Quinnipiac Magazine Winter 2021: The Conversation by Quinnipiac University

WINTER 2021

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The Conversation Don Sawyer leads universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s racial equity initiatives QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

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Nearly 60 students put their skills, strength and endurance to the test at the Quinnipiac Mountain Clash in October. The Tough Mudder-style event featured more than a dozen challenges across the Mount Carmel Campus. Even listing a few will make you tired. Student teams stepped in and out of tires, carried logs, jumped from hay bale to hay bale, leaped over hurdles and crawled on their bellies under a matrix of string. Winners earned gift cards to Eliâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s restaurants. Watch the competition at qu.edu/ mountainclash Photo Crandall Yopp

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5 THE WAY FORWARD At a time when strategic and thoughtful dialogues are sought, President Judy D. Olian launched ”The Way Forward” in 2020. These conversations with top leaders in health care, government, professional sports and business have offered a stimulating look into the future of local, national and world affairs.

34 YOUR NEWS Check out the wedding and baby photos you submitted and catch up with all the news of your classmates in this section, including Alyssa Jann ’11, who helps others see the world a little more clearly.

Vol. 30, No. 1

38 A GIANT IN THE NFL Phil Buzzerio ’14 works as an assistant athletic trainer for the New York Giants. He’s part of a staff that helps 53 players compete at the highest level of pro football. It’s a year-round job that goes far beyond the tailgate parties, huge stadiums and TV crews.

EDITOR Janet Waldman, MS ’09

16 Racial Justice at QU 9 HER BEST SHOT Twenty years since graduating, Kristen Tompkins ’00 is a research scientist at Pfizer in New York, where she was part of the research and development team that worked on the COVID-19 vaccine, the first one to be approved by the FDA. 13 DOUBLE VISION Instead of relying solely on Zoom video features last semester, Quinnipiac doubled down with Zoom carts, an innovative way to connect remote and onground students with two screens and many more applications. This spring, QU faculty and students hope to engage even more with this new technology as part of the Q-Flex hybrid model of instruction.

Well before last summer’s racial unrest, Quinnipiac President Judy Olian and Don C. Sawyer III, vice president for equity and inclusion, were working on a plan to advance racial justice on campus. The mantle and the moment are heavy, but Sawyer and Quinnipiac are committed to lasting change.

24 The New House Call

The pandemic, together with videoconferencing software, has given new meaning to the phrase, “The doctor will see you now.” The School of Nursing offered a timely course to health care professionals who wished to embrace this method of communicating with patients but needed knowledge of telehealth’s policies, practices and protocols.

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ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS James Ryan ’02

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Brian Koonz, MS ’20 SENIOR COPY EDITOR Donna Pintek STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Autumn Driscoll CONTRIBUTORS Ken Byron, MS ’20, Adam Durso, Thane Grauel, Simone Gutkin, Lauren Kersten ’10, Susan Salomoni, Jonathan Sawitsky, Christine Smith, MS ’19, Tad Sterling PHOTOGRAPHERS Dan Passapera, Quinnipiac Video Productions, Rob Rasmussen ‘06, Crandall Yopp DESIGN Pentagram Austin Quinnipiac Magazine is published by Quinnipiac’s Office of Integrated Marketing Communications for alumni, parents and friends of the university. Postmaster: Send address changes to Office of Development & Alumni Affairs, Quinnipiac University, AH-DVP, 275 Mount Carmel Avenue, Hamden, CT 06518-1908.

44 THE 50-50 CLUB Five friends from the Class of 1970 marked their 50th reunion and 50th anniversaries last fall with lots of stories and plenty of laughter.

Sports 14 MOVING THE GOALPOST Men’s soccer goalie Jared Mazzola ’21 didn’t get to play last fall as a senior because of the COVID-19 pandemic. So instead, he worked out with his teammates and tried to keep everything in front of him. As always. Sure, he was disappointed, but Mazzola wasn’t defeated.

42 LAW Learn what School of Law alumni are up to on the notes page and read about Richard Colangelo, JD ’92, the chief state’s attorney in Connecticut who chose to become a prosecutor after taking a class with Professor Carolyn Kaas as a 2L.

VICE PRESIDENT FOR MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS Daryl Richard

COVER PHOTO Autumn Driscoll

Quinnipiac University admits students of any race, color, creed, gender, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, and disability status to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. Quinnipiac University does not discriminate in these areas in the administration of its educational policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs. To contact us, email janet.waldman@qu.edu © 2021 Quinnipiac University QuinnipiacUniversity @QuinnipiacU

30 ‘Hi, I’m Tom Ellett‘

Tom Ellett, QU’s first chief experience officer, is among the first in the nation to embody that role. He says the best thing he can offer students is his undivided attention and the tools to help them bring about the changes they desire. He has lots of ideas for enhancing the student experience and helping them embrace and celebrate their differences.

QuinnipiacUniversity @QuinnipiacU qu.edu More content available at magazine.qu.edu QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

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Alumni

Vol. 30, No. 1

EDITOR Janet Waldman, MS ’09

24 The New House Call

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ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS James Ryan ’02

44 THE 50-50 CLUB Five friends from the Class of 1970 marked their 50th reunion and 50th anniversaries last fall with lots of stories and plenty of laughter.

VICE PRESIDENT FOR MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS Daryl Richard

COVER PHOTO Autumn Driscoll

30 ‘Hi, I’m Tom Ellett‘

QuinnipiacUniversity @QuinnipiacU qu.edu More content available at magazine.qu.edu QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

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CLOSER LOOK

BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE NBA executives discuss future of virtual revenue streams

Victoria Will for Connecticut Public

BY BRIAN KOONZ

PROFESSOR’S RADIO SHOW EXPLORES EQUITY AND RACE Khalilah Brown-Dean has been a coveted radio guest for years. So when Connecticut Public Radio asked her to host a new show about social disruption in America, Brown-Dean saw a chance to effect change from a bully pulpit. Or at least, a bully microphone. Brown-Dean, an associate professor of political science at Quinnipiac and senior director for inclusive excellence, made her debut on “Disrupted” in October. The weekly program can 4

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be heard live at 2 p.m. Wednesdays and rebroadcast on WNPR. It also can be accessed via the Connecticut Public mobile app, the ctpublic.org website and the “Disrupted” podcast. “I’m an educator at heart,” Brown-Dean said. “I’m always thinking, ‘How do we use this moment or this experience not just to have a conversation, but to have people leave with something?’ You never want people to leave the dining room table like they’re still hungry.” After producing about a dozen episodes, “Disrupted” has become Brown-Dean’s recipe for provocative dialogues

about the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and racial unrest. One recent episode included a candid conversation by Black police officers about race and the criminal justice system. Another episode considered how athletes use their visibility and influence to promote activism and foster change. “Through the conversations we have on the show with people from all walks of life ... I want us to embrace the idea that innovation can come out of these disruptions,” Brown-Dean said. “Together, we can build something that will be stronger and more sustainable while we

continue to embrace our collective power and agency.” Each week, “Disrupted” looks to raise that awareness and introduce new pathways for a more just society. “The other thing it raises is the concern about audience. It’s the same concern that people have on our campus,” she said. “If I say something in a class that people disagree with, or that challenges them, what will that response be? As long as I have this platform— whether it’s as senior director, professor or show host—I need to make sure I’m working to leave it better than I found it.” — Brian Koonz

Imagine sitting in the front row watching the Golden State Warriors play the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Finals. The view, the sound, the thrill of the moment—the experience is unmatched. Until you take off the virtual reality headset. At a time when traditional on-site revenue streams—ticket sales, parking, food and beverage concessions and merchandise sales—have evaporated during the COVID-19 pandemic, pro sports executives are searching for new ways to generate income. “Digital technology is going to provide an in-venue experience at home, a far better one than just flat television,” predicted Peter Guber, co-owner and co-chairman of the Warriors. “It will make the audience feel even more participatory. I’ve seen many things with VR. This is the beginning of the beginning.” Guber and Michael Zavodsky ’06, the chief business officer for the Pistons, joined Quinnipiac President Judy Olian for an hour-long discussion in September about the future of pro sports in the wake of COVID-19. The conversation was part of the president’s new virtual speaker series, “The Way Forward.” The series features thoughtful exchanges with industry visionaries about today’s social, economic and health challenges. Last summer, Bill Weldon ’71, former chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, and Dr. David Feinberg, vice president of Google Health, discussed “Innovations in Health Care and Health Technology Post-COVID-19.” Other recent speakers have included Ynon Kreiz, the chairman and CEO of Mattel, and Jim Loree, chairman and CEO of Stanley Black & Decker, who spoke about “Managing Global Supply Chains During and Post-COVID” in November. But health care and manufacturing aren’t the only sectors impacted by COVID-19. Professional sports franchises also are searching for untapped innovation. Zavodsky, who earned bachelor’s degrees in marketing and psychology, also is looking to the digital marketplace to attract new audiences—and perhaps, more importantly—retain current ones. “We have a model we’re going to run out … with a virtual ticket that allows people the in-arena experience, but at home,” said Zavodsky, who spent the previous 14 years working for Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment and the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets. “I do think consumption patterns will likely change, regardless of the outcome of this [pandemic]. We know how to do the fan scenario,” he added. “Now, we need to focus on the scenario with no fans and how we can monetize that.” Zavodsky said popular in-person events, such as autograph sessions and meet-and-greets, can be reimagined digitally. However, lucrative TV deals remain the largest source of revenue for the Pistons. By far.

In addition to a multimillion dollar contract with Fox Sports Detroit for local broadcasting rights, the Pistons get a share of the NBA’s historic nine-year, $24 billion TV deal that expires in 2025. The Warriors also get a share of that revenue, but local TV rights are not the team’s primary source of income. “Television is not the ‘big market maker’ for the Warriors. San Francisco is not a big market,” Guber said. “Without butts in the seats, there are no bucks in the pockets.” Both executives also noted the importance of NBA players serving as agents of racial reckoning during this time. “They have the platform, obviously, to help cause change,” Zavodsky said. “What the NBA has continued to do is help call attention and awareness to something that we as a country obviously need to make sure we’re focused on and paying attention to. As we proceed forward, I think they’ll continue to be engaged leaders in that effort.” Guber agreed. “They’re active participants. They feel it. They live it. They’re not observers of it,” Guber said. “The attitude of the players and the aptitude of the work they’ve done … will be a big difference maker.” The business of pro sports can’t exist without athletes who perform at the highest level. At the same time, the economic model can’t survive without fans enjoying in-venue experiences. For Guber, the pivot to profitability is even more urgent with no fans in the stands. Along with his stake in the Warriors, Guber is the owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and its 56,000-seat stadium, the largest baseball venue in the world. He’s also the owner and executive chairman of the Los Angeles Football Club and co-chairman of the esports company aXiomatic.

Last year, the Warriors moved from Oakland to San Francisco and opened the privately financed Chase Center, a $1.4 billion arena with 18,000 seats and luxury suites. Although the Warriors are the main draw, the 16-acre site is a destination with restaurants, retail shops, a huge theater and a major park. “We think of ourselves in the location-based entertainment business,” Guber said. “We believe that rendering experiences to an audience is a valuable business proposition, and our basketball team is at the center of it.” QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

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CLOSER LOOK

BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE NBA executives discuss future of virtual revenue streams

Victoria Will for Connecticut Public

BY BRIAN KOONZ

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NEWS STREAM

NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHES

In December, Quinnipiac launched a completely redesigned qu.edu website. The culmination of two years of cross-department collaboration, it prioritizes usability and accessibility in a more flexible design. “As QU’s flagship communications channel, the site has been completely reimagined and is a fresh, bold and vibrant reflection of our university and the entire QU community,” said Daryl Richard, vice president of marketing and communications. Improved storytelling and content delivery was a focus for the Integrated Marketing and Communications team, according to Jim Ryan, associate vice president for IMC. Jonathan Sawitsky, senior director of user experience and engagement, coled the project with Doug Geist, senior director of web technology. The site was built from the platform up to improve access to information for a larger range of audiences, Sawitsky said.

Erin Provistalis 6 HONORED FOR SERVICE

Three faculty members and three staff members were honored in a virtual ceremony in October with the 2020 Center for Excellence in Teaching and Service to Students Awards. The faculty recipients

were Iddrisu Awudu, associate professor of management and Muslim religious life coordinator; Jonathan Blake, professor and director of computer science and engineering; and Michelle Gere6

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PERSPECTIVE

mia, professor of biology. Honorees for the Excellence in Service to Students awards were Jason Burke, director of veteran and military affairs; Joseph Podsiadlo, associate director of technology services; and Erin Provistalis, director of campus life for student centers and student involvement. The Center for Excellence award is the highest honor the university bestows on its employees, recognizing their exemplary work.

Peter Sandor PROTOTYPE FOR SUCCESS Physician assistant Peter Sandor ’97, MHS ’01, MBA ’20, never imagined the simple teaching model he crafted from hardware store parts would lead him to found a company that is revolutionizing tracheostomy management and education. Sandor created the model to teach colleagues at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center in

Hartford how to safely care for tracheostomized patients. His grateful colleagues urged him to patent it, and ClearView Simulation was born. Sandor built the company and refined his prototype while earning his MBA in health care management. He says the program taught him how to implement a business strategy, as well as accounting and budgeting practices. His training device helps medical personnel visualize what happens inside and outside a patient with a tracheostomy—a device surgically placed into the windpipe that provides an alternate airway. He unveiled the device in January 2020 and by July, the company made its first major sale, shipping 30 units to Medtronic, a global medical technology company.

Master Facilities Plan ’DESIGNING OUR FUTURE’ OVER THE NEXT 10 YEARS In January, President Judy Olian unveiled the universi-

ty’s master facilities plan and shared it with members of the university community and the town of Hamden. It serves as a blueprint to guide physical planning across QU’s campuses over the next 10 years. Titled, “Designing Our Future,” the plan focuses on five key priorities: the importance of an enriching on-campus residential experience; enhancing academic and student support space; expanding open space and greenways on each campus; building a pedestrian-friendly experience; and uniting the identity of the three campuses. Ayers Saint Gross, a Baltimore-based architectural firm, collaborated with Sal Filardi, vice president for facilities and capital planning, on the year-long planning effort. The process engaged hundreds of members of the university and local communities. Bobcat Way, from the Student Center to Hogan Road, will be transformed into a pedestrian thoroughfare, and open space will be enhanced with a South Quad. Among the projects set to move forward this year are a Recreation and Wellness Center built as an addition to the existing Athletic and Recreation Center; initial scoping for a new general academic building to address pressing space needs on the Mount Carmel Campus and serve all schools and programs; and renovations to the Complex residence hall, which include converting current 6-person, 3-bedroom apartments to house 4 students with 2 singles and a double. Upgrades to kitchens and bathrooms and new furniture will give it a modern feel. You can read the full plan at qu.edu/10yearplan

Donning White Coats CEREMONIES HELD FOR PA, MED STUDENTS

Quinnipiac held two white coat ceremonies last fall, one for the 49 members of the physician assistant Class of 2020 and the second for the 95 students in the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine’s entering class. Dr. Vivek Murthy spoke to the Netter Class of 2024 about its shared responsibility in creating an equitable health care system that provides care for all. In his taped speech, he said, “We must care not only for the patient in front of

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DOMINANT CULTURE PERSISTS American newsrooms still struggle with employment diversity us, but understand and address the underlying factors that drive illness in our communities.” Murthy served as the 19th surgeon general of the U.S. from 2014-17. He assured members of the Class of 2024 that they already possess a healer’s most important qualities—the ability to care deeply for others, listen with compassion and lead with love. To that list of qualities, Lyuba Konopasek, the medical school’s senior associate dean for education, added courage and commitment.

VACCINES AND YOU

Six faculty experts participated in a webinar, “COVID-19 Vaccines: Empowering Our Communities and Informing Your Decisions,” in December. The program was co-sponsored by the town of Hamden and moderated by School of Health Sciences Dean Janelle Chiasera. Panelists discussed vaccine safety, administration and logistics, effectiveness and herd immunity. The public was invited to watch and submit questions. Panelists were: Lisa Cuchara, professor of biomedical sciences; Maya Doyle, professor of social work; John Thomas, professor of law; David Hill, professor of medical sciences, director of global public health and senior medical adviser for COVID-19; Jeffrey Mital, associate professor of biomedical sciences; and Mario Norbis, professor of management. Hill noted that more than 20,000 people received the Pfizer vaccine in trials, with very mild side effects and no worrisome symptoms. “I will get it … the trial data shows it is safe,” said Hill. A second vaccine webinar took place in January.

BY BRIAN KOONZ

American newsrooms won’t get stories about race right until they see diversity as a moral imperative and a competitive advantage—and hire that way, a panel of journalists told a virtual audience in a program hosted by Quinnipiac. After George Floyd’s death in police custody last May and the thousands of racial injustice protests that followed, coverage of race-related stories by predominantly white newsrooms sparked a renewed criticism of the industry. Five panelists discussed this structural failure during a webinar titled, “Race, and Racism, in the Media,” sponsored by the School of Communications. The program took place a few weeks before the start of the fall semester. “In my 26 years in this business, I haven’t really seen the kinds of conversations we’re having in the newsroom now around race and coverage of race,” said Philana Patterson, a managing editor at USA Today. “That said, I have concerns … about the way it’s been carried out,” she added. “One of the things I’m very concerned about is the idea of getting newsrooms to be more diverse as a numbers game: ‘Let’s check off this many of this. And this many of that.’ And I see it happening.” Patterson is not alone. “It’s unfortunate that in the year 2020, we are still having discussions ad nauseum, and even as we discuss these issues, we see minimal progress being made,” said moderator Michael Lyle, a broadcast journalist and part-time professor in the School of Communications. For years, diversity in American newsrooms has been populated by tokenism and quotas. “People of color and women get brought into professional situations where our opinions are not valued because we’re not part of the dominant culture that runs that newsroom,” said Kevin Reed, a former senior editor at ESPN. It’s the same dominant culture that has bent the historical narrative for 400 years, he suggested. “American history needs to include the history of all people and stop being exclusionary about who’s written about and who’s talked about,” Reed said. “So when you’re a journalist … you enter your workplace or your profession with the foundational knowledge of what the country actually is and not a sanitized version.” Ultimately, the interpretation becomes a battle of calculated perception versus ugly reality.

“The numbers regarding race and the media are startling,” said Chris Roush, dean of the School of Communications. According to the Pew Research Center, 58% of Blacks and 55% of Hispanics say the news media misunderstands them. At the same time, data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that 88 percent of public relations professionals are white. Sandy Gonzalez-Wilson, a former journalist at Bloomberg Television and the New York Post, has watched too many newsrooms hire an extra Hispanic reporter or an extra Black reporter to placate communities of color during a crisis. The newsroom managers figure if they hire someone who looks like the protesters, the reporter will get “The Quote” because of melanin, not moxie. “I want people to be hired because they’re professional, because they’re outstanding writers and researchers,” Gonzalez-Wilson stressed. Maggie Leung, the vice president of content for NerdWallet, remembers covering the Rodney King beating by Los Angeles police officers in 1991. She sees the same racial tensions and the same monochromatic newsrooms today. “I got my start in traditional news. One of the earliest things that happened was the Rodney King beating and the subsequent trial of police in LA who were responsible for beating him,” Leung said. “A colleague and I were talking about it recently, how it just feels like it’s a rewind of that history, that nothing has progressed significantly since then.” Allen Mask, the chief of staff at Sonos, believes today’s newsrooms must be more thoughtful in their hiring as well as their coverage of events such as Floyd’s death and the Black Lives Matter movement. “One thing we can change is the role we play in each one of those moments,” Mask said. “It’s also a good chance to step back and think through how we bring more of ourselves to these environments. How can we contribute in a way we haven’t before?”

Webinar participants shown clockwise from top left: Chris Roush, Michael Lyle, Allen Mask, Kevin Reed, Maggie Leung and Sandy Gonzalez-Wilson. Not visible is Philana Patterson.

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NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHES

Erin Provistalis 6 HONORED FOR SERVICE

Three faculty members and three staff members were honored in a virtual ceremony in October with the 2020 Center for Excellence in Teaching and Service to Students Awards. The faculty recipients

were Iddrisu Awudu, associate professor of management and Muslim religious life coordinator; Jonathan Blake, professor and director of computer science and engineering; and Michelle Gere6

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PERSPECTIVE

Master Facilities Plan ’DESIGNING OUR FUTURE’ OVER THE NEXT 10 YEARS In January, President Judy Olian unveiled the universi-

Donning White Coats CEREMONIES HELD FOR PA, MED STUDENTS

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VACCINES AND YOU

BY BRIAN KOONZ

Webinar participants shown clockwise from top left: Chris Roush, Michael Lyle, Allen Mask, Kevin Reed, Maggie Leung and Sandy Gonzalez-Wilson. Not visible is Philana Patterson.

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IN COMMAND DURING CRISIS Health care executives share lessons of pandemic BY J A N E T WA L D M A N PHOTO AUTUMN DRISCOLL

Top executives from connecticut’s four largest health care providers candidly shared the lessons they’ve learned during the COVID-19 pandemic and how they’re planning for the uncertainties to come during a virtual forum in October titled “Beyond the Coronavirus Crisis: Change, Innovation, Leadership and Success.” The event kicked off the inaugural Thought Leaders in Health Care Speaker Series, made possible by a generous gift from Denise J. Fiore ’78, MBA ’91. Her MBA is in health care management. Fiore said she could not have imagined a more appropriate topic than COVID-19 when she began working with QU to bring health care leaders together for inspiring annual discussions.

A gift from Denise J. Fiore ’78, MBA ’91, brought health care executives together for the first program in a new series titled, Thought Leaders in Health Care. Fiore is chief operating officer, Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London, Connecticut, and senior vice president, Yale New Haven Health.

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Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont joined Quinnipiac President Judy Olian and the following panelists: Marna P. Borgstrom, CEO of Yale New Haven Health; Jeffrey Flaks, president and CEO of Hartford HealthCare; Reginald Eadie, MD, president and CEO of Trinity Health Of New England; and John M. Murphy, MD, president and CEO of Nuvance Health. Janelle Chiasera, dean of the School of Health Sciences, served as moderator. Olian thanked Lamont and the health care executives for their leadership. “My bet is that none of these leaders would say they have ever been through the breadth and depth of challenges they have had to deal with in the past few months, the widespread assault on every aspect of how

they delivered services, secured supplies, called on staff to work in risky conditions, and managed budget and cash flow despite the total upending of business as usual,” she said. Despite the challenge, Olian said they brilliantly faced and dealt with the “here and now” while approaching the future with what she called gutsiness and the realization that they must innovate in order to survive and thrive. Connecticut also moved quickly. “The first thing we did,” Lamont said, “was to reach out to our amazing health care providers. We were on the phone every day, and you guys were invaluable.” “We don’t wear individual uniforms at a time like this; we wear the same uniform, we are on the same team,” Flaks said. He noted that while people harbor an understandable desire to return to normal, he hopes the health care system never does. “We are going to be better than normal,” he said, citing advances in infection control knowledge and in leveraging telehealth. “We went from 400 telehealth visits a month to well north of 300,000,” Flaks explained, adding that people in remote parts of the state now have access to specialists. Hartford HealthCare also added a 24-7 hotline that has logged more than 166,000 calls since March. Flaks also acknowledged that the pandemic amplified the issue of health care equity and disparity. “Massive change has to occur. The statistics during this crisis are startling,” he said. Murphy talked about the emotional burden on hospital staff—the shortage of PPE and their fear of becoming sick themselves and infecting family members. In response to these concerns, his team instituted peer counseling that he said proved remarkably effective in helping each other get through the crisis. Borgstrom concurred. At one point, she said, Yale Health had upward of 800 COVID patients. She recalled one nurse saying that staff will live with the emotional effects of what they witnessed for a long time. Chiasera asked Olian and the health care executives to reflect on their initial decision-making when the crisis emerged. Quinnipiac, for its part, decided to protect the greater community by not letting students return from their homes to retrieve possessions left behind when the university transitioned to online learning last March, Olian said. “If we had allowed an influx of 10,000 kids from everywhere, that would have put a burden on health care systems,” she said. For Murphy, the question of what he might do over “is more important than the answer.” Back in March and April, he said life and death decisions were made in real time. “We thought hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin were fabulously effective—they were not; we thought masks were just an option, and guess what, they are not; we thought with warm weather the virus would disappear—it didn’t; we thought kids didn’t get sick—they do.” Yes, much was learned, but he noted, “We are not as smart as we are going to be two months from now.” From learning that intubating patients early is really not the right thing to do, to discovering the “crushing” emotional toll when patients die without family able to visit them and only medical staff as witnesses, Murphy and his team developed an evolving playbook to prepare for the predicted second wave that came last fall. The forum also addressed the topic of vaccinations. Eadie, as co-chair of the state’s COVID-19 vaccine advisory committee, said the members were focused on ensuring the safety of a vaccine as well as its appropriate and equitable distribution.

Q AND A

What are some of the more significant scientific breakthroughs you’ve worked on? Over the years, I’ve had the honor of contributing toward vaccines for the prevention of pneumococcal disease (Prevnar), Meningococcal Group B (TRUMENBA), RSV (currently in clinical trials) and most recently, SARSCoV-2 (COVID-19).

KRISTIN TOMPKINS ’00 Research scientist worked on Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine After earning her BS in clinical lab science, Kristin (Kourie) Tompkins ’00 donned a lab coat at Pfizer and went right to work as an assistant researcher. Twenty years later, she is a senior research scientist and part of the team that worked on the COVID-19 vaccine in Pfizer’s research and development group at its Pearl River, New York, facility. Her main focus is coordinating preclinical studies in the viral vaccines department.

How did you feel when Pfizer was first to announce a successful COVID-19 vaccine in November? I was overwhelmed with a sense of pride, hope and gratitude. It still chokes me up when I take a step back to appreciate the enormous feat that our team has accomplished. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to contribute to this historic moment, and I am grateful to our amazing team, the trial participants and the members of the FDA. This is a giant puzzle, and all of the pieces are falling into place. What motivates you to go to work every day? The patients and their families. The thought that I had a small part in saving a patient or improving their quality of life makes it all worth it. The scientists that I have the privilege of working with inspire me as well. The dedication, passion and drive that we share keeps this an exciting place to work. Describe what working conditions were like during the development of the COVID vaccine. Scientists worked around the clock throughout the organization. The COVID-19 work has been prioritized so a continuous and focused effort could be put forth to meet our unprecedented timelines. It is not uncommon to work 16-20 hours a day. As the

global death rate increased, we were aware of how critical this project is. The end goal of saving lives is a major motivator. The vaccine must be safe, efficacious and consistently producible in mass quantities. Describe the safety protocols that go into developing a new vaccine. The safety of our vaccine is always on the forefront and remains a priority. Even though timelines were truncated, the process has remained the same. First there is extensive preclinical testing. Next, the vaccine candidates entered a dose escalation Phase 1 clinical trial in healthy adults. After careful monitoring of the first recipients in the lowest dose groups, additional participants were vaccated. Any clinical symptoms and/ or adverse events are reported and evaluated. What are the later phases in human trials? Once the dose level was determined to be well tolerated, recipients in a higher dose group were vaccinated and followed the same precautions. Participants are regularly monitored to test the quality and longevity of the immune response mounted against the vaccine. Based on the data, we selected the go-forward vaccine candidate and dose level. Following this decision, the number of study participants was greatly increased, and as more safety data was collected, the eligible age group expanded. Our Phase 3, double blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial included 44,000 healthy volunteers. The safety and efficacy will continue to be monitored in Phase 4 trials. Do you work on other vaccines? I prepare the actual vaccines that are admin-

istered in our preclinical animal studies, perform cage-side syringe filling and help to process the blood samples. From time to time, I help process tissues that are collected from our animal studies and help the team run them. I’m also in charge of safety for viral vaccines and overall lab management. What precautions are taken to protect staff? Our leadership team has done a stellar job implementing safety measures. High-contact areas are disinfected throughout the day; surgical masks are provided; and there are social distancing signs and markings on the floors. The number of staff members on campus has been reduced by encouraging remote working when possible. In addition, symptom checking and contact tracing are required when on site. These safety measures allow us to focus on the science. What part of your Quinnipiac education helps you with your work? The most important skill I learned at Quinnipiac was time management (and how to succeed with little sleep). Having a packed, science-heavy schedule complete with labs for each course was challenging. Juggling classes from morning to night forces you to be efficient and productive in the time you have before it all starts again the next day. What is one essential thing you’d like to share with future scientists? Throughout my career I’ve found flexibility to be key. You must be open to new opportunities and be ready for priorities to shift in an instant. The ability to change directions and focus on the next critical task will go a long way! —Donna Pintek QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

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IN COMMAND DURING CRISIS Health care executives share lessons of pandemic BY J A N E T WA L D M A N PHOTO AUTUMN DRISCOLL

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Q AND A

FACULTY PROFILE

PERSPECTIVE

STUDENT SUCCESS MAKES HIM HAPPY

Photo Autumn Driscoll

Associate Professor of Management Iddrisu Awudu discovered his calling as a high school student in his native Ghana, tutoring underprivileged children in math and science. “I’ve always been inspired to teach,” Awudu said. “In Arabic, my name actually translates to ‘dedicated teacher.’” His enthusiasm and the skills he brings to the classroom led to his being chosen one of three recipients of the Center for Excellence in Teaching Award last fall. “I personalize my relationship with students because I want them to be successful,” Awudu said. Many students write to him after obtaining jobs to share the good news and to thank him. After graduating from university, Awudu found success in the corporate world, working in supply chain management for companies such as Nestle in Ghana, Chrysler in the U.K. and Nokia in the U.S. While this was financially rewarding, he missed the joy of teaching. “Sitting in an office all day was not for me,” Awudu recalled. He earned his PhD from North Dakota State University and joined Quinnipiac in the School of Business in 2014 and was instrumental in developing the BS in supply chain management. Outside the classroom, Awudu serves as the Muslim religious life coordinator at QU, conducting weekly prayer services, advising Muslim students and leading several interfaith programs. He also provides insight to social work and medical students on how to care for Muslim patients. “The little I have, I give,” Awudu said. “When all is said and done, I want students to be better than me.” —Adam Durso

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HOLD YOUR WEAPONS! Gun safety and freedoms can co-exist with some policy changes BY ADAM DURSO PHOTO AUTUMN DRISCOLL

For decades, gun regulation has been one of America’s most divisive and hotly debated issues, deadlocking proponents of public safety with those who wish to protect personal liberty. Economist and Yale law professor Ian Ayres thinks the key to breaking this ideological stalemate and curtailing gun violence is not to restrict individual rights and liberties, but to expand them. “Freedom-enhancing gun regulation is not an oxymoron,” said Ayres. “Libertarian ideals give us another way to frame the issue.” In his 2020 book, “Weapon of Choice: Fighting Gun Violence While Respecting Gun Rights,” Ayres and co-author Frederick Vars, a University of Alabama law professor, propose 10 ideas that expand personal freedom and, in doing so, make significant progress on gun safety. These ideas provided the framework for the Quinnipiac School of Law’s virtual symposium, “Guns and Freedom,” at which Ayres and Vars spoke on Nov. 13. Jennifer Gerarda Brown, dean of the School of Law, said the event illustrated the polarization between advocates who call for greater “safety” and those who purport to defend “freedom.” “This symposium shows us that this dichotomy is a false one, as it examines policy changes that can promote both safety and freedom,” she said. Brown is married to Ayres. The symposium’s nine panelists represented the fields of law, public health and behavioral science. They focused on the three main principles outlined in Ayres’ book, which are empowering self-restriction of gun rights; harnessing associational preferences; and harnessing others’ information. According to Ayres, the proposals highlighted within those categories make Americans’ rights “contend with one another,” counterbalancing those ensured by the Second Amendment with less controversial ones. “One way of thinking is that they give people better control over, and more support for, their other constitutional rights,” he said. Suicide prevention is a large aim of empowering self-restriction, as 60% of America’s gun fatalities are suicides. Ayres thinks current measures don’t do enough to acknowledge and address this fact. “High-capacity magazine prohibition isn’t going to have an effect on gun suicide,” he said. What will have a positive effect, according to Ayres and Vars, is Donna’s Law—proposed legislation that aims to reduce gun deaths by allowing people in distress to suspend their own constitutional right to purchase a firearm. They do this by adding their name to the FBI’s background check system, preventing gun dealers from allowing them to purchase a firearm.

News The law is named after Donna Nathan, a Louisiana woman who took her own life with a firearm in 2018 after a years-long battle with mental illness. According to Ayres, nationwide surveys have revealed bipartisan support for the measure. The legislation has been introduced in 11 states and will be introduced in Connecticut this year. “One of its great advantages is that it is rhetorically disarming,” said Ayres. “Why shouldn’t people, especially those who are mentally ill, have the right to self-restrict?” Harnessing associational preferences includes an expansion of Americans’ property rights to allow homeowners and landlords to prohibit people—acquaintances, tradespeople, renters, etc.—from bringing guns onto their properties. Ayres extends this idea to the First Amendment right of peaceable assembly, giving people the option to restrict firearms at demonstrations, marches or other events they organize. “The presumptions here are that people must ask for explicit permission to bring arms onto someone’s property or to a rally,” he said. The final category, harnessing others’ information, included bolstering red flag laws. Currently, only family members and police may petition courts to order the temporary removal of firearms from a person who may present a danger to others or themselves. Ayres believes in expanding this list to include neighbors, landlords and colleagues.

Yale Law Professor Ian Ayres discussed his book, ”Weapon of Choice: Fighting Gun Violence While Respecting Gun Rights,” at a QU symposium. Learn more about the program and speakers and watch the recordings at qu.edu/gunsfreedom

“These people often suffer paranoid delusions, threatening hallucinations or other strong indicators of dangerousness, and laypeople definitely can be trained to spot them,” he said. Ayres also suggests the creation of unlawful firearm petitions, which would particularly benefit people who live in fear of violent reprisal from someone they know who owns a gun illegally. He views such petitions as the natural “cousins” of domestic violence protection orders. “We want to give people increased rights to protect themselves,” he noted. As far as widespread acceptance for his proposals, Ayres is pragmatic but hopeful. None interfere with open carry, or concealed carry laws in any given state. Another advantage, he said, is that they are decentralized and modular, meaning that states can pick and choose which ones they want to support. “We don’t claim that everyone will support these ideas, but if we could get between 30-40% of people to start, it would be enough to make progress and save hundreds of lives every year.” QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

FACULTY PROFILE

PERSPECTIVE

STUDENT SUCCESS MAKES HIM HAPPY

Photo Autumn Driscoll

QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

HOLD YOUR WEAPONS! Gun safety and freedoms can co-exist with some policy changes BY ADAM DURSO PHOTO AUTUMN DRISCOLL

HONORING OUR OWN

News

ALUMNI DESCRIBE CLIMB TO TOP School of Communications marks 20th anniversary with Hall of Fame class BY BRIAN KOONZ

Molly Qerim Rose, MS ’08, on the set of ”First Take” with her Hall of Fame plaque.

Long before molly qerim rose hosted “First Take” on ESPN, or Jeffrey Chernov earned his first executive producer credit, or David Rabinowitz grasped an Oscar statue, they were students at Quinnipiac. Unlike TV or the movies, there are no dress rehearsals for real life, they said last fall during a webinar where they shared memories of incremental jobs and exponential commitment to their work. To mark its 20th anniversary, the School of Communications inducted Chernov ’74, Qerim Rose, MS ’08, and Rabinowitz ’09 as the first three members of its Hall of Fame.

Dean Chris Roush, who arrived at Quinnipiac about 18 months ago, is well versed in the school’s history of success. He’s eager to advance that work with recent innovations, such as the graduate program in cinematic production management and the new Quinnipiac University Podcast Studio in the School of Communications. “This anniversary is a celebration of the past, present and future of the school,” Roush said. “I’m honored to be a part of this 12

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school and honored that we have three distinguished alumni who are the first inductees into our Hall of Fame. They are the giants that our current students and recent alumni look up to.” The Emmy Award-winning Qerim Rose, who has worked as a reporter, host and sports anchor, covered mixed martial arts, college sports, the NFL and more before earning the center seat on “First Take.” She was introduced on the webinar by Molly Yanity, associate professor of journalism. Before Qerim Rose climbed the ladder at ESPN and CBS, she interned for Conan O’Brien and slept in a bunk bed in a New York City sublet. She quickly learned that $3,000 in savings doesn’t last long in the nation’s No. 1 media market, so she moved back to Connecticut and enrolled in the graduate journalism program. “I truly thrived at Quinnipiac. The classes were small, and it was really personalized attention. I got to focus on my writing, and that was so important,” Qerim Rose said. “Writing is imperative in my career now. I write the show every morning for ‘First Take.’ The facilities at Quinnipiac were also exceptional. Having the ability to write my own copy, shoot my own packages and edit my packages, I learned every step of the process.” It was exactly that versatility, Qerim Rose said, that helped her advance in network TV before landing on “First Take.” But that doesn’t make her work any less demanding. “It’s definitely a 24-hour, 365-day job. There’s no going home from work and your day is done,” she said. “You’re constantly watching games and keeping up with the news cycle. You’re always on in that sense. It was extremely challenging my first 10 years in the business, but similar to a quarterback, the game starts to slow down a bit and you get better and better at it.” For Chernov, acting in plays at Quinnipiac exposed him to the magical storytelling of human performances. Before he worked on the 2018 blockbuster “Black Panther” and the Star Trek franchise in Hollywood, Chernov played Curley in “Of Mice and Men” in college. “It just touched a creative side of me,” said Chernov, who was introduced by Raymond Foery, professor emeritus. “But Quinnipiac really opened my eyes to the cinema, and then I started connecting with that.” Nearly a half-century later, Chernov is one of the most respected minds in the movie business. As a line producer, he oversees the execution of big-budget films. He’s responsible for making sure the movie finishes on time and on budget, two of the tallest orders in Hollywood. “I’m the physical nuts and bolts of the process. I’m in charge of the mechanics of making a movie,” Chernov said. “My job is to help make the script better and tell the best story I can.” Rabinowitz, who won an Oscar in 2019 as part of the “BlacKkKlansman” screenwriting team, was introduced by Fritz Staudmyer, assistant professor of film, television and media arts. Rabinowitz said before any measure of success can be achieved, failure builds the foundation that is often required. “Writing is about failing. You’re just failing all the time,” Rabinowitz said. “But you learn from your failures, and you make whatever you’re writing better and better. That was something that I learned at school.” It’s also something he’s never forgotten. “We were doing all these projects, and a lot of them didn’t turn out as well as I wanted,” he said. “I learned to ask myself, ‘What could I have done better?’ It gradually gets better and better. You have to be OK with failure and the process. The main thing is that you’re learning from it.”

I N N OVAT I O N

SCREEN TEST Zoom carts, technology connect on-ground, virtual instruction BY BRIAN KOONZ P H OTO DA N PA S SA P E R A

Provost debra liebowitz is hopeful, even optimistic, about the Spring 2021 semester. After a sweeping review of the academic schedule, Quinnipiac will offer students more than a 150 percent increase in the number of on-ground instructional minutes this spring compared to last fall. But this outcome didn’t happen overnight. Last summer, university leaders confronted the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic: How do you adjust to the real world in real time? How do you teach remote students who live across the country and around the world? More importantly, how do you keep everyone safe? The answer was to leverage technology as an educational asset, but not a replacement for the student-teacher connections Quinnipiac has always enjoyed. Although Zoom provided a new platform for virtual instruction, QU took it a step further with the creation of interactive Zoom carts. Unlike traditional audiovisual carts, Zoom carts are smartly equipped with dual screens—one screen that shows the onground classroom while the other shows the virtual classroom. Together, students and faculty can share content, deliver presentations and interact synchronously during class. “There was a real thoughtfulness about investing in technology and being bold and doing things differently,” Liebowitz said. “We’re very fortunate to have an IT team at the top of its game that could manifest that vision building our Zoom carts, testing the technology and making the Zoom carts available in 225 learning spaces.” From Fred Tarca, vice president and chief information and technology officer, to Lauren Erardi, director of academic technology—and countless others in the Office of Information Services—the pivot to Zoom-assisted instruction became a reality last August. Liebowitz also credited faculty for learning how to use Zoom’s features and Zoom carts before the fall semester. She said more than 800 faculty enrolled in a two-week boot camp last summer. Many others participated in hour-long webinars to learn new Zoom skills. “All of those things are really impressive and speak to the agility of the institution,” Liebowitz said. “We know there are still going to be issues along the way, but our collective commitment will continue to carry us forward.” Cindy Kern, assistant teaching professor of science education and director of the Quinnipiac University Science Teaching and Learning Center, said the Zoom technology was launched effectively, but more research needs to be done with pedagogy, modality and how students learn. “At the university level, people worked incredibly hard to make sure we had the resources and time to engage and

learn about Zoom carts,” said Kern, an expert in designing online learning environments. At the faculty level, Kern said, she looks forward to engaging with colleagues in more collaborative and purposeful ways with Zoom. “It would be nice to share more ideas with each other: ‘I want to be able to do A, B and C with my students. Does anybody have any ideas?’” Kern said. Other faculty members have already worked together to refine teaching strategies and best practices, Liebowitz said. Over the semester break, the IT team upgraded the sound systems and microphones in 40 learning spaces, she added. “We’re learning from students and faculty some of what people think has worked and some of what they wish would change,” Liebowitz said. “This technology—and we’ve really just started tapping into it—can help people do really cool things. I’ve talked to people who are developing partnerships with folks at other universities and other parts of the world.” Stephen Straub, professor of athletic training and sports medicine, said the Zoom technology worked especially well for his students with clinical affiliations. Instead of taking an independent study class, these students attended class from Colorado, the Chicago area and Wyoming. “I’m coming into the spring semester excited and feeling much more confident about using this technology,” said Straub, who also serves as chair of rehabilitation, health and wellness, and director of athletic training. “I see the rainbow at the end of this big [COVID-19] storm.” Zoom officials published a case study on Quinnipiac’s integration of Zoom carts with Zoom technology to develop the Q-Flex hybrid learning model. The authors cited QU’s efforts as a leading practice in higher education. Zoom also invited Quinnipiac to present at its annual conference. “Without question, the future is now,” Liebowitz said. “But we’re trying to be really strategic about how we use this technology to enhance learning and outcomes. Not everything is going to change, but there are definitely pieces of this technology that are super exciting. We’re standing on tectonic plates right now as they shift.”

A student in Peter Sumby’s Projects in Multicamera Production class engages with a guest speaker via a Zoom cart. Sumby is director of operations for the School of Communications.

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HONORING OUR OWN

News

ALUMNI DESCRIBE CLIMB TO TOP School of Communications marks 20th anniversary with Hall of Fame class BY BRIAN KOONZ

Molly Qerim Rose, MS ’08, on the set of ”First Take” with her Hall of Fame plaque.

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I N N OVAT I O N

SCREEN TEST Zoom carts, technology connect on-ground, virtual instruction BY BRIAN KOONZ P H OTO DA N PA S SA P E R A

A student in Peter Sumby’s Projects in Multicamera Production class engages with a guest speaker via a Zoom cart. Sumby is director of operations for the School of Communications.

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/ Sports

SPORTS STREAM

FINDING PURPOSE IN A PANDEMIC

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Women’s Ice Hockey TURNER GETS 100TH WIN

Head coach Cass Turner earned her 100th career victory Dec. 13 with a 6–1 victory over Sacred Heart. Quinnipiac took 68 shots in the game, the most by the Bobcats since the 2015–16 season. Heading into the new year, Turner led QU to a No. 10 national ranking in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine College Hockey Poll. The Bobcats will play an abbreviated 12-game ECAC Hockey schedule in 2021.

Men’s Ice Hockey PLAYERS TO WATCH

Three men’s ice hockey players were named to Sports Illustrated’s list of “The Top 100 NCAA Players to Watch in 2020–21.” The November rankings included first-year forward Ty Smilanic at No. 19, junior defenseman Peter DiLiberatore at No. 31 and senior goalie Keith Petruzzelli at No. 96. The Bobcats were ranked as high as No. 10 nationally in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine College Hockey Poll in December.

Photo Autumn Driscoll

Last fall was supposed to align perfectly for Jared Mazzola ’21. As one of the top goalkeepers in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Mazzola was eager to compete for a championship with the Quinnipiac men’s soccer team, and just maybe, score a professional contract. But when a global pandemic shut down everything last March, Mazzola was forced to divert his dream. Suddenly, the itinerary he had followed his whole life was slipping through his fingers like water under a faucet. After last spring’s quarantine and a soccer-less summer, Mazzola returned to QU in the fall to find empty stands and an empty schedule. The Bobcats trained in pods five days a week, but there were no games, no MAAC tournament and certainly no fans. “I could say that I feel cheated and this is my senior year, but that doesn’t make any sense,” said Mazzola, who started every game as a junior and finished with a 1.38 goals-against average and three shutouts. “When so many people have lost their lives and their jobs and their businesses, it puts everything else into perspective.” During the early wave of the pandemic, Mazzola’s father, James, lost his copywriting job for a New York City ad agency. Over quarantine, he and Mazzola’s younger brother, Evan, rebuilt a 1947 Chevy pickup truck. These days, James Mazzola has made auto restoration his full-time business. “My dad is living out his dream now. That’s how I want to be,” Mazzola said. “He’s building engines, making noise, building hot rods. My mother is a real estate agent. She’s killing it, too, but she’s never worked harder in her life. I’m blessed to have my parents as role models because they taught me how to act properly right now.” Mazzola, a criminal justice major and a member of the MAAC’s All-Academic Team, hasn’t played a game in more than a year. His last outing was Nov. 14, 2019, a 2–1 loss to Iona in the MAAC semifinals. Despite the outcome, Mazzola longs for the intensity of

Division I teams pushing him to react faster and bolder. He won’t have to wait much longer. Recently, the MAAC Council of Presidents approved a conference-only schedule this spring for fall sports. Men’s soccer will begin play March 11, and the MAAC tournament will be held April 11, 14 and 17 at the higher seeds. “Not being able to play for this long is probably the biggest test I’ve had mentally,” Mazzola said. “It’s easy to sit back in quarantine, whether you’re at home or school, because you can’t go

anywhere. But showing up every day and doing something—even just showing up to class and turning on your camera—that’s holding yourself accountable.” Ultimately, last fall challenged everyone on the team. Although workouts began safely in pods, by the middle of the semester, several Bobcats tested positive for COVID-19. The program quickly shut down, and everyone quarantined for two weeks to limit the infections. Still, several of Mazzola’s friends at other college programs never had a

chance to train together last fall. Through it all, Mazzola has learned to defuse each disappointment and stay focused. It was no different last summer at Mazzola’s home in Katonah, New York. With a roster spot on a Major League Soccer U-23 team waiting, June and July were supposed to be the next stops on his dream itinerary. Of course, COVID-19 took that opportunity, too. “I was so excited, but then it didn’t happen,” said Mazzola, who credits his older brother, Aaron, for introducing him to the sport they

love. “One day, I was sitting on the couch watching TV and my mom was like, ‘OK, what are you going to do about it? Are you just going to sit there and eat potato chips?’ She let me have it. I had been working out three times a day, every day, and I was as fit as I’ve ever been. I still work out like that.” The Quinnipiac coaches call it ready-to-play shape, not gettingready-to-play shape. Mazzola knows it’s a huge difference—not just physically, but also mentally. “I’m one of the veteran guys on the team, so I try to be like

a beacon of relatability,” said Mazzola, adding that success doesn’t come as quickly as many new players would like. Sometimes, the most important skill a player has to learn is patience. “I’ve been in everyone’s shoes. I didn’t play my first year. Then I was a cocky [jerk] and just mean,“ he said. “You go through these phases as a player and COVID has just amplified it. I’ve been there. I know how it feels. We all have to look out for each other, especially now.” —Brian Koonz

Basketball MAAC HONORS

The men’s and women’s basketball programs each placed two student-athletes on the 2020–21 All-MAAC preseason teams. On the men’s side, junior guard Tyrese Williams was named to the second team and senior forward Jacob Rigoni was named to the third team. On the women’s side, senior guard Shaq Edwards and sophomore forward Mikala Morris, above, each were named to the second team. Both QU programs will play a 20-game MAAC schedule this season. QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

/ Sports

SPORTS STREAM

FINDING PURPOSE IN A PANDEMIC

QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

Women’s Ice Hockey TURNER GETS 100TH WIN

Men’s Ice Hockey PLAYERS TO WATCH

Photo Autumn Driscoll

Basketball MAAC HONORS

CONVERSATIONS AT THE CROSSROADS BY BRIAN KOONZ PHOTOS AUTUMN DRISCOLL

Don Sawyer leading university’s initiatives toward racial equity The corner of 132nd Street and Madison Avenue in East Harlem will always be a crossroads for Don Sawyer. There’s no special street sign or bronze plaque embedded in the sidewalk, but that doesn’t change anything. Before he was Don C. Sawyer III, PhD, vice president for equity and inclusion at Quinnipiac, he was Donny at the Abraham Lincoln Houses, a sprawling public housing complex with 14 brick towers and nearly 1,300 apartments. He was the kid with good grades, good parents and a mind agile enough to see

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CONVERSATIONS AT THE CROSSROADS BY BRIAN KOONZ PHOTOS AUTUMN DRISCOLL

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beyond the spent coffee cups and cigarettes rushing toward storm drains on rainy walks to school. He was the kid whose “Granny” leaned out a bedroom window on the 12th floor to call him for dinner. Never mind that Sawyer, the 5-foot-8 playground hero who could dunk, was having the game of his life. This was a nonnegotiable invitation. Every time. So while Sawyer’s road to Quinnipiac certainly wasn’t paved with gold, it most certainly was paved with promise. As the first of Lenore and Donald Sawyer Jr.’s two sons, he was the gift with no instruction manual for a couple who fell in love as teenagers. The Sawyers built their family inside a two-bedroom apartment with one postulate: Education equals opportunity. Today, as chief diversity officer and a member of the president’s management committee at Quinnipiac, Sawyer unpacks complex social issues with an illuminating depth of scholarship, purpose and understanding. And yet, for a long time, Sawyer was reluctant to do this work. “There was a point in my career when I said I’d never be a chief diversity officer because I was very aware of the fact it’s easy to get pigeon-holed into diversity work as a Black professional,” Sawyer said. “It’s easy to get to a place where people assume just because you’re Black, you’re automatically an expert on race and race relations. There’s an assumption that’s all you know.” Quinnipiac is not one of those places. Sawyer is valued as an inspiring academic and innovative leader, someone who breaks down barriers, walls and silos. Because of his background, because of his credentials, Sawyer talks to everyone—and talks down to no one. These are the qualities President Judy Olian valued last summer when she charged Sawyer with directing “Quinnipiac’s Actions to Advance Racial Justice,” a 10-point plan to address bias and racism on campus and to expand faculty, student and staff diversity. Sawyer is working closely with Khalilah Brown-Dean, associate professor of political science and the senior director for inclusive excellence, on this sweeping initiative. For Sawyer, the role marks his latest opportunity to pay it forward. He is here today because others saw a light in him, the same way Olian did. Sawyer grew up in a neighborhood where drug dealers were squatters on street corners. Their shiny, seductive needles—like so many lives rich with potential—were simply thrown away. Drug addicts were expendable, or worse, the collateral damage of color. Other times, the lush years of youth were lost forever in a school-to-prison pipeline that still has an open spigot for Black kids. “I got lucky,” Sawyer said, his admission and humility lingering for a moment. “Some of the most marginalized people in my community growing up—people who served time in prison, people who sold drugs, people who were in gangs—those were the same people who protected me. Those were the same people who said I couldn’t do what they were doing, and if they saw me doing it, there was going to be a problem.” There was also going to be a problem if Sawyer didn’t hit the books and do well in his classes. “He probably felt we were hard on him. Even in the summer, we had him reading and studying,” said Lenore Sawyer, standing with her husband in a courtyard near the same apartment building where they have always lived. “We didn’t want Donny and his brother, Jermaine, to become a statistic. Too many of our African American sons and daughters are statistics.” 18

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Of course, Quinnipiac is not East Harlem or the Bronx in the 1970s, when benign neglect and municipal disinvestment gutted neighborhoods and disproportionately affected people of color. But nearly a half-century later, systemic racism, social injustice and oppression are unresolved issues in a bifurcated America. A FOUNDATION FOR CHANGE As of early December, 209 Black people in the United States—including Breonna Taylor of Louisville—had been shot and killed by police in 2020, according to a database built by The Washington Post. Excluded from these numbers are the Black people who suffered violent deaths that were not police shootings. These victims include George Floyd of Minneapolis, Ahmaud Arbery of Georgia and many others. Outrage over these deaths hit a tipping point last May when Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police in a videotaped incident. Within hours, Floyd’s public death energized the Black Lives Matter movement and fueled protests around the world. His name became a catalyst for deeper conversations about the historic injustices suffered by Black people in the United States, from mass incarceration and police brutality to poverty and slavery. These same, introspective conversations—uncomfortable, unvarnished and overdue—took place on college campuses all across America for months. They became a social and cultural syllabus for higher education, a space for students, faculty, staff and administrators to share a mirror. And a purpose. During this time, Quinnipiac held several programs dedicated to learning about racism, bias and racial injustice. One such program, “Why Black Lives Matter: A Look at Systemic Racism and Accountability,” was presented in June by the Black Law Students Association. In July, a panel of journalists discussed “Race, and Racism, in the Media.” In October, Floyd’s aunt and uncle, Angela Harrelson and Selwyn Jones, addressed nearly 450 viewers during their

webinar titled, “Black Lives and the Legacy of George Floyd.” Transformative change at Quinnipiac was underway well before last year’s racial reckoning erupted. From the start of her administration in July 2018, Olian made it her mission to build an inclusive, excellence-driven community. This moral mandate became the second pillar of the university’s four-pillar strategic plan, which was unveiled in May 2019 after input from all corners of the university community. She has not capitulated on that message.

Esau Greene ‘21, center, makes

Michael Robinson gives Duchaine

a point to Don C. Sawyer III

Augustin ‘20 a haircut during a taping

during a taping of ”The Cut,”

of “The Cut” in January 2020. The new

a new video series that gives

video series is based on the neighborhood

Black students a safe place to

barbershop serving as a town square in

have candid conversations.

the Black community. Watch this and all episodes of ”The Cut” at qu.edu/thecut

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QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

Esau Greene ‘21, center, makes

Michael Robinson gives Duchaine

a point to Don C. Sawyer III

Augustin ‘20 a haircut during a taping

during a taping of ”The Cut,”

of “The Cut” in January 2020. The new

a new video series that gives

video series is based on the neighborhood

Black students a safe place to

barbershop serving as a town square in

have candid conversations.

the Black community. Watch this and all episodes of ”The Cut” at qu.edu/thecut

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“I believe access to education is a human right. I know there is tremendous inequality to that access—and I want to right that,” Olian said. “I want us to be a culture that enables each and every one of us to thrive, each and every one of us to develop the unique talents and skills we bring to the world.” Since her arrival, Olian has worked hard to make a Quinnipiac education more accessible to Black students, Indigenous students and students of color in fundamental, even life-changing ways. In October 2019, the university partnered with New Haven Promise to offer accepted students from New Haven Public Schools at least $25,000 in institutional aid and a work-study job on campus. Also in 2019, QU signed seamless transfer agreements with Connecticut community colleges in Bridgeport, New Haven and Norwalk. Students who graduate with a 3.0 GPA or higher are guaranteed admission

Above: Khalilah Brown-Dean, associate professor of political science and senior director for inclusive excellence, partnered with local DJs to entertain voters waiting in line on Election Day.

Left: Olamide Gbotosho ’21, a management major and senior class president, has been an active leader in student government at Quinnipiac.

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into a bachelor’s degree program as a junior. But inclusive excellence is more than just attracting diverse students with new perspectives and new ideas. It’s about building and sustaining a culture at Quinnipiac where all students, faculty and staff feel engaged and empowered to succeed without obstruction. And it extends beyond race, color and ethnicity to include age, gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, immigration status and the protections afforded by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Visibility is critical to this work, Sawyer said. Inclusive excellence can’t succeed without it. Last January, Sawyer was part of a team that began taping a new video series, “The Cut.” The show is based on the local barbershop serving as a town square in the Black community. It’s a safe place for unfiltered discussions about politics, racism, hypermasculinity, criminal justice reform and other issues. Daymyen Layne, director of multicultural education and training, also played an important role in the show’s development. The series was modeled after “Barbershop Debates,” a project started by Jay Kemp of New Haven, one of Sawyer’s colleagues. “If I see a bunch of students who look like me, who are talking about things I care about, that’s huge,” said Esau Greene ’21, the student host of “The Cut” and a dual major in sociology and political science. “We’re trying to create a level of authenticity with this, a real connection with other students of color at Quinnipiac.”

TRANSPARENT PROGRESS In a November webinar to update the Quinnipiac community on the 10-point plan, Sawyer and Brown-Dean spoke of meaningful progress and measurable goals. While Sawyer and Brown-Dean recognize the enormity of the task ahead, they are also hopeful about the future. Visit qu.edu/10-point-plan to see the goals. Under Olian’s leadership, Quinnipiac has elected to confront bias and racism rather than ignore it or hope it resolves itself. Past examples of racism and oppression at Quinnipiac—epithets aimed at Black students, a lack of tenured professors of color, particularly women—are never forgotten. Nor should they be, Sawyer and Brown-Dean said. “As we talk about this process we’ve engaged in as an institution, part of it is ensuring that we are honest about the process—being honest about what we didn’t do, the areas that we let lapse, the areas that went unattended,” Sawyer said during the webinar. “We need to be honest about that—not hiding from it, not running from it, not trying to sweep it under the carpet, but dealing with it and sitting with it.” Brown-Dean, who has emerged as one of Quinnipiac’s most visible and vocal champions of this change, struck a chord of clarity in her webinar remarks. Ambiguity and mixed messages don’t transform a culture. That process must start at the top. A 10-point plan that holds the university accountable serves as the social scaffolding, the ladder for upward mobility and equity for all. “Statements are wonderful. Action is necessary,” BrownDean said. “So any time you see a statement being issued on behalf of the university coming out of the auspices of this work, it means there is already action taking place and already commitments being made.” On Election Day, it wasn’t enough for Brown-Dean to encourage students to vote. Instead, she partnered with local DJs to play music and entertain voters waiting in long lines in Hamden and New Haven. Her call to action: Engage, participate, change your community. It’s a simple, yet forceful strategy that works on the municipal level as well as the campus level. “For us to be successful, we have to be action-oriented and consistent in all that we do,” Sawyer said. “We can’t only be motivated by troubling instances that take place on our campus, in our nation or across the globe. There are times when we will need to react, but we must focus our need to be proactive in developing initiatives to improve our institution.” Among the initiatives in the 10-point plan is an Inclusive Excellence Teaching Lab. This spring, Inclusive Excellence Transformation Grants will be awarded to five faculty members who are committed to developing courses and/or curricular opportunities this summer to explore equity, diversity and inclusion. Another measure in the 10-point plan is the Path to Full Initiative, which was created to address the lack of diversity among full professors. This trend is not unique to Quinnipiac, however. A Pew Research Center study concluded that 19% of full professors in America are non-white compared to 27% of assistant professors. The university also has revised its bias reporting system to make it more transparent, efficient and accessible. In addition, officials are working with the Akomawt Educational Initiative to develop a land acknowledgment statement and recognize the Indigenous people who are the namesake of Quinnipiac. “There are areas in which we are doing well, and there are others where we need to expand and strengthen our practices,” Sawyer explained. “We will not get it right all of the time, but we are committed to doing—and being—better.” QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

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Above: Khalilah Brown-Dean, associate professor of political science and senior director for inclusive excellence, partnered with local DJs to entertain voters waiting in line on Election Day.

Left: Olamide Gbotosho ’21, a management major and senior class president, has been an active leader in student government at Quinnipiac.

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FROM POLICE OFFICER TO PROFESSOR Before he became an assistant professor of criminal justice at Quinnipiac, Kalfani Turè spent five years as a police officer in metropolitan Atlanta. As an urban ethnographer, someone who studies life and culture in urban areas, Turè wanted more than just a window seat to the criminal justice system. He wanted to learn about policing from a position of power. “If I really wanted to study policing and its relationship to crime and place, I really needed to experience it,” Turè said. “I grew up in Newark, New Jersey, a city that’s known for crime— violent crime, deep structural inequality. A lot of marginal citizens locate themselves in urban areas and become disproportionately affected by policing.” When those social fissures become violent gashes and spread across the nation, the result is the racial reckoning America experienced last summer, Turè explained. Based on his experience as a police officer and years of research as an academic—Turè earned his PhD from American University—it became clear to him that social change can only happen with social engagement across all groups. “People have to come together. They need to understand each other and respect each other,” Turè said. “But you can’t expect that to happen in a hyper-racialized and bifurcated society. When you have the police shootings we’ve had in this country— and not just the high-profile ones you see on TV—we have to own it. It’s everyone’s problem.” Turè sees Quinnipiac as a transformative place for racial healing. He said the university’s new policies are an important first step to achieving equity and inclusion on campus—and beyond. “We need to atone. We need to stop hiding from our sins and start leading the change,” he said. “Quinnipiac is our citadel on the hill—not just for our students, but for the Greater New Haven community. We can scale down law enforcement in America if we scale up our citadels.”

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WORKING FOR JUSTICE Last June, in the heat of national protests, a group of Quinnipiac students launched “Bobcats for Justice” on Instagram. The account offers a safe space for Black and other marginalized people to share stories of racism, bias, discrimination and oppression. The narratives are raw, unsettling and brave. As one anonymous poster wrote, “Been told that someone ‘likes light skins because they’re not fully Black and that makes them more attractive’ and that they could ‘never bring a Black person home to their families.’” For Olamide Gbotosho ’21, a management major and senior class president, none of the more than 50 posts in “Bobcats for Justice” come as a surprise. “My parents always taught me to be a leader, not a follower. They instilled that in me and my siblings from a very young age,” said Gbotosho, who is Black. “Once I got to Quinnipiac, I felt like student government was the best way to achieve that. Campaigning face-to-face was very difficult for me as a [first-year] because people actually told me, ‘I don’t want to vote for you because of your skin color.’ But that didn’t stop me from running.” Student government is one place where change is happening. The classroom must be another. The 10-point plan to advance racial justice also demands a curriculum review “to increase learning about the roots and contemporary manifestations of social injustice, privilege, oppression and the drivers of social change.” Hillary Haldane, an anthropology professor and director of general education, has conducted reviews of the University Curriculum for years. To satisfy the UC requirement, undergraduates must earn 46 credits in the social sciences, natural sciences, humanities and fine arts to finish their degrees. But with a student body that is 74.1 percent white and a full-time faculty that is 80.4 percent white, the challenge then becomes presenting diverse views from diverse populations. The conversations, the classes, they all need to be reset and recalculated, Haldane said. While 9.2 percent of QU students identify as Hispanic, only 5 percent identify as Black, 4.1 percent as Asian, 1.7 percent as undocumented and 0.1 percent as Native American. “How do you achieve a vision of global education with predominantly white students and a predominantly white faculty?” said Haldane, who is white. “That’s something people have always asked of Quinnipiac. But the energy around it now is much more explicit, which is terrific. I’ve definitely seen change in terms of more pronounced and visible questioning, and people really wanting to do this work.” Haldane understands the process will be long, arduous and complicated. But the healing can’t happen without acknowledging the hurt. “As a community, we’re still trying to figure out how to deliver on the promise of equity and inclusion,” Haldane said. “The reality is, we’re living in a society that’s incredibly racist. The university isn’t hermetically sealed from the culture it exists in. But we’ve started the process and shown a real commitment to doing what we can to become a transformative force.” Before you can realize inclusive excellence, Haldane said, you need access to education. You also need access to an environment that welcomes you, not repels you. “Every classroom on this campus, regardless of what you’re teaching—it could be microbiology, it could be civil engineer-

ing—needs to be accessible to all students,” Haldane said. “Really, the question then becomes, ‘Is your classroom a place where any student of any background, of any social location, can honestly see themself in that class?’ That’s the goal here.” SOMETIMES, THE JOB FINDS YOU Back in East Harlem, as Sawyer stands at the corner of 132nd Street and 5th Avenue, he points to a row of businesses—a commercial coffin, really—long since shuttered and abandoned. Steel roll-up doors hide the grocery store, the barbershop, the Chinese food place and the chicken joint that used to serve Sawyer’s neighborhood. “Now, if people want to go to the store, they have to walk five blocks,” Sawyer said, shaking his head. “A lot’s changed, man.” In a different time, in a different city, Sawyer might’ve been the kid with a New Haven Promise scholarship. But here, his routine was going straight home after school. Forget about taking the 2 train out of 135th Street. Education was the ticket to opportunity—or at least, a fighting shot at it. “Harlem is a part of me. The projects shaped who I am today. You can’t just separate that part of my identity,”

Suddenly, Sawyer found himself at a career crossroads. He had the transcript and the scholarship to work as a chief diversity officer in higher education, but he didn’t want to feel pigeon-holed. Sawyer saw himself as a professor devoted to his teaching and his research. He has always made partnering with local communities a priority for his work. So when Mark Thompson, the former executive vice president and provost, approached Sawyer in 2018 to serve as Quinnipiac’s chief diversity officer on an interim basis, Sawyer listened and thought about the role differently this time. He framed it as a learning opportunity, a chance to give back to the university, even though he had just earned tenure as an associate professor of sociology. And then, Sawyer took the job and made it his own. A few months later, Thompson came back to Sawyer and asked if he planned to apply for the permanent CDO position. Sawyer said he wasn’t sure. He wanted to talk with Olian, the new president, before he committed. “We had a conversation about her vision and my vision and what I believed this work could be,” Sawyer said, recalling a meeting that took place two years before Floyd’s

In November, Don C. Sawyer III walked around the Abraham Lincoln Houses with his parents. It was the perfect fall day to tell stories, laugh from the heart and reflect on a family’s blessings. Sawyer’s mother, Lenore, and his father, Donald Jr., talked about how proud they were of their son, the Quinnipiac University scholar. Sadly, on Dec. 13, Donald Sawyer Jr. died from COVID-related complications.

Sawyer said. “I come back here because it’s home. It’s where I grew up and made friends and learned about life.” The joke used to be that Reggie Jackson, the former New York Yankees slugger, hit home runs so far that the ball cleared the Harlem River and bounced down 5th Avenue. Jackson ended his career with 563 home runs, but none ever quite lived up to that mythology. Sawyer still laughs a little when he tells that story. While there is loss at the Abraham Lincoln Houses, there’s also hope infused with the memory of Donny Sawyer studying in the summertime, turning the page on his future. Back then, a college degree was the destination, never mind a PhD. But as Sawyer climbed the academic ladder, standing on the shoulders of the marginalized, he checked every last box—a bachelor’s degree from Hartwick College, followed by two graduate degrees and a PhD from Syracuse University.

death. “Diversity isn’t all that I know. Judy knows that. She’s given me opportunities to grow and develop my skill set in other areas. It’s important to have a mentor and a sponsor like her in these spaces. I’m grateful for Judy’s help. It doesn’t matter if we share the same racial identity. We share the same vision.” In the tempest of social injustice and a global pandemic, Sawyer continues to evolve as a leader, scholar and executive. But it wasn’t always that way for the East Harlem kid with a book in his hands and a dream in his heart. “People assume, ‘Oh, you’re a VP. You’re a professor. You were born into that.’ No, I was not born into this position,” Sawyer said. “I lived in the same place with the same people that society marginalizes and silences and pushes to the side. They’re the people who protected me. They’re the ones who gave me this chance.” QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

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FOREFRONT

THE DOCTOR WILL SEE YOU NOW

BY J A N E T WA L D M A N PHOTOS BY AUTUMN DRISCOLL I L LU ST R AT I O N S BY PAU L B LOW

QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

School of Nursing course fills void in telehealth training The fictional Marcus Welby, MD, made house calls to patients too sick to see him in the office in the popular ’60s TV show by the same name. House calls are making a comeback—owing to the intersection of COVID-19 and technology—but patients are clicking video links rather than answering doorbells to see their doctors and other health care providers. It’s telehealth, or telemed, and while it’s been around a number of years, it mostly was available through companies like Teladoc Health and Doctor on Demand. Such companies offer an affordable and convenient way to obtain a diagnosis and a prescription for conditions—such as sinus infections—that don’t require hands-on exams. The pandemic has broadened telehealth’s appeal and reach. Patients and private practice health care providers alike have embraced it as an alternative to a crowded waiting room or urgent care setting where the risks of COVID exposure still linger. It served to keep doctors and patients safe and preserve personal protective equipment. And, insurance companies and Medicare began covering the cost of the visits. Consequently, many health care professionals wished to climb on board, but lacked training regarding telehealth’s policies, practices and protocols, according to Lisa Rebeschi, associate dean of the School of Nursing. Preparing software to enable doctor-patient video calls was just the first step. The School of Nursing promptly stepped into the vacuum to educate them in real time. “At the start of the pandemic, our leadership team quickly identified the need to address the gaps in knowledge, skill QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

FOREFRONT

THE DOCTOR WILL SEE YOU NOW

BY J A N E T WA L D M A N PHOTOS BY AUTUMN DRISCOLL I L LU ST R AT I O N S BY PAU L B LOW

QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

FOREFRONT

Standardized patient Pranav Phull follows instructions during a physical exam with a Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine student via a Zoom call.

and attitudes regarding telehealth technologies. We developed a course called Navigating Telehealth to address those competencies,” Rebeschi said. The 3-credit course, offered for the first time in the summer and again during Fall 2020, was geared not only to Quinnipiac’s nurse practitioner and doctor of nursing practice students, but also to licensed doctors, physician assistants, nurse practitioners and social workers who needed to become familiar with telehealth guidelines and standards. Issues surrounding licensure, credentialing, reimbursement and legal/regulatory requirements were explored. Rebeschi said more programs are being considered in response to continuing educational needs related to telehealth.

”If someone calls with a UTI, I know the symptoms to ask for and what kind of prompts I can give to get the answers I need to treat them, but then I need to know how to translate that into a note and how to follow up for medication.” — Laima Karosas Rebeschi created the course with colleague Laima Karosas, clinical professor of nursing, chair of graduate nursing and director of QU’s online nursing programs. Karosas, a nurse practitioner, also works one day a week for online telehealth provider Lemonaid Health. Neither Rebeschi nor Karosas were aware of any other university offering a course like it. While the first two course offerings were for academic credit, plans are in motion to offer it as a certificate or badge to working professionals seeking to upscale their skills. 26

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MORE THAN A CHAT The American Medical Association estimates that, since the start of the pandemic, 60–90% of physicians are using some sort of telehealth services to stay engaged with patients, and about half of them are using the approach for the first time. Quinnipiac’s course did provide pointers about how to conduct successful video visits, but Karosas said the people who took the course felt competent in that area. Most of them would be conducting telehealth visits with patients whom they’d seen before, perhaps going over lab results, doing surgical follow-ups and other non-emergent primary care. Others in the course were contemplating starting their own telehealth businesses or applying to one of the established online providers. “You do need to know how to translate your skills from seeing and touching a patient to an online encounter when the person is not there,” Karosas said. “If someone calls with a UTI, I know the symptoms to ask for and what kind of prompts I can give to get the answers I need to treat them, but then I need to know how to translate that into a note and how to follow up for medication. A whole system has to be in place.” She emphasized that offering telehealth services is so much more than just talking to a patient. “The people who took the course wanted to learn skills such as how to document a visit and how to bill insurance companies, and there is a learning curve on the rules and regulations that govern telehealth,” she added. “If you can’t bill, you’re not making money, and you can’t keep the lights on,” Karosas noted. Some frequent questions that come up in class include: Can I bill for something I have not seen someone in the office for? And can I bill for an email exchange with a patient? There are also patient privacy regulations and liability issues to take into account. TELEHEALTH ONLINE Karosas practices with Lemonaid Health on a part-time basis. It’s a convenient way for her to maintain her nurse practitioner certification and license to work with nurse practitioner students. She is licensed to treat patients in 14 states. Lemonaid’s fees are much lower than paying out of pocket to see a provider—a fact that is true of most telehealth companies. People fill out a questionnaire, detail their health history, and can be chatting with a health care professional within an hour or so, either via video, text or phone call. Visits also can be scheduled for a particular time or date. If medication is indicated, Lemonaid can fill a prescription through its own pharmacy or send it to the patient’s pharmacy. Karosas mentioned that patients often find their medications are less expensive through Lemonaid. The types of non-urgent visits that Lemonaid commonly handles include erectile dysfunction, birth control, anxiety, depression, hair loss, asthma, urinary tract infections, acne, migraine, flu, sinus infections, acid reflux and STD testing. Its name correlates with the company’s mission: to make health care “refreshingly simple.” For some complaints, such as sinusitis, a video visit is mandated. “I want to see what the patient looks like—are her eyes puffy, does it hurt when she looks down, and is she in distress?” said Karosas. She described a typical telehealth scenario: “It’s 7 o’clock on a Friday night, your physician’s office is closed, and you

”We are trying to change the notion of losing that face-to-face connection. I talk to my patients without distraction ...” — Alex Gerity Pandajis ’11, DNP ’15 are sure you have a UTI. Who do you turn to?” She said telehealth providers can diagnose it that night and order meds, and the patient can start her recovery that night instead of being uncomfortable all weekend. “We can prescribe and diagnose using practice guidelines and treat it without a urine culture. If the patient is not feeling better in three days, we’d recommend the patient see a provider in person,” Karosas added. The pandemic has been a boon to companies like Lemonaid Health. But will consumers continue to embrace telehealth post-pandemic or opt to return to their doctors for hands-on care? Alex Gerity Pandajis ’11, DNP ’15, believes telehealth visits are just as productive, if not more so, than traditional visits. She serves as one of three instructors for the telehealth course and has been with Lemonaid Health for more than 18 months. The reviews on the Lemonaid website indicate patients are satisfied with the service they received, and the level of attention. Pandajis thinks the stigma of online care is gradually fading as people try it and become comfortable with it. “We are trying to change the notion of losing that face-toface connection. I talk to my patients without distraction, with no alerts going off, and nobody knocking on my door. I’m giving them all of my attention and patients don’t feel rushed,” she said. Pandajis had been a nurse practitioner at an outpatient clinic in Charlotte, North Carolina. As she was contemplating a job change, she met someone who told her that telehealth would allow her to do primary care online and combine her tech and nursing skills to reach many more people than she could at a clinic. They referred her to Lemonaid. “I looked at their website and was immediately impressed with the company. It was my dream job that I never knew existed!” she said. Pandajis “sees” patients from her home office in North Carolina, where she lives with her husband, Bryan, an ICU nurse at Atrium Health’s Carolinas Medical Center. Sometimes, the stories he tells make her miss the hands-on aspects of nursing. But the benefits—keeping people safe at home, cost effectiveness and being able to serve people in rural areas across the nation— outweigh any downside, she said. There’s that, and the fact that during her first year on the job, Pandajis treated more than 17,000 patients. Sometimes, she sees them more than once. At Quinnipiac, Pandajis was the first nursing student to go straight from a bachelor’s degree in nursing to a doctor of nursing practice. As she transitioned to the world of telemedicine, she employed the same work ethic. On her own, she applied for nursing licenses in all 50 states, a process that can take years for many. That required close to 120 applications, fingerprinting, background checks, up-to-date educational credits to meet varying state requirements, and

obtaining college transcripts—and that’s when she caught up with Karosas and told her about the company. Pandajis completed the licensure process in only two months. Now it was Lemonaid’s turn to be impressed! She explained that many of the people who use online health care providers have lost their insurance along with their job, or must wait too long for an appointment with backlogged primary care physicians. Others have moved and have yet to find a new doctor and just need a prescription refill. One of the services most in demand via telehealth is mental health, owing to the increase in people experiencing anxiety and stress from the pandemic. Pandajis is well versed in mental health; she did a fellowship year at the West Haven, Connecticut, VA Medical Center, obtaining a considerable amount of experience with patients suffering from anxiety and depression. Obviously, complaints about chest and/or abdominal pain, bleeding during pregnancy and other potentially serious conditions necessitate an in-person visit to a health provider. And there is a chance, Pandajis noted, that a patient might not disclose all the prescriptions they are taking to online providers as requested, which could result in dangerous drug-to-drug interactions. Fortunately, with up-to-date software, some online telehealth providers are able to access a patient’s prescription history, which allows more safe and secure prescribing.

Alex Pandajis, ’11, DNP ’15, is ready to take a telehealth call from her home.

WEBSIDE MANNER Creating a professional environment is among the telehealth do’s that students in the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine have learned this fall. The realistic exam rooms QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

FOREFRONT

Standardized patient Pranav Phull follows instructions during a physical exam with a Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine student via a Zoom call.

— Laima Karosas

Rebeschi created the course with colleague Laima Karosas, clinical professor of nursing, chair of graduate nursing and director of QU’s online nursing programs. Karosas, a nurse practitioner, also works one day a week for online telehealth provider Lemonaid Health. Neither Rebeschi nor Karosas were aware of any other university offering a course like it. While the first two course offerings were for academic credit, plans are in motion to offer it as a certificate or badge to working professionals seeking to upscale their skills. 26

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”We are trying to change the notion of losing that face-to-face connection. I talk to my patients without distraction ...”

— Alex Gerity Pandajis ’11, DNP ’15

are sure you have a UTI. Who do you turn to?” She said telehealth providers can diagnose it that night and order meds, and the patient can start her recovery that night instead of being uncomfortable all weekend. “We can prescribe and diagnose using practice guidelines and treat it without a urine culture. If the patient is not feeling better in three days, we’d recommend the patient see a provider in person,” Karosas added. The pandemic has been a boon to companies like Lemonaid Health. But will consumers continue to embrace telehealth post-pandemic or opt to return to their doctors for hands-on care? Alex Gerity Pandajis ’11, DNP ’15, believes telehealth visits are just as productive, if not more so, than traditional visits. She serves as one of three instructors for the telehealth course and has been with Lemonaid Health for more than 18 months. The reviews on the Lemonaid website indicate patients are satisfied with the service they received, and the level of attention. Pandajis thinks the stigma of online care is gradually fading as people try it and become comfortable with it. “We are trying to change the notion of losing that face-toface connection. I talk to my patients without distraction, with no alerts going off, and nobody knocking on my door. I’m giving them all of my attention and patients don’t feel rushed,” she said. Pandajis had been a nurse practitioner at an outpatient clinic in Charlotte, North Carolina. As she was contemplating a job change, she met someone who told her that telehealth would allow her to do primary care online and combine her tech and nursing skills to reach many more people than she could at a clinic. They referred her to Lemonaid. “I looked at their website and was immediately impressed with the company. It was my dream job that I never knew existed!” she said. Pandajis “sees” patients from her home office in North Carolina, where she lives with her husband, Bryan, an ICU nurse at Atrium Health’s Carolinas Medical Center. Sometimes, the stories he tells make her miss the hands-on aspects of nursing. But the benefits—keeping people safe at home, cost effectiveness and being able to serve people in rural areas across the nation— outweigh any downside, she said. There’s that, and the fact that during her first year on the job, Pandajis treated more than 17,000 patients. Sometimes, she sees them more than once. At Quinnipiac, Pandajis was the first nursing student to go straight from a bachelor’s degree in nursing to a doctor of nursing practice. As she transitioned to the world of telemedicine, she employed the same work ethic. On her own, she applied for nursing licenses in all 50 states, a process that can take years for many. That required close to 120 applications, fingerprinting, background checks, up-to-date educational credits to meet varying state requirements, and

Alex Pandajis, ’11, DNP ’15, is ready to take a telehealth call from her home.

FOREFRONT

in the Standardized Patient and Assessment Center within the Center for Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences went dark after Quinnipiac switched to online classes last spring, and the schools had to create safe alternatives to teaching clinical skills. Unlike some medical schools, students at the Netter School begin patient interaction early in their first year, so the telehealth pivot not only allowed them to continue their education, but it introduced telehealth into the curriculum. “Interaction during a telemedicine interview requires a different skill set than what we teach in person in the S-PAC,” said Dr. Listy Thomas, director of the Clinical Arts and Sciences course and assistant dean of simulation at the School of Medicine. “Our students, preceptors, staff and standardized patients have all had to work collaboratively to teach and learn clinical skills in a new way, especially during the pandemic.” Recognizing that formalized training in telemedicine is not widely offered to physicians-in-training, the American Medical Association adopted a policy in 2016 aimed at ensuring that medical students and residents learn how to use telemedicine in clinical practice. A unit on telehealth had been contemplated at Quinnipiac Netter before COVID-19, but the pandemic pushed it to the fore. Thomas believes that current and future physicians alike will need to gain proficiency with telehealth. Thomas is an emergency physician at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, Connecticut, one of the medical school’s principal partners. She also picks up shifts occasionally for a telehealth company. “Even at home, I have my white coat and stethoscope on so the person on the other end knows they are speaking to a physician, in a safe space. The background should be appropriate, and we tell students to adjust the webcam so they are looking into a patient’s eyes, not down at the patient’s image on the screen,” she said. Observing nonverbal visual cues also is important, and it’s considerate to refrain from typing unless you tell the patient you are documenting the conversation or looking something up, she said. To that, Pandajis would add that a well-lit quiet room, good audio and reliable Wi-Fi are essential. She has several monitors at her desk so she can check electronic records during a call. Lemonaid Health banners are behind her. “We also tell the patient that we cannot do all the things we normally could together, and we set clear expectations about what is possible in a telehealth encounter,” Thomas said. Medical students learn the importance of a physical exam in making a diagnosis. “It’s an opportunity they miss when doing telehealth,” Thomas said. However, there are a few ways to get around that. For example, if a patient complains of throat pain, a doctor or nurse can have them open their mouth wide and shine a flashlight at their throat or use the flashlight app on their smartphone. The patient also can be asked to palpate or press on an area of the body that is painful so the doctor can get an idea of their symptoms. In the emergency department, Thomas appreciates the opportunity to share CT scan or MRI results with a radiologist in another part of the nation or world who can evaluate the images and give her a report in the middle of the night when local radiologists are getting some rest. Using teleconsultation services, she can call on specialists 28

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in the off hours, such as neurologists, who can help manage patients who may be presenting with conditions such as acute strokes. The future is bright for patients as well. Thomas notes technological advances in Fitbit-like devices can enable health data, like vital signs and blood sugar readings, to be imported directly into electronic patient records.

Listy Thomas, MD, regularly supervised student interactions with standardized patients during Zoom calls last semester.

ACTING THE PART The hired “actors” who play the roles of patients in the SPAC have had to learn some new tricks to prepare for their telehealth roles and to evaluate medical students conducting an exam via a Zoom call, during which the students verbalize the things they would be doing in a hands-on physical. Griffin Kulp, a standardized patient since 2017, has had no trouble adapting. Depending on the case—appendicitis for example—a medical student might ask him to press or palpate his abdomen while they observe. Standardized patients receive a script they memorize before each case so they can flesh out their character, he said. Sometimes they are asked to be affable, and other times, a bit on the combative side to give medical students a range of experiences. Kulp watches for such things as students’ nonverbal communication, whether they are rushing through the questions, or if physical exam maneuvers he is asked to perform are not easy to understand. Kulp’s advice for real patients using telehealth is to be open and honest with their provider, and he hopes providers will practice patience with people not familiar with the medium and give them their undivided attention. “I think it always comes down to empathy and communication skills, and never more so than with telehealth,” he said. “Some are born with them, and others have to develop them.” Dr. Marcus Welby’s fictional patients seemed to cherish the relationship they had with the kindly doctor played by the late Robert Young. Thomas acknowledges that the in-person doctor-patient relationship and encounter is paramount, but she said being together on a video call is still a valuable tool. QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

FOREFRONT

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Listy Thomas, MD, regularly supervised student interactions with standardized patients during Zoom calls last semester.

N E W FAC ES

Experience: The Difference

BY J A N E T WA L D M A N PHOTOS CRANDALL YOPP

First CXO may just be a student’s new best friend

Tom Ellett chats with undergraduate students on the quad early in the fall semester. Helping them adjust to COVID-19 policies was a vital part of his role. 30

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When Tom Ellett heard that Quinnipiac was looking for a chief student experience officer, he was intrigued. It was the first advertised job of its kind he’d seen, and he could visualize himself in that role. Enhancing the college experience for students is what he’s done for more than 35 years at four different universities. He’s taught students for 12 years, shared hundreds of meals with them, and indeed lived among them in residence halls a good part of that time. He knows what makes students tick, and the one thing that never changes: They want more than anything to connect with peers. Ellett came aboard Aug. 1, retiring from his position as senior associate vice president for student affairs at New York University. He was percolating with ideas about how he could make an impact at QU, where he finds the sense of community palpable and the ambiance conducive to personalizing a student’s educational experience. He hit the proverbial ground running, but in a different way than he’d imagined. Before he could tackle making the Quinnipiac experience smoother and more convenient for students, he needed to make sure they were mentally and physically OK as they returned to campus amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Face masks served to hide smiles of recognition on returning students’ faces as they greeted their friends and to conceal the tentative smiles of first-year students hoping to make new friends. Ellett found his way to the front lines, helping to coordinate the rigorous on-campus COVID testing and encouraging students to guard their health and that of the larger community by protecting “the Bobcat Bubble,” as it was called. He joined the COVID-19 task force, which QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

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Experience: The Difference

BY J A N E T WA L D M A N PHOTOS CRANDALL YOPP

First CXO may just be a student’s new best friend

Tom Ellett chats with undergraduate students on the quad early in the fall semester. Helping them adjust to COVID-19 policies was a vital part of his role. 30

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meets daily on all things pandemic. He pitched in to help Student Affairs staff field questions from anxious parents and lent a hand to dining staff bagging food orders. No job was too small and no distance too far: When a volunteer was needed to drive COVID tests up to a Boston-area lab in November, he grabbed his car keys. Ellett oversees all student-facing functions including enrollment management, student affairs, registrar and bursar, public safety, veterans affairs, and more on the horizon. This structure reflects a transfer of duties from what previously was included under the umbrella of the role of provost and executive vice president. His appointment allows new provost Debra J. Liebowitz to focus exclusively on facul-

Ellett held regular meetings with several student advisory boards to share his ideas and hear what’s on students’ minds.

ty, academics and research while continuing to work in strong partnership with him. Both are members of President Judy Olian’s management team. “From the touchpoint of the first time a student thinks about attending Quinnipiac all the way to handing them to Alumni Affairs, the team I work with needs to think broadly, give consistent and personal messages, and create intentional development opportunities,” Ellett said. “Tom is both creative in building a total living-learning experience and is committed to engaging personally with students at every point of their college years,” Olian said when she announced his hire. CONVERSATIONS AFOOT In order to engage with students, Ellett needed to get to know them, not just as numbers, but as people with faces, hopes and dreams. He began walking the Mount Carmel Campus in August, introducing himself to students enjoying the early fall sunshine. Students describe him as friendly and approachable. As he ambled down Bobcat Way, he recruited first-year students as well as sophomores and juniors to join advisory boards he was forming to begin the conversations shaping his plans and the changes he’s considering. Groups met on the quad and outside the library until it got too chilly, turning to Zoom later in the semester. “We talked about their day-to-day experiences in the dining halls, residence halls, and such, and we discussed how Quinnipiac communicates with them—from how they pay their bill to how we make them feel valued and cared for,” Ellett said. Those talks continue today.

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Ellett shares inside information with his student boards, such as new policies or COVID-related emails, before he disseminates it to the entire student body. In return, he asks board members to share complaints or issues they have or have heard about directly with him so he can help. He learned about a large Halloween party some students chose to attend last semester in New Haven this way. Vanessa Blassi ’23, MS ’24, is on Ellett’s first-year student board, although the School of Communications accelerated dual-degree (3+1 ) student said she’s technically a sophomore. She describes her group as close-knit and focused on “making ‘Corona College’ not stink.” She was appreciative of Ellett’s initiatives in planning events, such as scavenger hunts and other games, for both residential and commuter students. Each student who visits Ellett gets his undivided attention. Personalizing his exchanges with students is his trademark, he said. “And I don’t just say ‘Yes, I’ll take care of that for you’—I want to know how the student will participate in any change. I tell them that, at the end of the day, it’s our institution, not mine. I emphasize that because I have a place of power or privilege here, I have access to information, but that doesn’t necessarily make my voice louder and stronger than theirs.” He teaches young people how to navigate the system. “I’ve always thought students can make longer and faster change than I can,” he notes. John Shepherd is a believer. The sophomore criminal justice major had some gripes about dining options early in the semester. Ellett invited him to join the first student board he created, or better yet, form his own sophomore board. Shepherd recruited almost 20 other students who were up to the task. Ellett also put him in touch with a Chartwells Dining manager to find some solutions. “We talked and I told him that we felt the quality of the food had gone down because of COVID,” Shepherd explained. “The manager admitted they had fewer employees on hand and were doing the best they could, but sat down with me to listen.” One solution they agreed upon was that Chartwells would pre-package breakfast items at a station to make them more accessible, add more choices, like vegan chocolate chip cookie dough bites, and leave breakfast items out for a longer time period. Shepherd is grateful for Ellett’s help. “Tom is straightforward and he gets to the point—if something is not going to work, he will explain why, whether it be lack of funding to do X, Y and Z or a logistical issue. He also is very responsive, and I get return emails from him, even when I am asleep.” In fact, Shepherd remarked that he had no idea who the previous student experience officer was because they’d done nothing as far as he was concerned. He laughed when told that Ellett is the first! CREATING SYNERGY Ellett’s career began in 1986 at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. He moved on to the larger Syracuse University in 1996, as director of residential life, staying until 2001. NYU, a school with 50,000 students, was next, where he led four student affairs units with a $25 million budget and $215 million in revenue and was instrumental in creating a new Center for Student Life. “I see the chance to bring the siloed experiences—like the registrar, bursar, financial aid and other student administrative units—and put them

under one umbrella to lift the administrative bureaucracy and create a one-stop student experience that answers all student questions,” he said. Other services that could fall under this umbrella might be technology help, parking and student employment. At Syracuse, Ellett embedded living-learning communities into residence halls to create deeper connections between students and faculty. He did the same at NYU, where more than 80 faculty members either lived in the halls or participated in programs and excursions with students twice a month. He may replicate a similar experience at QU. “I hope there will be a day when I live in the residence halls at Quinnipiac. I think that is where I am at my best—immersed in the community and the culture. I am a sociologist at heart, always studying human behavior,” he remarked. Ellett noted that NYU didn’t have much of a traditional student community. “But here, it’s different, and I’ll have more of an opportunity to have an impact,” he said as he gazed out at the quad from his office inside the Arnold Bernhard Library. NYU didn’t have a quad, and Ellett enjoys the view and the student contact the quad provides. He and his wife, Gladys Vallespir Ellett, raised their sons, Christian and Alexander, in residence halls on and off during his career. Gladys is finishing her doctorate in nursing practice at NYU. Ellett has an undergraduate degree in English from Fordham University, a master of fine arts degree in theater from Catholic University, and a doctorate in educational leadership, administration and policy from Fordham. “An adult presence with a family adds a totally different culture to a student’s home. My role is not to be a conduct officer—it’s really to enrich their intellectual lives and be the person who engages them in talking about their dreams and other big questions, such as how to live a meaningful life,” he said. Sharing breakfasts with students or inviting them to dinner is something he and other dorm-dwelling faculty enjoyed. “It breaks barriers to break bread with someone and get to know them in a relaxed way,” he said. Shepherd likes this idea. “We would see faculty more as people and less as teachers grading papers,” he said. Ellett said some of Quinnipiac’s dorms are in great shape and others need renovation, part of the school’s recently unveiled master plan. In the future, he hopes some residence halls will include classrooms, apartments for faculty, workspaces for students and even a room to show movies. While some of QU’s dorms have living-learning communities where students live with fellow majors, Ellett is thinking more along the lines of interest-based communities where people share an affinity for music, film, art or architecture, for example. At NYU, Ellett designed a first-year student experience that fostered a stronger sense of community and led to more students choosing to remain in university housing after their first year. Quinnipiac has announced plans to have undergraduates live on campus for three years. “The outcomes would be better retention, certainly more affiliation, creating tradition and having people feel like they’re lifelong Bobcats,” he said. FINDING THE ‘I’ IN IDENTITY In Ellett’s experience, most college students not only want to have friends and be part of a community, but they also want to be celebrated for their identities. “By identity, I mean sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, ability, all of those things that make them unique. That is the difference today

“I hope there will be a day when I live in the residence halls at Quinnipiac. I think that is where I am at my best— immersed in the community and the culture.“ — Tom Ellett from 20 to 30 years ago. They want to talk about being a Latina first-generation college student, for example.” Back in his college days, Ellett said those descriptors would be called labels. “Today, students refer to them as their essence.” Ellett said, “So in terms of engaging students, we can have a tie-dye party or share a meal or even talk about religion or we can have conversations about salient identities thru tie-dyeing shirts or cook a meal based on heritage or conversations about religious differences,” he said, adding: “It’s more about their journey, their story.” Traditions at a university are important, he said. At NYU, he created UltraViolet Live, a talent competition among residence hall communities with cash prizes. It now bears his name. In 2005, a singer/pianist named Stefani Germanotta played two original compositions and came in third—we now know her as Lady Gaga.

Tom Ellett says his role is not that of conduct officer. He wants to engage students intellectually and get them talking about their dreams and how they can live meaningful lives.

He also thinks an arts festival of sorts could really galvanize people, especially if held when there are a lot of visitors on campus to show off the place to prospective students and provide an audience for current ones. Ideas like these undoubtedly would please students, but Shepherd knows what he wants most from Quinnipiac. “More than anything, I want to make the kind of friends who attend each other’s weddings, their kids’ birthday parties, and remain friends after 20 years. I want a good group behind me to carry me through life … whether it be professors or friends who can help make me the best person I can be.” QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

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Ellett held regular meetings with several student advisory boards to share his ideas and hear what’s on students’ minds.

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Tom Ellett says his role is not that of conduct officer. He wants to engage students intellectually and get them talking about their dreams and how they can live meaningful lives.

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CAREER

HERE’S LOOKING AT YOU Former basketball player sees bright future in optometry BY THANE GRAUEL

Photo illustration by Simone Gutkin

ALUMNI CONNECT FOR VIRTUAL PROGRAMS ON POLITICS, SPORTS AND HEALTH Every fall, generations of Bobcats return to Quinnipiac for Alumni Weekend to celebrate the lifelong connections they share with the university, and each other. In 2020, QU went virtual to keep one of its most beloved traditions alive in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “This was the first time we planned and executed a virtual Alumni Weekend, not only for 34

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us but also many universities across the country,” said John Arcangelo ’02, senior director of alumni affairs and communications. Held Oct. 9-10, the virtual weekend offered the chance to learn something new with webinars, roundtable discussions and other live events featuring student and campus leaders, coaches, faculty and fellow alumni. Politics took center stage with a presentation about the inner workings of the Quinnipiac Poll by Douglas Schwartz, associate vice president and director of the

poll. David Hill, MD, professor and director of the Global Public Health program, tackled the future of global infectious disease outbreaks. Head women’s basketball coach Tricia Fabbri joined other coaches and Athletics staff to discuss post-pandemic competition. President Judy Olian reached out to discuss her efforts to manage the pandemic on the university level, as well as the broader issues of social justice and the 2020 presidential election. On the lighter side, alumni took a virtual tour of the On the Rocks Pub & Grill, narrated by

alumni from the Class of 2019 who worked with QU administrators to make it a reality. Arcangelo said a weeklong celebration and virtual class reunions are being considered for this year, should the need arise. “We know that the joy and nostalgia experienced on campus can’t be replicated virtually,” said Arcangelo, “so we hope this fall provides the opportunity to bring our alumni back to QU for a long-overdue, in-person celebration.” Enjoy videos from virtual Alumni Weekend at qu.edu/virtualalumni

When alyssa jann ’11 looks into a patient’s eyes, she sees more than blue, brown or green orbs. It turns out eyes aren’t just the windows to the soul. They’re also the windows to health and wellness. “We get a glimpse at your blood vessels and your optic nerves,” said Jann, an optometrist at Concord Family Vision in New Hampshire and a former Quinnipiac women’s basketball team member (2008–11). “We can spot conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, multiple sclerosis, anemia and autoimmune disease based on what we see in the back of your eyes,” she said, explaining that a patient might come in to get fitted for contact lenses and leave with potentially life-saving information about an underlying health condition. Jann also specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of primary open-angle glaucoma, the most common form of glaucoma in the United States and one that threatens the sight of many older adults. “A lot of times, it goes undiagnosed if you don’t go to your eye doctor because it has no symptoms,” Jann said. The silent danger, she explained, is increased pressure in the eye due to malfunctioning of the internal drainage system. Without treatment, irreversible vision loss and optic nerve damage can follow. Jann is in her fourth year as one of three optometrists at Concord Family Vision in New Hampshire. At Quinnipiac, she double-majored in health science studies and marketing after transferring from another school. While sitting out a season per NCAA transfer rules, Jann excelled in the classroom, a pattern she continued throughout her academic career. “I did the pre-med requirements because I knew I was going to do something medical. I just wasn’t sure what yet,” she said. “While I was a junior, I was able to shadow a few different specialties.” When she shadowed an optometrist, Jann knew she had found her calling and enrolled at the New England College of Optometry in Boston, where she earned her doctor of optometry degree. “Optometry is the only discipline where you look inside the body without cutting something open,” Jann said. “I wasn’t really interested in doing surgery, so optometry was a great fit for me.” She observed that some medical specialties keep patients at arm’s length, but optometry isn’t one of them. “When you’re going through primary care, they’re asking a lot of questions, not doing a lot of hands-on,” Jann said. “Optometry is really hands-on.”

Alumni She enjoys working with children, an interest she developed as an undergraduate at Quinnipiac when she was considering pediatrics. Looking back, she credits her time at Quinnipiac as transformative, both as a student and a basketball player who sat out a year, but still practiced with the team and sat on the bench for home games. A native of Westford, Massachusetts, she attended Westford Academy, where she was a two-year captain and the school’s third alltime leading scorer with 1,505 career points. “At Quinnipiac, our team was really diverse with students from different countries and backgrounds,” she said. “Knowing and getting along with a variety of people really helped me learn how to connect with patients and get to know all kinds of people.” By her senior season at Quinnipiac, Jann was named a team captain. She had become a leader and a role model with the Bobcats after playing in a career-high 30 games as a junior. “It taught me that if you put the time in, no matter what you start with, you can excel,” Jann said. “For basketball, perseverance and working really hard helped me to keep pushing myself in optometry school and also to where I am now.” So what is Jann’s advice for future optometrists? “Go somewhere you feel welcome and where it has that community feel, somewhere you’ll get involved,” she said. In her off-work hours, Jann enjoys traveling with her husband, Ryan Murphy, an athletic director at Watertown High School in Massachusetts, and spending time with family and friends. She also includes basketball in her life, giving private lessons to girls ranging in age from 7 to 20, something she’s done since high school. Although it’s been almost a decade since she graduated, Jann still remembers that welcome feeling she had walking around campus. “Even going back, it still feels like home,” she said.

Alyssa Jann ’11 is an optometrist at Concord Family Vision in New Hampshire.

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CAREER

HERE’S LOOKING AT YOU Former basketball player sees bright future in optometry BY THANE GRAUEL

Photo illustration by Simone Gutkin

QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

Alyssa Jann ’11 is an optometrist at Concord Family Vision in New Hampshire.

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CLASS NOTES 1969 ARLENE PARKIN of Boca Raton, FL, retired in South Florida after working in human resources and real estate in Manhattan for 40 years. 1970 DAVID HALL of Cheshire, CT, retired in March 2020 after 47 years working at Quinnipiac as a staff member in the Office of Administrative Services. He also served as an adjunct instructor in the English Department. 1971 EDMOND HENNESSY of Nashua, NH, reported that his market programs company, PMG, recently secured two new technology clients, QuikSAR and PLX, and published two articles in the COTS Journal about unmanned vehicles and the COTS Initiative impacting the defense and aerospace target segments. 1972 BRUCE DENNISON of St. Augustine, FL, announces the birth of a granddaughter, Lexington. She joins her big brother, Damon. 1974 PAUL ROTH of Bethany, CT, is the director of marketing and public relations at Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury, CT. 1975 CAROL (FORBES) FAGGIANI of Hammonton, NJ, retired after 28 years of teaching. KATHLEEN MOORE of Rochester, NY, retired in December 2019 after 44 years as an occupational therapist. Kathleen was a member of the second graduating class of occupational therapy at then Quinnipiac College. STEPHEN ROVENGER of Mooresville, NC, shares that his son, Gregory, has completed two years of nuclear training with the U.S. Navy and is awaiting his first deployment. 1980 MICHAEL MILICI of Branford, CT, recently celebrated three decades as the East Haven town assessor. He is serving in his sixth administration in his 30-year career.

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1985 LAURA (MELDRUM) FREY of Poughquag, NY, shares that her youngest daughter, Emma, is a member of the Class of 2024. 1986 KATHLEEN (MARRAN) SCHLENZ of Peace Dale, RI, a full-time faculty member in the occupational therapy department at Salem State University, recently was promoted to the rank of assistant professor. 1987 CYNTHIA GALLAGHER of Newport, NH, was appointed principal at Keene High School. 1988 MATTHEW SPUCK of Onancock, VA, was appointed town manager of Onancock. Matthew owns and operates The Inn at Onancock with his wife, Kim Moore. 1989 SIOBAIN (MCINERNEY) MCHUGH of Madison, CT, was appointed implementation manager at AdminaHealth in Old Greenwich, CT. 1990 MICHAEL FENSTER of Bayside, NY, hosted a Zoom chat on May 20, 2020, to commemorate 30 years since graduation. About 40 of his fellow Bobcats took part. The group planned to celebrate again in October. 1991 CHRISTY (CARMOSINO) PALUMBO of Hamden joined USAA’s Staff Counsel Office in Connecticut as a legal assistant supporting the financial well-being of members and their families. 1993 EUGENE FILIPPI of Park Ridge, NJ, and his wife, Nicole, welcomed a son, Beau William, on April 11, 2020. 1996 SEAN GORDON of Hoboken, NJ, completed filming season 3 of “Delicious Miss Brown,” airing on the Food Network. Filming took place in Edisto Island, SC. He also finished an HGTV home improvement pilot produced in Chicago. 1998 JORGE CABRERA of Hamden ran and won as the Democratic candidate for the 17th state

Senate District seat in November. He faced Republican incumbent state Sen. George Logan in the general election. THOMAS KELLY of Massapequa, NY, works at “The Tamron Hall Show,” warming up the virtual audience. Previously, he was the warm-up comedian for “The View,” “Good Morning America’s Summer Concert Series” and “The $100,000 Pyramid.” He also writes for Elvis Duran’s nationally syndicated radio show and was a writer for the “Rosie O’Donnell Show.” 1999 JOSEPH DUMELIN and SUSAN (WOLFE) DUMELIN ’01, MPT ’03, of Greenfield Center, NY, recently moved back to the East Coast after spending the past 15 years in Seattle. Joe is a business account executive for Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, and Susie is a per diem outpatient physical therapist at Saratoga Hospital. 2002 AARON BLANK of Newcastle, WA, was recognized by PR Week as a 2020 “40 Under 40” honoree. JOSEPH D’ANGELO and his wife, Erin, of Beverly, MA, welcomed their first child, Quinlan Keeley D’Angelo, on Aug. 20, 2020. SALVATORE RIZZO JR. of Northford, CT, has worked for Chartwells since 2015 as the director of dining services for North Haven Public Schools. He oversees the system’s six schools and manages a staff of 25. 2003 LINDA DALESSIO, MSN ’03, of Wolcott, CT, joined the faculty at Western Connecticut State University as a full-time assistant professor. She has taught at Western as an adjunct professor since 2008. JONATHAN KROLL of Roslindale, MA, was promoted to acting director for academic programs within the School of Professional Studies at the University of Rhode Island, where he also serves as a lecturer of professional leadership studies. 2004 LAUREN (FIKSLIN) CASTAGNOLA ’04, MS ’20, of

Middlebury, CT, was promoted to chief of staff at Westover School in July 2020. AMY (PLOURD) CRAIN and her husband, Ron, welcomed their second child, Nolan, on Sept. 5, 2020. Nolan joins his big sister, Maddie, at the family’s home in Lincoln, RI. STEPHANIE CUNHA of Seekonk, MA, is regional director of public relations at Curaleaf. She formerly worked as a communications leader at CVS Health. Her Beauty Mark campaign recently won the PR News Digital Award for Best Influencer Campaign and honorable mention for media strategy. The same campaign also garnered gold in the Lisbon PR awards in both categories. GRANT STINCHFIELD, MS ’04, of Irving, TX, a four-time Emmy Award-winning journalist, debuted his new primetime show, “Stinchfield,” which features the day’s top news and conversation. View it on Newsmax TV. 2005 CHERYL (DOWNS) BARRON of Huntersville, NC, and her husband, John, announced the birth of a daughter, Sarah Elizabeth, on Jan. 23, 2019. ADAM BROOKS of Berlin, CT, is a director at ESPN. He previously worked at CBS and WFSB-Channel 3. PAMELA (FESTA) MANGINI, ’05, MBA ’07, of Hamden recently joined Stratford Public Schools as chief operating officer. AMY (SPARBY) MURPHY of West Newton, MA, shares that her stepdaughter, Avery, started her first year at Quinnipiac as a member of the Class of 2024. ERIN ROSA of Fayetteville, AR, married Josh Moody on Feb. 29, 2020, at the Inn at Carnall Hall on the University of Arkansas campus. TRACY (LUMA) STIEGELMAYER and her husband, Ryan, announce the birth of their second child (and future Bobcat), Hudson Rhys, on Aug. 4, 2020. Hudson was welcomed home by big sister, Cameron, at the family’s home in Stamford, CT.

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HARD WORK AND VALUES PAVE WAY

2006 MARK ANTONUCCI of Gilbert, AZ, has been named vice president and chief of staff at Arizona State University in Tempe. JENNIFER DEAMICIS of Boston was named president of the Boston chapter of NAWIC (National Association of Women in Construction) effective Oct. 1, 2020.

Business executive outlines 6 steps to a fulfilling career

ANDREW MCCARTHY ’06, MS ’07, and DANIELLE (APPEL) MCCARTHY ’08, MBA ’14, of Berlin, CT, welcomed a son, Owen, in March 2020.

BY KEN BYRON PHOTO AUTUMN DRISCOLL

ELIZABETH (KENTY) PICILLO of Warwick, RI, and her husband, Justin, announce the birth of a daughter, Ava Elizabeth, on March 15, 2020. Ava was welcomed home by her big brother, Chase. CHRISTIAN SHABOO of New Haven is vice president of the Program at the Future Project, a national nonprofit focused on cultivating a generation of purpose-driven young leaders. He continues to serve as a dream director at New Haven’s High School in the Community, where he has worked for the past eight years. MICHAEL ZAVODSKY of Weehawken, NJ, was appointed chief business officer for the NBA’s Detroit Pistons. The role is a new position for the professional basketball organization. 2007 RUDWIN AYALA of Fort Lauderdale, FL, a partner at the Florida law firm Cohen, Blostein & Ayala, PA, was recently named a 2020 Florida Super Lawyer and among the 2021 Best Lawyers in America. KEVIN CURRIE ’07, MBA ’19, of Middletown, CT, married Lidia Mikolaenko on Aug. 30, 2020. KRISTEN (MCDONOUGH) GOWIN of West Roxbury, MA, was appointed executive manager of the National Electrical Contractors Association. MAXWELL WINITZ of Miami resigned from his job at WNKY-TV in Kentucky to spend quality family time raising his daughter, Brighton. Class notes continue on p. 39

Jonathan Haspilaire ’11 squeezed in a visit to his alma mater last fall and also spoke to first-year School of Business students via Zoom.

As a first-year student, Jonathan Haspilaire ’11 felt different from many of his fellow students. He enjoyed studying in the library and often wore a jacket and tie to class. Haspilaire thought his strong commitment to hard work and other traditional values set him apart from many of his peers. It was those very attributes that proved to be strengths and helped him land a job after graduation at GE’s prestigious financial management training program, which subsequently led to his current role as an assistant vice president at Wellington Management in Boston. In September, Haspilaire spoke with first-year business students and talked about how he turned his Quinnipiac experience into a successful career in accounting and finance. School of Business Dean Matthew O’Connor set up a Zoom session, where Haspilaire could share tips with the students and inspire them as they embark on their own journeys. Haspilaire’s advice for students was simple. “If you can master six things that you control: discipline, sacrifice, innovation, creativity, problem-solving and knowing how to adapt, then the accounting and finance curriculum at Quinnipiac will take care of the rest,” he said. As a student, you have the unique opportunity to allow Quinnipiac to help you develop your technical skills but also to home in on the soft life-lesson skills that will enable you to be successful outside of finance and in your career.”

The values that Haspilaire credits for his success were instilled in him by his parents. Another formative experience was a post-graduate year at Avon Old Farms School, a private boarding school in Connecticut. Haspilaire was accepted at Quinnipiac but decided that deferring and spending a year at boarding school would help prepare him for college. In addition to the experience of being away from home, he said Avon Old Farms’ emphasis on community and brotherhood was instrumental. Haspilaire also urged the students to seek out mentors who will support them and help pursue their passions. A key influence for him at Quinnipiac was a former professor who taught an introductory accounting class Haspilaire took in his sophomore year. At first, he was skeptical that he would like the course. “After the first two weeks, I started falling in love with accounting and realized how much I actually love numbers,” Haspilaire said. That prompted him to switch his major from economics to accounting and finance. Another influence in Haspilaire’s life was GE executive Peter Mondani, who visited campus in the fall of Haspilaire’s first year. They both had traveled to Southeast Asia and hit it off because of that shared connection. Haspilaire had gone there with his mother, who worked for a telecommunications firm and traveled for business. “Pete thought I was an MBA student, and I told him I was a freshman,” Haspilaire said. “He was struck that a kid could not only talk about a different culture but have an intellectual discussion about the experience. He took a shot with me, and it worked out.” Haspilaire did three internships at GE and began working for the company in 2012. In 2014, he moved to GE’s corporate audit staff, a leadership training program for upand-coming executives, which he described as a mini-MBA program within the company. In 2017, when GE began to implement management changes, Haspilaire moved to Wellington Management, a global investment firm with over USD $1 trillion in assets. He was ready for a change and wanted to stay in Boston. Shortly after starting at Wellington, Haspilaire returned to school full time to get his MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He met people from around the world, and the classes helped prepare him for both the in-person and virtual work environment that has become the norm for many professionals today. In September, Haspilaire moved to a new function within Wellington that develops investment products for the firm’s clients. “This team vets and approves new ideas before they become products that we offer to clients. I am responsible for analyzing how these ideas fit into the competitive landscape and partnering with colleagues on the team on the overall process of assessing new investment offerings.” This role is a departure from what he has done before in accounting and finance. It was Haspilaire’s soft skills that helped him build the relationships that led to this opportunity. Traveling is a leisure-time passion for Haspilaire. Until the COVID-19 pandemic ended overseas trips, he visited two countries a year. In 2019 he went to Finland and the Netherlands and to Australia and Argentina in 2018. Next on his travel list is South Africa, and his love of chocolate will bring him to Switzerland. QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

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Alumni

HARD WORK AND VALUES PAVE WAY

Business executive outlines 6 steps to a fulfilling career

ANDREW MCCARTHY ’06, MS ’07, and DANIELLE (APPEL) MCCARTHY ’08, MBA ’14, of Berlin, CT, welcomed a son, Owen, in March 2020.

BY KEN BYRON PHOTO AUTUMN DRISCOLL

Jonathan Haspilaire ’11 squeezed in a visit to his alma mater last fall and also spoke to first-year School of Business students via Zoom.

Alumni

A GIANT AMONG TEAM TRAINERS Treating NFL players is a year-round job BY BRIAN KOONZ

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surgeons and get X-rays, MRIs and other advanced imaging. There’s a lot that goes into that part of it for medical staffs.” With a salary cap of $198.2 million for each NFL franchise in 2020, professional football is big business with big investments—some as big as Giants rookie Matt Peart, a 6-foot-7, 318-pound offensive tackle from the University of Connecticut. Although Buzzerio played high school soccer at St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, New Jersey, he never envisioned a career on the field, at least not in cleats. “From a young age, I played a bunch of sports, both organized and non-organized—in school, out in the street, on playgrounds, pretty much everywhere,” Buzzerio said. “I’ve always loved sports, and I’ve always felt a connection to them. When I got to high school, I became interested in the health science field … and then, I found out about athletic training.” Not long after that, Buzzerio found out about Quinnipiac and its athletic training program in the School of Health Sciences. Never mind that QU didn’t play football. “It would be impossible for me to be where I am today without the opportunities I was given in the athletic training program at Quinnipiac,” Buzzerio said. “There’s a direct correlation to all the hard work the faculty has done internally to prepare students for their professional careers and externally to build relationships with other schools across the country with football programs.”

2008 LAURA CAIAFA of North Haven, CT, married Marissa Ryan in October 2018.

editor of FleetOwner, a leading information source for the trucking industry for more than 90 years.

CHRISTOPHER PICCOLI has earned the Certified Financial Planner designation. He is employed as a wealth adviser by RegentAtlantic in Morristown, NJ. He and his wife, DANA (MEISBERGER) PICCOLI ’08, welcomed their second child, Ryan David, on Aug. 1, 2020. Ryan joins big brother, Josh, at the family’s home in Wayne, NJ.

MATTHEW GALKA, MS ’11, of Phoenix is back to work as a reporter for the Fox affiliate there after recovering from COVID-19.

2009 LAUREN (WALSH) DESIMONE and DANIEL DESIMONE ’10 of East Hanover, NJ, recently celebrated the first birthday of their son, Jayden, in February 2019. RYAN IBAÑEZ and SARAH (KAUFMAN) IBAÑEZ ’09, MAT ’10, of Briarcliff Manor, NY, welcomed a daughter, Logan Christina, on Feb. 23, 2020. 2010 CLAIRE MULRY of Franklin Park, NJ, was promoted to associate professor in the department of occupational therapy at Kean University in Union, NJ.

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As a teenager growing up in New Jersey, Phil Buzzerio ’14 watched MetLife Stadium transform from a steel skeleton into the 82,500-seat home of the NFL’s New York Giants and New York Jets. Today, as an assistant athletic trainer for the Giants, Buzzerio works at the highest level of professional football with world-class athletes. From broken bones and concussions to torn ligaments and dislocated shoulders, Buzzerio treats every imaginable injury. He also develops and monitors sophisticated rehabilitation protocols. “Our job and our focus year-round is the health and the well-being of every player on our roster,” said Buzzerio, one of six athletic trainers for the Giants. Although Buzzerio and his colleagues are responsible for 53 players during the regular season, that number swells to 90 every August at the start of preseason camp. The contact, the drills, the pass routes, every snap represents a potential injury in football. For years, NFL athletic trainers have worn gloves when they’ve treated players, whether they were veteran stars or Division III dreamers trying to make the team. Now, the protocol includes masks and other personal protective equipment. “This is a different time for everyone, but our commitment never changes,” Buzzerio said. “With COVID-19, the NFL and NFLPA [NFL Players Association] are working hard to make sure that health and safety are at the forefront for the players, staffs and all 32 organizations.” While many fans might think the NFL packs up shop after the Super Bowl in February, Buzzerio said that’s not the case. Teams are continually treating injured and recovering players, evaluating college prospects and reviewing roster needs. “After the season ends, there’s a lot of work to do to maintain the athletic training room as a health care facility,” Buzzerio said. “We perform the rehabilitation for athletes who may have had surgery throughout the season or during the offseason. Even when the players aren’t in the building, we’re already preparing for the next year.” A few weeks after the Super Bowl, NFL coaches, scouts, team physicians and athletic training staffs head to the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis. There, they evaluate the best college players in the country eligible for the NFL draft. “The players go through the most comprehensive physical of their lives,” Buzzerio said. “They get everything from EKGs and blood work to a general physical like they would at their own primary care doctor. They’re also seen by orthopedic

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Buzzerio’s first college football internship as a student was at Bucknell in 2012. The next summer, he worked at six-time national champion Tennessee. The Vols have 38 alumni on current NFL rosters and play home games before more than 100,000 fans. “Working at a Power 5 school was a wonderful experience, and ultimately, led me to attending graduate school at Tennessee,” he said. Reflecting on his classes, internships and clinical rotations at QU, Buzzerio also credited the athletic training faculty for his success. “All of my professors were fantastic,” he said. “I was fortunate to be mentored by Professor Ken Kosior. We had a lot of discussions about athletic training and life after graduation. He really prepared me to take the next step and become a professional.”

Phil Buzzerio ’14, an assistant athletic trainer for the New York Giants, checks the knee of wide receiver Kalif Raymond during a preseason NFL game in 2018. Also shown is wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. Neither athlete plays for the Giants anymore.

JESSE NADEL of New York, NY, joined Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation’s Debt Private Placements team, where he will advise about the structuring, pricing and execution of capital markets transactions on behalf of corporations and infrastructure projects. 2011 DANIELLA APPOLONIA of Colts Neck, NJ, recently published her first children’s book, “I Am Daphne.” DANIELLE AUERBACH of London oversees a customer success team for her company, EMEA, which expanded to Europe three years ago. SAM BALDWIN and BRITTANY (MICHEL) BALDWIN ’11, MOT ’13, of West Hartford, CT, welcomed a child, Shea Mackenzie, on May 31, 2020. CRISTINA COMMENDATORE, MS ’11, of Shelton, CT, has been appointed executive

ANGELA JULIAN of Seymour, CT, married Giulio Rottaro Castejon in New Haven on Oct. 26, 2019. 2012 EGIDIO CARLINO of Jersey City, NJ, joined Z Capital Group as director and a member of the credit investment team. CARMEN CHAU, MS ’12, of Meriden, CT, is a field reporter for WTIC-TV61 on weeknights and the weekend anchor on the 10 and 11 p.m. newscasts. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she has anchored from her living room as a public health precaution. JAMES HEALY ’12, MBA ’13, and JESSICA (HARDMAN) HEALY ’12, MAT ’13, of Niceville, FL, welcomed a daughter, Leighton Jade, on May 13, 2020. MILES MCQUIGGAN of Westerly, RI, was named the director of athletic communications at Saint Francis University in September. He is entering his ninth year in college athletics and serves on two national committees for the College Sports Information Directors of America. BENJAMIN O’CONNOR and PAULA KENNEDY ’13 of Needham Heights, MA, were married in September 2018. MATTHEW SICILIANO ’12, MBA ’13, of Ardmore, PA, is global head of real estate, facilities and security procurement at Takeda in Cambridge, MA. FURTUNA VELAJ of Stamford, CT, recently was featured in a story about her professional soccer career on FIFA.com. Her career began at Connecticut FC, where the trophies she won included the Connecticut State Cup. After that, she moved to other clubs in the USA, Iceland, Canada, Finland, Norway and Germany. She now plays for

CLASS NOTES

the Albania National Team. She played for the Bobcats for four years. 2013 JESSIE DORNE, MHS ’13, of Ridgefield, CT, joined the gynecologic oncology practice at Danbury Hospital and Norwalk Hospital. Both institutions are part of Nuvance Health. SAMANTHA (SICILIANO) JODER of East Boston, MA, started Kaleidoscope Event Planning in 2018. Her company handles luxurious weddings and events from the Berkshires to Boston Harbor and beyond. In the last three years, KE has won The Knot’s “Best of Weddings” each year and was nominated for Best Planner in New England by Acquisition International. 2014 CONNOR JORDAN ’14, DPT ’17, and GABRIELLE STASIOWSKI ’14, MBA ’15, of Holbrook, NY, were married on Sept. 5, 2020. BRITTANY ELISE MCQUAIN of Overland Park, KS, a former Quinnipiac basketball captain, is a nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit at St. Luke’s Hospital in her hometown of Kansas City. JENNIFER SEYLER ’14, MOT ’16, of Beacon Falls, CT, married Andrew Featheringham on March 21, 2020. KATE SHERRY of Congers, NY, married Joseph Tuxbury on Aug. 29, 2020. Kate’s Quinnipiac roommate, LISA VARRIANO ’14, MBA ’15, was a bridesmaid. RACHAEL WOLENSKY ’14, MS ’15, of Bedminster, NJ, married Daniel Greenberg at Old York Cellars Winery in Ringoes, NJ, on Aug. 30, 2020. 2015 MEGAN AHRENBERG, MS ’15, of Wilmington, NC, celebrated one year of self-employment in July with her creative marketing boutique, SC Creative. JAMES CARCHIETTA of Hicksville, NY, began a new job as a sustainable waste consultant. BRANDON COLE of Windham, NH, has joined

CVS Health as a design program coach. ANTHONY DEPASQUALE and ERIKA EDLUND ’15, MBA ’16, of Rocky Hill, CT, were married on July 18, 2020. JENNIFER FEATHERINGHAM ’15, MOT ’16, took part in a panel discussion on “Acute Care Occupational Therapist Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic” at the Connecticut Occupational Therapy Association conference in November. PEILUEN KUO ’15, MOT ’16, took part in a panel discussion on “Acute Care Occupational Therapist Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic” at the Connecticut Occupational Therapy Association conference in November. KAITLYN ROGALSKI ’15, MAT ’16, of Plainville, CT, married Spencer Duffany on July 17, 2020. DANA UMBLE of Kingston, NY, joined SUNY Ulster in Stone Ridge, NY, in February 2020. She is the coordinator of facilities and special events. 2016 KHRISTINE CARROLL ’16, MS ’18, of North Andover, MA, is director of operations and commercial strategy at AdvanSource Biomaterials Corp. SUZANNE ZOUFALY ’16, MOT ’18, of New Rochelle, NY, married Liam Jerome on May 15, 2020. Their dog, Quinn, served as a “flower girl.” JACLYN PISELLI ’16, MOT ’17, took part in a panel discussion on “Acute Care Occupational Therapist Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic” at the Connecticut Occupational Therapy Association conference in November. MARIELLA RACAMATO ’16, MOT ’17, took part in a panel discussion on “Acute Care Occupational Therapist Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic” at the Connecticut Occupational Therapy Association conference in November. PETER RUTTURA of West Babylon, NY, is a lead project manager for the UBS Arena in Elmont, NY, future home of the NHL’s New York Islanders.

2017 JULIA DANIELS and THEO PINNOW of Naugatuck, CT, were married on Oct. 10, 2020, at the Glastonbury Boathouse. JAMES DOIG ’17, MS ’18, of Liverpool, United Kingdom, launched his own company, a NY-based digital marketing firm called Social Scousers. PINKY GABA, DNP ’17, of Farmington, CT, has joined St. Mary’s Hospital, part of the Trinity Health of New England Medical Group. STEPHEN MENDEZ of Dix Hills, NY, began a master of science program in cybersecurity at Fordham University. 2018 PAUL BOURDEAUX, MS ’18, of Issaquah, WA, was promoted to CIO of Vericity, which provides life insurance protection targeted to the middle-income American market through Fidelity Life and eFinancial. 2019 SALVATORE MITSOU of Farmington, CT, participated in a music video to commemorate health care workers and promote human being unity. SHAINA RODRIGUEZ, MS ’19, of Harrison, NY, welcomed her second child in August. 2020 PAIGE WARFEL of Chester Springs, PA, a former women’s basketball player, entered the police academy in Pennsylvania in July 2020 to pursue a career in law enforcement.

IN MEMORIAM 2019 Joseph Bartollotta ’84 Glen Stuke, JD ’97 2020 Traci Barnell ’99 Peter Bersano ’42 Ciro Longobardi ’71 Robert McEnerney ’78 Vincent McManus ’64 Paul Michalowski ’69 James Pepides ’73 Lorenzo Piroli ’04, MS ’05 Alice (Moylan) Schmidt ’47 Philip Smith ’76 Christina St. Pierre ’05 Robert Toth ’71 Dana Turczak ’07 Salvatore Velardi ’51

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A GIANT AMONG TEAM TRAINERS Treating NFL players is a year-round job BY BRIAN KOONZ

QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

2008 LAURA CAIAFA of North Haven, CT, married Marissa Ryan in October 2018.

editor of FleetOwner, a leading information source for the trucking industry for more than 90 years.

MATTHEW GALKA, MS ’11, of Phoenix is back to work as a reporter for the Fox affiliate there after recovering from COVID-19.

Julio Cortez/AP Images

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CLASS NOTES

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1. Kevin Currie ’07, MBA ’19, and Lidia Mikolaenko, Aug. 30, 2020. 2. Shea Baldwin, born May 31, 2020, to Sam Baldwin ’11 and Brittany (Michel) Baldwin ’11, MOT ’13. 3. Sarah Barron, born Jan. 23, 2019, to Cheryl (Downs) Barron ’05 and husband, John. 4. Kate Sherry ’14 and Joseph Tuxbury, Aug. 29, 2020. 5. Laura Caiafa ’08 and Marissa Ryan, Oct. 2018. 6. Beau Filippi, born April 11, 2020, to Eugene Filippi ’93 and his wife, Nicole. 7. Angela Julian ’11 and Giulio Rottaro Castejon, Oct. 26, 2019. 8. Taher Ted Koly ’06, MBA ’08, and Mirna Elkaissi, May 16, 2020. 9. Hudson Stiegelmayer, born Aug. 4, 2020, to Tracy (Luma) Stiegelmayer ’05 and husband, Ryan. 10. Suzanne Zoufaly ’16, MOT ’18, and Liam Jerome, May 15, 2020. 11. Leighton Healy, born May 13, 2020, to James Healy ’12, MBA ’13, and Jessica (Hardman) Healy ’12, MAT ’13. 12. Jennifer Seyler ’15, MOT ’16, and Andrew Featheringham, March 21, 2020. 13. Nolan Crain, born Sept. 5, 2020, son of Amy (Plourd) Crain ’04 and husband, Ron (with sister Maddie). 14. Logan Christina, born Feb. 23, 2020, to Sarah (Kaufman) Ibañez ’09, MAT ’10, and Ryan Ibañez ’09. 15. Kaitlyn Rogalski ’15, MAT ’16, and Spencer Duffany, July 17, 2020. 16. Ryan Piccoli, born Aug. 1, 2020, to Christopher Piccoli ’08 and Dana (Meisberger) Piccoli ’08 (with brother Josh). 17. Anthony DePasquale ’15 and Erika Edlund ’15, MBA ’16, July 18, 2020. 18. Connor Tarca, born June 5, 2020, to Gregory Tarca, MS ’06, and his wife, Lauren. 19. Quinlan D’Angelo, born Aug. 20, 2020, to Joseph D’Angelo ’02 and his wife, Erin. 20. Rachael Wolensky ’14, MS ’15, and Daniel Greenberg, Aug. 30, 2020. 21. Quinn Gunzy, born Sept. 1, 2020, to Mallory (Tarca) Gunzy, MBA ’12, and Jordan Gunzy. 22. Connor Jordan ’14, DPT ’17, and Gabrielle Stasiowski ’14, MBA ’15, Sept. 5, 2020. 23. Benjamin O’Connor ’12 and Paula Kennedy ’13, Sept. 2018. 24. Austin Kersten, born July 19, 2020, son of Lauren Kersten ’10 and her husband, Brian. 25. Erin Rosa ’05 and Josh Moody, Feb. 29, 2020. 26. Ava Elizabeth Picillo, born March 15, 2020, to Elizabeth (Kenty) Picillo ’06 and husband, Justin.

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LAW SCHOOL CLASS NOTES 1983 ANTHONY DASILVA JR. of Sudbury, MA, joined the Boston law firm of Davis Malm as a shareholder. He brings more than two decades of experience counseling clients on the tax and regulatory issues impacting compensation and benefits arrangements. 1987 PAUL J. FERENCEK of Stamford, CT, is the state’s attorney for the Judicial District of Stamford/Norwalk. A 32-year veteran of the state’s Division of Criminal Justice, he previously served as the supervisory assistant state’s attorney for the Stamford prosecutor’s office. 1988 DONNA GENOVESE of White Plains, NY, is a partner at Goldschmidt & Genovese. HELEN OSTER of Danbury, CT, married William Barry on June 5, 2020. Helen is a retired senior counsel specializing in corporate law. 1996 JIM BLANCHFIELD of Trumbull, CT, was named chief of the Wilton Fire Department in October. He previously served as a firefighter, lieutenant, captain and deputy chief with the department. 1997 CHARLES MUDD of Chicago, principal and owner of Mudd Law, celebrated the 19th anniversary of his firm in October. Over the past year, he has served on a panel at a U.N. conference in Istanbul and spoke at an ITechLaw conference in Bangalore, India. He continues to speak about diverse space law topics, including space debris and ownership of space resources. 2001 JENNIFER BOOKER of West Hartford, CT, a partner at the Connecticut-based law firm of Halloran Sage, recently was named to the Best Lawyers 2021 list. She was recognized for her Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants and Product Liability Litigation – Defendants practices.

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TAMMY MARZIGLIANO, a partner at Outten & Golden LLP in New York, was featured in a Lawyer Limelight article on lawdragon.com in June. She represents employees in litigation and negotiation in all areas of employment law.

Alumnus serving as Connecticut’s chief state’s attorney

2004 SAMUEL REICH of Southampton, PA, a litigator with the personal injury law firm of Laffey, Bucci & Kent, was named to the 2020 Pennsylvania Super Lawyers list. 2005 LARISSA LACMAN, MS ’15, JD ’05, of Prospect, CT, is senior counsel, commercial Americas, for New Relic’s industry-leading cloud application monitoring service. She also is implementing the legal department’s first company-wide contract training program on a global scale. 2007 JOSHUA COHEN of West Dover, VT, owner of Cohen Consumer Law and thestudentloanlawyer.com, recently published his first book, “The Student Loan Lawyer’s Guide to Understanding Student Loans in Plain English.” He also runs a student loan law workshop for attorneys. REBECCA MALANGA of Wallingford, CT, is senior director and counsel at Equitable Financial in New York. Her main practice areas include life insurance, annuities and securities law. 2010 JASON MAUR of Monroe, CT, was named general legal counsel to the North American branch of ReneSola Power in Stamford, CT, in April. In this new role, he shifted from a long career in private practice to corporate law. In 2019, he and his wife, Vicky, were married and spent their honeymoon in Thailand. He also was re-elected to the Monroe Town Council in 2019. 2015 JESSICA (LEHMANN) HILL of Mahwah, NJ, is an associate attorney at Kirby Aisner & Curley, LLP, in Scarsdale, NY. Her practice areas are consumer bankruptcy and small business restructuring.

Alumni

BY BRIAN KOONZ PHOTO AUTUMN DRISCOLL

For richard colangelo, jd ’92, the road to becoming Connecticut’s top prosecutor began in a Mitsubishi pickup truck bound for northeastern Ohio in 1989. The future was nearly 500 miles away from his home in Stamford, Connecticut, but it never felt closer. After earning his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, Colangelo felt a new fire. He always had wanted to study law, but somehow, the thought of three years of law school had deterred him. Until it didn’t. So Colangelo drove 7½ hours to the University of Akron School of Law and became a 1L. By the end of the year, however, he returned home to Stamford to complete his juris doctor at the University of Bridgeport School of Law, later acquired by Quinnipiac.

REACH INTO THE FUTURE David Hall ’70 loved his college years at Quinnipiac so much that he decided to work here for 47 years. From the business office in the library, he touched the lives of most every student and staff member who needed a photo ID. His sharp outfits, friendly smile and bowl of candy greeted all he served. David is still touching lives with his decision to name Quinnipiac in his estate plan. He says, “It was an easy and painless way to be remembered at QU while also helping the university.” David’s generous gift makes him a member of the Tower Society, which honors alumni, parents and friends who have included the university in their estate plans. To learn how you can support future students with an estate gift, please contact Eve Forbes, director of gift planning, at eve.forbes@qu.edu or 203-582-3995. To request a planning guide, please visit alumni.qu.edu/yourlegacy

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Richard Colangelo, JD ’92, was appointed chief state’s attorney in January 2020.

“I knew I wanted to practice in Connecticut, so transferring just made sense,” said Colangelo, who was appointed chief state’s attorney in January 2020. “During my second year of law school, I took the criminal clinic with Professor [Carrie] Kaas. That experience showed me what a prosecutor was.” And yet, Colangelo was never a template prosecutor. For more than a quarter century, he brought a novel skillset to Connecticut’s courtrooms—a mastery of the law, a commitment to humanity, and an engineer’s grasp of math and science. “I think a little differently than other people. I’m more analytical,” said Colangelo, who began his career as a prosecutor in Tolland and Windham in March 1993 before shifting to Norwalk, and later, the Stamford/Norwalk Judicial District. “When I got to Norwalk, I connected again with Professor Kaas and made myself the director of student interns,”

he recalled, eager to pay it forward as a promising young prosecutor. But Colangelo was still learning, too. One day, Connecticut Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Robinson, then a judge in Norwalk, took Colangelo aside for a bit of advice. “He told me, ‘You don’t need to have an attitude when you’re in court.’ I thought about that a lot,” Colangelo said. “Now, I try to impart that same advice to new prosecutors. We have an awesome responsibility as prosecutors. We control a lot of things: Who gets charged? Who goes to jail? And for how long? We make those arguments, but ultimately, the decision is up to the court.” Although Colangelo doesn’t prosecute cases as the chief state’s attorney, some of his cases are never far from his mind. One is the May 2019 disappearance and alleged homicide of Jennifer Farber Dulos, a New Canaan mother of five, at the hands of her husband, Fotis Dulos, who later died of an apparent suicide in January 2020. “We are working every day to find Jennifer. There is an active investigation still to this day,” Colangelo said. “That’s the only case I kept and didn’t assign to another prosecutor. Two other individuals are still charged in connection with Jennifer’s death. The police are still tracking down leads. We’re doing everything we can to find her. That’s something I firmly believe we’re going to do.” Another case that haunts Colangelo is the December 2011 sexual assault and manslaughter death of a 3-monthold Stamford boy, William Zamore. “This was a case where a mother let a male friend of hers watch her son. I think she thought he was her boyfriend,” Colangelo said. During the autopsy, the medical examiner found the boy had been sexually assaulted, but the DNA of the individual watching William was not a match. The man she left to watch William, Osvaldo Romero, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for first-degree manslaughter and risk of injury to a minor; Romero never told authorities who sexually assaulted the boy. “That file sat on the shelf in my office in Stamford the whole time I was the state’s attorney. It’s still sitting there,” Colangelo said. “I talk to Paul Ferencek [JD ’87] who replaced me when I got this job, and I talk to the lab. I tell them, ‘Hey, don’t forget it.’ They haven’t—and they won’t.” A resident of Easton, Connecticut, Colangelo lives with his wife, Carolyn (Gentile) Colangelo, JD ’94, a state Workers’ Compensation commissioner and former selectman, and their four children: Gabrielle, Caitlin, Jake and Zachary. He also is a member of the Board of Police Commissioners in town. In 2018, when he was the state’s attorney for the Stamford/Norwalk Judicial District, Colangelo started a pilot program to settle traffic tickets online rather than in court. He estimated that it reduced the number of court appearances by nearly 40 percent. Looking back on his career as a prosecutor, Colangelo points to the School of Law’s externship program as a key steppingstone for future attorneys. When he served as the director of student interns in Norwalk, Colangelo saw firsthand how courtroom experience gave School of Law students the background and the confidence to succeed. “They could work on anything they needed to do—getting up on their feet, questioning jurors, being part of a trial if I was doing a trial,” Colangelo said. “That experience helped me, so I wanted to make sure others got it as well.” QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

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Alumnus serving as Connecticut’s chief state’s attorney

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BY BRIAN KOONZ PHOTO AUTUMN DRISCOLL

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Richard Colangelo, JD ’92, was appointed chief state’s attorney in January 2020.

Alumni

Q-5 MARKS 50 YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP Not to mention 5 decades of wedded bliss per couple! BY ADAM DURSO

A 47-foot boat bobs in a marina near the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, home of John Antonino ’70, the numbers “50/50” emblazoned on its side. To passersby, those numbers could mean anything. For Antonino, the boat’s owner, and four of his friends from Quinnipiac’s Class of 1970, they symbolize a remarkable milestone. “They stand for 50 years since graduation and 50 years married to our wives,” Antonino proclaimed proudly. There is an even older story behind that name, one of enduring camaraderie and friendship. Back in 1966, Antonino and Jeff Barasch met as first-year students. Lou Camerota, Joe Greenfeld and Dan Testa transferred to Quinnipiac as juniors in 1968. Greenfeld and Barasch were resident advisers in the dorm where they lived. All became fast friends, and the “Q Five,” as they are affectionately known, was formed. “There is a special feeling when you connect with a friend,” said Camerota. “There was an unmistakable sense of honesty and trust there, and I liked them all immediately.” While the COVID-19 pandemic dashed plans for an in-person Alumni Weekend in Hamden this year and a planned trip to Italy to celebrate their collective anniversaries, Antonino, Camerota and Barasch managed to meet at a winery in Branford in October to reminisce and discuss plans for a possible 2021 Italy excursion. Their pals, Testa and Greenfeld, were not able to attend, but all shared memories for this story. “We really cut it up, especially that junior year,” recalled Testa. A favorite story among the group involved Barasch’s habit of “borrowing” Antonino’s car—a Corvette Stingray—after Antonino had gone to sleep. Barasch would drive to Long Island to visit his future wife, Melissa, and manage to get back before Antonino awoke the next morning. These nocturnal joyrides remained a secret for many years. “It’s just easier to ask for forgiveness than it is for permission,” joked Barasch. He wasn’t the only one with a girl special enough to steal a car for. The others also were dating the women who later would become their wives. The women would visit the Quinnipiac campus often, and the couples were inseparable. “Even then, we were always together,” said Antonino. “Our wives are as close to one another as we are.” All five men tied the knot within a year of graduating, began successful careers and started families. Antonino later joined Quinnipiac’s Board of Trustees and is now a trustee emeritus. Despite the distance between them—Antonino and Camerota live in Connecticut, Barasch on Long Island, Testa in Virginia and Greenfeld in New York—their 44

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friendship flourished. “The miles that separated us weren’t a barrier,” said Barasch. “We knew we’d keep it together.” Their families frequently spent holidays, birthdays and vacations together. Several of their relatives followed in their footsteps at Quinnipiac, including Antonino’s grandson, John Wenc ’18, a fund services manager with SS&C GlobeOp; Greenfeld’s children, Rachel Weinstein ’00, director of sales for The Frye Company, and Adam Greenfeld ’07, co-founder of Formula, a health and well-being company; and Camerota’s son, Christian, MS ’12, director of content strategy/creation at Wesleyan University. The guys also supported one another through difficult times, including when economic circumstances cost Camerota his job as an airline executive with TWA. Antonino, who has achieved a good deal of success as a co-founder of the Antonino Auto Group, offered his friend a position at one of his dealerships. “John provided me an opportunity, and I’ve worked with him now for over 25 years,” Camerota said. Barasch founded Onward Publishing, and Testa and Greenfeld co-founded TCI Communications. Today, Greenfeld runs a family dry cleaning business. Jennifer Bracciale, Antonino’s daughter, says Quinnipiac contributed to their business successes but also to their personal relationships.

Still a partner in your career journey “These men are my father’s brothers,” she wrote in an email. “The camaraderie they share has weathered many storms. For a bunch of old men, they have a remarkable recollection of fun times spent at the Q!” When out to dinner with their wives, it wasn’t uncommon for them to promise their server twice the tip to correctly guess who was married to whom. Once, while dining together in Florida (and wearing identical shirts), they passed themselves off as a quintet—the El Vitos—and serenaded diners with “That’s Amore.” They received an ovation and signed menus! Another time, they wore Superman shirts under their suits to a formal Charter Oak Society dinner hosted by QU. “We’d make friends and entertain people, no matter where we were,” chuckled Testa. “My children often would tell me that they couldn’t tell the kids from the adults when we were all together,” Greenfeld said. They consider one another’s children and grandchildren as members of their own families; they have 12 children and 20 grandchildren among them. “It has been a privilege to share friendships with these guys,” Antonino said. “I believe that we’ll all be together until the end.”

Above: The Q-Five and their wives at a holiday party. Front row, from left: Melissa Barasch, Linda Antonino, Holly Camerota, Susan Greenfeld and Karen Testa. Back row: Jeff Barasch, John Antonino, Lou Camerota, Joe Greenfeld and Dan Testa. Top: John Antonino named his boat 50/50 to honor his longtime friendships with his

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Q-5 MARKS 50 YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP Not to mention 5 decades of wedded bliss per couple! BY ADAM DURSO

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MILESTONE

Bobcat Connect Mentorship Platform

Live and Recorded Career Webinars

Personalized Career Consultations

Industry Panels and Networking Events

Professional Development Modules

Quinnipiac ”crew.”

Questions?

Get Connected–Virtually!

Contact Kristina Galligan, director of alumni career development, at kristina.galligan@qu.edu

Visit alumni.qu.edu/careerservices to access these resources and more. ph&fax

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