Oswego Alumni Magazine - Spring 2019

OSWEGO ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OF THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT OSWEGO n VOL. 45, NO. 1 n SPRING 2019

The Water Issue

ON OUR CAMPUS This aerial shot by photographer and computer science alumnus Demetri Andritsakis ’89 of Liverpool, N.Y., captures the splendor of the sunset over Glimmerglass Lagoon. To the far left is the Village student housing and then from left are student residence halls Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca.

Submit your own campus photo to: alumni@oswego.edu

OSWEGO Alumni Magazine

Spring 2019: Vol. 45, No. 1 Publisher Elizabeth Locke Oberst

Online Coordinator Matt Cummins

Editor Margaret D. Spillett

Photographer Jim Russell ’83

Associate Editor Eileen Moran

In Memoriam Lisa Potter

Designer Jennifer Broderick Contributing Writers George Colon ’71 Office of Marketing and Communications Oswego State Sports Information Office Contributing Photographers Demetri Andritsakis ’89 (inside front cover) Neil Armstrong, trialsanderrors (32) Tom Caravaglia (13) Matthew Champlin, Getty Images (16) Robert Clark ’78 (28) Clemson Athletics (15) Sheila Cooley ’03 M’11 (22-23) Ariana Dzibela ’19 (18) Tyler Edic ’13 (27) Sally Familia ’19 (56) Kyle Hurley ’21 (57) iStock (11, 22, 25, 28, 34) Brandon Jackson (44) Jim Kearns (26-27) Le Moyne College (back cover) Nicole Lightfoot ’18 (37, 55) Darren McGee (10) Robert Mescavage (46) Dakota Miller (49) Michael A. Naddeo (11) Nancy Parisi, 43North (25) Jeff Rea ’71 (19) Rocco Saya (cover) Kristen Steinhardt (51) Onne van der Wal (36) Gary Walts, Syracuse.com (29) Interns Tyler Doan ’19 Sally Familia ’19

f facebook.com/oswegoalumni I @oswegoalumni t @oswegoalumni OSWEGO is published two times a year by the Oswego Alumni Association Inc., King Alumni Hall, State University of New York at Oswego, Oswego, N.Y. 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 2019.

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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President’s Column

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CAMPUS CURRENTS

5 New Scholarship Celebrates Couple’s Love 6 Alumnus Helps Shape NBC Partnerships 7

Endowment Outperforms National Average

9

Rankings Round-Up

11

Modernized Criminal Justice Major Debuts

13

State of the Arts

15

Men’s Basketball Wins SUNYAC

Melissa Lee ’19 Jacklyn Okunola ’19

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

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The Water Issue Inspired by the college’s Fresh Water for All Grand Challenges Project, this issue features stories of alumni whose lives or livelihoods involve water—from a water-based chemical manufacturer to a watercolor artist to a fishing boat captain. Photo by Rocco Saya.

20 16

FEATURES

16 The Value of Water Last fall, the college embarked on a cross-campus initiative infusing fresh water and ecology in its curriculum, projects, discussions and creative works through its Fresh Water for All Grand Challenges Project.

20 Water Unites Us Steve ’84 and Cheryl Cope Surprenant ’86 founded an

international charity committed to installing deep water wells to provide fresh water for thousands of villagers in developing countries.

22 Water Sustains Us Students traveled to Puerto Rico to build and install

water purifiers to provide fresh water to residents who are still recovering from hurricanes.

26 Water Drives Commerce As head of the Port of Oswego, William Scriber ’80

45 33

CLASS NOTES

38

Homecoming and Return to Oz Highlights

44 Weddings 46 Alumni Association Executive Director Announces Plans to Retire 48

Local Lakers Gatherings

52

Alumni Bookshelf

54

In Memoriam

56

Last Word by George Colon ’71

57

Oswego Object—Oswego Lighthouse

Back Cover

Faculty Hall of Fame—Jerry Exline

seeks to create commerce in the region and stimulate economic development.

28 Guardian of the Water Angler, fishing guide and water activist Fran Verdoliva ’74 has spent his life enjoying and protecting waters within the Lake Ontario watershed.

Have news to share?

Send us your news! We want to hear about your new job, promotion, marriage, babies, visits with Oswego alumni or even just a change in your address.

Submissions received between Jan. 1-June 30 will run in our fall issue, and between July 1-Dec. 31 in our spring issue.

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES magazine.oswego.edu

See exclusive content, including additional photos, multi-media stories and extended versions of some of the stories in this issue.

To submit your class note, email alumni@oswego.edu, call 315-312-2258 or complete the class note form online at alumni.oswego.edu. You can also mail submissions to the OSWEGO Alumni Magazine, King Alumni Hall, Oswego, N.Y. 13126.

Please note: Class notes included in the magazine come from a variety of sources, such as alumni submissions, news releases, social media posts and news media reports.

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From the President Fresh Water for All … it’s a straight-forward, yet powerful declaration. Access to fresh water is a fundamental need of all people. At SUNY Oswego—with one of the largest fresh water sources on the planet in our backyard—it can be easy to overlook its significance or even take it for granted. But we do not. Last fall, we embarked on a two-year, campus-wide Grand Challenges Project exploring the concept of Fresh Water for All. Students and faculty from all disciplines and departments have joined forces to take on the multifaceted sustainability issue of fresh water. Grounded in shared goals, integrative skills and technologies, and a multidisciplinary approach to problem solving, the Grand Challenges Project reinforces the fact that today’s solutions need to include many stakeholders across a spectrum of informed scholarship, creative activity and opinion.

In this issue, you can learn more about some of the projects underway on campus that are helping us to develop deeper perspectives and find solutions to the farreaching challenge of Fresh Water for All (page 16). You will also learn about a dedicated group of students who spent part of their winter break building and installing water filters in Puerto Rican communities devastated by two hurricanes in 2018 to ensure the residents have access to fresh water (page 22).

In fact, the entire issue pays tribute to water and the many ways it intersects our lives, from Brian Schultz ’09 who founded a clean-tech, water-based chemical manufacturing company (page 25), to watercolor artist Carol Zieres ’82 (page 31), to Steve ’84 and Cheryl Cope Surprenant ’86 who founded a nonprofit to install deep water wells in villages in India, Pakistan and Uganda (page 20), to fishing boat captain and guide Capt. Andy Bliss ’04 (page 30).

In this issue, we also bid farewell to the face of alumni relations at this college for 35 years, Betsy Oberst, who will retire from her role this summer. Under her leadership, the college was able to strengthen and grow our alumni relations, communications and stewardship programs. She has left her mark by founding such programs as the annual Welcoming Torchlight Ceremony, New York City Career Connections and my personal favorite event, the annual Scholars Brunch (page 46). But more significantly, she has added to this college community through her relationships with so many of our 86,000 alumni and her colleagues across campus. It is fitting that Betsy’s last issue as publisher of the Oswego Alumni Association’s magazine be focused on water, as her impact ripples onward, as a wave without end.

As the Oswego Alumni Association begins its next chapter under the direction of our current Alumni Relations Director Laura Pavlus Kelly ’09, I invite you to reconnect and visit your lakeside campus with the knowledge that your alma mater is doing its part to help protect this cherished resource so future generations of Lakers can enjoy it, too.

Deborah F. Stanley

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STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT OSWEGO Deborah F. Stanley, President Scott R. Furlong, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Nicholas Lyons, Vice President for Administration and Finance Mary Gibbons Canale ’81, Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Jerri Howland, Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management

OSWEGO ALUMNI ASSOCIATION INC.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Dana Segall Murphy ’99, President Amy Vanderlyke Dygert ’01, First Vice President Kathleen Smits Evans ’84, Second Vice President Lisa Marceau Schnorr ’87, Past President Elizabeth Locke Oberst, Executive Director Edgar Ames ’68 Marc Beck ’93 Paul Brennan ’93 Harry Bronson ’82 Kevin Bryans ’89 Austin Byrd ’10 Michael Byrne ’79* Mike Caldwell ’70 M’88 Mary Gibbons Canale ’81** Keith Chamberlain ’87* Raelynn Cooter ’77 Dresden Engle ’88 Jerry Esposito ’70 Thaina Gonzalez ’92 Phillip Grome ’89 Lisa Sferrazza Hutchison ’77 Jennifer Warner Janes ’91 La-Dana Renee Jenkins ’94 Don Levine ’78* Rufaro Matombo ’12 Molly Matott ’15 Steve Messina ’91* Cathleen Richards ’09 Mark Salmon ’93 Dan Scaia ’68 Jeffrey Sorensen ’92 Yvonne Spicer ’84 M’85 Deborah F. Stanley** Rick Yacobush ’77 Thomas Yates ’89 Benita Zahn ’76 * At large

** Ex officio

OSWEGO COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC. BOARD OF DIRECTORS Mary Gibbons Canale ’81, President Michael Durney ’83, Chair Rose Cardamone Crane ’81, Vice Chair Nicholas Lyons, Treasurer Doreen Mochrie ’85, Secretary Mark Baum ’81 Louis A. Borrelli Jr. ’77 Bill Burns ’83 Joseph F. Coughlin ’82 Dianora De Marco ’14 M’15 Steve Doran ’82 Bob Garrett ’83 Jack James ’62 Matt Jenal ’78 Jeff Knauss ’07 Gordon Lenz ’58 Peter McCarthy ’82 Robert Moritz ’85 Colleen Murphy ’77 Suzanne Castrigno Sack ’84 Jennifer Shropshire ’86 William Spinelli ’84 Deborah F. Stanley Mark Tryniski ’85 Joe Yacura ’74

Campus Currents

New Scholarship Celebrates Couple’s Love It was 1958 when Eleanor Kaminski Pucciariello ’62 of Glen Cove, N.Y., met Nick Pucciariello ’62 from Brooklyn, N.Y., while they were waiting in line to register for their first SUNY Oswego classes.

“We engaged in conversation easily and I remember feeling delighted that we had several classes together,” Ellie said.

“We didn’t date at first but we spent time together between classes doing crossword and number puzzles and playing cribbage.

We established a friendship that became the base of a 52-year marriage.”

Six decades after that initial meeting, and because of all of the assistance and opportunity the couple had, Ellie said, they have established a scholarship at Oswego for students in the School of Education.

“Our training to become teachers at SUNY Oswego cost less than $1,000 for both of us,” Ellie said. So in honor of their time in Oswego, the Nick and Ellie Pucciariello ’62 Scholarship was established, which each year benefits a full-time student in the School of Education pursuing a career in teaching.

Finding Love

“Since 1962 there have been so many changes in the world which affect the needs of children in school,” Ellie said.

“What is true today and was true in 1962 is that if a teacher can instill a love of learning in a child, that child will flourish.

Education is a very important profession.

A teacher can have an effect on a child that will chart the course of the child’s life.”

So they eloped on Sept. 8, 1959, or one year after meeting each other in that registration line.

Finding Love

For entertainment, the couple took part in activities at the college and socialized with student friends. On New Year’s Day 1961, the student couple, who were in their junior year of college, made local headlines and were the recipients of many gifts from local merchants because their daughter, Nikki, was the New Year Baby of Oswego County. The couple went on to have a son, Charles; they also have three grandchildren.

Ellie and Nick started dating in October of their first year as students. While listening to the romantic strains of “Rhapsody in Blue” in the college library, they realized they were soul mates.

As freshmen, Nick shared an apartment with four other students; Ellie lived in D Dorm and Kingsford Hall. It was May—the conclusion of that first year—when they planned their future.

They calculated that with Nick’s GI Bill (he was a Navy veteran), plus the money they earned during the summer, they could live together better and cheaper than by living separately, Ellie said.

“We were confident that we would achieve academic success better as a couple than as individuals,” Ellie said.

“We always felt we had a three-year honeymoon while being students,” Ellie said.

Success in Education The Pucciariellos graduated in May 1962.

Nick started his teaching career as a math teacher at Ellie’s alma mater, Glen Cove High School; Ellie was part of Glen Cove’s new team-teaching approach for sixthgrade students.

For many years Nick taught math, and Ellie taught English, social studies and science. They also taught the SAT Prep course, the GED classes and classes in the evening in a high school diploma program.

Nick earned a master’s degree in education from Adelphi University with a grant from the National Science Foundation, and Ellie earned a master’s in social work from Adelphi University with a federal grant.

In 2011, Nick died following a courageous battle with cancer. But his memories live on through family and friends, and through their shared legacy that supports future educators in the college where they met and paved the way to their futures.

Laker Legacies Gather for Reception

Members of the Moretti family of Elmira, N.Y., including Daniel ’20 (left), Benjamin ’17 (second from left) and Polly Atkins Moretti ’85 (second from right), participated in the Alumni Legacy Reception, held in conjunction with Family and Friends Weekend. They were among two dozen families who attended the annual reception in King Alumni Hall. They mingled, learned about opportunities and looked at old yearbooks and memorabilia.

Do you want to create your own legacy at SUNY Oswego? Learn how you can establish a permanently endowed fund to honor your education or a loved one.

Call 315-312-3003 or email develop@oswego.edu to learn more.

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Alumnus Helps Shape NBC Partnerships, Opportunities for Oswego Students part of the Alumni-In-Residence program over the past few years.

Winiarski most recently visited in fall 2018, bringing with him members of NBC’s recruitment team so that students could learn more about entry-level positions for graduating seniors, as well as a chance to become NBCUniversal interns through NBCU’s awardwinning internship program. The program offers career path options in everything from media relations to film production to human resources to sales.

From left are NBC’s Nicole Goolsby, Matt Romano ’05, Keith Devine, Tom Winiarski ’91 and Ryan Hourigan.

It was the much-awaited campus visit that draws hundreds of eager students: The chance to connect with professionals from media giant NBCUniversal.

Following classroom visits, more than 100 students joined the NBCU team, which also included senior director of emerging platforms for NBCU’s SYFY and USA Networks Matt Romano ’05, in Sheldon Hall Ballroom to hear more.

“I just want to help them get some real-world exposure while they’re still in school,” said Tom Winiarski ‘91. “It’s very hard if you’re not yet plugged into the business world; it’s daunting to come out of school. To have some real-world touch points is really helpful.”

Winiarski has continued to cultivate his connection to SUNY Oswego after his mentor and boss at NBCU provided a similar call to action at her alma mater, Penn State. After Winiarski attended a Penn State event, he thought SUNY Oswego students could benefit from the same approach and hearing from Oswego alumni, of which there are currently 35 employed at NBCU.

Winiarski, who serves as executive vice president for ad sales planning and monetization at NBCUniversal Media, has returned to SUNY Oswego regularly as

“I came out of school and didn’t know where in the media business I wanted to be,” he said. “I kind of felt along and found my way.”

Winiarski began his career as a sales assistant at Katz Communications in New York City. Later, he was vice president and senior vice president for sales at Turner Broadcasting System and TBS/TNT/truTV. His Oswego connection doesn’t stop at creating a pipeline for employment and internships. He has also created a perpetual scholarship to help encourage new talent from the Department of Communication Studies in the School of Communication, Media and the Arts—Winiarski’s home school.

In addition to connecting students with opportunities and “a little less pavement pounding,” Winiarski said returning to campus has other perks, too—a chance to make a stop by the Oswego Sub Shop, to check out his own campus haunts and to visit new facilities.

Winiarski, who did an internship in the now-gone Poucher Hall radio lab, loves to check out the Marano Campus Center, which did not exist during his time on campus. He also loves to engage in the sense of community that Oswego creates both during his visits, and back at NBCU offices.

One alum co-worker, Winiarski said, has been known to whisper “Go Lakers” when passing by him in the hallways of NBCU. “You really carry Oswego with you,” he laughed.

Laker for LIFE Did you know that as an alum of SUNY Oswego, you have access for life to the following services?

• Career Services Resources, including job opportunities, professional self-assessment tools, resume assistance, practice job interviews and more • Exclusive Discounts on Financial Services, including auto, home and life insurance • F ree access to Lee Hall Pool and Gym and an Oswego.edu email account • Volunteer and Engagement Opportunities, such as Local Lakers events, reunions, the Alumni-In-Residence program, the Alumni Sharing Knowledge mentoring program, Harborfest housing discounts and more through the Oswego Alumni Association Learn more at alumni.oswego.edu.

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Campus Currents

Annual Media Summit Addresses Social Media as a Change Agent • Dr. Latoya Lee, assistant professor of sociology at SUNY Oswego; and • Jeff Knauss ’07, co-founder of Digital Hyve in Syracuse, N.Y., and a member of the Oswego College Foundation Board of Directors.

The panelists noted that while social media fuels important conversation, action needs to take place in order to see real change. Dr. Lee noted how many social media users become “slacktivists,” meaning they simply advocate for change on social media but do not take action in the real world.

Digital activism must be accompanied by voting and other legislative responses in order to create change. Taking to social media, however, is an important first step, Iliev said.

From left are Asa Stackel ’12, Gina Iliev, Lou Borrelli ’77, President Deborah F. Stanley, Brandi Boatner, Dr. Latoya Lee and Jeff Knauss ’07.

The 14th Annual Dr. Lewis B. O’Donnell Media Summit focused on “Viral Voices: Advocacy in the Digital Age,” specifically the role social media sites have played in launching movements, such as #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo, and creating change within society.

Held on Oct. 17 in Tyler Hall’s Waterman Theatre, the panel was moderated by Asa

Founded in 2005 by Louis A. Borrelli Jr. ’77 and renamed by Borrelli and Al Roker ’76 through a generous gift in 2007 in honor of their mentor, the annual day-long event welcomes media professionals to campus to discuss timely issues in today’s society, as well as connect with current students and offer advice on how to be active media consumers.

Stackel ’12, a news anchor at News Channel 13 in Albany, N.Y., and featured: • Brandi Boatner, social and influencer communications lead for global markets for IBM Corporate Communications in New York City; • Gina Iliev, health equity coordinator for Planned Parenthood of Central and Western New York;

The 15th Annual Dr. Lewis B. O’Donnell Media Summit will be held on Oct. 23.

SUNY Oswego’s Endowment Continues to Outperform National Average Oswego College Foundation’s endowment investment returns have exceeded the national average for 12 years straight, and for 15 of the past 16 years, according to the latest data released Jan. 31 by the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO).

SUNY Oswego’s returns during 2018 were 9 percent, nearly a full percentage point higher than the national average of 8.2 percent. The short-term endowment investment results allow spending rates to be maintained at 5 percent and still cover the current 2 to 2.5 percent inflation rates.

That translates to consistent funding for the college’s more than 475 privately funded scholarship recipients and the nearly 600 endowed and unendowed funds managed by the Oswego College Foundation, and more money being returned to campus to support academic pursuits and operational expenses.

10.00% 9.00%

Oswego College Foundation, Inc. One, Three, Five and Ten Year Endowment Net Rates of Return vs. NACUBO Data Effective Fiscal Year 2018 9.7%

9.0%

8.6%

8.2%

8.00%

7.5%

7.00%

7.3%

7.4%

6.2%

6.00%

6.8%

8.2%

7.9%

7.0% 5.8% 6.1% 6.0%

6.0%

5.00% 4.00% 3.00% 2.00% 1.00% 0.00%

1 Year Oswego

3 Year NACUBO Average

SUNY Oswego’s endowment performed even better when looked at over the past 10 years. The college’s 10-year rate of return stands at 7.9 percent, which is better

5 Year $25-50 Million Peer Group

10 Year Over $1 Billion Aspirational Group

than the 5.8 percent NACUBO average and even the 6-percent returns of aspirational peers (colleges with endowments of more than $1 billion).

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Noteworthy News RSVP Earns Excellus Community Health Award RSVP of Oswego County, a division of SUNY Oswego’s Office of Business and Community Relations, recently earned an Excellus BlueCross BlueShield Community Health Award. The Retired and Senior Volunteer Program was one of seven winners among 30 community nonprofits applying for the 2019 honor. Each award recipient received up to $4,000 allocated by the company to help fund health and wellness programs in the company’s five-county Central New York region.

RSVP offers Osteo Bone Builders classes two to three times a week at several sites in Oswego County. The educational exercise program helps participants rebuild bone density and improve balance through weight training and exercise.

Jim Reed (left) and Samantha Cleveland

WTOP Promo Wins National Award A promotional video for SUNY Oswego’s student-run TV station WTOP produced by broadcasting graduate Griffin Bruce ’18—using archival footage, original music and clips of students in action (like covering a Laker hockey game, pictured)—recently earned a fourthplace award in a large national competition, presented at College Broadcasters Inc.’s National Student Electronic Media Convention in Seattle. Visit magazine.oswego.edu to view the video.

Student’s Freshwater Mussel Research Earns International Recognition Biology major Manna Job ’19 (above) recently earned Top Presenter recognition in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology category for college participants at the Sigma Xi International Conference for “Effects of Atrazine on Freshwater Mussels (Elliptio complanata),” research conducted with biological sciences faculty member Poongodi Geetha-Loganathan.

The sign displays another honor at the conference—the SUNY Oswego chapter earned a Sigma Xi Chapter Program of Excellence Award.

Find the Founder!

In the Fall 2018 issue, the Sheldon statue can be found on the pineapple shirt of Zhushun “Tim” Cai M’18 on page 19. Grand prize winner of a College Store gift certificate and a Sheldon Hall print is Henry N. Seymour ’87. Winning Sheldon Hall prints are Barbara Elasik Fulle ’69, Janet Kerfien ’73 M’01, Betty Meyer Fuller ’80, Steve Goldberg ’94 M’98 and Katie Husband Hamlin ’11. A tiny replica of the Sheldon statue, pictured here, is hidden somewhere in this issue.

Find the Founder and send us a letter or email 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 by June 1, 2019, to Find the Founder, King Alumni Hall, 300 Washington Blvd., Oswego, N.Y., 13126, or email to findthefounder@oswego.edu.

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University Police Issue Body Cameras to Patrol Officers University Police patrol officers at SUNY Oswego—such as Officer Eric Martin (above)—will now wear cameras at the center of their chests to document traffic stops and other encounters as a deterrent to potential conflicts at the point of contact or in court. Videotaped encounters will be uploaded to a server daily. The devices record law enforcement officers’ encounters with citizens, for their mutual benefit.

Campus Currents Orientation Express Buses Garner Praise SUNY Oswego earned a State University-wide award for providing express shuttle service for incoming students from the New York City metro area to attend New Student Orientation sessions.

The SUNY Council of Chief Student Affairs Officers and the Office of University Life announced the award for Oswego in the category of “enrollment management, financial aid, orientation, parents, first-year, other-year and related.”

The college has invested in full-time admissions counselors in metro New York and on Long Island, as well as part-time recruiters in the Lower Hudson Valley and New Jersey. For years, SUNY Oswego has provided bus service for weekend Admitted Student Days on campus.

The express bus service—providing New York City-area students and their guests with a choice of two dates for orientation—combined the efforts of the Divi-

sion of Student Affairs and the offices of Admissions, New Student Orientation and Auxiliary Services, which assisted in keeping the cost low.

Emmanuel Cruz ’09, regional admissions counselor in New York City, rode the bus to provide additional support and information to the new students and their guests.

The mission of New Student Orientation at SUNY Oswego is to provide programs and services that ensure a successful transition to the academic, cultural and co-curricular environment at the college.

For more information, visit oswego.edu/ orientation.

SUNY Grant to Support Veterans at Oswego, Partner Colleges The SUNY Impact Foundation has awarded a grant of $70,400 from the U.S. Ambassador Carl Spielvogel Fund for Veterans to fund an academic support proposal submitted jointly by SUNY Oswego, Jefferson Community College (JCC), SUNY Canton and SUNY Potsdam to strengthen transfer pathways and foster academic success for student veterans.

The grant will span four semesters and include the following: • A dedicated tutor to work specifically with the student veteran population on each campus to increase their comfort of use of academic support services and assist in their academic adjustment • JCC will provide space for SUNY Oswego’s veteran and military services coordinator to hold office hours to meet with prospective JCC student veterans and discuss transfer options

• SUNY Oswego will host prospective JCC student veterans once per semester • Each college will create materials specifically for student veterans to assist in the transition from military life to an educational institution and from JCC to SUNY Oswego

Rankings Round-Up Best School for Veterans The Military Times, an independent source for all news related to the military, included SUNY Oswego on its 2019 Best for Vets Colleges list. SUNY Cobleskill and Buffalo State were the only other SUNY four-year schools included on the list, which considers the following factors in its rankings: university culture, academic outcomes/quality, student support, academic policies, and cost and financial aid.

Guide to Green Colleges The Princeton Review education services company again has ranked SUNY Oswego among the nation’s most environmentally responsible colleges. The company recognized Oswego in the ninth edition of its publication, The Princeton Review’s Guide to 399 Green Colleges.

Online MBA Ranked 28th Nationally SUNY Oswego’s online master of business administration program ranked 28th—the highest of any public college in New York state—by business-school site Poets and Quants. Oswego was the only SUNY school on the list and one of four in the Empire State in the ranking that compiled admissions standards, the MBA experience and career outcomes.

U.S. News previously ranked Oswego’s online MBA highest in New York state and 33rd nationally among online MBA programs.

Top Producer of Fulbright U.S. Student Awards The Fulbright Program recently named SUNY Oswego to its 2018-19 list of top producers of successful applicants for Fulbright U.S. student awards. SUNY Oswego has a school record of three current Fulbright U.S. Scholars—Michael Kaefer ’17, Christopher Byrne ’18 and Michelle Tomei ’14—who applied directly through advisor Lyn Blanchfield and the college’s Fulbright committee, which is part of the Institute for Global Engagement. Two recent Oswego alumnae—Kimberlyn Bailey ’16 and Katie Sullivan ’15—applied independently and earned the prestigious scholarships, which seek to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and of other countries.

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Snapshots: Research and Creative Works Faculty and Staff Recognitions

Lizette Alvarado, associate director of the Office of International Education and Programs, is one of 14 leaders from across the state named to the second-ever class of fellows at SUNY’s Hispanic Leadership Institute

by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The group is charged with developing and supporting the next generation of executive-level Hispanic/LatinX leaders across the SUNY system.

Faculty members Murat Yasar (left), in history, and Arvind Diddi, in communication studies, were named Open SUNY Online Teaching Ambassadors for their commitment to developing or redeveloping courses available to distance learners, including those attending other schools around the State University system.

David Parisian CAS ’04, a curriculum and instruction faculty member, earned the 2018 Humanitarian Heart Award from the HeartMath Institution, recognizing his contributions to the field of psychological/physiological research.

College President Deborah F. Stanley (right) was appointed co-chair of the Central New York Regional Economic Development Council, which is one of 10 regional councils across the state, each tasked with developing long-term strategic plans for economic growth for their region. Through eight rounds of the REDC initiative, the Central New York Region—made up of Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego counties—has secured $703.6 million in state funding to support more than 708 projects. She is pictured here with (from left) Brian Stratton ’79, Kristi Eck and Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul.

New Faculty Publications

Common Sense as a Paradigm of Thought: An Analysis of Social Interaction, professor and sociology chair Tim Delaney

Columbine, 20 Years Later and Beyond: Lessons from Tragedy, criminal justice professor Jaclyn Schildkraut

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Campus Currents

College Chooses Book of Flint Clean Water Crusader for its Summer Read The crusading pediatrician who four years ago helped bring the fight for clean water justice in Flint to the national spotlight will speak at SUNY Oswego this fall about the Oswego Reading Initiative book for this summer, her award-winning What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance and Hope in American City.

Modernized Criminal Justice Major Debuts SUNY Oswego has begun transitioning its public justice major to criminal justice, a move that modernizes the program, boosts its rigor in alignment with national standards and makes its name more recognizable to graduate schools and employers.

New students in fall 2018 had the option to enter SUNY Oswego as criminal justice majors, while existing majors could switch to criminal justice or opt to finish their college years in public justice. Those new to the discipline in the spring semester will declare a criminal justice major.

Mona Hanna-Attisha—an immigrant, physician, scientist and now an activist—will appear on campus Sept. 25 to talk about her research and advocacy in the water crisis, an environmental disaster that has moved a nation.

SUNY Oswego chose Hanna-Attisha’s book over at least two dozen other candidates for the annual freshman summer read. The college is in the midst of a two-year cross-campus Grand Challenges Project titled: Fresh Water for All (see related story on page 16).

For more information and to see a list of past selections, visit oswego.edu/ori.

The SUNY system and the state Education Department approved the sweeping updates in curriculum. The college also has applied to rename the department as criminal justice.

Dr. Roger Guy, chair of the department, said criminal justice is far from just a name change. Students have to take an additional nine credit hours’ worth of courses, some of them new and all of them subject to revisions and updates following a lengthy review of the nearly four-decadesold public justice curriculum.

Elective courses reflect the broad range of fields that rely on today’s criminal justice graduates: forensic anthropology, criminalistics chemistry, family systems, counseling, ethics and the law, program planning and evaluation, community policing and organized crime law enforcement, to name a few.

For more information on the criminal justice program or on minors in criminal justice, forensic science and interdisciplinary pre-law, visit oswego.edu/criminaljustice or call 315-312-4121.

Sources: SUNY Oswego Sustainability Office, oceancrusaders.org and banthebottle.net.

Illustration by Aaron Scott ’19.

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Milestone Celebrations

Penfield Library Celebrates 50 years

Graduate Studies Turns 70

Since 1968, Penfield has been a communal experience for students—some might say the “living room” of campus. Over the decades, as it has transformed from a “book warehouse” to technology hub, it remains an academic core of the institution.

Penfield Library was named for Lida S. Penfield (1873-1956), alumna of the Class of 1919 and chair of the English Department.

An authority on local history, she wrote Stories of Old Oswego, and she helped inaugurate the Torchlight Ceremony in 1936. The Penfield building became the library for SUNY Oswego in 1968, when tens of thousands of books were moved by students—by hand, brigade style—from Rich Hall.

SUNY Oswego celebrated 70 years of graduate education with a week of activities Nov. 12 to 16. Kristen Eichhorn (standing), dean of graduate studies, said the college’s continuing responsiveness to the needs of students and to economic trends is a key to its ongoing success. Initially offering master’s degree programs in elementary education and industrial arts education (now called technology education), the Division of Graduate Studies now administers more than 50 degree and certificate programs. The week-long celebration culminated with the Graduate Studies Showcase, which included networking, music and awards recognizing outstanding graduate students and faculty members.

Watch a video about the evolution of graduate studies at magazine.oswego.edu.

Seen on Social

Twitter @OswegoAlumni

Veterans Day Dedication Honors 100th Anniversary of WWI Armistice A ceremony on campus on Veterans Day included a plaque dedication in remembrance of the 100th anniversary of the 1918 Armistice that ended World War I and those who served and continue to serve.

The ceremony was led by college President Deborah F. Stanley (left) who, along with Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow (right) and Oswego Town Supervisor Richard Kaulfuss ’74, unveiled the new plaque along Washington Boulevard between Sheldon Hall and the Park Hall lot. Veterans and others from the campus and community attended.

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@sunyoswego President Deborah F. Stanley and several Oswego graduates—Imani Cruz ’18, Justin Brantley ’15 M’16, Christopher Collins-McNeil ’16, Justin Dobrow ’17, Kalie Hudson ’16 and Ashley Freeze ’14—joined alumnus @AlRoker on the Broadway set of Waitress: The Musical, where he performed. facebook.com/oswegoalumni

@OswegoAlumni

Campus Currents

State of the Arts Dance The legacy of pioneering choreographer Paul Taylor lives on in the Taylor 2 Dance Company, a troupe of six rising young dancers brought to Tyler Hall’s Waterman Theatre in February by Artswego.

The troupe offered two master classes on campus—one of them open to local dance classes and both open to SUNY Oswego students enrolled in classes of the college’s new minor in dance—and provided the community a free behind-the-scenes look at how the troupe stages its performances.

Music

Theatre

SUNY Oswego music faculty member Paul Leary’s composition, “Larger Than Us,” premiered in March at the Museum of Science and Technology (MOST) in Syracuse, N.Y.

Fine Arts SUNY Oswego’s Tyler Art Gallery hosted this spring’s Art Faculty Exhibition with a concurrent display, A Tribute to Richard Zakin. Zakin, the late emeritus professor of art who dedicated himself to sharing his journey with Alzheimer’s disease following his diagnosis in 2015, was noted for his scholarship and artwork in ceramics during a 40-year career at SUNY Oswego and beyond.

A memorial scholarship has been established in Richard’s memory by his wife, Emerita Professor of Art Helen Zakin. Learn more at 315-312-3003 or email develop@ oswego.edu.

The Society of New Music performance paired Leary’s original compositional tribute to space missions with Charles Fussell’s The Astronaut’s Tale, a staged chamber opera modeled after Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale.

Leary’s composition meshes music and science, computer programming and artistic skills. The composition featured electronic instruments that Leary built and a sevenpiece chamber ensemble that performed live on stage.

The society and the MOST presented the concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of America’s Apollo 8 manned mission to lunar orbit, which served as a precursor to the mission that gave the world the first man on the moon.

Playwright Neil Simon’s The Good Doctor, based on classic stories by Anton Chekhov, featured a series of 10 short plays with music that transported audiences to 19th-century Russia for an up-close view at absurd, surprising tales as this year’s Blackfriars student honors production. The cast featured Tim Brenner ’19 (seated) as The Writer and, standing from left, Adam Sommer ’19, Megan Campbell ’21, Shana Weiss ’20 and Evan Ribaudo ’19. Each performer played a variety of characters.

Web Design Five SUNY Oswego students, under the mentorship of graphic design faculty member Rebecca Mushtare ’03 won the national AIR-U (University Accessibility Internet Rally) competition for accessibility in web design for the team’s work on the VoteOswego.com website.

As mentor and instructor Mushtare leans on the desk, clockwise from front left are students Kimberly Grunden ’19, Mariana Diaz ’16 M’19, Heng-Hao Pu M’19, Nick Long ’19 and Nicole Lightfoot ’18. Knowbility, an Austin-based nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the independence in technology of children and adults with disabilities, sponsored the event to encourage students to work toward a more inclusive digital web for all. The team won $5,000, plus a trip to attend the South by Southwest Conference 2019 in Austin, Texas.

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Men’s Ice Hockey Coach Wins SUNYAC Coach of the Year OSWEGO ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME INDUCTION DINNER Saturday, Oct. 5, 2019

The men’s ice hockey coaches of the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) have selected Oswego State’s Ed Gosek ’83 M’01 as the league’s Coach of the Year for the 2018-19 season. It is the third time in Ed’s 16-year career that he has earned the honor (2004-05, 2009-10).

This season, Ed guided the Lakers back to the NCAA Championship for the eighth time in the last 10 seasons, earning a bye into the quarterfinal round, where they lost 3 to 2 to Hobart on March 16.

His tutelage has also aided four Lakers to All-Conference accolades, as

Anthony Passero ’20 and Max Novick ’21 were on the first team, Tyler Currie ’20 made the second and Michael Gillespie ’20 garnered third-team recognition. Devin Campbell ’19 nabbed the league’s Defensive Player of the Year honor for the second-consecutive season, joining former Laker Stephen Johnson ’17 as the only players to earn the award since its inception.

Over the course of his head-coaching career, Ed has accumulated one of the most impressive win-loss records at any level. The Oswego alumnus has won 325 of the games he has coached, without having 100 losses yet in his career.

History of Hockey Display Unveiled After several years of planning, organizing and executing, an annex on the concourse of the Marano Campus Center Convocation Arena pays homage to the 50-plus years of Laker hockey tradition, from its inception through the 2017-18 season.

Director of Athletics Susan Viscomi, men’s ice hockey coach Ed Gosek ’83 M’01 and women’s ice hockey coach Diane Dillon shared remarks during a community opening of the display in fall 2018.

The display, funded by the Herb Hammond Fund and friends of ice hockey, includes a Laker hockey timeline, a touchscreen display to view history items and a center trophy case for the eight most prominent pieces of hardware collected by Laker hockey teams, including the men’s 2007 NCAA National Championship trophy.

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Join us as we recognize the contributions of the following alumni-athletes, who will be inducted into the Class of 2019 Oswego Athletic Hall of Fame during Homecoming 2019: Gary Bartemus ’76 men’s diving Susan McWilliams Friedrich ’04 M’07 women’s cross country and track and field Erin Hanlon ’05 women’s volleyball Mark Howard ’84 wrestling Tom McFall ’90 men’s ice hockey Registration will open this summer.

For more information, visit alumni.oswego.edu/halloffame.

Athletics Earns National Community Service Award The Oswego State athletic department earned its 12th National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators (NADIIIAA) award in the past 10 years at the NCAA Convention.

Track and field alumna Tara Hansen ’18 (left) and current track and field athlete Natalie Horton ’19 (holding trophy) joined Director of Athletics Sue Viscomi (right) to accept the trophy at the NADIIIAA reception. The national award was for first place in the “Array of Projects” category, the department’s seventh first place award over that span of time.

Men’s Basketball Team Wins SUNYAC; Advances to NCAA Sweet 16 Round

Randazzo Repeats as NEWHL Scholar Athlete, Joins Teammates in Conference Honors Oswego State women’s ice hockey captain Kate Randazzo ’20 of Ancaster, Ontario, Canada, was selected as the 2019 Northeast Women’s Hockey League (NEWHL) Scholar Athlete of the Year.

After winning the SUNYAC regular season championship against Geneseo, the Oswego State men’s basketball team added another trophy to the case. The Lakers outlasted No. 3 Brockport in the 2019 SUNYAC Championship title game.

It is the fourth postseason conference crown the Lakers have won in the last eight seasons.

With the victory, Oswego secured the SUNYAC’s automatic berth to the NCAA Championship, which was its sixth all-time appearance, coming all in the last nine years.

In the first round of NCAA action, the team defeated Salem State University at Laker Hall, advancing to the second round. In a thrilling overtime win over Baldwin Wallace University, the Lakers secured a spot in the Sweet 16 for the second time in four seasons.

This marks the second-straight year she has claimed the award after earning the inaugural honor in 2018.

Kate and teammate Philomena Teggart ’21 of Pickering, Ontario, Canada, were also second team All-NEWHL. Sara Cruise ’22 of Fairhaven, Mass., was named to NEWHL’s All-Rookie Team, for her 14 points and team-leading shooting percentage.

The team traveled to Illinois to face No. 22 Marietta College on March 8, and ended their run with a 61-to-78 loss. The loss closed the chapter on a historic season with a match of the furthest postseason push in the program’s history (2015-16 – Sweet 16).

From Tiger to Wildcat: Alum, Clemson Football Grad Assistant Lands New Role at ACU After four years as a graduate assistant coach for the titans of collegiate football, Mike Briglin ’02 (right) is trading Clemson orange to take on a new role, this time as safeties coach for Abilene Christian University (ACU) in Texas, home of the Wildcats.

Mike joins the ACU staff after four seasons at Clemson as a graduate assistant coach. During his four-year tenure at Clemson, the statistics are epic: Clemson recorded a 55-4 record, tied for the most wins in a four-year span in major college football history, and collected four ACC titles and two national championships.

According to Mike, the idea of pursuing a career in sports started when he worked at a residential boys’ home in Central New York following his graduation from SUNY Oswego with a degree in sociology. The children in the home had come from very difficult family situations.

“All the kids wanted to do something fun,” said Mike, a 1991 graduate of Oswego High School who was a running back and linebacker, as well as an Oswego State rugby player and a member of the U.S. Army rugby team while he served in the military, from 1991 to 1996.

It was the seed of an idea that carried Mike—who served in the Army as an engineer stationed at Fort Stewart, Georgia, and in Somalia, Bosnia and Haiti—through a move to Hawaii in 2004 to work for the Department of Defense’s family advocacy program.

There, he began coaching at the high school level.

At Clemson, he earned a master’s degree in youth development leadership and a second master’s in athletic leadership. His goals, he said, are to become a defensive coordinator and a head coach someday.

“I told those boys that if they did what was asked of them, like chores, I’d take them outside to play football in the rain,” he said.

Mike’s impact on youth—from the children living in the residential home through to the college players he’s coaching—reminds him that he is exactly where he’s meant to be.

Mike taught the residential home boys the basics: how to catch, throw and tackle. One day, one of the boys told him he ought to be a Super Bowl coach.

“All of us have a different mission in life,” he said. “Whatever your calling is, that’s your calling. And whatever you’re going to do, don’t let anyone get in your way.”

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The Value of Water 16

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Water—it’s the resource that courses through every vein of our daily lives.

It keeps our communities healthy, our cities running and our economies growing. Water is the element that ties together everything that makes us thrive: From the produce aisle to the fishing pier, from our kitchen sink to the fire hydrant on our street corner, water is essential for everything we do.

But humans have a complicated relationship with water. We value it, but often offer it less respect than it deserves. We depend on it, but we are challenged by barriers to availability and cleanliness.

And these challenges are increasing—both locally and globally—every day.

A Backyard Full of Water It’s no secret that the SUNY Oswego community loves its lake.

“It’s a dynamic sight outside just about every window on campus,” said Leigh Wilson, director of the college’s interdisciplinary programs and activities center, and director of the Creative Writing program. “The endless horizon it presents to us each day is a metaphor that constantly beckons us toward greater learning and attainment.”

Leigh isn’t surprised that as a community, we have come to care deeply about water issues in general, and our neighboring Great Lake in particular. So when students, faculty, staff and administrators voted for a topic for the college’s first Grand Challenge—a project for which Leigh serves as chair—the topics that clinched the most votes were fresh water and ecology.

The result: Fresh Water for All was chosen as the campus community’s Fall 2018-Spring 2020 Grand Challenges project.

Aligned with the college’s strategic plan, the goal of the Grand Challenges Project is to encourage our campus to “…work toward finding solutions for the grand challenges of our time” in a 21st-century way.

The initiative empowers the campus community to develop deeper perspectives and find solutions to the far-reaching challenge, said college President Deborah F. Stanley.

“It is a precious, iconic asset of our community,” President Stanley said of the choice to make water the focus of the Grand Challenge initiative. “Water potability and access can be a matter of life and death across the globe.” (continued on next page)

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Awash in Opportunities Now two semesters into the initiative, Fresh Water for All has yielded multidisciplinary involvement—and fascinating results.

Around campus, classroom walls and public spaces serve as tangible reminders of the project. Curricula across the college reflect water themes. The best student papers and research addressing Fresh Water for All are being compiled. Relevant performances and speakers have been brought to campus. Civic and volunteer opportunities have been established.

In February, Penfield Library hosted a weekend Grand Challenges event—a Makeathon competition for the best Fresh Water-related project. Based on the concept of a hackathon, a team-based event of intensive creative problem solving, the Makeathon’s winning project proposed an app for smart phones.

The app uses sound recognition technology to record individual water usage over the course of a day and then aggregates usage to include a family, or even whole neighborhoods, so that friendly competitions for least water usage can arise.

Ariana Dzibela ’19, fine arts major with a history minor, created this poster for her Art 207 Digital Media Static class. Students selected from two water-related themes of “Embrace the Flow” or “Our History: It’s in the Water.”

Or globally—SUNY Oswego students helped install purifiers in Puerto Rican communities whose water supplies were impacted by two hurricanes a little over a year ago (see related story on page 22).

The prize-winning Human Computer Interaction graduate students (from left)—Bharati Mahajan M’20, Khushboo Panchal M’19 and Joe Gray M’20 —brought interdisciplinary collaboration from different undergraduate backgrounds: graphic design, science and technology, and film.

The event was just one of the many opportunities funded through mini-grants from the Office of the Provost for Grand Challenges projects that could use a little seed money (see others on next page).

The breadth of ways people are applying the theme speaks to the creativity and ingenuity of the SUNY Oswego community in adapting their skills and knowledge in new ways, Leigh said.

“Our campus is one of the most creative and solution-minded campuses in the country,” Leigh said. “All of our disciplines and offices work together to do great good; what we do here can change the world.”

And changing the world can happen locally—students in Professor Keli DiRisio’s Motion Graphics course skillfully blended research and infographics to create professional videos addressing Fresh Water for All.

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These are just a sampling of some of the water-focused projects by campus members.

“From social justice issues to global sustainability and access, from the science of pollution to artistic interpretations of fresh water issues to media coverage of fresh water power politics, Oswego students, faculty and staff from all disciplines have been given a unique opportunity to tackle the impact that Fresh Water for All has across every aspect of our global community,” President Stanley said. (continued on next page)

HALF A CENTURY OF STUDY SUNY Oswego established the Lake Ontario Environmental Laboratory (now called the Environmental Research Center) in the 1960s, and since then, has brought in millions of dollars to conduct research on the lake in partnership with such groups as the Great Lakes Research Consortium, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Sea Grant program, the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the federal Environmental Protection Agency. This research was the focus of an OSWEGO Alumni Magazine cover story in summer 2016. Read more about this groundbreaking work online at magazine.oswego.edu.

Bountiful Hydration While the community continues to focus on the Grand Challenges Project: Fresh Water for All, students have been using the initiative to share a love for the lake that serves as a foundation for their research, and their creative and civic endeavors. A new student group called Shining Waters has taken hold on campus, with a focus on the ecological preservation of Lake Ontario.

Art faculty member Amy Bartell ’86, (left) coordinator of community art exhibitions, listened as Professor Leigh Wilson, director of the college’s Interdisciplinary Programs and Activities Center and chair of the Grand Challenges Project: Fresh Water for All, introduced the campuswide initiative that kicked off with an art exhibition, We Are Lake Ontario, at the downtown branch of Tyler Art Gallery in summer 2018.

Members of the new student service group, Shining Waters, participate regularly in clean-ups along the lake shore.

A student Grand Challenges video project, created by Derrick Benton ’18 and Tanner Shore ’20, captures today’s students sharing their perspectives on the lake—and some ways to treat it better.

A student interviewed by the video team, Zitouni Layachi ’19, said the lake has been both a source of natural beauty and a place of friendship during his time on campus. Sonya Kedarnath ’19—like many of the alumni who came before her—was first drawn to attending SUNY Oswego because of the lake.

“No other schools had this lake, so, of course, I had to come,” said Sonya, who counts her first time venturing to flat rocks— and swimming in a lake for the first time in her life—as one of the most fun experiences of her time in Oswego.

Watch the student video in our online exclusive content.

“ ”

I think scarcity always increases value, and we are so fortunate in the United States to have an abundance of fresh water, but it’s also one reason we neglect the resource.

—Leigh Wilson

And the flood of ideas—and love—has stretched into the city of Oswego, including a We Are Lake Ontario art exhibition that ran in summer 2018 in SUNY Oswego’s downtown art gallery.

The initiative will continue into the next school year. The challenge remains to capture the value of water: beautiful, fascinating and treasured; urgently needed and endangered.

“I think scarcity always increases value, and we are so fortunate in the United States to have an abundance of fresh water, but it’s also one reason we neglect the resource,” Leigh said. “Our supply is dwindling for various reasons and in various places—from the groundwater in our western states to the infrastructure of our aging cities—and in the end, as has happened in many places around the world, we will pay attention to this resource we must have and must protect and must begin to value and respect, or else there will be hell to pay.” l —Eileen Moran

GRAND CHALLENGE MINI-GRANTS Here’s a sampling of some campus projects representing a range of disciplines, which received mini-grants this academic year: • Environmental Art: Construction and destruction of the Amitayus mandala in a ceremony by Tibetan Monks • Hydrogeology: Analysis of lake-bottom sediment to understand geologic records of lake conditions • English/Creative Writing: Publication of written works across the curriculum focused on Fresh Water for All • Technology/Geology: Use of student-built splitting station to investigate data to maintain or restore aquatic ecosystems

• Political Science/Gender and Women’s Studies: Interdisciplinary study of fresh water activism in Oswego, Onondaga and Jefferson counties • Community Eco-Group/College Arts programs: Creation of a fresh water chapbook and multimedia public exhibition • Poetry: Support for public reading of nationally renowned eco-poet, Rebecca Dunham, known for poetry about Flint, Mich., and Deepwater Horizon • 3D Art: Projection mapping and virtual reality to create an immersive 3D experience OSWEGO

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Water unites us Steve Surprenant ’84 lives life simply, guided by the maxim: Start where you are, use what you have and do what you can.

“I’m not an expert in water,” he said. “I’m not an expert in engineering. I’m not an expert in culture. My wife and I were simply trying to help people. Our idea was to meet the needs of desperately thirsty people in developing countries by drilling deep water wells into bedrock.”

From that worthy desire sprung Fresh Water Friends, the federally recognized, public charity registered in March 2017.

His wife, Cheryl Cope Surprenant ’86, and a group of 40 friends from Orchard Park, N.Y., initially raised $5,000 to pay for two deep bedrock wells in India. Today, there are over a dozen Fresh Water Friends teams and donors in 16 states, Canada and England.

In just two years, the group has raised over $280,000 to install more than 90 deep water wells that provide fresh water daily to more than 90,000 people in villages in India, Pakistan and Uganda.

During a campus visit through the Oswego Alumni Association’s Alumni-In-Residence program, Steve, a geology major, learned of the tragic death of Assistant Professor of Geology Brian Hough, and decided to fundraise and install a bedrock well in his honor (see related story on page 21).

Before founding Fresh Water Friends, Steve worked as an environmental geologist supervising drilling rig operations for soil and bedrock investigations in Florida and New York. Eventually, he discovered that his heart was in helping people, so he changed careers to pursue a life of service.

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Steve ’84 and Cheryl Cope Surprenant ’86 Fresh Water Friends, Founders Public charity that has installed more than 90 deep water wells, providing fresh water daily to more than 90,000 people in developing countries www.freshwaterfriends.org freshwaterdirector@gmail.com

‘Jeeva Jala‘ means ‘Living Water‘ It was on an exploratory trip to India in 2002 when he first witnessed grinding poverty. Girls and women fetching water for their families often had to trek 10 to 15 miles a day carrying water containers that can weigh up to 40 pounds.

In addition to the arduous task of finding and carrying the water, the girls faced other dangers on the road—sometimes suffering physical or sexual abuse in order to access the water source. “Life is brutally hard for these women and girls,” he said.

“They’re powerless. They can’t get an education. They have no real choices.”

Sometimes the water source itself poses life-threatening dangers. Collecting water from infected or polluted water in streams, ponds and ditches can easily lead to diseases or death, especially for children under 5 years of age, Steve noted.

“Our solution was to drill water wells, where entire villages can gain access to fresh water,” he said. “A well provides a sense of community that didn’t exist before. We can see an immediate increase in health, hygiene and schooling—especially for girls. Access to clean water allows for medical care, daycare and literacy training where the well is installed.”

“Villagers will leave work to watch, to help and to await the arrival of water to their village,” he said. Looking at photos of villagers gathered around the water flowing from a Fresh Water Friends well, Steve commented: “Every girl you see here has been delivered from massive struggles in her life, and that makes me really, really happy.

From his office in his home, Steve coordinates the construction of the wells with a team of people in the villages through email and social media applications.

“And I love this photo,” he said. “This picture shows Sikhs, Hindus, Christians, Muslims, all gathered together, all smiling.

They come together to celebrate water.

Water unites us. It humanizes us. And in the end, people are people. We all love our families. We all want to see our loved ones provided for. Let’s give them fresh water.” l —Margaret Spillett

“I talk to them via video text in real time,” he said. Although Fresh Water Friends works with professional geologists, drillers, electricians, plumbers and masons in the field, Steve said the villagers enthusiastically volunteer to help in any way they can.

Friendships That Won’t Run Dry

Retired U.S. Marine Captain and Recon Platoon Commander Kurt Blomback ’83 (above), a zoology major, has been close friends with Steve Surprenant ’84 since they met in Riggs Hall in 1980. Little did they know, their diverse career paths would eventually reunite around water wells.

Well Dedicated in Honor of Late Geology Professor Brian Hough, an assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Geological Sciences, was killed on Oct. 6, 2018, when a stretch limousine crashed at the junction of New York state routes 30 and 30A north of Schoharie, N.Y. The driver and all 17 passengers were killed, as were Brian and his father-in-law, James Schnurr, who were standing in the parking lot of the Apple Barrel Country Store.

A few weeks after the accident, geology major Steve Surprenant ’84 visited campus to speak to students through the Oswego Alumni Association’s Alumni-In-Residence program. He knew of the accident but didn’t realize there was a SUNY Oswego connection until he came to campus.

“I was overcome with the tragedy of the situation and wanted to do something,”

he said. He connected with Brian’s wife, Jackie Schnurr, and asked if Fresh Water Friends could build a well in honor of Brian.

She agreed and helped fundraise for the well through a Facebook post.

Within weeks, the money was raised, and by early January, the well was built in a small village in the state of Karnataka, India. A plaque on the well reads: “This Life-Giving Bedrock Well is a Gift in Honor of: Dr. Brian Hough, SUNY Oswego-Geology Dept., Fresh Water Friends.”

The well now provides fresh water to approximately 1,200 villagers, including the 55 boys who live at the school where the public well is located.

After retiring from the military, Kurt went on to found the Montana-based company, Apocalypse Well Pumps.

His business enables homeowners to easily add a hand-operated emergency well pump to their existing water well in case they lose electricity. Secure wells that have a back-up pump are critically needed to supply water for rural families in various crisis scenarios, where prolonged loss of power is expected.

After learning of Steve’s mission to bring water to those in need, Kurt decided to donate 5 percent from every sale of his pumps to Fresh Water Friends.

Another SUNY Oswego friend, David Daignault ’87, currently heads up a Syracuse group of Fresh Water Friends donors. They have raised funds to install four wells in India so far, with more to come.

“I hope that this well and the life water it provides to so many will bring comfort to Brian’s family and friends,” Steve said. “His memory will live on through these villagers for years to come.”

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Water sustains us

Old San Juan community and national historical site

Students Travel to Puerto Rico to Provide Fresh Water Following Hurricanes

Turning on a faucet to brush her teeth, taking a shower or simply sipping a glass of water has taken on new meaning for sociology major Mahalia Tiburcio ’21.

Since participating in a SUNY Oswego Alternative Winter Break service trip to Puerto Rico, Mahalia is keenly aware how fortunate she is to have access to something as basic as water.

“The thought of not having water never came to mind before this trip, but now I think about how many issues not having water can create,” she said. “Now, I try my best to not waste water and to cherish it knowing that there are people just like me who don’t have one of their fundamental needs—water.”

She was among a group of 11 students and three staff members who traveled to Puerto Rico in January to assemble and install water filters to provide fresh water to people whose communities were devastated by hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017.

In collaboration with the staff of Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust and the Proyecto Agua Limpia project, the SUNY Oswego team installed 170 Kohler water filters in the municipality of Naranjito—a community that does not receive government utility water service. Each filter provides a small family with water that is safe for drinking and cooking and free from water-borne diseases.

Students arrived for their seven-day trip and traveled to a church in the mountain community of Naranjito, where they learned about the Science Trust and how to put the filters together. They had many opportunities to interact with the community members and hear their personal accounts of how the hurricanes had affected their lives.

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SUNY Oswego students and staff gathered with students and staff from the Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust after the group tested water in the Naranjito community.

“The trip really put my life into perspective,” said Kayla Brun ’19, a music major with a double minor in journalism and psychology. “Being from New York City where the water quality is, for the most part, really good, I can turn on my tap to drink water with no fear. I have never worried about water running out. There are families in Puerto Rico who have to go four days with the water off and one day on because water runs out.”

The trip is part of the college’s Grand Challenges Project: Fresh Water for All (see story on page 16). It builds on several fundraising campaigns and service trips to Puerto Rico, including those in partnership with the state’s NY Stands with Puerto Rico Recovering and Rebuilding Initiative.

Student participants could enroll in a one-credit course as part of the service learning trip to connect the experience to a faculty member with subject matter expertise and to enable students to research, analyze and reflect on their service project.

5 Ways Water Benefits the Body —by Cathy Lam Davius ’15

Did you know that water is defined as an essential nutrient?

Water is vital to us because our bodies are made up of about 60 percent water. Let’s take a closer look at the 5 ways water benefits our bodies. It:

Imani Simpson ’19, a creative writing major from Port St. Lucie, Fla., helped assemble water filters for the Naranjito community during a service learning trip to Puerto Rico over winter break.

“Service learning enhances a student’s education,” said Sheila Cooley ’03 M’11, associate director of Experiential Courses and Engaged Learning (EXCEL). “It helps students broaden themselves and creates a deeper understanding of empathy and respect for others. Service learning also helps students develop personal and professional skills in critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration, organizational and interpersonal skills, civic engagement, leadership, responsibility, work ethic, global awareness and much more.”

Last fall, students involved in African, Latino, Asian and Native American (ALANA) groups and students of the Puerto Rico Alternative Break Group worked with Sheila and SUNY Oswego’s Coordinator of Student Involvement Magdalena “Maggie” Rivera ’92 M’06 CAS’07 to fundraise for the service learning trip by selling water tumblers, raffling a TV and SUNY Oswego T-shirt, and hosting a 50/50 raffle.

They raised $4,700 in sales and donations.

Sally Familia ’19 and Mikayla Rebuquiao ’20, who are involved in ALANA organizations, helped put together the proposal for the fresh water project in Puerto Rico, which was awarded a $350 mini Grand Challenges grant by the college. SUNY Central Administration covered the cost of the airline tickets and insurance.

“It’s very important for our student leaders to be involved in these projects at the beginning and assist in the project’s development and growth,” Maggie said. “Then the students become the drivers of the project and gain the skills that enhance their classroom experience and hopefully assist them in achieving their professional and career goals.” l —Margaret Spillett

1

Clears Out Waste: Water is used to flush out waste such as urea, sodium, calcium, potassium and phosphorus from cells.

At least two cups of water leave as urine per day to efficiently carry out waste.

2

Aids Nutrient Absorption: Water is used to carry nutrients like carbohydrates and proteins across our intestinal cells for absorption. About 80 percent of the water ingested is absorbed through the small intestines. Adequate water is also necessary to move food through the intestinal tract.

3

Keeps Us Cool: In hot temperatures, our body increases excretion of water as sweat. Evaporation of sweat from the skin removes excess heat from the body, keeping us cool.

4

Acts as a Lubricant: Water makes up our saliva, acts as a cushion around our joints and spinal cord, and is inside our eyes.

5

Boosts Our Brain Function: Our brain is made up of about 75 percent water. Mild dehydration, as little as a 2 percent loss in body weight, can interfere with mood, concentration and short-term memory.

Staying Hydrated:

On average, we lose a total of about 2 liters (8 cups) in sweat, feces, urine and vapor from our lungs. Thus, we need to replenish with 8 cups per day. The best beverage to keep us hydrated is water! Other healthy choices also include milk and soy milk. The U.S. Institute of Medicine of the National Academies’ Dietary Reference Intake Committee also concluded that caffeinated beverages, like coffee and tea, do not negatively impact hydration and can be used to meet our fluid needs. Evidently, water plays essential roles in our bodies.

So, drink up everyone!

Cathy Lam Davius ‘15 is a registered dietitian and holds a Bachelor of Science in Wellness Management from SUNY Oswego and a Master of Science in Nutrition from the University at Buffalo. She lives with her husband, Dr. Christopher Davius ’15, PT, DPT, in Grand Prairie, Texas, where they look forward to years of helping their community achieve excellent health status.

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Brian Schwartz ’03 M’08 has collected more than 150 full sets of fire gear for firefighters in Iringa, Tanzania.

Water saves us When Brian Schwartz ’03 M’08 brought a group of his students from northern Vermont to Africa to help at an orphanage and a school, the educator decided to stop by a fire department, too.

A volunteer firefighter in Waterbury, Vt., Brian wanted to check out what fire operations are like in Iringa, Tanzania. He found a crew of only 27 firefighters supporting a city of 200,000 people; the firefighters share only four sets of fire gear and one pair of fire boots. The department owned no fire gloves or hoods to protect themselves from heat and flames.

“When I met with the firefighters in Tanzania I immediately started to empathize and relate to their struggles,” said Brian, who planned the 2018 student trip as part of his role as a Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics (STEAM) teacher at the Green Mountain Technology and Career Center in Hyde Park, Vt., a position he’s held for 10 years. “Imagine being a teacher and standing back when a child needs your guidance, imagine Brian Schwartz ’03 M’08 met with a fire official in Iringa, Tanzania. being a doctor and not having the medicine to heal. Iringa’s ability to fight fire will be changed from a department that works toward prevention to a department that also can rescue victims, fight fire and save lives.”

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Since that initial visit, the technology education undergraduate, who also has a master’s in graphic design from SUNY Oswego, has collected more than $450,000 in out-of-service gear from the United States—mostly Vermont—for firefighters in Iringa and the surrounding region. Brian will return to Iringa in July to deliver both the gear—150 full sets of fire gear and 35 air packs —and to provide training in fire suppression, search and rescue, and survival for the firefighters.

According to Brian, the inner city has hydrants and running water but the outer city and villages do not; wells and pumps provide water access in rural areas.

“Training these firefighters in tactics and practices is paramount to their success,” said Brian, who said he was drawn to both firefighting and teaching out of a “sense of duty to help others.”

Brian has “gone up and down Vermont” to collect the gear, which would otherwise be sent to the dump, he said. At a certain age, gear is required to be taken out of commission in the U.S., but can still retain useful life. Vermont departments were happy to pitch in their gear.

“Many of the departments in Vermont are small and rural and don’t have much money, but what we lack in funds we dominate in effort,” Brian said.

And his students have stepped up, too, with an outpouring of support from student groups like Skills USA, Future Business Leaders of America, sports teams and the National Honor Society. Each have held fundraisers and collection efforts to benefit the firefighters, Brian said.

“If I can instill a sense of duty, perseverance and effort for change in a few students through this endeavor, then I feel that’s a huge win,” he said.

Brian continues to fundraise to get the funds needed to ship the equipment and gear to Iringa. You can reach out to him at gofundme.com/fire-gear-for-africa and bschwartz@gmtcc.net. l —Eileen Moran

“Water is something we use

every day. It’s something that we take for granted—just being there at our fingertips all of the time. The less we can use and the more we can keep it in its natural cycle on the planet, the better it will be for all of us.”

manufactures a solid business Water is the most plentiful natural resource on the planet—with nearly two-thirds of the Earth covered in water. The physical properties of H2O are rather unique, as it is one of only a handful of common liquids that expands when it freezes. Most solids sink in liquid. Water floats.

“That’s how we make our chemicals,” Brian said. “Or you can think of it as a very fancy espresso machine.”

Most people know about water’s basic forms: liquid, ice, steam/vapor. But few know about a fourth form called supercritical, which occurs when water is heated and pressurized. When that happens, it gets a density similar to gas, but has a consistency and flowability like a liquid, and it becomes more nonpolar like an oil.

“It goes in as water and comes out as water,” said Brian, who earned a bachelor’s in chemistry and in adolescent education at SUNY Oswego and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University at Buffalo.

He explained his company’s manufacturing process like this: If you put salt in a glass of water, the salt dissolves and becomes ions.

Like table salt. If you heat up that glass of water and put it under high pressure—a process called hydrothermal manufacturing—the metal ions emerge as a solid material.

He also participated in the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps program, which seeks to assist scientists in bringing their ideas into the marketplace. He shares some of the lessons he has learned, like where to find funding to develop a prototype versus funding to bring the prototype to market, with other emerging entrepreneurs through a variety of programs in the Buffalo area.

As a Rochester, N.Y.-area native who now lives along Lake Erie, Brian said he is committed to this area and in preserving its precious fresh water resources.

Water

Chemist Brian Schultz ’09, founder and CEO of Dimien in Buffalo, N.Y., is using water in this supercritical state to manufacture chemicals in an environmentally friendly way, and he is selling those chemicals to companies that make clean tech products such as more energy-efficient windows and higher functioning batteries.

Although classically educated as a teacher and scientist, today Brian finds himself wearing the many hats of an emerging entrepreneur and has had to learn about all aspects of business—legal work, accounting, financials, sales, marketing, product development, supply chain and human resources, to name a few. He has successfully raised close to $3 million in federal and state funding as well as venture capital.

One of the most promising aspects of his business is that the only residue of the hydrothermal process is water.

Brian acknowledged that many people can think of historic bad actors within the chemical manufacturing business or many other kinds of businesses that did a poor job of controlling their waste stream, but he is dedicated to using clean tech to create energy-efficient materials that are less expensive or higher operating than other materials currently available.

From watching the water spouts and storms move across Lake Ontario from his 9th floor room in Funnelle Hall with his meteorology major roommate, Ted Letcher ’09, to taking a polar plunge in the icy lake’s waters with his college friends, to soaking in the grandeur of sunsets along the shoreline, to learning about how water is used in distilling whiskey, Brian cherishes the role water played in his college experience.

“Water is something we use every day,” he said. “It’s something that we take for granted—just being there at our fingertips all of the time. The less we can use and the more we can keep it in its natural cycle on the planet, the better it will be for all of us. Through my company, I’m trying to do my small part to curb our impact on the natural world. We can take the water that we generate, recycle it and put it back in the system again. That makes it a very environmentally friendly way to do chemical production.” l —Margaret Spillett

“I’m motivated by being able to take science and convert it into usable products for the betterment of society,” he said. “My company is focusing on producing chemicals that have an impact on clean tech and on saving energy. I have three kids. I am worried if we don’t slow down the pace with which we use the natural resources of the planet, my kids or my kids’ kids could suffer from the consequences of that.”

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Port of Oswego projects completed or underway: • Marina filling station and dock slips opened summer 2018

Port Points of Interest • Oldest port on the Great Lakes; first port of call and deep-water port on Great Lakes • 120 vessels carry more than 1 million tons annually • Open 24 hours a day, 365 days

• 15-site RV park by Fort Ontario to open spring 2019 • $3.4 million to upgrade and build embedded truck and rail lines to the expansion site at the former Fitzgibbons Boiler Company property, finished in 2016

Water drives commerce As the newly appointed executive director of the Port of Oswego Authority, William Scriber ’80 wakes up every morning with a “never-ending list of tasks” he wants to accomplish. The mission of the port—to create commerce in the region and stimulate the economic development—pushes him toward progress as fast as he can make it happen.

ports by 325 percent and aluminum imports by 36 percent from the previous year. He also administered a $3.57 million state grant to upgrade and build an embedded road and rail from the main port facility to the expansion site at the former Fitzgibbons Boiler Company property near Fort Ontario—services many people don’t consider when they think of a shipping port.

“We’re an intermodal warehousing and transportation center—which is entirely different from just a port,” he said. “We have a major rail spur and connections to the main CSX [railroad] line nationwide.

We receive and export a lot on rail. Plus, last month we had an average of 40 trucks a day in this port—loading, offloading or transloading goods.”

“Back in 1957 when the state created the Port of Oswego, it was designed to be an economic engine that drove Oswego,” he said. “When they were opening the seaway, this was the only water access for international trade and cross-border trade in all of Upstate New York. The state did something right in creating an agency whose primary focus was economic development and giving them the tools needed to do it. Through the water, the port historically built the city, as we were designated the first port of entry in 1799

by U.S. Congress.”

With one year as interim director in 201718 under his belt, Bill led the port to a record year in exports, increasing grain ex-

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As executive director of the Port of Oswego Authority, William Scriber ‘80 oversees the multi-million dollar, year-round operations of the intermodal transportation center.

• $6.5 million in federal and state aid to repair dock damage from high waters in 2018 • $20 million state Department of Transportation grant—doubling on-site storage capabilities for grain, potash (fertilizer) and aluminum • Application submitted for U.S. Department of Transportation’s Marine Highway designation

Bill’s desire to revitalize Oswego traces back to his ancestors, who arrived in Oswego in the late 1700s “when the only mode of transportation was to sail,” he said. Each generation has done its part to create smoother sailing for the next, including serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. Bill himself served as a sergeant in U.S. Army Special Operations Command during Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and graduated from the Army’s logistics school.

As a newly minted political science graduate, Bill became the youngest person elected town supervisor in New York state when he won the position in his hometown of Parish. He has also worked at a logistics company in Syracuse, served as Oswego County Commissioner of Elections and then joined the Port of Oswego staff in January 2010.

When Bill enrolled in SUNY Oswego in 1976, he was the first in his family to attend college, and he is proud that his daughter, Christina ’16, followed in his footsteps. She currently works at the college.

A former College Council member appointed to a seven-year term by former New York State Governor David Patterson in 2011, Bill maintains his connections to the college today by hosting student science interns to analyze grain shipments that come through the U.S. Department of Agriculture labs at the port, and he is hoping to attract an MBA student intern to assist the port in financial reports needed to apply for state and federal grants.

“We’re very fortunate to have the college in Oswego,” he said. “The port provides a great range of learning opportunities for Oswego State students—experiences that I would have loved to have had when I was a student there. By partnering, we can help each other and the broader community.” l —Margaret Spillett

Water Connects Us As director of the New York State Canal Corporation, Brian Stratton ’79 oversees 524 miles of the state’s canal system, including the Erie, Cayuga-Seneca, Champlain and Oswego canals. More than 200 towns and communities reside along the Erie Canal, which celebrated its bicentennial in 2017. He returned to campus last fall to participate in an Erie Canal Bicentennial discussion of New York’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) program and how it is transforming DRI communities—Oswego, Rome, Geneva and Watkins Glen—along the New York State Canal System. He also spoke in classes through the Oswego Alumni Association’s Alumni-In-Residence program. Watch a video of his presentation at magazine.oswego.edu.

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Guardian of the

Water

As a kid, Fran Verdoliva ’74 had a paper route in the city of Oswego that took him past a shop that sold fishing tackle.

“Fly fishing really intrigued me,” said Fran, who used some of his delivery pay toward rods and lures.

It was the gear that first drew him into the sport. But for Fran, it was the time spent on the creeks, river and ponds surrounding his westside home that set the foundation for a lifetime commitment to the environment, fishing, history, commerce and the waterways surrounding Lake Ontario— and the pursuit of the elusive fish of his childhood.

A History of Healthy Fish

Fran’s childhood—often navigated on a bicycle with a Gladding South Bend fishing rod held tight to the handlebars—was in a city that carried some of the environmental problems of the times. The lake and the river suffered from industrial contaminants, sewer lines made direct entry to the waters and local mills were causing pollution.

The result: “By the 1950s, there were no salmon or trout in the river and lake around Oswego,” Fran said. An avid history buff who had read local accounts of fish as far back as the 1700s, Fran was particularly drawn to a story of fish found on his grandparents’ land—the present-day Rice Creek Field Station/ Fallbrook of SUNY Oswego.

Rice Creek was named for Asa Rice, a 1700s settler. By Rice’s written accounts, there were Atlantic salmon at the juncture of Rice Creek with Lake Ontario.

“These areas had healthy brook trout and salmon,” Fran said.

“That history, of bountiful salmon and trout and beautiful water, that always raised my interest.”

Little did Fran know then, he’d go on to play key roles in bountiful and beautiful waters and healthy fish, including several projects within the Lake Ontario watershed, for the decades to come.

Water Activism

Not only was Fran an angler, he was a nationally ranked competitive runner—and subsequent inductee into the Oswego State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003—who decided to go to college in his hometown. At SUNY Oswego, his passion for fishing and environmentalism only grew: a mentor, met through a college fly-tying course, was Dr. Robert Rock, dean of students.

Fran’s introduction to water activism was Dr. Rock standing on a bridge in Altmar (eastern Oswego County) holding a protest sign about a power company’s environmental impact.

A view of Rice Creek

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“He introduced me to even more of the environmental aspects of it all,” he said.

“He inspired me.”

Years later, Fran would bring his own brand of water activism to the state level.

But first, he fished. In addition to his mentors, he had campus friends who loved to go fishing, and they took to the road and headed for the Catskills, the “heart of fly fishing,” Fran said.

Following college, Fran taught for a few years in Oswego before he decided to earn a master’s degree in outdoor recreation education at Syracuse University. He traveled, including to the northwest, where salmon are considered a protected resource. Meanwhile, in New York, where native species had already been “lost,” hatcheries were beginning to fill the void.

The largest fish hatchery in the state opened in 1981, in the eastern Oswego County hamlet of Altmar—the same place that a poster-wielding Oswego professor had denounced pollution. The hatchery’s goal: raising trout and salmon for Lake Ontario. This eventually led to natural reproduction in the river and the reintroduction of native Atlantic salmon.

“The fishery blossomed, record fish were caught,” Fran said.

And Fran, who capitalized on all of that for the next 15 years of running a guide service, set his sights on projects that would change the very culture of fishing in the watershed—as an active citizen advocate for legislation that banned the snagging of salmon by anglers in Lake Ontario tributaries in 1995 and as a DEC employee appointed by the governor, creating the first-ever fly fishing only area in New York state in 1989—about a quarter of a mile on the Salmon River in Oswego County.

As a fishing guide, Fran was often called upon to counsel with the state Department of Environmental Conservation on natural resource matters. When he left his guide business, he became a specialist with the DEC, performing comprehensive habitat analysis of the Salmon River, ultimately leading to work that has included so much, including the hatchery at Altmar.

See more about the hatchery in our online version at magazine. oswego.edu.

Brook Trout at Rice Creek It’s easy to see why in the Lake Ontario watershed—and in Fran’s career—the Salmon River gets a lot of the attention.

But for Fran, a smaller project remains among his happiest accomplishments.

Fran was part of the 2011-2012 team that removed the defunct mill dam on Rice Creek, reconnecting the disjointed sections that had changed the creek’s ecosystem for decades. For Fran, it was more than resetting the environment to its natural plan; it was a tribute to his grandparents’ land, a way of making things right.

“It was also a good case study for what happens when you reconnect parts of a stream back together,” Fran said of the teamwork of the U.S. Wildlife Service, the DEC and the college to restore Rice Creek.

“It’s also a much prettier site today.”

Not only was the creek restored, but schoolchildren from the Holland Patent Central School District took on a special project to reintroduce native brook trout that Asa Rice—and Fran’s grandparents— might have seen from its banks, and a hopeful young Fran might have sought in his fishing excursions to the creek.

Gone Fishin’

Fran lives in Mexico, N.Y., where he and his wife, Noreen, raised their daughters, Sarah and Rachel. He plans to retire from his role at the DEC later this year. Always vigilant, he feels good about the current state of the watershed of Lake Ontario: “The tributaries are healthier, the water quality is better; we are meeting the needs to sustain healthy communities.”

In 2018, Fran was inducted into the Catskill Fly Fishing Hall of Fame. Since his time riding his bike around Oswego, he has added Alaska, Italy, Bahamas and the Kharlovka River of Russia to his fishing resume, to name just a few.

Fran said he’ll remain active as a citizen who is passionate about the water, and he’ll continue volunteering for youth, veterans and women’s programs (see online content). Plus, he said, he’ll go fishing.

“It gives me great joy regardless of whether I catch fish or not,” Fran said. l —Eileen Moran Fran Verdoliva ’74 was inducted into the Catskill Fly Fishing Hall of Fame in 2018.

For more than 50 years he has fished all over the world.

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Water guides us Some people discover their passion early in life and don’t ever let go of their dreams. Such was the case for fishing boat Captain Andy Bliss ’04.

“I loved to fish from the first time I held a fishing rod. I spent every dollar I had in the local tackle shop,” said the native of Nyack, N.Y. “It was my one true passion.”

Although he knew he wanted to become a fishing guide, he knew he also wanted to earn a college degree and build a better future. He chose SUNY Oswego because “it was the closest campus to Lake Ontario I could find,” he said.

He recalls racing down to the water between his technology education classes to get his line wet, and he still laughs when he remembers his math professor asked him to excuse himself to wash the fish smell off of his hands.

It came as no surprise when he launched his fishing guide service, Chasin’ Tail Adventures, in 2002 while he was still in college.

Today, his full-time business from October through April has him up well before sunrise to meet with one to three anglers and take them in his drift boat for a day of fishing on the Oswego or Salmon rivers—waters that never freeze fully.

Then from May to September, he works with friend and business partner, Capt. Tom Burke, on the boat, Cold Steel. Together, they also compete in fishing tournaments and create many legendary fishing tales—like the time they landed a fish with only three minutes left in the two-day tourney, which gave them the win.

That would be the first of many wins during the 13 years since they began competing.

He teaches his clients how to fish for steelhead, salmon and brown trout using a technique called float fishing—or suspending the bait under fixed float a few feet off the bottom and drifting the same speed as the current.

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His success as a guide is evident in the numerous photos of happy clients proudly displaying two- to three-foot long fish as well as the clients who return year after year for his guide service and friendship.

Certified by the U.S. Coast Guard as a captain and by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation as a licensed guide, he also writes a fishing blog, Hotline to Oswego County Fishing, for the Oswego County Tourism Office, where he also serves on the county’s Tourism Advisory Council.

He once joined his friend, the late Oswego-based fishing guide Kevin Davis, on a fishing excursion on the Oswego River with the I Love New York International Marketing Director Markly Wilson and a few travel writers from Germany who were exploring the best fishing areas in the world. Their successful fishing trip helped bring international attention to Lake Ontario and the fisheries of its tributaries.

But at the end of the day, Andy said what drives him is “putting smiles on faces and creating wonderful memories that last a lifetime.” l —Margaret Spillett

The world in Watercolor U.S. Army Officer Carol Zieres ’82 was stationed at an outpatient clinic for the Allied Forces Central Europe in Holland when she received her first set of Aquarelle watercolor paints from a Dutch friend on her 24th birthday.

“I started painting landscapes of castles, mountains, windmills and stone arched bridges,” Carol said. “Everywhere I traveled in Europe, whether on leave or on temporary duty, I took my camera and my paint set and canvas with me. It became my part-time hobby (in what little spare time I could find), where I could just relax, losing myself in my artwork, to escape the rigors of military life for a while.”

Thirty-five years later, now retired from a military career that spanned three decades and included 14 duty station moves, Carol continues to paint colorful landscapes in her current home of Safety Harbor, Fla., using the same brand of watercolor paints.

Lake Ontario in their Cayuga Hall room and painting the sunsets.

“That was one of the fondest memories of Oswego life was watching the sun go down on Lake Ontario,” Carol said. “Students would gather with friends along the shoreline each night and watch the sun set.

This is what inspired me to begin taking art classes.”

In addition to her original major of biology, Carol picked up a second major in art, although she was never able to take a painting course during her time at Oswego.

She did find some time to participate in the Oswego Outdoor Club, including an overnight stay on Mount Marcy in the Adirondacks, and in the Oswego Horticulture Club that took her to New York City’s Botanical Gardens.

Another highlight was being one of 20 students selected to participate in an extended marine biology course at Discovery Bay, Jamaica, in the West Indies.

“I had never flown on an airplane before, so this 20-year-old country girl was a bit

“

Using watercolor really is an art and a science. You have to find the right mix of water so the color spreads and blends nicely without over-saturating the canvas. And because it moves and dries quickly, you have to work fast.

”

—Carol Zieres ’82

nervous boarding that jet from Syracuse to Miami, then on to Air Jamaica to embark upon a three-week adventure in a foreign country,” she recalled. “It was a spectacular experience I’ll never forget!”

In her junior year, she was one of the first women admitted into SUNY Oswego’s Army Reserve Officer Training Corps program, which was an extension program of Syracuse University ROTC. “I worked hard all my life as a military officer,” she said. “Now that I’ve finally settled down in retirement, my artwork is still my hobby and I consider my talent a gift to be shared with my family, friends and the community.” l —Margaret Spillett

“I have used watercolor to paint water scenes and sunsets here in Florida,” she said. “Of course, there is a big tourist market for water scenes where I now live, rather than windmills and castles. I have painted a whole series of watercolor landscape paintings from my hometown, and have converted most of them into postcards, which I sell wholesale to the Chamber of Commerce and other gift shops in town.”

Today, she shares her passion for art in a variety of forums, including as secretary and vice president of The Exhibiting Society of Artists, voting member of the Safety Harbor Public Art Committee for the city council and watercolor and mixed media instructor at the Safety Harbor Museum and Cultural Center.

She can trace her interest in painting landscapes—particularly sunsets over the water—to watching her art major roommate, Marion Bresnihan ’82, sitting by the window that overlooked the west shore of Quebec City. To view more of Carol’s watercolor paintings, please visit arttesa.org/carol-lynne-zieres.

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REUNION 2019 JUNE 6 - 9 IT’S GOING TO BE

Out of this World!

CLASSES CELEBRATING MILESTONE REUN IONS:

The following exceptional alumni will be recognized with Oswego Alumni Association Awards during Reunion Weekend:

1944 1949 1954 1959 1964 1969 1974 1979 1983 1984 1985 1994 2003 2004 2005

• Stephen Butler ’85 – Lifetime Award of Merit • David DeVillers ’89 – Distinguished Alumnus Award • Craig Fisher ’65 – Lifetime Award of Merit • Christy Harrison Huynh ’98 – Community Service Award • Diane Larsen-Freeman ’67 – Lifetime Award of Merit

We’re over the moon about the biggest alumni party of the year!

ALL class years, Greeks and groups are welcome!

GROUPS HOLDING SPECIAL MINI REUNIONS: Alpha Kappa Phi, Alpha Sigma Chi, Arethusa Eta, Beta Tau Epsilon (80th Anniversary), Cayuga Hall RA Alumni, Delta Kappa Kappa, Industrial Arts Alumni, Intercollegiate Athletics Alumni, Library Student Employee Alumni, Omega Delta Phi, Oneida Hall Alumni, Phi Lambda Phi (60th Anniversary), Phi Omicron Xi, Psi Phi Gamma, Riggs Hall Alumni, ’80s Scales Hall Alumni, Sigma Gamma, Theta Chi Rho, WOCR/WNYO/WRVO (50th Anniversary), Wrestling and Zeta Chi Zeta (50th Anniversary)

REGISTER NOW!

alumni.oswego.edu/reunion Early-bird pricing ends May 17.

Reunion hotline: 315-312-5559 32

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SUNY OSWEGO

Class Notes

From The Archive Hidden in the “photo vaults” of King Alumni Hall was this gem of students sunbathing on the flat rocks. Unfortunately, not much is known about when it was taken or who is in it. Do you know more about this photo? Or do you have a favorite photo from your college days that you’d like featured in an alumni communication? Send the photo and a description, along with your name and class year, to alumni@oswego.edu; or King Alumni Hall, Oswego, N.Y. 13126.

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To submit your class note, email alumni@ oswego.edu, call 315-312-2258 or complete the class note form online at alumni. oswego.edu. You can also mail submissions to the OSWEGO Alumni Magazine, King Alumni Hall, Oswego, N.Y. 13126.

1950s Reunion, June 6 – 9 1954 – 65th | 1959 – 60th Stan Levenson ’54 of San Diego, Calif., has more than 5,000 followers on Twitter, and is an educational fundraiser and author.

The U.S. Navy veteran and Sigma Tau brother has two children and one grandchild, and is an avid tennis player. He holds master’s and doctoral degrees.

Stanley Dolega ’59 is retired and living in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. He has three children, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He and his wife celebrated 30 years of marriage with a trip to Europe in 2018.

Jerry “Jeep” Passer ’59 is retired and living in Fuquay Varina, N.C., with his wife, Carol. The Delta Kappa Kappa brother has four children and enjoys tennis, fishing, golf and hunting; he fondly remembers Oswego adventures, including inter-fraternity sports, Greek games, Nunzi’s and Buckland’s.

Frank C. Schmidt ’59 of New Buffalo, Mich., plans to return to SUNY Oswego for the first time in 60 years for Reunion 2019, June 6-9.

1960s Reunion, June 6 – 9 1964 – 55th | 1969 – 50th Robert Simon ’61 of Peconic, N.Y., restores antique cars and trucks. He retired in 1995 from a 34-year teaching career at Jericho (N.Y.) High School.

Howard Edelstein ’64 of Bardonia, N.Y., is a retired educator who enjoys substitute teaching and traveling, including trips to Asia and Europe. He is the past chancellor commander for the New City/Orangetown

Notice anything different on your taxes this year?

If you answered yes, it might be because there was an increase in the standard deduction; some itemized deductions have been either restricted or eliminated altogether.

Knights of Pythias, plays saxophone as a volunteer at various senior citizen residential and rehabilitation facilities, plays tennis a few times a week and golfs. He and his wife, Judith, have two children and four grandchildren.

Mary Lee Gustafson ’64 of New Lenox, Ill., is retired; she travels and stays involved with peace, social justice, church and Delta Kappa Gamma sorority activities. After graduation, she taught 1st grade in Williamson, N.Y., for two years, then moved to Illinois, where she was with the New Lenox district for more than 27 years in the first and fourth grades and the library. She has two children and three grandchildren and has been married to husband, Tom, for more than 52 years.

Thomas H. Mullen ’64 of Albany, N.Y., retired following 42 years of state government employment. He has visited 58 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. He has been married to his wife, Marie, for 36 years; they have one daughter, Kerrie.

Karol “Kay” Klee Olson ’65 of East Quogue, N.Y., is a retired reading consultant who winters in Venice, Florida, with her husband of 52 years, Hal. Her daughter, Audrey, is a speech therapist and her son, Drew, is an elementary school principal.

Joan Cherewatti Harrell ’66 of Plainfield, Ind., retired after 47 years working for Indianapolis Public Schools. She continues to work as a teacher evaluation consultant.

Even if you no longer itemize, several strategies might allow you to receive a tax benefit.

Make gifts to charity using the charitable IRA rollover. If you are older than 70½, you can make a direct transfer of up to $100,000 from your traditional IRA or Roth IRA to a charity.

Such a transfer is not taxable and counts toward satisfying your required minimum distribution.

You could also consider making: • Gifts to charity of appreciated property such as publicly traded securities • A gift to charity from all or a portion of what’s left in your retirement plan • Larger gifts to charity In addition to receiving tax benefits, you will support current and future generations of SUNY Oswego students by providing them with hands-on learning opportunities, additional scholarships, professional development programs and so many other experiences that make a SUNY Oswego education exceptional.

To learn more, call 315-312-3003 or email sheldonlegacy@oswego.edu.

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Dick “Och” Ochampaugh ’66 (above) of DeWitt, N.Y., and New Smyrna Beach, Fla., was inducted into the 2018 National Senior Softball Hall of Fame. He plays in over 200 games a year in both New York and Florida. He retired from teaching in several schools in Central New York, including East Syracuse-Minoa and Phoenix. He also taught at SUNY Oswego and LeMoyne

Class Notes

Water: Front and Centered

“I had always been a reader, but here I learned to interpret literature and appreciate poetry,” she said. “In my junior year, I read The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Those woke me up to racism and instilled in me a lifelong commitment to oppose it and to work for equal rights.”

She got married a week after graduating and began teaching at a middle school in Washington, D.C., where all of the students and all but five teachers were African American.

“Needless to say, this was a defining year in my life,” she said. “I saw up close the effects of systemic racism in our country.”

For the majority of her life, Betsy McTiernan ’69 has maintained a strong personal connection to Lake Ontario.

Her early memories of vacationing along its shores at Sandy Island State Park made the decision to attend college at SUNY Oswego a simple one.

“When I saw the location of Oswego and realized I could spend four years living in a lakefront dorm, I was sold,” said Betsy, a Central New York native who majored in English and 7-12 education.

Little did she know then that the lake would figure prominently throughout her life.

She described her time at Oswego as an intellectual and political awakening in her life.

College and has coached baseball at all levels. While on the senior circuit, he’s won nine world championships and two national championships; he has been named to many all-tournament teams and is a two-time All-American.

Diana Sherman Heffer ’69 of Warrenton, Va., retired from Fairfax (Va.) County Schools after 30 years as a school psychologist. She has a son, a daughter and three grandsons.

Joyce Wheeler Thompson-Hovey ’69 of Pavilion, N.Y., and Naples, Fla., is president of the Genesee Valley (N.Y.) Civil War Roundtable and has presented extensively on a variety of topics related to the American Civil War. She is also president of a genealogy group. She retired in 2011 after a 40-year career as a junior high

A year later, she returned to CNY, and in 1971, she began her job as a tutor-counselor at SUNY Oswego’s Equal Opportunity Program, which eventually became the current Office of Learning Services.

“It was a perfect job for me as it allowed me to help integrate the college while working with others to develop innovative methods for teaching, tutoring and advising,” she said. During her 31 years at SUNY Oswego, she would go on to develop the first tutoring program, the Writing Center and the first writing course for international students.

A few years after she retired in 2002, she moved from Oswego, only to return in 2015 to a house that is a seven-minute walk away from her beloved lake.

and high school social studies teacher, an elementary reading teacher and a 5th- and 6th-grade classroom teacher.

1970s Reunion, June 6 – 9 1974 – 45th | 1979 – 40th Francis Brennan ’73 of West Roxbury, Mass., retired from a career spanning 17 years with the Bank of Boston and 24 years as a systems analyst for the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance. He plans to travel and sleep in on weekdays.

Rick Barnard ’74 of Grafton, Mass., retired after a 36-year career as a tool designer at Raytheon Co.

Throughout her life, she has swum in the lake every day she can or has sat along “her beach” often to think and read.

“I swim alone, parallel to the shore,” she said. “I love the feeling of freedom of being alone in a huge body of water. I take my problems to the lake.

The enormity of the lake soothes me and puts in perspective, my one small life.”

Today, she remains active protecting the lake as the co-founder of Shining Waters, a service group dedicated to cleaning up the shoreline and removing plastic waste from Lake Ontario. Through the college’s Grand Challenges Project: Fresh Water for All, she collaborates with campus partners on a variety of projects, including the We Are Lake Ontario art exhibition that ran in summer 2018 in SUNY Oswego’s downtown art gallery.

“I am guided by the motto: think global; act local,” she said. “I’m working with smart, creative people to develop innovative solutions on a local level, to the global problem of waste and environmental degradation.”

Chuck Hubbard ’74 of Indian Land, S.C., is an area sales manager for Cloeren Incorporated and an active volunteer for the American Red Cross.

James Knack ’74 of Harwood, Md., is retired from the federal government and enjoys traveling, including a trip to Peru in fall 2018.

Peter Mannella ’74 of Rensselaer, N.Y., retired from the New York Association for Pupil Transportation, where he served as executive director for over 14 years. He was concurrently the executive director of the Cyr Foundation for Excellence in School Transportation. Prior to that, he was vice president of Carr Public Affairs in Albany for almost 10 years, and previously served as director of job training for New York State Economic Development.

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The Shape of Watercraft “Sailing on the coastal waters there was fantastic,” he said. He took a six-month leave from one position while there, and he and his wife moved aboard a 46-foot boat he’d built at Beneteau. “We sailed about 1,500 miles of the waters inside the Great Barrier Reef, and consider this one of our best life experiences.”

Returning to America, Jim managed a factory building classic mahogany runabouts at Hacker Boat Co. in Ticonderoga, N.Y., and then took a position leading the boat-building team at Hodgdon Yachts, a custom yacht builder in Maine.

The major project at Hodgdon was the record-breaking Comanche, which also has won the Sydney to Hobart, Fastnet and Transpac races.

As a child, Jim Logan ’78 was surrounded by water and boats. As an adult, he’s traveled the world as a luxury boatbuilder.

Over his career, Jim has been part of building sailboats from 21 feet to 100 feet and powerboats from 17 feet to 70 feet, and refits (renovations) on several vessels, including a 155-foot sailboat.

Jim was also part of the team that built Comanche—a 100-foot carbon fiber Super-Maxi race boat that broke the monohull sailing record for the fastest time crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

“Like most forms of manufacturing, the process to build a beautiful boat often requires some hard work and isn’t always pretty or fun, but there is nothing compared to the pleasure of being a part of creating a beautiful ‘floating dream’ for the eventual owner,” Jim said. “I feel that there is a real advantage in deciding what you really enjoy doing, and turning that passion into your career field.”

Jim’s passion for vessels began when he was a child growing up in a historic fishing village on the southern coast of Massachusetts, Westport Point. When his family later moved to Long Island, he spent countless hours on the water, and at age 16 bought a 24-foot, inboardpowered cruiser.

After earning his degree in technology education from SUNY Oswego, he began

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his career at Miller Brewing Co. in Fulton, N.Y., as well as his own custom cabinetry firm. Later, he expanded to include his love of boats as he landed boat manufacturing roles that have taken him around the eastern seaboard of the U.S.—and as far as Australia.

“For me the greatest pride has come through successfully leading a team to build what the company or customer needs,” Jim said. “Building custom yachts for discriminating owners is the ultimate in boat building craftsmanship.”

“In those years following college, my wife, Pat, and I had owned three different sailboats and sailed on the lakes in Central New York and on Lake Ontario,” Jim said. “I had gained some skills in working on fiberglass boats.” He also earned a U.S. Coast Guard 50 Ton Masters License.

The skills he honed helped him secure a position with Beneteau, a sailboat manufacturer in South Carolina. Over the next 20-plus years, he gained more knowledge and experience in the field, taking on roles of increased responsibility, and eventually managed departments, divisions and entire plants.

“While building sailboats in South Carolina, I learned that most of the employees had never been out on the water in one of the boats,” Jim said. “We set up a program to offer employee outings on the company raceboat. Taking team members out for a sail allowed them to see the importance of their contribution to the finished vessel.”

Jim next turned his navigational compass to Australia, where he took a job with a large powerboat builder.

Comanche broke the monohull sailing record for the fastest Atlantic Ocean crossing in 2016.

Jim retired in 2016. These days, Jim and his wife are living on solid ground, splitting their time between their home near Charleston, S.C., and traveling the country in a motorhome visiting national parks. The couple visited 25 states in 2018.

So what’s next for them?

A boat.

“We don’t currently have a boat,” Jim said. “Getting back out on the water and cruising is in our future plans.”

Class Notes Fran Verdoliva ’74 of Mexico, N.Y., was inducted into the Fly Fishing Hall of Fame at Catskill (N.Y.) museum. He is the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s special assistant on the Salmon River. While at Oswego State, Fran was an All-American in cross country and track. He was inducted into the Oswego State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003. (See related story on page 28.)

Sanford “Sandy” Miller ’75 of Ormond Beach, Fla., is the CEO of Carey International. Previously, he ran Budget Rental Car from 1997 to 2003 and was a founding partner of Basin Street Partners, an investment management firm.

Sally Dugan Pane ’75 of Boulder, Colo., taught French and Italian at the University of Colorado for more than 20 years. She has translated several novels in the Winemaker Detective Series of Le French Book, which appear on Euro TV under the name Blood of the Vine.

Larry “Doc” Lechmanski ’76 of Shelter Island, N.Y., was named in 2018 by the

Southampton (N.Y.) School District as a Wall of Distinction honoree for his contributions to education. Doc spent 33 years teaching what was originally known as shop, but later became industrial arts and technology.

Ruth Baltus ’77 of Potsdam, N.Y., professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Clarkson University, was selected to receive the American Chemical Society Award for Encouraging Women into Careers in the Chemical Sciences, sponsored by the Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation. This award is given to recognize significant accomplishments by individuals who have stimulated or fostered the interest of women in chemistry, promoting their professional developments as chemists or chemical engineers. She has been at Clarkson since 1983. At the time of her appointment, she was one of only four female engineering faculty members and the second in her department.

AIR

quotes

“

IT’S NOT THAT THEY ARE DOING YOU A FAVOR; IT’S ABOUT HOW YOU HAVE IDEAS THAT WILL MAKE A COMPANY VERY SUCCESSFUL.

”

Joe Busa ’77 of Albany, N.Y., is quality assurance regression manager for General Dynamics in Menands, N.Y.

Meet Sally.

Sally is a senior creative writing major, a writing tutor and the president of the Latino Student Union. One highlight of her time at SUNY Oswego occurred last fall during the Return to Oz V reunion when she had the opportunity to meet and network with alumni of color. It is one of many programs that benefit students and alumni and that are supported by The Fund for Oswego.

As a recipient of a Marano Scholarship, she also attests to the impact that donors have on students’ lives.

“My dream is to start a scholarship here someday, too, because I have seen firsthand how a scholarship can change a life.”

Every day, your support makes stories like Sally’s possible.

Show your support today by making a gift online at alumni.oswego.edu/givenow or by calling 315-312-3003.

— Alan Isacson ’70, founder of global marketing and public relations firm, ABI, sharing advice to job seekers through the Oswego Alumni Association’s Alumni-InResidence (AIR) program

Richard DeVita ’77 of North Potomac, Md., retired in July 2018 following a 40-year career at IBM as a software developer.

Cathy Vanderbilt Oxley ’77 of Fredericksburg, Va., retired from her position as an elementary school library media specialist and moved south to be closer to her children.

Linda Shumaker ’77 of Binghamton, N.Y., is a professional engineer and president/ managing principal of Shumaker Consulting Engineering. She was named Engineer of the Year in 2018 by the American Council of Engineering Companies of New York.

Earl Grand ’78 of New York City is retired from the Federal Aviation Administration and is working as a substitute theatre usher with the Shubert Organization. He also volunteers at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

Philip J. Roche ’78 of Painted Post, N.Y., is a county and family court judge in Steuben County, N.Y.

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RETURN TO OZ V Alumni who represented six decades gathered for a group photo in Hewitt Hall Ballroom during the Oct. 13 dinner at Return to Oz V—an event held every five years celebrating SUNY Oswego’s alumni of color.

More than 130 attendees participated in Return to Oz V, a quinquennial event for SUNY Oswego alumni of color that coincided with Homecoming Weekend 2018, Oct. 12-14. A highlight of the weekend was the dinner on Saturday night in Hewitt Hall Ballroom (pictured above).

The event included remarks by Dr. Rodmon King, who introduced himself and the role that he plays as the first chief diversity and inclusion officer at the college. During the ceremony, alumni recognized Return to Oz co-founder and recently retired college administrator, Howard Gordon ’74 M’78, who received a statue of college founder, Edward Austin Sheldon, and the gratitude of the many alumni he influenced during his 42 years of service.

In addition to activities related to Return to Oz V, Homecoming Weekend brought back alumni for the annual Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Dinner in the Sheldon Hall Ballroom. The weekend festivities also included the Scholars Brunch, which brought together 75 student scholarship recipients and the donors who established their awards, for impactful conversations.

Students mingled with alumni during a Return to Oz V reception on Oct. 12.

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Howard Gordon ’74 M’78 received congratulatory wishes on his retirement after 42 years of service to SUNY Oswego from attendees at Return to Oz V, an event he helped establish at the college.

Class Notes

SAVE THE DATE! Come home to Oz this fall for…

Homecoming 2019 Oct. 4–5 Weekend festivities include:

Student scholarship recipients snapped a selfie with Oswego Alumni Association Board Member Dr. Yvonne Spicer ’84 M’85 (center) during the Scholars Brunch in Sheldon Hall Ballroom during Homecoming 2018.

• Communication Studies Alumni Reunion: Department of Communication Studies’ triennial reunion with dinner, networking and updates on new majors and new facilities to house the department • Cameron Jones ’09 to be recognized by the Oswego Alumni Association with a Graduate Of the Last Decade (GOLD) Award during the Communication Studies Dinner on Oct. 5 • Athletic Hall of Fame Induction: Celebrate with the five alumni-athletes who will be inducted as members of the Class of 2019 Athletic Hall of Fame • Scholars Brunch: The invitation-only event that brings together student scholarship recipients with the donors who support them • PLUS: Athletic Games and More!

For registration and other information, visit alumni.oswego.edu/homecoming.

2018 Athletic Hall of Fame Inductees included front, from left Sheri A. Smith ’91, basketball and softball; Barbara Verdoliva Carroll ‘93, soccer; Gregory Arthur Wilson ’68; basketball; back, from left Jack James ’62 (emcee), Paul Newman ’83, wrestling; George Gelsomin ’78, golf; Joe Carrabs ’04, ice hockey. Inductee Mark H. Serron ’81, lacrosse, was unable to attend.

Laker prid e!

Check out the complete Return to Oz V and Homecoming Photo Galleries at magazine.oswego.edu.

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Marie Johnson ’81 of Stamford, Conn., is executive director for SPRYE (Staying Put in Rye and Environs). She recently served as social services manager at River House Adult Day Care Center in Cos Cob, Conn.

Previously, she was executive director of Senior Services of Stamford. Marie earned a master’s degree in counseling and therapeutic recreation from Southern Connecticut State University.

Michael Williams ’81 is an investment adviser representative for Generations Bank. He earned a master’s degree from the University of Detroit.

This group of SUNY Oswego alumni enjoyed a 13-day “Mediterranean Odyssey” cruise in October 2018 on the Viking Sky from Barcelona to Venice. Pictured here from front left are Linda Herman Gebhardt ‘72, Pam Swingle Molinari ‘72, Marilyn McIntyre Guinn ‘72, Carol Stacy Ramsden ‘72, Janet DeRogatis Gill ‘73, Ro Boyle Passarelli ‘72; and from back left are Cliff Gebhardt ‘72, Frank Molinari ‘70, Barry Guinn ‘72, Ron Ramsden ‘71, Dave Gill ‘73, Rod Passarelli.

Linda Carlin ’79 of Greenwich, Conn., is assistant superintendent of finance for the Elmsford Union School District in Greensburgh, N.Y. Howard B. Cohen ’79 of East Amherst, N.Y., is managing partner for the Gross Shuman law office and an adjunct professor for the University of Buffalo School of Law. Patricia “PJ” Jacob Delia ’79 of Tappan, N.Y., sings and manages a blues band. She played and sang in a film by Abel Ferrara that was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017. She returns to campus frequently to visit her son, Jake ’19, and to see friends who are in the area.

Deborah Long Gedney ’79 of Hawthorne, N.J., is president of Komar Intimates in Jersey City, N.J.

Rosanne Kozlowski O’Reilly ’79 of Ridge, N.Y., is an accountant for the WP Geoghan Agency Inc. in Bayport, N.Y. Alan Robbins ’79 of Smithtown, N.Y., started Enterprise Coffee company in 2010 after selling his company, Galaxie Coffee, in 2005.

1980s Reunion, June 6 – 9 1983, 1984, 1985 – 35th Bill Scriber ’80 of West Monroe, N.Y., is the executive director of the Port of Oswego Authority. (See related story on page 26.)

Lynn Wildman Makris ’83 is communications director at Marstudio.com, a design and marketing firm in Rockville, Md. Tim Hannon ’84 of Leesburg, Va., is public sector solutions vice president for Tech Data and its government solutions subsidiary in Chantilly, Va. Peter Rogers ’84 of Fishers, N.Y., is clubhouse manager for Locust Hill Country Club in Pittsford, N.Y. He is married to Mary Cargnoni Rogers ’87.

Sheryl Parrino Altman ’85 of Southboro, Mass., is performing in a Beatles tribute show at New York City’s Triad theatre in May 2019. She is also corporate counsel for the Breville Group.

Don Barr ’85 of South Bend, Ind., is general sales manager for WNDU-TV of South Bend.

Jim Hawxhurst ’79 of Waterford, Conn., retired following a 30-year career in the nuclear power industry. Previously, he worked for the federal government as a meteorologist for eight years, and obtained a master’s degree in meteorology from the University of Maryland. He also holds an MBA from Clarkson University. In retirement, he volunteers for the Waterford school STEM program to support meteorological monitoring.

Virginia Camelo Madore ’79 of Troy, N.Y., retired in 2012 from Troy city schools.

She has provided costumes for Troy High School musical productions for nearly 25 years.

Bill Newsome ’79 of Raleigh, N.C., is a quality assurance specialist at Duke University.

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As senior students from Carmel (N.Y.) High School celebrated college acceptance day by wearing shirts from the colleges they planned to attend after graduation, these three proud alumnae and co-workers in the Social Studies Department wore theirs, too: Aislinn Breslin ’13, Heidi Gardineer Carr ’80 and Susan Tornatore ’96. Heidi has taught for 38 years, Susan for 22 years, and Aislinn has taught for five years and also coaches in Carmel. The three alumnae collaborate as part of the freshman global history team.

Class Notes John Kennington ’85 of Chester, N.J., is vice president for sales at Arla Foods.

Michael Neaton ’85 is the resource officer for the Potsdam (N.Y.) Central School District.

Artistic Expression As a trained artist with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from SUNY Oswego and a Master of Fine Arts from the Rochester Institute of Technology, Michele also feels a personal connection to art, particularly painting, in expressing her own ideas and thoughts.

Terri Lehtonen Morgan ’86 is principal at St. Kateri School in Irondequoit, N.Y. She previously served as an administrative intern and kindergarten teacher at St. Lawrence School in Greece, N.Y. Prior to that, she taught preschool and kindergarten at Seton Catholic School in Brighton, N.Y.

In her mixed media series, Look at What I Am Saying, she portrays: “The mouth, at once vulnerable or passionate, joyous or savage, impregnated with words, it bursts with micro expressions and yet remains still at any given moment.”

Corinna Johnson ’89 of Johnson City, N.Y., is a program coordinator for Broome County (N.Y.) Catholic Schools. She is active in community outreach and local economic development as a member and officer of several area organizations.

Maria Marcellino-Snyder ’89 of Cicero, N.Y., is a partner at DiMarco, Abiusi & Pascarella, CPAs. She has been involved as an instructor with the U.S. Small Business Administration at Onondaga Community College and is a former instructor with New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants’ Foundation for Accounting Education. She and her husband, Rick, have two daughters.

1990s Reunion, June 6 – 9 1994 – 25th Mike Boedicker ’90 is a librarian for the Richmond Memorial Library in Batavia, N.Y. He attended the University at Buffalo for his Master of Library Science. After earning the degree, he worked as audiovisual librarian and then assistant director at the Danville Public Library in Illinois.

Michael Costello ’90 of Londonderry, N.H., is a talent management consultant for LMBT Associates.

Creating art can be a cathartic experience, and for some, it provides a powerful mode of communication.

As executive director of Hope Center for the Arts in Orange County, California, Michele Vavonese ’92 helps connect adults with intellectual disabilities with the performing and visual arts to transform their lives.

“The arts are intrinsically therapeutic, opening the mind to communicating on different and sometimes primal levels that humans have been using since the dawn of our time,” she said.

“Tapping into this can be incredibly important to intellectually disabled adults who often have challenges with processing information, in social interactions and with communicating their inner thoughts and feelings. Painting is an empowered and beautiful way to overcome these challenges.”

Drawing and painting since she was a toddler, Michele said she often uses multiple media within one piece, often employing watercolors when she wants “to feel a fluidity of movement on the paper or when I want the illusion of light or a glow.”

“Watercolor also has the ability to surprise,” she said. “It is a quick-drying medium, so you must be deliberate in your marks or be willing to honor the direction the paint may take you. This is a good ability to have, as it’s often within mistakes that we find new approaches and looks to our work.”

Her work has been exhibited in galleries across California and in New York, including at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in Auburn, N.Y., Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute in Utica, N.Y., and the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, N.Y. The Long Beach, Calif., resident also serves on the California Arts Council and reviews artists’ grant applications.

Jeffrey Guido ’90 of Cortland, N.Y., is a teacher at Cortland High School.

Ron Klein ’90 is an area retail leader for Keybank, overseeing branches in Oneida, Otsego, Madison and parts of Onondaga County.

Amy Jacobson ’91 of Millstone Township, N.J., was a featured expert in a documentary produced by actor Jeff Bridges, Living in the Future’s Past, a look at humans and their past as a key to finding a better future. Amy began graduate school and professional life as a primatologist, but switched to evolutionary anthropology while earning a Ph.D. at Rutgers University.

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Cris Bengis ’92 of Frisco, Texas, is senior vice president of commercial sales for Scooter’s Coffee. Previously, he led major food service accounts during his 12-year tenure at PepsiCo.

Jim Davies ’93 of Atlanta, Ga., authored an article in The Conversation about the science of belief (and disbelief) in Santa Claus. He is a professor in the Institute of Cognitive Science at Carleton University.

Amy Canale Dumas ’92 M’10 of Oswego was featured in a WCNY (Syracuse, N.Y.) video production for her therapy dog work. She is a member of the PAWS of CNY Inc. board of directors.

Tim Hunt ’93 of New Woodstock, N.Y., is the general manager of the Syracuse, N.Y., branch of Five Star Equipment. Previously, he was the town of Cazenovia highway superintendent since 2007. Tim is the secretary and chairman of the Legislative Committee for the NYS Highway Association Executive Committee and treasurer of the Madison County Highway Association.

Thaina Gonzalez ’92 of Bronx, N.Y., is director of executive office and board relations for Sponsors for Educational Opportunity in New York City. She has been active with SUNY Oswego as a founding Return to Oz volunteer, a New York City regional volunteer and an alumni admissions volunteer. She is a member of the Oswego Alumni Association board of directors.

Don Hilton ’92 took office Jan. 1 as Oswego County sheriff.

Ed Bushaw M’93 of Gulf Shores, Ala., joined the staff of the South Baldwin (Ala.) Chamber as director of talent development and recruitment. He and his wife have three children.

Christopher S. Smoulcey ’93 is the sergeant of the Village of Goshen (N.Y.) Police Department. He has been with the village police department since 2006, and since 2015, he has been assigned as a school resource officer at the high school.

He is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and previously worked for the Town of Lloyd Police Department.

Rick Chandler ’94 of Annandale, Va., is the deputy undersecretary for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C.

Maria Connell ’94 of Trumansburg, N.Y., is a reading specialist for the Ithaca (N.Y.) City School District. She has been awarded two Fulbrights (Japan and Ghana) and a fellowship (Mexico) and is married to Matthew Donovan ’97, who is a senior software engineer at URSA Space Systems.

Johnny Garcia Sr. ’94 of Cheektowaga, N.Y., has been a staff member of the University at Buffalo for 24 years, currently serving as events manager.

Yvonne Scott-Younis ’94 of Liverpool, N.Y., is the marketing manager for Mohawk Global Logistics. She previously was director of development at the Frank H. Hiscock Legal Aid Society and a senior product marketing manager in the medical device field for Smiths Medical, ConMed and Gorbel Medical. She holds an MBA from Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management.

Roderick “Rick” Coe ’95 of Waterloo, N.Y., is the 2018 recipient of the “Service Above Self” Award from the Waterloo Rotary Club. He developed a bereavement aftercare program and started the Seneca County Bereavement Support Group.

PAN AM FLIGHT 103: 30 YEARS LATER

We Remember

Lynne (left), Colleen (right)

Two SUNY Oswego students studying abroad—Colleen Brunner ’90 and Lynne Hartunian ’89—were among the 270 people who died in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988. The bombing was one of the first major terrorist attacks on Americans and the largest terrorist attack in American history until 9/11.

Special Remembrance Ceremony During Reunion Weekend In honor of the 30th Anniversary of that tragedy, please join us for a Remembrance Ceremony for Lynne and Colleen during Reunion 2019 at 9 a.m. Sunday, June 9, followed by Mass at the Hall Newman Center at 10:30 a.m.

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30th Anniversary Exhibition on Campus The Oswego Alumni Association has also created a temporary exhibition in honor of the 30th Anniversary in a display case in the Marano Campus Center, which will be on view through Reunion Weekend. It contains images and short biographies of Lynne and Colleen as well as materials from past anniversaries and events, including the dedication of the memorial sculpture in Penfield Library.

Online exclusive content: Family and friends share their memories of the women in a multimedia slideshow at magazine.oswego.edu.

Class Notes Timothy Collier ’97 of Bedford, N.Y., is executive vice president of leasing for RAMCO Properties.

AIR

quotes

“

Make the most out of every experience —GOOD OR BAD— because there is no losing.

There is only winning and learning. Become a lifelong learner, soak up all you can and you will MAKE AN IMPACT

”

and succeed in all that you do.

Jolene Lanphear Steele ’97 of Seneca Falls, N.Y., is senior vice president of branch operations and sales for Finger Lakes Federal Credit Union. She serves on the board of the Seneca Falls Rotary and is board treasurer of the Seneca County Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Keith Washo ’97 of San Jose, Calif., is an author and founder and CEO of Purebuds Earphones.

Michael Cassidy ’98 of Purchase, N.Y., is co-founder of August Spark. He is the former CEO and chairman of ad tech company Undertone. He is married to Jennifer Zeno Cassidy ’09.

Greg Walker M’98 received the 2018 Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from the Williamsport Area School District Education Foundation. Greg began his career in educational administration in 1998 at Rome (N.Y.) City School District as the school’s first African American principal. In 2000, he became a principal at Fowler High School in Syracuse, N.Y. During his time there, Walker was highlighted by the Commissioner of Education in New York for the school’s academic performance through a statewide video, New York Learns, Closing the Gap. He and his wife, Adina Walker M’98, reside in Independence, Ohio. Together, they have three children, Nyla, Joshua and Caleb.

2000s Reunion, June 6 – 9 2003, 2004, 2005 – 15th Robert Score ’00 of Port Orange, Fla., is a media producer for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla.

— Jennifer Warner Janes ’91, Oswego Alumni Association Board Member, at 2018 Fall CNY Career Connections at SUNY Oswego’s Syracuse Campus

Dominick Ianno ’95 of Walpole, Mass., heads the state government relations team for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. Previously, he was director of public affairs at Pfizer Inc. He also worked as vice president at Gray Media, a public affairs firm in Boston, and as the executive director of the Massachusetts Republican Party. He is a graduate of New England Law School in Boston.

Thomas Kuchcicki ’95 of Farmingville, N.Y., is director and co-head of Global Research Technology for Bank of America in New York City.

Jeremy Aldridge ’96 of North Hollywood, Calif., was the director of The Boys Next Door, a comedy-drama centering on a caring social worker who supervises four disabled men living together in an apartment while learning to face their daily challenges together. Shannon Penrod ’84 of Santa Clarita, Calif., interviewed Jeremy for her show on Autism-Live.com.

Craig Jauvtis ’96 of Monroe, N.Y., works in technical operations for CNBC in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

Giovanna Colosi ’98 M’04 of Cicero, N.Y., earned her second master’s degree in Library and Information Science and accepted a job with Syracuse University as an assistant librarian for the School of Education. She and her husband, Doug Jankowski, are also the proud parents of baby, Jack, (above) who was born Oct. 5, 2018.

Cheryl Webster Crounse ’98 of Lynn, Mass., is vice president of institutional advancement and executive director of the Salem State University Foundation Inc.

There’s Still Time JUNE 2019 2 3 9 10 16 17 23 24 30

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Joseph McManus ’02 of Oswego is vice president of computer operations at Pathfinder Bank. Previously, he was a computer operations manager, joining the bank in 2008. He was named one of Oswego County’s “40 under 40” in 2013 and graduated from Leadership Oswego County. He serves as the board president for Friends of the Oswego Library, is a deacon at the Oswego Alliance Church and volunteers as a network administrator for Oswego Community Christian School.

Don’t miss out on participating in The Fund for Oswego this year!

Please make a gift before our fiscal year ends June 30.

Help create opportunities for our current and future students. You can make your gift online at alumni. oswego.edu/give, or mail to 215 Sheldon Hall, Oswego, N.Y. 13126.

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Weddings

Amanda Hewes ’17 and Luke Evans ’16 were married on Sept. 22, 2018, at St. Jerome’s in Rochester, N.Y. From front left are: Jim Evans ’83, Kathy Smits Evans ’84, Luke Evans ’16, Amanda Hewes ’17, Samantha Smith Brennan ’13 and Andrew Brennan ’13 M’16. From second row left are: Janean Pembleton Hewes ’86; Bailey Forrett ’20; Omar Van Reenen ’19; Emily Stasko ’18; Ed Evans ’85; Michelle Massaro Bandla (hidden) ’93; Julie Pretzat (partially hidden), dean of the School of Communication, Media and the Arts; Juanita Diaz ’16; Sarah Mann Baker; Carin Stoianovich Sattler ’84 and Mike Sattler ’83. From back row left are: Debbie Grzymkowski Bailey ’84; Doug Bailey ’83; Jeff Craner ’84; Brian Maher; TJ Bandla, audio instructor; Jim Smits ’02; and Mitchel Britton ‘19. Another Laker in attendance but not pictured was Ann Evans Scheibel ’85.

Jessica Skeldon ’09 and Max Gottfried ’08 M’09 were married on Aug. 11, 2018, in Utica, N.Y. Their marriage was officiated by Donald Wisniewski M’10 CAS’10 and photographed by Cara Livermore ’09.

Other alumni in attendance were Shawn Ashley ’09, Dan Dellecese ’08, Tara Miller Dellecese ’09, Brian Denman ’09, Mike Eno ’08, Michelle Broeker Eno ’13, Jenna Jameson Lambe ’10, Arlee Logan ’09, Matt Pelkey ’09, Kristen Smith Pelkey ’08, Dan Semeraro ’09 M’12, Brynn Gillen Semeraro ’08 and Ryan Talma ’12.

Michael Kelly ’08 and Christine Schwen were married Sept. 15, 2018, at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind. From top left are: Jamie Lyn Brown Celeste ’07, Craig Celeste ’07, Meg Ryan King ’07, Jason Comack ’07, Emily Gollop Comack, Jillian Paff, Ryan Monahan ’07, Christine Schwen, Michael Kelly ’08, Kristen Henry, Michael Maurer, Sean Michel ’07 and Kerry McLernon Michel. From bottom left are: Dan King ’07, Andrew Miner ’08, Helen O’Connell Ingersoll ’65, Gary Ingersoll ’66, Patrick Gariepy ’07, Collin Edmonds ’06 and Melissa Edmonds.

Alaine Vescovo ’14 and Max Weinstein ’14 were married Oct. 6, 2018, in Bayville, N.Y. From left are: Matt Wagenhauser ’15, Katie Bott ’14 M’15, Alaine Vescovo ’14, Max Weinstein ’14, Grace Ferrarone ’14 and Brian Wisely.

Jeff Storch ’06 and Julia Burton were married on Oct. 28, 2018, in San Diego, Calif. From top left are: Matt Mueller ’05, Travis Smith ’05 M’06 and Dan McCabe ’05. From middle left are: Joseph Storch ’02 and Stephanie Bernat Smith ’08. From bottom left are: Dr. Norm Weiner (professor emeritus), Jeff Storch ’06, Julia Burton Storch and Robin Braunstein ’76.

Photo credit: Brandon Jackson of Chief Geek Photography.

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Anthony Felice ’00 and Cathy Visconti were married on Sept. 22, 2018, in Auburn, N.Y. From left are: Theresa Visconti ’82, Jocelyn Sluzar, Chelsey Bozeat, Cathy Visconti, Anthony Felice ’00, Clint Seyer, Richard Walrad and Lance Seyer. In front are Carissa Ingerson and Brayden Badman.

Kelsey Clark ’13 and Mike Altavilla ’12 were married on Sept. 15, 2018, at Oak Mountain in Speculator, N.Y. In attendance were Meghan Wheeler Harrison ’07; Scott Harrison, assistant director of Campus Recreation; Katie Scheib ’12; Chris MacRae ’13; Kelly Corwin ’13; Matthew Raczynski ’13; Mike Quagliano ’13; Kate Schilling Quagliano ’11; Debbie Smart Clark ’78; Arlene Donald ’78; Kathy Winkler M’85 and Kathy Stafford Cooley ’77.

Erica Saturno ’11 and Scott Dowdall ’11 were married on June 22, 2018, in Syracuse, N.Y. From back left are: Taylor Catlin ’17, James Saturno, Justin Earl ’12, Pete Talbot ’12, John Troyer ’11, Christy Haltof ’11, Bojan Topalovic ’18, Danielle Saturno ’15, Angela Wagner Cwika ’03 ’06, Katy Bellomo ’11 and Josh McAdam ’09. From front left are: Jeni Nagel Byrd ’11, Sarah Garzetta ’11, Erica Saturnal Dowdall ’11 and Scott Dowdall ’11.

Lynn Georgi ’12 and Ricky Dunn ’12 were married on Sept. 29, 2018, in Rochester, N.Y. Guests included Ryan Healy ’12, Robert Cardillo ’12, Leanne Van Dyke Strader ’11 M’15, Jeff Evans ’12, Mickie Sanna ’12 and Dani Calkins ’12.

Mikala Thompson ’16 and Brendan Peek ’17 were married Aug. 22, 2018, in Lake Placid, N.Y. From back left are: Elsa Nieder ’17, Sam Gilroy ’17, Luke Snyder ’18, Erik Frenzel ’02, Adam Frenzel ’05 and Scott Andrews ’98. From front left are: Judy Patchen Oertel, Samantha Boyle ’17, Mikala Thompson Peek ’16, Brendan Peek ’17, Jesslynn Smith ’17 and Lindsay Rice ’03.

Christa Nussbaum ’12 and Nathan Donnelly ’10 M’12 were married on May 19, 2018, in Sayville, N.Y. From back left are: Cody Miller, Rebecca Wesley ’13, Abigail Goldberg ’13, Christa Nussbaum ’12, Nathan Donnelly ’10 M’12, Kiera Collins Furey ’13, Denise Davis ’13, Cheryl Ballard ’10 and Christopher Boone ’11. From front left are: Tamara Sims ’14, Daniel Bernstein ’13, Patrick Wilson ’11 M’13 and Michael Lamm ’12.

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Oberst to Retire After 35 Years of Service Associate Vice President of Alumni Relations and Stewardship Betsy Oberst has announced her plans to retire this summer after 35 years of service to SUNY Oswego and its more than 86,000 alumni.

In this role, she served as executive director of the Oswego Alumni Association (OAA) and publisher of the OSWEGO Alumni Magazine. She oversaw alumni relations, alumni and development communications, and donor relations and stewardship programs at the college.

“Betsy has done a tremendous job leading the alumni operations at the college for more than two decades, and through her personal outreach and the development of award-winning programs, she has strengthened our alumni ties to SUNY Oswego,” said Mary Gibbons Canale ’81, vice president for development and alumni relations.

“She has helped build an alumni office that is the envy of our SUNY peers, and she is leaving the OAA in a much stronger place than when she started,” Mary said. “We are so grateful for her dedication, commitment and many years of service to all of our alumni.”

Some of the alumni who know her best worked with her through their roles on the Oswego Alumni Association Board of Directors, including current board President Dana Segall Murphy ’99.

“Betsy has amazing knowledge of our school’s history and an infinite number of connections to our alumni and their Oswego stories and families,” Dana said.

“It takes a truly special person to embrace Oswego the way Betsy has. I don’t think you can find many people who can do what Betsy has done for Oswego and its 86,000+ alumni. She will be greatly missed but has left an amazing impact on Oswego in so many ways.”

Betsy first joined the Oswego Alumni Association in October 1984 as a part-time assistant director of alumni relations who worked with students involved in the Undergraduate Alumni Association (now called Future Alumni Network).

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But her connections to campus began in 1973 when she frequently traveled from her alma mater, St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., to Oswego to visit her now husband of 40 years, Dr. Jerry Oberst ’77, who is entering his 41st year in the SUNY Oswego admissions office.

“I think those early experiences help me relate to Oswego alumni,” she said. “I experienced the tree-stump stools at Nunzi’s and went to Buckland’s when I was dating Jerry. This has really been a shared journey with him. Throughout my career, he would accompany me to alumni events and could speak about the campus and the students he was recruiting.”

It was a journey that she never intended to take. After graduating with a bachelor’s in English, she earned a master’s in advertising from Syracuse University and her teaching certification at SUNY Oswego, fully intending to become a high school English teacher.

Initially, she took the job because she liked the idea of working at a college, and being able to work part time gave her the flexibility to spend more time with her three young children. When she accepted the interim role as alumni relations director in 1995, she knew she was hooked on a new career path.

“The mission of the Oswego Alumni Association has always been to engage alumni,” she said. “That never changes. We’ve engaged them in different ways over the years. I enjoyed being able to launch new initiatives and programs, and not just manage existing programs.”

Many of the Oswego Alumni Association’s signature programs began during her tenure—programs, she said, that wouldn’t have been able to be launched without the stalwart support of College President Deborah F. Stanley, who became interim president in the same year Betsy became alumni director.

“We have been so fortunate on this campus to have a leader like President Stanley who has always understood that alumni are a really important part of the fabric of our college community,” Betsy said.

“She has always supported alumni and development operations, and she thought it was important enough to make it its own division. I really appreciated that.”

Among the programs and initiatives Betsy said she is most proud of developing are the following: • Welcoming Torchlight Ceremony to welcome students on their first night on campus, mirroring the Commencement Eve Torchlight held on students’ last night on campus • New York City Career Connections to bring students and alumni together for professional networking • Golden Alumni Society and Induction Ceremony to recognize all 50-year plus graduates of the college • Peace: Free and Easy Memorial between Seneca and Tyler halls dedicated by classmates in memory of four alumni She was recognized in 2016 with a SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Professional Excellence, the highest honor bestowed by SUNY. As she reflected on her years with the college, she said she is so grateful for a career path that she never knew existed, yet fit her so well.

Oswego Matters As I write this to all of you, our 86,000 alumni, it is with a bittersweet feeling of anticipation, joy and a little sadness, as this will be my final column prior to my retirement in June. Shortly after I became the executive director of the Oswego Alumni Association in 1995, I began this column as a way to communicate with you directly to engage and inform you about how to stay connected with Oswego.

Though so much has changed since 1995 in the ways we receive information and interact with each other, the core mission of the Oswego Alumni Association remains unchanged—to inform and interest a diverse constituency in the life of the university to create a partnership that encourages involvement, enhances loyalty and serves the current and future needs of the institution and alumni.

Together, we have done so much over my 35 years in the Alumni Office and my 24 years leading the alumni association, to build this partnership and help our students, fellow alumni and SUNY Oswego.

And that has included the countless faculty and staff colleagues who have enthusiastically partnered with us to engage and connect our alumni. Most notably has been President Stanley’s unconditional support of me personally and of alumni engagement and communications as a vital component of our institution.

By Executive Director Betsy Oberst

There are too many “joys” of my work here to enumerate in this space. Suffice it to say, when I answered a job ad in the local paper for an assistant alumni director opening (yes, that is how we used to find jobs!), I never dreamed it would be starting me down a path of a lifelong passion and calling that brought such great joy and satisfaction … and so many laughs and good times. I hope I’ve been able to make a small difference here. I say all the time, “I have the greatest job in the world!”

Jerry ’77 and I plan to stay in Oswego at least right now, as Jerry continues his 40-plus years of working in the Admissions Office to recruit new Lakers to join our SUNY Oswego family. I’m not sure what my next chapter will hold. I look forward to service on some boards, getting our new rescue pup, Jackson, certified to be a therapy dog to visit nursing homes (and SUNY Oswego!), spending more time with family, traveling and participating in whatever other volunteer or service opportunities may present themselves along the way.

One of our other primary goals is always to be looking ahead, including seamless succession planning.

Alumni Director Laura Pavlus Kelly ’09 will capably lead alumni engagement forward. Margaret Spillett will continue to keep you engaged and well-informed

through all of our numerous communications channels and Michelle Tackett Spinner ’98 will manage our donor relations efforts with our increasing number of major donors.

As I ended that first column, I will end this final one: “Whether you are a member of a Golden Anniversary class, a recent graduate or someplace in between, you are important to the Oswego Alumni Association, and you help us continue to prove ‘Oswego Matters.’”

And I’ll see you when you make your way back to Oz, or online or on the road in my increasing travels. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the wonderful memories, the laughs and, most importantly, the lifelong relationships and friendships you’ve shared with me. It has been a privilege to be a small part of this special place.

With Laker pride, love and heartfelt gratitude,

Betsy is frequently invited to weddings and family celebrations of alumni, and she has even been asked by families to deliver remarks at the funerals of alumni.

“This job really felt like a gift, because you don’t go to school to become an alumni director,” she said. “You grow up thinking you’ll be an attorney or a doctor or a teacher. But I was fortunate to discover this work. I had more fun and laughs than I thought you could have in a job. This work has become a passion, a calling—and the alumni have become an extension of my family.”

“I never wanted another job because I loved what I did—mostly because of the people,” she said. “They made it joyful to come in every day. I got energy going to an alumni event. Hands down, what I loved the most about my job—and what I will miss most—are the people and the relationships.”

Betsy said she doesn’t have any set plans for retirement, except possibly training her newly adopted dog, Jackson, to be a therapy dog, spending more time with her children and grandchildren, and traveling with and without Jerry, who remains in his role within the college admissions office.

A Proper Oswego Send-Off Do you have a favorite memory or story of Betsy that you’d like to share? Would you like to send your best wishes? We invite you to send your memory, well wishes and photos to us at alumni@ oswego.edu or mail them to King Alumni Hall, c/o OSWEGO Alumni Magazine, Oswego, N.Y. 13126 by May 31, 2019.

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Local Lakers Gatherings

Women’s hockey alumnae reconnected during a reunion of teammates Feb. 8-9 in Oswego.

Delta Kappa Kappa brothers gathered Dec. 5 for an annual holiday luncheon at the Skaneateles Country Club in Skaneateles, N.Y.

EVENTS May 3

Oswego College Foundation Board of Directors Meeting**

May 5

Alumni Day at Rosamond Gifford Zoo*

May 17

Commencement Eve Torchlight Ceremony*

June 6-9 Reunion Weekend 2019* June 8

Oswego Alumni Association Board of Directors Meeting*

Oswego alumni cheered on the Buffalo Bills during a Local Lakers event on Nov. 4 at New Era Field in Orchard Park, N.Y.

June 28 Mu Beta Psi 25th Anniversary Reunion* July 25-28

2019 Harborfest Housing*

Aug. TBD SUNY Alumni Day at Saratoga Race Track* Fall TBD Long Island Alumni Reception* Oct. 4

Green and Gold Day*

Oct. 4

Oswego Alumni Association Board of Directors Meeting*

Oct. 4

Oswego College Foundation Board of Directors Meeting**

Oct. 4-5

Homecoming 2019*

Oct. 5

Scholars Brunch**

Oct. 5

Communication Studies Alumni Reunion*

Oct. 5

Athletic Hall of Fame Dinner*

Oct. 23

Dr. Lewis B. O’Donnell Media Summit**

Oct. 24-25 Technology Conference —80th Anniversary * Alumni and Parent Relations, 315-312-2258 ** University Development, 315-312-3003

alumni.oswego.edu

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Scott Symons ’02 of Windsor, N.Y., a teacher in the Windsor Central School District, was awarded the Empire State Excellence in Teaching Award.

Robert C. Whitaker Jr. ’02 of Camillus, N.Y., was selected for inclusion in the upstate New York list published by Super Lawyers in 2018. He is a partner at Hancock Estabrook.

Heather Perry Witter M’02 CAS’08 of Baldwinsville, N.Y., is director of Universal Pre-K and Literacy for the Fulton (N.Y.) City School District. She began her career with the district in 2002 as a fourth-grade teacher at Volney Elementary. In 2008, she transitioned to principal of Granby Elementary School.

Tracy Underwood Caryl ’03 of Marcellus, N.Y., is an office services coordinator at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y. She and husband, Joshua Caryl ’01, have two children.

Laura Armstrong Kruspe ’03 of Rochester, N.Y., is vice president of contract and network management at iCircle Services in Webster, N.Y. She holds a master’s degree

in health administration from Roberts Wesleyan College.

Arica Marfoglia ’03 of Rochester, N.Y., is senior digital media manager for Dixon Schwabl, an advertising, marketing and public relations agency in Victor, N.Y. Arica joined Dixon Schwabl in 2015. She previously worked at Gelia-Media Inc. as an online media specialist/search engine marketing specialist.

Lucia DiCaprio Watson ’03 of Surfside Beach, S.C., was named the South Carolina Outstanding Health Science Teacher for 2018. She earned National Board Certification in Health Education in 2013, and recently became a Pharmacy Technician Certification Board’s Certified Pharmacy Technician. She holds dual teaching and administrator certifications, plus dental hygiene licenses, in South Carolina and New York states.

Lynn Kellman Rhone CAS ’04 is Dolgeville (N.Y.) Central Schools superintendent. Before Dolgeville, Lynn served as a principal in the Romulus (N.Y.) Central School District. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Nazareth College.

Class Notes Jennifer Shepard ’04 of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, is a program leader and facilitator for Saudi Aramco, where she runs leadership courses for women, as well as corporate workshops in diversity and inclusion. She worked with the first 50 female driving instructors in the kingdom as part of their onboarding experience.

Julie Dougall Slate ’04 of Rochester, N.Y., is assistant director of admissions for Monroe Community College.

Christopher Kessler ‘05 of South Portland, Maine, was recently elected a member of the Maine House of Representatives for District 32.

Katie Regan M’05 of Syracuse, N.Y., is director of educational technology at Onondaga-Cortland-Madison Board of Cooperative Educational Services. Katie primarily worked with 22 schools in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse as a technology integration specialist for the Central New York Regional Information Center.

Calling the Shots on the Weather From rain to snow to sleet to hail— what’s weather without water? According to Ronelle Williams ’09, the weekday morning meteorologist at KSNW-TV in Wichita, Kansas, water is the weather ingredient that puts the fun in forecasting.

“Without any water there wouldn’t be any of the ‘fun’ or interesting weather,” Ronelle said. “Our planet would be pretty barren.”

KaeLyn Rich ’05 (above) was joined by more than 150 friends and family Aug. 11, 2018, at the Avenue Black Box Theater in Rochester, N.Y., to celebrate the launch of her book, Girls Resist!: A Guide to Activism, Leadership and Starting a Revolution. KaeLyn is a staff writer for website autostraddle. com; the assistant advocacy director of the ACLU of New York; and a feminist organizer, nonprofit leader and sexuality educator. She was the former community affairs coordinator for Planned Parenthood of Central and Western New York.

She lives in Rochester with her spouse and their new baby.

McCall Vrydaghs ’05 of Dayton, Ohio, is the new chief meteorologist at WHIO-TV. She’s been with the station for six years and is an Emmy Award-winning certified broadcast meteorologist.

Born and raised in Rochester, N.Y., Ronelle collected newspaper clippings of severe weather events around the country as a child—later watching storm chaser VHS tapes to feed his fascination for the weather. Since graduating with a SUNY Oswego meteorology degree, he’s been an on-air meteorologist in Missouri and Kansas, and in 2016 was awarded a certified broadcast meteorologist designation by the American Meteorological Society.

Ronelle’s tools of the trade include water vapor satellite imagery and rain gauges—the latter often used by viewers to provide locally specific data on how much rain has fallen. But among his favorite watery weather phenomena isn’t the rain—it’s waterspouts, like those seen over the Great Lakes, and particularly Lake Ontario.

“Waterspouts are technically tornadoes,” Ronelle said. “They’re typically weaker but should be taken just as seriously as a tornado over land.”

Ronelle’s other favorite? Lake effect snow, of course.

“Even though it can cause headaches for travelers, it’s also a phenomenon that only happens in a handful of places around the world,” he said.

“Upstate New York and the Great Lakes are unique because of this. It definitely made me a good driver in the winter.”

Since his latest job post doesn’t offer the same weather as the Great Lakes region of his youth and college days, Ronelle—who loves checking out restaurants and diners wherever he is—also enjoys a nice spring or summer rain storm.

“Ahead of the rain a gust front will come through, creating a cool breeze,” he said. “And then the smell of the rain hits you. It’s the next best thing to a lake or ocean breeze.”

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Kelly Crahan Burdick ‘06 of Fulton, N.Y., is the archive librarian for the Watertown (N.Y.) Daily Times. She and her husband, Dustin Burdick ‘06, technology teacher at Indian River (N.Y.) High School, have two daughters.

Ian Farrell ’06 of Clay, N.Y., is an account representative on the healthcare team for CXTec Company in Syracuse, N.Y. Previously, he worked as an insurance agent and as a national account manager for a local distribution company.

Kelly McClain ’06 of Westvale, N.Y., is a sales manager for CenterState CEO. Previously, she worked at Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists.

Danielle Richie ’06 of Durham, N.C., is a senior associate director of MBA admissions and student recruitment for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Richard Shea ’07 is assistant principal for Albany (N.Y.) High School.

Meagan Smith ’07 of Nashville, Tenn., is the assistant director of the Office of Active Citizenship and Service at Vanderbilt University.

Greg Doyle ’08 of Charlotte, N.C., is assistant men’s and women’s swimming coach at Wingate University. Previously, he was the head swimming coach and aquatics director at York College of Pennsylvania.

In addition to his coaching duties, Greg serves as swim lesson program director for Wingate aquatics. He earned a master’s degree in athletic administration from Coker College in 2015.

Craig Knowles ’08 of Plattsburgh, N.Y., is a corrections officer for the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in Ray Brook, N.Y.

Jessica Arno Smith ’08 of Clay, N.Y., is marketing manager at Appel Osborne. She joined the firm in 2011.

John A. Tilert Jr. ‘08 moved to Taipei, Taiwan, in 2012 to teach science at Taipei Fuhsing Private School. After four years in Taipei, he moved to Manila, Philippines, to work at the International School Manila as a grade 7 science teacher. In fall 2018, he returned to Taipei Fuhsing Private School to take a position as a homeroom and science teacher. He holds a master’s degree in teaching English to speakers of other languages from the City College of New York.

Brian Schultz ’09 is president and managing member of Dimien, which creates “clean tech” chemical products. He has a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University at Buffalo, and has received several awards and grants through the National Science Foundation, Small Business Innovation Research, Panasci Competition and NYSERDA. (See related story on page 25.)

2010s Amanda M. McHenry ’10 of Baldwinsville, N.Y., is supervising attorney of the family court program at Hiscock Legal Aid Society. Previously, she served as assistant supervising attorney. She joined the organization as a staff attorney in 2015.

Brian Croce ’11 of Alexandria, Va., joined Pensions & Investments in June 2018 as a reporter in the newspaper’s Washington, D.C., office. Before joining P&I, Brian worked at Hanley Wood Media as a senior associate editor, where he wrote news and feature stories for Builder and Multifamily Executive magazines.

Spend more time with us!

• Cozy up with our newly designed and reconceived OSWEGO Alumni Magazine, featuring more of the info you asked for, like alumni news and features.

• Take a deeper dive into stories and exclusive content in our magazine website: magazine.oswego.edu.

• Click around in our mobile-friendly, redesigned Lake E-ffect monthly newsletter.

• Browse our refreshed and restructured Alumni and Development website: alumni.oswego.edu.

We want to hear from you! Share your successes and your Oswego story with us.

Connect with us at alumni@oswego.edu or via social media: f facebook.com/oswegoalumni 50

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t @oswegoalumni

I @oswegoalumni

Mary McLaughlin ’12 of Harpursville, N.Y., is graphic design manager for Riger Marketing Communications in Binghamton, N.Y. Mary was previously an account/production coordinator and graphic designer.

She interned with the agency during her senior year of college and was hired upon graduation.

Mark Taitt ’12 M’14 of Brooklyn, N.Y., is assistant director of marketing and student engagement at Fordham University.

Justin Bentley M’13 of Rochester, N.Y., is a senior accountant at Tette & Ingersoll, a division of Allied Financial Partners in Victor, N.Y. He earned his certified public accountant license in 2018. He joined Tette & Ingersoll in 2013.

Tyler Edic ’13 of Savannah, Ga., is the video production coordinator for Visit Savannah. He holds an MBA from Trident University International.

Jessica Myers ’13 of Cicero, N.Y., is SUNY Oswego’s School of Business secretary for the accounting, finance and law and the marketing and management departments.

Previously, she was the planning secretary for Auburn (N.Y.) Correctional Facility.

Brian Tosti ’13 is the director of broadcasting and media relations for the Texas Stars of the American Hockey League.

Previously, he was the Greenville Swamp Rabbits’ director of media relations/broadcaster, where he was named a finalist for the league’s 2018 Broadcaster of the Year award. In addition to serving as the voice of the organization, he also generated print and audio content while serving as the team’s liaison to the East Coast Hockey League’s media department.

Class Notes as the play-by-play announcer for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (Pa.) Knights in the North American Hockey League.

AIR

“

quotes Sometimes you have to fail at the thing you thought was for you, in order to succeed at the path that is truly meant for you. So, have the courage to redirect if need be, be ready to seize the moments and trust the process

”

toward your success.

Caitlin Owens ’15 is a residence hall director at SUNY Oswego.

Delsey Attardi ’16 of Garden City, N.J., is a talent agent at Buchwald Talent Agency. She was featured in Variety Magazine as a top assistant in Hollywood. Delsey joined as assistant to head of the voiceover promo department. She’s taken part in major brand campaigns for clients at the Grammys, SXSW, Coachella and the Outside Lands Music Festival.

Nicholas Bagnato ’16 of Schenectady, N.Y., is a community habilitator for AIM Services.

— Quindell Williams ’11, Emmy Awardwinning photojournalist/news videographer at CNY Central in Syracuse, N.Y. and member of the Graduates Of the Last Decade (GOLD) Leadership Council, during his remarks to December graduates and their families at the Oswego Alumni Association’s Commencement Eve Reception

Lauren Calabrese ’14 is a designer for Plan & Print Systems Inc. in Syracuse, N.Y. Ryan Dadey ’14 M’17 of Irmo, S.C., is a management consultant for PwC Advisory in Columbia, S.C. Elizabeth Tiffany M’14 CAS’14 is a behavior intervention specialist in the Fulton (N.Y.) City School District. Previously, she was a school psychologist in the district.

She is pursuing a Certificate of Advanced Studies in educational leadership through the Central New York Leadership Development Program.

Mackenzie Kjerstad ’15 of Baldwinsville, N.Y., is a commercial portfolio manager for Pathfinder Bank. Previously, she was a commercial credit analyst.

Tim Mullhaupt ’15 of Old Forge, Pa., is the United States Hockey League’s Lincoln Stars’ director of communications and broadcasting. Tim spent three seasons

Christopher Collins-McNeil ’16 of Ossining, N.Y., was named to the 2018 New York City 40 Under 40 Rising Stars list in City & State New York magazine. He is an associate at public affairs firm Mercury.

Annabelle Flaherty ’16 is a multimedia journalist for the WBNG 12 News team in Binghamton, N.Y. Previously, she worked as a writer at Spectrum News NY1 in New York City.

Shane Kenyon ’16 of Canandaigua, N.Y., is an account specialist for Integrated Systems.

Victoria Love ’16 of Canton, Mass., is a producer for Boston 25 News/COX Media Group.

Dylan Niewiemski ’16 M’17 of North Chili, N.Y., is a staff accountant in the audit department of Insero & Co. CPAs. Mackenzie Scott ’16 of Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, launched bgon, a trading app for students to buy and sell items exclusively at their schools. It is being tested in 500 schools across Canada.

Reid Adler ’17 M’18 is the associate residence director at New Mexico State University.

Richard Balch ’17 of Ilion, N.Y., is a child protective investigator for the Department of Social Services in Mexico, N.Y. Emily Cole ’17 of Oswego is the deputy regional director of United States Senator Charles Schumer’s Central New York office.

Lakefront Housing Available for Harborfest The Oswego Alumni Association is pleased to offer a special alumni discount for waterfront housing for alumni who wish to stay on campus during the community-wide Harborfest celebration, July 25-28.

Alumni will be able to stay in Waterbury Hall grouped by class year, with a maximum of two adults per room.

Alumni may begin checking in at 2 p.m. Thursday, July 25, and must check out by 11 a.m. Sunday, July 28.

There is an early-bird alumni discount of $70 per night for those making reservations on or before 4 p.m. Friday, July 12. Alumni reservations made after that time will be $75 per night until 4 p.m. July 24—after which all alumni will be charged the regular “walk-in rate” of approximately $86 per night.

Alumni can also rent a refrigerator and mattresses for children 16 years and younger for an additional $15 if reservations are made by 4 p.m.

July 12; or $20 if made by 4 p.m. July 24. Linens for beds and towels will be supplied. The Centro bus will run a convenient shuttle service from campus to the festival grounds.

Don’t miss the opportunity to attend this exciting Oswego tradition and celebrate your Laker pride!

To make reservations, please visit alumni.oswego.edu/harborfest, or you may contact Allison Craine at allison.craine@oswego.edu or 315-312-2258 with questions.

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ALUMNI BOOKSHELF Thomasina Lewis Larson ’71

Julia Rozines DeVillers ’89

...From the Islands: From the Aeolian Islands to Oswego, NY 1880-1920

Ultra Squad

Thomasina A. Larson, 2018.

A group of tiny volcanic islands north of Sicily, Italy, was the source of a large number of immigrants who fled poverty, crop failures, high taxes and the draft.

They set down roots, bringing traditions and becoming Americans on the edge of Lake Ontario in the booming little city of Oswego, N.Y. David Chill ’77

Curse of the Afflicted Cold Spirit Press, 2018.

Chill, the author of 10 mystery novels, shares the journey of Ned Baker, a political pollster with a bright future who navigates a devastating diagnosis and corruption that threatens his career.

Patti Mollica ’77

How to Paint Fast, Loose and Bold: Simple Techniques for Expressive Painting North Light Books, 2018.

Every artist strives to achieve the kind of painting that commands attention from across the room and delights the eye.

This book offers surprisingly simple and efficient strategies for achieving that kind of powerful composition, through timed exercises and start-to-finish painting demonstrations.

Tory Bilski ’79

Wild Horses of the Summer Sun Pegasus Books, 2019.

This travel memoir captures the author’s yearly trips, starting in 2004, to horse trek with a group of friends in a remote area of northern Iceland.

Nancy Alexander ’83

An Unlikely Gift: Finding Inspiration Caring for My Father with Dementia To see all book covers, please visit magazine.oswego.edu.

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Aging Well Now, 2018.

The author, a physical therapist, shares the story of her journey with her father, who lived with dementia for the last 18 years of his life. As his caregiver, she learned a lot about her father and even more about herself.

Justice Studios, 2018.

This graphic novel shares the story of four tween girls and their bizarro-cute extra-terrestrial sidekicks as they battle a smug villain to save the universe.

Jacquelyn D. Golden M’90

Supernatural Healing Exists: Did You Get the Memo?

WestBow Press, 2017.

The author offers her experience and testimony as tools to help readers decide about the power of supernatural healing.

Jodi Weinstein Mullen ‘92 M’94

Raising Freakishly Well Behaved Kids: 20 Principles for Becoming the Parent Your Child Needs Integrative Counseling Services, 2018.

This book focuses on what parents can do, and, more importantly, how they can be with their children in order to create an atmosphere where children choose pro-social behaviors.

David Mertens Woodland ’95 and Jessica Hernandez

God’s Ex Wife: A Novoir Lit Match Press, 2018.

A big Jewish girl and her only friend, a gay boy, are growing up in the 1990s in a cold New England town with nothing to do, no exposure to the world beyond, no experience with people of color, and being bullied on a daily basis. They turn to their love for writing and performing as an escape and an antidote to their boredom, soon to realize how far their talents might actually take them.

Keith Washo ’97

Good Things Come from Hard Times KDW Productions, 2018.

This work offers advice from conversations with executives about overcoming adversity and becoming a bigger, better and stronger person.

Class Notes

Jon Chopan ’03 M’05

Veterans Crisis Hotline University of Massachusetts Press, 2018.

This short story collection is the winner of the 2017 Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction. It brings readers into the tumultuous minds of 12 veterans as they search for survivors along a stretch of road in the Iraqi desert, struggle with the moral vagaries of training versus execution and deal with the aftermath of being at war.

Lou Paduano ’04

A Circle of Shadows: Greystone Book 5 Eleven Ten Publishing, 2018.

The war has begun. The climactic finale of the Greystone saga’s first massive storyline will leave readers breathless and stunned, questioning the motives of once-trusted characters.

KaeLyn Rich ’05

Girls Resist!: A Guide to Activism, Leadership and Starting a Revolution Quirk Brooks, 2018.

This activism handbook is for teen girls ready to fight for change, social justice and equality; with in-depth guides to everything from picking a cause, planning a protest and raising money to running dispute-free meetings, promoting awareness on social media and being an effective ally.

Zachariah Schrecengost ’15 and Carolina Ilie, SUNY Oswego physics faculty member; illustrated by Julia D’Rozario ’16

Electrodynamics: Problems and Solutions Morgan & Claypool Publishers, 2018.

Karl Dubash CAS ’17 of Rochester, N.Y., is assistant principal at Victor (N.Y.) Senior High School.

Marek M. Gonzalez ’17 M’18 of Camillus, N.Y., is a tax associate for Fust Charles Chambers in DeWitt, N.Y. Marek previously interned with Fust Charles Chambers.

Gregorio Jimenez ’17 of Syracuse, N.Y., is the executive director of the Near Westside Initiative. He grew up in the neighborhood, graduated from Fowler High School and Onondaga Community College. He has worked for the City of Syracuse and the Boys and Girls Club doing youth programming.

Matt Paddock ’17 joined the WICZ-TV Fox 40 news team in Binghamton, N.Y., as a reporter in July 2018. Previously, he was a videographer for WSTM in Syracuse, N.Y. Anna Paradiso ’17 of Atlanta, Ga., is a paraprofessional for the Tapestry Public Charter School in Doraville, Ga., working with children on the autism spectrum.

Courteney Reed ’17 of Syracuse, N.Y., is a digital outreach specialist for Terakeet.

Giovanna Saulle ’17 is sales and service coordinator and events manager for D.C. United in Arlington, Va.

AIR

Kodua Boateng ’18 is a system validation engineer for Intel Corporation in Hillsboro, Ore.

quotes

“

GO WHERE YOUR HEART LEADS YOU AND LEARN ABOUT YOU ALONG THE WAY.

”

A continuation of an Institute of Physics Publishing series, this latest text continues work from the Oswego team’s 2016 publication, Electromagnetism: Problems and Solutions.

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.

Kenny Roffo ’17 (above) of San Gabriel, Calif., is a software engineer for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, working with the InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) Mars Lander. He participated in the Oswego Alumni Association’s Alumni-In-Residence program on Oct. 23, 2018.

Wyoma “Mia” Crandall ’18 of Wells, Maine, is a job developer and employment specialist for Thatcher Brook Center in Biddeford, Maine, and a figure skating coach for North Atlantic Figure Skating in Falmouth, Maine.

Imani Cruz ’18 of New York City is the executive assistant to the senior vice president of talent and casting at MTV Networks/Viacom. She was featured on the cover of the October issue of FAO, Fashion at Oswego, the club she started.

Stephanie Herbert ’18 is a digital outreach specialist for Terakeet in Syracuse, N.Y. Jordan Mallore ’18 of Baldwinsville, N.Y., is a staff accountant at Cadaret Grant in Syracuse, N.Y.

— Bilikiz Adebayo ’15 M’16, financial analyst at L’Oréal and founder of Ade Fit dance company and Caps and Crowns, a women’s empowerment event

Nicholas Marinelli ’18 of Auburn, N.Y., is an associate for Dermody, Burke & Brown CPAs in Syracuse, N.Y. Alan McReynolds ’18 of Cicero, N.Y., joined Hiscock Legal Aid Society as a law assistant in the appeals program.

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In Memoriam Ethel Millis Vergow ’42 of Attleboro, Mass., Sept. 6, 2018.

John Roeckell ’57 of Huntington Station, N.Y., Oct. 23, 2018.

Leon Plochocki ’67 of Marcellus, N.Y., Feb. 26, 2018.

Helen Eileene Farrell Kuno ’46 of Madison, Wis., Oct. 28, 2018.

Shirley Robinson Tuttle ’57 of Versailles, Ky., May 2, 2018.

Jeanne Haddock Fero ’68 of Chittenango, N.Y., Dec. 3, 2018.

William Copeland ’48 of Penfield, N.Y., July 27, 2018.

Irwin Coombs ’58 of Pawling, N.Y., Sept. 22, 2017.

Thomas Macko ’68 of Liverpool, N.Y., Dec. 3, 2018.

Anne Younglove Nichols ’48 of Webster, N.Y., Oct. 10, 2018.

Joseph Loretan ’58 of Mashpee, Mass., July 16, 2018.

Earl Dillon ’69 of Chippewa Bay, N.Y., July 12, 2018.

Earle Spaar ’48 of Endicott, N.Y., Nov. 4, 2018.

Richard Waldron ’58 of Whitesboro, N.Y., Oct. 7, 2017.

Ronald Fulle ’69 of Pittsford, N.Y., Oct. 10, 2016.

Richard Joseph ’50 of Canandaigua, N.Y., Oct. 21, 2018.

Benjamin Foster ’59 of Hampton Bays, N.Y., Aug. 7, 2018.

John Goodney ’69 of Oswego, Oct. 31, 2018.

Richard Lagoe ’50 of Sherburne, N.Y., Nov. 13, 2018.

Roger Allen ’60 of Port Orange, Fla., Oct. 18, 2018.

Maryann Herth Hockman-Montag ’69 of Melbourne, Fla., Aug. 17, 2018.

Joseph Merenda ’50 M’54 of Canandaigua, N.Y., Nov. 19, 2018.

Robert Handy ’60 of Norwich, N.Y., Aug. 2, 2017.

Nancy Beasley Murphy ’69 of Batavia, N.Y., April 17, 2018.

Helen Mullen Murphy ’50 of Oswego, June 15, 2017.

John Podstupka ’60 of Roslyn Heights, N.Y., Oct. 26, 2018.

Elaine Orlando Scalzo ’69 of Webster, N.Y., Oct. 12, 2018.

Margaret French Holmgren ’51 of Slingerlands, N.Y., Aug. 9, 2018.

David Rossiter ’60 of Castleton, N.Y., Nov. 27, 2018.

Bonnie McNulty Chambers ’70 of Palmyra, Pa., Oct. 10, 2018.

Sonia Prokopchuk Robinson ’51 of Front Royal, Va., Aug. 6, 2018.

Jytte Christensen Terns ’61 of Goodyear, Ariz., June 25, 2018.

Dennis Egglefield ’70 of Elizabethtown, N.Y., Aug. 2, 2018.

Robert Sturdevant ’51 of Callicoon, N.Y., Oct. 15, 2017.

Lester Crowell ’62 of Fayetteville, N.Y., July 21, 2018.

Enrico Frataccia ’71 of Valparaiso, Ind., Nov. 13, 2018.

Robert Ullery ’51 M’53 of Latham, N.Y., Aug. 16, 2018.

Robert Greene ’62 of Honeoye Falls, N.Y., Oct. 1, 2018.

Donald Horan ’72 of Union Springs, N.Y., Sept. 1, 2017.

Herbert Van Schaack ’51, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, of Oswego, Sept. 18, 2018.*

Catherine App Heagerty ’62 of University Park, Fla., July 23, 2018.

Mark Becker ’73 of Indian Land, S.C., Nov. 27, 2018.

Harry Lennon ’63 of Summerfield, Fla., Dec. 29, 2018.

James Dey ’73 of New Milford, Conn., Dec. 8, 2017.

Martha Babcock Abell ’64 of Rome, Pa., Nov. 29, 2018.

Robert Drennan ’73 of Fishkill, N.Y., Oct. 6, 2017.

Patricia Davidson Geppert ’64 of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., July 28, 2017.

William Johnson ’73 of Scotia, N.Y., Aug. 3, 2018.

Irene Hrynyk Piczkur ’64 of Syracuse, N.Y., Oct. 17, 2018.

Nicholas Sereno ’73 of Oswego, Dec. 17, 2018.

Gary Williamson ’64 of Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla., Sept. 20, 2018.

John Andrews ’74 of Greenfield Center, N.Y., July 30, 2018.

Thomas Gundlach ’65 of Jaffrey, N.H., Aug. 21, 2018.

Susan Bryant Conley ’74 of Kittery, Maine, Aug. 12, 2018.

Maria Clapps Hartranft ’65 of North Babylon, N.Y., Dec. 22, 2016.

Susan Foster ’75 of Seneca Falls, N.Y., Nov. 20, 2018.

John Michels ’65 of Northport, N.Y., March 10, 2018.

Paul Kirdahy ’76 of Cumberland, Md., Nov. 5, 2018.

Alan Hoffman ’67 of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Sept. 18, 2018.

Patricia Albaugh ’77 of Binghamton, N.Y., Oct. 3, 2018.

Kathleen Brattesani McSheehy ’67 of Anna, Texas, Nov. 23, 2017.

Douglas Belt ’77 of Stockholm, N.Y., July 8, 2018.

Phyllis Gibson Bullard ’52 of Minetto, N.Y., Dec. 18, 2018.

Henning Haggblom ’52 of Somers, N.Y., Aug. 4, 2018.

Doris Spiegel ’52 of Lake Oswego, Ore., Dec. 17, 2018.

Bernard Starr ’52 of Glen Head, N.Y., Feb. 6, 2018.

Thomas James ’53 of DeRuyter, N.Y., Dec. 19, 2018.

Eileen Cowley May ’53 of Cresco, Pa., Nov. 22, 2018.

Karen Enterline Kerr ’54 of High Point, N.C., Oct. 25, 2018.

Leonard Ricchi ’54 of Patchogue, N.Y., Aug. 23, 2018.* Arlene Levitt Pavey ’55 of Santa Ana, Calif., June 1, 2018.

Sandra Mabie Caldeira ’57 of Bluffton, S.C., Sept. 23, 2018.

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Kenneth Mancino ’77 of Cocoa Beach, Fla., July 29, 2018.

David Stahl ’94 of Cato, N.Y., Dec. 28, 2018.

Edward Vaughn ’77 of Newburgh, N.Y., Dec. 9, 2018.

Norman Bujanos ’96 of Austin, Texas, Oct. 17, 2018.

Marina Drancsak ’78 of Auburn, N.Y., July 2, 2018.

Carolyn Crast ’96 of Adams, N.Y., Oct. 13, 2018.

Wayne Barlow ’79 of Kirkwood, N.Y., Aug. 28, 2018.

Adam Schrader ’00 of Ghent, N.Y., Nov. 14, 2018.

Ronald LaMora ’79 of Philadelphia, N.Y., Sept. 26, 2018.

Teresa Readling Savio ’01 of Lake Hopatcong, N.J., Aug. 6, 2018.

Thomas Flood ’80 of Schenectady, N.Y., July 5, 2018.

Michael Niemann ’03 of Chester, N.Y., Feb. 9, 2017.

John Tuller ’80 of New Berlin, N.Y., Feb. 7, 2018.

David Swiniuch ’03 of Norman, Okla., July 20, 2018.

George Lowery ’81 of Ithaca, N.Y., Dec. 11, 2018.

Todd Kingsley ’04 of Charleston, S.C., Aug. 9, 2018.

Kevin Nerney ’81 of Steamboat Springs, Colo., Dec. 18, 2015.

Caitlin Mulcahey ’06 of Chittenango, N.Y., Aug. 2, 2019.

Suzanne Lennon Kraft ’82 of Barneveld, N.Y., Nov. 11, 2018.

Brody Magro ’17 of Greece, N.Y., Sept. 30, 2018.

Janene Richards M’86 of Pulaski, N.Y., July 7, 2018.

Robert Armeson, Professor Emeritus of History, Sept. 30, 2018.

Nancy Taggart Turgeon ’92 of Raleigh, N.C., Nov. 1, 2018.

Hugh Burritt, Professor Emeritus of Music and former Music Department chair, Oct. 17, 2018.*

Michael Petrus M’93 of Clyde, N.Y., Dec. 29, 2018.

John Lucadamo M’94 of Palm Bay, Fla., Oct. 4, 2018.

Thomas Darvill, Professor Emeritus of Psychology and former Psychology Department chair, Nov. 11, 2018.

Brian Hough, Assistant Professor of Geology, Oct. 6, 2018. * Friends and family have established a fund in memory of this SUNY Oswego community member. Gifts can be made at alumni.oswego.edu/give or sent to the Oswego College Foundation, 215 Sheldon Hall, SUNY, Oswego, N.Y. 13126. Please indicate the name of the person you wish to honor.

To read a longer form obituary or to submit a remembrance, please visit magazine.oswego.edu.

SUBMITTING AN OBITUARY We will share the news of a SUNY Oswego community member’s death when we receive the information from a family member, friend or another source in the form of a previously published notice, typically from a newspaper or funeral home. Please send such notices to the Office of Alumni Relations c/o In Memoriam, SUNY Oswego, Oswego, N.Y. 13126; or email alumni@ oswego.edu.

Supporting the College Across Generations “ We believe that the Oswego experience changes lives—it did for us, and has for many others in our family, including several nieces and nephews, and our son and daughter-in-law, Luke ’16 and Amanda Hewes Evans ’17.

“We are proud to be Lakers!”

— Loyal Lakers Society members James ’83 and Kathleen Smits Evans ’84, 31 years of consecutive giving The Loyal Lakers Society recognizes SUNY Oswego’s most consistent and committed donors. Membership is automatic and occurs after five consecutive years of giving at any level to The Fund for Oswego.

Learn more at alumni.oswego.edu/loyallakers, or make your gift today alumni.oswego.edu/give or by calling 315-312-3003.

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T H E

L AS T

Word

Oswego, 1967-1971 Evenings, a sweet breeze relieves the summer heat across the campus of the State University of New York, College at Oswego that later in winter becomes a fierce cold wind. When spring returns and the snows subside, the sun slowly melts behind the distant line where the northern New York skies meet the waters of Lake Ontario. An orange-hued horizon gives way to night and fixtures of stars almost low enough to touch. In September 1967 Oswego’s quiet, bucolic setting welcomed this young man from the South Bronx’s urban sprawl.

Its small-town feel felt conducive to study and to the quiet contemplation I desired.

I’d gone there fleeing figurative flames of poverty and social unrest that in turn lit literal flames in my South Bronx, by then burning in social decay. I’d hope to return and with waters of knowledge to help extinguish those flames. Many wonderful human beings nurtured those desires, planting and watering seeds of knowledge that germinated and bore fruit. Post-Oswego, I returned to my South Bronx roots, working in community social programs before finding my true calling as a teacher of English and a writer. Two World War II veterans stand out.

Professor Wesley Sweetser, with a limp, the product of Japanese machine guns, taught me style in Freshman Composition. Praising my writing, he urged an economy of words, explaining, with Sheridan Baker, author of our textbook, the Complete Stylist, that “…Less is more. A diamond in the rough doesn’t shine.” With his emphasis on constant revision, and the need for strong, active verbs in lieu of passive ones, Dr. Sweetser still teaches me through the decades.

In Foundations of Education, Dr. Vincent Barone, a warm, charming human being, taught me the rudiments. Philosophy of education. The Greeks. The English philosopher John Locke and his Tabula Rasa, or blank slabs upon which the environment leaves its impressions and shapes us. He also introduced me to the Swiss psychologist Piaget, the other sides of a coin that as a teacher, I’ve tossed often. Piaget says human beings act on these stimuli and shape the world. Upon Dr. Barone, this World War II bombardier who decimated people from a bomber plane, the horrors of war left a negative impression.

Rather Dr. Barone, a humanitarian, shaped his positive environment and spoke of social considerations. He taught us some teaching methodology and some psychology of education.

“Understand student problems,” he emphasized. “It’s not just instilling knowledge that’s your job but overcoming the obstacles to that task.” Yes, he, too, still teaches me.

Returning home, I later started teaching at South Bronx High School amid then burnt out tenements near my old neighborhood. Exactly where I wanted to be, at the home of the Phoenix, the school mascot, teaching children to read and to write and to rise like that mythical bird that ascends from the fires into the sky. And with those Oswego waters, I fancy I helped put out those flames.

Thank you, Oswego. l —George Colon ’71

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Born in Puerto Rico, George Colon ’71 grew up in the South Bronx, earned degrees in English and education, and taught English and Spanish in Bronx schools for 30 years. The text here is an excerpt from his book, A Bronx Teacher Saga: The Triumphs and Tribulations of a Puerto Rican English Teacher (Outskirts Press, 2018).

OSWEGO OBJECT

Oswego Lighthouse

Perhaps one of the most recognized objects in Oswego, the Oswego West Pierhead Lighthouse is a familiar sight to generations of SUNY Oswego students, alumni and college members. It was built in 1934 to replace an earlier light constructed in 1880.

In 1967, the U.S. Coast Guard automated the lighthouse, ending the era of light keepers at the station. In 2018, using state funds and support from the City of Oswego, the exterior of the lighthouse was painted and some structural upgrades were made.

It stands at the end of a 2,000-foot-long breakwater at the mouth of Oswego River, extending a half mile into Lake Ontario. It is accessible by boat or from land over the abutting breakwater. It is owned by the City of Oswego and is part of the H. Lee White Maritime Museum. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Learn more about its history and information about tours of the Lighthouse at hleewhitemarinemuseum.com.

Photo credit: Kyle Hurley ’21 OSWEGO

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Nonprofit US Postage PAID Oswego Alumni Association

KING ALUMNI HALL OSWEGO, N.Y. 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, N.Y. 13126, or email the updated address to alumni@oswego.edu

Please recycle this magazine.

Faculty –HALL OF FAME– Dr. Jerry Exline Oswego students were happily persuaded to join the music of Jerry Exline.

“He could walk into the dining room of the old Hewitt Union and literally recruit new students by approaching a table of frat boys and cajoling them into playing or singing in one of the ensembles or adding a music major or minor,” said Dr. Julie Pretzat, dean of the School of Communication, Media and the Arts. “His enthusiasm for music and for his students was always a defining aspect of his time here.”

Jerry was an integral part of the SUNY Oswego campus from 1972 until his retirement in 1997, serving as chair of the Music Department for the last eight years of his tenure on campus. Jerry went on to teach both visual and performing arts at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y., but he considers his time at SUNY Oswego the pinnacle of his time as an educator.

“Oswego State is the centerpiece of my career,” Jerry said in an interview from his home in Cicero, N.Y. “So many things stand out from my time there. For me, Oswego was the alpha and the omega.”

Jerry’s career as a performer began on Aug. 7, 1960, when he had his debut with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, for which he played “Rhapsody in Blue” on the piano—an instrument he began playing at just 3 years of age. He was just a freshman in high school in Interlochen, Mich., when that performance shaped him as a musician, leading him to the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., from where he ultimately earned a Ph.D. On the SUNY Oswego campus, Jerry matched his distinguished credentials with an enthusiasm for education that led him to teach

piano, music education and many other courses; he also served on countless committees and conducted for all of the instrumental and choral groups on campus. Along with Jim Soluri, he was the visionary force and founder of the Oswego Opera Theatre.

“It all was to meet the needs of the students,” Jerry said. “The students taught me patience. They taught me to always look for what, seemingly, is not there.”

And among his former students, the stories of Jerry are prolific.

“Dr. Exline was the first piano teacher I had who showed me how to focus raw emotion and bring it into my playing of structured music to make the audience feel something,” said Daniel Leopold ’93.

“I will always be indebted to him for that.”

Bryan Rurey ’89 followed Dr. Exline from high school to college. As a sophomore in high school, he became a private student, continuing on to SUNY Oswego.

“I was consistently challenged ... musically, technically and personally,” Rurey said. “Dr. Exline created a safe place to explore your talent and creativity and then share the results of that journey with your classmates and very often the greater college community. I still play every single day and hope that I can inspire someone the way he inspired me! Thank you, Dr. Exline!”

Most recently, Jerry remains active as a voice and piano teacher for his private studio, Artist’s Pianos in Dewitt, N.Y. He’s also a member of the board of directors for Civic Morning Musicals, served as assistant director of the Le Moyne College Jazzuits and is a member of the Bearcat Jazz Band—just a few of the groups he’s been part of over the years. For years, he was an accompanist for professional singers.

“He is a complete musician—one of those who can sit down and play anything by ear or by sight reading a score, no matter how difficult the piece,” Dean Pretzat said. “It speaks volumes that he has remained so active in the music world.”

To read more stories of Jerry from former students, please visit magazine.oswego.edu.