Women of Distinction

Under her direction our class put on a production of J.B., a retelling of the story of the biblical fgure Job by Archibald MacLeish. We had never imagined ourselves doing such a thing - it hadn’t opened on Broadway yet (some of us still can’t believe we did it). Mary was also faculty advisor of Horizons literary magazine which we put together in our fnal year. After it went to press she took all of us to The Jumble Shop on Eighth Street in the Village. We had dinner and talked and, hey, we were real people.

Mary got married in our last year and invited us all. Out there on the Long Island grass we felt seriously honored and indefnably sad. After we left Tech, a few of us would get on the tubes and head over to her place in Jersey City, unannounced. We’d ring the bell and stand there stupidly, and she’d smile and let us in and sit with us talking about college and the world. A remarkable woman and a wonderful friend.

Back in the day, when the class had become too raucous, Mary would smile and bid us a Shakespearean “Prithee, peace.” She died in 2006 in Kansas where she’d been living with her husband, Loren Schmidtberger, and her three children. Prithee peace, indeed, Mary.

Jenelle Callender 1999

“Feminism isn’t about making women stronger. Women are already strong, it’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.” -- G.D. Anderson. Saluting the amazing women of the Brooklyn Tech Track Team! Tech Track Forever.

Venesa Alicea-Chuqui 2000 Eleni Angelpolis 1988 Steven Bauman 1979 Lubov Bogopolskaya Sukari Brown 2009 Frederick Butcher 1962 Steve Caddle 1987 Louis Camacho 1975 Edward Carroll 1966 Leona Chin 1976 Kim D’Abreu 1984 Sonya Davie 1982 Cathy DeMarinis Mueller 1975 Tyrone Dixon 1970 David Gilbert 1960 Robert Krasny 1969 Carol LaPunzina 1978 Rande H. Lazar, MD 1969 Myron Levy 1959 Kendra R. Mathias 1998 Lexi Murman 2016 Christine Pembroke 2010 Miriam Perez 1985 Kathline Pierre Sunfower Aisha Ponds 1991 Jack Prince Victoria Reyes, MD 1988 Tonya Rice 1982 Cecilia Rivers 1979 Michelle Rogers 1987 Justin Schechter 1973 Thandekile Shange 1985 Suki Toguchi 2001 Susan Tom 1994 Christina Toufexis 1988 Crystal Walthall 2003 Adrianne Washington 1983 Adrienne Williams 1975 Denise Wintz 1980 Lynda Wyatt 1985

SCIABARRA [continued from page 5]

invest in Tech. In sports they excelled in team and individual performance. But mostly, they found ways to prove that they were at Tech, were going to stay, and be forces to be reckoned with.

Today of course, young women are on equal footing with young men; they have graduated with honors and attended the most prestigious schools. In fact, over the last ten years, the salutatorian and valedictorian selections have both been overwhelmingly represented by young women.

My role has never wavered. I have always felt that I had to encourage the female voice and to ensure that my “kids” were always included and respected. I was also there to listen and to provide sound advice, so their roles in the school would not be diminished because of their gender.

Ms. Sciabarra, known to all at Tech as “Ms Ski,” held senior positions in the Department of Education after leaving Tech, and then returned home to serve as Executive Director of the Alumni Foundation.

ALUMNAE

Women of Distinction Tech alumnae are everywhere. A small, random sample:

Lesleigh Irish-Underwood ’82 was elected to the Alumni Foundation Board of Directors. The Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer for United Way of New York City, she is the second Director from her class, joining Wilton Cedeno.

ACADEMIA/EDUCATION Dalia Kagan ’12 is a math teacher in New York Claudette Shephard, MD ’79 is associate professor and residency training director at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine. ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT, MEDIA Actress Ellen Cleghorne ’76 was a Saturday Night Live cast member, 1991-1995. Christine Ko ’03 (known as Miss Ko) is an award-winning singersongwriter and rapper. GOVERNMENT Jenny (Lam) Low ’82 is director of community engagement for the New York City Council President. Akasha Lawrence Spence ‘06 is the newest member of the Oregon House of Representatives. JOURNALISM Jeanine AguirreRamirez ’88 is an Emmy-nominated Spectrum NY1 Brooklyn reporter and news anchor.

HEALTHCARE/SCIENCE /ENGINEERING Emma Costa ’14 is a PhD student in neuroscience at Stanford University. Sophia Khan ’98 is a dentist and assistant professor at the University of Colorado. Zujaja Tauqeer, MD ’07, a Rhodes Scholar, is now a resident in ophthalmology at Penn Medicine. ATHLETICS Anne Cebula ’16 is an NCAA national gold medalist in fencing. Kai Poux ’20 is a nationally ranked wrestler. Erinn Smart ’97 is an Olympic medalist (2008) fencer. Annie Zhu ’12 holds world agegroup records in swimming. BUSINESS Dupe Ajayi ’95 is a marketing strategist at The Shed. Katie Blitz ’12 is a senior account executive at PR firm DKC. Janessa Cox-Irvin ’99 is global head of diversity & inclusion at Alliance Bernstein. Umindi Francis Denis ’94 is the founder and CEO of Umindi Francis Consulting Group. Arlene Isaacs Lowe ‘76 is global head of corporate social responsibility for Moody’s and President of Moody’s Foundation. Tatia Mays-Russell ’84 is Chief Financial Officer of the Major League Baseball Players Association. Tanya Soman ’09 became the youngest female to make Venture Partner at 500 Startups. FASHION and ART Nsenga Knight ’99 is an artist with many exhibitions, awards and residencies. Nzinga Knight ’99 is an awardwinning designer and fashion authority. Kim Taylor ’81 is a textile artist; her art quilts were exhibited at the African American Museum of Nassau County.

Compiled by Erica Shum ’20 from research by Lisa Trollback (Alumni Foundation) and alumnae submissions.

THERE’S MUCH MORE ONLINE: - HEALTHCARE - TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE - MILITARY - LAW, EDUCATION, ETC. TO ACCESS, SEE BOX, PAGE 1