Expression Spring 2009

SPRING 2009

THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF EMERSON COLLEGE

and going Emerson is pursuing an array of green initiatives designed to reduce the College’s impact on the environment

An Award Show Like No Other The EVVY Awards, presented each spring, recognizes the best student work in all fields. Here, the entertainment portions of the show range from theatrical production numbers to standup comedy and musical performances.

Photos by Frank Monkiewicz

Expression SPRING 2009

THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF EMERSON COLLEGE

In This Issue Concerns about the Earth’s environment have touched all of our lives, and Emerson College is no exception.

The school began in earnest several years ago to introduce green initiatives designed to reduce its environmental impact. These efforts range from the purchase of green custodial products to the use of green power like wind energy to the construction or renovation of buildings along LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification guidelines. The College’s Colonial Building, for instance, is expected to receive silver-level LEED certification when it opens this fall. In addition, the faculty has greened the curriculum by adding courses that touch on subjects like air quality and pollution, plant biology and filmmaking and urban ecology. Student organizations are active, too, with full slates of activities designed to increase their classmates’ environmental awareness.

Next, we shine a light on four alumni poets – Matt W. Miller, MFA ’00; Denise Duhamel ’84; Jason Roush ’97; and Christina Pugh, MFA ’00 – who offer up their work.

We were attracted to this quartet of poets because each does something vastly different with the language and images at his or her disposal.

We think you’ll enjoy these selections.

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Campus Digest

The gymnasium is dedicated; a new vice president for communications and marketing is named, and other news

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Commencement

Graduation rites 2009 in pictures and words

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Four Poets

Four talented alumni share works of poetry with Expression readers

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Purple, Gold and Green

The College is pursuing an array of green initiatives

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Notable Expressions

A compendium of alumni accomplishments

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Alumni Digest

Alumni happenings from all over the country

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Class Notes

Read the news about your classmates

Rhea Becker, editor

Expression Executive Editor Andrew Tiedemann Editor Rhea Becker Writer Christopher Hennessy Design Director Charles Dunham Production Coordinator Catherine Sheffield Editorial Assistant Allison Teixeira

Expression is published three times a year (fall, winter and spring) for alumni and friends of Emerson College by the Office of Public Affairs (Andrew Tiedemann, vice president) in conjunction with the Department of Institutional Advancement (Robert Ashton, vice president) and the Office of Alumni Relations (Barbara Rutberg ’68, associate vice president; director).

Office Of Public Affairs public_affairs@emerson.edu 617-824-8540 fax 617-824-8916 Office Of Alumni Relations alumni@emerson.edu 800-255-4259 617-824-8535 fax 617-824-7807

Copyright © 2009 Emerson College 120 Boylston St. Boston, Massachusetts 02116-4624

Campus Digest Producer Bright ’76 creates TV workshop for local teens Fifteen local high school students enjoyed the opportunity of a lifetime last spring when they took part in a workshop on television and film taught by one of the most successful TV producers in television history. The academically talented students – who came from six Boston public schools – worked with TV producer and Executivein-Residence Kevin Bright ’76 and a team of Emerson students in an eight-week program during which they learned the fundamentals of producing a television show.

Bright was the executive producer of the hit sitcom Friends. By the second workshop, these students were operating audio and

video gear as well as writing, producing and directing a show of their own creation.

Bright originated the idea for the workshop as a way for Boston high schoolers to consider a career in television as well as to encourage them to take advantage of the benefits and challenges of attending college. He also hopes the students see media arts “as a form of self-expression – that’s really what I hope the students are getting out of it.” Admission officials call the workshop “a pipeline program,” in which the College reaches out to students to offer mentoring and preparation for college.

Tiedemann named VP for communications, marketing

TOP: TV producer Kevin Bright ’76 gives instructions to high school students during a TV production workshop for Bostonareas teens. ABOVE: Leah Ogawa, a student at the Boston Arts Academy, learns how to operate a camera.

Andrew Tiedemann

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At the dedication of the gymnasium were (from left) Trustee Chair Peter Meade, President Jacqueline Liebergott, cosmetics entrepreneur Bobbi Brown ’79, men’s basketball player Anthony Remias, women’s basketball player Maude Okrah and Athletics Director Kristin Parnell.

Gymnasium named for Brown ’79 and Plofker The College gymnasium has been named the Bobbi Brown ’79 and Steven Plofker Gym in recognition of the couple’s continuing generosity to the College, including a recent gift of $1 million, according to President Jacqueline Liebergott. Brown is an internationally renowned makeup artist and cosmetics industry entrepreneur and a member of the College’s Board of Trustees. Her husband, Plofker, is a New Jersey real estate developer

Andrew Tiedemann, Harvard University’s communications director for alumni affairs and development, has been named vice president for communications and marketing at Emerson. He was selected for the position, previously called vice president for public affairs, following an extensive national search. Tiedemann

and attorney. The couple previously funded the Bobbi Brown and Steven Plofker Design Technology and Makeup Studio in the Tufte Performance and Production Center. The gym, located in the Max Mutchnick Campus Center at 150 Boylston St., hosts intercollegiate men’s and women’s basketball and women’s volleyball competition and serves as a recreational and social gathering resource for the Emerson community.

Brown has contributed in other ways as well, joining forces with Emerson

succeeds Vice President for Public Affairs David Rosen, who stepped down as a senior administrator to become a special assistant to President Jacqueline Liebergott.

Liebergott said the change in the vicepresidential title from public affairs to communications and marketing reflects changes in recent years in the ways institutions of

to launch the Bobbi Brown Program in Makeup Artistry.

The program’s inaugural workshop series, held this past spring, was a success, according to the Department of Professional Studies and Special Programs. This summer, the program will offer The Art and Business of Makeup, the first of a three-course series of professional programs designed to train those interested in entering the makeup artistry field.

higher education organize and use resources to recruit students and raise money within today’s highly competitive marketplace.

Tiedemann worked at Harvard since 1992. He served as the communications director for The University Campaign (1994-99), which raised $2.6 billion and represented the largest campaign in the

Brown signs copies of her latest book, Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual, at the College bookstore.

history of higher education at that time. The work of his communications team spanned all aspects of alumni affairs and development: alumni relations, volunteer support, awareness building, and assisting with direct solicitations at all levels of the gift scale. Tiedemann is a 1982 journalism graduate of Boston University’s College of Communication.

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College wins design awards for printed projects Women’s basketball enjoys best finish in program’s history The spring 2009 season was a season of bests for the women’s basketball program. Although unable to bring home the GNAC (Great Northeast Athletic Conference) championship (losing to Emmanuel College in the finals, 40-51), the team’s 21-9 record and .700 winning percentage are

the best in the program’s history, far surpassing the previous best (16-10 in the 2007 season). Their second-place finish in the GNAC standings also represents the best finish in the program’s history.

The Lions’ attack was led by head coach Bill Gould, who was named GNAC Coach of the Year. Highlights of the season included the Lions’ regular-season win over Emmanuel. Emerson had never beaten the perennial powerhouse until the 7066 victory this year. In fact, the Lions were the only team in the GNAC to beat Emmanuel all year.

Emerson’s undergraduate viewbook – produced by the Admission Office – has won a bronze award (third place) in the 24th annual Admissions Advertising competition, sponsored

by Higher Education Marketing Report. The Admissions Advertising Awards is the largest educational advertising awards competition in the country. More than 2,000 entries were received this year from more than 1,000

colleges, universities and secondary schools from all 50 states and several foreign countries. Emerson’s publication competed in the Student Viewbook Group 2 category (school with 2,0004,999 students).

In addition, an Emerson Paramount Center brochure won a silver medal in the CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) 2009 awards program.

The winning publications were created

Marian Seldes (right) speaks to Melia Bensussen, chair of the Performing Arts Department, before addressing a forum during her campus residency.

Broadway’s Seldes is 2009 Waldman Chair in theater arts The Emerson community enjoyed a weeklong residency last spring with Tony Award-winning Broadway legend Marian Seldes. Seldes, a five-time Tony nominee, was the 2009 Waldman Chair in theater arts. Seldes’ residency included an all-college forum in the Semel Theater, a Performing Arts Forum in the Greene Theater and a series of master classes for performing arts students.

Seldes, who received an honorary degree from

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Emerson in 1978, is the winner of numerous awards, including Tony, Drama Desk and Obie awards.

“Marian Seldes has acted in some of the most significant theater productions of the last halfcentury, gracing the stages of Broadway and Off-Broadway with her elegant style and exquisite craft,” said School of the Arts Dean Grafton Nunes. Nunes called her “one of America’s premier acting teachers.”

While on campus, Seldes spoke to a theater full of Emerson students,

faculty and staff about her distinguished career on and off Broadway. She talked about never missing a performance of Death Trap on Broadway for five years (when her co-stars ranged from Stacey Keach to Farley Granger to Robert Reed).

The College’s first endowed professorship in theater arts, the Waldman chair is funded by a gift from Honey Waldman, a 1946 graduate of the College, and her sister, Gladys Waldman Brownstein.

Gold Key honors faculty, students Two outstanding teachers and 64 students were honored at the Gold Key ceremony held during the spring semester at the Semel Theater. Gold Key Honor Society students are juniors in the top 5 percent and seniors in the top 10 percent of their class who have completed at least 48 credits at the College.

Gold Key seniors are entitled to wear a gold sash during Commencement ceremonies.

A full-time and a parttime professor were each given an award for superior teaching. The winner of the full-time faculty award, the Helaine (’55) and Stanley Miller Award for Outstanding Teaching, was Professor Flora Gonzalez in the Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing (WLP). WLP Department Chair Dan Tobin noted, “Flora is an extraordinary presence in the classroom, though her advocacy for her

by the College’s Creative Services Department, one in partnership with the Admission Office, the other with the Institutional Advancement Office.

students extends beyond the classroom walls, and even Emerson itself.” Former Trustee Helaine Miller presented the award. Last year’s winner of the award, Associate Professor of Journalism Jerry Lanson, delivered the address.

Robert Dulgarian won this year’s part-time instructor award, the Alan L. Stanzler Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Dulgarian teaches in the WLP Department and the Honors Program.

Helaine Miller ’55 (left) with Writing, Literature and Publishing Professor Flora Gonzalez at the Gold Key ceremony.

Sharp, former theater department head, dies at 84 William L. Sharp, 84, professor of acting, dramatic literature and theory and former chair of the Theatre Arts Department at Emerson, died May 29, 2009, at his home in Swampscott, Mass.

Born in Chicago, he completed both his B.A and his M.A. at the University of Chicago. He received his Ph.D. in theater and drama from Stanford University and went on to teach at the University of California at Riverside, where he was the chair and creator of the

Drama Program from 19541964. He taught at Stanford University, where he also co-founded the Stanford Repertory Theater, and at Middlebury College and was director of the Theatre Program at the Breadloaf School of English from 1966-1976.

He was a faculty member at Emerson from 1970-1994 and was ultimately named professor emeritus of the performing arts.

Sharp directed more than 50 productions in a variety of venues and earned critical praise as a profes-

sional actor. He published a 1970 book, Language as Drama, and wrote articles that appeared in a number of drama journals.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, July 25, at 2 p.m. at the Semel Theater at Emerson College. Please send donations in lieu of flowers to Emerson College Performing Arts, c/o Robert Ashton, Emerson College, 120 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02116-4624, noting that the donation is in memory of William Sharp.

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n a showery spring day, (formerly the Wang) in Boston. some 1,000 graduates received President Jacqueline Liebergott their Emerson College presided over both morning baccalaureate and graduate and afternoon May 18 degrees during back-toceremonies, the College’s 129th back ceremonies at the Citi annual Commencement Performing Arts Center exercises.

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At the morning ceremony, at which about 750 undergraduate degrees were conferred, actor Blair Underwood presented the Commencement address. He also received an honorary degree, along with legendary, Oscar-winning filmmaker Milos Forman, who has directed such films as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Hair, Ragtime, Amadeus, The People vs. Larry Flynt and Man on the Moon.

In his address, Underwood urged graduates to look beyond the material “trappings” of life that leave one

“substantively empty” and to seek joy in life. He asked, “Are you happy doing what you’re doing? Do you love what you do? Are you giving back to others?”

True happiness, Underwood said, is derived from giving to others. He also gave advice to the graduates, including “Set a goal and decide what you want to give up in order to get what you want; associate with successful people in your field; lead with compassion and humility.”

Underwood, who is best known for his role as Jonathan Rollins in NBC’s L.A. Law, has appeared in

THE FACES OF COMMENCEMENT 2009.

(Counterclockwise from left) President Jacqueline Liebergott presides over the Commencement ceremonies; Valedictorian Christopher Riccio; graduate student speaker Ioannis Papadopoulos; Board of Trustees chair Peter Meade; honorary degree recipient and film director Milos Forman; Commencement Speaker actor Blair Underwood; Underwood and honorary degree recipient Fernando Reimers receiving their hoods; and Graduate Commencement Speaker Rep. John Lewis.

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HBO’s In Treatment, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination and in film roles, including Rules of Engagement, Full Frontal, Madea’s Family Reunion, Just Cause and Deep Impact.

Underwood is also a voice for human rights, co-founding Artists for a New South Africa, a nonprofit organization dedicated to democracy and equality in South Africa. He also won the 1993 Humanitarian Award for his work with the Los Angeles chapter of the Muscular Dystrophy Association and has served as the spokesperson for YouthAIDS.

President Liebergott also addressed the students, praising them as leaders on campus, singling out individuals who performed public service and won awards for their academic work and other honors. She said that the Class of 2009 will enter a world in which “the communications landscape will be defined by social media.” She added, however, that “the need for timely, accurate and culturally

sensitive reporting of news information is crucial. But achieving this goal is no easy task. Today, news and information sources are simultaneously expanding and converging. The ownership of media companies is increasingly concentrated. And the line between news and entertainment continues to blur.”

The valedictorian was Christopher Riccio, a nontraditional student, age 29, who achieved a grade point average of 3.93. He described his winding journey through a number of careers – actor,

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filmmaker, and, after graduation, aspiring doctor. During his humorous speech, Riccio performed spot-on impressions of Bill Clinton and Tom Brokaw and ‘raffled off’ tickets for front-row seats at the ceremony. He jokingly compared his fellow students to “a bunch of iPods, to be replaced by another generation of iPods.”

Scenes from Commencement 2009, on Boston Common and outside the Citi Performing Arts Center.

Photos by Frank Monkiewicz

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Graduate student rites Emerson also conferred 300 graduate degrees at a separate ceremony. The Commencement address was delivered by Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), an iconic civil rights leader. He received an honorary doctorate along with Fernando Reimers, a renowned Harvard professor of international education.

Lewis, who helped found the pivotal civil rights organization the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), appealed to the gathering to “get in trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble.” He continued, “If you want a just society, you cannot wait for the president of the United States, you can’t wait for the members of Congress. You must make our society a better place.” He urged

audience members to “keep your eyes on the prize” – a better society.

The afternoon ceremony’s student speaker was Ioannis Papadopoulos, MA ’09, who spoke about his Greek roots and his experiences at Emerson meeting other students from all over the globe. “This is America’s biggest power,” he said, “the power to unite. We are all the same citizens of the same world.”

Both ceremonies were streamed live on the Web and the undergraduate ceremony was also broadcast live for an overflow crowd in the Cutler Majestic Theatre. Catered receptions were held on Boston Common after the respective ceremonies, giving students and their families a chance to take pictures, reminisce and chat with faculty mentors. E

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he ties between Emerson and the Peter Shippy ’84 and Kathleen Rooney, poetry world are substantial, with a MFA ’05, all of whom have been passel of prominent poets on the faculty, previously featured in Expression), a number of award-winning alumni and as a home to the highly regarded poets (including Thomas Lux ’70, literary journal Ploughshares. From

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this vast universe of verse, Expression has assembled a quartet of works by some of Emerson’s brightest stars. The results are poems that are, by turns, poignant and vibrant,

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direct and abstract. The poets are Matt W. Miller, MFA ’00, Denise Duhamel ’84, Jason Roush ’97 and Christina Pugh, MFA ’00.

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The Blades For Walshy and Mitch

From the dark concrete gape of a rented garage, across a New England dust and heat August, as the 6:15 commuter rail sighs past the tall weeds and rusted box cars of Gallagher Terminal and hunches south toward Boston, a wail of dying metal crows the morning out from under its own shadows—a landscaper sharpening the blades of his mowers against an electric sander’s bony spin. Sparks wasp across forearms, which are three days dirty and lashed thick with veins. He stiffens, gliding the blades back and forth to rub from yesterday’s dulled brown this morning’s sharp cut of silver. A Marlboro hangs from his bottom lip unlit as his eyes become buried in the rhythm. He forgets the press of sweat, the pain in his back, the bills and the billings, the ice coffee melting in the pickup.

Forgets it all just long enough to get lost in the whine of the blades as they pass under the wheel. Until the sharpening is done. Then with a torque wrench he tightens the blades back onto the mowers, changes the air filters, loads them onto the trailer along with shovels, rakes, saws, and backpack blowers and heads out for the rows. The rows of old women always late to pay, of young mothers who want just one more thing cut, of men who will do a better job when they have the time. The rows of angry corners, lawn ornaments, painted mulch, hive husks, and stones.

The rows upon rows that he must cut before the day wears out and dulls into dark behind the roofed hills.

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Matt W. Miller, MFA ’00, was born and raised in Lowell, Mass. He earned a B.A. in psychology at Yale University, and his M.F.A. in creative writing from Emerson College. He is a former visiting professor of writing at New England College and has taught writing workshops at Stanford University, Harvard Extension, Endicott College, Cambridge College and the New Hampshire State Prison for Men. He has published work in various journals, including Notre Dame Review, Memorious, Connecticut Review, PN Review, DMQ Review and Third Coast. Nominated for five Pushcart Prizes, his first book, Cameo Diner: Poems (Loom Press), was published in 2005. He is a former Wallace Stegner Fellow in Poetry at Stanford University. Currently, he teaches English, coaches football and advises the surfing club at Phillips Exeter Academy.

The Language Police after Diane Ravitch’s The Language Police

The busybody (banned as sexist, demeaning to older women) who lives next door called my daughter a tomboy (banned as sexist) when she climbed the jungle (banned; replace with “rain forest”) gym (alternative: replace “jungle gym” with “play structure.”) Then she had the nerve to call her an egghead and a bookworm (both banned as offensive; replace with “intellectual”) because she read fairy (banned because it suggests homosexuality; replace with “elf”) tales.

I’m tired of the Language Police turning a deaf ear (banned as handicapism) to my complaints. I’m no Pollyanna (banned as sexist) and will not accept any lame (banned as offensive; replace with “walks with a cane”) excuses this time.

If Alanis Morissette can play God (banned) in Dogma (banned as ethnocentric; replace with “Doctrine” or “Belief”), why can’t my daughter play stickball (banned as regional or ethnic bias) on boys’ night out (banned as sexist)? Why can’t she build a snowman (banned, replace with “snow person”) without that fanatic (banned as ethnocentric; replace with “believer,” “follower,” or “adherent”) next door telling her she’s going to go to hell (banned; replaced with “heck” or “darn”)?

Do you really think this is what the Founding Fathers (banned as sexist; replace with “the Founders” or “the Framers”) had in mind?

That we can’t even enjoy our Devil (banned)-ed ham sandwiches in peace? I say put a stop to this cult (banned as ethnocentric) of PC old wives’ tales (banned as sexist; replace with “folk wisdom”) and extremist (banned as ethnocentric; replace with “believer,” “follower,” or “adherent”) conservative duffers (banned as demeaning to older men).

Denise Duhamel ’84 has published several volumes of poetry, including Ka-Ching!

(University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009), Two and Two (Pittsburgh, 2005), Mille et un Sentiments (Firewheel, 2005), Queen for a Day: Selected and New Poems (Pittsburgh, 2001), The Star-Spangled Banner (Southern Illinois University Press, 1999) and Kinky (Orchises Press, 1997).

A bilingual edition of her poems, Afortunada de mí (Lucky Me), translated into Spanish by Dagmar Buchholz and David Gonzalez, came out in 2008 from Bartleby Editores (Madrid). A recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, she is an associate professor at Florida International University in Miami.

As an heiress (banned as sexist; replace with “heir”) to the First Amendment, I feel that only a heretic (use with caution when comparing religions) would try to stop American vernacular from flourishing in all its inspirational (banned as patronizing when referring to a person with disabilities) splendor.

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Missing A flyer yesterday morning, thumbtacked to a telephone pole: LOST our beloved WRANGLER, a child’s hieroglyph of a black cat, coordinates (last seen, whom to call), all listed on a sheet of construction paper —nothing to think twice about, really, in a city. May you rest in peace, Wrangler, flattened in traffic, midnight snack for an omnivorous raccoon, or ritually sacrificed by a coven of Cambridge witches.

Today, though, same time, same telephone pole, inked across the sign in a diagonal chartreuse scrawl: THANKS we FOUND him.

And the traffic howled around it, that wisp of paper ticking in the wind.

Jason Roush ’97 is the author of three books of poems: After Hours (Windstorm Creative, 2005), Breezeway (Windstorm, 2007) and Crosstown (Orchard House Press, 2009). His poetry and reviews have appeared in Best Gay Poetry 2008, Bay Windows, Brooklyn Review, Cimarron Review, The Gay & Lesbian Review– Worldwide, Verse Daily (online) and elsewhere.

Since 1999, he has taught writing, literature, and cultural studies at Emerson College, where he is also faculty assistant to the director of the Honors Program.

Reprinted by permission of Orchard House Press, © 2009

Poetry at Emerson takes many forms

❦ About 135 works – including a good deal of poetry – first published in the Emerson College-based literary journal Ploughshares have been selected for recognition by The Best American Poetry, The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses and other collections.

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❦ Memorious is a literary journal founded in 2004 by Rob Arnold, MFA ’03, Brian Green and Rebecca Morgan Frank, MFA ’03, to provide an online forum for high-quality poetry and fiction.

“We’ve endeavored in the past five years to continue raising that standard, publishing interviews with such renowned authors as Robert Creeley, Pablo Neruda and Thom Gunn,

while simultaneously fostering a new generation of talent,” said Arnold.

The staff of the publication has grown to include Jessica Murphy, MFA ’03, fiction editor, and Laura van den Berg, MFA ’08, assistant editor.

Over the years Memorious has published work by a number of alumni and faculty, including: Rusty Barnes, Jami Brandli, Brandon Dameshek,

Seeing In I’m grateful for the way my eye travels— or skirts, looping over canvas, hillsides smooth and spackled as walls; I’m grateful for the farmhouse troweled on green foundations, its replica half-vanished in the grass, my eye cutting spirals on the surface: school figures, early morning ice; I’m grateful that oils compound and shimmer in museum light, but only when I lean in closer and rest my eye mothlike on a slip of blue burning under brown, accreted like bow strokes trellising a fugue, or andante moving with the urgency of paradox; I’m grateful for unrest under colors, for all I need to rove to see, for fields of vision populous as fields.

Reprinted from Restoration (Northwestern University Press) by Christina Pugh © 2008

Christina Pugh, MFA ’00, is the author of two books of poetry: Restoration (Northwestern University Press/TriQuarterly Books, 2008) and Rotary (Word Press, 2004), which received the Word Press First Book Prize. She has also published a chapbook, Gardening at Dusk (Wells College Press, 2002). Pugh received the Lucille Medwick Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America in 2008, a fellowship in poetry from the Illinois Arts Council in 2007, and a faculty fellowship from the Institute for the Humanities at the University of Illinois at

Chicago in 2007-08.

She has also been awarded numerous prizes, including the Grolier Poetry Prize, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship from Poetry magazine, a Whiting Fellowship for the Humanities and residencies at the Ragdale and Ucross colonies. Her poetry has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Poetry, TriQuarterly and Ploughshares. She is an assistant professor in the Program for Writers at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

❦ Christopher Hennessy, Bill Knott (interview), Don Lee (interview), Gail Mazur, Peter Shippy and Samuel Wharton. Memorious can be found at http://www.memorious.org/.

Emerson College students are excelling at a particular style of poetry performance known as slam poetry.

The College placed fourth out of 32 teams in the Association of College Unions International’s 2009 College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational.

Held at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, the competition also

singled out two Emerson students for recognition: Carlos Williams ’11 was named “Best Male Poet” and Peter Lundquist ’12 won “Best Persona Piece.”

Emerson will host next year’s slam invitational.

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Green initiatives at Emerson aim to reduce the College’s environmental impact and cut costs

and going

he magazine you’re holding just turned green. Did you see it? Beginning with this issue, Expression magazine is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. Publications bearing the FSC seal are produced and printed according to the highest social and environmental standards available.

The changes at Expression magazine are just a part of the College’s ever-expanding ecologically friendly initiatives, which include constructing new ‘green’ buildings, retrofitting older buildings, reducing energy use, and even adding courses on environmentalism to the curriculum.

So-called ‘green’ initiatives are important to the College for numerous reasons, says David Ellis, Emerson’s vice president for administration and finance. “We have only one earth, and we need to preserve it. But beyond the clear benefits to the quality of life, sustainability is also financially efficient. Recycling, for instance, is a great way to reuse precious resources while reducing costs associated with trash disposal and reducing waste added to landfills.”

By Rhea Becker and Christopher Hennessy

In 2007, Emerson took a major step toward environmental responsibility when President Jacqueline Liebergott signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment of the Association for the Advancement for Sustainability in Higher Education. The pact’s signatories believe that “campuses that address the climate challenge by eliminating global warming emissions and by integrating sustainability into their curriculum will better serve their students and meet their social mandate to help create a thriving, ethical and civil society.” The Commitment requires campuses to implement an array of sustainability projects, and Emerson has already completed several of them.

Green initiatives taken by colleges are important to prospective students, too. Anyone who consults the popular college rating services – The Princeton Review and Peterson’s, for instance – will find that environmental sensitivity is now among the ranking criteria.

The Princeton Review features a ‘green’ rating that evaluates schools on environmental policies, practices and academic offerings. Specific areas addressed include organic food, transit passes and carpooling.

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Emerson’s transition to green began in 1999, when the College started planning the 14-story Piano Row Building construction at 150 Boylston St. Early on, Emerson’s then-Vice President of Administration and Finance Robert Silverman committed to having the new residence hall and campus center satisfy the U.S. Green Building Council’s criteria for ‘green’ buildings. If it did so, Piano Row could receive LEED certification. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a national standard for developing sustainable buildings.

Besides being powered in part by green energy, LEED-certified buildings must adhere to a lengthy set of criteria, “from mechanical systems, to the materials you use, the lighting, the grounds, everything,” explains Neal Lespasio, Emerson’s director of facilities, who oversees sustainability efforts at the College.

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Greening the Buildings

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LEED certification also indicates that a structure “utilizes state-of-the-art strategies for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality,” according to KlingStubbins of Cambridge, Mass., the architectural firm that designed Piano Row. Piano Row, which opened in 2006, today houses some 560 students as well as the Max Mutchnick (’87) Campus Center, the Bobbi Brown ’79 and Steven Plofker Gym (including a

Today, the College purchases 3,000 MWH per year in the form of wind power from Community Energy, a green energy provider based in Pennsylvania.

NCAA-regulation-sized basketball court), offices and meeting rooms for student organizations, informal gathering places for off-campus students, dining facilities, and rooms that may be used for small-group rehearsals and performances. The building is one of just five LEED-certified college residence halls registered in Massachusetts, according to KlingStubbins.

But creating a single environmentally responsible building wasn’t enough for then-Vice President Silverman. “He took it one step further,” says Lespasio, “and decided to power 20 percent of the entire campus by renewable [green] energy,” what Lespasio calls a “tremendous commitment.” The College began to purchase green energy in the winter of 2005.

Green energy is an alternative to

There is also a move afoot to convert the Little Building’s natural-gas heating to steam, a project that “wil help us further reduce our carbon footprint.”

Over at the Little Building at 80 Boylston St., the College recently participated in a rebate program offered by electric utility National Grid to retrofit the lighting system by replacing 600 to 700 older fixtures with high-efficiency ones. “Half of the project will be paid for by the rebate,” says Lespasio, “and the entire project will pay for itself in a year or so.” The building houses some 750 students as well as a dining hall, a fitness center, meeting rooms and offices and other facilities. There is also a move afoot to convert the Little Building’s naturalgas heating to steam, a project that “will help us further reduce our carbon footprint,” says Lespasio. ‘Carbon footprint’ refers to the sum of all emissions of CO2 (carbon dioxide) being produced by an activity, individual or organization.

Campus-wide, motion detectors are being installed in offices so that overhead lights will shut off automatically when staffers leave the rooms.

water

pollution- and waste-producing fossil fuels and is produced by wind farms, solar energy, hydropower or other renewable energy sources. Today, the College purchases 3,000 MWH per year in the form of wind power from Community Energy, a green energy provider based in Pennsylvania. “Wind power is pollution-free and creates electricity with no combustion, no smoke and no waste,” according to the energy firm.

Emerson’s commitment to renewable energy extends to being a member of the Green Power Partnership, a voluntary program that supports the procurement of green power by organizations. Community Energy’s other collegiate clients have included Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and Drexel and Temple universities.

Renewable energy costs slightly more than fossil fuels, says Lespasio.

“It’s a little more than a penny per kilowatt-hour, in addition to the normal costs to purchase energy. It’s not very substantial, and it’s well worth it.”

Emerson’s commitment “builds on our growing environmental focus,” Lespasio adds.

Emerson is currently planning to build a new Los Angeles campus, and the architect selected for the project, Thom Mayne, founder of the architectural firm Morphosis, is noted for designing environmentally friendly buildings. He has pledged to design a building that will be LEED certified “at least at the silver level,” says President Liebergott. Construction is scheduled

Two years ago an initiative was implemented to eliminate the purchase of bottled water to start in the summer of 2010 and be for events completed by the fall of 2012. funded by the Older buildings that the College Student Government owns are being retrofitted to meet Association. ‘green’ standards. The building at 100 The impetus for Boylston St. (the Colonial Building), for the move instance, will serve as a residence hall. was provided The project is on track for LEED by student certification, says Lespasio, most likely organization at the silver level. The building is Emerson Peace and expected to house some 400 students Social Justice, on the upper floors, with retail space on a group that works the ground floor and is expected to toward social open this fall. and economic justice.

Emerson joins a growing number of campuses that are participating in a ‘back to the tap’ movement – trading bottled for tap water.

21 Expression Spring 2009

Greening the Curriculum

paper

Emerson College’s Expression magazine is printed

by Lane Press in South Burlington, Vt., a press that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

In addition, the paper stock, New Page Sterling, also is FSC certified.

22 Expression Spring 2009

Courses that focus on environmental issues have been added to Emerson’s science offerings, which may be taken to fulfill undergraduates’ General Education requirements.

The courses include Environment and Humankind, which examines population growth, preservation of biodiversity, pollution, global climate change and chemical impacts on human health; Climate Change and Public Policy, which focuses on the growing evidence of change in Earth’s climate system that scientists have gathered over the last several decades; and Plants and People, which introduces students to plant biology and ecology, with a particular focus on the importance of plants to humans.

Green topics are also being addressed beyond science classes.

Filmmaking and the Sustainable City, for instance, is a course in which students use cameras to examine urban ecology issues. After conducting research, students make films about topics such as the connection between air quality and health, transportation, street trees and community gardens, alternative energy sources and the impact of climate change on the city.

Last year, the class partnered with Boston’s Museum of Science, along with two local organizations working to keep the Mystic River clean, to present

an end-of-semester screening called “The Mystic River in Film.” The films were: Missi-Tuk, which shows how human activity has changed the river’s ecology and watershed; State of the Mystic Benthos, which explores the health of the river through its ‘benthic layer’ – where the water meets the sediment; and Green River, which examines pollution from detergents, bird manure and fertilizer and the impact they have on the river.

For his course Book Publishing Overview, David Emblidge, associate professor of writing, literature and publishing, assigned a final book-proposal project on the theme of climate change. The students wrote proposals that ranged from a scholarly work on the subject to a children’s book to a coffee-table book.

recycling

Greening the Commute

Earth Emerson, a student organization that works to promote environmental awareness, When Emerson’s relocation to the has organized Theatre District was completed in a variety of green events 2006, the shuttle bus that once carried over the past year, Emersonians to the Back Bay campus including several was discontinued. The College is now Boston Common Cleanups; located at the nexus of four major screenings of films transportation lines, greatly reducing about environmental the need for a car. issues, such as In fact, a 2008 transportation An Inconvenient Truth survey revealed that of 1,022 Emerson and Who Killed employee-commuters who responded, the Electric Car?; 59.8% took the subway to work, 20.9% talks by Binka Le Breton, took a bus/subway combination, 13.3% an internationally took a commuter rail/subway combinarenowned rain forest tion, 3.8% took a bus/commuter rail/ activist and journalist, subway combination, and 2.2% took Boston Globe environmental commuter rail. The survey was reporter Beth Daley, conducted by the College and submitand State Sen. Marc Pacheco, ted to the Massachusetts Department of who chairs the Environmental Protection.

Senate Committee on And for those who prefer to bike Global Warming In addition, a group to school or work, Emerson provides and Climate Change; of Emerson students two locked bicycle parking areas. and a fundraiser called recently traveled One facility holds 50 bicycles, the other “LifeSavers for Polar Bears,” to Japan to meet about 20. On-campus students which aimed to raise with Emerson benefactor can register for a space, and remaining awareness about global and internationally spaces go to off-campus students, climate change and recognized environmentalist faculty or staff. E the threat to wildlife.

Shoo Iwasaki, founding president of Green Cross Japan.

Green Cross International aims to help “ensure a just, sustainable and secure future for all” by “cultivating a new sense of global interdependence The College recycles everything from paper to furniture and shared responsibility to lighting to electronics. “We recycle quite a bit here – last year, in humanity’s over 70 tons of material,” reports Neal Lespasio. The College’s relationship with nature.” recycling provider, Institutional Recycling Network, handles Its programs include mixed paper, plastic and glass bottles, cans, computers, preventing and resolving cardboard, lighting and ballasts, and furniture. Batteries and conflicts over other material considered hazardous waste are recycled natural resources, separately. The College has donated about 2,000 mattresses addressing to disaster relief agencies. Mattresses that are in poor the environmental shape are burned to produce usable energy. consequences of wars and conflicts and promoting Many custodial products used at the College are values and Green Seal-certified. Green Seal is a nonprofit organization behavior changes. that promotes the manufacture, purchase and use

earth

of environmentally responsible products and services.

23 Expression Spring 2009

Notable Expressions THEATER The Brimmer Street Theatre Company of Los Angeles was founded by 10 Emerson graduates in 2007, and is a non-profit acting ensemble based in Hollywood. The company recently presented a new work which was developed collaboratively through group improvisation. Called <3, the play tells the story of eight millennials stranded at a wedding reception on

Scenes from the latest production of the Brimmer Street Theatre Company of Los Angeles, which was founded by a group of 10 Emerson alumni.

24 Expression Spring 2009

“a night when love, death, magic and media are all right at their fingertips,” said the company. The production entails a good deal of multimedia technology. A team of award-winning media artists, animators, set designers and filmmakers from the Los Angeles community were assembled to help create the show.

Briana Carlson-Goodman ’06 recently made her

Broadway debut in Hair at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. Carlson-Goodman previously appeared in Wanda’s World (offBroadway) and Go Diego, Go Live! (national tour).

Joseph Leo Bwarie ’99 is playing the role of Frankie Valli in the Tony Awardwinning musical Jersey Boys.

The Broadway show tells the story of four blue-collar Jersey kids and their rise to fame as the Four Seasons.

The Day (Conn.) reports, “The four lead performers all have exceptional voices – Bwarie…is an astounding soprano and when he hit the falsetto notes in ‘Sherry’ with perfect pitch, the... audience rose to its feet.”

Bwarie performed on the Spirit of Boston cruise ship during his Emerson years, and he will play the role of Frankie Valli when Jersey Boys comes to Boston this summer.

Jeff Arch ’76, who penned the story for and co-wrote the screenplay of Sleepless in Seattle, has teamed up with composer-lyricist Leslie Bricusse to bring the 1993 hit film (which starred Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan) to Broadway. The musical will follow the movie’s plot of

a cross-country romance arranged by a young boy for his widowed father. Joel Zwick (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) is set to direct.

Stacy Fischer ’98 co-starred in the New Repertory Theatre (Watertown, Mass.) production of Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love. Since 2000 she has appeared at the Lyric Stage, the Publick, the Huntington, the Gloucester Stage Co. and the SpeakEasy.

Fool for Love’s director Bridget Kathleen O’Leary raved about Fischer in a Daily News Transcript story: “She has this intensity that she brings to the role. It gets into her body. It’s fascinating to watch her absorb the material.”

Marc Anthony Nelson ’93, working under the stage name Marcus Kyd, is artistic director and co-founder of Taffety Punk Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., winner of the first John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company at the Helen Hayes Awards.

Katie Johnston ’00 is the lighting designer for Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy, which played on Broadway in summer 2008.

She is traveling with the international tour.

Briana Carlson-Goodman ’06 debuted on Broadway.

Bill Miller ’74 was presented with the 2009 Touring Broadway Achievement Award from The Broadway League to honor his exceptional dedication to Touring Broadway. As vice president of press and marketing at AWA Touring Services, a theatrical tour marketing, public relations and booking firm in New York City, he managed a staff of marketing and public relations specialists to promote and publicize Broadway shows on tour throughout the United States and Canada. His client roster includes producer Cameron Mackintosh and his Tony Award-winning productions of Boublil and Schonberg’s Les Miserables and Miss Saigon and Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Phantom of the Opera.

Robert McHaffey ’59 appeared last fall as Kit Carson in William Saroyan’s The Time of Your Life at the St. Jean’s Playhouse in Manhattan.

Gabrielle Garza ’06 is traveling with the national touring production of Spring Awakening. The play won eight Tony Awards in 2007, including Best Musical and is based on the 1891 German play of the same name by Frank Wedekind.

FILM Screenwriter Alex Tse ’98 saw his biggest project ever come to movie screens all over the world – the adaptation of the DC Comics’ The Watchmen, directed by Zack Snyder, who helmed the visionary film 300.

Watchmen was released in both conventional and IMAX theaters in March 2009, grossing $55 million on the opening weekend.

Director of Photography Shane Hurlbut ’86 was profiled in a recent issue of ICG magazine, the publication of the International Cinematographers Guild.

Hurlbut talked about his recent work on the hit action movie Terminator Salvation, the fourth film in the hugely successful film franchise that began with the original Terminator in 1984. The article also references Hurlbut’s Emerson years.

WORDS Anne Fletcher, MA ’80, has written Rediscovering Mordecai Gorelik: Scene Design and the American Theatre (Southern Illinois University Press), a book that explores the life and work of the pioneering scene designer. Fletcher is an associate professor of theater history and dramaturgy at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

John Hanc ’77 has published a new book, The Coolest Race on Earth: Mud, Madmen, Glaciers and Grannies at the Antarctica Marathon (Chicago Review Press, 2009), which explores his experiences running in the 2005 Antarctica Marathon. Hanc is a writer specializing in fitness, active sports and local history, and

Scenes from the hit film Watchmen by screenwriter Alex Tse ’98. (Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.

Pictures and Clay Enos; copyright DC Comics.)

25 Expression Spring 2009

a contributing editor to Runner’s World magazine and former running and fitness columnist for Newsday.

Jon Derek Croteau ’98 has written a new book, The People First Approach: A Guide to Recruiting, Developing and Retaining the Right People, which was published by CASE this spring. “Because advancement programs across the country have begun investing time and resources in retaining their staffs, and because of the demands placed on these divisions to raise money (which can only be done most effectively if you keep the same good people in place), I have targeted this first book toward that area,” says Croteau. The concepts, however, are applicable to any field, he adds.

Deejay Blake Hayes ’07

26 Expression Spring 2009

Helen Meldrum ’82, associate professor of psychology in the Program in Health Sciences and Industry-Department of Natural and Applied Sciences at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass., is the author of a new book, Characteristics of Compassion: Profiles of Exemplary Physicians, which profiles recipients of the prestigious Excellence in Medicine – Pride in the Profession award given by the American Medical Association. The book uncovers what sets these doctors apart from their peers and provides firsthand accounts from the front lines of medicine. “As informative and fascinating as the individual profiles that appear in this book are, Helen Meldrum paints a larger portrait of what medicine can be as practiced by its most noble practitioners,” said Edward Krupat, director of the Center for Evaluation at Harvard Medical School.

powered gadgets and electric vehicles of the future.

Kim Ablon Whitney, MFA ’03, has published her latest novel, The Other Half of Life: A Novel Based on the True Story of the MS St. Louis. This historical young-adult novel, based on the true story of a World War II voyage, imagines two travelers and the lives they may have lived until events, and immigration laws, conspired to change their fates.

Jessica Handler’s (’82) memoir Invisible Sisters has been published by Public Affairs Books. “Based on a Pushcart Prize-nominated essay, this clear-eyed, candid work portrays the immense emotional toll that two daughters’ illnesses take on a family living in Atlanta,” Publishers Weekly said.

MUSIC

The music of Jeff Tuohy ’05 “has drawn comparisons to that of singer-songwriters John Mayer and Dave Alexandra Le Tellier ’02 is Matthews,” begins an article deputy editor at Brand X, in the Keene (N.H.) Sentinel. a new lifestyle and trend Tuohy, of New York City, publication for the Los performs with The Bush Angeles Times that covers League Band and has twice restaurants, nightlife, toured nationally, sharing movies and style as well bills with big-name bands as technology, gaming, like The Black Crowes, volunteerism, environmental Mighty Mighty Bosstones issues, science, DIY, design, and singer Natasha sports, auto, art and street Bedingfield. While at culture. She writes and Emerson, Tuohy performed edits on all topics, including with a band that opened writing stories about a for acts from pop-rocker wearable robot suit, a mad Howie Day to hip-hop artists aerosol scientist, cycling Rob Base and EZ Rock. He culture in Venice, solarreleased his solo debut CD, Breaking Down the Silence, right after he graduated from Emerson.

The cover of a new book by Helen Meldrum ’82

RADIO The “super talented on-air and on-camera personality” Blake Hayes ’07, currently the weekend DJ on WPLJ (95.5) in New York City, was recently interviewed by the blog Style Whipped. The interview’s introduction notes, “Since graduating with a degree in broadcast journalism from the esteemed Emerson College, Blake has made his mark not only for PLJ, but for Comcast Cable, QVC, E! News Canada, and many other news and celebrity entertainment outlets. He has interviewed everyone from Ben Affleck to Kate Walsh to Reba McEntire to Richie Sambora, and reported from fundraisers, red carpets, and movie press junkets. And with a voice and poise about 20 years beyond his age, I know there is a lot more to come.”

Alumni Digest From the president of the Alumni Association Dear Fellow Emersonians, Over the course of the past two years I have had the opportunity to meet and spend time with many students on campus. Whether at an alumni-related activity or as a participant in a student-related event, I am continually reminded of the impressive and dynamic nature of our Emerson student body. They are outspoken, critical thinkers with a passion and drive that has become a familiar Emerson attribute.

In recent interactions, I have learned of their fears and concerns about their future in the job market.

Though they sit within the safe haven of the Emerson community, they are experiencing the economic turmoil in real time. Many have had to find alternative ways to return to campus due to changes in their families’ financial position. With that, students are taking on multiple jobs in order to handle the cost of tuition, room and board. More than ever, the Emerson student understands the impact the current economic climate may have on his or her future.

Even so, they continue to be as passionate and resilient as ever in fulfilling their

hopes and dreams.

In a recent meeting with members of the graduating Class of 2009, I learned firsthand of their desire to connect to the Emerson alumni community.

They look at us as an important part of the puzzle to fulfilling their dreams after Emerson. I concur. Looking back, I remember that it was an Emerson alumnus who gave me my start toward my professional career in performing arts management.

We, as alumni, have a true opportunity to “pay it forward.” Many of us understand and have the ability to give financially to Emerson, which indeed is an extremely important part of giving back. At the same time, many of us forget that our impact can be profound with a little dose of our time and a large dose of our passion focused on the future of an Emerson student.

Mentoring can be as simple as coming to campus and speaking to a class of students in your field of study; as simple as speaking to a past professor or the Emerson career services office and opening your door to students seeking internships; or as simple as developing a one-on-one relationship with a student who has identified a career path similar to your own and taking that student under your wing. These are power-

ful acts of mentorship and they can have a long-lasting impact on the Emerson spirit.

I urge each member of the Emerson alumni community to take a moment and ask yourself how you can mentor an Emerson student. Contact Carol Spector, director of Career Services, at (617-824-8586), or call the Alumni Relations Office (617-824-8275) and take the first step. I promise that it will be a most profound and fulfilling experience.

As always, your comments are welcome. Remember to check out the Emerson online community at www.emerson.edu/alumni or search our new Emerson College web pages at Facebook.com, Linkedin.com, Twitter.com and Flickr.com.

Meanwhile, I look forward to seeing you at an upcoming alumni event.

With warm regards, Robert Friend ’79 president, Emerson College Alumni Association rf@alumni.emerson.edu

Robert Friend ’79

27 Expression Spring 2009

LOS ANGELES The Ninth Annual Emerson Festival of Film, an annual showcase of student films, was held in March at the Writers Guild of America Theater in Beverly Hills, Calif. This year’s films were selected by an alumni screening committee – Pam Abdy ’95, Holly Bario

’89, Andrea Giannetti ’89 and Michael McCusker ’88. Maria Menounos ’00, correspondent for the Today show and Access Hollywood, served as the event’s executive producer and master of ceremonies, welcoming 300 alumni, parents, students and accepted Early Action

students. Menounos presented her Take Action Hollywood! Award to a student whose film most powerfully explores a current social issue. Marcia RobbinsWilf ’71 also presented her Women in Film Production Award to an outstanding female filmmaker.

Daphne Valerius ’06, Brent Jennings ’74, Nanci Isaacs ’79 and Steve Farrier ’75

President Jacqueline Liebergott, School of the Arts Dean Grafton Nunes, Michael McCusker ’88, Holly Bario ’89 and Pam Abdy ’95

Justine Jungels Bevilacqua ’09 (left), who won the Women in Film Production Award, with Dean Grafton Nunes and Marcia Robbins-Wilf ’71.

Amanda Johns ’04, Rachel Specter, Dan Levy ’03 and Matthew Corrigan ’04

28 Expression Spring 2009

Keven Undergaro and Maria Menounos ’00 flank Carolyn Polansky ’08, winner of the Take Action Hollywood! Award.

Student filmmakers flank Jim Lane (third from left), executive director of the College’s Los Angeles Program, and TV personality Maria Menounos ’00 (third from right), master of ceremonies and executive producer of the festival. From left are: Nicole Prowell ’08, Carolyn Polansky ’08, Justine Jungels Bevilacqua ’09, Kevin McManus ’09, Menounos, Matthew McManus ’09, and Tim Earle ’11; (kneeling) Ilya Polyakov ’09 and Jay Lewis ’11.

BOSTON

Emerson President Jacqueline Liebergott (second from left) joins panelists (from left) College Board of Overseers members Denise Kaigler ‘85, vice president of corporate affairs, Nintendo of America; Raj Sharma, MA ‘83, private wealth advisor, senior vice president Merrill Lynch; and Colette Phillips ‘78, president and CEO, Colette Phillips Communications, for the “The N.O.W.: Networking. Opportunities. Workshops” event last semester.

Sharma gave the keynote address at the event, which the Board sponsored.

Massachusetts State Rep. Kathi-Anne Reinstein, MA ’97 (D-Revere), with Communication Studies Chair Richard West, made the short trek from the State House to her alma mater during the spring semester to receive the Walt Littlefield Award and deliver the 5th annual Walt Littlefield Distinguished Speaker presentation.

Kappa Gamma Chi alumni sisters joined current Kappas for a luncheon in March at Piccola Venezia in Boston’s North End. Alumni who attended included: Jade Applegate, Samantha Baime, C.J. Baranello, Becca Blacker, Kate Bliss, Sara Brookshire, Brittany Burnside, Sarah Cadieux, Ashley Fetyko, Maureen Giles, Cori Mykoff, Emily Patrick, Barbara Rutberg, Dunja Simunovic, Mary Jo Stonie, Shawn Elise Tierney, Joey (Watson) Toppan, Andrea Vanzile, Melanie Yarbrough, Tori Steere and Carolyn Moulton.

Nearly 100 Boston chapter alumni gathered for a speed networking night last spring in the Bill Bordy Auditorium. The evening included an overview of Emerson’s career resources for alumni.

29 Expression Spring 2009

Take advantage and List Your Business

Free

< Cash in on your Emerson connection and list your business FOR FREE so that your information is easily accessible to fellow alumni.

CHICAGO Chicago-area alumni kicked off the new year with two events. In January, alumni shared Emerson memories with current and prospective students and parents at the Firehouse Grill in Evanston, Ill. In February, alumni gathered again for a Chicago Speed Networking Night at Jake Melnick’s Corner Tap.

< Reach up to 30,000 alumni with a listing on www.emersonalumni. com. All alumni can view postings at no charge.

Jack Arslanian ’68 and his recently acquired door prize, an Emerson College “hoodie,” with Chicago chapter president Amy Frankel ’85.

< Promote your listing with the online communities of other colleges and universities. < Make your business information available 24/7 to current and potential customers.

Emerson seeks $1 million in scholarship support Emerson College is uniting to fight the effects of the economic downturn by launching a campaign called Keep Them in the Picture – an effort to raise scholarship funds to aid current and prospective students whose families have been affected by the challenging financial environment. The College has already re-allocated millions of dollars to boost available financial aid dollars for students in need. Now this initiative has been launched to generate an additional $1 million in scholarship donations.

Stay connected with over 26,000 alumni.

Register for the online community today!

www.emersonalumni.com

30 Expression Spring 2009

Emerson’s Board of Trustees, Board of Overseers and Alumni Association Board of Directors launched the drive last spring with over $70,000, challenging the College to attract donors who had not yet contributed to the College.

The ‘Leadership Match’ gifts were targeted for financial aid and so were many of the new gifts they stimulated.

The campaign had attracted 222 donors and more than $65,000 as of late April.

“While Emerson College itself remains fiscally strong, many students receiving aid from the College come from families directly affected by the recession,” says Robert Ashton, vice

Speed networkers gather in Chicago.

president for Institutional Advancement at Emerson.

Donations toward the scholarship fund will help ensure that “talented students will be able to join us for the fall semester and continue to benefit from all that Emerson has to offer, regardless of their families’ means. We are planning to raise $1 million new scholarship funds by next June in order to guarantee an Emerson education for those with the greatest potential, not just the greatest advantages,” says Ashton.

He notes that the College is already nearly 25 percent of

the way toward this goal.

Erin Aylward ’10, a communication sciences and disorders major from Portland, Maine, is an example of a student who could be aided by the fund. When she arrived at Emerson her passion was musical theater, but she soon discovered a way to combine her stage talents with a career in communications therapy. “I plan to incorporate music therapy in counseling Alzheimer’s and stroke patients and their families,” she explains. “It will be wonderful to help them communicate and bring them closer.”

Barry Mehrman ’76 (center right, facing camera) exchanges industry insights with Morgan Lanno ’07 (left center) during the speed networking event.

Join the Discussion Groups on the Online Community

Aylward observed the evaluation and treatment of communication disorders at Emerson’s Robbins Speech, Spread the word about Language, and Hearing Cen- your film screening, book ter, an experience she says release or next event through she could not have had anythe online community where else. “The scholarship discussion groups at www. funds she receives made that emersonalumni.com. experience possible,” said Ashton.

• Find Discussion Groups in To make a donation, the left sidebar please visit www.emerson.

• View all groups edu/giving. For informa• Choose the groups you tion, please email cheryl_ would like to join, from Los crounse@emerson.edu or Angeles, New York, selfcall Cheryl Crounse (617) promotion and others 824-8543.

• View the group home page • Suscribe • Post your event.

31 Expression Spring 2009

FLORIDA More than 100 alumni, parents, friends and students attended the annual Southern Florida Alumni event earlier this year. Jan (’69) and Jeff Greenhawt ’68 hosted the brunch at the Woodfield Country Club in Boca Raton.

Featured speaker Gary Grossman ’70 discussed “The Changing Landscape in Media.”

Television producer and former Emerson instructor Gary Grossman ’70 (center) taught all of the alumni pictured: Michele Gillen ’77, Irv Grabstein ’78, Jane Guterman ’73, Grossman, Marsha Glines ’70, Steve Feldman ’70 and Chet Tart ’74.

Tita Puopolo ’97 (left), President Jacqueline Liebergott, Francine Carson, and Trustee Michael Carson

Jan Jacobs Greenhawt ’69, Myrna Gross ’67, Joanne and Neal (’68) Siskin and Marge Browner ’68

HAWAII

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Mary Jo Stonie ’60, MA ’72 & ’75, and Henry Stonie, professor emeritus (pictured at right), hosted their Annual Hawaii Open House in February. Mary Ellen Gordon ’84 (far left) and Gwen Schlief Bell ’62 joined the party.

Laura Bush welcomed First Lady historian Myra Gutin ’70, MA ’71 (left), to the White House last fall.

Gutin was part of a group that joined Mrs. Bush to discuss her legacy.

32 Expression Spring 2009

Career Services Corner

BOSTON

Hire an Emersonian

Are you an Emerson alumnus who is also an employer? Are you an employer seeking interns? You can post an internship or job listing for Emerson undergraduates and graduate students for the summer or academic-year placements. Visit https://www.myinterfase.com/ emerson/student/.

Alumni are welcome at Career Services

Whether you are seeking new employment or thinking of making a career change, Career Services provides a variety of resources for you. Visit http://www.emerson.edu/ career_services/alumni/index.cfm.

Members of the Class of 2009 attended their first alumni event on May 8 – the 6th Annual Young Alumni Billiards Bash at FELT, a Boston club.

Photos by Alison Klein ’09

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Pamela Bullock ‘93, Art Stewart ‘82 and Chair of Communications Studies Richard West

Ken Mellgren ’68, Dave Gwizdowski ’80 and Howard Liberman, MSSp ’68, at a gathering of Washington, D.C.-area alumni and parents who joined School of Communication Dean Janis Andersen in welcoming Emerson’s new Communication Studies Department Chair Richard West. The event was hosted by Gwizdowski of the Associated Press (AP). Guests also received a tour of the AP facilities.

33 Expression Spring 2009

NEW YORK More than 130 students, faculty and staff embarked on a jam-packed day of career exploration in the “Big Apple” as part of the annual New York Connection, held in March.

Students met alumni and friends of Emerson in their workplaces to learn about the realities of landing jobs and excelling in the industries of their choice.

The roster of companies that hosted students included: ABC’s All My Children, Bite PR, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, The Cutting Room, Glamour magazine, Conde Nast Publications, R/GA, MTV Networks, Renart Films, Trident Media Group and Robinson, Lerer, & Montgomery.

Presentations by Performing Arts alumni, moderated by department faculty, were presented to students during the Performing Arts track session at the Abdington Theatre. Second row from top: (third from left) David Krasner, head of acting, Performing Arts; Mary Fulham ’75; David Basche ’90; and standing (second from right): Benny Sato Ambush, producing director-in-residence. Not pictured are Jeanne Nicolosi ’76, Sheryl Kaller ’82 and Paul Kreppel ’69.

Eric Ward, MA ’03 (left), director of online market development for Billboard magazine, with students during a tour of the Billboard offices. Ward also founded Glide magazine, an online publication that he launched in 2003 as part of a directed study project at Emerson.

34 Expression Spring 2009

Judy Tygard ’80 (left) shares her experiences as senior producer of CBS News and 48 Hours Mystery.

Class Notes 1932

1963

Adelaide Osgood Rice retired from a career in advertising, public relations and politics.

Now a watercolorist and great-grandmother, she is anxious to expedite several acceptances to Emerson.

Walter Behringer urges his classmates to “take the time to revisit our wonderful class and college.” He helped Glenn Laxton and Ellen Berkowitz Jenkin organize their 1964 reunion. Friends can write to Walter at wjb0841@aol.com.

1950

Evira Castano Palmerio is a former Italian interpreter for the Vatican. She played more than 40 roles while a student at Emerson, then went to Italy on an opera scholarship, which kicked off her “fascinating” career.

1959 Andrew Guthrie has penned a feature story about a dog who saves sea turtles, which will appear in the June issue of The Bark, one of the country’s largest dog magazines. Andrew has worked on sea turtle conservation since his retirement from The Voice of America.

1968 Stephen Snow, chair of the Department of Creative Arts Therapies and co-founder of the Graduate Drama Therapy Program at Concordia University in Montreal, traveled to Sri Lanka, where he presented lectures and workshops on playback theater, drama therapy and ethnodrama. Stephen is developing a project with faculty in the departments of Psychiatry and Fine Arts at the University of Peradeniya focusing on the use of drama therapy and ethnodrama in working on solutions to ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.

Mikki Judkins Lipsey invited Laurel Sanford Scheeler ’69 and Diane MacArthur Roza ’69 to visit her on St. John, Virgin Islands. Pictured are Mikki’s mother, Joan Henich ’44; Mikki; Mikki’s sister, Cany Ulrich; Roza; and Scheeler.

Steve Smoller ‘67 enjoying his new granddaughter, Addison Joy Supple.

1970 Doris A. Morgenstern, MSSp ’70, has a private practice, Communicative Health Care Associates Inc. in Waltham, Mass., which is celebrating its 33rd year. The practice expanded over the years to include occupational and physical therapy services and also provides private and corporate coaching for public speaking, accent reduction, and American Sign Language classes. Emerson speechpathology alumni seeking employment should contact Doris at morgenstern@ communicativehealthcare. com.

Jim Shevlin volunteers for the Service to Armed Forces (SAF) program. In 2005 Shevlin was honored with a President’s Volunteer Service Award from George W. Bush for his Red Cross volunteer activities during the Hurricane Katrina response.

While Shevlin is proud of his award, he derives his greatest satisfaction from being able

to give back to those serving overseas and from “being part of an organization with such strong and true principles.”

1975 Brenda Greenberg is executive producer of the dramatic TV series The Best Years for The N network (in the U.S.) and Global TV (in Canada).

1978 David Breen says his firm, VDA Productions in Somerville, Mass., continues to be “a strong and vibrant company” focusing on the event design, management and production industry.

1980 Anne Fletcher is an associate professor (theater history/ dramaturgy) at Southern Illinois University Carbondale in Carbondale, Ill., and has published a book on scene designer Mordecai Gorelik.

35 Expression Spring 2009

In Memoriam 1929 1941 1947 1947 1950 1950 1952 1961 1964 1965 1966 1969 1970 1973 1985 1991

Dana Klein ’89, owner of DKMC Inc., a public relations firm in Hollywood, Fla., has been named the Honorary Consulate General for the Republic of Macedonia with a mission to create business, educational and cultural exchanges and alliances. Macedonia is considered one of the up-and-coming Eastern European hot spots.

Hope James Clark Jacqueline McCrystle Price Rita Shachat Botkin Nancy G. Pasternak Copeland Frank W. German Jr. Madolyn Conlon Roberts Leonard N. Blake Barbara Crowell Carpenter Jeffrey L. Field Hope Shaff Schultz Marilyn J. Isaacson Gladstone Schuyler G. Chapin William L. Hazelwood John Joseph Brogna Stephen Rockwell Sheila A. Kline

Lee Miller’s film, Lessons in Self-Defense, starring Alfred Molina, has been invited to premiere at this year’s Palm Springs International Short Film Festival and Market.

In other good news, Lee’s wine country Prohibitionera screenplay, GoldenVotella, made it to the Top 10 finals of the Bruce Geller Screenwriting Competition.

1982 George Cantafio was recognized as a 20-year trainer for Dale Carnegie Training.

Philip Fortnam left for Arizona shortly after attending Emerson, thinking he would be there briefly. “Now, more than 20 years later, I’m making plans to move back to New England, ideally somewhere in the Boston Joel Schwartzberg ’90 and Anne Becker were married Nov. 15, 2008, and live in Montclair, N.J. Joel’s essays have been published in The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, New Jersey Monthly, The New York Daily News, The New York Post, Chicken Soup for the Soul, The Huffington Post, and regional parenting magazines. His collection of essays, The 40-YearOld Version: Humoirs of a Divorced Dad, has been published by WyattMacKenzie.

area.” Philip has three careers: “at Central Arizona Project as photographer/video guy; as a combat camera officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve (I’ve been mobilized and deployed to Africa once); and as author of a novel, Walking Greenbush.”

1983 Christopher Santos is working on his third novel and recently wrote an episode for the Showtime series The United States of Tara.

1984 Anne (Reynolds) Doerr is director of media relations at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

James Linsky is news operations director at WGME13 in Portland, Maine. “My new position is a challenging rise to the management level after 11 years as chief photographer. I am excited to put down my camera and help News 13 meet the challenges of the current economy.”

1987 After 20 years together, Russell Granet ’87 married David Beach ’87 in Big Sur, Calif. Their daughter, Sadie

36 Expression Spring 2009

Kate, was born Aug. 19, 2008. Russell is founder of Arts Education Resource. They divide their time between New York City and an upstate farmhouse.

1988 Jan Maliszewski is president of DGA Productions in Watertown, Mass., and director of photography for the most-watched cooking show on PBS, America’s Test Kitchen, which marks its tenth year. “We shot 26 episodes this spring in Brookline.”

1989 James Jackson is brewmaster for the Pizza Orgasmica Brewing Co. in San Francisco, where he has lived for almost 19 years. He is looking forward to his first-ever Alumni Weekend visit for his 20-year reunion.

1990 Kara Marziali has been promoted to director of marketing and design at Bishop Hendricken High School, a Catholic, all-male, college preparatory high

Sandra Katharine Kelly, age 2, is the daughter of Brian and Dawn (Lambertsen) Kelly ‘93.

school in Warwick, R.I. Kara was recently involved in a re-branding of the school and has designed a new letterhead and other collateral pieces.

She remains active in community theater. She has been married to Adrien Mercure for nearly 15 years. They are the parents of Edward Joseph (“E.J.”) Mercure, 11, who has inherited his mother’s love of theater and art.

R. Stephan Mohammed’s documentary, The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306, has been nominated for a 2009 Academy Award. The short film focuses on the Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles, who was a witness to Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination.

1992 Elizabeth Ahl has a new collection of poems, A Thirst That’s Partly Mine, which won the 2008 Slapering Hol chapbook contest. Ahl is a professor of English at Plymouth State University.

Her poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, The Women’s Review of Books, Southern Poetry Review, North American Review and other publications.

Lisa (Mokrzecki) Davis received a 4.0 in the first semester of her accelerated master’s degree in human resource development program at American International College.

1993 Todd Grant and Jillian Grant were married Sept. 6, 2008, in Massachusetts. They live in Rhode Island.

1994 Ricia Chansky received her Ph.D. in English studies from Illinois State University this spring with summa cum laude honors. Prior to graduating, Chansky received the prestigious Ora Bretall Award for dissertation research. The title of her interdisciplinary dissertation is “Language Beyond Words: Alternate Discourse as Rhetoric, Metaphor, and Pedagogy.”

Chansky lives in Rincon, Puerto Rico, with her partner, Eric D. Lamore, and teaches at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez.

Al Emond is still doing photography and visual arts. He lives in Attleboro, Mass., and continues to work at a residential group home for adolescents. He is earning a master’s degree in mental health counseling at Bridgewater State College and plans on working as a clinician at his place of employment.

Kelly Carolyn Gordon, MA ’94, won the 2009 Robert A. Schanke Research Award, presented by the Theatre History Symposium of the Mid-America Theatre Conference. Gordon was

Rockiss ‘03 and Jeanine Estrada ‘03 welcomed their son, Julian Jozef, on Dec. 29, 2008. The family can be reached at jeanine.m.estrada@gmail.com.

2008 Fellow of the Leadership Institute of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education and is the coordinator of Theatre Studies at Brevard College in Brevard, N.C. Rowland Hoyt and Jennifer Haas were married Nov. 29, 2008, in Newport, Ky. They live in Kentucky and Florida.

Daughter Kasey just turned 4 and has a sibling on the way.

1995 Barte and Nancy (Cann) Shadlow have had their first child, Liliana Windsor Shadlow. Nancy resigned from her role as vice president of sales for a pet products company in Southern California to spend time with Liliana and pursue freelance consulting.

Brian Vermeire, founder and CEO of Holdon Log (“the Standard in Performer Organizational Tools”), says his company’s latest innovation is PerformerTrack Webware, which enables performers to self-manage their career online – submissions, auditions, callbacks, bookings, income, expenses, contacts, calendar, and more.

1996

than five years practicing environmental health and pharmaceutical law, yet I hadn’t taken a pharmaceutical [drug] in over 10 years! In 2007 I decided to transition my career. In June 2009 I will ‘soft’ launch my new business, Terra Baby Holistics. I will be working one-on-one and in groups with moms-to-be, prenatal and postnatal women, helping them make optimal holistic health, lifestyle and green choices.”

1997 Rebecca (Burnham) Collings and Pete Collings had a baby girl, Lindsey Jane, on Oct. 23, 2008, in Colorado.

Chris Smalley, MA ‘93, does voiceover work and is an on-air personality at Cape Cod’s Rock Pixy (103 FM). Recent voiceover credits include radio and TV ads for Chevrolet, Coca-Cola and KaBloom Flowers.

Terra Pfund, MSSp ’96, is opening a holistic health counseling business. She writes: “I spent more

37 Expression Spring 2009

Dennis DeFrehn ‘02 and Jillian Preger DeFrehn ‘04 were married in 2007 and welcomed their first child, Charlotte Stella, on Feb. 16, 2009. They have been living and working in Los Angeles since their respective graduations.

1998 John Magrisso practices law in Quincy, Mass. He served as a Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office prosecutor for five years before leaving to start his own practice at the end of 2008. Licensed to practice law in Massachusetts and New York, John is developing a general practice with a focus on criminal defense.

1999 Julie Phillipps created a picture book, Wink! The Ninja Who Wanted to Be Noticed, which was released this spring

by Viking. The book received a starred review from the School Library Journal. Julie publishes under the name J.C. Phillipps.

Grace (Hsin-hui) Wang is based in Shanghai and working as a freelance journalist, mainly for Italian newspaper Il Sole-24 Ore. After college she worked in translation in New York City for several years. In 2003, she went to France and attended Institut Catholique de Paris. In 2006 she moved to Shanghai to pursue writing and, “as China is the new land of opportunity, by chance, I stepped into the field of journalism.”

2000 Tim Brennan finished his feature film directorial debut, America The Mental, a dark comedy about a stand-up comic who works as an enforcer for a drug dealer while waiting for his

Marsha MacEachern, ‘00, MA ‘02, is public relations manager for business solutions at Avid Technology in Tewksbury, Mass. She works with Avid’s postproduction and broadcast customers and helps the company sustain visibility and create new awareness in these markets.

38 Expression Spring 2009

Molly Kelleher ’03 and John Cuff ’05 are engaged.

big break. Tim also created and maintains the website MostEmailedNews, a news aggregator site.

Matthew Aaron Goodman’s first novel, Hold Love Strong, was published by Simon & Schuster this spring. Barnes & Noble chose the novel for its summer Discover Great New Writers program, and USA Today also highlighted the book.

2001 Emily Lefren-Brown and Patrick John Zeller were married Oct. 18, 2008, in Dewey’s Landing in Quechee, Vt. Jennifer Scharf earned her master’s degree in media and visual arts. During her graduate studies she received a fellowship from the Entertainment Industries Council in Los Angeles for feature-length screenplay writing. From 2000 to the present, Jennifer has worked in various industry roles, including casting, production, writing and acting. In 2007 she founded Itchy Feet Films, where she wrote, produced and starred in her debut feature-length comedy.

Jennifer lives in Boston with her husband and newborn daughter.

Denise Spillane is working toward an MBA with a concentration in health care administration from Widener University in Chester, Pa.

2002 Chad O’Connor was selected as an inaugural ‘Connector’ for Boston World Partnerships, a new nonprofit founded

by Mayor Thomas Menino to grow Boston’s economy.

Its goal is to create a global network of Bostonians that uses innovative web tools to share information about Boston’s assets and opportunities and to connect people to those resources.

2003 Kim Ablon Whitney, MFA ’03, published her latest novel, The Other Half of Life, which is based on the true story of the MS St. Louis. This historical young-adult novel imagines two travelers and the lives they may have lived until events, and immigrations laws, conspired to change their fates. Kim’s previous novels earned special distinction from the American Library Association, Bank Street College of Education and Booklist magazine.

Gregory Crafts has lived in Los Angeles since graduation and co-founded a nonprofit theater company, Theatre

Unleashed, with several other artists in the city. Two fellow alums, Katie Sikkema and Ben Atkinson (both class of ’05), have joined and are working with the company.

The company has taken up residence in the North Hollywood Arts District and will produce Gregory’s first full-length play, Friends Like These. He will marry Jenn Scuderi this summer in Springfield, Mass.

Keely Subin has had her first baby, Benjamin. On the job front, she became a new franchisee of Stroller Strides.

“I help mommies get fit and stay fit through exercise classes, personal training and wellness coaching. My health communication studies have helped tremendously in understanding my moms and working with them to adopt healthy behaviors.”

Jana Wilcox Wilson is development director at St. Catherine Laboure Medical Clinic, a Germantown, Pa.based healthcare clinic for the uninsured. Jana, a resident of the Bella Vista section of Philadelphia, also serves as development director at

Emersonians gathered in July 2008 at Tufts University in Medford, Mass., to celebrate the wedding of Joanna (Joey) Watson ‘03 and Jason Toppan. From left are: Eric Frishman ‘03, Brian Samuels ‘06, Kate Bliss ‘00, Cori Mykoff ‘03, Amanda Johns ‘03, Matt Corrigan ‘04, Michelle Ziomek ‘00, Mikala (Daigle) Vidal ‘03, Tim MacArthur ‘00, Amber Haskins ‘04, Patrick Rooney ‘04, Nicole Witkov-Rooney ‘03, Marsha MacEachern-Murphy ‘00, Colleen Bradley-MacArthur ‘01, Sarah Lang ’03 (not pictured is Tim McDuffie ’03).

Vizion Group, a management, marketing and fundraising company servicing nonprofits in the Delaware Valley.

2004 Kathryn Kugler is project manager in the Creative Services department at San Francisco’s Ubisoft. Before that, she worked at Warner Bros. Records in a similar post.

“If you want to know about games where you pet ponies, I’m your gal,” she writes.

Penny Weinraub selfpublished a book, Left Handed, “a quirky, coming-of-age-type story along the lines of The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” she says.

Patrick Morris, MA ’96, and Kate White ’06 were married in New York City in December 2008. They were introduced to each other

by Emerson Associate Professor J. Gregory Payne.

Patrick is a managing partner of Hagin Investment Management and president of 57th & Irving Productions, a film finance and production company. His latest projects include American Teen, which was bought by Paramount Vantage, and August, which stars Josh Hartnett.

Jessica Zaborowski, MA ’04, launched Camp Stanley for the Performing Arts, an overnight creative arts summer camp located in “beautiful” Smithfield, Maine.

Camp Stanley’s total theater model encourages 8- to 17-year-old campers to grow into their creative capacity in “a gorgeous and green space.”

Sara Ventre ’04 and Jimmy Phan are happy to announce their engagement. The wedding will take place Feb. 13, 2010, in San Diego. “After four years of dating, we’re finally tying the knot.”

2005 Eric Cornell worked on Broadway with the show Wicked, and is now touring with the show as associate company manager. In New York, Eric worked with Wicked head carpenter Mark Overton ’80.

Deborah Correa has been selected to participate in the prestigious American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women. The workshop includes three weeks of classroom training and a five-day production of a short film. She is working on her own film, Little Black Dress.

Check out her work at www. deborahcorreafilmmaker.com.

Yun Fang co-founded Red & Blue International in 2007, a company that provides

Amber Haskins ’04 and Charles DiNatale Jr. were engaged in Florence, Italy, in September 2008. They are looking forward to tying the knot in 2010.

localization and globalization solutions for corporations and organizations, with languages, culture and business services.

Kathryn Grosso is manager of external affairs for Detica, a professional services firm that focuses on defense and homeland security. She moved back to D.C. from New York, where she was war room manager for the Rudy Giuliani presidential

39 Expression Spring 2009

Ian Grant ’04 and Tanya Seal met at Emerson and were married on the California coast near Big Sur. They run a successful wedding photography business from their Playa del Rey home.

Andrew Coyle ’05 and Jacqueline Jedlicka ’07 are engaged. Andy proposed in front of Cinderella’s Castle at Disney’s Magic Kingdom with a video camera in one hand and the ring in the other. When he placed the ring on her finger, the show at the castle came to its finale, including fireworks.

They have a blog at jaxandy. blogspot.com. They met in Bill Riley’s Television Production class in 2004.

campaign and most recently deputy communications director for the New York State Senate Republican Campaign Committee.

2007 Mike Bash played one of the leads in indie film Slip and Fall, a comedy about a law

student who attempts to oneup his dean and sue the school to pay for his tuition. The film was shot in and around Boston and involved a good deal of local talent, including Melissa Paradice ’04 of Maura Tighe (’81) Casting in Boston.

general education program as well as pursuing her master’s degree in nonprofit management at Harvard.

Chelsea Lembo and her band have been signed with Disney, and they will be going on tour next year.

Stefanie Gambino is supporting the launch of Harvard University’s new

Janice Reinold is pursuing a master’s degree in communication management at the University of Southern California.

2008 Cécile Bruso Engeln ’08 was married to Thomas FrisoEngeln on Oct. 12, 2008.

Where Are You And What are You Doing New job? Received an award? Recently engaged or married? New baby? Moving? Recently ran into a long-lost classmate?

Let us know. Use this form to submit your news or send it to Barbara_Rutberg@emerson.edu; 1-800-255-4259; fax: 1-617-824-7807.

You can also submit Class Notes online at www.emersonalumni.com. To register for the online community, use the ID number located above your name on the mailing label of this magazine. Include all of the zeroes.

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Mail to: Class Notes, Emerson College, Office of Alumni Relations, 120 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02116-4624

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Gifts that Matter

Let’s start with your first impressions of the College.

I fell in love with Emerson as soon as I stepped foot on campus. I remember that day so vividly. I drove to Boston from my hometown, got lost looking for the school and nearly missed the tour. As soon as I saw the cuttingedge technology available to students here – technology that’s the current industry standard – I knew this was my dream school.

Jaime Rebhan ’09 This spring Jaime Rebhan ’09, of Liverpool, N.Y., became the first person in her family to graduate from a fouryear college, an achievement that almost didn’t happen if Emerson hadn’t been able to offer extra scholarship funds. A print and multimedia journalism major, Rebhan started out at a community college near home for two years to save money before transferring to Emerson. Working hard in the classroom, she earned a 3.79 grade point average. But college was a constant struggle because Rebhan had to put herself through school, piecing together a patchwork of jobs, federal grants and other sources of support. For all that work and hardship, though, her dream of an Emerson experience almost crashed.

Here, she tells her story:

What was it like to put yourself through school?

It wasn’t easy. My father died during my senior year of high school, and my mother makes less than $25,000 a year. At Emerson I took a full course load so I wouldn’t take longer than necessary to graduate, and I worked nearly full-time hour – sometimes holding down two or three jobs – to pay rent and bills. I also applied for and received some federal grants.

But last summer I learned that my income combined with my mother’s was too high for me to continue receiving my federal grants.

I applied for more private loans, but with the state of the economy and the student loan business, and the fact that my mother doesn’t make enough to co-sign, those loans came with a huge price tag – a very high interest rate. But not finishing up my degree was not an option!

Amazingly, when Emerson learned about my situation, they came through with a generous additional scholarship. I don’t think I can express how thankful I am for that help. Had I not received those funds last fall, I honestly don’t know how I would have been able to afford to stay and graduate.

What does life look like beyond graduation?

I’m scared, but I’m also excited. I’d like to work at a nonprofit that helps at-risk youth.

I want to help nonprofits get their message out. But any organization where I can help people and where I can make a difference would work for me.

To help make a difference in the lives of undergraduates like Jaime Rebhan, contact Cheryl Crounse, Institutional Advancement, Emerson College, 120 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02116-4624; cheryl_crounse@emerson.edu; 617-824-8543.

Photo by David Leifer

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