Connections Spring 2016

CONNECTIONS a publication for alumnae of russell sage college

IN THIS ISSUE 1 Centennial Celebration Special Section: Lives that Influenced Russell Sage College

10 Alumnae Doing MORE from Early Career through Retirement 14 Class Notes

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volume

19 • number 1 |

spring

2016

DDEAN’S MESSAGE

DEBORAH LAWRENCE, PH.D.,’88

CONNECTIONS DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING Shannon Ballard Gorman SGS ’13

Dear Alumnae, I write this letter to you as Russell Sage College’s Accepted Students Weekend is just getting underway. While brisk winds are causing the decorative balloons to form a sort of floating obstacle course on the approach to Buchman, there is a great deal of warmth and enthusiasm just inside the doors. In a quick tour around the room, I greeted families from Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and from right here in Troy. Students who had just met each other were already starting to form bonds. And thus the Sage sisterhood begins …

I wonder – how many of us remember visiting the Russell Sage campus for the first time, and what that felt like? I encourage you to attend one of the Centennial events this year, on campus or in a community near you, and share some of those memories.

Time seemed to fly during this, my first year as dean! As I write, we are getting ready for our suite of end-of-year events – honors convocation, baccalaureate and commencement. While we bid farewell to our graduating Golden Horseshoes of 2016, we are starting to get to know the entering Golden Horseshoes of 2020. I have great expectations for this group of young women (Don’t be surprised if you learn someday soon that Sage has started a Pep Band!)

There are indeed many things to celebrate, but rather than provide you a long laundry list of the many impressive things that our students and faculty have accomplished, I’ll focus on just a few. Please check sage.edu and follow Sage on Facebook to see the latest and greatest.

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Rally Day 2016 raised more money than any year in recent memory (over $5,000!) with funds donated to the Pride Center of the Capital District and Literacy Volunteers of Rensselaer County.

Twelve students presented their research at conferences this academic year and dozens participated in the Undergraduate Research Symposium on campus in April. This is a daylong event during which students present their original research within their departments in the morning, and via poster sessions and oral presentations in the afternoon.

Every semester, the Research Café offers an opportunity for faculty to celebrate and share their research in a relaxed environment. This semester’s presenters were Assistant Professor of Health Sciences Gail Hughes-Morey, Ph.D., presenting “Growth Disruption and Adult Mortality: The Deferred Consequences of Early-life Stress in Industrializing London,” and Sherman David Spector Professor of Modern International History & Politics Steven Leibo, Ph.D., presenting “21st Century Educational Reform: The Emergence of Big History.”

Whether it’s from a room filled with excited potential new students, faculty and students engaged in deep discussions regarding their research, or soon-to-be-graduates living out the principles addressed in our WORLD curriculum, Sage’s hallmark of producing Women of Influence is not just alive and well, but thriving. I am very proud, not only as a dean but as a fellow alumna, and I know you would be, too.

Wishing you all well as you Be, Know and Do MORE, Deborah Lawrence ’88 Dean, Russell Sage College

EDITOR Elizabeth Gallagher ART DIRECTOR Sarah Statham SGS ’08 CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Deanna Cohen Elizabeth Gallagher Lori Maki CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Tamara Hansen Matt Milless Allan Stern GRAPHIC DESIGNER Bethany Van Velsor THE SAGE COLLEGES OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS & PR 65 1st Street Troy, NY 12180 Tel: (518) 244-2246 connections@sage.edu | sage.edu

“To Be, To Know, To Do” Russell Sage College’s enduring motto

“Be. Know. Do. MORE” Tagline celebrating Russell Sage College’s 100-year legacy and its promising future

Mission Statement The mission and purpose of The Sage Colleges is to provide the individual student with the opportunity and means to develop and advance personally and professionally, and thus to be successful in achieving life goals; to contribute to the larger society a group of diverse, thoughtful and competent citizen-leaders who continue to be engaged in the pursuit of lifelong learning; and to translate learning into action and application, recognizing the obligation of educated persons to lead and to serve their communities.

About the Cover New banners on campus celebrate Russell Sage College’s Centennial year.

PRESIDENT’S PAGE

PRESIDENT SUSAN SCRIMSHAW, PH.D.

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

Troy Mayor Patrick Madden, Rensselaer County Executive Kathy Jimino, President Scrimshaw, New York State Senator Neil Breslin and Assemblyman John McDonald at the Sage Night Out celebration. Turn the page to see MORE photos >>>

High profile installations at the Albany International Airport and the AlbanyRensselaer Train Station will promote Sage’s educational legacy during the Centennial year. The installations include pillars in baggage claim, an illuminated wallscape and backlit dioramas at the airport, while a massive Sage banner hangs from the Amtrak station’s ceiling. It is all very impressive – both as an introduction to the Sage brand and as a point of pride for students and alumnae!

IN THE NEWS President Scrimshaw presided over the release of a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report, A Framework for Educating Health Professionals to Address the Social Determinants of Health in Washington, D.C., in March. She is co-chair of the National Academies’ Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education.

President Scrimshaw received the Champion of Public Health Award from the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health in March, and delivered the commencement address at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health in May.

The Downtown Troy Business Improvement District designated January 29 as Sage Night Out in honor of Russell Sage College’s Centennial. Hundreds gathered on campus to see Bush Memorial Center lit in green, and the celebration continued throughout the city. During a short program, New York State Assemblyman John McDonald and Senator Neil Breslin presented President Scrimshaw with a resolution passed by the state legislature recognizing Sage’s Centennial, and President Scrimshaw announced two bequest gifts that pushed the Centennial Campaign for Sage to over $48 million of its $50 million goal: $1.1 million from the estate of Helen Hamilton Clark ’41 will support campus needs and MORE than $3 million from the estate of Jane Wardwell Roberts ’50 will be used for the Aggie Stillman Endowed Scholarship Fund for Russell Sage College students.

ADVANCING SAGE Thank you for helping Sage set fundraising records! As of April, the Centennial Campaign for Sage raised $48,170,965 toward its $50 million goal!

The Sage Fund for Excellence’s Light Up the Logo challenge surpassed its goal to raise $3,000,000 for the annual fund, contributing to the Centennial Campaign’s progress.

Centennial Campaign $48,170,965 Light Up the Logo $3,173,244

Make a gift, follow the campaign’s progress, and watch for updates about special events at centennial.sage.edu.

CONNECTIONS spring 2016

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CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

Sage NIGHT OUT

The celebration took place on campus and throughout downtown Troy on January 29, 2016

Bush Memorial Center lit up in green.

Former member of The Sage Colleges Board of Trustees James Prout, J.D. [MBA, School of Management, 1987], Wendy Prout ’85, Marie Malsch and Michael Malsch, D.D.S., celebrate Sage.

Trustee Ronnye Berg Shamam ’64 and Trustee Chet Opalka and Karen Opalka.

Dominique Pizzo-Palumbo ’19 snaps a selfie with President Scrimshaw.

Karen Long ’88, Katie Madigan ’88, Debbie Mitchell McAllister ’83 and Tami Andrews Miller ’83 are green with glee.

Downtown businesses like Clement Frame Shop & Art Gallery (above), Collar City Sweet Shoppe (below, left) and Funcycled (below, right) offered Sage-centric specials.

President Scrimshaw and Jona Favreau ’08 [MBA, School of Management, 2011] of Troy Cloth & Paper hold the print studio’s Centennial-inspired poster during the festivities downtown.

President Scrimshaw with Edna Wells ’39, who came to campus to see Bush Memorial Center lit up in green.

Influenced

LIVES THAT

RUSSELL SAGE COLLEGE

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new installation in the Shea Learning Center, Lives of Influence, recognizes members of the Russell Sage College community whose lifetime achievements and affiliation with RSC have brought honor to the college. “As we celebrate our Centennial, we also celebrate the women and men who have helped Russell Sage reach this milestone,” said President Susan Scrimshaw.

Each month during the Centennial year, a placard dedicated to a notable alumna, faculty member or administrator of influence will be added, and their contributions to the college noted in subsequent issues of Connections.

DORIS CROCKETT DAVIE Doris Crockett Davie joined Russell Sage College at its founding in 1916 as secretary to President Eliza Kellas; she was the first administrative appointment made by Kellas and she remained part of the administration for 43 years, later serving as director of admission, registrar and dean.

Crockett registered the first student to enter Russell Sage College and was in contact with almost every student who attended Russell Sage during her four decades of service.

Her affection for students – and her phenomenal memory – was displayed each year as she handed graduates their diplomas, calling each by name without referencing notes.

The Russell Sage College archives are filled with testimonials to her, like this one, from former college historian Julia Patton, noting that Crockett’s “excellent general training, her instinctive tact and good taste, her common sense, and her quick humor all combined with a whole-hearted interest in [Russell Sage College] to make her one of the happiest finds that ever a college made.”

When Crockett retired in 1959, the Russell Sage College Alumnae Association established the Doris L. Crockett Medal, its highest honor, to recognize alumnae who demonstrate the same commitment to the college, as well as professional achievement or community service.

1916 | 2016

FREDERICKA “FREDDIE” VOORHAAR SLINGERLAND ’36 To paraphrase a citation read in her honor at the 1998 commencement, one of the reasons Russell Sage College continues to thrive with distinction and style is due to the tireless energy Fredericka Voorhaar Slingerland dedicated to the college, especially to its built environment.

A devoted alumna since she earned a degree in business administration at Russell Sage College, Slingerland joined The Sage Colleges Board of Trustees in 1973 and served with distinction for 15 years. She launched the first formal fundraising campaign in the college’s history during William Kahl’s presidency. On the Facilities committee and as chair of the Vail House Restoration Fund and the Alumnae House Endowment Fund, Slingerland did more than raise money to preserve the historic buildings on campus; she was known to don a hard hat and personally confer with architects and construction crews.

Her philanthropy extended to nature preserves, hospitals and schools throughout upstate New York and the National Society of Fund Raising Executives bestowed its Distinguished Service and Outstanding Philanthropist awards on Slingerland in 1987 and 1999.

Russell Sage College and the Alumnae Association recognized her seven decades of association with the college with several awards, including the Crockett Medal in 1991; an honorary Doctorate of Public Service in 1998; and the Board of Trustees Community Leadership Award in 2002.

Since 1999, Alumnae House has been known as the Fredericka Voorhaar Slingerland Alumnae House.

1920s

1916 1916

Doris Crockett Davie joined Russell Sage College as secretary to founding President Eliza Kellas.

DID YOU KNOW? Initially the college operated under the charter of the Emma Willard School, granting its first baccalaureate degree in 1918 and graduating its first class in 1920. In 1927, the New York State Board of Regents granted a separate charter for Russell Sage College and reaffirmed the status of Emma Willard as a secondary school.

1930s

1940s

Doris Crockett Davie remained part of the college administration for 43 years, serving as director of admission, registrar and dean.

1932-1936 Fredericka Voorhaar Slingerland majored in Business Administration at Russell Sage College.

1945-1949 Virginia Radley earned her bachelor’s degree at Russell Sage College.

VIRGINIA RADLEY, PH.D., ’49 After graduating from Russell Sage College, Virginia Radley earned two master’s degrees and a doctorate from the Universities of Rochester and Syracuse. She returned to Russell Sage in 1961, where for nearly 10 years she served as the dean of first-year students and associate dean of the college, English professor and department chair. Her books about Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Samuel Taylor Coleridge are respected by scholars everywhere. Radley went on to become provost for undergraduate education at the State University of New York’s central administration in the early 70s, and in 1978 was named president at SUNY Oswego, the first female president of a state university in New York. (Her colleagues expressed their pleasure at her appointment by distributing cigars marked “It’s a Girl.”) In 1981, Russell Sage College awarded an honorary doctorate degree to Radley and in 1984 the Alumnae Association bestowed the Crockett Medal on her.

After retiring from Oswego in 1992, Radley returned to Russell Sage College as a scholar in residence.

1950s

1960s

1970s

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1959: The Russell Sage College Alumnae Association established the Doris L. Crockett Medal to recognize alumnae who emulate Crockett’s commitment to the college.

DID YOU KNOW? During World War II, an “emergency men’s division” was created and in 1942 the first graduate degree was conferred. In 1949, an Albany Division opened, offering two-year, four-year and graduate degrees under the charter of Russell Sage College and extending the College’s mission to include the education of men on the second campus.

Sage Junior College of Albany received its own degree-granting powers in 1957.

1973-1988: Slingerland served on The Sage Colleges Board of Trustees. She was the first national chair of the annual fund and served as chair of the Physical Plant, Development, and Fine Arts Acquisition committees.

1961-1969: Virginia Radley returned to Russell Sage College as faculty member and administrator.

1981: Russell Sage College awarded an honorary degree to Virginia Radley.

1971 Aggie Stillman joined the faculty in the Physical Education department.

AGNES “AGGIE” STILLMAN, ED.D. When she came to Russell Sage in 1971 as a faculty member in Physical Education, it was love at first sight – Aggie Stillman for the college, and students for Aggie Stillman. Physical education majors from those early years will never forget her classes in bowling and folk dancing. She coached RSC’s softball and tennis teams and became transfer student coordinator for RSC and later, coordinator of admission for the thenSage Evening College. In 1994 she earned a master’s degree in Library Science and was appointed associate professor of library science and director of the archives. For more than 20 years she was an academic advisor for Physical Education and “undecided” majors and she served as a first-year mentor for nearly as long. For Stillman, being a first-year mentor to a class meant a lifetime relationship with each of its members.

She taught introductory writing classes in the English department and during a sabbatical in 2001, she wrote a history of the Physical Education department at Sage. Aggie shared pieces of Russell Sage history in the popular “Ask Aggie” column in Connections. She was especially interested in Russell Sage College founder Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage and contributed to her published biography. Stillman received honorary rings from the Classes of 1979 and 1991 and was inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi honor society in 1996. She served repeatedly as a class advisor, including for the Golden Horseshoes of 2004 and 2008. She was an honorary Sagette and her favorite song (next to the alma mater) was “Seven Daffodils.”

(Adapted from a tribute by Jeanne Neff, published in the fall 2008 Connections.)

980s

Aggie Stillman, left, served repeatedly as class advisor. She is pictured with coadvisor for the Class of 2004, former Director of Academic Technology Phyllis Conroy.

2000s

1990s

2016 SHARE YOUR STORY

1991: Slingerland received the Crockett Medal.

1984: The Alumnae Association bestowed the Crockett Medal on Radley.

1999: Slingerland received an honorary doctorate degree.

1999: Fredericka Voorhaar Slingerland Alumnae House is dedicated.

1992: After a distinguished career in higher education, Radley returned to RSC as scholar in residence.

For more than 20 years Stillman was an academic advisor for Physical Education and “undecided” majors and served as a first-year mentor.

1994: Aggie Stillman was appointed Associate Professor of Library Science and Director of the Archives.

2000: Fredericka Voorhaar Slingerland delivered convocation address.

MORE than 38,000 graduates and hundreds of faculty and administrators are part of Russell Sage College’s history, and therefore its future.

Share your Sage story at: centennial.sage.edu/stories

2008: The multipurpose room in Robison Athletic and Recreation Center is named the Agnes C. Stillman Multipurpose Room, or “The Aggie.”

PLANNING “ALL THINGS CENTENNIAL”: Five Questions for Director of Special Events Mary Ellen Shea ary Ellen Shea is the liaison between Russell Sage College and the alumnae, student, community and steering committees planning the Centennial celebration. She gave Connections a peek at the planning and Centennial events to come.

Sage Night Out in January kicked off the Centennial year, and the energy at Centennial events during Reunion was incredible. I know there is MORE to come. Will you give us a preview?

The Tri-City Valley Cats will host Sage Night on Sunday, August 27 at which we’ll welcome first-year students. Alumnae are invited and a Sage notable will throw the first pitch!

The students will have their annual Spirit of Sage cruise in September, on board the Captain JP, and we’re looking at ways to make that special for them in this Centennial year.

SageFest is Saturday, September 24 on campus, and there will be a Sage Centennial 5K run/walk at 10 a.m. Registration is open to everyone! We’ll have commemorative Centennial t-shirts and prizes for the top finishers.

We have a really exciting speaker lined up for Founder’s convocation this fall, and we’ll announce more information soon. Noted journalist Paul Grondahl is writing a book celebrating Sage’s first 100 years, which should be published in time for the Founder’s celebration.

The Centennial Gala is the keystone celebration for the year, and will be held on Friday, October 21 in the Armory at Sage College of Albany. There will be live music, dining stations, cocktails and a silent auction.

Any proceeds from the gala will benefit the Sage Centennial Scholarship Fund.

There are several other activities planned up to the formal conclusion of the Centennial celebration at Commencement 2017. For more information – and a link to the MORE Store, offering a curated selection of commemorative merchandise – visit centennial.sage.edu.

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CONNECTIONS spring 2016

Who is involved in Sage’s Centennial?

The Steering Committee was selected by President Scrimshaw with representation from leaders throughout The Sage Colleges.

The committee is comprised of President Scrimshaw, Vice President of Institutional Advancement Melissa Komora, Vice President of Student Life Trish Cellemme ’90, Trustee Carrie Hillenbrandt, Former Trustee Janet Jones ’69 and Rose Grignon, executive assistant to President Scrimshaw. This committee serves as the final decision makers, with input from the college community, on all matters pertaining to the celebrations. A larger Centennial Community Committee includes members from all walks of college life.

Joyce Isabelle ’88 is chair of the Alumnae Centennial Committee and Andriana White ’17 and Candace Rose ’17 are co-chairs of the Student Centennial Committee.

What would you like to see come from the Centennial celebration?

I think if we can continue to position The Sage Colleges in the public eye as an institution that not only celebrates our history, but is actively planning for the next 100 years, that’s a success. That we are known for nurturing future leaders, that’s a win, and that we, as a college, celebrate and embrace our place in the Capital Region, the city of Troy, and globally.

Is there anything that you would like to add?

I’d like to thank all of the individuals who I’ve been working with to plan all things Centennial. Everyone has been unfailingly supportive and generous with their time and resources. Successful events don’t happen in a silo, and the Centennial celebrations can’t happen without the full support of the entire Sage community, which I’ve received, and then some!

Please give us a glimpse behind the scenes. When did the committees start work? How were priorities decided?

What has been most exciting?

I was brought in toward the end of January 2015, at which point the Steering and Community committees had already been formed, and the Steering Committee had identified some signature events based on staff, faculty, student and alumnae input.

Planning the gala has been the most exciting for me with finalizing the band, caterer and florist, but checking off the boxes on all of the logistics for all the events has been enormously satisfying.

One of the most enjoyable elements of planning the events has been finding out how excited the students are. They have formed a Student Centennial Committee and are recruiting fellow students to volunteer at the 5K, the annual donor reception and the Gala.

The same can be said about alumni from both campuses. They have embraced the planned events, and are working hard to assist with all aspects of the Centennial.

For a link to the MORE Store, offering a selection of commemorative merchandise, visit centennial.sage.edu

Women’s Basketball Captures Regular Season Skyline Championship Sage’s Women’s Basketball team won the 2015-16 Skyline Regular Season Championship – a first for the program – in February, after an impressive 15-1 campaign in the league.

During the season, the Gators set a program mark for most consecutive wins after reeling off 15 victories in December and January, and for most wins in a season (21, up from 18 last year).

Second-year head coach Allison Coleman was named Skyline Conference Coach of the Year; Emily Parlsow ’19 was named conference Co-Rookie of the Year; Gen Schoff ’18 earned a spot on the Skyline Conference First Team; and Frankie Pearson ’17 earned Skyline Conference Second Team honors.

MORE athletics news at sagegators.com.

DCAMPUS SPOTLIGHT

FACULTY ACCOLADES MORE at sage.edu/spotlight Rayane AbuSabha, Ph.D., associate professor, Nutrition Science, served as an expert outside consultant for the Nutrition and Dietetics program at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon; as an expert outside reviewer for the Dietetics and Nutrition program at the University of Technology in Kingston, Jamaica; and as a lead program reviewer for the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics and the first-in-line reviewer of the new B.S. and M.S. dietetic standards. She published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and presented at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Food and Nutrition Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, and at the University of Technology in Jamaica.

Articles by Kathleen Gormley, Ph.D., professor, Literacy, and Peter McDermott, Ph.D., of Pace University, appeared in The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Psychology and LanguageBased Approaches to Support Reading Comprehension. They presented on digital literacies to the New York State Reading Association in Saratoga Springs, New York, and to the International Literacy Association in St. Louis.

“Mindfulness Based Conflict Resolution” by Laurae Coburn, Ph.D., associate professor, Professional School Counseling, appeared in the Journal of National Social Science Proceedings. She presented on the same topic for the New York State School Counselor Association.

Kristi LaMonica, Ph.D., assistant professor, Biology, received a grant from the Bender Scientific Fund of The Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region to support her work identifying novel zebrafish craniofacial mutants from a mutagenesis screen.

Kathleen Donnelly, Ph.D., professor emerita, Chemistry, wrote Women of Influence: Honorary Alumnae of Russell Sage College of The Sage Colleges, published by Troy Book Makers.

“The Role of District Office Leaders in the Adoption and Implementation of the Common Core State Standards in Elementary Schools,” coauthored by Francesca Durand, Ph.D., assistant professor, Educational Leadership, appeared in Educational Administration Quarterly in February.

“Three Songs to Kateri,” a sequence of three narrative poems by Elizabethe Kelley, Ph.D., associate professor, English & Modern Languages, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by the editor of Yellow Medicine Review, a respected journal of “indigenous literature, art and thought.”

Guidelines for Successful Transition of People with Behavioral Health Disorders from Jail and Prison: Implementation Guide by Maureen McLeod, Ph.D., professor, History & Society, is forthcoming from the National GAINS Center of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Gayle Skawennio Morse

Julie Guay McIntyre

Gayle Skawennio Morse, Ph.D., associate professor, Psychology, Julie Guay McIntyre, Ph.D., associate professor, Psychology, and Jeff King of Western Washington University contributed “Positive Psychology in American Indians” to the Handbook of Positive Psychology in Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups: Theory, Research, Assessment and Practice,

published by the American Psychological Association. Morse also contributed to a pilot study to evaluate work habits associated with graduate dissertation and thesis completion presented at the American Psychological Association annual convention in Toronto in 2015.

Refugee Nuns, the French Revolution, and British Literature and Culture by Tonya Moutray, Ph.D., associate professor, English & Modern Languages, was published by Ashgate Press.

“Brandy, You’re a Fine Name: Popular Music and the Naming of Infant Girls from 19651985,” by Michelle Napierski-Prancl, Ph.D., associate professor, Sociology, was accepted for publication in Studies in Popular Culture.

John J. Pelizza, Ph.D., associate professor, Health Education, spoke on leadership, change, productivity, team building and personal growth for the Columbia County Department of Social Services, Carthage Central School District, LeadingAge Oregon and several other organizations.

Stephen Schechter, Ph.D., professor, Political Science, completed three years of work as editorin-chief of the Encyclopedia of American Governance. Macmillan published the encyclopedia in print and online in February, in cooperation with Cengage and Gale. The encyclopedia was a huge undertaking, with more than 400 authors writing nearly 750 entries and more than 2,000 pages across five volumes.

Schechter led an editorial board, associate publisher, five associate editors, three senior development editors and three copy editors.

The distinguishing feature of the encyclopedia is its breadth, including not only government institutions and policies, but how Americans govern themselves in their individual conduct and collective action in families, civic associations, workplaces, political parties, communities and civil society.

CONNECTIONS spring 2016

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DDOING MORE

ALUMNAE PROFILES

BEST DRESSED ON BROADWAY: Costume Designer Elivia Bovenzi Makes an Impact Early in Her Career

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livia Bovenzi ’09 added a Broadway production to her impressive resume in 2015, when she worked alongside the renowned costume designer Catherine Zuber on the revival of Fiddler on the Roof.

“It was my first time working on a Broadway show,” said Bovenzi, “I was the principal swatcher, meaning I was the one who went to all the stores and made the first round of decisions for fabrics. I would bring everything I found and then Cathy would choose which fabrics, colors and prints she wanted to use for the costumes.”

Bovenzi has also recently been costume designer for New York Shakespeare Exchange’s production of Titus Andronicus and for productions at the New York International Fringe Festival and Ars Nova.

She designed giant lobster heads and claws that dressed Cole Haan window mannequins in Rockefeller Center and throughout Manhattan last spring, and her work has been mentioned in The New York Times.

“Since high school I had always wanted to do fashion design. I was always doodling on the sides of my biology notes,” said the Musical Theatre graduate who attended Russell Sage College after being involved with the New York State Theatre Institute as a teenager.* “It was my first year at Sage when I took an Intro to Theater Design class that I knew what my true passion was. It was the perfect marriage of my two loves.”

Bovenzi’s mom taught her to sew and she “learned a ton about garment construction and alterations, pattern drafting and more,” during a Theatre Institute internship while studying at RSC. While she has pulled costumes from existing stock and shopped off the rack to dress a character, “for big Broadway shows like Fiddler on the Roof, we pretty much built everything. Obviously, that is the ideal situation because the clothes will look exactly how you’ve designed them.”

Sometimes, getting a specific look requires unconventional materials, like wallpaper, which she used to make Elizabethan ruffs for Shakespeare’s Richard II. “It was fun to experiment with different ways we could use the wallpaper to make various styles. I also made wigs out of white buckram – a stiff material that usually is used to make hats,”

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CONNECTIONS spring 2016

she said. “For Seussical, I used those brightly colored mesh shower loofahs for the Bird Girl tail feathers! A way cheaper and durable alternative to using real feather boas.”

Elivia Bovenzi’s handsome costume design enhances character, too, dressing Tamora in black leather pants and Lavinia in ballerina’s tulle. The burlap-look disguises that Tamora and her sons wear, posing as visitations from hell, are inspired and actually witty. Heaven knows these people can use a few laughs.

– Anita Gates, reviewing New York Shakespeare Exchange’s production of Titus Andronicus in The New York Times, February 2, 2015

“You’ve got to love what you do,” said Bovenzi of making it in the competitive New York City theatre world. “It’s very hard work, and we all spend years moving up the ladder to bigger and better opportunities.”

Since Fiddler opened in December 2015, she’s continued to work as an assistant to Catherine Zuber on several projects, and she is also designing New York Shakespeare Exchange’s spring production, Hamlet10, with 10 actors – men and women of diverse ethnicities, ranging from 20s through middle age – playing all the roles, and all portraying Hamlet at some point throughout the show.

MORE From Elivia On Studying Theatre at Russell Sage College: “We were surrounded by professors and theater professionals who were nurturing and encouraging. I was given a lot of opportunities that I might not have gotten in a larger program …

My advisor and voice teacher Associate Professor of Creative & Performing Arts Michael Musial really invests in students and he has been a wise and encouraging mentor even after graduation.

Her Creative Process: “I find that inspiration comes from having conversations with the director and other designers on the team ... Once we have a solid direction to pursue, I start researching using books, magazines, historical clothing in museums and my go-to: Pinterest! It’s a great research tool and it’s easy to keep everything organized.”

Her Advice for New Grads in any Field: Almost every job that I’ve had since grad school has been found through word-of-mouth connections. It’s very important to work hard and be reliable … people will want to hire you again!

* When NYSTI – which had operated on campus – closed, Sage took over its mission to provide professional, educational theatre in upstate New York. Today, the Theatre Institute at Sage attracts thousands of theatre-lovers to campus with acclaimed productions, classes and camps.

DOING MORE IN RETIREMENT: Joanne Hachmann Evans ’71, MEd, RN, PMHCNS-BC

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dvanced practice nurse Joanne Evans’ 45-year career has included a gun shot and stab wound unit at Boston City Hospital; a small intensive care unit, “actually a home that had been converted to a hospital,” near a New Hampshire ski resort, where she could notify the hospital where she planned to ski each day and they would contact her if a patient arrived; community mental health emergency programs in the Washington, D.C., metro region; and several roles in nurse outreach and education at nursing schools and advisory boards.

After formally retiring from the American Nurses Credentialing Center where she was assistant director of the Credentialing Knowledge Center, Evans is as active in the profession as ever. She is founder of a business that delivers plant-based nutrition education; a popular speaker and writer on plant-based nutrition research; a frequent volunteer with medical missions in the U.S. and abroad; and she is writing a book on the contributions retired nurses are making across the country.

HEALTHY NURSES Nurses are role models of health, Evans said, who must address their own health challenges if they are to effectively counsel others. That conviction motivated her to gradually eliminate meat, fish and dairy from her diet after a medical diagnosis in 2000.

Her condition improved and her experience inspired her to pursue a certificate in plantbased nutrition from eCornell.

Evans had been an adjunct nursing professor in the D.C. area and an emergency room nurse in a community hospital before she developed educational programs at ANCC for nurses certifying in their specialty. She also began working as a nurse planner with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine on international conferences, a nutrition website for nurses, and a food journal. She eventually developed a plantbased nutrition educational program; when she first delivered the program to a nursing organization, 86 percent of the participants lost weight and there was an average cholesterol drop of 24 points (and up to 59 points) in three weeks.

In 2014, Evans retired from the ANCC and launched Healthy Nurses … Healthy

Communities LLC, through which she facilitates programs for those interested in addressing heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol and other chronic conditions through a plant-based nutrition program.

She has spoken at dozens of conferences and workplaces, including the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, American Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists, American Psychiatric Nurses Association and Stanford Health Care. “I recently completed a study with a local university’s nursing faculty on a 21-day plant-based program, and I am finalizing an article for publication, encouraging nursing schools to provide more education on how to use food to address chronic disease instead of medication,” she said. “Will Your Next Prescription be for the Farmers Market or the Pharmacy” appeared in the journal of the American Holistic Nurses Association and she has another article in review with the American Journal of Nursing.

HEALTHY COMMUNITIES Throughout her career, Evans has been an informal nurse-ambassador to the international health care community from Japan to South Africa, and a medical volunteer in developing countries and U.S. communities affected by natural disasters.

Nursing Spectrum honored her twice, for her ongoing participation in medical missions to the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Jamaica and for her work in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. After Katrina, Evans worked with people who had lost their homes. She’ll never forget a bus ride with displaced residents through their devastated former neighborhoods. “I was reminded of the strength of the human spirit and the coping ability of those who had lost so much.”

She is looking forward to a Spanish language immersion trip to Panama this July. It is a trip designed to give U.S. nurses a global perspective of health care and Evans is consulting on the continuing education component the trip.

NURSES OF INFLUENCE After retiring from full-time work at the ANCC, Evans returned part time, to work on a recognition program for retired nurses. She and a colleague are now inspired to write a book about the contributions of retired nurses across the country. “This phase of life, called retirement, has opened up so many new opportunities,” writes the mother of three and grandmother of three, whose next adventure is to travel across the country in an RV. “Being retired has also allowed me to focus on the nursing projects I feel most passionate about, including education, volunteering and promoting a healthy lifestyle, and of course spending time with family and friends.”

Find out MORE about Joanne Evans’ work at http://healthynurseshealthycommunities.net

Russell Sage College was the perfect school for me. I made lifelong friends, as there is still a group of about 10 of us that have been getting together annually for over 40 years. I learned about a nursing career that encouraged me to take risks, empowered me to influence my community, allowed me to discover my strengths, and to apply what I learned for the future … classes were small and I had faculty that were supportive. Associate Professor of Nursing Mary Johnson was the best faculty for me: She encouraged, supported and challenged me while I was a student and I will always be grateful.

PHOTO: Joanne Evans, second from right, with friends from the Class of 1971 at their annual get-together.

CONNECTIONS spring 2016

11

DALUMNAE ASSOCIATION

PRESIDENT ANNIE IWANICKI ’86

A

few months ago, the Alumnae Association board had the privilege of joining the conversation of how our institution should be branded as we head into our second century. We started the session reflecting on the transformative experience that defines a Russell Sage education. Not all of us did the same things when we were at Russell Sage but we share affection for and a commitment to the college’s flourishing.

Spending time on campus has shown me that the college is indeed flourishing. Today’s students are bright, capable and achieving great things even before they receive their degrees.

They are passionate young women dedicated to improving the world and leaving their indelible mark on our institution.

RSCAA EVENTS COMING UP July 17 | Boothbay Harbor, Maine Lobsterfest July 20 | Saratoga Springs, N.Y. New York City Ballet at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

Dinner at the Hall of Springs prior to performance August 17 | Saratoga Springs, N.Y. A Day at Saratoga Race Course September 10 | Chicago, Ill. Founder’s Luncheon and Centennial Celebration at the Admiral at the Lake

In this defining period in our alma mater’s history, I realize that the legacy of Russell Sage College is in our collective hands. A legacy is something that is handed down from one generation to the next. The Russell Sage degree benefits our lives from the amazing memories shared from our days on campus, the relationships we have built and the successful careers we enjoy. The fruits of our education … leading, succeeding and continuing to learn, are what we must protect and pass on to countless generations moving forward. It is our responsibility to protect the significance of our alma mater. It is up to us to keep our women’s college relevant, available and accessible.

We hope this year’s Centennial celebration is the genesis to rekindle your desire to reconnect to our alma mater. We need your help with: Referrals: refer a donor, a friend, or a student to Russell Sage; Respond: help the college by engaging with prospective students; Show pride: talk up RSC and weave your Sage story into conversations with others to bolster name recognition.

These are things that we may take for granted. We may think that everyone around us already knows about Russell Sage but there is much work to be done. As alumnae we are part of Russell Sage forever and we are charged with handing down our values of empowering women and fostering their independence to each successive generation of women.

Join me in celebrating 100 years of educating women,

ALUMNAE EVENTS

Troy-area alumnae celebrated Earth Day at a terrarium workshop in April.

12

CONNECTIONS spring 2016

MaryAnn Publicover Kniska ’91 organized a painting social for alumnae near Longmeadow, Massachusetts, in April.

Several former student-athletes returned to campus for an alumnae basketball game in January.

DALUMNAE ASSOCIATION

EVENTS

Visit centennial.sage.edu for MORE photos of gatherings from California to New York.

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS

ROCHESTER

LOS ANGELES LA-area alumnae gathered at the home of Anne Heffernan Pomeroy ’75.

SAN DIEGO

Lisa Martone ’01 and Jeanne Stickney ’69 (standing) and Claudia Basile ’85, Jill Frank ’87 and Jane Walsh ’80 (seated).

NEW YORK CITY

San Diego-area alumnae gathered at Adobe El Restaurante at the Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa.

Shirley Dreifus ’64, guest Patrizia Sicari and Tammy Pate, Ed.D. [Esteves School of Education, 2015].

BOSTON

NEW YORK CITY Trustee Eileen Goldblatt ’67, Susan Scrimshaw and Former Trustee Lynn Abraham ’73.

Danielle Wiegand [Esteves School of Education, 2013], Pamela Svec ’70, Susan Capanno ’79 and Barbara Thomas ’63.

PHOENIX

BOSTON

BOSTON

Elizabeth Nahley Badalamenti ’87 and Francine Ebersman ’79.

Linda Myers ’60, Mo Flanagan ’60, Trustee Julia Greenstein ’78 and her husband, Paul Bleicher.

Faith Rubin ’67, Malcolm Davis, Shelly Calabrese, Louise Stebbins ’65 and her husband, John.

CONNECTIONS spring 2016

13

CLASS NOTES

1936

Please send your news to: connections@sage.edu

1937

Please send your news to: connections@sage.edu

1938

Please send your news to: connections@sage.edu

1939

Please send your news to: Polly “Pauline” Soper Minehan, 671 Lakeside Circle #323, Pompano Beach, FL 33060; 954-783-7733

1940

Please send your news to: Elizabeth “Betty” Cummings, 6 Church Street, West Boylston, MA 01583-1603; 508-835-3774; beamancummings@charter.net

1941 |

REUNION

Please send your news to: connections@sage.edu

1942

Please send your news to: connections@sage.edu

1943

Please send your news to: Muriel L. Wilhelm, 35 Schooner Apt. 314, Damariscotta, ME 04543; 207-563-0218

Vera Cohen Lee has had another trip to Cuba and is working on a graphic novel about a robot. She has the story but needs a cartoonist. Vera confesses, “My attempts at drawing are miserable.” I doubt there is anything that Vera does that she doesn’t excel at, but, no harm in asking, are there any cartoonists out there? Remember, Sage girls stand together!

I, Ann Heddens Kingston, hope all of you are doing well. Keep those cards and letters coming!

Please send your news to: Ann Heddens Kingston, 645 Ridge View Drive, Louisville, CO 80027-3295; 303-604-6408; ignatz1130@gmail.com

1944

1947

Please send your news to: connections@sage.edu

Please send your news to: Sylvia Saarnijoki, 24 Holly House Court #4A, Litchfield, CT 06759-3640; 860-567-5271

1945

1948

Please send your news to: connections@sage.edu

1946 |

REUNION

With sadness we heard that Ellen Willbach Welber passed away in 2015.

Barbara Pierce Duke wrote a cheery message from her retirement center in Pompton Plains, NJ. I’ll quote most of what Barbara sent: “Life here at Cedar Crest is the perfect place for me to be. While we number about 2,000 active, interesting 14

folks, at no time does one feel crowded since our campus is so stretched out.

Residents provide an amazing panoply of talent and experiences and many of them even share in our Elderhostel program of 45 classes each semester! I continue as a shepherd with a small group of quilters, focusing on small quilts for children, lap robes, small wall hangings, etc. While Holly is maintaining a professional career as a mental health counselor, the other three are now retired from teaching.

Linda is working with a youth group at church and always busy creating greeting cards, quilting and knitting. Dennis has also joined the group of retired family members, retiring from GE, and he and Wendy are planning to play more golf and travel in 2016. Teri and Jim were cruising around Cuba in January. Teri continues her involvement with vocal students at Longwood University. My grandkids are healthy and comfortably employed.”

CONNECTIONS spring 2016

Please send your news to: Suzanne Freedman Juster, Pacifica Forest Trace, 5500 NW 69th Ave. Apt. 577, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33319; 954-722-5567; isjuster@aol.com

1949

Wallace Curley ’50 shared memories of Lady Ricker Rucinski, who passed away in 2015. Wallace wrote that she was an accomplished dancer who toured with the great Martha Graham and later gave modern dance instruction at high schools. She

even ran on the Republican ticket in Albany County for sheriff. Wallace wrote, “She just did everything … The lady is gone but she will not be forgotten by those who knew and loved the person she was.”

Marjorie “Midge” Schwartz Lewis shared “David [her son] and his team at WNYC have just won a duPont/Columbia award. We’re so pleased and very proud.” I called her and we had a great conversation mostly about politics and we were in substantial agreement. Wonder how you are all weathering the current situation? And we thought we had seen it all!

Harriet “Hattie” Blank Lapkin wrote, “I had a visit last week from a Sage representative and I learned a lot about what Sage has been doing and how it has changed since we were there. I guess we really are antiques, but she made me feel really proud about what Sage is offering now.” Harriet added, “Our granddaughter is studying abroad for two years in Hungry, Romania, Poland and France and is doing research for people who were in the Resistance.”

A surprise picture on Facebook was of Marian Hochsprung Barney having dinner with friends on Sanibel Island. She was instantly recognizable and as pretty as when we all knew her.

Trying to track down Betty Wiesner, I called Marjorie Naylon Constantine who was looking forward to a salon appointment!

Stay tuned.

Please send your news to: Elizabeth “Jay” Lee Warren, 46 West 25th Ave., Spokane, WA 99203; 509-995-1928; billandjay@ hotmail.com

1950

Sadly there have been several class members who have passed away. Sage was recently made aware of Patricia Linehan Redmond’s death on January 1, 2012.

We extend to her family and friends our sympathy.

We note with sorrow the unexpected death of Mary Jane “M.J.” Sunderland Dryden on October 3, 2015 and we send our sympathy to her family and friends. According to a letter that Betty Caldwell Selling received from M.J.’s daughter, M.J. had played cards that afternoon and then went shopping and collapsed from what was possibly a pulmonary embolism. M.J. and her husband traveled extensively and she enjoyed being active as a lighthouse docent, member of the Garden Club, Newcomers Club,

CLASS NOTES Friendship Force and mentor at the Glynn County School. She was a veteran tennis player and swimmer. She won a gold medal in swimming last year at the Senior Olympics.

Hannelore “Lorie” Bremser Dunne broke her leg and was hospitalized for a week. Her daughter and family live nearby and help her.

They have had weddings, graduations and grandchildren, all of which bring Lorie much happiness.

Vida Branz Hellmann is in a nursing home in Fall River, MA. She is near family and commented on “sharing the joys of family endeavors” and “time brings changes of all sorts.”

Barbara Bliss Bugbee moved to an assisted living facility near her daughter in Dallas.

Ruth Butler Johnstone moved to an assisted living facility in Massena, NY, due to a major stroke and mobility problems.

Dorothy “Dottie” Oates Benenati has been in touch with Lorie Dunne, Mary Desposati Kline and Helen “Mickie” Miklas. Mickie has been in a nursing home for years and Dottie keeps in touch with her through Mickie’s nurse.

Elizabeth “Betty” Caldwell Selling has been in touch with Virginia “Ginny” Larson Henriksen over the years. Betty and Bob still live in their house near their two sons and families.

Pricilla Perkins Wilson lives in Grafton, VT, surrounded by dirt roads, mountains and streams. She keeps busy with the activities at the women’s community club and the local chapter of the DAR. Walking in all kinds of weather is fine with her.

Margery Reinhardt Helm volunteers with Meals on Wheels and in the church food pantry. She plays bridge a few times a week.

Audrey Carlson Hunt had spinal surgery and keeps busy with a bridge group, Silver Sneakers, church and condo activities.

Adele Barrett enjoys retirement in Florida.

She keeps busy with visits from her nieces.

Diane Bault Demille attended her granddaughter’s wedding in the fall. Di’s son performed with the band, singing and playing his guitar.

Elizabeth “Betty” Ward Harrison broke her hip and needed to be hospitalized.

Roberta Ressler Shane is busy playing bridge and attending concerts.

Mary “Des” Desposati Kline was invited to a nephew’s destination wedding but hesitated due to a recent broken pelvis. Thankfully, with the help of her son-in-law and daughter it was off to Puerto Rico for the wedding and family reunion, which included a West Point graduate back from Iraq, a grandson who is a member of the New York City Police Department, and a granddaughter who is a nurse.

I, Barbara “Bret” Movsky appreciate the information from classmates. Hopefully there will continue to be updates by other members of the Class of 1950, too!

Please send your news to: Bret Movsky, 221 Warrington Drive, Rochester, NY 14618; 585244-7095; brmovsky@yahoo.com

1951 |

REUNION

Jeanne “Randy” Randall Mader spends winter in Florida. She has cut down on physical activities but still attends movies and raves about the beautiful Florida sunsets.

Elnora “Ellie” Mosher Peters has lived in Texas and Arizona. Eventually she and her husband moved back to Amsterdam, NY, and opened a business. Ellie donated 43 acres to the Mohawk-Hudson Land Conservancy. The land, now known as Mosher Marsh, is open to the public for hiking.

Harriet “Pot” Potter Defranco is pleased that her daughter and son-in-law bought a house 45 minutes away from her in Florida. She plays golf and bridge several times a week.

Congratulations Marie Corrado! She was inducted into the Nassau County Athletics Hall of Fame. Re had a hip replacement and is recovering nicely.

Members of the Class of 1951 at Class Day. This is the last Class Notes column in an attempt to communicate with as many Class of 1951 members as possible prior to our 65th Reunion and the 100th anniversary of Sage. This was an adventure for me and I am happy that I did it. Thanks to all of you who talked with me and gave our classmates a chance to catch up with you. Hope I got at least some of what you shared correct.

My Sage Sister, Pat Walker Mulholland ’53, was a great support and her husband, Jack, helped make it fun. Rose and I plan to get

out a letter in the spring to encourage as many of us who can to come to Reunion.

Enid Howitt Rose called me back when I left a message on her voicemail. She has had to struggle a bit. Her husband died when he was 31, leaving her with three children, the youngest 5 months old. She supported her family by teaching speech, then getting an MLS from William Paterson University and working as an elementary school librarian for 25 years. Now retired, she stays active doing Zumba! We talked about her being in French House even though she was a Speech major. She spoke French so well she was able to live there. We had noticed the passing of Pat Law Jones in the last Connections. Enid knew Pat from taking classes together. I knew Pat from Van Der Heyden. We so enjoyed her as a friend and were saddened to learn of her death. Enid and her daughter have become interested in genealogy. They have looked up their family ancestry for several generations and found that they are related to a children’s author … a fact she wished she had known when she was working as a children’s librarian.

Maurine Smith lives on Cape Cod. She was laughing about a native Californian retiring and living in Massachusetts. After she earned a graduate degree at Sage, she returned to California to teach high school physical education at a Dominican school near San Francisco. She returned east to take a job at Vassar. While there, Virginia Harvey and a few others from Sage traveled to Poughkeepsie to offer her a job at Sage.

She took it and stayed 16 years, becoming head of the Physical Education department before she retired.

Mariette “Smiley” Methe has retired to Henderson, NV. When she graduated from Sage she worked in New York for a short time. She then went to work for the government and had a wonderful life working in offices around the world. She mentioned Okinawa, Japan. She stays active and well.

Sally Norris Douglass and I talk fairly often.

We share grandmother stories. Sally has a talented granddaughter, Paige. She told Sally that she “admired her” because Sally’s socks and shirts always match. We both use canes for balance. Paige painted an old cane bright pink, put sparkly figures representing members of Sally’s family on it and gave it to Sally for Christmas. I forgot to ask Sally if she has a set of bright pink socks and a shirt to match the cane.

Joyce Hobbs Schirm called from West CONNECTIONS spring 2016

15

CLASS NOTES Hartford. She said that she taught physical education in New York state for 13 years after graduation, then got married and was a stay at home mom with three children.

Joyce has lived in her home for most of her life, since she was 7 years old. She currently lives with her daughter and her daughter’s significant other. Her daughter has recently been in Boston for cell transplants to treat myeloma. Joyce said she is doing well. She stays active going to the gym twice a week, doing yoga and singing in the church choir.

She has sung in this choir for many years and enjoys it. She had talked with Faith Meyer. Faith fell in December and broke her left femur and is currently doing rehab.

I, Jane McKersie, have been so lucky to have Sage Sisters who have remained friends throughout these many years. I mentioned Pat Walker Mulholland my freshman Sage Sister who is class correspondent for the Class of 1953. Missy Chapin Tobakos ’49 is my junior Sage Sister. She and her husband, Frank, remain in reasonable health. Frank has Parkinson’s. They go to their summer cottage each year. Their children set it up for them and close it down come fall. Missy said that life is good. If you remember, Frank played football for RPI. Red jersey number 51! Missy was junior Sage Sister to Bobby Zeigler Pollard. Bobby writes to me every so often with news articles about our nephew Bill McKersie who is superintendent of schools in Greenwich, CT, where Bobby lives.

Cynthia Tepper wrote, “I am looking forward to the Class of 1951 Reunion. As of now I am well and hanging in. Old age is not for the weak.”

Hope to see many of you at Reunion. Give me a call or email when you can.

Please send your news to: Jane McKersie; 978-551-3786; jadmck5@gmail.com

1952

Joy Fellerman Silverstein wrote, “Larry and I are still enjoying our home in Boca Raton.

If there are any alumnae in the area, I would love to hear from you and maybe have a mini-reunion. My Big Sister Roberta Ressler Shane lives in the same community as we do and we get to see her frequently. I have a bridge game with her three times a week.

I am still playing tennis at least four times a week … Our three children and 10 grandkids are doing just fine. Our oldest grandson is doing a residency in orthopedic surgery. He is now in his third year and was married last December. His three sisters (triplets) are all 16

CONNECTIONS spring 2016

in medical school. Actually all our grandkids are doing just fine. They are wonderful about coming to visit the ‘old folks.’ I do miss my roommate Debbie Klein Schwartz, who passed away last year. Every time I make a peanut butter sandwich, I think of her. She used to eat it right from the jar. Hope to hear from my fellow ‘Yellow Jackets.’”

Keep in mind that 2017 will be a Reunion year for us!

Please send your news to: Mary Ellen Falter Davie, 27 Freedom Pond Lane, N. Chili, NY 14514; 585-617-5123; rpdavie@rochester. rr.com

1953

Pat Walker Mulholland ’53, Judy Spain Taber ’53 and Jean Twiss Harris ’53 at their annual luncheon in Fort Myers, FL, in March.

I, Pat Walker Mulholland, had a nice surprise today. Jean Myiner Wolz called me. I wish more of you would do that. We had a nice chat. We talked about Sage and some of the gals who were in her Chemistry class: Ginny Emmons Wall, Jean Twiss Harris, Audrey DeSmidt Benson and Carolyn Welcher VanNess. Jean is a new great-grandmother to Isaac Paul Miller (Isaac for the Old Testament and Paul for the New.) Her son is a captain for American Airlines and tries to bid on assignments that take him to Florida so he can visit his mother and dad. In March, Jean and another gal chaired the annual St. Patrick’s Day party for their block. It was a potluck with a piano player and games.

We chatted a few minutes about the signs of aging like dry eyes and other sundry problems. We had a good laugh and I hung up with a smile on my face.

I do not have an email address or telephone number for Eunice Spokesfield Bickford, Majorie Deane Corlett, Mary Lou Cronin, Joan Gallagher, Diana Kay Johnson, Sophia Kirtsopoulos Lambros, Mary Cavanaugh Peek, Margaret King Rissleberger, Judy Tull Wagner, Patricia Wall, Carol Spiegelberg Weeks or Carolyn Dobbs White. I would appreciate it if, when you read this column,

you call me or send me your current phone number or email address. It would make my job as corresponding secretary easier.

Please send your news to: Patricia Walker Mulholland, 1013 Sassafrass Circle, Bloomington, IN 47408; 812-334-2457; jmulholl@indiana.edu

1954

Daphne Williams Robinson wrote, “I am still very active despite my senior years. I am music director of Hartwell United Methodist Church in Cincinnati, OH. I sing in one or two community choirs and at my ripe old age am still able to sing first soprano. My husband Ernest will celebrate his 90th birthday this year. We celebrated our 57th anniversary on March 29. Our five grandchildren range in age from 13-32. All of our children and grandchildren live in Cincinnati. I am active in a number of organizations, one being the graduate chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. It was founded in 1908 and is the first college based sorority established by and for African American women.”

Please send your news to: Leila Berkowitz Schwartz, 12 Crescent Street, Box 688, Lake Luzerne, NY 12846; 518-696-3908

1955

Please send your news to: Vee McEvoy Lindberg, 5100 Highbridge Street Apt. 22C, Fayetteville, NY 13066; 315-632-6133; pvlindberg@twcny.rr.com

1956 | REUNION

Please send your news to: Carol Davis Winston, 35 Dunbar Road, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33418; 561-625-5910; carwins@comcast.net

1957

Sadly we have lost another classmate.

Virginia “Ginny” Halbrook Peattie passed away on February 17. Our condolences to her husband, Bill, and family.

Please send your news to: Irma J. Wilhelm, 43 Young Road, Augusta, ME 04330; 207-622-9344; Ijwilhelm@aol.com

1958

Please send your news to: Millicent Clayton Hull, 1332 Atterberry Road, Sequim, WA 98382; 360-504-1149; MMCH21@juno.com Dorothy Muller Frost, 230 Lake Drive,

CLASS NOTES North Bennington, VT 05257; 802-4422997; dotsyfrost@yahoo.com

1965

Diann Allan Billing, 46 Mallard Drive, Hackettstown, NJ 07840-2836; 973-9624648; dbilling@verizon.net

1959

Judith Cochran Glenn lives in San Carlos, CA, and stays active playing pickle ball, gardening and volunteering at a cat shelter.

Please send your news to: Karolyn Wentzel Nealon, 3310 Longbow Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15235-5135; 412-824-2558; jhnealon@ verizon.net

1960

Dot Diehl Danforth directs a monthly talk show on her local PBS television station and will be hosting her own show beginning in the fall! Congratulations, Dot! Please send your news to: Katherine Diamond, 793 Ashbury Street, San Francisco, CA 94117; kathryn@ kathryndiamond.net

1961 |

REUNION

Please send your news to: Sandra Houck Tiedemann, 272 Patrice Terrace, Williamsville, NY 14221-3922; 716-632-6756; sjtstitches@aol.com

1962

Please send your news to: Carolyn Cogan Garter, 13657 Whippet Way West, Delray Beach, FL 33484-1569; 561-498-3093; ccggrandma@yahoo.com

1963

Please send your news to: Jean Hunt Evoy, 1596 NW Goathill Street, Arcadia, FL 34266; jevoy@bio.miami.edu Carol Carpenter Michels, 160 Barley Neck Road Box 396, East Orleans, MA 02643; ccmichels@aol.com Mary “Marcie” Schukoske Woodward, 10505 E Sky High Drive, Tucson, AZ 85730; 520-7220980; zmme1@cox.net

1964

Please send your news to: Shari Taylor Grove, 32 Shepard Street #31, Cambridge, MA 02138-1518; 617-576-1302; sharigrove@ gmail.com

Rosy Campbell ’65 in Cuba next to a 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air. Rosamond “Rosy” Campbell wrote, “I was on a marvelous tour in Cuba for 18 days this winter. That was a profound experience in many different ways. My biggest takeaways were the kindness, love and spirit of the people … The beloved old cars are happily chugging along taking people here and there … Recycle and reuse are a part of their scheme in stretching materials out …

The arts are beyond over the top – dance, music, painting and singing. It was just so wonderful and so easy to be a part of. Nights in the town squares are happy friendly events! I was on a People to People cultural tour and loved the whole experience … Traveled from Santiago de Cuba to Havana and it was a perfect journey with many marvelous stops along the way.

Happy travels to all.”

Elizabeth “Betty” Susman wrote, “In June 2015, I was informed that our school, Our Lady Queen of Angels in East Harlem, was selected for the Pope to visit while he was in New York City. He wanted to visit an inner city school and since the principal is so great the Archdiocese thought that she could handle the media, Secret Service, FBI and Swiss Guards. Coming back in September, it was very exciting dealing with the Secret Service as they were using my bathroom since I am the school nurse.

Going into the bathroom dressed in jeans and a hoodie, coming out in a three-piece suit with sunglasses and an ear bud was just like NCIS. I had to prepare the firstaid kit for the Pope and leave my office open, even the narcotic closet. Even my phone was tapped, which all was a once in a lifetime experience. I have the yellow towels everyone waved and the write up in Catholic New York. You can see it on YouTube.”

Margaret “Peg” Holmes enjoyed a wonderful week of skiing at Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia. The snow was great, but unfortunately the fog

prevented them from being able to view the surrounding area.

Mary “Mimi” Buchakjian Sobo, Pat Rozelle Haggenmiller and Pat Kennedy Gordon and their spouses met in Venice, FL, at Sharkey’s on the Beach for a sunset dinner, followed by Key lime pie at the Haggenmillers’ beautiful home. Mimi wrote, “We chatted and laughed for hours. Those 50 years just disappeared.” Mimi said to keep an eye out for her granddaughter, Ripley Sobo, who plays Lisa Jobs, Steve Jobs’ 9-year-old daughter, in the Steve Jobs movie.

When Grace Hilt Mack wrote, she had just returned from a visit to friends in Bonita Springs and Longboat Key, FL, and was preparing for a trip to Prague, Vienna and Budapest for 13 days. She said, “In between all of this, I go over to our house in Yarmouth, Cape Cod, to get it ready for the summer and love to find nature trails for walking.”

Carol Tuch Gunthorpe and Wayne celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on February 22, 2016. She wrote, “I thought we had agreed to keep it very low key but my wonderful husband had other ideas. He threw me the most spectacular surprise 50th anniversary party. Children, grandchildren and friends came from all over the country. It was a night to remember and it only reinforced what I already knew …

I made the right choice 50 years ago.”

Bonnie Marchak Camp wrote, “We continue to enjoy our retirement. Our granddaughter is in college studying to be an elementary teacher with a minor in ESL. I’m very active with quilt guild, retreats, book clubs and making Quilts of Valor for veterans. We also award them to veterans who live in our area of Wisconsin. We hope that the portable Vietnam Wall will be in Madison this summer with 100 Quilts of Valor on display and ready to be awarded to state veterans of all ages. I’ve volunteered in kindergarten and ninth grade for several years and enjoy working with the students. Mike had a full recovery from a shoulder joint replacement in 2014 so we are both in fine form for our age. Our first great-grandchild, Cora, was born eight days before our 50th anniversary in August. Mike and I continue to love collegiate hockey and plan to go to the NCAA Frozen Four in Tampa in April. It will be unusual to pack flip flops and capris for the trip. Comfortable spring doesn’t happen until late May in our part of Wisconsin. My book club read about the Manhattan Project CONNECTIONS spring 2016

17

CLASS NOTES and the work at Oak Ridge, TN, a couple of years ago. Tennessee Eastman (Kodak) did significant research there. My dad did work there in the early 50s. We realized that we can visit there on our way to Florida. On the way home we will spend a few days in Springfield, IL, which we have wanted to do for several years.”

my retired New York State United Teachers organization. My husband continues to cut his own firewood after having a bladder replacement due to cancer over a year ago.

I am on the Alumnae Centennial Committee and besides having phone conferences we recently met at Sage to discuss Centennial activities.

Doris Fischman Roth still loves to travel and went on a cruise to the western Caribbean in January, then to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands in February.

As class correspondent, I am getting a lot of emails returned. Please remember to update your email address with me.

Jane Sibley’s fifth book, The Way of the Wise: Traditional Norwegian Folk and Magic Medicine was released in 2015. In Norway’s Saga times, much medicine was magical in nature, but practical knowledge was passed down and used into the 20th century. This volume contains the most detailed information on this topic to date in the English language. It is interesting to see the range of herbal treatments used, as well as how various diseases and injuries, including some mental illnesses, were addressed.

Gail Brehm O’Leary wrote that after Reunion she had knee replacement surgery. After a long recovery, she is doing well with riding five miles on a bike. We had a beautiful warm fall in upstate New York and a mild winter.

Members of the Alumnae Centennial committee Donna Rose Hall French ’71, Joyce Isabelle ’88 and Bonita Maxon ’65 at Alumnae House.

I, Bonita “Bonnie” Maxon, continue to go to the free Music at Noon concerts at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on the second Tuesday of each month. I spent four weeks in Mazatlan, Mexico, on the Pacific Ocean in January – the first two weeks without my husband. It was interesting doing the trip alone. I still do lobbying for education with 18

CONNECTIONS spring 2016

Gail Young Roemmelt has traveled to Ireland, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Bali and throughout the United States. She was a district Turnkey Trainer, who trained school district employees how to use learning strategies effectively in the classroom. She and a colleague wrote a grant for audio visual equipment for the library. The grant netted approximately $100,000 for movie-making and television equipment. Gail wrote, “Students wrote plays, soap operas and game shows demonstrating their content knowledge, creativity, artistic talents, writing skills and critical thinking abilities. Some really got into role playing. Others were interested in dealing with the cameras, the mixer and the board. A surprise afterward was when a few students told us that they would like to explore the possibility of working with our local television station as an intern in the summer. I was nominated for Teacher of the Year and was president of the board of the Central New York Teaching Center for 17 years. I was told by my English department chairperson that I was the most creative teacher in the English department.

I was given a scholarship to Bali where I was hired to teach learning strategies to educators from the US, Russia, Argentina, Mexico, Great Britain and Hong Kong.”

Nancy Mueller is looking forward to more travel in 2016. She is on several not for profit boards: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the San Francisco Opera, American Prairie Reserve, ARCS/ Achievement Rewards for College Scientists and the Waimea Ocean Film Festival in Hawaii. She wrote, “I like to try new things, although sky diving and bungee jumping are not on my list! This is the time in my life I do only what I WANT to do. We all know that life is short and every day is to be lived to the fullest. Best to all, from California.”

Please send your news to: Bonita “Bonnie” Maxon, 110 E. Shore Drive, Petersburg, NY 12138; 518-658-2873; bamrdk@aol.com

1966 |

REUNION

Physical Therapy classmates and roommates Sally Dunnells Campbell ’66, Sandy Houserman Henze ’66, Nancy Kebbon Aho ’66 and Carol Sevchik Smith ’66.

Fran Preisman vacationed in Los Cabos, Mexico, with her husband, Robert Preisman, MD, and their two daughters and two granddaughters, 9 and 11. Fran’s daughter Ann is a producer for NBC’s “Dateline” and her daughter Laura is a middle school English teacher in La Jolla, CA. Fran’s husband retired from practicing endocrinology and nuclear medicine and Fran retired as a private art dealer and fine art appraiser in San Diego.

They enjoy traveling and spending time with family.

As I, Barbara Towne Patterson write this, I am excited about our upcoming 50th Reunion. By the time you get this magazine, Reunion weekend will probably be over, but I am anticipating collecting a lot of news for the next Connections.

Linda Boswell DeWitt wrote that Alicia Brady Sarles visited her in the southern Adirondacks in New York.

Charlotte Shaw Tracy sent news from the Queen Elizabeth as she and her husband, Charlie, were sailing down the coast of Namibia on their way to Cape Town. They headed to Australia, where they took a passage between the Aussie coast and the Whitsunday Islands via the Great Barrier Reef. Charlotte snorkeled on the Great Barrier Reef and was amazed at the beauty of the coral. They sailed on toward the China Strait and from there to Rabul, Papua New Guinea, in the Solomon Sea where they explored volcanic history.

Rose Milluzzo Pocock and her husband, Rick, have been traveling since he retired.

They enjoy cruising and last year went through the Suez Canal and had armed mercenaries board the ship in Oman (at the cruise company’s request!) to get them past Somalia and Yemen. They are currently in Florida. Rose often sees Judy Ludwig

CLASS NOTES Matthews ’62, who is a neighbor and close friend.

Betsy Huebner Braunstein recently traveled to Southeast Asia and Spain and Portugal.

Her biggest event was her son Alex’s gorgeous wedding at Hidden Villa in Los Altos Hills, CA. Betsy was in Connecticut over Thanksgiving visiting her brother and also conducting a child custody evaluation.

Jane Meenes Page lives in Glenview, IL, a suburb of Chicago, with her husband, Albert. Her daughter and son-in-law live close by with their two daughters, 2 months and 2 years. Her son lives in Houston and visits regularly. She retired from her job as adoption director four years ago and is president of her Temple Sisterhood. She would enjoy hearing from alumnae in the Chicago area. She appreciated a recent call from Carol Sweet Morse.

Judy Wargo Moorhouse wrote that after 17 years of enjoying the stimulation of life in Winter Park, FL, and the peaceful serenity of Mars Hill, NC, she has become a fulltime resident of tranquil North Carolina. In Florida, she got together with Janice Blake Wilcox on a regular basis. Two summers ago, Jill Rowley Sitcer was visiting the Orlando area and Judy, Jill and Janice got together for lunch. Judy crossed a few things off her bucket list last year: she spent a week in Chicago enjoying museums, botanical gardens, architecture and Chicago pizza; she took a road trip to Niagara Falls; and best of all, she toured Spain and Morocco.

Pat Tinkham Batten enjoys retirement in Hilton Head, SC. They just returned from a Caribbean cruise and have two more set for this year. Best vacation this past year was a week at Disney World with their 5-year-old grandson. Pat is active with the American Association of University Women and serves on the local and state boards. She is also a member of the local art league board, and has become involved in many of the interest groups in her women’s club including two book groups, playing mahjong and any group that includes lunch or dinner out!

Liz Dodge has been retired for nearly five years and loves the opportunities retirement brings. Her home base is her childhood home in Vermont, but she goes away for three months each winter. This year she was in Merida, Mexico, in the Yucatan. Most of her adult life was spent in New Mexico.

She is active in an international women’s club, which organizes activities to benefit a scholarship fund for local women, as well as an English language library which

offers a number of activities. Her favorite way to satisfy her wanderlust is via house swapping. She linked four consecutive house swaps together last winter for a month in Australia, then a month in New Zealand.

Stamford, CT 06902; 203-324-7259; b.patterson66@gmail.com

1967

Annette Lipstein Friedman recovered from a fall down the stairs on her trip to Alaska in May, and is already on her next exciting trip. When I heard from her, she had been planning a trip to Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe in March! Although officially retired, she still works as a per diem physical therapist in the home care setting.

Her children are doing well, as are her granddaughters, who live around the corner from them.

Chris Basalyga Harrington is busy with Northside United Methodist Church, where she is a member of the choir; the Village Garden Club of Dennis; and Bayberry Quilters of Cape Cod. This past fall she completed a 10-week Citizen Emergency Response Team course.

Sheila Herens is “sort of retired.” The tennis program she started with Bristol Parks and Recreation grew to numbers that required a younger tennis director. She said it was a great 26 years, and she still teaches tennis to 4, 5, 6 and 7-year-old children and special needs adults. She also works special events for the parks department. She loves interacting with young children and volunteers to deliver Meals on Wheels.

Virginia Borg Wolfe vacationed in Mexico for three weeks this winter.

Jill Rowley Sitcer is moving to Williamsburg, VA. Good luck, Jill! Moving is never an easy thing to do!

On a sadder note, I received a note from Barbara Fernandez O’Donnell’s husband, Michael. Barbara passed away in September 2015 from a long battle with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. She is survived by Michael and four sons and two daughters.

Thank you Carol Sweet Morse, Judy Galza DiMattia, Joyce Hartman Diaz, Charlotte Shaw Tracy, Judy Shor Kronick and Jill Rowley Sitcer for doing a tremendous amount of work to get our 50th Reunion plans in place. They have spent countless hours on the phone, organizing Reunion plans and updating our email and address databases.

In fact, most of you have probably heard from one of us these past few months!

Please send your news to: Judy Shor Kronick, 158 Brewster Road, Windsor, CT 06095-2624; 860-830-5887; judykron2@comcast.net Barbara Towne Patterson, 1 Ralsey Road,

Members of the Class of 1967 in the Parade of Classes at their 45th Reunion in 2012.

As Russell Sage College enters its Centennial celebration year with so many exciting events, I, Rona McNabola, wanted to make sure that all the Red Devils of 1967 remember that the “grand finale” will be our 50th Reunion. Your class agents have already been discussing how we can make it extra special. For those of you who come back to Troy every five years, you know what a great time we have catching up on our lives. Even if we were mere acquaintances during our time at Sage we look forward to meeting again at Reunions. For those of you who have not made that trip back to Troy, please mark your calendars for Reunion 2017! Gather those memories, photos, and funny stories and bring them with you — and your red blazer, whether it fits or not!

Susan Mahan Appell wrote, “Roger and I continue enjoying life in Sheridan, WY. Between us, we have four granddaughters.

His are in Massachusetts and mine are in Wisconsin. We enjoy traveling, birding and activities in the Methodist Church. We will celebrate our 16th anniversary on April 1 (it was a good day for a couple of old fools!)”

Faith Rubin planned another great event in the Boston area in March to celebrate the college’s Centennial. Alumnae gathered to hear Susan Scrimshaw’s update on what has been happening on campus and what is planned for our alma mater moving into the next century!

Please send your news to: Judith Prest Bowden, 518-441-5012; judithbowden@ yahoo.com Rona McNabola Miller, 30 Spottswood Road, Glen Rock, NJ 07452; 201-444-8950; ronamc@verizon.net CONNECTIONS spring 2016

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CLASS NOTES

1968

In September 2015, Marsha Bor Parker and her husband cruised to Bermuda. Their next trip is to Cancun, Mexico. Marsha retired from her position as guidance counselor in Brewster, NY, after 32 years and looks forward to her husband’s eventual retirement so they can travel more. Marsha represented The Sage Colleges in March, at a college fair in her hometown of Newtown, CT. Please send your news to: Susan Wolfe Herron, 408F S. Croskey Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146; 215-735-1088; swherron@verizon.net

1969

Sarah Marsh wrote about a “Troycation” on campus in March with Sage Sister Marilyn (Nancy and Sherry had to bow out.) They stayed in Alumnae House and enjoyed exploring downtown Troy and nearby Schenectady. She wrote, “Troy looks wonderful … beautiful architecture and numerous brownstones … even the Castle appeared grand and well maintained.

Nearly all the brownstones looked renovated while still retaining their turn of the century charm. Many are law offices, accounting firms, small businesses, private homes and apartments and specialty shops … I never appreciated Troy when we were in school in the 1960s, though I loved going to school here.” On Saturday night, they attended a Herculadies roller derby match, featuring Brittany Beyus ’13, another Blue Angel. “What a fun time! Lots of action, fast skating …” She encourages all out of town alumnae to plan a Troy visit, especially the weekend of June 3. It is Reunion weekend for classes ending in 1 and 6, but there are special Centennial events planned for all classes.

Joanne Borman Duncan and her husband, Skip, spent a week in September on Kiawah Island, SC, with Dottie Millard Anderson ’68 and her husband, Dale. Joanne and Skip visited their daughter Cathy and her fiancé in Boston last Thanksgiving. They spent an afternoon with Betsy Markle Gardner, her husband, George, and Betsy’s mom at their home on Cape Cod. My sister, Doris Fischman Roth ’65, and I, Elin Fischman Lawrence, attended the Sage gathering at the Boca Raton Art Museum in January. It was nice hearing about all the wonderful things happening on the Troy campus. We enjoyed lunch and a tour of the exhibits. The same week Rick 20

CONNECTIONS spring 2016

and I attended an RPI reception in Boca Raton, FL. He caught up with two fraternity brothers at the luncheon.

I met Pam Lacker Brooks ’72 on the beach in Pompano while sitting with my sister Doris. Pam lives near her and they have become walking friends in the morning.

Pam was my kid’s math teacher in Connecticut.

We turned on the water in two more Guatemalan villages – Chuacacay and El Llano – in February. That makes 12 villages in nine years. Each village is unique and celebrates our visit in a different way.

Rick had a big birthday in March. The entire family took a cruise out of Fort Lauderdale.

It was fun waving to our friends at the condo as we sailed out of Port Everglades.

Our grandson was confused why we were on the ship and not waving to the ship from our balcony.

Please send your news to: Elin Fischman Lawrence, 315 Ram Island Road, Charlestown, RI 02813, 401-364-7169 (MayOctober); 2100 South Ocean Lane, Point of Americas 1 #1008, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316, 754-223-7223(October-May); cell: 860-643-4560; elawlawrence@yahoo.com

1970

Eunice Aison Schwartz wrote, “I never thought I’d be a Southern gal. After teaching English at Catholic Central and Cohoes High, my husband Steve and I retired to Atlanta to be with our son Marc and granddaughter Arielle. It took some time to get used to and we still miss Troy but there is a lot to do here. We have had some nice visits with Maureen Geer Daffner and spend August in Saratoga. Wishing all my classmates well. If anyone lives in metro Atlanta, let me know y’all!”

Pat Seeley Adema and husband, Alan, spent January in their condo on Anna Maria Island in Florida, went home to western New York for February and returned to Florida to visit friends and family, including Dee Frasco Fellion and her husband, Tom. On their way back north, Pat and Alan will spend a week at the Red Bird Mission in Beverly, KY, with 20 people from their church, helping families with home renovation and building projects.

On their way home to Hamburg, NY, they will also stop in Raleigh, NC, Philadelphia and New England to see family. Pat’s sister, Debbie Seeley Backstrom ’73, is in Massachusetts and recently celebrated the births of her third and fourth grandchildren!

Pat and Alan have four daughters and six grandchildren.

Ann “Anki” Wolf wrote, “After 35 years of living in my wonderful Victorian home in Waban, MA, I sold my home in fall 2015.

I bought a condo in the town just west of Waban called Wellesley, but it has been under construction for nearly six months.

We hope to move into it by mid-April.

In the meantime, I moved back ‘home’ into the bedroom that I grew up in, at my mother’s (95) house. I am happily engaged to a wonderful man with whom I’ve been together for almost four years. We have no plans to marry but we are having a terrific time.” Her older son, Matt, lives in Boston and is starting his own real estate development business. Her younger son, Jake, directs a summer camp in New Hampshire, which is a year-round position.

Please send your news to: Mary Mulvihill Pecoraro, 5 Walsh Avenue, Stoneham, MA 02180; 781-662-8648; mmpec71@gmail.com

1972

Please send your news to: Beverly Miller Sigg, 5101 Hwy A1A Villa 6, Vero Beach, FL 32963; b2zig@yahoo.com

1971 |

REUNION

Greetings Red Devils! Plans are in full swing for our 45th Reunion the weekend of June 3-5. Expect to find full details in mailings from the college.

We are saddened by the death of Leila Faith Cohen in March. She was a loyal classmate and great friend to many. She loved Sage and loved being in our class.

Please note my, Mary Mulvihill Pecoraro’s, new email address at the end of this column.

I got hacked in December!

Pat Maiorano Johnson ’72, Diane “Dee” Dilts Oliver ’72 and Denise Moriarty Thayer ’73. Their husbands were in the same fraternity at RPI and the couples have remained close. This photo was taken in September, at the Cleveland, OH, wedding of another fraternity brother’s son.

CLASS NOTES Pat Maiorano Johnson wrote, “Diane ‘Dee’ Dilts Oliver and I started out on Kellas III together freshman year and ended up being roommates my senior year. Denise Moriarty Thayer transferred to Sage and because Dee changed majors, they both ended up graduating in 1973, I believe. We all married guys from the same fraternity at RPI, Phi Kappa Tau. As a result of these friendships of husbands and wives, we have stayed close over the years ... Last summer, we all went to northern Italy, and this winter, we got together in Florida where Denise and her husband, Bruce, recently moved, and Dee and her husband, Mike, were spending a few months. She and Mike just sold their home in Pennsylvania. Dee is retired from her teaching and counseling careers and enjoys visiting her son, his wife and her grandchildren in South Carolina. Denise and Bruce’s married sons live in California, so I expect they will be making many trips to the West Coast. I am also in contact with Sue Ackerman Hillman, who lives in Farmington, MI, and is still teaching, though she and Mal make time to visit their two daughters, their husbands and their grandchildren. Since I retired this past June from a 30-year teaching career, I have more time to spend with friends and my 2-year-old granddaughter, Claire. I am fortunate that both my daughters and their husbands live here in the Seattle area, near us. I have been wondering if any other Sage alumnae who graduated with me are in the area. If you are, I would love to get together. I would also appreciate it if other members of the Class of 1972 would send me, another class agent or the Alumnae Office their news.”

Please send your news to: Rosemary Crowley Buja, 19 Greenvalley Road, Medway, MA 02053-1933; 508-533-6120; rbuja@comcast.net Patricia Maiorano Johnson, 2433 220th Place, NE, Sammamish, WA 98074; 425868-0139; pj2433@comcast.net Susan Ackerman Hillman, 29428 Arlington Way, Farmington Hills, MI 48331; 248-4898062; suehillman@aol.com

1973

Diana Coleman has lived in Rockland, ME, since 2010, after 30 years in San Francisco.

She wrote, “I have been a fundraising consultant, led a physicians’ campaign and raised funds for a hospice house for Pen Bay Healthcare, the local hospital. As the former director of principal gifts for Save

the Children’s Western US operations from San Francisco, work took me to Indonesia, Guatemala, the Philippines, Egypt and Ethiopia. An avid traveler and passionate about women’s and girls’ rights, I serve on the board of Mpanzi, a small NGO supporting girls’ education and women’s micro enterprise in rural southwestern Kenya, where I travel often. My short story about Kenya is published in the 2015 Goose River Anthology. Currently, I am interviewing women globally about their new and risk-taking experiences from age 50 on. I spent five weeks in Costa Rica this year studying Spanish and had the pleasure of visiting Betsy Cooley ’74, and her husband Bill, where they have retired.”

Please send your news to: Deborah Tuma, 525 Riverleigh Avenue, Unit 72, Riverhead, NY 11901; 631-338-5421; dstumafish@ yahoo.com Clarissa Robaczynski Alimena, 47 Mulberry Lane, Shelton, CT 06484; calimena@ yahoo.com

1974

Betsy Cooley ’74 and Diana Coleman ’73 in Costa Rica.

“Hola!” wrote Betsy Cooley. “Diana Coleman ’73 and I reconnected after almost 40 years while she was visiting Costa Rica.

She looks the same! It was great to catch up after so many years. My husband and I retired here in June 2013 and now have residency. After three years living near Mount Chirripó in three different villages, we will soon be moving northwest of San Jose to more easily access the northern parts of the country. We are learning Spanish, poco a poco. Since relocating here we have traveled to Peru and Nicaragua.

In May we visit Ireland and hope to see Patagonia in December.”

Please send your news to: Jo SchoenGood, 47 Dowitcher Court, Wayne, NJ 07470; Cbyh2@aol.com Denise Lipkvich, 5 Tanglewood Drive, Brandford, CT 06405; dlipkvich@yahoo.com

1975

Please send your news to: Melanie Punte Puorto-Conte, 2000 Van Antwerp Road, Niskayuna, NY 12309; 518-842-0602; mpuortoconte@nycap.rr.com

1976 |

REUNION

Germayne Boswell Tizzano ’76 and her family.

Germayne Boswell Tizzano lives in Westerville, OH. She has been married for 28 years to Mike Tizzano. She has a son and daughter, twins, who are 25 years old and she has a granddaughter, Isla June, 5 months, and a grandson, Adrian, 6. She earned a doctorate in Health Education at Ohio State University and has worked in the field of mental health and substance abuse for over 30 years. Her business, Views From a Tree House, Inc., offers training and consulting to mental health and substance abuse agencies on sexual trauma and recovery for women. She wrote that her fondest memories of Sage are Psychology department faculty and students; involvement in student government; connections with RPI socially; and the overall positive climate of the college. She wrote, “For me, it was the right fit at the right time in my life and helped prepare me for my life. I had no idea I would live in Ohio as long as I have and miss the East Coast. I go back often … I’ve been to Sweden, Germany and all over the US. My husband, Mike, and I like to hike, kayak, bike – any kind of adventure. I treasure my family.”

Please send your news to: Marie Nangeroni, 2031 Nott Street, Niskayuna, NY 12309; 518-669-9937; mnangeroni@hotmail.com Vilma Zaracostas Russ, 41 Ridge Road, Cornwall, NY 12518; 845-534-2325; vilmaruss@yahoo.com Elizabeth Sciurba, 27 Ingersol Road, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866; 518-6956405; esciurba@nycap.rr.com Wendy Symmes Mayer, 57 Linden Avenue, Swampscott, MA 01907; 781-581-6235; sage6235@aol.com CONNECTIONS spring 2016

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CLASS NOTES

1977

Please send your news to: Lois Cloud Malenczak, 102 Edwards Avenue, Sayville, NY 11782;631-563-1966; lcloudpt@aol.com Jill Hastings Mack, 39 Rocky Point Drive, Bow, NH 03304-4115; 603-663-5710; cyberjill@comcast.net Joanne Salvador, 301 South Ocean Blue #1, Pompano Beach, FL 33062; j.m.salvador@ att.net

1978

Patty Sparrell ’78 and Janet Blakely Rosenberg ’78.

At our last Reunion, I, Laura Haid Laffond, had the opportunity to catch up with Sara Berg Glad. Sara was a nursing major at RSC but took a different direction when raising her two children, Jen and Matthew. I asked her to share her story: “I worked in the nursing profession until 1999. We have twins who are intellectually disabled. I found that I was spending a great deal of time during their school years navigating the special education system. I pursued a master’s in Special Ed and have been working as a life skills teacher and transition coordinator for 15 years. I love it.

My children are out of school now. Our son works in a local barbecue restaurant and volunteers at our fire department. He obtained his Eagle Scout rank. Our daughter is employed through an agency in our town doing a variety of jobs. My husband works for Travelers Insurance. As a family, we love the North Country. We purchased a condo at Loon Mountain where we spend as much time as we can. My husband and son both coach at the adaptive ski program up there.

Jen is a well-seasoned student. I ski when I want or just enjoy the outdoors there. I had a knee replacement in October and am enjoying getting active again.”

22

CONNECTIONS spring 2016

Karen Snowden Roberts became a grandmother this past February. Her son Kirk and his wife, Lauren, had a 9-pound, 10-ounce boy, Ellis Walter Freeze Roberts.

I have been traveling vicariously through Patty Timpano Sparrell’s Facebook updates and asked Patty to share what she’s been up to along with a picture of her and Janet Blakely Rosenberg. She wrote, “If I had known retirement could be this much fun, I would have done it years ago … The post-grad school 33 years with ExxonMobil were better than I could have imagined, with great assignments, wonderful co-workers and significant traveling around the world. My first 12 months of retirement have exceeded my wildest expectations. My husband, Duncan (RPI ’77) and I are both keeping busy. He’s continuing as a part-time cybersecurity consultant and I’ve become a professional non-profit volunteer. I’m most proud of my membership on The Sage Colleges Board of Trustees. Julia Greenstein and I are both members. It’s so gratifying to support and shape Sage’s future direction. I’m also having fun tutoring seventh grade math students as well as being a board member of the ARCS Foundation which is a femaleled organization which raises funds for college STEM research scholarships. In my spare time, Duncan and I have had a chance to travel ... sledding in Switzerland, hiking in Colorado and Alaska, swimming at our Finger Lakes lake house and hosting friends visiting DC at our primary residence in northern Virginia. Whether traveling for business or fun, I’ve had a chance to connect with many Sage classmates: Janet Blakely Rosenberg, Julia Greenstein, Mary Kopley, Karen Diener, Joanie Mathies and Lisa Ferraro Mooney to name a few ... Looking forward to catching up with everyone this June at the 2016 Centennial Reunion.”

come to visit me in Charlottesville, VA, last October. A weekend in Charlottesville wouldn’t be complete without a Friday night of music and wine at a local winery, lunch at Miller’s (where Dave Mathews worked as a bartender before starting his band) and a tour of Monticello, home to Thomas Jefferson. We had a lot of fun and laughter; some things never change! Sherry lives in Haverhill, MA, and is an instructional designer for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Massachusetts. Barb lives in Salisbury, MD, and owns a health care consulting firm. I was able to visit with her several times when she was consulting with a local hospital last year. Karen and her husband own Concrete Jack, a foundation repair and concrete leveling company in Williamsburg, VA, that was featured on HGTV last October!

After closing a private physical therapy practice, I started working from home for a Nashville-based company two years ago. NaviHealth provides post-acute care for Medicare Advantage patients and I work with Rebecca Mcluskey ’86.

My three children have graduated from college and moved to New York City, DC and Charlottesville. We are empty nesters with plenty of room for anyone visiting the area!

Please send your news to: Laura Haid Laffond, 3580 Loftlands Drive, Earlysville, VA 22936-2452; 434-465-1350; llaffond@ comcast.net Mary Beth Ford Karam, 204 Greenwood Drive, Schenectady, NY 12303; 518-3559713; bkaram56@gmail.com Sharon Barber Wall, 58 Bloomingdale Avenue, East Greenbush, NY 12061; 518479-4226; sbwall@nycap.rr.com

1979

Marie Boccuzzi Goodwin is a home health physical therapist in Shawsville, VA. Marie was named one of the Mountain Valley Charitable Foundation’s 2015 Volunteers of the Year. She and another winner organized the EastMont Tomato Festival and made it one of the most successful festivals ever.

Congratulations, Marie!

Bonnie Ward Kreutter is the proud grandmother of Harper Vivian, born March 27. Bonnie retired three years ago as a school nurse.

I was so fortunate to have Sherry Peel, Barb Otto Bedard and Karen Snowden Roberts

Linda Cowell-Jay ’79 and Lisa Cowell Washabaugh ’81.

Hello class of 1979! Linda Cowell-Jay here.

Hope to see some of you at the Sage Centennial celebration. I continue to work as

CLASS NOTES a neurological consultant and love watching my daughter Christine grow into a confident, self-assured young woman who travels the world and follows her musical passions! My sister Lisa Washabaugh ’81, her roommate Jean Grasso Naugle ’81 and I may room together for the Reunion. Yeah!

I heard from Gina DiDonna Daly who recently retired from her job of almost 20 years as the database and fundraiser manager of St. Philip Catholic Church in Texas. She is waiting for her husband, Jim, an international pilot with American Airlines, to join her in retirement in five years. Their three children live in the Dallas-Forth Worth metroplex.

Gina wrote, “Cyndee is married to Daniel and they have two beautiful children, Amara, 5, and Silas, 2. We love being Gigi and Granfafa!

Cyndee is lucky enough to be able to stay at home until the kids go to school. Our son Scott works as an IT security engineer for Christus Health but indulges his hobby of movies and all things entertainment by hosting and writing a blog at dalyplanetfilms. com. Our youngest, Melissa, works for Hub International, a mortgage insurance company and is planning to go back to school in the fall to get her master’s.” Gina and Jim love traveling and are looking forward to visiting Australia and New Zealand when they are both retired.

Perry Santos Nemechek wrote, “I have worked at the University of Rochester Medical Center for the past 36, almost 37 years, initially in the surgical intensive care unit with Maureen O’Connell, who married and moved to England after the first year! I did have the pleasure of visiting her there.

I obtained my Pediatric NP and worked in pediatric cardiology for 16 years. I married John Nemechek in 1988 and had two girls.

Caroline graduated from Cornell in 2014 and attends grad school at the University of Kansas. Catherine is attending her first year at Rochester Institute of Technology; she almost attended RPI. It was a tough decision for her. I continue to work full time, still in cardiology, but now with adults in the electrophysiology (heart rhythm) group. I completed a post master’s in Acute Care NP. When not working, which is rare, I enjoy gardening. I keep in touch with Tonia Blackwell, Wendy Bydairk Zimmerman, Maria Merando Heller and Margaret Costello! My dad, now 92, still resides in Nantucket, MA, my hometown. I enjoy going back often to breathe in that wonderful salt air and walk the beaches. Of course offseason is the most peaceful! Well, that is my life in a nutshell. I would love to know what

and where classmates are.”

Please send your news to: Linda Cowell-Jay, 3 Crossbow Road, Norfolk, MA 02056; 508520-8735; lcowellmd@aol.com

1980

Max Goldsmith, Liz Riese Daly, Lisa Forester Rottmann, Cathy Johnson Leer, Cathy Soden Rotondo, Cindy Dorazio Goetz and Terry Sutherland Geraci all met in Chicago last fall for a fun weekend. We did some sightseeing, ate some great food and shared many laughs.

As always, our time together was too short.

In the past year we have had a few book clubs via Google Hangout. Many of us actually read the books, but mostly it was fun having a virtual hangout over a glass of (usually) wine. Cindy Scullin Katuin and Susan Gatzert-Snyder joined those above as regulars in these book chats. Technical challenges were a given but we successfully overcame them and enjoyed the “virtually face-to-face” catch-up. We need to schedule another sometime soon.

Max was thrilled to receive a letter from Heather Fletcher Makris. Heather lives in Massachusetts with her family and is a school nurse.

Laurie Wells Cannon also sent a note to share what she described as a neat coincidence and case of Sage pride. Laurie works at a home health agency in Pennsylvania and while caring for a patient, found that the patient’s physical therapist was Shannon Ward-Lengel ’99. She said it made sense that they worked so well together coming from a Sage background with mutual admiration and core values in common. Laurie also worked with Nancy Gell McVay at the same agency in the 90s.

Terry reconnected with Susan Shaughnessy Harrison who lives in South Carolina most of the year but returns to the Boston area at Christmas and the summer to enjoy her children and grandchildren. Susan sees Maureen Dunn Shields several times a year and has met some other RSC alumnae in her new hometown.

Please help us stay connected. Remember to send us your news to share with fellow classmates.

Please send your news to: Therese Sutherland Geraci, 2439 Crescent Lake Place, Johnson City, TN 37615; tsgeraci@ aol.com Maxine Goldsmith, 39 Harwich Lane, West Hartford, CT 06117; 860-632-6301; geemaxhome@gmail.com

1981 |

REUNION

Patrice A. Freeman wrote, “Happy anniversary to Russell Sage College, 100 years young! As for this Blue Angel from 1981, I still reside at 138 Chaumont Drive in Williamsville, NY, with my family. I have continued with my teaching in the Williamsville Central School District as a substitute. Volunteer work still plays a major role in my life … I am on the executive board of the Amherst Democratic Committee which is the largest upstate democratic group in New York state. It sure is a busy time at the ADC with the presidential election approaching. I help out with the St. Vincent de Paul Society and with SABAHSkating Athletes Bold at Heart. I also serve on the Town of Amherst Disability Committee and the Family Advocates for Heritage Christian Services. As you can tell, I am still wrapped up in the world of disabilities. Speaking of which Anne, 27, is attending a HCS Day Hab and continues to progress despite her severe disability.

She has her 20th SABAH anniversary soon at the Buffalo Sabres hockey arena. As for the boys, William Paul, 23, teaches and serves as his church’s music minister. He conducts choirs and plays the organ in Las Vegas. Robert, 22, is a first-year student at the University of Buffalo Law School. As for Bill, he is still commuting to and from Rochester’s ESL. And our English Springer Spaniel, Grace, just turned 10. We still enjoy visiting Nags Head, NC, Gettysburg, PA, and Washington, DC, annually. Nothing like a family vacation to gear up for another year. Well, that is a brief snapshot of life at the Freemans’ home. Most eager to hear how everyone else is! Once again, congratulations to RSC!” Please send your news to: Deborah Browne Goss, 60 North Maple Street, Warsaw, NY 14569-1215; 585-786-3490; dlbrowne@ frontiernet.net Suzanne Candee Tartaglia, 21 Mount Nebo Road, Newtown, CT 06470; 203-270-6880; suzanne@candee.org

1982

Karen Shea wrote, “My yellow lab, Maude, just finished a 13-week physical therapy program offered by Horse ’n Hound Physical Therapy in Hollis, NH. Horse ’n Hound is owned by Jennifer Hubbard Brooks, PT, MEd, CERP, CCRP, ’85. I knew Maude’s paws were in good hands with Jennifer and her staff.

Even though I graduated 34 years ago it was CONNECTIONS spring 2016

23

CLASS NOTES nice to be able to do business with someone who graduated from Russell Sage College. I knew her education was sound.”

Gwen Kelsey Bondi received her MS in Bioethics in 2015, from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Clarkson University, Capital Region Center (formerly Union Graduate College), where she also gave the commencement address. In her professional role as an educator with the Visiting Nurse Service of Northeastern New York, Gwen developed and instituted Community Conversations, an initiative designed to encourage the conversation about personal advance directives upstream from serious illness. As a result of her work in advance care planning, she presented at the 11th annual International Conference on Clinical Ethics and Consultation at Mount Sinai in New York City. She also received certifications as an advance care planning facilitator and instructor through Respecting Choices in La Crosse, WI. In addition, Gwen is a consultant for the Alliance for Better Health Care in Albany.

coordinator at senior centers throughout Rensselaer County. She ran a home daycare for a few years, until she went to work in the family business, with her husband, at the Irish gift shop, Tipperary at Tara. She wrote, “Perks are getting to travel to Ireland for buying products and attending tours to promote our travel to Ireland tours. I have four boys, Thomas, 26, Jameson, 24, Brendan, 20, and Padraic, 16. I belong to the Italian Community Center in Troy where I have learned to play bocce. I also run a food booth for the Festa every September.

For the last year I have been a member of St. Peter’s Health Partners Patient and Family Council to facilitate a better health and wellness stay for patients and families. In January I traveled to London … I am lucky to keep in close touch with Jennifer Flather as she is a member of The Sage Colleges Board of Trustees and in Troy frequently (I am her Uber driver). Christine Vasilou Topher joins Jeff and I for breakfast when Jeff is in town as she is still in the area too. I am looking forward to Reunion 2016!”

Please send your news to: Esther Denham, 616 Ridge Road, Scotia, NY 12302-6720; larrydenham@juno.com Alison Wolf, 27 Birch Road, West Hartford, CT 06119; 860-714-7059; Alisonl.wolf@ gmail.com

1987

Please send your news to: Dawn Cope Barilli, 239 Old Orange Avenue, Walden, NY 12586; 845-778-1630; dawnbarilli@gmail.com Terry Allen, 6550 Number 4 Road, Lowville, NY 13367-9104; 315-376-1906; tballen@twcny.rr.com

1988

Please send your news to: Kristine Menihan Taylor, 375 E. 2nd Street, Corning, NY 14830; 607-339-6743; ktaylor@cppmail.com

Please send your news to: Lisa Abatemarco, 205 East Noble Street, Selma, NC 27576; lmra323@comcast.net Marcy Anderson, 70 County Road 84C, Santa Fe, NM 87506; 505-455-2067; marcyanderson@gmail.com Joan Traver, 1 Downey Road, Troy, NY 12180-9527; 518-279-9946; joanietr@ earthlink.net

1983

Claudia P. Barone, Ed.D., A.P.R.N., ’83, was invested as the inaugural holder of the Nicholas P. Lang, M.D., and Helen F. Lang, R.N., Professorship at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Nursing in spring 2015.

1984

Barone is an Advanced Practice Partner in the UAMS Center for Nursing Excellence, a professor in the College of Nursing and the principal investigator on an interdisciplinary tobacco counseling grant. She is a certified tobacco treatment specialist through the University of Massachusetts Medical School Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine Center for Tobacco Research and Training.

Please send your news to: Sharon Spicer, 10 Laurel Glen Drive, Shelton, CT 06484; 203-929-6706; smwspicer@gmail.com

Please send your news to: Amy Young, 29 Howes Street, Springfield, MA 01118; 413-747-8965; aeyoung84@gmail.com

1985

Please send your news to: Deborah Webster McMaster, 77 Hollis Street, Pepperell, MA 01463; 978-433-1947; dwmcmaster77@ aol.com

1986 |

REUNION

Marsha McGrath lives in Brunswick, NY, 10 minutes from downtown Troy. She used her Health Education degree as the activity director in skilled nursing homes and adult homes and as a traveling wellness 24

Claudia Barone ’83 Named to Professorship at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

CONNECTIONS spring 2016

After graduating from Russell Sage College, Barone was a critical care nurse in the burn center at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center in Charlottesville.

She earned a master’s degree in nursing and certification as a critical care clinical nurse specialist and relocated to Arkansas in 1988, working as a clinical nurse specialist in the surgical division at UAMS Medical Center. She joined the UAMS College of Nursing faculty in 1991 and earned a Doctor of Education degree at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1996.

She has served the UAMS College of Nursing as dean, interim associate dean of the Master of Nursing Science degree program, department chair and specialty coordinator for the acute care nurse practitioner program, and associate dean for academic administration.

Read MORE in “A Healthy Dose of Inspiration” in the fall 2009 Connections, available at sage.edu/publications/connections/fall09.

CLASS NOTES

1989

Gina DiGiorgio Fontenot is in her 26th year teaching special education. She teaches ninth, 10th and 11th grade self-contained English at Beacon High School in Duchess County, NY. She and her husband celebrated 23 years of marriage in April. Her son turned 21 in April. He attends Louisiana State University and is a member of the Louisiana National Guard and ROTC. Her daughter turned 15 and is in all honors classes in ninth grade. Gina also has three grandchildren, ages 7, 5 and 9 months, in Florida with her stepdaughter and son-in-law. In July 2015, Gina was diagnosed with breast cancer. She finished chemo in November and worked throughout the treatment. She had a double mastectomy in January and then went through six weeks of radiation. She said it’s been a rough road but she has an amazing support system. She said it’s important to always find time to laugh, be positive and go for mammograms. Gina also shared that Mary Bull Kase is married and lives in Rochester, NY, with three children – two girls and a boy.

Gina Frament Little still teaches freshman Chemistry at Southeastern Louisiana University; she recently added the title of Chemistry and Physics undergraduate coordinator. Gina’s daughter is a junior in high school and is definitely heading to upstate New York for college. They visited Sage last fall and Gina was impressed with the changes on campus since we were there (Kellas has a health center in the building and free laundry, and the library is accessible 24 hours with a key fob.) Gina said that right now, Sage is her daughter’s first choice – and while she would be far from home it would be a comfort to Gina knowing she is in great hands at Sage.

I, Beth Gehring Gruber, was sad to hear that Kathleen Gormley Doan’s husband, Paul, passed away suddenly in February. Kathleen has two sons and lives in Middlebury, CT. We all send Kathleen our deepest condolences and prayers.

I recently discovered that Kimberly Wells Raymond ’92 lives about three miles from me in Cape Coral. We got together for coffee and had a great time catching up.

Please send your news to: Beth Gehring Gruber, 4437 SW 14th Avenue, Cape Coral, FL 33914; 973-632-3423; beth_gehring@ hotmail.com

1990

1997

Katie O’Conner Nikolski, 3 Hart Drive, Poughkeepsie, NY 12603; knikolski@ yahoo.com

Jennifer Sennett Glenn, 16 Sargent Street, Queensbury, NY 12804; 518-793-8308; je.glenn@roadrunner.com

1991 |

Kasia Prybylo Noblett, 2417 Deerfield Court SE, Roanoke, VA 24014; kasiaprybylo@ yahoo.com

Please send your news to: Cathy Maxwell DeVoti, 199 Foley Road, Sheffield, MA 01257; threekidz3@yahoo.com

REUNION

Please send your news to: Elizabeth Bartolomeo Edwards, 472 East K Street, Benicia, CA 94510; mlredwards@ sbcglobal.net

Please send your news to: Belinda Hilton, 12 Grant Court, Guilderland, NY 12084; 518456-5036; bhilton@att.net

1998

Valerie Priolo McKee, 3663 Hosiers Oaks Drive, Portsmouth, VA 23703-3470; 757-6383243; bryantvaleriemckee@hotmail.com

1992

Please send your news to: Cynthia Bacon Woellmer, 10 McChesney Court, Troy, NY 12180;518-274-4004; cwoellmer@gmail.com Nicole Grottoli, 277 Shufelt Road, Nassau NY 12123; 518-598-7781; ngrottoli@gmail.com

1993

Katrina Weber Rizzitelli ’98 and family.

Please send your news to: Elizabeth Krizar, 933 Route 9, Hudson, NY 12534; 518-4419008; ekriz@hotmail.com

1994

Please send your news to: Lori McCarthy; lormccarthy@yahoo.com Michela Moore; michelamoore@comcast.net

Katrina Weber Rizzitelli and her husband, JP, welcomed their sixth child in 2015.

Samantha Grace is just about a year now, and loves her big brothers and sisters, Julianna, 10, Tommy, 8, Ali, 6, Teddy, 4, and Mary-Kate, 3. The family stays busy with the kids’ activities of gymnastics, baseball, tennis and swim. They still live in Derby, CT.

1995

Andrea Evans bought a new home in Johnstown, NY; Katri Noble Johnson married Rich Johnson and bought a new home; and Laura Kirby married Rob Haver.

Kate Siegmann Robertson, 126 Bushendorf Road, Ravena, NY 12143-2212; 518-7562388; rarksr@gmail.com

I, Catrina McKissick Truesdell, and many of our classmates have celebrated our 40th birthdays, including Angela Gordon, Amy Elkins, Katri Noble Johnson, Andrea Evans, Antoinette Nelson Eicholzer and Allison Andrews Patterson.

Please send your news to: Linda Stroka Riemer, 2325 Harrow Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15241; the_riemers@yahoo.com

1996 |

REUNION

Please send your news to: Elizabeth Leuci Keogh, 88-12 151st Avenue Apt 5L, Howard Beach, NY 11414; 718-843-3910; JohnLiz529@aol.com Michaelynn McClenahan, 806 Huntingdon Drive, Schenectady, NY 12309; 518-469-2788; mikemcc213@aol.com Michelle Lessard Tanguay, 48 Chandler Street, Loudon, NH 03308; 603-753-9897; chellenbillt@hotmail.com

I recently moved to Sidney, NY. Please send updates to me at the address listed below!

Please send your news to: Catrina McKissick Truesdell, 7 Webb Avenue, Sidney, NY 13838; 607-433-9801; catrinapt1@hotmail. com Angela Porter Gordon, 34 Arcadia Court, Albany, NY 12205; 518-729-5532; angela. gordon@gmail.com

CONNECTIONS spring 2016

25

CLASS NOTES

1999

Please send your news to: Amy Carlotto Zuckett, 515 Hunters Path Road, Bridgeville, PA 15017; amy.carlotto2@gmail.com

Rebekah “Bex” Lancto Near and Jeremy Near and big sister Zealynn, welcomed sweet baby Emerson Rose on June 27, 2015 weighing 8 pounds, 1 ounce and measuring 21 and a half inches long.

Melissa Fields Roller, 700 West Road, Richmond, MA 01254; 413-698-8078; mjroller@earthlink.net

Kristen Mitchell welcomed a daughter named Maggie in November 2015, jumping with both feet into the world of intentional single parenting. She is a family physician in southern Maine and teaches at the University of New England’s medical school. She can be reached at kristenmitchelldo@gmail.com.

2000

Please send your news to: Cara Desautels Beyor, 2145 Plains Road, Milton, VT 054684378; 802-527-1360; desauc16@aol.com Brittany Lemoine Cappiello, brittany@ williamstownpt.com

2001 |

REUNION

Hollis Dorman ’74, Jess Lennington Campbell ’01, MaryAnn Kniska ’91 and Kate Saulsbery ’11.

Katie McDermott ’02 with her husband, Chris Fiato.

Katie Ann McDermott has lived in Manhattan for a decade after graduating from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. She received her master’s in Educational Theatre for Colleges and Communities from New York University and works for Kobre & Kim LLP. She recently married Christopher Fiato at St. Joseph’s Church in Stockbridge, MA. They celebrated at The Cranwell with close family and friends, and of course fellow Purple Cows!

Maggie, daughter of Kristen Mitchell ’02.

Please send your news to: Melissa Callaghan Rice, 6 Bacon Rd, Framingham, MA 01701; coachcallaghan@yahoo.com

2003

Jessica Lennington Campbell presented a program at the Hartford Public Library as part of the Connecticut Science Center’s Women in Science series in December. Hollis Dorman ’74, MaryAnn Publicover Kniska ’91 and Kate Saulsbery ’11 attended. Jess also presented as part of the Esteves School of Education Lecture Series at Sage in April.

Please send your news to: Michelle Fage, PO Box 37, St. John, VI 00831; 310-968-3789; michelle.m.fage@gmail.com

Evelyn Gault, daughter of Sarah Baumgartner Gault ’03 and her husband, Dan.

2002 Melissa Callaghan Rice ’02, Katie McDermott ’02, Kristen Mitchell ’02, Bethany Turo-Fernandez ’02, Jackie O’Gorman Parente ’02 and Rebekah Lancto Near ’02 at the wedding of Katie DeGoosh-DiMarzio ’02.

Emerson, daughter of Rebekah Lancto Near ’02 and her husband Jeremy.

26

CONNECTIONS spring 2016

In October 2015, Katie DeGoosh married Eric DiMarzio in East Greenwich, RI. They own a home in Warwick, RI.

Sarah Baumgartner Gault and her husband Dan announce that Evelyn Elizabeth Gault was born on February 26 on Nantucket.

She weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces and was 18.5 inches long. Her brothers, Max and Jake, love having a baby sister! Many congratulations to the Gault family!

Please send your news to: Kendra Wray Pulsifer-Griep, 5 Marion Road, North Billerica, MA 01862; 303-524-5709; Kendra@griep.us SarahBeth Douglas Votra, PO Box 222, Tully, NY 13159; 315-882-7617; sarahbethvotra@gmail.com

CLASS NOTES

2004

518-421-5913; brianadolan1@gmail.com

Please send your news to: Julia Hillje Dardia, 87 Poplar Road, Wayne, NJ 07470; 518-527-3314; juliahilljedardia@gmail.com Julia Stevens Bogardus, 45 State Street, Oxford, NY 13830; 518-257-2407; julia. bogardus@gmail.com

Jessica Trong, 10 Farm Street, Troy, NY 12180; 518-928-2303; jtmarie0922@gmail.com

2009

2005

2010

Please send your news to: Veronica Nunes, 21 Lochview Drive, Windsor, CT 06095; 860-977-3397; veronicajnunes@gmail.com Brittany Wood, 306 Sunset Avenue, Rensselaer, NY 12144; 518-322-6634; brittanywood06@gmail.com

2011 |

REUNION

Megan Cote and her husband, John recently purchased their first home!

Please send your news to: Ivanna Ramos; ivannar@gmail.com Amanda Spring, PO Box 292, Ravena, NY 12143; 518-756-8255; sprina@sage.edu

2012 Neil Robert, son of Courtney Martin Powers ’05 and her husband, Keith.

On January 1, 2016, Courtney Martin Powers and her husband, Keith (RPI ’05), welcomed their first child, Neil Robert. Everyone is settling in at home.

Julia Killey Horaj married Mike Horaj in October 2015.

Julia Killey married RPI alumnus Mike Horaj on October 10, 2015 at the First Baptist Church in Plaistow, NH. The couple lives in Nashua, NH, where Julia teaches music and Mike is a field engineer.

Please send your news to: Jessica Gertler, 1422 Jenkins Street, Merrick, NY 11566; jessicagertler@gmail.com

2007

Please send your news to: Jennifer Harris, 12 Francis Drive, Wynantskill, NY 12198; 518275-2263; jenniferdabeyharris@gmail.com Angela Puorto-Cortina, 105A Hicock Street, Winooski, VT 05404; apuorto@gmail.com

2008

Please send your news to: Meghan Whipple, 25 Wakefield Street, Lewiston, ME 04240; bass_slayer91@hotmail.com Courtney Reed, PO Box 262, Mechanicville, NY 12118; creed1391@yahoo.com

2014

Please send your news to: connections@sage.edu

REUNION

Please send your news to: Christina Powers, 47 Carmel Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10314; 718-494-9389; christina.g.powers@gmail. com

2013

Ginamarie Garabedian, 39 Forest Street, East Hartford, CT 06118; ginamarie_ helene@hotmail.com

Steffanie Winne, 457 State Road 146, Building 5- Apt 212, Guilderland Center, NY 12085; decievingapple@gmail.com

2006 |

Please send your news to: Hillary Brown, 110 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215; brown.hillaryc@gmail.com

2015 Avi Donald, son of Kristina Centonze and her wife, Emily Neubauer.

Please send your news to: connections@sage.edu

Kristina Centonze and her wife, Emily Neubauer, welcomed their son, Avi Donald Centonze Neubauer on February 1, 2016.

Melissa McConville Persico married Amelia Persico at Franklin Plaza in Troy in October 2015. The couple was happy to have so many alumnae there! They live in Ravena, NY, with two new cats, Pickle and Sissy.

Please send your news to: Amy Witterschein, 234 Hillside Avenue, Springfield, NJ 07081; 845-649-2491; amywitterschein@gmail.com

Please send your news to: Danielle Drahos Basore, 59 Brunswick Avenue, 2nd Floor, Troy, NY 12180; 610-334-6976; danielleabasore@gmail.com

Briana Dolan, 25 Rockledge Avenue; Apt 301 West Tower, White Plains, NY 10601;

Daniela Puorto, 15 Parkside Place, Revere, MA 02151; daniela.puorto@gmail.com

Alumnae celebrated at the wedding of Melissa McConville ’09 and Amelia Persico in October 2015.

CONNECTIONS spring 2016

27

DIN MEMORIAM

1936

1949

1967

Kathryn Meehan Murray 1/10/2005

Antoinette Cavaccini McDowell 1/17/2016

Bonnie Wooding Grinvalsky 8/24/2015

Leonore Goldstoff Sanborn 6/22/2010

1950

1968

1937 Phyllis Warren Wildhack 6/17/2015

Patricia Linehan Redmond 1/1/2012

1938

1951

Helen Hancock Spiegelberg 12/12/2015

1969 Muriel Vail Bohne 3/19/2016

Helen McCartney Martin 10/17/2015

Betty Pels Schwartz 9/22/2015

1941

1952

Joan Morrison DiGrazia 9/18/2015

Deena Cohen Frankel 11/3/2015

Margaret Walsh Sitarz 1/27/2016

Joyce Post Schmulowitz 2/18/2016

1971

Helen Apt Jaffe 11/12/2009

1953

Leila Cohen 3/8/2016

Ann Caracristi 1/10/2016

Ann Palumbo Toohey 12/21/2015

Ruth VanWyck Floyd 12/29/2015

1942

1944 Bette Buff Milstein 12/16/2015 Mary Dow Turner 10/16/2015

1946

28

Mary Jane Sunderland Dryden 10/3/2015

1954 Cora-Ann Gomez Yore 3/14/2016

1957 Virginia Halbrook Peattie 2/17/2016

V. Marie Bushong Barker 2/26/2016

1958

Ellen Willbach Welber 2/26/2015

Judith LaBaie Verney 10/16/2015

1947

1961

C. Elizabeth Schock Hudon 5/4/2015

Barbara Thompson Von Kleeck 6/14/2015

Barbara Hawley Killimayer 1/13/2016

1964

Marie Wells Remer 4/12/2015

Elizabeth Beardsley Schoenstadt 9/20/2015

CONNECTIONS spring 2016

1970

1972 Dolores Wisniewski 1/25/2016

1979 Gail Woolf Jaffin 6/8/2015

1991 Susan Spector 10/31/2015

CORPORATE CONNECTIONS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM | THE SAGE COLLEGES

Kala Evans ’16 with scholarship sponsor Ronnye Berg Shamam ’64 of Shamron Mills.

Courtney Haydock of scholarship sponsor M&T Bank with M&T scholarship recipients.

Krysti Smaldone ’16 with scholarship sponsor Mary Brizzell ’65.

The Corporate Connections scholarship program pairs Capital Region businesses with exceptional students from the area, who are in their final year of study at Sage. Companies sponsor scholarships in $1,000 increments, with the entirety of the funds going directly to the students to help offset the cost of tuition. With the help of these generous businesses, 104 students received scholarships for the 2015-16 academic year.

To learn how your company can get involved, visit sage.edu/giving/corporateconnections.

Non-profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID

65 1st Street Troy, NY 12180

Permit No. 314 Albany, NY

A special opportunity is available during the Centennial Campaign for Sage: A personalized 12” x 12” Centennial brick will honor donors who make a $500 gift, and a personalized 4” x 8” marble tile will honor donors who make a $1,000 gift. These special pieces will only be offered during the Centennial Campaign and will be prominently featured on Ferry Street Plaza.

centennial.sage.edu/bricks-and-tiles

The $50 million Centennial Campaign for Sage is an ambitious fundraising campaign to take Sage into its second century.

Centennial Campaign gifts of any amount support academic programs, facility renovations and upgrades, and an endowment for faculty and campus needs.

Office of Institutional Advancement

Thank you for helping Sage Be. Know. Do. MORE

65 1st Street, Troy, NY 12180

centennial.sage.edu

(800) 898-8452 centennial@sage.edu