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connectionS Nazareth College
Bringing Their A-Game Student Athletes Find Success at Nazareth
Nazareth College Arts Center | 2012-2013 Season artscenter.naz.edu 585-389-2170
Series sponsors:
Top to bottom, left to right: River North Dance Chicago, photo: Jenifer Girard; Just Imagine; Anonymous 4; Cashore Marionettes; Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia, Guess How Much I Love You, photo: Margo E. Gesser.
Seussical, The Musical
Sat., Dec. 8
2 p.m., 7 p.m.
Rochester Children’s Theatre (Co-production with Nazareth College Arts Center)
Sun., Dec. 9
2 p.m.
Fri., Dec. 14
7 p.m.
Sun., Dec. 16
2 p.m.F
Anonymous 4
Sat., Dec. 15
8 p.m. D
The Capitol Steps
Mon., Dec. 31
6:30 p.m.
Mon., Dec. 31
10 p.m.
The Jason Bishop Show
Sat., Jan. 19
8 p.m. D
Honk!
Sat., Feb. 2
2 p.m.
Rochester Children’s Theatre (Co-production with Nazareth College Arts Center)
Sun., Feb. 3
2 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 9
2 p.m., 7 p.m.
Sun., Feb. 10
2 p.m.F
Just Imagine
Sat., Feb. 23
8 p.m. D
Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia: Guess How Much I Love You and My Little Storybook
Sat., Mar. 9
2 p.m., 4 p.m.
The Pipes and Drums of the Black Watch 3rd Battalion, the Royal Regiments of Scotland, and the Band of the Scots Guards
Fri., Mar. 15
8 p.m.
River North Dance Chicago
Sat., Mar. 23
8 p.m.
Cashore Marionettes Simple Gifts
Sun., May 5
2 p.m., 4 p.m.
Rochester City Ballet: Past, Present and Future
Fri., May 17
7:30 p.m.
Sat., May 18
7:30 p.m.
Sun., May 19
2 p.m.
D Pre-performance lecture one hour prior to curtain time F Interpreted for the deaf and hard of hearing
Editor Robyn A. Rime Assistant Director, Publications and Creative Services Regular Contributors Donna Borgus ’13G Julie Long Alicia Nestle Joe Seil Sofia Tokar Additional Contributors Brian Bailey ’01G Robin L. Flanigan Amy Gallo ’13 Erich Van Dussen
ConneCtionS Nazareth College
Volume 25, Number 1
connectionS Bringing Their A-Game
Contributing Photographers Kurt Brownell Brady Dillsworth Greg Francis Jamie Germanow
Student Athletes Find Success at Nazareth
24 Beyond Self
Nazareth launches its Habitat for Humanity chapter.
Cover photograph by Alex Shukoff
Ice hockey team co-captain Scott Dawson ‘16, from Ottawa, Ont., takes on the Lorette Wilmot Library.
Main College switchboard: 585-389-2525 www.naz.edu www.naz.edu
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Interfaith Ideas
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Life of the Mind
Meghan Robinson ’06 uses interfaith experiences in pastoral setting. Prof. Brian Bailey ’01G explores college readiness with high school students.
Nazareth Heritage
Little-known spaces across campus.
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Cover Story: Sports Success
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Report to Donors 2011-12
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Alumni News
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Class Notes The Archive
How Nazareth’s growing athletics program competes by nurturing its student athletes.
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
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.
Nazareth in the World
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Nazareth College President Daan Braveman, J.D.
Class notes or comments: Office of Alumni Relations email: ashaw6@naz.edu 585-389-2472
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Cherise Madigan ’15, sophomore and CEO of The Feminine Alliance.
Vice President, Institutional Advancement Kelly E. Gagan
Name/address corrections: Office of Development email: plenz5@naz.edu 585-389-2415
News and Views
The latest news from the Nazareth campus.
Sports roundup; women’s soccer at 30; 20th anniversary of first lacrosse title.
Director of Alumni Relations Donna Borgus ’13G
Comments/story suggestions: Marketing and Communications—Publications email: rrime7@naz.edu 585-389-5098
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18 Sports
Photographer Alex Shukoff
Printing Cohber Press
WINTER 2012-2013
TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S
The Classes Ashley Shaw
Design Boehm Marketing Communications
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Operating revenues and expenses for the College during the past year. NSA mathematician Megan Tuttle Waterman ’97; waterfall watcher Matthew Conheady ’99; alumni chapter events recap.
O FPFPO
Copyright © 2012 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.
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College Appoints New Trustees Nazareth College is pleased to announce that Andrew Gallina and Warren Hern are the newest members of the board of trustees. Andrew Gallina has been involved in the commercial/industrial real estate market for more than 30 years as a real estate developer, general contractor, and broker. Gallina Development and its affiliates have developed and own numerous buildings and business parks in the Rochester area. In addition, Gallina Gallina Development owns and operates The Total Sports Experience, an indoor sports facility. Gallina currently serves on the boards for numerous community organizations, including the Al Sigl Center, the Memorial Art Gallery, the Rochester Business Alliance, and the Rochester Downtown Development Corp. He serves on the advisory board for the YMCA of Greater Rochester and is an investor in the Greater Rochester Enterprise (GRE). He is also past president of the Upstate NY Chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. Gallina holds a degree in engineering from Brown University.
Warren Hern serves as president and CEO of Unity Health System, which provides health care in more than 70 locations in Rochester and Monroe County. He joined Park Ridge Health System, Unity’s predecessor, as the vice president and controller in 1976, going on to serve as the executive vice president and CFO from 1985 through 2009. He assumed his current position in January 2010. Hern Hern has served as national chairman of the board of directors of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) and continues as an HFMA fellow; he served previously in various officer positions and on the board of directors. He was a member of the Greater Rochester Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO) from its inception in 2006 through 2009 and served as treasurer of Cerebral Palsy (CP) of Rochester. He is currently a member of the board of directors at JPMorgan Chase Regional, the Rochester Business Alliance, and the Health Care Association of New York State. Hern holds an M.B.A. in finance from Rochester Institute of Technology.
Occupational Therapy Clinic Opens to the Public Occupational therapy (OT) is about helping people develop or regain the ability to engage in productive lives. Examples of OT include: • Working with children with autism to improve their sensory processing; • Helping individuals relearn skills after a head injury; • Enabling the elderly with neurological or orthopedic conditions to receive intervention and improve function in the comfort of their homes. Nazareth College’s on-campus wellness and rehabilitation services now include occupational therapy. The OT clinic, located in Carroll Hall on the Nazareth campus, will offer comprehensive wellness, developmen-
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tal, and rehabilitative services to Rochesterarea children and adults. This fall, the clinic began serving children with diagnoses such as autism, Asperger’s disorder, sensory integrative dysfunction, learning disabilities, and cerebral palsy. The OT clinic will be providing treatment for adults in the near future. Individuals with neurologic, orthopedic, perceptual difficulties, hand injuries, and psychosocial needs will be able to receive services when the clinic’s adult services begin. Linda A. Shriber, Ed.D., OTR/L, is the chair and program director of and associate professor in the OT program at Nazareth. In preparation for the OT clinic’s opening in the fall, Shriber recently evaluated a
young child at the request of his mother. In response, the mother had this to share: “We recently became aware that our fiveyear-old son might be having some issues with his sensory processing…We contacted Nazareth and were thankful to receive a screening free of charge, along with an informative, in-depth report that proved quite helpful in arriving at a diagnosis. It has given us direction, and encouraged us that we weren’t just ‘imagining things.’” To learn more about OT at Nazareth, visit naz.edu/occupational-therapy. For more information about the OT clinic, contact Shriber at 585-389-2562 or ldudeks4@naz.edu.
www.naz.edu
New Faculty Nazareth College welcomes the newest members of its faculty for the fall 2012 semester. College of Arts and Sciences Sherri Baker-Hamilton ’97, assistant professor of art Baker-Hamilton has a B.S. in studio art, computer graphics, and illustration from Nazareth College. She was previously creative director at Mirus Group and senior art director at Martino Flynn; she also served several years as an adjunct professor of advertising design at Nazareth. Jared Chase, assistant professor of music Chase has a D.M.A. in wind conducting from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He was previously music department chair and director of bands at Bethany College in Kansas.
Ryan O’Laughlin, assistant professor of psychology O’Laughlin has a Ph.D. in social/personality psychology from the University of Rochester. He was previously an adjunct professor at Nazareth and the University of Rochester.
Heather Roffe, assistant professor of theatre arts Roffe has an M.F.A. in dance, choreography, and performance from SUNY College at Brockport. She was previously a visiting assistant professor of dance at SUNY Potsdam and SUNY College at Brockport.
www.naz.edu
School of Health and Human Services Colleen Carmody-Payne, assistant professor in nursing Carmody-Payne has an Ed.D. in executive leadership and education from St. John Fisher College and a master’s in nursing, clinical nurse specialist, from the University of Colorado Health Services Center. She was previously assistant professor of nursing at Keuka College. Deborah Carr-Warner, associate professor in nursing Carr-Warner has a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Nevada and an M.S. in nursing from Syracuse University. A registered nurse, she was previously associate professor at Clayton State University’s School of Nursing in Georgia.
Elizabeth Baltus Hebert, assistant professor in occupational therapy Hebert has a Ph.D. in human development from the University of Rochester and an M.S. in occupational therapy from SUNY at Buffalo. She was previously an adjunct professor at SUNY Geneseo and at the University of Rochester; she also worked with the U of R’s Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Pediatrics Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) program. Suzanne Johnston, lecturer in communication sciences and disorders Johnston has an M.A. in speech and language pathology from SUNY at Buffalo and has her Certificate of Clinical Competence from the ASHA. She previously served as a speech pathologist for Thompson Health and Unity Health; she has been an adjunct faculty member at Nazareth since 2010. Linda Riek, assistant professor in physical therapy Riek has a Ph.D. in health practice research from the University of Rochester and a D.P.T. from A.T. Still University in Arizona. She was previously a physical therapist with Rochester General Health Systems and Strong Memorial Hospital.
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President Daan Braveman and donors Nancy and Larry Peckham cut the ribbon at the official opening celebration for Peckham Hall.
Pec k h a m Ha l l
Now Open eckham Hall, home to the Integrated Center for Math and Science and the first new academic building on campus in 30 years, opened last September to great acclaim. Attended by hundreds of faculty, staff, students, alumni, donors, and community leaders, the grand opening featured a ribbon-cutting presided by Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy as well as student-led tours and lab demonstrations highlighting the state-of-the-art facility.
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Check out a video celebrating the opening at go.naz.edu/peckham-open.
www.naz.edu
Clockwise from left: A soaring atrium provides a stunning main entrance to the new building. The Braveman Student Collaborative Center is designed to promote faculty-student interactions. New science labs feature state-of-the-art equipment.
www.naz.edu
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Nazareth and Unity Health System Sign Memorandum of Understanding by Alicia Nestle
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azareth College and Unity Health System have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to foster the development and education of the next generation of health care workers, provide enhanced clinical services and outreach to individuals with functional disabilities, and implement professional development for practicing health care professionals. The activities under this collaboration will include: Research: Foster opportunities for Nazareth students to have access to patients and patient data for research. Opportunities for Unity employees to participate in research or conduct research projects under mentorship of Nazareth faculty. Program Development: Foster an exchange of information between the practicing clinician and Nazareth College faculty to ensure the most current knowledge and practical applications available. Community Reintegration: Facilitate an extension to the continuum of care available to individuals with functional impairments through development of the referral process
and intake coordination between Unity Health System and the Nazareth College Wellness and Rehabilitation Institute including art therapy, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, social work, speech-language pathology, and music therapy.
“The preparation of properly educated health care professionals is a key component to improving quality, efficiency, affordability, and accessibility of health care in our community,” says Nazareth College President Daan Braveman. “This partnership with Unity Health System allows Nazareth College to play a prominent leadership role in meeting the health system workforce needs in our community and beyond. It also is part of our larger efforts to develop a Wellness and Rehabilitation Institute that will serve as a national model for educating health care professionals.” In a health care environment with everchanging reimbursement and funding challenges, this collaboration will allow the opportunity for Unity Health System patients to be offered programming such as art, music, play, and yoga therapy, while providing practical experience to those developing clinicians. Learn more about the School of Health and Human Services’ professional programs at naz. edu/hhs. Alicia Nestle is Nazareth’s assistant director for new media.
Last summer, members of the Nazareth College Chamber Singers, the Nazareth College Women’s Chorus, and the Nazareth College Men’s Chorus performed in a pre-Olympic Games concert series in London. Nazareth was one of only six choirs in the U.S. selected to perform and the only college choir invited to attend. On three consecutive days, the group performed in Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, in a mass at the Farm Street Church of Immaculate Conception in London, and at Southwark Cathedral in London. The Nazareth choirs were directed by Mark Zeigler, Ph.D., professor of music, and accompanied by James Douthit, D.M.A, professor and chair of music, and Mario Martinez, D.M.A., associate professor and coordinator of vocal studies. The choir is shown here outside the Tower of London; you can read more about their trip at blogs.naz.edu/nazchoir.
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www.naz.edu
Living the College Dream
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by Robin L. Flanigan
azareth College’s Center for International Education recently gave six refugee students a three-week stay on campus to help them develop their English language skills and instill confidence that no matter their background, they have what it takes to earn more than a high school diploma. “In their minds, going to college doesn’t fit into anything they understand as reality,” says Lisa Daswani DeAlva, an English for speakers of other languages teacher at Rochester Early College International High School, which partnered with Nazareth’s American Language Institute to offer the intensive program, held last July. “These are students who consistently demonstrate a high level of motivation, and in order for them to see that college is truly part of their future, we really had to get them into a setting that would show them what it’s all about.” Many of the students, who have been in the U.S. between two and three years and will be entering grades 10 and 11 in the fall, have limited formal education. Their reading comprehension skills range from the first-grade to fifth-grade levels, and most are proficient only in their native language. Four of the six were born in refugee camps, and share memories of bathing in rivers and walking miles for clean drinking water. “These are all amazing, resilient, and humble human beings, and they’re truly inspirational,” says Daswani DeAlva. In addition to 20 hours of classroom instruction a week, the students worked independently on an online English language learning program that matched their individual skill levels. They went on field trips to Niagara Falls, George Eastman House, and other regional sites, and practiced their English while shopping and watching movies. “They were busy all the time,” says Linda Grossman, co-director of the American Language Institute.
www.naz.edu
Six refugee students developed their English language skills during an immersive three-week stay on campus. “We don’t get enough sleep,” Dil Bista of Nepal, who will be a junior, said with a laugh during her last week in the program. “I thought it would be easy and simple … but it’s not.” Even so, the 17-year-old, who is proficient in Nepali and Hindi, is happy to be improving her English and looks forward to attending college someday. Nazareth is on her list of possibilities. Mohamud Mohamed, a rising sophomore from Kenya, struggled most with writing, but spoke of his eventual college experience with clarity. At 15, he now knows he wants to be a doctor. His favorite moment of the program was an international dinner at which students on campus from various countries offered cultural performances. Mohamed read an African poem. Funded through a grant, the program—the first ever to bring local refugee high school students to live on campus—will now be assessed and, administrators hope, replicated. “This was a unique opportunity for Nazareth College,” says Grossman. “Civic engagement is a huge part of our mission in general, and this didn’t just create global citizens, it impacted the future of our community.” Daswani deAlva was proud to see the students branch out from their tight circle to create friendships with other students on campus, and over the three weeks witnessed tremendous growth among the group both personally and academically. She would love to see the same opportunity extended to other students at her high school, whose refugee population is expanding from 15 to 26 in 2012-13. “We’re going to do everything it takes to get every last one of them to college,” she says. “We can tell them at school that they’re going, but I really think it’s this kind of experience that cements the idea that it isn’t out of reach. “Now they see that it’s possible. The light bulb is on.” Read more about the American Language Institute at go.naz.edu/ALI. Robin Flanigan is a freelance writer in Rochester, New York.
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1–Martha Graham Dance Company performed “Every Soul Is a Circus” during the festival’s final night. 2–Martha Graham Dance Company performing “Lamentation Variations.”
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3–Luna Negra Dance Theater amazed the audience with their skill and artistry. 4–Free community dance classes were offered to children and adults in Latin American dance, modern square dance, and Broadway dance.
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5–Both Phoenix Project Dance and FuturPointe Dance taught dance workshops for Rochester City School District students at ArtSmart Camp. 6–Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik led the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in a survey of American dance music, featuring dancers from the West Coast, during the Dance Festival Overture. 7–Three-time festival attendee FuturPointe Dance engaged dance audiences with their blend of Caribbean and African dance, ballet and Latin movement, and reggae and urban vocabulary.
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8–The Flower City Ballet performed at the second Dancing on the Grass event, one of the many free events sponsored by the Dance Festival.
2012 A Look Back:
Dance Festival
he third annual Nazareth College Arts Center Dance Festival was held July 12–21, 2012. Headlining the festival, Martha Graham Dance Company, Beth Gill Dance, Luna Negra Dance Theater, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, LehrerDance, and FuturPointe Dance amazed audiences with their skill and artistry. Families enjoyed free events, and novice and practiced dancers alike took part in master classes and free community classes. The festival challenged the audience to experience dance
9–Daystar: Contemporary Dance-Drama of Indian America wowed audiences at the first Dancing on the Grass event.
in all new ways, and in turn provided an experience of a lifetime.
10–Performers from LehrerDance await their turn on stage in the wings of the Callahan Theatre.
10www.naz.edu
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Nazareth Earns National Accolades Nazareth College is one of the country’s best institutions for undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review. The education services company features the school in the new 2013 edition of its annual college guide, The Best 377 Colleges. Only about 15% of America’s 2,500 four-year colleges and three colleges outside the U.S. are profiled in the book, which is The Princeton Review’s flagship college guide. It includes detailed profiles of the colleges with rating scores for all schools in eight categories, plus ranking lists of top 20 schools in the book in 62 categories based on The Princeton Review’s surveys of students attending the colleges. Nazareth is also ranked number 21 on a list of the Top 100 Master’s Universities by the 2012 Washington Monthly College Rankings. Those rankings also placed Nazareth at number 2 on the list of community service participation. Washington Monthly’s rankings rate schools based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories: social mobility (recruiting and graduating low-income students), research (producing cutting-edge scholarship and Ph.D.s), and service (encouraging students to give something back to their country). Finally, U.S. News & World Report has again ranked Nazareth College in the top tier of colleges and universities in the category of Best Regional Universities—North in its 2013 edition of U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges. Nazareth also made the guide’s list for A+ Schools for B Students, where top quality institutions look for more than just grades on applications. “Nazareth College is proud to be included once again on the list of best regional universities in the north region by a widely respected publication like the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges guide,” says President Daan Braveman. “We are providing students with the highest quality experience through our liberal arts core, professional learning, and fieldwork opportunities that prepare them for successful careers and meaningful lives.”
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Taylor Sculpture Enhances Art Center
he Nazareth College Arts Center main entrance now features a sculpture by acclaimed glass artist Michael Taylor. The new work, donated to the College by the artist, is titled Right Place/Right Time and conveys the cycle of student life on campus from matriculation to graduation. “The piece speaks of student accomplishments from the foundation years to the assertion of independence of personal interests,” says Taylor. “Each arm of the 18 objects is at a different place and a different time corresponding to primary locations on the analogue clock and the compass. The work is ultimately about being prepared for the inevitable moment of being at the right place at the right time.” Taylor was head of the glass department at RIT’s College of Imaging Arts and Sciences for 20 years. His work appears in public and private collections around the world, including the Museum of Art and Design, New York; the National Collection of American Art, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; and the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va. Sculptor Michael Taylor installing his glass artwork Right Place/Right Time in the Arts Center.
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www.naz.edu
The Right Chemistry by Amy Gallo ’13 and Alicia Nestle
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hemistry major Goodwell Nzou ’15 has accomplished some extraordinary things in his short life: he’s toured Europe and America as a percussionist with his internationally recognized band, has been featured in an Oscar-winning documentary, and graduated from the most prestigious high school in Zimbabwe— all of which started with a snake bite. When he was just 11 years old, Nzou and his brother waded into a river to cool off near their home in Chitsungo Village in the Zambezi Valley of Zimbabwe. A puff adder, one of Africa’s deadliest snakes, suddenly bit Nzou. His leg immediately began to swell. With no transportation, his family placed him in a wheelbarrow and traveled more than 12 miles to the nearest clinic. For the next month and a half, Nzou would spend his days being carted (literally) back and forth to local clinics, only to see his foot and leg grow worse. By the time his family found the money to send him to a larger hospital almost 250 miles from his home, gangrene had set in and his doctors had no choice but to amputate. Nzou was relieved that the worst of his pain was over, but the hardest part of his journey was still to come. “Zimbabwe’s public schools aren’t equipped for the disabled, and the stigmatization is really bad,” says Nzou. With a heavy, cumbersome wooden leg, there was no way Nzou could return to school in his home village. A small grant from the government enabled him to attend schools exclusively for disabled children. At King George VI Children’s Centre (a high school), Nzou outshone all his classmates academically. He also excelled as a percussionist playing the marimba with Liyana, a band he and his friends formed in 2005 made up entirely of disabled musicians. In 2006, the group won the Crossroads Africa Inter-regional Music Festival in Mozambique and toured Sweden, The Netherlands, and Belgium later that year. Upon returning from tour, Nzou began to think more and more about his amputated leg—and how he could help others avoid the same fate. “I decided I wanted to be a doctor because if there had been a doctor in the village when I was bitten by the snake, I would still have my leg.” King George had no physical science teacher or lab, so Nzou taught himself chemistry with textbooks he purchased with his money from Liyana’s European tour. His determination got the attention of Christian Brothers College (CBC), the most prestigious high school in Zimbabwe. CBC sent the head of their science department to meet Nzou and see the lab he constructed in a school closet. Using what little equipment and chemicals he had, he completed an impressive experiment that wowed the teacher. “The science head went back to CBC and said ‘We want him here,’” says Nzou.
www.naz.edu
Meanwhile, Liyana was achieving great success as well. A film about the band, Music by Prudence, aired on HBO and won the 2010 Academy Award for best documentary (short subject). Nzou turned to the film’s producer, Elinor Burkett, for advice about the future, and she encouraged him to apply to Nazareth. “She told me about this small school where she had given a talk. I knew that if she remembered that small of a school, it must have been something unique.” And she was right. At Nazareth, Nzou is currently doing research to improve a drug that will enable doctors to test for HIV more easily, something he knows he wouldn’t be doing anywhere else as a sophomore. “If I had gone to a school like Columbia I would be washing out beakers.” He has also found a home in the Nazareth music community as part of the Nazareth Percussion Ensemble. “The cultural and musical exchanges I have witnessed between our music students and Goodwell are so inspiring,” says Kristen Shiner-McGuire, the percussion coordinator in the music department. “He is a gem of a person and is going to make a significant impact on the larger world.” For Nzou, attending medical school at Johns Hopkins University would be a dream come true. “What the mind perceives, it achieves,” he says. It is that mantra that accompanied him on his incredible journey to Nazareth and one that will no doubt lead him into a very bright future. Read more about Nazareth’s chemistry department at naz.edu/chemistry. Amy Gallo ’13 is a sociology major at Nazareth. Alicia Nestle is the assistant director for new media in Nazareth’s marketing department.
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n Sch o o l o f h e alt h a nd huma n serv ic es
From Classroom to Community by Julie Long
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tudents in the Greater Rochester entire community. They are partnerCollaborative Master’s of Social ing with a neighborhood geographic Work Program, a joint degree information systems expert to build an program between Nazareth Colinventory of available resources that lege and the SUNY College at Brockport, community members can access over the have been using their skills outside of the internet. The map will allow residents classroom—and making the southwest to filter information by topic and, they neighborhood of the City of Rochester a hope, provide some detailed information better place to live in the process. about each resource. The Advanced Standing Integrative The students are also working with Seminar course, taught by Nazareth’s the staff at the Arnett branch of the Assistant Professor Elizabeth Russell, Rochester Public Library to create aids Ph.D., and Brockport’s Visiting Assistant for job searching and employment Professor Margy Meath ’83, LCSW-R, opportunities. has scrapped most of its in-class time “We’re creating single page resources in an effort to put its students out in that say—this is how you can get a free the field where they’ll likely be working email address, here are some resume after graduation. They’re teaming with tools, here are some places that you can community leaders and local residents to go looking for jobs,” Meath says. “These identify both community strengths and are things that many of us take for critical issues in order to create resources granted because we know how to do it. for the community that will continue to But many people don’t.” provide support long after the project’s The Greater Rochester Collaborative completion. MSW program is an innovative response Russell says the students are aiming to a long-standing need for an MSW MSW students work on resume tips for city residents to get those in the community thinking program in the Greater Rochester area. in the southwest neighborhood. Back row: Michael about their neighborhood in a different The program is the first public/private Slobbe ’14, Sabrina Howland ’13. Front, left: Sabrina way. “So often, we look at what’s misspartnership in social work education, Wing ’13, Amanda Tuttle ’13. ing in a community … at what’s happenproviding students with the best educaing that isn’t putting people in a good tional experience from two of the area’s light,” says Russell. “But what’s happening that’s positive? For example, finest academic institutions. The program focuses on the delivery of many organizations offer free meals. How do we help people find out collaborative, community-based practice using an integrative practice about it and access it? How do we connect these organizations and model that stresses a strengths-based, empowerment oriented, interdishelp them pool their resources together?” ciplinary teamwork approach to social work practice. The program is a “We’re working on seven discrete projects or areas of focus. One of direct response to community, student, and agency needs and provides them is developing information about summer resources for kids in the opportunities for graduates of the program to be on the cutting edge of neighborhood. Another examines the health resources in the southwest new directions for social work practice. community,” says Meath. “Another group is focused on food. One of the issues with urban living is that a lot of people don’t have good Read about the Greater Rochester Collaborative MSW program at transportation. So they shop at local corner stores that sell lots and lots go.naz.edu/MSW. of junk. So they’re going to look at the healthy alternatives that they have to offer.” Julie Long is the assistant director of media relations in Nazareth’s Pulling from each of these seven different areas, students are building marketing department. an asset map, which will serve as a comprehensive resource for the
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n Col l eg e of A r t s an d S c i e n c es
New Majors Expand Liberal Arts Offerings by Robyn Rime
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he College of Arts and Sciences is offering several new majors this fall and has more ready to launch in fall 2013. This year’s additions include four bachelor of fine arts degrees in the Departments of Theatre and Art, the first B.F.A.’s offered in the College’s history. Deborah Dooley ’75, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, sees these steps as a further demonstration of Nazareth’s commitment to the value of the liberal arts and sciences and their capacity to support professional preparation for students. “As effective critical thinkers and skilled problem-solvers, Nazareth graduates will have not only the content knowledge of their disciplines, but also the cognitive ability to analyze and synthesize information in new ways,” Dooley says. “They learn to become creators of knowledge, not merely to imitate what others know.”
Acting, B.F.A. This pre-professional degree emphasizes the skills necessary for the working artist of the theatre. “It’s an immersion experience that begins with classes in dance technique, acting, script analysis, behind-the-scenes lab work, and a freshman showcase, then progresses into courses like improvisation, stage dialects, stage combat, and camera performance,” says Lindsay Reading Korth, M.F.A., professor and chair in theatre arts. Students learn the art of collaboration by interaction with fellow artists, peers, colleagues, teachers, and working professionals. For more, visit naz.edu/acting.
Musical Theatre, B.F.A. This pre-professional degree in music, theatre, and dance emphasizes the essential integration of these elements and generates young artists who can sing, dance, and act with technical ease and facility. Students
collaborate with fellow artists and foster a lasting appreciation for, and life in, the performing arts. Students can begin auditioning for casting as early as their second semester, and guest artists from professional theatre regularly direct and teach in the program. For more, visit naz.edu/musical-theatre.
Technical Production (Scenic, Costume, Lighting), B.F.A. This specific professional training degree covers all the design areas. All faculty members work professionally in their fields; students are required as part of their curriculum to complete a professional internship prior to their senior year. “All Nazareth’s shops are hands-on,” says Beth LaJoie, M.F.A., assistant professor of theatre arts/technical direction and lighting design. Students make patterns, do fitting, sewing, dyeing, and millinery; they practice drafting and carpentry, scenic painting, and props; and they learn to hang lights, use special effects, and run consoles. For more, visit naz.edu/technical-production.
Toxicology, B.S. Toxicologists study the harmful effects of all types of chemicals on biological systems. Nazareth’s program offers three tracks—cellular, organismal, and environmental—so students may customize the program to their career interests. “Despite an excellent occupational outlook for toxicologists, Nazareth is one of only a few schools in the nation to offer a bachelor’s degree in toxicology,” says Stephanie Zamule, Ph.D., assistant professor and director of the toxicology program. “The small class sizes and individualized attention from faculty make Nazareth a great place to study this exciting field.” For more, visit naz. edu/toxicology.
Visual Communication Design, B.F.A. This degree combines studies in studio art with courses in graphic design, illustration, advertising, and web design, providing students with essential competencies for the visual communication of ideas. Students learn to develop visual responses to communication problems, as well as understand message hierarchies, marketing strategies, typography, aesthetics, composition, and the construction of meaningful images. They become creative problem-solvers and elegant image-makers. For more, visit naz.edu/ visual-comm-design.
Technical production majors receive training on theatre light and sound consoles.
Other Approved Programs Newly received state approval means that undergraduate students are now also able to major in legal studies (B.A.), Asian studies (B.A.), or Chinese (Mandarin, B.A.). Beginning in fall 2013, graduate students can receive an M.S. in higher education student affairs administration, the only trans-disciplinary program of its kind in the Rochester area that prepares students for professional positions in multiple administrative sub-fields in higher education. For more information on the College of Arts and Sciences, visit naz.edu/cas. Robyn Rime is the editor of Connections.
www.naz.edu
CONNECTIONS | WINTER 2012-2013 15
NEWS|views
n Sch o o l o f e d u cat i on
Student Teaching with Passports by Erich Van Dussen
D
o Hungarian students give apples to their teachers? What about German pupils, or British youths? A handful of Nazareth College seniors are about to find out. To education majors everywhere, the student teaching experience represents a peek inside the familiar world of the classroom, viewed from a decidedly unfamiliar perspective. But Nazareth’s School of Education (SOE) allows select undergraduate and graduate students to venture into even more unfamiliar territory, through an international student-teaching program that places them in classrooms around the world for one of their two traditional placements.
Transitional time in an elementary school classroom in Leeds, England.
Now the program has expanded into new countries and cultures, and even more student teachers will be able to look out the windows of their classrooms and see Hungary, Germany, or England—to name only a few potential locations. “It’s a wonderful experience for the students. I know we’re very pleased to see more of them being able to take advantage of it,” says Deb Godsen DePalma, coordinator of international and intercultural initiatives for the school. Nazareth’s program began nearly 20 years ago, DePalma says, with a partnership with a school in Wales. That relationship ended recently, but along the way other international relationships began to emerge that
16 CONNECTIONS | WINTER 2012-2013
resulted in student-teaching opportunities in such far-flung settings as Tanzania and France. Additionally, education majors who may have previously studied abroad in Nazareth’s longstanding sister cities—Berlin, Pescara, Rennes, and Valencia—may be eligible to return to those cities as a student teacher, for a deeper understanding of those locations. Beyond the sheer cultural immersion, DePalma says, the goals of the program are to expand students’ understanding of the nature of teaching, let them compare different educational systems, and encourage adaptation and flexibility: If they can do it there, to paraphrase Frank Sinatra, they can do it anywhere. “That’s it exactly,” DePalma says. “Tanzania, for instance, is a very different experience than what they see here. You’re looking at upwards of 40 to 50 students in a classroom ... and you still have to teach the curriculum and be ready to address the unique needs of each student. The program arms them to be able to enter any classroom and quickly develop an understanding of how to work with their students as individuals.” Participation also makes the students more marketable, says Craig Hill, Ed.D., interim dean in the School of Education. “There is a lot of competition for the jobs that are available out there. Having a distinctive experience like this can really help students stand out when they’re looking for a position.” Hence the drive to keep expanding the program—both in the development of partnerships with new schools in new countries, and in the encouragement of Nazareth students to participate. In past years, approximately five seniors annually would go abroad in the program—typically from October to December, after completion of a local student-teaching placement at the beginning of their final fall semester. Now, with a coordinated expansion in both the number of countries and students involved, the program is prompting more future teachers to order passports. This fall alone, 10 students traveled to Leeds, England, and two more each to Hungary and Germany. Placement relationships are also blooming between Nazareth and schools in China and Kenya, DePalma says. “We hope to see those numbers keep growing—I think it would be great to be sending 30 students each year. “But we’ve already surpassed my five-year plan for growth,” she adds with a laugh. “I’ll stick with that plan for now!” Learn more about international student teaching at go.naz.edu/ international-student-teaching. Erich Van Dussen is a freelance writer in Rochester, New York.
www.naz.edu
n S cho o l o f M an ag e m e n t
Climbing the Wegmans Ladder by Sofia Tokar
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hat’s it like to climb the corporate ladder at one of Fortune’s top-ranked “100 Best Companies to Work For”? Ask Mike DeCory ’91, vice president of Wegmans brand, who has spent 26 years at Wegmans Food Markets, Inc., beginning as a part-time grocery clerk in 1986. “I’ve been unbelievably fortunate to have the ability to grow in a career that I love in my hometown and working for a fantastic company run by an outstanding family.” Founded in 1916 in Rochester, N.Y., Wegmans stores now number 80 (and increasing) across the mid-Atlantic region. The company has won dozens of awards and distinctions that highlight its excellence as an employer, as a retailer, and in community service. In fact, the latest Consumer Reports survey named Wegmans the best supermarket chain in the nation. Many Nazareth graduates who live in other parts of the country often lament the lack of a nearby Wegmans store. Whether it’s the amazing selection of products or the friendly customer service, people can’t get enough of the Wegmans experience. As it turns out, neither could DeCory, who worked in various store operations assignments at the company throughout high school and college. However, it wasn’t until his senior year at Nazareth that he was bitten by the retail bug. “Retail is not for everyone,” explains DeCory, “but if it gets in your blood, then there’s a real energizing component to that kind of work.” After graduating with a bachelor of science in business administration and economics in 1991, DeCory began his career at Wegmans in earnest, experiencing multiple aspects of the store operations side of the business. When the opportunity to work for the corporate side of Wegmans arose, DeCory jumped at the chance and was able to acquire additional learning by working in areas such as buying, merchandising, and inventory management. But he missed the daily life of the stores, and returned there for two years in order to stay current with the everchanging store operations environment. In October 2004, he came into his role at the director level, which was then turned into his current position, one that incorporates and expands upon all of the different skills he’s acquired while working at Wegmans: vice president of Wegmans brand. There’s a difference between the brand of Wegmans and Wegmansbrand products, explains DeCory. Wegmans-brand products bear the company’s name on the label; the brand of Wegmans is what people think of when they hear that name. “My job is to make sure every Wegmans-brand product lives up to the Wegmans brand in terms of quality, taste, packaging, safety standards, sustainability, manufacturing practices, and more.”
www.naz.edu
But don’t mistake Wegmans-brand products for your everyday grocery store generics. “Wegmans has its national brand equivalents,” continues DeCory, “but what we are most passionate about is finding new and better ways to develop unique products that meet the ever-changing needs of our customers. Our guiding principles are help, health, and affordability—and we are driven by the challenge of offering our customers a choice Mike DeCory ‘91 that they don’t have anywhere else in the market at the moment.” And with millions of customers, DeCory thinks of Wegmans first and foremost as “a people business”—focused on customer and employee satisfaction. “A lot of schools can teach the science of business, but at Nazareth I also learned the human side as well. The life skills I gained—in class with professors, on the tennis team, one-on-one with my academic advisors—are as imperative to me now as the theories of supply and demand.” A recent article in The Atlantic echoed DeCory’s sentiment, stating that “the secret sauce of Wegmans is people.” “It’s true,” he reiterates. “Every day I work with 43,000 of the most energized and passionate people—both in the stores and in corporate. The result is incredible service focused on making the Wegmans experience the best possible.” That outstanding service and focus on people inspires a “cult-like loyalty among its customers,” according to The Atlantic. “We value—and are humbled by—our customer fan base,” DeCory says, “so if people enjoy the Wegmans experience, we do everything possible to keep them loyal and coming back.” Read about the School of Management at naz.edu/management. Sofia Tokar is the assistant editor in Nazareth’s marketing department.
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sports|news
Locker Rooms Refurbished with Assist from Van Gundy Thanks in large part to a generous gift from alumnus Jeff Van Gundy ’85, Nazareth’s men’s and women’s basketball locker rooms got a facelift last summer. The old metal lockers were replaced by more modern wooden ones, and the men’s locker room was named in honor of Van Gundy’s coaches when he played at Nazareth: Bill Nelson, Jim Emery, and Bob Ward. The women’s locker room was named in honor of Van Gundy’s roommate at Nazareth, Farrell Lynch, who was among the thousands who perished in the World Trade Center attack on September 11, 2001. The locker rooms were dedicated during a ceremony last September, prior to Nazareth’s Van Gundy annual Sports Hall of Fame dinner. “This is obviously a great thing for us,” says Nazareth Athletic Director Pete Bothner. “It’s nice that someone with the profile Jeff has is able to remember his roots by supporting a cause that is near and dear to him.”
I
Lacrosse Alumni Win Tournament in Lake Placid
t will never stack up with any of the national championships that they were part of in the 1990s, but for 35 former Nazareth lacrosse players, winning the Lake Placid Classic last August helped rekindle some fond memories. Competing in the Masters II Division (35 and older), the Nazareth Olden Flyers posted a 3-1 record in the four-day event, including a 12-8 win in the championship game against a group that consisted mostly of former Syracuse University standouts. “The alumni and their families did an awesome job representing Nazareth College and our lacrosse program,” says Rob Randall ’88, the current Nazareth head coach who also played in the tournament. The team consisted of players from Nazareth’s inaugural team (1986) and incorporated several players from Nazareth’s national championship teams of 1992, 1996, and 1997. Former Nazareth standouts Bill Meagher ’91 and Brent Rothfuss ’97 did most of the organizing. “Many of us had not played together for at least 15 years,” says Meagher. “We lost our first game, but once the cobwebs cleared, the team came together and played great.” Kevin Kaffl, an All-American goalie for Nazareth back in 1993, was named tournament MVP. Ronnie Davis ’93, who played on Nazareth’s 1992 championship team, sponsored a house party for all
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Van Gundy played basketball at Nazareth from 1983 through 1985 and was inducted into the Golden Flyers’ Sports Hall of Fame in 1996. He has coached the New York Knicks and Houston Rockets in the NBA and currently serves as a television analyst for the NBA on ABC and ESPN.
the Nazareth alums, including some of the more recent graduates. Adam Civalier ’99, who played in ’96 and ’97, was able to secure sponsorship from Genesee Brewery. Shawn Riley ’89, a member of the original Nazareth team and co-owner of Graph Tex, Inc. in Homer, N.Y, contributed some lacrosse gear, and Randall donated lacrosse gloves. Jim Cornicelli ’93 and Joe Alden ’94, each members of the ’92 team, flew in from North Carolina and Japan respectively. “It was a team effort,” Meagher says. The team’s roster was a who’s who of former Nazareth lacrosse standouts: Joe Alden ’94, Dave Basile ’90, Tom Campbell ’96, Tom Cincebox ’89, Adam Civalier ’99, Bill Coons ’89, Jim Cornicelli ’93, Dan Coughlin ’92, Kevin Cox ’94, Ronnie Davis ’93, Dan Garrett ’80, Ed Geary, Greg Gebhardt ’92, John Gebhardt ’91, Mike Grasso ’95, ’96G, Jeremy Hollenbeck ’96, Carl Jutzin ’93, Kevin Kaffl, Marty Kelly ’92, Chris March ’92, Ryan McDermott ’98, Bill Meagher ’91, Chris Nadelen ’00, Tony Pezzimenti ’94, Brandon Piccarreto ’02, Neal Powless ’98, Dave Pratt ’95, Jeff Pross ’99, Rob Randall ’88, Pete Riley ’93, Shawn Riley ’89, Brent Rothfuss ’97, Bill Serino ’99, Wewoka Shenandoah, Brian Silcott. Read more about Nazareth lacrosse on page 22.
www.naz.edu
Women’s Soccer Team Celebrates 30 Years on the Field
N
azareth’s women’s soccer program is no worse for wear now that they’ve reached the ripe old age of 30, yet Gail Mann has been around long enough to remember a time when Nazareth’s Flyers weren’t quite so golden. As the head coach for exactly two-thirds of the Golden Flyers’ rich women’s soccer tradition, Mann has a vivid memory of her first season at the helm. It was 1993, a time when she was more concerned about recruiting quality student-athletes than wins and losses. “I knew how it was supposed to be and I was focused on that,” says Mann, who finished 4-12-1 in her first season. “I wanted to make us perennial contenders to make the NCAA tournament.” The blueprint came more into focus by her second season as the Golden Flyers moved up to nine victories. They won 12 games the next season, then 16 the season after that. By year five (1997), the fledgling Flyers were ready to take flight. They completed a 15-0-1 record-season schedule and made the NCAAs for the first time. An exciting triple overtime win over Oneonta followed, before the season ended with a 3-2 loss to the University of Rochester. They haven’t had anything close to a losing season since those drab days of the early ’90s, and they’ve amassed double-digit victory totals 16 times in the past 17 seasons. In addition, they’ve won eight Empire 8 Conference titles and made eight NCAA tournament appearances. “It’s what we strived for when I came here,” says Mann, whose 240-plus career wins rank her among the top active coaches in all of Division III. “We’ve had the luxury of having a lot of good players pass through, and they’ve stayed involved and helped in building our foundation.”
by Joe Seil Under the direction of former head coach Jacklin Randall-Ward and a push from then-president Robert A. Kidera, Nazareth started women’s soccer in 1983. The Golden Flyers were competitive from the outset with help from Sports Hall of Famers Lynne Stever Nelson ‘89, Angela Coniglio ‘88, and Liz O’Leary Rollins ‘87, ‘98G. Nazareth won 56 games in RandallWard’s five seasons and earned their first national ranking in 1986. Six straight losing seasons followed before Mann came Gail Mann, head coach for women’s soccer since on board and provided 1993. stability. Among the many turning points was Mann’s ability to recruit quality players from the immediate area, including Hall of Famers Rita Bartucca Kladstrup ‘98, ‘02G and Michelle Urbanski Valentino ‘00, ‘02G, whose careers intersected in 1996 when Valentino was a freshman and Kladstrup a senior. “Before they came to Nazareth, all the top local talent either went to U of R or William Smith,” Mann says. “We needed to change that.” In 1999, Valentino’s senior year, Nazareth set a school record with 17 victories and knocked off Oneonta and William Smith on consecutive days to win the New York Regional title and to advance to the national quarterfinals, the deepest post-season run in the program’s history. Two-time All-American midfielder Melanie Northrup Kaeser ‘00 also played on that team, along with Jaime Snyder ‘03, who earned AllAmerican honors two years later. Success snowballed and more quality players arrived, including AllAmericans Heidi Brown Woodcock ‘03 and Kristina Cristofori ‘07, ‘12G, each of whom captained conference championship teams. “It hasn’t gotten any easier,” Mann admits. “There’s more parity among teams and everyone now has the same recruiting mentality. I wouldn’t trade it, though, for anything. It’s been a great run.” Read more about Nazareth athletics at athletics.naz.edu. Joe Seil is the sports information director and assistant athletic director at Nazareth College. Women’s soccer celebrated 30 years last September with an alumni game and reception that drew more than 30 players, including Ashley Clinton ‘10, ‘11G (left) and Erica Conte ‘12.
www.naz.edu
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sports|news
Johnston Named to All-Region Team
A
lyssa Johnston ’13, midfielder on the Nazareth women’s lacrosse team, was named to the Empire Region all-star team by the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association. Johnston, of Canandaigua, N.Y. and a graduate of Canandaigua Academy, was a second-team selection after leading the Golden Flyers in scoring in 2012 and assisting them to a berth in the Empire 8 Conference Tournament. Johnston amassed 51 points on 40 goals and 11 assists. She ranks in the top 10 all-time for career scoring with 149 points, including 109 goals. Johnston also was a first-team Empire 8 Conference all-star for the Golden Flyers, who posted an overall record of 6-9 in 2012. In addition to Johnston, Erinn Wood ’13 and Megan Cregan ’13 were named to the second team along with MacKenzie Haley ’15. Tara Prosak ’14 made honorable mention. Brittany Buza ’12 was Nazareth’s representative as conference Sportswoman of the Year. Wood, of Vestal, N.Y. and a graduate of Vestal High School, ranked first in assists with 25 and was second in scoring with 46 points. She had 22 points in seven conference games on 14 goals, 8 assists. Cregan, of Rochester and a graduate Brighton High School, had 37 points on 35 goals, two assists, and ranked first on the team with 21 caused turnovers. Haley, of Syracuse and a graduate of West Genesee High School, played regularly as a starting defender for the Golden Flyers and had 30 ground balls and 18 caused turnovers.
Prosak, of Jamesville, N.Y. and a graduate of Jamesville-DeWitt High School, started 15 games for the Golden Flyers and had 142 saves. Buza, of Syracuse and a graduate of Marcellus High School, was named Nazareth’s representative on the 2012 Women’s Lacrosse Sportswoman of the Year Team. Empire 8 emphasizes that “Competing with Honor and Integrity” is an essential component of a studentathlete’s experience in conjunction with an institution’s educational mission. These honorees Alyssa Johnston ’13 have distinguished themselves and consistently exhibit the critical traits as outstanding sportswomen.
Estes Makes All-American Team C.J. Estes ’12, attackman for the Golden Flyers’ men’s lacrosse team, represented Nazareth on the Division III All-American team that was chosen in May by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association. Estes was an honorable mention selection. Estes, of Medfield, Mass. and a graduate of Hebron Academy, was the Golden Flyers’ team captain and leading scorer in 2012 with 50 points on 27 goals and 23 assists. He ranks fifth all-time at Nazareth in career scoring with 195 points, including 117 goals. He also was recognized as a first-team Empire 8 Conference all-star. In addition to Estes, midfielder Drew Simoneau ’15 represented Nazareth as Empire 8 Conference Rookie of the Year for 2012. Simoneau, of Manchester, N.H. and a graduate of Kimball Union, took more than half of the Golden Flyers’ faceoffs in 2012 and had an overall success rate of 56 percent (162-for-288). He also scored nine goals and added three assists and had a team-best 107 ground balls. In regular-season conference games, Simoneau won 86 of 124 faceoffs for 64.2 percent. Estes and Simoneau were first-team E8 all-stars, and five others made second team: attackman Collin Clark ’14, midfielder Brian Wright ’13, long-stick midfielder Kyle Fister ’15, defenseman Jerry Chasteen ’15, and goalie Tim Doyle ’13. Short-stick defensive midfielder Mark Pinski ’14 and defenseman Tucker Sampson ’12 made honorable mention. Also, defenseman Jon TenBrock ’12 was Nazareth’s representative as E8 Sportsman of the Year. C.J. Estes ’12
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www.naz.edu
F
Jake Lazore ’91
Mike McGwin ’93
Jaime Snyder ’03
Jon Zatyko ’85
Linda Downey
Nazareth Inducts Five into Sports Hall of Fame
our former standout athletes and one standout coach were the inductees at Nazareth’s 18th annual Sports Hall of Fame dinner last September. Former men’s lacrosse standout Jake Lazore ’91; former men’s basketball standout Mike McGwin ’93; former women’s soccer standout Jaime Snyder ’03, and former men’s soccer standout Jon Zatyko ’85 are the athletes enshrined. In addition, former women’s volleyball coach Linda Downey (1999-2002) was inducted in the distinguished service category. Lazore, of Nedrow, N.Y., played three lacrosse seasons for the Golden Flyers and earned first-team All-American honors and was named Division III Midfielder of the Year in 1991. He helped Nazareth to an NCAA Tournament berth in ’91 as well as the ECAC Upstate championship in 1990. McGwin, of Rochester, N.Y., was a four-year member of the men’s basketball team who amassed 1,104 points and 561 rebounds for his
career. He was the team’s leading scorer (17.6 ppg.) and rebounder (7.5 rpg.) for the 1992-93 season. Snyder, of Allegany, N.Y., excelled for four seasons as a women’s soccer player and was named Empire 8 Conference Player of the Year and third-team All-American in 2001. She was a four-time E8 all-star who helped Nazareth to four straight NCAA Tournament berths. Zatyko, of Pittsford, N.Y., played soccer for four seasons at Nazareth and was a member of the first team in 1980. He still ranks second all-time in career scoring with 72 points, including 27 goals, and was captain of a 1983 team that finished 12-2-1. Downey, a Fairport resident, coached the Golden Flyers’ women’s volleyball team to four of the most successful seasons in its history from 1999 through 2002. She posted an overall record of 126-35 (.783) and helped the Golden Flyers to regional titles and national quarterfinal appearances in 2001 and 2002. She was named New York Region Coach of the Year three straight times.
Ryan McCormick Makes First Team Ryan McCormick ’13, a junior on the Nazareth College men’s tennis team, was honored last spring as a first-team Empire 8 Conference all-star for the third year in a row. The allconference teams were selected through voting by the league’s head coaches. A native of Rochester and a graduate of Irondequoit High School, McCormick posted an overall record of 18-4 as Nazareth’s first singles player in 2011-12, including a 6-1 mark in Empire 8 Conference matches. His 42 career singles wins ranks among the top 10 all-time at Nazareth. In addition to McCormick, Nazareth’s second doubles tandem of Jeremy Mancus ’13 and Erik Manske ’14 made first team, while the first doubles combination of McCormick and Bret Beaver ’13 was named to the second team. Mancus also made second team in singles, while Manske was honorable mention in singles. Mancus and Manske had a 14-7 record in doubles, including a 6-1 mark in conference matches. Beaver and McCormick went 4-2 in conference play and finished 9-13 overall. For singles, Mancus was 14-8 overall, playing third singles and Manske finished 13-7 at fourth singles.
www.naz.edu
Ryan McCormick ’13
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sports|news
“A Lot of Gutsy Kids”
Left: Goalie Greg Gebhardt ‘92 (10) snatches the ball out of danger. Right: Nazareth’s 1991-92 men’s lacrosse team.
Twenty years ago, Nazareth scored its first lacrosse national championship by Joe Seil he chain-link fence that encased Hobart’s Boswell Field was about four feet high and had all the efficiency of a roll of tissue paper in a rainstorm. When Nazareth’s Marty Kelly ‘92 unleashed the shot that enabled the Golden Flyers to beat Hobart—for the first and only time ever—in May 1992, the fence was simply no obstacle for the cascade of fans that poured onto the field to celebrate one of college lacrosse’s most epic victories. “I don’t know if people realize the size of the mountain that we had to climb,” recalls Brian Silcott, a midfielder for the Golden Flyers at the time. “It’s something that could probably never happen again.” More than two decades have elapsed since Nazareth lacrosse’s version of David slaying Goliath played out in front of more than 7,000 spectators. For most of the 34 players and five coaches who represented the Golden Flyers that day, memories of collegiate life
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have faded. The recollections, however, of Nazareth’s 13-12 overtime victory over Hobart in the national semifinals—as well as those from a 22-11 romp over Roanoke in the national championship game a week later—are as vivid as hi-def. As an upstart team with an ambitious head coach (Scott Nelson), Nazareth was in just its seventh season of intercollegiate play when it captured the Division III national championship in men’s lacrosse, halting an unprecedented reign of success for Hobart that featured 12 straight national titles. Nazareth finished with a 14-1 record and was the best team in 1992. “[Beating Hobart] was just one link in the chain,” says Ronnie Davis ’93, a midfielder who scored 32 goals that season, including six in the championship game against Roanoke. “We knew that the road to the championship would have to go through Geneva, but that was just one game.”
Calling it “just another game” was a classic understatement. Supremely prepared and feeling as though their time had finally arrived, Nazareth secured leads of 6-0 and 8-1 before Hobart rallied. The Statesmen closed to within 8-3 by halftime; with 15 minutes to go, Nazareth’s lead had shrunk to 9-6. With less than a minute remaining, Nazareth was still up 12-10, but Hobart scored twice in the final 34 seconds, including the game-tying goal with just three seconds left, to force the game to sudden-death overtime. If it seemed like déjà vu all over again, it was because Hobart had beaten Nazareth eight times previously, including a last-minute 1312 triumph a during the regular season only a month before. “I just remember being mad that we had allowed them to tie it up,” says Kelly, who remained confident as overtime loomed. “I remember thinking that we couldn’t let this happen again.” www.naz.edu
And they didn’t. Silcott won the crucial overtime face-off and passed the ball to Davis, who had doubts about passing the ball again. “Before overtime,” Davis recalls, “Nelson told us to get the ball to Marty when we won the face-off. It crossed my mind, though, not to pass it.” Davis followed instructions, but Kelly had the ball wrapchecked from his stick by a Hobart defender as he tried to bull his way toward the goal. Miraculously, the ball bounced in front of Kelly and he was able to rake it back into the pocket of his stick. With the Hobart defender draped on him like a wet blanket, Kelly delivered the game-winning shot that settled into the back of the net, 24 seconds into overtime, touching off a victory celebration that lasted more than 20 minutes. “The first face I saw was Ronnie’s,” Kelly says. “I never saw the wave of fans, but I ended up on the bottom of the pile and I thought my head might explode.” A week later, in somewhat anti-climactic style, the Golden Flyers completed their mission by dominating Roanoke for the national title in front of more than 6,700 fans at Philadelphia’s Franklin Field. It was Nazareth’s first of three national titles in the ’90s. Hobart, meanwhile, moved up to Division I after the 1994 season, and the teams haven’t played since. “We were kind of a ragtag operation when you think back on it,” says Nelson, now the head lacrosse coach at Binghamton University, “but we had a lot of gutsy kids.” More than two decades later, the players and coaches— now mostly 40-somethings—have scattered. Some played professionally both indoors and out. Some followed in Nelson’s footsteps and became coaches. Still others haven’t touched a lacrosse stick since. Most are married with children. “It will always be part of my day-to-day being,” says Davis, who lives in Pittsford and owns a handful of area eateries. “The best part of the whole thing is the friendships. It seems like there will always be a link to it.” With the landscape of present-day collegiate lacrosse somewhat altered—more than 200 teams compete at the Division III level alone—it seems unlikely that such a fledgling team could reap the same success in such a short period. “I guess it’s possible, but not realistic,” says Kelly, now the head coach at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island. “There’s just too much parity.” Meanwhile, Nazareth’s ’92 team (along with its championship counterparts of ’96 and ’97) remains the standard by which others will be scrutinized. “It was quite a feat,” says Nelson. “Those guys and the guys from the first few years laid quite a foundation.” What are the players on the ’92 championship lacrosse team doing now? Read their updates at naz.edu/connections/stories. Top: Midfielder Ronnie Davis ’93 (3) congratulates attackman Marty Kelly ‘92 (30). Middle: And the crowd goes wild… Bottom: Nazareth captures the 1992 Division III national championship in men’s lacrosse. www.naz.edu
Joe Seil is the sports information director and assistant athletic director at Nazareth College.
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beyond self | community service
Ground-Level Construction Nazareth launches a campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity by Robyn Rime
ast October, a small cardboard town sprang up on campus. Occupying the quad near the Clock Tower Commons dormitory for just one night, the boxes provided temporary shelter for a dozen Nazareth students who braved frosty temperatures to sleep in the Cardboard City. Their goal: raise awareness of the need for affordable housing and increase visibility of Nazareth’s new campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity International. “The event helps students learn about the poverty and homelessness right here in Rochester, and we hope that their experiences that night inspire them to engage in more volunteer opportunities and become more active,” says Samantha Lewis ’14, a history major and president of the campus Habitat chapter. “While fundraising is one of the goals of a campus chapter, we believe educating people is another essential aspect, and Cardboard City is just one outlet for that.” Since 1976, Habitat for Humanity has used volunteer labor and donations of money and materials to build and rehabilitate decent, affordable houses alongside homeowner partner families. In addition to a down payment and monthly mortgage payments, homeowners invest their own labor into building their house and the houses of others. Habitat houses are sold to partner families at no profit and financed with affordable loans; the homeowners’ monthly mortgage payments are then used to build still more Habitat houses.
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Students prepare their boxes for Cardboard City, an awareness-raising event sponsored by Nazareth’s Habitat for Humanity Campus Chapter. See more Cardboard City photos at flickr.com/photos/ nazareth_college/sets.
The organization is widely admired for its participatory model. “It’s a hand up, not a handout,” explains Nick Croce ’13, founder and past president of Nazareth’s campus chapter. “The homes are paid back—Habitat has something like a 97 percent success rate. They try to create neighborhoods and revitalize the whole place.”
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The Nazareth chapter was formed last April under the local affiliate Flower City Habitat for Humanity and functions as part of the Undergraduate Association. According to Brian Bailey ’01G, Ph.D., assistant professor of adolescence education and faculty advisor to the group, the chapter’s goals are threefold: building homes; raising money to participate in builds; and educating people about poverty and community change. The chapter has been well received on campus. “There are lots of people interested in getting a hammer in hand and building someone a home,” says Lewis. Initial meetings drew more than 50 students with wide-ranging backgrounds; participation changes each semester, with a solid core of about 15 regulars. “I thought we’d get a more humanities-type group, but we have all majors and lots of athletes,” says Croce. Members volunteer to assist with builds both as individuals and as a group; they hope to increase their activity, though money is still tight. Last September, the group helped with JOSANA Clean Sweep, a clean-up event in a neighborhood where Flower City Habitat and the City of Rochester are collaborating on a major renewal project. Educational activities have included the Cardboard City, and the group sold Thanksgiving pies to raise funds. They’ve even assisted with disaster relief, an activity unusual for college chapters. Taking advantage of Croce’s previous experience as a liaison with New York Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (a coordinating agency that helps the state prepare for and respond to disasters), Nazareth sent a number of students to New York’s Schoharie County to support communities flooded by Hurricane Irene. “Many of the students had never seen this kind of damage,” says Croce. “There were piles of garbage everywhere, the town hall was empty. We worked on one home—a family’s beautiful Victorian house with a destroyed interior—and did tens of thousands of dollars worth of work gutting it from the basement to the first floor.”
The chapter’s next steps are equally ambitious. Now that it has official recognition, it can organize alternative spring break trips, with possible opportunities in third-world countries. The group’s biggest goal, however, is to cosponsor a home, which requires an investment of $10,000. With that, the chapter could send more Nazareth volunteers to the build site and have naming rights to the house—and creating a Nazareth College Habitat for Humanity house is a powerful motivator. “It’s a big dream,” admits Bailey, “but if Nazareth College is to remain true to our mission, then we can certainly find the resources somewhere within our community in order to change a family’s life.” Nazareth’s location will help smooth some of the growing pains for the campus Habitat chapter, says Lewis. “We’re close to our affiliate Flower City, and their student advisory council provides great opportunities for younger chapters to exchange ideas. We know the basics, but we can learn fundraising ins and outs from more established chapters. We’re also close to where we’d be building—Rochester has the equivalent of 33 football fields of unoccupied homes and empty lots.” Lewis and other Habitat members value the benefits the organization offers. “Moving into their homes changes the lives of families,” Lewis says. “It brings stability to their neighborhoods and their communities. Children in Habitat homes have a 98 percent high school graduation rate, and 72 percent of them pursue higher education.” The chapter’s bylaws were created with a broad audience in mind, and Lewis says alumni and friends are encouraged to participate in events and activities as non-voting members. “We want them to come build with us,” adds Croce earnestly. “We’ll provide pizza!” Interested alums may contact Bailey directly at 585-389-2764 or at bbailey2@naz.edu. You can stay up-to-date on the campus chapter by liking Nazareth College Habitat for Humanity Campus Chapter on Facebook.
Erin Carroll ‘14, public relations officer of the Nazareth College campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity, during a build in the JOSANA neighborhood of Rochester. Campus chapter faculty advisor Brian Bailey ’01G.
Robyn Rime is the editor of Connections.
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Nazareth | in the world
Activist in Action Sophomore and CEO Cherise Madigan’s weekly Skype sessions are changing and saving the lives of women worldwide by Amy Gallo ’13 Cherise Madigan ’15, founder and CEO of the nonprofit organization The Feminine Alliance, with the book that inspired her, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. The Half the Sky movement now finds Madigan inspirational: TFA was recently featured on the Half the Sky blog at http://www.halftheskymovement.org/blog/entrynazareth-college-freshman-raises-60k-forwomen-in-iraq-and-kenya.
o say that Cherise Madigan ’15 has determination would be a great understatement. The 18-year-old peace and justice studies major has been supporting herself financially since she was 16, chats weekly via Skype with a prominent Iraqi feminist, and is the founder and CEO of the nonprofit organization The Feminine Alliance (TFA). Yet she makes her ambition and initiative sound so ordinary. “I went online and googled ‘how to start your own non-profit,’” Madigan says. “I bought the book Non-Profit Management for Dummies and filled out the paperwork [to become an official non-profit organization].” But it was her next “ordinary” action that had the greatest impact. “I shot an email to Yanar Mohammed, a feminist activist over in Iraq who runs the Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), never thinking she would actually respond,” she says. “And then she replied within 24 hours and said she would be very interested in working with us.” And the first TFA campaign was born.
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The Feminine Alliance exists to “support women’s movements worldwide,” including a new program in Kenya working with young girls who are victims of child marriage and female genital mutilation, but the organization’s current primary objective is to support Mohammed and the network of women’s shelters that house human trafficking victims in Baghdad, Iraq. Every week, sometimes less often because of Mohammed’s lack of reliable internet access, Madigan and the OWFI president talk via Skype about the needs of the shelters’ women. Madigan then puts together a shipment of aid materials and sends it to Baghdad once per month. “Cherise has shown incredible initiative in forming The Feminine Alliance,” says Harry Murray, Ph.D., professor of sociology and director of the peace and justice studies program. “Her continued concern and efforts for Iraqi women show a rare commitment to justice as well as compassion.” But why Iraqi women? Why Baghdad? “Before the outbreak of the Gulf War in 1991, Iraq witnessed the highest rate of women’s literacy and the largest number of female professionals in the Arab world. Now women face appalling inequality,” says www.naz.edu
Madigan. Such inequality creates an environment that allows for human trafficking in the form of forced marriages, forced prostitution, and forced labor or domestic servitude. “TFA decided to focus on Iraq because it is one place that has fallen off the radar in terms of international aid. We believe there is a certain responsibility to assist Iraqi women in achieving the equality that they once had, and bring attention to an issue that is not addressed in the media very often.” Defined by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, human trafficking involves “the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving a person through a use of force, coercion, or other means, for the purpose of exploiting them.” The U.S. Department of State estimates 800,000 people at minimum are affected by human trafficking every year. As for Iraq, “The Baghdad Women’s Organization estimates that at least 200 Iraqi women are sold into slavery every year, although the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch estimates that the numbers are in the thousands,” says Mohammed’s OWFI website. “The organization [Human Rights Watch] warns that the figures may be higher if Iraqi refugee women in neighboring countries such as Syria and Lebanon are also counted.”
You can follow The Feminine Alliance on Facebook.
Once victims are safe, there is still little security or support for women who have been forced into sex slavery. “According to a 2009 report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on trafficking, the rehabilitation of victims of human trafficking has become extremely difficult due to the insecurity generated by war and sectarian conflicts, the stigma faced by women in prostitution, and the threat to activist and women’s organizations,” says Madigan. “There are very few shelters for women in Iraq, and among them there are very few that accept victims of human trafficking.” www.naz.edu
And so Madigan found the shelters that do—through Yanar Mohammed. “I’ve always wanted to work with women—to empower them,” says Madigan. “I try to avoid the word help. People can help themselves; you just have to give them the tools to do so.” With a plan in place and a connection to the women who needed the most help, Madigan knew she had to take action. “I’m not a very patient person,” she says. “I was going to put off [starting TFA] until after graduation, but then I figured, why should I wait?” However, she knew she couldn’t tackle this issue alone. After attending the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative University in Washington, D.C., a conference that brings together student leaders from college campuses nationwide, topic experts, and celebrities to discuss solutions to global issues, Madigan realized, “If this was going to be as big as I wanted it to be, I couldn’t do it all by myself.” Enter Melanie Beacham ’15 as TFA’s media outreach coordinator and Mikella Ackerly ’15 as the organization’s awareness campaign coordinator. “I support everything that Cherise and The Feminine Alliance are doing,” says Ackerly. “I really respect the idea that the organization is not presuming to know what aid and what help the people we support need but instead is engaging in dialog and providing the assistance and support that they themselves express they need.” While Madigan handles the finances and international communication with Mohammed, Beacham and Ackerly are responsible for the Facebook page, as well as awareness at Nazareth and in the greater Rochester community. Some of their local campaigns include a march to local strip clubs as a form of protest, a “Walk in Her Shoes” event, where men get sponsored to walk as far as they can in high heels, and a movie series featuring films with strong female characters at the Little Theatre in downtown Rochester. For Madigan, this is a life-long endeavor—she’s even budgeting a 401K into the company for her future. “I’m not the kind of person who can work for another organization and sit at a desk for a few years before getting to do what I want to do,” she says. “I want to go to Baghdad and work with women hands on.” She already has plans to travel to the Iraqi capital this winter to visit Mohammed and the women’s shelters to which she’s been sending aid. And that same determination that helped her start The Feminine Alliance remains unwavering as she continues forward: “It might fail; it might not work. But I’ll try again with something else. This is definitely what I want to do with the rest of my life.” For more information, visit www.thefemininealliance.com. To get involved through Nazareth, email amnesty@mail.naz.edu. Amy Gallo ’13 is a sociology major at Nazareth.
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INTERFAITH | ideas
Grounded in Tradition College provides interfaith foundation for alum’s career as pastoral leader by Robin L. Flanigan
ike many undergraduates her age, Meghan Robinson ’06 entered college hoping to explore her spiritual identity and deepen her understanding of God. Much of her Nazareth journey involved, as she put it, “reflecting on the eternal questions that have no easy answers.” While remaining grounded in her Catholic faith, Robinson took courses in religious studies, participated in Center for Spirituality programs, and explored the traditions and practices of other religions while simultaneously defining her own religious beliefs. Her journey bore fruit, as Robinson found connections among the traditions she studied and began to examine more deeply their universal call for service to the common good. Then, in her senior year, she participated in The March: Bearing Witness to Hope, a bi-annual student leadership development trip to study the Holocaust. The experience was transformative. Robinson returned with a newfound purpose to make the world a more tolerant place. Her method? To help people understand that talking with each other about their religious beliefs in a respectful way not only makes society less polarized, it can strengthen their own views. She knew this wouldn’t be an easy sell. “Sometimes people are scared or naive, thinking that the goal of interfaith dialogue is conversion to another religion or belief system, or letting go of some of the religious values that we hold dear,” she says. “But that’s not what this is about. Interfaith work isn’t taking a bunch of religions and making them your own. It’s about grounding yourself in whatever tradition you’re a part of,
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and then having a dialogue with someone from another tradition so you can enter into their worldview. It’s about a conversion of heart and understanding. And sometimes we come to realize we have some similar values.” At 28, Robinson, who lives in Penfield, has several roles that keep her focused on helping people acknowledge, if not embrace, the fact that talking about their differences ultimately brings them closer together. In 2011 she became the liaison for ecumenical/interfaith relations for the 12-county Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester. She also serves full time as the pastoral associate and music minister at St. Thomas More and Our Lady Queen of Peace Parishes in Brighton. In addition to her regular responsibilities, Robinson serves on the boards for the International Thomas Merton Society and St. Bernard’s Brennan Goldman Institute for Jewish-Catholic Understanding and Dialogue, and she has helped lead two subsequent trips overseas with The March. “Meghan’s work reflects a national trend in how college campuses are changing,” says Lynne Staropoli Boucher, director of Nazareth’s Center for Spirituality. “Campuses are having students step up as interfaith leaders, not just a leader of one particular religion.” Across the country, colleges are expanding their focus more than ever before on a more comprehensive view of religious leadership, one that emphasizes a collaborative approach. Encouraging this approach, President Obama introduced his Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge, which asks that people from different religious and non-religious backgrounds tackle community problems together. And more colleges, universities, and affiliated organizations are not only beginning to host interfaith conferences, they are adding interfaith leadership as a concentration in their undergraduate and graduate programs. “Interfaith work and spirituality have come to be seen recently as a critical part of college campuses everywhere,” adds Boucher. “Ten years ago, we wouldn’t have seen this kind of focus.” After graduating from Nazareth, Robinson went on to earn a master’s degree in theological studies from St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry in Pittsford. (“It’s hard to have a dialogue about your religious tradition when you don’t know a lot about it,” she notes.) And after years of talking about sensitive issues with those from various faith backgrounds, the spiritual foundation she has constructed from consistent conversation and study is stronger than ever. “Meghan understands that dialogue isn’t about engaging in a conversation to win or to prove a point, but to learn, and that’s a significant difference,” says Jamie Fazio ’97, Catholic chaplain in the Center for Spirituality. “To her, this is a ministry, a
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philosophy of life that’s much more than a theory, a choice, or a job. She comes from a very genuine place.” Much of Robinson’s work is done at the local level. In her work with the diocese, for example, she might assist rural churches from different dominations in offering a mutual prayer service during Lent. After the joint service, she may suggest that members of these two communities share a meal to reflect on their experience of praying together. Then, slowly, and with the right guidance, they can start talking about their faiths. “Is there an actual understanding of what the other denomination believes? Can they begin to talk about some of the issues that might set them apart? Is their friendship and respect strong enough to get them there?” she asks. “It’s like a dance. You’re constantly trying to figure out when to give, and when to pull away.” In her parish work, Robinson has brought Jewish and Catholic middle and high school students together to watch movies, share a meal, and learn some basic skills for successful dialogue. Continuing her ties with Nazareth, Robinson has assisted with the College’s Brian and Jean Hickey Center for Interfaith Studies and Dialogue, including its groundbreaking conferences and its weeklong summer program that brings high school students to campus to explore world religions and interfaith dialogue. Robinson believes it is crucial to start these discussions early. “It’s just a normal part of the human condition to get a little anxious and think of some sort of retort when you get to talking about things you might disagree about, but it’s easier when you learn at a young age how to really listen,” she explains. On her most recent trip with The March, Robinson served mainly as a musician and ceremony leader to the religiously diverse group, which would break into impromptu heart-to-hearts about morals, ethics, and faith—subjects that could easily divide an intimate group on such a powerfully affecting trip. She’d offered basic dialogue skills in small group settings to participants before their departure and chose experientially appropriate songs and poems that would be the most widely embraced. As she moves forward in her calling, Robinson is confident that her spiritual path will continue to broaden and deepen. “This is absolutely where God is pulling me,” she says. “We really need to work on how we sit down at the table with respect and an understanding of those we might seem to think are different at first. Sometimes in the midst of dialogue, we begin to talk about some of the stuff that’s at our core, what makes us tick, what we deeply value. And that’s how can begin to find our life’s meaning.” Learn more about Nazareth’s interfaith work at naz.edu/cisd. Robin L. Flanigan is a freelance writer in Rochester, New York.
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LIFE | of the mind
Ready for College Research by—and With— High School Students by Brian Bailey ’01G
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esearch is often framed as a process whereby “experts” conduct experiments on their subjects. The result is then published in a professional journal and/or presented to peers at a conference. In April 2011, I attended the American Educational Research Association annual conference in New Orleans for what I thought would be the usual expert-driven research presentation. Instead I saw something that gave me goose bumps and changed the way I see research.
Rochester Participatory Educational Research Collaborative At a session at the conference conducted by the Council of Youth Research (a youth participatory action research program that mentors Los Angeles public high school students to become researchers of their own schools and communities in pursuit of educational justice), I witnessed high school students alongside their teachers and UCLA professors, challenging the way we conduct learning in schools. The students from Los Angeles presented their findings in what was by far the best presentation I saw at the conference in terms of meaningful reform in schools. After the session, I connected with one of the leaders of the Council of Youth Research, Dr. Ernest Morrell, professor of English education at Columbia University and director of the Institute for Urban and Minority Education, and invited him to come to Rochester to help me start a group in Rochester that 30 CONNECTIONS | WINTER 2012-2013
Students from the Rochester Participatory Educational Research Collaborative (PERC) presenting the keynote address at the Diversity in Research and Practice Conference at Columbia University last March.
could conduct similar research. Dr. Morrell visited Nazareth College in October 2011, gave a lecture at the College, and discussed his experiences in Los Angeles and New York City. Dr. Morrell and the Council of Youth Research inspired me to initiate the Rochester Participatory Educational Research Collaborative (PERC). PERC is a collection of eight students and two faculty from Bailey East High School, one graduate student and two faculty from St. John Fisher College, and six undergraduate students and two faculty from Nazareth College (Meg Callahan, Ph.D., associate professor and chair in adolescence education, and myself). The group conducts research in Rochester-area schools using a participatory model. In a departure from the traditional research process in which college faculty are the “experts” driving the process, PERC’s model aims to include all voices, with power shared equally amongst youth and adults. Our plan is to add to the body of research about what we understand about schooling by involving teachers and students, argue for more common-sense educational reform, and mentor urban www.naz.edu
high school students as to what it takes to be “college ready.” With these goals in mind, PERC started meeting in the summer of 2011 to determine how this collaboration could address issues in schools for the mutual benefit of our group members, the Rochester community, Rochester schools, and the field of education.
What is “college ready”? We started by asking the East High group members what questions they had about their classroom experiences and what they would like to change about their school. Those students are familiar with many issues in education and school reform, as they are currently enrolled in a special magnet program at East High called the Teaching and Learning Institute (TLI), which engages students in pedagogy, learning, and leadership in the school and community. Over the course of the first three meetings, those students raised concerns over multiple stories in the local press about the lack of “college-ready” students graduating from the Rochester City School District (RCSD). Multiple reports have placed the number of RCSD students ready for college at five percent. These discussions led the group to additional questions: • How has “college ready” been defined in the past, and by whom? • What experiences would better prepare high school students at East High/TLI to be college ready? • What are the non-academic factors (disposition, resilience, character, cultural capital, segregation, poverty, etc.) that lead to college readiness or unreadiness? • What would have to change at East High/TLI and in the Rochester community for students to be more college ready? • How do other schools in the Rochester area prepare students to be college ready? With these questions in mind, the group set out to collect qualitative and quantitative data about college readiness. So far, we have conducted preliminary interviews, performed a review of relevant research, and analyzed a small subset of the data. An initial research direction is the non-academic factors that influence college readiness. For example, we have seen that many urban youth who succeed in school have a “village” of caring adults, family members, and mentors who help them get to college through supportive relationships. As the group collects and analyzes more data, we plan to present our findings in a variety of mediums and venues. The first of these presentations took place in New York City last March, when the group presented the keynote address at the Diversity in Research and Practice Conference at Columbia University. The group spent months raising funds, writing grant applications, reading research literature, collecting data, and preparing the presentation. Reaping the benefits By conducting original research, the urban high school students in the group acquire the cultural and academic capital to become col-
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lege-ready themselves. East High teacher Dan Delehanty recognizes the real benefits for the students who participate. “PERC has students create a research project that is relevant to life in Rochester. This relevancy leads students to invest their time and creativity into something beneficial to their own academic performance: college-level research skills. Meanwhile, PERC exposes our students to the college campus and teaches them the standards of performance necessary for the college classroom. Ultimately, PERC benefits our students because they build professional relationships with professors and graduate students. It results in our students being armed with the social capital and the support network they will need for success in college. This proves particularly important since almost all our students will be the first in their families to attend college.” PERC’s approach to research is to effect change in schools and in people. One of the benefits to participating in the group is that Nazareth College undergraduate students work side by side with us as we conduct research and learn from our community partners. Nazareth students enact the value of reciprocity as they contribute to the group and at the same time take away valuable lessons on how to teach and learn from high school students. In the process, they are ultimately becoming better teachers. “From the perspective of an educator-in-training, my experience with PERC has been invaluable,” says Eric Morris ’13, an adolescence education major. “Working with urban youth in the context of equal collaboration has provided me the opportunity to learn an incredible amount about myself, both as an educator and as a person. The benefits of allowing students to participate in such higher-level work are abundant. Also, the intimate collaboration that takes place in this working environment has vast potential beyond the boundaries of our local community. PERC has undoubtedly informed my future practice as an educator in a way that no other experience could.” This year, PERC has started to raise funds and write the screenplay for a documentary film about legalized segregation in Monroe County schools and how segregation impacts college readiness. The documentary film will be based on the research conducted by the group and aims to take a more journalistic approach to the research. The plan is to premiere a rough cut of the film at the American Educational Research Association’s annual conference in San Francisco next April. Too often our teachers and students in public schools are left out of the research process and policy-making decisions. In fact, many policies such as Race to the Top, No Child Left Behind, etc. are not based on research at all. If we want real transformative change in our schools, then we need to base more policies and reform on sound research, include all voices, and we especially need to listen to our youth and teachers. I know that I have already learned a great deal from our East High collaborators, and I hope to continue our partnership for many years to come. Brian Bailey ’01G, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in adolescence education.
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Nazareth | heritage
Planted decades ago, the copper beech on Nazareth’s front lawn has been a scenic sight enjoyed by generations of students. But underneath its spreading branches lies a quiet retreat, lit by dappled sunshine and unseen by the outside world.
Who even knew there was still a working phone booth on campus? A memorial to pre-cellular days, this telephone is tucked into its own little nook on the first floor of Smyth Hall.
Little Known but Well Loved
Some out-of-the-way spaces on campus surprise students and alumni alike
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our years at college are enough to make any student think they know the campus pretty well. But dig a little deeper, travel off the beaten path, and you can find spaces that would surprise even the most ardent alumni. Some are genuinely hidden (such as the so-called “dungeon” beneath the floor of the Callahan Theatre projection booth that houses HVAC equipment) while others are in the open, if seldom noticed (such as the outdoor classroom or the Meditation Garden). Are you fond of other out-of-the-way places on campus? Let us know by visiting Nazareth on Facebook at FB.com/nazarethcollege, and find more at flickr.com/photos/nazareth_college/sets. 32 CONNECTIONS | WINTER 2012-2013
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It may look like the back of your garage or a yard sale waiting to happen, but in fact it’s the prop storage room for the theatre arts department. Located in the Arts Center, the room houses the reusable remains of more than 115 varied plays and musicals from the past 28 years. Dozens of pieces stand ready for future productions— including a nest-sitting, remote-controlled chicken.
On the north campus, behind the Golisano Academic Center, a wooded hillside shelters a small cemetery dedicated to the departed pets of the Sisters of St. Joseph who used to inhabit the building. More than a dozen small headstones mark the final resting places of cats, dogs, and even two horses, from Rusty in 1984 (“A good friend”) to Mickey in 2012 (“Loved by All”).
Located in the Shults Center, this balcony lounge overlooks the swimming pool on one side and the racquetball courts and Sports Hall of Fame on the other. The area is rarely used for studying—students find the nearby courts distracting, especially when an errant racquetball flies out of the court and into the lounge.
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COVER|story
All-American swimmer Carissa Risucci ’13 was recruited by Division I schools before selecting Nazareth’s “total package.” In addition to her studies as a communication and rhetoric major and her participation on the swim team, she’s involved with the Student Athlete Advisory Council and the residence hall council, and she’s served as both a freshman orientation leader and as president of her class.
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Nazareth’s growing athletics program competes by nurturing its student athletes
Sports Success by Robin Flanigan photos by Alex Shukoff and Jamie Germanow
hen she was in high school, Carissa Risucci ’13 was courted by numerous NCAA Division I and II colleges around the country who wanted the competitive swimmer to sign on as a recruit. But she passed on every offer—and the attractive scholarships they came with—to attend Nazareth College, a Division III school that provides no financial aid on the basis of athletic merit but did offer something the others couldn’t. “Nazareth was the total package,” says Risucci, a communication and rhetoric major from Utica, N.Y., who started swimming competitively when she was eight years old. It was a package no financial incentives elsewhere could match. continued next page
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COVER|story
Director of Athletics Pete Bothner at the June 2011 press conference announcing the addition of men’s ice hockey to Nazareth’s sports roster. “I knew there was something bigger I wanted to get out of my college experience,” she explains. “I wanted to be an integral part of the team, not just another number. I told every coach I was recruiting with that I wanted to be as important to the team as the team is to me, and that’s exactly what I got here.” Risucci, whose specialty is the breaststroke, has made her way to nationals every year since stepping onto campus, earning seven All-American honors. But her story spotlights more than the passion Nazareth’s student-athletes have for their sport. It also speaks to the importance the College places on enrolling athletes who will be a good fit both academically and socially. Risucci finished the spring semester with a 3.95 grade-point-average, has served as class vice president or president since her freshman year, and has been active in several campus organizations. Nazareth has a broad athletics program that draws a diverse group of students— some 430 of them, nearly one-quarter of the school’s total enrollment—who, like Risucci, are well-rounded and bring with
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them much more than their eagerness to compete. “There are so many quality high school athletes who can’t imagine their athletic career being over their senior year in high school,” says Kevin Broderick ’89, head coach for the men’s basketball team. “But being here is not just about the playing. Certainly we have to be recruiting students with a high level of athletic ability, but they’re also coming here to get a degree and to be a positive part of the campus, not just for the two hours a day they’re at practice.”
Growing a Strong Program When Pete Bothner, director of athletics, took on the job in 1998, Nazareth had 13 intercollegiate varsity sports. With the addition of men’s hockey last fall, that number stands at 24. Nazareth’s athletes are no strangers to national recognition. The men’s lacrosse team has taken part in six national championship games, winning the title three times in the 1990s and maintaining a consistent national ranking over
the past two decades. Men’s volleyball won the national championship last year. And Nazareth has sent members of its women’s swimming team to nationals for eight consecutive years, bringing home a national champion—Emily Lesher ’08, a nine-time All-American who set a Division III record in the 400-yard individual medley—in 2007. The athletics program experienced a growth spurt between 2000 and 2004 to include equestrian, women’s golf, softball, men’s and women’s cross-country, men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track, and men’s volleyball. These days, the emphasis is on finding increasingly creative ways to recruit students from a wide variety of backgrounds and geographic areas, especially given that the number of high school students in New York State, a hotbed for Nazareth recruitment, will continue to decrease over the next several years. “That means we’ve got to expand our net to attract kids from outside of what has been our traditional focus,” says Bothner, “which is about 150 miles outside of Nazareth.” Nazareth’s recruiters are directing much of those efforts to prospective students who want to play lacrosse, hockey, and volleyball—sports that aren’t offered at colleges in all parts of the country. Brian Wright ’13, a lacrosse midfielder and double major in biology and inclusive education, hails from Franklin Lakes, N.J. He first heard about Nazareth from an alumnus who was his older brother’s assistant lacrosse coach at the University of Massachusetts, then became seriously interested when Nazareth was recommended by the head coach at his high school. Two visits to campus later, after lacrosse head coach Rob Randall ’88 “reached out to me more than anyone else,” he’d made his decision. “Coming from New Jersey, I didn’t know much about Nazareth,” he says. “But it really set itself apart from the other schools that were looking at me.” www.naz.edu
The personal attention and support not only sealed the deal, they’ve deepened over the past three years. “Coach Randall is the best around in my eyes,” says Wright, an All-Conference athlete. “He always tells us there’s more to life than lacrosse, that he’s sending us out as young men with values. He teaches us life lessons through lacrosse that we’ll carry with us for the rest of our lives. And whenever something happens in the face of adversity off the field, he’s there to help us. His door is always open.”
The Competitive Edge Student athletes aren’t the only ones who find themselves in competition. Coaches are finding that the recruitment process becomes progressively more intense each year.
“It’s definitely gotten more competitive, no question about it,” says Randall, whose assistant coach Francis Donald ’07 was on the road for 20 straight days of recruitment throughout New England and the mid-Atlantic states this summer. Lacrosse recruitment in particular has gotten more aggressive in Upstate New York, prompting more rigorous attempts to draw in out-of-state students. Of the 41 Nazareth lacrosse players last year, 18 were from other states, the largest number yet. Joe Seil, sports information director and assistant director of athletics, says “the landscape has changed quite a bit” in recruitment since he came on board 26 years ago. No more perusing the newspaper for game scores and player statistics (that information gets posted instantaneously online) or needing
to travel to watch a student compete (webcasts take care of that). Recruiters don’t even need to use the phone to contact prospective students anymore (they can text). “We have to be aware of all the new media that’s out there, and all the ways high school students gather their information about where they want to go to college,” he notes. In fact, Martie Staser, head coach for men’s and women’s swimming and diving and assistant athletic director for student-athlete welfare, does all of her initial recruiting online, given that a good performance in the water is based solely on time. She monitors meet results, creates a list of prospects she feels would bring Nazareth’s swim program some depth, then reaches out through both mail and email to let the athletes and their coaches know she’s interested.
Martie Staser, head coach for men’s and women’s swimming and diving and assistant athletic director for student-athlete welfare, guiding swimmer Justin Sawran ’14, a mathematics and economics double major.
www.naz.edu
CONNECTIONS | WINTER 2012-2013 37
COVER|story
Head basketball coach Kevin Broderick counsels Tyshun Stephens ’13.
“This year was a good one” for recruitment, says Staser, who brought on six new swimmers for her men’s team, which typically gets between three and four a year. Webcasts, along with industry contacts, helped men’s ice hockey head coach George Roll form his inaugural team, one that boasts an impressive international mix of players from Canada, South Africa, Russia, and the U.S. Despite the latest technology, prospective students seem to regard most highly the good old-fashioned communication they receive from those who’ve gone before, says Broderick. “We have a long list of current and former players who believe they’re getting, or have gotten, a quality athletic and academic experience here, and they help encourage others to come on. I find that perspective to be much more powerful than anything else.”
38 CONNECTIONS | WINTER 2012-2013
“I’m More Focused” in Season The attention on academics is more than a recruiting tool. Nazareth’s student athletes, who show high retention and graduation rates, regularly earn honors for their work in the classroom. Most recently, both the men’s and women’s swimming teams were chosen by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America as a Scholar All-America team for their academic work through the spring 2012 semester. To illustrate the importance of success outside of their sport, Broderick often tells his basketball players the story about how Tyshun Stephens ’13, a point guard who was team captain last year, came to Nazareth. Broderick had just started his job at the College, and Stephens was the first name he’d been given as a potential player. (Former men’s basketball coach Mike Daley had already shown interest
in the All-Conference player.) Stephens, who grew up in Newark, N.Y., was still making up his mind about which college to attend. Because Broderick’s sister-inlaw worked as a teacher at Stephens’s high school, he used the connection to make his first call—not to a coach but to someone who knew how Stephens approached his studies, acted in school, and treated other people. “He was the kind of student athlete we want representing our school,” says Broderick. “I tell that story to my players because it’s a good reminder for them as they pursue employment. People are checking you out from all angles all the time.” Stephens, a business administration major who was drawn to Nazareth’s small classes, recalls both Daley and Broderick, sometimes together and sometimes on their own, traveling to his hometown to watch him on the court. www.naz.edu
“They were always asking how I was doing in school, what my grades were, not just how I played,” he says. “And they didn’t just show up to watch me, they showed up more than anyone else.” Student athletes say they tend to perform better academically while in season because if they don’t get to their studies before practice, they’ll be too tired afterward, when all they want to do is eat and unwind. “I’m more focused and get a lot more accomplished in season because there’s good structure,” confesses soccer right back Amanda Sudore ’13, a communication sciences and disorders major from Ontario, N.Y. “Out of season, I’m just really relaxed and I end up procrastinating.” Study halls are required four days a week for firstsemester freshman athletes in several sports, as well as any other athletes who need to boost their grades to stay eligible. The number of sessions is later reduced in direct proportion to a student’s academic progress. Sudore, who took up soccer in elementary school and was also recruited in high school by Division I teams, was honored last year as a first-team All-American for the sport and a first-team Scholar All-American by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. She is grateful for the opportunity to balance schoolwork, soccer, and social clubs, “to really get that college experience,” and appreciates that proud professors post news articles about their student athletes on classroom walls. “In Division I, it’s pretty much like you’re never out of season,” she adds. “They hold scholarships over your head, and if you don’t play well, they take that money away. That’s too intense. Nazareth gives me the time and flexibility to do a bunch of different things.” Risucci, the swimmer, acknowledges that it was a tough decision to pass up tempting scholarship offers from Division I schools, some of which would’ve allowed her family to pay thousands less each year in tuition. But ultimately, she placed a higher priority on her overall undergraduate experience—one that she says feeds her desire for success in everything she does. “Athletes in general are just very results-oriented people,” she explains. “The way that I am in the classroom and in life is in direct relation to the way I am in the pool.” Read more about Nazareth athletics at athletics.naz. edu. Robin Flanigan is a freelance writer in Rochester, New York.
All-American and Scholar All-American soccer right back Amanda Sudore ’13.
www.naz.edu
CONNECTIONS | WINTER 2012-2013 39
report | to donors
Dear Friends,
N
azareth College has a long tradition of providing a highquality learning environment and preparing its students to
lead fully informed and actively engaged lives. When that mission encounters the passion of its supporters—the passion for social action, for academic research, for community investment, for alumni involvement—the result becomes more than the sum of its parts. Bringing passion to a mission produces action and allows the College to achieve a forward momentum of which it can be proud. This year’s annual report features stories of this kind of passion among people whose belief in our mission contributed to very real progress during the last year. Their profiles can be found online at naz.edu/ annual-report; we hope you will find their dedication as inspiring as we do. We appreciate the action you took during this past year as well. Your financial support has been vital in enabling us to achieve our mission each day. We recognize that Nazareth College would not be what it is today without your assistance, and for that we thank you. A nnual R eport and D onor L ists
With best wishes,
Daan Braveman, President
40 CONNECTIONS | WINTER 2012-2013
James Costanza, Chair of the Board of Trustees
The 2011-2012 Annual Report and the Donor Honor Roll can be viewed online at naz.edu/annual-report. The donor list reflects annual fund gifts received from July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012. If you have questions or comments about the annual report, please contact Director of Individual Giving James Ebenhoch at jebenho8@naz.edu or at 585-389-2401.
www.naz.edu
Nazareth College Statement of Activities June 30, 2012 2012
2011
Operating Revenue Educational and general Tuition and fees less scholarships and grants Net tuition and fees Federal grants and contracts State grants and contracts Private gifts, grants and contracts Arts Center programs Investment income and gains Other revenues Long-term investment return allocated for operations Total educational & general Auxiliary enterprises Total operating revenue
71,534,551 20,936,645 50,597,906 1,352,441 842,048 1,539,224 469,418 21,890 646,379
71,694,323 20,354,984 51,339,339 1,691,590 741,213 1,157,446 585,962 28,597 733,314
2,592,488 58,061,794 14,468,796 72,530,590
2,883,949 59,161,410 13,963,926 73,125,336
The graphs below depict the operating revenues and expenses for the 2011–2012 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 2011–2012. Auxiliary enterprise revenue, which includes room and board fees collected, comprised 20 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) 69.76% Public grants and contracts 3.03% P rivate gifts, grants, and contracts 2.12% Arts Center programs 0.65% Investment income and losses 0.03% Other revenues 0.89% L ong-term investment return allocation 3.57% Auxiliary enterprises 19.95% 100.00%
Operating Expenses Educational and general Instruction Arts Center programs Academic support Student services Institutional support Total educational & general Auxiliary enterprises Total operating expenses Change in net assets from operating activities
30,246,766 29,820,516 1,943,859 2,072,216 6,416,112 6,468,561 9,836,281 9,430,124 11,180,369 11,069,043 59,623,387 58,860,460 12,693,801 12,559,133 72,317,188 71,419,593
Operating Expenses 213,402 1,705,743
NonOperating Activities Long-term investment activities Interest and dividends Net realized & unrealized (losses) gains Total long-term investment activities Long-term investment return allocated for operations Capital gifts Other loss Postretirement-related changes other than net periodic benefit cost Change in net assets from nonoperating activities Change in net assets Net assets at beginning of year Net assets at end of year www.naz.edu
619,041 (340,906) 278,135
804,546 9,472,528 10,277,074
(2,592,488) 5,004,990 (1,327,034)
(2,883,949) 4,041,356 (88,942)
(1,433,056)
430,414
(69,453)
11,775,953
143,949
13,481,696
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 2011–2012 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 14 percent of the total operating budget directly to student programs and services.
Operating Expenses Instruction 41.83% Arts Center programs 2.69% Academic support 8.87% Student services 13.60% Institutional support 15.46% Auxiliary enterprises 17.55% 100.00%
144,080,751 130,599,055 144,224,700 144,080,751 CONNECTIONS | WINTER 2012-2013 41
Creating a Legacy with a Planned Gift “Revisiting my will allowed me to reflect on what’s important to me. As a first generation college graduate, I was given an amazing opportunity that prepared me for a wonderful career teaching music for more than thirty years. Providing students at Nazareth College that same opportunity to pursue further education is close to my heart. “I wanted to make a gift that would be lasting and would touch music students for generations to come. So I decided to name Nazareth in my will.” Dr. Carlson’s planned gift will establish an endowed prize for music students.
— Dr. Mary Carlson, Professor and Director of Graduate Music Education at Nazareth College
You, too, can invest in the next generation of students by: • Naming Nazareth as a beneficiary of your will, retirement plan, or life insurance policy. • Creating a life income gift such as a charitable gift annuity. Nazareth’s planned giving recognition society. We invite you to become a member by joining more than 200 others who are committed to future generations of students.
For more information on planned giving opportunities, please contact Melissa Head, senior associate director of major gifts and planned giving, at 585-389-2179 or at mhead9@naz.edu.
ALUMNI | profile
Tales from the Cryptographer
M
ost people imagine the National Security Agency as a sort of spy factory—employing America’s 007s and Jack Bauers, eavesdropping on clandestine foreign villains, or collecting and decoding top secret information from cyberspace while in an unmarked white van. In reality, the NSA describes itself as “home to America’s codemakers and codebreakers,” providing “products and services to the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community, government agencies, industry partners, and select allies and coalition partners.” The NSA provides critical intelligence to our nation’s leaders—intelligence that is used to combat terrorism and shape the course of world history. The agency is one of the largest employers of mathematicians in the United States, and it currently employs applied research mathematician Megan Tuttle Waterman ’97, a math and economics major from Nazareth College. The secretive nature of the NSA intrigues many outsiders. When asked to describe a typical day at the office, Waterman quickly explains that much of her day-to-day work is variable and as the work is classified, she can’t take it home. Unable to share specifics, she does divulge that her work involves “any type of math problem that could be of interest to the agency, including crypt problems.” The NSA is the lead center for cryptology for the United States government.
www.naz.edu
by Sofia Tokar
Cryptology is the study of techniques for secure communications, the making of secret codes to protect against adversaries (cryptography) as well as the deciphering of others’ secret codes (cryptanalysis). Waterman explains that most problems are nontrivial and require efforts across multiple offices and with several analysts or teams. Teamwork is key in this environment, and collaboration and interpersonal skills are essential. It doesn’t hurt to have problems that are challenging and important either. “Knowing the direct and immediate impact of my work is really satisfying,” she says. “Plus, working for the government in this capacity fosters a deeper level of patriotism.” At the NSA, mathematicians are able to work on a range of different problems, from network security and computing to biometrics and intelligence value estimation. That’s fortunate for Waterman, since she describes herself as someone who likes to try many different things. She began her Nazareth education as a mathematics and art major, but a junioryear statistics course cemented her love for the applied side of mathematics. “We were a close-knit group through Math Club, and we had excellent professors who challenged us to think in a logical manner, work with large data sets, and get as much information as possible,” she explains. “We didn’t just sit in class doing calculus. I didn’t know it then, but I was learning skills that would be readily applicable to my job now.” During her time at Nazareth, Waterman came across an article in Math Horizons (a magazine primarily for
Megan Tuttle Waterman ’97 is an applied research mathematician for the National Security Agency.
undergraduate math students) about mathematicians at the NSA. Years later she would be profiled in the publication, acknowledging that the article she read had prompted her to make “a mental note that the NSA might be a fun place to work.” Waterman graduated early from Nazareth and decided to pursue her master’s and doctorate in statistics from Virginia Tech, and later an associate degree in Arabic from Howard Community College. After finishing her Ph.D., Waterman was hired into the NSA’s Applied Mathematics Program, where she “spent three years working on a variety of different projects, including information processing, evaluations of new technologies, and computer security.” She also took classes in cryptomathematics, coding theory, and algorithm/stack development. “I’m someone who likes to try lots of different things,” Waterman says, “and my career at the NSA has afforded me opportunities for both theoretical and applied mathematics work.” Ten years into her career as a mathematician at the NSA, Waterman’s work remains fluid and flexible, challenging and important. And although it may not always involve martinis (shaken or stirred), her choice of career path nonetheless makes all the difference to her and her country. Read more alumni profiles at alumni. naz.edu. Sofia Tokar is the assistant editor in Nazareth’s marketing department.
CONNECTIONS | WINTER 2012-2013 43
ALUMNI | profile
Picture It To Preserve It An environmental science major turns shutterbug by Sofia Tokar
44 CONNECTIONS | WINTER 2012-2013
Years ago, Matthew Conheady ’99 found himself out in Corbett’s Glen in Brighton, N.Y., as part of a biology class at Nazareth College. The environmental science major was taking a summer studies class with his mentor, Professor of Biology William Hallahan, Ph.D. “We were studying the health of the Irondequoit creek system and Prof. Hallahan asked us to take photos of the organisms and invertebrates we found. It was literally while getting our feet wet as part
of class research that I became interested in photography and field studies.” Conheady credits his experiences and education at Nazareth with inspiring his current venture, NYFalls.com, of which he is the founder and president. According to the website, NYFalls.com was created “to promote the preservation and continued enjoyment of upstate New York watersheds and the wonderful waterfalls and gorges present in the area. This is a community where photographers, conservationists, and anyone who enjoys the state’s natural waterways can learn and share information about the falls, streams, ponds, lakes, and wetlands in their area.” www.naz.edu
Left: Lower Falls in Letchworth State Park, Castile, N.Y. Above, clockwise: A saw-whet owl in Owl Woods, Braddock Bay Fish and Wildlife Management Area, N.Y.
The site, which was founded in 2006, combines Conheady’s background in stream ecology, ethics, and evolution with the self-taught photographer’s love of the camera. “In 2005,” explains Conheady, “I photographed scenes from Stonybook State Park and Grimes Glen. I wanted to post the galleries online, but thought it might be beneficial to author and create more informative park guides than were available from the county and the state. That way readers and viewers could enjoy my photos and perhaps also try photographing the scenes themselves.” Today, the website has a team of editors and almost 1,000 members of its online community and forums. Conheady and his team “extensively research each location, take hundreds of photos, sample stereo audio, record high-definition video, and spend weeks writing articles and building galleries.” The goal is to get people interested in these special places through beautiful photography. “We try to draw people in with the art and the images in the hope that they’ll be interested enough to learn more. We then make the information available to readers for free.” These unique places, Conheady argues, deserve to be understood, protected, and preserved for posterity. And Conheady doesn’t intend to stop with waterfalls. In addition to his full-time job as a manger at Advanced Language Translation Inc. and maintaining NYFalls.com, he is working on two more websites: New York Historic, a photographic catalog of state historic sites, and Scenes from a Public Market, an independent photojournalism project featuring public markets. To view more photos and learn more, visit NYFalls.com, nyhistoric.com, and scenesfromapublicmarket.com. You can also search for and like NYFalls.com on Facebook. Sofia Tokar is the assistant editor in Nazareth’s marketing department.
Corbett’s Glen Falls and Tunnel, near Rochester. “Since the ’60s, Corbett’s Glen suffered from heavily polluted water,” says Conheady. “With a strong community initiative and the passing of federal clean water legislation, the waterway has been cleaned up and the surrounding area turned into a nature park.” Pebble Beach at Chimney Bluff State Park, Wolcott, N.Y. www.naz.edu
CONNECTIONS | WINTER 2012-2013 45
ALUMNI | news
Dear fellow alumni,
W
e hope you’re enjoying this latest issue of Connections. As you can see from the magazine, the home page, the many Nazareth Facebook pages, and the bustling campus, the College continues to be a vibrant and active place for current students and alumni alike. The challenge now is to convey that message to a key audience: prospective students. That’s where you—our fellow Naz alumni—can play a crucial role. With upstate New York’s shifting demographics and a competitive higher education marketplace, more than ever we need to share the Nazareth story—a story that we all know intimately. To that end, we are rallying in several ways. In winter 2011, the alumni board convened a special admissions committee. The purpose of this committee is to strategize how alumni can actively participate in the College’s recruitment efforts. One way is
to reinvigorate the Naz Chapters in important recruitment hubs in the region and beyond. Another way is to work directly with the Naz admissions team, which we are currently doing through a partnership called NAAP: the Nazareth Alumni Admissions Program. Our best recruiters are often those who share their personal Nazareth stories with prospective students. We can provide you with the latest recruitment materials, information, and tools, but we need you—our alumni ambassadors—to share your unique Nazareth story and help get the word out about the College to potential students. If you’re interested in joining the recruitment effort at the forefront, we encourage you to learn more about the program at go.naz.edu/NAAP. There you can find more information and download the training handbook. The program is still relatively new, so we
ask for your patience as we build our team of alumni recruiters. If you’ve indicated interest, but haven’t been contacted yet, please don’t worry. Our volunteers’ time and resources are limited, but their dedication to Naz—probably much like yours—knows no bounds. Thank you,
Katie Baldwin ’08
John O’Gorman ’85, ’90G
Keddy Todd ’09, ’10G
… more than ever we need to share the Nazareth story—a story that we all know intimately
Join the Naz Network at Work 46 CONNECTIONS | WINTER 2012-2013
When it comes to making connections and giving back to Nazareth, alumni are the College’s most important resource. The Naz Network—a group of more than 30,000 alumni who share the common bond of the Nazareth experience—serves as a great starting point for networking and career development opportunities. Since spring 2011, the Naz Alumni Mentoring Program has connected current students
and alumni with mentors who are able to provide career guidance on topics ranging from information about their occupation to relocating to a new city. Alumni mentors represent all job stages—from early career to experienced professionals. Interested in mentoring? Visit alumni.naz.edu and click the Get Involved tab. Questions? Contact the office of alumni relations at alumni@ naz.edu or 585-389-2472.
www.naz.edu
T
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 alma mater in all its existing and newfound glory. Everyone is invited to join in the summer fun with good food, great friends, and class parties. Honored class years are those ending in a 3 or 8, but we welcome all alumni back for reunion!
Save the Date for
Reunion W eekend May 31–June 2, 2013 Interested in volunteering to help with your reunion class committee or looking for more details? Visit Reunion Weekend Headquarters online at alumni.naz.edu/ reunion2013. You can also look for your class Facebook group by searching Nazareth College Class of “your year” and joining in the conversation to see who is making plans to come back.
Top to bottom: Members of the 30th anniversary class of 1982. Dinner with classmates. Mary Calarco Friedman ’62.
www.naz.edu
Outstanding alumni award winners Mary Michele Mollen Quinn ’71, Elizabeth Anne Osta ’67, and Jessica Goodman ’04. CONNECTIONS | WINTER 2012-2013 47
ALUMNI | news
Alumni Chapters Get
Active A
lumni chapters have been rein-
NYC area alumni gathered to show their Naz spirit at a baseball game as the Yankees battled the Orioles on July 30 at Yankee Stadium. Front row, left to right: Jill Wittenberg ’06, Crista Johnson Kane, Paul Johnson. Second row, left to right: Judith Andriola, Marie Pirelli, Tina McDermott ’65, Maureen Callan ’85 ’95G, Kristen Pandick ’06, Mimi Wright ’05, ’11G, Kaitlin Brayer ’05. Back row, left to right: Reissa Ress ’09, Peg Ryan, Carianne Evangelist ’01, Vivian Ginorio ’99.
vigorated in an effort to engage Nazareth alumni around the globe.
“We have enthusiastic volunteers helping
to organize local programming,” explains Donna Borgus ’13G, director of alumni relations. “Alums are getting together for community service events, social networking opportunities, fun family outings, and sports and cultural events.” Chapters are active now in Rochester,
Syracuse area alumni gathered at Kelley’s Bar and Restaurant for a networking event on May 17. Front row, left to right: Susan Shubmehl ’74, Caitlin Schultz ’10, Lindsey Spector ’11, Jenny Pollastro ’09. Middle row, left to right: Lyndsey Seeley Fellows ’09, Katie Corbishley ’08, Jamie Lingenfelter ’08, Perri Berg Hogan ’76. Back row, left to right: Jim Ockenden ’83, Clare Arezina ’06, Nicole Adsitt ’97, Donna Borgus ’13G. Not pictured: Rita O’Neil Stevenson ’49.
Albany, Buffalo, Syracuse, New York City, Long Island, Boston, Philadelphia, Charlotte, N.C., Columbus, Ohio, and Washington D.C. Anyone interested in assisting with leading the Albany or Long Island chapters should contact Borgus at 585-389-2471 or at dborgus8@naz.edu. Be sure to check out upcoming chapter events at alumni.naz.edu/events and join the Facebook groups for chapters by searching
Long Island area alumni gathered at the Long Island chapter spring networking event at the Bonwitt Inn on May 19. Seated, left to right: Ginny Koehler Briefs ’57, Norma Cloos Meder ’51, Susan Phillips Fisher ’88. Standing, left to right: Laura Briefs Geraci ’87, Jessica Geraci ’11, Kathryn Briefs ’83, Linda Davison Mathues ’73. Ginny Briefs, her daughters Laura and Kathryn, and her granddaughter Jessica are three generations of Naz grads.
“Nazareth College ____ Chapter.”
48 CONNECTIONS | WINTER 2012-2013
www.naz.edu
Naz alumni gathered on January 22 for a New York City chapter networking gathering at the Westin New York at Times Square. Front row, left to right: Kerry Gotham ’98, Mary Pat Kane ’64, Christina Radvanski ’11, Kristen Pandick ’06, Linda Davison Mathues ’73, Vivian Ginorio ’00, Mimi Wright ’05 ‘11G. Back row, left to right: Mimi Shapiro Goodwin ’90, Christine DiPasquale O’Connor ’88, Donna Borgus ’13G.
The Buffalo chapter participated in Nazareth College’s Day of Service on August 25. The members assisted on a Habitat for Humanity build in the Buffalo community. Left to right: Terri Flahery ’93, Jaime Snyder ’03, Deanna Messinger ’99.
After coffee and bagels on August 25, Nazareth alumni in the Long Island chapter also participated in the Day of Service event, working on the benches that frame the Washington Entrance to the Sagtikos Manor House in West Bay Shore.
The Rochester chapter hosted Naz Day at the Seneca Park Zoo on a beautiful Rochester summer day last July 29. Candice Kundle ’12 enjoyed the zoo with her daughter Isabella Kundle (right) and friend Zoey Hall, as well as Genesee the Golden Flyer.
Take me out to the ball game, Naz style! The Buffalo chapter hosted several area alums at the Buffalo Bisons game as they battled the Pawtucket Red Socks on June 15.
Left to right: Norma Cloos Meder ’51, Eleanor Tyndall Meier ’57, Linda Davison Mathues ’73. www.naz.edu
CONNECTIONS | WINTER 2012-2013 49
ALUMNI | news
Swimming for a Cause
by Sofia Tokar
Bridgette Hobart Janeczko ’84 waving from the finish line after swimming 28.5 miles around the island of Manhattan.
A
t age 5, Bridgette Hobart Janeczko ’84 was afraid of water. At age 50, Hobart swam 28.5 miles around the island of Manhattan. The reason? To celebrate a milestone birthday and to support Swim Free, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health of children and adults through swim. On June 23, 2012, Hobart completed the annual Manhattan Island Marathon Swim in eight hours and 50 minutes. “We had a great day for the event and warmer than usual water for the time of year,” she recalls. “I was in awe of the group I swam with and witnessed a few of them complete their Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, my ultimate goal as well.” Hobart is en route to making her goal: She was accepted as a participant in the Catalina Channel attempt on October 2, her 50th birthday. If she successfully swims Catalina, she’ll earn the U.S. Triple Crown (Tampa Bay, Manhattan, Catalina); she will then be two-thirds of the way toward completing the World Triple Crown (Manhattan, Catalina, and the English Channel).
50 CONNECTIONS | WINTER 2012-2013
“I may be turning 50 soon, but it seems like just yesterday that I was crying on a pool deck begging to not get in the water,” explains Hobart. “By age 17, I was a high school distance swimmer quoted in an article in the Binghamton Sun-Bulletin stating that I was going to swim the English Channel to celebrate 50 years in swimming.” Hobart swam throughout high school and college, but afterward the sport took a backseat to life and work. In 2007, Hobart’s stepgrandmother, then dying from cancer, gave her a copy of the Sun-Bulletin article and asked Hobart why she wasn’t swimming any longer. “She made me realize the only one truly keeping me from pursuing the dream I had at age 17 was myself.” At the age of 45, shortly after her step-grandmother’s passing, Hobart joined U.S. Masters Swimming, her first step toward achieving her swimming goals. And in achieving her goals, Hobart is also giving back to the community: Her fundraising swim around Manhattan raised $9,200, with all proceeds going to Swim Free programs. Learn more about Swim Free at www.swimfree.org Sofia Tokar is the assistant editor in Nazareth’s marketing department. Editor’s Note: Hobart successfully swam the Catalina Channel on October 2-3, completing the 21 miles in 11 hours, 27 minutes. She’s scheduled to swim the English Channel for the World Triple Crown on July 7 or 8, 2013.
www.naz.edu
Nominate Outstanding Alumni Nazareth 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.
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.
Alumni GOLD Award
This award is designed to recognize the achievements of an alum 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.
Interested in nominating a classmate or friend? Please contact Donna Borgus ’13G, director of alumni relations, at dborgus8@naz.edu or 585-389-2471. You can also nominate someone online at alumni.naz.edu/awards. For a list of previous alumni award winners, visit go.naz.edu/alumni-awards.
College Dedicates the Allocco Digital Recording Studio
N
azareth College is pleased to announce the newly named Allocco Digital Recording Studio in the Arts Center. On August 16, 2012, the recording studio was officially named in recognition of Jack Allocco ’72 and his wife Stacie’s support of Nazareth College and affection for Nazareth’s department of music. “This is an opportunity to not only celebrate this gift of Jack Allocco’s to the College, but to recognize all of his contributions to Nazareth over the years,” says Daan Braveman, president of Nazareth College. The space that the digital recording studio occupies is where Allocco first auditioned to attend the music program at Nazareth. It seemed fitting, then, to name it in honor of the Emmy Award-winning composer, conductor, music producer, and director, who also continues to serve on the Nazareth board of trustees. The studio is primarily used by students majoring in music/business, Professor of Management Roy Stein and Professor of Music a collaborative program between the music department in the College of Mark Zeigler, co-directors of Nazareth’s music business program, Arts and Sciences and the School of Management. Dean of the College of join trustee Jack Allocco ’72 at the dedication of the Allocco Digital Arts and Sciences Deborah Dooley ’75, Ph.D., and Dean of the School of Recording Studio. Management Gerard Zappia ’89G both recognized the importance of Allocco’s contributions to and support of the music/business program. “With this gift,” explained Dooley at the dedication ceremony, “you extend the possibility of knowledge and imagination to the next generation of students. You are truly paying it forward, and that’s the best any of us can do with our lives.” Allocco reinforced the sentiment, saying, “Musicians need to master their instruments, but they also need to learn to fully realize a piece of music—from creation and recording, to editing and producing. When students use this studio, I want them to know that dreams do come true. If I can succeed, then surely those who follow me can as well.” Read more about Nazareth’s music/business program at naz.edu/music-business
www.naz.edu
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N a z a r et h
F u n d
Supporting the Troops ★ ★ ★ ★ Pete Beck ’15 (left) and J.C. Bukowiec ’16 are both former Marines majoring in international studies and minoring in Arabic.
s a participant in the Yellow Ribbon Program, Nazareth College is committed to helping veteran-students make the challenging transition from military to academic life. The College provides scholarship assistance to bridge the gap between the actual cost of tuition and the amount veterans receive under the GI Bill. Its efforts were noted by G.I. Jobs Magazine, which included Nazareth in its 2013 Guide to Military Friendly Schools. Support J.C., Pete, and 60 other veteran students at Nazareth 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
Alumnus Co-Produces Feature Film About Lacrosse by Sofia Tokar
Film co-producer Neal Powless ’98 with Grammy Award-winning musician Joanne Shenandoah at the premiere for Crooked Arrows.
W
hen Neal J. Powless ’98 was asked to be a Native American cultural consultant on a movie about a lacrosse team of Native American boys, he jumped at the opportunity to lend his unique perspective. Not only is Powless a traditional member of the Onondaga Nation, Eel Clan, he was also a three-time All-American lacrosse player at Nazareth College and enjoyed a seven-year career in the National Lacrosse League. He is currently employed by Syracuse University, in the office of multicultural affairs, as an assistant director with the Native Student Program. And now Powless adds movie co-producer to his résumé. He was part of the team that took the lacrosse experience from off the field and onto the screen in Crooked Arrows, a feature-length film released nationwide and in Canada in June 2012. An uplifting sports story set in the world of Native American reservations, prep schools, and lacrosse, the Boston Globe says the movie “scores as a family film with terrific action.” Originally recruited as a consultant, Powless ultimately helped to re-write the script and choreograph some of the lacrosse action scenes. “Working on this film was a great experience, really fun,” says Powless. “I wanted the end result to be something the entire team of actors, crew, and investors could be proud of.” www.naz.edu
Crooked Arrows stars Brandon Routh (Superman Returns), Chelsea Ricketts (Chasing Shakespeare), and Gil Birmingham (Twilight) at the film premiere. And the team has a lot to be proud of. The film played in 350 theaters and ranked 14th out of 250 movies nationwide—impressive considering other movies out during that time included The Avengers. Powless affectionately refers to the film as “the little engine that could”—a theme echoed in the movie itself. In Crooked Arrows, a mixed-blood Native American named Joe Logan wants to modernize his reservation but must first
prove himself to his father, the traditionalist Tribal Chairman, by rediscovering his spirit. He is tasked with coaching the reservation’s high school lacrosse team, which competes against the better equipped and better trained players of the elite Prep School League. Joe inspires the Native American boys and teaches them the true meaning of tribal pride. Ignited by their heritage and believing in their newfound potential, coach and team climb an uphill battle to the state championship finals against their privileged prep school rivals. Twentieth Century Fox picked up the rights for the film’s North American release, and it’s currently available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc, both of which include a 13-minute Syracuse University S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications featurette about lacrosse— also produced by Powless. If his initial forays are any indication, then this alumnus has a bright future ahead of him in the film industry. To learn more about the film, visit crookedarrows.com. Sofia Tokar is the assistant editor in Nazareth’s marketing department.
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class|notes
CLASS|notes ’70s
Proud alums of Nazareth’s speech-language pathology program met for a reunion lunch at The Distillery in Rochester last May. Left to right: Donna Ringholz ’86, Marie Blood Zea ’86, ’88G, Mary Beth Coriale Brinkerhoff ’87, ’89G, Bonnie Frankenberger ’86, ’88G, Donna Schicker Ayer ’87, ’90G, Linda Alfieri Lindsey ’86, ’88G, Scott D. Rankins ’86.
’50s Jeanette Martino Land ’58, Eng., has been a freelance Christian writer since 1990. Hundreds of her articles and poems have been published in more than 60 different publications. Liguori Publications recently published two new pamphlets; two more are forthcoming. Another pamphlet, The Way of Love—Christ’s Life-Giving Passion, is in its fourth printing. She is also
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completing radiation treatments for cancer and has a good prognosis. She looks forward to attending her 55th reunion in June.
’60s Carol Papadopoli Basi ’62, Chem., celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary with her husband Bart. They renewed their vows in the presence of their six children, sons- and daughters-in-law, and 15 grandchildren.
Monica McAlpine ’62, Eng., and her husband are both retired from their university careers. She spends her free time painting and writing poetry. Monica Weis ’65, S.S.J., Eng., Nazareth College professor of English, was featured along with Christine Bochen, professor of religious studies, in the Summer 2012 edition of Image, the magazine of George Eastman House.
Jack Allocco ’72, Music, and David Kurtz clinched their seventh career Emmy. The award was given for Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series at the 39th annual Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards gala held in Los Angeles last June. Mary Ann Backes Ciulla ’72, ’75G, Eng., has been busy in her life since Nazareth. She has been a reading/English secondary teacher, a reading specialist at RIT, a shop owner/commercial decorator, and in retirement is a watercolor painter. Laurie Stone Adams ’75, Art, has been selected as a Teacher Fellow at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH). She will be a part of a highly qualified team who will work together over the next two years to develop a middle school curriculum on teaching and learning through art at MFAH.
’80s Bridgette Hobart Janeczko ’84, Bus. Acc., participated in the 2012 Manhattan Island Marathon Swim last June (see page 50 for more information). Lorraine Hass Schneider ’85, Nursing, graduated from Le Moyne College with a Master of Science degree in May. She is currently teaching at St. Joseph’s College of Nursing in Syracuse. www.naz.edu
Last September, Audra Cramer ’09 and Paul Ianniello ’08 hosted a get-together at their apartment in Astoria, Queens, for all the Nazareth alums who had recently moved down to the Big Apple. Left to right: Erin Hassett ’12, Joe Maffei ’11, Kate Keating ’10, Ianniello, Cramer, Scott Scaffidi ’06, and Andy Knapp ’05.
Jeanne Aman Allen ’88, Bus. Admn., is now the director of human resources at 5Linx in Rochester. Laurie Schon Leo ’89, Bus. Acc., the CFO of Klein Steel Service, Inc., was nominated for the Rochester Chapter of Financial Executives International and the Rochester Business Journal’s Financial Executive of the Year Award (large company category). Paul Leone ’89, Eng., was recently named director/executive producer of Glint Advertising and Design. Earlier in 2012, he produced and edited a documentary about a Vietnam veteran brought back to the country for the first time since 1971.
’90s Matt Orioli ’91, Bus. Admn., was recently hired as district manager for Protection 1 Security Solutions in Columbus, Ohio. He also coaches the Westerville Golden Flyers, 13- and 14-year-old
www.naz.edu
division, BLBS Travel Baseball League. Heather Perkins Pulver ’91 and Mike Perkins ’02 are both involved with Phoenix Project Dance, she as a member of the board of directors and he as the executive director and choreographer. Phoenix Project Dance performed at last summer’s Nazareth College Dance Festival. Leann Hicks ’92, Acct., the CFO of Pharos Systems International, won the Rochester Chapter of Financial Executives International and the Rochester Business Journal’s Financial Executive of the Year Award (small company category). Dawn Powell-Minemier ’92, Bus. Admn., was promoted to principal at The Bonadio Group, the largest regional CPA in upstate New York. She works in Bonadio’s government compliance and labor division and focuses on audits and consulting related to labor unions and their associated benefit plans. Amy Clapp Hodge ’93, ’95G, French, TESOL, has relocated to Raleigh, N.C., with her husband
and two dogs after teaching Italian in Rochester for 16 years. She is now teaching French. Wendy Barnhart Ross ’97, Hist., was recently promoted to senior technical writer at Bosch Security Systems. She was also elected as co-vice president of the Rochester Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication. Anthony Stirpe ’98, Eng. Comm., won the English Teacher of the Year Award for New York State. E.J. Monster ’99, Spa., French, recently moved from Bolivia to Pretoria, South Africa, for his next assignment at the U.S. Embassy.
’00s Kathleen Ryan ’00, ’05G, Soc. Sci., Social Wk., is an outpatient social worker for the Batavia VA primary care. She sees most of the returning vets in Genesee, Livingston, Orleans, and Wyoming counties and works with the service officers from those as well as Monroe County.
David Graham ’03, Acct., the controller at The Bonadio Group, was the honoree in the “Rising Star” category in the Rochester Chapter of Financial Executives International and the Rochester Business Journal’s Financial Executive of the Year Award. Chris VanLeeuwen ’07, Mus. Ed., the director of vocal music at Hornell High School and led the Chamber Choir, Women’s Choir, Jazz Choir, and Senior High Choir to silver ratings at the World Strides Heritage Performance choral competition in Boston. Hornell placed first in the AA division and swept the entire choral competition.
’10s Melissa-Ann Evanchik ’10, Bus. Admn., is currently a law student at Valparaiso University School of Law. Christopher M. Koudelka ’10, Peace & Just., is currently studying in the School of International
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class|notes
Service at American University. He expects to graduate in 2013 with an M.A. in international peace and conflict resolution, with a focus on interfaith dialogue and Islamophobia. Carrie Mae Nielsen ’10, ’12G has been offered a full time position as a special education teacher at Lansing High School. Alex Santos ’10, IT, was recently promoted to tier one tech support specialist at 5Linx in Rochester. Judy Scott ’11, Eng., recently became the cultural arts coordinator at the Summit at Brighton, an independent senior living community. Lindsey Spector ’11, Pol. Sci., Intl. Studies, spent fall semester in Berlin, Germany, and will spend spring semester in The Hague, Netherlands, to complete her degree in international relations at Syracuse University. Colin Doran ’12, IT, Finance, recently became an inbound sales support specialist at Morgan Stanley. Dan Huntington ’12, Mktg., recently became the market manager/talent management specialist at RedPeg Marketing in the Washington, D.C. area.
Graduate Cori Zerfas ’08 married Brendan Shea ’08 on December 30, 2011, with celebrations at Rochester’s Artisan Works and in Nazareth’s Medaille Formal Lounge. Front row: the bride and the groom. Second row, L to R: Andrea Farrell ’08, ’12G, Greg McMurray ’07, Renee Paprocki, Paul Timothy Briggs ’74. Third row, L to R: Jordan Sutton ’08, Matt Campbell ’07, ’12G, Courtney Greene ’08. Back row, L to R: Shaun Tyszka ’07, Brynn Lucas ’08, Dustin Smith ’08, Rachel Quashnoc Dolan ’08, ’10G.
Jessie Andersen ’03G, Spec. Ed., recently published At What Cost (Astraea Press, 2012), her first young adult novel. Steve Budgar ’08G, Mgmt., teaches Intro to Marketing as an adjunct instructor at Finger Lakes Community College. He was also recently hired by Keuka College for their ASAP (Accelerated Studies for Adults) B.S. in Organizational Management program.
Weddings and Unions Kolleen Olin ’94 to Christopher Sulli, Nov. 26, 2005. Katherine Sgabellone ’97 to David McKenna, June 8, 2012. Tondra Bailey ’03, ’07G, to Rayan Collins ’04, July 9, 2011. Emily Comfort ’04 to D.J. Morse, April 14, 2012. Ashley Hubbard Sick ’04 was the matron of honor.
Emily Comfort ’04 married D.J. Morse in the Florida Keys on April 14, 2012.
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www.naz.edu
Laurie Worthington ’05 to Greg Davis, Aug. 18, 2012. Patrice Caines ’05 to Arrey Enyong, Dec. 21, 2011. Jody Barrett ’06, ’08G, to Josh Ostrander, July 4, 2011. Tracey Borrelli ’06 to David Savine ’05, ’10G, Aug. 9, 2008. Katie Metzger ’08 to Trevor Kriewall, Oct. 1, 2011. Cori Zerfas ’08 to Brendan Shea ’08, Dec. 30, 2011. Jeni-Lee Chambers to Phil Precourt ’10, July 28, 2012. Renee Smith ’10G to Ryan Zegarelli, July 22, 2011. Michelle Miller ’11G to Joseph Sidari ’12G, Aug. 21, 2010.
great-grandmother of 12. She was the last surviving member of the Class of 1937. Elizabeth Finegan Doyle ’40, on May 8, 2011. She was a cofounder of St. Joseph’s House of Hospitality in Rochester, inspired by a visit to Nazareth from Dorothy Day. Harriet Walton Wegman ’42, on May 30, 2012. She and her husband Gerard moved to Marcellus, N.Y., where they were communicants at St. Francis Xavier Church and where she taught CCD for more than a decade. She also volunteered for Right to Life for many years. Geraldine Vandewater Elliott Births and Adoptions ’43, on June 4, 2012. She was the Suzanne Tuohey Morley ’71, a organist and choir director for granddaughter, Ava, Nov. 2, 2011. more than 30 years at St. Rita Church. Kolleen Olin Sulli ’94, a Virginia Bogdan Pados ’43, on daughter, Reagan Barbara, June 3, July 25, 2012. She was a music 2010. teacher for grades pre-K through 8 Matt Murphy ’96, a son, Tyler in the Buffalo Public Schools, retirMatthew, June 11, 2012. Laurel Vishnesky Bishop ’97, a ing in 1985. Sister Dorothea Kunz ’44, son, Leo Justin Thomas, Sept. 27, S.S.J., on Aug. 2, 2012. A member 2011. of the S.S.J. congregation since Alane Hight Lovic ’97, a son, 1941, Sister Dorothea served at Eli Cole, March 17, 2012. Nazareth College from 1947 to Tracy Flanagan Pearsall ’98, a 1992 as a faculty member and daughter, Natalie Ann, March 16, chair of the mathematics depart2012. Tracey Borrelli Savine ’06 and ment as well as founder and direcDavid Savine ’05, ’10G, a daugh- tor of the College’s Academic Advisement Center. In 1962, she ter, Giulia, and a son, Anthony. was one of 40 math teachers nationwide to be awarded a In Memoriam National Science Foundation grant Mary Catherine Maguire for a summer study program in LaMay ’37, on May 1, 2012. She mathematics held in Washington, was a member of St. Anthony’s D.C. Catholic Church and its Ladies of Dorothy Wehner Hoysic ’46, Charity, Rose Haven Civic on May 23, 2012. She worked for Association, and the American St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester as Legion Ladies Auxiliary Unit 206. a lab technician. In the Diocese of She was the mother of five chilRochester, she was an active volundren, grandmother of eight, and teer and volunteered for Cursillo,
www.naz.edu
teen seminars, Genesis, and the family camp at Koinonia. She enjoyed crocheting, knitting, and was a mother of eight. Nancy Riggs Albert ’48, on May 20, 2012. Dorothy E. Carroll ’48, on May 16, 2012. While at Nazareth, she joined the Sisters of Saint Joseph and became a nurse. After leaving the religious life in 1964, she moved to Ithaca, N.Y., and worked at the Cayuga Medical Center as a nursing supervisor for more than 23 years. Elaine M. Kalb ’48, on July 6, 2012. Mary Pebbles Ersley Bonci ’57, on June 14, 2012. She worked in various nursing jobs throughout her career and retired after 20 years as a registered nursing supervisor at the Chemung County Health Dept. She was a communicant of St. Mary Our Mother Church in Horseheads. Loretta LaRussa Paul ’62, ’78G, on Aug. 6, 2012. She was the loving mother of four, the grandmother of seven, and the great-grandmother of one. Sharon Turcotte White ’67, on May 2, 2012. She was a speech therapist for 33 years with Massena Central Schools, where she worked in all the district’s elementary schools. Janet Crossland Barnard ’69, on May 17, 2012. She had a long career as a professor at RIT’s College of Business. After retiring, she continued as a business consultant for the Small Business Administration. She was a longtime member of Asbury First United Methodist Church, which her father helped build. Mary K. Dimick ’69, on Nov. 2, 2011.
Suzanne P. Slack ’72, on June 5, 2012. She was a prolific writer and former director of Webster Area Youth Services. Kathleen Coleman Eichenlaub ’78, on June 18, 2012. In 1998, she was chosen to receive a prestigious award as Alumnae of the Year for Nazareth College, in honor of her achievements in the field of social work and in recognition of her dedication to the people served by Catholic Charities. Her daughter, Anne Eichenlaub ’13, is a current student at Nazareth College. Therese Ewart Mynott ’79, on June 14, 2012. Phyllis Barna Anderson ’87G, on April 8, 2012. She was a special education teacher for many years in Rochester and Fort Myers. Most recently, she was a realtor with Kelly Cove Realty in Florida. Patricia Mann MacKenzie ’87, on June 28, 2012. Barbara Perkins Stuart ’87, on May 13, 2012. She was a member of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Newark and was active in many church and community activities. She also volunteered as a registered nurse at the Senior Friendship Medical Center in Sarasota and was an active supporter of the Sarasota Opera House, the Sarasota Orchestra, and Historic Spanish Point Landmark Museum. Father Paul Nochelski, S.J., on July 14, 2012. He spent 11 years as a teacher and administrator at Canisius High School in Buffalo and taught in the graduate division of Canisius College. Beginning in 1978, he served as Nazareth College’s resident hall program coordinator. In 1986, Father Paul was the first McQuaid alumnus to be named principal of McQuaid Jesuit High School.
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THE | archive
Games
Nuns Play
H
and clapping and knee slapping—are
This photo, which appeared in
these sisters and students playing a
the Summer-Fall 2012 issue of
get-to-know-you game during freshman
Connections, has now been
orientation? Perhaps they’re enjoying a
identified—at least, part of it has.
festive holiday party? Or maybe this
Carol Townsend ’69 pointed out
was just a regular Saturday night in the 1950s, hanging out in the Medaille Formal Lounge? If you have additional information about this photograph,
that half the image appeared in the 1966 Sigillum. “Students and their escorts were transported to ‘Faraway Places’ when the Fremin Mission
please let us know. Send comments to Archives, Lorette
Unit sponsored its annual dance on October 9,” the yearbook reported.
Wilmot Library, Nazareth College, 4245 East Avenue,
The two women on the right were event chairmen Mary Anne Walsh
Rochester, NY 14618, or email driley9@naz.edu.
’68 and Mary Ann DelPlato Corea ’66, ’81G, along with their dates.
58 CONNECTIONS | WINTER 2012-2013
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 10 and March 28 • 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 2012-2013 59
Non-Profit Org. U.S.Postage PAID Rochester, NY Permit No. 1217
4245 East Ave. Rochester, NY 14618-3790 CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED
Candlelight Yoga in the Chapel
M
ore than 300 Nazareth students practice yoga regularly—through free and open classes,
physical education classes, and sessions with athletic teams—and yoga therapy has recently been added as a specialization within the art therapy program. It’s a campus phenomenon, says Lynne Staropoli Boucher, yoga teacher and director of the Center for Spirituality, and one that she hopes will attract prospective stu-
Food and drink are potent inspirations for Nazareth students and alumni (check out the feature story on page 32). This ceramic sculpture by Mary Herbst ’14, titled The Basket, appeared in the spring Undergraduate Student Art Show, which showcases the best work created during the year by Nazareth art students. You can view a Flickr gallery of other student artwork at at go.naz.edu/UGart
dents. “Yoga fits in perfectly with Nazareth’s long-term commitment to fostering the health and wellbeing of students through a holistic approach to mind-body-spirit,” she explains. Learn more about yoga at Nazareth at go.naz.edu/yoga.