THE LIBI LOG - 2008 Fall Edition

FA L L 2 0 0 8 | WI N T E R 2 0 0 9

THELOG LIBI

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for the New Year from the Long Island Business Institute!

Meet the President Welcome to the

Fall/Winter edition of the LIBI newsletter, the LIBI LOG. The LIBI LOG is a wonderful way to keep in touch with the happenings at your alma mater and to stay connected with former classmates and lost friends! Your successes are our success – and we want to hear from you. Recently promoted?

New baby? An engagement or marriage? Let us know and we will include it in the “Class Notes” section of the log. Please send news and photos directly to the Alumni Relations office ( alumni@libi.edu) *** We are currently looking for volunteers to become “Notes Agents” and Class Representatives. Please contact Jerilyn Marinan (jmarinan@libi.edu) if you are interested in becoming a Class Representative or a Notes Agent.

Notes Agents will be responsible for gathering updates from their graduating class and submitting them to the newsletter on a quarterly basis. Class Representatives will take on the task of helping us organize their class reunions. We hope you will consider getting involved – and remember, just because you graduated doesn’t mean you are no longer part of the family!

There have been many new and exciting events taking place at the Long Island Business Institute recently. One of the most significant was the change in the Presidency for the school. It seems that LIBI and the nation have much in common!

President Donna McCullough announced her resignation in August. In September Ms. Monica W. Foote was appointed the new president of Long Island Business Institute. Prior to assuming the presidency, Ms. Foote was responsible for all administrative functions at two of the newest campuses of Mercy College. Ms. Foote managed the Manhattan and Bronx campuses and oversaw a total of over 4000 students and 250 faculty members. President Foote received her BA from Fordham University and her M.A. and Ed.M from Columbia University.

Just as the nation’s president selects the people he wants to have in his support group, President Foote also elected to make some changes.

A very pleasing change was the promotion of our very own Michelle Houston to Assistant Campus Director. Ms. Houston officially became the head of the Commack campus at the end of September 2008.

As most of you will remember, Professor Houston

has been with LIBI since 1990 serving as the Court Reporting Program Director. Despite her promotion and a myriad of additional responsibilities she continues to maintain her “open door” policy. We hope that those of you who studied under the direction of Professor Houston will take a few minutes to drop by the campus to congratulate her on her promotion!

Dear Alumni,

An important goal I plan to accomplish as President is the formation of an active Alumni Association. I invite you to be involved with LIBI and share your goals and accomplishments with us. Your career successes are our career successes and we want to celebrate them with you.

I want to take this opportunity to introduce myself to you and to let you know what has been happening at the Long Island Business Institute since you've graduated. I assumed the Presidency of the College on September 8, 2008 and am looking forward to leading an already-strong school to the next level. I am very impressed with the level of commitment to student success at LIBI and am very excited about the positive changes ahead of us.

LIBI continues to be a dynamic and diverse community with students who come to us seeking a brighter future. Keeping in mind LIBI’s core values, I am deeply committed to insuring a high quality academic experience for all of our students, as well as to teaming with Alumni throughout their careers.

To ensure that LIBI is responsive to the needs of our alumni, I have appointed a new Career and Alumni Services Director, Ms. Jerilyn Marinan (jmarinan@libi.edu), who will be responsible for putting together alumni events and career networking evenings. I encourage you to contact her with any suggestions, or if you wish to be included on our regular alumni mailings. Please know that I look forward to knowing your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions, so please contact me at mfoote@libi.edu.

Best Wishes for the New Year!

FALL 2008

LIBI CONTINUES

GROW

The Commencement Ceremonies of 2008 were held on July 13, 2008, at the Queensborough Community College Theatre in Bayside. The keynote speaker was LIBI graduate Colleen West-Levy, owner of Enright Court Reporting, Inc. and boss for some of you. The Commack Campus had one of the largest groups of court reporter graduates in LIBI’s history. Following is a list of their names:

Kristen Barcelona Janet Barczik Staci Bartholomew Cooky Brim Mary Ellen Burke Gina Ciorra Laurae Cohen Renee Colon Michelle Cravotta Nicole Dorio Jennie-Jo Fehr Julia Fernandez Katrina Franco Barbara Gerhard Evan Greco Angela Hamberger Deborah Harris Adam Heiko Patricia Husson Daniella Ingenito Lucretia Kallmeyer Denise Kline

NCRA VISIT

Ellen Kopit Laura La Bonte Bettina LaMonaca Charlene Lane Gail Letscher Melissa Michaels Irene Morin Erica Nazario Melissa Nicoletti Carmen Ramsey Mary Ellen Reilly Denise Roberts Robert Rodriguez Colleen Ruic Nicole Salamone Jessalynn Santos Nicole Schiano Nicole Stevens Melissa Valukis Ingrid Villa Mandy Walsh Laraine Zizza

In October, we were visited by two members of the NCRA evaluation team. They were on campus for two days during which they re-evaluated our court reporting program. We are very pleased to announce that we passed with flying colors. In fact, the word “Premier” was used by the evaluation team to describe our program during the final interview.

If this is a “Premier” school, then all of you must be “Premier” court reporters, right? Well, of course, you are!!

LAW SCHOOL The mock trials with Touro Law School are currently underway. This is the second semester that we have joined with Touro Law School in this venture. This is something that Ms. Karen Santucci, one of our high speed instructors, organized to give our students the opportunity to participate in an actual courtroom setting with graduate law students from Touro Law School who are doing this as part of their final exam. The trials typically run for three days during which time our students get the opportunity to be both reporters and jurors during the various stages of the trial.

This is a tremendous opportunity for our students and eagerly attended.

Congratulations to all the new court reporters!

Veterans, please keep an eye out for these names in the field and let them know they are welcome. As they are now, so once were you.

In addition to the record graduating class, LIBI Commack also had one of the largest enrollment of new students for the Fall’ 08 Semester. Over 60 new students began the journey to a new career in the field of court reporting. This necessitated hiring yet a third theory instructor. We were very pleased to welcome Ann Spessard to our faculty.

We want to take the opportunity to express our gratitude to Professor Santucci for going “above and beyond” in helping her students gain excellent exposure to the field.

Ann is a former LIBI student and a working reporter. She has had her share of interns sitting in with her. Perhaps you were one.

If so, you can appreciate the experience she brings to the LIBI Court Reporting Program.

We also want to thank everyone at Touro Law School for allowing us to participate in this invaluable experience!

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CLASS NOTES Class of 2004

-Sarah Satalino is starting studies to become an attorney.

Class of 2005

-Many thanks to Donna Priani, class of ’05 and an agency owner, for participating in a mock deposition for Dolly Fevola’s Internship class and for gaving motivation and encouragement to Roseanne Cooper’s Medical Terminolgy class.

-Terry Pape became a new granny.

Congratulations Terry!

Class of 2007

-Joy Steele-Brown is brushing up to return to the field after giving birth to twin boys.

Class of 2008

LIBI, Flushing Campus Class of 2005, Class of 2006, Class of 2007, Class of 2008 Over 100 alumni participated in an event hosted by the Career and Alumni Services Office on November 18th and 19th. Alumni across all the majors came to meet President Foote and our new Director of Career and Alumni Services, Jerilyn Marinan. Part of the evening’s program was devoted to a presentation made by Benjamin Manyindo, Assistant Professor in the School of Business and Director of the Leadership Program, at Mercy College. Professor Manyindo discussed opportunities for LIBI graduates to continue their studies in the School of Business at Mercy.

-A big thank you to Anne Marie Cammarata for donating 7 transcripts for use in high speed dictation.

LIBI has articulation agreements with a number of senior colleges, including Manroe College, Mercy College, St. Joseph’s to name a few. For more information on transferring your credits to 4-year colleges, or for a full listing of schools we have articulation agreements with, please contact Jerilyn Marinan (jmarinan@libi.edu).

-It was great to see Donna Jakubowski, who stopped in on her way home from North Carolina where she spent Thanksgiving. We also want to thank everyone at Touro Law School for allowing us to participate in this invaluable experience!

Attention all Business Majors: The Office of Alumni Services is hosting an advisory board breakfast in February. Alumni interested in attending the meeting to discuss how their degrees have enhanced their careers and what modifications they believe will further advance the program, should contact Jerilyn Marinan at jmarinan@libi.edu or Dean Deloris Mitchell at dmitchell@libi.edu.

HOLIDAY FUNDRAISERS The Long Island Business Institute has a tradition of giving back to the community it serves. We have fundraisers that we participate in every year and always manage to throw in one or two extras when we see a worthy cause. Our first fundraiser for the Fall was a food drive for Island Harvest for which we collected 1000 pounds of non-perishable food items, duplicating our donation of last year.

Our second fundraiser is currently underway.

It is the Holiday Raffle of prize baskets that I’m sure you all remember.

We have wonderful things on display in our lobby including 4 tickets to an Islander game and a $50 gift certificate for souvenirs and snacks, a prize worth close to $500 which was contributed by Gabe Hoffman’s accounting office staff located on the same floor as we are in the Commack Corner’s. If you wish to donate a basket, we take all donations and if you wish to participate in the raffle, all you need is a dollar. Why not stop by and enter your name for the drawing for your favorite prize basket?

LIBI staff and faculty got into the Halloween spirit this year. Both the Flushing and Commack campuses had a really great turn out. We can’t wait until next year to see all the scary and creative costumes.

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Picture taken by Tony Juckich.

Guest Speakers In November, the Commack campus had two guest speakers who conducted seminars in their respective fields to the high speed students; the presenters are now being considered for presentations to Alumni.

Our first guest was David Speight, an accountant who specializes in developing business and investment plans for the professional court reporter. He is highly knowledgeable of operational and investment strategies available to minimize the tax burden faced by self-employed professionals.

The other guest speaker was Mark Monchek, psychologist and motivational speaker who has worked with Fortune 500 companies. Mr. Monchek teaches how to develop the vision and goals for a successful career in court reporting, and to use the tools and resources available to make a more lucrative career. I would appreciate your feedback on whether either of these topics are of interest to you and should be included as part of the Alumni program we are currently trying to establish.

Career & Alumni Services

Horizon Scholarships We are proud to announce that four of our students, Kevin Gruebel, Ellyn Guttenberg, Faith Pitino, and Elyse Wachsman, were each awarded a $500 Horizon Scholarship. This scholarship is sponsored by the New York State Court Reporters Association. Congratulations to these winners. Newsletter 6 FALL 2008

Dear Graduates, I am very excited to be a new member of the LIBI family. As your new Director of Career & Alumni Services, I look forward to hearing from all of you. The Alumni Relations office would like to receive updates on all of your post -LIBI successes. We are also looking for representatives from each graduating class to be a part of our Alumni Association.

In the New Year, we plan to offer various workshops, career/college fairs, and alumni events and gatherings and we look forward to having you join us. If you are interested in becoming a part of this association, please contact us via phone (718)939-5100, or email us at alumni@libi.edu.

FALL 2008 | WINTER 2009 Published By Long Island Business Institute

718.939.5100 Queens Campus:136-18 39 th Avenue, Flushing

L. I. Campus:6500 Jericho Turnpike, Commack www.libi.edu

Jerilyn Marinan Director of Career & Alumni Services