Connections - Winter 2011-2012

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Winter 2011-12

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connectionS Nazareth College

Raising the Bar Nazareth’s Veteran-Friendly Campus


Nazareth College Arts Center

2011–2012 Subscription Series Season Evening Performances

Children’s/Family Performances

The Capitol Steps Dec. 31, 2011

Rochester Children’s Theatre Dec.10 , 11; 17, 18, 2011 Annie (co-production with Nazareth College Arts Center)

42Five (a cappella) Opening act: Nazareth’s own Call4Backup

Jan. 21, 2012

Rochester City Ballet: The Blood Countess

Feb. 3, 4, 5, 2012

Stars of the Russian Ballet March 24, 2012 Tao: The Way of the Drum March 31, 2012 Parsons Dance May 5, 2012

John Tartaglia’s ImaginOcean (black-light puppet show)

Jan. 7, 2012

Feb. 11, 12; 18, 19, 2012 Rochester Children’s Theatre The Hobbit (co-production with Nazareth College Arts Center) Rochester Children’s Theatre Mar. 10, 11; 17, 18, 2012 A Year with Frog and Toad (co-production with Nazareth College Arts Center)

Rochester City Ballet: Dance Mix May 18, 19, 20, 2012

Parsons Dance Photo: Paula Lobo

Attention: Special Discounts!

Box Office: 585-389-2170.

Nazareth College faculty and staff receive a 50% discount.

Regular box office hours are Monday- Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., and 11 a.m. until curtain time on performance days. Download the complete season brochure at artscenter.naz.edu

Nazareth College alumni receive a 20% discount. Nazareth College full-time students (grad and undergrad) with valid ID receive one free ticket per performance. Part-time students (grad and undergrad) are eligible for one ticket per semester.

Special thanks to our series sponsors:


Editor Robyn A. Rime Assistant Director, Publications and Creative Services Regular Contributors Donna Borgus Kerry Gotham Julie Long Alicia Nestle Joe Seil Sofia Tokar

ConneCtionS Nazareth College

Volume 24, Number 1

4

New hockey team; Hall of Fame; swimmer Carissa Risucci ’13.

Photographer Alex Shukoff

Vice President, Institutional Advancement Kelly E. Gagan

Class notes or comments: Office of Alumni Relations email: alumni.naz.edu 585-389-2472 Please note that Connections is produced approximately four months in advance of when it is received by readers. Letters and class notes received after production has begun will be included in the next issue of the magazine. All accepted text is subject to editing.

Main College switchboard: 585-389-2525 www.naz.edu

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Life of the Mind

28 ABOUT OUR COVER Photograph by Alex Shukoff

Veterans James Leach and Candice Kundle ’12 raise the flag on Nazareth’s campus. Read about the College’s programs for veterans on pages 34-41.

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Beyond Self

Horizons program benefits young city schoolchildren.

Nazareth Heritage

The long tradition of Nazareth’s literary magazine.

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Interfaith Ideas

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Cover Story: A Vet-Friendly Campus

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Report to Donors 2010–11

Nazareth’s U.S. Institute on Pluralism draws African student leaders. Nazareth is building a reputation as a veteran-friendly campus. Connections outlines the programs and services the College offers for vets. Operating revenues and expenses for the College during the past year.

We welcome comments from our readers, articles and essays, and class notes. All mail should be directed to one of the offices below, and sent to: Nazareth College 4245 East Ave. Rochester, NY 14618-3790

Name/address corrections: Office of Development e-mail: pwagner6@naz.edu 585-389-2415

Nazareth in the World

Professor Carlnita Greene studies communication and food.

Nazareth College President Daan Braveman, J.D.

Comments/story suggestions: Marketing and Communications—Publications e-mail: rrime7@naz.edu 585-389-5098

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American Language Institute immerses students in language and culture.

Contributing Photographers Kurt Brownell Brady Dillsworth Greg Francis Jamie Germanow James Schnepf

Director of Alumni Relations Kerry Gotham ’98

News and Views

The latest news from the Nazareth campus.

18 Athletics

The Classes Kerry Van Malderghem ’08G

Printing Cohber Press

winter 2011-12

TA B L E O F C O NT E NT S

Additional Contributors Robin L. Flanigan Alan Gelb Carlnita Greene Kerry Van Malderghem ’08G

Design Boehm Marketing Communications

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46 Alumni News

Michael Park ’90 on Broadway; profile of artist Marina Pang ’58; alumni mentor program.

54 58

Class Notes The Archive

O FPFPO Copyright © 2011 by Nazareth College. Photographs and artwork copyright by their respective creators or by Nazareth College. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reused or republished in any form without express written permission. Nazareth College Mission and Vision Statements The mission of Nazareth College is to provide a learning community that educates students in the liberal arts, sciences, visual and performing arts, and professional fields, fostering commitment to a life informed by intellectual, ethical, spiritual, and aesthetic values; to develop skills necessary for the pursuit of meaningful careers; and to inspire dedication to the ideal of service to their communities. Nazareth seeks students who want to make a difference in their own world and the world around them, and encourages them to develop the understanding, commitment, and confidence to lead fully informed and actively engaged lives. The vision of Nazareth College is to be nationally and internationally recognized as a comprehensive educational institution which provides its students with transformational experiences and integrates liberal arts, sciences, visual and performing arts, and professional education at the undergraduate and graduate levels and which places special value on student success, diversity, inclusion, civic engagement, and making a difference in local and global communities. Statement on Respect and Diversity We, the Nazareth community, embrace both respect for the person and freedom of speech. The College promotes civility and denounces acts of hatred or intolerance. The free exchange of ideas is possible only when concepts, values, and viewpoints can be expressed and challenged in a manner that is neither threatening nor demeaning. It is the policy of Nazareth College, in keeping with its efforts to foster a community in which the diversity of all members is respected, not to discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national or ethnic origin, sex, age, marital or veteran status, disability, carrier status, genetic predisposition, or any other protected status. Respect for the dignity of all peoples is an essential part of the College’s tradition and mission, and its vision for the future.

CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12 3


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New Early Childhood Education Major

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azareth’s department of inclusive childhood education is offering a new undergraduate inclusive early childhood/ inclusive childhood education major. “This major enables the graduate to teach in the inclusive classrooms from birth through grade six,” says Timothy Glander, Ph.D., dean of the School of Education. “It will be especially attractive to prospective undergraduates because it will enable candidates to teach in kindergarten classrooms, a grade not covered by the previous program.” Nazareth is one of only two schools in New York State that offers four teaching certifications in four years. The program also leads to two full academic majors, one in education and one in an area of the liberal arts and sciences. “Four certifications lead to better preparation for the classroom and more employment options,” says Kate DaBoll-Lavoie, Ph.D., professor and chair of the department of inclusive childhood education. “We work to empower our students to construct and implement meaningful and research-based professional practices that transform them, their learners, their communities, and their profession.” For more information, visit go.naz.edu/ICE.

College Appoints New Trustee Nazareth College is pleased to announce that Jeffrey Burke is the newest member of the board of trustees. Burke is president of SalesCongo, Inc. and president/owner of Sterling Sage Solutions. SalesCongo is a cloud-based software firm focused on the sales readiness management market. It is a Salesforce.com ISV Partner and continues to bring innovative applications to the market that improve sales productivity and success. Sterling Sage Solutions is a provider of advanced IT solutions that improves customer productivity. Its solutions focus on enterprise-class customers ranging from improving data center energy efficiency to advanced communications solutions and services.

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Previously, Burke served as executive vice president, managed services and IT of PAETEC Communications from 2003 through 2008. Prior to PAETEC, he was the CEO and co-founder of NetSetGo, Inc., a regional internet professional services firm with offices in eight states across the eastern U.S. Burke also served in executive roles at Xerox and Digital Equipment Corporation, where he successfully developed new technology-based service businesses. He served as the chairperson of the board of directors of the American Heart Association in 2007 and 2008. He has also served as a board member for the Rochester & Syracuse Epilepsy Foundation and on the advisory boards of Relevant Technologies, Emenete Business Services, Document Dynamics, 2Logical, NC School of Management, and Genesee Valley Trust. Burke holds a B.A. in accountancy from Bentley College. He and his wife reside in Pittsford with their daughter and son.

www.naz.edu


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New Faculty Nazareth College welcomes the newest members of its faculty for the fall 2011 semester.

College of Arts and Sciences Corrine Dempsey, associate professor of religious studies Dempsey has a Ph.D. in religion and an M.Phil., both from Syracuse University, as well as an M.A. in systematic theology from Graduate Theological Union at U.C. Berkeley. She was previously an associate professor of religious studies at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point and a visiting assistant professor of religion at Syracuse University. Stephen Tajc, assistant professor of chemistry Tajc has a Ph.D. and an M.S. in biochemistry, both from the University of Rochester Medical Center. He was previously a postdoctoral fellow in biology at Johns Hopkins University. Yu Zhansui, visiting assistant professor in foreign languages Yu has a Ph.D. in Asian studies from the University of British Columbia and an M.A. in Chinese literature and language from Shandong University. He was previously a visiting assistant professor of Chinese at Lehigh University and a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Asian Research at the University of British Columbia.

School of Health and Human Services Elizabeth Clark, lecturer in physical therapy Clark has a master’s and doctorate in physical therapy, both from SUNY Upstate Medical University. She is

www.naz.edu

a clinical specialist in neurology and an APTA credentialed clinical instructor. Clark was previously the residency co-director at Unity Health System: Acute Rehabilitation and Brain Injury Program and Comprehensive Rehabilitation Center. Michelle Donahue ’02, ‘03G, lecturer in physical therapy Donahue has a doctorate in physical therapy from Shenandoah University and a master’s in physical therapy from Nazareth College. She has been a clinical instructor at Nazareth since 2005 and served as a LEND fellow at the University of Rochester in 2003.

School of Management Emily Carpenter, lecturer in management Carpenter has an M.S.Ed. in counselor education from SUNY Brockport and was formerly the director of business and finance programs in the University of Rochester Career Center. She has experience leading collegewide internship efforts and has spent more than a decade both teaching and counseling college students. Mark Weber, assistant professor of management Weber has a master’s in business administration, marketing, and strategy from the University of Dayton. He has more than 25 years of executive-level experience managing business performance at Eastman Kodak Company, where he was most recently the vice president of marketing.

Dr. Monica Weis receiving the Louie Award from Bob Grip, president of the International Thomas Merton Society.

Recent Faculty Honors Daan Braveman, president, received the Veteran Education Champion Award from the Rochester Regional Veterans Business Council during its second annual Business Expo last summer. Stephen Demanchick, Ph.D., LMHC, RPT, NCC, director of the play therapy center for children and families, received a service award from the Association for Play Therapy (APT) during the 2011 conference last October in Sacramento, Calif. He was honored for his outstanding voluntary service at the play therapy center. Monica Weis ’65, S.S.J., Ph.D., an English professor and director of the MALS (Master of Arts in Liberal Studies) program, recently received the International Thomas Merton Society’s highest award, the “Louie.” The award is given to one whose distinguished service has contributed to the aims of the society and to furthering its goals.

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Clockwise, from top left: FuturPointe Dance members’ infectious enthusiasm got people dancing. Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company performed Serenade/The Proposition for a spectacular ending to the festival.

Dancing in the

Streets

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Lehrer Dance Company achieved a delicate balance of artistry and athleticism. Helga Schulz Morgan was honored with a reception in recognition of her generous donation of her dance book

he second annual Nazareth College Arts

collection and Dancing in

Center Dance Festival last July 8–16

the Archives exhibition to

presented a vibrant array of dance

the Lorette Wilmot Library.

exploring the range of expression of the human body. More than 6,000 people

FuturPointe Dance and

participated in this year’s Dance Festival,

attendees of the Strolling

an increase of 8% compared to last year. This nine-day festival featured lectures, conversations,

and post-show talk-backs with the featured choreogra-

on the Canal event danced through the Village of Pittsford.

phers, master classes, community dances, parades, free outdoor performances, main stage performances, an

Garth Fagan accepted the

archival exhibition showcasing materials from more than

first Joe Baranowski Vision

40 years of dance at the Arts Center, and a photography

Award from President

exhibition by Ken Riemer, featuring FuturPointe dancers. “By all accounts, the 2011 Nazareth College Arts Center’s Dance Festival was a tremendous success, for the College and for the Greater Rochester community,” says President Daan Braveman. “We offered high quality, diverse programming, showcased our local and regional talent, and provided area residents with the unique opportunity to see two distinct performances by our visiting guest artist, the nationally renowned Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company.” Check out more photo galleries and video clips

Daan Braveman. PUSH Physical Theatre performed at the Dancing on the Grass event in front of Elizabeth George Hall. The Rochester City Ballet, with FuturPointe Dance, performed in the Callahan Theater.

at go.naz.edu/dance.

(center) Dancers from the

Mark your calendar for next year’s Dance Festival, July 14-21, 2012!

Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company took to the streets of Rochester as part of the 2011 Dance on ARTWalk event.


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Bikes@Naz Gives Campus a New Ride

ikes@Naz, a new collaboration between the Student Activities Office and the Greenprint@Naz sustainability initiative, is giving Nazareth students, staff, and faculty a new ride around campus. Bike rentals are now available free of charge on a daily basis at a fully staffed bike shop located next to the racquetball courts in the Shults Center. Bike selections are on a first come, first served basis. Renters receive a bike, bike helmet, and bike lock, and they must sign a rental waiver and agree to abide by New York State traffic laws. “The bikes can be taken anywhere you’d like,” says Brian McGahan, assistant director of the Shults Center and coordinator of Bikes@ Naz. “Maps are available to print out at the bike shop based on your destination. The canal and Town of Pittsford are minutes away, and all Bikes@Naz coordinator Brian McGahan outside the bike shop. RTS buses come equipped with bike racks.” All bikes are either donated by members of the Nazareth community or purchased from R Community Bikes, a nonprofit organization. All donated bikes are refurbished before being made available in the bike shop. “Bikes@Naz is designed to reduce our carbon footprint by reducing the dependency on automobiles,” says McGahan. “It also provides a healthy means of transportation for the Nazareth community. Through Bikes@Naz, we’re committed to the environment and health and wellness.” Anyone wishing to donate a bicycle to Bikes@Naz can contact McGahan at bmcgaha1@naz.edu. Learn more about Nazareth’s sustainability efforts at go.naz.edu/sustainability.

Faculty and Staff Double Donations

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ot only do the employees of Nazareth College give through their time and talent, but they really understand the importance of philanthropy. Faculty and staff giving has doubled since 2006 to a recordbreaking 239 donors for a participation rate of 31 percent. Giving in 2011 exceeded $140,000, a number that shattered previous records. The number of employee donors joining the Council Oak Society—the $1,000+ giving society—also increased by more than 30 percent. Faculty and staff support is important in many ways, explains Lynn Mulvey, assistant director in development. Foundations and corporations look at the percentage of giving as a way to measure the health of an institution. Alumni, parents, and students are inspired by their example. Prospective students and their families see that Nazareth is a community that truly believes in giving. “We want to thank the Nazareth community for its outstanding support,” Mulvey concludes. For information on giving, visit www.naz.edu/supportnazareth.

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Annual Scholarship Donations Each year the following corporations and foundations support Nazareth College students with gifts of scholarship. Their generous contributions help us prepare students to have meaningful careers and lead active, informed, engaged lives as contributing members of our society. The Chatlos Foundation, Inc. Donald & Maxine Davison Foundation Genesee County Antique Dealers Association The Hearst Foundation KeyBank The Presser Foundation Rochester Labor Management Cooperative Trust Rotary Club of Pittsford Kilian J. and Caroline F. Schmitt Foundation Small Business Council Thiem Charitable Foundation For more information on scholarships and other financial aid, visit www.naz.edu/financial-aid.

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Alumni Bring Home Emmys

wo of Nazareth’s talented alumni received Daytime Emmy Awards last summer from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Michael Park ’90 earned his second Best Actor Emmy in a row for his work as character Detective Jack Snyder on CBS’s now-cancelled daytime drama As the World Turns. Park, who joined the cast of the soap in 1997, is currently starring with Daniel Radcliffe in the Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying (see page 50). Jack Allocco ’72 received another Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series (The Bold and the Beautiful), making for a career total of six Emmys. Allocco is a composer, conductor, music producer, and director whose career spans television, film, and theater. Check out a 2009 interview with Allocco at go.naz.edu/ allocco.

Jack Allocco ’72 (center), shown here with David Kurtz (right) and Bradley P. Bell, holds the Daytime Emmy received this year for their musical work on The Bold and the Beautiful.

Council Oak Society Reception Each year at the Council Oak Society reception, Nazareth College honors leadership donors who have supported the College with annual gifts of $1,000 or greater. Held last September at the home of Lorraine and Daan Braveman, Nazareth’s president, the event allowed more than a hundred guests the opportunity to mingle, dine, and enjoy live music provided by Nazareth groups. For more information on giving options, visit go.naz.edu/give.

www.naz.edu

Above, left to right: Vice President of Institutional Advancement Kelly Gagan (center) welcomed Louise Woerner and her husband, Nazareth College Trustee Don Kollmorgen. President Daan Braveman greets Elliott and Debby Landsman. Bryan Sweet ’07 (left), a GOLD (Graduate of the Last Decade) Council Oak Society member and his partner, Jason Longo, raise a glass to Nazareth College.

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“My liberal arts education at Nazareth College has been a treasure in my life. Attending the College at age thirty in 1960, I worked in the admissions office, eventually helping to recruit students. Nazareth showed great faith in me, and I am pleased to reciprocate by giving to its future.” — Joan Hacker ’63 is giving to Nazareth’s future through a bequest

Commitment to the future Learn how you can make a lasting difference through your will by visiting

What is planned giving? When you include the College in your future plans through creating a life income gift such as a charitable gift annuity or charitable remainder trust, or by naming Nazareth as a beneficiary of your will, retirement plan, or life insurance policy.

What is the Founders Society? A planned giving recognition society whose members are crucial to advancing the long-term goals of Nazareth. The College honors members each year at a luncheon. Throughout the year, members receive special invitations to attend Nazareth events as well as recognition in our annual report.

go.naz.edu/plannedgiving For more information on planned giving opportunities, please contact Melissa Head, associate director of major gifts and planned giving, at 585-389-2179 or at mhead9@naz.edu.


Nazareth’s Quidditch team readies itself for a nighttime practice. The team is affiliated with the Ministry of Magic, a new campus club devoted to exploring the magical world of Harry Potter.

Harry Potter and the Nazareth Campus Clubs

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azareth College and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry have more in common than the average Muggle—or non-magical person—might think. Both have beautiful grounds, four distinct academic divisions, and a nearby village watering hole. And both institutions offer students the opportunity to pursue their special interests with other likeminded students on campus. Although Nazareth doesn’t yet have its own chapter of S.P.E.W. (Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare), the College’s student government Undergraduate Association (UA) offers the choice of more than 50 other groups, which provide many of the campus community’s social, educational, recreational, cultural, and spiritual activities. But what do students do when their specific area of interest isn’t represented by an existing club? Often these students will take the initiative and form a new club.

www.naz.edu

by Sofia Tokar

Such was the case with the UA’s most recent addition: the Ministry of Magic, a club devoted to the fictionalized world of Harry Potter, created by J.K. Rowling. The club was founded by three freshmen: Francis Grunfeld ’15, president; Dylan Loucks ’15, vice president; and Sandra Simmons ’15, treasurer (or, respectively, the Minister of Magic, Junior Assistant to the Minister, and Head Goblin). “We tried screening A Very Potter Musical, a Harry Potter-inspired stage play that became a video sensation on YouTube,” says Simmons. “Unfortunately, the residential life area director explained that we couldn’t host the showing because we weren’t an official club.” The trio promptly applied for club status, and although final paperwork was pending, the UA allowed the Ministry of Magic to host its first event, a screening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One. The Ministry’s initial meetings, which featured a Sorting Hat-inspired quiz and ceremo-

ny, revealed widespread student interest in the world of Harry Potter. “Nazareth is a small campus, and yet we found more than enough students who were interested in participating,” says Simmons. The Ministry wisely allied itself with the College’s Quidditch team. In Rowling’s series, Quidditch is the wizarding world’s most popular sport, sort of like soccer played on flying broomsticks. Nazareth’s team was founded in summer 2011 by Lauren Berger ’12, the president of Nazareth’s Lambda Association and the opinions editor for the student newspaper The Gleaner. “I started the team by creating a Facebook fan page in mid-July,” explains Berger. “The page got approximately 80 ‘likes’ the first day, so I began searching online for other college Quidditch teams and ways to modify the sport for those of us unable to ride on flying brooms.” Berger’s research revealed that the sport is popular with college students across the region (RIT and MCC have teams) as well as the nation. In fact, the fifth annual Quidditch World Cup was held in November 2011 on Randall’s Island in New York City. This annual intercollegiate sporting event features 100 teams vying for the coveted position of best Quidditch team. Nazareth’s team practices twice a week, with the goal of competing in next year’s Quidditch World Cup. Berger is optimistic, saying, “The team is mostly composed of freshmen, which is exciting because they will continue the sport after I graduate.” Meanwhile, the Ministry of Magic plans to expand its campus-wide offerings to include other Harry Potter-inspired events, such as a Yule Ball and a Horcrux scavenger hunt. “I feel lucky to go to a school that allows and encourages freshmen to explore, express, and share their passion with other Naz students,” says Simmons. “Finding and celebrating common interests with others—be it a cause, a religion, a sport, or a book—is part of what college is all about.” Learn about Nazareth’s other clubs at go.naz.edu/clubs. Sofia Tokar is assistant editor in Nazareth’s marketing department.

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Giving for Thanksgiving

Students sort and load Thanksgiving baskets last year for delivery to Dimitri House.

In the spirit of giving, the Center for Spirituality, the nursing department, and the campus safety department at Nazareth College once again sponsored basket collections for the Thanksgiving holiday. The baskets each contained the makings of a holiday dinner, from turkey to pie filling, and benefited Rochester families in need through the Dimitri House and Easter Seals. The annual program, which began more than a decade ago, collected food for 40 baskets this year, says Alison Schmied, Protestant chaplain and staff advisor for the basket project, which is coordinated this year by Stephanie Preece ‘12. “Some donors created a food basket for a specific family or made a monetary donation. People also helped in other ways, such as helping to organize and deliver food baskets.” The campus safety department’s Food for Fines program offered an unusual way to donate by waiving most parking tickets in exchange for a donation of four non-perishable food items. “Last year’s program collected almost 2,000 items,” says Jody Cascino, parking and transportation coordinator. “Any Nazareth faculty, staff member, or student may participate, and we do see participation across the board. This is a very giving community as evidenced by the donation of food items from individuals who don’t even have parking tickets— they just want to support the cause.”

Nazareth Earns National Accolades

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azareth College has been selected by The New American Colleges and Universities (NAC&U) to join the organization as its newest member. The NAC&U is a national consortium of 20 selective, small to mid-size independent colleges and universities dedicated to the purposeful integration of liberal education, professional studies, and civic engagement. Nazareth is also one of the nation’s best institutions for undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review. The College is featured in The Best 373 Colleges: 2012 Edition. Finally, U.S. News & World Report just released is 2012 Best Colleges guide book, and it ranks Nazareth in the top tier of colleges and universities in the category of Best Regional Universities—North. Nazareth also made the guide’s lists of Great Schools, Great Prices and A+ Schools for B Students, which recognizes top quality colleges that look at more than just grades on applications. “It is good to get external recognition for our outstanding efforts on behalf of all our students,” says President Daan Braveman. “It confirms that we are providing our students the highest quality experience.”

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E x h i b i t i o n s

Artist Joseph Accorso ’81 had his first one-man exhibition at the Rochester gallery ARTISANworks last summer. The display featured 50 large portraits of international and local master artists, from the Renaissance to contemporary art. The large format portraits used creative compositions to show each artist with a representation of his or her artwork, such as this image of Nazareth College professor Ron Netsky with one of his works. Accorso received a degree in studio art and taught for 20 years at Wheatland-Chili High School. He lives in Rochester with his wife and three daughters.

www.naz.edu

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E x h i b i t i o n s

As part of its senior class gift to Nazareth, the Class of 2010 commissioned a painting from Luke Dangler ’09. Now hanging in the Golisano Academic Center near the Office of Alumni Relations, the artwork captures the spirit of Nazareth. You can check out more of Dangler’s work at go.naz.edu/dangler.


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n Sch o o l o f e d u cat i on

Innovative Program Attracts Graduate Education Majors by Robyn Rime

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Henrietta—are all clamoring for ducation is a competimore fellows than are available, tive field, and for recent and more districts have asked to graduates, landing that be included, says Dunn. “This is dream job has grown a chance for us to give back to increasingly challenging. Recogour community partners,” she nizing this, Nazareth’s School of adds. “Not a district said no to Education has instituted a new the program.” program specially designed to In addition to providing strong grant graduate students more collaborative opportunities with than their degree and teaching local school districts, the teachcertifications. ing fellows program has met The innovative teaching felone of its goals by increasing the lows pilot program, offered this number of students in its gradufall through the School of Eduate program. cation’s Department of Inclusive Fellow Melissa Gambino ’11, Childhood Education, is a new ’12G says the hands-on nature initiative leading to professional of the program first attracted certification in inclusive childher. “Working directly in the hood education and situating classroom will help me put my graduate school learning in Left to right: Marc Nelson, principal of Harris Hill Elementary School learning from Nazareth College public schools. Students comin the Penfield School District, a teaching fellow program collaborator; into practice, and essentially plete a one-year intensive study Dr. Timothy Glander, dean of the School of Education; and teaching surpass the borders of a typical while spending two days a week fellow Allie Lunt ’11, ’12G. four-walled classroom.” Jenniin a school collaborating with fer Bloom ’11, ’12G appreciates teachers and leaders on action how the program allows her to research projects and schoolwork with students from various grade levels while providing the supbased initiatives that address needs of young learners. port of other education professionals. And Kiri Trotto ’11, ’12G sums “We don’t know anyone else who’s doing this,” says Kerry Dunn, up the appeal: “I want to be able to share the zeal I have for teaching, Ed.D., assistant professor and director of graduate inclusive childhood the passion I have for students, and the confidence I have in my ability education. “Fellows get a year of study in graduate work, plus they to make a difference with the community where I have grown up, here add the value of professional experience to their Nazareth degree.” in Rochester.” The program is highly selective, requiring students to demonstrate Word of the teaching fellows program has spread region-wide, and unusual excellence and initiative during both their academic studies Dunn intends to grow the program in the future. “I hope it becomes a and student teaching assignments. That selectivity has made the prosustainable part of an ongoing program while maintaining the highly gram very competitive. Only ten students, all undergraduate leaders, selective standards that we have in place,” she says. “This offers educawere admitted for the fall semester, and the program maintains a waittion graduates the next step. They’re getting a unique experience that ing list. “Students are taking pride in being part of the program,” says will make their resumes glow.” Timothy Glander, Ph.D., dean of the school of education. Participation by school districts in the pilot program has been For more on inclusive childhood education, visit go.naz.edu/ICE. competitive as well. The five school districts collaborating with Nazareth—Rochester City, Canandaigua, Penfield, Webster, and RushRobyn Rime is the editor of Connections.

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n s cho o l o f h e alt h an d h u ma n s erv ic es

Nazareth College and RIT Join Forces by Alan Gelb

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reativity is contagious,” said Albert Einstein. “Pass it on.” That feeling of creative contagion and the benefits that can incur from passing it on have been very much in evidence in the partnership formed between Nazareth College’s department of physical therapy and students and faculty from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). During the last five years, a variety of projects have emerged from this collaboration that are helping with the rehabilitation of Nazareth’s physical therapy clients. In 2006, RIT received a grant from the National Science Foundation to aid people with disabilities. Elizabeth DeBartolo, associate professor of mechanical engineering at RIT, approached J.J. Mowder-Tinney, P.T., Ph.D., assistant professor of physical therapy at Nazareth, to see if Nazareth had any needs with which DeBartolo’s engineering students could help. “We started with an upper extremities exerciser,” says MowderTinney. “Something that clients could use when they weren’t at the clinic. I had made my own version with duct tape and a pole and it worked pretty well. But I thought we might be able to construct one that would be even better.” The engineering students went to work, and their version, which boasted a great design, unfortunately broke on its second day of use. Not to be deterred, the students went back to work on it—and on a variety of other projects as well. The RIT team, composed of electrical, mechanical, industrial, and computer engineering students, have worked on a balance tower with interactive features that renders balance improvement exercise more stimulating, a balance training bicycle that will help patients relearn cycling, a tool for raising and lowering parallel bars that are used in physical therapy, and a portable obstacle course. “These projects are great for our students because they see the end use,” said DeBartolo. “What they create goes directly to an individual and that makes it easy to point to it and say, ‘I’ve made a difference here.’” Sara Gombatto, P.T., Ph.D., assistant professor of physical therapy at Nazareth, has also seen excellent results emerge from this collaboration. “The RIT students worked with us to create a mechanical spine that would validate the biomedical model we’ve been using in our work,” says Gombatto. “We’ve been developing the mechanical spine for a little over a year and it’s already enabled me to significantly expand on our research.” This collaboration has even brought physical therapy clients into the mix at points. David Sprout, an engineer who is now quadriplegic as a result of spinal disease and who receives treatment at Nazareth’s physical therapy clinic, was invited to sit in on design reviews. “It was not always easy for J.J. to articulate what she wanted, as she’s not an

www.naz.edu

Left to right: RIT’s Dr. Elizabeth DeBartolo and engineering student Oyetunde Jolaoye demonstrate their balance tower to Dr. J.J. Mowder-Tinney and Dr. Sara Gombatto, both assistant professors of physical therapy.

engineer,” says Sprout, “so I kind of acted as the translator.” MowderTinney was grateful for the help. “David knows engineer-speak,” she says, “and that’s what we needed.” The RIT students have even helped the physical therapy department assess their space, analyzing traffic usage and other criteria, and have made suggestions that have already been implemented. This kind of collaboration spells opportunities for all who are involved and for the community at large. In short, it is a really good design. For information on the PT program, visit go.naz.edu/PT. Alan Gelb is a freelance writer in East Chatham, New York.

CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12 15


NEWS|views

n Sch o o l o f M an ag e m ent

Management Videos Speak to Future Students by Robyn Rime

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he School of Management has hit the web with the creation of a YouTube channel filled with testimonial videos of current students, recent graduates, and alumni. “Fewer students each year find out about us through traditional media,” explains Gerard Zappia ’89G, dean of the School of Management. “We’re trying to find more effective ways to recruit students, and these days they’re often discovering us on the internet.” The brief videos, found at www.youtube. com/use/NazarethSOM, feature “students and faculty who represent what we do here in the School of Management,” says Zappia. For example, Joe DaBoll-Lavoie, Ph.D., chair of SOM undergraduate programs, provides an overview of the school’s triple focus on global, ethical, and entrepreneurial issues. Sara Weigel ’11, a business administration major, explains how the flexibility within the program allows her to “blaze her own trail.” Videos about the undergraduate programs provide brief introductions to the seven undergraduate majors such as accounting, information technology, and international business and highlight students passionate about their Nazareth experience. Mackenzie Gotshall

16 CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12

’11, a business administration major, speaks of the confidence she gained through Nazareth’s extensive internship program, and Greg Best ’11 describes how the music business program maintains a good balance between performance and production. Graduate programs are represented by alumni who speak to the outcomes of their degrees. For instance, Portia James ’99G, the senior director of workforce and leadership development at Unity Health Systems, testifies that a master’s in management from Nazareth provided her with a greater level of credibility in her work environment, changed the perception of her by her co-workers, and became the turning point in her career. “Ten years later, my degree from Nazareth continues to be useful and relevant to the work I do every day,” she says. “We’re trying to create an emotional connection with prospective students,” says Zappia. “We want them to get to know us. The videos communicate the strengths of our programs and add dimension to what we do.” The admissions team and SOM faculty are currently using the videos during information sessions and open houses for prospective students. Links to the videos appear in venues

such as print ads; accepted students will receive links matched to their specific interests; and print and electronic communications with alumni direct them to the videos in an effort to mine referrals and make more personal connections. Zappia will use the videos when talking to benefactors such as potential donors, advisory councils, and outside business groups, seeing them as a valuable way to reinforce the school’s goals and activities. Future plans include “supplementing our alumni videos with additional testimonials from the business advisory board members who help us shape our programs,” says Lorraine Henderson ‘97G, Ph.D., assistant professor and director of the M.S. programs in management and human resource management. “Getting jobs is a key question in student interviews, and the network that the advisory board provides is of interest to our prospective students.” The videos help to demonstrate what people can get from their Nazareth management education, Zappia concludes. He plans to add more videos to the channel each year. View the School of Management’s videos at www.youtube.com/user/NazarethSOM. Robyn Rime is the editor of Connections. www.naz.edu


n co l l eg e of ar t s an d sc i e n c es

Living and Preserving History

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n his 1862 message to Congress, Abraham Lincoln said, “Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history.” Because we cannot escape it, we have a duty to embrace and engage it, according to Timothy Kneeland, Ph.D., professor of history and political science at Nazareth College. It was in that spirit that the College of Arts and Sciences inaugurated Nazareth’s Center for Public History last year. According to Kneeland, though, the center’s inception actually began years before. In September 2007, Nazareth participated in the Frederick Douglass International Underground Railroad Conference, which featured the union of academics, civic engagement, service learning, and national scholarship. The Nazareth delegation (comprising faculty, students, and community experts) unveiled the Underground Railroad North Star Project, a portable exhibition of 10 eight-by-three-foot museumquality panels describing the work of abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass, Harriett Tubman, and others. “At that time, there was an appetite for public history,” explains Kneeland, “and by 2010 we focused our efforts and created the center.” Part of being an informed citizen is understanding the past, especially its multiple and often conflicting interpretations. The College’s Center for Public History aims to forge a link between historical scholarship and the broader community in order to promote history’s relevance and impor-

www.naz.edu

by Sofia Tokar tance today. The center fosters relationships among colleges and universities, museums and cultural centers, kindergarten through grade 12 educators, libraries, and governmental institutions at the local, state, and national levels. These relationships provide Nazareth students with access to historical sites, documents, and artifacts as well as opportunities to use their skills and knowledge as academic historians. The students work to recover, preserve, and promote the shared history of, for example, the African-American community in Rochester, N.Y. “The history of the AfricanAmerican community in Rochester has often been neglected in the school curriculum and neighborhood memory,” says Kneeland. “With the help of Dr. David Anderson, Nazareth’s community scholar-in-residence, we partnered with Schools Without Walls Foundation Academy for junior high and high school students. The students there wrote scripts based on the North Star Project museum panels and then performed the stories in costume.” Such activities help engage young people with history on a level beyond simply names and dates in a textbook. The connection between academic, experiential, and community knowledge has long been a tradition at Nazareth. The center continues that tradition by partnering with a variety of groups and organizations. In addition to Schools Without Walls, the center collaborates with Ganondagan (a New York state Native American historic site), the Freedom Trail

David Anderson, visiting community scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences, tells the story of slave Austin Stewart as part of a Center for Public History workshop for students from Rochester’s School Without Walls. Commission and the United States Colored Troops Institute (of which Anderson is a chair and senior fellow, respectively), the Rochester-Monroe County Vietnam-Era Veterans Oral History Project, and various Italian-American area businesses. Beyond the existing partnerships, Kneeland hopes that the center will be recognized and used as a resource by the broader community. “We hope for this to be a real center in the sense that we both push out knowledge and information as well as have people know they can come to us for support and expertise.” To that end, the center’s upcoming events include film screenings, roundtable discussions, speaker presentations, and historical reenactments.

Furthermore, the center is embracing public history education by way of social media. It recently launched a Facebook page, which can be found by searching for Center for Public History at Nazareth College. The page features updated content, links, photos, and videos. History may not be escapable, but the Center for Public History is nonetheless helping to strengthen the connection between history and memory, cultures and peoples, Nazareth College and the community. For more information about upcoming Center for Public History events, visit go.naz.edu/CPH. Sofia Tokar is the assistant editor in Nazareth’s marketing department.

CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12 17


sports|news

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Nazareth Inducts Five into Sports Hall of Fame

our former standout athletes and one standout coach were the inductees at Nazareth’s annual Sports Hall of Fame dinner last September. Former women’s volleyball standout Tricia Jones ’05; former women’s lacrosse standout Sue Hollister ’01; and former men’s lacrosse standouts Dan Garrett ’97 and Brandon Piccarreto ’98 were the athletes honored. Former women’s lacrosse coach Sue Behme was inducted in the distinguished service category. Jones, of Corning, N.Y., was twice named Empire 8 Conference Player of the Year after amassing 2,052 kills, 256 service aces, and Sue Behme 682 blocks. She also was a two-time first-team selection as an Academic All-American. Hollister, of Syracuse, N.Y., ranks third all-time on Nazareth’s career scoring list for women’s lacrosse with 220 points, including 177 goals. She scored 58 goals in 2001 and earned first-team Empire 8 Conference all-star honors as well as first-team all-region. Garrett, of Cortland, N.Y., and Piccarreto, of Rochester, each were starting defensemen on Nazareth’s lacrosse championship teams of 1996 and 1997. Garrett was a two-time All-American and was the 1997 recipient of the William Stiles Award as the Outstanding Defenseman in Division III. Piccarreto also earned All-American honors in 1996 and 1997. Behme, of Syracuse, was Nazareth’s women’s lacrosse coach for nine seasons and compiled a record of 115-39 (.747 winning percentage) with six NCAA Tournament berths and four Empire 8 Conference titles. She was selected E8 Coach of the Year five times.

Goss Named to Coach Cross Country, Track and Field James Goss, associate track and field coach at Lynchburg College for six seasons, was named head coach for track and field and cross country in June. Goss replaced Scott Love, who resigned to become head cross country coach at LeMoyne College in Syracuse. A native of Skaneateles, N.Y., Goss was at the forefront of Lynchburg’s most recent track and field successes. In 2011, the Hornets sent three athletes to the NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships. In addition, both the men’s and women’s teams captured their respective team titles at the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Championships. During Goss’s six seasons at Lynchburg, 15 school records were broken and 73 all-time top five performances were established. In addition, 21 Lynchburg athletes captured conference titles. Lynchburg’s women’s team was particularly strong in winning seven indoor ODAC titles and eight outdoor titles in the last 12 years.

18 CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12

Dan Garrett ’97

Tricia Jones ’05

Sue Hollister ’01

Brandon Piccarreto ’98

by Joe Seil

Before joining the Lynchburg coaching staff, Goss spent five seasons as an assistant coach at Emory University in Atlanta, specializing in sprints, hurdles, and jumps. At Emory, he was part of a staff that was recognized five times as University Athletic Association Coaching Staff of the Year. He coached 20 national qualifiers, including 11 All-Americans. Goss graduated from Lynchburg in 2001 with a degree in sports management. He went on to earn a master’s degree in sports administration from Georgia State. Goss was a standout in track and field at Lynchburg, winning the NCAA Division III title in the long jump in 2001 and being named NCAA National Athlete of the Year. He earned All-American honors 10 times, Southeast Region Athlete of the Year five times, and ODAC Athlete of the Year six times. Goss and his wife Mackenzie are the parents of one daughter, Brenna, age two. Joe Seil is the assistant athletic director and sports information director at Nazareth College.

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Wickens, Salisbury Honored by AVCA

onors kept rolling in for the Nazareth men’s volleyball team after the Golden Flyers claimed the national championship in April. The Golden Flyers made it a clean sweep in the post-season coaching awards category as head coach Cal Wickens was selected as 2011 Division III Coach of the Year by the American Volleyball Coaches Association and assistant coach Kyle Salisbury was honored as Division III Assistant Coach of the Year. The Golden Flyers enjoyed their best season ever in 2011, which culminated in their first-ever national. The Golden Flyers finished 31-3 overall and were a unanimous selection as the No. 1 team in the final AVCA Coaches Poll. Wickens started the Nazareth men’s volleyball program seven years ago and quickly established the Golden Flyers as one of the top teams in Division III. His overall record is 159-60. In 2011, Nazareth won the inaugural championship of the United Volleyball Conference, and then won the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association Tournament for the second year in a row before taking the national title. Wickens also was named UVC Coach of the Year. Salisbury also has been a Nazareth assistant coach since the program’s inception and has seen the program grow from a 10-win team in 2005 to the national title in 2011. His coaching experience includes various levels of the Rochester Volleyball Club and 16 seasons as boys coach at Midlakes High School. At Midlakes, he has been chosen Section Five Coach of the Year four times and has guided the team to three sectional titles. For more on athletics, visit http:// athletics.naz.edu/

www.naz.edu

McCormick Makes First Team in E8

Head coach Cal Wickens

Assistant coach Kyle Salisbury

Ryan McCormick ’13, sophomore on the Nazareth men’s tennis team, was honored in May as a first-team Empire 8 Conference all-star for the second year in a row. The teams were announced after voting conducted by the league’s nine head coaches. In addition to McCormick, who was honored for his singles play, Jeremy Mancus ’13 was a second-team singles selection and Adam Landry ’11 was named honorable mention. Nazareth’s doubles tandem of McCormick and Bret Beaver ’13 made second team and the doubles group of Landry and Mancus made honorable mention. McCormick, of Rochester and a graduate of Irondequoit High School, played first singles for the Golden Flyers all season and finished with an overall record of 11-11, including a 6-2 mark in Empire 8 Conference matches. Mancus, of Irvington, N.Y. and a graduate of Irvington High School, compiled an overall singles record of 13-8, playing mostly third singles. He was 6-2 in conference matches. Landry, of Palmyra, N.Y. and a graduate of Palmyra-Macedon High School, had an overall record of 10-7 with a 7-1 mark in conference play. In doubles, the teams of Beaver and McCormick and Landry and Mancus each finished 5-3 in conference matches.

Ryan McCormick ’13

CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12 19


sports|news

Christine Seoud

is

the

nazareth fund

Name Christine Seoud ’13 Hometown Spencerport, NY Scholarship Nazareth College Dean’s Scholarship Major Business Administration Concentration Music Business Campus Activities Resident Assistant President, Dance Club Phonathon caller Dream To be a concert promoter or an artist manager at a record company

Support Christine and the 1,984 other Nazareth undergraduates by visiting www.naz.edu/makeagift, or by sending in your gift to the Nazareth Fund. Thank you for your support. Development Office 585-389-2415 www.naz.edu/makeagift

20 CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12

www.naz.edu


Three on Women’s Lacrosse All-Region Team Three women’s lacrosse players were selected to the Empire Region all-star team in May by the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association. Attack Michelle Cook ’11, defender Alyssa Mulheron ’11, and midfielder Alyssa Johnston ’13 each were named to the second team. All three players were honored earlier in the spring as first-team Empire 8 Conference allstars after lifting the Golden Flyers to an overall record of 11-5. Cook, of Waterloo, N.Y. and a graduate of Waterloo High School, finished second on the team with 55 points on 25 goals Michelle Cook ’11 and a team-best 30 assists. She also led the team with 45 draw controls and completed her career ranked fifth all-time in career scoring with 201 points (126 goals, 75 assists). Johnston, of Canandaigua, N.Y. and a graduate of Canandaigua Academy, was Nazareth’s leading scorer in 2011 with 59 points on 42 goals, 17 assists. She also ranked second on the team in ground balls (33), draw controls (31), and caused turnovers (23). She has 98 points in two seasons (69 goals, 29 assists). Mulheron, also of Canandaigua, N.Y. and a graduate of Canandaigua Academy, started all 16 games in 2011 and had one assist with 23 ground balls. She started 62 of 63 games played in her four-year career and had 13 goals and four assists. Overall, 224 athletes in seven regions were honored.

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F

Four All-Americans in Men’s Lacrosse

our Nazareth men’s lacrosse players—all seniors—were honorable mention selections on the Division III All-American team that was released by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association in May. Attackman Joe Jacobs-Ferderbar ’11, midfielder Scott Castle ’11, and defensemen Mitchel Frey ’11 and Brian Orr ’11 each were selected for the Golden Flyers. In addition, Castle, Jacobs-Ferderbar, and Orr were chosen to play in the USILA/Lax World North-South Senior all-star game. Jacobs-Ferderbar and Orr, each with cumulative gradepoint averages higher than 3.0, Brian Orr ’11 Joe Jacobswere selected to Ferderbar ’11 the USILA Scholar All-American team. Castle, of Skaneateles, N.Y. and a graduate of Skaneateles High School, was chosen to the All-American team for the third year in a row after finishing third on the team in scoring in 2011 with 41 points Mitchel Frey ’11 Scott Castle ’11 on 27 goals and 14 assists. Frey, of Terrace Park, Ohio and a graduate of Moeller High School, started all 18 games for the Golden Flyers in 2011 and was the team leader in ground balls (60) and caused turnovers (33). Jacobs-Ferderbar, of Orchard Park, N.Y. and a graduate of Orchard Park High School, was honored for the second year in a row after leading the Golden Flyers in scoring with 55 points on 35 goals and 20 assists. He ranks fifth all-time at Nazareth in career scoring with 192 points, including 117 goals. Orr, of Medford, Mass. and a graduate of Malden Catholic, was honored for the first time. He started all 18 games in 2011 and picked up his first career goal. He also scooped up 37 ground balls and had 18 caused turnovers.

CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12 21


sports|news

Left to right: Joe Seil, assistant athletic director and sports information director; Pete Bothner, athletic director; Craig Dahl and Steve Sauer, hockey consultants; Daan Braveman, president.

Men’s Hockey

Joins Sports Roster

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azareth College will add men’s ice hockey to its intercollegiate athletic offerings with competition at the NCAA Division III level slated to begin with the 2012–13 season. George Roll, head coach at Clarkson University for the past eight seasons, has been named head coach. Roll was selected following a nationwide search and brings to Nazareth 15 seasons of head coaching experience. He posted a 130-142-33 record during the last eight seasons at Division I Clarkson and guided the Golden Knights to the ECAC regular-season title in 2008 and the ECAC tournament title in 2007. The Knights won more than 20 games and reached the NCAA tournament in each of those seasons. Before that, Roll compiled a 119-74-16 record in seven seasons at Division III Oswego. His best season there was in 2002–03 when the Lakers finished 25-7-1, won the SUNYAC championship, and were national runners-up in the NCAA tournament. Roll was named Division III Coach of the Year. He holds a master’s degree in athletic administration from Bowling Green University. “We’re absolutely thrilled that we were able to attract a coach of George’s caliber,” says Nazareth Athletic Director Pete Bothner. “We had a tremendous pool of applicants, but we think that George stood out above the rest.”

We’re absolutely thrilled that we were able to attract a coach of George’s caliber. — PETE B OT H NER

22 CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12

Nazareth will be practicing and playing all home games at the Sports Centre at Monroe Community College. The College has been accepted into the ECAC West Division. Elmira, Hobart, Manhattanville, Neumann, and Utica are current conference members. “We think this will be a great new program for George Roll, head coach for Nazareth’s Nazareth College and for new men’s ice hockey team the larger Rochester community,” says Nazareth President Daan Braveman. “Hockey is a popular sport at the collegiate level, and we think this will be received as a good addition to our athletic landscape.” In deciding to add ice hockey, Nazareth has used the assistance of local resident Craig Dahl, who has nearly three decades of hockey coaching experience, including 19 as a Division I head coach at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. Men’s ice hockey will be Nazareth’s 24th intercollegiate team. The Golden Flyers are members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and recently won the Division III national championship in men’s volleyball. For more on Nazareth athletics, visit go.naz.edu/hockey.

www.naz.edu


Diving into the College Experience by Kerry Van Malderghem ’08G

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ost competitive women swimmers are tall, ranging upwards of six feet. So for Carissa Risucci ’13, who reaches a mere 5’2”, to achieve her remarkable feats in swimming speaks volumes about her drive to succeed. In each of her first two years at Nazareth, Risucci has competed at the NCAA Division III Championships. As a freshman she finished eighth in the 200 yard breaststroke (her best event), upping that to a fourth place finish in her sophomore year. Both years at nationals, she also competed in the 100 yard breaststroke and the 200 yard individual medley. After her freshman successes, Risucci was extremely apprehensive entering her sophomore year. “What I didn’t want was to be the sophomore who couldn’t swim as fast as freshman year,” Risucci says. “I want to be at a place where I can improve each year. I make it my personal goal to say at the end of the season that I did everything I could to get to where I want to be.” That determination is part of what helps Risucci accomplish so much, believes Martie Staser, head coach of Nazareth’s women’s swimming and diving team. She describes the All-American swimmer as “dedicated, intense, strong minded, strong bodied, and impressive in every regard.” Risucci is happy to return the compliments. “I’m always communicating with her and she always knows what’s going on with me both physically and mentally,” she says. “It’s nice to have a good relationship with her. She’s a big contributor in helping me get to where I want to go.” Carissa Risucci ’13 And this is a young woman who’s going places. Originally recruited by Division I schools, Risucci, from Deerfield, NY, has made the most of being a Golden Flyer. “One of the things I like the most is that I feel like I’m in a small community,” she says. She’s taken advantage of that atmosphere to become involved in the Student Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) and the residence hall council; she’s also served as a freshman orientation leader and as the vice president and now president of the Class of 2013. “I think if all I did was swim it wouldn’t be a true college experience for me,” Risucci says. “That’s just my character. It’s who I am and all I’ve known. It’s second nature to me to find clubs I’m interested in. I knew immediately I wanted to be involved in student government.” In addition to her extracurricular activities, the communication and rhetoric major completed an internship last summer as a junior designer at an advertising agency in New Hartford, NY. To get a jump start on graduate school, plus save some time and money, Risucci has challenged herself to graduate early. “I have enough credits to graduate a full year early, and that was my original plan,” Risucci explains. “However, it became more and more important to me to utilize my fourth year of athletic eligibility on the swim team.” Her plans now are to remain enrolled as a full-time student in fall 2012, graduate a semester early in December, and finish out the swim season in the spring. “My goal for this year is to remain positive,” she says. “My sophomore year was a big growing period for me. I was always a really big planner and I keep long-term goals, but going to college has helped me understand that there are a lot of variables in your college experience that you can’t plan for.” But if any student could plan for the unexpected, it might just be Risucci. For more on Nazareth athletics, visit http://athletics.naz.edu. Kerry Van Malderghem ’08G works in the athletics department at Lake Forest College and freelances as a sports writer.

www.naz.edu

Risucci finished fourth in the 200 meter breaststroke at last year’s NCAA Division III Championships.

CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12 23


Nazareth | in the world

America 101 American Language Institute expands cultural immersion by Robin L. Flanigan program to high schools

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n campus as a student for the summer, 15-year-old sophomore Tianze Chen saw notable differences between the classrooms at Nazareth and his home back in Beijing, China.Teachers at Nazareth, he observed, take time to interact with students and listen to any concerns they might have. A normal class in China, he describes, can easily have 36 students and teachers who lecture non-stop to fastidious note-takers. “We do some English conversations in primary school, but after that it’s mostly writing and grammar,” he says. “Being here gives me the opportunity to practice my speaking and listening.” Chen was enrolled in the American Language Institute, an intensive summer program that brings students—typically college students—from around the world to Nazareth College for a language and cultural immersion. For the first time this summer, the institute opened enrollment to high school students, in the hope that they appreciate the campus, classes, and surrounding area so much that they decide to pursue an undergraduate degree here. The expansion is responsible for the program’s largest group to date and could have several long-term benefits for the College, including a rise in the number of international under-

The students’ cultural immersion included a Rochester Red Wings minor league baseball game, enjoyed here by Rachel Avara from Israel.

24 CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12

American Language Institute students used Nazareth’s language labs for intensive study.

graduates, which would aid Nazareth’s mission to promote global awareness, knowledge, and understanding. Welcoming high-schoolers into the program is “an extremely important addition,” says George Eisen, Ph.D., associate vice president for academic affairs and executive director of the Center for International Education, which sponsors the American Language Institute. “No one else in the region is doing this. “American degrees are still the most coveted in the world, and we have close relationships with institutions around the globe who believe in us. The Nazareth ethos—our welcoming ambiance and atmosphere—is very important to our success.” Students in the program are taught reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills and are placed in beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels based on ability. Recent high-schoolers hailed from China, Turkey, and Latin America. With a heady dose of American culture to enhance the language acquisition part of the program, Chen also discovered a work-play balance generally lacking back home, where his mother works seven days a week. “People here are really enjoying their lives and the sunshine,” he observes. Some parents saw that for themselves—two students from China were accompanied by their mothers, who stayed in dormitories alongside the students. Eisen was grateful for their presence. “They go everywhere the students go, and they see the excellence. In China, parents make the decision” about which institute of higher education their children attend.

www.naz.edu


Acquainting participants with the numerous historical and cultural offerings in and around Rochester is an integral piece of the program. Field trips recently included the George Eastman House and other local museums, the Corn Hill Arts Festival, Niagara Falls, a stroll along the Erie Canal, and a stop at the colossal Wegmans grocery store in Pittsford (the students tend to get lost, so they’re given a map to navigate the place). “The economic impact of the summer program is dramatic,” says Eisen. “Students who come shop extensively in the area, although their favorite store is Best Buy. They almost invariably return with extra luggage. There’s an impact on apartment rentals in the area as well.” The American Language Institute began with two Hungarian students in 2002, and this summer enrolled 130 students from 21 countries. The cultural mix of students the program attracts is astounding, remarks Linda Grossman, one of the instructors. “It’s exciting for our students, but it’s also exciting for us.” That excitement stems not just from sharing NazaAn evening of cultural exchange offered both artistic performances and exotic food samples. reth’s gifts with the global community, but also from helping expose Rochester to students from such a diverse group of countries, says Katherine Western, recently developed a flexible schedule that also includes sesacademic director of the American Language Institute. The sions from two to seven weeks. Grossman, who worked with five program accepts students from Cambodia, Laos, Burma, and Chinese students during one two-week session this summer (one other countries not typically represented at U.S. colleges and student remarked that the U.S. was just like she’d imagined from universities. “We feel we’re benefitting the Rochester communiwatching Friends), was charged with exposing them to enough ty by bringing in talented people from so many unique cultures, conversational English and cultural icons to prepare them for a because they have a great amount to contribute.” whirlwind summer tour around the country. For his part, Oscar Ortega, a 34-year-old facilities manager With little advertising, the program is able to draw an increasfrom Lima, Peru, couldn’t believe the size of the roads—“They ing number of students from an increasing number of countries are huge, no?”—and the cleanliness and organization of downsimply through its reputation. Former students return with their town Rochester. He anticipated that the program would help friends, and Nazareth continues to build relationships with state him communicate better with business colleagues from the U.S., governments around the globe. which could lead to a better position in his company. (In any As Ortega put it, “If people really want to know the world, case, inspired by the proliferation of the area’s green spaces, he they have to take this opportunity and come to Nazareth Colpledged to create a small garden outside his office to cope with lege.” midday stress.) Time will tell if Chen returns to campus as an undergraduate. As the program seizes new opportunities for growth, plans But he made one thing clear—that Rochester in general, and are to attract more high school students from Turkey, as well as Nazareth in particular, left a lasting impression. introduce specialty courses that would mix intensive English “I learned many useful things here,” he says. “This was a really training with lectures and experiences in several subjects—a good opportunity, and an amazing summer vacation.” lecture in nursing might be followed by a visit to a hospital, for Learn more about the American Language Institute and the example. Center for International Education at go.naz.edu/CIE. It’s all about creative planning, says Eisen. Aside from broadening its offerings last fall to include a year-round program, the Robin L. Flanigan is a freelance writer in Rochester, New York. American Language Institute, begun as a four-week session,

www.naz.edu

CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12 25


LIFE | of the mind

Food, Glorious Food Communicating about ourselves and our society through what we eat

F

by Carlnita P. Greene

ood is everywhere. Over the course of the last ten years, there has been a virtual explosion of food-related popular culture. Everything from the rise in popularity of food TV to a publishing landslide of cookbooks, biographies, and cultural histories—even the emergence of culinary tourism as a new way of traveling—all point to a rediscovery of food as more than something we need merely to survive, but also as something that acts as a crucial element in our shared understanding of the world. As a communication professor, generally I focus on the ways that we create meanings about the world in which we live and how we share those meanings with other people within media and popular culture. A key way that we communicate with others today is through our interactions with food. It is often at the epicenter of human relationships, ranging from our most intimate to our most public encounters. It operates as a means of creating and expressing our identities to others. And it intersects with a whole host of social, cultural, economic, and political issues. For these very reasons, I have been drawn to the study of food because it is a form of communication that pervades almost every aspect of our lives.

26 CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12

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Dr. Carlnita Greene recently co-edited the book Food as Communication/Communication as Food (Peter Lang, 2011).

www.naz.edu


In my exploration of food, I often look at it in three interconnected ways. First, I delve into food’s relationship to identity, or how we sometimes use foods to communicate who we are to others. My essay “The Domestic Goddess: Postfeminist Representation in the Televisual Kitchen: A Media Ecological Analysis of Nigella Bites” considers the example of British celebrity TV chef Nigella Lawson and her creation of identity through the use of the persona of a “domestic goddess.” Labeled by her fans as the “anti-Martha Stewart” because she stresses the reality of trying to balance the pressures of working in modern society with the pleasures of the kitchen, Lawson’s identity is rooted in her multiple roles as television personality, mother, journalist, and wife. In this sense, she demonstrates how food and the celebration of eating are central to many people’s definitions of self. Second, I examine the role that food plays within popular media and how we tend to discuss it within our wider cultural discourses. For example, in one of my essays, “Shopping for What Never Was: The Rhetoric of Food, Social Style, and Nostalgia,” I considered the ways that celebrity home and garden guru Martha Stewart encourages her audiences to create performances rooted in perfection by connecting their preparations of food and dining experiences to an idealized past.

A key way that we c o m m u n icate with others today is through our interactions with food. Finally, I focus on food’s relationship to our personal identities and its place within media, but also suggest how food may influence our relationships to others. In “Competing Identities at the Table: Slow Food, Consumption, and the Performance of Social Style,” I looked at how the slow food movement attempts to build a shared sense of community among its members by bringing taste and pleasure back to the forefront of our dining experiences. I also examined the impact that the organization and its rhetoric have on the public since many people are “going slow” by choosing to cook their meals at home. Each of these projects recently led me to collaborate on a new edited volume, Food as Communication/Communication as Food (Peter Lang, 2011), which is the first work of its kind within the discipline. Drawing upon academics from a variety of specializations within communication, ranging from interpersonal to organizational to media and cultural studies, the book suggests that

www.naz.edu

food is vital to the study of communication and offers numerous examples of the ways in which food operates as a communicative practice today. The book also highlights this emerging area of focus and hopefully will inspire others to delve into this compellingly rich subject. Currently, I am working on a book-length manuscript that investigates the intersection between food and social class. Because our class often determines our abilities to purchase certain food items versus others and the foods that we eat not only impact our health and well-being but also can be used as a means of labeling us socially and culturally, it is essential that we focus on this relationship. Class is an area related to food that usually has been mentioned in passing or overlooked as a mainstay in our discussions. Further, with the recent backlash against some of the elitist ideas that circulate within wider “foodie” culture, the influence of class on the ways that we share meanings about food also must be considered. The more I study food as communication in our culture, the more I find myself fascinated by its myriad possibilities and the more I am drawn into its further exploration. In some ways, I view my inquiry into food as an ongoing series of study in which one project logically flows from and builds upon the other. Yet there is always the chance for me to discover something completely new or to look at food from an entirely fresh perspective. From health issues to the environment to popular media, food matters. It has both figurative and material consequences. Because food intersects with our lives in numerous ways, it is essential that we further analyze the deeper, underlying meanings connected to food, and our relationships to it, for as 19th-century food writer and gourmand Brillat-Savarin’s famous phrase suggests, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are.” Carlnita P. Greene, Ph.D., is an assistant professor and director of the communication and rhetoric program at Nazareth.

CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12 27


beyond self | community service

New Horizons City schoolchildren enjoy national student enrichment program on campus by Robin L. Flanigan

O

n a sunny day outside the Golisano Academic Center, teacher Kelly Damick and a group of five- and six-year-olds sit cross-legged and sift through a plastic container of sand, rocks, and shells. After a few minutes, Damick scoops handfuls from the container onto paper plates for each child to inspect more closely. “I’m sharing,” she says gently. “I like to share, so I’m giving this to you.” They talk about what’s hard and what’s soft, how the mixture would feel if it got wet, and what would happen if they put an ant in the middle of the pile—it would quickly escape, as it turns out. And when an astute girl quizzically observes that the mixture smells like coffee, Damick says it probably does because she brought it back from a North Carolina beach in an empty coffee can. Everyone laughs. The children, all students at the new Discovery Charter School in Rochester, are participating in Horizons, a pilot program at Nazareth that aims to prevent the loss of academic skills over the summer in youngsters from low-income families. While all students experience so-called “summer loss,” those from lowincome households tend to lose the most—around three months 28 CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12

Students explore color and texture in an art project during last summer’s Horizons program.

of grade-level equivalency. That adds up to nearly two years by the end of elementary school. The College plans to grow the program to follow this initial bunch of 12 students, adding a new group every summer, through the eighth grade. “Stopping eight years of summer loss can be significantly powerful,” says Deana Darling ’96G, director/coordinator of the Horizons program and visiting instructor in inclusive childhood education. “We want this to be infused with academics, but we don’t want the kids to think they’re in school. This is a nice balance between playing, inquiry, and experimentation.” Horizons, a national student enrichment program founded in 1964 in New Canaan, Connecticut, offers six weeks of daylong activities in a nurturing, supportive environment. With an emphasis on nature, the arts, and wellness, the program also provides swimming lessons, field trips, and the chance to participate in community service, which this summer included reading and giving plants they had cared for to a group of Sisters of St. Joseph of Rochester. The Horizons program launch took a campus-wide commitment. An English professor told the children stories. Physical therapy graduate students led exercises on the athletic fields. www.naz.edu


The biology department donated a section of its greenhouse for a children’s garden. Other departments also contributed resources. In addition to the inquiry and hands-on activities that were the curricular base for the program, explains Darling, each child engaged in direct literacy-building activities tailored to their own instructional level. “After assessing each student, the teachers developed activities that focused on phonics and phonemic awareness, and the children strengthened these foundational skills through interactive games and small group instruction.” With additional support from the Greater Rochester Summer Learning Association, Horizons has been able to give these students opportunities not often found in a traditional learning environment. “We have a unique community disposition,” says Darling. “We really do believe in partnerships, and this is just one more.” And with Nazareth’s focus as a teacher-education institution, where nearly 40 percent of students are working toward some type of certification, Horizons provides an on-site laboratory for authentic and inspiring field work. Two teachers, two graduate assistants, and one undergraduate teaching assistant helped with the inaugural group. The children were noticeably engaged and enthusiastic, particularly during swimming classes. Several who were too scared to even get wet upon arrival were, after a few weeks, dunking their heads under water with proud smiles and repeatedly shouting, “Look at me!” Obvious, too, was the affection the children developed for their teachers—running up to give impromptu hugs, for example, and choosing them over their peers as partners in some cases during a creative workshop led by PUSH Physical Theatre cofounder Darren Stevenson. Several of the children’s parents, who helped celebrate their accomplishments with a ceremony when the program ended in August, Many children learned to swim and were paddling around independently after six weeks.

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offered deep gratitude for the opportunities Horizons provided. “This program gave her the encouragement to get up in the morning and get out of bed,” Marvian Davis says of her daughter, Anjanae Wilson, who Dr. Kate DaBoll-Lavoie, chair of the inclusive childhood educastruggles to tion department, with several devoted lunchmates. wake up during the school year. The six-year-old has started picking up books on her own at home (even asking about words she does not recognize) and is proud that she started learning to swim. Alicia Blackburn is grateful her daughter, Adreem, was able to stay stimulated over the summer. “She’s a very intelligent young lady, and the most important thing for me was that she had this opportunity to continue learning and being productive—all while having fun,” she explains. “This program is really, really awesome.” Horizons not only exposes youngsters to a college campus—it allows them to become part of one. That, in turn, boosts confidence, encourages children to realize their full potential, and allows them the chance to help close the achievement gap that exists between low-income children and their more advantaged classmates. “Giving them a chance to be in an environment where academic success is kind of taken for granted is important,” says Timothy Glander, Ph.D., dean of the School of Education. But in our accountability-driven culture, numbers are not the only measure of achievement. While the children are given assessment exams before and after the program to evaluate academic skills, both Glander and Darling maintain that scores that simply hold steady are fine by them. Explains Glander, “We may not be able to say that this will lead to higher test scores next year, but we’re making life better for these kids this year. It is morally and ethically the right thing to do.” Learn more about Inclusive Childhood Education programs at go.naz.edu/ICE. Robin L. Flanigan is a freelance writer in Rochester, New York. CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12 29


Nazareth | heritage

Elbowroom to Grow A tradition of literary magazines flourishes at Nazareth by Sofia Tokar

N

azareth has a long tradition of literary magazine writing. Since the 1930s, the College has encouraged its students to create and compile original prose, poetry, essays, criticisms, photography, and artwork. The magazine, which has undergone many redesigns and updates throughout the years, serves as a mirror—reflecting the contributors’ perspectives, ideals, and values. The reader is afforded a fascinating glimpse of the Nazareth College student body evolving through the decades. The magazine’s current iteration is Elbowroom, an annual publication that launched in 2000. Elbowroom is a revived version of the College’s long-time literary magazine, known alternatively as Verity Fair, Verity Faire, or simply Verity. The Lorette Wilmot Library stocks issues from 1932 through the 1990s. The content traverses a range of topics, styles, and themes—from short stories to reflections on American politics, to sketches and avant garde photography, to poems in foreign languages and even macabre pieces such as one titled “…written for the child found in a dumpster in Rochester on October 30, 1993.” Early issues were published quarterly, and the influence of the College’s then-Catholic traditions and identity is palpable. The

30 CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12

editors of the 1932 issue outline their vision, stating, “Within the pages of Verity Fair we hope to be religious, intellectual, literary and amiable … the resultant is modernity as we see it.” Features included original hymns and poems (one in honor of Saint Augustine) alongside op-ed style articles about secular topics, such as the music scene in 1930s Rochester. The issues from the 1960s and 1970s display a notable increase in photography and artwork, primarily reproduced in black and white. For example, the 1967 issue of Verity presents “A Photographic Journal Through the Inner City.” The photos and captions remain as poignant today as when they were originally printed. During the 1970s, Nazareth became co-educational and independent of the Sisters of St. Joseph. As a result, the 1973–74 issue is the first to include a significant number of contributions—poetry and prose—from male students (until then, male contributors were primarily priests or professors). During this time and throughout the 1980s, the magazine’s staff occasionally experimented with alternative designs and layouts, primarily for the cover art. For example, one issue has a red circle flap on the cover, lifted to reveal the publication’s name and year. Another issue features a drawing of a nude woman on

www.naz.edu


the cover. Yet another’s cover opens like two doors and welcomes the reader to explore its contents. Each of these treatments makes for an exciting reading experience, if not always the most practical in terms of durability (the red flap has not withstood the test of time—it has been repaired multiple times and requires care when handling). Experimentation gave way to relative soberness (design-wise) in the 1990s, when most of the magazine’s issues were published in traditional Octavo format, the most common size for a book. These issues were also the first to boast of being printed on recycled paper products. But if the design was restrained, the content itself became noticeably more controversial. In her introduction to the 1992 issue, Tricia Powers ’94 wrote, “The staff of Verity is fully anticipating differences of opinion at the inclusion of [certain] pieces… The bluntness of the language and diction of both are sure to cause mixed feelings within the Nazareth College community.” Not only the style, but also the topics became increasingly contentious throughout the 1990s. Gretchen Lynne Martus-

“Where verity means truth, elbowroom is a synonym for freedom. One can’t express truth without having freedom.” He at her Co ngdo n Lam p h ere ’ 00

celli-Kriesen ’95, editor for the 1995 issue, explained in her editor’s note, “Invariably, each issue of Verity Faire presents one or two pieces with disturbing and/or controversial content. This year is no exception with poetic commentaries on sexism in Roman Catholicism (‘In the Beginning’), AIDS (‘An Installment of the End’), and incest (‘Incite =/= Insight) to name but a few.” Controversy itself surrounded the rebirth of Verity as Elbowroom in 2000. Professor of English Ed Wiltse, Ph.D., explains that editors Heather Congdon Lamphere ’00 and Joshua Baker ’00 “caused quite an advertising flap with their call for submissions: a wonderful image of a dominatrix with a whip, boots, bustier, fiendish grin, and the single word ‘Submit!’” In her editor’s note for the first volume in 2000, Lamphere addressed the controversy by writing, “Where verity means truth, elbowroom is a synonym for freedom. One can’t express truth without having freedom … Through this magazine we’ve tried to offer a place for non-judgmental, uncensored expression …

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To those of you who may have wanted to submit material but were scared away because of the backlash from our advertising techniques, don’t let any hierarchy stifle your voice.” With each issue, the magazine continues to grow and evolve, often by incorporating new ideas from its current staff. For example, the 1930s quarterly version of Verity Fair often featured an annual liturgical volume. Meanwhile, the 2005 issue of Elbowroom’s content was influenced, in part, by the servicelearning component of English 234: Crime and Punishment in the U.S.A. The volume includes student works interspersed with entries by inmates at the Monroe County Correctional Facility. Melissa Kotas Hartford ’07, the 2007 editor of Elbowroom, underscores the importance of the magazine at Nazareth, writing that it “is especially important for a liberal arts college because not only does Elbowroom serve as a creative outlet for students … but it also celebrates community and connections among people.” According to its 2010–11 coeditors, Emily Alexander ’11 and Sarah Lesser ’14, Elbowroom also affords today’s students a chance to showcase the creative arts talents of the College’s current generation of students in addition to experiencing the publication process from inception to completion. Today, the magazine is designed in-house by the coeditors and their staff, and then printed locally. The entire process—requesting submissions; evaluating, editing, and designing the content; delivering the final product—is a valuable learning experience for the magazine’s staff, which changes each year. Because of the annual flux of incoming freshmen and graduating seniors, Alexander mentored Lesser to become the next lead editor of Elbowroom. “While I am a newcomer,” explains Lesser, “I look forward to continuing work on the literary magazine for the remainder of my time at Nazareth. I also hope to leave my mark on the magazine and its legacy.” It’s safe to say the past 80 years of the magazine’s history and evolution bodes well for the magazine’s future. The 2011 issue of Elbowroom was published in April. For this and other back issues, visit the Lorette Wilmot Library. Sofia Tokar is the assistant editor in Nazareth’s marketing department.

CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12 31


INTERFAITH | ideas

Dialogue and

Diversity

Student leaders from Africa learn about religious pluralism at Nazareth by Robin L. Flanigan

M

ahitab Mustafa Mahgoub, a 21-year-old economics and politics major from Sudan, had an epiphany while studying at Nazareth College this summer— her first time in the United States. “In Sudan,” she says, “you learn, study, go to the exam and write. But here it’s not about right and wrong. It’s more about ideas and theories, about expanding the mind. That was a selfdiscovery for me, to look at myself in a different way and say, ‘Okay then, it’s not about the hours I sit at the desk. It’s how I look at things.’” Mahgoub was one of 20 student leaders from five African countries—all with different languages and cultures—who participated in the 2011 Study of the U.S. Institute for Pluralism, a program that allows international students to immerse themselves in the political, economic, religious, and cultural aspects of American society. In addition to Sudan, the countries represented were Angola, Liberia, Mozambique, and Sierra Leone. Nazareth is one of only seven colleges and universities in the country hosting summer institutes sponsored by the Academy for Education Development in Washington, D.C. Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs, the program uses classroom lectures on topics like race relations as well as field trips to historical sites to help the students develop their own insights about this country.

32 CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12

“…here, it’s not about right and wrong. It’s more about ideas and theories, about expanding the mind.” M a j i ta b M u s ta fa Ma hg oub

“This group was handpicked for being intellectually advanced,” says George Eisen, Ph.D., executive director and associate vice president for academic affairs in the Center for International Education. “The American model provides an important means of understanding how our principles for coexisting in extremely diverse societies can be transferred to their native countries. These are the new leaders who will be bringing back important ideas.” In its sixth year, the Institute for Pluralism has also worked with students from Turkey and Afghanistan. (One Turkish student who arrived opposed to non-governmental organizations has gone on to work in a program partly funded by the United Nations.) www.naz.edu


Letting go of stereotypes and raising consciousness can be challenging. “We’ve gone through academic gymnastics,” says Tommy Kain, a 24-year-old history major from Sierra Leone. He came to campus with the notion that he would, as in his country, be listening to presentations every day. Instead he has gone through an intensive multidisciplinary review of American society. Focusing on how the United States has created a pluralistic, religiously diverse and accepting society is a natural extension of past movements to embrace cultural differences, says Muhammad Shafiq, Ph.D., professor of religious studies and executive director of the Brian and Jean Hickey Center for Interfaith Studies and Dialogue, which co-sponsors the institute. The civil rights movements led to the teaching of African American and African studies in academia, for example, the same way colleges and universities responded to the women’s rights movement with classes in women’s studies and gender relations. “We’re all different, but we’re all human beings and we need to respect one another,” notes Shafiq, adding that an interfaith understanding is particularly important for this recent group of African students, who come from regions where there is significant religious conflict. In Niger and Chad earlier this year to conduct workshops on the etiquette of interfaith dialogue, he tried to help bridge the gap between the natives—already at religious odds with a mix of Islam, Christianity, and indigenous faiths—and the missionaries who typically hail from Western countries and create conflict with their inexperience with African culture and norms. Educating the next generation of African leaders at Nazareth—which teaches that interfaith dialogue is essential for

peaceful coexistence—will have a significant impact on, as Shafiq puts it, “healing the current situation and making it right.” Observing the cordial relationship that exists between various faiths in the U.S., students during the five-week program visited a Christian church, an Islamic center, a Hindu temple, a Reform Jewish synagogue, and a Zen Buddhism center, and witnessed religious leaders coming together to talk at the same table— a rare occurrence in their part of the world. “They were fascinated and appreciative of our open conversation,” recalls the Rev. Gordon Webster, senior pastor at Lake Avenue Baptist Church, chairperson of the Interfaith Forum of Greater Rochester, and a founding board member of the Hickey Center. “These students are the hope of the future,” he adds, “and when they come to a place like Nazareth, where this dialogue is alive and well—and at the cutting edge—then we have a real possibility of one of those students becoming a very significant leader, and several of those students becoming opinion makers. That’s the kind of thing that makes this outreach extremely valuable.” The immersion aspect, particularly exposure to the hard work that went into shaping our nation’s identity, magnifies the work these student leaders have ahead of them on several fronts. Mahgoub is heartbroken by her country’s inability to find peace, stability, and economic growth. “I would like to see a future without discrimination whatsoever, without tribal disputes and without corrupted governments. I just simply wish the people good living.” Amazed to learn from visits to the Susan B. Anthony House and the Women’s Rights National Historical Park museum that American women had to struggle so much for equality, Mahgoub found inspiration. “We’re so far behind in Africa, but maybe we can do it also,” she says. The epiphanies aren’t always a one-way street. Because Americans also have stereotypes, “anything that engages them with international students breaks down barriers and really enhances the culture of the campus,” says Timothy Kneeland, Ph.D., professor of history and academic director of the U.S. Institute for Pluralism. “It makes our own students and host families connected to the globe in a way that they weren’t at the beginning of the summer. When it’s time to say goodbye, people are crying.” For more information on the Center for International Education, visit go.naz.edu/CIE. Visit the Hickey Center at www.naz.edu/hickey-center.

African students meet with President Daan Braveman.

www.naz.edu

Robin Flanigan is a freelance writer in Rochester, New York.

CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12 33


COVER|story

From recruitment to a new financial grant, the College is ramping up efforts

Nazareth

to attract military veteran students by Jillian S. Ambroz Photographs by Kurt Brownell and Alex Shukoff

Advances Vet-Friendly Rep


N

o matter where Candice Kundle ’12 needs to be on campus, she makes it a point to pass by the American flag each day. She does the same thing as she leaves campus for the day, even if that means trekking on a meandering path on cold, snowy days.

“To a veteran, when you see a flag, it fills you with such life—it overwhelms you,” the nursing major says. “That’s what it means to a veteran.” That’s just one way a military veteran student deals with the inner challenge of

assimilating into a college setting. It’s easy to imagine how difficult that journey would be. Yet each year, the College sees more and more vets filling its classrooms. A decade ago, only 12 veterans attended Nazareth. For the spring semester of 2011, there were 32 vet students, from twenty-something soldiers right out of one tour of service to a special-operations lieutenant officer who had served 30 years in the armed forces. The College hopes to attract more vets and is doing several things to earn the reputation of a vet-friendly school as more vets take advantage of the generous post-9/11 GI Bill to get a college education.


COVER|story

Nazareth is just one of many colleges across the nation that has seen its veteran student population rise In fact, Nazareth is just one of many colleges across the nation that has seen its veteran student population rise. Since the inception of the post-9/11 GI Bill just two years ago, more than 537,000 veterans have received more than $11.5 billion in benefits to help them get a college education, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). And those numbers are expected to continue to grow, as more veterans learn about their benefits and as another beneficiary group, family members of veterans, start taking advantage of a free education. The post-9/11 GI Bill provides the most comprehensive educational benefits package since the original bill, known as the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944. The GI Bill allows veterans and family members 36 months or up to four years of education benefits from the VA. Not only does the bill pay for tuition and fees, it also provides money toward a book allowance, a housing allowance, and a living stipend. In August, there was a change to the GI Bill, which capped the monies for tuition at $17,500. At the program’s outset, the college with the highest tuition in a state would set the benchmark for all the other colleges in the state. In New York, the Agriculture School at Cornell, which had tuition of $25,000 in 2009, set the high-water mark for all other schools in the state. The change to the GI Bill means that Nazareth will have to start contributing money to the Yellow Ribbon Program (a provision of the Post-9/11 Veterans’ Educational Assistance Act of 2008), which allows degree-granting institutions

36 CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12

in the U.S. to voluntarily enter into an agreement with the VA to fund tuition expenses that exceed the highest public in-state undergraduate tuition rate. More than 2,600 colleges across the nation participate in the Yellow Ribbon Program. Schools can contribute up to 50 percent and the VA will match it. Nazareth has been part of the Yellow Ribbon Program since its inception in 2008 but has not had to actually contribute any money into the program—until now. Nazareth has also created a special grant for vet students, offering $7,500 to help with tuition and fees.

Partnership with the VOC During the last few years, Nazareth has been working among its many departments and as a college to provide more services and offerings to its vet students. Through a special relationship with the Veterans Outreach Center (VOC) in Rochester, the College has been providing several programs and offerings, from making Robert Mitchell, outreach coordinator at the VOC, available on campus to bringing the popular lecture series “Coming Home from War” to Nazareth, where prominent speakers discuss challenges faced by veterans and their families when transitioning from the service to civilian life. In fact, it is this partnership with the VOC that has helped Nazareth broaden its offerings to veteran students and put the College on a path to make it more vet-friendly. The VOC has been around for nearly 40 years, serving veterans of all eras. Its offerings include education counseling services, residential programs, peer-to-

peer services, legal services, veterans’ benefits counselors, and wellness and supportive services. With the advent of the post-9/11 GI Bill, and a new generation of vets with new benefits—especially the opportunity to get a college education—the local organization reached out to Nazareth for guidance. “We took from that a belief that to work with students, the best place to start was with Nazareth,” Mitchell says. “The main thing is to give education and information to vets and families, and it’s not just what’s on campus, but what’s in the community, too. We want to address as many aspects of vets’ lives as possible with the idea to make it easier for them to go to school. We want to take away some of that outside stress.” It’s worth mentioning that several of Nazareth’s vet students have taken the trip across town to visit the VOC on their own, seeking help and information on a variety of issues. “As a campus, we do many things very, very well, but the depth and breadth of services that a veteran student and his or her family may need could be beyond the scope of what the College can provide,” says Patricia Genthner, associate to the president. “Therefore, we feel the partnership Nazareth has with the VOC is critical to veteran students’ success. We can link them to the VOC, which can get the veteran or their family member to the most helpful services in the community.” It is a true partnership: Nazareth has helped the VOC with its mission of veteran community service in numerous ways. The College counseled the VOC when it began offering creative arts therapy and provided therapists as needed. In fact, the staff therapist for this new VOC program is a Nazareth alum. And when the VOC had to lay off three mid-management employees due to financial pressures last year, it turned to Nazareth to provide oversight of its on-site clinical staff. Veterans are always welcome to be treated in Nazareth’s wellness clinics on campus, too. www.naz.edu


★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

On-Campus Resources

Counseling Services

The Go-To List of

Coordinator of Veteran Student Enrollment and Support Services phone: 585-389-5017 email: jbagley8@naz.edu

phone: 585-389-2887 email: mkapadi1@naz.edu Web page: www.naz.edu/ counseling-services

Resources for Nazareth’s

Admissions

Office for Students with Disabilities

Veteran Students

Here’s a compilation of critical resources for veteran students— from the VA to the financial aid office— and various ways to contact them.

phone: 585-389-2860 fax: 585-389-2826 email: admissions@naz.edu Web page: http://admissions. naz.edu Web page for veterans: http://admissions.naz.edu/ application-process/veterans

Transfer Student Admissions phone: 585-389-2053 email: tradmissions@naz.edu Web page: http://admissions/naz. edu/transfer-students

Graduate Admissions phone: 585-389-2050 toll free: 800-860-6942 fax: 585-389-2817 email: gradadmissions@naz.edu Web page: http://grad.naz.edu

Graduate Student Services phone: 585-389-2815 fax: 585-389-2612 email: gradservices@naz.edu Web page: www.naz.edu/ graduate-student-services

Registrar’s Office phone: 585-389-2800 fax: 585-389-2612 email: registra@naz.edu Web page: www.naz.edu/ registrar

Financial Aid Office phone: 585-389-2310 fax: 585-389-2317 email: finaid@naz.edu Web page: www.naz.edu/ financial-aid

phone: 585-389-2498 email: ssmyth6@naz.edu Web page: www.naz.edu/ student-disabilities

Internships Program phone: 585-389-2571 email: acabral8@naz.edu Web page: www.naz.edu/careerservices/students-alumni/jobsearch-internships/internships

Off-Campus Resources Veterans Outreach Center 459 South Ave., Rochester, NY 14620 phone: 585-546-1081 or toll-free: 1-866-906-VETS (8387) fax: 585-546-5234 website: www.veteransoutreachcenter.org

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs General phone number for VA benefits: 1-800-827-1000 website: www.va.gov Post-9/11 GI Bill Information phone: 1-888-GIBill1 (1-888-442-4551) website: www.gibill.va.gov

Rochester Regional Veterans Business Council (a Nazareth College affiliate) phone: 585-295-7854 email: secretary@ veteransbusinesscouncil.org website: www.veteransbusinesscouncil.org


COVER|story

”Our veterans have more than earned their benefits; our goal here is to make sure we’re serving them in all phases of the veteran-student experience“

Nazareth eases the transition from military to classroom with financial aid assistance, counseling centers and wellness clinics, night classes, and flexible day-care options.

38 CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12

— Jeremy Bagley

This past spring, Nazareth and the VOC developed a very well-received in-service program for Nazareth’s faculty and staff to learn more about veteran students and how to best serve their needs. That one-day program prompted some departments to do more to learn about what veterans face when they return to school and to seek additional ways to support them through new vet-friendly services and offerings. For example, the counseling services department at Nazareth brought some of the counselors from the VOC and the Vet Center in Rochester back to campus to discuss the matter more fully.

Nazareth has also recently hired Jeremy Bagley as coordinator of veteran student enrollment and support services. Bagley, an army veteran himself, will help recruit and enroll new vet students, then assist them to better handle the transition from military service to academia and to navigate the complex financial aid package from the GI Bill. “Our veterans have more than earned their benefits; our goal here is to make sure we’re serving them in all phases of the veteran-student experience,” says Bagley. “First, we need to make them aware of their benefits and that they can use them here in a veteran-friendly environment. Second, once they’re here, we need to support them both academically and culturally. Third, we need to help facilitate the networking process so that these young men and women who’ve served so bravely and honorably on the battlefield can now do so in our community, by taking what they’ve learned here, adding it to their already large skill set, and becoming the next generation of community leaders.” A sizable number of Nazareth’s veteran students are transfer students, and Bagley will work to develop and improve relationships among local community colleges to facilitate those transfers. He’ll also serve as liaison between the College and regional military bases and communities, as well as the liaison between Nazareth’s vet students and military agencies, such as the VA. “We see this new staff position at the College as a resource for prospective and current vet students to either answer questions or link the vet immediately to the right organization to provide answers and/or services,” Genthner says. “Developing plans and initiating implementation for enhancing support and integration of veteran students into the Nazareth community is an institutional goal for Nazareth this academic school year,” says Nazareth President Daan Braveman. www.naz.edu


Veteran-student Phil Rouin ’12G is getting his master’s in social work through the Greater Rochester Collaborationve Social Work program. Above, Rouin during mine countermeasures predeployment training at Camp Bullis, Texas, in 1997.

Nazareth is already doing a lot of things right. In fact, Col. (retired) James McDonough, president and CEO of the VOC, considers Nazareth a vet-friendly school, saying the College could be a model for other similar schools in the area. “Nazareth is pushing the envelope so far ahead of everyone else,” he says. “It has a role to play in teaching other colleges what to do. There’s a real opportunity here.” Even some of the veteran students notice the unique position Nazareth is in. “Nazareth is definitely taking the initiative to be a leader among other colleges in the area to be ‘veteranfriendly’,” says Kelly Kemp ’13, a veteran student who is working toward a bachelor’s in social work. “As a veteran student, this is greatly appreciated and means a lot.” In many ways, what makes Nazareth a great college in general makes it attractive to vet students. The small www.naz.edu

class sizes and the student-to-teacher ratio are a big consideration for veterans assimilating into the classroom. In fact, vet students have commented that Nazareth has the feel of a military base. “I want other veterans to know that Nazareth should be considered like a base,” Kundle says. “It’s like a military unit—that camaraderie, that support. It’s just like a base. Nazareth puts so much effort into building that.” And Kundle hopes that vets can see that from the outside. Phil Rouin ’12G, who is getting his master’s in social work through the Greater Rochester Collaborative Social Work program (a collaboration with SUNY Brockport), agrees. “The program here had the smallest classes and more of a cohesive, group-oriented, strength-based program,” says the retired lieutenant officer. “It focuses on the interdisciplinary, whether it’s a medical model, OCC therapist, music therapist, nurse, or doctor.”

Potentially, vet students may be looking for services and offerings that go beyond the classroom, like a good counseling-services team and accommodations for disabilities—areas of strength for Nazareth, with its wellness clinics and counseling services department. “Nazareth seems to have a great program for disabilities and accommodations,” Rouin says. “I can’t say enough about their counseling service. It was a huge transition to go from a 30-year military career into graduate school. With a good counseling department, you can bend their ear. It’s an important consideration.” An accessible, knowledgeable, and competent counseling office on campus is critical for veterans stepping into a new situation so utterly different from what they’ve known throughout their military service. And this generation of military veterans, who have done tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, are dealing with complicated CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12 39


COVER|story

”Nazareth wants to put out the best students it can; it makes the extra sacrifice… i don’t think i’d get that anywhere else.“ — Candice Kundle ’12

Candice Kundle ’12 is getting her nursing degree at Nazareth. Kundle, shown at left at the Al Asad Air Base in Iraq, served eight years in the air force as a loader/air cargo inspector.

40 CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12 2011-12

mental health issues, specifically post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI). The counseling services department at Nazareth is taking steps to better serve vet students. After attending the special in-service program last spring on that very subject, the department brought in Pete Ziarnowski, Ph.D., from the Vet Center and Jennifer DeLucia, LCAT, from the VOC to speak more about the therapeutic needs of veteran students and learn more about how creative therapies have proven successful with today’s vets, says Malika Kapadia, Psy.D., the director of counseling services at Nazareth. Donna Willome, NP, director of student health services, and Kevin Worthen, vice president of student development, also attended a workshop in August at the University of Buffalo that detailed the intricacies of serving veteran students today, from both an administrative and mental/physical health perspective. Other areas and services beyond the classroom help make the transition easier for veterans. Most veteran students are older and many have families. They are typically transfer students and many have full-time jobs. Nazareth offers many evening classes and daycare with a flexible schedule—two key components for a veteran juggling school, work, and family. The College is continually looking to identify other areas where it could improve its offerings for this particular group of students, as well as its overall student body.

Going Forward One of the reasons Nazareth is looking to attract more vets is to further diversify its student population, which, incidentally, is another attraction to the vets themselves. “When I am on the campus and in my classes at Nazareth, I see a lot of diversity,” Rouin says. Nazareth is ramping up its efforts to actively recruit

www.naz.edu


veteran students, something it hasn’t really done until now, says Judith Baker ’91, director of transfer and graduate admissions. Nazareth is creating a new admissions website just for vets that will be both internally and externally focused, and also a comprehensive media campaign touting its strengths as a vet-friendly school. As for some of the new programs geared toward vets that Nazareth is exploring, one will kick off in the spring 2012 semester. The College, again partnering with the VOC, created an internship program exclusively for veterans, says Albert Cabral, director of the professional internship program at Nazareth, who is overseeing this new program in collaboration with the VOC’s Mitchell. Four vet students will be placed in vet-friendly local businesses and organizations that are members

of the Veterans Business Council: the VOC, Klein Steel, law firm Underberg & Kessler, LLP, and Harris-RF. The new program follows many of the same general parameters of Nazareth’s other internships, with two additional features—the internships are only offered to veterans, and the intern would have an on-site mentor, who would also be a veteran, Cabral says. Outside of this program, Nazareth offers other veteranrelated internships, like the internship Rouin is doing with the VA. Like so many Nazareth students, many military veterans hope to give back to the community upon graduation, through a service-oriented career and/or through different types of community service. Rouin hopes to turn his internship with the VA and his degree in social work into a full-time job at the VA working with veterans. “I’m very

excited about going back and helping veterans,” he says. “I’m looking forward to that, to building more relationships and making new friends.” Meanwhile, Kundle is taking her military experience, Nazareth education, and community service and putting it all together to become the best nurse she can be. “I am so close to so many professors. We get together as a Nazareth nursing group and do things together, like the March of Dimes, and different outside activities,” she says. “Nazareth wants to put out the best students it can; it makes the extra sacrifice. That’s just like the military. I have that here with my professors and my nursing mentors. What’s better than that? I don’t think I would get that anywhere else.” Jillian S. Ambroz is a freelance writer in Rochester, New York.

About the Cover

N

azareth’s recent focus on veterans has increased campus awareness of the American flag, always a potent symbol for vets. It became clear to the college community that the flag located at the south end of the Arts Center had become less

visible over the years due to encroaching foliage and shifting campus traffic patterns. This issue’s cover features the flag in its prominent new location by the Wegman Family Sculpture Garden outside the Arts Center, raised jointly by veteran James Leach, associate director in campus safety, and Candice Kundle ’12, a veteran-student who makes a practice of walking by the flag whenever she’s on campus. The new flagpole was installed by veteran Greg Cohick from TUG Excavation, a construction worker on the Integrated Center for Math and Science who donated his time and labor for the task.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

www.naz.edu

CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12 41


report | to donors

Dear Nazareth friends,

T

he hallmark of a Nazareth College education has always been outstanding preparation, in both its liberal arts and professional programs. We are known for providing many of the area’s education and health care professionals, who connect the College to the community and beyond. With this year’s groundbreaking on campus for the new Integrated Center for Math and Science, Nazareth enters a new era of influence and innovation. This most recent addition to campus features extensive

resources that will enhance programs and offer students and faculty more opportunities for research and hands-on training. Throughout this year’s annual report, you’ll find stories of innovation, and we invite you to share in the excitement that this new era brings. As I watch the math and science center become a reality, I have taken note of the ingenuity, collaboration,

and determination that have gone into realizing such an ambitious project. Our administrators, faculty, students, support staff, alumni, and many valued friends were able to identify a need, form a consensus, and work together to solve problems. When the new building opens in fall 2012, we will be in the position to shape the future of generations of Nazareth graduates. We will have what we need to bring our programs in health and human services to an even higher level of excellence. We will have a cutting-edge training ground in which to prepare the math and science teachers who will serve the public for years to come. And we will benefit all our students, as all are required to take math and science courses to ensure that they graduate with the kind of broad-based education that our 21st-century world demands. As you can tell, I take great pride and pleasure in ushering in Nazareth College’s new era. Together we have achieved so much. And together we can achieve so much more in the future. Sincerely,

Annual Report 2010-2011 The 2010-2011 Annual Report can be viewed online at www.naz.edu/supportnazareth. The donor list reflects annual fund gifts given from July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011. If you have questions or comments about the annual report, please contact Director of Development Peggy Martin at mmartin0@ naz.edu or at 585-389-2401.

42 CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12

Daan Braveman Interested in reading more from the perspective of President Braveman? Visit his official blog at http://naz.typepad.com/braveman.

www.naz.edu


Nazareth College Statement of Activities June 30, 2011

2011 2010

Operating Revenue Educational and general Tuition and fees 71,694,323 70,038,630 less scholarships and grants 20,354,984 19,520,660 Net tuition and fees 51,339,339 50,517,970 Federal grants and contracts 1,691,590 1,755,683 State grants and contracts 741,213 580,011 Private gifts, grants, and contracts 1,157,446 2,525,245 Arts Center programs 585,962 530,880 Investment income and losses 28,597 236,563 Other revenues 733,314 729,420 Long-term investment return allocated to operations 2,883,949 2,534,271 Total educational and general 59,161,410 59,410,043 Auxiliary enterprises 13,963,926 13,211,904 Total operating revenue 73,125,336 72,621,947

The graphs below depict the operating revenues and expenses for the 2010–2011 fiscal year as a percent of total operating revenue and expenses. Main Sources of Operating Revenue Revenues from student tuition and fees (student monies collected, less the amount of financial aid provided directly by the College) continued to be Nazareth’s primary source of operating revenue, comprising 70 percent of the College’s operating revenue in 2010–2011. Auxiliary enterprise revenue, which includes room and board fees collected, comprised 19 percent of total operating revenue. Private gifts and grants, and public grants and contracts continue to be important sources of revenue as well.

Sources of Operating Revenue Tuition & fees (net) 70.21% Public grants and contracts 3.33% Private gifts, grants, and contracts 1.58% Arts Center programs 0.80% Investment income and losses 0.04% Other revenues 1.00% Long-term investment return allocation 3.94% Auxiliary enterprises 19.10% 100.00%

Operating Expenses Educational and general Instruction 29,820,516 28,620,047 Arts Center programs 2,072,216 1,869,423 Academic support 6,468,561 6,207,538 Student services 9,430,124 9,230,632 Institutional support 11,069,043 10,556,763 Total educational and general 58,860,460 56,484,403 Auxiliary enterprises 12,559,133 11,973,454 Total operating expenses 71,419,593 68,457,857 Change in net assets from operating activities 1,705,743 4,164,090

Non-Operating Activities Long-term investment activities Investment income 804,546 700,758 Net realized and unrealized (losses) gains 9,472,528 4,784,059 Total long-term investment activities 10,277,074 5,484,817 Long-term investment return allocated for operations (2,883,949) (2,534,271) Capital gifts 4,041,356 2,820,129 Other loss (88,942) (494,014) Postretirement-related changes other than net periodic benefit cost 430,414 (2,510,180) Change in net assets from nonoperating activities 11,775,953 2,766,481 Change in net assets 13,481,696 6,930,571 Net assets at beginning of year 130,599,055 123,668,484 Net assets at end of year 144,080,751 130,599,055 www.naz.edu

Operating Expenses In order to allocate the maximum amount of resources to carry out the academic mission, Nazareth continues to closely monitor and review institutional costs. For fiscal year 2010–2011 the College allocated 42 percent of its expense budget for instructional purposes. An additional 9 percent was expended on academic support costs such as the Lorette Wilmot Library and Media Center. The College devoted 13 percent of the total operating budget directly to student programs and services.

Operating Expenses Instruction 41.75% Arts Center programs 2.90% Academic support 9.06% Student services 13.20% Institutional support 15.50% Auxiliary enterprises 17.58% 100.00%

CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12 43


report | to donors

Council Oak Society Individual Members O’Connor Circle $25,000 and above Anonymous (2) Joyce Marie Aab ’75G Joan & Burton S. August Sr. * Daan and Lorraine Braveman Louis A. Corbelli * James A. & Andrea J. Rivoli Costanza ’85 Emil D. & Jane Duda * Sergio & Mary Ann Esteban Garth Fagan * Brian E. & Jean Hickey Don H. Kollmorgen & Louise Woerner * Kathleen M. & James J. Leo ¥ Judy Wilmot Linehan ’76 & Paul J. Linehan * Dawn & Dr. Jacques M. Lipson Roselinde Mandery * Mary Soons McCarty ’88 * Lois Howe McClure ’75 * Stephen D. & Lynn A. Natapow Dr. Cynthia Reddeck-Lidestri & John Lidestri Jennifer & Richard E. Sands Marilyn Sands * Nancy & Robert Sands * James P. & Constance Sessler John M. & § Jayne C. Summers Smyth Circle $10,000–$24,999 * Susan E. Acker Jack A. ’72 & Stacie M. Allocco ¥ Marie C. Baglio ’57 Amy & Stephen S. Brown Gary A. Dake Lauren Dixon & Michael Schwabl * Dr. Deborah A. Dooley ’75 & Paul Mittermeyer * Steve M. & Claire M. Dubnik * Timothy D. & Susan Lechase Fournier * Dr. Margaret A. Frisch ’56 ¥ Dolores Luccio Humbert ’54 Thomas Ioele Beverly & R. Wayne LeChase Frances M. & James J. Maguire * Mary Ellen ’53 & Thomas G. Maguire * Winifred A. McCarthy ’70 Kim J. & Stephen McCluski ¥ Marion Morgan Mongan ’50 * Maureen Schutz O’Connor ’59 & William R. O’Connor * Richard F. ’91 & Sherri Bell Pierpont ’93 Deborah Ronnen & Sherman F. Levey ¥ Lucia Vetter Unger ’35 * David L. & Carol Vigren ¥ Thomas C. Wilmot Sr. & Colleen L. Wilmot ’71

Carroll Circle $5,000–$9,999 Anonymous ¥ Barbara J. Aldrich ’67 ¥ Dr. Mary T. Bush ’51 ¥ Catherine E. Clark ’48 * Dr. Walter Cooper ¥ Carol Costa DiMarzo ’69 & Anthony M. DiMarzo * Mary Frances Firsching ’86 Ann Marie Durawa Gulian ’90 * Linda Henehan Hanna ’83 & Joseph R. Hanna * Bridgette A. Hobart ’84 & Robert Janeczko * Dr. Ellen G. Horovitz & Gene V. Marino Ann & Marc L. Iacona * Richard A. & Marcia Kaplan Anne E. Konar Dr. Michael J. Lawrence * Diane Barnard Paganelli ’56 & John A. Paganelli ¥ Dr. Paul F. Pagerey Jean Bresnowtiz Papsun ’68 & Kent Papsun Margaret R. ’79G & Frank Perticone ¥ Anne Sevier-Buckingham ’63 & William A. Buckingham Dr. Renee Scialdo Shevat ’77 & Samuel A. Shevat Juliann B. & Gerald P. Vanderstyne Jr. Drs. Sara B. Varhus & David W. Hill Drs. Janet Trzcinski Vasak ’67 & John M. Vasak Steven H. & Christine Whitman * Rosanne M. Young ’89 Anthony J. Zollo Lyons Circle $2,500–$4,999 * Jane Flynn Burke ’65 & Daniel J. Burke ¥ Joan Mascaro Caruso ’67 * Dr. Maria M. Cheng ’77 * Thomas K. & LouAnne DaRin Catherine Byrnes DeBritz ’58 & Francis M. DeBritz Debbie & John L. DiMarco * Mary Anne Doane ’68 * Dena Burdick Drain ’84 & John Joseph Drain ’83 * Georgianna Bush Dunn ’61 Beverly & Dr. H. Pierson French * Kelly E. & Dennis Gagan § Angelo P. Gallina * Karen M. & Andrew R. Gallina ¥ Joan Stein Hacker ’63

44 CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12

* Claire Heffernan ’68 & Timothy C. Fabrizio ¥ Jean Gramkee Hubsch ’68 Patti M. & Robert Hudak Drs. Kathleen Lyons Kelly ’68 & Edward M. Kelly † Dale Fradkin Klein ’06 ¥ Barbara Olmstead Long ’66 Patricia Lyons ’63, M.D. * Mary Jo & Kevin T. Maguire ¥ Jennifer McCall-Lasalle & Stephen C. Lasalle * Mary J. McInerney ’37 * Mary McCann Nicolis ’70 & Anthony P. Nicolis * Elizabeth A. Osta ’67 & Dave Van Arsdale * Nancy & Larry Peckham Josephine M. Perini Jeremy Raco Mary Ann Browne Sanborn ’62 * Msgr. William H. Shannon * Suzanne Grosodonia Siefring ’71 & Dr. Gerald E. Siefring Jr. Dr. Elaine G. & Malcolm Spaull Glenna B. & Norman M. Spindelman * Marion Fischer Tucker ’43 ¥ Jeanne S. Walewski ’71 Breen Circle $1,000–$2,499 Anonymous (2) † Cassie Janis Adams ’06 & Bryan D. Adams ’04, ’10G Mr. & Mrs. Syed A. Ahmad ¥ Rita Zlotnik Allen ’56 & Mark Allen * Maureen T. Alston ’70 Mr. & Mrs. John M. Altier Colleen Morton Anderson ’75 & John W. Anderson Helen M. & James R. Barbato ¥ Drs. Rose Marie & John B. Beston Mary Kay Bishop ’89 * Margaret L. & Donald J. Bolger * Catherine M. Bookey ’73 Josephine & Simon Braitman ¥ Bonnie-Anne Briggs ’69 ¥ Theresa Lombardo Bronte ’51, ’75G Carolyn A. ’88G & Paul Buntich Rosemarie Scherer Burke ’58 & William P. Burke Jennifer S. Burr ’81 * Sarah D. Cali ’50 ¥ Carolyn Civiletti Canzano ’55 John R. Carpenter

Karen Nientimp Caton ’86 & Matthew A. Caton James Cerone * Dr. Paula Satterly Childs ’70 Marina Pang Choa ’58 Natalie & Dr. J. Richard Ciccone Margaret R. Colacino ’51 Donald T. Collea Dr. Susan S. Collier ¥ Ann Marie Stokes Crilly ’57 * Joseph Crotty Jr. ¥ Mary Goldman Crowe ’78 Drs. Kathleen M. & Joseph T. DaBoll-Lavoie John E. Dailor * Rachel Y. & Jimmy S. DeGuzman ¥ Rosalyn Dellapietra ’58, ’66G * Alberta & Richard J. DiMarco * Allison Urlaub DiMarco ’99G & Richard J. DiMarco II Katherine Munding DiMarco ’98G & Joel R. DiMarco Drs. Kathryn & James R. Douthit * Maria Echaniz ’56 * Susan & Dr. Steven Eisinger ¥ Cindy Ruppel Engle ’72 ¥ Dr. Joan R. Ewing ’55 Joan L. & Harold S. Feinbloom * Margaret Cass Ferber ¥ Anne Carpenter Ferris ’74, ’79G & David R. Ferris * Maureen Bell Field ’65 Jerid Fisher * Sheila Jackson Foster ’99 & Bruce H. Foster * Jacqueline Zick Fox ’70, ’74G & Patrick Fox Jane C. Fox ’68 * Amy E. Fujimura ’82 ¥ Helen Suits Gates ’57 * Dr. Timothy R. Glander & Suzanne M. Kolodziej * Donald P. Goodman Burton Gordon Ellen Hahn Grabb ’65 & Raymond D. Grabb Eileen B. & Michael B. Grossman ¥ Dr. Mary Rappazzo Hall ’63 Evelyn A. Hartwell ’86 Melissa & William Head * Robin M. & James Duffy Hickey Estate of Harriet M. Hoock ’34 Norman Horton Joanne A. Hume-Nigro * Betty A. & Louis P. Iacona Johnson & Johnson † Sandra A. ’05, ’10G & Matthew J. Killeen * Lindsay Reading Korth & Dr. William W. Korth

Barbara P. & John F. Kraushaar * Carol Hickey Krebs ’61 ¥ Helen Schoenherr Kress ’50 Karla M. Krogstad * Jeanette Martino Land ’58 & John R. Land † Sean F. Lander ’05, ’08G Debby & Elliott Landsman ¥ Karen Moore Larimer ’66 & Hon. David Larimer ¥ Lori H. ’83, ’87G & Stephen C. LaSalle II ’83 * Rachel T. LeChase ¥ Dr. Richard M. Loomis * Cynthia Estruch Lowenguth ’73, ’76G & Gar Lowenguth * John Williams & Charles M. Lundeen Jr. † Susan Chekow Lusignan ’10G & Charles P. Lusignan * Judith M. Kurzawa Lynch ’62 * Bernadette Daukintas Mack ’61 Trina M. Marquez * Peggy E. Martin Marcia Stark Mathews ’54 ¥ Katherine E. Mayer ’43 * Anne Ulrich McCaffrey ’89 & Christopher McCaffrey ’87 * Kimberly Sharp McDermott ’00 & Ryan T. McDermott ’98 * Kathe P. ’94, ’00G & Michael S. McGwin ’93, ’00G * Karen Storm McNutt ’92 & Todd L. McNutt ’93 ¥ Eleanor Tyndall Meier ’57 ¥ Marion L. & Richard S. Merrill ¥ Sandy & David J. Metz ¥ Mary Jean Meyering ’51 Cara & Ben Meyers Susan Sutkus Meyers ’67 * Dawn M. Powell Minemier ’92 & Robert S. Minemier III Helga B. & Paul F. Morgan † Tia M. Morgia ’07, ’10G * Mary Ann Nailos ’80 Mary Anne Zeugner Nathenson ’69 Barbara Nino ’85 ¥ Therese I. O’Brien ’50 * Mary Fran Rodzai O’Herron ’65 & Dennis M. O’Herron Karna E. & Michael S. Palermo ¥ Dr. Vivian A. Palladoro ’56 Janet Hodes Palmisano ’80 & John F. Palmisano Mary Kay & Edward G. Parrone ¥ Anna Frances Payne ’49 Stephanie & Michael Pedrotti * Marjorie & David Perlman * Kirk E. Pero ’96 ¥ Eileen McGee Pestorius ’61 & Dr. F. Michael Pestorius

* Marian Fox Pfeiffer ’49 * Kitty Lou McCulley Phillips ’69 * Eileen Smyntek Pinto ’66 * Dr. Sally Masterson Pryor ’72, ’75G Robert A. ’88 & Barbara Randall * Dr. Christine M. Redman ’68 Dr. Linda M. Rice & George Scharr † Cindy Rumble ’10 * Joan Kinsky Ryan ’54 & James D. Ryan Sr. Drs. Nancy G. Shedd & Alexander Kurchin * Dr. Dennis A. Silva Dr. Virginia M. SkinnerLinnenberg ¥ Sheila A. Smyth ’64 & Michael Heberger ¥ Phyllis Conheady Stehm ’74, ’78G Robert C. Stevens * Nancy P. Strelau *† Bryan S. Sweet ’07 * Dr. Shirley F. Szekeres * Patricia A. Thiem ’69 * Carolyn Krebs Thomson ’55 & Robert H. Thomson Dr. Alvin Ureles * Margaret Begley Vachher ’63 * Ellen Rutledge Valenti ’74 Jeffrey W. ’85 & Kimberly A. Van Gundy ¥ Marie J. Van Ness ’62 ¥ Mary Ellen Dwyer Vasile ’68 & Dr. Gennaro J. Vasile Gina M. Viggiani ’84 * Dr. Judit S. & John R. Wagner Jr. * Mary E. Walsh ’60 * Maureen Leddy Welch ’62 * Wendy J. White ’73 * Patricia Galindo Wilkey ’87 * Beth Vendryes Williams ’74 * Eileen R. Wilmot *† Loretta C. Wilmot ’05G Louis S. & Molly B. Wolk Foundation ¥ Dr. Bruce C. Woolley Kevin D. & Liese Schoener Worthen ¥ Susan Zaleski Yovanoff ’77, ’82G & Lawrence Yovanoff ’78 * Grace Florin Zanche ’58 Louis Zollo

§ Deceased * 5+ years consecutive giving ¥ 25+ years consecutive giving † Graduate of Last Decade (GOLD) Leadership Level Donors

www.naz.edu


Bryan Sweet ’07 A proud new member of the GOLD Council Oak Society “Nazareth instilled in me the value of giving back to the College and the community. My role in student government as vice president of campus programming inspired me to get involved. As an alumnus, I’ve continued that commitment by co-chairing the committee of the alumni board for Graduates of the Last Decade. Nazareth gave me and my fellow young alumni so much—opportunities to get involved, real life and work experiences, as well as lasting connections and friendships. Now it’s our turn to give back to the College that gave us so much.” —Bryan Sweet ’07

Class Gift Amount (Received by June 30, 2012)

2011 $100 2010 $200 2009 $300 2008 $400 2007 $500 2006 $600 2005 $700 2004 $800 2003 $900 2002 $1000

Council Oak Society members annually receive the following benefits: • Invitation to the annual Council Oak Society reception with Daan and Lorraine Braveman • Access to the Arts Center’s Lipson Patrons’ Lounge prior to showtime and during intermission of subscription series evening performances • Invitation to the annual spring pops concert • Recognition as a Council Oak Society member on the annual fund plaque and in the annual report • Special bi-annual newsletter with updates from the president • Complimentary subscription to Connections

Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) Instead of the $1,000 donation usually required, GOLD classes can join the Council Oak Society by giving $100 for each year after their graduation date.

To learn more about the Council Oak Society and how you can support Nazareth, visit go.naz.edu/council-oak or call the development office at 585-389-2415.


ALUMNI | profile

The Blossoming Artwork of

Marina Pang

T

by Robyn RIme

he paintings look unmistakably Chinese, even to the casual viewer. Serene mountain tops, drifting clouds, cascading rivers, the occasional solitary dwelling—crisp with finely inked details, washes of color, and glimpses of calligraphy. These are the works of Hong Kong native Marina Pang ’58, an accomplished artist who began painting later in life and, in fact, never thought she’d be painting at all. “I loved to paint, even as a young girl,” she says. “But my parents thought that taking fine arts in college would not guarantee a good job later in life.” Pang agreed with them, majoring instead in biology and securing for herself several satisfying jobs over the years. But later, when her two boys were grown and gone, “the house got very quiet,” and she thought, why not take up painting? Pang studied on and off for years with renowned masters in Chinese landscape and floral painting and calligraphy. Eventually she invented her own style, though it is still firmly based in Chinese traditions. “All Chinese painting begins with Chinese ink,” she explains. “Some people like to have just black and white, but I like to have a bit of color.” Pang enjoys using different media to create new effects and has worked in watercolor, gouache, acrylics, and most recently oil. “Watercolor is very free—it creates its own painting,” she says. “You follow where the water leads. The most beautiful painting flows into its own shapes, and you go from there. It’s a pleasant surprise.” The somber tones in Pang’s watercolors serve her work well, according to Yeung Chun-tong, director of the University Museum and Art Gallery at the University of Hong Kong. “Marina prefers using thick ink, blue, dark brown, and green to paint the hills and vegetations. … This sharp contrast in the use of colors has brought out a clear delineation of the waters, clouds, and hills and also succeeded in unfolding the shaded corners and sunlit places in the scenes.”

Marina Pang. September Colours. 1995. 46 CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12

www.naz.edu


Artist and Hong Kong native Marina Pang ’58 Pang’s work has appeared in exhibitions in across China, from Shanghai to Beijing, as well as in the Republic of Singapore; she has also mounted several solo exhibitions in Hong Kong over the years, including the 1999 display Revérie: The Art of Marina Pang at the University of Hong Kong. Her work appears in the collections of the National Museum Art Gallery in Singapore, the University of Hong Kong’s University Museum and Art Gallery, and the Main Library at the University of Hong Kong. Pang is still in touch with her Nazareth classmates, who helped make the lone Chinese student on campus feel at home. She doesn’t visit Rochester very frequently now, however, finding the voyage a long one. Her sons live in Hong Kong, as do her five grandchildren, who are “passionate to have grandma teach them to paint.” One feels that Pang is likely to oblige them. “My parents introduced me to the fine arts and over the years encouraged me to pursue my artistic inclinations,” she says. “I am fortunate to have spent the last 30 years doing what I love most.”

above: Marina Pang. Purple and Gold. No date. left: Marina Pang. Inkscape. 1999. below: Marina Pang. Shades of Violet. No date.

For more stories about alumni, visit alumni.naz.edu. Robyn Rime is the editor of Connections.

www.naz.edu

CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12 47


ALUMNI | news

Dear Nazareth Family,

I

am thrilled to serve as your alumni board president for the upcoming year. I have been actively involved on the alumni board for six years now, most recently serving as the vice president. Working with last year’s president, Nancy Griffin Shadd ’64, was a complete honor and joy. Her leadership has so positively promoted the expansion of our alumni board structure and continued to raise the profile of alumni who remain involved with Nazareth College. We all love the College. For that reason, I choose to stay informed and involved. Since graduation, my pride in the College has only grown. I am excited about the new facilities, the additional programs, and the continued support for students from so many caring faculty and staff. The College definitely gets better with age. Working as a member of the alumni board keeps me close to the College’s cutting-edge work in our community, such as students’ pre-service placements in classrooms and therapy rooms throughout the region, or the continued outreach in the community through our professional programs…to name a few. I enjoy making connections with alumni from other generations and sharing stories about what we value from our Nazareth College experiences. Each of us on the alumni board is energized about another great year and all the opportunities it presents. We look

forward to continuing to collaborate with other departments, such as admissions, career services, and others to continue to look for ways for alumni to support the mission of the College and tap into their experiences and connections as well. We will also continue to create relationships with future alumni who will soon join our ranks. We would love to hear your feedback or have you as a member of our board! Please contact the alumni office if you have an interest in being involved in the alumni life on campus. Sincerely,

Lucas Hiley ’03

Nominate Outstanding Alumni

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azareth College has two awards to recognize the significant achievements of Nazareth alumni: the Outstanding Alumni Award and the Alumni GOLD Award. The influence of these alumni has been felt not only within the Nazareth community, but within the communities in which they live and work.

Alumni GOLD Award This award is designed to recognize the achievements of an alumni who, having graduated within the past 10 years, has distinguished him or herself in the community or workplace while adhering to the values fostered by Nazareth College.

Outstanding Alumni Award For more than 30 years, the College has recognized the achievements of its graduates with the Outstanding Alumni Award. Outstanding Alumni serve as role models for Nazareth students, encourage others to consider a Nazareth education, and further inspire, in their fellow graduates, a sense of pride in their alma mater.

Interested in nominating a classmate or friend? Please contact Kerry Gotham ‘98, director of alumni relations, at kgotham7@naz.edu or 585-389-2404. You can also nominate someone online and view a list of previous award winners at alumni.naz.edu/awards.

48 CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12

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r o f te a D e th e Sav

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Reunion Weekend

he next Nazareth College Reunion Weekend is fast approaching! We look forward to welcoming you, your families, and classmates back to campus, so make plans now with your former roommates to visit your favorite alma mater in all its glory. Everyone is invited to join in the summer fun with good food, great friends, and a full slate of activities to make the weekend special. Honored class years are those ending in a 2 or 7 but, as always, the more the merrier! Interested in volunteering to help with your reunion class committee or looking for more details? Visit Reunion Weekend Headquarters online at alumni.naz. edu/reunion. You can also look for your class Facebook group by searching Left to right: Scott Paeplow www.facebook‘08, Meg Flaherty ’07, Mary com/groups/Naz Kate Walsh ‘09, Rese Vaccaro ClassofXXXX and ’07, and Shannon Kline ‘05. joining in the conversation to see who is making plans to come back. Of course you can’t forget about our Fifth Annual Golden Flyer Challenge. If a furry flyer mascot arrives at your doorstep, be sure to snap a photo and send the flyer on to another classmate. The race is on for most miles logged, most classmate visits, most creative photo, and most unique destination. To see where all the flyers have flown or to request a visit from your class golden flyer, go to alumni.naz.edu/ reunion. Hurry though—all flyers must make it back to the alumni relations office by May 25, 2012.

www.naz.edu

June 1–3, 2012

Ann Martini ’66 offered a wine tasting with selections from her Penn Yan winery, Anthony Road.

Professor of Art Mitch Messina conducting an alumni workshop.

CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12 49


ALUMNI | news

How to Suceed in Show Business

Actor Michael Park ’90 Hits Broadway—Again

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azareth alumni Michael Park ’90 has hit it big on Broadway—again!—this time starring as businessman Bert Bratt in the award-winning musical comedy How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying. “It’s a humbling experience,” says Park. The show, which follows the antics of a young window cleaner and his meteoric rise from the mail room to a corporate vice presidency, features “cheer-inducing” choreography (The Associated Press) and dancing that’s “lively and ingenious” (New York Post). Park half-jokingly calls the choreography “brutal.” “It’s an experience most likely meant for someone in their late 20s,” he laughs. “Every morning I wake up and my knees are yelling, my back is screaming, and it’s a 45-minute stretch before I can get going.” Park says friends have watched the show and imagined the

by Robyn Rime C2 workers compensation forms being written out. “These young, incredibly talented actors and dancers are standing on their heads for the audience every night.” The high-profile How to Succeed… also features Daniel Radcliffe, of Harry Potter film fame, and John Larroquette, best known for Night Court. “I can now consider them colleagues—it’s the most amazing deal,” Park says. Radcliffe, in particular, has earned his admiration. “For a 22-year-old to work harder than anyone and be completely egoless is remarkable.” A Pulitzer Prize winner for Drama in 1962, this 50th anniversary revival opened March 27 to much acclaim, being hailed as “exhilarating, bright, and irresistible” by Variety and “stylish and exuberant” by USA Today. It eventually garnered eight Tony Award nominations and one nod for Larroquette.

Left to right: Michael Park, Christopher J. Hanke, Rose Hemingway, Daniel Radcliffe, John Larroquette, and Tammy Blanchard during the opening night performance curtain call for How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying in New York City’s Al Hirschfeld Theatre on March 27, 2011. 50 CONNECTIONS Winter 2011-12 Ltd. Photo by Walter |McBride/Retna

www.naz.edu


Michael Park ’90, Laurie Nowak Park ’91, and their children Christopher (14), Kathleen (11), and Annabelle (7), at the Broadway opening night after party. Photo by Joe Corrigan/ Getty Images Entertainment. Working with the likes of Radcliffe and Larroquette and co-star Tammy Blanchard is “something I never would have envisioned myself doing two or three years ago,” Park explains. “I never wanted to believe soap operas would die. In this day and age, I’m elated to be a working actor.” Park recently won his second Best Actor Daytime Emmy Award for his role as detective Jack Snyder on CBS’s As the World Turns, which was cancelled in September 2010. “We were thrilled about [his nomination], because the show went off the air last year and we thought that was the end of it,” Michael’s mother, Rosemary Cutri Park ‘72, told the Messenger Post newspapers in June. Park missed this year’s awards ceremony in Las Vegas, staying home instead to attend his daughter’s graduation from fifth grade. He had two additional Emmy nominations during his 13 years on the daytime drama. Kudos go to his agents for skillfully managing his career, Park says, and to his wife Laurie Nowak Park ’91 for continuing to say, “You know what you haven’t done in a while?” “I could do these two-week gigs while working on the soap, and it kept my name out there and gave me the opportunity to meet new people,” he says. “My name continued to stay in the back of people’s minds.” Since leaving his hometown of Canandaigua for New York City 20 years ago, Park has appeared on Broadway in Smokey Joe’s Café, Little Me, and Carousel; off-Broadway credits include the original casts of Middletown, The Burnt Part Boys, Violet, and Hello Again. Asked whether he performed in any Nazareth productions, Park laughs. “Lindsay [Reading Korth, chair of the theater arts program] will kill me for telling this story again. My wife Laurie—then my girlfriend—made me audition for Guys and Dolls. I had only done one show, back in high school. But I was cast, and Laurie was not. And she was a music major! But you know, she was at every single rehearsal. She sat in the back row and did her homework. She’s been my ultimate support through the years—she and the kids are what drive me.” Back on Broadway now after a hiatus of 12 years, Park is enjoying the perks that accompany a hit show. “I forgot that all these other accoutrements go with it,” he says. “We got to perform at the Tonys and on David Letterman, and we’ll appear in the first hour of the Thanksgiving Day parade.” Overall, Park calls How to Succeed … a fantastic experience. “Lots of people leave the theater with smiles on their faces,” he says, “and that’s what it’s all about.”

Broadway Debut

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for Jennette

azareth alum Tyson Jennette ’99 is hitting the boards on Broadway right now, singing and dancing his way through the Tony Award-winning The Book of Mormon. In his Broadway debut, Jennette understudies lead actor Michael Potts as well as several other chorus members and dancers in a widely lauded ensemble cast. He also performs on the cast album, which has been breaking records since its release last May. After the Tony Awards in June, the album rose to No. 3 on the Billboard charts and sold 61,000 copies in one week, breaking a record previously held by The Phantom of the Opera and making it the highest charting cast album since 1969’s Hair. Jennette graduated from Nazareth with a B.S. in speech-language pathology and went on to receive his master’s degree in education from Harvard. He’s also a New York State certified teacher of the speech and hearing handicapped, is fluent in American Sign Language and Spanish, and freelances as a tri-lingual sign interpreter.

Check out the cast’s performance at the 2011 Tony Awards at www.youtube.com/

watch?v=69WpCBLrdSQ.

Robyn Rime is the editor of Connections.

www.naz.edu

CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12 51


ALUMNI | news

Experience is the Best Teacher New alumni mentor program inspires both students and alums by Julie Long Brett Gunio ’12 is already a seasonal entertainment cast member at Walt Disney World.

L Keith Smith ’89, a human resources manager for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, has mentored Brett Gunio ’12 as he seeks his own career at Disney.

ife after college—where do I go next? It’s a question that faces all college alumni after four years filled with learning both academic and life lessons. Whether recent graduates have their career path paved out in their minds or they are pondering their next move, Nazareth can help. The College’s Alumni Relations Office has joined with Student Services to create a new alumni mentoring program. The mentoring pilot program took flight this past spring, when the Alumni Relations Office contacted several student leaders at Nazareth and paired them with an engaged Nazareth alum to show other alumni how easy and fulfilling it can be. Enter Brett Gunio ’12 and Patrick Glaser ’12, both student leaders on campus, both seniors, both with a dream of what they want to achieve.

Disney Dreams Gunio, a quad inclusive education and mathematics major, says while he’s getting a teaching degree at Nazareth next May, it’s performing that is his passion. “I did the Disney College Program at Walt Disney World in Orlando in fall 2009 and knew that I wanted to move back to Florida after graduation and try for full time within the parks.” He is already a seasonal entertainment cast member, allowing him to go down over breaks and pick up shifts. It seems like Gunio

52 CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12

has a good foot in the door with Mickey & Co., but Alumni Relations Assistant Director Donna Borgus knew she could help him do even better, pairing him with Keith Smith ’89, a human resources manager for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Smith, who majored in theatre arts with a minor in business management, sees a lot of his own story in Gunio’s. He spent four years in character entertainment at Disney before entering human resources. “It’s been a very rewarding journey,” he says, “but not without a few uncertainties, detours, and paths that I never imagined I would take.” Those detours can be easier for Gunio to navigate with the help of a seasoned mentor. “Career roadblocks, unexpected changes, and challenges often help to clarify our goals and shape who we are,” says Smith. Gunio knows his mentor’s success and advice can only help him while they brainstorm career options and skills needed for future employment within Disney. “I’m interested to hear Keith’s story about the path he took to move up within the company,” says Gunio, who hopes to perform and travel with Disney before returning to teaching in a classroom. “Similar to Keith, I too have contemplated the possibility of working my way through different departments within Disney.” While Disney veteran Smith can help teach Gunio so much, the Nazareth senior also hopes to give a bit www.naz.edu


back to his mentor. “I am hoping that I can help reconnect Keith with the Nazareth community.”

Big Apple Bound “Once I have my degree in my hand, I will finally be on my way to New York City…hopefully with a job!” says Patrick Glaser, who is anticipating graduating this spring with degrees in business administration and communication/rhetoric. He is setting his sights on getting started as a publicist in the fashion industry. His mentor Kristen Pandick ’06, who lives and works in NYC and is ready and willing to help Glaser meet some of the right people. “I know individuals who work in the fashion and the PR industry who are always interested in outgoing new grads who are looking to use their creativity towards a new career,” she says. Pandick, who studied sociology and pre-law at Nazareth, works for a Brazilian investment bank where she is responsible for the bank’s corporate events.

Glaser welcomes his mentor’s help navigating the dos and don’ts of the big city corporate world, and he has already done his homework by watching some elite fashion companies in hope of some day working with designers to find the best solution for their branding needs. He’s even scored a contact with a designer at Ralph Lauren, a company he really respects. While he is enthusiastic, Pandick says he must bide his time. “There are hundreds of thousands flocking to Manhattan to pursue the same dream and job he’s looking to do,” she says. “He will find his place, but it takes time.” Time to find his place in the workforce, and in the world of NYC living. “We have discussed the idea of taking a weekend for me to come down for a visit, so I can develop a potential plan for life after Nazareth,” says Glaser. “First I’ll have the joyous adventure of apartment hunting in Manhattan, but considering rent is going to attack my wallet, I’m definitely going to need help from someone who knows the ropes.”

Both Glaser and Pandick have great things to say about being part of the alumni mentoring pilot program. “With networking being such a crucial part of starting a career and building relation- Kristen Pandick ships, I recommend ’06 works for a the alumni mentorBrazilian investment ing program to all bank and mentors Patrick Glaser ’12 Nazareth students,” on fashion and PR Glaser concludes. contacts in New “Get out there, start York City. meeting people and connecting. You never know what you can accomplish if you don’t get out there and discover the things in life meant to be discovered.” Julie Long is the assistant director for media relations in Nazareth’s marketing department.

Be a Mentor! Registration is as easy as visiting alumni. naz.edu and clicking on the Get Involved tab. The registration form requests information about what you want to do and how much time you want to commit to the program. Once a student and alum have been paired, they’re allowed to manage their mentoring relationship on their own, at their own pace. “Our goal is for students to find and make connections, and for alumni to feel good about giving back,” Borgus concludes. Learn more about the alumni mentoring program at alumni.naz.edu. Patrick Glaser ’12, shown here in Times Square, ready to expand his contacts in NYC.

www.naz.edu

CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12 53


class|notes

CLASS|notes ’50s

’60s

Teresa Bronte ’51, ’75G, Soc., shared her story of surviving breast cancer in Moments of Truth, Gifts of Love: Women of Community and Spirit Journey through Breast Cancer (Productivity Publications, 2011). The book, authored by Eve Strella-Ribson, has been endorsed by Good Morning America coanchor Robin Roberts.

Marianne Scroffano Maines ’65, Eng., was named to the first Buffalo Business “Heads of the Class” list in March. Maines is principal at the Saints Peter and Paul School where she has worked since 1979. Monica Weis ’65, S.S.J., Eng., was awarded the International Thomas Merton Society’s most distinguished award, the “Louie.”

Use Facebook for your Class Notes— submitting your news is easier than ever! 1. Visit go.naz.edu/class-notes for the new, shorter entry form. 2. U pdate us with the latest happenings in your life, upload a picture, or share a story. 3. W hile you’re there, check out our Facebook page and connect with other Nazareth alumni.

The award is given to a member of the group whose distinguished service has contributed to the aims of the society and to furthering its goals. Bea Heberger ’67, Soc., is tutoring Latino ladies in English, while they tutor her in Spanish. Kathryn Hillger ’67, Eng., is the proud grandmother of Samantha Rose Gjodesen, born Nov. 16, 2010, to her son David and his wife Christina, and Benjamin William Gjodesen, born Nov. 28, 2010, to her son Daniel and his wife Molly. Dan and Dave are identical twins and their babies were born and adopted 12 days apart.

’70s Carol Bucher LeSher ’79, Music Ed., received her master’s degree in leadership from Grand Canyon University in June. She works as a team coordinator for Placer County Probation in Roseville, CA.

’80s H. Lansing Speer ’81, Studio Art, was awarded Outstanding Book of the Year—Most Original Concept from the Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY). More than 2,000 authors and pub­ lishers competed with nearly 4,000 entries this year. His work American Icarus: A Life in Snaps­ hots (Circa Photographics, Ltd., 2011) is a 149-page fictional

54 CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12

graphic novel in the form of a large handmade family photograph album of snapshots that tells an alternative history or aviation throughout the 20th century. John Drain ’83, Bus. Acct., was named senior vice president of finance at Hearst Television in fall 2010. Bridgette Hobart ’84, Bus. Acct., participated in the 24-Mile Tampa Bay Marathon Swim in April. Hobart completed the race in 11 hours, 51 minutes. Karen Lauterbach Nelson ’89, Art, is the owner and designer for TRN Designs, a monogrammed gift company, which launched its new website in June. U. Monique Robinson-Wright ’89, Art Ed., is the assistant dean of Peabody Student Affairs at Vanderbilt University. She was previously director of student life and diversity initiatives at Volunteer State Community College for nearly 17 years. Robinson-Wright has an M.Ed. and Ed.D. from Vanderbilt University.

’90s Robert Prong ’92, Bus. Adm., completed his M.B.A. at SUNY New Paltz in 2002 and is currently a professional guitarist based in Tampa, FL. Kevin Cox ’94, Bus. Adm., works for Oracle Corporation. Jennifer McLaughlin ’95, Soc., was recently appointed school library system director at Monroe 1 BOCES School Library

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System. She has been a teacher and librarian at Martha Brown Middle School at Fairport Central Schools for 13 years. Christopher Murtha ’95, Bus. Adm., is entering his third term on the board of directors for the Financial Planning Association— C.T. Valley Chapter. Chris works as a financial advisor for Howard Financial Corp. in West Hartford, CT.

’00s Ryan McDermott ’00, Bus. Adm., was promoted to relationship manager, commercial banking, for the Central New York district of KeyBank. He joined KeyBank in 2006 as a commercial portfolio analyst. Melissa Reed ’02, ’06G, Music and Music Ed., recently received the Outstanding Music Educators, Choral Music Award from the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Reed is a music educator and music therapist in the Hilton Central School District and a music education lecturer at Nazareth College. Katherine Decker ’03, Hist., recently returned to western New York from Tampa, FL, where she had been working at the University of South Florida. She is now working at Alfred University in the Kazuo Inamori School of Engineering. Hilory McMahon Liccini ’04, CSD, recently moved to North Dakota, where she lives with her husband and infant daughter, Stella Rose. Her residence in North Dakota makes it official—a Nazareth alumnus now lives in every state in the U.S.! Liccini works at Minot State University as the project director for an Autism Research Grant and Diagnostic Clinic. Cindy Springman Legwaila ’06, Music, provided flute accompaniment for a performance by www.naz.edu

The wedding of Chelsea Carhart ’09 to Jay Lehmann brought out lots of Nazareth alums. Front row, l to r: Lisa Porter ’09 and Laura Bradrick ’09. Second row, l to r: Riley Carhart ’11, Tricia Coleman ’09, ’11G, Allyson Smith ’09, ’12G, the groom, the bride, Adele Flanagan ’09, Jenna D’Onza ’09. Third row, l to r: Katelyn Marasco ’09, Mike Roddy ’08, Deanna Spiotta ’09, Karen Bartlett ’09, ’11G, Gina Totaro ’09, Sally Wilcox ’09, ’11G, Lisa Salvaggio ’08, Lindsey Talma ’08, ’11, Rachel Pirozzolo ’10, Adrian Womack ’08.

the Oneida Area Civic Chorale, “Americana Patchwork: Songs and Stories Celebrating Our Heritage.” Legwaila is a board certified music therapist, teaches flute, guitar, piano, and African drums, and runs the flute ensemble at the Oneida YMCA. Erin McLaughlin Bienvenue ’07, Bus. Adm., opened A La Mode Salon with her mother in Geneva. The salon offers haircuts, pedicures, manicures, and facials to both men and women. Kaitlin Roney Sigler ’07, ’11G, Art Edu., was awarded the Arena Group Artist Award at the 63rd Rochester Finger Lakes Exhibition at the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester. Jessica Funk-Garvin ’08, Rel. Stu., graduated in May from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago with a master’s degree in inter-religious dialogue. Timothy Garvin ’08, Pol. Sci., graduated last May from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago. Cassandra Thompson ’08, ’11G, Bus. Adm., is Nazareth’s new resident dining manager

with Chartwells Dining Services. Thompson worked previously as Nazareth’s assistant director of student activities. Chanel Wright ’08, Psy., is executive assistant to the president of Alfred State College. Wright

joined Alfred State College in 2008 as a residence hall director in the Division of Campus Life. Krystal Gonzalez ’09, Hist., is currently a special education teacher at Upstate Cerebral Palsy in Utica.

Nazareth friends gathered in Denver, Colorado. Left to right: Beth Rey Carpenter ’81, Mary Jo Newtown ’79, Janet Hodes Palmisano ’80, Anne Taravella McKenna ’81, Judy Ahlfeld Seil ’81, Sarah Vanderschmidt Parsons ’79, Macreena Doyle ’80, Alice Kapfer Kaiser ’80.

CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12 55


class|notes

Loads of Nazareth friends attended the wedding of Emily Cannon ’08, ’11G to Glen Labenski ’05. Front row, l to r: Meredith Coon ’08, Andrew Knapp ’05, Richard Orlicz ’06, Christopher Goodman ’05, Kiel Sick ’06, ’09G, Christopher Patterson ’07, Bradley Winn ’07, ’10G. Back row, l to r: Jennifer Buttaccio ’08, Stephanie Ostrander ’08, the groom, the bride, Emily Crerand ’08, Jenna Tirohn ’09, Amanda McIntosh ’08, Ann Bovenzi ’08, ’11G, Adrienne Dehm ’07, Kaytie Krapf ’08, ’10G.

Caitlin Jones ’09, Mus. Th., and Anthony Carter ’08, Th., are collaborating on a webseries for SMAO Entertainment, the film/ new media production company Jones founded in January.

’10s

Michelle Miles Fries ’95, ’02G surprised her husband Rob Fries ’94 on their 15th wedding anniversary with a party for two in the kitchen of O’Connor 2, where they first met.

56 CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12

Dan Munier ’10, Eco., was accepted at Columbia University for a master’s in international education. Kari Kohanski ’11, Mus. Ed., was offered a full-time position in the Fairport School District teaching 6th and 8th grade general music, K/1st general music, and team teaching 6th grade choir.

Graduate Dana Boshnack ’00G was named principal of Brockport High School. For the past 16 years she has worked as assistant principal and art instructor in the Hilton Central School District.

Jane Morale ’02G recently received the Outstanding Music Educators, Instrumental Music— Strings Award from the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Morale is the orchestra director and string instrument instructor at Webster Spry Middle School and currently serves as the elementary all-county orchestra coordinator for Monroe County. Megan Flanegan ’04G is a high school English teacher in Boulder, CO. In September, she represented the Team USA in the World Triathlon Championships in Beijing, China. Diane Cossaboon Sturmer ’08G received a community inclusion award from the Rochester Advocacy Center last June and was nominated for the 2011 Carol Ritter Award for Outstanding Volunteer Services from the Rochester Area Administrators of Volunteer Services. Sturmer is a spiritual life coordinator for Heritage Christian Services in Rochester, where she has worked since 1987.

WEDDINGS & UNIONS Jackie Fazio ’02 to John Scanlan, Nov. 27, 2004. Kimberly French ’02 to Carl Schwarting, May 7, 2011. Amanda Krohn ’07 to Adam Kellerson, Sept. 25, 2010. Emily Cannon ’08 to Glen Labenski ’05 on May 21, 2011. Chelsea Carhart ’09 to Jay Lehmann, Aug. 5, 2011. Alanna Klosek ’09 to Alex Majewski, Aug. 8, 2009. Megan Linehan ’09 to James Simmons, Oct. 16, 2010. Michelle Miller ’10G to Joseph Sidari ’10G, Aug. 21, 2010.

BIRTHS & ADOPTIONS Michelle Miles Fries ’95, ’11G and Jon (Rob) Fries ’94, a son, Nicholas Patrick, March 19, 2010.

Christopher Murtha ’95, a son, Gavin Charles, Jan. 1, 2011. Margot Penfold Schoenborn ’97, a son, Henry, Feb. 22, 2011. Brian Slaninka ’97, a daughter, Anna Concetta, March 9, 2011. Vivian Mae Burke ’98, a daughter, Heather Nowicki, Aug. 6, 2011. Kelly Cragg Witter ’99, ’05G and Michael Witter ’99, ’06G, a daughter, Genevieve Arica Joy, Feb. 9, 2010. Adrienne Frank Cavallaro ’00, a son, Leo Benjamin, March 31, 2011. Jessica Gilson Basta ’01, ’05G and Jacob Basta ’98, two daughters, Ava Marie on July 10, 2008, and Giana Marie on Aug. 24, 2010. Tracey Taylor Melville ’01, a son, Jacob Scott, Feb. 14, 2011. Deborah Dunadee Wood ’01, a son, Bryce Edward, July 3, 2010. Jennifer Myers Dunshie ’02, a son, Andrew William, Aug. 27, 2010. Lacey Kianka English ’02, a son, Elijah Brendon, May 12, 2010. Michelle Gilardi Mallalieu ’02, ’03G, a daughter, Emily Jade, April 28, 2011. Jackie Fazio Scanlan ’02, a daughter, Coraline Michele, Jan. 21, 2010. Katie Antonucci Austin ’03, a daughter, Lilliana, Feb. 4, 2010. Hilory McMahon Liccini ’04, a daughter, Stella Rose, Dec. 21, 2010. Karen Schranz Mersich ’05, ’06G, a son, Ayden Edward, April 4, 2010. April Barber Seeley ’05 and Brian Seeley ’05, a daughter, Isabella April, Dec. 7, 2009. Anna Czerniawski Cartwright ’06 and Daniel Cartwright ’07, a son, John Francis, March 21, 2011. Jena Heierman Murphy ’08, a daughter, Camryn Jane, June 27, 2010.

www.naz.edu


WELCOME! Friends from the Class of 1997 got together in Rochester for a reunion weekend that included a tour of the campus. Left to right: Katie Waters O’Leary, Marlene Rae Giacobbi, Margot Penfold Schoenborn, Erin Waugh Brewster, and Jennifer Axtell Lester.

IN MEMORIAM Mary Severine Dolanski, F.S.S.J., on Jan. 22, 2011. Sr. Severine ministered in the field of education for 63 years at St. Theresa School in Rochester, St. Vincent de Paul in North Evans, and Most Precious Blood in Angola. She also served as assistant principal, office assistant, and attendance secretary at Most Precious Blood. In June 2008, she joined the sisters in the Colette Hilbert Care Community. Dorothy Craig Teall ’40, on April 24, 2011. Teal worked as an editor at Eastman Kodak Company and raised four children. She was an active member of the St. Thomas More Parish and chaired the Catholic Women’s Club of Rochester. Ruth Lorenz Favasuli ’44, on July 10, 2011. She is survived by her daughter, son, sisters, and numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, and dear friends. Mary Joan Costigen Brien ’60, on April 8, 2010, after a 15-year

www.naz.edu

battle with cancer. She is survived by her husband, Tom, of 50 years. Kathleen McMinn Lavery ’65, on Nov. 1, 2005. Janet Brusso ’73, on Jan. 31, 2011. Brusso was a Spanish teacher with East Palmyra Christian School in Palmyra. She is survived by her husband, father, and several aunts, uncles, and cousins. MaryBeth Hurkens Campagna ’89, on April 7, 2011. She was diagnosed with non-smokers lung cancer in January 2009. Campagna leaves behind her husband, Marc, and three daughters, Laura, Melanie, and Lindsey. Her parents, two sisters, and one brother live in Syracuse. Michael Collins ’89, on April 30, 2011, at the age of 45. Judy VanLare ’96, in July 2011. Rachael Toombs Lassiter ’97, ’02G, on Sept. 15, 2010, at the age of 35 following a brief illness. She had worked as a youth/afterschool director/camp director at the YMCA in Burlington, NC.

Nazareth welcomes the following newborns into the ever-growing ranks of future alumni! From top to bottom: Andrew William, son of Jennifer Myers Dunshie ’02, born August 27, 2010. Ava Marie and Giana Marie, daughters of Jessica Gilson Basta ’01, ’05G and Jacob Basta ’98, born July 10, 2008 and August 24, 2010, respectively. Genevieve Arica Joy, daughter of Kelly Cragg Witter ’99, ’05G, and Michael Witter ’99, ’06G, born February 9, 2010. Henry, son of Margot Penfold Schoenborn ’97, born February 22, 2011. Lilliana, daughter of Katie Antonucci Austin ’03, born February 4, 2010.

CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12 57


THE | archive

Dormitory Life

H

undreds of new freshmen moved into the dorms last August—although none of the rooms looked quite like this! These young women, photographed in the mid-1960s, illustrate the community spirit of residence hall living that still remains today. If you have additional information about this photograph, please let us know! Send comments to Archives, Lorette Wilmot Library, Nazareth College, 4245 East Avenue, Rochester, NY 14618, or email driley@naz.edu.

58 CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12

This photo, which appeared in the Summer/Fall 2011 issue of Connections, has now been identified! Painting the tunnel were art majors Mary Ellen (Mickey) Trescott Urzetta ’48 (left) and Mary Betty Keegan Murphy ’48. From 1948 to 1951, art faculty guided students in creating scenes from local history; this mural was titled Totiakton and depicted Native Americans with the first Jesuit missionaries to New York State. Thanks to all those who contacted us with more information, particularly Mary Betty’s husband Frank Murphy and Mary Ellen’s daughter Helen Urzetta Tortorici ’75, ’80G, who said she used to visit campus with her brothers to see her mother’s tunnel painting www.naz.edu


RETHINK Graduate Degrees Whether you want to complete your studies, receive your certification, or switch careers, consider a graduate degree from Nazareth College. Nazareth offers graduate programs in: Arts and Sciences Education Health and Human Services Management Graduate Program Information Sessions January 5 and March 1 • Meet with faculty from your specific program of interest. • Optional campus tours available. Discover more or register for a session at grad.naz.edu.

www.naz.edu

CONNECTIONS | Winter 2011-12 59


4245 East Ave. Rochester, NY 14618-3790 CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

B r i ck b y

Brick

C

onstruction continues on the Integrated Center for Math and Science, which

will open for fall semester 2012. Check out updates on the construction blog at forcollegeandcommunity.wordpress.com and view the daily changes on the live construction webcam at go.naz. edu/webcam.

Non-Profit Org. U.S.Postage PAID Rochester, NY Permit No. 1217


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