Saint Rose winter 2014 magazine
INSIDE: Special Educator
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Expert Witness
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ACADEMICS
AROUND CAMPUS
ALUMNI
5 American City
7 Investment II
9 Superstorm
The First-Year Academic Experience
No mere academic exercise, students play the stock market—for real
The Eyes and Ears of a Hurricane
6 Region’s First
29 Alumni spotlight
Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
9 Project ASPIRE
World of Opportunity
10 Spanish Advantage
Training new middle and high school teachers in special education
33 Class Notes
28 Athletics
Careers, awards, marriages, new arrivals, etcetera
Certificate for Heritage Speakers of Spanish Work hard play hard
INTERIM PRESIDENT: Margaret Kirwin, Ed.D. CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: Marcus Buckley MANAGING EDITOR: Lisa Haley Thomson G’94 ASSISTANT EDITOR/WRITER: Jane Gottlieb COPY EDITOR: Sue Conroy ’83, G’10 CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Mark E. Hamilton ’91 ART DIRECTOR: Chris Parody ’99
We encourage letters to the editor. Please address comments to:
The College of Saint Rose is sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, Albany Province.
Saint Rose Magazine Lisa Haley Thomson, Editor Office of Public Relations and Strategic Communications The College of Saint Rose 432 Western Avenue Albany, NY 12203-1490
The College of Saint Rose is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, 3624 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104. (267-284-5000) The Middle States Commission on Higher Education is an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation
(518) 454-5102 thomsonl@strose.edu
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Inside Saint Rose winter 2014 magazine
29 They graduated from Saint Rose 10 years apart; both discovered a fascination with math and science as Saint Rose students and each has applied her own discipline to another field she is just as passionate about. One is a computer scientist who works in astronomy; the other is a chemist who works in art. Their stories are examples that being really, really good at one thing and really interested in another, can be the recipe for an exciting and fulfilling career.
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SMALL WORLD
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The International Leaders in Education Program (ILEP)
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TRIPLE GOLD
SPECIAL EDUCATOR ON TOP Bryan Sawyer G’06 — the nation’s top teacher
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In the pool and in the classroom, the Golden Knights’
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH Hands-on approach to learning spans the disciplines
performance is outstanding
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HADI SALAVITABAR
EXPERT WITNESS Papal resignations don't exactly happen often
Meet the new provost/VPAA
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Welcome A Message from Dr. Margaret Kirwin, Interim President We are committed to academic principles and objectives as we address challenges and transitions for the future of the College.
hen I came to Saint Rose 40 years ago, I was a young professor in our School of Education, and I confess that I was nervous. But in time I grew comfortable, knowing that I was providing the guidance our students would need in order to perform one of our most vital jobs — educating young people. Every challenge since my early days at the College has become something of a repeat performance — a degree of worry followed by inspiration and a growing commitment to our College. In 2008, I was honored to become dean for the second time, this time of the Lally School of Education and, last year, I became the College’s interim provost. When President Szczerbacki stepped down last spring and the Board of Trustees asked me to fill in, I was fortified by our community’s shared values and rich heritage. Most notably, I am indebted to Marcus Buckley, our chief operating officer, for making the Office of the Presidency a true partnership. Thanks to his skills in finance and administration and his steady approach, we have kept our focus clear. The College of Saint Rose continues to build great academics and play a vital role in the community. As of this writing, our presidential search committee, working closely with leadership consultant Korn Ferry International, has begun advertising and qualifying candidates. We will continue to keep you informed through regular email updates. As you will read in the following pages of our newly designed Saint Rose magazine, the College continues to emphasize research opportunities for undergraduates in nearly every field — on campus, in the community and overseas. We frequently hear from alumni who had these opportunities while at Saint Rose that they helped them to thrive in graduate school and move into rewarding careers. You will also read our profile of Bryan Sawyer G’06 who has used his Saint Rose education to see to it that children with autism are primed for independence. Finally, we share stories of two alumnae, one in math and one science, who are using their disciplines to excel in entirely different fields. Today, one is a computer scientist who works in astronomy; the other is a chemist who works in art. It has always been a joy to share such stories — from the classroom to the Office of the Presidency. I wish every member of our Saint Rose community a happy and healthy new year.
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Every challenge since my early days at the College has become something of a repeat performance — a degree of worry followed by inspiration and a growing commitment to our College.
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Sidecar No More In the past year, Jimmy Fallon ’09 has: won the Best Comedy Album Grammy for his parody-filled “Blow Your Pants Off”; become heir to the “Tonight Show” throne and also became a dad (to Winnie Rose Fallon). Jimmy, who has said he did some of his earliest comedy writing in the laundry room of Lima Hall, still managed to give Saint Rose on-air shout-outs twice that we are aware of. First he dissed old college friend/current “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” writer Gerard Bradford ’96 for forcing him to pay gas mileage for a ride down the block. Next, Jimmy used an interview with Olympic gold medalist Hope Solo to trot out a photo of the College’s DII 2011 national champion women’s soccer team. As though commiserating with Solo, he griped: “I tried out for this team. And I did not get in. But props to those guys; they are awesome.”
Everything Old, New It is unclear whether Saint Rose students wore these uniforms for activities other than archery, shown here, in progress on the campus lawn in 1967. But the attire is certainly less restrictive than the skirts earlier generations of Saint Rose students wore for physical education. All things Saint Rose, dating to the College’s founding in 1921, are clickable thanks to college archivist Maria Kessler McShane who has digitized the archives housed in the Neil Hellman Library. Vintage photos join a line-up that include oral histories, maps and dozens of publications that piece together the story of the one-time women’s college housed in a single building. “You get to see what 18- to 21year-olds are like in all different eras,” said McShane, who should know since she oversaw the conversion of 403 newspapers and 40 student magazines. The digital archive is available at: library.strose.edu/archivesdigitalcollections
Toward the Light Nicole DeMarco and Steven Musso are beaming and not just because they’d just graduated. They also wrote (DeMarco) and arranged (Musso) a new song for commencement, just the third one in College history. “Toward the Light,” as it is called, sews together the College’s heritage and future hopes in a catchy rock melody that celebrates learning. Not only that, Musso managed to convert DeMarco’s “light lovely soprano,” in the words of the Times Union, to a masterful and strong work performed a cappella by the 40 classically-trained voices of the Saint Rose Chamber Choir. Hear the song at: www.strose.edu/academics/schoolofartsandhumanities
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Small World The International Leaders in Education Program (ILEP) Enhancing teaching skills of international teachers and improving their knowledge about the United States.
IN A RECENT discussion on the state of education, a secondary school teacher in a class at the Lally School of Education observed: “I am an English teacher, but sometimes when I go into the classroom, before I can start, I have to be a doctor. I have to be a father. I have to be a mother. A psychologist. More and more, I have to listen and try to help the kids.” The comment came from William Pincerno, a teacher from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and one of 15 English teachers from overseas who spent a semester at Saint Rose to develop new skills and increase their knowledge of all things American.
More and more, I have to listen and try to help the kids. The visiting scholars, each a secondary school teacher and each a flawless speaker of English, came on behalf of the International Leaders in Education Program, an initiative of the U.S. Department of State. Saint Rose was one of just five institutions — and by far the smallest — selected to take part. The presence of talented educators from seven African, Asian and South American countries provided a striking reminder of the universal challenges of teaching. Teachers from several continents, for example, shared their dismay
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Fifteen faces: The inaugural group of ILEP fellows made an impact on Saint Rose and the Capital Region and learned a great deal about American education while sharing some strong, and often, surprising impressions of American life. They are (top left to right): Phoebe Nabwami (Uganda), Specioza Mbabazi (Uganda), Hossam Owaidat (Egypt), William Pincerno (Brazil), John Gichinga (Kenya), Vivian Maikweki (Kenya), Rizqi Khoirunnisa (Indonesia), Brahim El-Ouafi (Morocco), Sartawi (Indonesia), Sunil Jakhmola (India), Doa’a Ahmed Elsherbini (Egypt), Meriem Lahrizi (Morocco;) Poonam Sharma (India), Khadiga Gaber (Egypt), Lenir Da Silva Fernandes (Brazil)
with the promising students whose academic dreams fizzle because of poverty or rigid customs. They criticized academic standards that penalize teachers for students’ poor performances. They commented on the great disparities between wealthy and impoverished schools. And, like Pincero, they spoke of the many ways they now support young people beyond the classroom. But the visiting scholars were also startled by the contrasts to their own experiences, the mere 25 students or so in a classroom instead of 70; the technology at American students’ fingertips and the, well, informal atmosphere in classrooms, down to the cans of soda and students who text. They marveled at the exchange of ideas with professors, who go by their first names and give out cell phone numbers. “The professors sometimes sit on the table! This is really shocking for me… I thought it’s only on film or TV,” said Sartawi, a teacher from Indonesia. “A teacher is a god for us,” said Poonam Sharma of India. “I think it’s easier to talk to God!” added Doa’a Hamed Elsherbiny of Egypt. Collectively, the teachers from Africa, Asia and South America represent perhaps the most visible symbol of the College’s growing international identity. Saint Rose is actively recruiting worldwide with the ambitious goal of quadrupling international enrollment. Visiting Fulbright scholars recently have come from Ukraine, Sri Lanka and the Comoros Islands. Various government programs make it possible to welcome
American City The First-Year Academic Experience The way students transition from high school to college courses sets the tone for the rest of their academic career.
students from Brazil and Saudi Arabia. That’s in addition to the ILEP Fellows. Along with learning nuances of spoken English and what happens at a Super Bowl party, fellows leave Albany with new approaches to share with colleagues. The first group learned how to teach character education and how to expand the use of technology. “The Thelma P. Lally School of Education has prominence in the field,’’ said Colleen Flynn Thapalia, director of International Recruitment and Admissions. “With the State Department piece, we are taking our programs beyond local, statewide and national levels to resonate internationally.” And as important as what the ILEP fellows brought home were the lessons they left behind. At the College and in the schools they visited, the fellows spoke authoritatively about Islam, Hinduism, various Christian denominations and African religions. One teacher was able to clarify for children that being Muslim did not mean having four wives. A local teacher noted that such exchanges were not insignificant. “When (my) students saw the fellows later at Tulip Fest,” she told the College, “instead of seeing strangers in foreign clothing, they saw people they knew. They were all excited to tell me about it the next Monday.” The State Department has approved Saint Rose for a second year of the program, among just four colleges. In January, 16 ILEP fellows arrived, including, this time, educators from the Philippines and Tanzania.
WAHEERA MARDAH grew up in Highbridge, in the Bronx, attended high school across the Harlem River in Manhattan and then studied her hometown from upstate in Albany. “The ‘American city’ was not something I focused on, even though it was all around me,” said Mardah, a Saint Rose sophomore. “I never thought about why certain sections of Harlem, especially along 125th Street, were Italian and some were mainly Hispanic,” she said, “and how people came and settled those places like little towns and left. This has really opened my eyes.” Likewise Tessa Dickinson, who grew up 90 minutes north of New York and visits frequent-
Waheera Mardah ’16, Dr. Ryane Straus professor of political science, and Tessa Dickinson ’16 present their research project at the Undergraduate Research Symposium inspired by their participation in the American City First-Year Experience.
American City, shines a light on both the city and pursuit of the liberal arts ly. “I thought I knew a lot about the city. It turns out I knew nothing,” said Dickinson. “Now I’ve started seeing similarities among cities.” They were two of 63 freshmen who took part in American City, a year-old project that shines a light on both the city and pursuit of the liberal arts. Entering its second year, the year-long learning experience invites freshmen to examine a city through the lenses of sociology, history, philosophy, political science, composition and literature, three courses per semester. Along the way, they work with a team of experienced professors dedicated to seeing that they develop analytical thinking, writing and oral communication skills. “We want to bridge the gap between what they come to us with and what our expectations are,” said Risa Faussette, an associate professor of history and political science who coordi-
nates American City. “We are focused at the freshman level on providing a rigorous and meaningful liberal arts education that equips students for success in their majors, internships and, eventually, their chosen professions.” Working across disciplines, American City professors carefully design the project as a whole. Collectively, the project covers immigration and the nativist backlash, industrialization, child labor, tenement housing, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, machine politics, police brutality, prohibition, the Harlem Renaissance, the Lower East Side, yellow journalism, the Jazz Age, civil rights, civil liberties and the Brooklyn Bridge. “They get to talk about riots and corruption and brothels — why wouldn’t they be interested?” Faussette joked.
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Region’s First Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Saint Rose has established itself as a center for writing, with faculty dedicated to writing and the study of literature.
PUBLIC HEALTH
A Pathway, Not Just a Minor
THERE HAVE always been literary masters working in the region (think Herman Melville) and famous books set here (think “Last of the Mohicans” and “Ironweed”). There are writers groups, college writing programs and famous writers who live here, or come to read their work. But, until now, New York’s Capital Region could not boast of a residential Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in Creative Writing. “The nearest one was Sarah Lawrence,” said Rone Shavers, an assistant professor of English at Saint Rose and director of the College’s new, and region’s first, such program. The writing faculty established the M.F.A. a year ago to meet needs of serious writers in fiction, creative nonfiction, playwriting and poetry. The M.F.A. is distinct from the College’s Master of Arts in English, which takes a scholarly approach to understanding how a work is written. M.F.A. candidates wish to advance their own writing craft and earn a terminal degree in the field. The program combines coursework, workshops and professional fieldwork, all sprinkled with plenty of feedback from Saint Rose writing faculty. Visiting writers also spend a semester or more on campus. This past year, novelist Elisa Albert kicked it off; and poet Sparrow (real name Michael Gorelick) followed. Students get to meet some big names at conferences such as the annual gathering of the
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Association of Writers and Writing Programs. M.F.A. candidates also perform a professional work experience and must complete a booklength thesis strong enough to submit for publication. In short, the program merges graduate studies with a glimpse into what is commonly referred to as “the writing life.” “What we see is that a real writing community is starting to take off,” said Shavers, an author of fiction, essays and reviews. “The M.F.A. students are serious. They see that this is a great place to work together and study writing.” Applications are increasing and coming in from other parts of the country. Student writers gather in their favorite spots after-hours. And, the work is being published: Alyssa Craig’s essay on miscarriage in Nailed magazine, along with Sarah Sherman’s account of being mistaken for a boy in first grade. Likewise, Jackie Kirkpatrick’s poems in other publications. And Matt Allegretti, an aficionado of both writing and comic books, has published in Long Box magazine and Unleash the Fan Boy. “Next year, we are going to have a literary magazine,” said Allegretti, who is poised to become the first graduate next spring. “There are a lot of opportunities with this M.F.A.”
THE YOUNG PERSON who wishes to become a police officer, physician or veterinarian might one day find a home in forensic science, epidemiology or the study of zoonotic diseases. “We had one biology student who came in wanting to be a veterinarian. Then, she took public health and got very excited about how disease affects animals,” said Stephanie Bennett, a Saint Rose sociology professor who is all for opening students’ eyes to areas of study they never knew existed. “Now, rather
Students learn about the factors that shape their response to the health system. than be a vet and help animals one at a time, she will go into public health and help keep all animals healthy.” Going into its fifth year, the public health minor at Saint Rose has helped a growing list of students across the disciplines imagine a different path. About 15 students have completed the program, which they often combine with a major in biology, criminal justice, psychology, social work, history or business administration. Enrollment rises
Investment II Hold the Monopoly Money No mere academic exercise, students play the stock market — for real.
every year, along with the range of issues that are covered. “There was one course I took, social perspectives of medicine, that really expanded my horizons,” said Bianca Diaz ’13, who graduated in May with a biology degree and public health minor. “I learned the factors in terms of gender, race, ethnicity and culture that affect patients. They are sometimes stigmatized in doctors’ offices, and they are very scared.” Diaz said the study of public health made her want to help patients more fully. She hopes to pursue a master’s in nursing and work in a hospital or public clinic. Among other things, students learn about the factors that shape their response to the health system. And Professor Bennett, who until recently coordinated the public health program, can list many students who have been influenced to look differently at the areas they are excited about. A biology student who initially hoped to become a doctor chose instead to pursue a masters’ degree in public health in order to respond more broadly to diseases. Another, majoring in counseling, discovered a passion for statistics and decided to pursue a research career focusing on gerontology. A criminal justice major learned that he was interested in disaster preparedness. “Many of our students have gone on to graduate school in public health,” Bennett said. “What we are proudest of are the ways our students will be able to help the community.”
THREE TEAMS presented three distinct strategies for investing a significant amount of money. One selected stocks weighted to financial services. The second went with a diversified portfolio, while the third focused on oversold, undervalued stocks in technology and basic materials. “Our group came in third — but we broke even,” said Daniel Durant, from the “undervalued” camp. “Some weeks we did very well and, other weeks, stocks were way down. We bought and
and business alumni. “The most intimidating were the alumni. They were asking some rough, hardball questions!” said Durant, who is also coordinator in the College’s Office of Budget & Institutional Reporting, The judges divvied up the $150,000 according to what they considered the strength of the three proposals, with teams allocated $40,000, $50,000 and $60,000. The opening bell rang.
The investors, eight of them, were students in the upper level Investment II course. sold a lot and the fees were very expensive.” The investors, eight of them, were students in the upper-level Investment II course. And the experience was no mere academic exercise. It was real money they were using, $150,000 allocated by the College so the future investors could feel something like actual investors. The money, from the general fund, was approved by a sub-committee of the College Board of Trustees. The buys and trades were monitored by the students’ professors — who reserved the right to put the brakes on. Still, the authenticity could not be denied. “If it’s Monopoly money, what’s the incentive? You’re going to be much more risky with how you invest,” said Debra Polley, who should know since she is the College’s comptroller and associate vice president of finance. “Students sure don’t want to lose $150,000.” Before playing the stock market for real, they had several semesters of coursework behind them. Then, they presented carefully researched proposals before a panel of professors, members of the business community
“I was very nervous at the beginning — more nervous than the students. I worried that they’d be over confident. They only had two semesters to demonstrate their technique and sometimes in investing, emotion outweighs judgment,” said Dandan Wu, the assistant professor of finance teaching the course. Her early fears were not realized. Students created an account to manage their portfolios. They discussed their decisions in class, kept logs and informed professors of all activity. And Saint Rose business faculty can take pride in the work they are doing to bring up the next generation of wealth managers. The first place winners, the ones who invested in the financial services industry, made $10,000. Collectively, the three teams came out ahead in an artificially condensed timeframe. “We beat the S&P 500,” noted Durant, who cannot quite break the habit. “I still have my portfolio up on Yahoo, and I check it every day.”
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Triple Gold Women’s Swimming and Diving In the pool and in the classroom, the Golden Knights performance is outstanding.
The College’s swimming and diving team has a proud history.
Caitlin Brauer holds seven school records and was one of 30 honored at the 2013 NCAA Woman of the Year celebration.
THE SAINT ROSE women’s swimming and diving team sent two members to the NCAA Division II Championships this past season. The team finished fourth among eight teams in the Northeast-10 Conference Championships, with strengths in individual medley, freestyle and breast stroke. But performance in the water was just part of the story. All four seniors on the 2012–13 squad earned a perfect 4.0 grade point average; six others (of eight) attained at least a 3.7. Collectively, the 12 swimmers, whose academic interests run the gamut, attained the highest GPA of all 87 Division II swimming and diving teams. In the spring semester. In the fall. And, the previous spring semester. “As swimmers, they have the drive to be the best they can be,” said Keith Murray, head coach of the women’s and men’s teams. “But
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The women's swimming and diving team posted an overall 3.67 grade-point-average this past year.
we want them to stretch that out to the real world. We don’t want them to be good at just one thing.” The four 2013 graduates followed impressive college careers to jobs in their field or to graduate school. The most decorated team member, Caitlin Brauer ’13, secured an accounting job at UHY Advisors before graduating (a year early) with both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in accounting. Brauer came to the company’s attention last fall when she spoke at the dedication of the Huether School of Business. Richard Kotlow, UHY Advisors’ CEO, immediately invited her to interview. “I owe it 100 percent to Saint Rose,” Brauer said from her desk at the downtown Albany office. “My whole college experience is a great story.” The Clifton Park native is arguably the College’s finest female swimmer, owning
seven school records in the IM, freestyle, breast stroke and butterfly. The list of honors continued and in the fall Brauer was recognized as one of the nation’s finest women athletes — a top 30 2013 Woman of the Year honoree bestowed by the NCAA. The 30 athletes were winnowed down from a list of 450 candidates in all sports. Then again, the Saint Rose swimming and diving team has a proud history. A diver, Brandon Birchak ’09, made school history in 2007 by becoming the first student-athlete to win a Division II national title. But swimmers, like many individual athletes, labor largely below the radar, that is, until the talk turns to the American medal count. “People think we come around only every four years,” joked Murray.
Superstorm The Eyes and Ears of a Hurricane Patrick Stella missed a few weeks of communications classes at Saint Rose. Blame his day job.
TRAINING NEW MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION
Project ASPIRE HAVING THE SKILLS to teach a high school subject, say math or history, and teach it to students with special needs, is no easy task. This fall, Saint Rose launched a five-year degree program designed to boost the education of secondary students with disabilities. Funded with a $1.5 million federal grant,
Teaching students with special needs is no easy task. the degree addresses the shortage of qualified special education teachers in grades five through 12. With it, Saint Rose students will earn both a bachelor of arts and master of science in education and gain a leg up in the competitive job market. The College was one of just nine institutions to receive the grant in 2010 under “Project ASPIRE” (Adolescence Special Education Preparation for Inclusive and Reflective Educators). In addition to helping youth with special needs meet their potential, the College has used the grant to revise its graduate programs in special education.
THE GOVERNOR pounded his company’s handling of the crisis. The press wrote stories daily about the families stranded in the dark. Customers complained that after a whole week, no one had shown up to restore power. And, a nor’easter was expected to roll in. “There is a lot of stress,” understated Patrick Stella, Albany spokesman for National Grid, who could not be blamed last fall for missing a few classes at Saint Rose, where he is studying for his master’s in communications. Once it was clear Hurricane Sandy had gone easy on his region, Stella — joining communications counterparts across the country — was dispatched to assist restoration efforts of the Long Island Power Authority. After five years of briefing print and broadcast reporters on the after-effects of nasty storms, Stella is certainly no stranger to the extreme co-existence of weather and humans. The impact of a single act of wind shear, he noted, is far worse than most people would imagine. But in his catalogue of electrical storms, wind events and even tornadoes, nothing stands out like the nine days Stella spent in Nassau County last November following Sandy. The number of customers without power, about one million, was nearly equal to the population of National Grid’s upstate service territory. They were packed in urban and suburban pockets, and they sometimes waited days to learn someone was working on their case, because communication was severed. And unlike a single awful event, Sandy was made up of numerous catastrophes. Any one of them, such as the electrical fire that enveloped Breezy Point, Queens, was a tragedy unto itself.
“Even the next largest storms I have ever seen, Irene and Lee, didn’t come close to the damage and overall experience of Sandy,” Stella noted months later. He worried about a backlash. Plenty of grateful customers handed out coffee to utility workers and otherwise expressed gratitude. But many more lobbed insults via social media — sometimes unaware their cases were being handled by crews working 16-hour shifts. In Connecticut, customers even lobbed things at workers (which did not happen in New York). He tried to at least make the electric company look human, arranging media interviews with the workers who had come from across the country. And back at Saint Rose, he had plenty to contribute on the subject of crisis communications — until he decided to move on. “We were assigned a project evaluating a huge company’s communications strategies,” he noted. “I could easily have done National Grid. I decided to do it on UPS.”
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Spanish Advantage Certificate for Heritage Speakers of Spanish New Saint Rose program helps Spanish speakers turn heritage into job skills.
SCHOLARSHIP
Students First HABLA ESPAÑOL?
STUDENTS WHO GREW up speaking Spanish to their parents and grandparents have a legup in the job market, whether or not they pursue a college degree in the language. A new 15-credit certificate at Saint Rose encourages Spanish speakers to capitalize on their heritage. “I have met with students who are candidates for it who say ‘Wow. You really have something like that for me?’” said Erin Mitchell, an associate professor of Spanish and chair of the world languages and cultures department. “We have been noticing the growing number of students who grew up speaking Spanish at home, and we are really happy about it.” The new certificate for heritage speakers of Spanish, among the only one of its kind, recognizes their linguistic experience and then raises their proficiency to a level set by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign
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Languages. The five courses span from the basics to upper-level literature and history. And because Spanish speakers come to Saint Rose with such a wide variety of skills, their learning plans are individualized. The credential will serve as evidence that the student has a command of spoken Spanish and the literacy and communication skills needed to shine in a professional workplace. The College believes it will help students in education, sociology, computer science and business stand out. “In the past, colleges tried to put these heritage speakers into what already existed and that is still happening at a large number of colleges,” said Mitchell. “But with this certificate, our students will let the world know their level of fluency and that they are also very high-functioning professionals.”
FIRST THE GOOD NEWS: every year the College hears from more and more freshmen and transfer students who say that Saint Rose is their first choice. Unfortunately, a growing number also cite financial need as a reason for not enrolling. As a result, Saint Rose is taking innovative action to help these motivated students attend and stay at Saint Rose. Among these actions is Saint Rose Students First, an innovative scholarship opportunity that allows alumni and friends to support a current student directly with a gift of $5,000 per year for four years. Sponsors may select a student by major or career goal and/or establish a scholarship in honor of an individual. The College then provides opportunities for sponsors to meet their student and build a potentially lifelong rapport. In its first year, Students First has generated $464,500 in gifts and pledges that will benefit 32 students over four years. Among them were Ken ’74 and Mittsie ’72 Shannon, who noted that their own daughter had benefited from an alumni-sponsored scholarship. Becoming involved with Students First is easy! Simply contact Jason Manning, Director of Annual Giving, at 518-458-5303 or manningj@strose.edu.
Dave Brubeck Was Here...Twice Tucked against a wall of Studio A in the College’s Hearst Center for Communications and Interactive Media, a slice of American jazz history beckons. Written in a flowing, cursive hand, the name “Dave Brubeck” is sheltered beneath the lid of the Mason & Hamlin grand piano. “1971,” it is labeled, marking the year the legendary performer performed at a Saint Rose concert dedicating the piano. Brubeck played a different piano when he returned in 2009, at 88, to play at the dedication of the Massry Center for the Arts. But he was reportedly pleased to know the Mason & Hamlin and his signature remained intact and in use nearly 40 years later. Longtime music faculty fondly recalled the visits and the signature in December, when Brubeck died.
Crying On The Inside?
Fear Strikes!
Photo by Greg Fisher
Hugh Laurie’s comic-tragic clown, part of Fox television’s seventh season promotion of “House,” was the creation of Michael Vamosy ’93. Vamosy, a Denver-based designer, was one of 25 outstanding Saint Rose graphic design alumni featured in the Karene Faul Alumni exhibit, which included printed media, packaging, web and video works. Named for the late founder of the College’s signature graphic design program, the exhibit ran through the summer at the Massry Center for the Arts. Outstanding alumni included: Amber Adams ’07, Andrew Almeter ’99, Sarah Anderson Walsh ’01, Scott Bartley ’92, Brian Billow ’91, Sarah Burns ’06, Brad Cameron ’10, Robert Comire ’06, Seth Drury ’97, Tim Fealey ’09, Steve Francisco ’97, Rob Grom ’04, Mark Hamilton ’91, Anne Hobday ’01, Kelly Holohan ’89, Kathryn Kenosian-Viola ’03, Katherine Mutz ’09, Philip Pascuzzo ’00, Johnpatrick Reavey ’09, Gabriella Spartos ’09, Marla Stough, ’04, Michael Vamosy ’93, Kelli Walsh Szluka ’02, Mike Wasilewski ’05, and Christopher Whiting ’10.
The threat of being impaled by the shiny Saint Rose mascot appears to have worked wonders against this outfielder for the Hudson Valley Renegades last July in their face-off against our hometown Tri-City ValleyCats. In fairness to the fielder, the ball slammed by a ValleyCats batter was on its way out of the Joe Bruno Stadium and the Saint Rose banner probably had very little to do with it. Still, we wonder if a mere picture of the Saint Rose mascot proved this surprising — what would an encounter with our actual Golden Knight look like?
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Provost/VPAA Hadi Salavitabar The College’s new provost and vice president for academic affairs.
HADI SALAVITABAR HAS a track record of bringing together academia and entrepreneurship. As the guiding force behind the School of Business at the State University of New York at New Paltz, Salavitabar not only helped plan the menu of graduate and undergraduate degree programs but also headed up fundraising and got involved in details down to the carpeting and drainage. “When I get into a job, it really becomes my baby,” said Salavitabar, whose new office at Saint Rose is dotted with prints and figurines
home were derailed in 1979 by the Iranian Revolution. Instead, he remained in the U.S., and met his wife, Nezhat. He started as an assistant professor at New Paltz in 1982. “At first it was not easy,” he said, “The media was not in favor of Iran; and naturally, the U.S. wanted Americans in the jobs. I needed to do twice as well in order to prove myself.” As the creator and first dean of the business school at SUNY New Paltz, Salavitabar led the program to accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, an
His goals include continuing to elevate academics, increasing enrollment and growing the international identity. from Greece, Egypt, Iran, China, Russia, Brazil and other countries he has visited for work or pleasure. Salavitabar, who introduces himself as Hadi, became the College’s top academic officer on July 1. In his first month, the new provost began the legwork to bring students from China, France, Brazil and Turkey to Saint Rose for programs similar to those he helped build in New Paltz. “But this time I can say ‘Come to the Capital of New York. There is a lot to do here,’” he noted. He also laid the groundwork for new courses in New York City. Continuing the practice he established at New Paltz, Salavitabar lost no time meeting with local businesses. Born in Iran, he earned his master’s in economics from Pennsylvania State University and his Ph.D. in economics from the University of New York at Binghamton. Plans to return
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international honor he said goes to only five percent of business schools worldwide. After 31 years at New Paltz, he looked for his next opportunity. He was immediately struck by the positive energy at Saint Rose. A product of public universities, Salavitabar nonetheless looks forward to the smaller bureaucracy of a private college. His goals include continuing to elevate Saint Rose academics, increasing enrollment and growing the international identity. He also wants to see the campus become more active in the summer by offering courses for both matriculating and non-matriculating students.
APPOINTMENTS Ryan Halliday ’99, president and managing partner of Wealth Navigation, LLC, Salt Lake City, since 2007, was elected to a three-year term on the Saint Rose Board of Trustees. A Salt Lake City native, he earned his bachelor’s in business administration at Saint Rose and played basketball for the Golden Knights. He earned a master’s in finance from Walsh College in Michigan. Formerly a vice president of counseling at The Ayco Co., he lives with his family in Fruit City, Utah. Lisa McKenzie, director of development, named assistant vice president for Institutional Advancement. She will oversee fundraising, including the annual fund, planned giving and major gifts. Kim Middleton, associate professor of English, named interim dean, School of Arts and Humanities, through June 2014. Margaret McLane, associate professor of special education, will remain interim dean of the Thelma P. Lally School of Education, through June 2014. Andrew Urbanek, director of library services, RFW Library, Herkimer Community College, named Saint Rose director of library services.
RETIREMENTS Charles Finn, associate professor of business administration Michael Kuhrt, assistant professor of computer information systems Robert McClure, associate professor of educational leadership
HONORS & AWARDS The College of Saint Rose earned its highest ranking, #37, in the U.S. News & World Report’s Best College Guide for 2014. Saint Rose has also been named a “Great College to Work For” for the sixth consecutive year by The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Departed CARL E. TOUHEY: BENEFACTOR AND FRIEND The College lost a close friend in August with the passing of Carl E. Touhey, who laid the foundation for the Thelma P. Lally School of Education with a $2 million gift. In gratitude, the College named the multimedia forum in the education school in his honor. The College hosts lectures, debates, television programs and community functions in the space. At the time, Mr. Touhey said, “I hope this doesn’t sound corny, but if people my age don’t contribute something to the community, we ought to. I feel an obligation to the community, and I want to give something back.”
The College appears on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for engaging students, faculty and staff in meaningful service.
In 1991, Mr. Touhey joined the Board of Trustees and served until 2005. In 2001, the College awarded him an honorary degree. In 2004, the College presented him with the “Spirit of Saint Rose Award,” and in 2010, he and his wife, Nancy, received the “Community of Excellence” award for their contributions to Saint Rose and the greater community.
Christine Paige and Tom Rosenberger of the Information Technology Department won the Blackboard CollaborateTM Hall of Fame Award, honoring their innovation. Michael C. Brannigan, Pfaff Endowed Chair in Ethics and Moral Values, received the 2013 Susan and Dan Semrad Lecturer in Non-Western Thought Award, from the Creighton University Department of Philosophy. Amina Eladdadi ’99, assistant professor of mathematics, has received grants from the Society for Mathematical Biology, the Australian Mathematical Science Institute, and the National Science Foundation. Travis W. Schermer, assistant professor of counseling, was awarded the ACES Presidential Fellow from the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision.
Tom Attanasio, regional undergraduate admissions representative in Long Island from 2004 to 2012, died in October, 2012. Mr. Attanasio was a highly regarded member of the admissions staff who helped boost enrollment from Long Island. He was also a respected member of the guidance counseling and admissions community. He is a graduate of Saint John’s University who earned his master’s at the State University of New York at New Paltz. Rev. Anthony D. Gulley, who taught in the school of education from 1961 to 2004, died in August 2013. A native of Watervliet, he taught in parochial schools before earning his Ph.D. at The Catholic University of America. During his tenure at Saint Rose, “Father Tony” also ministered at schools and nursing homes. In 1997, he earned the Thomas A. Manion Distinguished Faculty Award. Raymond J. Kirsten, a carpenter for the College for 15 years, died after a brief illness on April 5. He was a highly valued member of the community, especially the Facilities Department, where he was known to be upbeat and for sharing his sense of humor. Joseph Lee Jr., the College’s master locksmith for ten years, died June 27, 2012. Raised in Albany, Mr. Lee served in the United States Marine Corps. He worked for various locksmith companies for 15 years before coming to Saint Rose.
Shai Butler, assistant to the president for diversity, received the 2013 Women in Public Service Leadership Award from the University of Albany, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy.
Nick Ramos ’15, a 20-year-old junior biology major from New York City, died suddenly on November 17, 2013 of natural causes. He was a mentor with the Help Yourself Academy, an ALANA peer mentor and a beloved son, brother, nephew, friend and classmate.
The following faculty members have been awarded a college Global Literacy Grant, which they will use to travel to these countries in order to develop programs for Saint Rose students:
NEW FACULTY 2013 – 2014
Lucy Bowditch, associate professor of art history, Paris
The following professors joined the full-time tenure track in fall 2013: John Dion, instructor of marketing Mark Gilder, assistant professor of computer science Ross Krawczyk, assistant professor of psychology
Kathleen Crowley, professor of psychology, and Bruce Roter, associate professor of music, Morocco
Susan Meyer, assistant professor of art foundations
Marda Mustapha, assistant professor of political science, Sierra Leone
Christopher Thode, assistant professor of chemistry
Deborah Reyome, assistant professor of social work Christopher St.Cyr, assistant professor of graphic design Julia Unger, assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders
Richard Pulice, professor of social work, Uganda
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LLIKE IKE
ON
TOP
BRYAN SAWYER G’06
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Bryan Sawyer’s special education classroom, the phone rang. Mr. Sawyer
asked Shawn to answer. The student did so, politely. “We want him to be as independent as possible,” the teacher explained.
Mr. Sawyer G’06 would spend the day pushing past students’ limitations. Franklin, for instance, who struggles with speech, lost focus during a reading passage and earned only four of five pennies the teacher awards. “Four,” Sawyer explained “is less than five.” When a video ended, another boy, Charlie, began to yell. Charlie has limited eyesight, the teacher explained, but was once taught as if he was blind. Yelling was a chief means of expressing himself. Sawyer urged him, instead, to explain his frustration. Charlie grew calmer. Sawyer teaches elementary students with significant autism in the Shenendehowa school district. It is a surprisingly quiet classroom where small steps are huge, and there is no end to the steps the teacher and his aides ask students to take. “In the past, they wouldn’t even be in school. They’d be institutionalized,” said Sawyer, 33. “But these are our kids. They are part of the Shenendehowa community. We want them to get jobs, get out in the world and do as much as they are capable of.” A year ago, parents of his students were so impressed with Sawyer’s insistence on results that they convinced viewers of ABC’s “Live! With Kelly” show to elect him the nation’s Top Teacher. In a nineminute video the program produced, parent after parent listed the milestones. There was the once “un-teachable” son who moved into the mainstream classroom, the couple whose fear of having to institutionalize a daughter has given way to plans to save for college. There was the couple who first heard their largely-silent son say “I love you” at
age 8, in an audio greeting card that came home in his school backpack. “A lot of people might think a student has to fit into a program. Bryan believes the program has to be built for the student,” was how Diane Kunz, a colleague in the school district, described the approach. It was at Saint Rose that Sawyer first saw the benefits of challenging, rather than coddling, students’ disabilities. A Long Island native, Sawyer decided early on to teach. After graduating from the State University of New York at Geneseo with his bachelor’s in elementary education, he came to Saint Rose to earn a master’s in special education — with an emphasis on “education.” “What Bryan is doing is how we prepare all our special ed. teachers,” said Theresa Ward, an associate professor who chairs the special education department and taught Sawyer. “You used to see ‘disability day care’— extended rest, “Barney” videos, lots of cooking — versus a real education today.” Last May, when the “Kelly” show announced Sawyer had won Top Teacher, Ward was not surprised. He had stood out as a serious student, constantly striving to improve. The professor recalled Sawyer once discussing his dismay with a special education classroom he assisted in where activity was limited to play. She urged him to demand more in his own teaching.
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parents of his students were
SO IMPRESSED WITH
SAWYER’S INSISTENCE on results that they convinced viewers of
to elect him
THE NATION’S
TOP TEACHER. In a nine-minute video
THE PROGRAM
PRODUCED,
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“Having high expectations for kids is definitely something that formed at Saint Rose. Dr. Ward validated that and I have great respect for her,” Sawyer recalls, adding that the elementary special ed. teacher he worked for was not pleased by his critique and questioned whether he would be able to manage his own class. To be fair, Professor Ward said it is only recently that educators have begun considering the capabilities of people with autism. The condition was identified in the 1940s when scientists first distinguished between a communication disorder and mental illness. An early theory held that children developed autism because their mothers were emotionally cold. Through the 1950s, experts widely believed, incorrectly, that these children were also intellectually impaired. They were institutionalized with people with mental illness and mental retardation. Ward said the system was shaken up in 1966 with Bernard Blatt’s “Christmas in Purgatory,” a photographic expose of institutions’ inhumane conditions. The public demanded reform. Landmark legislation in the 1970s gave all children access to free public education, shifting the emphasis from special schools to self-contained classrooms in public schools. Revisions in the 1990s called for participation in general education, propelling the drive to mainstream children with disabilities. Now, the Education Improvement Act of 2004 adds an expectation: progress. The quality of the education counts. “We used to say ‘no he can’t do it.’ Now we say ‘how can we make it possible for him to unlock what he knows?’” said Ward, who has taught at Saint Rose
for 13 years. “We are not putting a ceiling on any child’s achievement. To do that is educational malpractice.” The curricular implications are significant. Once, students had to master a skill — regardless of its value — before moving on. “You’d see kids drawing leprechauns for the 10th year in a row,” quipped Ward. “We should teach them, instead, about Ireland. They might be at a second grade reading level, but they are 17 years old. Tenth graders do global studies.” Higher expectations in the classroom reflect more ambitious goals for adulthood. In place of jobs in sheltered workshops, which are isolated from the rest of the community, or no jobs at all, new standards promoted by the federal government seek to place individuals with autism in minimum wage positions at least 20 hours a week. Ward noted that early data shows that the effort is taking route, in settings in which employers provide the support until employees can perform independently. So even by age eight or nine, Sawyer sees that time is short for his students given how much they need to achieve by adulthood. In his classroom, there is no time for leprechauns or “Barney.” His videos concern dental care and how to shop for groceries. His students need to ask, clearly, to be excused from their desks. Rather than sit quietly in the classroom for lunch, they eat in the sometimes not-quiet cafeteria with the rest of the school. When other classes started playing the recorder, which his students could not manipulate, Sawyer worked with the music department to get his students drums. He wanted them to have a shot at reading music.
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HE
IS RELENTLESS. HE KEEPS GOING AFTER IT, BUT IN A SENSE HE’S ALSO PATIENT BECAUSE HE’S WILLING TO KEEP GOING AFTER SOMETHING. HE KNOWS HE CAN MOVE THE CHILD TO THE NEXT LEVEL.” GREGORY WING
Principal, Karigon Elementary School
Instead of field trips to the bowling alley, he brings his students to restaurants. “Bowling is easy and it’s not a skill they need to work on. Their families will want to take them to restaurants,” explained Sawyer, who also brings a social component to academics. After a reading unit, he asked Shawn what he wanted to do next. Sawyer waited, and asked again. Shawn said something that was not clear. Sawyer kept his eyes locked on the student. The boy said “I want to play ‘Magnetix.’ ” The first-time visitor might want to help Shawn finish his thought rather than wait the painful moment for perfect enunciation, or hand all five pennies to a child just for trying hard. Sawyer said people often tell him he seems hard on the children. But to him, the danger lies in keeping them in their comfort zone. And first-time visitors to his classroom don’t see the dial moving because progress can be so slow. Sawyer might spend six months just getting a child to raise a toothbrush to his mouth before he sees results. “He is relentless. He keeps going after it,” agrees Gregory Wing, principal of Karigon Elementary
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School, who hired Sawyer in 2007. “But in a sense, he’s also patient because he’s willing to keep going after something. He knows he can move the child to the next level.” When he was named Top Teacher, Sawyer appeared on national television, won a new car, $25,000 for his school and a trip to the British Virgin Islands for himself and his wife. Reflecting on the experience months later, Sawyer said he feels he also won a degree of understanding from observers perhaps ready to let go of “disability daycare.” “I know I’m outspoken and direct and people might not always understand what I’m doing,” he said. “Now when I walk on the school bus to help a child, I feel like I might be given the benefit of the doubt because the driver will know I am there to help. I might have a little more clout pushing for something because I have won this. Maybe they will think I have something to contribute.”
A
s a junior at The College of Saint Rose, Catherine Green spent months
researching, writing and rewriting a paper on the quiet, submissive Hindu wives who appear in so many Bollywood films. She traced the cinematic cliché to
India’s colonial history and then cited the vastly more independent women crop-
ping up in the newer movies. Green’s paper was one of nine faculty-reviewed articles chosen for the College’s Journal of Undergraduate Research.
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that other people haven’t thought of. I can really go down any avenue I want.
— Mike Alston ’14, Spanish & criminal justice major
She also had a paper selected for the 2013 journal. Her title: High-copy Suppressor Screens of Monomer Actin Limitations in an act1-159, aip∆ Strain and an act∆, act1-159 Strain. “I like bacterial genetics,” explained the author, a biology major who graduated magna cum laude and entered the University of Albany’s Ph.D. program in biology. Green had expected to do a good deal of research in science, but not in her Saint Rose film class. And she was struck by the similarities between writing about the gender politics of India and act1-159 Strain. “You have to research your background, you have to have the facts and a clear argument — and you really have to write well,” said Green, one of seven candidates in her Ph.D. program. As graduate schools and a hypercompetitive job market demand higher-order thinking, Saint Rose students use their academic tools to take up and solve new questions. Research — which may be defined as reaching beyond what has already been written, discovered
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‘‘
‘‘
You really learn more when you research things
or proven — is a way of life here. From the biology lab to the film class, students are expected to apply what they learn to generate new knowledge. “I’ve long gotten away from the lectures,” said Mary Ann McLoughlin, a professor of mathematics who has been with Saint Rose since 1965, longer than any other faculty member, and uses software that allows students to work collaboratively on problems in calculus or number theory. “This is an interactive era,” she noted. “We want our students to be
more independent. They should be asking the questions.” And every year, the College adds opportunities for them to do so. Saint Rose students across the disciplines now present research — and not just upper-level students who have devoted several years to a topic. An annual research symposium open to all students, for example, showcases projects ranging from the first efforts of freshmen to the culminating research of seniors poised for graduate school. “In high school, I used to go online to write reports,” said Jazzmyn Tuthill, a freshman education major at the symposium to present her comparative study of Italian and Jewish immigrants during the Progressive Era. “Now we go to the library and do research and take the time to learn something and think about it. We are a lot more involved in the process.” As they grow academically, students may compete for College summer grants, as professors prod them to also seek outside funding and internships. Saint Rose science and social science programs, meanwhile, offer students the opportunity
to tack an independent project and thesis on to degree requirements. Motivated students may also work for the College’s Institute for Community Research and Training, made up of faculty scholars who evaluate community programs to help them improve. There is also the undergraduate research journal. An editorial board accepts about a third of submissions and student authors are then asked to work on revisions with a faculty supervisor. The results are substantial. In addition to Cathleen Green’s discussion of actin (an important cell protein), the 2013 journal critiques U.S. interests in Cuba, compares the strategies of socially responsible businesses and sheds some light on what exactly Mark Twain had in mind with “Pudd’nhead Wilson.” “I started the journal four years ago when seniors had written some papers I thought were really strong,” said the editor, Ryane McAuliffe Straus, an associate professor of political science. “I saw that there were journals for Ph.D.s, but no way to show our outstanding undergraduate research. My goal is to show
‘‘
‘‘
A lot of people have no idea what’s in their facial
scrubs. I was surprised.
— Amelia Bach ’14, communications major
what you can do here: you can do really rigorous work, and we’ll get it out to a broader audience.” The College and several student organizations sponsor student travel to conferences. Lots of them. The College’s own vitae would now include presentations before the Association of Teacher Educators, the Geological Society of America, the Eastern Psychological Association, the National Association for Music Education, the Consortium for Computing Sciences, Southern Humanities Council, the New York Six Liberal Arts College Consor-
tium and Delta Mu Delta, the national honor society in business. “Learning can be really boring at times, and you have to just work through learning the basics,” said Ryan Feiner ’13, who majored in geology. “But then you start presenting at conferences and people critique you, and you get to ask your questions to all these amazing people. It gives you confidence and the work becomes real. We couldn’t do it without funding from the College.” Inspired by a class with Professor of Geology Eric Eslinger, a specialist in petroleum geology, Feiner became interested in the Utica Shale, a formation stretching from Ohio to New York being eyed for gas and oil drilling. Feiner learned to use a computer program to study and map rock formations below the surface. He attended his first conference. College became a completely new experience. By the time he graduated in the spring, he conducted his studies largely off-campus, taking part in an internship at an urban organic farm, using a summer research grant to the study mapping software Professor Eslinger developed to
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work and we’ll get it out to a broader audience.
— Ryane McAuliffe Straus, associate professor of political science
study the sub-surface and presenting his research on the Utica Shale at Geological Society of America conferences. And, he landed a full scholarship in geophysics from the University of Alabama. “Without the research, I would have had no idea what I wanted to do. I would be like a high school kid making a decision by throwing darts at a board,” he said, shortly before leaving for Alabama. Faculty members are quick to note that their own college careers were not like this. Many went to large universities where professors could not have provided the mentoring. Also, they say higher education did not always emphasize the active learning valued today. “When I started 20 years back, if you had a research assistantship or went to a conference, you were doing pretty well,” said Dr. Nancy Dorr, a professor of psychology who teaches research methods and works closely with students on research. “Now it’s taken for granted that students do research, present it or have it published. Not to do this is a disservice and Saint Rose is ahead of the game.”
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‘‘
‘‘
My goal is to show what you can do here: You can do really rigorous
Dr. Richard Thompson, dean of the School of Mathematics & Science, agrees. Like Dorr, he did no research as an undergraduate. By the time he arrived at Saint Rose, doing so was common practice in science classes. “The paradigm has shifted. When you go to graduate school, you are expected to jump in,” said Thompson, who is an astronomer. The hands-on approach to learning spans the disciplines. Working in teams, for instance, upper-level business students, for instance, put together investment strategies and
then put their plans to the test using real money, $150,000 the College devoted to this purpose. Even lab sciences do research differently. In place of experiments with known outcomes, classes might take up new problems, or work backward from a result. “The research is part of the learning,” said Thompson, “not something extra.” Colleges and universities began pressing research-based learning beyond the sciences starting in the 1990s, as America’s place in the global marketplace slipped and businesses demanded college graduates with more initiative. Higher education also eyed the approach, heavy on collaboration and discovery, as a way to boost student retention. Studies, including a 2007 report in Innovative Higher Education, found a steady 10-year rise in undergraduate research at liberal arts colleges as well as research universities. The literature also identifies intellectual and professional growth and pride — findings easily borne out at Saint Rose. “You really learn more when you research things that other people haven’t thought of. I can really go
‘‘
‘‘
This is an interactive era, We want our students to be more independ-
ent. They should be asking the questions.” — Mary Ann McLoughlin ’63, professor of mathematics
down any avenue I want,” said Mike Alston ’14, a Spanish and criminal justice major who devoted a study trip to Panama researching the difference in status between African blacks and those from the West Indies. “I can tell people ‘here is the research I did. I did it all in Spanish and I did it myself.’” He stood in one of the long rows of posters displayed at the fourth annual undergraduate research symposium, which filled the Nolan Gym in April. Dressed in business attire, students provided an oral narrative with the visuals. Their projects spanned the humanities, sciences, education and business, taking up effects of China’s one-child policy; the roots of black poverty; the macro invertebrates of the Vlomanskill; the use of math in M.C. Escher’s art; gen-
der in the written language; and water contamination caused by microplastics in skin care products. “A lot of people have no idea what’s in their facial scrubs. I was surprised,” said Amelia Bach, a communications major who set up and executed an online survey of 150 students to learn what brand they used. “I didn’t know what was going to happen, and it’s scary to see the result,” said Bryan Barry, a geology major who then analyzed the content of the products to calculate
the amount of plastic going down the drain. Erin Mitchell ’95, an associate professor of Spanish and world languages chair, applauds the approach. Today, when Saint Rose students visit another country, they are expected to do far more than practice their Spanish. “On a trip to Costa Rica last year, a student wanted to learn how animals were affected by ecotourism, so she went and did interviews at a bat museum! I never would have taken her to a bat museum!” noted Mitchell, who is a linguist. “But she did interviews and found that not everyone was happy with the eco-tourism. We expect that degree of real and original research. Twenty years ago, that would have been unheard of.”
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E
XPERT WITNESS By Dr. Jeffrey Marlett, associate professor of religious studies
When I saw the news, I knew my entire day would be full. And it was only 6:15 a.m.
Papal resignations don't exactly happen often. That's part of why Pope Benedict XVI's resignation — both his announcement (February 11, 2013) and then its occurrence (on February 28, 2013) garnered so much media attention and speculation. Usually, the papacy is a job its occupants leave feet first. (Popes die in office.) The last “resignation,” technically speaking, took place in 1415. But the last voluntary resignation where a pope said of his own free will, “I'm not doing this anymore,” occurred in 1294. Canon law allows for papal resignation, but how many generations have studied that without serious consideration that it might actually happen? Now, seven hundred nineteen years later, Benedict XVI made the theory a reality.
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A
ND I ALMOST MISSED THE NEWS.
I was flicking through television channels searching for weather forecasts, when I stumbled across Benedict's resignation. Having taught church history and being an aficionado of arcane Christian historical fact, I immediately recalled St. Celestine V’s resignation in 1294. (Celestine's spiritual attentiveness was so great it prompted James Redfield’s minor spiritual classic “The Celestine Prophecy” in 1994.) When John Paul II had died eight years earlier, I did some interviews on Albany radio, television and newspapers — thanks to the coordination by the College public relations office. It was my first experience in the spotlight, and it took a while to get accustomed to the media's need for quick insight. But this time, by 6:15 a.m., I knew what the day would hold.
So why not devise a tournament bracket ala March Madness for prospective popes?
I wasn’t to be disappointed. The first call came within 90 minutes. And by the end of that Monday, I had taken part in interviews with three television stations, a radio station and a newspaper. By the end of the several-day flurry, my commentary appeared from Albany to Arizona. Some of the questions could have come from 2005; I repeatedly faced inquiries about the Church's response to clergy sexual abuse and whether the next pope would significantly alter Church teachings. Unlike 2005, though, it was not so easy to dismiss chances of an
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American pope. There are now more cardinal electors from here than from any nation other than Italy. Also, from the day of Benedict’s announcement, there was immediate speculation about a Latin American or even an African cardinal being elected. Benedict's resignation, so sudden and unexpected, made such possibilities all the more real. If a pope could resign, what else could happen? Quite a lot, frankly. This conclave convened under most unusual circumstances, but now with one resignation, will this become the de facto norm? Will we in 30 years come to expect aging popes to resign? Will somebody attempt to force or coerce a resignation?
Intense media scrutiny had compounded the speculation. Will a cardinal elector tweet from inside the Sistine Chapel? EWTN and other media channels set up shop at the Vatican, analyzing every cardinal's arrival and noting the Sistine Chapel's conversion from tourist magnet to election space. The list of the "papabile" (men considered "pope-able") appeared immediately only to be constantly revised. So why not devise a tournament bracket ala March Madness for prospective popes? (Oh wait — more than one already existed.)
Websites offer helpful visuals to explain the conclave's “hidden” operations: the quaint rituals of oath-taking and ballot-taking (for instance, cardinals are to disguise
their handwriting to insure anonymity) and the announcement “Habemus papam” (“we have a pope”) from the Borghia portico in St. Peter's Basilica. So, for a few days, the Roman Catholic Church exudes a CNN or ESPN character; all flash and sound-bite bolstered by amazing visuals and critical analysis by the experts. Of which I'm supposed to be one — and I am, to some extent.
POST SCRIPT
The election of Pope Francis on Wednesday, March 13, 2013 only continued the surprises. The former Cardinal Bergoglio is the first non-European elected pope in over 1200 years, the first Jesuit since 1831, and first from the Americas. His chosen name honors one of Italy’s patron saints, St. Francis of Assisi, a medieval reformer and advocate for the poor. Shortly after his election, Pope Francis recounted that as votes were counted and it was clear he would be chosen, a Brasilian cardinal urged him to remember the poor. That, it seems, clenched Bergoglio’s name choice.
So for a few days the Roman Catholic Church exudes a Cnn or Espn character.
I'm also a believer, and this time it's been this side of papal succession that I appreciate most. In 2005, John Paul had been pope for over 26 years, and his declining health was no secret. At some point, Catholics knew to expect a successor. In 2013, though, there was no funeral, we have a new pope nonetheless. And Benedict's successor has the heretofore unknown reality of having his predecessor available for insight and advice. (Though Benedict swore repeatedly that he would not interfere with the conclave and emphatically declared his loyalty to whomever the cardinals elected as his successor.)
And, this new situation might actually call for less CNN-esque commentary and more reflection. But, I have to admit that like the rest of the world's 1 billion Catholics, part of me wanted to simply to watch the fanfare and await the conclave's decision.
So much is new with this pope: bowing for a blessing before bestowing his own, paying his hotel bill and picking up his own luggage, and deciding to live in the Domus Sancta Marthae (the cardinals’ residence during the conclave) instead of the Apostolic apartment where his predecessors lived.
All of this promises that Pope Francis will keep the Catholic Church in the media, or perhaps more accurately, the media will continue to attend to the Church’s perspective because of this new pope. This is affirmed by Time magazine’s selection of Pope Francis as its 2013 Person of the Year. It has been an amazing opportunity to study, and be a member of, the Roman Catholic church.
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Student-Athletes Epitomize “Work Hard, Play Hard” It is understood that the definition of success for student-athletes at The College of Saint Rose goes beyond the playing field and even further past the classroom. The development of a positive attitude towards community engagement is not only at the core of the College’s mission, but also a central component of the NCAA’s Division II approach towards learning and personal development. Saint Rose student-athletes embody such. Last year alone, they were involved in more than 2,000 hours of community service.
THE 2013 ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME CLASS The following former outstanding studentathletes were inducted into The College of Saint Rose Athletics Hall of Fame this fall. The 1990-91 Men’s Basketball Team
Among the endeavors that every team participates in is the Work Hard — Play Hard (WHPH) program that is held at the Christian Plumeri Sports Complex throughout a pair of 10-week periods each semester. Student-athletes spend time conducting a variety of activities for youths who reside in the neighborhood surrounding the facility. Among the programs’ goals are to break down barriers, develop a conduit for interaction, and to have Saint Rose student-athletes serve as positive role models. “The impact that the student athletes have on the kids in the WHPH program has deeply benefited the community surrounding the area,” said Justin Ramson, Plumeri Sports Complex Programming Coordinator. Many of the kids have single parents, parents who work odd shifts, or come from non-traditional homes; but whatever the reason, the WHPH program, and the student-athletes, give each participant the positive attention that every child deserves.”
Damon Reed Men’s Basketball, 1996-00 Courtney (Goess) Little Women’s Soccer, 2002-05 Deborah Springer Women’s Track & Field, 1994-96 Michelle (Joseph) Looney Women’s Swimming & Diving, 1987-91
The program is one of many at the complex that is sponsored by a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and disseminated by the Albany Community Development Agency.
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Alumni News & Notes
Lisha Deming Glinsman ’82
They graduated from Saint Rose 10 years apart; both discovered a fascination with math and science as Saint Rose students and each has applied her own discipline to another field she is just as passionate about. One is a computer scientist who works in astronomy; the other is a chemist who works in art. Their stories are examples that being really, really good at one thing and really interested in another, can be the recipe for an exciting and fulfilling career.
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
World of Opportunity Math and science alumnae follow unconventional pathways to rewarding careers. Maureen Conroy ’72
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ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
WORLD OF OPPORTUNITY Lisha Deming Glinsman Class of 1982 B.A. in Chemistry
Museums across the globe invite Glinsman to analyze their works.
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Color Chemist Solves Great Curatorial Puzzles Seventeenth-century Dutch painter Willem van Aelst is known for creating colors of such authenticity that the feathers on a bird appear to billow and the silver glints as though just polished. But for all his talent, van Aelst cannot take credit for the stunning electric blue of his “Hunt Still Life with a Velvet Bag on a Marble Ledge.” “It turns out the bag was green,” notes Lisha Deming Glinsman ’82, who published the finding she made as a conservation scientist at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. “He had mixed blue with yellow and the yellow faded, so you were left with blue.” Aspiring scientists typically envision a career researching the roots of disease, developing technology or identifying objects in the sky. But Glinsman applies science to solving curatorial puzzles of the world’s great art. Working with curators and conservators, she identifies the materials and techniques behind the National Gallery’s paintings, bronzes, photographs, porcelains and tapestries. Museums across the globe invite Glinsman to analyze their works, something she does with an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, a hand-held instrument which penetrates many layers and hundreds of years. Her findings help guide decisions on how to repair, clean and store a work of art in a non-invasive way. The work also informs the scholarship of art and art history. Recently, for instance, Glinsman presented a paper on Albrecht Dürer’s “Madonna & Child.” Scholars have long debated whether it was painted by a single artist, or even in a single era, since the front panel is done in an Italian style and the back panel is clearly German. “We discovered that the materials used on both sides were the same — including an unusual red lake pigment,” she says. “This suggests they were painted at the same time.” Glinsman also hunts for clues into what is original and what has changed. When van Aelst’s work arrived at the National Gallery last year, she was intrigued by the brilliant blue hunting bag in one painting and took a closer look. “There was a large amount of calcium and I thought ‘What’s that doing here?’ It shouldn’t have had that much calcium,” explains Glinsman, who then studied the same blue on another van Aelst and found no calcium. She also surmised that a hunting bag would not have been that bright, and took micro samples that confirmed her suspicion. The top layer, yellow, had faded, revealing the aquamarine coat beneath. The bag, it turns out, was originally green. “If I wasn’t at all curious, we wouldn’t have looked,” she notes. “But we really want to know the whole story.” Glinsman, who has her Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Amsterdam, has been with the National Gallery since 1987. Her job has found her analyzing the only Leonardo da Vinci in the western hemisphere, evaluating watercolors of Winslow Homer, examining 500-year-old Medici porcelains and the platinum photographs of Steiglitz. “I am so spoiled that when I go to a museum, I am sad that I can’t touch something,” she says. Given her enthusiasm and prominence, it is surprising to learn that Glinsman never cared for chemistry until she found a connection to something she did care about: art. “I actually tried to drop chemistry in high school,” she says. “Now I tell my kids that there may
be something you’re studying that you hate now, but you don’t know where it might lead." A native of Little Falls, N.Y., she came to Saint Rose to study medical technology, only to find the field too narrow. She took chemistry with Sister Mary Rehfuss, who had just completed a sabbatical devoted to studying the chemistry of art. “She would bring up things like how conservators clean paintings or clean corrosion off a bronze and how to look for what kind of corrosion it was,” Glinsman recalls. Glinsman followed with a class in organic qualitative analysis, also with Sister Mary. “She gave us 10 samples of materials,” she recalls. “We had the semester to figure out what she gave you. It was like forensics. You felt like you were really putting it all together.” At the urging of Sister Mary, she enrolled in a color theory class at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with Fred W. Billmeyer Jr., a well-known expert. Glinsman took several more classes with Billmeyer and, again, with Sister Mary’s guidance, did a summer research internship with him. Glinsman’s college career combined the best of the small and individualized Saint Rose community and the research-based, specialized education at RPI, where she even met the man she would marry. Her connection with Billmeyer paid off five years after graduation, when she landed the position with the National Gallery. But it started at Saint Rose. And when she completed her doctorate in 2004, she dedicated her dissertation to Sister Mary. “I wouldn’t be who I am if it weren’t for her,” Glinsman says.
Mathematician to the Stars The sky is filled with high-energy objects the human eye cannot see: exploded stars, clusters of galaxies and the matter that lingers around black holes. Maureen Conroy ’72 has devoted her career to helping astronomers identify these things and introduce them to earthlings. “The data is all very complicated so there is a lot of software needed to process that data and turn it into something you can interpret or understand,” she explains. A fan of space exploration and mathematics during her years at Saint Rose, Conroy has landed in a field that combines both, designing software at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Simply put, she applies math and technology to man’s enormous reach to the sky. “I’m not an astronomer, but I am definitely part of the team,” she notes. From the day she left Oneida County for Saint Rose, Conroy has consistently been at the forefront of big change. She arrived at Saint Rose during the transition to co-education and the end of curfews. She entered the workforce as women pushed past age-old professional boundaries, and just in time for the explosion of technology. During college, discussions about U.S. involvement in Vietnam, pro and con, heated up in classrooms. Conroy weighed in, joining a march on the state Capitol and visiting wounded soldiers in Albany’s V.A. hospital several times a week. “A lot of them were missing limbs,” she recalls more than 40 years later. “I’m not so good in hospitals, but the vets made it easier because they were so glad to see us.” Space exploration also dominated the news. In 1968, Conroy’s freshman year, the first Apollo spacecraft was launched. A year later, Americans landed on the moon, and next, the traumatic voyage
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
WORLD OF OPPORTUNITY Maureen Conroy Class of 1972 B.A. in Mathematics
Maureen Conroy in front of the Harvard Observatory.
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She was first hired by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics as a data analyst, assisting astronomers who catalogued novas, quasars and other X-ray objects that held answers about the origins of the universe.
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of Apollo 13. Conroy rushed to the television between classes to watch lift-offs and commentary. “I guess I always wanted to be at the controls of a space mission,” she admits. Female students were still expected to enter teaching or a clerical field, but Conroy’s professors, particularly, Diane DiPasquale, zeroed-in on her academic talents and suggested that she follow a different path. Also influential were math professors Julian R. Kolod and Carmen Artino and chemistry professor John McGrath “They encouraged me to keep my options open, go to graduate school and see what the next step might be,” Conroy says. After graduating, she earned her master’s in math at Boston College and taught high school math. On a quest to make the subject more relevant to her students, she encountered a booklet, produced by the Smithsonian, titled “Space for Women,” and learned that the institution had the Harvard Observatory in Cambridge that collaborated with NASA. Conroy applied several times. She was first hired by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics as a data analyst, assisting astronomers who catalogued novas, quasars and other X-ray objects that held answers about the origins of the universe. “I had no programming experience. But computers had exploded on the scene so quickly that there were not enough trained people,” she says. “And I had the mathematics degree. I had taken statistics and taught statistics and to understand scientific programming you really had to understand the math.” As astronomers matched satellite coordinates to photographs taken up to 100 years earlier, Conroy and the other computer analysts interpreted signals — lines that rose and fell like a heart monitor — to pinpoint the radiation. Collectively, the research in the sky and on the ground provided the targets to be studied by Einstein, the far more powerful telescope that would soon be used to yield the first images of these objects. Space exploration slowed following the 1986 explosion of the shuttle Discovery that killed seven crew members and the malfunctioning, over-budget Hubble telescope. Conroy earned her master’s in computer engineering at Boston University, while remaining at the Smithsonian. Her group partnered with Germany on ROSAT, a mission which expanded the catalogue of xray objects to about 50,000. She used cutting edge software, including an early version of the Internet. Conroy’s team developed the first system that delivered data and the software needed to analyze it for astronomers and scholars. When the space program regained its footing and funds were freed up, she became lead software designer for the nation’s most powerful x-ray telescope yet, Chandra. The mission brought Conroy to the pinnacle of the fast-evolving computer science world, with significance on several fronts. She spent six years designing the system. Chandra reflected the latest developments in computer technology and piggybacked on experience gleaned from previous X-ray astronomy missions. The data could now be shared with universities. And space exploration allowed a far greater understanding of the laws of physics and origins of the universe. She continues to work at the Center for Astrophysics. Today, she designs and troubleshoots software for an optical telescope in Mount Hopkins, Arizona — which, in contrast to an x-ray telescope, studies planets, stars and galaxies that can be observed from the ground. Astronomers on that project have created a similar telescope in Las Campanas, Chile, where she travels several times a year and learned the “southern hemisphere sky is even more interesting than the northern hemisphere sky.” At 63, Conroy urges women in science to do as she has done and match their skills to the areas that interest them most. “The options are so much greater than they were before, but people still might not realize all the ways they can participate,” she adds. “Scientists need librarians, programmers, administrators. We have technicians and engineers with us. There are so many ways to participate, and girls should see that they are able to pursue all these opportunities.”
Class Notes We’d like to hear from you! What have you been up to? Share your latest news with your fellow Golden Knight alumni — maybe you got a promotion, started a new business, made a significant move, received an award, wrote a book, had a baby, or just want to let us know what you've been doing lately.
Please keep notes short — no more than four or five sentences — and include your year of graduation. Send your information to: Office of Alumni Relations, 432 Western Avenue, Albany, NY 12203 or alumni@strose.edu. Information may be edited for clarity and space.
CAREERS, AWARDS, ETCETERA 1950s Mary Bergan Blanchard ’53 republished her memoir, “Eulogy”
1960s Eileen Whitington Johnson ’61 was honored by the Lockwood School District, Billings, Mont., for naming the middle school Eileen Johnson Middle School Barbara DiTommaso ’64 retired from the Commission on Peace and Justice, after 34 years
Rev. Dr. Carolyn Lester ’76 received her doctorate in ministry, Colgate University, Hamilton, N.Y.
Anne Kibbe ’85 was the August Artist of the Month, Beck Gallery, Lutz, Fla.
Audrey Smith ’76 published “Halloween Misfits,” a read-along songbook which won a national award, children’s category, at the Halloween Book Festival, Hollywood, Calif.
Claudia Smith ’85 inducted into the Cumberland County Black Hall of Fame (N.J.) for outstanding community service
Nancy D. Wilson G’77 published “Shouts & Whispers,” a transcription of letters between a Union soldier in the American Civil War and his wife
1980s
Scott McClean ’86 appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, First South Bancorp, Inc., Raleigh, N.C.
Jennifer Richard-Morrow ’80 exhibited “Art of Devotion: The Paintings and Icon of Jennifer Richard-Morrow” in Granville, N.Y.
Patricia Winch ’86, G’93 promoted to Social Studies Specialist, Fairfax County Public Schools, Fairfax, Va.
Brian Beaury ’82, G’91 inducted as coach into the Capital District Basketball Hall of Fame: Class of 2013 in Albany, N.Y.
Michael Barcomb ’87 pursuing a master’s degree, United States Army War College, Carlisle, Pa.
Michele Meliti Brumsey ’82, G’89 named Donor Relations Director, Capital Region Salvation Army, Albany, N.Y.
Bernadette Speach ’69 named the first Executive Director of Tannery Pond Community Center in North Creek, N.Y.
Rev. Sandra Kraft ’82 named pastor of Christ United Methodist Church, Shippensburg, Pa.
Kathy Ellis Powers ’71 and Anne Ellis Osmer G’76 published their first children’s book digital apps, “Not a Lot on Top” and “Look, Babysitter, Look” Daniel DeRossi ’73 appointed to the board of directors, Mental Health Association in Fulton and Montgomery (N.Y.) counties Dr. Marion Harlowe Martinez ’73 named Superintendent, Binghamton (N.Y.) City School District Susan Bakerian Fogarty ’76 named Senior Vice President and Relationship Manager, Key Private Bank, Albany, N.Y.
Sandra George ’86, G’86, G’89 published “The Good Adventurers,” a novel about Nicaragua
Coleen Murtagh Paratore ’80 published her latest book, “Big”
Barbara Schmidt Belmont ’68 wrote a travel memoir “Dangling Without a Rope: A Life Discovered”
1970s
Kathleen Moriarty Christy ’86 named Vice President of Institutional Advancement, D’Youville College, Buffalo, N.Y.
Christopher Hearley ’83 named Director of Business, Glens Falls City School District David Rule ’83, G’86 named President, Bellevue College, Bellevue, Wash. Debra Walker ’83, promoted to Payroll Examiner 3, New York State Office of Mental Health Matthew G. Waschull ’83 appointed Senior Vice President and Director of Trust and Asset Management for OceanFirst Financial Corp., Toms River, N.J. Doreen Sciancalepore Kelly ’84 joined TD Bank, Glens Falls, N.Y., as a Store Manager Karen Arndt ’85 joined Martin, Harding and Mazzotti, Niskayuna, N.Y., as a personal injury attorney
Colleen Ryan ’88 elected the first female president, University Club, Albany, N.Y. Matt Grattan ’89 named Executive Director for Workforce Development, Schenectady (N.Y.) County Community College Patrick Neal ’89 had his work featured at the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture 2013 Alumni Association Exhibit, New York, N.Y. Alicia A. Henry G'89, appointed Principal, Carthage (N.Y.) Middle School
1990s Barbara Lawson ’90 joined the accounting firm Knapek, Gabriele & Bottini LLP, Albany, N.Y., as a senior accountant Christopher Oertel ’90 named Director of Residence Life, SUNY Adirondack, Queensbury, N.Y.
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CLASS NOTES
Mark Hamilton ’91 was honored with a Gold Hermes Award; an American Graphic Design Award from Graphic Design USA; a Best of Show from Higher Education Marketing Report; had his work appear in AGDA 28; and was a design judge for the 2013 Web3 Awards and 2013 Communicator Awards. John Bell G’92 named Superintendent of Delaware Valley School District, Milford, Pa. Margherita Petti-Krug ’92 featured in “Today’s Women” segment,WNYT-13, Albany, N.Y., for her success at Cotton Hill Studios Michael Cassidy ’92 joined the studio services team, Fingerpaint Marketing, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Susan Kiley G’93 elected to the Board of Directors, Saratoga Bridges, Ballston Spa, N.Y. Patrick Filien ’93 named Associate Head Coach, women’s basketball team, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo. Michael Vamosy ’93 named Senior Vice President, Creative Services, Starz Entertainment, LLC, Engelwood, Colo. Mark Relyea ’94 won the Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing: Short Form Dialogue and ADR in Television for the HBO TV series “The Newsroom” Denise DiNoto ’95, G’96 named Community Outreach Educator, Consumer Directed Choices, Albany, N.Y. Todd Duval ’95 inducted as player, Capital District Basketball Hall of Fame: Class of 2013 in Albany, N.Y. Igor Kouzine ’95 appointed Chairman of the Management Board, MDM Bank, Moscow, Russian Federation Mary Moriarty ’95 co-authored a book of poetry, “Sibling Reverie,” published by Finishing Line Press Sue Fowler ’96, G’05 selected a Capital Region (Albany, N.Y) Top Teacher for 2012-2013 by WNYT/TV-13 Nancy Fuller ’96 opened Fountain Square Outfitters, an outdoor retail shop in downtown Glens Falls, N.Y. Daniel Silvey G’97 named Chief Financial Officer of SUNY Adirondack, Queensbury, N.Y. Kerri Brown ’98 received a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership, Capella University Frances Dunn ’98 had her essay “Whatever the Cost” chosen as one of 20 winning essays in The Saturday Evening Post’s “Tribute to Our Troops” Timothy Fowler ’98, G’01, G’06 named Assistant Director of Special Education, Albany (N.Y.) City School District
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2000s Rebecca Gleason G’00 appointed Assistant Principal, Guilderland (N.Y.) High School Tim McAuley ’01 featured in SUCCESS Magazine for his work as Chief Executive Manager at CHANGE (Consulting for Health, Air, Nature and a Greener Environment, LLC)
Sharon Borgos G’06 joined the account services team, Fingerpaint Marketing, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Christina Leal ’06 was admitted to the New York State Bar Association as an attorney Franco Pacheco ’06 named Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator, swimming and diving programs, Colby College, Waterville, Maine
Nicole DeMaria-Vitale ’01 promoted to Director of Special Events, West Point Association of Graduates, West Point, N.Y.
Amanda Rebeck ’06 appointed major gift officer, Immaculata Academy, Hamburg, N.Y.
Will Crain ’02 joined the creative team at Fingerpaint Marketing, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Janet Baker ’07 named Director of Speech Therapy, Presbyterian Home for Central New York, New Hartford, N.Y.
Antonio Abitabile G’02, G’09 named Principal, Hudson (N.Y.) High School
Tom Caprood ’07 is co-managing editor, The Register Citizen, Torrington, Conn.
Colin Boyd ’02 received Emerging Artist Award from The Arts Center of the Capital Region, Troy, N.Y.
Melinda Hayes Mackesey G’07 published a book, “Adirondack Exploration for Kids and Families: History, Discovery, and Fun!”
Matthew Venuti ’02, a former Episcopal priest, became the first priest ordained through the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, Mobile, Ala.
Stephen Ritz G’07 one of 50 teachers profiled in a book, “American Teacher: Heroes in the Classroom”
Dr. Kwame Morton G’02 appointed principal, Cherry Hill (N.J.) High School West
Cecily Wilson G’07 named Principal, Albany (N.Y.) High School
Shannon Younkin ’02, ’03, G’04 selected as one of the Albany (N.Y.) Business Review’s “40 Under 40”
Neil MacDermott G’08 named Instructional Technology Coordinator, Lynbrook (N.Y.) Public Schools
William Hart Sr. G’03 gave the commencement speech at SUNY Adirondack, Queensbury, N.Y. Andrew Cook ’03 named Superintendent, Hartford (N.Y.) School District Jennifer Yaddaw ’03 nominated for Daily News Hometown Heroes in Education for building a top music program at Pathways College Preparatory School, Hollis, Queens, N.Y. Eliza Whipple Bianco ’04, G’07 hired as Public Relations Specialist, Ed Lewi Associates, Clifton Park, N.Y. Jeanne L. Toth ’04 named Director of Sales, Comfort Inn & Suites, Colonie, N.Y. Julie Massry Knox G’04 selected as one of the Albany (N.Y.) Business Review’s “40 Under 40”
Katelyn Mockry ’08, G’10 named Team Leader/Senior Financial Planner, The Ayco Company, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Kelly Cobb ’09, G’11 wrote an English alumni blog for Saint Rose Professor Dan Nester Katelyn Corey ’09 is owner of Kate’s Cakes, Albany, N.Y. Daniel Doherty G’09, G’10 promoted to Principal, Dover High School, Dover Plains, N.Y. Thomas DePaola G’09 appointed Principal of Carle Place (N.Y.) Middle and High School Theresa Lindsay G’09, G’12 appointed Principal, Lake Placid (N.Y.) Middle School
Morgan Spawn Morrissey ’04 promoted to Assistant Director of Annual Giving, Albany Law School, Albany, N.Y.
Megan Quenzer G’09 awarded the Mid-Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union Chairman’s Award for TALENT (Top Performance, Availability, Leadership, Energy, New Vision and Teamwork)
Shelette Pleat ’05 named Principal, Thomas O’Brien Academy of Science and Technology (TOAST), Albany, N.Y.
Jimmy Fallon, Jr. ’09 won a Grammy, Best Comedy Album, for “Blow Your Pants Off”
Liza Salmon G’05 illustrated “A Family for Lenny,” part of a new children’s book series titled “Lenny’s Life Lessons” David Wicks G’05, G’08 named Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, Riverhead (N.Y.) Central Schools
Bryan Rankie ’09, G’11 named this year’s "Hawaii Teacher of Promise," National Milken Educators of Hawaii
CLASS NOTES
2010s
2000s
Anthony DiNova G’10 is Director, The Sip Event, a new nationwide event that benefits local charities
Carrie Ann Yurkewecz ’02, G’03 married Ryan Timothy Kelly
Connie DaBiere G’10, G’11 appointed interim principal, D.H. Robbins Elementary School, St. Johnsville, N.Y.
Stacie Paplow ’02 married Brian Craft
Meghan Spath ’10, G’11 is teaching at St. Thomas the Apostle School, Delmar, N.Y. Karen Hughes G’11 is an elementary school teacher in Monroe, N.C.
Bridget Berninger ’04 married Christopher Stroh Jamie Belles ’06, G’08 married Jason Abare ’04 Christina Mitcalf ’06 married David Leal Jillian McGuire G’06 was married Jessica Taft ’06 married Rob Switzenberg Stephanie Lynn Ames ’07 married James Christopher Murray
Julian Galimo ’11 named Development Associate in Community Development, The Arc, Oneida-Lewis Chapter, Utica, N.Y.
Michelle Landrio ’07, G’09 married Seth Brown
Noelle Lak ’11 joined Prospect Genius in Troy, N.Y. as Account Manager
Tammy LaBello ’08 married Brian Price
Anthony Marino G’11 promoted to Beginning InCharge, Audit Department, Marvin and Co., P.C., Latham, N.Y. Caitlin Mason ’11 joined weekend morning news team of B95.5 FM, Albany Broadcasting Co, Albany, N.Y.
Nicole Corey Meissner ’02, G’04 welcomed daughter, Mallory Rose Jaime Kovalsky Cavanaugh ’03, G’04 and Michael Cavanaugh welcomed daughter, Julianna Brittany Szymczak Parker ’08, G’09 welcomed daughter, Sophie Susan Hults Carimando G’09 welcomed son, Anthony Jimmy Fallon ’09 and Nancy Juvonen welcomed daughter, Winnie Rose
Whitney Hill ’07 married Matthew Pagano ’07 Shelby Hickey ’08 married Michael Teaney ’05 Jenna Ann Poling ’08 married Austin Davis Jillian Goldfine G’09 was married Rachael Roney ’09, G’09 married Christopher Petteys
IN MEMORIUM 1930s
Jared Nixon ’11 graduated from basic combat training
2010s
Mary Ponda Close ’32
Jessica Lander G’12 married Bradley Hayner
Thelma Reinmann ’32
Justin Wieczorek G’11 promoted to 401(k) Specialist, Empire Financial Partners, Albany, N.Y.
Norman Anthony Duell ’13 married Kate Ashley O’Gorman
Abigail LePage ’12 had her work for Berkshire Theatre Group selected for the 2013 American Graphic Design Awards from Graphic Design USA
Marie Mutterer Greig Schauerman ’38 Margaret Haggerty Levey ’39 Anne Brown O’Reilly ’39
Nicholas Johns G’13 joined audit department of D’Arcangelo & Co., LLP in Utica, N.Y.
1940s
Heather Riley ’13 won “Miss Congeniality” at Miss Long Island (N.Y.) 2014 Competition Timothy Branfalt G’13 is managing editor at Professional Carwashing & Detailing
Wilhelmina Rinaldi Yadack ’33 Dorothea Sheedy Becker ’35
Mary Hoey Hopkins ’40 Elizabeth M. O’Connell Wilson ’41
NEW ARRIVALS
Jeanne Tessier Bartnick ’42 Lauretta M. Guiltinan ’42
1990s
Mary Rita Frank O’Brien ’42
Patrick Cooney ’91 and Kristen Fullerton welcomed daughter, Everly Christine
Rita Scanlon Rinella ’42
Aaron Martin ’98 and Laura Martin welcomed daughter, Cora Ayn
Marie Sleasman ’42, G’74 Elizabeth O’Hara Smith ’42 Margaret T. Cronin ’43 Mary Jaffarian ’43
MARRIAGES
2000s
1980s
Lauren McMullen LaFlam ’00 and Jason LaFlam ’00 welcomed son, Zachary Louis
Jane Allen Gobel ’44
Sean Organ ’00 and Jessica Organ welcomed daughter, Keira Rose
Rosemary Eckel Mullaney ’44
Alison Greene Calacone ’02 and Kevin Calacone ’03, G’07 welcomed daughter, Caroline Elizabeth
Mary Jane Mullarney Vagnoni ’44
Lori Graff DeMarco G’02 and Daniel DeMarco ’95 welcomed daughter, Teresa Rose Isabella
Annette Kelly Hammer ’45
Carol Palmatier ’85 married John Pearson
1990s Jennifer Teti ’91 married James Giambalvo Colleen McCann ’96 married Thomas Crean
Margaret Mary McGraw Doyle ’44 Lillian Fields McDermott ’44 Gaetana D’Antonino Persico ’44 Ruth Coakley Allyn ’45
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CLASS NOTES
Mildred A. Harrington ’45
Eileen Mary Lippert ’56
Margaret Ross Tubbs G’75
Cathryn Buckley Arcomano ’46
Dr. Mary Colette Smith ’56
Dorothy Whitney G’75
Mary Ellen Ashe ’46
Patricia Glavin O’Brien ’57
Whitney Wilkes ’75
Eileen O’Brien DeFreest ’46
Mary Candlin Rourke ’57
Lucia Anne Ferrara ’76
Marian Devine ’46
Patricia McCue Sorge ’57
Martha B. Caton G’78
Sister Therese Lynch, CSJ ’46
Judith Anne Lockman Kelly ’58
Walter Crawford ’78
Eileen Rourke ’46
Janet A. Garrahan Dodson G’59
Beth Anne Hiss Farkas G ’78
Marion Arcomano Texier ’46
James G. Jalet G’59
Lauralee Tidmarch G’78
Gloria Baker Maguire ’47
Barbara Murray ’59
Mary Gagan Anna ’48 Sister Rita Beck, CSJ ’48
1960s
Jeanette Pratt ’79
Jean Hallenbeck Brockley ’48, G’89
Dianthe Sajta ’60
Carol Ann Wilson ’79
Nancy Burns ’48
Kathleen Erma Cedilotte G’61
Richard F. Wilson ’79
Sister Clara Gilmartin, CSJ ’48
Sister Mary Alice O’Hara, RSM ’61
1980s
Sister Mary Ancilla Leary, CSJ ’48
Bernice Crosby Shirley ’61, G’68
Barbara Smith Lynch ’48, G’50
Leon M. Wyzykowski G ’61
Charles Watkins G’80
Anna Gilleran With ’48
Sister Mary Mahar, CSJ ’62
Doris Horton Granger ’82
Eleanor Gridley Judd ’49
Sister Rita Mary Melcher, RSM ’62
Vincent Ozimek ’82
Sister Mary Rehfuss, CSJ ’49
Joan Hourigan Godlewski ’63
John Sterling G’82
Rosemary C. Edwards G’64
Donna Huff Colapinto ’83
1950s
Jean Sobsey Kames ’64
Jean Marie Gibbs Bassett ’85
Catherine Fitzgibbons Auth ’50
Sandra Schupbach G’64
Donna Margiasso ’86, G’91
Catherine McNamara Burnett ’50
Patricia Larkin Stroebele ’64
Angela Cafferillo ’87
Elizabeth Smith Durant ’50
Lois Evangeline FitzGerald Arnold G’65
Karen Houlihan Noonan Golden G’89
Jeanne Filian Becker ’51
Sister Joan Thomas McNerney, CSJ ’65, G’73
Margaret Reilly Tyndell ’89
Maria Boyle Dufresne ’51
Monica Franke G’66
Mary Angeline Mastro, RSM ’51, G’67
Michele T. Leonard ’66
Ann Griffin McSweeney ’51
Frank Murone G’66
Carol S. Balet G’92
Mary Rita Hogan ’52
Patricia Conroy English ’68
Patricia Custer ’92
Sister Helen Eugene McNally, CSJ ’52, G’57
Marilyn Picazio Tokarsky ’68
Bruce J. Mullen ’93
1990s
Mary Faith Casey Yanas ’52
Pamela Trelli ’68
Ann C. Casey ’93
Lorraine Fellows ’53
Ruth A. Flanigan ’69
Judee Repicky Lauria ’93
Ruth Stella Ferris ’53
*Correction from Fall 2012 Magazine Ruth Farrar Richards ’65, G’70 is not deceased
Ronann Marie Adams G’97
Lucy Rose D’Antonio Kleinmann ’54
1970s
Wendy Susko Robinchaud ’97
Virginia Enright McDonald ’54
Catherine Lynch Hartnett ’70
Mary Lyons Shield ’54
Sister Mary Rose Zaccari, MPV ’70
2000s
Sister Mary Barbara Vennard, CSJ ’54
Karen Frances Urtz ’71
Kathleen Pezzulo Mize G’03
Sister Eileen Crosby, CSJ ’55
Otis Turner ’72
Anne T. Foley ’55
Daniel DeRossi ’73
Viola Selenia MacDonald ’55, G’58, G’78
Linda R. Chapman G’74
Judith Nisoff Berger ’56
Luther Newsome ’75
Kathryn Palmer Hansen ’56
Eunice Sheley Spindler G ’75
Sister Rosemary Hoodack, CSJ ’56
Leola F. Raes Trevett ’75
Mary K. O’Keefe ’53
Saint Rose
Mary Caroline Stack Peckham ’95 Anthony I. Clement G’97
Helen Olive King, ’54
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Gary Neapolitano G’79 Jerry Ann Edwards Peace G’79, G’88
Parting Shot
Saint Rose
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Ranked as a Best Northern University by U.S. News & World Report
You are part of this institution’s rich history — a vital link from the College’s past to its bright future. Each of you experienced that special sense of community, the personal mentoring of faculty and staff, the urging to excel and to be passionate about what you do. If you visit the campus today, you immediately feel the same warmth that you felt as a student and witness a college which has held true to its mission of service for the greater good. Your gift to the Saint Rose Fund is vital to the College’s vision, strength of tradition, and power of innovation. Donate today. Call 1-800-637-8556 ext. 5 or online at www.strose.edu/giving
WWW.STROSE.EDU/SAINTROSEFUND
DID YOU KNOW? U.S. News & World Report’s college rankings are partially based on alumni participation in annual giving and support of their alma mater. By supporting The Saint Rose Fund, you add to the stature and prestige of your degree and to Saint Rose.