Winter Magazine 2010

PURCHASE COLLEGE ALUMNI MAGA ZINE | THINK WIDE OPEN

WINTER 2010

Wellness @ Purchase Do Holistic Health and Wellness Practices Keep Us from Getting Sick?

PLUS:

Purchase College Construction Renovation Redux: CHANGE FOR THE BET TER? Neuberger Museum of Art Reaches Out with “British Subjects”: LOUISE YELIN GUEST CURATES A SHOW OF BRITISH IDENTIT Y FOR THE LAST 60 YEARS

TABLE OF CONTENTS Pursuits

1–3

[ THIS MOMENT ]

IN TIME

By Thomas J. Schwarz

Neuberger Reaches Out

4–6

Purchase College Construction Renovation Redux 7–9 News Briefs

9–10

First-Class Purchase Profs

11–14

Wellness @ Purchase

15–17

Alumni in Action

18–20

Annual Fund

21

Please visit the College’s website www.purchase.edu or contact the Alumni Association by email (alumni@purchase.edu) for programs and activities that may be of greatest interest to you.

Purchase College Alumni magazine is published biannually by the Office of External Affairs and Development, Purchase College, State University of New York, Purchase, NY 10577-1400 Phone: (914) 251-6046 Fax: (914) 251-6047 Email: alumni@purchase.edu

Editor: Margaret Sullivan, Vice President, External Affairs & Development Publications Director: Sandy Dylak Design: Worksight Cover Photography: Kelly Campbell

Dear Friends: The theme of this alumni issue is the theme for our academic year 2009–10: Agents of Change. Not only is the campus undergoing a dramatic renovation, but transformations are occurring to the academic, administrative, and social fabric of the Purchase community. We welcomed to campus the most demographically and racially diverse freshman class in the history of Purchase College. We increased faculty with the addition of eight full-time, tenure-track professors and three multiyear-contract professors. A new, five-year strategic plan with four bold and exciting goals was adopted by the community. Purchase will have a new administrative structure, effective in the fall of 2010.

There will be two overarching schools: the School of the Arts and the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, each headed by a dean.

Our career-counseling department continues to expand its abilities to help our alumni as well as our students. As you will read in this issue, the news from Purchase College reflects a dynamic and positive momentum.

Meanwhile, the news from Albany is not nearly so positive and upbeat. Purchase continues to be challenged by the state as it is forced to make difficult decisions about its financial support for public higher education. Recently, Governor Paterson announced a $90 million reduction in state aid to SUNY campuses, of which Purchase College’s share was $1,054,000. This comes after last year’s spending reductions, when 80% of tuition increase revenues were “clawed back” by the state to offset budget deficits. Given current and future budget deficit projections, we anticipate that cuts will continue.

Meanwhile, applications are on the rise at Purchase as students and their families choose the public college as a more affordable alternative to private institutions.

Purchase has seen a surge in its transfer and retention rates. The quality of our students has increased as measured by secondary school grade-point average and SAT scores. Purchase has become increasingly popular as well as increasingly competitive.

No longer is it a runner-up to New York’s private colleges and universities.

The need for outside sources of financial support becomes more vital if Purchase continues to grow in popularity in the face of diminishing state resources. Now more than ever, we need the support of Purchase’s community to help withstand state spending reductions and sustain its quality programs. Purchase’s academic stature has been noted in magazines such as US News and World Report. Its ranking, however, is determined in part by the percentage of alumni giving it receives—the higher the percentage, the higher the rank. In order to sustain or improve ranking, alumni support becomes even more essential. In turn, improved ranking translates to increased popularity.

It has been noted that recessions open doors to opportunities for change and improvement. While it is heartbreaking to confront the impact of the state’s budget deficit on Purchase College, it does represent an important chance to forge closer ties with an alumni community committed to preserving the quality of education on campus.

Thanks for your continued support.

Photography: Kelly Campbell, Thomas Moore, Chris Marsigliano Alumni Editor: Cristina Necula ’97 Thomas J. Schwarz President

PURSUITS/FACULTY NEWS & NOTES School of the Arts Michael Adelson, Music, is the new conductor of the Purchase Symphony Orchestra. Currently on the conducting staff of the New York Philharmonic, he is also a composer, writer, and educator. He has conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, and many other ensembles in Europe and the U.S. Bradley Brookshire, Laurie Smukler, and Julia Lichten, Music, have launched the first annual Purchase College Bach Festival for the benefit of the Conservatory of Music Scholarship Fund. The first two festival concerts featured Bach’s sonatas for violin, cello, and harpsichord, and the third concert featured the Purchase College Chorus and the Purchase College Camerata.

L to R: Marcus Rojas, Peter Reit, Graham Ashton, Rich Clymer, Timothy Albright

Iris Cahn, Film, joined actresses Debra Winger and Uma Thurman, along with director Joan Micklin Silver (Hester Street, Crossing Delancy), for a year-long series of lectures on “New York State Women and Film,” sponsored by the New York State Council on the Arts. The talks were at Mountain Cinema in Hunter, New York. Professor Cahn spoke on turnof-the-century Hudson Valley actress and director Helen Gardiner, and presented a screening of Cleopatra, which Gardiner directed in 1912.

Graham Ashton, Music, has formed the New York Chamber Brass, featuring leading New York brass players. The ensemble has been named Faculty-in-Residence at Purchase College, the first to hold this position. The group includes Ashton and Rich Clymer (trumpets), Peter Reit (horn), Timothy Albright (trombone), and Marcus Rojas (tuba), all Purchase faculty members.

Lenora Champagne, Drama Studies, spoke on “New Nostalgia” in the American theater at the American Theatre in Higher Education conference. She also participated in a symposium on confessional performance at the University of Glasgow.

Todd Coolman, Music, is the featured bass player on NEA Jazz Master James Moody’s latest album, “4A.” The disc from IPO Recordings includes legendary pianist Kenny Barron, with James Moody playing tenor saxophone, and Lewis Dash on drums. This is the tenth album Coolman has recorded with Moody. Next spring, Coolman and other leading jazz artists will perform at Carnegie Hall at the James Moody 85th Birthday Concert.

Professor Donna Dennis, Art+Design, is the author of Nine Nights Meditation, a collaboration with the poet Anne Waldman, published by Granary Books.

Jon Faddis, Music, was joined by faculty members and three alums last fall, when his Jon Faddis Orchestra of New York made its first appearance at the Blue Note playing two sets nightly. Joining Faddis were Professors Mark Vinci and Ralph Lalama on saxophone, John Fedchock on trombone, and Todd Coolman on bass. Alums included Max Darche ’08 on trumpet and Andrew Gould ’08 and Xavier Perez ’09 on saxophone.

Joseph Ferry, Music, won second place in the SKA category at the Just Plain Folks Music Awards in Nashville for his album “55:22.” It is his second release on the Shantytown label, and includes reggae, ska, blues, klemzer, lounge, classical, and jazz music.

The group performs regularly at Purchase, as well as other East Coast venues. International tours will include performances at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts in China and in the UK, France, Germany, and South America. New York Chamber Brass records for the European record label Signum Classics, London.

Their first CD is scheduled to be recorded in the summer of 2010.

Sharon Horvath, Art+Design, recently exhibited her paintings at the Lori Bookstein Fine Art Gallery in Chelsea. Called “Parts of the World,” the show drew its title from poetry by Wallace Stevens.

Laura Kaminsky, Music, the new artistic director of Symphony Space, visited St. Petersburg in Russia to study Russian music composed between the end of World War I and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

She was one of ten American professionals in the arts selected for a Likhachev Foundation grant. The music she studied will be incorporated into a program at Symphony Space in May 2010.

Arturo O’Farrill, Music, received a commission to compose a work of music in honor of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The world premiere took place in early November at Symphony Space. The commission was arranged by Symphony Space where O’Farrill’s orchestra is in residence. Other sponsors were RD Rice Construction, which funded the commission, and the Bronx Museum of the Arts. O’Farrill heads the Latin Jazz Studies program at Purchase.

environmental sustainability is a purchase college priority. please consider supporting our commitment to reduce paper consumption.

alumni, friends & parents: Send your e-mail address to: alumni@purchase.edu, and we will replace your printed version of PURCHASE magazine with a digital copy for all future issues.

Purchase alumni, friends, and parents are also invited to view previous issues of PURCHASE magazine online at: www.purchase.edu/alumni For other current alumni news, updates, and events, visit: www.facebook.com/PurchaseAlumni www.myspace.com/purchasealumni • www.linkedin.com/e/gis/132024 twitter.com/PurchaseAlumni PURCHASE | 1

PURSUITS/FACULTY NEWS & NOTES Iktus is the percussion Iktus quartet in residence at Purchase for a second year. The musicians are Purchase graduates and include Roy Campbell ’07, Justin Wolf ’08, Danielle Weinberg ’06, and Chris Graham’05. Through their residency, Iktus members have participated in workshops for developing composers and have acted as mentors and coaches for aspiring percussionists. As performer-educators, they have also given master classes to various elementary school audiences.

They perform concerts throughout the year. To find out more, visit www.iktuspercussion.com.

Stuart Isaccoff, Music, spoke about recent theories on brain development and creativity in music at Beth Israel Medical Center’s symposium for music and medicine. He also spoke about the history of musicians who have worked through ailments and stress to refine their music.

Tim McCann, Film, has directed five independent feature films, and two of them are being released on DVD. The Poker Club, starring Jonathan Scheah (That Thing You Do), was released by Sony Screen Gems. Runaway, starring Robin Tunney from The Mentalist, Aaron Stanford, and Purchase alum Melissa Leo, was released by Koch Vision.

Richard Morales, Music, played drums while on tour with guitarist and former Yankee center fielder Bernie Williams at concerts in the tri-state area. The tour followed the release of Mr. Williams’s new album, Moving Forward. Williams is studying studio composition at Purchase, and the album received a Latin Grammy nomination.

that includes bass, drums, trumpet/flugelhorn, vibraphone, and concert organ.

Over 4,000 organists worldwide will attend the convention.

Ted Piltzecker

Ravi Rajan, Art+Design, participated in three recent shows of a project with Alfredo Jaar: “The Sound of Silence” at Les Ateliers Jean Brillant in Montreal, Canada, as part of Le Mois de la Photo; in Moscow at the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, as part of the Third Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art; and at CREAM International Festival for Arts and Media in Yokohama, Japan. The project combined a built structure with integrated technology to present ideas surrounding the work of photojournalist Kevin Carter.

Joel Thome, Music, a celebrated composer and conductor, collaborated with artist Harry Doolittle at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City for a mandala concert. The event showcased Thome’s compositions, using mandala forms as notation, and Doolittle’s mandala paintings, which were projected on screen in the museum’s theater during the performance.

Michael Torlen, Art+Design, exhibited in the Springfield Art Museum’s national printmaking competition, Prints USA 2009, in Springfield, MO. Nelly Van Bommel, Dance, Sidra Bell ’03, Lane Gifford ’04, Kate Griffler ’02, and Purchase senior Annie Rigney were among eleven choreographers who participated in the Reverb Choreographic Project in partnership with Purchase College. They created new works during a residency at the College, and more than 40 dancers from the Conservatory of Dance and a number of alums performed the new pieces at the Purchase Dance Theatre Lab and in New York City.

Purchase music faculty participated in the recent inaugural Plattsburgh New Music & Culture Symposium at SUNY Plattsburgh. Professor Suzanne Farrin, chair of composition and theory at Purchase, was a conference organizer. Several of Farrin’s original pieces were performed at one of the conference concerts. Other presenters from Purchase included Professor Bradley Brookshire and Professor Stuart Isaccoff, Professor Allyson Bellinck presented a world premiere work at the closing concert.

The symposium was made possible through a SUNY Conversations in the Disciplines grant, with additional support from Purchase College.

Carol Walker, Dance, was invited to adjudicate the Sydney Eisteddfod Dance Challenge in Australia. She judged modern dance, jazz, and musical theatre dance.

Sarah Warren, Art History, gave a paper at the Futurismo/Futurizm conference at the Beineke Rare Book Library at Yale University. Her topic was “Liberating the Italian Colony by the Neva: Italian Futurism and the Cultural Politics of the Late Russian Empire.”

Dennis Parichy, Design Technology, has a new book, Illuminating the Play: The Artistry of Lighting Design, published by Heinemann.

School of Natural and Social Sciences

Ted Piltzecker, Music, will play the vibraphone at a world premiere concert for the American Guild of Organists at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, next summer. He will perform a jazz piece for organ commissioned by the guild. The work, La Petite Sweet, was created by organist and composer Dorothy Papadakos, former organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. This is the first time a jazz organ work has been commissioned for a combination of instruments

Karen Baird, Political Science and Women’s Studies, is author, with Professor Kimberly Christensen, Economics and Women’s Studies, and Dana-Ain Davis, of Beyond Reproduction: Women’s Health, Activism, and Public Policy, published by Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. The volume examines the women’s health movement of the 1990s, and how activists achieved unprecedented policy changes in the areas of medical research, HIV/AIDS, breast cancer, and violence against women.

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PURSUITS/FACULTY NEWS & NOTES Rudolf Pell Gaudio, Anthropology, won the 2009 Ruth Benedict Prize for his book, Allah Made Us: Sexual Outlaws in an Islamic City. The award, presented at the American Anthropological Association meeting, acknowledges scholarly excellence about a topic relevant to the Society of Lesbian and Gay Anthropologists.

Anthony Lemieux, Psychology, received a grant from the Homeland Security Center at the University of Maryland to create a course for studying terrorist motivations. The grant is from the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism. Lemieux recently spoke at a research briefing at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, VA. His topic was “Grievance, Risk, and Enemy/Images in the Choice and Justification of Terror Protest.”

Lisa Jean Moore and Mary Kosut, Women’s Studies: Media, Society, and the Arts, are editors of The Body Reader: Essential Social and Cultural Readings, published by New York University Press. This cutting-edge volume takes a timely look at the ways we understand, alter, and care for our bodies.

Other Purchase contributors are Professor Matthew Immergut, Sociology, and Professor Jason Pine, Anthropology.

Lisa Jean Moore is also co-author with Monica J. Casper of Missing Bodies: The Politics of Visibility, published by New York University Press.

Elise Lemire, English Literature, is the author of Black Walden: Slavery and Its Aftermath in Concord, Massachusetts, by the University of Pennsylvania Press. It is a look at the slaves living in Walden Woods, and the men and women who held them in bondage during the eighteenth century.

Jennifer Uleman, Philosophy, delivered a talk at the UK Kant Society Conference at the University of Lancaster, England. Her topic was “No King and No Torture: Making Sense of Kant on Suicide.”

Renqiu Yu, History, will receive an award from the China Institute in America for his contributions to both Teach China and the field of education. The award will be presented at the Chinese New Year celebration in Gotham Hall in New York City.

Gary Waller, Drama Studies/Literature, has a new book titled Walsingham and English Culture, which he co-edited with Dominic Janes for Ashgate. It is the first of three books he will publish (two with Ashgate and one with Cambridge University Press) on the late medieval and early modern literature, theology, and popular culture associated with the Virgin Mary.

School of Liberal Studies and Continuing Education Lisa Jean Moore

Habiba Boumlik, Anthropology, presented a paper at the American Anthropological Association, critically examining the use of the concept of Cultural Relativism by various feminist groups in favor of or against the law banning the use of headscarves in French public schools.

Veronica Perera, Sociology, presented a paper, “How Do We Go Global?

Traveling Scripts and Expanding Horizons in Latin American Water Struggles,” at the International Studies Association Northeast Conference.

William J. Peace, Anthropology, has made several contributions to the newly released Encyclopedia of American Disability History and has an entry about adaptive sports in the forthcoming Body Reader. His forthcoming memoir, Bad Cripple, is to be published by Counter Punch Books.

Jason Pine, Anthropology and Media, Society, and the Arts, presented a paper, “Rural Risk: Methamphetamine as Moral Hazard,” at the annual meeting of the Law and Society Association.

Michael G. Garber, Music, Theater, and Film History, has an article in the Journal of the Society for American Music, called “‘Some of These Days’ and the Study of the Great American Songbook.” His encyclopedia entry “Operetta” will appear in a new reference work, Broadway: An Encyclopedia of Theater and American Culture.

Paul Siegel, Psychology, received funding from the International Psychoanalytical Association for his project to develop an alternative to the prevailing treatment of phobias and fear-related disorders.

Brooke Singer, New Media, received a New York State Council on the Arts 2010 Individual Artist grant for “Superfund 365,” an online data-visualization application that increases public understanding and dialogue about the worst toxic sites in the U.S. The application employs accessible scientific information, media content, and social networking tools.

Brooke Singer

Jack Breslin, Communications/Media Studies, has completed a chapter, “Cops and Reality TV: Public Service or Public Menace?” for the book Ethics and Entertainment: Essays on Media Culture and Media Morality, being published by McFarland.

Edmund Cionek, Music History, led a symposium at the Bar Harbor Music Festival titled “Five Facets of New Music.” His new choral work “I Stand with You,” with text by Walt Whitman, was performed by the Accidentals at the Rubin Museum’s “Naked Soul” music series in New York.

Jennifer Wroblewski, Art+Design, was awarded a 2009 NYFA Fellowship in Printmaking, Drawing, and Book Arts.

School of Humanities Laura Chmielewski, History, had an essay included in the anthology Dutch in New York: The Roots of Hudson Valley Culture, edited by Roger Panetta for Fordham University Press. It’s titled “Displaying the Dutch: The Dyckman Farmhouse Museum and the Colonial Revival Movement.”

Casey Haskins, Philosophy, received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for development of a new interdisciplinary course, “Happiness: Philosophy, Film, Literature.”

Joseph Tripodi

Joseph Tripodi, the new director of the Office of Sustainability, is coordinating the College’s efforts toward climate neutrality. He is concentrating on alternative fuels and vehicles, along with sustainability education across the curriculum. Tripodi is responsible for leading efforts to develop sustainability as a core value and helping graduates adopt sustainable practices in their personal and professional lives.

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Guest curator Louise Yelin, senior professor of literature and interim dean of the School of Humanities.

Neuberger

eaches Out

with “British Subjects” Three years ago, the staff at the Neuberger Museum of Art proposed an idea that might have made another museum of its caliber balk: invite an academic from outside art history and the visual arts to curate an exhibition—one, moreover, who had never done it before.

By Bruce Tallerman

That idea has come to successful fruition with “British Subjects: Identity and Self-Fashioning, 1967–2009,” currently on view at the Museum. The guest curator is Louise Yelin, senior professor of literature and interim dean of the School of Humanities at Purchase College.

“I was eager for a new challenge,” says Yelin, who specializes in British literature and writes about autobiography as a window into postwar British culture. “This was an exciting opportunity to do a project that was different from anything I’ve ever done.”

When Thom Collins came on board as director of the museum in 2004, one of his goals was to integrate the museum more deeply with Purchase faculty and students. According to Damian Fernandez, Provost, the Neuberger was not originally part of the Purchase curriculum. “Only in the past few years, with Thom’s leadership, has it become woven into the fabric of the school,” he says.

Until now, however, the intersection of Museum and campus has included only academics from the School of the Art+Design and art history program. The “British Subjects” exhibition represents a new frontier for both the Museum and the college in offering guest-curator opportunities to academics outside those disciplines.

“The idea,” says Collins, “was to create programs that would involve students and faculty in a kind of academic enterprise that brings new insights into the arts and curatorial practice.”

Professor Yelin was a natural choice. “She brought an extensive knowledge of the art world to the project without having the biases of someone from the visual arts,” says Collins. As an example, he

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“ t h e e x h i b i t i o n p l a c e s b e f o r e u s d i f f e r e n t w ay s o f u n d e r s t a n d i n g a n d v i s u a l i z i n g w h a t i t m e a n s t o b e a b r i t i s h s u b j e c t t o d ay , ” s ay s y e l i n . cites Yelin’s willingness to include younger, lesser-known British artists alongside well-known, established artists.

“British Subjects: Identity and Self-Fashioning, 1967–2009” explores, through different styles of self-portraiture, how British identity has changed in the last 60 years as a result of three developments: the dissolution of the empire, postwar immigration, and social movements such as feminism and gay rights.

“There was a wave of immigration after World War Two that changed the face of the British nation,” Yelin explains. “Then, in the 1980s, those immigrants and their children came of age, and there was an enormous eruption of creativity.”

That creativity is represented in “British Subjects,” which showcases more than 60 works of painting, photography, sculpture, installation, and video.

Many of the works convey the artists’ Britishness through techniques such as masquerade, role-playing, and artifice. Ajamu X’s Self Portrait, for example, shows the bare-chested black artist wearing a platinum blond wig and waving a cigarette holder, evoking a Dietrich-esque femme fatale. By contrast, John Kirby’s White Wedding depicts the white-skinned Kirby as two brown-skinned men clad in white tuxedos.

“The point is that Britain has been changed by multiculturalism and by the emergence of people of color as important voices in British art and literature,” says Yelin.

Tigale Hassan’s Self Portrait offers another perspective on modern Britishness: that of a young, recent immigrant. Hassan, who is eighteen years old, depicts himself as an entitled subject in the

Hew Locke, born 1959 • Tyger, Tyger, 2007 • Chromogenic color print,1 from edition of 3 • 90 7/8 x 71 1/4 inches • Collection Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Mo, Bebe and Crosby Kemper Collection • Museum purchase made possible by a gift from the R.C. Kemper Charitable Trust; 2008.28

style of historical British figures. For the photograph, he studied portraits of Edward VI and Sir Philip Sidney. It shows Tigale arrayed in brilliantly colored clothing, pointing at a scroll that says “The future is bright,” a reference to a young man about to reap life’s rich rewards.

Other artists in “British Subjects” express their identity through the themes of feminism and parenthood. Chantal Joffe’s painting, Self-Portrat with Esme, is an unsentimental depiction of motherhood. The odd positioning of the mother and daughter recalls the couples in Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss and The Three Ages of Woman.

But while the couples in Klimt’s paintings are shown in romantic or erotic poses, the mother and daughter in Joffe’s painting are looking aslant, with the daughter trying to wriggle out of her mother’s arms.

Cecily Brown’s Girl on a Swing is also a nod to foreign influences, in this case, the French painter Jean-Honore Fragonard. Brown’s painting reinterprets Fragonard’s The Swing, which shows two men catching erotic glimpses of a young woman on a swing. In Brown’s version, the voyeurs are left out, so that the girl—the artist herself— appears to be swinging for her own pleasure: not the object, but the subject of an erotic glance.

“The exhibition places before us different ways of understanding and visualizing what it means to be a British subject today,” says Yelin.

Her foray into the visual arts gave Yelin the chance to delve more deeply into her own identity as a literary critic and writer.

“My experience as guest curator has enabled me to deepen the questions I ask about my identity, such as where I come from and

Martin Parr, born 1952 • England, London, The Dorchester, The Fabulous Pink Ribbon Ball, 1998 • Autoportrait • 16 x 12 inches • Courtesy Janet Borden Inc., New York • Copyright Martin Parr • Image courtesy Janet Borden Inc., New York

right: Chantal Joffe, born 1969 • Self-Portrait with Esme, 2009 • Oil on linen. 84 x 60 inches • Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro Gallery, London, and Cheim & Read, New York • Copyright Chantal Joffe • Image courtesy Victoria Miro Gallery, London, and Cheim Reid, New York

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“ t h i s k i n d o f c o l l a b o r a t i o n d o e s n ’ t h a p p e n i n m o s t p l a c e s , ” s ay s c o l l i n s . “it requires a sense of adventure and risk taking that’s unique to purchase.” how I want to show myself to others,” she says. She adds that “British Subjects” gives the visitor the same opportunity for selfdiscovery. “This is about what the viewer brings to the experience.

The mode of the exhibition is interrogatory—it’s about asking rather than telling.”

One of the paintings on display, Self-Portrait of You and Me/Native American, by Douglas Gordon, who won Britain’s Turner Prize in 1996, literally brings the viewer into the work. Self Portrait borrows the Andy Warhol silkscreen of Russell Means, a leader of the American Indian Movement. Gordon multiplies Warhol’s image, shreds it, and collages the four pieces onto a mirror, so that the viewer sees fragments of herself or himself juxtaposed to the cut-up portrait of Means.

“Thinking visually was the hardest part of curating an exhibition,” says Yelin, whose book From the Margins of Empire looks at national identity in the novels of Christina Stead, Doris Lessing, and Nadine Gordimer. “I wasn’t trained to think visually.”

She had to confront other curatorial challenges, such as space limitations and the nonavailability of certain pieces.

Even though the idea for the show was hers, Yelin says that her vision “was educated by my interaction with the museum’s curatorial staff and their mentoring of me—particularly with the installation.”

For his part, Collins gives high marks to Yelin’s choices, calling them “rich.”

“She opened up thematic avenues that someone else wouldn’t have thought about,” he says. He also praises the way Yelin chose to

John Kirby, born 1949 • White Wedding, 2006 • Oil on canvas • Unframed 23 x 27; Framed: 25 x 29 1/2 inches • Collection Matthew and Emily Flowers • Courtesy Flowers Gallery, London & New York • Copyright John Kirby Photo: Shaun McCracken

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group the pieces. “The viewer can read an enormous amount by the way they’re juxtaposed.”

Two self-portraits in “British Subjects” illustrate his point. One of them is by the renowned photographer Martin Parr, who was born in England in 1952. Part of his “Autoportrait” series, the piece shows the artist in a tuxedo and bow tie looking vaguely out-ofsorts. He stands in sharp contrast to Ajamu X’s Self-Portrait, the gay black photographer wearing a blond wig.

Referring to Yelin’s crossover into visual arts, Fernandez believes that culture and knowledge can transcend boundaries that are “artificially created by disciplines.”

“Louise succeeds in bridging what are typically separate territories— literary autobiography and self-portraiture,” he says, noting that it’s not a “conceptually huge jump” from one to the other.

Looking to the future, Fernandez hopes the museum will continue to expand its collaborations with Purchase faculty and students, and offer guest curator opportunities to those in disciplines such as the sciences and performing arts. “The Neuberger Museum is at the vanguard of what progressive teaching museums should be,” he says.

Collins echoes the thought, calling the Neuberger “an engine for cross-interdisciplinary exploration.

“This kind of collaboration doesn’t happen in most places,” says Collins. “It requires a sense of adventure and risk taking that’s unique to Purchase. When something like this works out, it’s always magical.”

Douglas Gordon, born 1966 • Self-Portrait of You and Me / Native American • 4 parts, 2008 • Smoke and mirror • Framed: 635/8 x 47 7/8 inches • Courtesy Gagosian Gallery, New York • Copyright Douglas Gordon Image

Chila Kumari Burman, born 1961 • Autoportrait, 2007 • Giclée print on Hahnemuhle paper • 46 x 33 inches • Courtesy Chila Kumari Burman, London • Copyright Chila Kumari Burman Image

Purchase College Construction Renovation Redux: Change for the Better? tudents and visitors arriving on campus this fall were greeted by construction vehicles and rerouted around chain-link fences on which signs read, “Pardon our progress.” Clearly work was underway on the north side of campus, as work had begun on the rehabilitation of the plaza. Terra Ve patrons were redirected to the other dining facilities while the facelift of the Student Health Services building continued. Construction trucks were as commonplace as bicycles, the noise of jackhammers as commonplace as music as classes began in September.

S

By Elizabeth Robertson

Recently, the New York Times featured an article in its home section titled “Where Nothing Changes. Ever.” The subject of the article was a 24-room Victorian home in the Berkshires— the owners of which pride themselves on doing nothing to improve or restore it. “Once a workman repairing the plumbing took it upon himself to replace a shower fixture,” the owner was quoted as saying, “but [we] insisted he return to reinstall the old one.“ The old adage “less is more” has its merits; however, improvement and progress are equally if not more valuable. As the owners of the historic relic admitted, the furnace and a new refrigerator were necessary.

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Looking south toward Library entrance. Four new pavement colors, lighter and more reflective in tone, will provide contrast, while increasing the thermal properties in the occupied spaces below the plaza.

Cafe area outside Campus Center South. Informal gathering spaces will restore the plaza as the campus center for student activity and academic life, as originally envisioned by master architect Larrabee Barnes.

A future look at Purchase, post-construction, would convince the most die-hard hammock swinger that improvement and change are for the better.

The plaza renovation project is the most visible of the many capital improvements under way. There are approximately 20 projects in various phases of planning, design, and construction for which State Construction and Dormitory Authority funds have been allocated. As the campus braces for future disruptions, it is hard not to wonder whether all the projects designed to improve the campus are worth the cost and dislocation.

The Purchase plaza, designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes 40 years ago, was to be the hub of campus life. It had a distinctly utilitarian purpose…linking academic and conservatory buildings to a core identified by the library and bookstore. The plaza served not only as a footpath but also as a roof—underneath portions of the plaza were offices, studios, labs, and mechanical rooms. As the 40 years passed, wear and tear became evident and widespread; walkways became chipped, loose, and crumbly. While the trees grew tall, their roots had no room for expansion and growth, causing further deterioration to the plaza and leaks in offices below the surface.

REINVENTING THE PLAZA The renovation of the plaza addresses the paving, the leaks, and the drainage. More important, however, it will enhance the quality of life of pedestrians who use it. The renovation creates an opportunity to reinvent the plaza, changing it from its strictly utilitarian purpose to make it a sustainable ecosystem that balances the needs of its users with Purchase’s commitment to becoming a college that is environmentally sensitive.

The theme “occupiable landscape” resonates when one examines the plans. The conversion of hardscape to landscape is noteworthy: currently the mall is 73% hardscape—bricks, mortar, and concrete dominate. The new plan calls for a reduction in hardscape to 56% landscape: a combination of trees, grasses, and planters will increase from 27% to 44% of the mall area. Invisible to the users’ eyes are the sustainability elements of the plaza’s new design.

Plantings will be stepped and terraced to ensure better drainage and less risk of leaks. Grasses have been selected rather than lawn not only to provide seasonal diversity but also because they need far less maintenance and fewer chemicals than regular lawn. The trees have been carefully selected for their hardiness. Nonetheless, a special grating system will be installed to protect their root systems from erosion, drought, or overexposure to pedestrian traffic.

Water runoff will be used to irrigate the new ecosystem, relieving the stress on the school’s storm sewage system.

PURCHASE | 8

HERITAGE SITE RENOVATION Renovation of Purchase’s “heritage site” is imminent for the fall.

This $6 million project will include the rehabilitation of the old farm buildings that now house Administration, Capital Facilities, Business, and Admissions offices. The rehabilitation of Beechwood, the official president’s residence, is included in this project. While the Administration buildings are within campus boundaries and fully used, Beechwood sits off campus and is used only occasionally. Beechwood is an aging mansion from the 1920s with significant historical merit; however, its usefulness to Purchase College is questionable. It is an asset worthy of “heritage site” designation, but its renovation is costly. The option of moving Beechwood to campus to expand its use as a meeting or conference center was dismissed based on cost and feasibility. There are funds earmarked specifically for its renovation but in considering location, use,

The Purchase College Heritage Site is envisioned to be the main entry to the academic, residential, and cultural centers that are spread throughout the campus. Renovations will include exterior repairs to the various building windows, doors, roof, siding, and painting to preserve the existing facilities.

NEWSBRIEFS

Looking west to the PAC (late spring view) Landscaped areas will increase to 45% of the total plaza area.

and future maintenance, questions remain whether there are better decisions regarding the future of Beechwood and the allocation of funds for its rehabilitation.

HUMANITIES BUILDING REHABILITATION The upcoming Humanities building project, in Capital Facilities Management Director Christopher Gavelick’s own words, “represents the slippery slope of renovation. What started with ‘we’ve got leaks, let’s repair the roof’ has expanded” to a project that includes the rehabilitation of internal space within the building. The outcome will be positive: a more energy-efficient building with space capable of handling the future growth of the humanities programs. However, “the short term will be nightmarish,” according to Gavelick. Because of space constraints on campus, some offices and classrooms will have to remain in the building while construction unfolds. “There is simply not enough room on campus for all of humanities’ needs—already we will have to carve out 11 classrooms in places as far-flung as the labs in the natural science building,” says Gavelick. “Classrooms and offices will be open on the first floor while renovations take place on the second. Needless to say, things will rock.” Surely refugees from humanities will question whether the full renovation of the building in response to repairing the leaks was absolutely necessary.

SUSTAINING OUR ENVIRONMENT The renovation of the Visual Arts building, anticipated for the spring of 2010, includes the redesign of gallery windows and the installation of a green roof on the flat portions of the building’s roof. The biggest question is not how to handle the disruption to classes during construction but rather, how to plan for the maintenance of the green roof. According to Gavelick, green roofs, while more energy efficient, are labor intensive, especially in the two years after installation. At the very least, they need to be weeded. Over time, a green roof is a prudent investment; it outlasts conventional roofs while providing energy cost savings.

However, the cost of installation and maintenance of a green roof is much higher than that of a conventional roof—something that requires a much larger up-front commitment of resources.

In 2007, President Schwarz signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, which obliges him to commit Purchase to following a timeline and taking certain steps toward making Purchase College climate neutral. It is unquestionable that renovation takes its toll on those who must live through the disruption. As President Schwarz remarks, “the cost of going green is high. However, the ultimate goal, consistent with the global trend of sustaining our environment, places Purchase at the forefront of this positive worldwide initiative.“

FIRST ART EXHIBITION AT LIBRARY’S NEW MEZZANINE SPACE FEATURES SCULPTURES BY MALCOLM MACDOUGALL III His sculptures are inspired by a microscopic world. For four months visitors to the Purchase College Library saw the latest bronze and steel works by Malcolm MacDougall III in a one-man show in the newly renovated second-floor mezzanine gallery.

His works are a combination of cast bronze and welded steel.

He creates some of the pieces in wax and has them cast in bronze.

The steel sculptures are constructed and welded. Smaller works define his original concepts, which he then expands and reinterprets into larger sculptures.

His ideas come from the principle of growth in the reproduction and mutation of cells. He tends to work in multiples as a way of expanding his forms sequentially. His mathematical patterns of organic growth emerge through this exploration.

“My sculptures,” says MacDougall, “represent the infinite in terms of time and space. Like a chain of molecules, my pieces can be made in endless length. But because of the restrictions in the real world, I need to bring them to a conclusion, just as one chooses to bring a sentence to a close.”

MacDougall first came to Purchase while in high school. The faculty members were welcoming and proved to be a valuable resource.

“They were able to accommodate my needs. They provided the guidance I needed and have been terrific ever since in nurturing me, and allowing me to grow as an artist,” he said.

He has had several mentors. Professor Eric Wildrick first met MacDougall as a high school student who took a summer art course and showed great promise. Wildrick continues to work with him.

Professor Phil Listengart also met the artist through a continuing education class during his last year in high school. He is head of the Purchase bronze casting foundry and has been mentoring MacDougall for several years now.

When it was time for college, MacDougall was in demand and recruited by a number of colleges. He looked at several of them and decided to attend Purchase because he liked the environment.

“It was a good fit and I was excited about learning from a faculty of working artists.”

The Library plans to continue to exhibit art by students and faculty members in the new space.

PURCHASE | 9

NEWSBRIEFS COLLEGE GUIDES CHOOSE PURCHASE Purchase is in the Princeton Review’s Best 371 Colleges for 2010, joining a select group of schools chosen for their outstanding academics.

Only about 15 percent of the four-year colleges in America and two Canadian colleges were chosen. The selection was based on institutional data from the school, feedback from students, and visits by the Princeton Review staff. Over 122,000 students were surveyed for the volume, which includes a two-page profile of Purchase.

The Fisk Guide to Colleges, known for selectivity and independence in its rankings, also included Purchase in its 2010 edition.

Fisk considers the 330 educational institutions it selects to be the country’s best and most interesting colleges and universities. The entries were based on a subjective presentation that weighed the strengths and weaknesses of each institution in terms of academics, social life, and overall quality of life.

STUDENTS PRODUCE AND PERFORM IN “MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM” IN TIMES SQUARE THEATER A group of Purchase students spent their summer in Times Square producing and rehearsing August Wilson’s play “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” at the Sage Theater in the heart of Broadway.

The cast and crew, headed by director Tabitha Holbert (now a senior), called themselves the People Theater Company and were drawn from the talent pool of actors and design tech students in the Conservatory of Theatre Arts & Film. They raised their own funds and pooled their resources to put on a show. The production was a success and most performances were sold out.

A MARINE EMBRACES PURCHASE WIDE OPEN After volunteering at an orphage in Ghana, former U.S. Marine Amanda Hay shifted her priorities. Now in her first year at Purchase, Hay would ultimately like to work globally for women’s rights.

Hay served as a marine for almost ten years, working in media relations, marketing, and event planning. “I had an opportunity to tell individual stories about marines from all sectors of the county," she says.

Post-911, Hay was assigned to create a “Wall of Heroes” memorial honoring all former marines from the police and fire departments who were killed on 9/11. The memorial was established in Garden City, NY, at the recruiting station’s New York headquarters. “The wall consisted of framed photos of the marines killed and items found from the remains of the World Trade Center. It serves as a tribute to those men and women, and as a reminder to those joining the Corps of the heroism of their predecessors and the importance of their service,” she says.

The experience reaffirmed her commitment to her country.

“After I left the corps, I spent a month as a volunteer at Christ Orphanage in the Volta Region of Ghana. It was humbling and sad, yet beautiful,” she recalls.

“The whole experience was a turning point. I volunteered more, and became involved with my church. When the time was right, I went back to school to finally pursue my passion and complete a goal."

P U R C H A S E | 10

PURCHASE’S NEW REDEMPTION CENTER President Schwarz presided at the launch of the College’s new Redemption Center. Joining him were Bill Guerrero, executive director of the Purchase College Association, Joseph Tripodi, Purchase sustainability director, and student Steven Sabel.

Purchase is the first SUNY campus to have a complete recycling center.

The three redemption machines installed in the More Store accept most plastic, aluminum, and glass recyclables. The machines are part of the campus sustainability efforts and were provided by Tomra of North America, a global leader in recycling headquartered in Norway with local offices in Shelton, CT.

President Schwarz recycles the first can at the new redemption center.

Working toward her B.A. in Women’s Studies, Hay says, "Eventually I would like to work for women’s rights globally. I am also interested in girls’ empowerment and women at risk. One of those areas will be my future career path.”

PURCHASE ALUMS WORK ON WINTER OLYMPICS When the Winter Olympics are beamed around the world, a group of Purchase alums will play a role in the broadcast coverage for Canadian television. All are recent graduates who work for Blackwalnut Solutions.

The company has been contracted to build the broadcast environments for Canadian television’s coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics. The environments will include six indoor television studios, housed at the Vancouver Convention Center, and one outdoor studio, which will be constructed in the Mountain Square at Whistler Village near the ski slopes.

Roger Coleman ’08, the project manager, explains, “All of the fabrication will take place at our shop located in Valley Cottage, NY, just west of the Tappan Zee Bridge. Our shop is now over 30,000 square feet and houses a full metal shop as well as carpentry, scenic paint, laminate, plastics, and electric shops. We have built scenery for ABC, CBS, NBC, ESPN, Gannett, BELO Broadcasting, Second Stage Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, Nissan, Merrill Lynch, Disney, CNBC, Embassy Row, and many other high-profile clients.”

As the project manager, Roger is the main contact among the design company, the engineering firm, and the shop.

Robert Spink ’08, director of drafting, oversees the technical design. His group, which includes Mark Gatta ’05, converts the drawings from the design company to construction drawings or blueprints from which the metal, carpentry, and laminate departments can build the scenery.

Once approved, the drawings are sent to Lee Martindell ’05, director of shop operations. His responsibility is to make sure all projects are completed on time and meet the company’s quality standards.

Nick Franzoso ’05, lead installer, is responsible for “loading in” the scenery. When scenery is shipped to Vancouver, he makes sure everything comes together as planned, and that the quality and appearance of the set are as good as or better than they were in the shop. Franzoso will be on hand during the Olympics to make sure everything is perfect.

first-class purchase profs

By Donna Cornachio

t h e n at i o n ’ s f i n e s t

MEMORABLE TEACHERS

In each issue of Purchase magazine, we spotlight two faculty members and their “standout” courses. Kevin Wynn, professor of dance, and Casey Haskins, professor of philosophy, are featured in this issue. Both have brought much to their fields. For alumni who took their classes, the following profiles are sure to bring back fond memories. For others, here is a glimpse of what goes into making a course memorable and meaningful to every Purchase student who takes it.

P U R C H A S E | 11

CASEY HASKINS

KEVIN WYNN

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF DANCE

SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES

CONSERVATORY OF DANCE

• B.A., 1980, University of California, Santa Cruz • Ph.D., 1989, University of Pennsylvania

SCHOOL OF THE ARTS

COURSE DESCRIP TION

COURSE DESCRIP TION

Happiness: Philosophy, Film, Literature

Modern Technique Class

Using the resources of philosophy, film, and literature, this course examines some important perspectives from ancient times to the present on the perennial question of the nature of human happiness. This isn’t a course on how to become happy; its broad aim is to encourage students to think in freshly critical and historically wide-ranging ways about a subject of tremendous psychological, biological, and social complexity.

This course is highly athletic and movement intensive, constantly stressing the point of technique as only a means to an aesthetic end. The class encourages moving into special extremes outside visually imagined boundaries.

This complexity ensures that no philosopher; artist; school of religious, scientific, psychotherapeutic, or ideological thought; or Madison Avenue advertising firm will ever have the last word about it. The course also introduces students to some philosophical, literary, and cinematic works that belong in any humanistic education (see samples, page 13).

Among the questions to be considered and discussed in this course: Is it possible to have a good or happy life, yet be a bad person? If human flourishing is not merely about pleasure and fun but also about having a life marked by wisdom and maturity, is it necessary to experience struggle, pain, or even tragedy to have a happy life? Need happiness take the same form for men and women?

P U R C H A S E | 12

• B.A., 1979, Purchase College

The contrology-based floor work will lead into a highly nontraditional series of barre exercises structured to heighten the student’s coordinative skills. Emphasis is placed on speed, weight shifts, musicality, transitions, dynamic range, and clarity of execution, regardless of stylistic genre.

The class culminates with learning a complex large phrase that is usually explosive and challenging. It is designed to take the students through a journey of abandonment and control, while also encouraging them to investigate their own kinetic and personal points of view.

CASEY HASKINS C O N T I N U E D

The way Professor Casey Haskins sees it, the definition of happiness goes far beyond the yellow smiley face. Haskins, who has been teaching at Purchase since 1987, looks to Aristotle, who taught about how one’s life unfolds and the forces that are not always within an individual’s control. As a professor and philosopher, Haskins’s interests include the philosophy of art and religion, American philosophy, and Kant; he is also a serious film buff. Haskins is the recipient of the Greenlee Prize and has held fellowships at the New York Humanities Institute and Princeton University. Research for Haskins’s newest course, “Happiness: Philosophy, Film, Literature,” was supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities’ “Enduring Questions” initiative.

Readings: Daniel Nettle, “Introduction” to Cahn & Vitrano, eds., Happiness; Darrin McMahon, “The Tragedy of Happiness”; Darrin McMahon, “Nanoseconds of Happiness; You’re Going to Love Your iPhone, Until the Next Gizmo Calls,” Washington Post, June 24, 2007, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/ 06/22/AR2007062201656.html.

Recommended: Films that can encourage further reflection on the relation between happiness and the current recession: Gabriele Muccino’s The Pursuit of Happyness and Oliver Stone’s Wall Street.

This 1987 classic is still all too relevant today, with young stockbroker Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) playing Faust to Wall Street shark Gordon Gekko’s (Michael Douglas’s) Mephistopheles (who utters the immortal slogan, which in spirit remains all too popular, “Greed is good”).

Some Casey Haskins Publications “Paradoxes of Autonomy; or, Why Won’t the Problem of Artistic Justification Go Away?” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 58:1, Winter 2000.

“The Disunity of Aesthetics: A Reply to J. G. A. Pocock,” Common Knowledge 11:2, Spring 2005.

Are You Happy? A Student’s Response Haskins on His Happiness Course Virtually every story has to do with the struggle for happiness.

This is not an ideological course; it is possible to be healthily skeptical about the concept of happiness without losing sight of the deeper discussion and debate about what the good life means.

This tradition goes back to Plato and is embedded in our own Declaration of Independence.

The aim of this course is to give students a sense of how popular and high culture in philosophy, literature, and film provide rich materials for further examination of what I call the global politics of happiness.

Excerpt from Actual Syllabus

“Even though I knew what I thought the idea of happiness was, how did others perceive it?

What do others think the guidelines are to achieving such happiness? My original view of what it means to be happy in the popular sense has stayed the same, but my idea of happiness as a whole has largely expanded. Now I ponder if I can truly be happy if I do not appear to be fulfilled.”

—Nicholas Springer

Professor Haskins’s syllabus includes five units.

Here’s a sample from Unit 1.

Introductory Themes Etymological origins of the word ”happiness.” Three “levels” of happiness, as reflected in traditional discussions of the subject.

Why many philosophers and others prefer to use the word “flourishing” (which more accurately renders the ancient Greek term eudaimonia). The tension in modern liberal society between hedonistic (or pleasure-based) and eudaimonistic (or flourishing-based) accounts of our subject. The Greek sage Solon’s words to King Croesus about the relationship between happiness and death—and, by implication, its relationship to the perennial realities of suffering and tragedy. Does the current economic recession carry any morals about better and worse forms of our proverbial “pursuit of happiness”? Happiness and modern consumer society. Need Nettle’s analysis of “levels” of happiness contain only 3 levels?

P U R C H A S E | 13

KEVIN WYNN C O N T I N U E D

Kevin Wynn started out as a theater major but he says he was always a closet dancer. “There’s something so immediate and bare and primal about dance,” he says.

“I just knew it was what I wanted to do.”

Wynn came to Purchase to study dance with the goal of becoming a concert artist—and for five years he did just that, dancing with the José Limón Dance Company, Dianne McIntyre’s Sounds in Motion Dance Company, Mel Wong, Daniel Nagrin, Jacques d’Amboise, Kazuko Hirabayashi, and Warren Spears, among others.

But choreography and teaching became a stronger draw and Wynn returned to Purchase to teach in 1986 (he is also on the faculty of the Alvin Ailey/Fordham University BFA program) and has been here ever since. (In class he often refers to himself as “the old man.”)

“When I first came back here I was slightly nervous,” he admits.

“The students seemed totally different and there was a different aesthetic than when I studied here. Things evolve, sensibilities evolve, and it forced me to change, too. But we’re all on the same wavelength. And this is my home.”

The Conservatory of Dance is known as one of the top five degreegranting dance programs in the world. Students undergo intensive training in technique, repertory, and performance of American and European concert modern dance and classical ballet, combined with the study of dance composition. Students are expected to be motivated, talented, disciplined, dedicated, and passionate about their art. The standards of the professional dance world are used to evaluate and grade the progress and quality of student work.

In Kevin Wynn’s Modern Technique class, student dancers are put through a series of exercises, many Pilates-based, designed to strengthen the dancers’ core, lengthen their muscles, and develop their coordination. The Pilates method, known as “contrology,” uses the mind to control the muscles and focuses on the core postural muscles that help keep the body balanced and are essential to providing support for the spine.

Wynn gives his dancers a skeleton of a movement and exhorts them to flesh it out and make it their own, encouraging the dancers not to imitate him but to have their own “voices” in their movement.

While many of the exercises are set or choreographed, Wynn often changes the dynamic or even reverses the movement to challenge the students, which one student described as comparable to writing one’s name backward. After 80 minutes of nearly nonstop and rapid-fire exercises, Wynn’s students leave the dance studio drenched in sweat, but happy.

On How He Pushes His Dancers “Dancers are a dime a dozen,” says Wynn. “It’s very competitive out there. I give my students difficult, hard-core material and I’m a stickler for having my dancers dance fast: I want them to work at breakneck speed, at full throttle, because that’s not their comfort zone. I want them to come away from class feeling very challenged and to leave this place aware, with their eyes open, and to be sponges for their whole careers. The classroom is the last time to experiment, to wrestle with information, to have a tough skin and still be open without having our egos get in the way.”

P U R C H A S E | 14

Kevin Wynn’s New York City Work Venues Joyce Theater, Danspace Project at St. Marks Church, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, the Harkness Dance Festival, Symphony Space, Movement Research at Judson Church, the Thelma Hill Performing Arts Series, Downtown Cultural Arts Council, 14th Street “Y” Educational Alliance Center, P.S.122, Harlem Cultural Council, D.T.W., Evolving Arts Theater, Riverside Church, Dancers Responding to Aids (DRA), Harlem Dance Foundation, and City Center.

Commissions Ailey II, Kristina de Chatel Dance Company of Holland, Singapore Dance Ensemble, Nordans of Sweden, Dallas Black Dance Theater, Carte Blanche of Norway, Lab Co., San Diego Dance Theater, Houston Met, Dance Alloy, In The Company of Men, Theater Artaud, the Navarro Dance Company of Milan, Edgeworks Dance Theater, Mafata Dance Company, the Open-End Theater of Rome, DRA Fire Island Dance Festival, Déjà vu Dance Theater, Pick-of-theCrop Dance Company, Esais Dance Theater, EBA Dance Works, and the Next Stage Project in New York/Holland.

Residencies Belgium, Italy, Germany, Korea, Holland, Israel, England, Switzerland, Trinidad, France, Sweden, Taiwan, Norway, China, and throughout the United States.

Awards Fellowships and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Harkness Foundation; distinguished professor award from the State University of New York; and an award of appreciation for unprecedented commitment through the years to Dancers Responding to AIDS (DRA).

A Student Speaks Out “The most challenging part of Kevin’s class is that he forces us to pick up and execute the choreography so quickly. He lets us break free from the conservatory style of dancing and makes us move in ways that we don’t in our other classes.

Despite this, Kevin is a very laid-back teacher and choreographer and his classes feel like a family environment. He will stay and talk to us after classes and he is the easiest faculty member to talk to. This is my second year working with Kevin and I have seen growth in my dancing, as far as how I am able to retain choreography and move in a different way.”

—Maya Petty

@

Wellness @ Purchase:

Do Holistic Health and Wellness Practices Keep Us from Getting Sick?

By Donna Cornachio

Tiny fairy lights hang from the ceiling. A lush ficus tree sits by a corner window.

An Indian tapestry with rose-window patterns hangs along one wall.

Comfortable chairs surround a coffee table piled with reading materials and a basket of smooth pebbles. The sounds of “Ommm” reverberate from a nearby yoga class. In an adjacent room, a dancer lies on a biofeedback mat filled with healing amethyst crystals.

At the Wellness Center at Purchase, monthly "rejuvenation stations" run through the afternoon, offering students the opportunity to relax and rejuvenate with five-minute chair massage, individual assisted yoga, Alexander Technique, and biofeedback for relaxation.

Photography by Kelly Campbell

P U R C H A S E | 15

@

This is not a spa, but Purchase College’s Wellness Center, an oasis of calm and tranquillity on the third floor of Campus Center South.

The Wellness Center is part of the College’s Wellness @ Purchase mission, which was launched in the 2006-07 academic year to offer a model of holistic services to students based on the principles and research of the field of positive psychology.

Prior to 2006, most services were limited to counseling for students with drug and alcohol violations who were (and still are) mandated to attend counseling. Then the mission of the College shifted, according to Regina Abdou, the director of wellness and a certified substance-abuse counselor, who has been at Purchase for 10 years and continues to counsel students. “Over time it seemed to me that we needed to be talking about teaching the social and life skills that got lost for some of these students along the way,” she explains. “We needed to offer them something else, to give them other choices and come up with other ways of dealing with stress and learning to socialize without drugs or alcohol.”

Toward that end, Substance Abuse Services became the Wellness Center. A number of wellness programs were developed, such as yoga, hypnotherapy for stress management, meditation, spa nights, and massages. The goal, says Abdou, was “to get students to come in here because they wanted to, not because they had to come.”

P U R C H A S E | 16

And, judging from the number of students who regularly show up for such programs and services, it appears to be working.

Approximately 2,665 students received the services of Wellness @ Purchase last year, with total attendance and participation at all Wellness Programs more than 4,500, a 15 percent increase from the previous year.

Liz Howard, a junior liberal studies major, interns at the Wellness Center and also teaches yoga classes that fill up regularly.

“Students have become much more interested in wellness and taking care of themselves,” she says. “We bring so much to the student body.“ Wellness @ Purchase goes beyond the center itself. It is a collaboration among numerous departments, including health services, the counseling center, the athletic department, the university police, and dining services, which runs a nutrition program to encourage making healthy meal choices.

“The goal was to infuse the value of wellness into the whole community,” says Robin Kaufman, Purchase’s vice president for student affairs and a psychologist who was formerly the director of counseling at the college. “Wellness has now become a known value. Getting people involved and giving them skills that they can utilize has been a marvelous and successful shift.”

ADDRESSING STRESS LEVELS And Nancy Reuben, the college’s medical director, who has practiced medicine in the field of AIDS, drug addiction, and college health, is also a practitioner of energy healing and teaches meditation and energy awareness on campus (see sidebar, “I Lost My Sound”). “Meditation has been the core practice of my life since 1974,” says Reuben. “Done daily, it’s a systematic way of reducing stress.”

Medical evidence demonstrates that long-term stress suppresses the immune system. In primary care, stress has been implicated in a majority of complaints. “If you can address a person’s stress levels and give them strategies for coping and reducing their stress, you’ve done a great deal for them and increasing their well-being,” says Reuben.

That emphasis on well-being is what initially attracted Michelle Messina, a transfer student now studying media, society, and the arts, to Purchase. Before coming to Purchase, Messina became certified as a yoga instructor and, like Liz Howard, she is also an intern and yoga instructor at the center. “The Wellness Center is my home on campus, even more than my dorm room,” she said.

“Wellness has now become a known value. Getting people involved and giving them skills that they can utilize has been a marvelous and successful shift.”

s w i n e f l u u p d at e

That shift is evidenced by the multiple qualifications and specialties that much of the Wellness staff brings to their work. Regina Aboud, in addition to being a licensed mental-health worker, is a trained hypnotherapist. Working alongside Aboud in the Wellness Center is Roey Ficaro, a substance-abuse counselor and yoga teacher, who runs the mandated Wellness education classes three times a month, but also teaches various levels of yoga, currently offered five times a week. “We call it Yoga for a Natural High,” says Ficaro.

“We talk about that lightheaded, almost-high feeling you can get in the practice of yoga and how you can alter your brain chemistry in a healthy way.”

In November, Purchase’s Health Services office received the first 100 doses of a requested 500 total of the H1N1 vaccine. The limited supply was made available only to matriculated students who are pregnant or who have underlying medical conditions that put them at higher risk for flurelated complications. “We do expect a run,” says Adrienne Belluscio, R.N., administrative director of Health Services. “We have many parents calling about their children.”

More doses arrived before the semester’s end, allowing Health Services to make the vaccine available to all students, faculty, and staff.

Health Services encourages practicing good personal hygiene and seeing a healthcare provider in a timely manner if flu symptoms arise. “There was a shortage and people were definitely concerned,” says Nancy Reuben, M.D., medical director. “But we weren’t seeing any panic.”

The symptoms of both the H1N1 flu and seasonal flu are largely the same: headache, chills, and fatigue.

(Diarrhea and vomiting sometimes accompany these symptoms.) Generally, people who have the flu are able to recover with little or no

medical intervention, but some people have more symptoms than others, and people with underlying medical conditions may be at risk for more serious illness. To support recovery and protect others, individuals with flu-like illnesses need to stay out of circulation—away from classes, work, dining facilities, and other public spaces—until they have been without symptoms for 24 hours (typically a week or more).

Health Services encourages students with relatives or friends within driving distance to consider recovering away from campus.

The New York State Department of Health has advised that students with influenza-like illnesses can remain in their residence hall rooms or apartments to recover. Hygiene instructions will be available for ill students who live with others to reduce the risk of transmission. Because flu viruses often are transmitted before symptoms are evident, Health Services recommends frequent hand washing, caution about touching the face, and covering coughs and sneezes as essential defenses for everyone.

“i los t my so un d ” — m ed i t a t ion brou ght i t back Lucia Atkinson, who is in her third year at Purchase and now working on her artist diploma for violin performance, describes herself as “such a wound-up person who is really, really busy.”

A year or so ago, Atkinson found herself hitting a roadblock in her practicing. “I was practicing harder than I’d ever practiced before and you would think that the increased hours and practice would make me better, but I was getting worse,” she says. ”I’m the kind of person who tries to

motivate myself by forcing myself to do more and more—the part of me that’s disciplined is not the part of me that’s good at the violin. It was really, really difficult: I lost my sound, I was so tight. During those periods I would hate the violin, I’d want to quit.”

Atkinson developed tendonitis in her arms and visited Nancy Reuben, the medical director of Purchase Health Services. In addition to being a medical doctor, Reuben teaches meditation and energy healing;

she suggested that Atkinson try meditation.

“It’s changed my life,” says Atkinson, who now meditates every morning.

“Meditation is incredible for my focus. I’ve noticed such a difference in my practice—it gives me perspective and helps me to stand back and see what needs to be worked on and the best way to work on it.

My violin professor was just blown away by the difference. The violin is now more of my voice than my own voice.”

P U R C H A S E | 17

Dear Alumni and Friends:

school of the arts

GALA

m a r c h 15 .2010

please join us for the second purchase college school of the arts gala Special 50% discounted tickets for alumni: $250 Millennium Broadway Hotel The Hudson Theatre • 145 West 44th Street New York City

• •

Of course, you can always call the alumni office at (914) 2516054 or even snail-mail us (Purchase College Alumni Association c/o Purchase College, SUNY, 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, NY 10577-1400).

jane and donald cecil

How can I be supportive of Purchase?

Generous philanthropists for theatre, dance, music, the visual arts, and education.

A stronger Purchase College means more positive recognition for the entire Purchase community, whether alumni around the world and across the country, current students, faculty, or staff.

paquito d’rivera

lynn nottage

kiki smith Eminent artist known for evocative sculptures, drawings, and prints. In Whitney Biennial and major museum collections.

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As we have previously announced, the Alumni Association has made a great effort to become more “net-savvy.” We are now on Facebook (www.facebook.com/PurchaseAlumni), MySpace (www.myspace.com/purchasealumni), the networking site LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/e/gis/132024), and now Twitter (twitter.com/PurchaseAlumni).

the 2010 nelson a. rockefeller award recipients honored at the gala:

Playwright. Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Ruined, Intimate Apparel, and Crumbs from the Table of Joy.

•

We are planning additional events and reunions for our alumni, including events for alumni from the 1980s and our Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) group in the spring. Look for announcements about these exciting events and I hope you will join us.

In addition, we continue to work with the Career Development Office to provide career services for our alumni and we look forward to additional services being added this year. For more information on Career Development and how they can help you, visit the Alumni Services page on our website (www.purchase. edu/Alumni) and click on “Alumni Services.”

Jazz master, clarinetist, saxophonist, and composer. The only artist ever to have won Grammy awards in both the Classical and Latin Jazz category.

•

The Purchase College Alumni Association is here to help you reconnect. The Board of Directors reaffirmed that as our primary goal for the 2009–10 academic year, and we are pleased to be able to reconnect with you, and help you to connect to your fellow alumni, in so many ways.

paul taylor Choreographer, author, Emmy award winner; an international force in modern dance.

evening’s events: 6:30 pm —Cocktail reception 8:00 pm —Awards and tribute performances Hosted by Susie Essman ’77, comedian, film and television actor, and co-star of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Please RSVP to 914.251.6054 or alumni@purchase.edu

I am very excited to announce that the Purchase +30 group, alumni who graduated from Purchase 30 or more years ago, and who held a reunion last spring, has generously gathered together to create a Purchase +30 Scholarship Fund. In less than six months, the group raised enough to give its first scholarship to a current student this year.

The Purchase College Annual Fund, which awards scholarships to current students, could not exist without the generous support of fellow alumni. If you have already given a gift to this year’s Annual Fund, I thank you for your contribution. If you have never given, I encourage you to join me as a donor to the Annual Fund. Every little bit counts. To find out more about the Annual Fund, go to www.purchase.edu/giving, and click on “Annual Fund.” You can even give online.

As alumni and friends of Purchase, you have a place on our team as we join with the administration, faculty, staff, and current students of Purchase to continue the efforts to build a better college. Help lead the charge as a donor, or become a part of our team through scholarship support, volunteerism, and active participation in campus and alumni life. Please stay in touch by sending professional and personal news for Class Notes, as well as updated addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses, to alumni@purchase.edu.

Do you have any suggestions for how we can better connect with your fellow alumni? Let us know. I look forward to hearing from you and am honored to serve as your president.

Jeffrey S. Putman, ’96 President, Purchase College Alumni Association, Inc. jeffrey.putman@purchase.edu

for more information, please visit:

www.purchase.edu/soagala P U R C H A S E | 18

Jeffrey S. Putman ’96 was elected President of the Purchase College Alumni Association in December 2007. He is currently assistant dean for student affairs at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY.

ALUMNI

in Action

1976 Patricia (Patsy) M. Cooper’s (Literature) book, The Classroom All Young Children Need: Lessons in Teaching From Vivian Paley, was published in October by the University of Chicago Press. For more info contact: publicity@press.uchicago.edu.

1977 Carl Safina (Environmental Science), Ph.D., is one of 29 animal conservationists nominated to receive the Indianapolis Prize, the world’s leading award for animal conservation. Carl, a lifelong New Yorker and founder/president of Blue Ocean Institute in East Norwich, NY, has been nominated for bringing ocean conservation into the environmental mainstream. His awardwinning books include Song for the Blue Ocean, Eye of the Albatross, and Voyage of the Turtle.

Currently, he is finishing a new book and developing a TV series on conservation successes.

1978 Fred Buchholz (Acting) is a special effects supervisor in film and television, currently working on Sex and the City 2. He is very proud of his work on Julie & Julia with Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci (Acting ‘82), and Amy Adams, released this summer. Two additional projects he supervised were released this year: Old Dogs, a comedy with John Travolta and Robin Williams, which opened in November, and It’s Complicated, directed by Nancy Meyers, with Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, and Alec Baldwin, released in January.

Bryan Golden (Environmental Science) is a recognized motivational and self-development expert and speaker. Listed in Who’s Who in America, he is the author of Dare to Live Without Limits, a top business consultant, an adjunct professor, and a nationally syndicated columnist. Bryan’s weekly Motivational Minute is broadcast on numerous radio stations throughout the country. He recently returned to Purchase to give a talk, “The Art of Effective Listening.” Bryan’s web site is www.DareToLiveWithoutLimits.com and his e-mail is info@bryangolden.com.

1979 Audrey Cozzarin (Visual Arts) continues to operate Salderelli Design LLC, the graphic design firm founded by her late husband Joe Salderelli (Visual Arts ‘79): www.salderelli. com. Purchase awards the “Joe Salderelli Memorial Fund” gift each year to a visual arts student of merit and need. Audrey also serves on the advisory board of the Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation in NYC. Recently, she launched a line of notecards featuring her paintings and photographs of nature and dancers: www.audreycozzarinnotecards.com. She is married to Serafino Carri for seven years and they live in Norwalk with their cat, Margarita.

Paul Sturm (Music) is a successful freelance musician who performs as a trumpeter, trombonist, baritone horn player, harpsichordist, and vocalist. He also teaches privately and at the Soumas Heritage School. Recently, he began his latest endeavor: basketball officiating. Paul lives in Warren, NJ, with his wife, Nancy, and daughters, Julia and Carolyn.

1981 Doris Bittar’s (Visual Arts) recent solo exhibits of paintings and multimedia installations include “Soap Story” in Ravenna, Italy, and group exhibits at the Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Emirates, and the Alexandria Biennial in Egypt this December. Her artwork has been reviewed by Art in America, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, X-tra, Bidoun, and Alhayat, among others. She writes art-related articles and reviews for Canvas, a Dubai magazine, and Al Jadid, an Arab American arts journal based in Los Angeles. The main theme that ties her activities together is the desire to forge dialogue between the people of the West and those of the East, in particular, the Middle East. Most recently, she and her husband, Jim Rauch, created and led several Jewish-Palestinian dialogue groups in San Diego, California, where she has lived for 23 years. Doris has been married for 25 years to James Rauch, with whom she has two sons, Joseph, 18, and Gabriel, 12. www.DorisBittar. com.

Judy Cole (Literature) has a new e-book out from Cantara Books, Peculiar Parables for a Dubious Millennium (http://cantara.squarespace.com/peculiar-parables/). Currently a freelance writer and editor, Judy is one in a long line of former editors-in-chief of Playgirl magazine. She has written for Creative Loafing, Charlotte magazine, Skirt! and Draft magazine.

She lives with her longtime “not husband” and their menagerie of dogs and cats in a historic home near Charlotte, NC.

1983 Steven Weber (Acting) is currently working on the ABC midseason series Happy Town, which costars Sam Neill and Frances Conroy. He is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post and is developing several writing projects.

Vienna, Austria, last year. Jenifer’s paintings have also been translated onto the back of airplane tails for British Airways as part of its Utopia project. Last year, three of her paintings were made into rugs for the NYC-based company Warp and Weft. She lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband and their two daughters whom they adopted from Guatemala, ages 7 and 3.

1989 Andrea Trisciuzzi (Music) has been appointed associate dean for development and alumni relations at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. She was previously vice president for institutional advancement at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland.

Prior to that, Trisciuzzi spent six years at St. Bonaventure University in western New York State, where she directed a 150th Anniversary Campaign that surpassed its $90 million goal.

1992 Natalie (Wiesbader) Saccary (Sociology) has started teaching in the English department at Shippenburg University in the fall of 2009. She acquired her secondary education teaching certificate in English from Penn State (‘98) as well as her master’s degree in American studies, also from Penn State (‘09). Over the years, she has been involved in social work and teaching high school.

Deborah Thurlow (Music MFA) just produced and codirected her first film, Hidden Children, and also wrote the film score. Hidden Children explores from a personal perspective the children who survived the Holocaust. View the movie trailer: www2.cybernex.net/sandee.

1993 Shelli Dubay (Environmental Studies) is an assistant professor of natural resources at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point.

1995

Nurit Thorn-Zachter (Visual Arts) works as a consultant for Tips on Trips and Camps, where parents and students call her to find a summer program, from a traditional sleepaway camp to a teen program.

Pat Wheelhouse (Music) graduated from the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester, with a Ph.D. in music education in May 2009. She is the director of music and fine arts in the Churchville-Chili Central School District (k–12). Dr. Wheelhouse is the founder and past president of the Westchester County Arts Leadership Association, and is the president elect of the New York State Council of Administrators of Music Education (NYSCAME).

1985

1997

Since graduating from Purchase, Jenifer Kobylarz (Visual Arts) has had several solo exhibitions at the Edward Thorp Gallery in New York City, and one at Galerie Michitisch in

Brigitte Vallabhajosula (Psychology/LS) has successfully defended her doctoral dissertation for the Ph.D. program in criminal justice at CUNY.

1984

P U R C H A S E | 19

BIRTHS:

The Purchase College Career Development Center is pleased to announce that career counselor Susan Gannon, M.Ed., has joined our team as our new alumni career counselor to work closely with alumni and assist them through the process of job search, career change, or graduate education.

Susan has a wide range of experience that includes career planning, corporate recruitment, transitional coaching, and education. She has worked in higher education at Pace University, Westchester Community College, Wheaton College, and Harvard University (as an intern). She holds a master of education from Tufts University and a bachelor of arts from the University of Denver in education/psychology.

Geoffrey Teabo (Film ‘90) and his wife, Laurence Cordier, welcomed a baby boy, Marc, on June 20, 2008.

ENGAGEMENTS: Lindsay Burdick ‘05 (History/Photography) and Gregory Witts ‘09 (Liberal Arts) announce their engagement. They are planning a wedding for the summer of 2010.

WEDDINGS: Jacqueline Newby (Visual Arts) married Rafael Almonte Jr. (Visual Arts ’01) on September 20, 2008. Their best man was Jason Torres (Visual Arts ‘00), and Jonathan Mastrojohn (Visual Arts ‘00) was an usher.

Their professor, George Parrino, was in attendance. Jacqueline teaches art at MacArthur Barr Middle School in Nanuet and Rafael is the assistant service director at Curry Acura in Scarsdale. Both are avid photographers and make their home in Elmsford, NY.

Alumni Director MariaCristina Necula has written a book, Life in Opera: Truth, Tempo, and Soul, published by Amadeus Press. It is a collection of encounters with great stars and personalities that shape and enhance the opera universe. The book offers a wide perspective on life and work in opera today. It’s available on Amazon. www.mariacristinanecula.com.

1999 Ellen Foos (Drama Studies) is the founder and publisher of Ragged Sky Press and a production editor at Princeton University Press. Her first collection of poetry, Little Knitted Sister, came out in 2006. She is a MacDowell Colony fellow and a member of U.S. 1 Poets’ Cooperative; her poems have also appeared in U.S. 1 Worksheets, Kelsey Review, Edison Literary Review, and Sensations Magazine. She is the publisher and one of the editors of Eating Her Wedding Dress: A Collection of Clothing Poems. www.raggedsky.com.

Kelley Murray (Liberal Arts) is currently working with children, involving them in art. Her B.A.L.A. at Purchase was focused on psychology and the visual arts. She also received her master’s in art therapy.

2001 Dr. Jason Van Ora (Psychology) has joined the faculty at Kingsborough Community College in the department of behavioral sciences, having received a Ph.D. in social psychology (’08) from CUNY Graduate Center.

PURCHASE | 20

The first Purchase Plus 30 Scholarship was awarded to Conservatory of Dance student Roseann Baker. Now in her sixth semester at Purchase, Roseann has been able to continue her education in part due to the generosity of the Purchase Plus 30 alumni who have contributed to this new scholarship. After the sudden death of her father on December 26, 2008, returning to Purchase seemed out of the question, as her father had been the major earner in the family. Roseann is immensely grateful to the Purchase Plus 30 alumni, stating: “Completing my college education is my priority and was a dream of my father’s that I long to fulfill.”

2002 Charlotte Glynn (Film) showed her documentary Rachel Is at the Anthology Film Archives in New York City in October. Charlotte worked with Eddie Martinez (Film ’02) as her documentary’s director of photography. www.rachelis.com.

2003 Louis Croquer (Art History) was named director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, after having overseen special projects and worked closely with the director at El Musem Del Barrio in New York City.

2004 Jessica Brunetto (Film) was one of the coeditors of Michael Moore’s latest: Capitalism: A Love Story. www.capitalismalovestory.com/.

2005 Anthony Morelli (Literature) has published his first book, All the Lost Voices (available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble), a first-person narrative loosely based on the author’s life experiences. When he isn’t busy spending time with his seven-year-old son and two-year-old daughter, Anthony is working on his next book, a compilation of poetry.

2006 Lindsey Parker (Dance/Arts Management Certificate) joined José Navas/Compagnie Flak in Montréal to dance in Navas’s “Portable Dances,” and later in Navas’s “Anatomies” and “S,” touring frequently to Europe. In 2005, she was hosted and funded by the Tanaka Foundation in Japan as a cultural representative of the U.S. and Purchase. In New York City she has worked with TAKÉ Dance, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, and RIOULT.

2007 Tetyana Forostyan (Biology) was accepted into a Ph.D. program in molecular biology at the University of Utah. She also won the Superior Presentation Award in Cell & Molecular Biology

at the National Sigma Xi (Scientific Research Honor Society) Student Research Conference in Washington, DC, in November 2008 for her poster. She has presented several other posters with Professor Maryann McEnroe.

Catania James (Language & Culture) spent a year in Germany with the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals (CBYX), a government-sponsored fellowship for professionals between the ages of 18 and 24 to study and work in Germany. Catania began her year abroad with intensive German language studies at the Carl Duisberg Center in Cologne, then studied for a semester at the Fachhochschule Köln, finishing her year with a five-month internship with InWEnt Abt. Amerika in Bonn.

2008 Michael Fonseca (Literature) is a securities lending analyst for Timber Hill LLC, a subsidiary of Interactive Brokers Group, based in Greenwich, CT. He is currently enrolled in Columbia University’s postbaccalaureate program in business, a graduate school preparatory program designed for college graduates with liberal arts degrees. Michael attributes his success to his Purchase education, and would like to thank his professors for their enduring guidance and support.

2009 Matt Licari (Visual Arts) has established The Flood Collective—a collaborative project among eight American artists: 2008 Visual Arts alumni Nicky Devine, Luke Chase, Daniel Salemi, Marshall Scheuttle, Matthew Calabrese, Daniel Barrett, 2009 Visual Arts alumnus Robert Warren, and himself—working primarily within photography and lens-based media. All shows are curated by and draw work from the members of the collective. All exhibitions are held online and premiere on the first of each month, beginning in October 2009. www.TheFloodCollective.com.

Alumni, Parents, and Friends:

Alumni Association Benefits

Our students are eager to pursue their academic and artistic goals as they engage in the wonderful learning opportunities at Purchase and work toward their degrees. However, economic realities have become a concern for many students, as the prolonged recession and recent State University of New York tuition increases have made affording an education more difficult. Already, 76% of our students receive some form of financial aid and there are many students who may be unable to return in the fall without additional financial assistance. This past year, the Annual Fund provided over 69 scholarships to deserving students with exciting plans for the future. We want to help even more students next year.

Purchase alumni are among the College’s greatest assets. The college gains strength from your active involvement. Your Purchase College Alumni Association Membership Card provides the following benefits and services.

USE THE CARD AS IDENTIFICATION FOR: » A 20% discount on current membership fees for use of the pool and fitness facilities at the gymnasium; use of facilities is $10 per day

» A 15% discount on all professional programs at The Performing Arts Center

» A 10% discount on membership to the Neuberger Museum of Art,

Our students are depending on the generosity of all of us to make the opportunity of a Purchase education a reality. In the current economic environment, it is more important than ever that we all work together to strengthen Purchase College. I hope you will consider a gift to the Purchase College Foundation for the Annual Fund. A gift of any size will be appreciated and will be so helpful in providing critical scholarship funds for students in need, and maintaining the superior academic programs that are a vital part of the Purchase experience.

a 10% discount at the Museum Shop, and 2-for-1 admission

» Full use of the library for the discounted fee of $75 per year » Lifetime access to Career Services (914.251.6372) » A 25% discount on tuition to Long Island University’s Graduate Program ALUMNI ARE ALSO ELIGIBLE FOR:

» The advantage of a Purchase Bank of America credit card and 5–10% discounts on auto and home insurance through Liberty Mutual

Carla Weiland-Zaleznak Associate Director of Annual Giving

» A free subscription to the alumni magazine » Opportunities to represent alumni on various campus committees and projects, to speak with students on campus, and to serve on the Alumni Association Board of Directors

» The opportunity to become a Career Mentor to a student, and

Alumni, Friends & Parents,

to offer internships or jobs

» Invitations to all alumni-sponsored activities

Remember to help reduce paper consumption.

Please subscribe to our new electronic version of Purchase magazine.

Send your e-mail address to: alumni@purchase.edu

» Access to an alumni directory to find lost friends and classmates

For a free Alumni Association card please call, write, or email: alumni@purchase.edu

TEAR OFF:

Send us your news and updates:

Making a Gift:

Name

Because of your support, Purchase thrives.

Email

I wish to reinvest in Purchase. Here is my tax-deductible gift of

Address, if changed:

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to the Purchase College Annual Fund: Online giving at www.purchase.edu/giving

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Please send me a free alumni card so I can take advantage of my alumni benefits.

PCF/Annual Fund, Purchase College 735 Anderson Hill Road Purchase, NY 10577-1400

I am interested in working with the Alumni Association, with students, and/or on campus committees. Please call me.

By credit card (Visa, MasterCard, or American Express) by calling (914) 251-6046

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Or listing your account # here:

Please sign here: (There is no cost associated with this privilege.)

We welcome your news. If you wish your performances, exhibits, services, or businesses to be listed on the Purchase College website, please email alumni@purchase.edu or call (914) 251-6054.

Expiration date: Signature: I have included Purchase in my will.

Please call me about estate planning.

Office of Alumni Affairs Purchase College State University of New York 735 Anderson Hill Road Purchase, NY 10577-1400 Address Service Requested

Purchase College Alumni Association

Board of Directors 2010 Fadi Areifij ’99 Paula Cancro ’79 Antonio Commisso ’09 Audrey Cozzarin ’79, President Emerita Alison Kaplan ’86 Emily O’Leary ’06, Treasurer Mark Patnode ’78, Secretary Jeffrey Putman ’96, President Pietro Rotondo ’88 Gorman John Ruggiero ’76, Vice President Morgan Selkirk ’05 Steven Tartick ’07 Adam Tyrrell ’08 Simone Varadian ’05 EX OFFICIO: Thomas J. Schwarz President, Purchase College Margaret Sullivan Vice President, External Affairs & Development Cristina Necula ’97 Director of Alumni Affairs Carla Weiland-Zaleznak Associate Director of Annual Giving

Address Updates If this address is not current, kindly forward correct address information to us at alumni@purchase.edu or (914) 251-6054.

Thank you.

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