis and golf JUNE 5-8

JUNE JUNE 5-8 5-8

encouraged her to pursue. Before earning a J.D. from Syracuse University, she was a high school math teacher and continues to advocate for young people, especially young women in the STEM fields.

During her stellar legal career at Bond, Schoeneck and King in Syracuse, she represented large nonprofits focused on health care, school districts and a variety of businesses.

In 1996, she became only the second woman elected president of the New York State Bar Association, and earned recognition at the county and state level for her pro bono work on women’s issues.

Since retiring 10 years ago, she has put the skills she developed as a lawyer—listening and creative problem-solving, in particular—to use serving on dozens of boards. She served her alma mater as a member of the College Council, a speaker at Honors Convocation, and the chair of the Oswego College Foundation board of directors. Richardson, who attended law school with President Deborah F. Stanley, says she has been impressed with the college’s evolution under her colleague’s leadership.

“My mantra is to give back,” she says. “I’m proud to support my alma mater. It’s been fun watching Oswego grow and become a more prominent educational institution.”

—Margaret Spillett

JUNE 5-8

JUNE 5-8in William Kean ’56 works ’98, ’99, ’00 fishing with Kean commercial 15th Reunion Fishing He was an army 1954Charters.

60th paratrooper who met his wife, the late Harriet Giordano Kean JUNE’55, 5-8at JUNE 5-8 Oswego.

30thReunion Reunion 5th

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Otto Thomas ’63 was inducted into the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame at the 19th Annual Sloan Consortium International Conference on Online Learning. He was recognized for his significant contributions across the education spectrum, including establishing opportunities for members of the U.S. Armed Services to gain access to higher education.

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CL A SS

N O TE S Erin Griffin Dinneen ’71 of Hamil­ton, N.Y., is a retired school librarian. She majored in secondary English education at Oswego.

Global Experiences Inform Alumnus’ Approach to Life During his work overseas, Rick Zinter ’74 has procured much more than supplies for his employers. He acquired a unique worldview that has shaped his life philosophy.

“The travel I’ve done for work helped me realize we need to enjoy the journey, not just the destination,” he says. “Whether the destination is to reach retirement, go on vacation or visit with my two sons, I remind myself and my sons not to focus so much on the goal that you don’t enjoy the path you take to get there.”

His job as a global procurement manager for companies like Xerox, Tyco and his current employer, Jedson Engineering, has taken him to jobs in Japan, Hong Kong, California and PROVIDED

1944 70th JUNE 5-8

1949 65th JUNE 5-8

1954 60th JUNE 5-8

Rick Zinter ’74

Florida, in addition to shorter visits to several other countries and U.S. states.

He enjoys the work’s diversity as he handles the logistics, financial, legal and social aspects of purchasing materials from global suppliers, arranging for their transportation to manufacturers and seeing them incorporated into final products for sale.

During a recent two-year assignment in Saudi Arabia, Zinter says he spent most of his time working 12-hour shifts, six days a week, and then enjoying fishing, snorkeling and scuba diving in the Red Sea on his day off. He also made a list of things to do when he returned stateside, like spending more time with his family and catching a Laker men’s hockey game in the Campus Center Arena, which didn’t exist when his roommate, Don Padgett 1944 70th ’74, played on the team.

He remembers fondly the many afternoon JUNE 5-8 trips with his senior-year roommate, Michael “Mook” Moroukian ’74, to Kelly’s for a drink and to shoot some pool, and trudging through 1949 65th the snow from Waterbury to Onondaga to visit a friend. Although he says he has lostJUNE 5-8 touch with many of his classmates, he believes that he “could call any of them and just start 1954 60th talking, and it would be fine.”

His global experience, he says, affirmed a JUNE 5-8 similar truth. “No matter where you go, most people are truly good.”

—Margaret Spillett 1959 55th

1959 55th

JUNE 5-8 JUNE 5-8

1964 50th JUNE 5-8

Louis DeCarolis ’64 lives in Colo1969 45th rado with his wife, Carolyn Sue. He spends his days RVing, motorcyJUNE 5-8 cling and woodturning.

Elizabeth Turbyfill Wilmsen ’64 resides in St. Louis, Mo. She was a member of Alpha Sigma Chi at Oswego.

Angelo Marinelli ’64 is a retired 1974 40th guidance counselor with the Auburn (N.Y.) School District. He JUNE 5-8 was a part of the national council for social studies and intramural ’83, ’84,at’85 sports Oswego. Angelo resides in 30th Reunion Auburn with his wife, Marlene. The couple has three grandchildren.

Susan Wimberly Higgins ’65 is enjoying retirement, filling her days with swimming, fishing, motorcycles and dancing. She resides in Florida.

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1964 50th He enjoyed the time spent with the ski club and his brothers in Beta Tau JUNE 5-8 Epsilon while attending Oswego.

Carol Smith Doogan Walters ’64 is a retired teacher, residing in Centerport, N.Y. She enjoys spending time with her grandchildren, traveling and visiting her son in Australia.

E. Ric Frataccia ’71, superintendent of the Portage (Ind.) Township Schools, since 2012, was named the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents 2014 District I Superintendent of the Year. He formerly served as the district’s assistant superintendent, the superintendent in Union Township (Ind.) Schools and an administrator at Valparaiso (Ind.) Community Schools. He is a member of the Association of Supervision of Curriculum Devel1944 70th opment and of the Indiana School Boards Association.

JUNE 5-8

Benjamin Beauchamp ’72 is a research assistant at Harvard 1949School.

65th He was a member Medical of Sigma Gamma Fraternity at JUNE 5-8 Oswego.

Bruce Coville ’73, children’s author from1954 Syracuse, 60th N.Y., received the Friends of the Central Library’s Muriel Koretz Award, for his impact JUNE 5-8 on children’s literacy in Central New York. A former elementary teacher, was one of 121 children’s 1959he55th authors who sent a letter to President Obama opposing JUNE excessive 5-8 testing in school.

Robert W. Parow ’73 of Belleville, 1964 50th N.Y., founded My 3rd Leg Inc. in 2009, a company that produces JUNE 5-8 whimsical walking canes designed to look like a human leg bone. A U.S. Navy veteran, he taught tech1969 45th nology for 30 years at Sauquoit Valley Central Schools in Oneida JUNE 5-8 County before retiring 2005.

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Peter Clement ’71, deputy director 40th for 1974 intelligence for analytic programs at the CIA, is a professor JUNE 5-8 at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs ’83, ’84, ’85 during a two-year hiatus through 30th Reunion the CIA’s Officer in Residence program.

Jonathan C. Christie ’68 of Anthem, Ariz., has fond memories of Nunzi’s and Rudy’s in Oswego.

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’83, ’84, ’85’74 is an instructor at Jack Carr 30th Reunion SUNY Cortland. He was a member of Alpha Psi Omega at Oswego.

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Doug Hutson ’74 has retired as the principal of Westhill (N.Y.) Central School middle school 1989District’s 25th after 38 years in public education. He is enjoying retirement by JUNE 5-8 boating in the Thousand Islands ’98, gardening. ’99, ’00 and 15th Reunion

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C L1964 A 50th SS Joseph Michael Midura ’74 is a retired English teacher, residing in Chesapeake, Va., with his wife, Susan. He belonged to the symphonic choir, swim and ski team at Oswego.

Patrick Murphy ’74 placed second in the 2013 New England Swim Championships and placed fifth, sixth and eighth in three events at the 2013 National Swim Championships in Indianapolis. He resides in Simsbury, Conn., with his wife, Yvonne.

Kenneth Lachman ’75 is retired from the Boeing Company and resides in Lakewood, Wash.

Douglas L. Lohnas ’75, Ed.D., rejoined the workforce as the interim dean of the Division of Business, Criminal Justice and Law at Schenectady County Community College after retiring from the Niskayuna (N.Y.) School District five years ago. His wife, Susan Pierce Lohnas ’74, continues to excel as a program manager at General Electric.

Teresa McHugh ’75 and Antonette Jordan ’11 are company members of Soul Steps, a stepping dance team based in New York City. The company modeled Rick Owens’ collection while delivering a

Wendy Graham ’80 works for BAE Systems in Endicott, N.Y. She resides in Binghamton, N.Y.

performance in his fashion show in September.

Joseph Busa ’77 is planning a 45th anniversary reunion for Zeta Chi Zeta fraternity. His favorite memory of Oswego was the Greek life. Joseph resides in Albany, N.Y., with his wife, Shelly.

Donald Lane ’80 lives in New Jersey with his wife, Barbara, and has three grandchildren. He enjoys line dancing and is a Boy Scout leader.

Cathy VanDerbilt Oxley ’77 is the new library media specialist at Benton Elementary School in Maine. She was a member of Phi Lambda Phi sorority at Oswego.

Richard Yacobush ’77 was promoted from general sales manager to market manager at Clear Channel in Syracuse, N.Y., in January. With 40 years of experience in the Syracuse radio market, he started out on-air as “Rick Charles for 1490 WOLF” before transitioning into sales.

Department in Syracuse. Herring JUNE 5-8 has also recently completed interdisciplinary collaborative divorce training 1969and 45this a member of the CNY Collaborative Family Law Professionals Inc. He is also a member JUNE 5-8 of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals.

Diane Cohen Morgan ’80 operates her own business, Sunny Di Pet Care, and volunteers her communications/PR skills to worthy causes or individuals. She is also on the board of Tribes Hill, a Lower Hudson Valley musician community. Diane resides in Hartsdale, N.Y., with her husband, Tom, and three pets.

1974Szymanski 40th Wanda Padula ’82 is a physics teacher at Liverpool (N.Y.) JUNE 5-8 High School.

Robert J. Natoli ’80 is launching a fitness center at the former Bresee Chevrolet dealership in Salina, N.Y. He resides in Oswego with his wife, Peggy.

Gregory Frank ’83 is the chief oper25thfor Human Technoloating1989 officer gies Corporation in Utica, N.Y. He resides in Horseheads, N.Y.

Daniel Riordan ’81 was elected president of the London-based Berne Union. His election marks the first time in nearly 30 years that a representative of the private market is president of the trade credit insurer organization.

Maj. Donald M. Faughnan ’78 was named New York State Police Troop C commander headquartered at the Sidney station in Unadilla. The unit covers seven counties including Broome, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Otsego, Tioga and Tompkins. He started his career at Troop C, and was promoted to sergeant in 1988, lieutenant in 1995 and captain in 2004.

NOT ES

David G. Herring ’82 of Baldwinsville, N.Y., recently became a certified divorce financial analyst and is a member of Bowers & Co. Tax

’83, ’84, ’85 30th Reunion

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’98, ’99, ’00 Pfister ’83 rememLaura Balukas 15th Reunion bers the mud fights on campus that she had with friends. She enjoyed participating in cross country JUNEskiing 5-8 and the dance marathon at Oswego.

Laura feels her greatest honor to 10thher two children and date2004 is raising stays busy by keeping everyone in JUNE 5-8 her life happy.

Hope Rosenhaus Schissel ’83 is ’08, ’09, ’10 5th instructional Reunion an assistant with Manalapan-Englishtown (N.J.) Regional School District and a JUNE 5-8

Mr. Hoffman is Teacher of the Year—‘He Totally Deserves It’ PROVIDED

Among those announcing the news that Jay Hoffman ’81 was 2013 Vermont Teacher of the Year were his media students at F. H. Tuttle Middle School.

They grasped the magnitude of his honor, declaring, “He totally deserves it.”

Hoffman came late to teaching. “I’m a hands-on guy,” he explains. “I studied industrial arts education at Oswego to learn building skills.” He ran his own construction company until 1992, when the Wappinger Falls school superintendent stopped by the Hoffman’s garage sale and, after brief conversation, encouraged the

carpenter to become a teacher. Hoffman took his advice.

“I walked into that middle school classroom, and I knew it was where I was meant to be,” he says.

Hoffman’s entry into teaching coincided with the shift from a tool-based to a technology-rich classroom. Grasping the potential of teaching skills for the future, he secured a $20,000 grant—the first of many totaling more than $500,000— that launched a network to give students remote access to homework assignments.

“I’m never comfortable with the status quo,” Hoffman says. “I’m a visionary.”

In addition to technical skills, he also teaches civic responsibility and community awareness. His students create informa-

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tional videos for nonprofits and promotional videos for local agencies.

As a teacher of the year, Hoffman met President Barack Obama, had his profile in American Teachers: Heroes in the Classroom, was appointed to the Vermont State Education Policy Board and saw positive outcomes for his students. He says he appreciates it all.

Hoffman credits Oswego for molding the precepts he implements every day. His philosophy, displayed with his photo on a Teacher of the Year poster, helps explain why he’s a top educator. “Be a student of your students,” it says.

—Linda Loomis ’90 M’97

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NO TE S Allan Shaw ’86 of East Hampton, N.Y., was named to the board of directors of Celsus Therapeutics.

He also served as a member of the board of directors for the Central New York Biotech Accelerator.

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Pamela Ackerman Garcia ’87 of Fanwood, N.J., celebrates her JUNE 5-8 20th year in education. She was recently appointed as the language arts 1949 supervisor 65th in Westfield Public Schools in New Jersey and is an adjunct professor of graduate JUNE 5-8 courses in secondary education and educational administration at the New Jersey.

College 1954of60th Richard Sloma ’87 of Niskayuna, JUNE 5-8 N.Y., retired after 31 years of military service in the Active Army, the Army Reserve and the Army 1959 55th National Guard. A veteran of the War in Afghanistan, Col. Sloma JUNE 5-8 was most recently the commander of the New York Counterdrug Task Force, headquartered at Stratton Air 1964 50th National Guard Base.

Joseph Coughlin ’82, right, director of MIT’s AgeLab, was one of three keynotes speakers at the 2013 CEO Forum in Napa Valley, Calif., in November. His talk on the impact of demographic change and aging on global business followed former U.S. Secretary of Defense and CIA Director Robert Gates and preceded former U.S. President Bill Clinton, pictured above with Coughlin. The three keynote speakers addressed more than 100 CEOs of the nation’s leading corporations at the event.

mother of two. She remembers watching the sunset over Lake Ontario and the dorm parties in the basement of Scales Hall.

Norman Sharman ’83 and Carol Rossini Sharman ’83 will celebrate their 20th year of owning and operating Silver Creek Golf Club in Waterloo, N.Y., in May. Suzanne Muar Hollinden ’84 of Boonville, N.Y., is a teacher with the Adirondack Central School District.

Robert J. Pagano Jr. ’84 of Seneca Falls, N.Y., is president of ITT’s Goulds Pumps Industrial Process business, which recently secured a contract to provide Stanford Univ­ ersity’s innovative new energy facility with high-efficiency pumping.

Claire Loomis Goldsborough ’85 is a registered nurse at Stony Brook University Hospital. Her favorite Oswego memories were with her OSWEGO

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Tricia Ullrich O’Connor ’88 JUNE 5-8of Manlius, N.Y. joined McClurg Remodeling & Construction 1969 45th Services as a project consultant.

O’Connor has worked in the construction trade industry JUNEfor 5-816 years and previously held positions as an AutoCAD designer and junior 1974 40th architect.

Scott Stanford ’88 is joining WPIX, JUNE 5-8 Tribune Broadcasting’s CW affiliate in ’83,New ’84,York ’85 City. He is a four-time 30th Reunion New York Emmy Award winner for On-Camera Achievement and is an in-studio host for World Wrestling JUNE 5-8 Entertainment.

suitemates on the seventh floor of Onondaga Hall.

Jay Gussak ’85 of Yorktown Heights, N.Y., is a media consultant with SuperMedia. He belonged to WOCR, WRVO, WTOP and Delta Kappa Kappa at Oswego.

1989 25th

Deborah J. Penzias ’85, a certified public accountant, has been named a partner at Burkhart Pizzanelli P.C. in West Springfield, Mass. An employee since 1998, she services a diverse client base and specializes in the taxation, accounting, consulting and information technology areas of the practice.

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Kevin Bryans ’89, chief financial 15th Reunion officer and shareholder of Polaris Library Systems in Liverpool, JUNE 5-8 N.Y., was appointed to the Loretto Management Corporation Board of Directors.

2004 10thHe is a certified public accountant and chartered global management accountantJUNE licensed 5-8 in New York State.

Robert J. Daino ’86 of Manlius, N.Y., is president and CEO of WCNY, which recently moved its headquarters into its $20 million Broadcast and Education Center in Syracuse’s inner city as part of the Near Westside Initiative.

’08, ’09, ’10

Elizabeth 5th Reunion Kempson Stewart ’89 M’10 is the new director for Sunny

Days Nursery School in Central Square, N.Y. Michael J. Lombardo ’90 is director of business development at ISSI Technology Professionals in East Syracuse, N.Y. Previously, he worked at Automatic Data Processing as the regional sales director for Syracuse and Albany, and more recently at HR One Consulting as the director of sales and marketing.

Daniel D. Tompkins ’92 is director of sales at Alliance Worldwide Investigative Group Inc. in Clifton Park, N.Y. He is the previous owner of property/casualty adjusting firm, acquired by Alliance.

Peter Giacobbi Jr. ’93 is an associate professor at West Virginia University, College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences.

Renee Abstender Marchak ’94 was elected president of the Oswego Greek Alumni Council. She was a member of Delta Phi Epsilon. Renee is a personal coordinator for Maxim Healthcare Services in Syracuse. She resides in Brewerton, N.Y., with her husband, James Marchak ’94, and three children.

Raymond Warner ’94 is a fiber network technician for Verizon in Pittsburgh. His eldest daughter, Elizabeth ’17, is attending Oswego making her a third generation student, following her father, late mother Meredith Luke Warner ’94 and grandparents.

Roberto (Bobby) Ascenzi ’95 earned a master’s degree in counseling and is a member of the Chi Sigma Iota Honor Society. He works at Novelis Corp. in Oswego.

Robert Fahey ’95 is the assistant vice president of group business development and support for Guardian Life Insurance in Bethlehem, Pa. He was a member of Delta Sigma Fraternity at Oswego.

Christopher Brandolino ’96 was voted Best TV personality in the Syracuse New Times’ Best of Syracuse reader poll. He was the storm team meteorologist for News Channel 9 and Bridge Street co-host until he became a meteorologist and

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Alumni Bookshelf We celebrate and share the success of Oswego alumni authors, illustrators and recording artists, who may ask their publisher/distributor to send a copy of the work to the Oswego alumni office to be considered for this column and our website, where cover photos of all works in this column will be displayed.

Heraldo Muñoz ’72 As chair of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry into the 2007 suicidebomber killing of Pakistani political leader Benazir Bhutto, Muñoz led the investigation into her death.

His book, Getting Away With Murder: Benazir Bhutto’s Assassination and the Politics of Pakistan, presents inquiry results and the author’s critical analysis of the larger issues of political life and death in Pakistan. Read an excerpt from the W. W. Norton & Company Inc. publication on page 48.

Jo Ann Butler ’76 The Reputed Wife: A Scandalous Life.

Neverest Press, 2013.

Carrying the reader back to the landscape and sensibilities of Colonial America, Butler reveals the prevailing prejudice against women who fail to meet the Puritans’ standards of fidelity and chastity. In this second installment featuring defiant Herodias Long, the protagonist challenges injustice, defies conventions and stands for religious freedom.

Mark Condon ’93 and Julie Phillips ’89 A Day With Dutchess: Life Lessons from a Blind Therapy Dog. Dutchess the Dog Press, 2013.

should not be the filling of buckets but, rather, the lighting of fires. Adhering to that idea, the authors put forth ways to create an exciting learning environment in every discipline and class level through active engagement.

Grounded in research about the value of play, the book is a resource that helps promote higher-level thinking and creativity.

This tale about inclusion is told in rhyming couplets through the voice of Dutchess, a blind therapy dog. Rich illustrations by Sammy Schreiber depict persons and animals with physical and developmental challenges, and the text addresses a variety of insecurities and fears that Dutchess helps her friends overcome.

David J. Parrett ’80 Eyes Wide Open: Transforming Blind Love Into a Long Lasting Marriage. Dave Parrot c4 life strategies, 2013.

Diane Staehr Fenner ’91 Advocating for English Learners: A Guide for Educators. Corwin and TESOL, 2013.

A step-by-step guide to creating a marriage that conquers the challenges of modern life, this book reveals the author’s ongoing research into marriage and premarital assessment. Parrot asks couples to base their unions not on love alone, but also on such core issues as values, expectations, career and home responsibilities, children, dealing with adversity and more. An easyto-use workbook accompanies the guide.

A guideline for advocacy in the school system for the rapidly growing K – 12 population of English learners and their families, this book provides practical tools for teachers, administrators and guidance counselors. Dr. Staehr Fenner’s research helps all educators understand the challenges of English learners and take appropriate actions to give them voice in their schools as well as preparation for their post-high-school lives.

John W. Parsons ’54 The Missing Poem. Wasteland Press, 2013.

Carolyn Hirst-Loucks ’77 M’02 and Kim P. Loucks ’02 Serious Fun: Practical Strategies to Motivate and Engage Students.

Routledge, 2014.

Renowned for her expertise in astronomy and unfettered space travel, Dr. Kaitlin Graham, professor, is on the radar of the unstable and illusionary.

She receives a letter with photographs showing the writer with alien creatures that pulls her and two friends further and further into the unknown as

In the final chapter of this must-have book for teachers, the authors refer to W. B. Yeats’ tenet that education

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they try to evade the evil side of a government that seeks world domination through unlimited space travel.

Jeff Sawyer ’87 – CD The Journey Home, Blue Island Records, 2013.

Thirteen original songs for solo piano and various instruments make up this, the seventh of Sawyer’s CDs. Country/bluegrass fiddler Kate Lee Gurnow plays violin on “Glimpse of Heaven.”

Alan Scott ’55 School Shadows. Publish America, 2013.

Eleven short stories based on authentic situations seen through the author’s critical eye reveal the human side of public education as it comes into conflict with the political regulatory side. Although the book is a work of fiction, the issues raised are real and can initiate discussions about educational reform.

Eric Congdon ’92 Acoustic Wanderer. Bluecongo Music ASCAP, 2013.

In his fourth CD, Congdon presents a collection of 13 instrumental songs featuring the sounds of guitar, dobro, mandocello and more. Half of the proceeds go to the Autism Science Foundation. l

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forecaster at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in Auckland, New Zealand in January.

Sean Doyle ’98, senior property manager at McGuire Development Company in Buffalo, N.Y., earned the designation of real property administrator from the Building Owners and Managers Institute. He is responsible for maximizing asset potential for McGuire’s owned and managed properties.

Regina Evans Geroux ’99 M’01 and Timothy Geroux ’00 of Sherrill, N.Y., welcomed a daughter, Lindsay Alexandra, in August. Lindsay joins brother, Nathan, 5, and sister, Madelyn, 3. Regina is a first-grade teacher with the Vernon-VeronaSherrill Central School District, while Timothy works as a senior claims examiner with the Utica First Insurance Company.

Laura S. Denny Prattico ’99 is marketing director at Danlee Medical Products Inc. in Syracuse, N.Y. She has more than 14 years of experience in marketing.

Deborah Fiorini ’01 was appointed director of educational services for Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, N.Y., having served in the department since 2009.

Nicole Ritchie Bartoszewski ’02, a physician assistant, joined the medical team at Carthage Area Hospital, and is working at the Adams (N.Y.) Community Health Center and in the emergency room of Carthage (N.Y.) Area Hospital.

She previously worked at River Hospital in Alexandria Bay, N.Y. Michael Kite ’02 of Liverpool, N.Y., was named director of corporate support for WCNY, Central New York’s public broadcasting company. He was involved with WNYO while at Oswego.

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JUNE 5-8

Rochester Alumnus Rules Real Estate 1949 65th

When he’s not accepting awards, buying real estate or breaking land speed records in one of his vintage vehicles, Lyjha Wilton ’99 is probably 1954 60th spending time with his five children, singing and playing guitar.

The 36-year-old real 1959 55th estate mogul started buying properties almost immediately after earning a bachelor’s in communication studies at SUNY Oswego. After moving 1964 50th to Rochester, N.Y., for a job he didn’t enjoy, Wilton quickly realized that he wanted to be his own boss.

1969 45th “I was ready to go out and get it.

I didn’t know what ‘it’ was at the time,” he says. “Yet, I was aggressively working toward it.” He bought his first home, a foreclosure, in 2001.

After purchasing another property shortly 1974 40th after, he was “addicted to the hunt” of finding and closing deals.

“I was young. I made as many deals over ’83, ’84, ’85 the phone as I could, so people would take 30th Reunion me seriously,” he says. Over the last decade he purchased more than 50 properties, sometimes as many as 15 in a year, targeting foreclosures and run-down homes in poor neighborhoods.

Most of the properties Wilton owns 1989are 25th in the Alexander Street area, in the southeast CHRIS GOODKNEWS CARDWELL

Jenise Caiola ’96 is executive vice president of human resources at ITV Studios U.S. Group in New York City. With 10 years of experience in the music industry, she held a similar position at Universal Music Group, previously called EMI Music.

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quadrant of the city, long considered an area of redevelopment.

JUNE 5-8 “I wanted to buy and bring exposure to the up-and-coming neighborhood, so people would stop calling it ‘the up-and-coming neighborhood,’” he says.

This development included the establishJUNE 5-8 ment of Boulder Coffee Co. boutique in four locations, La Casa Mexican restaurant, more than 150 rental units and a warehouse in which Wilton stores his collectibles of “all things vinJUNE 5-8 cars and motorcycles, which he tage”—namely, fixes and races in his free time.

—Tyler Edic ’13

JUNE 5-8

15th Reunion

Craig Wiseman ’03 is a producer with Al Jazeera America in New JUNE 5-8 York City.

Kevin P. Relf ’02, a certified public accountant, was named to the F.O.C.U.S. Greater Syracuse Inc. Board of Directors. He is a tax supervisor at Fust Charles Chambers LLP in Syracuse, N.Y., and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants.

2004 10th JUNE 5-8

’08, ’09, ’10

Matthew 5th ReunionKleehammer ’04 has been a technology teacher for the past 10 years. He earned a master’s degree JUNEof5-8 from RIT but said at the end the day, Oswego is where he got his start.

Randall Rosenthal ’03 and wife, Rochelle, of Attleboro, Mass., welcomed a daughter, Sadie Mia Rosenthal, in September.

Victor Parker ’04 was hired by Sun Life Financial as its stop-loss specialist for Upstate New York.

He was a part of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity.

Jane Spyropoulos ’03 of Batavia, N.Y., is a senior business analyst at JPMorgan Chase.

Carrie Rosati ’04 of Buffalo, N.Y., has completed six half marathons and a full marathon, raising thousands of dollars for the Leukemia and Lymphoma societies. She earned her master’s degree in organizational leadership in 2009 and got married in June 2012. Carrie has worked for Fisher-Price as a copywriter for product instructions for the past six years.

Michael Climek ’05 became a father on Sept. 25, 2013. His son, Jackson, was born in Louisiana.

Dawn Stoddard Foster ’05 and Michael Foster were married May 11, 2013, in Charleston, S.C. The

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bride is employed by the Kellogg Company in Boston. The couple lives in Boston.

Grant W. Sussey ’05 was named airport manager at the Watertown (N.Y.) International Airport. He is a licensed pilot and a certified flight instructor.

Kevin Sutherland ’05 of Ithaca, N.Y., was named the City of Ithaca’s first chief of staff. He was previously executive assistant to the Tompkins County administrator.

Brook Bennett VanBrocklin ’06 of Glenfield, N.Y., married Adam VanBrocklin, Lowville, N.Y., on Aug. 31 at Adams Country Club.

Brook is a middle school special education teacher for LaFargeville (N.Y.) Central School, and Adam is superintendent of the golf course at Adams Country Club.

Craig Gilmore ’06 was recently married and purchased a home.

He is a network analyst for Time Warner Cable in East Syracuse, N.Y. Craig said he continues to learn beyond his information science degree and improve every day.

Danielle Dills ’07 is the senior field representatives for Congressman JUNE 5-8 Chris Collins. She resides in Bergen, N.Y.

Sarah Kane ’08 is the principal account clerk for the Office of Employment and Training in Binghamton, N.Y.

1989Smith 25th ’07 of Baldwinsville, Gregory N.Y., was named tax senior associate at Dermody, Burke & Brown JUNE 5-8 CPAs. He joined the firm in 2011, ’98, ’99, ’00 and 15th provides Reunion tax and bookkeeping services to various industries.

Anthony Karge ’08 lives and works in Cambodia for the Cambodian Children’s Fund.

Mary Norvici ’08 is a sales analyst for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in Austin, Texas.

Cheryl Wentworth ’07, aJUNE certified 5-8 public accountant, was promoted to supervisor in the audit and 2004 10th accounting department at Firley, Moran, Freer & Eassa in East Syracuse, N.Y. JUNE 5-8

Carol Gazitano ’09 is a mental health counselor at the Child Advocacy Center of Oswego County.

Previously, she worked at the Community Recovery Center in Rome and at the Salvation Army in Syracuse, providing in-home therapy to families who had adopted or were living in a foster home. She is also a part-time therapist working with couples and individuals at the CNY Marriage and Family Therapy Place.

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Nathaniel Angstrom ’08 and Kevin James Hollenbeck ’10 are part of a startup Shakespeare company, Bottoms Dream, in New York City.

Kristin Hall ’09 is the director of special events at Niagara (N.Y.) Catholic Jr./Sr. High School. She plans all the fundraising, marketing and media for the school while

John DeGone ’08 is the new middle school and high school technology teacher for the Sandy Creek (N.Y.) School District.

Social Worker’s Goal: ‘I Did My Job Today’ When Joseph A. Twumasi-Ankrah ’06 has elicited a smile from a heartbroken child or brought insight to a confused teen, then he can say, “I did my job today.”

Twumasi-Ankrah, a licensed social worker, is site director for Partnership With Children, which works with 12 underserved New York City public schools to provide support for students’ social, emotional and academic development.

A graduate of St. Raymond’s Parochial High School for boys in the Bronx, Twumasi-Ankrah applied to SUNY colleges after he realized his family could not support his education at private universities where he had been accepted.

He chose Oswego, and a long bus ride in August 2001 brought him and his 18 bags to Riggs Hall and face-to-face with faculty resident Jay Button.

“It was my first time away from home, and Jay, who became my mentor, took care of me.

I’ll always be grateful,” Twumasi-Ankrah says.

“Oswego changed my life.”

At Oswego he worked as a peer adviser in the Office of Learning Services and discovered his interest in helping people. He learned to respect language after Dr. Maureen Curtin insisted that whatever his future held, he would need to be able to express himself in standard written English.

“I went on to earn a master’s degree in social work at City University,” TwumasiAnkrah says. “But it was at Oswego where the foundation was laid.”

Now, as Twumasi-Ankrah finds ways to lift students from anger, despair, apathy or fear, he says he is blessed. “Every night, when I come home, I realize that I have had the rare privilege to help another human being. I could not ask for anything more.”

—Linda Loomis ’90 M’97

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making an effort to broaden the students’ outreach in the community.

James Trionfero ’09, senior accountant in the audit practice group at Testone, Marshall & Discenza LLP in Syracuse, N.Y., earned a certified public accountant license.

Carrie Fleischman ’10 is an HR/ payroll technology consultant at HR Works Inc. in East Syracuse, N.Y. Ashley S. Monaco Garza ’10 and A.J. Garza of Adams, N.Y., were married May 26, 2013, at E.M. Mills Memorial Rose Garden in Thornden Park in Syracuse, N.Y. She is employed by General Brown Central School in Dexter, N.Y. Jessica Muia ’10 of Harrison, N.Y., is a social worker at the Children’s Village. Her brother, Anthony Muia ’09, also attended Oswego.

Jennifer Poplarski ’10 is a student at Cornell University School of Veterinary Medicine in Ithaca, N.Y. Justin T. Pritchard ’10 of Liverpool, N.Y., is a senior auditor at Dannible & McKee LLP. Lisa Seguin ’10 is manager of the Oswego Medicaid Service Coordination, Consolidated Support Services and Family Support Services programs. She started her career as a Medicaid service coordinator at ARISE, became a certified broker and then began to provide state trainings.

Michael Fedor ’11 is an audit associate at Fust Charles Chambers LLP in Syracuse, N.Y. He previously worked as a senior tax specialist at Bank of New York Mellon.

Cathy Roosa ’11 is the new regional volunteer coordinator at United Way of Central New York. She spent the past year in Los Angeles working in marketing and graphic design for a technology firm called IT Strategists.

Kevin Wright ’11 is the master control operator for Fox 68 WSYT/ MY 43 WNYS in Syracuse, N.Y.

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Christopher Bock ’12 was promoted to advanced staff accountant in the audit and accounting department at Firley, Moran, Freer & Eassa in East Syracuse, N.Y.

Oswego is a long way from home for Priya Ravindran ’09. She grew up near Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India, and left home after 17 years to earn two bachelor’s degrees in journalism and global and international studies at Oswego, picking up a minor in French along the way.

After earning a master’s at Fordham University in political science, Ravindran returned to India to work as a research and documentation officer and program manager with Children’s Future India, a non-profit organization dedicated to the welfare of underprivileged children.

PROVIDED

1) How you learned about Oswego: I hadn’t heard of Oswego until I was at a college fair in India and an Oswego representative, Ryan Lemon ’00, was present.

2) From Bombay to Oswego: Ryan was so friendly and welcoming; plus, Oswego offered me free room and board and a merit scholarship, so that was a huge factor, too. When I first came to Oswego, I wanted to become a news reporter. My mom coaxed me into taking a more “academic” major.

3) Your best travel tip: I have so many! It really helps if you do your research about a culture first. Having a meal with a family is a great way of experiencing a new culture, but just having a coffee or tea in a cafe outside is a good way of relaxing and sinking into a culture.

4) How Oswego is different from home: The cold! And coming from a city of 5 million, I was initially taken aback at the small size of the city.

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5) Why Children’s Future India: In India, I saw poverty firsthand. It wasn’t until my politics and international studies class at Oswego that I became passionate about working with an NGO. I chose Children’s Future India because I wanted to play a little part in an organization that works to better these children’s lives.

6) What’s next: In a couple months I’m moving to Ukraine, and I hope to continue working for a similar organization there.

7) Why pick up the French minor: I was exempt from the foreign language requirement since my first language is not English. I had done two years of French in India, but took French 101 on my adviser’s insistence. My professor Allen Stagl was amazing and so animated while teaching, he made me fall in love with the language.

8) How many languages do you speak: My mother tongue, Tamil, as well as English, French and Hindi fluently. I’m currently learning Russian because it’s one of the official languages of the United Nations.

I plan to learn Ukrainian as well.

9) Down the road: Some day I would like to get into the United Nations and possibly move back to New York.

10) What is special about Oswego: It’s such a close-knit community. The opportunities I had at Oswego, meeting people from all over the world, having the best teachers, working at the front desk at Hart Hall, reporting for WTOP, and volunteering for various community service projects, changed me as a person.

—Tyler Edic ’13

Daniel Fallon ’12 was promoted to advanced staff accountant in the audit and accounting department at Firley, Moran, Freer & Eassa in East Syracuse, N.Y. Jessica Fundalinski ’12 was awarded a Fulbright U.S. Student Program scholarship to Poland, where she is an English teaching assistant at the Technical University of Lublin. A summa cum laude graduate, she credits Oswego for providing a “pivotal academic experience” during her undergraduate years. She is a graduate student at Syracuse University.

Lyndi Hall M’12 is employed at Poulsen & Podvin, CPA, in Watertown, N.Y. Ryan Gorman ’13 is an audit associate at Fust Charles Chambers LLP in Syracuse, N.Y. He was a volunteer income tax preparer through the Accounting Society at SUNY Oswego.

Nicole Lannie ’13 is an audit associate at Fust Charles Chambers LLP in Syracuse, N.Y. Matthew Slocum ’13 an audit associate at Fust Charles Chambers LLP in Syracuse, N.Y. Jillian Wiedemeier ’13 is earning her master’s in peace and conflict studies at Hacettepe University in Istanbul.

Eric Yorton ’13 has joined Dannible & McKee, LLP in the tax department.

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CLASS

NOTE S

PROVIDED

Oswego

Matters

By Executive Director Betsy Oberst

AS WE PUT TOGETHER THIS issue of the magazine, it was hard for me to believe that almost 30 years ago I excitedly started my new part-time job in the Alumni Office. Our oldest, Caitlin, was just a year old. As Megan and Connor added to our family, the kids grew up going to alumni reunions and other college events with Jerry ’77 and me. Coming full circle, Caitlin will be married this June at Fallbrook Barn, where she attended so many reunions as a little girl!

In those first years, I never dreamed I would still be here today, having found my calling and life’s work. I was excited, then, to work with our new magazine editor, Margaret Spillett, to chronicle the long and rich history of our Alumni Association in this issue. Alumni programs, reunions and certainly Oswego pride began almost at the birth of this college. And how we have grown and evolved—and continue to this day—since the establishment of that first Alumni Association in 1886!

But our mission remains the same today as it was in its beginning—to keep alumni connected to and engaged with their alma mater. Over my years here, I’ve met literally thousands of alumni and been honored to hear your Oswego stories of lifelong friendships, of beloved relationships with nurturing faculty and of career successes.

And Oswego alumni always want to give back to our students—helping them launch their careers, supporting them with financial gifts for scholarships and more.

I have said it often over the years—I have the greatest job in the world!

In my newer role now at Oswego, I get to work more with scholarship donors and others who support our students, as well as with our wonderful and committed Board of Directors of the Oswego Alumni Association. The planning and execution of the day-to-day work of alumni events and programs and Reunion Weekend are in the hands of Laura Pavlus ’09 and her alumni team. I continue to provide the institutional history and guidance on a range of issues.

In order to continue to maintain its relevancy, the Alumni Association is seeking your feedback on the programs, services and communications that will serve you best. I hope you will please take a few moments and help us by completing an alumni survey (See page 47). Our Board of Directors and alumni team really want and need your input!

I hope to see you when you return to campus or on our travels around the country. Until then…..

Sharing Music for a Purpose When a student in a guitar class of Jim Van Arsdale ’08 suggested that they sponsor a concert to raise money for a fellow student’s medical expenses, the fifth -grade teacher at Millard Fillmore Elementary School in Moravia, N.Y., agreed.

And so was born, Perform 4 Purpose.

Since that initial concert, Central New York students and veteran performers have hosted dozens of fundraisers and contributed more than $20,000 to local people in need. The nonprofit group, run by Van Arsdale and his daughter, Jen Van Arsdale M’16, has expanded into four after -school programs in two school districts in Cayuga County and a summer camp, all of which culminate with a charity concert.

Through mostly donated musical instruments, the Van Arsdales and a core group of 10 fellow volunteers provide musical instruction, concert bookings and performance support to the students. The group covers its costs through private donations and has recently started applying for grants.

“Seeing our student -driven shows never gets old,” Jim Van Arsdale says. “I love watching these young performers on stage in front of the audience, and they really feel good about themselves. Not only are they performing, they’re learning to be altruistic in the process by sharing their gift to help others.

Whatever your talent, use it to uplift your community.”

Van Arsdale knows firsthand the power of sharing something you love. He left a profitable business management career to attend SUNY Oswego and become a teacher.

“It was a risky decision for me, as I had a family to support and a mortgage to pay,” he says. “But it turned out to be the most rewarding choice I could have made.”

—Margaret Spillett

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Peter Wanamaker ’09 and Colleen Fischer ’09 were married June 28, 2013, in Rochester, N.Y. From left, with the bride and groom, are Zack Bell ’13, Jared Watroba ’10, Jenna Schifferle ’13, Lorrie Clemo, Conor Hogan ’10, Joseph Merrihew ’09, Nicole Barbato ’10, Emily Martin ’10, Joseph Farrell ’09, Jessica Osorio ’11 and Connor Kelly ’09.

Debra Penfield ’02 and Brad Weiner were married Aug. 24, 2013, at Glen Island Harbour Club in Westchester, N.Y. Pictured from left are alumni Lauren Dearth Terry ’01, Lindsey Vischansky Nierstedt ’02, Janelle Drake Popovich ’02, Caitlin Sproule Conlon ’01, Logan Roberts ’01, Andrea Tramontozzi Roberts ’02, Jessica Yearick Ritacco ’02, Amy Diehl Rominger ’02, Jared Kennedy ’00, Christy Sheldon Kennedy ’02, Kristen Murphy Conway, Michael Pool ’01, Alissa Hefter Pool ’01 and Mark Popovich ’01. Debra works in marketing for American Express and Brad is in promotional planning at HBO. The couple resides in Brooklyn, N.Y. OSWEGO

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Jamie Lyn Brown Celeste ’07 and Craig Celeste ’07 were married May 25, 2013, in Sayville, N.Y. From left in back row are Kati Larkin ’08, Tom Donaldson ’07, Dan King ’07, Meghan Ryan King ’07, Ryan Monahan ’07, Ginger Shwarz Donaldson ’08, Pat Gariepy ’07, Katie Toukatly Miller ’07, Collin Emunds ’06 and Josh Miller ’07 M’08; front row, Michael Kelly ’08, Brian Kelleher ’07 and Sean Michel ’07. Jamie works as a library media specialist and Craig is a middle school technology teacher in Merrick, N.Y. They reside in Long Beach, N.Y.

Kayla Brae Randall ’09 and C. Joshua Raut ’09 were married on July 20, 2013, at Grace Episcopal Church in Baldwinsville, N.Y. Alumni, from left with the bride and groom, are Kathryn Raut, Patrick Whitton ’10, Samantha Beza ’10, Trevor Gregory ’07, Alyssa Mitchell ’09, Christopher Klatt ’07, Alison Richmond ’10 and Michael Randall. Kayla is a reading teacher and Josh is self-employed.

Mike Novak ’09 and Quinn Makin Novak ’10 were married on July 19, 2013, in Buffalo, N.Y. Mike was a member of the Lakers hockey team when it won the 2007 national championship. From left, back row, Derrell Levy ’09, Mark Lozzi ’09, Tyler Laws ’09, Colleen Aragona, Jared Teal ’08, Michelle Jordan ’10, Pat Halpin ’10, Lindsay Coble ’10 and Katie Killory ’11; front row, Erin Robson ’09, Brendan McGlaughlin, Kyle McCutcheon ’09, Laura Dorsey McCutcheon ’07, Garren Reisweber ’09 and Jeff Johnstone.

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Loretta Donahue Peck ’39 of Oswego died Oct. 16, 2013. She taught for many years, beginning in one-room schoolhouses and later for Mexico (N.Y.) Academy and Central Schools. She is survived by a daughter, a son, five grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

George Maharay ’41 of Frederick, Md., died Dec. 8, 2013. He served in the U.S. Army Air Force for three years. George earned a master’s degree at New York University. He was employed in a number of capacities with the federal government, beginning in 1946 as a personnel officer for the U.S. Military Academy, the Air Force, the Postal Service, the Treasury Department and the Department of Transportation. He retired in 1975 as the director of personnel of the Energy Research and Development Administration. Surviving are his wife, Jean; a daughter; two sons; two grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.

Frances Dubois Enggren ’45 of Clyde, N.C., died Aug. 10, 2013. She was a teacher for 28 years, including several years in the Altmar-Parish-Williamstown (N.Y.) School District. Surviving are a son, two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Jack Petrie ’49 of Cortland, N.Y., died Oct. 21, 2013. He earned a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Jack was an associate professor of education at SUNY Cortland until his retirement in 1988. He is survived by his wife, Shirley; two sons; and six grandchildren.

Naomi Kaufman Loble Stern ’50 of Basking Ridge, N.J., died Sept. 10, 2013. She earned an Ed.D. in educational administration from Rutgers University. Naomi taught at Glenwood Elementary School in Short Hills, N.J., for 25 years, retiring in 1989. She is survived by her husband, Jerome; two daughters; and five grandchildren.

William Dowdle ’53 of Oswego died Jan. 7, 2014. He served with the U.S. Navy during World War II. He worked for the Oswego City School District, first as the truant officer and later as a science and math teacher at Oswego High School.

He retired in 1984. He is survived by his wife, Betty Reed Dowdle ’47; two sons; a daughter; and four grandchildren. He was predeceased by his sister, Anne Dowdle Beardslee ’39.

Thomas Tovey ’57 of Lady Lake, Fla., died Oct. 22, 2013. He served with the U.S. Navy during the Korean Conflict. He later earned a master’s degree at Oswego. He taught in the Whitesboro (N.Y.) Central School District for 28 years.

He is survived by his wife, Joyce; two daughters; two sons; and three grandchildren.

Margaret Scharf DeLapp ’58 of Oswego died Jan. 1, 2014. She taught in the Hannibal (N.Y.) Central School District, and in the Oswego City School District at Kingsford Park and Leighton elementary schools for more than 25 years, retiring in 1988. Margaret is survived by her husband, William; three sons; a daughter; eight grandchildren; and brothers, Fred Scharf ’62, and John Scharf ’63 and his wife, Eugenie Notel Scharf ’63.

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John Claus M’62 of Fuquay Varina, N.C., died Oct. 9, 2013. He served with the U.S. Army during World War II. He graduated from Syracuse University in 1950, and earned a master’s degree in education in 1965 and an educational administration degree in 1965 at Oswego. John was a teacher and administrator in the Baldwinsville (N.Y.) School District from 1960 until his retirement in 1983. He is survived by seven daughters, two sons, 27 grandchildren and 35 great-grandchildren.

Margaret Froio Young ’63 of Minoa, N.Y., died Nov. 18, 2013. She was a teacher at Lakeshore Elementary School and later a substitute teacher at Minoa Elementary School. She is survived by a son, two daughters and eight grandchildren. She was predeceased by her husband, William ’63.

Linda Longway Malinich ’64 of Rochester, N.Y., died Oct. 15, 2012. She is survived by her husband, Richard; a son; and two grandchildren.

Eleanor Becker Roth ’64 of Fulton, N.Y., died Nov. 1, 2013. Prior to retiring, she was a reading teacher in the Fulton City School District. She is survived by two daughters, four sons, three stepchildren, 38 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren.

David Lansing ’65 of Essex, N.Y., died Dec. 10, 2013. He served with the U.S. Army. David taught industrial arts/technology at Vestal (N.Y.) High School and Willsboro (N.Y.) Central School.

Surviving are his wife, Dianne; a son; a daughter; and five grandchildren.

Linton Pitluga ’65 of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, died Aug. 17, 2012. He is survived by his wife, Phyllis.

James Ferris ’67 of Stillwater, N.Y., died Nov. 2, 2013. He began his career teaching fifth grade in the Niskayuna (N.Y.) School District. He was principal at Bell Top Elementary School in the East Greenbush (N.Y.) Central School District for 27 years, retiring in 2002. He was also an adjunct professor at Russell Sage College. He is survived by his wife, Sharon; two daughters; and two grandsons.

Charles Eddy ’68 of Syracuse, N.Y., died Dec. 28, 2013. He taught at Liverpool (N.Y.) Middle School for more than 30 years. He is survived by a brother and sister-in-law.

Gary Goolden ’69 of Cranberry Lake, N.Y., died July 9, 2012. He taught social studies at Ogdensburg (N.Y.) Free Academy for 35 years and was the hockey coach for 10 years. In retirement he was a substitute teacher with the CliftonFine (N.Y.) Central School District. Gary is survived by his wife, Patricia; three children; seven grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.

Gregory Forbes ’71 of Syracuse, N.Y., died Nov. 2, 2013. He earned a master’s degree at Syracuse University. He had been a teacher at Groton (N.Y.) Central Schools and retired from West Genesee School District in 2000 as a guidance counselor. He is survived by three siblings.

Thomas Lynch ’71 of Mount Kisco, N.Y., died Sept. 11, 2011.

Paul Stratton ’71 of Auburn, N.Y., died Nov. 18, 2013. He worked for several businesses in the Auburn area, including Currier Plastics, Bo-Mer Plastics and TRW. He is survived by three children and two grandchildren.

Maureen McGuane Brownell ’74 of Sandy Creek, N.Y., died Oct. 27, 2013. She earned an accounting degree from Jefferson Community College in 2011. Maureen taught mathematics at Sandy Creek (N.Y.) Central School for 33 years, retiring in 2012. Surviving are her husband, Douglas; two daughters; a son; and two grandsons.

Timothy Tam ’74 of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., died Nov. 24, 2012. He was an assistant professor of mathematics at Community College of Philadelphia. Timothy earned a Ph.D. in physics from Stony Brook University in 1982. Surviving are his wife, Juliana; and a son.

Burton Colling ’77 of Phoenix, N.Y., died Oct. 23, 2013. He served with the U.S. Army Air Force. He is survived by two sons, two daughters, eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Stanley McDonald ’78 M’85 of Lowville, N.Y., died March 14, 2013. He began his career teaching industrial arts at Spaulding High School in Barre, Vt. He had taught in the South Lewis Central School District in Turin, N.Y., since 1985.

Surviving are his wife, Cynthia; two sons; and three grandchildren.

Carol Morley Snyder ’79 of Fair Haven, N.J., died July 15, 2011. She is survived by her husband, Michael ’75; and a son.

Richard Walker ’79 of Mulberry, Fla., died Nov. 28, 2013. He is survived by his wife, Corrine; three daughters; and five grandchildren.

Thaddeus Iorizzo ’83 of Oswego died Jan. 3, 2014. He also studied at University of Texas in Denton, Texas, and the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and earned a master’s degree from Syracuse University. He had performed with the Binghamton (N.Y.) Symphony Orchestra and many Central New York area bands. He had been the code enforcement officer for the city of Oswego. He is survived by his wife, Margaret Prisco ’83; two sons, Linus and Rinaldo; his parents, Marilee and Luciano, Professor Emeritus of History at Oswego; three brothers; and a sister.

Marc Seigerman ’88 of Westfield, N.J., died Nov. 15, 2013. He was a salesman for Getty Images of Manhattan. Surviving are his wife, Karen; his mother, Nancy; and three children.

Linda Sorensen Laba ’89 of Syracuse, N.Y., died Aug. 23, 2011. She is survived by two children.

Christine Bowes Morley ’92 of Farmingville, N.Y., died Sept. 11, 2011.

Brian Passero ’94 of Johnstown, N.Y., died Jan. 1, 2014. He was a graduate of Herkimer Community College in 1991. He had been the national sales manager at Spray Nine of Johnstown. He is

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survived by his wife, Lydia; his parents, Richard and Linda; and two siblings.

Renee Isabell Dillon M’02 of North Syracuse, N.Y., died Jan. 4, 2014. She earned a bachelor’s degree at Columbia College. Renee was a sales account executive with Bio-Reference Laboratories. She is survived by her husband, Thomas; her parents; and three sons.

Kory Rauscher ’09 of Waterloo, N.Y., died Jan. 3, 2014. He was the operations manager of the Pennsylvania Division of D.C. Rauscher Inc. Kory is survived by his parents, David and Kelly; two sisters; and a brother.

Anthony DelPrete, Associate Professor Emeritus of Earth Science, died Oct. 18, 2013.

He came to Oswego in 1963 and taught geology and oceanography for 34 years, retiring on Sept.

20, 1997. He is survived by his wife, Gloria; three children; eight grandchildren; three stepchildren; and eight step-grandchildren.

JoAn Huff, Professor Emerita of Women’s Health and Physical Education, died Dec. 9, 2013. She was appointed at Oswego in 1958 and retired in 1989.

Albert Leighton, Professor Emeritus of History, died Nov. 28, 2013. He came to Oswego in September 1964 and retired in September 1985.

He is survived by his wife, Estella ’73.

Ronald Medici, Assistant Professor Emeritus of Theatre, died Oct. 24, 2013. He earned a master’s degree at Syracuse University. He taught at Oswego for more than 20 years. After his retirement, he continued teaching at Mohawk Valley Community College and Utica College. He is survived by a sister, Johann Goddard; a brother and sister-in-law, Sam and Debbie Medici; and special friend, Jay Austin.

Luther Peterson, Professor Emeritus of History, died Jan. 29, 2014. He founded Oswego’s history department in 1970. Although he retired in 2007, he continued to teach as an adjunct faculty member in the Honors Program through the 2013 fall semester. He earned a master’s and Ph.D. in history from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and a bachelor’s in chemistry from Luther College. He attended the Yale University Divinity School in 1961-62 on a Rockefeller Brothers Theological Fellowship. He is survived by a son, Lars-Anders of Aurora; a sister, Helen Hustad (Jack) of Mukilteo, Wash.; a brother, Hamlet A. (Suzanne), of Rochester, Minn.; and six nephews and nieces. Donations may be made in Luther’s memory to SUNY Oswego History Dept. or Honors Program. Donations can be sent to Oswego College Foundation, 215 Sheldon Hall, Oswego N.Y. 13126; made online at alumni. oswego.edu; or by calling 315-312-3003.

Stay on Campus for Harborfest On-campus housing will be available for alumni who wish to relive their favorite Oswego memories by attending this year’s Harborfest, July 24 to 27.

Alumni will be housed on campus (dorm to be determined) according to class year, with a maximum of two adults per room. Alumni may begin checking in Thursday, July 24, at 2 p.m. and must check out by Sunday, July 27, at 11 a.m.

There is an early bird special of $60 per night for those making reservations on or before July 18 by 4 p.m. Reservations made after that time will be $65 per night.

Those who register by July 18 can rent a refrigerator and mattresses for children 16 years and younger, for an additional $10 each for the weekend. Linens for beds and towels will be supplied. The Centro bus will be running a convenient shuttle service from campus to the festival grounds.

Don’t miss the opportunity to attend this exciting Oswego tradition!

To make reservations please visit alumni.oswego.edu/harborfest or contact Allison Craine at allison.craine@oswego.edu with questions.

To register for Harborfest Housing, you will need to login through OsweGoConnect at alumni.oswego.edu. Your unique security code to enter the community is the 9-digit ID number located above your address on the mailing label of the alumni magazine.

You will only need this the first time you enter and then you will choose your own personal password.

Special Alumni SURVEY Calling all alumni!

The Oswego Alumni Association is conducting a survey to explore your opinions of SUNY Oswego’s correspondence and engagement with you as well as your impressions of the college’s image.

Complete the survey online at alumni.oswego.edu/survey.

You may also request a paper copy of the survey by contacting the Alumni Office at 315-312-2258 or alumni@oswego.edu.

Surveys must be completed by May 16, 2014.

The results of this survey will be used only by the Oswego Alumni Association to improve programs and communications to alumni.

We strongly encourage your participation; your input is highly valued and appreciated! Thank you!

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a seminar on democratic transitions held in the US Congress.

We were on the same panel; she spoke about Pakistan, and I gave a presentation on Chile. She was the star of the event and seemed poised and confident. We were able to chat for a while. I said that while doing my PhD at the Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, I had often discussed her father’s 1977 military overthrow and arrest with my good Pakistani friend and classmate, Mustapha Kemal Pasha, who attended all the solidarity demonstrations that I organized against the Pinochet dictatorship and the 1973 coup that had overthrown Chilean president Salvador Allende.

Benazir told me that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto admired Allende and knew perfectly well that the United States had plotted with rightists in Chile to oust his socialist government. The rest of our dialogue was a brief exchange of pleasantries during our respective lectures.

Now, almost twenty years later, I would lead the inquiry into the assassination of the charming and intelligent woman I had met at that seminar in Washington DC. I vaguely remembered having seen on TV a grainy video of the moment of her assassination. I had then thought that security must have lapsed, because I recalled her waving to a surrounding crowd without solid protection.

This book is an examination of political life and death in Pakistan—not just a look at the narrow subject matter or a treatment limited to statements by political actors. This is my

he following excerpt is from Getting Away With Murder: Benazir Bhutto’s Assassination and the Politics of Pakistan by Heraldo Muñoz ’72. In the book, he provides his personal account as the lead investigator on the United Nations Commission of Inquiry into the death of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. He has written and edited more than a dozen books on Inter-American relations and security, Latin American foreign relations, democracy and human rights, multilateral affairs, development issues and international political economy. His memoir, The Dictator’s Shadow, won the 2009 WOLA-Duke University Book Award.

In the southern-hemisphere summer of January 2009, while my wife and I vacationed in Chile at a cousin’s home by a calm river near the town of Valdivia, I got an urgent call from the office of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York.

His chief of staff, Ambassador Vijay Nambiar, transmitted a request from the secretarygeneral: Would I be able to lead a commission to investigate the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto?

I had serious doubts about accepting such high responsibility. The case looked like a loselose situation; any conclusion could leave many sides disappointed or even angry. I could not force anyone to testify, my powers would be limited, and public expectations would be high.

Moreover, Pakistani political culture is characterized by rumors and conspiracy theories, as Pakistani writer Ali Sethi suggested in an essay about the terrorist attack in Lahore against the Sri Lankan national cricket team. While interviewing people in the street about the culprits, he was told that it could have been the work of “terrorists or criminals. . . . But it could be the agencies. It could be the government. It could be India also.”

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I had visited the country and read about it, but I was far from being an expert, and I came from a nation geographically and culturally distant from Pakistan.

Then, I reasoned, Chile did not have any hidden agenda, interests, or prejudices regarding Pakistan—a plus in the eyes of the UN and the Islamabad government.

The task would be dangerous; but the secretary-general had probably taken into consideration, when offering me this challenge, that I had presided over the Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council during 2003 and 2004.

I recalled having met Benazir Bhutto in the early ’90s, while I was ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), at

PROVIDED

T

Heraldo Muñoz ’72

personal view of the murder of Benazir Bhutto and her times and in no way compromises or necessarily reflects the views of the United Nations or those of the members of the Commission of Inquiry. This is a critical analysis of the assassination of a major political leader, her country, and her circumstances.

Copyright © 2014 by Heraldo Muñoz. With permission of the publisher, W. W. Norton & Company Inc. l

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SLS_Ma

Jack James ’62, chair, together with the Steering Committee, celebrate the gift of higher education and cordially invite you to join them in the

by supporting SUNY Oswego with a gift in your will.

Even a small bequest can have a lasting impact on future generations of our students.

Sheldon Legacy Society Steering Committee

Chair Jack James ’62, Bruce Altschuler, Raelynn Cooter ’77, Gileen Widmer French ’65, C. Thomas Gooding, Shirley Gooding, Michael Waters ’70

For a complete list of current Sheldon Legacy Society members, visit alumni.oswego.edu/sheldonlegacymembers

“ Sheldon Legacy Society members want to leave more

than memories to the university. They want to leave a better world. When you invest in education, you’re really investing in the future. You’re leaving a legacy that will outlive you and your family. That’s pretty significant.”

– Jack James ’62, Sheldon Legacy Society chair

Please RSVP for more information to: Development and Alumni Relations Director of Finance Mark Slayton at 315-312-3003 or sheldonlegacy@oswego.edu, or by visiting alumni.oswego.edu/sheldonlegacy.

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Nonprofit US Postage PAID Oswego Alumni Association

KING ALUMNI HALL OSWEGO, NY 13126 If OSWEGO is addressed to a son or daughter who has graduated and no longer maintains a permanent address at your home, please clip the address label and return it with the correct address to the Oswego Alumni Associa­tion, SUNY Oswego, Oswego, NY 13126, or email the updated address to alumni@oswego.edu

Please recycle this magazine.

Lewis Putnam Turco ose stuck in a book, wandering in words while his feet trod the streets of Meriden, Conn., Lewis Turco walked deliberately on a path that led to his career as a poet and professor.

“I loved to read when I was a kid,” he says. “I felt that I would like to give to others the delight those authors gave to me. I decided to try to become a writer myself.”

Having defined his course, he set out. At 15, while in prep school, he took third place in a local newspaper’s high school poetry contest. A job as student correspondent and newspaper morgue clerk ensued at that same paper; he began submitting poems to the local poetry column, and his literary career was launched.

Four years in the U.S. Navy after high school put Turco on the USS Hornet for two years and a round-the-world cruise.

Before his discharge in 1956, he married Jean Houdlette and made plans to attend the University of Connecticut, with two scholarships from the Meriden newspaper at which he had worked to augment his GI Bill funding. With Navy-earned academic credits and an impressive list of publications, Turco completed the U. Conn. program and used the remaining funds for a master’s from the Writers’ Workshop of the University of Iowa.

T eaching at Fenn College after graduation, Turco founded and directed what is OSWEGO

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now the Cleveland State University Poetry Center, an accomplishment that brought him to the attention of Oswego’s Dr. Erwin Palmer, who was chair of the English department. “ Dr. Palmer wanted an actively publishing poet, and he wanted me to start a poetry center modeled after the one in Cleveland,” Turco says. “I had to tell him it was impossible in a city the size of Oswego.”

Turco offered an alternative. “I said I could begin a program in writing arts if he wanted it.” With that, Oswego became the site of one of the premier undergraduate writing programs in the nation. Genre specific and workshop oriented, the program demands academic rigor with commitment to creativity and publication.

As director and professor, Turco shaped student authors for 31 years, nurturing them as they acquired basic skills and advanced techniques and helping them prepare their work for submission.

“I loved my students,” says Turco, who retired in 1996. “Many of them continue to stay in touch through Facebook or in person.”

He speaks with pride of his former students who have succeeded in writing careers as novelists, educators, software developers, poets and Oswego faculty members.

Poets around the world have been initiated into the principles of formal poetry through Turco’s The Book of Forms,

JIM RUSSELL ’83

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now in its fourth edition. Wesli Court (an anagram) published Epitaphs for the Poets in 2012, and Turco last summer finished an epic poem titled “The Hero Enkidu.”

Fifty-two books, chapbooks and monographs, in addition to hundreds of poems, stories, plays and essays in journals and anthologies, are evidence of his status as a writer. Generations of former students attest to his effectiveness as a professor.

Nose stuck in a book, hands on the keyboard, directing a program and teaching developing writers: Lewis Putnam Turco reflects that he has met his goal to live a useful literary life.

—Linda Loomis ’90 M’97

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