geneseo scene
A magazine for alumni, parents and friends of SUNY Geneseo
CHAMBER SINGERS
MUSICAL MASTERPIECE Mission Possible in Biloxi The Painted Tree
geneseo Summer 2010
scene CONTENTS
FEATURES 8
A Musical Masterpiece For more than half a century, the Chamber Singers have garnered worldwide applause. The passion and hard work that goes into reaching such high notes unites members through the generations.
14 Mission: Possible As America remembers the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Geneseo celebrates a commitment to help residents of storm-ravaged Biloxi rebuild. Among the bricks and mortar, students say they are transformed.
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Icons of Geneseo: The Painted Tree Which student first put brush to bark is a mystery, but the art of painting the massive black walnut in Sturges Quad has grown into one of the college’s enduring traditions.
DEPARTMENTS 3
One College Circle
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Alumni News
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Class Notes
COLUMNS 2
President’s Message
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Letters to the Editor
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Perspective
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Athletics
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Mission Driven
24
Random Profile: One Cup
Cover photography: Kris Dreessen The Chamber Singers perform a concert in spring 2010.
Table of contents photography: Keith Walters ’11 AT RIGHT: Beyond the Student Union, red, pink and orange clouds paint the valley after a rain storm.
Postmaster: Please address changes to the Collins Alumni Center, McClellan House, SUNY Geneseo, 1 College Circle, Geneseo, NY 14454-1484. Third-class postage paid at Rochester, NY 14606
geneseo
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Vol. 35, No. 3; Summer 2010
Back to the Future
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The Geneseo Scene is published by SUNY Geneseo, Division of College Advancement, Office of College Communications. Christopher C. Dahl, President Michael J. Catillaz, Vice President for College Advancement Anthony T. Hoppa, Assistant Vice President for College Communications Kris Dreessen, Editor Carole Smith Volpe ’91, Art Director Contributing writers: Donna Dickinson Breskin ’80 Lisa M. Feinstein Charlie Freeman Anthony T. Hoppa David Irwin Laura R. Kenyon Colleen Knopeck ’11 Alumni Relations Office Rose G. Anderson, Assistant Vice President of Alumni Relations Michelle Walton Worden ’92, Associate Director of Alumni Relations Tracy Young Gagnier ’93, Assistant Director of Alumni Relations Francis E. Zablocki, Online Community Manager Alumni Relations Office at Collins Alumni Center McClellan House SUNY Geneseo 1 College Circle Geneseo, NY 14454-1484 Phone: (585) 245-5506 Fax: (585) 245-5505 alumni@geneseo.edu
Parent Relations Office Tammy Ingram ’88, Director of Parent Relations Erwin 202 Phone: (585) 245-5570 Contact the Scene at scene@geneseo.edu. Visit the website at www.geneseo.edu/geneseo_scene
I
t doesn’t seem that long ago when I first went to Biloxi, Miss. It was during my spring break at Harvard, 1966. I was a college sophomore, Lyndon B. Johnson was president, and segregation still ruled in the Deep South. I spent the week repairing homes with the Back Bay Mission, a community agency that still engages volunteers in housing recovery as part of service-learning. In the midst of social upheaval, Biloxi seemed like a foreign country — quite exotic and somewhat dangerous. It was my first real encounter with the South and helping others proved to be a pivotal experience that shaped my life. Forty-four years later, I returned during Geneseo’s winter break. Now I am a college president, Barack Obama is in the Oval Office, and the Deep South has shed many of the laws and attitudes that defined it four decades earlier. Unfortunately, some things remain the same. Race still matters. Underlying social problems The president pauses from putting up new roof boards that were prevalent then were in Biloxi, Miss. exacerbated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Many say complete recovery will take another 10 years. That’s why I spent four days with 18 Geneseo students rebuilding a home with Livingston County CARES, a unique volunteer program founded by college and Geneseo community members in 2005. To date, the organization has coordinated 19 work trips to Biloxi. I was back in the same neighborhood, doing the same things I did in 1966. The trip was incredibly satisfying, and the experience reinforced what I had already learned. For example, how remarkable Geneseo students are in spirit and capability. The value of learning that takes students outside their comfort zone. The satisfaction derived from physical work that makes a tangible difference. Working alongside students on top of a roof, I gained a deeper appreciation for the efforts that earned Geneseo the national Katrina Compassion Award in 2006, and greater admiration for those who give their time and tal- for the efforts that earned ent in places like Haiti when disasters strike. Geneseo the national Katrina Returning to B i l oxi va l i d ated the importance of Compassion Award in 2006...” “touching the ground” — to participate in pro g ra m s t h at exemplify our co l l e g e ’s co re values such as service to community. Th rough sustained invo l vement with Livingston CARES, Geneseo has put down roots in yet another place beyond our village limits: We k n ow the residents of Biloxi — and they know us. Looking ahead to the next 44 years, I have no doubt that Geneseo students will be engaged and caring citizens of the world. That’s the power of a liberal arts education. I hope they will always be a part of the lives of other people through the power of sympathetic imagination and act on their compassion to effect change. Biloxi is a good start.
“Working alongside students on top of a roof, I gained a deeper appreciation
Cordially,
Christopher C. Dahl
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One College Circle CAMPUS NEWS
Biochemistry major Alanna Klose ’10 uses a grinder to smooth the welds she has made on a metal sculpture of a chrysalis with a human form inside it.
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African exchange 2010 tassels turned Teaching transformations News in brief Summer 2010
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CAMPUS NEWS
Women shop in Ghana’s Kejetia Market, where Fulbright scholar and Associate Professor Jennifer Rogalsky is conducting gender research.
Fulbright scholars spur exchange with Ghana Jennifer Rogalsky, a Geneseo geography professor and Fulbright scholar, found herself quickly adapting last spring to the challenges of living and teaching in a developing country. “It was my ROGALSKY first long-term experience in a foreign country and I got used to frequent water and power outages in
Ghana,” she says. “I had to figure out how to carry home 15-liter sacks of water sachets for drinking water, but I was warmly welcomed, particularly by the students who wanted to help me in any way they could.” Rogalsky taught and conducted research in the Geography and Rural Development Department at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi. The head of that department and vice dean of the faculty of social science at
KNUST, Eva Tagoe-Darko, received a full-year Fulbright grant and taught and conducted research in Geneseo’s geography department this past year. Rogalsky’s semester in Ghana and Tagoe-Darko’s year at Geneseo were part of an emerging institutional partnership, which Rogalsky helped develop when she and other Geneseo faculty and administrators visited Ghana two years ago. She credits the dean of Geneseo’s Ella Cline Shear School of Education, Osman Alawiye, for
initiating the collaboration, which inspired Rogalsky and Tagoe-Darko to apply for Fulbright awards. Livingston County officials also are pursuing trade opportunities with the country. “This is a true academic and cultural exchange that is benefiting students and faculty in Ghana and Geneseo,” Rogalsky says. “I feel very honored to be part of the program.” In addition to teaching her course, “Gender and Development,” Rogalsky conducted gender research in Kumasi and Accra, focusing on how women cope in the informal economy in urban markets. “I was able to involve students and collaborate with KNUST faculty in my research,” says Rogalsky. “My data collection on the gendered division of labor and interviews with traders at the markets seemed to confirm that national policies such as the Ghana poverty reduction strategy are not trickling down and continue to be barriers for women seeking economic and educational success.” — David Irwin
College holds first dedicated commencement for graduate students Geneseo graduate students celebrated a week earlier than undergraduates this year during their own commencement May 8 in Wadsworth Auditorium. It was the first time the college has conducted a dedicated ceremony for master’s degree recipients. Traditionally, all degrees have been conferred during one ceremony. “We decided that master’s degree recipients deserved a ceremony where they could be hooded and fittingly recognized for their outstanding accomplishment,” says Andrea BAILEY Klein, director of campus scheduling and events. “We hope to continue this in the future.” Keynote speaker Susan Bailey, dean emerita of the college, 4
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d i scussed “A Moving Train” in her remarks to graduate students. Bailey retired in 2008 after 35 years but continues to work as coordinator of scholarships and fellowships in the Office of the Provost. The college offers master’s degrees in education, accounting and communicative disorders and sciences. Fifty-one graduate students received degrees. The college graduated more than 1,200 undergraduate students in identical morning and afternoon ceremonies May 15 in the Ira S. Wilson Ice Arena. Keynote speaker FOSTER Frances Smith Foster addressed “One or Two Things I Think I Know for Sure.” She also received an hono r a ry doctor of humane letters. Foster, the Candler Professor of
A nod to distinguished educators Nearly half a decade after the New York state legislators authorized establishment of a normal school in Geneseo, the Wadsworth Normal and Training School opened its doors to aspiring teachers. That school for educators would later evolve into SUNY Geneseo. In 1871, a tradition was born that still defines the college. While Geneseo has grown to offer more than 54 degree programs and a nationally recognized academic reputation, education is still one of the most popular and respected programs on campus. Today, the college boasts more than 15,500 alumni who have worked or are currently employed as teachers, librarians, administrators, speech pathologists, school psychologists and other education professionals across the United States and abroad. To recognize the accomplishments of Geneseo’s educatoralumni, the Ella Cline Shear School of Education recently established the Geneseo Distinguished Educator Awards. Principals and other administrators were invited to nominate alumni who work in their districts, based on their profes-
Geneseo graduates transform teaching and students’ lives, says Osman Alawiye, professor and dean of the Ella Cline Shear School of Education.
sional accomplishments in the classroom and their impact on students. Nominees and nominators are invited to a champagne reception July 10 during Summer Reunion 2010, when the college will announce the award recipients and recognize the three top honorees.
“Geneseo educators have not only changed the lives of individual students, many of them have transformed the way we teach,” says Osman Alawiye, professor and dean of the School of Education. “We want to bring different generations of educators together to celebrate their
contributions and allow them to share their diverse experiences and stories.” Throughout Summer Reunion 2010, Milne Library will also host an exhibit, “From Normal to Extraordinary: An Education Retrospective.” — Lisa M. Feinstein
English and Women Studies at that borough. He also is purchasing E m o ry University in Atlanta, has and renovating properties in Mt. edited or written more than a dozen Morris, a small town near Geneseo, books on African-American literawith an interest in sparking another ture and culture and on multicultursuccessful revitalization. al women’s literature. She also is an “Greg embodies the Geneseo valaccomplished teacher at the underues of ‘service to society’ and ‘comgraduate and graduate levels. munity,’” said Dahl. “His vision and “Frances Smith Foster’s prolific leadership have become models for scholarly career serves as a role revitalizing depressed neighborhoods model for our students who aspire by providing for historical renovation, to be writers, critical thinkers and retaining housing for working and PHOTO BY BRIAN BENNETT researchers,” said President More than 1,200 graduates celebrated after commencement middle-class residents, and engaging Christopher C. Dahl. the arts. He spurs economic developwith family and professors. Also receiving an honorary docment while retaining a sense of comtor of humane letters was Brooklyn real estate developer munity. We are proud to honor this innovative and civically Gregory O’Connell ’64, who revitalized the Red Hook area of engaged alumnus.” — David Irwin Summer 2010
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NEWS IN BRIEF Geneseo among best education buys in the nation — again
dents. The college earned a spot in the top 10 for in- and out-of-state students in 2008 and 2009. “Much credit for Geneseo’s consistent inclusion in surveys such as this goes to the college’s superb faculty,” says President Christopher C. Dahl. “The best students are attracted to the best teaching, and members of our faculty are focused on providing the highest quality undergraduate learning experience possible.” The college also was judged on statistics such as its admission rate (37 percent) and freshman retention rate (92 percent). Nearly 60 percent of last ye a r’s freshmen ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school classes.
“Green Colleges” by The Princeton Review and the U.S. Green Whether perfecting Spanish or Building Council. The learning to isolate compounds designation recognizes in a chemistry lab, Geneseo higher-education inst istudents have more time with tutions that demonprofessors. For 10 years, the strate an extraordinary student-faculty ratio has been commitment to sus19 to 1. tainability by having Opportunity outstanding environPHOTO COURTESY OF KEVIN CO LTON for guided mental policies, camAll-American athlete Wenley Louis ’12 makes learning pus life, curricula and a landing in the SUNYAC championship track through small career service s . meet, where Geneseo teammates won the class sizes is In its commitment to 2010 title. one reason reduce the college’s alent of nearly eight years. why Geneseo carbon footprint, Geneseo has For such dedication, is singled out a fleet of dual-fuel and electric Geneseo has been named — in 2010 as a cars, and has implemented for the fourth consecutive “best buy” among cutting-edge technology in year — to the President’s more than 500 four-year public student residences. Higher Education Community schools in the United States by Service Honor Roll. It’s the Kiplinger’s Personal Finance College earns highest highest federal recognition a magazine. status for service college or university can Kiplinger’s ranked Geneseo In 2009, more than 3,700 Geneseo lauded as receive for volunteering, second for out-of-state stuGeneseo students engaged in one of America’s service-learning and civic dents for outstanding educacommunity service and aca“greenest” colleges engagement. Cited programs tional and economic value demic service-learning for Geneseo has been chosen as include leadership and peer and ninth for in-state stu60,591 total hours — the equivone of America’s top-rated education summits with high school athletes, mentoring and ongoing Hurricane Spotlight on Student Research Katrina relief (see related story page 14). “This kind of active comDoes seeing red mean switching to blue? munity engagement is an important component of a Using nationally publicized news data, Dezik President Barack Obama was elected amid liberal arts education and we America’s economic downturn. On Election examined 82 counties in 10 states. She chose are honored to be recogDay, the number of foreclosed homes in the areas that account for just 20 percent of the nized for our e f forts,” said United States reached households in the United States, but 50 perPresident Christopher C. Dahl. more than 1 million. cent of all foreclosures. In some counties, 60 G e o g ra p hy major Alicia of every 1,000 households were foreclosed. It’s a hat-trick for track Dezik also compared the number of D ezik ’10 wo n d e red: Did and swim teams Republican-cast votes by counties in the 2004 re g i ste red Re p u b l i c a n Geneseo student-athletes won and 2008 elections. The diffe re n ce gave her vo ters who we re losing three team State University of their homes change their the percentage change for all counties in her New York Athletic Conference vo te because of it and sample. She expected a large discrepancy, titles for the winter season. The help get Obama into the which would suggest that Republican homemen’s and women’s swimming O val Office? owners were swing voters in 2008. and diving teams each won the DEZIK To her surprise, she didn’t discover a signifiDezik conducted co mchampionship. It was the cant difference between Republican votes in prehensive research to discover whether women’s third straight and either election. Republicans, faced with forevoting patterns were altered in counties men’s 12th consecutive title. closure, still voted Republican. nationwide that were most affected by foreFor the first time since 2006, closures. She was among just 44 students to Conducting the research, Dezik says, chalthe men’s indoor track and present their research projects at the Middle lenged her to “think outside of the box,” and field team won the title. St ates Regional Meeting of the Association expertly use statistics. “It was very rewarding.” Seven students were of American Geographers last fall. — Colleen Knopeck ’11 named All-American. 6
geneseo scene
LETTERS
Letters to the Editor The Scene welcomes feedback and encourages discussion of higher-education issues and content. Send letters, which may be edited for space, to scene@geneseo.edu or to the Scene editor, SUNY Geneseo, Roemer House, 1 College Circ l e, Geneseo, NY 14454.
New Mudcat recruit I love the S c e n e and enjoy reading it every time I get it. The winter 2010 issue’s Memory Lane section had an article about the alumni Mudcat baseball game. I played on the last intercollegiate team in 1980 and would love to participate in the next one. — John Sennett ’83
A leap of fa i t h I just read the article “White Gold: What Lies Beneath.” It was very interesting and the links are informative. I’m glad to see how Joe Bucci ’67 took a leap of faith and was able to create jobs to maintain the
Livingston County economy. I am acquainted with my town’s director of public works and asked him where they get their rock salt from, and he answered American Rock Salt. Now, when I’m driving during the winter, I’ll know the roads are in better condition thanks to a Geneseo connection. — Keith M. Nelson ’75
“White Gold” is a teaching to o l I remember doing an internship with the Retsof salt mine in 1977-1978. We examined whether the salt mine should remain open 12 months per year or close for a period
during the year. I now teach global history and geography in Westhampton Beach, N.Y. I used the “White Gold: White Lies Beneath” article and salt mine video in class when we studied Africa and how “Salt was worth its weight in gold.” Great article and I enjoyed the miscellaneous facts. — Nancy Burns Repp ’78
Alumnus’ perseverance builds a foundation I read the entire “White Gold” article. I was a student at Geneseo when the explosion happened in the mine, killing four people in 1975. I
am glad the article included that event in the story. It definitely added another layer of desire that Joe Bucci ’67 had and has. Outstanding work on the article and the mine is a great foundation for the community. — Frank Vullo ’76 E d i t o r ’s Note: The S c e n e recently earned best of category honors for its feature photography among SUNY school alumni magazines and a Judge’s Citation for best overall magazine in the SUNYCUAD Annual Awards of Excellence.
This is your
alumni magazine. Tell us what you think so we can make it even better. Complete an important reader survey at
http://tinyurl.com/yfp5s6n Summer 2010
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A Musical
Masterpiece Since 1957, the Chamber Singers have achieved the highest success. Memories of what it takes to get there make members sing.
PHOTO BY KRIS DREESSEN
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BY KRIS DREESSEN
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HEIMES ’90 SPENT MUCH OF HER TIME AT GENESEO IN REHEARSALS PERFECTING her resounding soprano pitch and tone. Nights were reserved for memorizing songs and honing her diction. So moved by her experience in the Chamber Singers choir, she changed her major from English to voice. On his own time, choir conductor Robert “Doc” Isgro introduced her to the art of conducting. Before graduating, Heimes led her compatriots in song more than once. When Heimes pursued her passion for music professionally, Doc and his wife drove her to Philadelphia for her graduate school interv i e w. They helped her apartment-hunt. Years later, they were in the audience, applauding as she bowed after her first Carnegie Hall performance. AURA
Legacy: Former conductor Robert “Doc” Isgro, left, Conductor Gerard Floriano and former conductor John Kucaba stand on the Wadsworth Au d i torium stage with the current Chamber Singers.
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“They have been exemplary ambassadors for the institution, offering at each performance compelling and convincing evidence of the high quality for which the college is nationally known.” — John Kucaba, former conductor
Now a world-class soprano, Heimes specializes in the same early music she cut her teeth on in Chamber Singers. She has released 15 CDs and performed all over the world. Isgro helped her — and the entire choir — become extraordinary, she says: “Doc always pushed the fire. Just when we thought we could not get there, he got us to the next level.” He was a mentor; the Isgros, she says, welcomed her as family. “They were my parents when I was at school,” says Heimes. It’s indicative of the close bonds directors have made with students and that students have made with each other during the group’s remarkable 53-year history. It becomes, says, Isgro, “an extended family.” “You find kindred spirits” says current conductor Professor Gerard Floriano. “You really do.” As lifelong friendships flourish, so have the Chamber Singers’ achievements. Each director has expanded the complexity of music and types of music performed, and created opportunities for the choir and Geneseo to shine in the regional, national and international spotlights. ••• In the fall of 1957, then-music department chair Gordon Goewey started the
Chamber Singers. It was a small choir of 14 members. Known as The Madrigal Choir, they specialized in bringing to life 16th-century pieces composed especially for voice. Instead of conducting, Goewey sang with them. “I was thrilled to be part of this elite, small group,” says Joan Moffat ’59, a retired librarian and teacher. “I had never heard that type of music before. It was at the beginning and we didn’t know how far we could go with this.” Goewey stepped down two years later to focus on teaching. He died in 1999. Since Goewey’s creation, the choir has been under the direction of three conductors — John Kucaba, who, within four years, created a foundation and made the group’s first recordings; Isgro, who expanded the repertoire and number of singers during his lege n d a ry35-year tenure; and now Floriano, a Chamber Singers alumnus selected to lead a new generation of singers after a nationwide search. “My experience (as a Chamber Singer) was pretty intense and it was probably why I went into music as a career,” says Floriano. “It became very important to who I was, and who I am now.” Choir members sing multiple musical styles — in the same performance — including masterworks from throughout
CHAMBER SINGERS
Throughout the years ...
1963, Conductor John Kucaba, center, who made the gr 1958, Choir founder Gordon Goewey, far left.
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the centuries, folk-song arrangements, oldtime spirituals and even stream-of-consciousness poems by E.E. Cummings set to music composed by Geneseo Distinguished Service Professor James Walker. They have also mastered Gregorian chants created before the advent of written music 1,000 years ago. The group tours regularly throughout New York state and the Northeast. They have performed at Lincoln Center in New York City, with philharmonic orchestras, and on 11 European tours to wide acclaim since 1971. They have made 17 recordings and routinely win prestigious choral and music competitions throughout the United States. Presidents of those elite choral societies, and even The New York Times, have sung their praises. “This choir could compete with any conserv a t o ry-level choir, hands down,” says Heimes, who performed Handel’s “Messiah” with the current group last fall. “The Geneseo Chamber Singers could stand up against any choir.” ••• It’s important to note, say directors, that those elite conserv a t o ry choirs that Geneseo rivals are filled with full-time voice majors. Everyone is an aspiring professional. In contrast, Chamber Singers auditions are open to everyone, of any major. The
PHOTO BY KRIS DREESSEN
bass singing the lowest part on Moses Hogan’s “The Battle of Jericho” is likely sharing his part with a biologist, next to a future lawyer or teacher. “The best choral singing is coming out of the top college and university programs in the country and, at our best, we are on a level with that,” says Floriano. “But realize that the students who come into the Chamber Singers are not conservatory people. We have to work very hard to get there, and be very dedicated.”
Above, The dedication of conductors Robert “Doc” Isgro, left, Gerard Floriano and John Kucaba breeds lifelong loyalty, say Chamber Singers alumni.
e the group’s first recording. 1965, Conductor Robert “Doc” Isgro, second from right, who expanded the group and its repertoire.
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PHOTO BY CHRISTINE CUSANO ’10
The skills of the Chamber Singers rival any choir, says world-class soprano Laura Heimes ’90, who sang in the Handel “Messiah” concert in 2009.
Members have always practiced at least four and a half hours a week. Then there are concerts, rehearsals and personal prep time to make it amazing. Floriano spends long hours choosing repertoire, getting to know the music and how it fits into a larger performance, as his predecessors did before him. “It’s a very intimate process,” says Isgro. Each piece becomes part of the conductor and singers, who bring it to life. And, the group sings it in the original language. Choir members spend hours memorizing pieces and perfecting foreign accents, says baritone James Tobin ’67, a SUNY Brockport associate professor and former superintendent of schools at an upstate New York district. Tobin sang a piece titled “My heart commends itself to you” 42 years ago in French, but can remember nearly every line — and he doesn’t speak French. The group has performed in Italian, Hebrew, French, German, Czech and Polish, to name a few. Perfection was crucial as the group started touring Europe, singing to native speakers.
••• The opportunity to explore Europe and sing in centuries-old venues in places like Rome and Vienna made a lasting impression on David Turner ’72. Rehearsing and researching music throughout history was a learning experience in itself. “Chamber Singers became a portal to the world for me,” says Turner, a Geneseo Foundation board member and managing director and head of private equity for the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America. “It was a tremendous challenge in itself and it gave me a broader view of the world, people and cultures.” In 2008, Turner gave a generous gift to launch the Chamber Singers Endowment Fund. The initial mission is to raise $100,000 from alumni and supporters to offset costs associated with the group, including promotion through performances and tours. “This endowment allows the directors to plan for these activities,” says Turner. “The Chamber Singers are part of the identity of the campus. This is an opportunity to extend the brand of Geneseo.” As the Chamber Singers build a reputa-
Meet today’s
conductor … P ROFESSOR GERARD FLORIANO ’84 SPENT ALL OF HIS FOUR YEARS AT GENESEO in the Chamber Singers. He met his wife, Joan Harkenrider Floriano ’82, through the choir. A political science major with a strong background in music, he didn’t necessarily plan a career in music. Chamber Singers compelled him to do so. Former longtime director Robert “Doc” Isgro mentored him in conducting, inspiring him to earn a Master of Music in Choral Conducting and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Orchestral Conducting from the Eastman School of Music. As a conductor for the past 24 years, and in his current role as SUNY Geneseo director of choral music for the past 11, he relishes guiding new students in perfecting their individual talents and combining them into a united “work of art.” Once the technical part is just right, you can take the music further, says Floriano. Each layer of voices is rich. The performance is spontaneous, free to take on a life of its own. It’s like driving the fastest sports car in the world, calm and cool as can be, he says. “Nothing is labored. Everything’s sort of flowing. Any slight movement is read and observed. You feel like you can make the music go anywhere. It’s like you’re floating.”
PHOTO BY KRIS DREESSEN
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Above, Robert “D o c” Isgro conducts the 50th reunion choir.
More than 100 Chamber Singers from all generations gathered for the 50th reunion in 2008.
tion, they become de facto spokespersons for Geneseo, all over the world. “They have been exemplary ambassadors for the institution,” says Kucaba, “offering at each performance compelling and convincing evidence of the high quality for which the college is nationally known.” It’s certainly true for former Chamber Singers President Antonia Laruccia ’10, who, as a prospective student, sat in a rehearsal during a campus visit and walked out an inspired recruit. “I saw the way Dr. Floriano worked and the way the choir sounded, and the music they were doing was so challenging, so prolific and diverse,” says Laruccia, an alto. “Chamber Singers is the reason I came to Geneseo. Chamber Singers sealed the deal.” ••• Members share an inherent unity, says Laruccia, because everyone is going through the same trials and challenges. “There’s this profound, beautiful focus on making music together,” she says. “It’s intellectual and it’s a community.” Outside of the academics of music, Chamber Singers veterans welcome new members at annual fall retreats. For 35 years, the Isgros hosted homemade pasta meals and suit-and-tie affairs to bid farewell to graduating seniors. Isgro has been to many weddings for those he met in his choir — including that of Gerry and Joan Floriano. He often gets calls from alums who come to town. Sometimes, they just knock on the door.
Such closeness and time devotion — at rehearsal, warm-ups, concerts and the weeks spent together in rattling tour buses — breed real loyalty, say former singers, to each other and to the directors who care for the group, generation after generation. “Singing in an ensemble with a common purpose, to create a beautifully blended sound, taught us all the value of teamwork and accomplishment from individual effort,” says Turner. Realizing the feeling of satisfaction such commitment gives, he says, is one of the many lasting gifts Isgro and the choir gave him. That’s why so many Chamber Singers alumni attend their reunions, held every five years. Chamber Singers events are the most attended reunions on campus. “I almost feel like it’s a calling to come back and see old friends,” says Turner. “Reunions are an opportunity to spend part of the day in intense rehearsals and to sing again, and recreate some of that old magic.” Nearly 40 years after his final Chamber Singers performance, Turner still considers friends he made in the group his “soulmates.” Although he lives in New Jersey, he’s missed only one reunion. In May 2008, he was among 120 singers from all over the country who attended the
go.geneseo.edu/chamber See more photos of the Chamber Singers go.geneseo.edu/chambersing Hear the choir sing
latest Chamber Singers reunion, a threeday gathering to celebrate the 50th anniversary. Friday evening was spent reminiscing and catching up over cocktails and hors d’ouvres. Saturday morning was spent rehearsing by section sopranos, altos, tenors and basses. Then all the sections came together for a full rehearsal before the Saturday night concert. The concert consisted of a full program by the current Chamber Singers, under Floriano’s direction. Then, under the direction of Isgro, Kucaba and Floriano, the alumni choir performed 100 voices strong. Moffat represented the earliest incarnation of Chamber Singers — 1959 — and hadn’t heard the Chamber Singers in nearly 50 years. “I was blown away by how good they were,” she says. “That was really something.” To perform with generations who came before her was very special, says Laruccia. No matter what, she’ll be at the reunion in 2013. She was proud, she says, to represent the latest in a long history of Chamber Singers tradition, and to perform with the alums who made it happen. “They were exuding this sense of love, because they know what it’s like,” she says. “So many people were so happy to see each other and to meet us. It’s a long extended family tree. We’re the newest buds on the branches.”
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Mission: Possible
Hundreds of Geneseo volunteers have helped transform hurricane-ravaged Mississippi. In bricks and mortar recovery, they also transform themselves.
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STORY AND PHOTOS BY KRIS DREESSEN
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aisy Guyton returned to her home after Hurricane Katrina and peered through a broken window. Her refrigerator was missing from the kitchen. The living room floor was gone. Everything — furniture, scrapbooks, the tangible memories of her husband and children — was caked in mud or had been swept away with the rushing flood. In a matter of a few hours, she had lost her entire life beneath seven feet of water. “I started screaming,” remembers Daisy, who goes by “Miss Daisy.” “I had worked 50 years for what I had and everything was gone. All I had was the clothes I had on.” Two framed portraits of her sons were the only remaining mementos of her life. With nowhere to go, she lived with a daughter for a while, then in a FEMA trailer next to the rubble. Urban Life Ministries helped her organize grants and volunteers to help her rebuild. George Sullivan ’07 and other volunteers from SUNY Geneseo were there first in 2006, tearing down the rotted walls and erecting a sturdy beam in the roof. Soon, Daisy was installing a new bathtub and finally hung a shiny new No. 334 above her front door. “I could never have done it myself,” she says. “I didn’t have the money. I could never repay the people who came to help me, except to say thank you.” More than 535 Geneseo volunteers — students, staff, faculty, emeriti and community members — have helped dozens of homeowners like Daisy in Biloxi, Miss., since the August 2005 storm. It’s a lasting partnership with one of the hardest-hit areas. Geneseo volunteers have made 19 work trips so far, collaborating with city officials, residents and agencies. They return every year to the same Biloxi neighborhoods, where they live together, work alongside
Garrett Burger ’11 lifts rotten roof shingles off Mary Jackson’s home. On the last day of the trip, she shared photos of her life before Hurricane Katrina. “It really hit me that with all of our roofing, nailing and sawing we had helped give Mary the opportunity to start fresh and live in a lovely home where she can once again cultivate her beautiful gardens,” says Garrett.
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Top photo, Tom Matthews, Geneseo director of leadership education, development and training, shares a laugh with Daisy Guyton, remembering how he had to haul a bathtub down her front steps during renovation in 2006. Skills they learn during the experience are more than bricks and mortar, say students. Andrew Kopp ’12 hammers new roof boards onto a home in January 2010.
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geneseo scene
s u rvivors and listen to their stories. For some, it becomes a life calling. Uncommon learning opportunities like the Biloxi experience, “really set the bar pretty high for what I want out of life,” says George. “It really blessed me with a hunger to do more.” ••• Geneseo’s first volunteers drove into Biloxi just five months after Katrina devastated the coast. A resort town, the 60-mile shoreline was packed with debris. The city’s entire casino-based economy and shrimping industry were wiped out, as well as nearly all of the 7,000 low-income homes in East Biloxi. The city was home to 200,000 residents before Katrina; after, 25,000 fled and never came back, or died. The regal President Casino — once a massive floating barge — was lying on top of a hotel. Standing on the beach, says George, it was impossible to imagine the tranquil bay being such a destructive force. But just behind him, the grand houses and hotels on the promenade were piles of concrete and steel. “At many homes, there was absolutely nothing left but cement stoops,” remembers volunteer Lyle Lehman, professor emeritus
and former chairman of special education. HOPE Community Development Agency, created by Biloxi Councilman William Stallworth, devotes its work in East Biloxi, which is home to Biloxi’s lowest-income residents. HOPE helps residents like Daisy to secure grants, make the most of their savings and arrange labor from volunteer crews such as Geneseo. Livingston County CARES chose to work with HOPE, says Tom Matthews, Geneseo director of leadership education, development and training, because of the need and because crews focus on a smaller area. They have greater impact and see the results of their cumulative efforts. “It’s nice to see who you are working for and to know that even though we can’t finish our house this week, we can make a difference,” says Meghan Lijewski ’12, “and everything we do will help everyone in the end.” So far, HOPE has completed 700 home rehabilitations and 65 new homes. In total, Geneseo’s crews have worked on more than 50 homes in the county. “People are developing hope,” says William. “The value of the type of relationship the college and Livingston County
CARES has with efforts cannot be underestimated. We couldn’t do this without you.” For a long time, says homeowner Kai Huff, efforts of volunteers “were my hope.” George says his crew journeyed to Biloxi to rehab some houses, “but it was really something greater than that. With all of the destruction around us, we got more from that trip than we gave. We learned how strong people can be.” ••• Forty years after he volunteered doing similar work in Biloxi as a college student, President Christopher C. Dahl joined Livingston County CARES crews last January, ripping off a rotten roof and hauling up new boards. Geneseo has always been rooted in the local community, he says, “but our relationship with a place more than 1,000 miles away has that same dedication. It is unique because of our ongoing commitment. We did not just respond once to a crisis. We’re doing something different — over a long period of time.” The Biloxi effort embodies Geneseo’s mission and its commitment to develop learning through service, volunteering and building community spirit, he says, and shines a national spotlight on the college. Students say that longevity — which allows them to get to know survivors and witness how their work changes the Biloxi landscape — is a truly transformative experience. “The experiences have given me confidence to do new things,” says Julie Butler ’10. “I could never believe that I put in a window. The crew supervisor taught us once, but that’s it. Then, we did it.” According to Katie Deierlein ’11, in no other way could she have learned from survivors, and heard differing perspectives of crisis that changed American history. Those bricks and mortar skills breed quiet revelations of self-confidence, leadership and flexibility: The knowledge that you can make a difference, say students, is the real reward. ••• Jennifer Delcourt ’08 spent a total of six weeks volunteering in Biloxi. “I was kind of opening myself up to the world,” she says. “That first trip showed me the power that one person can have, to not
About Livingston County CARES … Students’ interest to help after Katrina sparked a community-wide discussion and ultimately the formation of Livingston County CARES. The nonprofit organization is dedicated to Biloxi relief efforts.
• communitycare.geneseo.edu — Learn more or volunteer.
More … • http://url2it.com/crod — Watch the Biloxi video and meet the homeowners • go.geneseo.edu/biloxi — More photos and stories from Biloxi
Lend a hand … • giveto.geneseo.edu — Make a gift to offset student participation costs. Specify “GOLD and Biloxi” on your gift. Or, call (585) 245-5518.
necessarily change the entire world, but your little corner of it … It takes responsibility and effort, but you can make it happen.” Leadership, says Tom, is a process that students learn best by “doing.” It’s why e v e rywork crew has a student crew leader and most trips are entirely managed by a student coordinator. Biloxi has a built-in leadership opportunity, every trip. A mentor in the award-winning Geneseo Opportunities for Leadership Development program, Jennifer challenged herself to lead a home site crew. It made her a problemsolver. Later, she accepted the role of a student coordinator, successfully wrangling the trip for 50 volunteers. Students like Jennifer, says Tom, “figure out how it works for them, as they realize
they have the ability and the skills.” Soon after graduation, Jennifer was in charge of a health and fitness program for inner-city kids through AmeriCorps. “If I did not have the experience of Biloxi and those leadership roles, I probably would have crumbled,” she says. “ … Those experiences taught me so many skills that now, I don’t think I’d be where I am without them.” ••• Five years after the inaugural visit of George’s group, Biloxi trips are still among the most popular service-learning programs on campus. Each session fills up months ahead. Community support helps defray costs for volunteers, who pay their way. “I haven’t talked to a student yet who hasn’t said to me, ‘I’m going to do this sort of thing for the rest of my life,’ or ’I realize what I do makes a difference,’” says Tom. George’s experience in Biloxi and other unique opportunities at Geneseo — like the El Sauce, Nicaragua service-learning program — have provided a life calling. Now, George will take skills he’s learned as an analyst for Bank of America and his commitment as firefighter into his future. He’s deciding whether to pursue a graduate degree in international affairs or enter the U.S. Department of State as a foreign-service officer, helping in any of 250 countries. “Geneseo has given me many gifts and one of them is being able to make tough choices,” says George. “Those efforts really motivated me to devote myself to a career in service. It has really shaped my view about what I want out of life and what I want my impact to be.”
Karen Ibele, right, who survived the storm by climbing into an attic storage space, tells volunteers Jessica Okoniewski ’11, center, and Joanna Kirk, adjunct lecturer of sociology, how her father grew up in her historic house.
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 Tell us your memories
about the tree or painting it and send photos to scene@geneseo.edu. We’ll post them at go.geneseo.edu/tree
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ICONS OF GENESEO
Painted Tree The
BY KRIS DREESSEN
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cott Eron ’10 first painted the big black walnut tree in Sturges Quad to tout his fraternity to everyone on campus. He and 12 of his brothers sprayed Alpha Chi Rho’s letters — AXP — in maroon and white paint. It took an hour to coat the trunk. “You want to make sure you’re proud of what you’re doing on there — make sure it looks real nice,” says Eron. Eron has since decorated the Greek Tree, as it’s affectionately called, dozens of times, even on zero-degree nights. “The paint froze before it hit the tree,” he says. “That was interesting.” The tree earned its moniker because it’s mostly painted by members of Greek organizations, but its canvas is open to any recognized group on campus, says Dean of Students Leonard Sancilio. The tree also is known as the Painted Tree. There are no sign-up sheets or rules, except common sense prohibiting students from risking dangerous moves to reach higher, like climbing the branches. Rush time is peak time, when the tree can get painted, and covered over, up to six times in a single night. Each frat or sorority wants its letters on the tree come daylight. “You have to decide who wins — sometimes it’s a standstill,” laughs Eron, who has battled over the bark many times. One year, they split the tree, half and half. Another time, they let their rivals take a picture for proof before bathing it in maroon. No one can pinpoint just when the first daring student took brush to bark, but faculty and staff know it goes back at least 42 years. That’s because education Adjunct Lecturer Gary “Griz” Caudle ’70 remembers doing it as a sophomore. Geneseo folk-
PHOTO BY BRIAN BENNETT
lore relies on alums to fill this history book, and so far, Caudle is one of the earliest. He tagged it with blue and white in honor of the swim team, and a green peace sign. If Caudle added his art in 1968, and it’s customized dozens of times a year (at minimum), that means the painted tree is sporting at least 1,000 layers of paint. So, how does it continue to live? Associate Professor George Briggs has taught biology for 23 years and asks his students to estimate age, height and weight of the tree. He believes the tree is now 35 feet tall, weighs as much as two SUVs and has survived more than a century. While the tree has been painted nearly half its life, he says, it constantly produces new layers from the inside. The outermost layers split, pushed from the inside. The outside of a tree consists of dead cells that have some features that are like paint — they are waterproof and retard the growth of microorganisms. The paint likely causes some damage, but it doesn’t encase the trunk or branches. And while it seems like there would be a layer of paint a few feet thick, “pieces of bark are falling off all of the time,” says Briggs. “If we look, we should see tiny little chips.” Eron once found a twoinch chunk of paint. “It was just this huge, cool thing,” he says. “All these years of tradition.” It went home with a graduating senior, a memento to remind him of the good times. Those who paint the tree say they don’t forget it — or Geneseo.
No one can pinpoint just when the first daring student took brush to bark, but faculty and staff know it goes back at least 42 years.
From the 1988 Yearbook
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PERSPECTIVE
The Physics of Baseball: Does a curveball really curve, or is it an optical illusion? By Charlie Freeman
I PHOTO PROVIDED
Charlie Freeman, pitching at MIT
Charlie Freeman, associate professor of physics at SUNY Geneseo, is a nuclear physicist and lifelong baseball fan who honed his curveball during his college days pitching for Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has given numerous talks on the physics of baseball in a variety of venues including high school physics classrooms, undergraduate physics colloquia, SUNY Geneseo alumni and parent events, and professional physics conferences. He also is a youth baseball coach for his three children and serves as director of the 1.7 MV Pelletron particle accelerator laboratory in the college’s new Integrated Science Center. At the height of Major League Baseball season, he reveals some of the mysteries of America’s favorite pastime.
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t’s often said that hitting a baseball is the most difficult task in sports. Major League pitchers are able to hurl a baseball toward home plate with speeds approaching 100 mph, giving the hitter only a fraction of a second to size up the pitch. The ball has a diameter of less than 3 inches, and the rules of the game allow the barrel of the bat to be a maximum thickness of 2.625 inches. Hit the ball a fraction of an inch too low and you’ll hit a weak popup. Hit it a little too high and you’ll pound the ball into the ground — where it will likely be scooped up and thrown to the first baseman before you reach the bag. As a nuclear physicist might say, the cross section for a solid ball-bat collision is small. To make matters worse, new generations of pitchers add new devastating pitches to their arsenal — the slider, the splitter, the cutter, even the mysterious gyro ball. It’s enough to keep even the most unflappable hitter awake at night. Perhaps the first “mad scientist” to start experimenting with new pitches was Candy Cummings who, in the late 1860s, invented the curveball. Cummings discovered that if he snapped his wrist downward at precisely the right time during his delivery, he could give the ball an unusual top spin, which caused the ball to curve downward.
Hitters reported that a well-thrown curv eball would suddenly change direction on its way to the plate, making it almost impossible to hit. Soon after the discovery, pitchers everywhere were copying Cummings’ throw. The curveball would change the course of baseball history. ••• THE DEBATE
What makes a curveball so hard to hit? Does the ball really curve or is it merely a carefully crafted optical illusion? Players and scientists have debated this question since its invention. Some have argued that the curve on a curve ball was legitimate. Others said batters’ brains PHOTO were being tricked into thinking thePROV ballIDED was curving. By the 1940s, after a series of wind tunnel and other tests on a spinning baseball, the scientific community’s consensus seemed to side with the reality of the curveball. But this worldview came into question in 2009 when four professors from institutions across the United States developed a nifty Web-based optical illusion, simulating how a batter sees a spinning baseball coming into home plate (http://illusioncontest.neuralcorrelate.com /2009/the-break-of-the-curveball/). As the observer shifts his or her gaze of the ball from peripheral vision to their central vision, it appears to suddenly change direction. However, care-
ful inspection of the ball’s trajectory shows that the ball is actually moving in a straight line. ••• TESTING IT OUT MYSELF
To get my own take on the issue, I enlisted the help of Michael Canfield ’11, a biophysics major who helped me to calibrate a Thomson Parabola Spectrometer last summer using proton beams from the accelerator. Mike also happens to be a middle infielder for the Geneseo club baseball team, the Mudcats. With my own pitching days at MIT long behind me, I asked Mike if he would throw a couple pitches in the name of science. Instead of using real baseballs, we used Styrofoam balls as lighter mass would make any curve more easily noticeable. I recorded Mike as he threw the Styrofoam balls with different spins, and we later analyzed the video frame by frame. Mike first threw an overhand fastball (see diagram 1). In this pitch, the ball is given a backspin as it comes off the fingertips. The Magnus force — which is the force which acts on a spinning object and points perpendicular to the object’s velocity — points upwards. Of course, there is another force which acts in the vertical direction — gravity — which points downward. The Magnus force causes the Styrofoam ball to arrive about 16 inches higher than it would if it were acted on by gravity alone. This explains why hitters will often report that they see a “rising fastball,” although, for an actual baseball, the gravitational force is much larger than the Magnus force, which means that the ball does not actually rise on its way to the plate. A rising fastball is indeed an optical illusion. The ball moves in nearly a straight line for a significant portion of its trajectory, but you may even be able to convince
D i a g ram 1: Fa st b a l l B ASEBALL PHOTO BY B I G STOCKPHOTO.COM
yourself by looking at this data that the ball is actually rising a little. Next, I filmed Mike throwing a curv e b a l l (see diagram 2). Notice in the figure how much more the ball drops when he imparts topspin to it. In this case, the Magnus force points downward, causing the ball to drop 26 inches more than it would have if acted on by gravity alone. Mike is not a pitcher on the team, but I think he might want to consider filling in for the team in middle relief, since he throws a pretty nasty deuce. Mike gives the ball topspin so that the Magnus force points downward, in the same direction as gravity, and causes the ball to curve downward more than it would if it were acted on by gravity alone. ••• THE VERDICT
Without a doubt, a curveball actually does curve. In fact, a Major League pitcher can cause the pitch to deflect by as much as 13 inches on its way to the plate. But the curve is gradual, not sudden. Why is it, then, that so many hitters swear that they observe a well-thrown curveball suddenly changing direction on its way to the plate? It is difficult for a physicist to imagine a mechanism by which a thrown baseball would exhibit this type of behavior. But the creators of the optical illusion cited earlier suggest that they may have found the answer. Certainly, a curveball really does (gradually) curve on its way to the plate, but the effectiveness of the pitch may be magnified due to the optical illusion demonstrated on their website. This is an interesting idea that deserves further study. In the debate as to whether a curveball really curves or whether it is an optical illusion, the real answer may be a little of both.
PHOTO PROVIDED
Does the curveball truly curve? Ass o c i ate Professor Charlie Freeman conducted his own experiments to solve one of baseball’s contested pitches.
go.geneseo.edu/curve Read Freeman’s full curveball discussion
D i a g ram 2: Curve b a l l
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ATHLETICS
Making the
Character Connection By Anthony T. Hoppa
“For when the One Great Scorer comes, To write against your name, He marks – not that you won or lost – But how you played the Game.”
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nyone who’s played sports has likely come across those famous words written by Grantland Rice back in the 1920s. To this day, his message endures: Character counts. Geneseo student-athletes have little doubt about that. Women’s track and field co-captain Maria Barbaglia ’11 — also the team’s National Collegiate Athletic Association Student Athletic Advisory Committee representative — knows it’s a privilege to wear the Blue Knight uniform. “We have a big focus on reminding the rest of our teams to act appropriately because we’re not just representing ourselves,” she says. “We’re representing our school, our family. That’s important to me.” Her understanding reflects the college’s broader commitment. “Everything we do with our athletic program must complement our liberal arts mission to educate the whole person,” affirms Robert Bonfiglio, vice president of campus and student life. Twice this year, he and Director of Athletics Marilyn Moore have spoken at national conferences regarding intercollegiate athletics and character development. Their presentation centers on research demonstrating that athletics reveals rather than builds character, which is essential to effective leadership. “If you’re a real member of a team, I don’t think you can bluff your way through it, either the mental or physical aspects,” notes Jim Leary ’75, Geneseo Foundation Board vice chairman and former Blue Knight basketball player. “There are no shortcuts. You pay for your actions and you learn that if you 22
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Maria Barbaglia ’11
Mike Baker ’11
want to compete and be at your best, you can’t be a slacker.” Geneseo promotes moral and ethical character building in a variety of ways, including participation in leadership workshops, lectures and community service. For example, every year Geneseo student-athletes help
“ E v e rything we do with our athletic program must complement our liberal arts mission to educate the whole person.” — Robert Bonfiglio, vice president of campus and student life convey the importance of strong character to the next generation at the annual Sportsmanship Summit. The event brings Section V high school coaches and athletes to campus for a seminar on various topics promoting leadership.
Character
“We always strive to develop positive values that encourage fair play and ethical behavior among our student-athletes,” says Moore. Likewise, Bonfiglio is adamant that Geneseo’s approach must not mimic the pro sports experience. “Our expectations are much higher,” he says. Head Coach Nate Wiley and members of this year’s SUNY Athletic Conference Championship women’s soccer team attest to that. They earned the Team Ethics Gold Award from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. Geneseo is one of only nine in the country honored for sportsmanship as determined by the number of yellow or red cards received for rule violations during the season. The Blue Knights had none in their 21-game season. Wiley says the award reflects “how we handle ourselves in the heat of the moment,” especially when matched against a more physical team. “We’re able to handle those situations more appropriately and not retaliate. We’ve taken the higher ground.” That focus on character building transcends all teams, according to basketball point guard Mike Baker ’11, who will chair next year’s Student Athletic Advisory Committee. On the court, he sees a different level of respect shown by Geneseo athletes for opponents, coaches, referees and even fans. Those qualities manifest in simple things, too, he says, like helping an opponent up off the floor and not trash-talking. For that, he credits Geneseo’s efforts to develop the overall person and the lessons he’s found as part of the team. “It’s not one-dimensional. You’re a student first, and then an athlete,” says Baker. “Every day throughout the year, we always touch upon good character and qualities that good leaders exude. Along with building my athletic ability, I’ve also developed my personal skills — working with others, communicating, and in basketball, trying to be unselfish. I think my athletic experience has developed those skills to make me more successful.”
ILLUSTRATION ISTOCKPHOTO.COM
MISSION DRIVEN
Above, Phil Szarma ’07 and Sadie Mueller ’06 At left, Sadie Mueller ’06, a cancer survivor, celebrates on top of Africa’s Mt. Kilimanjaro.
PHOTOS PROVIDED
High ambition Geneseo alumni fight cancer atop the highest peak in Africa. By Kris Dreessen
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adie Mueller’s diagnosis struck in the summer of her sophomore year: skin cancer. Her mother, Barb, had already battled breast cancer. They supported each other and made it through. Sadie counts her blessings daily for making a full recovery — and that her mom is officially cancer-free. She also remembers loved ones who have lost the fight, like her friend Jacquie Hirsch ’07, who died from leukemia in 2008. “Every time I hear someone has cancer, it makes me angry,” says Sadie, a 2006 Geneseo graduate. “It’s everywhere.” Her heartbreak provided inspiration as she climbed Africa’s tallest freestanding mountain — twice — to help raise money for the American Cancer Society (ACS). Sadie did so with Journeys of Inspiration, an upstate New York nonprofit group comprised of adventurers whose lives have been affected by cancer. Rick French, owner of PackPaddleSki guides, created the group in 2006 with ACS employees. That included Sadie,
who serves as a special events coordinator for the Finger Lakes region, which encompasses SUNY Geneseo. So far, Journeys of Inspiration has raised more than $300,000 for research, education and patient programs. Sadie first conquered the summit of the 19,340-foot Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2008 with her fiancé, Phil Szarma ’07. She did so again last February. In total, she and Phil have raised more than $6,000. Climbing “Kili” is an eight-day trek through a rainforest, a glacier field and finally, over barren volcanic rock and then snow. Sadie and Phil hiked 12-hour
Make a difference … • http://joiacs.webs.com — Learn more about Journeys of Inspiration and events, including the 2 011 Mt. Kilimanjaro trip. • www.cancer.org — Volunteer and promote awa re n e ss of the American Cancer Society.
days as their African porters reminded them to walk “slowly, slowly,” to acclimate to the high altitude. When they were exhausted, memories of loved ones drove them onward. “They definitely inspire you to keep going when you want to quit,” says Sadie. On summit night, Sadie and Phil started out at 11:30 p.m. and hiked through daybreak. “You have to separate your mind from your body,” says Phil. “You have to say, ‘I can do this’ and you have to get your body to go along with it.’” On the summit, above the clouds, they looked down to watch morning settle on the city of Moshi — a cluster of tiny dots far below them. “It was probably the greatest thing I’ve ever felt,” says Phil. “You feel like you can do anything,” says Sadie. “You have just accomplished the hardest thing you’ve ever done.” Sadie brought Jacquie’s photo. Phil brought his grandfather’s photo. On the summit, they raised them to the sky, united in a celebration of life. Phil and Sadie say what Journeys of Inspiration has accomplished shows others that they can make a difference and find their own way to do it. The spirit behind the Kili adventure can inspire people to envision life beyond cancer, she says. “You definitely make a difference,” says Sadie. “You don’t know which $100 will finally find a cure.” Summer 2010
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RANDOM PROFILE
One Cup with Emily Walton Coombs, Class of 2000 By Kris Dreessen
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ONE CUP Inspired by the idea that everyone has a story to share, we offer the “random profile.” Each issue, we don a blindfold and throw a dart at a map of the United States to choose our state, then take aim again to choose a lucky alum. We catch up, relive memories and share life insight, like we are talking over coffee. Up next ... New York. Could it be you?
he first time Emily Walton Coombs ’00 visited Bozeman, Mont., she saw a grizzly bear, spotted a bald eagle soaring and hooked a 21-inch, prize-worthy brown trout in the Madison River. She left after 10 days, but Montana stayed on her mind. Months later, as she celebrated earning her diploma at Geneseo’s co mmencement, she found herself at a crossroads: She could “go anywhere.” Instead of returning home to East Aurora, N.Y., she met her destiny in Big Sky Country. “I packed up my ’91 Saab with everything that would fit and drove to Bozeman,” remembers Emily. Growing up the only girl among three brothers, Emily was already secure in her role as athlete, dedicated daughter and sister, and scholar. “I wanted to travel and figure out what it meant to just be me,” says Emily. “I wanted to stand on my own and be my own person.” Out West, Emily gave herself time to be independent and find her place, she says, even as friends and family asked, “When are you coming home?” There were a lot of Ramen noodle dinners at first. On days she felt lonely or isolated, she dreamed of Geneseo calling with terrifying news — she forgot to take her last final. In a time of uncertainty, she says, she gravitated to the time she knew what she was doing — college. She stuck it out. “Montana really offers this mentality of being your own pioneer, testing your boundaries and finding your way … As soon as I was here, I felt like it was where I was supposed to be,” says Emily. She relied on the self-confidence she gained as a student. “At Geneseo,” she says, “I got this taste of how it really feels good to be in my own space and build my own network of friends.” A transfer student, Emily chose Geneseo her junior year because she wanted to pursue a major in English, and Geneseo is the “cream of the crop” among SUNY schools. Campus felt like home, as Bozeman did years later. She cherished the brutal 5 a.m. wake-ups to run with the crew team, as well as their pra ctices when she rowed silently on the lake at sunrise. Four of her family members have chosen Geneseo through the years. It was during these new experiences that she learned what she is capable of achieving. “Geneseo gives you this safe environment to find your way,” says Emily. “I discovered I had grown this adventurous spirit.” Now a senior project manager at Mercury Creative Strategic Communications, a full-service marketing firm in Bozeman, she oversees financial, creative and production departments on projects for clients such as the Montana Office of Tourism and First Interstate Bank, the largest bank in the tri-st ate area. Emily relishes the team spirit there, too, and the offbeat work environment, where dogs are welcome office companions. She has zipped down hills in the wee hours of all-night sled-a-thons with her boss to raise money for charity. The responsibilities are Continued on page 30
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QUICK FACTS Home: Bozeman, Mont. Graduation year: 2000 Degree: Bachelor’s in English with a minor in human development. How you describe Geneseo: Charming. Brilliant. Ambitious. It helped me l ay my fo u n d ations. Favorite campus hangout: The Hub, and the stairs next to the gaze b o, where I ran stair sprints at 5 a.m. to train for the crew te a m . Best Geneseo memory: Walking into my 8 a.m. Shakespeare class in my Spandex and flip flops because I had already been rowing on the lake. I talked about how beautiful the sunrise was; everyone else was waking up. Most important life lesson you learned at Geneseo: If you push yourself, you learn how strong and capable you are. What you would tell graduating seniors: You have to really work hard to make your dreams a reality. Pursue what you are most passionate about; know you will grow a lot and you will eat some humble pie along the way. Favorite saying: “Not all who wander are lost.” I had to wander pretty far outside my co m fort zone to be who I am to d ay. I’m really proud of how far I have come.QUICK FACTS
Alumni News ABOUT THE ARTIST: Marie Heerkens ’85 has been a student of mycology (the study of mushrooms) for 20 years and specializes in nat u ral illustrations and using nature as a canvas. “Barnswa l l ows of Far View Farm” — inspired by the barns and the swallows that lived in them at her childhood home in upstate New York — was created using a wood burner on a shelf mushroom. The design was enhanced with watercolor. A graphic designer, Heerkens has co-authored, illustrated and photographed mushrooms for field guides and her art has been featured in books and a regional New York magazine. See more of her work at www.americanmushrooms.com/heerkens.
ALUMNI NEWS
28 A cut above 29 She’s in the Major Leagues 31 Class Notes Summer 2010
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GENESEO ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
NYC – Vafier Event
Upcoming
Alumni Events
At left, Brian Matyko ’98, left, Russ Fleishman ’98, Frank Vafier ’74 and Tom VanDermark ’92.
July 9-11, 2010 Geneseo, N.Y. — Summer Reunion go.geneseo.edu/reunion Celebrating reunions for: all classes ending in 0 and 5; AGOs and Phi Sigs from 1964 through 74; AOP Alumni; and a special reception to Celebrate Geneseo’s Educators. We are looking for enthusiastic and energetic volunteers from all classes ending in 1 or 6 to start work on next summer’s reunion. Come to Reunion on Saturday afternoon to see what it’s all about. Interested in serving as a reunion leader or working on a special affinity reunion for 2011? E-mail Alumni Relations at alumni@geneseo.edu
FLORIDA - Carroll Event
At right, Tanya Mikus, President Christopher C. Dahl and John Carroll ’75.
BOSTON
July 23, 2010 New York City — Alumni Social go.geneseo.edu/nyc July 24, 2010 Lake Como, N.J. — Geneseo Hits the Jersey Shore go.geneseo.edu/jerseyshore August 12, 2010 Saratoga Springs, N.Y. — Day at the Races — Saratoga Race Track go.geneseo.edu/saratoga2010 August 20, 2010 Verona, N.Y. — Alumni Reception at Turning Stone Casino go.geneseo.edu/turningstone September 24-25, 2010 Geneseo, N.Y. — Homecoming Weekend go.geneseo.edu/homecoming October 2, 2010 Geneseo, N.Y. — Prometheus ’64 -’82 Reunion go.geneseo.edu/Prometheus 26
geneseo scene
Above, Paul Goldstein ’96, left, Julio Vaca ’96, Brian Frawley ’94 and Nick Joseph ’02.
Jonna Vanwagenen Shutowick ’88, left, President Christopher C. Dahl, John Shutowick ’90 and Tyler Shutowick.
FLORIDA - Shutowick Event
ROCHESTER - Legal Event
The Honorable Richard C. Wesley, judge of the United St ates Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, center, was a special guest speaker for a reception of alumni and friends in Rochester. Students, left to right, are Claire Bould ’12, Rebecca Cogan ’10, Re b e cca Coons ’10 and Haleema Murtaza ’10.
NYC At left, Pat Clark ’88, left, Chris Jones ’88, Chris Vanuga ’85 and Paul Fusco ’85.
BUFFALO - Sabres Event
FLORIDA - Florida Gulf Coast
Above, Jeffrey Bubar ’05 and Amy Borer ’06.
At left, Pamela Hatton, Charlie Kleman ’72, Robert Wellman, Cheryl Wellman ’96, President Christopher C. Dahl and Art Hatton, emeritus vice president of advancement.
Summer 2010
27
ALUMNI PROFILE
class of’66
Bruce Jordan PHOTO BY KRIS DREESSEN
A Cut Above: Bruce Jordan ’66 thrives on “Shear Madness” A b ove, “I’m a comedic person. I love to laugh,” says Bruce J o rdan ’66, co - c re ator of the hair-salon co m e d y, “Shear M a d n e ss ,” America’s longest running play in history.
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geneseo scene
No one minds the manicurist whispering to her mystery man at first. Then, the concert pianist is murdered. From there, actors and audience alike recreate every detail of the last 20 minutes, trying to solve the crime unfolding on stage. The play, “Scherenschnitt”, says Bruce Jordan ’66, was pure psychodrama: “The grimmest.” Written by a psychologist, performances of “Scherenschnitt” (translation: scissor cut) were a human petri dish, gauging people’s wildly diverging perspectives of the events leading up to the homicide. No one ever agreed. That, says Jordan, made the super-serious production inherently funny. Jordan capitalized on the humor and transformed it into “Shear
Madness” — a wacky whodunit he and his longtime cohort launched in a small dinner theater 34 years ago. “Shear Madness”— which is set in a hair salon, of course — now has the distinction of being the longest-running play in American history. The comedic murder-mystery has played in 54 countries and has been translated into eight languages. Right now, actors are staging performances in eight time zones across the world. “One of the reasons the show has been so successful,” says Jordan, “is that it mixes the two most popular art forms: comedy and whodunit. The magic is that it’s a play for seven characters — the seventh character is the audience and they
don’t know their lines.” The premise is simple and the script is largely improvised at every performance. Audience members play the most important role in its ending; their input ultimately impacts who did the nasty deed. Set in the city where it’s being performed, actors incorporate current events from the local area, daily. After 34 years, Jordan himself has learned a lot about people — especially the universality of humor. “If something’s funny,” he says, “it’s funny. It doesn’t matter if it’s in San Francisco or Seoul.” Just when he thinks he’s heard it all from the audience, he says, “they still surprise us.” Jordan’s destiny as creator of an Continued on page 30
Batter Up! Alumna takes on Major League responsibilities Kim Hausmann Djabbarah ’95 loves baseball. It wasn’t always a passion but America’s pastime became one quickly for her in 2007 when MLB Advanced Media Inc. named her vice president and controller. MLB — as in Major League Baseball. The New York City partnership is the interactive media and internet company of Major League Baseball. MLB Advanced Media manages the official league site, www.MLB.com, and each of the 30 individual club sites to create the most comprehensive Major League Baseball resource on the Internet. “You can find virtually anything and everything you want to know about what’s going on in Major League Baseball on MLB.com at any time,” says Djabbarah. A certified public accountant who majored in accounting at Geneseo, she oversees all aspects of the company’s accounting group and works closely with the company’s operational departments that develop and service the various lines of business. No day is typical for Djabbarah on the job, but she savors the challenges and admires the zeal all of her co-workers display for the sport. “There is always something new to learn and manage, whether it’s working on a product roll-out or strategizing on a new initiative,” she says. “It’s a very dynamic company. There is not a day I come in here that I’m not challenged to think and apply my skills.” After graduating from Geneseo, Djabbarah worked in Rochester, N.Y., as an associate with the public accounting firm Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers). She moved a year later to the company’s office on Long Island, near her
hometown of Farmingville, and eventually moved into the technology media/entertainment private sectors in Manhattan, including a stint at SIRIUS Satellite Radio. In fact, a former co-worker at SIRIUS offered Djabbarah the opportunity to join MLB Advanced Media. A decade ago, Djabbarah didn’t envision herself working in Manhattan for a company focused on sports. “It surprises me that I’m involved with one of the largest sports organizations in the world because one never envisions having the ability to mix accounting with such an interesting and exciting organization that has such a profound impact on people,” says Djabbarah. “You really never know where life is going to take you.” She says her Geneseo experiences provided a solid foundation that helped advance her career. “The opportunities I had at Geneseo to have face-to-face interactions with professors and fellow students were very important because it fostered a teamoriented mentality for me,” Djabbarah says. “All of my jobs have required active teamwork. I take the lead on many projects here and by having that opportunity at Geneseo, I am better prepared to apply those skills in my current profession.” She also treasures the friendships she forged at Geneseo. Djabbarah works in a nostalgic Chelsea Marketplace building, which at one time housed National Biscuit Co. ovens that baked everything from crackers to cookies. Developers remade the facility into an office building many years ago but retained much of its original industrial character.
Djabbarah’s favorite MLB team? She is tactfully mum about that, but it hasn’t kept her from experiencing some memorable games in her hometown. “I attended my first World Series game last year in Yankee Stadium,” she said. “It was an amazing experience, a true New York moment that will not be forgotten.” — David Irwin
“There is not a day I come in here that I’m not challenged to think and apply my skills.”
class of’95
Kim Hausmann Djabbarah
Kim Hausmann Djabbarah ’95 at Major League Baseball’s Network Operation Center at company headquarters in Chelsea Market.
Summer 2010
29
J o rdan ... continued from page 28
iconic play was a bit of a surprise, too. When he enrolled at Geneseo, his mission was to emulate his high school drama teachers. “Discovering theater was one of the most exciting things in the world,” Jordan says. “I wanted to be one of them.” He earned his bachelor’s degree in speech and theater and accepted a teaching job in Glens Falls, N.Y., doing just that. While teaching, he earned a master’s degree from Long Island University, C.W. Post. Four years into teaching, he headed to New York City to research how his drama students could better break into show business. Enter destiny, stage right. Exploring how to land roles, he landed a part in a Downy fabric softener commercial as the doting husband who delights in his honey’s fresh-scent sheets. His first check was more than he earned as an educator in an entire year. “I said, ‘You know what? I might be in the wrong business,’” Jordan laughs. Jordan broke the news: he wasn’t going back to Glens Falls. Despite the risks of showbiz, Jordan went for it. He became a pioneer of theater along the way. Jordan and a partner initially opened a summer stock theater in Lake George, N.Y., which ran for nearly a decade. He then opened the Lake George Dinner Theater, where he directed many shows. He also is a founding member of Rochester’s Geva Theatre Center; it was there that he first appeared in an adaptation of “Scherenschnitt.” Afterward, he called his theater partner, Marilyn Abrams, with the revelation that it could be great. Abrams and Jordan made it their own — wacky and definitely not grim. At the time, says Jordan, incorporating the audience into the performance was virtually unheard of. Given the enthusiastic response at Lake George, they invested $60,000 to open “Shear Madness” in Boston — a reasonable sum that was still “everything we had,” says
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geneseo scene
All about “Shear Madness” www.shearmadness.com Watch clips from “Shear Madness” www.shearmadness.com/videos.php Blast from the past See Bruce Jordan’s 1971 TV commercial at www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZQsn4WRoGA
Circa 1976, Bruce Jordan ’66 first played To ny Whitcomb in “Shear Madness .”
Jordan. “I basically lived on Maalox for three years,” says Jordan, as they got “Shear Madness” going. Audience reaction and excellent reviews helped them expand across the United States. Among its many accolades, “Shear Madness” has been named Best Comedy a record seven times by The Boston Globe. In the beginning, Jordan did it all. He acted, directed, designed sets, arranged costumes, managed productions — even distributed the flyers. He was able to do it in large part, he says, because his Geneseo classroom experiences and theater-specific, jackof-all-trades training prepared him for, well, anything. “When I was a student teacher, my cooperating teacher told me I was the best prepared student teacher she ever had,” says Jordan. “When I became a teacher, the principal said, ‘You are the most prepared new teacher we’ve ever had in that position.’ I owe it all to three or four professors at Geneseo.” Those drama professors — Alice S. Austin, Bruce B. Klee and Robert Sinclair — taught him, he says, an excellent work ethic and gave him the tools necessary to be successful. “It all carried over into my life,” says Jordan. “I didn’t expect someone else to come in and save the day.” Abrams and Jordan formed Cranberry Productions. The company owns worldwide rights to the “Scherenschnitt” story. As
company president, Jordan no longer has time to act every night. He directs, handles production, manages rights and teaches international troupes how to get the laughs. “I have gone on as Mrs. Schubert six times due to emergency,” laughs Jordan. The stage is now Jordan’s classroom. He relishes mentoring actors and directors in the nuances of inspired comedic performance. “I find comedy harder than serious theater,” says Jordan. “For me, it’s a puzzle to figure out how to write it and perform it.” He’s thankful that he knew enough to take care of his passion when he realized “Shear Madness” was “the one.” At 30, he had lived enough to recognize
a rare opportunity. “If I had found it too early, I don’t think I would have treated it with the same desire and respect,” says Jordan. Many years ago, Jordan and Abrams attended their production in Tel Aviv; “Shear Madness” also is the longest-running play in Israel. He still marvels at the beauty of being able to share a meal in a street café, at midnight, with the actors, who performed in Hebrew. He finds it still incredible that he shared dinner beside the Acropolis in Greece — the birthplace of drama — with actors who were celebrating his creation. “It’s just so much fun,” says Jordan.“It’s been an incredible journey.” — Kris Dreessen
One Cup ... continued from page 24
challenging; the scenery, the skiing and fly fishing are beautiful; and no two days are alike. Last fall, she married Joe, a fellow road-bike cyclist and outdoorsman. Two of her best friends — from Geneseo — were there to throw confetti. “Things line up and you end up exactly where you are supposed to be,” says Emily. Ten years after graduation, Emily still has her Geneseo Merritt Athletic Center ID card in her wallet. She pulls it out once in a while and takes a look at the woman she was a decade ago. “Sometimes it makes me laugh,” says Emily. “It reminds me how far I’ve come and how grateful I really am for the foundation that I built during those years. That’s in no small way due to Geneseo.”
Class Notes 1930s
County Schools in Atlanta. Elizabeth Morris Esmark is a
grant coordinator for Matthew 25 Farm in Tully, N.Y. Thomas Ingrassia s e rves on the board of directors of the Pakachoag Music School of Greater Worcester in Auburn, Mass., and on the executive board of the American Guild of Organists/Worcester Chapter, where he serves as publicity director. He also tours extensively with his multimedia, pop-culture lecture program. Patsy Robertson is a retired librarian. Margaret Rockefeller is retired. Mary Lou Palmer Ryan is a retired teacher.
June Laberteaux Rose ’39, a
teacher for 38 years in Auburn, N.Y., recently published a book of invocations, along with a brief autobiography.
1950s
Thomas Gergel ’58 retired.
1960s
Carole Sheridan West ’60 is a program specialist for the Florida Department of Education in Tallahassee. Jim Reed ’61 has been named to the Honolulu Seniors All Star Softball Team as shortstop. He played baseball under former Yankee great Vic Rashi at Geneseo and recently retired from a 35-year career as an independent realtor in Hawaii. Lois Miner Huey ’62 retired as a New York state historical archaeologist and is writing nonfiction for middle-school children. Her eighth book will be released this year. Linda Smits Pisano ’64 is retired in Florida. Kathy LoBuglio ’65 is a children’s librarian at the Bemis Public Library in Littleton, Colo. Linda Jennings Bloom ’66 is the director of Mt. Pisgah Preschool in Hickory, N.C. G. Newman ’68 has retired and is residing in Whitesboro, N.Y. Mary Jane Yarmer ’68 is a communications specialist for Fairport (N.Y.) Central School District. James Brown ’69 is retired. Jane Mannheim Claud ’69 is retired in Pompano Beach, Fla. Barbara Hejduk Gausman ’69 is retired. Robert MacDonald ’69 recently retired after 40 years teaching in public school. Katherine Barton Mandelare ’69
is a nurse for Lifecare Center of Orange Park in Orange Park, Fla.
1970
Sam Allen is a senior physical ther-
apist at the Binghamton Psychiatric Center in Binghamton, N.Y. Donald Beach is retired. Charles Flansburg is a retired civil engi-
1975
neer. Karen Dulin Hale recently retired after serving more than 33 years as a claims representative with the Social Security Administration Office in Elgin, Ill. Timothy McCallum is retired. Susan Hubbell Migliore works at Genesee Valley Board of Cooperative Educational Services in Mt. Morris, N.Y. Patti Dunham Ruppert is retired.
tor for the Willard Drug Treatment Center in Ovid, N.Y. Linda Marrero Lind is a selfemployed special-education teacher consultant in Massapequa, N.Y. Timothy Snyder is a manager for John Deere Credit in Johnston, Iowa.
1973
Cheryl Morrison Engle is a profes-
1971
Donna Sojda Wieczorek retired.
1972
Iliana Duranza Blair is a retired Spanish teacher. Marcia Potts Brewer is an autism specialist for
Cobb County Schools in Marietta, Ga. Keith Eddinger is an educa-
sor at Austin Community College in Austin, Texas. Donald Torok is the associate dean at Florida Atlantic University in Davie, Fla.
1974
Marybeth Petrella Bonczek is a
reference librarian in McKinney, Texas. Anne Witmeyer Bopp is a speech pathologist for Fulton
Jane Rykert Azzaro is a librarian for Schalmont Central Schools in Schenectady, N.Y. Steven Azzaro is a manager for General Electric Global Research in Schenectady, N.Y. Josan Tittmann Feathers is a registered civil engineer and retired from California State Parks last August after more than 30 years working for the state. She received a resolution for her years of service, dedication and community involvement from California Sen. Christine Kehoe. Anne McMahon Fuller is the director of development for the WAIT House in Glens Falls, N.Y., which assists homeless youth in two counties. Ronald Gallo is the chief human resource officer at Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, N.Y.
1976
Jan Lamie Connor is a department computer specialist for the City of Tampa, Fla. Joyce Schader is the director of annual giving at Ramapo College of New Jersey in Mahwah.
1977
Ruthie Beckwith recently published her first novel, “Seven Days at Oak Valley,” a murder mystery set in 1978. She lives in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and works as a disability rights advocate.
Summer 2010
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CLASS NOTES
director of Milford Town Library in Milford, Mass.
1978
1982
cations specialist for the Defense Information Systems Agency in Arlington, Va. Melissa Cousins is a speech pathologist in Falmouth, Maine. Joann Russo Haas is a selfemployed speech language pathologist. Joseph Spinks is a clinical laboratory technologist at Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York.
for Orange County Public Schools in Florida. Robert Harper is a general manager for Compass Minerals International Inc. of Overland Park, Kan.
Donald Cicconi is a telecommuni-
1979
John Anderson has been named to the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Committee on economic and work force development. The committee’s mission is to help member John Anderson ’79 institutions enhance the scope and visibility of economic and work force development efforts in partnership with their communities and regions. John Emigholz completed the New York City Marathon in 5 hours, 35 minutes, 46 seconds, on Nov. 1, 2009. He beat his time for the 2008 marathon by 45 minutes.
1980
Anne Murphy Banks is a teacher
1983
Yvonne Fast is a communications
director for GRASP, the Global and Regional Asperger Syndrome Partnership, in New York City. Karen Phillips Marchese is a human resources director for Genesee County in Batavia, N.Y. Max Raterman is a federal lawenforcement officer and an aviation operations analyst for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air Branch in Plattsburgh, N.Y. Michael Schott is an elementary school principal for BolivarRichburg Central (N.Y.) Schools.
1984
Christine Hoffer Barnes is an ele-
mentary teacher for the Sidney (N.Y.) Central School District. Michael Beebe is a financial specialist at Nationwide Financial Network in New York. Lauren Schockmel Crim is a child safety specialist for the Department of Family and Protective Services in Texas. Pamela Greene is the director of the division of real property acquisition and management for Suffolk County in New York.
1987
Scott Deverell is the vice president and division manager for Stewart Title in Rochester, N.Y. Gregory Gibson is an assistant professor of math for North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro. Cherie Grant is a project manager at Utica (N.Y.) City School District.
1988
Joseph Dalio is a middle school
Spanish teacher at South Buffalo (N.Y.) Charter School. Karen Swift Jones is a senior copywriter for Cenergy Marketing &
Communications in East Aurora, N.Y. Jerry Keohane is a clinical social worker. Daniel Orzell is the director of vendor contracting for Excellus Health Plan Inc. Daniel Schober is the director of supply chain analysis and network optimization for McCain Foods in Lisle, Ill. Jennifer Burdick Silas was promoted to accounting manager for The Arena at Gwinnett Center, in Duluth, Ga. Rita Langworth Vigilio is a physician assistant at Health Quest Medical Practice in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Diane Walsh is an asset recovery manager for CXtec. Jonathan Wolf is the high school principal for Orchard Park (N.Y.) Central Schools.
Scene around the world Are you packing to cruise the Nile or adventure in the Amazon? Rediscovering America on a drive? Reuniting with a Geneseo friend or seeing the sights in a new place? Take a photo of yourself with the Scene on vacation, business or other trips and submit them for our new feature. Include your T-shirt size; we’ll send a Geneseo shirt in thanks if we use your image. Send your images to scene@geneseo.edu with a subject line of “Scene Around the World.”
Judith Trypuc Arnone is a school
counselor for Riverhead (N.Y.) School District. Susan Cergol is the associate director of development for the Lebanese American University in New York City. Thomas Kuchinsky is president of Kuchinsky Holdings Inc. in Lake Worth, Fla. Christine Palmeri is a second-grade teacher for the Canandaigua (N.Y.) City School District.
1981
Lindsay Eckl Agness is an infor-
mation technology manager at Eastman Kodak Co. in Rochester, N.Y. Susan Edmonds is the library
32
geneseo scene
1985
James Larkin is the director of corporate public relations for McKesson Corp. in San Francisco. Priscilla Weakland Murphy is a French and English language arts enrichment teacher at Salamanca (N.Y.) Middle School.
1986
Edward Moore is the senior vice president of human resources for the Sara Lee Corp. in Downers Grove, Ill.
Above, Matt Romocki ’74 and his wife, Sandy, toured Italy. He took in the view of Mt. Etna with his Winter 2010 issue.
1989
S cott Agan is the vice president
of sales support for Pepsi in Aliso Viejo, Calif. Lisa Maddison Fingar, marketing manager for SWBR Architects, has been selected by the Society for Marketing Professional Services to write and publish a research paper and will present her findings at the organization’s national conference in July 2010 in Boston. Patricia McCarthy Fingar is a professional services principal for ClearMomentum in Canandaigua, N.Y. Marcia Lynch is a workforce initiatives specialist at Finger Lakes Community College in Canandaigua, N.Y. Claudius
May-Parker is a physical therapist
for Universal Health Care of Oxford in Oxford, N.C. Jeffrey Miller is the senior manager of human resources for Honeywell International in Cranston, R.I. Robert Ve r t u cci recently joined Alliance Bank in Syracuse, N.Y., as the vice president and relationship manager for commercial banking.
1991
Kristen Cusato is a news anchor
Jon Farrell is a publisher for Atonal Press in Boerne, Texas. Gary Fuller is the vice president of acquisitions for Global Imaging Systems Inc. in Tampa, Fla. William Gehring is a senior product manager for Linden Lab in San Francisco. Matthew Hurlbutt is the managing director of Greater Rochester Enterprise in Rochester, N.Y. Annie Rorrison is an employment specialist for People Inc. in Williamsville, N.Y.
for WTNH News Channel 8 in Connecticut, serving Hartford and surrounding areas. She previously was a news anchor in San Diego.
H e ather Gunther Grant is the
1990
1992
regrant coordinator for the
Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council in upstate New York. Kelly Wagner-Franklin is the director of human resources for Graham Packaging in York, Pa. Brandon Zuidema is chief of police in Garner, N.C.
1993
Drew Bielemeier is the senior vice
president of operations for Heritage Christian Services in East Rochester, N.Y. Michael Dellapina is the senior human resources generalist for Citigroup in London. Rebeca DePra recently had her book, “Hospitality in a Nut Roll,” chosen as one of the notable books
At left, retired English teacher Bonita Fergus Crichton ’71, of Conesus, N.Y., took the trip of her lifetime last summer, driving to Seattle and taking a cruise in Alaska. She posed with her Scene off the Alaskan shore.
Kyla O’Brien ’07, of Sayville, N.Y., poses with her Scene during a “Love in Motion” medical mission trip to El Salvador, where she helped to distribute prescriptions and translate care instructions into Spanish for pat i e n t s in impoverished villages.
Above, Bea Frisby Dewey ’58 and Gene Dewey ’59 remember their alma mater during their winter sojourn in Cozumel, Mexico.
Summer 2010
33
CLASS NOTES in World, a national news magazine. Tanya Woldbeck Gesek was named Psychologist of the Year by the Central New York Psychological Association. Daniel Mody is the CEO of Pinnacle Solutions in Syracuse, N.Y. Susan Romano is a teacher for Shenendehowa School District in Clifton Park, N.Y. Sabrina Petrelli Scott is the director of student services for Sandusky (Ohio) City Schools. Randall Shepard was named a partner at The Bonadio Group, a New York accounting, consulting and financial services firm with offices in Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany, Geneva and Perry. Jason Varno is a probation officer for Livingston County in New York.
1994
Shannon Aylesworth is a sales director for Ruckus Wireless in Sunnyvale, Calif. Maureen Carr is an assistant vice president for M&T Bank. Krista Goldsmith is a senior account manager for the American Red Cross in Buffalo, N.Y. Stacey Goldyn-Moller has joined the State University of New York at Cortland as the executive director of alumni affairs. Yvonne Marciano Hennessey is an attorney and partner at The West Firm PLLC in Albany, N.Y. Todd Hughes is a program manager for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Lisa Horton Krieger is the assistant vice president of finance and management at New York’s Buffalo State College. Kathleen Moore Miller is a reading teacher for East Irondequoit (N.Y.) Central School District. Robert Pastecki is a production engineer for Nexstar Broadcasting/WROC-TV in Rochester, N.Y. Michael Rogers is an associate professor of physics at Ithaca College in Ithaca, N.Y. Caroline Sansevera is a business development partner manager for Pitney Bowes Business Insight in New York City.
34
geneseo scene
1995
Paul Cornell is the director of research and prospect management at Alfred University in Alfred, N.Y. Renee Hillier Greenfield is a doctoral candidate at Boston College, Lynch School of Education. Jessica Haney is a special education teacher for the Fairport (N.Y.) Central School District. Michael Houlihan is a school counselor at Marblehead Community Charter Public School in Marblehead, Mass. James Muscato is a senior associate for Young Sommer LLC in Albany, N.Y. Kathleen Ritzel is a self-employed speech language pathologist in Schenectady, N.Y. Paul Robinson is a radiologist in the U.S. Army.
Trevor Bothwell won the DC101
(Washington, D.C.) Chili Cook-Off, an annual regional chili cook-off sanctioned by the International Chili Society. As a result, he qualified for the ICS World Championship Chili Cook-Off. He won first place in the People’s Choice Chili competition at the world event. Matthew Breitling is an implementation manager for TradeStone Software. Deana Guido has been promoted to associate director for advocacy at Braswell Memorial Library in Rocky Mount, N.C. Tanya Marshall is a deputy state archivist and senior records analyst for Vermont State Archives and Records Administration in Montpelier. Shelley Mehlenbacher is a veterin a ry health resident at the University of Minnesota. Lisa DeGennaro Pietrangeli is the director of global client solutions for Language Intelligence Ltd. in Rochester, N.Y. Dwayne Postell is a child therapist at Rochester General Hospital in Rochester, N.Y. Amy West is the deputy chief of staff for the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance in Boston.
1996
Stuart Klein is a member and partner of the law firm of Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC in Albany, N.Y. Stephen Noviello won his fifth Lone Star Emmy Award. Steve is the consumer reporter at FOX4 in Dallas. Michelle Pribulick Pitti is an organizational design coordinator for Wegmans Food Markets Inc. in Rochester, N.Y. Jennifer Liber Raines is the owner and marketing and communications consultant for BLOOM Marketing Consultants. Juliana Rossbach is an enrichment specialist at Wallingford (Conn.) Public Schools.
1997
Dinesh Guglani is a controller of
Rochester (N.Y.) operations for Bausch + Lomb Inc. Michael Harrington is a senior content manager for WebMD Professional Promotion in New York City.
1999
Jason Capili is a manager in affir-
Robert Miggins is the senior vice president of finance at AmeriFactors Financial Group. Kathleen Murray Peterson was promoted to partner at the law firm of Epstein Becker & Green LLC in Washington D.C. Amy Weed Quinley is an autism specialist at Shawnee Mission School District in Overland Park, Kan. She was recognized Feb. 25 as the outstanding educator of the year for 2010 by the Midwest Symposium for Leadership in Behavior Disorders. Larry Rothchild is the director of business development for InterExchange Inc. in New York City. Michael Shiffer is the manager of sales strategy and operations at Starwood Hotels & Resorts in White Plains, N.Y.
1998
Maryann Aiello is the senior assis-
tant general counsel for The Garden City Group Inc. Mark Backofen is a partner at Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP. Anne
mative action/equal employment opportunity compliance for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in New York City. Amy Cocina is a physician at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. Shelby Cohen is an account executive with Todd Martin Public Relations in Binghamton, N.Y. Kristin Galbally Kinney is a senior research scientist at Physical Sciences Inc. in Andover, Mass. David Lilleck was recently named acting principal of Orchard Park Middle School in Buffalo, N.Y. Emilie Herzog Marshall is a teacher at Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School in New York City. Hector Pena is a real estate agent for Charles Rutenberg in New York City. Stephen Smith is a principal for Controllership Solutions LLC in Whippany, N.J. Jessica Throop is the human resources manager for 3Di Technologies in Hanover, Md. Jessica Weitzel is the director of behavioral health evaluation at Ciurczak & Company Inc. in Buffalo, N.Y.
2000
Jennifer Albaugh is the director
of development for the Florida State University Foundation in Tallahassee. Emily Coombs is a senior project manager for MercuryCSC in Bozeman, Mont. Thomas D’Angelo is an associate account manager for the Ayco Co.
LP in Parsippany, N.J. Kara Smolnycki Ednie is a library media specialist for Hanover County Public Schools in Mechanicsville, Va. Ross Fulton is a partner with the law firm of Rayburn Cooper & Durham P.A. in Charlotte, N.C. Michael Gorczynski is a research scientist at Duke University in Durham, N.C. Hillary Koldin Harding earned a master’s degree in business administration with dual concentration in finance and leadership from Emory University. She is administrator of finance and operations in the department of surgery at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. Scott Hinman works in sales for Eli Lilly & Co. in New York City. Jamie Irons is a project analyst for Dresser-Rand Co. in Houston. Kristen Leiser-Moriarty is owner/designer of Nursery Design by K, a custom nursery-design company on Long Island. Michael McGee is a senior manager for KPMG LLP in New York City. Joseph O’Connor is a teacher for DoDEA in Santa Rita, Guam. Jennifer Generoso Pedicini is a clinical packaging operations manager for Sanofi-Aventis in Malvern, Pa. Heather Sutz is a teacher at Half Hollow Hills Central School District (N.Y.). Laurie Swetman Valentino is the assistant director of the career center at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y. Michelle Yageric is the associate director of undergraduate admissions at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y.
2001
Rebecca Rowley Beauregard is a math teacher at Safford Engineering & Technology Magnet Middle School in Tucson, Ariz. Sean Fitzsimons is a program analyst for SUNY Charter Schools Institute. Luke Kelly is the finance director for Corning Inc. in Corning, N.Y. Kathryn Peckham is a senior account manager for the TAG Group LLC. Gretchen Rosemark Rosales is a Spanish teacher and Spanish Club adviser at Kendall (N.Y.) Jr./Sr. High School. She recently helped organize a successful community service project with the Spanish club to have stu-
dents collect and donate items for a dental program in El Sauce, Nicaragua, which SUNY Geneseo alumna Allison Kornblatt ’10 developed and implemented. Adam Tabelski, mayor of Medina, N.Y., was recently honored under the 18th annual Business First “40 under Forty” class. Melissa Miller Tulino is a marketing program manager for BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina.
2002
Robert Blomquist is an assign-
ment manager for WMBF-TV in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Jacqueline Boone is a senior manager for Mengel Metzger Barr & Co LLP in Rochester, N.Y. Melissa Cappas was promoted to general manager of the HR Contract Services division of The Winter, Wyman Cos. in Massachusetts. Brian Donegan is a recruiting manager for JAS Recruitment. Eric Hinman is the co-founder of AppFury, a mobile marketing and application development company. Michele Lloyd works for the North Rockland (N.Y.) Central School District. William McMahon is an attorney at Constangy, Brooks & Smith LLP and was named as a North Carolina Rising Star. Julianne Pannelli graduated with honors from the Hunter College School of Social Work last January and was promoted to coordinator of special projects for Catholic Charities Community Services of the Archdiocese of New York. Paul Parisi is the assistant district attorney for the Erie County (Pa.) District Attorney’s Office. Julie Finn Rossi is a speech language pathologist at Greenville (N.Y.) Central School District. Sarah Monnat Santos is a class campaigns officer for Brown University in Providence, R.I. Jesse Shellman is a legal assistant at Fix Spindelman Brovitz & Goldman P.C. in Fairport, N.Y.
2003
Allison Do is a financial analyst for Xerox Corp. in Rochester, N.Y. Donna Oakden Edick is a special education teacher for
Monroe 2 Orleans Board of Cooperative Educational Services. Stacey English is an assistant store manager for Walmart Stores Inc. Michael Ilacqua is an assistant brand manager for ColgatePalmolive Co. in New York City. Elizabeth Midgley is an attorney at Anspach Meeks Ellenberger LLP in Buffalo, N.Y. Bridget Reyen is a medical and group marketer for Lawley Benefits Group in Buffalo, N.Y. Sean Torchia is a third-grade teacher in Dallas, Ga. This past summer, Sean attended the Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy and is pursuing his doctoral degree from Capella University. Michael Tulino is a math teacher for Chapel Hill-Carrboro (N.C.) City Schools. Kevin West is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California San Diego.
2004
Martha Barrett is a resident physician at Jacobi/Montefiore Medical Centers in Bronx, N.Y. Samantha Beardsley is a speech language pathologist for Andrea Barone Ltd. in Hornell, N.Y. Julia Haywood is a special education teacher for Fairfax County (Va.) Public Schools. Holly Hejmowski is a supervisor at Freed Maxick & Battaglia CPAs PC in Buffalo, N.Y. Allison Palmer is a publisher’s representative for Jones & Bartlett Publishers in Sudbury, Mass. Everett Scott tied for first runner-up on the DrScore.com Top Doctors List. Scott graduated from New York Chiropractic College with a doctor of chiropractic degree in 2008.
2005
David Aguado is a math teacher
and a coach for Valley Stream North High School in Franklin Square, N.Y. Jennifer Curci is an actress in West Hollywood, Calif. Kristen Schafer is a recreation specialist for Pathways in Canandaigua, N.Y.
2006
Allison Berical completed her
master’s degree in literacy education at Nazareth College and is now attending the University of Rochester to obtain a doctorate in education. Jennifer Castaldo is a distance education librarian at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Christopher Hartnett has been inducted into Chi Sigma Iota, the international honor society of professional counselors. He is completing a master’s degree in counseling at East Carolina University. Sharon Mahoney earned her doctorate degree in optometry in June 2009 and is practicing as an associate optometrist in the vision center at the Walmart in Brockport, N.Y.
2007
Bonnie Arena is a substitute teacher in New York. Tiffany Bloomingdale is a naturopathic medical student at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Ore. Kelly Coniglio is a speech language pathology assistant at Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Annapolis, Md. Robert Eckstrom is a law student at Washington and Lee University School of Law in Lexington, Va. Vincent Goater is a fund accountant for State Street Bank and Trust Corp. in Boston. Abigail Goettsch is an account executive for Citadel Broadcasting in Syracuse, N.Y. Lynn Gorczyca is a physician assistant student at Albany (N.Y.) Medical College. Maureen Harris is a research coordinator for Children’s Hospital Boston. Amanda Laskoe is an animal care and control officer for Lexington-Fayette Animal Care & Control in Lexington, Ky. Andrea Maxwell is a math/science tutor for Ridgefield (Conn.) Public Schools. Kevin McNamara is a management officer for the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. Katie Owens is pursuing her doctoral degree in English at Penn State University. Ashley Retzlaff is a senior accountant serving the audit department for Lumsden & McCormick in Buffalo, N.Y. Kimberly Simmington is a teacher for the City of New York Board of Education in New York City. Robert Sirianni is a geoscientist for
Summer 2010
35
CLASS NOTES ExxonMobil in Texas. George Sullivan is a credit products analyst for Bank of America in Washington, D.C. Vanessa Tirone is a clinical doctoral student at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Sergey Zinger is a financial analyst for ExxonMobil.
2008
Jessica Frost is a consultant teacher for Lewiston-Porter Central School in New York. Gregory Kaleka is an economic analyst at M&T Bank in Buffalo, N.Y. Michael K i v i at is a research administrative assistant for Manning & Napier Advisors in Fairport, N.Y. Leanne Sisbarro is a human resources manager at K. Kozel & Son Inc. in Rochester, N.Y. Sarah Szczepanski is a preschool special education teacher for Aspire of WNY Inc.
Wayne Reis, Aug. 10, 2007. Ramin Bahai ’00 & Valeree Juelfs, June 14, 2008. Erik Frank ’00 & Margaret Pogorzala, Aug. 1, 2009. Alexis Vecchio Ganter ’00 & Kyle T. Ganter, June 20, 2009. Mieko Ozeki ’01 & Josh Blumberg, Aug. 14, 2009. Kelly Pellnat Parisi ’02 & Paul Parisi ’02, Aug. 23, 2008. Jeffrey Chien ’05 & Stacey Chien, May 23, 2009. Amanda Gaesser Martin ’05 & Jonah Martin ’03, Aug. 14, 2009. Abigail Widmer Militello ’05 & Joseph Militello ’06, July 17, 2009. Megan Hornbuckle Cashing ’06
& Jason Cashing, July 11, 2009. Amber Mascia ’06 & Brendan McCarthy ’06, May 22, 2009. Sandra Frandina Segerson ’06 & Ben Segerson ’06, Dec. 19, 2009. Jason Gonser ’07 & Robert Goller ’98, Sept. 13, 2008. Katie Owens ’07 & Brian Murphy
Carolyn Yahner Syron ’97 & Joseph, Thomas, March 17, 2009. Amanda Davis ’98 & Joseph, Anthony Lee, Jan. 14, 2010. Lori Miggins ’98 & Robert ’97, Morgan Maureen, Dec. 22, 2008. Audra Ortlieb Miksa ’98 & Daniel, Daniel Jeremy, July 19, 2009. Melissa Dertzo Panara ’98 & Michael Panara ’98, Natalie Marie, June 30, 2009. Denise Armstrong Ray ’98 & Steven Ray ’98, Kaylin Marion, March 22, 2009. Jessica Lonski Miller ’99 & Bryan, Claire Olivia, Sept. 24, 2009. Sarah Molinari ’99, Samuel Christopher, June 8, 2009. Rachel Razza ’99 & James, Jane Elizabeth, July 13, 2009. Kathleen Reis ’99 & Wayne, Eliana Kelley, May 31, 2008. Kristin Hope Riddell ’99 & Kevin, Liam Joseph, April 26, 2007, and Ryan Patrick, April 9, 2009.
Andrew, Thomas Andrew, Nov. 19, 2009. Sarah Sandok Rabinovici ’02 & Jeffrey, Audrey Hava, Jan. 3, 2010. Ina Glaza Vento ’03 & Todd, Ry a n Anthony, April 12, 2006. Heather Lagas Hoad ’04 & Matthew, Mackenzie Emma, July 27, 2009. Rebecca Sutherland Stewart ’04
& Thomas ’04, Penelope Rose, March 2, 2009. Kristen Schafer ’05 & Daniel, Mason, Feb. 1, 2009. Jennifer Keough Sonricker ’05 &
Jeremy, Aiden Christopher and Alexis Anne, Dec. 25, 2009. Lynette Willsey-Schmidt ’05 & Nicholas ’05, Persephone Edith,
Jan. 19, 2010. Christopher Otis ’06 & Jessica,
Christopher Michael, April 23, 2004, and Calleigh Jean, Feb. 15, 2007.
IN MEMORIUM Dorothy McDowell Herrington ’30,
Feb. 14, 2010.
2009
Renzo Castro is a staff assistant for
U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy. Elizabeth Farmer is a technology account manager for Kforce Professional Staffing in Reston, Va. Megan Haydanek is teaching abroad at the LCI Kids Club in Dunchon-dong, Korea. William Hochul works for the Department of State in Washington, D.C. Elizabeth Kelly is a wildland firefighter for the National Civilian Community Corps. Melissa Sheinman is a graduate student at the University of Kansas. Emily Stevens is a third-grade teacher at Center City Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. Caitlin Uihlein works in business development at Corinthian Data Capture in Wyandanch, N.Y.
Send your class note or notice to
alumni@geneseo.edu.
’07, June 13, 2009. Tonya Smith Sibley ’07 & Zachary
Sibley, June 28, 2009.
BIRTHS
Hughes, June 15, 2001.
John Hunt ’89 & Mary, Sean Patrick, Oct. 26, 2009. Tara Lewin-Shankman ’93 & Michael, Colt Jameson, Dec. 1, 2009. Jill Abbate Sulkes ’93 & Joel, Paige, Mar. 9, 2010 Todd Hughes ’94 & Laura, Ellery McLeod, Aug. 28, 2008. Jill Spinella Greeney ’95 & Rich, Jordana Ryan, Oct. 30, 2009. Stacey Sherman-Kelly ’95 & Robert, Brady James, June 21, 2009. Diane Clark Sudz ’95 & Michael, Ryan Michael, Nov. 13, 2009. Sheryl Miller Tucker ’95 & Adam, Caroline Miller, Feb. 11, 2008. Kevin Burns ’96 & Kristy, Elizabeth Audrey, Aug. 1, 2009. Jennifer Liber Raines ’96 & Steven, Abigail Isabell, June 12, 2009.
Jessica Perez Haney ’98 & Bry c e
Catherine Kleveta-Bostwick ’97
Tennant, Oct. 31, 2009.
& Eugene, Elizabeth Lacey, Dec. 5, 2009.
MARR&IKathryn AGFarrell, ES Jon Farrell ’91
Oct. 23, 2009. Holly Rice ’93 & Robert
Donaldson, Sept. 26, 2009. Todd Hughes ’94 & Laura Holtry -
Kathleen Kelley Reis ’99 &
36
geneseo scene
Jane Cranmer Magee ’34,
Feb. 6, 2010. Winona Graves ’35, Dec. 29, 2003. C. Edward Coon ’36, Jan. 18, 2010. Jane Colligan ’43, April 15, 2009. Kathleen Jasheway Hiebert ’55,
Jeanine Gandolfo Schwalm ’99
May 31, 2007.
& Timothy, Ganriella Rose, Oct. 14, 2006, and Max Timothy, March 16, 2009. Ramin Bahai ’00 & Valeree, Leah Aune, Dec. 30, 2008. Margaret Kozinski Gibson ’00 & Daniel, Sylvia Leigh, Aug. 25, 2009. Kristen Leiser-Moriarty ’00 & Ryan, Jack Ryan, May 23, 2007, and Madeline Rose, Nov. 18, 2009. Julie Smith Mills ’00 & Kevin, H e n ry David, Oct. 30, 2009. Alana Helfrich Brown ’01 & Andrew, Janai Elizabeth, July 27, 2007, and Camden James, Jan. 27, 2010. Sarah Butler ’01 & Chris Emerling ’00, Foster Edward, May 26, 2009.
Elizabeth Morrison Vosler ’62,
Michelle Dirmyer Nightingale ’01
& Christopher, Madelyn Ruth, Nov. 26, 2009. Priscilla Weidman Gamble ’02 & Mark, Christopher Alexander, Sept. 26, 2009. Jennifer Armstrong Glose ’02 & Jason, Owen David, Nov. 11, 2009. Nicole Duxbury Goodelle ’02 &
Nov. 7, 2006. David Baker ’76, Jan. 18, 2010. Janie Argenta ’82, Sept. 27, 2009. Brooke Paquin ’99, Dec. 11, 2009.
FACULTY
Myron (Ron) B. Shaw, associate pro-
fessor emeritus of communication, who taught at Geneseo from 1964 to 1990 with an expertise in public address and broadcasting education, died Feb. 13, 2010. Paul B. Rose, an instructor and lecturer in the Department of Health and Physical Education from 1970 to 1980, died March 27, 2010. He was head coach of the wrestling team and coach of the men’s lacrosse team. He was inducted into the Geneseo Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.
GIVING BACK
Donna Dickinson Breskin ’80:
Mentoring students to become engaged alumni My alumni experience started long before I donned a cap and gown in 1980, when I was drawn to a new organization on campus — the Undergraduate Alumni Association (UAA) and its spring break trip. I soon discovered that UAA had much to offer. It marked the beginning of my lifelong commitment to the Geneseo Alumni Association and all the opportunities the organization has afforded me over the last 30 years. My first job after graduation was in Washington, D.C. I wanted to connect with the local Geneseo alumni chapter only to find that one did not exist. So, I started one. With more than 400 alumni in the area, we had a fantastic response to our first event in 1981. We continue to serve a steadily growing number of alumni in the nation’s capital. In the late ’80s, my alumni experience came full circle when I hosted the first of many UAA Externship trips for students who were selected to embark on a week of career exploration. Our mission was to provide current Geneseo students the opportunity to learn from, and network with, interested alumni who could help them transition from successful students to successful alumni. Each time we host externs, I relish the chance to groom another group of grateful alumni-in-waiting. I hope the experience helps them form their own lifelong commitment to Geneseo, eager to give back by giving generously of their time and resources. As executive director of the International Union of Toxicology, my days are full, but I always make time for Geneseo. I have chosen to volunteer my time to alumni activities and my resources to the annual campaign and the planned giving program. They are ways I can say “thank you” to the Geneseo community and keep its strong alumni traditions alive and growing.
Breskin, with current externship students in March.
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Get connected! Geneseo’s new online community, U-Knight, is a place for alums to share pictures, reconnect with friends and network with other Geneseo professionals. U-Knight can help you find Geneseo alumni by location, class year, major or profession. So whether you’re looking for a job in L.A., a friend in Boston, or advice about the best barbecue in North Carolina, U-Knight can help you get connected.
Commencement, 1979.