Fall 2017
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Meet Pace’s New President,
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Marvin Krislov
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A Festival of Colors
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Pace joined millions around the world in spreading joy and color in honor of Holi, a Hindu festival that celebrates the coming of spring and the triumph of good over evil.
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A Warm Welcome More than 100 students, faculty, and staff turned out to welcome Pace President Marvin Krislov on his first day.
Cover and TOC photos: Drew Levin
Contents PACE UNIVERSITY
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PACE Magazine Vo lu me XXX III No . 1 Fa ll 2 01 7 PRESIDENT Marvin Krislov VICE PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY RELATIONS AND CMO Frederica N. Wald ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS Leila Franchi CREATIVE DIRECTOR Maria Taffera Lewis DIRECTOR, CONTENT Tiffany Lopes DIRECTOR, MARKETING/ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT Wendy Metzger ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, PRODUCTION Maria De La Cruz ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, SOCIAL MEDIA AND EDITORIAL Alyssa Cressotti ’08, ’18 ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Cicero Clamor WRITERS Jillian Gorry ’11 and Lance Pauker CONTRIBUTORS Caitlin Grand ’12, Robert Schurz ’18, and Diane Wai DESIGNER Giselle Canino ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, BUDGET AND ADMINISTRATIVE OPERATIONS Ivy Riddick
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Outside the Actors Studio Pace’s Chief Academic Officer Meet the Class of 2017 Building an OASIS Environmental Impact
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Pace Magazine is a publication of the Department of Marketing and Communications, Office of University Relations, published twice a year, and distributed free to alumni and friends of Pace University. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of its staff or of Pace University. Copyright © 2017 Pace University
SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO: Office of Alumni Relations Pace University One Pace Plaza New York, NY 10038 Phone: (212) 346-1489 Email: pacealum@pace.edu Pace University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action university
Letter from the President Pace News Research Class Notes Flashback
Save the Date NOVEMBER 28, 2017
Pace will once again be participating in #GivingTuesday, a global day of
philanthropy. Become part of the movement and invest in Pace students! Last year, we raised more than $130,000—and we can raise even more with your support.
Sign up to be a Social Media Ambassador and transform your social and
professional circles into powerful philanthropic networks. Tweet, follow, like, share—it’s that easy!
To increase the reach of your philanthropy, the members of the Pace Board of Trustees have generously agreed to match #GivingTuesday gifts!
Make your gift at www.pace.edu/givingtuesday. Every gift makes a difference.
Please contact the Annual Giving Office at annfund@pace.edu or (212) 346-1232 to sign up to be a Social Media Ambassador and learn how you can use your Pace pride to make this year’s #GivingTuesday an even greater success.
It’s easy to stay connected: @PaceAlumni @PaceUAlumni
flickr.com/PaceAlumni @PaceUniversity
@PaceUAlumni www.pace.edu/AlumniCommunity
Letter from the President
We Are Pace Setters Craig Warga
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t’s only been a few months since I started as president of Pace University and already, I’m a proud Pace Setter. It didn’t take long, as I listened to the stories of some of our students and graduates. From a US Marine who came to Pace and graduated with a prestigious internship at the US Department of State in Azerbaijan and a Fulbright Award to teach English in Serbia, to a student DREAMer who was recently awarded a Truman Scholarship and plans to go to law school to become an immigration attorney— there’s so much to be proud of. By definition, a “pacesetter” is a person, group, or organization that is the most progressive or successful and serves as a model to be imitated. And that’s what we are. The New York Times cited a 2017 study by the Equality of Opportunity Project that ranks Pace University first in New York—and second in the nation—for economic mobility based on students who enter college at the bottom fifth of income distribution and end up in the top fifth. That’s what it means to be a Pace Setter. In recent years, we were ranked the #1 most underrated college in the nation by Business Insider. And while this kind of ranking highlights our determination and grit, it also implies that we are somehow unknown. I want the world to know what we know about Pace University.
We are prestigious award winners and entrepreneurs. We are nurses, teachers, accountants, actors, and scientists. We are writers, legislators, technologists, artists, and advocates. We are more than 146,000 pacesetters around the world. As alumni, you aren’t just our greatest examples, you are our greatest champions. So wear your blue and gold proudly—at Soul Cycle or in Seoul. Come back to campus, stay connected with our alumni network, start an alumni meet-up in your area. Become part of the Alumni-Student Mentoring Program. Our students can learn a lot from you. Share your knowledge and your Pace Pride. Let’s not just put Pace on the map—let’s make it the destination for opportunity. Sincerely yours,
“By definition, a ‘pacesetter’ is a person, group, or organization that is the most progressive or successful and serves as a model to be imitated.”
Marvin Krislov President
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The Robotti Scholarship Challenge: Doubling the Power of Your Gift
The Robotti Scholarship Challenge will double the power of your scholarship gift. Thanks to the generous contributions of Trustee Bob Robotti ’78 and his wife, Suzanne Robotti, all individual donors establishing new scholarships between $2,500 and $10,000 will receive a full 1:1 match from the Robotti Challenge Fund. That means twice as many awards going to deserving and hardworking students— thanks to you.
Your gift comes at a critical time. Pace students urgently need financial support from donors like you:
95.8
%*
of first-year students at Pace receive some form of financial aid
34
%*
of first-year students are the first in their families to go to college
The Robotti Challenge Fund is a wonderful opportunity for you to make a transformational difference and invest in a student’s future. To learn more, please email annfund@pace.edu or call (212) 346-1232. * Figures based on fall 2016 data
News
PACE UNIVERSITY
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THIS IS MY CAMPUS
Where academic excellence meets real-world experience. Where forward-thinkers, innovators, and leaders achieve success. Where dreams become reality.
This is Pace.
THIS IS
PACE
Earlier this year, Pace University launched a brand and image advertising campaign—This Is Pace— designed to raise visibility, advance the awareness of our name and our brand values, and continually create positive perception in the marketplace. From performing on Broadway stages to building businesses and creating jobs to conducting groundbreaking research to shattering the glass ceiling for women in STEM, the campaign is purposeful, distinctive, iconic, and tells a dynamic and confident story that reflects our heritage and mission of Opportunitas. This is Pace.
3,100+
ads appeared in MTA train and subway lines
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media placements including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Journal News, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and more
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News
GOING UP
COURSE: Economic Issues through a Photographer’s Lens PROFESSOR: Anna Shostya, PhD, Assistant Professor of Economics
In the Classroom
“Looking at economics through a photographer’s lens forces students to think outside of their textbook framework,” says Shostya. “The best photos are the ones that tell stories, and economists have a very important story to tell.” The course explored themes such as inequality and poverty, economic growth, and immigration. n
ALUMNI ON BOARD
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his spring, longtime Pace supporters and alumni Charles Mak, Marty McElroy, and Robert Robotti were elected to Pace’s Board of Trustees. Charles Mak ’77, ’80
is senior advisor to Morgan Stanley Asia’s Investment Banking division and a 30-year veteran of Morgan Stanley. Most recently, he was the chairman and director of Bank Morgan Stanley AG, a director in Morgan Stanley Asia Limited, and a member of several international committees at Morgan Stanley. Mak holds a BBA in General Business and an MBA in Financial Management from Pace.
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Marty McElroy ’88 is a senior partner at Deloitte, where he has worked for nearly 30 years since graduating with his BBA in Public Accounting from Pace. As a senior audit and advisory partner, Marty serves and advises various global financial services clients. In addition to his client service roles, he is an active leader within Deloitte, having served as the east region’s audit talent partner. Robert Robotti ’78 is
the president and chief investment officer of Robotti & Company, an asset management firm he founded in 1983. Prior to that, he was a
“This program gives high school students a head start in their college preparation,” says Caitlin Grand ’12, who volunteered with the program as a student. “Many of these students are first generation and come from low economic backgrounds. Upward Bound gives them the edge they need to succeed during their college careers.” The Pace Upward Bound Program, funded by the US Department of Education, has been supporting and preparing high school students since 1995. Over the years, current Pace students and alumni have volunteered their time with the program, serving more than 80 young men and women through summer classes, tutoring, and college advisement. This year, Pace was one of only a few higher education institutions in NYC that received continued funding which will sustain the program for another five years. “My dream for them,” says Grand, “is a scholarship that would allow them to attend Pace. They work hard and deserve it.” n
vice president and shareholder for Gabelli & Company. Robotti sits on the board of directors for Panhandle Oil and Gas Company and AMREP Corporation, and serves as chair of the board of directors of Pulse Seismic. He earned an MBA in Accounting from Pace. “Each of these highly accomplished individuals believes deeply in the power of a Pace education to change lives and help young people achieve their dreams,” said Board Chairman Mark M. Besca ’81. “I am delighted to welcome them as our newest trustees and look forward to calling on their considerable talents, energy, and expertise as we continue to advance Pace’s enduring mission of Opportunitas.” n
News
On the SCHIMMEL STAGE DECEMBER 2017 Ana Gasteyer Holiday Tipple / Saturday, December 9, at 7:30 p.m.
The Schimmel Center at Pace University has unveiled its 2017–2018 season featuring internationally acclaimed artists in the fields of dance, cabaret, music, comedy, global music and dance, and family programming.
FEBRUARY 2018
MAY 2018 The Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra: The Struggle to Forgive / Friday, May 4, at 7:30 p.m.
Jazzy Ash and the Leaping Lizards / Sunday, February 11, at 3:00 p.m. Panta Rei Dance Theatre presents Lullaby / Friday, February 23, and Saturday, February 24, at 3:00 p.m.
MARCH 2018 Magically Hysterical with Judy Gold and Elliot Zimet / Saturday, March 3, at 7:30 p.m. Jon Stetson: America’s Master Mentalist / Sunday, December 10, at 3:00 p.m. The State Ballet Theatre of Russia / The Nutcracker: A Ballet in Two Acts / Friday, December 15, at 7:30 p.m. The Rob Mathes Holiday Concert / Sunday, December 17, at 3:00 p.m.
#1
“Best Theatre College” in New York
State
–OnStage
Lonesome Traveler: The Concert with Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, and Mary / Saturday, May 5, at 7:30 p.m. Kathleen Madigan / Friday, March 23, at 7:30 p.m.
Kayhan Kalhor and Friends / Saturday, May 19, at 7:30 p.m.
Ricardo Ribeiro / Saturday, March 24, at 7:30 p.m.
Learn more at schimmel.pace.edu.
Barry Douglas and Camerata Island Orchestra / Thursday, March 8, at 7:30 p.m.
New York Theatre Ballet presents Mother Goose / Sunday, March 25, at 3:00 p.m.
NIYAZ: The Fourth Light Project / Saturday, March 10, at 7:30 p.m.
Lula Pena / Saturday, March 31, at 7:30 p.m.
Danú and Goitse / Sunday, March 11, at 7:30 p.m. Niño de Elche / Wednesday, March 14, at 7:30 p.m.
APRIL 2018 Tom Chapin and the Chapin Sisters / Friday, April 20, at 7:30 p.m.
SPECIAL DISCOUNT FOR PACE ALUMNI Pace University alumni receive 20% off all Schimmel Center shows. Call the Schimmel Center Box Office at (212) 3461715. Restrictions apply.
TWENTY
Inside the Actors Studio, which is filmed on Pace’s NYC Campus and serves as the craft seminar for Actors Studio Drama School students, earned its 20th Emmy nomination this year. “Nominated for the 20th time, how can I begin to express my gratitude and excitement? It is a milestone for which we have our distinguished guests to thank. This remarkable moment is dedicated to them, the artists, and to the dreamers—the students of our Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University.”
— J ames L ipton , host and executive producer of Inside the Actors Studio and Dean Emeritus of The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University
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News
NEW SPACE, NEW PACE Pace is building on its commitment to student experience by creating new spaces to learn, collaborate, and connect. As Pace continues construction to renovate the New York City Campus and create exciting new spaces for our community, the Master Plan team including Sciame Construction personnel have been working hard to minimize disruption and maintain normal campus operations.
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One of the great features in phase one of the NYC Master Plan is that the new designs will take a bit of the brutal out of the Brutalist architecture of One Pace Plaza. “One Pace Plaza was built in the ‘60s. It’s kind of a mini fortress, and shields students from lower Manhattan” says Marshall Wheeler, senior project manager for Sciame Construction. “We’re excited that it will be opened back up.” n
News
CHP’S FIRST PHD “The continuing shortage of nurse scientists and faculty has become a barrier to extending important research in primary health care and teaching beginning and advanced practice professional nurses of the future,” said Harriet R. Feldman, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean of Pace’s College of Health Professions (CHP). In response to this critical need, CHP launched a new PhD in Nursing program on the Pleasantville Campus that began in the fall. This
research-intensive program will prepare nurses to tackle the complex problems facing the health care system. “This is an exceptional milestone for the College of Health Professions as the first PhD,” said Keville Frederickson, EdD, RN, FAAN, professor and project leader for the program. “The program will be the only PhD in Nursing in the Hudson Valley. Our graduates will be prepared as nurse leaders, scientists, policymakers, and innovators in health care. Their research will focus
on primary health care, a people-centered approach to health that makes prevention as important as a cure.” CHP also announced a new MS in Physician Assistant Studies in Pleasantville, which offers students from diverse backgrounds a rigorous course of study designed to prepare them for future roles as compassionate, ethical primary care providers in a wide variety of clinical settings. That program will begin in fall 2018. n
BRINGING CYBERSECURITY EDUCATION TO TEENS
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wenty-three high school teachers from across the country gained the critical cybersecurity fundamentals needed to train future generations of cybersecurity experts at the GenCyber workshop held at Pace this summer. The Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems’ GenCyber program, funded by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), is part of Pace’s outreach efforts to infuse STEM and cybersecurity education into high school classrooms.
“Through the Pace GenCyber curriculum, we not only teach cybersecurity, but we also showcase the connections between cybersecurity topics and the participants’ teaching disciplines, as well as provide the tools needed to infuse the material into the classroom,” says Assistant Dean of Academic Innovation and Program Director Andreea Cotoranu. This year, the NSA and the Department of Homeland Security designated Pace as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education (CAE-CDE) through academic year 2022. n
FROM THE BOARDROOM TO THE CLASSROOM A lot has changed in 30 years— technology, music, education, hair— but the Lubin School of Business’ commitment to providing real-world experiences to its students remains as strong as ever. In the fall of 1987, Lubin launched its Executive in Residence program, which has brought top executives to campus to impart wisdom and guidance to thousands of students over the last three decades. To mark the 30th anniversary, Lubin welcomed Richard L. Gelfond, CEO of IMAX, and two successful Pace alumni—Barry Klarberg ’81, ’85, CEO and founder of Monarch Business and Wealth Management and Kelvin Joseph ’01, CMO and COO of Steiner Sports—to campus in October. Here’s to another successful 30 years of bringing the best of the business world to the best of the future business world. n
A SUMMER OF STEM Pace welcomed a cohort of bright and ambitious high school students to campus as part of the 5th annual STEM Collaboratory NYC’s STEM Camp. The students spent two weeks delving into programming with Python, understanding data science, using design thinking approaches for projects, and exploring NYC and its tech scene, including Google. n
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News Pace Contributes
Each year, the Pace Community contributes more than 85,000 hours of service to their local and global communities through volunteering, service-learning (Civic Engagement and Public Values courses), advocacy, activism, and nonprofit internships. Pace’s commitment to service and civic engagement has earned recognition through the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, and Project Pericles.
Pace Student Wins Prestigious Scholarship
P
ace student Taslim Tavarez Garcia ’18 has been selected as a 2017 Truman Scholar, one of just 62 students from across the country to receive the award. The Harry S. Truman Scholarship, one of the most prestigious awards in the US, 12
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supports the graduate education and professional development of outstanding young people committed to public service leadership. A first-generation immigrant from the Dominican Republic, Tavarez is working tirelessly toward her goal of helping undocumented immigrant high school students navigate how they can go to college. Since arriving at Pace, Tavarez has earned several prestigious awards and internships that are providing the foundation for her future achievements. During her first year, she was awarded a highly selective Jeannette K. Watson Fellowship, which provided internships at the Institute of International Education, 100 Resilient Cities, and Aidha, an NGO that empowers women through skills like financial literacy and entrepreneurship. A year later, she received the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, which allowed her to travel to Bolivia, where she researched femicide and produced the documentary
Vivas Nos Queremos. During the 2016–2017 academic year, Tavarez interned at the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and volunteered and recruited Pace students for the “We Are New York” program, which helps immigrants practice English through conversation groups. She also established a student organization called ABRIR (Advocates Bring Resources to Immigrants and Refugees), which means “to open” in Spanish, and hosts college application workshops for undocumented students. Ultimately, Tavarez hopes to continue to advocate for immigrant rights and reform. “I would like to go to law school and become an immigration attorney and return to south Florida to start my own nonprofit and provide affordable legal services to help undocumented immigrants,” she says. “It’s about really trying to help them overcome the barriers that prevent them from becoming residents or citizens.” n
News
Hall of Fame-Worthy The Pace University Department of Athletics inducted the 2017 Class of the Pace Athletics Hall of Fame on April 27 at the Whitby Castle in Rye, NY. Inductees included Chris Bayer (Baseball ’91), Kim Zornow (Women’s Basketball ’89), Patricia Thomas-Arscott (Women’s Tennis ’00), Luke Hirten (Men’s Lacrosse ’00), and James Stewart (Football ’71). Athletics also honored the 1976 football team as the Team of Distinction, as well as Gene Westmoreland ’65, a member of the 1999 Hall of Fame Class, as the sixth recipient of the Peter X. Finnerty Leadership Award. Westmoreland was the first four sport athlete in Pace Athletics history (Baseball, Men’s Basketball, Golf, and Cross Country). The festive evening showcased Pace’s multi-generational commitment to athletic excellence, and the University’s mission to continue that tradition in the coming decades. n
VICTORIES ON AND OFF THE FIELD Pace Athletics is picking up W’s everywhere it counts with record-breaking seasons on and off the field.
In the Competition
On the field, 11 teams competed in Northeast-10 Conference postseason events. The Men’s Lacrosse team finished as the #5-ranked team in the 2017 United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Coaches Poll, and earned a spot in the NCAA Division II Men’s Lacrosse Championship Tournament for the first time. The Women’s Lacrosse team, in just its third year of existence, continued to make impressive strides forward, spending the entire season as a nationally-ranked program, and reaching as high as #11 in the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association Division II Coaches Poll. They
finished the year as the 18th-ranked team in the nation.
In the Classroom
Pace student-athletes reached new heights in the classroom, posting the highest GPA ever at 3.27. The Setters set a new record for most student-athletes (272), and highest percentage of student-athletes (72%), named to the NE-10 Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll (CHR) in a single semester in the fall. The Setters once again landed 72% or 241 student-athletes on the CHR for the spring 2017 semester. To top it off, Pace was one of only four institutions to have each team reach a 3.0 GPA or better.
50 YEARS OF
FOOTBALL
In the Community
Not only are Pace student-athletes committed to their work in competition and in the classroom, but each team has made it a priority to give back to our community. The 2016–2017 year was another record for volunteer service with more than 1,700 total hours, which included National Read Across America Day, Relay for Life, Atria Senior Living Center, and more. The Setters also received “Gold Medallion Status” and Founders Club membership with LGBT SportsSafe, in recognition of the department’s efforts to build a more inclusive athletics community— the only NE-10 school to receive this honor. “This is an extraordinary time in Pace Athletics history and for the entire Pace Community. I am incredibly grateful to be a part of it all and I can’t begin to express how much pride I have in all that we have achieved,” said Mark Brown, director of athletics. n
It’s a touchdown-sized year for Pace football. Having officially laced up the cleats in 1967, the program is celebrating their 50th year in Setter blue and gold. W WW.PACE .E DU
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Pace in the News
Op-Ed(ucated) “The sprawling New York prison system is broken. Recidivism rates are high, brutality is common, and programs are limited. The hallmark of this broken system is that most inmates are housed hundreds of miles away from their homes.” Pace Law Professor Michael B. Mushlin, JD, shares his thoughts on the proposal to close Rikers Island in a recent Daily News op-ed.
“New York State students deserve the right to choose what college or university is the right one for them. Students cannot be the only voice in this critical conversation, but we must at least be one of them.” In an op-ed published in The Journal News, recent Pace alumna Larissa Szilagyi ’17 discusses New York’s Excelsior Scholarship and its impact on students.
“ When free tuition comes at the expense of attending a school that may offer a better fit and superior career opportunities that lead to decades of higher earnings, it erases the very appeal of the Excelsior Scholarship.” Vice President of Enrollment Management Robina C. Schepp shares her thoughts on the effects of the Excelsior Scholarship on students in an op-ed published by Crain’s New York Business.
“If Congress eliminated the loophole, and applied the payroll tax equally to all income, it could reduce the tax rate for low- and middle-income families from 7.65% to 6.2%, while still collecting the same amount of revenue.” In an op-ed published by The Daily News, Pace Law Dean David Yassky, JD, proposes a tax cut that Democrats should support.
“As the doomsday clock ticks closer to midnight, we need to rethink the place of nuclear weapons in our security policy. There is growing international recognition that nuclear weapons are unnecessary for national defense, prohibitively expensive, and prone to terrifying accidents.” Political Science Professor and Director of the International Disarmament Institute Matthew Bolton, PhD, shares his opinion on the Iran Deal and why it shouldn’t be abandoned in a recent op-ed on The Hill’s “Pundit” Blog.
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“Laptops at best reduce education to the clackety-clack of transcribing lectures on shiny screens and, at worst, provide students with a constant escape from whatever is hard, challenging, or uncomfortable about learning.”
“The damage from this life threatening budget cut will be far-reaching and will be very difficult to undo when a new administration takes the helm in a few years. And, our partners across the world will have witnessed a very dark period in United States history.”
Pace Law Professor Darren Rosenblum, JD, struck a nerve with his opinion piece, “Leave Your Laptops at the Door to My Classroom,” published in The New York Times. Rosenblum’s No Laptop Policy was also discussed on the TODAY show.
Harriet R. Feldman, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean of the College of Health Professions, shares her opinion on the impact budget cuts will have on the health care industry in an op-ed for The Journal News.
Come
see what’s
NEW at
Pace
In this issue of Pace Magazine, we share stories of Pace Setters. A new president and interim provost, a program that’s preparing students with autism spectrum disorders, a clinic that is impacting environmental legislation, and our inspiring Class of 2017, all poised to take Pace to new heights.
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Outside the
Actors
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Photography: Craig Warga
Feature — Q&A with the President
Studio by Sarah H. O’Brien
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James Lipton, host of Inside the Actors Studio and Dean Emeritus of The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University, sat down with President Marvin Krislov during his first 30 days to talk about some of the defining moments that set him on a path to Pace University. James Lipton: Let’s begin at the beginning. Where were you born? Marvin Krislov: I was born in Baltimore, but we moved to Lexington, Kentucky, when I was four years old. My father got a tenured job at the University of Kentucky in labor economics. JL: Were you a close family? MK: Very much so. There was my mother, father, and I, and then my grandmother joined us. My parents were both very interested in politics and social justice. My mother was an activist in Kentucky and at that time, there were a lot of issues about race and integration, particularly in the school system. My father was more the academic, but he was also somewhat politically active. JL: In 23 years of Inside the Actors Studio most of the people I interviewed grew up on the lower end of the economic scale, as did I. Where would you place your family on that scale? MK: We were solidly middle class, but lived very, very frugally. JL: Your life is studded with academic landmarks. Let’s begin with one of them. What grade school did you attend?
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MK: Tates Creek Elementary School, then Tates Creek Junior High School, then Tates Creek Senior High School. The only interruption was my father had a Fulbright to Trinity College, Dublin, when I was in fifth grade. JL: Tell me about Tates Creek Elementary. Were you an eager student at that age? MK: I was. I was a little more of a reader. I got involved in theater when I was eight. My first role was Norbert the kitchen boy in Sleeping Beauty. I got to kiss the woman who played Sleeping Beauty on the cheek. That woman ended up being a Junior Miss America. JL: You’ve kissed a Miss America? MK: I have. JL: We have many things in common. I have also kissed a Miss America. JL: What about junior high? MK: I think most people find junior high not the easiest time. I would say that was my experience. JL: How so? MK: There were more social tensions in junior high. Lexington, like most places, was experiencing racial and socioeconomic conflicts. I don’t know if I should share this, but I remember that
I was viewed as very liberal, and there was a rumor that I was so interested in social uplift that I wanted to redistribute the wealth of the people in our school. JL: And recollections of high school? MK: High school was better for many reasons: it’s a bigger place, I was involved in speech and theater, there were more students, more places to go, and more activities. I found more kindred spirits in high school. JL: Are there teachers who stand out? MK: Two in particular. Mrs. Helen Cooke, the English teacher, was a really inspirational person. I remember writing one of my papers on the bus. In those days it was all by hand. If I made a mistake I just crossed it out. Now, of course, I could never write a good paper long-hand at night on a bus. She loved it, and I got an award. She taught me the value of words. My other great teacher was Mr. Jordan, who wore a bow tie and was an aficionado of George Will. He challenged and pushed me to be more analytically sound and to be more thoughtful. JL: What about your interests outside of school? What were they? MK: I played tennis. JL: Well? MK: Enthusiastically. JL: That don’t mean a damn thing. JL: Talk about your family before you left for college. MK: My parents were very supportive and really encouraged me. We would go to theater together; we talked a lot about politics and history; and Judaism and religious identity was important. JL: Is it important to you still? MK: It is. I think it really anchors my sense of identity, but also mission. I think my belief in education as the way forward
Feature — Q&A with the President
is very much anchored in Jewish notions. Also the Jewish notion of saving a life, working to improve the lives of others, it’s a humanistic value, but for me it also is rooted in my Jewish upbringing. JL: Why did you choose Yale? Or did Yale choose you? MK: It was a combination. I had a friend whose brother was at Yale, and he was a role model to me. I liked that Yale was in this mid-size, urban town, very diverse. I loved that Yale had strong theater and seemed to care about its undergraduates. Embarrassing memory: I typed my essay and ran out of room and so I hand-wrote in the last sentences saying something like “Yale is like paradise on Earth.” If we got an essay like that today for admissions, people would probably roll their eyes, but I really meant it. And I really, really wanted to go to Yale. JL: What was your major? MK: I ended up majoring in economics and political science. But I always had a love of history. JL: How much of what you learned at Yale undergrad has stuck with you? MK: More of it has stuck with me than one might expect. If nothing else, the love
of learning and just trying new things and exploring, which I had as a child, but Yale really opened up the world in pretty profound ways. JL: At this point, Oxford University appears on your resume. How did you wind up at Oxford? MK: I graduated Yale, and like many young people, had difficulty getting a job. I didn’t want to go straight to law school, so I got a job working on an unlikely campaign out of coastal Georgia. We lost, and I went back to New Haven and was unemployed. I don’t know if you’ve ever had a period of unemployment, but it’s very humbling, because you get up every day not sure what you’re going to do with yourself. And you just call. Anybody and everybody. A friend referred me to a friend who referred me to his wife who was working at a YMCA, and she had a job working with kids after school for $7 an hour. It was probably my favorite job of all time. JL: Really? Why? MK: I just loved working with the kids. They were first- and second-graders from working families, and I drove the van and picked them up, and then we would swim
or do homework or play. To get to know these kids and their families was very rewarding. I had an opportunity to work for Joe Lieberman, but I decided that I would stick with this job even though it paid less and was less prestigious. It really was a very meaningful job. But then, to get to Oxford, I was encouraged to apply for the Rhodes Scholarship. I actually applied the year before and had been encouraged to try again. And so I did. And for whatever reason, magic happened, and I was given the opportunity of a lifetime. JL: That important? MK: Yes, it was huge. I worked for the year in New Haven on the board of Alderman and in October of 1983, I went over to Oxford. I studied modern history because I hadn’t been able to do it as an undergraduate major. JL: What did you expect to do with your Oxford history degree? MK: I was toying with the idea of whether I would go on and get a PhD in History, but I also heard the call of getting back to the United States. Even though I loved my time at Oxford, I was aware that this was not my country and not where I voted. JL: You decided it was time to return to the United States. Home called. What made you decide it was time to get the law degree? MK: I thought the Yale law degree would be broad enough to do a range of things, which in fact it was. JL: After graduating from law school, you held a number of government jobs, including associate counsel to President Clinton. What did that entail? MK: I did a hodgepodge of things, because in the White House Counsel’s office, you’re essentially in-house lawyers
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Feature — Q&A with the President
for this institution. I had weighty issues that I worked on, including information policy and the Armstrong case. But I was also responsible for perhaps some less weighty matters, including the Easter egg roll, and trying to figure out to what extent we should partner with corporations who wanted to sponsor it. So this Jewish guy from Kentucky was monitoring the Easter egg roll. [Laughs.]
go to the Supreme Court, and in fact they did, and became a landmark case. I, going back to my childhood, had been a strong believer in the importance of opportunity, particularly for people who had, whether for racial or socioeconomic reasons or other reasons, been at disadvantages. So it really was a wonderful marriage of core
I think any president is measured by fundraising and we were very successful in that as well. JL: When did the possibility of coming to Pace enter your mind? MK: It was the fall of 2016, and then we announced it on Valentine’s Day in 2017. JL: What was your reaction when you realized this might conceivably be in your future? MK: I needed to learn a lot, because I didn’t know much about Pace. One of the things that’s been very enjoyable about this past six months is learning more about this place and its role. And this whole neighborhood—I’ve never lived in New York, so it’s been a really wonderful learning experience for me to learn about the University, but also New York. And Pace has not only the downtown campus but the campuses in Westchester so I’ve got a lot of work to do, but it’s exciting work.
JL: What took you back to the academic world at the University of Michigan? MK: I thought that one way to use my skills would be to work as a lawyer for an organization or institution. Of course, we all go back to our parents, right? And my father was an academic, so when thinking about institutions that I believed in, I thought about the academic world. I ended up meeting the President of the University of Michigan, Lee Bollinger, who is now the President of Columbia. We hit it off, and it turned out that there was a search for general counsel at Michigan and I was lucky enough to be selected for that. It was a glorious set of circumstances, and I had some wonderful experiences and opportunities there. JL: Not least the U of M defense of affirmative action. MK: Yes. That was probably my 10 minutes of fame. We knew that those cases might
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beliefs of mine and an opportunity to make a difference. JL: What took you from U of M to Oberlin? MK: Lee and his successor Mary Sue Coleman had been very good to me in terms of giving me opportunities, and they thought I might make a good college president. So I explored that. Oberlin came along, and they liked me and I liked them and again, just a wonderful set of circumstances. JL: I can understand why they liked you, but why did you like Oberlin? MK: Oberlin has a wonderful historic mission. It was the first college to admit people of color as a matter of policy, first college to admit women in a co-ed institution, strong commitment to social justice, but also the arts. And I just love the people. JL: What do you consider some of your major achievements at Oberlin? MK: We did very well at raising support. I think we improved relations with the community. We became more selective. One of the things I tried to do at Oberlin was highlight the accomplishments of our students and our faculty and alumni.
JL: What have you found here, when you arrived at Pace? MK: Great people. Great enthusiasm. I think we’re undervalued and I aim to change that. Pace does not have the recognition it deserves and that’s one thing that I really want to work on. JL: I have every confidence you will achieve your goal here, as you have achieved every goal you seem to have set out to achieve in your career and your life. I wish you the best here. I am so proud to be part of a University in which you are the president.
THIS INTERVIEW HAS BEEN EDITED AND CONDENSED FOR LENGTH AND CLARITY. READ THE FULL INTERVIEW, WHICH INCLUDES PRESIDENT KRISLOV’S TIME AT OXFORD, PASSION FOR THEATER, HONORARY TITLE OF KENTUCKY COLONEL, AND MUCH MORE, AT WWW.PACE.EDU/PACEMAGAZINE.
1. Drew Levin; 2. MaryEileen Croke/WNYC Radio; 5. Jonathan Lockwood Smith; 7. Robert Mayer
“ Pace does not have the recognition it deserves.”
JL: When did you serve in the US Department of Labor, and what did you do there? MK: I went to Labor after the White House Counsel, and I was there from 1996 to 1998. I was the number two lawyer, and then acting number one lawyer for a while. The Labor Department has enormous responsibilities—everything from wage an hour to occupational safety and health. Perhaps the most notable thing that I was involved with was the antisweatshop initiative.
The First 60 Days of
Marvin Krislov
1. Posing with Interim Provost Nira Herrmann and her cardboard cutout 2. In the booth for WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show 3. Meeting NYC Schools Chancellor and Pace alumna Carmen Fariña ’88 4. Solar eclipse viewing party 5. Addressing the Class of 2021 at Convocation
6. Receiving a team jersey from Setters
Football alumni 7. Meeting parents and students at Orientation
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Pace’sChief
Academic Officer
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Photography: Craig Warga
Feature — Nira Herrmann
It All Adds Up YEARS
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itting on a shelf in the Provost’s Office in One Pace Plaza is a figurine wearing a cape, dressed like a superhero. At the desk, its inspiration: Nira Herrmann. Formerly dean of Pace’s Dyson College of Arts and Sciences for 13 years, Nira Herrmann, PhD, began her one-year term as Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs on July 1. In this role, Herrmann is focused on working with President Krislov to define and implement his vision at Pace. “Pace is coming into the transition with a lot of positive momentum, and for me, maintaining that momentum and making sure that the academics keep moving forward is really critical,” says Herrmann, whose journey has made her even more passionate about education. As a woman in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), growing up in the 1960s was a true test of courage and determination. Her father, a physicist, had inspired in her a love of math and the sciences, one that she would pursue despite opposition from peers and professors. In high school, it was the classmate who told her he hoped she failed. In graduate school, a professor asked her if she felt bad taking the place of a man who had a family to support. After she finished graduate school and married her husband, another professor encouraged her to follow her husband wherever he found a job. And it continued. “Once he had the job, both of us went to a conference, and the chair of his department came to a group of us to introduce his colleagues from the school, and when he got to me, he said, ‘she’s Nira Herrmann, but she’s really Ted’s wife.’” For Herrmann, that was motivation to succeed. “Tell me I can’t do it and I’ll show you that I can,” she says. She did just that by earning four degrees; conducting research and teaching at the University of Pennsylvania; serving as professor and head of the mathematics and computer science department at Drexel; and advising other women in STEM who had faced the same challenges, helping them with positioning and encouraging them to seek tenure-track positions. “How you start can often have a real implication for where you end up,” she says. As Dean of Dyson College, Herrmann oversaw tremendous growth, including a 32% increase in enrollment; undergraduate and graduate programs; faculty recruitment; and student-faculty research collaborations, which she plans to build upon as interim provost. Both research and mentoring, which Herrmann has spent her career championing, are fundamental components of the University’s formula for success—the Pace Path—which she will help steer over the next year. “Our students leave Pace ready to compete intellectually, morally, ethically, with anybody,” says Herrmann. “That is the inspiring mission of the University, that feeling that you really make a difference in the students’ lives.”
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conducting epidemiological research and teaching at UPenn’s medical school and Wharton School of Business
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applied and theoretical papers published
BS in Mathematics, University of California, Berkeley MS in Computer Science, Rutgers University MS in Statistics, Stanford University PhD in Statistics, Stanford University
degrees
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NEW MAJORS/ PROGRAMS during her tenure as Dyson dean, including environmental, performing arts, and Pace’s first-ever PhD program
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+ 25% growth in full-time faculty
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CAROLINA RAMON Special Education/Bilingual Education Bilingual Specialist, Mount Kisco Elementary School
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his spring, 3,180 students earned their diplomas from Pace. Among them was Jordan Gonsalves, who had been selected to address the Class of 2017. Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and his view that extremism isn’t always about hate, it can be about love—that we can be extremists for acceptance, for inclusion, for justice—Gonsalves’ speech was a call to action, urging his fellow graduatesto combat extreme hatred with extreme love. “It is not enough to use your degrees for money or power. We have to use them as a vessel to bring genuine good to one another. We, as Millennials, dream of changing the world…we want to make our mark, leave our legacy, follow our dreams, follow our hearts,” he said. “As I look out into the crowd today, I don’t just see accountants or financial analysts. I don’t just see actors or writers. I see the next critical thinkers, the next inventors, the next innovators…I see the next game-changers.” Meet some of the accomplished members of the Class of 2017.
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MARC RINOSA Business Economics Management Consulting Analyst, Accenture
ERIN REGAN Nursing RN, Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Feature — Class of 2017
DANIEL TRAN Economics Data Analyst, Online Advertising and Finance, Evite
CAROLYN PHILLIPS Political Science Blog Launch Specialist, Gotham Writers Workshop
HENRY SNYDER Nursing RN, Pediatric Unit, Westchester Medical Center
BRIANNA DUNKERS-BROWN Advertising and Integrated Marketing Communications Production Assistant, TrulyOriginal
AUSTIN MOFUNANYA Sports Marketing Pro basketball player, Udea Algerciras (Spain)
KENYA VELEZ Chemistry Applying to medical school; Research Associate, NYU Langone Health
TYLER MCDERMOTT Biochemistry MS in Biomedical Forensic science student, Boston University
KATRINA (JIAYING) WU BBA/MBA in Accounting Assurance Associate, Banking and Capital Markets, PwC
CHRISTIAN NAHSHAL
JACLYN GRIFFITH
Information Technology Performance Systems Engineer, MITRE
Communication Studies Integrated Studies and Social Justice VISTA, AmeriCorps
SCOTTY JACOBSON Commercial Dance Dancer/singer, RWS Entertainment Group on the MS Westerdam for Holland America Line
Applied Psychology and Human Relations MS in Mental Health Counseling student, Pace
RYAN CALMON
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O NIHAL AL QAWASMI Communication Arts and Journalism and Political Science Social media consultant and blogger
“I
didn’t get to Commencement day on my own. And I sure as hell will not be walking alone. Because when you’re a first-gen graduate, this accomplishment is far more than just a piece of paper. Indeed, this degree was earned by many all-nighters, hard work, and— let’s face it—lots of coffee. But in retrospect, my parents both played vital roles in making this a reality. From the sacrifices they made to get me to this point, to the way they made me fall in love with gaining knowledge, raising me in a household that was supportive of my passions...the list goes on. And despite how I can usually express myself with writing, my parents are the only exception. I will never be able to find the words to do them justice or convey my appreciation. So this one’s for mama and baba. I tip my cap off to you both.”
MATTHEW CHAMPAGNE History and Directing Public History PhD student, NC State University
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ne of more than 130 veterans to graduate this spring, Matthew Mainzer came to Pace after serving in the US Marine Corps for five years and two deployments to Afghanistan, where he was exposed to different cultures and perspectives that helped him grow both as a person and critical thinker. Through full coverage under the post-9/11 GI Bill, including Pace’s unlimited Yellow Ribbon Program, Mainzer has built on his global experience. As a head delegate for Pace’s Model UN team, he gained hands-on policymaking experience at various conferences around the world, including Scotland and Switzerland. He traveled to China through a course on political and economic relations between the US and China. He even volunteered building schools in Nepal following a devastating earthquake. Upon graduation, Mainzer earned a coveted internship with the US Department of State in Azerbaijan, and a prestigious Fulbright Award, which will bring him to Serbia to teach English at the International University of Novi Pazar. Following the Fulbright, Mainzer will attend graduate school at Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies in Bologna and DC, and then plans to join the foreign service.
MATTHEW MAINZER Economics and Political Science Fulbright Award winner
RACHEL KRAWSEK Digital Cinema and Filmmaking Production Assistant, MSG Networks
MITCHELL FARRELL Finance Finance Coordinator, BGB Group
MARIA MINAFRA Math and Adolescent Education MSEd in Educational Technology student, Pace
Feature — Class of 2017
MARCUS SOLOMON Finance Trader, Bank Resource Management division, Morgan Stanley
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sk a kid what they want to be when they grow up and most will say doctors, teachers, athletes, firefighters, or astronauts. But Marcus Solomon is not most kids—he developed an interest in financial markets early on and hasn’t looked back. When choosing colleges, Solomon was looking for a place where he could gain experience in the finance field and compete on the basketball court. Among his options were Pace, American, Towson, and Union College. “Opportunity is the number one
reason I decided to attend Pace,” he says. At Pace, he did it all—playing for the men’s basketball team; co-founding a student-run business; conducting research on student managed investment portfolios; various academic achievements including a Top 100 Scholar, Trustee Award winner, and member of honor societies; and, of course, several internships, including Morgan Stanley, where he was ultimately hired as a trader in the Bank Resource Management division.
MELANIE GREENE Information Technology UI/UX Engineer, Veritas
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elanie Greene came to Pace as an undecided student interested in sociology and film. That is, until CIS 102W: Web Design for Non-Profits, a class she says changed her perspective on life. Through the course, Greene worked with individuals with developmental and intellectual differences on using technology to empower and advocate for themselves. “I am confident that my work at Pace will lead me to a lifetime of opportunities in the field of technology and to live my dream of giving back to the community and making a difference in someone’s life,” she says. Greene is now a UI/UX Engineer at Veritas in Silicon Valley.
SETH DODIER Advertising and Integrated Marketing Communications Account Executive, Yelp
CINTHIA B. ORTEGA Psychology Operations Analyst, Nitron
“M
any of us come from extremely humble backgrounds, diverse walks of life, broken households, looking to New York to discover who we are,” says Jordan Gonsalves. “Pace has this wonderful ability to take you—wherever you are— accept you, love you, and grow you.” Coming to Pace as what he calls “a diamond in the rough,” Gonsalves graduated a student leader—a resident assistant, student government VP, honor society member—with international exposure through study abroad and hands-on experience including a prestigious BOLD internship at Google, now ready for the next step: a position at Adobe in San Francisco.
JORDAN GONSALVES Business Management Associate Customer Success Manager, Adobe
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Building an
S
Oasis
Pace’s OASIS program offers comprehensive support for students with learning differences, preparing them not just for the classroom, but for life after graduation.
tepping off the crowded elevator of 161 William Street and onto the sundrenched 10th floor is a refreshing experience. There’s scattered chatter, rustling papers, and the occasional burst of laughter. This peaceful environment is nothing like the turbulent industrial landscape just outside, but that’s the point. It can be difficult for college students to find a safe haven to escape to— particularly for those who attend classes on Pace’s NYC Campus—but for students with learning differences, those hurdles can increase tenfold. Welcome to OASIS. According to the CDC, autism affects 1 in 68 children in the United States, up from 1 in 150 in 2010. What’s more, an estimated 35% of young adults (ages 19–23) with autism have not had a job or received postgraduate education after leaving high school. That’s where Pace’s OASIS program comes in. Designed for students with high-functioning autism spectrum
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disorders, learning differences, and nonverbal learning differences, the Ongoing Academic and Social Instructional Support (OASIS) program is one of the most comprehensive support programs in the country. “It doesn’t just look at academics—it looks at the whole person. All of our students are Pace students first,” explained Janet Mulvey, PhD, program director. “They want to be matriculated, full-time students, and they have to meet the same criteria as every other student in the University.” They attend the same classes, complete the same coursework, and are held to the same standards as the rest of their class. Once accepted, all OASIS students receive one-on-one academic coaching (an hour a day, four times a week), access to weekly social meetups, invites to employmentready workshops, and even housing assistance. Not to mention pizza Fridays. “It was a trial that first year,” Julie Saccoccio told us, reflecting on the program’s inception. She’s the program
administrator and a dedicated advocate for the OASIS student body. “They really didn’t know if it was going to go anywhere. We had four students who worked with four faculty, and they did extremely well. The second year, we had 11 students—and it just grew from there.” The idea was conceived in 2003 by a parent and special education professor. They called it the BOSS Program, but
Feature — Building an Oasis
the name was shared by countless other initiatives across the country. So when the team began to grow, they realized the need for an acronym that stood out, yet at the same time, one that encapsulated the vital work that they were doing. “The name is very appropriate for our students who could really use a break from
some of the bustle that goes on at the main building,” said Zachary O’Neal ’16, an OASIS alumnus and social coach, who is now serving the very program that supported his own journey. The everyday sights and sounds that most people take for granted can transform into an overwhelming combination of frightening crowds, intimidating noises, and overbearing lights for people with autism—and
the dedicated space at 161 William Street offers a welcome respite. Over the last nine years, OASIS has experienced tremendous growth, both in number of students and support staff— which has allowed the program to further its mission of catering to the unique needs of each student—and in academics, emotional support, social integration, and career readiness. OASIS’s educational coordinator supports students as they select and sign
Academic coaches like Iris Stevens [left] meet with students one hour a day to assist them with assignments, organization, and management of their studies. Pizza Fridays and other social events [bottom] provide students with a fully immersive experience into the Pace Community—both on and off campus.
Photography: Rob Mayer
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Feature — Building an Oasis
“ It’s about making these students feel comfortable. By giving them the space— the oasis—to grow and mature.” not only assist in selecting roommates, but also in navigating the trials and tribulations sometimes faced by all students who reside on campus. Social coaches teach what’s called “social literacy” in the form of an experiential summer program, while social coordinators spearhead full integration into Pace activities. Vocational coordinators have undergone the most development since Mulvey’s arrival. “The initiative of starting this year with second-semester freshmen is something we
up for classes. Its academic coaches receive copies of each syllabus for every class the student is enrolled, act as their liaisons to professors, and meet with the student one hour each day to ensure time management and organization skills are being developed. “We help them advocate for themselves,” says Academic Coach Iris Stevens. Licensed social workers are there for emotional support—addressing any issues that may arise in the student’s life, wherein they offer support in both private and group settings. Campus life coordinators
Meet David Sharif ’19
“A
professional world traveler, passionate to raise autism awareness, participate in conferences on human rights, and also to work for an organization that helps kids on the spectrum.” If you asked an average college student to describe themselves, you’d probably get a very different description. But David Sharif is nothing short of extraordinary. As a teen, he accomplished much more than most: valedictorian of his high school class, a spokesperson for Autism Speaks, and even served as the voice in “My Name is David,” a video which illustrates the interests, struggles, skills, and accomplishments of people with autism. At Pace, he’s made the Dean’s List; participated in the Political Science Society, Study Abroad Club, and LGBTQA and Social Justice
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felt would be better so that we can slowly transition them toward independence,” she said. Mulvey is referring to the OASIS internship program, which was recently extended. Students are now expected to volunteer for 20 hours a semester earlier, a boon that will prove critical to their success after graduation. “Many of our students have never had the opportunity to have a so-called job, even if it’s a volunteer job. The volunteer experience goes with mock interviews—we do everything to ready them for employment.” Students in the OASIS program attend workshops to prepare for what is oftentimes a complex job hunt and interview process. By junior year, they’re working at
Center; and prepared for his internship with the OASIS work readiness program. As a member of Pace’s award-winning Model UN Team, Sharif represented Iraq on high-level political forum/sustainable development at the NYC National Model UN Conference this year, where his team was recognized with an Honorable Mention Delegation Award, an experience he calls “life-changing.” Earlier this year, he took a field study course on ecosystems and biodiversity in Ecuador, traveling to the Galapagos Islands, snorkeling, hiking, and exploring pottery. This fall, Sharif is spending a semester abroad in Barcelona, Spain, immersing himself in history and culture, and taking the opportunity to travel around Europe and northern Africa. “I feel like I am following the path of what I have to do in order to succeed, break through the walls, and to pursue my dreams to become the man I want to be,” he says.
A Parent Perspective an unpaid internship. By the time senior year rolls around, they’re landing paid internships. It’s all in the pursuit of independence—and the OASIS team is constantly adapting the program to suit the needs of each individual student. “The students that have recently graduated, if they don’t have a job, are invited to come back to OASIS for no fee to meet with our career counselor,” said Mulvey. “So it’s all-inclusive as far as those that are here and those that have recently graduated who aren’t working.” And already this new program has resulted in jobs. Of all the challenges they face, deciding on a major has proven to be a significant roadblock. And not because OASIS students are in any way indecisive. “There’s a notion that everyone on the Autism spectrum is into technology,” said Mulvey. “That’s not true. They’re just as varied as the rest of the University.” Of the expected graduates this year, only one is on track to enter into a STEM field. The rest are pursuing everything from business to journalism to farming, while a few others are now overseas through Pace’s study abroad program. It’s a success story that’s absolutely accessible to everyone; whether on a large scale, by way of implementing similar programs into higher education, or on an individual one, starting with faculty and fellow Pace peers. “It’s about making these students feel comfortable. By giving them the space—the oasis—to grow and mature,” said O’Neal. What’s the most rewarding part about working on the OASIS team? Offering each student the tools with which to become independent, and seeing them flourish. Mulvey says, “When those students smile, and those students are happy, and those students feel comfortable, or they say ‘Oh, I can do this,’ I think that’s one of our proudest moments.”
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ancy Garvey, PhD, a member of the Board of Trustees and parent of an OASIS graduate, shares how the OASIS program has impacted her family. As a parent of a son with autism, what is one thing you want people to know? As is true for all children, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) encompasses a full range of abilities and outcomes and I don’t think the individual on the spectrum knows the full extent of his or her abilities until they start to mature and come to more fully understand their symptoms. For my son, this happened when he was in college. There are so many people with ASD who have made major and minor contributions to the world that you should help your son or daughter be everything they can be. People on the spectrum range from the famous, like Temple Grandin, James Durbin, and Dan Akroyd, to those who enrich other people’s lives just through knowing them. When your family was considering higher ed, how did Pace and the OASIS program distinguish itself from other programs? At the time, there were very few college programs in the country that specifically focused on students with ASD. One of the best things about the entry to the Pace program from my son’s perspective was that it required you to apply and be admitted to Pace before applying for admission to the OASIS program. This was important because my son had been in a few other programs and felt the staff and
the program condescended to the participants. Here, he was being treated as an equal. How have you seen the OASIS support method benefit your son? The one-on-one coaching and responsiveness to the individual were instrumental in my son’s success. After a couple of years, he and his coach drew a graph of my son’s progress. In the beginning, the slope showing time against progress, was flat. Over time the slope of the line became positive and progressively steeper. That’s what you want to see result from participating in a program like this. That is the journey. You were able to hug your son as he crossed the stage at Commencement in 2016 with a Pace diploma in his hand. How would you describe that moment? When I saw my son cross the stage and I hugged him, I was happy for him. He had accomplished what he wanted. Of course I was proud of him, but what I learned was that this was not a moment that was about me. It was a moment that was about him and hence, my happiness for him. What would you say to a fellow parent and their student who are considering OASIS? Remember that everyone is different, especially students with ASD, and everyone travels at their own pace. I believe the more individualized the program, the more successful its students will be. The OASIS program has an excellent track record and a long history of proving that that is the case.
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ENVIRON
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Feature—Environmental Policy Clinic
MENTAL IMPACT
By Alyssa Cressotti ’08, ’18
“We
firmly believed they were up
knowledgeable about the issues, current
Christina Thomas and Rowan Lanning
to the task—that they could
laws, stakeholders’ perspectives, economic
have since proposed an amendment to
walk the halls of the Legislature, testify at
impacts, and the opinions of those
the National Environmental Policy Act that
hearings, and change public policy,” says
opposing the proposed policy. Then, they
would designate any proposal for Hudson
Professor John Cronin of the undergraduate
begin to apply their research to policy—
River anchorages a “major federal action,”
students who are part of Pace University’s
identifying key elected officials and
requiring the Coast Guard to provide an
Environmental Policy Clinic.
organizations with whom to work; learning
environmental impact statement. As part
how to make persuasive arguments; and
of funding through the National Science
2013, the Environmental Policy Clinic,
understanding the difference between
Foundation, clinic students are pushing
founded by Cronin, senior fellow in the
rhetoric, law, and policy.
to make oyster restoration in New York
Begun as an experimental course in
Dyson College Institute for Sustainability
“There is a real need in our democracy
Harbor an official state policy. They are also
and the Environment (DCISE) and the former
to have active citizens who know how
working on writing a law that would prohibit
Hudson Riverkeeper, and Michelle Land, JD
to engage effectively—topic aside. Civic
the underage possession of tobacco and
’02, clinical assistant professor and director
learning through public work is the best way
testified about it last spring at a hearing
of programming for DCISE, has developed
to gain civic skills,” says Land. “We really
conducted at City Hall in Manhattan, across
into an environmentally-focused and
put the Clinic students through their paces.”
the street from One Pace Plaza.
hands-on learning-based experience. The
Since the Clinic’s start, Pace students
“We literally put the future of an
Clinic, which, since its start, has included
have been actively impacting policy
extremely important bill in the hands of the
students from 20 majors, was created on
change in real and tangible ways. Student
students,” explains Land. “They organize
the foundation that they could be trained to
clinicians drafted the Elephant Protection
themselves, make arguments as a team,
be professional advocates, much the same
Act legislation to ban the use of elephants
practice lobbying in mock meetings,
way law students are trained.
in entertainment performances in New
ultimately briefing the legislator or chief of
York. Passed by both houses of the
staff on all aspects of the topic.” Between
graduates would get a professional-level
Legislature in June, it is awaiting the New
meetings with policymakers, the students
experience as environmental policymakers
York State Governor Andrew Cuomo’s
revise arguments and improve their
and advocates,” says Cronin, “And in so
signature. A New York Times editorial
presentations.
doing, take that experience and apply it in
commented, “What an opportunity these
their future careers once they leave Pace.”
students have given the Legislature and
walking through the halls of Legislature, the
The first step on the road to the New
“Our commitment was that our under-
“Once the students get there and they’re
[Governor] Andrew Cuomo.” In another
reality of the situation dawns on them. That
York State Legislature, where students
project, the Clinic uncovered Coast
first experience is a nerve-racking one, and
brief legislators related to environmental
Guard documents that proved the agency
it should be,” explains Cronin. “The stakes
policy, is research. Students must be
violated its own rules. Student clinicians
are high.”
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A glimpse at some of the fascinating projects
in progress at Pace
CELL MUTATIONS AND EPILEPSY TREATMENT
E
ach year, approximately 150,000 people in the United States will develop epilepsy—the fourth most common neurological disorder in the country. In hopes of reducing the prevalence of this condition, Assistant Professor of Biology Zafir Buraei, PhD, teamed up with biology student Salma Allam ’17 to investigate its root causes. Buraei reasons that if the mechanistic nature of a particular mutation’s harm can be identified, doctors will be able to more accurately
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prescribe medicine to treat neurological disorders more effectively, and with fewer side effects. The mutations that interest Buraei are those that occur in ion channels—proteins that allow the passage of charged particles into the cell, generating the electrical activity responsible for nerve cell communication. “Once you identify how a mutation messes up a channel, you can essentially predict the effectiveness of various drugs. In other words, we’re moving towards personalized medicine,” says Buraei. When Allam began to conduct research with Buraei in October 2015, they focused on looking at mutations in genes that caused epilepsy. Specifically,
they looked at mutations within ion channels—canals in a cell membrane that generate an electrical current, and inform nervous system communication. “The cell membrane that encloses the cell has these canals in it that open and close and can let ions in and out. In this movement, electricity is generated. This electrical signaling is the basis of nerve cell communication. Any mutations in these channels can cause various diseases—from autism, to Alzheimers, epilepsy, you name it,” says Buraei. Allam’s research focused on measuring the electrical current of mutated ion channels, and comparing them to those of non-mutated channels. They found that the mutant channel had a much smaller current than the normal channel, which meant that the channel was blocked. This discovery enabled the duo to predict a specific drug to prescribe for this particular scenario—one that would activate the channel, as opposed to a drug that would block the channel, which would make sense to prescribe had the channel posted a larger current than usual. Buoyed by the discovery she and Professor Buraei made, Allam presented the
Research at Pace
results of the research at the Northeast Under/Graduate Organization for Neuroscience (NEURON) Conference at Quinnipiac University, where she won an Honorable Mention Award, beating out dozens of researchers for the accolade. In early April 2017, she went on to win another award at the 71st Annual Eastern Colleges Science Conference, receiving honors for “Outstanding Presentation in the Category for Genetics/ Molecular Biology.” Buraei and Allam are planning on doing further research to determine the root cause of the mutant channels’ malfunction, which will enable potential patients to receive more precisely targeted treatment, and ultimately, help prevent epileptic episodes. Allam, who graduated in the spring, found that the research work helped her grow not just academically, but also personally and professionally. “This research, it was really the highlight of my four years at Pace,” she says. Buraei was recently awarded a $372,130 grant by the National Institutes of Health in support of his research on calcium channels.
COURAGE, SACRIFICE, AND SURVIVAL
D
uring the Second World War, an unconscionable amount of men, women, and children were forced to go into hiding to escape humiliation, torture, and death at the hands of the Nazis. Elisabeth (Elly) Rodrigues Lopes de la Peña, a Holocaust survivor who had a similar upbringing in Amsterdam to Anne Frank, was one of the brave souls whose story is now further uncovered, thanks to the tireless research of Adjunct Professor Elliot Hearst and Angelica Roman ’19. Through helping preserve Elly’s story, as well as the stories of the two Dutch families who helped Elly survive her impossibly trying ordeal, the duo’s research paper Escape from the List: Courage, Sacrifice, Survival was able to bring to light an incredible tale of fearlessness and heroism during one of the darkest times in human history. “We took a trip to the Anne Frank Center, which is only a block away from the New York City Campus. There I made a contact with the education director who provided me with an introduction to the folks who run the Anne Frank House over in Amsterdam,” says Hearst.
From there, they were able to establish contact with Carolyn Stewart, Elly’s daughter. The meeting with Stewart proved to be invaluable, as she helped Hearst and Roman further establish the layout of the story. The paper proceeds to explore some of the more heartbreaking nuances that Elly and other individuals in hiding were forced to endure, and highlights a number of ordinary civilians who displayed remarkable courage in the face of grave danger. Among these stories include that of Bert Bochove, a Dutch pharmacist who managed to hide 37 Jews in his own home over the course of the Nazi occupation. Bochove and his wife, Annie, initially hid Elly, her brother, and her parents as the conditions around Amsterdam grew dangerous. As Roman uncovered, Bochove hid the Rodrigues family in an attic above his store which they shared with another family—and as the paper notes, the family had to lie still for eight hours when Bert’s store was open during the day. This is just one of the many poignant anecdotes that make up Elly’s story. In the 40-page research paper, Hearst and Roman chart the progression of Elly’s time in hiding, and ultimately, her escape from unadulterated evil. As the paper’s title indicates, Elly’s story is truly one of courage, sacrifice, and survival. W W W.PACE .E DU
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Research at Pace
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
E
very five years or so, the United States farm bill gets a new iteration that shapes agriculture and food policy on a national level. The bill is up for renewal in 2018 and the Elisabeth Haub School of Law and Professor Margot Pollans, JD, are doing their part to make their voices heard. Most notably, Pollans recently spearheaded the effort for Pace’s Food Law Initiative to join the exclusive Farm Bill Law Enterprise (FBLE), a collection of six law schools—Pace, Harvard, Yale, Duke, UCLA, and the University of Vermont—collaborating together to study the bill. As a participating partner of the FBLE, Pace has received funding from the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic to conduct research and develop potential policy solutions on the upcoming farm bill’s conservation programs— programs that provide farmers with technical and financial support to adopt agricultural practices that are more protective of public health, and more sustainable. With the help of LLM Fellow Renner Walker, the Pace Food Law Initiative has spent the past year producing Pace’s portion of FBLE’s report, which will evaluate the entire farm bill. Timing is key here. The current farm bill, enacted in 2014, expires in 2018. “Congress has just started the reauthorization process. Both
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the House and Senate have been holding hearings this spring to begin the process of developing the 2018 farm bill,” says Pollans. Pollans explains that Pace’s portion of the report boils down to groups of policy recommendations, with the aim of figuring out how legislation can help farmers provide more sustainable products and operations. “One focus of the report is rural economic development, another aspect focuses on community health in agricultural communities. Another is on soil and water health—which is key to longterm sustainability of agricultural operations. We focused on policy recommendations that support those missions and thinking about how federal policy can help farmers do those things better,” says Pollans. As the process heats up and lobbying begins to intensify, Pollans hopes that both the purpose of FBLE and its strength in numbers will enable it to have a positive impact on the newest round of legislation. “We’re hoping that we can play a role in shaping how this unfolds,” says Pollans. “One of the reasons
to do this as a consortium of law schools is that this is the legal academic community speaking with one voice about what makes good academic policy. Hopefully, with six schools, we can become an influential voice.” While the work of the Pace Food Law Initiative and FBLE may potentially have a significant impact on food policy, Pollans notes that this isn’t the only thing on Pace’s metaphorical food law plate—the Law School has made major strides with the Food and Beverage Law Clinic, and is engaging in collaborative work with the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University. Furthermore, a number of professors—including David Cassuto, JD, Jason Czarnezki, JD, and Pollans—are currently conducting their own independent food law research. While Pollans and Pace Food Law certainly have their work cut out for them, they also have the tools—and sustainable agricultural ideas—to truly make an impact for decades to come.
Research at Pace
FACULTY SUCCESS
Competitive awards, notable scholarship, and big grants for cutting-edge research... here are some of the most notable recent faculty successes at Pace.
Music to Our Ears Elisabeth Haub School of Law Adjunct Professor and alumnus Vernon Brown, JD, ’96 was named to Billboard’s “Top Music Industry Lawyers 2017.” Founder and owner of V. Brown & Associates, Brown was recognized for his work with Cash Money Records founders. “From my time as a student at Pace Law and having the most incredible faculty any student could hope for to now sharing my experience with students is the greatest honor of all,” he says.
WHO LET THE DOGS IN? “This is one of the best experiences of my career, and by helping moms, we are inadvertently helping children,” says Associate Professor of Criminal Justice and Security Kimberly Collica-Cox, PhD, who received the Volunteer of the Year Award from Metropolitan Correctional Center for the Parenting, Prison, and Pups Program, which incorporates therapy dogs to provide inmate mothers with skills-training in parenting. The program is also part of a course offered on both campuses to Pace students.
Champions of Justice Elisabeth Haub School of Law professors Randy McLaughlin, JD, and Debra Cohen, JD, were honored by the Westchester Martin Luther King, Jr. Institute for Nonviolence with the Champion of Justice award for their civil rights advocacy. “It was a great honor to be recognized . . . However, the true champions of justice are our clients who stand up against oppression and injustice,” says McLaughlin.
NEH AND NIH FELLOWS Assistant Professor of Economics, History, and Political Science Jared Manasek, PhD, received a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Stipends Award to support his book Humanitarianism and Refugees at the End of the Empire, 1848–1918.
New hearing loss therapies are being made possible through the study of hair cells from non-mammalian vertebrates by Dyson Assistant Professor of Biology Aaron Steiner, PhD, who was awarded a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Distinguished Professor of English Mark Hussey, PhD, received a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Fellowship, which he is using to work on his new book, Clive Bell and the Making of Modernism.
Fighting Child Trafficking Psychology Professor Yvonne Rafferty, PhD, has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to travel to Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, to continue her research on the mental health and psychosocial recovery of child victims of sexual exploitation and human trafficking.
Part of the Solution In recognition of her development of novel antimicrobial materials and her efforts in youth outreach, Professor of Chemistry and Physical Sciences JaimeLee Rizzo, PhD, has been named a 2017 American Chemical Society (ACS) Fellow, which includes scientists who have demonstrated outstanding accomplishments in chemistry and have made important contributions to ACS, the world’s largest scientific society. W W W.PACE .E DU
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Pay It Forward with the AlumniStudent Mentoring Program! As an alumni mentor, you can: ■■
Strengthen your professional communication and■ leadership skills
■■
Share expertise and insights■ on navigating the workplace
■■
Motivate a young professional■ to pursue a new level of success
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Give back to the Pace Community
Please visit www.pace.edu/ mentoring to get started or email
mentoring@pace.edu.
Fanaticism, Racism, and Rage Online: Corrupting the Digital Sphere BY ADAM KLEIN, PHD While the internet has helped better connect the world, it has also helped spread nefarious ideas and attitudes with alarming ease. Dyson Assistant Professor Adam Klein’s Fanaticism, Racism, and Rage Online: Corrupting the Digital Sphere (Palgrave Macmillan) is one of the first academic explorations of how the web’s “global square” has caused a resurgence—and even evolution—of hate groups worldwide.
Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Opinions of the United States Supreme Court BY KATHRYN M. STANCHI, JD, LINDA L. BERGER, JD, BRIDGET CRAWFORD, PHD Historically, the Supreme Court and the landmark decisions it has made have been dominated by a masculine perspective. Feminist Judgments (Cambridge University Press), co-edited by Elisabeth Haub School of Law Professor Bridget Crawford, reverses that historical reality and examines how the most significant Supreme Court cases on gender might have differed had they been written from a feminist perspective. The book concludes that through feminist viewpoints, the course of United States law would have been inextricably altered.
BLAMING MOTHERS: AMERICAN LAW AND THE RISKS TO CHILDREN’S HEALTH BY LINDA FENTIMAN, LLM Elisabeth Haub School of Law Professor Linda Fentiman’s new book has been described as “a gripping explanation of the biases that lead to the blaming of pregnant women and mothers.” Blaming Mothers: American Law and the Risks to Children’s Health (NYU Press) is a comprehensive examination of the psychological processes that influence the legal actions that can frame mothers as scapegoats, rather than objectively evaluating child health risks within our society at large.
Hong Kong and Bollywood: Globalization of Asian Cinemas BY JOSEPH TSE-HEI LEE, PHD, AND SATISH KOLLURI, PHD Pace’s Director of Global Asia Studies Joseph Tse-Hei Lee and Communication Studies Associate Professor Satish Kolluri teamed up to offer their dual perspective on two of the fastest-growing film industries worldwide. Hong Kong and Bollywood: Globalization of Asian Cinemas (Palgrave Macmillan) examines the challenges Eastern cinema poses to Hollywood, as well as the inevitable outcomes of film globalization.
Class Notes
Stay connected to your Pace classmates
1960s LOUIS A. PÉREZ JR., BA ’65,
has authored a book called Intimations of Modernity Civil Culture in NineteenthCentury Cuba (University of North Carolina Press), which chronicles the emergence of an urban middle class that was imbued with new knowledge and moral systems during nineteenth-century Cuba. LAWRENCE E. JOHNSON, BA ’67,
celebrated the 50th anniversary of his graduation from Pace University. He has since received a master’s degree from Harvard University and two Harvard Fellowships.
1980s J.L. RAMIREZ, BBA ’80,
authored Secret Desires, which was inspired by a reallife story of lovers who join hearts against many odds. CARLA A. D’ANDRE, MBA ’82, has joined the board
of directors for Kingstone Companies, Inc. She brings to the Board more than 40 years of experience in the insurance industry and is the co-founder of D’Andre Insurance Group, Inc., the parent of two independent insurance agencies.
RAYMOND (MCCLURE) MCCLUNG, BBA ’82, has
worked at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY, for 20 years, first as a systems administrator and then IT security for the past 15 years. He has one son who is now in medical school.
SHIRLEY ACEVEDOBUONTEMPO, BBA ’84, MPA ’12, was featured in Time
magazine’s “American Voices” for her work as founder and executive director of Latino U College Access in White Plains, NY.
DR. SHARYN COMEAU, BBA ’84,
was appointed as executive vice president of medical affairs for Monarch. The newly created leadership role will ensure that all medical administrative processes for Monarch’s behavioral health locations across North Carolina meet the ever-evolving health care standards and continue providing excellent care for the people Monarch supports. GLENN BELL, BBA ’86,
received his LLM in Taxation from Boston University School of Law in May 2017. JOHN DRAIN, MBA ’86, who joined Hearst Television in September 2010 as senior vice president of finance, has been promoted to chief financial officer.
STEVEN SPIESS, BBA ’86, was
named chief operating officer of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck in Denver, CO.
JOHN MCCOMBE, MBA ’87,
is president of Richard Bernstein Advisors in New York, NY, which announced that its assets under management and advisement surpassed five billion dollars as of July 31, 2017.
1990s ERIC KLEIN, BBA ’90, MS ’97,
provided a full chapter in Peerlyst’s second e-book titled Essentials of Cybersecurity. His chapter covers telecom security. HARSHAN BHANGDIA, MBA ’91, was named chief financial
1994
ALUMNI
NOTE ELIZABETH BARRETTZAHN, MST ’94, a science teacher at Columbus Elementary School in New Rochelle, NY, was one of approximately nine US citizens awarded a 2017–2018 Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching ShortTerm grant by the US Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. She spent three weeks this summer in Hai Phong City, Vietnam, collaborating with educators in the development of an integrated STEM program.
officer of Ellucian, the leading provider of higher education software and services, in Reston, VA.
the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.
ANDRE GALEANO, BBA ’92,
KELVIN JEREMIAH, BA ’95,
was appointed deputy director of the Division of Federal Home Loan Bank Regulation at the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). PASQUALE PATRONE, BBA ’94, was appointed to the
CohnReznick partnership as partner/principal. He also serves as treasurer for
is president and CEO of the Philadelphia Housing Authority, and was named one of the 2016 Most Admired CEOs by the Philadelphia Business Journal. LAURA JACK, BBA ’97,
has joined Colgate University as vice president for communications.
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Class Notes
Pace University: #2 in US for Upward Mobility Posted by HELEN ALTSHULER, BS ’97, Engineering Leader at Google
“ Great article from the Equality of Opportunity Project. I am thankful to Pace University for providing a great education and career opportunities that helped me achieve my professional goals, and am thrilled to see Pace in the 2nd place nationally for upward mobility with over 50% success rate for students like myself who advanced from the lowest economic levels. This quote is what Pace really stands for, and is one of the main reasons my family came to the US: ‘Children from low-income families have nearly the same odds of reaching the top fifth of the income distribution as their peers from higherincome families at selective colleges, indicating that children from low-income backgrounds admitted to selective colleges are not over-placed at these schools.’ This is Pace.”
She previously held the position of vice president of development and alumni relations at Howard University. LAURIE SHANDERSON, MPA ’97, PHD, has joined
Northcentral University, a regionally accredited online university based in San Diego, CA, as the founding dean of its new School of Health Sciences. Before taking this position, Shanderson served as both associate dean and assistant dean for the School of Health Sciences at Stockton University in Galloway, NJ.
REBECCA BOSE, BS ’98,
studied the ecology of steppe ecosystems, with a focus on the Pallas’s cat, Przewalski’s horse, and participatory conservation media in Mongolia. She is currently a curator at the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem, NY. JOSHUA GARRIN, MS ’98,
has published a new book called The I-Way to Well: Mapping the Seven Selves of
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Health Motivation, which covers how the seven selfgenerated motivational forces can help you to pave the road between “I want to become a healthier person” and “I’m becoming a healthier person...and loving it!”
2000s LUIS RIVERA, JD ’00, was
named vice president and associate managing director of Sterling National Bank’s Attorney Services Group. Rivera will be based in Sterling’s office in White Plains, NY.
RAYMOND POSADAS, BBA ’04, was appointed director of
investor relations at Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. in Indianapolis, IN. SUSAN HAYES, MBA ’05,
has joined Beacon Trust Company as managing director and fixed income portfolio manager. In this position, Hayes is responsible for setting fixed income
strategy and making investment decisions for both taxable and tax-exempt bond portfolios. She currently lives in Katonah, NY. LISA DERIENZO, BA ’06,
is using her business, ASmartNanny.com, to connect with residents and families in Valhalla, NY. Demand for her carefully vetted, collegeeducated workers—most of whom are women—has
LE T US HEAR FROM YOU! SHARE YOUR NEWS AND JOIN THE CONVERSATION at www.pace.edu/ alumnicommunity. On our website you’ll find a set of free and secure services that allow Pace alumni from around the world to reconnect, exchange ideas, and network.
extended to neighboring Putnam and Rockland counties and Connecticut’s Fairfield County. MARSHA GORDON, DPS ’06,
was presented with the 2017 Women of Distinction Award bestowed upon exceptional women in New York State whose outstanding contributions have improved the lives of the people in their communities and throughout the state. Gordon said she was honored to receive such a prestigious award. “This statewide honor from the New York State Senate is a highlight of my professional career.” REINIER MOQUETE, BS ’06, founder of Advoqt
Technology Group, was featured in The Bay State Banner. Based in Boston, MA, Moquete also co-founded the Latino STEM Alliance, a 501(c)(3) organization that engages underrepresented youth in science, technology, engineering, and math through afterschool programs. In addition, he started the Diversity IT Network, a community that brings together information technology professionals of multicultural backgrounds and connects them to career development and personal growth opportunities.
ELIZABETH WHALEN, BBA ’06, left a stressful, anxiety-
filled Wall Street job to start her current position as a performance coach, helping entrepreneurs and executives reach their full potential. Her business, The Wisdom of Wellness, helps people reduce stress in their work and home environments.
Class Notes
[ IN MEMORIAM ] Ronnie J. Accordino ’72 Bruce W. Astbury ’73 Richard C. Austin ’91 Theresa Ponenti Autino ’86 Thomas E. Bara ’75 Frank F. Barr ’50 Catherine K. Becker ’38 John E. Beebe ’79 Joseph J. Belpulsi ’88 Charles F. Bertsch ’55 Arthur B. Bisguier ’55 Joseph P. Blauvelt ’89 James Bodnar ’63 Mary Pat Bonham ’91 Thomas A. Bowman ’58 Robert J. Bracchitta ’81 Karen Brefere ’91 Donald W. Brink ’60 Suzanne D. Brix ’87 Kevin L. Brown ’69 Patrick Buckley ’69 Estelle M. Burke ’38 James Jude Byrnes ’97 Vincent Capuano ’53 Catherine Clare Carroll ’51 William G. Casey ’80 John J. Cheng ’88 Patricia F. Connelly Chirles ’85 Barbara Clark ’75 Edward E. Clarke ’75 Susan M. Collica-Ross ’78 Lynn Ann Cook ’84 Robert E. Coontz ’61 James F. Corbet ’69 John A. Corsaro ’81 Andrew Crill ’49 John C. Crowley ’68 John J. Daliani ’56 Richard J. Dasch ’69 John Deitsch ’54 Aram Devejian ’74 C. Andrew Dimarco ’86 Irwin M. Domenitz ’49 Anne L. Donaldson ’80 Gerard J. Duffy ’87 Charles J. Dunn ’54 Richard R. Dyer ’58 John R. Echeverria ’89 Robert W. Egner ’43 Dorothy English ’38 Kevin P. Enterlein ’15 Leonard S. Epstein ’54 Agatha Esteves ’53 Brian P. Fagan ’84 Stacy Faith ’95 Raymond E. Fazio ’55 Patrick J. Feery ’81
Michael Anthony Finizio ’85 Clyde H. Folley ’50 Eleanor Fontaine ’51 Toni K. Frey ’78 Daniel Friedman ’08 Constance Ridgway Funsten ’45 Peter D. Gaal ’72 Anthony F. Genco ’68 William A. Gerard ’82 Nancy Giannini ’92 William J. Gorey ’67 Karen M. Greene ’78 Joan Grimley ’48 Oliver W. Groh ’54 Patricia K. Hadden ’78 Leonard Halpern ’51 Gloria Hanlon ’80 Laurence J. Hanlon ’76 Dorothy M. Hansell ’47 George W. Hays ’82 Arthur R. Hazlewood ’81 Pamilla P. Heaphey ’78 David Marc Heller ’88 Floyd G. Hellyer ’75 Kenneth Thomas Hickey ’58 George T. Hirai ’69 Mark Hogan ’69 Fred W. Homscheid ’67 E. Frances Houterman ’65 Susan Howe ’72 Joyce Hughes ’82 Robert R. Hunt ’76 Mary M. Iocovozzi ’82 Daniel T. Irwin ’75 Tanya L. Jacobs ’80 Felice Joaquim ’78 Jeffrey Jones ’84 Kathleen M. Joyce ’98 Edward L. Kane ’53 Arthur S. Kastner ’66 John A. Kazazis ’90 Frances A. Keegan ’51 Mary Ellen Keough ’81 Phyllis Hauck Kerr ’57 Ellen Gedris Kishbaugh ’72 Shirley W. Klein ’77 Gen. Steven F. Kovach ’65 Charles Kramer ’49 Steve D. Kreuzburg ’93 Richard M. Kuhner ’78 Robert M. Lattarulo ’70 John Lazo ’49 Melvin Levine ’55 Carol Lindburg ’47 William C. Lins ’50 Arthur E. Ludwig ’65 Thomas P. Ludwinski ’77
Wayne H. Lundgren ’81 Doug MacLeod ’56 Howard S. Madalon ’77 John William Magrino ’75 Abraham Q. Mak ’78 Patricia I. Maloney ’53 Mary E. Maney ’54 William J. Mannhaupt ’67 Jane Martin ’93 Manton C. Martin ’80 John R. Massaroni ’79 Daniel J. Matthews ’76 Christopher J. Mazzella ’95 John E. McGuigan ’58 Agnes K. McGurk ’36 George J. McMahon ’60 Grace McMullen ’64 Patricia W. McRae ’47 William M. McTiernan ’56 Joseph N. Michalcewicz ’78 John W. Mitros ’74 Aurea E. Molina ’73 Harvey R. Molloy ’68 Richard J. Mooney ’71 Patrick P. Moran ’80 Joseph Morsello ’92 Marion E. Mulhall ’40 Owen P. Mulligan ’71 Astrid L. Naviaux ’60 Daryl K. Neff ’93 Edward J. Noha ’51 Mario Norelli ’53 Kate O’Beirne ’71 Kenneth F. O’Brien ’75 Mark O’Connor ’94 Richard M. O’Neill ’76 Joseph S. Orlando ’71 James R. O’Rourke ’83 James Frederick Ott ’68 Gennaro Ottomanelli ’86 Eugene J. Palazzolo ’50 Margaret D. Park ’78 Jeane T. Philpott ’74 Charles James Pinajian ’49 Ronald J. Prior ’70 Elizabeth Pulliam ’55 Joseph F. Quinlivan ’71 Rita M. Quinn ’49 Albert W. Rapisardi ’50 Mark S. Rapoport ’86 George R. Reid ’40 Grace T. Relken ’40 Patricia M. Rhodes ’80 Adele Rivetti ’40 Albert P. Roeper ’52 Warren Rosen ’74 Michael J. Rossi ’88
Marie C. Roth ’46 Juliana C. Ruddy ’47 Pasquale J. Santangelo ’69 Carl R. Schilke ’40 Barbara H. Schmitt ’83 Robert E. Schwartz ’88 Gaetano Secchiano ’96 David R. Selznick ’83 Loretta J. Servodidio ’50 Stephen William Shafer ’96 Mark J. Sherman ’98 William Sherry ’70 Katharine Sikorovsky ’60 Nathaniel Sims ’63 William J. Slezak ’67 Louise E. Spencer ’33 Michael Spina ’51 Alan Sprung ’54 Terry A. St. Thomas ’14 Frederick W. Staiger ’53 Carol Stanwood ’78 Richard D. Stonely ’72 Geoffrey J. Suszkowski ’86 Mary Lou Sutter ’78 Albert Termo ’57 Edward J. Tiernan ’80 Albert C. Toma ’54 Edith K. Tozzi ’63 Carol Lynne Van Scoyoc ’85 John P. Vancho ’69 Daniel J. Verdirame ’74 Raymond A. Verry ’83 Andrew J. Viola ’55 Richard Carroll Wade ’84 Theo W. Wagenblast ’52 John Wagner ’64 Antoinette D. Wallace ’88 Christine Wanser ’40 Joseph H. Watson ’50 Marian S. Weinberg ’81 Carmi J. Weiner ’82 Barbara D. Wilson ’78 Helene T. Wilson ’66 William Wingate ’60 Beverly B. Wistrand ’81 Robert J. Woodhouse ’80 Donald L. Wright ’76 Priscilla Wright-Casey ’82 Hong W. Wu ’55 Raymond H. Yarfitz ’50 Emanuel Yedwab ’51 Mildred Zacharow ’39
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Class Notes
ALUMNI
PROFILE
MICHAEL O’REILLY ’71 Michael O’Reilly has been a member of the Pace Board of Trustees since 1996. He joined the Chubb Corporation in 1969 as a Securities Analyst, rising through the ranks of the company to become Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer before his retirement in 2008. He is a veteran of the United States Army, retiring with the rank of Captain. O’Reilly was an early lead supporter of the New York City Master Plan, making a major capital contribution in 2017. By Robert Schurz ’18
O
’Reilly came to Pace University eager to gain new professional skills. “When I got out of the Army, I knew that I wanted to get an MBA,” he recalls. “I had a friend who had gone to Pace and told me about what a great experience he had. I was accepted, they agreed to waive many of the required courses since I was already a working professional and had studied those subjects as an undergraduate, and here we are, 45 years later!” He was compelled to become involved with Pace after graduation. “I was always interested in education,” he explains. “Educating students who are the first in their families to go to college matters a lot to me. Pace has done a spectacular job on that front and I like to think I had a part to play in that. We give young people the chance to succeed, providing opportunity and letting them use their strengths and talents to achieve it on their own.” O’Reilly has made key investments in the University, including establishing the Thomas H. O’Reilly Endowed
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Scholarship Fund in honor of his father, and supporting the NYC Master Plan in 2017. “I was excited when I heard about the plans to renovate downtown,” says O’Reilly. “It’s obviously going to take a lot of money, so I was happy to help out and be a part of the whole effort—Pace has never had to twist my arm to get me to give back.” Setting an example for students and the broader Pace Community is important to O’Reilly. “I think it’s important for Pace to help students make a connection with philanthropy early on,” he points out. “Seeing what successful alumni have done is important for the whole cause.” He urges students to be patient in their careers. “Don’t change jobs for money—change jobs for opportunity,” he advises. “Your career can be 40 years long, so don’t make any hasty decisions. You never know what opportunities are ahead of you.”
Illustration by Bruce Morser
Class Notes
MICAH BROWNSTEIN, MS ’07,
dean of students at the Olney Friends School in Barnesville, OH, will serve as an interim co-head of the school for the 2017–2018 school year. TREY COMPTON, BFA ’07,
served as guest director and choreographer with the Sierra Repertory Theatre in Sonora, CA, on their production of The Great American Trailer Park Musical. JACK ELSEY, MST ’07, was
named the first executive director of the Detroit Children’s Fund in Detroit, MI. The fund plans to finalize its strategy to ensure Detroit youth have exceptional learning and developmental opportunities inside and outside the classroom. MICHAEL MATTONE, BBA ’07, was promoted to vice
president of public relations for Municipal Credit Union of New York. In his newly created position, some of Mattone’s responsibilities include public relations and corporate communications, and internal and external communications.
LAUREE OSTROFSKY, BA ’07, MA ’11, released the book
Anglo-Latin. Saltzman is an instructor in Medieval British Literature at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, CA. GAL DANAY, BBA ’09, is
chief operating officer at Woops!, a macaron franchise, where POOJA (CHANDNANI) DANAY, BBA ‘09, is a partner, manager, and special events coordinator.
2010s NICOLE CARDOZA, BBA ’11,
founder of Yoga Foster, has been named to Forbes’ “30 Under 30.” Cardoza is focused on using yoga as a mindfulness tool for the social-emotional learning issues many low-income kids face.
2013
ALUMNI
NOTE MICHAEL BOYLE, BS ’13, is an evolutionary biologist working on his PhD and investigating the mystery of the evolution of the human brain at the worldrenowned Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. MICHAEL CROWE, MFA ’12, is
the production coordinator of NBC’s Give, hosted by Blair Underwood and Jenna Bush Hager. Give was nominated for two Daytime Emmy Awards: Outstanding Children’s and Family Series
and Outstanding Host in a Lifestyle/Travel/Children’s or Family Viewing Program. GEOFFREY R. FRIEDLANDER, BSN ’12, MS ’15, has joined
Crystal Run Healthcare as a new health care provider. He is a board-certified family nurse practitioner specializing in urgent care and is seeing patients in Newburgh, NY.
ANDREW NADAL, MBA ’12,
has joined North American Title Insurance Company in Miami, FL, as state agency manager. Nadal will oversee agency operations in Florida while securing and servicing title agents and real estate attorneys to promote new and increased business activity. HANNAH BENNETT, MS ’13,
was named a Publishers Weekly 2016 Star Watch
WELCOME, BABY SETTERS! Boris Pak, BBA/MBA ’12, and Lauren (Trinkoff) Pak, BS ’11, MST ’13, announced the birth of their son, Graysen Pak, on February 16, 2017, in Mount Kisco, NY.
Stevi (Raab) Siber-Sanderowitz, BBA ’08, and Noah Siber-Sanderowitz are proud to announce the birth of their son, Hank Ari, born on March 16, 2017, in New York, NY.
called Simply Leap: Seven Lessons on Facing Fear and Enjoying the Crap Out of Your Life. Download a free chapter or buy the book at www. simplyleap.com/book. BENJAMIN SALTZMAN, BA ’07,
has been awarded a 2017–2018 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for his research on the literature and culture on Anglo-Saxon England, focusing on texts written in Old English and
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Class Notes
honoree for her work as managing editor at RosettaBooks in New York, NY. SHATARA PELL, BBA ’14,
has started working at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) as the deputy director of the Marketing and Affordability Oversight Program, also known as the NYC housing “lottery,” overseeing NYC Housing Connect. AMANDA BRAUN, BFA ’15,
joined the national tour of the smash-hit Broadway musical Hamilton, which kicked off its run on March 10 at the SHN Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco, CA. JACLYN OSKAM, BA ’15, MPA ’17, has joined Washington
College in Chestertown, MD, as head women’s basketball coach.
VICTOR ALMANZAR, MFA ’16,
was featured in an article in Playbill where he credits theater with assisting him in his transition to civilian life from military service. Almanzar made his OffBroadway debut in Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play Between Riverside and Crazy, for which he was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award. He also co-wrote and stars in 11:55, a film about a US Marine who returns to his hometown where he struggles to escape his violent past. JOSEPH CAMILLERI, BS ’16,
was sworn in as a police officer in Saddle Brook, NJ, in July 2017.
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rsity is at the forefront of The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace Unive the world. Check out three cutting-edge theater in New York and around productions. alumni featured in three remarkable Broadway
RACHEL STEVENS ’14 MFA in Directing r of Natasha, Pierre & the Rachel made her Broadway debut as assistant directo War and Peace. The show, ’s Great Comet of 1812, a musical adaptation of Tolstoy “the most innovative and called Times which Charles Isherwood of The New York on,” was nominated for Hamilt since ay Broadw on the best new musical to open 3, 2017. 12 Tony awards and concluded its run on September
IRENE SANKOFF MFA in Acting this season, Come From Irene penned one of Broadway’s best new musicals the book, music, and lyrics Away. Along with her husband David Hein, she wrote that took in more than d undlan for this true story about a small town in Newfo the September 11 to due ed ground were 7,000 travelers when their planes l Drama Desk annua 62nd the at al Music nding Outsta attacks. The show won Musical and Best ing includ Awards and was nominated for seven Tony Awards, . Score al Origin Sankoff for Best Book of a Musical and Best
DANNY GORMAN ’15 MFA in Directing Price on the revival of Danny assisted Emmy Award-winning director Lonny who won the Tony Award Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Sunset Boulevard. Glenn Close, Ben Brantley of The New for the same role in 1995, reprised her iconic role which of s this century.” York Times calls “one of the great stage performance
DYLAN MOUZAKES, BBA ’16,
starting pitcher of the FargoMoorhead RedHawks, was honored by the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball as Pointstreak Pitcher of the Week for the week ending May 28, 2017.
ELIZABETH POORAN, BBA ’17, is a technology trainer
with the non-profit Older Adults Technology Services and is currently working on a program to help senior citizens learn about online banking.
HENRY L. SNYDER, BS ’17,
received the 2017 Future Nurse Leader Awards from the American Nurses Association New York. The award is given to graduating students in honor of their scholarship, professional dedication, and commitment to community service.
Class Notes
UPCOMING EVENTS
Alumni Holiday Party December 14 Tis always the season to be proud Pace Setters! Celebrate the holidays and network with your fellow alumni at our annual Alumni Holiday Party. Learn more at www.pace.edu/alumni.
October 27–November 5
March 8
Pace School of Performing Arts presents Lysistrata
Law Leadership Dinner
April 11–15
October 28
Pace Football Senior Day
Pace School of Performing Arts presents The Drowsy Chaperone
October 29
April 19
Inauguration Ceremony for President Marvin Krislov
The 14th Annual Pace Pitch Contest
November 3
Law School Reunion
Pace School of Performing Arts presents Dance Out Loud
November 13
April
April 27–29
Pace Athletics Hall of Fame Dinner and Induction Ceremony
Celebrate Lubin!
November 18
May 2–3
4th Annual Pace 4 Kids Dance Marathon benefitting the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital
Student and Faculty Research Days
May
Commencement 2018 and Golden Graduates Luncheon
November 28 Giving Tuesday
June
December 1–3
Spirit of Pace Awards Dinner
Pace School of Performing Arts presents DanceSpace
Spring 2018 Reunion 2018
January 2018
Baseball Hot Stove Dinner
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Class Notes
GOLDEN GRADUATES
ALUMNI HOLIDAY PARTY
ALUMNI REUNION
SCHOLARSHIP DINNER
SPIRIT OF PACE AWARDS
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Big Numbers PACE ALUMNI BY THE NUMBERS 3,000+
alumni in C-suite/executivelevel positions
146,000+
$130,000+ raised on Giving Tuesday 2016
PACE UNIVERSITY ALUMNI
$13
106
million+ fundraising total for fiscal year 2017
175
alumni mentors in the AlumniStudent Mentoring Program
countries where alumni live
$3.5 million
donor-funded scholarships awarded during the 2016–2017 academic year
The top 5 employers of
Pace alumni
O O O O O
4,000+ students benefitted from donor-funded scholarships over the last five years
JPMorgan Chase IBM Citi NYC Board of Education EY W W W.PACE .E DU
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Flashback In a Class R of His Own
obert Klaeger ’69, Pace alumnus and beloved chair of the Media, Communications, and Visual Arts (MCVA) Department on the Pleasantville Campus, retired on August 31, 2017, after 41 years of service. Known around campus for his signature bow tie, Klaeger oversaw the department’s growth and transformation into a training ground for talented young people who
The photo from Pace's 1967 yearbook shows Klaeger (second from left) as sophomore class president.
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would go on to successful careers at NBCUniversal, A&E Television Networks, and the like. “Bob’s legacy will be felt for many years to come,” says Nira Herrmann, PhD, interim provost and former dean of Dyson College. “He has been the voice of reason, a sage counselor, a keeper of Dyson and Pace lore from ‘the good old days,’ and an esteemed colleague. We wish him all the very best in this new chapter of his life.”
We honor those distinguished supporters whose generosity sets an example for the entire Pace Community. As members of our recognition societies, these individuals receive special communications and invitations to exclusive University events.
Mortola Society
Setting the Standard
Building the Foundation
Creating a Legacy
Through their generosity and vision, President’s Society members support important initiatives at Pace University that greatly enhance the outcomes and experience of our students. President’s Society membership is open to benefactors who support Pace with gifts starting at the $1,000 level. As a President’s Society member, you are making a critical investment in Pace and its future.
Named for the year of Pace’s founding, the 1906 Society celebrates loyal members of our community whose consecutive annual gifts help form the foundation for Pace’s success. Gifts of any amount to Pace, given for two or more consecutive calendar years, grants membership in the 1906 Society.
The Edward J. Mortola Heritage Society, also known as the Mortola Society, honors the generous benefactors who have included Pace in their estate plans through a will, living trust, annuity, or other planned gift.
For more information about membership in Pace’s recognition societies, please contact the Annual Giving Office at annfund@pace.edu or call (212) 346-1232.
NONPROFIT ORG. U. S. P O S T A G E
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PA C E U N I V E R S I T Y
www.pace.edu
www.pace.edu/pacemagazine
Mark Your Calendar Join us in New York City this spring for a reunion, learning opportunities, and networking!
SP
RI
N G 2018
www.alumni.pace.edu