Ionamagazinespringsummer2014

THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF

EDUCATION

FLASHBACK

Iona College Pipers

Iona College Front Gate, Circa 1960s Photo courtesy of Timothy M. Reith, Ph,D, '65 Students on Spellman Hall steps, Circa 1970s

Louis Cassano, Graduation 1954 Photo courtesy of Maggie Cassano

North Avenue in front of Ryan Library, Circa 1980s

FROM THE ARCHIVE

Iona College ad, Circa 1986 Photo courtesy of Br, Joseph A. Cussen

MEMORY LANE Heritage Week in April 2015 kicks off the celebration of our 75th anniversary and we are looking for your memories and photos. Share with us by e-mailing iona75years@iona.edu.

FALL 2013 SPRING/SUMMER 2014

IN THIS ISSUE 2

President's Message

4

Letters & Iona in the News

6

On Campus

14

Faculty Focus

16

THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF

EDUCATION

22

Sports Report

26

On the Job

28 Alumni

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

Find more stories, photos, video and other content online at www.iona.edu/magazine - just look for this symbol throughout the magazine.

STAY CONNECTED

Follow Iona College on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to get all the latest news.

The liberating – and transformative – power of education.

The Iona College Mission describes an academic community “which embodies opportunity, justice, and the liberating power of education.” Raising a hand to join a classroom discussion is one of the steps that more than seven decades of students and alumni have taken in their personal journeys of transformation as they set out to move the world in positive ways.

THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF

EDUCATION

This issue is printed on Rolland Enviro100 Print, which contains FSC certified 100 percent post-consumer fiber, is EcoLogo and Process Chlorine Free certified and is manufactured using renewable biogas energy. By selecting this eco-friendly paper, Iona College saved the equivalent of 170 trees, 163,944 gallons of water, 16,778lbs. of waste, 55,124lbs. of CO2 and 141 million BTUs of energy compared to printing on virgin paper. *Source: Environmental Paper Network

From the President

In mid May, we held commencement ceremonies for the class of 2014.

As I considered what I would share with our graduating seniors, I thought not only about today’s new alumni, but also the 69 classes of Iona Gaels who came before and their families and friends who helped them along the way. Here’s what I shared: Good morning. I am humbled and honored to be the President of Iona College. And, as President, I am granted some special wisdom. For example, I know that my remarks are not necessarily why you gathered here today – and, therefore, I also know you wish them to be brief. So they will be.

After all, the Lord’s Prayer can be said in less than 80 words and Lincoln could summon forth “A New Birth of Freedom” in just 272 words. Brevity has its place, especially as you await the degree that signifies you did not just “fight the good fight,” but you won. The Garden is filled with winners today.

And I don’t just mean the graduates. I include their families and friends. I include, with special thanks, their gifted and committed faculty. I include the dedicated and talented staff. And, I include our endlessly committed Board of Trustees. College is a team sport and Team Iona has been with you all the way. Please join me in applauding the entire team of Iona College.

At this point, I am supposed to give you some erudite advice.

But that assumes my generation has all the answers. You only have to look around the world today to see that’s not so. You are our answers and our solutions to the questions and problems of today and tomorrow. We have indeed left you work to do. I will, though, offer you four lessons I have learned – and will keep them closer to Haiku length rather than epic proportions.

• You have 1,440 minutes each day. Choose well what you do with each one of them.

• The world is run by the people who show up. Continue to show up.

• Learn to disagree without being disagreeable. It’s a talent that takes us far.

• Remember the lessons of Blessed Edmund Rice: Provide others the opportunity for the education you have received.

Well, try as I did, I couldn’t beat the Lord or Lincoln. So allow me just six final words: Congratulations. God Bless. And Go Gaels!

2

Iona College Magazine

A few hours after presenting diplomas to our graduating seniors, we similarly honored our students receiving master’s degrees in business and liberal arts and science. As a student, I earned multiple graduate degrees, which made this a special privilege. The main thought I hoped to leave these new Iona master’s graduates was the following: Each step we take up the ladder of education confers upon on us an additional responsibility of service to others. For many of you, the ladder leads to greater possibilities for promotions and better job opportunities. You could climb that ladder and forget those on the rungs below—but that is not the Iona way. Blessed Edmund Rice used his good fortune to help others, especially to help the less fortunate attain an education. With success comes responsibility.

Commencement is perhaps the most special time in the life of a college. I believe it’s an especially important point of focus as we share stories in this magazine on the timeless theme of Iona’s mission, particularly “the liberating power of education.”

To some, a degree may on the surface be just a rite of passage, a “punching of the ticket,” or just the completion of life’s expected educational process before we get down to the business of business, or life. I believe, though, we should recognize that our education liberates us from ignorance, from preconceived notions and from barriers that holds us back from improving ourselves, improving our communities, and moving our world.

See President Nyre’s full graduate ceremony remarks—and much more from graduation including remarks from His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan and world-renowned poet and Iona alumnus Terence Winch ’67 at www.iona.edu/ magazine. A selection of photos can be seen on page 9.

Photos by Don Hammerman

Todd A. Wilson Editor in Chief Danielle Mastromarino ’05 Design and Creative Services Lisa Romano Managing Editor Tsahai Amazan Brian Beyrer ’01 Dawn Insanalli ’99MS Contibutors Paul J. Sutera Senior Vice President of Advancement & External Affairs Kristen Mengold Vice President of Advancement & Alumni Relations

INVEST IN THE FUTURE

Amy Torigian Parise ’03MST Director of Alumni Relations Iona College Magazine is printed twice a year, in the fall and spring, and is distributed free of charge to alumni, friends, faculty and staff. © 2014 Iona College The magazine may be viewed online at: iona.edu/magazine Address correspondence to: magazine@iona.edu or mail to: Todd A. Wilson Iona College Joyce Advancement House/ DeSantis Alumni House 715 North Avenue New Rochelle, N.Y. 10801

NEXT ISSUE Iona Magazine is planning its next issue already and we’re interested in the personal stories of Iona alumni.

We invite you to send a summary of your story, as soon as possible, preferably 50-100 words, to the address noted above. Please include your full name, Iona degree(s) and class year(s), and daytime phone number.

By giving to the Fund for Iona College you demonstrate your passion for our unique mission. At the same time, you also show that you understand how donor support is required to help cover the cost to educate each of our students.

Rarely does your generosity have the opportunity to impact so many.

Your annual investment in Iona combined with those from parents, faculty, staff, and friends provides a daily versatile, vital resource for Iona College’s continued operation and growth. Dollars from the Fund for Iona College are flexible and immediately available for what matters most – student life and learning. Each year, we focus our efforts on those priority projects that are most urgently needed on campus, such as internships, faculty training, financial aid, or student programs.

to make your gift, visit Make your gift today! iona.edu/support www.iona.edu/support or (914) 633-2412

YOUR TURN

IONA IN THE NEWS

To the Editor: Seeing your photo of the Iona Ginkgo Tree in the last magazine brought back a humorous memory, which I'd like to share.

On this particular day in the spring of 1962, there were three guys--Tom Delaney ’62, Tom Prezioso ’62 and Johnny Keane ’62--sitting on the wall around the gingko tree looking through their yearbooks they had just received. They looked up and saw a friend, Bill Buckley ’62, coming toward them.

He looked dismayed and was talking to himself as he studied his copy of the yearbook. They overheard him as he got closer saying over and over to himself, “It's a shame, a [bleep] shame. It's just a shame, a [bleep] shame!”

President Joseph E. Nyre, Ph.D. appeared on the public television show “One-on-One with Steve Adubato,” discussing Iona College and various topics in higher education. Adubato was a former Iona student. The interview aired on NJTV and Thirteen/WNET.

Watch the full clip.

One of the guys asked what was wrong. Bill said, “They have someone else's name under my picture in the yearbook.

How can I show my grandchildren this yearbook and tell them I graduated from this college? I will never be able to do that. It's a [bleep] shame!” At this point, the three guys were laughing so hard that one of them, Johnny Keane, fell backward off the wall into the well around the gingko tree.

That only served to increase their laughter.

The Iona College crew team along with their coaches were guests on the Fox 5 morning show Good Day NY in April.

This story has been told and retold hundreds of times over the past 50 years. It is still good for a laugh every time after all these years.

Watch the segment.

Jane Quinn Longtime Friend of Tom Prezioso ’62

WRITE TO US! We welcome your letters in response to the content of the magazine, and about all things relating to Iona College. Please address letters to: Iona Magazine, Joyce Advancement House/ DeSantis Alumni House, Iona College, 715 North Avenue, New Rochelle, NY, 10801, or to magazine@iona.edu. Please include your full name, Iona class year(s) and degree(s), address, e-mail address, and daytime phone number.

Letters may be edited for clarity and length.

Recognize the I and O in the photo? It's Iona's banner hanging at graduation. We made the front page of the New York Times!

Read the full article.

IONA'S MOVE THE WORLD WEBSITE HAS LAUNCHED! Iona has been collecting the powerful stories of our alumni, students and faculty for the Move the World campaign. Now they can all be seen in one place. The site is more than just a video gallery - submit your own story or sign up to be a brand ambassador and show your Gael pride.

Check out the full collection of campaign stories online.

4

Iona College Magazine

NOTEWORTHY

Applicants for Fall 2014

On Saturday, April 5, Iona College and the Office of Enrollment Management welcomed more than 467 accepted students and their families, totaling 1,287 guests, to experience the energy and excitement of our annual Accepted Students Day.

Spring 2014

Photo by Todd Wilson

Vs. Applicants for Fall 2013: 5,897 Completed first-time undergraduate applications as of June 14th both years

5

ON CAMPUS

ENCOURAGING EXPLORATION The School of Arts & Science featured independent student work at its 5th Annual Iona Scholars Day in April.

The presentations included 72 projects by individual students and groups.

“Iona Scholars Day provides us an opportunity to celebrate the exciting research and scholarship our students and faculty are engaging in each day,” said President Joseph Nyre. “There is a palpable sense of partnership here, which feeds academic curiosity, encourages and fosters re-evaluating accepted ideas, testing new hypotheses, and thinking 'outside the box'.”

One day each year during Heritage Week, hundreds gather on Mazzella Field and hold hands in a circle, as part of an effort to raise money for a cause. Originally founded by the Tara Knights, Iona's oldest service organization, to support the Christian Brothers' work with communities in Africa, Hands Around Iona this year benefited Circle of Care, which offers help and support to families whose children have been diagnosed with cancer. Its work includes making “Bags of Love” to give to children who are cancer patients to use during their hospital stays, and it has a program called “Art from the Heart” to create dream bedrooms for children.

Speaking at the event, Iona junior Monica Jesby (pictured left with President Nyre) gave voice to those afflicted with cancer, as she was diagnosed in February with Stage 2 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Jesby has accumulated an impressive resume at Iona: resident assistant in East Hall, treasurer of the Speech and Hearing Club, member of the crew team, Tara Knight, and Gael Guide.

When diagnosed, she said, she “was at a loss for words.

How was I going to finish this semester?”

TAX IMPACT STUDY RELIES ON IONA STUDENT RESEARCH Iona College students were asked to participate in a cross-disciplinary and intercollegiate think tank, tasked

by Commissioner Mae Carpenter of the Westchester County Department of Senior Programs and Services (DSPS) to research the impact of high property taxes on adults aged 65 and older.

Mary Hagerty, assistant professor of Political Science and International Studies, served as research coordinator for the project—which was structured as an independent study course—in collaboration with the Westchester Alliance of Academic Institutions for Aging Related Studies.

Seven Iona College undergraduate students were recruited to participate: John Bertino ’15 (Political Science and Economics), Joelle Cheatem ’15 (Political Science, I.S. and Public Policy), Katrina Frederick ’14 (Mass Communication), Andrew Jordan ’14 (History and Political Science), Savannah Lang ’15 (Political Science), James Murphy ’14 (Political Science), Timothy O'Dwyer ’15 (Political Science), and Thomas Severin ’14 (Political Science).

Questions for research included: Why are school taxes and property taxes at their current levels? How are these tax dollars spent? What are possibilities for reducing taxes on older adults via state law?

The students' research combined public policy; state and local government literature; and data collection via qualitative case studies of Westchester County and selected comparable counties. The students' presentations were professionally filmed during the 2014 Livable Communities Expo in June, and their research findings will be part of the 2015 White House Conference on Aging recommendations from the Westchester County DSPS. 6

Iona College Magazine

With three treatments completed when she spoke at Hands Around Iona, and three more she hoped would be all that was necessary, Jesby told the crowd that the Iona community's response to her disease actually had the effect of making her life better. The support has

included a Relay for Life team in her name, the crew team making “Monica’s Battle is Our Battle” shirts, a “Music For Monica” event set up by her friend Ashley, and numerous fundraisers organized by clubs on campus.

IONA STUDENTS ARE ‘DISTINGUISHED’ IN STATEWIDE CONFERENCE Six Iona students—including five student researchers and one student conference ambassador—attended the 22nd Annual Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP) Statewide Student Conference in March.

Created by the New York State Legislature in 1986 to foster the entry of “minority or disadvantaged students” into science, technical and health-related professions, the program at Iona enrolls 100 students, who have to specifically apply for it.

The Iona CSTEP cohort took home two distinguished awards (first place), one garnered by Melvin Hydleburg ʼ17 (faculty mentor: Teresa DʼAversa) in Biology and Education, and the other by Areini Arzu ʼ14, Emerald Greene ʼ14 and Tiffany Henderson ʼ16 (faculty mentor: Dorothy Leone) in Human Services & Social Sciences. No freshman had received the distinguished award in biology before.

COMMENCEMENT GALLERY When: May 17, 2014 Where: The Theatre at Madison Square Garden Heard: “...when all is said and done, when the cap and gown is returned, the diploma framed, the tuition paid, the careers and jobs embarked upon, we don’t really care what you know, but sure want to know that you care!”

- Timothy Cardinal Dolan "ENJOY LIFE." - Terence Winch '67 Go online for more photos, video and full Spring 2014 recap.

7

ON CAMPUS

CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE Two new “centers” opened on the Iona campus in April, restructuring and expanding services for students. The International Center opened with an elaborate flag ceremony to symbolize “the nations to which our students will go as they move the world," according to Br. Moffett in his invocation. It houses Iona's Office of Study Abroad, Office of International Student Engagement, and ESL Program.

ACADEMICS WITH PURPOSE SPEECH AND PATHOLOGY CLINIC SUPPORTS NEW MASTER’S PROGRAM Iona and Holy Family Parish of New Rochelle are working together on a lease for the College to rent space from the parish to establish a Speech and Pathology Clinic to support a new masters program in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSDD). The clinic has been designed and is currently pending approval from the city, and construction will begin as soon as approval is received. The new CSDD program is a 58-credit graduate program leading to a Master of Arts degree, and has "pre-accreditation status."

According to Director Dr. Dorothy Leone, “The program prepares future speech language pathologists and provides the entry-level degree for the field.”

NEW SCHOLARSHIP ESTABLISHED Iona's new First Responders Scholarship will enable certain first responders and members of the military to enhance their careers with discounted tuition if they enroll full time in a master’s degree or certificate program in Criminal Justice or a certificate program in Forensic Criminology.

This scholarship gives a 30% tuition discount to those who are active in law enforcement, fire safety, the military, emergency services, civil air patrol (senior members), corrections, probation, or are parole officers.

JOB SECURITY Iona announced the launch in fall 2014 of undergraduate and graduate programs in computer science with a concentration in cyber security. The concentration will be offered for the Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Arts and the Master of Science degrees. The programs will provide students with fundamental cyber security skills, theoretical as well as hands-on experience. Students are exposed to new research ideas across many cyber security areas including software security, web application security, mobile security, networking security, database security and cryptography.

In a recent “best jobs” article on the CNN Money website, cyber security is among the top 10 fastest expanding career fields in America, with a 27 percent growth rate.

8

Iona College Magazine

The Center for Student Success, says Senior Director Br. Kevin Devlin, is to “assist students in academic, social and financial ways so that they can be very successful at Iona.” These include summer student orientations; Welcome Day, which is the day before classes begin for incoming freshmen; the Samuel Rudin Academic Learning Center; the College Assistance Program (CAP); the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program; and two programs for area high school students, STEP and Liberty Partnership.

Iona College has established an analytics institute within the Hagan School of Business and under the direction of Dean Vincent Calluzzo. “The Iona College Analytics Institute will provide area businesses and organizations with reliable, independent data verification and decision modeling,” Calluzzo said.

The first major program initiative of the new institute is the Center for Health Care Analytics. Directed by Paul Savage, senior clinical lecturer in the business school, the Center for Health Care Analytics will have close linkages to the Health Care Management MBA concentration program that Savage also leads. This Center will focus on developing health care management capabilities by drawing clinical and business intelligence from massive repositories of information that are available across the continuum of the health care industry.

A multi-disciplinary program, the Center will draw on expertise from Iona faculty in information systems, health care management, finance/accounting, operations research and other programs.

“According to the McKinsey Global Institute, by 2018, the United States will face a shortage of more than 1.5 million managers, analysts and other workers who are well-versed in the principles and use of analytics,” said Savage.

“Iona will be positioned to quickly demonstrate the value of analytics within an industry unfamiliar with such tools while providing our graduates meaningful capabilities for their careers and entry to all aspects of public health, provider organizations and ancillary health care businesses, from pharmaceutical to insurance and medical device industries.”

While health care has traditionally focused on brief patient-treatment episodes, disease conditions and restoration, the new paradigm will be population health, prevention and wellness initiatives. Students will learn how to use data and information about clinical experiences to improve performance, operations management and business intelligence. The Center’s focus will be on the needs of executives and governance, regulatory and clinical leaders in the healthcare field.

COURSE OFFERING Health Care Analytics (HCM 652; a graduate level course) will be offered on Monday evenings in the 2014 Fall Trimester from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the New Rochelle Campus. This course is open to all holders of an undergraduate degree, who may attend as visiting students.

For information, please call Veronica Jarek-Prinz, director of Graduate Admission, at 914-633-2420.

CHANGING SHAPE The Iona campus constantly evolves to meet students' needs, and, looking to the future, trustees approved a new Master Plan in early 2014 to add, replace or upgrade major campus buildings. This Master Plan focuses on academic, residential, athletic, arts and other facilities identified as priorities during a yearlong series of meetings with various groups on campus and in the wider Iona community.

The Board also authorized a funding allocation for completion of detailed architectural plans, feasibility review and permitting processes for several projects. These include: a new seven-story residence hall at the recently purchased Mirage Diner (formerly the College Diner) site on North Avenue, across from the main entrance, with commercial space on the ground floor; a new School of Business building; expansion and renovation of the science building; creation of a performing arts venue; and a reconfigured arena complex in the existing Hynes Athletics Center.

Anne Marie Schettini-Lynch, who as Iona's senior vice president for Finance and Administration is coordinating the plan's implementation, spoke with Iona Magazine about the process.

Q: What stage are you at in implementing the master plan?

A: The Board ratified the first phase of the plan in January 2014, and that’s just the start of the more exciting part, when we do feasibility studies for the buildings, including their locations. We're identifying architects to help us create schematics and determine what each of these buildings would look like. For example, the science center, Cornelia Hall: Is it feasible to expand it? Or should we come up with another idea?

Q: How do you start to tackle such a large series of projects?

A: We’ve issued an RFP (request for proposals) for architects, and the second phase, which happened in April, was interviewing architects.

We could select one, two or three architects; it could be different for each project.

Q: Who selects the architects?

A: It's the Facilities and Campus Planning Committee, which is a group of individuals with members from the Board of Trustees and representatives from facilities, finance, and other cohorts. They'll be looking for experience in building for colleges. The six proposals we received were all from architectural firms that are well-known. They’ve all built at colleges and universities across the U.S. Q: How about the appearance of the new buildings?

A: The expectation would be that they would complement our campus.

We’re not going to have a modern building that’s not going to look right on our campus. We're looking for an architect that’s going to maintain the integrity of our campus, and also the streetscape of North Avenue. That gets to the point that we’re not changing who we are as an institution.

Q: You mentioned North Avenue. Does this mean the city of New Rochelle is involved?

A: We have a commitment not only to expand the college but also to improve North Avenue. We’re working with the City of New Rochelle to change the awnings on the storefronts. We’re putting money up and the city is putting money up for some consistency and to beautify. It’s not just about Iona—it’s about building the community. [In late June the College reached an agreement to purchase additional property on North Avenue. See the magazine website for more.]

Q: The residence hall will be the first project. What will that be like?

A: We’re still looking at the programming of that residence hall and asking, “What are the needs of our students based on our current portfolio of rooms?” My goal would be to have it ready for Fall 2016. It would most likely be suite style or apartment style, and we're considering including kitchens. Upperclassmen, especially, want residences like this. On the ground floor, it could be our bookstore, and we would add a restaurant-style food service of some sort.

Q: A performing arts center will be a new initiative for Iona. Where would that go?

A: We're looking at converting an existing building to a performing arts center. What we have now is more of a classroom building. This new facility would allow us to present more performances and visual arts exhibits to the community, which is an exciting prospect.

Q: And we have to ask, with the popularity of Iona's sporting events, what would happen to those during the Hynes Center renovation?

A: Don't worry! During the expansion we would relocate the games nearby.

Some background: Iona’s newest student residence, East Hall, opened in fall 2012. Ryan Library saw expansion and a facelift in 2009, the Hynes Athletics Center opened in 2006, LaPenta Student Union in 2005, and the Iona Arts Center in 2000.

Learn more about the Master Plan projects.

Spring 2014

9

AN EVENING CELEBRATING IONA In early April, Iona College held the 52nd Annual Scholarship Award Gala presented by the Board of Trustees at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City.

This year's honorees were Mr. Robert V. LaPenta ’67, ’00H, recipient of the 2014 Legacy Award, and Mr. and Mrs. Mariano Rivera P’15, recipients of the Blessed Edmund Rice Humanitarian Award. The gala saw more than 500 alumni and friends in attendance, but more importantly raised over $800,000 for student scholarships. >>

Read more about the Gala and the honorees, and access the photo and video galleries.

NEW TRUSTEES Joining the Iona College Board of Trustees this fall are Kevin Griffith, CFC, Edmund Rice Christian Brothers of North America/province leader; Kevin P. Flood, president/ CEO Astor Company (photo not available); and John C. Judge ’71, retired CFO and SVP of Administration of Safilo America. Concluding their service on the Board were Phil Maisano and Hugh O’Neill, CFC.

10

Iona College Magazine

41

SAVE THE DATE

st

SAVE THE DATE | MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2014 WINGED FOOT GOLF CLUB

Iona College’s Tenth Winter Auction & Christmas Celebration

My Favorite Things Friday, December 5, 2014 new york athletic club pelham manor, n.y.

For more information regarding both events, please contact Ms. Caitlin Krueger at events@iona.edu or 914-637-7781.

Spring 2014

11

ON CAMPUS WOMAN OF ACHIEVEMENT For her efforts in making Iona the best it can be, technologically, Joanne Steele ’87, ’93MBA received the Women's Studies program's 2014 Woman of Achievement Award in March— Women’s History Month. Steele serves as vice provost for Information Technology and chief information officer at Iona.

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS President Joseph E. Nyre was awarded the Graff Distinguished Alumnus Award in May at the 2014 commencement of his undergraduate alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

It should not be a surprise that after earning her undergraduate degrees in mathematics and computer science, she went on to earn an MBA from the Hagan School of Business.

Notably, in the renovation of Ryan Library that was completed in 2009, Steele provided students and staff with cutting-edge technology, including one of the first wireless networks in the country, a PeopleSoft management system and updated Mac computers. Around campus, she works to find the best technological tools for each department.

This award recognizes outstanding achievement in the lives and works of alumni who have brought honor and distinction to the university. In its announcement, UW-L cited Dr. Nyre’s achievements as a nationally recognized researcher in autism, mental health service delivery and system development, and a recipient of more than $44 million in grant funding. The university also noted that he has authored and co-authored vital state and federal legislation in these areas, and is a member of many boards and service organizations.

At the awards ceremony, Dr. Robert Schiaffino called Steele "a great mentor, role model and teacher within the Iona community," while President Nyre noted that she "dedicates herself to providing technology for students and staff while maintaining privacy for all."

Then and Now: Steele (center) pictured with classmates Margaret M. (McGoldrick) Kowalski ’87 and Richard J. Russo ’87, recreating the pose for an Iona College ad from the late ’80s. (Ad can be seen on screen behind them.)

Top photo: Steele pictured with Women Studies program co-chairs Drs. Penelope J. Moore and Susan Toliver.

“Iona College empowered me in the path toward my career,” Steele said at the ceremony. “When I stepped onto Iona's campus as an undergraduate student there was something about it that captured me. The buildings, the people and the environment made me even more certain that it was the school for me, and I fell in love with it.”

Iona has announced the appointment of Dr. Mark Kiselica as provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs, effective July 1. Kiselica is currently vice provost of the College of New Jersey.

Dr. Kiselica is a psychologist, professor of counseling education, and former dean of the School of Education at TCNJ, and, before joining TCNJ in 1994, assistant professor of counseling psychology at Ball State University. His bachelor’s and master’s degrees, both in psychology, are from Saint Vincent College and Bucknell University, respectively, and he earned his doctorate in counseling psychology from the Pennsylvania State University.

OUTSTANDING SERVICE Twenty-six employees were honored and presented with awards in recognition of their dedication and commitment of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years of service at the annual Loftus Dinner held in April. The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the Br. Arthur A. Loftus Award to Joseph A. Cussen, ’57, CFC, assistant professor of Spanish (pictured second from left).

12

Iona College Magazine

PROVOST APPOINTED

“Dr. Kiselica is an impressive professor, scholar and administrator,” said President Joseph E. Nyre. “He is joining the College at a pivotal time in our history. As we focus our strategic efforts, he is the right academic leader to guide our community toward advancing student distinction, academic distinction and affordability, as well as elevating the academic reputation of the institution."

SPACE FOR RENT...

It might not look unusual: TV and film crews, international students, professors and athletes on campus. After all, Iona’s own students fall into these categories.

But lately, in an effort to maximize the use of campus spaces to bring in revenue and help the College become less dependent on tuition, a new department called the Office of Conference Services has been marketing the campus to outside organizations for rental.

From academic conferences to the filming of scenes for a Sundance Festival feature, the program is growing.

The largest space rental so far is a summer ESL program that spans seven weeks and last year attracted 229 students, most from Brazil, France and Russia. Other plans for this summer include sports camps and a media camp in conjunction with an Argentinian high school.

Conferences have included the Department of Homeland Security’s presentation for law enforcement and the College Theology Society.

There may have been celebrity sightings on campus when Bobby Flay and Anne Burrell from The Food Network’s “Worst Cooks in America” filmed a promotional commercial in a science lab in the basement of Cornelia Hall.

And that feature film? Look for “Listen Up Philip,” with Elizabeth Moss and Jason Schwartzman, to catch a glimpse of Iona in theatres this October.

GRANTS FUND ACADEMIC INNOVATION AND SERVICE LEARNING Several faculty members have been awarded Iona-funded grants to pursue innovative projects and develop coursework that incorporates service learning.

This year’s recipients of grants from the Excellence Fund for Academic Innovation are:

•

Thomas Castonguay (Chemistry) and Joseph Ryan (Chemistry) for their project “Hybrid/Blended Biochemistry”

•

Lubomir Ivanov (Computer Science) for his project “3D Game Development in the Curriculum”

•

Peter Letourneau (Biology) and Joseph Ryan (Chemistry) for their project “From Desktop to Device: Bridging the Digital Divide with Real-time Data Collection and Analysis and Distributed Data in Networks in Environmental Science and Chemistry”

Additionally, Service-Learning Mini-Grants are going to three faculty members—Teresa Delgado (Religious Studies), Natalie Redcross (Mass Communication), and Jennifer Gerometta (Speech Communications)—to assist in their efforts to integrate service learning into the courses they teach.

AWARD CEREMONY Six faculty awards (listed below), sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. James P. Hynes '69, '01H and President Joseph and Mrs. Kelli Nyre, were presented at the Honors Convocation on Sunday, May 4, 2014.

A seventh award, the Hugh McCabe Award for Social Justice, sponsored by Dr. and Mrs. Stephen R. Portch, was presented to Michele Sampson-Nelson, director of Off-Campus Housing.

William H. Barnes Memorial Award for Service to the College Robert Schiaffino, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Chair, Computer Science

Br. Richard B. Power Award for Integrating Service Learning into the Classroom Tricia Mulligan, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Chair, Political Science

Br. William Cornelia Distinguished Faculty Award Smiljana Petrovic, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Computer Science

Irene Hammerbacher Outstanding Faculty Research Award Ronald Yager, Ph.D., Professor, Information Systems

Br. Arthur Loftus Outstanding Student Research Award Br. Robert Novak, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Physics

Catherine McCabe Award for Innovation & Excellence in Teaching Jeffrey Alstete, Ed.D., Associate Professor, Management and Business Administration

I CHOSE IONA For more information or to rent space, please contact: Cindy Zapata Director, Office of Conference Services 914-637-7790 | czapata@iona.edu

We asked incoming freshman to tell us why they chose Iona at New Student Orientation this June.

Answers ranged from the proximity to NYC to athletics to the sense of community.

See more reasons on Iona's facebook page.

Spring 2014

13

FACULTY FOCUS

LEADING THE WAY

Sunghee Lee Ph.D., who teaches analytical chemistry and serves as department chair, will be the first Iona faculty member to hold a fully endowed professorship. Named the Iona College Board of Trustees Endowed Professor in Science, this honor will include a stipend for research and scholarly activity.

“I congratulate Dr. Lee on this most deserving honor, which underlines the importance of supporting and recognizing outstanding faculty members who dedicate their life’s work to our students, elevating the College and contributing significantly to their disciplines,” said President Joseph E. Nyre. “She serves as a tremendous model for academic excellence at Iona.”

Since coming to Iona in 2004, Lee has established the ideal balance between her own professional development and student education by engaging undergraduates in research. Lee's research and educational activities have garnered more than $1 million from organizations such as the National Science Foundation and American Chemical Society (ACS) while contributing significantly to the field of chemistry as well as to the development of Iona students. Thus far, 24 Iona graduates have participated in chemistry research with her, and 18 have pursued related graduate in medical school and Ph.D. programs. She co-founded the CSI (Career in Science) at Iona and has coordinated the annual Iona Scholars Day. Also, Lee has 26 peer-reviewed publications and more than 100 conference papers and presentations, most of which include undergraduate co-authors. She has been honored by the ACS with a 2013 Rising Star Award from its Women Chemists Committee and the 2013 Distinguished Scientist Award from its Westchester Chemical Society.

14

Iona College Magazine

Creating at least 10 fully endowed professorships is part of Iona’s strategic plan, Advancing Our Legacy and Defining Our Future, and a goal of the new Iona Forever fundraising campaign. While Iona currently has a named professorship—Elena G. Procario-Foley Ph.D., associate professor of Religious Studies and department chair, holds the Brother John G. Driscoll Professor of Jewish-Catholic Studies—this is its first that is fully endowed.

“Supporting our professors and their work is vital for the sustained excellence of Iona College—and a strong, engaged faculty is a key contributing factor in recruiting promising students and producing superior graduates,” said James P. Hynes ’69, ’01H, chairman of Iona’s Board of Trustees. “Great facilities and traditions are important, but at the end of the day, an outstanding faculty is Iona’s future.”

Dr. Lee received her Ph.D. from Brown in inorganic/analytical chemistry with postdoctoral studies at Texas A&M and Duke. Her research involves the chemistry of soft materials with an emphasis on their interfaces and surfaces, directed toward crystal engineering and materials design needed for the development of advanced functional materials.

Learn more about Dr. Lee and the work she is doing at Iona.

PUBLISHED AND PRESENTED Marcus Aldredge (Sociology) published an essay entitled “Opera's Last Act?” in Contexts, a magazine published by the American Sociological Association. He will present his article, “Musical Pilgrims and their Islands: Singer-Songwriters and their Open Mics” at the annual International Association for the Study of Popular Music Conference at City College, Cork, Ireland.

Jeffrey Alstete (Management and Business Administration) coauthored a journal article on “Big Data in Managerial Decision-Making: Concerns and Concepts to Reduce Risk” in the International Journal of Business Continuity and Risk Management.

George Bournoutian (History) published his 29th book, From Tabriz to St. Petersburg: Iran's Mission of Apology to Russia in 1829, for which he received a grant from the Liebmann Fund.

Jack Breslin (Mass Communication) presented “The Press and ‘Silent Cal’: A Study of Calvin Coolidge’s Press Relations” at the 2014 Joint Journalism and Communication History Conference. He also had a book chapter, “Naughty Seeds of Sensationalism: Gossip and Celebrity in 19th Century Reporting,” published in Sensationalism: Murder, Mayhem, Mudslinging, Scandals and Disasters in 19th Century Reporting.

Scott Cleary (Institute for Thomas Paine Studies) presented “‘Go, Man of Blood!’ Thomas Paine's Crisis Papers and the Elegaic Inhumane” at the Humanities Education and Research Association Conference in Washington, D.C. He presented “Engraved With the Deeds He had Done: Thomas Paine, Poetry, and the Genealogy of a Neglected Founding Father” at the College English Association Meeting.

Humane Letters degree at Sacred Heart University’s graduate commencement.

Teresa Delgado (Religious Studies; Peace and Justice Studies) has published a chapter, “Dead in the Water… Again,” in Theological Perspectives on Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness: Public Intellectuals for the 21st Century. She also contributed a chapter, “A Delicate Dance: Utilizing and Challenging the Sexual Doctrine of the Catholic Church in Support of LGBTIQ Persons,” in More than a Monologue: Sexual Diversity and the Catholic Church, Volume I. Ingrid Grieger (Director, Counseling Center) spoke to an audience of admissions, high school and college counselors at an event sponsored by the Westchester Putnam Rockland Counseling Association. Her address was based on her co-authored book Success and Sanity on the College Campus: A Guide for Parents.

Andrew Griffith (Accounting) met with several residents of Willow Towers, an assisted living residence, to talk about fraud. He also spoke at a “Fight Fraud” workshop at the JCC of Mid-Westchester, addressing historical fraud cases, common scams and identity theft.

Josh R. Klein (Criminal Justice) presented two papers at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences’ 51st Annual Meeting: “Perceptions of Crime and Justice.” The first, “Probations and Probationers at a Large Twenty-First Suburban Agency,” was coauthored by Iona colleagues Cathryn Lavery and David T. Mulcahy. The second, “Probationer Recidivism at a Large Probation Agency,” was written

by Iona undergrad Matthew Tyler Guiliano.

George L. De Feis (Management) received a 2013-2014 Bronze Medal Jefferson Award from Pace University for his work under a Project Pericles Fellowship. He won Best Paper for “Management of Conflict in Family Businesses during Crises and Changes: A Strategic Alliance Perspective” at the Academy of Business Research Conference.

Sheila Kriemelman (Fine and Performing Arts) had four pieces, from her “Dachau, 1933-1945“ project, featured in the show “Lest We Forget/Holocaust In Art” at ArtsWestchester sponsored by the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center. She exhibited a new work in the New York Society of Woman Artists’ Exhibition “Seen and Unseen,” which was on view in Iona's Chapman Gallery.

Kathleen Deignan (Religious Studies; Iona Spirituality Institute) received an Honorary Doctor of

Cathryn Lavery (Criminal Justice) will publish an article, “The Guards of Our Ivory Towers: Creating a

Successful Sexual Assault Training Module for Faculty on College Campuses,” in the Civic Research Institute's journal, Sexual Assault Reports.

Dorothy Leone (Speech Communication; Communication Sciences and Disorders) is one of 40 professionals chosen by The Business Council of Westchester for its 2014 Rising Star Award.

Patricia Loubeau (Marketing) is currently a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands. She is researching illicit tobacco control in the EU. Malissa A. Scheuring Leipold (Educational Leadership) joined with Iona Prep Lower School during Lent in an outreach role through LAMP Ministries. Four days a week, Iona Prep students made 80100 lunches, which were delivered to LAMP’s missionaries to give to the poor through the LAMPcafé, a canteen truck that brings food and spiritual nourishment to those on the streets of the South Bronx.

Br. Robert Novak (Physics) lectured on “Ancient Astronomy” and showed photos of Neolithic astronomical sites in Ireland and Britain to the Westchester Amateur Astronomers. In it, he discussed ancient Babylonian observations and the development of Ptolemy's theory for planetary motion, concluding with developments from Copernicus to Newton. Br. Novak presented his paper “Maps of [HDO]/[H2O] near Mars’ Aphelion,” co-authored with Michael Mumma and Geronimo Villanueva of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, at the Planetary Science Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, and co-led “God and the Big Bang: Faith and Science Look at Cosmic Origins,” based on the popular TV series “Big Bang Theory.”

Kim Paffenroth (Religious Studies) chaired the Gospels section at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. He presented “The Golem in Lore and Contemporary Culture,” to the Learning in Retirement at Iona College group and “Christian Teaching: Jesus and/or Socrates?” at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Core Texts and Courses.

Fredrica Rudell (Marketing) has taken her interest in green marketing and sustainable consumption online. Her contributions recently appeared on WeHateToWaste.com.

Frank A. Salamone (Sociology Emeritus) has published two articles in Anthropos: “His Eyes Were Watching Her: Franz Boas and Zora Neale Hurston” and, with Edward Adeyanjo, “A Comparison of Hausa and Yoruba Childrearing.” He has also signed a book contract for Love and the Times: The Reflection of Culture in Popular Music with Cambridge Scholar's Press, Newcastle, England.

Carol Shansky (Fine and Performing Arts) gave a talk about “Politics and Personalities in Mozart's Don Giovanni” to the Learning in Retirement at Iona College group, followed by “The Opera Isn't Over Until the Fat Lady Sings: Have You Met Carmen?” Shansky published an article, “Patriotism and the Skirl of the Pipes: The Scottish Highland Pipe Band and World War I Recruiting in New York, 1916-18,” in the Journal of Musicological Research and lectured on the topic during Heritage Week. She presented, “The Hebrew Orphan Asylum Band of New York City: Community, Culture and Opportunity” at the 2014 College Music Society Northeast Regional Conference.

Joseph Stabile (Biology) was a panel discussant at the New York City Network of Health Professions Advisors. The panel presented “Preparing Students for MCAT 2015: Course Suggestions and Curriculum Changes.” He also presented on “The Fate of Allelic Variation in Human Populations” to students in NYU's graduate program in toxicology.

Susan Toliver (Sociology) has been appointed by Connecticut’s Speaker of the House of Representatives to a three-year term on the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women.

Spring 2014

15

THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF

EDUCATION A small study abroad contingent reflects on their travels to Iona’s namesake isle.

A recent graduate’s educational transformation continues with one of academia’s most prestigious awards.

A new professor built a career on her Iona education and now prepares students to do the same.

A boy from the Bronx transcends the world where he grew up.

A television producer first uses the tools from his Iona education to reach the top of his field, then draws on unexpected lessons to persevere through his battle with cancer.

Education methods, programs and purposes are widely debated. Education is much sought-after for reasons both tangible and intangible, from girls in developing countries seeking to receive even the basics to thousands with perfect academic records vying for the few spots at highly competitive universities. This is true despite the reality that education can be, at times, controversial and expensive.

Education also can be transformative. In the stories shared here by Iona students, alumni and faculty, we see some of the ways it is. Each is unique. And every reader could, no doubt, tell his or her own story of a personal transformation through education.

Enjoy these stories, and then consider: What is yours?

THOUGHT JOURNEY Education transforms not only through the acquisition of knowledge, but through experiences that foster deeper thought and spirituality. Three Iona students learned this on a study abroad trip to the Isle of Iona. This journey, led by Christina Carlson, a faculty member of the English department, is one of Iona's study abroad interdisciplinary course options encompassing history, literature, religion and fine arts. The group lived in the medieval monastery founded by St. Columba, worshipped together, and studied natural, historical, spiritual and social topics.

But the experience was much more than those things to the students, and Carlson as well. In their own words, Carlson and the students who attended—Michelle Muzzio ’14, Charlotte Ference ’14 and Kaylynn Murchison ’14— share their experience, and transformation.

“We traveled across the sea and back in time (by two planes, two ferries, a bus and a train) to St. Columba’s tiny island in search of his spiritual legacy and what it might mean for us. We saw the ancient stone crosses erected by the monks of his community; we prayed and ate and gathered in the buildings where once monks’ voices were heard, and we traipsed across fields where there were indeed cattle (and sheep, and chickens!) to see the beach where he landed and the highest point of the island where he prayed in solitude. In the course of our week there, we talked about the medieval life of St. Columba, but we also discussed current issues of peace and justice that affect the world as well as our own local communities. And what we discovered is that, while the Isle of Iona is indeed a “thin place” where heaven seems a little bit closer to earth, Columba never intended to keep that deep spirituality hidden away from the world. In short, from his home on Iona, Columba intended to “move the world” and that is exactly what he did. Hopefully we will take what we learned and draw on the deep peace we experienced so that we, too, can “move the world.” – Christina Carlson, Ph.D. “Words cannot describe the experience of visiting the Isle of Iona. It's absolutely transcendent. They call the Isle of Iona the "closest place between heaven and Earth" and that is so unbelievably true. The Isle itself is mysterious in that it can make you feel the presence of God as well as St. Columba in such a real and powerful way. Momentum from the memory of St. Columba is contagious. Everyone on the isle felt it and I hope I can spread the passion that he had for living the mission that Iona College fosters today.”

– Michelle Muzzio ’14 “There are few places in the world where one can be completely surrounded by breathtaking stillness, silence, and serenity, while still being aware of the vast array of nature's noises and demands. Climbing mountains in rainstorms and wind is not what I expected signing up for a study abroad course, but the lessons I learned from the island, and from Dr. Carlson, will never be forgotten. The Isle of Iona has a magic and a fierceness that lends itself to inner reflection and discovery. Until this visit, I had never experienced such a place filled with both ancient history and an incredible respect and hope for future developments.” – Charlotte Ference ’14 “When thinking about my experience on the Isle of Iona, it is truly hard to put into words. Iona is not simply a place—it’s an experience. There's something deeply mystical and almost magnetic about it that not only drew me with the study abroad program but also draws people from around the world.

As an international experience, there's nothing like traveling to the island.

Meeting people from as close as the Isle of Mann to as far away as Australia truly shows the reach of the island. Living in community and following routines as monks provides an experience that I never would have had. There are few words that can describe what it is like to travel to and live on Iona for a short time. The only way to truly understand it and its significance is to be there.” – Kaylynn Murchison ’14

He spent his junior year in Iona’s exchange program to Blackfriars Hall, Oxford. He was Iona’s valedictorian in 2012. He’s worked in several high-profile positions in Washington, D.C., already. And, he has traveled extensively, including frequent trips to visit extended family in Ireland. Still, James Hurley ’12 was surprised to garner a prestigious Fulbright Postgraduate Scholar award for graduate study at the location he most wanted, Queens University Belfast, in Northern Ireland, for the 2014-2015 academic year.

There, his educational transformation will continue.

“Before coming to Iona, I thought I wanted to go into law or a related field such as government affairs or international relations,” Hurley said. “At Iona, I realized that I wanted to explore other avenues before going to law school, something I still might do.”

At Iona, while earning his B.A. in history and political science, Hurley was also editor of The Ionian student newspaper. In spring of his senior year, he was one of 40 students worldwide selected to participate in the American Middle Eastern Network for Dialogue at Stanford. Iona faculty members, he said, "always challenged me to go one extra step in the classroom and in my work," especially political science professor Tricia Mulligan, who, Hurley said, was very supportive of his Fulbright application.

“James is a unique young man,” Mulligan said, noting that throughout his academic life, he has seized every opportunity to go above and beyond. One of his papers from Oxford, for instance, is slated for publication in a law journal. “In my years teaching, I have encountered very few students with James's intelligence, empathy, and passion for international affairs and the individuals whose lives politics and questions of development touch,” she continued. “James has genuine concern for international politics and is earnest in his belief that individuals can in fact make a difference.”

After graduating from Iona, Hurley interned in Washington, D.C., for U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and the U.S. Department of State, and worked as a research analyst for the Education Advisory Board, advising senior student affairs leaders at member campuses on best practices for universities. He also was an editor for the Capital Pride Alliance.

In Belfast, Hurley plans to study legislative policy at the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy, while also working for the Northern Irish government in a position arranged through the Fulbright Commission.

In his free time, he intends to pursue his recreational interests in rowing and marathon running, having already competed in the Paris marathon during his junior year abroad.

“While my future is to be determined after the Fulbright—I want to enjoy it and not plan ahead too much—it will likely include more employment in the research field, considerations of law school and MBA programs, and will be based in Washington, D.C., or the UK,” Hurley said.

18

Iona College Magazine

Nadine Barnett Cosby ’96MS, a professor in Iona’s Department of Mass Communication, has had several transformations through education: as a student, as a professional, and now in a teaching role.

First at Iona as a student in the mid-1990s, Cosby earned a master’s in mass communication and public relations. Her career took off with event productions for Madison Square Garden, including “a lot of Knicks games,” she said, but she loved the challenge of live broadcasts. She then went on to work for companies such as Fox5 Television, Lifetime Television and ABC. “I went from working for larger media organizations to working freelance for multiple organizations and on some of my own independent projects,” Cosby said.

Now, she's “telling my own stories and doing my own projects.” Her first film, called “Her Essence,” chronicles a day in the life of “women and how we’re perceived in our professional and personal lives.” Using actors of different ages and racial backgrounds to portray the same character, Cosby shows how society reacts differently to these women in the same scenario. She’s currently working on turning this into a web series. Also, she said, “I began to see that I was doing a lot of training, and I realized that I really enjoyed when there were interns that would shadow me, or when I was asked to go to a school and speak about the profession. I thought it would be cool to teach a class here and there.” This thought prompted her to enter another master’s program, this time at The New School in New York City, “to brush up on the new technology in the field."

"I have definitely seen a transformation in myself through each academic experience,” Cosby said. "Adding that knowledge and understanding of public relations [to her previous expertise in production technology], and subsequently incorporating that into my production positions, allowed me to continue to transform the direction of my career in media. The same is true for my experience of going back for a second master's degree, a little later in life and more experienced, and having to learn new technology, but also learn how to interact with students who for the first time, were younger than me.

That experience played a very large part in sparking my interest in becoming a college professor."

For Cosby, teaching is a way to show students the professional world. “I bring a lot of my experience into the classroom,” she said. “It opens up a thought process for the students. It’s more about functioning within the industry and what opportunities might exist in a particular area of the field.”

In addition to her classroom duties, Cosby is co-advisor to ICTV, Iona’s television club, where, she said, “I thought it would be great if the students produced a news show.” This past spring semester, students produced five newscasts, which can be seen on the ICTV YouTube channel as well as on public access cable in Larchmont/Mamaroneck and New Rochelle. “I think it’s easier than they thought it would be. It’s a lot of work, but these students are committed to getting as much experience as they can before they graduate and to building up a professional reel.”

About her most recent transformation, to teaching, Cosby says, “It’s something that I didn’t foresee but I feel that I’m benefitting from it as much as the students are."

THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF

EDUCATION

Shannon Fogarty ’99 writes that the connections he made in his Iona education were transformative in finding the inspiration he needed in his fight against brain cancer. Fogarty is a television producer whose credits include “Blue Bloods,” “30 Rock” and “The Wire.” Shannon shares: In life, our experiences shape our thinking. If we learn the lessons that life teaches us, they give us perspective. Well, I got perspective, but life had to hit me in the head (literally!) for me to get it.

On July 23, 2010, I was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Initially, doctors thought it was benign, but after many opinions, I ended up having surgery to relieve water on the brain (hydrocephalus), and then started chemo and radiation for a Grade 4 (cancerous) brain tumor. When you get a chronic disease many things in your life change. Mine were minor, but at the same time significant to me. I found myself having short-term memory loss, but the long-term memories were all still present, which was a blessing. I also found that it made me think more about choices I was making for my career and family. I have become much less aggressive with becoming a big-shot producer. If it was to happen, then it was meant to be. I believe that everything happens for a reason and to not regret anything. Listen to country music; the lyrics speak a lot about the appreciation of life!

Traditionally, when people think of radiation and chemo, they think of patients losing their hair—which happened to me—and getting so sick with gastrointestinal symptoms that they lose weight. I was overweight to begin with, so shedding some weight would have been not such a bad thing. But instead, my treatment had the opposite effect: I had an insatiable appetite! Oddly, for the first few months I didn’t gain weight, nor was I getting sick.

Unfortunately, the treatments did not work, and they needed to put me on Avastin, which is considered the last line of treatment. Although I was bracing for the worst in terms of side effects, my appetite continued! I did not get sick, and my cravings for everything from Chinese food to veggie burgers continued until I grew to a size 46 waist and weight of 296 pounds!

In early November I was probably at the worst stage of my life, both mentally and physically, but I always tried to keep that inside and stay focused on keeping a positive outlook. I used to get to see my dear friend Br. Durning, who always gave me such amazing support, both through this time and throughout my time at Iona, and he reinforced how essential it is to think positively and keep things in perspective.

This is when I read The Long Run by Matt Long and said “Wow, I think I have it bad! This guy went through hell and came back, so why can't I do the same?”

That book has given so much encouragement over and over again that I cannot thank Matt enough for telling his story. [Editor’s note: Matt Long ’89, ’09H was run over by a New York City bus while bicycling to his job as a NYC firefighter.]

In late November 2011, after the Avastin seemed to be working and I had been on it for two months longer than most people survive, I made an important decision. This was an opportunity for me to prolong my life by getting healthy.

This meant losing weight and getting into better shape. So, I made a lifestyle change. Instead of going on a diet, I started slowly to make sure the changes I was making would stick (instead of those radical diets and exercise programs that people do and then gain back more weight than they lost).

I started exercising regularly and eating foods that come from the earth: produce and proteins. I went back to our roots. I am now a size 38 and weigh 210. The mental and physical changes this change has made on my life are awesome and rewarding. I am now 27 months into a second treatment, and have been able to go skydiving and ziplining with my wife and five year-old daughter.

THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF

EDUCATION

OPEN MIND The story that John Heapes ’66 tells of his transformation through a college education will resonate with many Iona alumni who were the first in their family to go to college. But instead of the archetypical rags-to-riches story, his centers around an intellectual metamorphosis. In fact, one could say that his education inspired him to transcend this world.

Growing up in the Morris Park-Waynesbridge Road area of the Bronx, Heapes did not have college on his radar. His dad was a New York City police officer and liquor salesman, and his mom worked at Scholastic. Neither had graduated from high school, but they read, and his dad’s newspapers and his mom’s books of fiction were always around the house.

“There were about six fellas that I hung around with in our neighborhood, and some of them I’m still in touch with,” Heapes said. “We euphemisitically call ourselves ‘the boys’, and we connected with each other as brothers. As it turned out, all these guys went to college and I started to think: ‘maybe I should go to college.’”

While all his friends saw college as “an avenue for employment”—going on to become a doctor, lawyer or engineer—Heapes said he thought a little differently. “I was a philosophy major. I was more into meaning and things like that. I think that’s what got me into education. I like to think about things. I came from a very conservative family and the neighborhood was pretty conservative and insulated,” he continued. “At Iona, I’m taking humanities and philosophy. I took every course in sociology they had. It began to open up my mind, and opened me up to ideas that were very different from what I grew up with.”

When these worlds collided, Heapes said, Br. Egan was there. “He really helped me in processing it all. He helped me emotionally and all the courses I was taking helped me intellectually. It proved a great foundation for me to step outside my insular Bronx life and understand and appreciate a wider world.”

Heapes went on to graduate school in sociology and social work, and began teaching in 1970 at Harrisburg Area Community College in Pennsylvania, which has remained his “base” ever since. He was involved in the human services movement as well as teaching. “I strongly identify with them,” he said of his students. “A lot of them are first-generation college students like I was.”

About 15 years ago, Heapes began to consider how he would want to finish up his academic career. He decided to focus on writing a book, and as a sociologist, what contemporary society he could research. “I wanted to think differently, and I began to think, what other worlds are there?” The result was Other Worlds: UFOs, Aliens, and the Afterlife (iUniverse, Bloomington), an “exploratory study” that uses sociological tools to examine about 1,600 cases of UFOs from a database, four books by “UFO-logists” and also the reports of individuals who have had near-death experiences. He concluded: “I think it’s good to always think outside the box.”

SPORTS REPORT

HARD WORK PAYS OFF “Sean Armand for three!” An exclamation heard 348 times over the course of the recent Iona graduate’s four-year career, more than anyone else in Iona history. The 6-foot, 5-inch guard from Brooklyn finished his tenure in New Rochelle as the most prolific long distance shooter in program history.

Armand ranks No. 7 on Iona’s all-time scoring list with 1,694 career points behind six Iona Hall of Famers in Steve Burtt Sr. and Jr., Gary Springer Sr., Jeff Ruland and Kevin Bass.

Armand has appeared in more games (137) than any other Iona player. In addition to his 348 trifectas, he also sits atop the Iona list in career three-point field goal percentage (43 percent), single-season three-point pointers (112 as a junior) and three-pointers by a rookie (61).

In January 2012, Armand’s 10 three-pointers vs. Siena at Madison Square Garden not only set a new standard in Iona history, but also set a building record in the “World’s Most Famous Arena.” While the MSG record has since been topped by the Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry, the mark still stands as a MAAC single-game record.

Ironically, Armand entered college believing the long ball was not going to be his forte.

“I came in as a scoring guard—I wasn’t going to be a three-point specialist,” he said. “You come to college and you see how good you really are; sometimes you think you're better than you are. I came in, and I knew I needed to work hard. My first step was being able to be a spot-up shooter, and I took heed in that.”

Aside from placing in the top 10 in numerous categories in the Iona record books, the twoyear captain has also made a name for himself by climbing the charts on several MAAC career records. He is currently fourth in the MAAC, averaging 2.53 trifectas per game over the course of his career and fifth in MAAC history in career 3-point percentage, connecting on 43 percent of his attempts.

As a junior in 2012-13, Armand and teammate Lamont Jones were the highest scoring tandem in the nation. The dynamic duo posted an average of 39.2 points per contest.

“Sean is a terrific young man who has blossomed here at Iona,” head coach Tim Cluess said. “He's come so far in the four years as a student, an athlete and a person that we're proud to be around him and proud to have him represent our institution.”

Armand was an integral part of Iona’s potent offensive of the last three seasons where the team has finished in the top five in the NCAA in scoring. After winning back-to-back scoring titles in 2011-12 and 2012-13, the Maroon

22

Iona College Magazine

& Gold was fourth following Armand’s senior campaign despite averaging more points than in the previous two seasons.

Not only have the Maroon & Gold featured a potent offense with Armand in uniform— they have also experienced much success.

The Gaels posted a 20-win season in each of his four seasons, claimed two MAAC regular season championships, a MAAC tournament championship and appeared in two NCAA Tournaments. His pivotal role in the team's success is demonstrated by the fact he played in every single game during his four-year career. The 92 wins posted in Armand's time in New Rochelle is the second most in school history over the course of four seasons.

With the Gaels’ appearance in the NIT this season, Armand became the fifth player in program history to play in a postseason tournament all four seasons donning the Maroon & Gold.

Armand completed arguably the best season of his career this spring. He averaged 17.5 points per game, good for fourth in the conference. He has connected on 96 three-pointers, the second most in the MAAC, and shot 45 percent from beyond the arc, also second in the conference.

“He represents the school in a great way, whether he's on or off the basketball court,” Cluess said. “As a great leader on our team, he tells the younger guys right from wrong and what they should and shouldn’t be doing both on and off the floor as well and what's expected of them. No matter what area Sean goes into, he is going to be successful.”

Armand earned a degree in Mass Communication. He aspires to continue his basketball career. He knows that dedication and determination have played a pivotal role in his success and will continue to be a driving force in mapping out his future plans.

“If you really want something, you just have to go after it,” Armand said. “That’s all it is: hard work pays off.”

Following the basketball season Armand spent his spring training for his professional career. With the 2014 NBA Draft looming, he has worked out for several pro teams in cities across the country. If Armand's achievements on the court are any indication, he is going to be very successful no matter what he does in the future.

Story contributed by Ian Sacks ’16.

THE CHAMPS ARE HERE The Iona College athletics department celebrated five MAAC Championships during the 2013-14 campaign en route to a third-place finish in the MAAC Commissioner's Cup. The men's and women's cross country dynasty continued to begin the fall championship season with both programs extending the NCAA's longest active conference championship streaks in the respective sports. The men's team used a perfect score of 15 and had eight runners finish in the Top 15 in winning its 23rd straight MAAC title at Van Cortlandt Park in November 2013. Red-shirt freshman Kieran Clements crossed in first place with his teammates Daniel Clorley, Matthew Gillespie and Jake Byrne finishing less than a second behind in the dominant 58-point win. That same morning, the women's team earned a 29-point win over second-place Quinnipiac to earn its ninth straight MAAC Championship. Senior Kate Avery won the individual crown, completing the 6k course nearly one minute faster than her teammate Maya Rehberg in second place.

Men's and women's basketball offered its fans an exciting 2013-14 campaign as both teams captured their respective MAAC regular season titles. It was just the sixth time in the 33-year history of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference where same school entered the MAAC Basketball Championships as the top seed on both the menís and womenís side. The women's program won its first-ever MAAC regular season title, setting new program records for overall wins (26) and conference wins (18) in its inaugural season under head coach Billi Godsey. The men's program extended its 20-plus-win season streak to five while posting a 22-11 overall mark while also setting a school record with 17 MAAC victories. Both teams competed in its postseason NIT events.

It was softball's turn in the spring to recapture its recent success at the MAAC Championship. Headlined by MAAC Player of the Year Eileen McCann and MAAC Rookie of the Year Kristen Turner, the Gaels picked up an 8-0 win over Manhattan in the championship game to earn their fourth MAAC title in five seasons. McCann was a part of all four MAAC Championship squads after sitting out the 2013 season with an injury.

In the MAAC Commissioner's Cup, Iona finished a half point behind second place Monmouth in the overall standings. The Gaels also finished third in both the men's and women's cup standings.

RECORD SETTER In her first season with the Gaels, women's basketball head coach Billi Godsey led Iona to a program record 26 wins and a share of the MAAC Regular Season Championship. Her 26 wins were the most by a rookie head coach in conference history. She was named the WBCA Spalding Maggie Dixon Division I Rookie Coach of the Year, College Sports Madness Mid-Major Coach of the Year and the 2014 MAAC Coach of the Year. In 2013-14, Godsey led Iona to a historic 18-game winning streak, the longest in college history. She became the first rookie coach to win the MAAC Coach of the Year honor since 1991 and led all first-time head coaches in NCAA Division I with her 26 wins and 18 victories in conference play.

Come out and cheer on the Gaels!

Don’t miss any of our home games this fall—starting in August, men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball kicks off the 2014-15 season.

Get your basketball season tickets today!

Season ticket packages for Iona men’s and women’s basketball are available NOW! For more information contact Tom Moran Assistant AD/Marketing & Tickets at tmoran@iona.edu or 914-633-2491 or visit ICGaels.com for more information.

Spring 2014 23

SPORTS REPORT

ON THREE INDUCTED The Iona College Goal Club Hall of Fame Class of 2014 consisted of five standout student-athletes and coaches from Iona's past. A gorgeous day of golf at Wykagyl Country Club was punctuated with the Hall of Fame Dinner recognizing former head football coach Harold Crocker, cross country/track All-American Richard Kiplagat ’06, water polo and swimming standout Kristie Przekota ’01, men's basketball's Kevin Vesey ’82 and former baseball head coach Al Zoccolillo.

Br. J. Kevin Devlin ’61 received the fifth Donald E. Walsh ’66 award for his demonstrated loyal support and service to Iona Athletics through exceptional volunteerism.

FOREVER 14 In January, Iona College athletics honored the legacy of Richie Guerin ’54 during its contest against archrival Manhattan at the Hynes Athletics Center. The Gaels retired Guerin’s No. 14, the first ever in school history. Guerin starred for the Maroon & Gold from 1951-1954. He was inducted into the Iona College Goal Club Hall of Fame in 1983 as the lone member of the organization’s second-ever class. Guerin, second from left in photo, is also a Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame honoree in the Class of 2004. He was elected into the 2013 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in February 2013 and inducted in September 2013.

24

Iona College Magazine

Three was the prevailing number for rising junior Kate Avery who made her Maroon & Gold debut for the Iona College women's cross country/track and field team in the fall of 2013 and an immediate impact in the Iona record books. Avery was a three-time All-American, won all three MAAC Championship events she competed in during the year and shattered school records in three separate events over the course of the 2013-14 campaign.

Avery's debut at the 19th Annual Br. Doyle Meet of Champions at Van Cortlandt Park foreshadowed the success that followed. She won the 6k event by more than 54 seconds. In her first MAAC Championship at the same venue just over a month later the margin of victory was 59 seconds. Avery went on to earn All-Region and All-America honors with a fifth-place finish at the 2013 NCAA Northeast Regional Championship and was the highest Iona women's finisher at the NCAA Championship with a third-place finish in Terre Haute. She joined former Gael standout McKayla Plank as the only cross country All-Americans in the women's program history.

The winter season saw continued success for Avery. In two weeks' time, she set a new Iona record in both the mile and the 3,000-meter event. Avery ran a 4:38.24 in the mile in February and 8:56.20 in the 3k at Armory Track & Field Center, also in February. While the mile time was just .61 seconds faster than former Gael standout Heidi Gregson's two-year old mark, the 3k time shattered Salome Kosgei's previous record by more than 20 seconds and marked the first time an Iona women's runner ran the event in under nine minutes. She was

named Most Outstanding Performer at the 2014 MAAC Championships winning the mile and 3k events lowering her own school mark in the mile and setting a new MAAC record in the process. She continued success in the NCAA Championships earning Second Team All-America honors with her ninth place performance in the 3k.

The spring was no different from the fall and winter for Avery. She smashed a nine-year old school record in the outdoor 5,000-meter event, topping Kosgei's time by more than 36 seconds. Her time of 15:27.90 allowed her to become the first women's harrier at Iona to break the 16-minute barrier in the 5k. Avery won her third All-American honor of the season finishing eighth in the 5k at the 2014 NCAA Championships, at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field in June.

Avery wasn't the only Gael to earn All-American accolades during the 2013-14 campaign as three of her teammate also captured the honors.

Iona All-Americans in 2013-14 Kate Avery (top left) Cross Country, Indoor 3k (Second Team), Outdoor 5k Daniel Clorley (bottom left) Cross Country Matt Gillespie (bottom right) Indoor 3k (Second Team), Indoor Mile (Second Team), Outdoor 5k (Honorable Mention) Maya Rehberg (top right) Outdoor 3k steeplechase (Second Team)

WITH HONORS A trio of stellar student-athletes headlined the 2014 Senior Awards Banquet held at Larchmont Shore Club on May 8. Men's basketball's Sean Armand, men's soccer's Franklin Castellanos and women's water polo's Amy Olsen earned the Joseph E. O'Connell Award as Iona's most outstanding senior student-athletes.

(L to R) Athletics Director Rick Cole, soccer Coach Fernando Barboto, student athletes Franklin Castellanos and Amy Olsen, and men's and women's water polo Coach Brian Kelly.

The Joseph E. O'Connell Award is named for Iona’s first outstanding student-athlete. The son of immigrants, Joe O'Connell grew up in Corpus Christi Parish, Morningside Heights, and played basketball for the Brothers at All Hallows High School.

Arriving at Iona in 1941, Joe joined the squad coached by Br. Arthur A. Loftus, and became the Gaels' leading scorer his freshman season with 242 points. After Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entry into World War II, Joe, together with most of his classmates, enlisted in the military. On September 5, 1943, Cpl. Joseph E. O'Connell, U.S. Army Air Corps, was killed in the South Pacific. He was the first Iona student to give his life in the service of his country. In 1946, Br. Loftus

established this award in the memory of his player, and on December 7, 1948—the seventh anniversary of Pearl Harbor—Br. Loftus dedicated the new Iona fieldhouse as the Joseph E. O'Connell Memorial Gymnasium.

Although the gymnasium no longer stands, the talent, grace, and courage of Joe O'Connell continues to be memorialized through the lives of all the Iona Gaels who have earned the Joseph E. O'Connell Award.

In addition to the O'Connell Awards, two members of Iona's staff and administration were honored with the Br. John G. Driscoll Appreciation Award for their contributions to the athletic department. Iona's Facilities & Maintenance staff members Mike Overton and Sean Piggott were selected for their support of Iona College Athletics, its student-athletes, coaching staffs and administrators.

Thirty-eight seniors also earned the Merit Award for maintaining a 3.5 or above cumulative grade point average during their time at Iona College.

Keep up-to-date on all the latest happenings in Iona Athletics on our official website ICGaels.com

Watch live and on-demand features and events on IonaInsider.com Follow us on Facebook and Twitter at @ICGaels Get your official Iona Gear on ICGaelsGear.com Search “Iona Gaels” in the App Store or Google Play Store to find Iona Athletics official mobile apps for your iPhone or Android device

Spring 2014 25

ON THE JOB

ALL IN A DAY'S WORK

Every day Iona alumni are succeeding, producing, creating or doing something extraordinary.

HOW MANY?

Created by several Iona alumni, Steve Wallace ’11, Jay Wegimont ’13, Emily Pennachio ’12, Marc Igneri ’12, and developers Joe Kramer and Constantine Apostolou, the site was built from scratch after determining that there was interest in telling six-word stories but no real platform to do so.

So if you are a fan of Twitter and have mastered the art of sharing in 140 characters, we suggest you give Zhong a try.

IC Magazine's six-word story: Iona alumni make us proud. Always.

Screenshot of Zhong site.

Just six to be exact. That's the number of words authors can use to create a story with Zhong (pronounced “jhoong”), a new social app site. According to the site, “Zhong is a place to say something creative in just six words. In Chinese, it means bullseye, center, heaviness, or loyalty. This is all about wordplay.”

RINGING BELLS

Photo courtesy of Jaclyn Klein.

Some days are not like the others. For Jaclyn (Sales) Klein ’07, a proud graduate of Iona's department of Mass Communication, who now works in Corporate Communications and Investor Relations with FXCM Inc., had one of those days in February.

Klein received a phone call from the CEO of her company at 4:30 a.m. with some bad and good news. Bad news: he had food poisoning. Good news: she would need to step in and ring the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange on behalf of the company. Klein jumped for joy, and then into action.

Jaclyn expressed her appreciation to Iona for preparing her for those not so ordinary days.

James J. Barrechia ’11 is the senior director of Aviation/Business Systems at Atlas Air/Polar Air Cargo and has been with the company for about 12 years. Barrechia says the work is a “technologist's dream” and there seems to never be a dull moment. “Getting telemetry from a 747 that its fuel door opened in Qatar so you know the truck is there is different. Or monitoring the temperature of a cargo hold over the Pacific and then telling the crew that they've got some pharmaceuticals that are about to spoil,” adding, “my team has built a whole lot of applications like those that offer a real competitive advantage to the airline.”

In his time away from the job, Barrechia has started building quadcopters, a multirotor helicopter that is lifted and propelled by four rotors, utilizing some of the lessons he learned in the classroom from Computer Science Professor Lubomir Ivanov. In fact, he has two built and a third in the works that will be fully autonomous and should be able to fly a 20-minute mission without intervention.

His biggest challenge: finding a place to test it!

26

Iona College Magazine

Photo courtesy of James Barrechia.

TAKE FLIGHT

A company founded by Iona College alumnus, Sean O’Shea ’13, ’14MS, was awarded one of three grand prizes of the IBM Watson Mobile Developer Challenge. Out of several hundred submissions across a wide range of industries, Majestyk Apps was awarded access to the developer cloud and support from IBM Interactive design services to commercialize their prototypes for the marketplace.

“Winning the IBM Watson Developer Challenge is a great honor and it’s just the first step,” said O’Shea.

“With Watson we will be able to create an entire system that adapts to the user who is interacting with it. The opportunity and potential of partnering with IBM to develop this amazing technology is very exciting.” The Majestyk Apps team is currently building their first version product to display and will launch a suite of apps and toy products at the Computer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, NV in early 2015.

Read more online, mobile or otherwise.

HAVE YOU MADE THE CONNECTION? Iona College alumni live and work all over the world, giving other alumni a chance to connect personally and professionally. Sign up with IonaConnection.com today.

NETWORKED In April, more than 100 alumni gathered at Bloomberg headquarters for the first New York Networking Night thanks to Donna M. Russo ’85, senior sales/marketing specialist at Bloomberg Radio, who secured the event space. The event featured keynote speaker Charles W. Schoenherr ’82, chief investment officer at Broadway Partners (pictured above), and conversation about the power of networking.

AT THE FINISH LINE Stephen Chemlany ’08, a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in the marathon, earned his personal best of 2:06:24 hours in the Seoul marathon in March 2014. Chemlany was runner-up in the 2011 Berlin Marathon (in which the winner set a new world record), where he also placed fourth in 2013. He has won the Dalian Marathon (twice), the Tiberias Marathon and the Macau Marathon.

At Iona, Chemlany earned a bachelor’s and a master's degree in Computer Science. As a Gael, he appeared in three NCAA Cross Country championships from 2003-05. Chemlany was a three-time All-Northeast region performer in cross country and earned four MAAC Championships in track in field, finishing first in the 3k and the 5k in back-to-back years in 2005 and 2006.

A FIRST IN SUPPORTING IONA Marlene Piturro ’82MBA, Ph.D. has recently given her time, talent and treasure to her alma mater through the gifts of mentoring and a generous contribution. Dr. Piturro provided her time and talent to mentor 20 students during Iona’s annual Meet a Career Mentor event in the fall. “Iona does a great job of reaching out to its alumni and it is a pleasure to be able to give back and share my career experiences in this way,” she said.

IONACONNECTION.COM FEATURES: • Research job openings and schedule • • • •

a meeting with a professional career mentor Find your classmates and submit a class note Link up with your Reunion class.

Learn about benefits and services available to Alumni Register for upcoming events and see photos from past events

Don't miss out - make the connection today!

Dr. Piturro has also become the first person in New York to establish a charitable gift annuity with Iona College. “There is a connection you feel to Iona,” said Dr. Piturro. “When a donation is given you see results. It is turned into something productive and not into a black hole.”

“Our benefactors have traditionally supported Iona very generously through outright cash gifts to the College,” said Greg Teeter, JD, associate vice president for Major & Planned Giving. “Gift annuities are an option other than cash gifts that can be used to support Iona College.”

A relatively new option for Iona supporters in the tri-state area, a charitable gift annuity offers a fixed, largely tax-free stream of income for the remainder of the donor’s life in return for the gift.

Gift annuity donors are also entitled to a charitable income tax deduction for a portion of their gifts.

Dr. Piturro earned her MBA in Organizational Development from Iona in 1982.

She also holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Fordham University. In addition to her private practice focused on career and retirement issues of older adults, she has consulted on the issues of aging for such companies as Pfizer, Pharmacia, the Leapfrog Group and Oxford Health Plans. As a journalist, she has written about senior health issues for The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post and USA Today.

Spring 2014 27

ALUMNI

(Years in red indicate a reunion year)

1954 Bernard D. Boettigheimer was named Leasing Person of the Year for 2013. Bernie is president of Lease Police, Inc., Dallas, Texas.

Maggie Cassano reports the death of her father, Louis Cassano, who was one of the first members of Iona's evening school, working at IBM and attending Iona on the GI Bill. He was a veteran of WWII. After graduating with his BA, he continued to work at IBM until his retirement in 1985, a total of 42 years. See photo on inside front cover.

2008

1989

Amanda (Gabriele) Dusenbury ’10MBA is happy to announce her marriage to Arthur Dusenbury on September 6, 2013. There were many Iona students and alumni in attendance to celebrate the happy occasion.

1958

William P. Larkin ’91MBA was recently promoted to sergeant with the Greenwich Police Department, of which he is a 21-year veteran.

Robert J. Mc Guire, Esq., ’78H was awarded the Centennial Leadership Award by the Police Athletic League.

Samuel H. Megerditchian, Esq. is counsel in the intellectual property department of Gibbons P.C.

1972 Brian D. Monahan, Ph.D. ’72MSEd was appointed interim superintendent of schools in the Garrison Union Free School district.

1974 Marty Daly, senior vice president and director for News and Late Night Sales at CBS, invited a group of Iona students to a taping of The Late Show with David Letterman.

Henry A. Dickson ’89MS was elected to a four-year term on the Holly Springs, N.C., town council. Hank previously served on the council from 1997-2009.

1993 John D. Constantine, DDS was recently named president of the Ninth District Dental Association for the 2014 term, leading 1,600 fellow dentists within this society.

Rita C. Mabli ’76MBA is president and CEO of United Hebrew of New Rochelle. Rita recently received a prestigious award from the Visiting Nurse Services in Westchester at their annual Gala.

Thomas E. Richer was recently named chief sales & marketing officer for CRA, an award-winning IT managed solutions firm.

Tom resides in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., with his wife, Carolyn, and his three children: Bridget, Emma and Braden.

1976

1996

Margo N. (Kourkoutas) Morea is proud to report that she graduated last year from Columbia University’s Teachers College with a doctorate in history education. She is currently an adjunct professor and student teacher supervisor at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Margo lives in Ridgewood, N.J., with her husband, Dennis.

Dominick J. Impemba was elected to the board of directors of the Foundation Center.

1987 Raul S. Banasco is jail administrator for the Bexar County Sheriff's Office in San Antonio, Texas. Raul is currently the chair of the American Correctional Association Affirmative Action Committee for the 2013-2016 term, American Jail Association Member, North American Association of Wardens and Su28

perintendents Board of Directors and Florida Council on Crime and Delinquency board member. He is also a founding member of the National Organization of Hispanics in Criminal Justice and served as president of the organization from 2006-2009. Raul was also elected to serve on the Executive American Correctional Association Board of Governors as the large ethic minority board member for the 2010-2015 term.

Iona College Magazine

Thomas W. Orbacz ’10MBA graduated from the Police Academy and is currently a trooper stationed at SP Margaretville in Delaware County, N.Y. >>

2009

2011 Kalie G. (Albrecht) Hawley ’12MBA is happy to announce her marriage to Ryan on February 15, 2014.

Jesse A. Ouellette is a legal intern at The White House, Executive Office of The President of The United States.

2012 James P. Hurley is proud to announce that he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship by the US-UK Fullbright Commission and the State Department for the 2014-2015 academic year to pursue a MA degree at Queens University in Belfast. Read more on p. 16.

Christopher D. Burke recently joined the Southern Illinois Miner's Baseball Team roster.

Stephanie Argyropoulos ’12MBA was recently appointed Program Manager of the Ph.D. Rehabilitation Sciences Program in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at MGH Institute of Health Professional in Boston.

2007 Julieann (Benes) Bellor and her husband, Dan Bellor, welcomed their daughter, Leah Jamie, on January 14, 2014.

Julieann works at PepsiCo and currently resides in Yorktown Heights, N.Y. Marc J. Kelly is proud to announce that he recently completed his MBA and launched an online men's luxury fashion and lifestyle magazine. Check it out: www.

MrRefined.com.

SUBMIT A CLASS NOTE!

Your classmates and fellow alumni want to know what you are doing, and not everyone is on Facebook or Twitter! Be sure to send us your recent baby photos, marriage announcements and job updates.

Please submit your text, as well as any photos, to alumni@iona.edu or by mail to the Office of Alumni Relations, Iona College, 715 North Avenue, New Rochelle, NY 10801.

Please note: Class Note submissions may be edited for length, clarity and style.

BY THE NUMBERS 47 Jublilarians returned to celebrate their 50th anniversary.

37 class of '89 alumni celebrated their 25th reunion.

REUNION 2014

339 alumni, family and friends had a blast at the Reunion Gala.

8 awards were given to outstanding alumni at the Gala.

A quick look at the special events celebrating class years ending in 4 and 9.

It was a great weekend to be a Gael!

Read more about the events and check out the full photo gallery.

Spring 2014 29

ALUMNI

THE ULTIMATE FAN Some people have beach houses. Some people have mountain houses. Michael Holton ’88 has something different and more personal: a Packers house. Green Bay Packers, that is.

Holton, born and raised in Milwaukee, is still a regular at Lambeau Field in Green Bay even though he now lives in Atlanta. His Packers house, across the street from the field’s entrance atrium, makes this possible.

“My dad raised me right. He was a huge Packers fan. I was brought home [from the hospital] in a Packers jersey. Both my girls were brought home in Packers jerseys,” Holton said.

“When my dad came down with prostate cancer, and we had always struggled to find a hotel, I hit 40 and had the financial means to do it, and I said I'll buy a house, renovate it, make it comfortable for us and make it a high-end ‘man's house’.”

The house has also made it possible for Holton to entertain his college buddies in a unique way. About 15 Iona alumni—including Steve Buero, Christopher Giancola, Liz Irving, Alison Irving, Michael Armon, Tony Martin, John Riccio, Rob Moore and Frank Smith—come to the house and games, according to Holton. “I’ve had many Iona alumni go out there and have a blast. Most of the alumni who have gone have been there numerous times,” he said. “I invite all my friends up and over the years it’s just gotten bigger and bigger.”

Not just friends but ex-Packers and media visit the house too. “I have a tremendous amount of memorabilia and history in there,” Holton said.

“Seeing the expressions on peoples' faces…I love the games and they're fun, but entertaining at the house is the fun part.”

Why would a guy fly from Atlanta—where he has built a successful career in the health care industry—to every game in Green Bay and even the training camps? “There's a real sense of community there,” he said. “People are very friendly and sweet. It's small-town America and it gives a sense that America isn't in that bad shape. It’s the way America used to be.”

TOP 10 REASONS FOR BECOMING A MEMBER OF THE PAIR TEAM

1. Stay up to date on improvements made at the College

6. Make an impact as a mentor to college bound students

2. Remain active with the alumni and parent community

7. Relive positive memories of your time at Iona by sharing your story with prospective students

3. Enhance the value of your (or daughter/ son’s) degree by attracting other highly qualified students 4. Help increase Iona’s visibility at college fairs and high school events 5. Help extend Iona’s reach beyond traditional markets

UPCOMING EVENTS

MARK YOUR CALENDAR SEPTEMBER Thursday, September 11, 2014 REMEMBERING 9/11 Join fellow alumni and Iona College administration as we honor and remember the members of the Iona community who lost their lives on September 11.

OCTOBER Friday - Sunday, October 17-19, 2014 HOMECOMING & FAMILY WEEKEND 2014 It's time to come home! Join us for a fun-filled weekend with events for the whole family.

Sunday, October 19, 2014 REDEDICATION OF THE ARRIGONI CENTER Monday, October 27, 2014 41st ANNUAL WINGED FOOT GOLF OUTING Winged Foot Golf Club, Mamaroneck, N.Y. Play golf at one of the most prestigous courses in the world while helping to raise funds for student scholarships.

NOVEMBER Tuesday, November 11, 2014 VETERANS DAY Join fellow alumni and Iona College administration as we salute Iona's and our nation's Veterans.

DECEMBER Friday, December 5, 2014 TENTH ANNUAL WINTER AUCTION AND CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION Join us for a celebratory evening and auction featuring gifts for the entire family.

Sunday, December 7, 2014 CHRISTMAS MASS AND SANTA BREAKFAST Santa is coming to town and making a stop at Iona. Enjoy mass and breakfast with fellow alumni, family and friends.

8. Increase both student interest in Iona and the number of students eventually enrolling at the College 9. Play an integral role in personalizing the admissions process 10. Bring valuable and unique perspectives to the recruitment effort

To join our PAIR Team, please fill out an online application at www.iona.edu/pair or contact us 30for more Iona College Magazine information at 914-633-2391.

Visit us online for the full events calendar and to register. We look forward to seeing you!

SHELF LIFE

Reginald A. Marra '90MA has published five books. The Quality of Effort, originally published in 1991 was recently revised and released in 2013.

Michael A. Signorile '13 has written his first novel The Wartime Chronicles.

Peter Gallo '67 recently published Fast Pitch Fifties: A Retrospective of New Rochelle Softball.

Frank J. Sileo, Ph.D. '89 has authored several children's books including the recently published Sally Sore Loser: A Story About Winning and Losing.

William Sutherland '87 recently published a book titled God is Love.

ALUMNI REFLECTION

JERRY BROOKER ’58: RETURN FROM JORDAN I recently spent 10 days in Jordan where I was invited by Patch Adams (see the Robin Williams’ movie of the same name), the clown doctor who believes that joy is the key to good health.

He sometimes reads my anti-war poetry in his talks. During the visit, I gave a talk at the Transgenerational Trauma Conference in Amman to young doctors who are developing a structure of healthcare in refugee camps. My talk was called “The Journey from Change to Transformation.” Or, in less formal language, “… from Ordinary to Extraordinary.”

The young medical professionals in Jordan— MD’s, psychiatrists, psychologists, and nurses— are mostly Sunni Muslims. I was deeply impressed with their commitment, warmth and generosity. Some of them came to the refugee camps with us to clown and interpret.

In my rides to and from the camps in the cities of Mafrak and Irbid, I had time to ask many questions about Islam. I learned that it really is a religion of compassion, but has been greatly distorted by the American media since 9/11, and only now, years later, are we receiving the truth in the popular media. The larger camps are a mess. Although we had previous clearance, via

passport and photos, to enter the Zaatari Refugee Camp of about 200,000 Syrian refugees (search “Zaatari Camp Images”online), the Jordanian police would not let us in. They said that they could not guarantee our safety.

Unfortunately, the camp is not a safe place.

There are roaming gangs of teenage toughs, theft, rape.

As we left one of the satellite “schools,” the kids threw rocks at our bus, breaking windows!

The adult guidance they were used to in Syria is now weak. Some of the men have lost their identity. They had a cultural and economic signature in Syria, and now live in tents provided

by UNHCR. Wife batterings are happening. Many women are unaccompanied. A few I spoke with through an interpreter told me that their husbands had been murdered via what seems like the favorite way of Assad’s men to kill, cutting their throats.

There is an undercurrent of strong resentment in Jordan about King Abdullah’s liberal policy regarding the entry of Syrian refugees into the country. They are using Jordan’s resources, pay no taxes, and in some cases take jobs from Jordanians, such as taxi drivers and salesmen at kiosks. It is a small country of three million people, and so refugees cannot be absorbed easily. Zaatari is now the third largest city in the country.

I was told by Jordanians that the king is normally a loved and respected figure, but that his popularity is fading. There is also an abiding fear that the civil war in Syria will leak over the border into Jordan.

When I was in Irbid one day, I saw thick black smoke billowing up to the sky in the near distance. One of the doctors who lives in Irbid, three miles from Syrian, told me that his window panes shake from the bombings across the border. I am grateful to be home.

Jerry Brooker, a novelist and poet, earned his BA in Philosophy from Iona and Ed.D. in Curriculum/Teaching from St. John’s University, and served as English Department Chair at Staples High School in Westport, Conn., from 1973 to 2000.

Spring 2014

31

Iona College Alumni Getaway 2015 Best of Northern Italy March 19 - March 28, 2015

THE EMERALD ISLE April's Alumni Getaway marked its 16th year. This annual trip brought alumni to Ireland (pictured above) with stops in Dublin, Blarney, Westport, Strokestown, Connemara, Dingle and Killarney. They enjoyed visits to the Cliffs of Moher, Blarney Castle, a catamaran cruise, a fun-filled ride on the jaunting cars and a ferry ride across the River Shannon. Previous Getaways included trips to the California coast and the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Hungary.

For more information, please contact Eydie Jordan at 914-633-2391 or ejordan@iona.edu.

Next stop: Northern Italy >>

AN IONA LIFE HENRY P. DART JR. (1922-2013) Henry P. Dart Jr., who entered Iona in its first class in 1940 and graduated with his BBA in 1947 after serving three years in both Europe and the Pacific in World War II during his college years, passed away Nov. 12, 2013 at 90.

Most recently a resident of Bethel, Conn., Dart grew up in New York City. He moved his family from Mineola, N.Y., to Westport, Conn., after discovering better programs for his oldest son, who had Down Syndrome. He became active in two organizations: Connecticut Association for Retarded Children (CARC) and National Association for Retarded Children (NARC), becoming treasurer and later president of CARC. Governor Demsey asked him to serve as advisor on a mental retardation planning project, which was completed in March 1966 and used as a guide in other states.

In 1962, while CARC president, Dart had the honor of watching JFK sign into law the first federal legislation on behalf of those with special needs.

Dart also served as budget chairman and later treasurer of NARC. After 15 years of volunteer work, he retired from CARC and NARC due to health issues.

Dart’s career included stops at TIAA and the Ford Foundation, from which he retired in 1984. He was a gourmet cook and also enjoyed traveling, dancing, golf, poker, and the Y's Men of Westport.

He was extremely proud of his military service and was politically active working to improve conditions for those less fortunate.

32

Iona College Magazine

J. John Adams, CFC ʼ63 Kenric Atkins ʼ94 Raymond P. Bello, Esq. ʼ58 John R. Bradley ʼ63 Francis J. Carney ʼ62 Glenn P. Carrozza ʼ70 Peter N. Chetta ʼ56 D. R. Choudhury, Ph.D. ʼ81MBA Gudrun F. Christman ʼ79MBA Sr. Michael Ann Cladek ʼ72MA Anton M. Comizio ʼ93 Sr. Agnes Connolly ʼ68MA Karen A. Cunningham ʼ87 Leslie M. Dawson, Ph.D. ʼ60 Alison Dolan ʼ00MS Eugene D. Donovan ʼ72 Donald P. Dwyer, CFC ʼ54 Thomas J. Ferriter ʼ59 John J. Figura, Ed.D. ʼ58 Regina M. Hartman ʼ81, ʼ90MBA Edward R. Henry ʼ54 Thomas J. Henry ʼ57 Margaret E. Hunter ʼ68MA Anna M. Jones ʼ83 Henry T. Kelly ʼ70 John J. Kelly ʼ54 James J. Kenney ʼ54 Michael J. Langan ʼ54 Victor J. LaTempa ʼ59 Donald J. Lawatsch ʼ72MBA Eugene J. Lawrie ʼ60 Anthony C. Lo Presti ʼ61 Jeanne M. Mahony ʼ76

John H. Maloney ʼ54 Edward J. Mangano ʼ78 John J. Mc Cusker ʼ47 Laurence J. Mc Keever ʼ71 John J. Mc Tigue ʼ58 Carl F. Monturo ʼ56 Silvio P. Moscarello ʼ70MBA Patrick M. Murphy ʼ73 Charles F. O'Donnell, Ph.D. ʼ60 Gerald K. O'Hara ʼ54 Serge T. Popper '53 Sr. Teresa Reeves ʼ86MS Paul L. Rieara ʼ02 John J. Riordan ʼ69 Nicholas J. Salerno, M.D. ʼ61 Cardinal S. Sandiford ʼ51 Stanley L. Schmuckler ʼ49 Joseph L. Schweitzer ʼ60 C. Sherman Severin, M.D. ʼ73, ʼ75MBA Paul J. Shea ʼ84 Michael Felix Sheridan, CFC ʼ67 David A. Shippee ʼ61 Col. Francis J. Smith, USAF Ret. ʼ44 Paul T. Smith ʼ59 Daniel A. Spinogatti ʼ59 John R. Tesone ʼ77MBA Joseph M. Tighe ʼ60 Jerome A. Travers, Ph.D. ʼ70MA Col. Charles J. Varvi, USAF Ret. ʼ52 John J. Whelan ʼ59 Peter D. Xanthopoulos ʼ71MBA Peggy A. Zorilo ʼ94

List as of: June 11, 2014

LEAVE YOUR LEGACY AND BUILD ON OURS History tells us that Saint Columba left his legacy through the education of monks on the Isle of Iona.

By naming Iona College as beneficiary of a planned gift, such as a bequest, charitable gift annuity, or charitable trust, you will benefit the College through your foresight, and you will be eligible for membership in the Saint Columba Legacy Society.

Planned gifts can be structured to: • minimize your tax burden; • provide income to you during your lifetime if you need it; and • ultimately benefit Iona College at some point in the future.

To learn more about planned gifts, please contact Greg Teeter, associate vice president for Major & Planned Giving, at 914-637-7749 or gteeter@iona.edu and ensure that you are listed among the members of the Saint Columba Legacy Society.

“I DEFINE 'CRITICAL THINKING' AS INTELLECTUAL WAKEFULNESS, MINDFUL ATTENTIVENESS TO WHATEVER YOU ENCOUNTER. NOT ALWAYS EASY TO DO.” - TERENCE WINCH ’67, GRADUATE CEREMONY COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER