Manhattan College Alumni Magazine Spring 2016

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JASPER LEGACIES

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EDITOR Kristen Cuppek

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ON CAMPUS The College debuts its first common interest communities, a visit from a

DESIGNER Kat Lepak

U.N. ambassador, Jaspers participate in a new research program, business

ASSISTANT EDITOR Christine Loughran STAFF WRITERS Patrice Athanasidy Liz Connolly Bauman Sarah R. Schwartz

students have best-ever showing at Fed Challenge, and so much more.

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SPORTS The women’s soccer team has an amazing season on and off the field, plus news and recaps of the past

CONTRIBUTORS Julie Achilles Joe Clifford Tom Froese Joe Hutter Joe Martello Thomas McCarthy Pete McHugh Kevin Ross Amy Surak

winter and fall seasons.

30 JASPER LEGACIES Take a walk down memory lane with a few Jasper legacies, whose family scrapbooks detail their Manhattan moments and pride in alma mater.

36 POPE FRANCIS VISITS NYC Manhattan celebrates and revisits the

GRADUATE ASSISTANT Abdias Myrtil PHOTOGRAPHERS Josh Cuppek (cover) Chris Taggart Published by the office of Marketing and Communication Manhattan College Riverdale, NY 10471 Lydia Gray Assistant Vice President, College Advancement and Executive Director, Marketing and Communication

Pope’s apostolic journey this past fall.

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DEVELOPMENT Author James Patterson ’69 continues his generous scholarship program, and meet a student scholarship recipient.

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ALUMNI Hall of Fame, chapter spotlight, alumnotes, Jasper profiles and more reminiscing about a long-lost tradition.

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OBITUARIES In memoriam, Philip O’Brien, Brother

ON THE COVER With a splash of green ribbon, an assortment of new and old photos, and a few other tools, we’re ready to start our Jasper family scrapbook and look back on some longstanding legacies.

George Berrian, June Dwyer, Besalet Basoglu, Albert Hamilton and John “Doc” Johnson

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New Common Interest Communities Bring Together Like-minded Residents

FINDING COMMON GROUND WITH THE PEOPLE you live with is high on the mental checklist of most on-campus residents prior to move-in.

To make achieving that particular goal a bit easier, Manhattan College debuted its first four Common Interest Communities (CIC): Environmental Issues and Sustainability, Nuestra Casa, Performing Arts and Visual Culture, and Entrepreneurship. Housed in designated areas of Horan and Lee Halls, these communities bring together similar lifestyles, heritages and pastimes, and have already secured a high number of inhabitants. For the 2015-2016 school year, more than 60 Jaspers — of all class years, but mostly freshmen — opted to live in a CIC. At a meet-and-greet social held during the first weeks of class, resident assistants (RAs) from the new communities shared their plans for the semester, and CIC members named the reasons why they joined. For Tara Connor ’19, the decision to spend her freshman year in the Performing Arts and Visual Culture community, located on the 10th floor of Lee Hall, was a way to connect with others who shared her passion for theater.

“I’m here on a performing arts scholarship, so when I saw I could opt to live in a Performing Arts and Visual Culture community, I thought ‘I might as well join,’” Connor said during an icebreaker exercise. “It’s easier to make friends with people who have similar interests as you.”

Another freshman, Rachel McDaid ’19, who is one of Connor’s roommates, was similarly thrilled to be around other culture buffs.

“I love music and being around people who appreciate it,” she said.

CIC residents aren’t the only ones excited about the events to come. Their RAs are, too. Carlos Perez ’16 and RJ Liberto ’16, who oversee Jaspers living in the Performing Arts and Visual Culture community, planned group excursions to the Metropolitan Museum 2 N spring 2016

of Art and to midtown for a Broadway musical or two.

Along with faculty adviser and associate professor of visual and performing arts, Mark A. Pottinger, Ph.D., they are in the process of creating a campus mural underneath Founders Bridge, on a wall near the ground floor of Thomas Hall.

Meanwhile, on the 10th floor of Horan Hall, the Nuestra Casa community has outfitted its hallways with brightly colored signs and messages of positive thinking scrolled in English and Spanish.

One of them, “Lo que no me mata, me alimenta,” translates roughly to “What doesn’t kill me, fuels me,” explains Aleysha Taveras ’16, who, in addition to serving as RA of this community, is also vice president of the campus cultural group Fuerza Latina.

She and her co-RA, Michelle Beltran ’16, had planned a trip to the Bronx Museum of the Arts to follow the Hispanic heritage lunch they organized on campus in September. The event featured a performance by Estudiantina La Salle, a musical group from Mexico.

Leaders of the Environmental Issues and Sustainability CIC are expanding students’ worldview in a different way. Faculty adviser and assistant professor of environmental studies, Yelda HangunBalkir, Ph.D., is set on making residents part of the global conversation about climate change.

“Just recently, Pope Francis spoke to the United Nations about climate change and environmental justice. These are real problems that affect life in the long run,” Balkir says, noting that sustainability is a very timely topic.

Speaking of the long run, it’s never too early to start thinking about the future. Ryan Quattromani ’18, the Entrepreneurship CIC’s designated student adviser, has big plans for the fall 2016 semester that include inviting accomplished alumni and entrepreneurs to speak on campus, organizing trips to companies in the Bronx and other boroughs of New York City, and working with residents on developing their own business plans.

The key here is collaboration, which is the most important goal of all four CICs. In different ways, they jump-start relationships between individuals on campus who might not have otherwise met.

“Learning doesn’t stop in the classroom,” Pottinger says. “It continues in the home and in your everyday experiences. The CICs help to further communication and dialogue in the residence halls, and bring people together.”

Mohanna Aziz ’19, a communication major and member of the Manhattan College Players, plays her favorite songs on the keyboard in the newly created Performing Arts and Visual Culture Common Interest Community.

A Sea of Good in Scampia

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elissa Witkowich ’16 was taken aback when she and a group of her Manhattan College classmates arrived in Scampia, Italy, an area just north of Naples, and were greeted by a mass of teenagers banging on their van with sticks.

They weren’t angry, insists Witkowich, but overcome with joy to have visitors, which are a rarity given the city’s reputation for extreme poverty, violence and drug use. The Camorra, a Mafia-like crime organization, has perpetuated much of the illegal activity that’s been occurring there for decades.

“Everybody walks in groups there [out of fear],” adds Witkowich, one of 12 students enrolled in the College’s education programs who took part in the 16-day trip to Rome and the downtrodden Naples suburb.

Beginning in May, their journey was the

fifth international Lasallian service-learning experience run by Manhattan College’s chapter of Kappa Delta Pi. The students, accompanied by faculty members Brother Raymond Meagher, FSC, Brother Charles Barbush, FSC, and Lisa Rizopoulos, Ph.D., led efforts to assist educational programming at a learning center established there in 2007 by the Christian Brothers. Referred to in Italian as Casa Arcobaleno, the center’s name translates in English to Rainbow House.

Many of the locals who benefit from the courses offered at Rainbow House are adolescents who dropped out of high school. As a result, they’ve adopted a rough demeanor reflective of their environment, but it’s all an act, insist the Manhattan students. The 13-to17 year olds are actually a lot more sensitive than they might let on, they note.

“When we got there, one of the kids was holding onto the arm of Rainbow House president, Brother Enrico [Muller],” remembers Witkowich, a special education and elementary education major. “They act all street tough but weren’t really, especially when we showed them care.”

Jessica DiVenere ’16, another elementary education major on the trip to Scampia, saw its troubled climate as an opportunity to make a difference.

“Reaching the students was hard because there was a language barrier, but we were able to make a connection,” says DiVenere, who led music lessons by displaying a picture

of an instrument on a projector and teaching its name in English.

As the Scampian children picked up more English language terms, the Manhattan students picked up a different set of skills that will be helpful when they become certified teachers in the U.S. “We’re going to have children who speak English as a second language, so we’re going to have to come up with other ways to bond,” DiVenere points out.

Connecting with students who come from broken homes and poorer backgrounds is also a challenge they may face.

“The trip opened our eyes to see that not everyone comes from a picture-perfect family,” she adds.

Most importantly though, Jaspers who embarked on the Italian journey came back to Manhattan having lived out several of the core principles of their Lasallian education, including its emphasis on excellence in teaching and a commitment to social justice.

In his reflection on the trip, Br. Ray said his students went to Scampia searching for positivity, and were able to find it within themselves, each other and in the teens they met.

“Together, we found a sea of good in the hearts and minds of the young people of Scampia with whom we interacted every day,” he says. “We also found it in the Lasallian Brothers, Sisters of Providence and their Lasallian partners as we worked alongside them.”

Manhattan’s KDP is Among Best College Chapters

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HE MANHATTAN COLLEGE CHAPTER of Kappa Delta Pi, the international honor society for educators, was awarded its sixth consecutive ACE award (Achieving Chapter Excellence) at the 50th Biennial Convocation in Orlando, Fla., in October. The award is presented only to those chapters that meet stringent criteria and demonstrate excellence and dedication to the ideals of Kappa Delta Pi.

“We are proud to have such engaged Manhattan College students who have developed such an active, dynamic and vibrant award-winning chapter,” says Brother Raymond Meagher, FSC, assistant professor of education.

The chapter also won the top award for service, specifically for its annual Safe Halloween experience for neighborhood children.

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Teach-in Continues To Educate and Supply Solutions

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FTER MUCH INTEREST in the College’s first Racial Justice Teach-in last year, which addressed the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, the School of Liberal Arts organized another teach-in to address continued issues of race and ethnicity.

With many faculty and students in attendance, David Witzling, Ph.D., associate professor of English, delivered opening remarks, which addressed teaching and discussing race on campus. He made clear that to fully understand and combat injustice, a level of knowledge about the history and culture of one’s community is necessary.

The first part of the teach-in included a panel with Jawanza Clark, Ph.D., assistant professor of religious studies, Roksana Badruddoja Ph.D., assistant professor of sociology, and Paul Droubie, Ph.D., assistant professor of history, moderated by Nuwan Jayawickreme, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology.

Clark began by explaining that it is generally easier for students to discuss gender, class and sexuality than the topic of race, and explained that there is less of a need to be defensive about the other subjects in contrast to race.

“In the context of race, I’m mostly discussing the structures and racist system that we all participate in,” Clark said about the troubles that arise when talking about race while teaching liberation theology.

“If you don’t identify with the oppressed group, that would mean you are de facto an oppressor. No one wants to be labeled as such.”

Clark noted that remaining within this category is not permanent, and empathy is a trait many should adopt to eradicate the notion.

Badruddoja highlighted the differences that she witnesses in the classroom. She mentioned the concept of white privilege and described her students’ reaction to the phrase with smirks and sly remarks, a reminder that this notion is realistic. She also commented on those who don’t speak in her class versus those who do, and her concern with the tone and intention of the students’ questions. In her opinion, reverse racism does not exist.

“Your whiteness is restored once you walk out of my classroom.

Some of us do not have that privilege and have nowhere to escape to,” she explained.

Nicole Mathias ’17 offered a testimony of what she learned and witnessed during Badruddoja’s course that gave unique perspective to the discussion.

“For the first time in my life, I was a minority in my class,” Mathias said. “I was one of four white students in a class that was a majority of women.”

Mathias spoke about how she learned to identify with the marginalized and gained new insight on racism and racially fueled violence.

The most noteworthy lesson she took away was being able to hold arguments in an academic space based on facts and not fall into emotionally charged discussions.

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exposed to in terms of location, family and education. When teaching, he makes sure to address the importance of understanding words and meanings behind certain constructs because without that, a substantial discussion cannot happen.

He also said discussing race in issues of black and white erases many groups out of the conversation, such as Native Americans, Asians and Hispanics.

Angela Fernandez, executive director of the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights, led the following session, moderated by Margaret Groarke, Ph.D., associate professor of government. Fernandez discussed how students can be involved in grassroots organizing. Evelyn Scaramella, Ph.D., associate professor of modern languages and literature, Ivan Bohorquez ’16, an international studies and economics major, and Aleysha Taveras ’16, a history and adolescent education double major, were part of the panel and spoke about their experiences with race and activism on campus.

Linda Sarsour, executive director of the Arab American Association of New York, gave the keynote address, Check it Right, You Ain’t White: Arab Americans and the U.S. Census. Sarsour distinguished between Arabs and Muslims and discussed a brief history of discrimination across many ethnicities, including the Irish in the early 20th century.

This distinction was made in connection to minority groups that encounter similar discrimination in the 21st century. She voiced the need to include Middle Easterners within political decisions.

“We should not have to check the white box on the census. We’re our own race and an invisible political voice in this country,” she said.

Sarsour also pointed out that having the additional box is a step that the government can take to provide an adequate representation for Middle Easterners in the U.S. Overall, the teach-in provided an increased knowledge about and tangible solutions to the issues of racism and inequality within America, as well as in the Manhattan College classroom. Within the classroom, the need for participation among all students, especially those of color is important, as well as a clear understanding of terms and history. Outside the classroom, getting involved in grassroots movements can bring awareness to inequality and racism.

New Online Courses Offered

Literature Professor Presents a Lesson in Hard Work and Humility at Fall Honors

MANHATTAN COLLEGE HAS LAUNCHED ONLINE MASTER OF SCIENCE (M.S.) programs in Instructional Design and Delivery and Organizational Leadership. The Instructional Design and Delivery program addresses the need for an experience-based program that teaches educators how to incorporate technology in both the design and delivery of instruction. The Organizational Leadership program focuses on current and relevant organizational needs, and synthesizing theory with practice to develop confident, capable leaders.

The online M.S. in Instructional Design and Delivery enables educators to design curriculum to reach 21st century learners with the technologies they use every day. The program consists of 30 credits of coursework and is designed to be completed in less than two years. Through this program students will learn to evaluate instructional materials and media, master design models such as ADDIE, and learn online curriculum design techniques like storyboarding, wire-framing, using widgets and interactive media.

The online M.S. in Organizational Leadership incorporates hands-on learning, professional assessments, leadership development plans and skills application with a real-world business, creating an exceptional graduate program that prepares leaders for today’s organizations. There is a growing demand for balanced, capable leaders who can guide current organizational strategy while preparing for future challenges and opportunities. The program consists of 33 credit hours of coursework designed to provide hands-on experience.

Comprised of nine core leadership courses and two elective courses, the program is designed to immerse students in relevant, applicable knowledge and skills to immediately build their expertise.

ADDRESSING A PARTICULARLY ACCOMPLISHED GROUP of Manhattan College students in October, an alumnus recognized at this year’s annual Fall Honors Convocation explained the difference between a gift and a choice. A gift, William Kennedy ’63, Ph.D., told nearly 160 seniors being inducted into Epsilon Sigma Pi, Manhattan’s oldest collegewide honor society, is a quality you’re born with, like talent or cleverness. A choice, by comparison, is what you make for yourself.

“Kindness and consideration are a choice. It’s up to you to decide how to use your gifts and exercise your choices as you pursue the rest of your education and embark upon your futures,” said Kennedy, who received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters at the College event after spending more than four decades in education, most notably as a literature professor and department chairperson at Cornell University.

Kennedy is also the author of several scholarly books and essays that have earned him fellowships from the Fulbright, Guggenheim, Rockefeller and Liguria Foundations.

His advice was heard as a send-off to the soon-to-be-graduates, who will enter the worlds of work and higher education after their graduation in May. Offering additional parting words to the class of 2016 was President Brennan O’Donnell, Ph.D., who noted the importance of a strong work ethic and mindfulness of others.

“You have been taught, by precept and by example, to think of yourselves not simply as someone with a career ladder to climb, but as someone with a vocation, a calling to work in some way to make the lives of those around you better, fuller, more meaningful,” O’Donnell said in his congratulatory remarks.

This reminder might seem particularly relevant to students pursuing education, whose undergraduate studies focus on ways of teaching children and young adults. Melissa Witkowich ’16, a student enrolled in Manhattan’s five-year childhood/special education B.S./M.S.Ed. program, sees her inclusion in Epsilon Sigma Pi as being fundamental to her goal of becoming a teacher.

It’s also representative of the effort she’s put forth since freshman year, which will continue as she spends her final year at the College fulfilling requirements for her master’s.

“Being inducted into Epsilon Sigma Pi was a really proud moment because it allowed me to see how my hard work these last four years has paid off and been celebrated. I cannot wait to begin the master’s program and be one step closer to having a classroom of my own,” she said after the Fall Honors Convocation.

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Study Abroad Celebrates 35 Years of Adventure

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TUDY ABROAD STUDENTS FROM THE PAST three decades returned to one of their favorite destinations on Nov. 19 — the Manhattan College campus — for a late afternoon reception celebrating the program’s 35-year history.

Together, in the Kelly Commons, Jasper alumni shared with a number of faculty members, staff and students who attended the event anecdotes of their undergraduate excursions facilitated by director Nevart “Nonie” Wanger, Ph.D., director of the College’s study abroad program, and professor of modern languages and literatures.

First to share her story was Eve Walters ’03, a civil and environmental engineering professor at Temple University, who spent a decade in Germany after graduating from Manhattan. As an undergrad, she spent a year in London and was also a member of the varsity women’s basketball team.

From there, Arianna Prendergast ’09 shared with listeners a reflection on her zest for travel, which began during an undergraduate trip she took to Paris that preceded a number of European excursions.

Years later, Prendergast’s passion for Europe hasn’t wavered. She’s now a French and Italian language teacher at DePaul Catholic High School in Wayne, N.J. Experiences like these are what the study abroad program is all about — exposing young adults to different cultures that will remain a part of them throughout their lives — says Wanger, who has taught both Romance languages at the College since the 1960s.

“It’s a complete cultural immersion, study abroad,” she says. “Seeing yourself through the eyes of others to find out who you really are.”

Her goal is to have as many Jaspers come to that realization as possible. In the years following the study abroad program’s formal recognition in 1980, which first brought Manhattan students to Reims, France, travel destinations have grown to include nearly 60 countries, such as Argentina, New Zealand and Egypt. Currently, students can spend fall and spring semesters in Paris, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Madrid and Florence, as well as several other renowned cities. In the summertime and during January intersession, destinations have included Cuba, Paris, London, Venice, Frankfurt and Scandinavia.

What makes the study abroad program so successful are the thousands of students and faculty who have participated in it throughout the years. In addition to those who spoke at the 35th anniversary event, several alumni were recognized for contributions made during the past three decades.

In closing, Wanger shared a testimonial from Steve Eriquez ’96, P.E., who traveled to Florence in June of 1995 and now counts the trip as a major turning point in his college experience.

“So profound was the experience that both my children have not only studied Italian since first grade but ... we have continued tutoring for them in Italian to ensure an even stronger foundation in the language and culture that I grew to love and appreciate so much more through Manhattan College’s study abroad program,” he wrote.

A Top College for Vets

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ITH A LONGSTANDING HISTORY OF SERVING those who serve our country, Manhattan College continues to attract attention for its dedication to veterans. In the fall, U.S. News & World Report recognized Manhattan as a top college for veteran students. Now the College has been designated a 2016 Military Friendly School by Victory Media, the leader in successfully connecting the military and civilian worlds, and publisher of G.I. Jobs, STEM Jobs and Military Spouse. Now in its seventh year, the premier Military Friendly Schools designation provides service members and their families with transparent, data-driven ratings about post-military education and career opportunities.

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The designation is awarded to the top colleges, universities, community colleges and trade schools in the country that are doing the most to embrace military students, and to dedicate resources to ensure their success both in the classroom and after graduation. The methodology used for making the Military Friendly Schools list has made the student veteran landscape much more transparent, and has played a significant role during the past seven years in capturing and advancing best practices to support military students across the country.

Former President Honored by ACCU ON SATURDAY, Jan. 30, the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU) presented The Reverend Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Award to Brother Thomas Scanlan, FSC, president of Manhattan College from 1987 to 2009, at its annual

meeting in Washington, D.C. Named in honor of the influential former Notre Dame president, the award is typically given to a former college president who has made outstanding contributions to Catholic higher education through service and academic work.

“Being a Catholic college president is one of the most complex and challenging roles in our nation. To succeed takes a true team effort and my most critical ability was to say ‘I need your help.’ And I was gratified, both at Bethlehem University and at Manhattan College, by the extremely positive response of so

many talented individuals,” Br. Thomas said upon receiving the Hesburgh Award.

As the College’s 18th president, Br. Thomas helped the College to boost its enrollment by 120 percent with a 100-point increase in SAT scores, while achieving accreditations by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC). During his 22-year tenure, the College transformed into a largely residential campus while still preserving its commitment to serving firstgeneration students.

U.N. Ambassador Discusses Sustainable Development

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HAT WOULD IT TAKE TO CHANGE the world socially, economically and environmentally? In December, the College community had the opportunity to ask a prominent U.N. leader just that.

In a lecture entitled The United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda: How it came about and what it means for you, Ambassador David Donoghue, who serves as the organization’s representative from Ireland, referred to more than a dozen goals that its member states are aiming to achieve in the next 15 years.

The purpose of these initiatives, which were proposed after negotiations he cochaired at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit, is to create an allegiance between as many countries as possible on solving a number of global issues, including extreme poverty and inequality, climate change and terrorism.

Pamela Chasek, Ph.D., a government professor at the College who also serves as director of the international studies program, introduced Donoghue’s talk. She later said that hearing the perspective of this political figure, who previously worked as U.N. ambassador to Germany (2006-09), Austria and the

Vienna-based United Nations agencies (200406), and the Russian Federation (1999-2001), was imperative in relaying the group’s plan to create an awareness of world problems.

“The United Nations is doing a major outreach campaign, particularly to youth, to engage them in helping achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals at the local, national and international levels,” Chasek said after the lecture. “Ambassador Donoghue’s lecture works to show Manhattan students how they can be part of the agenda.”

During a Q&A session, Donoghue encouraged young people to utilize their country’s leaders as a vehicle for change.

“Keep the government under pressure to show that progress is being made across the board,” he advised. “We need everybody involved, and to make them interested and committed. Highlighting the importance of the Sustainable Development Goals will be an ongoing process.”

When asked which of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals would require the most effort to reach, Donoghue said No. 16, which is to create and promote peaceful and inclusive societies. To achieve this, leaders will

need to work together to tackle corruption, particularly in underserved countries, where they seek to increase gender equality and combat violence.

“If we provide the resources, we hope to see results,” he said, before adding that the U.N. hopes to see this and other Sustainable Development Goals valued by future generations. Donoghue then added, “Schoolchildren are already talking freely about these goals, as if they’ve known them all their lives.”

Manhattan College’s Lasallian heritage dictates a firm commitment to social justice and ethical responsibility — two principles that are evidently shared by Donoghue and other members of the U.N.

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New Panel Series Proffers Advice from Industry Pros IMAGINE IF, upon declaring your academic major, you had the chance to meet a leader in one of today’s hottest job fields who could answer all of your questions about the working world over a hot cup of java.

This is the idea behind Careers and Coffee, an ongoing panel series from the College’s Center for Career Development that invites alumni and other professionals to campus for a discussion and meetand-greet with current Jaspers. Since its launch in the spring of 2015, more than a dozen sessions that offered insight into marketing, government, philanthropy, technology and pharmaceuticals, as well as a number of other fields, have been held.

At the end of November, writers from Foreign Affairs and People magazines, as well as the women’s lifestyle website, Refinery29.com, shared their experiences in web and print media. A Careers in Tech 2.0 panel in September featured a tell-all from employees who work at Google, Microsoft and IBM. Last spring, those hoping to pursue jobs in the nonprofit sector heard from staff at UNICEF and several other organizations.

Participating in the latter panel was Roxanna ChowdhryVelasquez, who serves as program director for Fordham-Bedford Community Services, a Bronx group that, in part, provides tutoring and adult education programming for local residents. During and after the discussion and Q&A portion of the event, she was able to describe what her organization does in a more casual environment.

“In a smaller setting, students felt they could come up to us and have conversations,” Chowdhry-Velasquez remembers. “They could talk to us in a way you might not necessarily be able to on a job interview.”

One piece of advice she offered students is to take advantage of

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opportunities as they come up.

“I always encourage young people to get involved, whether it’s through volunteering or a paid internship because you may end up finding your passion,” ChowdhryVelasquez said.

Maria Del Russo ’12, now a beauty editor at Refinery29, spoke on the Careers in Writing panel this fall after finding her passion in storytelling.

“So much of what inspired me to be a writer came from hearing stories from professionals while I was in college, so when the Center for Career Development reached out to me and asked me to come back and speak, I jumped at the chance,” she said. “I wouldn’t be where I am in my career without the help of mentors, so being able to be that type of person to current Manhattan College students is the most rewarding thing.”

In addition to linking students with working professionals, Careers and Coffee panels also remind them that the skills they’re learning in the classroom are transferrable to different types of positions.

Someone studying civil engineering, for example, might learn a few things at a panel on communication.

“We want to tap into what students are interested in doing and corral them by industry, rather than school,” explains Rachel Cirelli, Manhattan College’s director of career development.

As the spring 2016 semester kicked off, she and her cohort had in the works a panel on jobs in the social service industry and another on human resources. The goal is to convene 12 panels a year that appeal to students in all five of the College’s undergraduate schools.

Careers and Coffee, an ongoing panel series developed by the Center for Career Development, invites professionals to campus to meet and greet current students. Since its launch about a year ago, the sessions have included representatives from marketing (right), technology, philathropy and pharmaceuticals (left).

College Receives Highest Honor at National Model U.N. Conference-Europe

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OR THE FIRST TIME EVER, Manhattan College’s Model United Nations team traveled to Europe from Nov. 20-29, 2015, to participate in the National Model United Nations Conference-Europe (NMUN-Europe). The conference was held at Palacky University in Olomouc, Czech Republic.

The Manhattan team earned an outstanding delegation award — the highest award a group can receive — at the conference, for representing the Russian Federation. They worked in pairs on four different U.N. committees, and negotiated resolutions on topics including: international cooperation against terrorism; empowering women and girls in the Post-2015 Development Agenda (part of the U.N. 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda); the importance of education and the contributions of the sciences, culture and communication and information in the Post-2015 Development Agenda; and migration, security and peacekeeping.

“NMUN-Europe is unique because you are able to immerse yourself in a new culture while participating in a conference with students who will be the next world leaders,” says government major Kaitlyn Greiner ’17.

Participants included teammates Kevin Nickels ’16 and Nicole Mathias ’17, Simona Mamrillova ’18 and Carly Corbett-Frank ’18, Mahamoud Diop ’17 and Shanell Garcia ’16, and Kaitlyn Clarke ’18 and Greiner.

Pamela Chasek, Ph.D., professor of government and chair of the department, accompanied the group.

“It was interesting and very hard to represent the Russian Federation. It seems that, especially now, Russia and the United States have always been at odds with each other, almost opposites,” explains Corbett-Frank, an international studies and peace studies double major. “At this conference, you had to really think about what a delegate from the Russian Federation would want in respect to the challenges presented.”

During the nine-day trip, the Manhattan group and conference attendees visited the concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau (often referred to as Auschwitz II) in Poland, and explored the city of Prague, town of Olomouc, Javoricko Caves and Bouzov Castle.

“Most of the students had never been to the Czech Republic before and that in itself was unique

for them,” Chasek says. “Needless to say, the trip to Auschwitz probably had the most impact on the students.”

Currently, eight of the students who attended this year’s conference are enrolled in Chasek’s three-credit GOVT 352 – International Organizations course, and they also received one additional credit for the Model U.N. portion.

Manhattan College has been participating in the Model U.N. program since the early 1970s. During the past 10 years, the team has frequently received awards at the biyearly conferences, and also on position papers submitted in advance of the conferences. In 2013, a Manhattan team traveled to the Galapagos Islands for its first international conference.

“Understanding the relationship between countries and diplomacy is essential. So much of your dayto-day life is really affected by what is going on in the rest of the world from the food you eat, to the price of oil, to climate change,” Chasek explains, regarding the skills and interests Model U.N. students should have.

During the school year, the team travels to two yearly conferences in New York and Washington D.C., to learn how the U.N. works and participate in a simulation.

Each team represents a country and students pair up on various U.N. committees and bodies, such as the General Assembly or the Security Council, and work alongside representatives from other countries to negotiate resolutions of world problems. The fall conference is an extracurricular activity, and the spring conference is part a three-credit course.

“The most unique part about this trip was meeting students from all over the world and hearing their ideas that were different or similar to mine,” says Nickels, a communication major.

“Coming together for a similar purpose, though we may not all agree how to solve pressing issues, is what makes this experience so unique.”

Not only did Manhattan College students travel to the Czech Republic to participate for the first time in the National Model United Nations Conference-Europe in November, but they also earned an outstanding delegation award, the highest honor a group can receive at the conference.

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Four Jaspers Participate in Newly Launched Lasallian Research Program

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S PART OF MANHATTAN COLLEGE’S NEWLY LAUNCHED Lasallian Research Scholars program, four students spent their summer exploring and discovering research alongside faculty mentors. Mechanical engineering major Lorraine Piccorelli ’17, exercise science major Erin Hamm ’16, electrical engineering major Christopher Hoey ’17, and history major Nina Torres ’17 were selected as scholarship recipients for the new program.

“The most unique part about being selected for the Manhattan College Lasallian Research Program was its focus on core values of a Lasallian,” Hoey says.

The new program focuses on increasing connections with other Lasallian schools around the world and researching several topic areas developed by the International Association of Lasallian Universities (IALU). The scholarship recipients attended the 2015 Saint Mary’s University International Symposium on Lasallian Research in Minneapolis as a culmination of the program from Sept. 27-29.

“The Lasallian Research Scholars program is important because we are mentoring the next generation of scholars connected to the Lasallian community through research interests,” says Rani Roy, Ph.D., assistant vice president for student and faculty development.

The topic areas consisted of: food, nutrition and health, sustainability and the environment, education and learning innovations, the life and heritage of Saint John Baptist de La Salle, and the plight of the immigrants and children in disadvantaged circumstances. In addition, the students attended summer workshops on research ethics, Lasallian connections, conference proposals and seminar speakers.

Hoey teamed up with Mahmoud Amin, Ph.D., assistant professor of electrical engineering, to explore the technological challenges and the environmental, social and economic benefits of implementing and maintaining sustainable energy sources.

While primarily being a scientific engineering and international relations-dominated research project, it was always clear in my mind that my work was in favor of the Lasallian values of concern for the poor and social justice and respect for all persons,” Hoey adds. “That really impacted how I view engineering as a profession.”

Amin, along with several professors and a number of other students, attended the conference to share summer research and findings at the symposium. Attendees were selected based on their research proposals earlier in the summer. Before the International Symposium, the four students also shared their findings at the College’s third annual Research Scholars Presentation Day in September.

Torres, mentored by Jeff Horn, Ph.D., professor of history, studied the assimilation of different immigrant groups during the last century in the New York City neighborhood of Washington Heights.

“I studied the migration in and out of the neighborhood, language assimilation, transnational connections, the evolution of the American Dream, and gentrification to determine that the pattern of the 10 N spring 2016

“... we are mentoring the next generation of scholars connected to the Lasallian community ...” most recent immigrant group, the Dominicans, has changed from the pattern of previous immigrants in the neighborhood,” Torres explains.

Piccorelli, Hamm and exercise science major and Summer Research Scholar Emily Cutler ’16 collaborated with Parisa Saboori, Ph.D., assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and Lisa Toscano, Ed.D., professor of kinesiology, on a joint project between the Kinesiology and Mechanical Engineering departments on the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Since ACL rupture is one of the more serious and common injuries in sports and in young athletes, especially women, the group designed a brace that reduces stress on the ACL and can be used to help create safe leg movements.

“Based on my experience as a Lasallian Research Scholar, I plan to work in research and development in the biomedical engineering field,” Piccorelli says. “Having this first experience with research will certainly prepare me for a career in research in the future.”

The Lasallian Research Scholars had the opportunity to attend the 2015 Saint Mary’s University International Symposium on Lasallian Research in Minneapolis, as the culmination of the newly launched program in September.

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Students Concoct Marketing Strategy in Costa Rica

ORE THAN A DOZEN students headed to balmy San José, Costa Rica, this winter to tour the headquarters of international coffee supplier, Café Britt, meet with a representative from the U.S. Department of Commerce, and hash out the marketing strategy for a hop-on, hopoff sightseeing bus company launched two years ago by a Manhattan alumnus.

All of these business visits, along with a few others, took place during the week of January 3-10, when marketing and management professor Carolyn Predmore, Ph.D., led a study abroad trip to the country’s capital.

Its purpose was to show undergraduate and graduate students the inner workings of what it’s like to work at a larger corporation and how to launch a startup. By the time they flew back to the U.S., all of the trip’s attendees, many of whom were enrolled in the department’s Field Study Seminar (MKTG 414) and International Marketing Field Project (MBAL 642) courses, had dozens of pictures capturing the San José sights. These included photos of palm trees at the Wyn-

dham San José Herradura Hotel, a tree that would later be used to make wine corks, and finally, their view from the airplane that eventually carried them back to reality. In addition to their incredible memories, they also had a new set of business skills.

Much of the reason Predmore brought students to Costa Rica was to work alongside Andres Oreamuno ’14, who, just a few months after his Manhattan graduation, founded City Square Tours, a hop-on, hop-off tour bus service that transports San José visitors to the city’s most acclaimed attractions. During their seven-day trip, the MKTG 414 and MBAL 642 students collaborated with Oreamuno on a business plan they’d fine-tune from Riverdale in the spring.

Each group of students tackled a different component: one assessed industry trends, another surveyed competition with organizations offering similar services, while others looked for opportunities to help City Square Tours thrive. A part of that plan, according to Jacquelyn Beaulieu ’16, who developed an online marketing initiative with Colleen Kane ’16 and Alexandra Brunetti ’17, is for the company to gain visibility on social media. Regularly updating the City Square Tours website with new information pertaining to its different tour packages is also important, they stressed. “[Andres] was so willing to let us dive into his project, and he trusted us to contribute. That’s a huge thing,” says Beaulieu, who is working toward a bachelor’s degree in business.

“Before I went to Costa Rica, I said to myself, ‘I’m going to learn so much,’” Beaulieu adds. “It’s amazing to see what a College

alumnus can do in a year in a half.”

In addition to showing the Jaspers what a Manhattan graduate can do with a degree in business, seeing City Square Tours in action allowed them to observe its place in the emerging eco-tourism market of San José. Working with Oreamuno’s company, as well as meeting with others in the area, illustrated the applicability of business skills that the students have been fine-tuning in the classroom, Predmore says.

“We were able to learn about each of the companies’ visions and experience it in a more visceral way,” she says. “‘What do these sites tell us about the culture here? What are we picking up?’ I asked students.”

Aside from the cultural history they learned about in San José, the most important lesson students learned from Oreamuno was demonstrated through his experiences.

Whether the plan is to stay in New York City after graduation or, like him, go into business across the world, they will always carry a piece of Manhattan with them. And they’ll always be Jaspers.

“I hope that everyone had a good time, and that everyone enjoyed the hop-on, hop-off tour,” Oreamuno says. “I certainly did and hope to see lots more groups of Manhattan College students in Costa Rica.”

With a focus on emerging economies and innovative market trends, marketing and management professor Carolyn Predmore led a group of students enrolled in the School of Business’ Field Study Seminar and International Marketing Field Project to San José, Costa Rica, to study its international commerce and work with an alumnus who started a tour bus company there in 2014.

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New Trustees Three alumni recently joined Manhattan College’s board of trustees: Noreen Krall ’87, J.D., vice president and chief litigation counsel for Apple Inc., Fredric Marro ’77, J.D., founder and president of Westmont Associates, and Milo Riverso ’81, Ph.D., P.E., chief executive officer and president of STV Group, Inc. NOREEN KRALL ’87 is responsible for all aspects of Apple’s global commercial and intellectual property litigation. Prior to joining Apple, she was vice president and chief intellectual property counsel for Sun Microsystems. Krall started her career as an engineer at IBM, where she held positions in both the engineering and legal departments.

With almost 30 years experience in technology and law, she has been named one of the 50 most influential people in intellectual property and one of the top 100 in-house counsels. Krall was the only woman named to the first list of the top 40 intellectual property market makers by the Global IAM Group in 2014 and was named one of the top 50 women in tech law in 2013, 2014 and 2015. She earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Manhattan College, a master’s degree in computer science from Iona College, and a juris doctorate from the University of Denver.

FREDRIC MARRO ’77 is a nationally recognized attorney in the field of insurance regulatory law. As president of Westmont Associates, Inc., which he founded in 1990, Marro leads one of the preeminent multidisciplinary insurance regulatory consulting organizations in America. He has more than 35 years of broad-based industry experience, including legal positions with life, health, property, and casualty insurance and reinsurance companies. A member of the American Bar Association, New Jersey Bar Association, Washington, D.C., Bar Association, the Federation of Regulatory Counsel and the Federation of Insurance and Corporate Counsel, Marro is also a member of the International Association of Insurance Receivers and an associate member of the Society of Financial Examiners. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Manhattan College and his juris doctorate from Seton Hall.

MILO RIVERSO ’81 has more than 30 years of experience in the fields of program management, construction and design management.

As president and chief executive officer of STV Group, Inc., the firm has continued to grow, having recently completed the acquisition of a Denver-based energy services firm serving the Rocky Mountain region. The former chairman of the Construction Management Association of America, Riverso is currently vice chairman of the New York Building Congress, special adviser to the New York City Post of the Society of American Military Engineers, and chairman of the board of the ACE (Architecture Construction Engineering) Mentor Program Greater New York chapter. The 2014 recipient of the College’s De La Salle medal, Riverso recently was elected to the National Academy of Construction. He earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Manhattan College and his master’s and doctorate degrees from Purdue University.

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Looking Back at a Lasallian Legacy FIFTY YEARS AGO, on May 23, 1966, Brother Charles Henry Buttimer, FSC, was elected Superior General of the Brothers of the Christian Schools at their 39th General Chapter on the first ballot. He was the 23rd successor of Saint John Baptist de La Salle, Founder of the Institute, and served until 1976.

Not only was Br. Charles the first American to be elected Superior General of the Brothers, but he was also a Jasper.

A member of the Manhattan College class of 1933, he later earned his master’s and Ph.D. in the classics from The Catholic University of America.

At the time, the Brothers of the Christian Schools were comprised of about 18,000 Brothers from 72 provinces, eight of which were located in the U.S., and 80 countries.

There were also 7,000 aspirants. The 39th Chapter is considered one of the most dynamic general chapters, as its members initiated a seminal change in the Institute.

After his election to Superior General of the Brothers of the Christian Schools at their 39th General Chapter, Brother Charles Henry Buttimer, FSC, participates in the Mass in the Chapel of John Baptist de La Salle at the Generalate in Rome.

This renewal chapter, with its Declaration: The Brothers of the Christian Schools in the World Today, applied the teachings of the Vatican Council to the life and apostolate of the Brothers by challenging the Brothers to adapt to changing social situations, to renew their religious life and to draw from the charism of the Founder.

Committed to an educational ministry, the Brothers were urged to renew the Christian schools by developing a person-centered approach to religious education with respect for personal freedom and contemporary culture.

The Brothers underscored their concern for the poor, expanded their religious mission, developed new forms of personal and community prayer, and explored the deeper implications of administering a “Brothers’ School.”

M.A.R.S. Brings Poetic and Pulitzer Power to Fall Lineup TWO RENOWNED POETS and a Pulitzer Prize-winning short story writer visited the College this fall for its biannual Major Author Reading Series (M.A.R.S.), a literary speaker collective designed to engage students with contemporary literature.

The first of three events began in October with stanzas from a poet who has been compared to renowned Noble Prize-winner Pablo Neruda but is admired in his own right for a diverse set of talents.

Martín Espada, a poet, editor, translator and author of 15 poetry books, read from his works, En La Calle San Sebastiá and El Morivivi.

With that, he took audiences on a journey through his New York City childhood, which was heavily influenced by his Puerto Rican heritage and Brooklyn roots.

Espada emphasizes in several of his poems the importance of human rights and social justice, two founding principles of the College’s Lasallian heritage. “It’s my mission to make the invisible, visible,” he said during the Q&A portion.

He then spoke to the aspiring writers in the audience, to whom he noted the financial ramifications that sometimes accompany the pursuit of one’s passion.

“Poets do everything else but write poetry, because we’re under constant pressure to produce something in exchange for income,” he said. “We live in a mercantile culture, and there’s no price tag on a poem.”

His forthcoming collection of poems, Vivas to Those Who Have Failed, will debut in 2016. Espada’s other books of poems include The Trouble Ball (2011), The Republic of Poetry (2006), Alabanza (2003), A Mayan Astronomer in Hell’s Kitchen (2000), Imagine the Angels of Bread (1996) and City of Coughing and Dead Radiators (1993).

Next up in the series was Joanna Klink, who wrote four poetry books, including They Are Sleeping (2000), Circadian (2007) and Raptus (2010). Her works have also appeared in the anthologies The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth Century Poetry and Please Excuse This Poem: 100 New Poets for the Next Generation. On Nov. 12, she read selections from her most recent publication, Excerpts from a Secret Prophecy (2015).

These and other works have earned Klink, a professor in the Creative Writing program at the University of Montana, a number of fellowships and awards from The Rona Jaffe Foundation, Jeannette Haien Ballard, Civitella Ranieri, and The American Academy of Arts and Letters.

The Iowa native-turned-Montana resident spoke softly in her readings as a way to remind audience members that a poem is something a person should connect with on a personal level.

“Every poem in Joanna’s books is grounded in something that matters, but it then travels with one turn of a phrase into a moment that is bold, surprising, but always correct,” said Dominika Wrozynski, Ph.D., an assistant English professor at the College, speaking to the dynamicity of Klink’s work.

Short-story writer Adam Johnson closed the fall M.A.R.S. series on Nov. 19 with a surprise announcement. The day before, he had won the National Book Award for Fortune Smiles, his recently released collection of short stories. Johnson’s full-length reading of “Nirvana,” one of the six included in the publication, took audiences on an emotional ride with the tale of a computer programmer whose wife is plagued with a rare disease that renders her paralyzed from the neck down.

“We were able to hear the awkwardness in the marital relationship Johnson portrayed so aptly on the page,” Wrozynski said. “His inflections, his pauses, and the rhythm of the dialogue show us the stasis that both the husband and wife of the story fight so desperately.”

But Fortune Smiles hardly stands out as Johnson’s most notable work so far. An associate professor of English at Stanford University, his works have appeared in Esquire, Harper’s, Playboy, GQ and The New York Times, as well as several other national and international publications. In 2013, Johnson’s novel The Orphan Master’s Son won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

Just a day after receiving the National Book Award for his collection of short stories, Fortune Smiles, Pulitzer Prizewinning writer Adam Johnson closed out the College’s fall Major Author Reading Series with an emotional ride of a reading and a lesson in dialogue.

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Celebrating Fair Trade Month in October

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ACH SCHOOL YEAR, Lois Harr, director of Manhattan’s Campus Ministry and Social Action (CMSA) department, and her cohort of social justice advocates gear up to educate a new crop of students on the importance of purchasing fair trade goods.

According to Harr, asking them to buy these items, which are produced by farmers and workers who receive adequate pay and can perform their duties in a safe environment, is not a tough sell. It just makes sense.

“The nature of the college environment is that students come and go, so it’s a constant commitment on our part to inform students on social justice, of which fair trade practices are a concrete example,” Harr says.

Throughout October, CMSA hosted a number of Fair Trade Month events that raised awareness of the ideals of Fair Trade USA, a nonprofit organization that regulates transactions between U.S. companies and international suppliers. Its efforts go toward ensuring that as many workers as possible receive the tools, training and resources to live and produce goods sustainably.

In February 2012, Manhattan became the first Fair Trade College in New York City. As such, Fair Trade USA required that the campus carry fair trade goods within all campus dining halls, restaurants, cafes and the bookstore.

According to Harr, celebrating Fair Trade Month in October — the timeframe designated by the nonprofit — is an opportunity to promote social justice and responsibility. Although, she and other faculty members encourage students to adhere to these principles throughout the year, as they are integral to the College’s Lasallian heritage.

The Fair Trade Month events at the College included: bracelet-making using fair trade beads that are made by Ugandan women living in extreme poverty; breakfast and dessert items made with fair trade bananas, including banana bread, banana pancakes and bananas foster, offered in Locke’s Loft; a coffee break featuring java produced through socially responsible labor practices in countries including Ethiopia, Nicaragua and Peru; and an ice cream social to discuss the processes through which ingredients in this sugary treat are produced and transported to our grocery stores and ice cream parlors.

As New York City’s first Fair Trade College, Manhattan has been dedicated to bringing awareness to these practices and offering fair trade products throughout campus, including its bookstore and dining halls. This past October, the College established Fair Trade Month and showcased a number of events promoting social justice and responsibility.

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COURSE SPOTLIGHT

The U.S. Presidency (GOVT 306) Course Description: WITH THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE heating up and primaries taking place all across the country, it would be hard to miss that this is an election year. And if the news coverage has taught us little else, this election is shaping up to be a fiercely competitive one.

But what’s really at stake here? In the U.S. Presidency (GOVT 306), taught by Margaret Groarke, Ph.D., associate professor of government, students will explore the origins and development of the presidency, and study its relationship to the other significant actors in U.S. politics.

Compared to the chief executives of other nations, the U.S. presidency is a unique office in how presidents are chosen, the roles they play, the powers they have, and the country’s (and the world’s) expectations for the position.

Taking advantage of primary season, the course spends roughly half of its time on the election and the election process in general. Students ponder how predictable presidential elections are, and whether the current process results in the best outcomes, or whether reform is desirable. The other half focuses on learning what presidents can and can’t do, and how we, as citizens and political scientists, evaluate them.

Texts: Pfiffner and Davidson, Understanding the Presidency New York: Addison Wesley and Longman, 7th edition Stephen Wayne, Road to the White House 2016 New York: St. Martin’s Press Lectures: Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 1-1:50 p.m.

Professor: Margaret Groarke, Ph.D. About the Professor: With a background that includes working as a community organizer and legislative correspondent, Groarke has taught at Manhattan College since 1999. She is currently doing research on the organizing efforts against foreclosures and for more accountable banking practices in various communities across the country. She also has a continuing interest in voter suppression activities, especially the use of fraudulent claims and list purging to disenfranchise voters. Groarke has a B.A. from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges and a Ph.D. from CUNY: The Graduate Center.

Jasper is the First To Receive International Scholarship

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ENIFER MARTIN ’17 was one of 800 students from 355 American colleges and universities selected to receive the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Martin is the first Manhattan College student to receive the award, which has enabled her to study in Madrid this spring semester. She received up to $5,000 to apply toward her study abroad program costs.

Martin is an English major with minors in Spanish and psychology. During her time at Manhattan, she has worked with international students in New York City as a conference assistant and as a cultural ambassador with ZUMA Education. Last year, she participated in a Lasallian Outreach Volunteer Experience (L.O.V.E.) trip to Duran, Ecuador, and also recently completed an internship at Advocates for Children of New York.

“Studying abroad has been the most enriching experience of my education thus far,” says Martin, who is grateful to the Center for Career Development for all of its support. “There is no other way to explore the culture and traditions of Spain than living and studying the history of the country.

Thanks to the Gilman Scholarship, I was able to live my dreams of visiting Spain. Manhattan College has given me opportunities I will never forget.”

The Gilman Scholarship program aims to diversify the students who study and intern abroad, as well as their destinations. Gilman retired in 2002 after serving in the House of Representatives for 30 years and chairing the House Foreign Relations Committee.

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A Cleaner, Greener Bronx

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ANHATTAN COLLEGE, in conjunction with a number of city partners, is leading the charge for a cleaner, greener Bronx.

More than 80 local community members, students and supporters attended “Made in the Bronx: Green Buildings, Green Jobs” in November to learn how borough residents can take action. The forum was co-hosted by the College’s Center for Urban Resilience and Environmental Sustainability (CURES) and Bronx Climate Justice North (BCJN), a grassroots climate justice alliance.

Yelda Hangun-Balkir, Ph.D., assistant professor of environmental science and director of CURES, moderated a panel featuring keynote speaker Ray Figueroa, president of the New York City Community Garden Coalition.

“Among the five boroughs, the Bronx is the most underserved,” says Hangun-Balkir. “There are many people with asthma who lack income and resources.

They’re not getting enough information about creating green jobs or installing solar panels.”

According to the U.S. Green Building Council, buildings account for 73 percent of U.S. electricity consumption. In areas with high population density, like the Bronx, these heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions contribute to poor air quality and illness. Organizations such as BCJN want to move completely away from fossil fuel usage and to a renewable energy economy in the coming decades.

Along with Figueroa, four panelists contributed their expertise to the conversation: Lisa DiCaprio, professor of social sciences at New York University; Chris Neidl, director of Here Comes Solar, a project of Solar One, New York City’s Green Energy Education Center; John Reilly, executive director of the Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation; and Migdalia Taveras, director of BEST Academy, a division of Sustainable South Bronx.

While Neidl discussed with attendees the logistics of installing solar panels on single and multifamily homes, Taveras pitched BEST Academy’s “green-collar” workforce training, a program that trains participants in sustainable jobs like green roofing and plumbing. Reilly presented one of Fordham Bedford’s most important undertakings — converting abandoned buildings in the Bronx to green buildings for lowincome residents, like seniors.

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Also at the forum was art history student Laureta Ismailaj ’17, who exhibited original artwork with an environmental theme and message.

“There was a great mix of people there,” Hangun-Balkir adds. “It doesn’t matter what your major is — everyone should be involved in environmental issues.”

With the launch of CURES and an urban rooftop garden in 2012, the College continues to maximize its sustainability efforts. Now, students who are interested in the green movement can join the Environmental Issues and Sustainability Common Interest Community to live and work with likeminded individuals (see page 2 for more information).

“It is vital, especially for my generation and those to come, to focus on climate change and sustainability because we are going to experience the repercussions of environmental neglect in our lifetime,” says Mike Battista ’17, an urban studies major and environmental science minor.

“As a Lasallian, my respect for human dignity, emphasis on ethical conduct, and social justice influence is why I hold environmentalism close to me.”

More than 80 community members, students and supporters attended the “Made in the Bronx: Green Buildings, Green Jobs” forum in November to lead the charge for a cleaner and greener Bronx. Yelda Hangun-Balkir, Ph.D., assistant professor of environmental science and director of College’s Center for Urban Resilience and Environmental Sustainability, underscored the importance of becoming involved in environmental issues.

Jaspers Head to Washington To Participate in NAC&U Panel THIS PAST JANUARY, SENIOR DYLAN GRAY ’16 joined two other college students on a panel moderated by author William Sullivan, hosted by New American Colleges & Universities (NAC&U) at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Gray discussed how integrative education, including undergraduate research, improved the quality of his college experience and prepared him with real-world skills.

The panel is part of a three-day series of events that spotlights NAC&U members’ collective mission and approaches to teaching and learning. The event also honors the legacy of the late Ernest L. Boyer, former chancellor of the State University of New York and United States Commissioner of Education.

A native of Yonkers, N.Y., Gray is a physics major and philosophy minor. Currently the president of the College’s chapter of the Society of Physics, Gray is also a member of Sigma Xi, the science and engineering research honor society, and Sigma Pi Sigma, the physics honor society.

Last summer, Gray researched particle physics with the Atlas Experiment and worked alongside Manhattan College physics professor Rostislav Konoplich, Ph.D., at The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland. After graduating in May, Gray plans to begin a physics Ph.D. program to prepare for a career as a laboratory researcher.

At the three-day convention, fellow Jaspers Emily Cutler ’16, Chris Hoey ’17 and John Trieste ’16 presented research on topics they have worked on at Manhattan College.

Cutler, who is also a captain of the softball team, presented on “The Role of Anticipatory Postural Adjustments in Postural Control.” An exercise science major, Cutler’s presentation focused on how individuals can rehabilitate from injury and maintain, achieve or restore a state of balance.

Hoey, an electrical engineering major, presented on “Sustainable Energy Sources: Information for Economic, Societal, and Environmental Impacts.” He focused on countries around the world that do not have fundamental access to electricity and energy sources and how that access can be increased.

A finance major, Trieste was a part of the College’s best-ever showing at the New York College Fed Challenge.

He leveraged that experience in front of Federal Reserve employees to present “The Impact of the Federal Reserve SOMA Holdings on Mortgage Backed Securities Rates, Treasury Rates, and Mortgage Rates” to the NAC&U panel.

As a featured speaker on a New American Colleges & Universities panel, Dylan Gray ’16 discussed how undergraduate research has enriched his college experience and prepared him with work-ready skills. He was joined by fellow Jaspers Emily Cutler ’16, Chris Hoey ’17 and John Trieste ’16, who presented their research on various topics they have been working on at Manhattan College, during the three-day convention.

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Competing in the College Fed Challenge’s Finals

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ISE COACHING FROM A SEASONED MENTOR. Helping out a teammate. Executing a game plan. These are the ingredients of a successful team in professional sports.

It’s also what propelled a group of Manhattan College students in the School of Business to its best-ever showing at the 2015 New York College Fed Challenge.

Led by Hany Guirguis, Ph.D., professor of economics and finance and chair of the department, the Manhattan College team delivered thorough presentations about the national economy, monetary policy and the role of the Federal Reserve system, and then deftly handled rapid-fire questions from Federal Reserve professionals to reach the finals. It was the farthest that the Manhattan team had advanced in five years of competition against large universities like Columbia, NYU and Rutgers.

While some of their competitors had 50 students working on this project, Manhattan had seven primary team members — Jacqueline Curran ’16, Zack Fashouer ’16, Carol Magalhaes ’16, Dylan McLaughlin ’16, Riko Mochizuki ’16, John Trieste ’16 and Kyle Watson ’16 with support from John Blunt ’16, Raisa Feliz ’16, Gaensly Joseph ’16, Emmett Rafferty ’16 and Vincenzo San Lorenzo ’17. The group spent several weeks researching and analyzing the current domestic and international financial markets in order to excel in the competition designed to bring real-world economics into the classroom.

During the weeks and months leading up to the November competition, the team met during its normal class schedule but also spent several early mornings and late nights together preparing — and then perfecting — their presentations.

“We ate three meals a day together. That’s how we built our chemistry and prepared for the Q&A sessions, which was the most crucial part of the competition,” Mochizuki says.

The Q&A session followed a 15-minute presentation in each round. The Manhattan team presented on the federal open market committee and discussed the pros and cons of raising interest rates.

Their presentation on raising rates, forecast methods and policy makers’ theories received a score of 19 out of 20 in the first round.

The team then aced the next round, earning a perfect score for their presentation, which one judge deemed “incredible.”

“Our teamwork was key,” McLaughlin says. “Everyone had to be involved and educated in every subject, especially fielding questions from the judges. One of us would specialize in one aspect [of macroeconomics], but then teach others about that topic so we had an understanding of every concept.”

That teamwork was fostered by Guirguis, who guided the team but ultimately allowed the students to determine their own success. “[Guirguis] knew that we were all self-motivated, but he was the one who brought the team together and pushed us to rely on each other instead of just to rely on him,” Fashouer says. “He provided the structure and laid out the goals. He was the driving force for our teamwork and own individual work ethics.”

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All the hours and teamwork culminated in the team’s first-ever appearance in the final round of the New York College Fed Challenge competition. The Jaspers faced off against the team from Pace University, which won the 2014 National College Fed Challenge Competition after emerging victorious in last year’s New York event.

Although Pace repeated as champions in the 2015 New York competition and won the 2015 national competition, it was a successful showing for Manhattan College.

“This team spent a significant amount of time working and studying. They didn’t do it for a grade. They didn’t do it for anything except to be an honorable representation of Manhattan College — and they accomplished their task,” Guirguis says.

The seven seniors will go their separate ways in May, but many will stay in the world of economics, either in graduate school or in a full-time career. For many of the team members, the experience of presenting their research at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York City made their Manhattan College experience memorable.

“It’s one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had in my life,” says Mochizuki, a native of Japan. “It showed no matter where you’re from or the size of our school, we can achieve anything.”

Students Capture the Sharper Image in Newly Overhauled Communication Lab

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SPIRING TELEVISION PRODUCERS learning to shoot video in the College’s broadcast studio are seeing things at 16 times the resolution they were a year ago.

Compared to the standard-definition cameras that outfitted the Leo Hall lab since 2008, the Communication department recently purchased three new cameras that film in 4K. The image quality they produce is significantly more precise even than what is generated by high-definition cameras.

Beginning in the spring of 2016, students were able to operate these devices and edit the footage they shoot with Pro Tools multitrack digital software, the full Adobe Creative Suite and a Blackmagic 4K 2-M/E video switcher, which allows for a wider variety of shooting techniques. Together, these tools create content that’s comparable in quality to what’s executed on professional sets.

That’s also quite the technological leap for any college in the Metropolitan area.

Manhattan College now houses the Greater New York City area’s first 4K studio within a higher education institution.

“Our goal is to teach on equipment that’s used by the pros, so that our students will walk in on day one of their first job or internship and feel comfortable,” says Michael Grabowski, Ph.D., associate professor of communication.

This semester, he’s teaching Studio Television Production (COMM 308) and Advanced Television Production (COMM 419) two days a week in the studio.

In the future, Grabowski hopes to host as many professional organizations as possible to shoot and edit video on campus, so that students can see what it’s like to be part of a working production. In February, he set that plan in motion by providing the set for a web

series that starred members of the Upright Citizens Brigade, an improvisational comedy troupe in New York City. There, his students played the roles of producer, cameraperson, production assistant and boom operator.

LECTURE CIRCUIT

Talking Politics and Grassroots Organizing THOSE WHO ATTENDED a lecture by Zephyr Teachout, Ph.D., this fall learned a lesson in political awareness from a renowned Fordham law professor who sought the nomination for New York State governor in 2014.

Teachout’s visit in October was sponsored by Northwest Bronx for Change, a grassroots organization geared toward raising the population’s awareness of political issues. Its goal to combat foul play in government is shared by the professor, who defines it as the use of power for personal means.

“Corruption was the common grammar of politics,” she said, after beginning her speech with a quip on her uncommon name. “Yes it’s my name and not an app.”

Teachout, who serves as CEO and board chair for Mayday PAC, a nonprofit aiming to reform corporate campaign spending, looked at the political practice as a prime example of modern-day corruption.

She stresses that a lack of regulation on campaign spending has

given unfair advantage to the one percent. As a result, candidates spend more time fundraising than they do addressing major issues.

When she ran for governor against Andrew Cuomo in 2014, Teachout said she became “a more transactional person” during a run that resulted in her garnering 35.5 percent of the popular vote on the Working Families Party line. She said she plans to run again for elected office in the future but, in the meantime, will continue to work from the sidelines on issues important to her.

“I’m driven by real anger at inequality … and I’m also driven by a real deep sense of patriotism,” said Teachout, who was the first national director of the Sunlight Foundation, a group dedicated to achieving greater transparency when it comes to money in politics.

Before her run for governor, the Vermont native helped create the Internet campaign for Howard Dean, the former governor in that state, in 2004. She is currently a professor of constitutional and property law at Fordham University School of Law. MANHATTAN.EDU N 19

ON C AMPUS

LECTURE CIRCUIT

Valedictorian Shares His Literary Journey

T

HE YEAR IS 1939. Most of Europe is in the throes of World War II when Italian dictator Benito Mussolini presents Greece with an ultimatum: surrender or adhere to a hostile takeover. In October, a diverse crowd of students, faculty and parents gathered for a perspective on that decision and that tumultuous time from Perry Rizopoulos ’13, whose forthcoming biographical book, Wheat Song, tells the story of courage and resilience of his grandfather, Pericles, or his “Pappou,” as he affectionately called him.

The valedictorian for the class of 2013 and a philosophy major and Spanish minor, Rizopoulos is currently pursuing a master’s degree at Columbia University’s Teachers College.

From his position at the podium, Rizopoulos actively engaged viewers after asking them to turn to their neighbors and share a story of a time when someone in their family helped to mold their identity.

“The Manhattan College community has been great to me and my family,” he said. “Many of the professors not only shaped me as a stu-

20 N spring 2016

dent but also are people I still have in my life as friends, mentors and colleagues.”

Wheat Song is a compilation of his grandfather’s oral history and the Greek novel Dark Days, which was written by Rizopoulos’ great uncle Pamayiotis. Rizopoulos read excerpts from Wheat Song and relayed quotes from his grandfather and great uncle, as well as the famed Greek author Homer, who said, “By hook or by crook, this peril too shall be something that we remember.” Rizopoulos tied these words to the journey his Pappou endured during WWII as a young boy with his brother, witnessing the massacre and destruction of their home. He continued with a number of other anecdotes from his book that illustrate the perseverance of his family.

“We didn’t have much. We had what we needed. We had each other,” he said, quoting his grandfather, and painting Pappou and Pamayiotis as two young heroes who withstood the wrath of Nazi Germany with thoughts of family and love.

Rizopoulos also noted that he was thankful for the guidance these past few years provided by Mehnaz Afridi, Ph.D., director of the Holocaust and Genocide Interfaith Education Center, which sponsored the event. He is hoping to publish Wheat Song in the near future.

Perry Rizopoulos ’13, pictured with his grandfather, affectionately known as “Pappou,” returned to campus to discuss his forthcoming book, Wheat Song, which recounts the oral history of his grandfather. The class of 2013’s valedictorian is currently pursuing a master’s degree at Columbia University’s Teachers College.

LECTURE CIRCUIT

TV Stars and Staunch Advocate Headline Student Lecture Series

A

BRAVO TELEVISION STAR as famous for her deadpan humor as she is for launching the iconic Skinnygirl cocktail brand paid a visit to campus in September, where she was joined by an entertainment TV show reporter and radio host from one of the most listened-to hiphop music stations in New York City, as well as a renowned advocate for domestic abuse awareness. Together, the three headlined Manhattan’s annual Student Activities Lecture Series.

Kicking off the three-day event in September, Bethenny Frankel stood before some 200 students to speak about the Skinnygirl cocktail brand she founded, the four self-help books she authored, her culinary prowess, and the experiences she’s had hosting the talk show Bethenny. Through it all, she has learned a few lessons, Frankel told her audience.

“You have to have that drive and passion and stamina. And never assume someone is smarter than you,” she said.

Frankel touched on a number of points during her lecture, which segued into a sixquestion Q&A segment that invited a tell-all into her personal life and career that began when she starred in the Bravo reality show The Real Housewives of New York City. The event’s heavy turnout made for colorful fodder in the Q&A, which revealed an answer to the much-anticipated question of whether she’ll be returning to the show for its eighth season — yes, she is.

Next up in the lecture series was AJ Calloway, correspondent for the TV show Extra, whose accolades in entertainment began while he was a student at Howard University. There, Calloway created and promoted various successful homecoming events, which paved the way for his most notable role as radio host of BET’s 106 & Park Top Ten Live starting in 2000. During his five years at 106 & Park, the program rose to No. 1 as the top-rated video countdown show in America. The show owes much of its success to Calloway’s charismatic personality, which also resonated with students throughout the lecture.

“Don’t let anyone devalue you. Know your worth in the workforce and any other type of relationship you may have,” he offered as words of advice, before admitting to his struggle with one particular responsibility — time management. Calloway suggested ways of allocating time appropriately and advised students to pay due attention to each task they’re handling. “How you do anything is how you do everything,” he said.

The third speaker built his career away from the limelight but is recognized for his efforts to address an issue that is known to all. Audiences welcomed Ted Bunch, co-director and founder of A Call to Men, an international organization focused on domestic abuse and the role men play in the problem. Bunch has worked closely with the NFL, NHL and NBA to educate men on the growing issue of domestic violence against

Clockwise: Ted Bunch, co-director and founder of A Call to Men; Bethenny Frankel, talk-show host and reality TV star; and AJ Calloway, correspondent for the TV show Extra, participated in the popular Student Activities Lecture Series held on campus in September.

women. His points on society’s expectations of a man were real, relatable and identifiable, and he delivered his message bluntly.

“Three women a day are killed due to domestic violence, more than the Iraq War, and 80 percent know their attacker,” Bunch said with such conviction that it demanded the attention of those in the audience to reflect upon an issue that affects the entire population.

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SPORTS

Women’s Soccer Scores Breakthrough Season That included the recruiting and development of the women’s soccer class of 2016.

“Manhattan College has such a strong academic reputation that strong studentathletes want to come here,” Lawler says.

“This year’s senior class embodies that viewpoint, and they believed that the soccer program’s reputation would catch up to that of the school.”

This year’s senior class experienced success as sophomores while getting a taste of the postseason, and entered 2014 with aspirations of a breakthrough campaign.

Manhattan appeared ready to realize that vision, finishing with a winning nonconference record for the first time during Lawler’s tenure. The high point of the preconference season was an impressive overtime win at Yale, a traditional Ivy League power. Then the injuries came.

Erica Modena ’17, a member of the All-Rookie Team after an outstanding During a breakthrough season, the women’s soccer team defeated No. 4 seeded Rider University in the MAAC freshman season, was lost for the season Tournament in November. The Jaspers reached the conference finals but fell short of the ultimate goal of a MAAC title. after a handful of games, foreshadowing what would be a difficult season. At the end of an injury-plagued 2014 season, the Jaspers had just three healthy S THEY SAY IN SPORTS, it is so hard to win and so easy to lose. bench players for some matches, yet still managed to finish with an This is no more apparent than when a coach takes over a 8-8-2 record — its best mark in seven years. program that has never continuously enjoyed success. This After a steady build on the successes of the previous seasons, 2015 was the situation that Brendan Lawler encountered when he took was the year the Jaspers became one of the top teams in the MAAC. the reigns of the Manhattan College women’s soccer program.

Manhattan opened the year with a 1-0 victory and after a loss to Lawler took charge in 2010, and in their first season, the Jaspers Fordham, ripped off three straight shutout wins en route to a 4-3 won just five matches, followed by a three-win season. nonconference record.

“When I arrived in Riverdale, there was a lot of talent, but the team The Jaspers opened MAAC play with a pair of shutout victories, didn’t have the depth that many successful teams have to overcome losing only once within conference play during the season. obstacles,” Lawler says.

They finished with a 6-1-3 MAAC record and placed second in the The next two years were equally difficult with just five and six conference, the top finish in the 25-year history of the program. victories, respectively. However, there was progress being made as Along the way, Modena scored a team-leading 13 goals and was Manhattan advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2013 MAAC Champinamed All-MAAC First Team, while Kristen Skonieczny ’16 was onships before falling in penalty kicks to perennial power Fairfield. named the MAAC Goalkeeper of the Year, Jenny Bitzer ’17 the MAAC “Fortunately, I work with an administration that believed in what Defensive Player of the Year, and Lawler the MAAC Coach of the Year. we were doing and took the steps needed to bring the program to Bitzer led a defense that allowed a MAAC-low 14 goals and the next level,” Lawler says.

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Soccer Stars, Research Aces

Forward Erica Modena ’17 blasted her team-leading 12th goal to give the Jaspers what would prove to be an insurmountable 3-0 lead in the MAAC Tournament semifinals against Rider. Although they didn’t win the MAAC title, the Jaspers took pride in their best finish in the 25-year history of program. Afterward, the women’s soccer team was recognized at the MAAC Banquet with a few of its top awards, including Goalkeeper of the Year for Kristen Skonieczny ’16.

illustrated how far the program has grown.

She transferred to Manhattan College from Conference USA member Louisiana Tech and represents the type of high-level player that Manhattan is now able to recruit.

In addition, Nicole Copping ’19 was tabbed to the MAAC All-Rookie First Team while epitomizing the sort of depth Lawler lacked in the first few years on the job.

In the 2015 MAAC Tournament, the Jaspers then bounced No. 4 seed Rider, 3-1, thanks to a virtuoso 15-save performance from Skonieczny. Manahttan reached the conference finals but fell short of the ultimate goal of a MAAC title. The loss, however, did nothing to dampen the breakthrough campaign.

“This season was an unmitigated success,” Lawler says. “We didn’t take any shortcuts in building this program, and this season was the result.”

Off the field, Skonieczny became the second-straight Jasper to earn Academic All-American Honors after Aislinn McIlvenny ’14. Skonieczny also was one of nine (out of an eligible 13) Manhattan student-athletes to garner MAAC All-Academic Team accolades.

She will attend medical school in the fall.

“The presence of this year’s senior class will be felt for years to come, as Colleen Kavanagh ’16, Tiffanie McIntosh ’16, Sam Washuk ’16 and Skonieczny established the foundation of the program,” Lawler says.

KRISTEN SKONIECZNY ’16 AND LAUREN BARTON ’17 helped the women’s soccer team achieve a record-breaking season on the field, but their performances off the field were equally noteworthy.

The two participated in intense research projects supported by the Catherine and Robert Fenton Endowed Chair to Lance Evans, Ph.D., professor of biology.

Studying one of the defining plants of the Sonoran Desert, Barton wrote the research paper, “Rates of Bark Formation of Saguaro Cacti (Carnegiea gigantea).” Bark formation is a relatively new phenomena, so she looked at rates of progression during a 16-year period, and how they increased the rate of mortality. Barton also submitted her manuscript for publication in the Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society and is waiting to hear of its acceptance.

“It introduced me to different statistical analyses, which I would not be exposed to otherwise,” she says.

“I’ve learned a lot about logistic curves, cluster analysis and such.”

Skonieczny’s paper, “Xylem Conductivity in Terminal Stems of 20 Species of South American Columnar Cacti” showed there is a relationship of xylem conductivity with stem volumes and stem surface areas. It was even published in the journal Bradleya by the British Cactus and Succulent Society. Her latest paper, which focuses on North American cactus species is also under review by the same journal.

In addition, the results of their projects were presented at the College’s annual Research Scholars Presentation Day in September.

“Doing research has allowed me to approach and practice science through a whole new perspective,” Skonieczny says. “It has been a great experience that has taught me a lot.”

SPORTS

SPORTSSHORTS MEMORABLE MOMENTS As a part of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference’s (MAAC) 35th anniversary celebration, the conference selected the top 35 moments in MAAC basketball history. The Jaspers’ upset of fourth-seeded Oklahoma in the 1995 NCAA Tournament (when Manhattan became the first MAAC team ever to receive an at-large bid) was voted the No. 2 moment in conference history. Manhattan’s upset over Florida in the 2004 NCAA Tournament came in at No. 7 on the list, while the Jaspers’ back-to-back titles in 2014-15 were voted as the MAAC’s No. 22 moment all-time.

SENIOR CLASS AWARD Softball’s senior catcher Elena Bowman was selected as one of 30 candidates nationwide for the Senior CLASS Award, one of the most prestigious awards handed out by the NCAA. Only Division I seniors are eligible for the award, which celebrates achievement in the areas of community, classroom, character and competition. CLASS is an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement For Staying In School, and the award recognizes student-athletes who have made a positive impact in their communities through their participation in athletics.

Bowman earned a place on the Capital One Academic All-America First Team in 2015, when she was the unanimous MAAC Player of the Year, and was elected captain of the 2016 squad by her teammates.

The 2016 MAAC Preseason Player of the Year, Bowman also was named to the Preseason Top 50 Watch List for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year.

Together with some of her fellow female athletes, Bowman introduced the Love Your Melon program to campus, too. Love Your Melon aims to provide a beanie to every child battling cancer (see the last news item for more information).

U.S. INDOOR NATIONALS On March 11, senior Blerim Pocesta became the first active member of the Manhattan College track and field team to compete at the U.S. Indoor Championships since 2004. He took part in the weight throw and finished 14th overall with a best effort of 19.46 meters (63 feet, 10¼ inches).

JOHN “DOC” JOHNSON PASSES AWAY Longtime Manhattan College athletic trainer John “Doc” Johnson passed away on Feb. 28 at the age of 98. Johnson came to Manhattan in 1947 and served thousands of student-athletes during a 56-year career that ended with his retirement in 2003. He also worked with the New York Giants for 60 years, retiring after the team’s Super Bowl XLII victory in 2008. (See obituary on page 59 for more of his story.)

24 N spring 2016

OLSEWSKI RETIRES, MURTHA PROMOTED TO HEAD COACH Walter Olsewski ’68 retired after 19 seasons as head coach of the women’s swimming and diving teams at the conclusion of the 2015-16 campaign. Olsewski took over the program in 1997-98 and led the Jaspers to 155 victories and 11 winning seasons during his tenure.

He also was named head coach of the men’s team when the program was reinstated in 2008-09 and earned 57 wins in eight seasons. In addition, his teams boasted a 100 percent graduation rate. He even doubled as Manhattan’s men’s golf coach from 2000-11.

Joe Murtha was tabbed to replace Olsewski as head coach of the men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs. Murtha has spent the previous seven years as the Jaspers’ assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. He swam collegiately at Fordham from 2004-08.

MASIELLO RECEIVES CONTRACT EXTENSION Head men’s basketball coach Steve Masiello signed a four-year contract extension through the 2019-20 season. During his five seasons at the helm, Masiello has led the Jaspers to the postseason three times, including back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament as MAAC champions (2014-15). He was named Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association Coach of the Year following both the 2011-12 and 2013-14 campaigns.

TATUM TEARS IT UP Sophomore Amani Tatum, who plays guard on the women’s basketball team, was recognized as the MAAC Defensive Player of the Year during the MAAC Postseason Awards Show in March.

The Second Team All-MAAC selection led the league and set a single-season program record with 101 steals, the seventh-highest total in the nation. She also ranked fifth nationally with 3.30 steals per game. Moreover, Tatum has 25 steals and nearly one steal per game more than any other player in the conference.

She’s the first Jasper ever to earn MAAC Defensive Player of the Year honors, and just the fifth Manhattan player to receive any MAAC postseason award.

LOVE YOUR MELON Members of the softball, women’s lacrosse and women’s soccer teams have introduced the Love Your Melon program to campus.

Love Your Melon was established in 2014 with the goal of providing beanies to children battling cancer. More than 45,000 beanies, which is the number of kids fighting cancer nationwide, have already been distributed, and Love Your Melon has committed to donating 15,000 more each year for those newly diagnosed. Beanies are available for $30 each at LoveYourMelon.com, with half of the proceeds going toward cancer research and the rest being used to help affected families.

College Retires First Number

FUNFACTS

34

number retired by the men’s basketball team for Jack Powers ’58, the first jersey number to be retired by Manhattan in any sport.

242 THE NUMBER 34 was raised to the Draddy Gymnasium rafters on Feb. 26 to recognize a Jasper sports legend who made his mark as a former player, coach and athletic director — Jack Powers ’58. The event was dubbed “Jack Powers Night” and celebrated the College’s first time for retiring a uniform number.

Appropriate that this honor, which was presented at halftime during Manhattan’s annual home game against Iona, should go to Powers, a former student-athlete who, in three years on the court, finished with 1,139 points. He also led the Jaspers to two NCAA Tournament appearances, one of which was in 1958 when they beat the nationally ranked West Virginia at Madison Square Garden.

Following graduation, Powers returned in 1968 as head coach of the men’s basketball team, a position he held for 10 seasons that resulted in an accumulated record of 142-114 and was highlighted by four performances in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT).

From there, he spent nine years as director of athletics at Manhattan, before serving as executive director of the NIT for more than 20 years. The legendary Jasper was inducted into the College’s Hall of Fame in 1988.

During a pre-game reception held in the Raymond Kelly ’63 Student Commons on “Jack Powers Night,” its guest of honor told attendees how, as a teenager growing up in the Bronx, he’d always vied to gain membership into Manhattan’s esteemed sports community. As high school graduation neared, Powers’ future plans were set.

“I wanted to go to Manhattan College, and I wanted to be the men’s basketball coach,” he remembers.

504

national, leading total number of aces served by the volleyball team during the 2015 season.

total wins in the history of the women’s basketball program. The Jaspers earned their 500th victory with a 64-59 triumph at Marist on Feb. 8.

former Manhattan student-athletes named to the MAAC’s 35th Anniversary All-Time Team for fall sports. Luka Van Cauteren ’04 (volleyball) and Sean Lynch ’98 (cross country) were selected to the first team, while Margaret McParland ’97 (cross country) and Matt Spring ’03 (cross country) received second team honors.

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312

MAAC major awards (Defensive Player of the Year, Goalkeeper of the Year, Coach of the Year) won by the women’s soccer team in 2015, the first three conference postseason awards in program history.

career three-pointers by basketball forward Shane Richards ’16, making him just the fifth player in MAAC history with 300 treys.

208

steals by Amani Tatum ’18, one shy of the school and conference record, during the women’s basketball team’s 64-47 victory over Saint Peter’s on Jan. 21.

SiriusXM channel where On Course, a show co-hosted by head golf coach Frank Darby, can be heard.

20

wins for the Manhattan volleyball team in 2015, the third-straight season that the Jaspers have reached that mark. This is the first time in school history that Manhattan has recorded 20 wins in three consecutive years.

137

student-athletes recognized for their success in the classroom during the Athletic department’s Academic Night at the men’s basketball game against Rider on Feb. 2.

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SPORTS

Cross Country

Tom Diliberto ’17

THE MEN’S AND WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY teams continued to show improvement in their second season under head coach Nick McDonough. The future appears bright, too, as the Jaspers were led by freshmen and sophomores throughout the year.

Senior Shane Beyer was named MAAC Men’s Runner of the Week after leading Manhattan at the seasonopening Brother Jasper Invitational, and junior Tom Diliberto ended the season by finishing 14th overall in the university division at the IC4A Championships.

Other top contributors for the Jaspers included freshmen Amir Khaghani, Nick Matson and Christian McLaughlin.

On the women’s side, the 12-member freshman class paced the Jaspers all season. Either Lisa Fajardo or Keeley Hogan was Manhattan’s top finisher at every meet, while another newcomer, graduate transfer Lorraine Brancale also was consistently among the top performers on the team.

At the Metropolitan Championships, the men’s

and women’s teams both placed fourth overall. It was the best finish for the men’s squad since 2004, while the women had their best showing since 2007. The Jaspers then took sixth (men) and seventh (women) at the MAAC Championships, their highest placements in four years.

That improvement continued at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships before the Jaspers successfully concluded the season at the ECAC/IC4A Championships. The men’s squad took eighth in the team standings, and the women took 10th, their first top-10 finish since 2007.

Manhattan also found success in the classroom.

Five men — senior Nick Adamo and sophomores John Dove, Steven Forte, Chris Orlando and Conor McDonough — were named to the MAAC AllAcademic Team, along with senior Lauren Valle and sophomores Kelly Gorman, Samantha Manalastas and Alexa Roda from the women’s team.

Volleyball IT WAS ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL SEASON for the volleyball team in 2015. The Jaspers recorded 20 wins for the third consecutive year and made their third-straight trip to the MAAC Tournament. However, after beating Rider in the first round, Manhattan’s season came to an end with a five-set loss to eventual MAAC champion Fairfield in the semifinals.

Manhattan began the season with five wins in its first six matches, and senior Sydney Volovski slammed her 1,000th career kill against Fordham at Draddy Gymnasium on Sept. 8. The Jaspers notched a 3-1 win at Marist in their MAAC opener on Sept. 19 and didn’t lose consecutive conference matches all season. Manhattan rallied from two sets down to knock off Siena on Oct. 31 before locking up a playoff berth with a 3-0 Senior Day win over Iona on Nov. 7.

After posting a 12-6 record during conference play, the Jaspers drew the No. 4 seed for the MAAC Tournament. Manhattan opened the postseason with a dominant 3-0 victory over Rider, setting up a matchup with top-seeded Fairfield in the semifinals. The Jaspers battled back from a 2-0 deficit to force a fifth set, but ultimately fell to the Stags.

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Junior Milena Janjusevic was named to the MAAC All-Tournament Team after tallying 30 kills, 24 digs and five blocks in the two matches. Against Fairfield, she had 18 kills and 18 digs for her 14th double-double of the season.

Seniors Jade Gray and Claire Van Dyk both earned Second Team All-MAAC selections.

Gray finished third in the league with 1,046 assists and 9.10 assists per set. Van Dyk was one of two players in the MAAC ranked among the top 10 in both kills and digs. She placed seventh in the conference with 3.13 kills per set and ninth with 3.66 digs per set.

Van Dyk also recorded 53 aces, ninth-most in the nation, and her 0.45 aces per set put her 15th among all Division I players.

As a team, the Jaspers led the nation with 242 service aces, and three different players were among the top 12 nationally in that category. Manhattan’s 1.91 aces per set were second-most in the country, while the Jaspers ended up ninth overall with 2,186 digs.

The Jaspers also performed well in the classroom, placing a league-high six players on the MAAC All-Academic Team. Gray and Van Dyk were honored along with senior Teo-

Claire Van Dyk ’16

dora Peric, junior Allie Yamashiro, and sophomores Marissa Behrens and Mary Donnelly.

Gray was further recognized by the College Sports Information Directors of America with a selection to the Academic All-District Team.

Women’s Soccer THE WOMEN’S SOCCER TEAM turned in arguably the finest season in school history, culminating with the program’s first-ever appearance in the MAAC Finals.

Led by the senior quartet of Colleen Kavanagh, Taylor Salkowsky, Kristen Skonieczny and Emily Ude, the Jaspers ripped off 11 victories en route to finishing second in the MAAC with a school-record 21 points.

At the MAAC Tournament, Manhattan defeated Rider in the semifinals thanks to a career-high 15 saves from senior Skonieczny while junior Lizzy Carlson scored two goals and classmate Erica Modena also found the back of the net. In the championship game,

Siena ended the Jaspers’ sterling season with a 5-2 victory.

Despite the loss, the season represented a breakthrough, as Skonieczny earned MAAC Goalkeeper of the Year, Jenny Bitzer won Defensive Player of the Year, and Brendan Lawler was named Coach of the Year.

Additionally, Modena and freshman Nicole Copping were named to the All-MAAC First Team along with Skonieczny, and Bitzer garnered Second Team honors.

The future continues to appear promising, as the Jaspers return three of their top four scorers next fall. (For more information, see the feature story on page 22).

Kristen Skonieczny ’16

Men’s Soccer THE MEN’S SOCCER TEAM, led by third-year head coach Jorden Scott, achieved an overall record of 4-11-2, including a 3-6-1 mark against MAAC opponents.

Manhattan played many opponents to extremely close battles, as the team concluded the season with a 1-3-2 mark in six matches that reached extra time.

The Jaspers earned their first win of the season on Sept. 30, when they defeated conference foe Marist, 1-0, at Gaelic Park. After dropping a double overtime contest to Saint Peter’s on Oct. 7, Manhattan earned a thrilling 1-0 victory over Niagara when senior co-captain Alex Shackley converted on a penalty in the 102nd minute of play.

Manhattan’s final regular season victory of the season came on Senior Day, when the squad upended Marist, 3-1, on Saturday, Oct. 24.

Shackley netted two goals in the win, including tallying the game-winning goal, a header off a cross, in the 41st minute. Senior Brandon Alvarado also recorded his first collegiate goal, an insurance marker in the 60th minute, to put the game out of reach.

The No. 9 seed in the MAAC Tournament, the Jaspers were paired with Saint Peter’s in the opening round. The two sides played a fairly even match through much of the 90 minutes before Shackley received a long ball over the top through traffic from freshman full back Dahrius Waldron. Shackley managed to muscle the ball into goal with seconds remaining in the match to propel the Jaspers to victory and

a quarterfinal meeting with top-seeded Monmouth the next afternoon.

After an admirable 90 minutes, a late free kick goal proved to be the difference, as Manhattan fell to the Hawks, 2-1, ending the season.

Shackley ended his final campaign as the team leader in goals (5) and points (10).

Waldron picked up a Abraham Bartoah ’16 team-high four assists.

Senior defender Abraham Bartoah was named to the First Team All-MAAC for his outstanding play both up top and along the Jaspers’ back line. He scored two goals and assisted on another during the season. Waldron was selected to the MAAC All-Rookie team. He served as one of the team’s primary free kick takers and played an integral role on both sides of the ball.

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SPORTS Patricia Colton ’17

IT WAS A SUCCESSFUL 2015-16 campaign for both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams. The women went 7-6 in dual meets for their first winning record in seven years, while the men’s squad finished with a 5-4 record. Each squad achieved Manhattan’s highest placement at the ECAC Winter Championships in program history, as well, with the men taking third and the women placing fourth, before earning a pair of eighth-place finishes at the MAAC Championships.

Leading the way for the men’s team at

Swimming and Diving the MAAC Championships was senior Lance Neuendorf. He placed ninth in the 200-yard backstroke after winning the consolation final with a time of 1:51.43. Also at the MAAC Championships, sophomore Brandon Shields set a school record in the 500-yard freestyle, finishing in 4:41.04. Junior Dylan Cooney, meanwhile, finished second in 1-meter diving at the ECAC Championships. He scored 356.80 points for his 11 dives to break the program record for the third time this season.

The women’s squad finished the MAAC Championships with 165 points, the most in program history. Sophomore Alexandra Hutzler set a school record in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:07.56) and freshman Kathryn Voitik established a new school mark in the 1,650-yard freestyle (17:58.93). She broke the record that had been set by fellow freshman Abie DeLisio a few weeks earlier at the ECAC Championships. DeLisio’s 1,000-yard split of 11:05.19 during that race was also a new

school record. Earlier in the season, Voitik swam the 500-yard freestyle in a school record-time of 5:21.94.

In addition, the Jaspers’ season-opening sweep of Marywood on Oct. 10 gave head coach Walter Olsewski 400 career wins. He retired at the end of the season after 19 years at the helm of the women’s program, including eight as head coach of both programs.

Both programs were once again recognized as Scholar All-America Teams by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America. It was the men’s teams 12th selection in the last 15 semesters, while the women earned the distinction for the 37th time in 38 semesters. Four men — juniors Rich Llewellyn, Mitchell Rifkind and Patrick Simonson, and sophomore Tyler McCloskey and two women — junior Patricia Colton and sophomore Alexandra Hutzler — were named to the MAAC All-Academic Team.

Indoor Track and Field AT THE 2016 MAAC Indoor Championships, the men’s track and field team finished second in the team standings, while the women tied for third.

Senior Blerim Pocesta and junior Marisa Robbins both took home Most Outstanding Performer for Field Events honors at the MAAC Indoor Championships for the second-straight year. Pocesta won the men’s weight throw (20.83 meters, 68’4¼”) and took third in the shot put (15.82 meters, 51’11”), while Robbins set a championship record of 3.82 meters (12’6¼”) in the women’s pole vault.

Other event winners at the MAAC Indoor Championships included freshman Ellinor Perrson in the women’s long jump, senior Bobby Gebhard in the men’s triple jump, and junior Hayden Clarke in the men’s long jump. Clarke then went on to win the gold medal in the long jump at the IC4A Indoor Championships, marking the 30th consecutive year in which Manhattan has had an IC4A champion.

Junior Stefan Hoeller also captured an individual IC4A title, taking first in the heptathlon. As a team, the Jaspers placed eighth at the IC4A Championships.

Meanwhile, at the women’s ECAC Championships, sophomore Charlene Pohl took sixth in the pentathlon with the third-best score in program history. In addition, the 4x800-meter relay squad of freshman Erin Spadaccini, sophomore Kelly Gorman, freshman Victoria Cruz and sophomore Kaitlyn Smith qualified for the final by running a school-record time of 9:00.88 in the preliminaries.

Manhattan also had a strong showing at the Metropolitan Indoor 28 N spring 2016

Championships. The men’s squad finished second, its 13th straight year placing third or higher. On the women’s side, the Jaspers’ thirdplace showing was their best since 2011.

Blerim Pocesta ’16 Pocesta concluded the season at the USATF Indoor Championships, making him the first active Jasper to compete at U.S. Nationals since 2004. He finished 14th in the weight throw with a best effort of 19.46 meters (63’10¼”).

The Jaspers turned in stellar performances throughout the season, earning a total of 11 MAAC Performer of the Week awards. Robbins was recognized three consecutive times (Jan. 19, Jan. 26, Feb. 2), while Pocesta claimed the award twice (Jan. 19, Feb. 16). Pohl, meanwhile, captured both MAAC and ECAC Performer of the Week honors on Feb. 9. Other Jaspers to receive MAAC Performer of the Week nods included Clarke (Dec. 8), freshman Jasmine Davis (Dec. 8), sophomore Gustave Menocal (Dec. 15), sophomore John Dove (Jan. 19) and sophomore Will Stallings (Feb. 9).

It was a successful season in the classroom for the Jaspers, as well. Manhattan placed 14 men and eight women on the MAAC All-Academic Team.

Men’s Basketball

WHILE THE MEN’S basketball team fell short of a third-straight MAAC Championship, the Jaspers still had a solid season despite being beset by injuries.

Led by fifth-year head coach Steve Masiello, Manhattan defeated Atlantic 10 representative George Mason, as well as MAAC regular season champion Monmouth.

Masiello also became just the fifth coach in school history to record at least 90 wins during the Jaspers’ victory at Marist.

Leading the charge was First Team All-MAAC selection Shane Richards ’16, who averaged a team-leading 17.2 points per game and was once again one of the top three-point shooters in the country.

Richards also became the fifth player in the MAAC to convert on at least 300 three pointers. He finished eighth in Manhattan College’s history with 1,472 points.

Fellow senior RaShawn Stores ’16 also had a solid season, averaging 7.9 points and 3.0 assists per game while making good on 41.9 percent on his three-point attempts. He, along with Richards, helped the

Jaspers to 71 wins during their time in Riverdale.

Also making a huge jump for Manhattan was junior Rich Williams ’17, who averaged 14.8 points and a team-best 6.0 rebounds each time out, while also improving his scoring (+9.3 ppg) and rebounding (4.5 rpg) from a year ago.

Williams and Tyler Wilson ’17, who finished among the MAAC leaders in assists (5.2 apg) and steals (1.5 spg), will headline the 10 returning Jaspers next season.

Shane Richards ’16

Women’s Basketball

Amani Tatum ’18

THE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM was one of the most improved squads in the nation in 2015-16. After winning just three games last year, the Jaspers recorded 15 victories this season, including 11 MAAC wins — their most since the 2011-12 campaign. Manhattan also tied for fourth place in the MAAC after posting a winning record in conference play for the first time in four seasons.

Sophomore Amani Tatum made an immediate impact during her first season in Riverdale. The James Madison transfer was

named MAAC Defensive Player of the Year after recording a school-record 101 steals, the fourth-highest total in the nation. Tatum had 11 steals, only one shy of the program and conference record, in a win over Saint Peter’s on Jan. 21. She also ranked sixth nationally with a conference-best 3.3 steals per game and led the Jaspers with 11.9 points per contest. Tatum was selected to the All-MAAC Second Team.

Fellow sophomore Kayla Grimme set a school record with 69 blocks, and, as a team, the Jaspers established a new program mark with 140 blocks. Grimme nearly had a triple-double in the team’s opening game at Fairleigh Dickinson, finishing with 11 points, 14 rebounds and seven blocks in the 85-78 win. She finished second in the league with 2.2 blocks per game and was Manhattan’s leading rebounder, averaging 7.8 boards per contest.

After starting MAAC play with a victory over Niagara, the Jaspers picked up a road win over defending conference champion Quinnipiac on Dec. 6. The 52-42 Manhattan triumph was Quinnipiac’s only home loss of the season. The Jaspers also won at perennial MAAC power Marist for the first time since 2003 on Feb. 8. That 65-59 victory over the Red

Foxes was the 500th win in program history.

In addition, Manhattan notched a 63-56 triumph over eventual MAAC champion Iona at Draddy Gymnasium on Jan. 18. The Jaspers trailed by nine entering the fourth quarter, but outscored the Gaels 23-7 in the final period to earn the victory, which started a threegame winning streak. Manhattan then beat Saint Peter’s in a contest that was broadcast on ESPN3 and followed up that victory with a 74-70 triumph at Rider, one of eight wins away from Draddy Gymnasium this season.

Entering the MAAC Tournament as the No. 6 seed, the Jaspers posted a 60-43 victory over Saint Peter’s in the first round. However, Manhattan’s season came to an end two days later with a 70-58 quarterfinal loss to third-seeded Marist.

Three Jaspers were recognized for their work in the classroom with selections to the MAAC All-Academic Team: Seniors Jacqui Thompson and Blake Underhill were honored, along with junior Maeve Parahus. In addition, senior Shayna Ericksen ended her career in ninth place on Manhattan’s all-time rebounding chart with 641 career boards.

MANHATTAN.EDU N 29

New York City has a way of dwarfing historic moments in the contiguous and contagious movement of its 8 million-plus inhabitants. But from Sept. 24-25, even the Big Apple couldn’t overshadow the arrival of Pope Francis, as thousands stopped their daily activities to hear a word from or catch a glimpse of His Holiness.

From faculty to students and alumni to administrators, the Manhattan College network was there to bear witness: in person, on campus and around the world.

1. Pope Francis Arrives in NYC

After arriving at New York City’s John F. Kennedy Airport at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 24, Pope Francis headed to midtown Manhattan for Vespers, an evening prayer service, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

2. Vespers at St. Patrick’s Cathedral

President Brennan O’Donnell and Brother Jack Curran ’80, FSC, vice president of mission, attended the service, and were honored to be among the crowd that greeted and prayed with Pope Francis on the first stop of his 36-hour tour of New York City.

“The atmosphere in the streets of downtown New York City, as well as inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral that evening, was similar to the festive and pleasant atmosphere that one senses on Christmas Eve in your own family, neighborhood and parish,” Br. Jack says.

“During the evening prayer with Pope Francis, it was palatable that, as we Lasallians often recall, we were in the Holy Presence of God,” he continues. “The way in which Pope Francis carries himself, seeing him within three feet of my own eyes, catching the glimmer in his eye, feeling as those around me also felt, that he was looking ‘right at me’ with that warm and affirming smile — yes, we were in the Holy Presence of God that evening in a most unique and intimate way.”

3. Pope and Pastry

On campus, Jaspers of all class years gathered to grab a bite and watch the telecast of Pope Francis as he addressed the United Nations General Assembly early on Sept. 25.

This was just one event organized by Campus Ministry and Social Action as part of Sustainable September — a month-long campaign to raise students’ awareness of social and environmental issues in the world today.

4. Interfaith Service at the 9/11 Memorial Museum

Behind the scenes of what were arguably the most touching moments of his U.S. visit were Christine Murphy ’12 and Courtney Slack ’14, staff members for the 9/11 Memorial Museum. It was an experience of a lifetime.

As he prayed with families of victims of the 9/11 attacks at New York City’s Ground Zero memorial and spoke at an interfaith service, Pope Francis offered faith in a place of fear.

Also attending the service on Friday was interfaith leader Mehnaz Afridi, Ph.D., assistant professor of religious studies and director of the College’s Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith Education Center.

The event served as a forum to connect with religious leaders and community organizers to discuss future challenges and opportunities. Afridi called the event “exquisite.”

5.Procession Through Central Park

Later that afternoon, some 80,000 people — several of which included Manhattan College students and alumni — who came from all walks of life braved the crowds for a single purpose: a possible glimpse of Pope Francis, also called Papa Francisco or the “people’s pope,” before he made his way to evening Mass at Madison Square Garden.

His “popemobile,” a white Jeep Wrangler ensconced in bulletproof glass, cruised from 72nd to 59th Street after a visit to Our Lady Queen of Angels School in East Harlem.

Fiona Dunn, a sophomore at Manhattan, was among the throng of lottery ticket winners who came to Central Park and was star-struck to be in the presence of His Holiness.

6. P apal Mass at Madison Square Garden

At 2 p.m., 40 students and College leaders arrived for the evening Papal Mass at Madison Square Garden to find a mile-long line stretching from 34th to 23rd Street, traveling from Seventh to Eighth Avenue, and ending in circuitous confusion. Rather than finding an outraged crowd, the Manhattan College cohort found themselves among an eager, smiling community who were thankful to be among the 20,000 ticketholders.

In his homily, Pope Francis emphasized points he made throughout his U.S. trip, and took the opportunity to discuss the virtues and failures of big cities, noting that they bring diversity and culture but also shun some individuals.

Delivering one of the prayers of the faithful was Tom Moran ’74, chairman and CEO of Mutual of America, who is well-known for his charitable work with groups such as Concern Worldwide.

DEVELOPMENT

Nearly $2 Million Raised for College’s Most Successful De La Salle Dinner $1.7 MILLION, 800 GUESTS. These were the totals for this year’s De La Salle Medal Dinner, the annual fundraising event that recognizes people and corporations that exemplify leadership and service to society, as well as principles of excellence. The first number refers to money raised to continue and grow many of the College’s programs; the second counts the number of supporters who gathered at the Waldorf Astoria on Jan. 21 to celebrate Manhattan’s accomplishments and toast many more.

In its near-40 year history, this De La Salle Medal Dinner was the biggest in size — both in the amount of proceeds and number of attendees. Never before has the College fielded as many contributions, which will be applied to student scholarships and financial aid, as well as other campus needs. The event’s success is due in large part to chairperson Thomas D. O’Malley ’63, executive chairman of PBF Energy Company LLC and former chairman of Manhattan College’s board of trustees.

Receiving the 2016 De La Salle Medal was Gary R. Heminger, who serves as president and CEO of the Marathon Petroleum Corporation. The honoree has held this position since 2011 but has been employed with the company since 1975, during which time he has served in various areas of its refining business, as well as in roles in marketing, auditing and commerce.

Heminger’s career at Marathon, which spans four decades and has been guided by a strong work ethic and dedication to his community, makes him a compelling role model for the College community’s younger members.

“We spend a lot of time in the northwest Bronx telling our students that their major task is to prepare themselves for the hard work of making a difference,” President Brennan O’Donnell, Ph.D., said in his address to dinner attendees.

“In honoring you and your distinguished record of achievement, we provide our community with a powerful example of excellence in that lifelong task.”

O’Malley, who presented Heminger with the De La Salle Medal, echoed similar sentiments about his accomplishments and character.

“Here you have a man who has worked his way up through [Marathon] over a long period of time, and has obviously emerged as a star,” he said. “He’s a guy who is characterized by hard work, honesty, clear intelligence and an ethical behavior, which, when you combine that with a great, caring family, provides the kind of leader that you need in a company of this size.”

Heminger’s résumé of achievements also includes an array of philanthropic efforts, which proves that making an impact doesn’t just relate to professional advances; it’s about living life according to a strong set of values.

“Respect for human dignity, faith and its relation to reason, an 38 N spring 2016

emphasis on ethical conduct, and a commitment to social justice.

These are principles that are important to our society today, not just for educational institutions, but also for all of us as individuals,” Heminger said, as he accepted the medal. “Speaking as one of the many leaders of business here tonight, I can say that these principles are important to the companies we lead.”

Mahamoud Diop ’17, an international studies major and the event’s student speaker, referenced the importance of giving back as a cornerstone of Manhattan’s Lasallian heritage. Standing at the podium, the first-generation student from West Africa shared a bit about the recent Lasallian Outreach Volunteer Experience (L.O.V.E.) trip he took to Haiti just weeks before the dinner. The two weeks he spent in that country were symbolic of his three years as a Jasper.

“I speak for the entire student body at Manhattan College when I say I am proud of what we have done, but I am even more excited about what we will accomplish with your generosity and unwavering support to this year’s De La Salle Dinner,” Diop said.

James Patterson ’69 Scholarships Remain on Best-Sellers List

History Major Invests in Her Future Thanks To Memorial Scholarship

BEST-SELLING AUTHOR James Patterson ’69 has awarded $110,000 in academic scholarships to Manhattan College, marking the fourth year in a row that a group of students will receive James Patterson Scholarships. Ten juniors and 10 seniors are scholarship recipients for the 2015-16 academic year.

Patterson began the scholarship program to recognize and reward academic achievement and leadership potential of Manhattan students, especially those who are interested in a career in education. The 20 students received the scholarships based on merit, need and involvement in activities related to the mission.

“My family is thrilled to continue supporting the education of a terrific group of Manhattan College Jaspers,” Patterson says. “We hope they continue to do great work in the classroom and lead exceptional lives after graduation.”

The scholarship program awards $5,000 to each of the 20 recipients. All seniors are eligible to apply to receive one of four additional $2,500 awards based on essay submissions.

OMING TO MANHATTAN COLLEGE was a huge investment, says history major Nina Torres ’17. She considers the Anna Bendernagel Memorial Scholarship, which is awarded to an upperclassman, one of the reasons she can afford to be a Jasper.

“The scholarship has been a big financial help for my family,” she says. “My brother and I are among the first to go to college for our family. The scholarship has really helped relieve some of the financial burden.”

The scholarship was founded in 2005 by James ’73 and Alicia Bendernagel to provide tuition assistance to women majoring in history who demonstrate financial need.

Torres’ growing knowledge of past events is coupled with an interest in her heritage, which she is exploring as a Japanese minor.

“My interests and concentrations are still developing, but growing up half Japanese has stemmed a fascination in East Asian studies,” Torres says. “I intend to master my Japanese and the Okinawan dialect in order to find out more of the little island that has a perplexing identity.”

Torres has visited her mother’s hometown of Itoman, Okinawa, annually.

She has already completed a research project on the subject and hopes to continue combining her interests to study Okinawa more closely.

This past summer, Torres made research her priority through the Lasallian Research Scholars, a new program offered by the

THE SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS INCLUDE: JUNIORS Rachel Gerard, philosophy (Carmel, N.Y.) Cathleen Giordano, mechanical engineering (Brooklyn, N.Y.) Goldie Gunawan, civil engineering (Endicott, N.Y.) Megan Heaney, special education/elementary education (New Hyde Park, N.Y.) Christopher Hoey, electrical engineering (Las Vegas, Nev.) Adriana Irizarry, biology (Bronx, N.Y.) Roman Kuzmiak, electrical engineering (Yonkers, N.Y.) Jenifer Martin, English (Bronx, N.Y.) Klaudia Maslowska, special education/elementary education (Hampton Bays, N.Y.) Amy Oliva, elementary education (Flushing, N.Y.) SENIORS Adele Foster, English (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) Celena Gonzalez, history (Bronx, N.Y.) Kaitlin Hargaden, elementary education (Selden, N.Y.) Paige Hughes, urban studies (Ticonderoga, N.Y.) Kaitlin Lang, civil engineering (Breezy Point, N.Y.) Nicole Moore, communication (Bloomingdale, Ill.) Kelly Paulemon, marketing (Bronx, N.Y.) Marissa Piazza, chemical engineering (Fair Lawn, N.J.) Valerie Scarinci, chemical engineering (Staten Island, N.Y.) Nimra Shabbir, English and philosophy (Richmond Hill, N.Y.)

C

College to increase the number of students working on projects in Lasallian-focused areas. She studied cultural changes in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan and focused on how different immigrant groups assimilated and migrated in and out of the neighborhood. Torres said her research, which included interviewing a number of residents, focused on how the latest immigration move is changing Washington Heights.

And Torres has an insider’s view into Washington Heights, as a current resident, though she grew up in Cedar Grove, N.J. One of the main reasons why she chose Manhattan College was because of its size.

“Personally, the small size really makes people like me more comfortable,” she says.

Torres also points to the relationships students have with their professors, noting hers with Jeff Horn, Ph.D., professor of history, who served as her research mentor this past summer.

“Dr. Jeff Horn has been really influential in offering and pointing out opportunities that I think I would otherwise miss,” she says. “He was the one to suggest I apply for a summer research program. That opportunity has since expanded into a larger experience that allowed me to participate in a new research program and attend and present at the International Lasallian Research Symposium.”

In the future, Torres plans to continue her studies in history at the graduate level, and to find an internship for this summer.

ALUMNI

An Alumni L.O.V.E. Story Begins in NOLA

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OR STUDENTS participating in one of the College’s Lasallian Outreach Volunteer Experience (L.O.V.E.) trips, the experiences are often so influential on their lives, professions and overall outlooks, that they look for ways to become further involved after returning to campus and, for many, even after graduating.

For Kerry Hynes ’12, ’13 (M.S.) and Rachel Swartz ’12 (who is also working toward her master’s at the College), this was especially true. The two education alumni were asking themselves, why does this type of experience have to end just because we have diplomas?

“While attending Manhattan College, there were so many opportunities that were available that allowed us to volunteer and live out the Lasallian values that were taught to us through classes, clubs and interactions with the amazing members of the Manhattan College community,” Hynes says. “After graduating, those values still were such a vibrant part of who we are, but the opportunities to volunteer were not as accessible even though the desire to assist others was strong.”

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So the pair discussed the idea of doing their own version of a L.O.V.E. trip with some friends, but they remembered that one of the best parts of the experience was meeting other people with whom they might never have crossed paths. They then reached out to the College’s Campus Ministry and Social Action office, who put them in touch with the Alumni Relations office, who subsequently helped to get the idea off the ground, and the first-ever alumni L.O.V.E. trip was launched.

This past August, a group of 10 alumnae volunteers worked with Project Homecoming, a faith-based organization that continues to rebuild houses destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and with whom the College currently partners for its annual L.O.V.E. trip.

Hynes and Swartz independently spearheaded the whole program, modeling it after their own experiences as student participants. Hynes had participated in a L.O.V.E. trip to New Orleans, and the pair thought it was a good starter location for their inaugural alumni trip. For one, the College has had a long history of volunteering in the Big Easy,

but the timing of the trip was also significant.

“It meant a great deal to go down to New Orleans in August, being that it was the 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina,” Hynes says. “Although it has been 10 years, and areas within the city are thriving, the number of people who are still trying to get back home is immense. In fact, we learned that now is the time that they really need volunteers because not only do people believe that enough time has passed that help isn’t as strongly needed, but also funding to rebuild is only now going through for some families.”

The warmth of the people and culture was a big draw for them, too, though, so they just knew that the trip would be a life-changing experience for everyone involved.

“One thing Kerry and I both knew when planning the trip was that the spirit of New Orleans natives is unlike any other throughout the world; their ability to bounce back with positivity, passion, dedication and caring for others goes to show both their sheer resilience and undying love for their hometown,” says Swartz, who participated in L.O.V.E. Texas, New Mexico and Dominican Republic. “We knew bringing a group here to help rebuild homes and hear survivors’ stories would be life changing for us all, and open our eyes to the true beauty that

lies within each and every resident of New Orleans.”

Much like the student experience, there were monthly meetings prior to the trip for the team members to get to know one another, discuss the trip, and learn about the culture of New Orleans. The group enjoyed connecting with each other and the community as a whole, while the leaders also enjoyed working toward a common goal and rekindling the love they felt on their first trips.

“Putting together an alumni L.O.V.E. trip was a way to return to our Jasper roots and continue to grow and help others through a community that has inspired so many of us to live our lives more fully,” Hynes says.

As for Alumni Relations, they were happy to help the group with advertising, fundraising and facilitating the trip.

“It’s so great to see the desire of our alumni to continue to serve and make a difference, particularly after having been affected by their own student service experiences through the L.O.V.E. program,” says Tom McCarthy ’06, director of alumni relations.

“This trip wouldn’t have happened without Kerry and Rachel’s leadership, and we hope to replicate their hard work with future groups.”

Alumni and friends who are interested in future volunteer experiences or becoming involved with service opportunities through the College are encouraged to contact the Alumni Relations office.

“It’s nice to think that we are now all connected by this invisible thread that binds us together because of something so simple yet so strong,” Hynes says. “It was nice to reconnect with and meet other Jaspers who wanted to continue to develop and grow through the L.O.V.E. program. Our hope is that this trip will inspire other Jaspers to keep up the desire to reach out, and spread the values that have been instilled in all of us through our experiences at Manhattan College. Hopefully L.O.V.E. Alumni is just the beginning!”

(Opposite page) For the first-ever L.O.V.E. trip created for alumni, a group of Jaspers headed down to New Orleans to join Project Homecoming in rebuilding houses destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Spearheaded by two alumnae who particpated in L.O.V.E. trips as undergrads, the experience offered volunteers a chance to rekindle their Lasallian values, and reconnect with other alums.

FROM THE COLLEGE’S ARCHIVES

Whatever Happened to … the Angelus Bells

T

HE NEXT TIME you are walking across the Quadrangle at midday, pause for a moment or two. Bow your head, close your eyes, maybe say a quiet prayer or meditation, and listen for the carillon of the bell.

At 12:15 p.m. and 6 p.m. each day, the Chapel of De La Salle and His Brothers’ bell tolls slowly nine times, reminding everyone within earshot of Manhattan College’s proud Catholic tradition.

The daily observance of the Angelus is one of Manhattan’s oldest devotional practices. Three times a day — morning, noon and night — as the Angelus intoned, all members of the College community would stop to pray, with bowed heads, silently reciting Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ (The Angel of the Lord Declared unto Mary) and Ave Maria. The Catholic custom dates back to the 13th century and honors the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the aged tradition, “When I ring thrice, thrice devoutly greet the Mother of Christ.”

For Manhattan, the practice began when the school was founded in 1853.

In fact, the College’s original Angelus bell, which was cast in 1854 and installed in the belfry of “old” Manhattan College located at 131st Street and Broadway, is currently on display in the entryway of Memorial Hall. When the College moved to its present site in Riverdale in 1923, the bell was relocated to an attic until 1936, when the daily call to prayer was revived. At the suggestion of Brother Angelus Gabriel, FSC, and the financial assistance of Alpha Sigma Beta fraternity, the bell was installed on the right clerestory of the chapel.

The carillon of the Angelus bells began tolling morning, noon and night, calling all to prayerful silence again. During the renovation of the Chapel of De La Salle and His Brothers in the 1940s, a new bell was installed in the belfry, and Manhattan’s original Angelus bell was permanently silenced. The daily Angelus pause continued until the late 1960s, when most devotional practices around campus ceased. The bell began to toll again for a brief period in the 1990s and then permanently after Sept. 11.

Today, the sounds of the bells summon us together daily as a community and remind us that we are in the holy presence of God.

MANHATTAN.EDU N 41

ALUMNI

Hall of Fame Inducts New Athletic Achievers

O

N SATURDAY, Nov. 7, eight former Manhattan College student-athletes were inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame, and two of the College’s most memorable teams received special recognition at the 37th annual ceremony.

The 2015 Athletic Hall of Fame honorees are: Karen Chevolleau ’92 (women’s track and field); Christer Hagberg ’98 (men’s track and field); Stephen Herishen ’95 (wrestling); Siobhan Kilkenny ’03 (women’s basketball); Joseph Maguire ’74 (men’s swimming and diving); Martin Redmond ’87 (men’s cross country/track and field); Luka Van Cauteren ’04 (volleyball); Russ Williams ’92 (men’s basketball); the 1982 football team; and the 2002 volleyball team.

Chevolleau is the College’s first female runner to qualify for the NCAA Championships, where she reached the semifinals of the 55-meter hurdles at the 1993 NCAA Indoor Championships as a graduate student in her final year of eligibility. She set seven school records during her time as a Jasper, including three marks that still stand today.

A three-time All-American, Hagberg is another standout field performer in a long line of Jasper greats. He was seventh in the discus at the 1997 NCAA Outdoor Championships, becoming an All-American for the first time in his career. He followed that by gaining AllAmerican honors in the weight throw at the 1998 NCAA Indoor

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Championships and again at the 1998 NCAA Outdoor Championships, where he finished fourth in the discus.

One of the greatest wrestlers in the history of the program, Herishen is the only Jasper to earn a victory at the NCAA Championships. In 1995, he scored the biggest upset of the national tournament, defeating two-time All-American Lindsay Durlacher from Illinois to advance to the round of 16. A two-time All-New York State wrestler, he won 76 bouts as a Jasper, including 19 pins.

A terrific all-around player, Kilkenny earned MAAC Tournament Most Valuable Player honors to lead the women’s basketball team to the 2003 MAAC title and its most recent NCAA Tournament berth. A former member of Ireland’s national team, Kilkenny capped her college career with 959 points, 448 rebounds, 232 assists and 201 steals.

During his time in Riverdale, Maguire set six school records and six Metropolitan Conference records in the pool. Named the conference’s most valuable swimmer in 1973, he led the Jaspers to the conference title that season, a year after setting the school record in points scored at the conference championship. After graduation, Maguire served as a Navy SEAL for 34 years and earned the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, the highest award given by the U.S. intelligence community.

A four-time Metropolitan champion, Redmond won titles in the 1,500, 3,000 and 5,000 meter races. He placed fourth, earning All-American honors in the 3,000 meters at the 1986 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships and also competed in the 5,000 meters at the 1987 NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Redmond still holds school records in the indoor 3,000 meters, outdoor 5,000 meters and outdoor distance medley relay.

When Van Cauteren transferred to Manhattan in 2002, it was a transformational moment for the Jaspers’ volleyball team. In her two years in Riverdale, she led Manhattan to two MAAC Championships, including the first conference title in program history. In those two years, she was also named the conference’s player of the year.

Her 610 kills and 4.84 kills per set during the 2003 season remain program records.

One of the catalysts behind the men’s basketball program’s two NCAA Tournament appearances in the 1990s, Williams was the leader of the 1991-92 squad that won 25 games, establishing

(Opposite page) The 2015 Athletic Hall of Fame inducted eight new members in November: Joseph Maguire ’74 (men’s swimming and diving); Christer Hagberg ’98 (men’s track and field); Siobhan Kilkenny ’03 (women’s basketball); teammate Krista Thorsen-Campbell ’05 and father Erik Van Cauteren accepted for Luka Van Cauteren ’04 (volleyball); Stephen Herishen ’95 (wrestling); Russ Williams ’92 (men’s basketball); and Karen Chevolleau ’92 (women’s track and field). The 1982 football team and the 2002 volleyball team also received special recognition at the ceremony.

a new school record. That season, the Jaspers captured their first MAAC regular season title and advanced to the National Invitation Tournament quarterfinals. Williams is one of 36 players to score more than 1,000 points as a Jasper.

Bolstered by four All-Americans and 10 All-Conference performers, the 1982 football team was one of the finest collections of Jaspers to step on the gridiron. That season, Manhattan won eight of 10 games, won the Mid-Atlantic Conference and advanced to the National Club Football Association title game.

The 2002 volleyball team won its first MAAC championship in style, posting a 30-4 record on its way to the first of two straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament. After losing its season opener, Manhattan won 22 straight matches during the span of two months.

The school record of 30 victories still stands, and the Jaspers’ .882 winning percentage was the ninth best mark in the NCAA that season.

Regional Chapter Spotlight: California ONE GREAT WAY FOR JASPERS TO STAY connected to Riverdale is by participating in the various events and programs offered through the College’s regional chapters.

With much to say about campus initiatives and future projects at Manhattan, President Brennan O’Donnell accompanied the Alumni Relations office in November on a tour of California to meet with the West Coast alumni community.

The presidential junket kicked off with brunch at Original Joe’s in San Francisco on Sunday, Nov. 15 and included a men’s basketball game on Monday at cross-country rival Saint Mary’s College in Moraga. Fans were able to learn the latest news about their alma mater during a pregame reception that also featured a visit by men’s basketball coach Steve Masiello. Afterward, the presidential and alumni detail headed south to join evening receptions for alumni, parents, families and friends in a host of cities, including Los

Angeles, Irvine and La Jolla.

“We were excited to hear President Brennan O’Donnell’s ‘State of the Union’ address on Manhattan’s present and future plans,” Steven Burchik ’67 says. “He also brought along the Manhattan basketball team, and it was a glorious green and white weekend for ‘Left Coast’ alums who appreciated the personal, face-to-face contact with our Riverdale cousins.”

The College’s regional alumni chapters help to maintain the lifelong connection between Manhattan and its extended community of Jaspers. With more than 30 established groups across the country, we hope alumni and friends take advantage of the next event in their area and become more involved by volunteering as a representative. For more information and a full events calendar, visit manhattan.edu/alumni.

President Brennan O’Donnell provides an update to alumni at the Waterfront Restaurant in San Francisco during a November tour through California to meet with West Coast Jaspers.

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ALUMNOTES 1952

John Nason and his wife enjoyed a 30-day cruise from Venice to Singapore, through the Suez Canal, Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, with many ports of call en route. He writes, “Our outbound flight from JFK to Venice across the Atlantic and return flights from Singapore to JFK via the Pacific made this a true around-the-world package. Old rockin’ chair ain’t got me yet!”

1955

Terence Curran, a professor emeritus at Siena College, is retired. He recently completed a term as president of the Shaker Heritage Society.

1956

Charles Dorchak reports, “I’m a cancer survivor! Thank the Lord.”

Lt. Col. Harold L. Evans recently returned from a 57-day cruise to and around Australia.

1957

Bill Steponkus walked his daughter Sally down the aisle of Holy Trinity Church in Washington, D.C., on May 30 at her wedding to Thomas J. Roche. Presiding over the ceremony was his classmate, The Rev. Phil Sandstom, who also married Bill and his wife, Elizabeth, on May 24, 1975. Sandstom flew all the way from Brussels to do the honors. Two other members of the class of ’57 were present, just as they were for Bill’s wedding — Andy Kavanaugh and Pat Garvey.

1958

Donagh Braken, publisher of History Publishing Company (HPC), crafted the text for The Statue of Liberty, an illustrated history book for children. HPC is acting as distributor for Libby’s Books LLC, a new company focusing on the monuments and historical places in the United States.

Thomas Concannon joined RedHawk Holdings Corp. as its executive vice president and chief operating officer.

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1959

George Tamaro was awarded Engineering News-Record New York’s Legacy Award in November for advancing slurry-wall construction and foundation design. During his 50-plus-year career, he has become one of construction’s most accomplished foundation engineer and geotechnical building experts.

Robert F. Sheil, J.D., is a human resources manager for Talbert House in Cincinnati, Ohio. The largest nonprofit agency in Southern Ohio, Talbert House is focused on the prevention and treatment of substance abuse with the goal of improving social behavior and enhancing personal recovery and growth.

1960

1965

The Rev. Msgr. Peter Finn celebrated his Golden Jubilee celebration — his 50th anniversary of priesthood — on Sept. 13.

The North Shore native served as pastor of Blessed Sacrament for the past eight years.

He was ordained in 1965 after completing studies at St. Joseph’s Seminary and College in Yonkers, N.Y. “This day is about our journey together,” he told parishioners in his homily.

“I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

1961

Charles Thornton, Ph.D., P.E., founder of the ACE (Architecture, Construction, Engineering) Mentor Program of America, was honored at an October luncheon celebrating the program’s 20th anniversary. After two decades of growth, $12-plus million in scholarship awards, and 40,000-plus students who were provided with opportunities to prepare for college and beyond, ACE continues to expand.

1963

Raymond Kelly, Esq., joined corporate investigations firm K2 Intelligence as vice chairman. He is helping with strategy, crisis management and counseling executives.

Henry Petroski published The House with Sixteen Handmade Doors (W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 2014), which explores the craftsmanship and history of a charming retreat he and his wife purchased on the coast of Maine. Petroski is a professor of engineering and history at Duke University and the author of 17 books. He lives with his wife, Catherine, a photographer and fellow writer, in Durham, N.C., and Arrowsic, Maine.

The book is available on Amazon.com.

Franklin Ciofalo retired from his role as pharmacist at Brooklyn VA Hospital in July.

John McCarthy, M.D., visited with Steve Burchik ’67 in California on his way to see his daughter Kim and her four children in Los Gatos. He reports, “Steve is so incredibly generous in sharing his Vietnam photos at his photo exhibit in Martinez and then taking us to his yacht club in Berkeley.”

1966

John Finn, Ph.D., writes, “Finally retired after 20 years as a college professor in psychology and marketing departments, sandwiched by 24 years in consumer products companies — a great ride!”

1967

Dennis Burns is now board chairman of Common Cause North Carolina, an advocacy network dedicated to strengthening democracy and making government more accountable.

1968

Kenneth Lanfear is now serving on the Fairfax County Environmental Quality Advisory Council.

Richard Prezioso reports that he and a Manhattan contingent headed out to Canton, Ohio, in August to see former coach Bill Polian get inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Polian was one of the football coaches during the return of football at Manhattan in 1965. After two seasons with the Jaspers, Polian went on to build the Buffalo Bills into Super Bowl contenders, and most notably, constructed the Indianapolis Colts franchise, drafting Peyton

JASPER BOOKSHELF The Honorable Raymond W. Kelly ’63 recently penned The New York Times best-seller Vigilance: My Life Serving America and Protecting Its Empire City (Hachette Books, 2015).

In his memoir, the two-time New York City police commissioner opens up about his remarkable life, taking us inside 50 years of law enforcement leadership, offering chilling stories of terrorist plots after 9/11, and sharing his candid insights into the challenges and controversies cops face today.

Robert E. Murphy ’70 wrote his fourth book The Three Graces of Raymond Street (SUNY Press, 2015), a compelling story about three murders in Brooklyn between 1872 and 1873 and the young women charged with the crimes. He is the author of Brooklyn Union: A Centennial History and After Many a Summer: The Passing of the Giants and Dodgers and a Golden Age in New York Baseball.

James B. Murphy ’79 published Becoming the Beach Boys 1961-1963 (McFarland, 2015), which tells the true story of how the band formed and went on to become one of America’s most popular rock groups. Drawing on original interviews and newly uncovered documents, this book untangles the band’s convoluted early history and tells the story of how five boys from California formed America’s greatest rock ’n’ roll band. Murphy is a companion animal veterinarian in Washington, D.C. (To read more about him, see his profile on Manhattan.edu.)

Manning, among others, and to win Super Bowl XLI. Prezioso was joined by fellow Jaspers Roger Freda ’67, Sean O’Keefe ’69, Tony Pinkey ’67 and Bob Byrnes.

Alexander Pavlista, a longtime potato specialist and crop physiologist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Panhandle Research and Extension Center, was awarded the Honorary Life Membership by the Potato Association of America (PAA) for lifetime achievement and impact on the potato industry. It is the highest honor given by PAA.

1969

Thomas Alberto writes, “Finally retired.

Currently serving as a board member of ArchCare (Catholic Health Services of New York).”

John Addeo, CPA, founder of three national insurance brokerage companies, joined the Worldwide Facilities LLC Board of Directors.

“I have spent over 40 years in the insurance brokerage space, and am looking forward to leveraging that experience to assist [CEO] David Moore and his management team in building and expanding this leading wholesale operation, both organically and externally through acquisition,” he said in a recent press release.

John Loase had his 12th book, Statistical Modeling with SPSS, published on COMAP. com, the Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications’ free online resource for students and faculty. In February, he was interviewed on The Advocates from Orlando, Fla., by host Richard Garfunkel on his recently released book, The Power of Uncertainty: A Case for the Liberal Arts. Loase is completing his 14th year as professor and chair of mathematics at Concordia College. He thanks the extraordinary math education he received at Manhattan and the model for service of the Christian Brothers.

1970

Michael Cunningham, founding partner of Iseman, Cunningham, Riester & Hyde LLP, was named a 2015 Super Lawyer. Cunningham was selected for personal injury, plaintiff, business and environmental litigation practice areas. Super Lawyers, part of Thomson Reuters, is a research-driven, peer influenced rating service of lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.

1971

Col. John A. Keenan, USMC, retired from the Marine Corps after 30 years of service. In addition to his role as editor of the Marine Corps Gazette, highlights of his career include commanding Marine Corps Security Forces Company, Naples, Italy; 1st Battalion, Seventh Marine Regiment; and Third Marine Regiment. He also served as an instructor at the U. S. Naval Academy and as the director of Amphibious Warfare School.

Dante Torrese is in his 39th year as assistant professor of dentistry at Columbia University College of Dental Medicine. He retired from practice in 2014.

1972

Michael Fescoe, CPA, was named vice president of finance and administration on Jan. 4. Fescoe’s experience is a combination of banking, privately and publicly held companies, and higher education.

Thomas Walzer says “Hello to all my fellow alumni, class of 1972! I retired from the FBI. Give me a call in Florida.”

1974

Gabriele D’Alleva retired from ExxonMobil after 39 years.

Thomas Moran was featured in the 30th Annual Irish America Business 100 for his role as president and CEO of Mutual of America.

The annual magazine feature recognizes the phenomenal success of the Irish in corporate America.

Phil Pulaski, former NYPD chief of detectives, was appointed chief of the Muttontown, N.Y., Police Department.

1975

Bill Kirchner, renowned Renaissance man of jazz, plays soprano saxophone on a twoCD album, An Evening of Indigos, that was released in October. Recorded on Oct. 7, 2014 at a concert at New York’s New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, where Kirchner has taught for the past 25 years, the album presents the quartet in a set of Kirchner’s compositions and six standards.

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From Hip-Hop Kid to Outreach Group Executive VIBRATIONS OF HIP-HOP pulsated the East Bronx streets where Paul La Salle ’02 grew up. It was there he first heard Afrika Bambaataa, an artist widely credited for pioneering the genre, and whose electrobeats in the early 1980s sparked a passion that the alumnus would carry throughout his career. La Salle was six years old when he bought Bambaataa’s first album, which delivered sounds much different than the salsa and Motown his mother listened to. From there, he was witness to the evolution of hip-hop.

After attempting to rap and break dance in his teen years, La Salle finally found his niche as an adult. He’s now chief development officer of Windows of Hip Hop (WoHH), an organization founded in 2011 that educates students in nearby middle and high schools on a music history that’s native to New York City’s northernmost borough. To achieve this, he and other organizers of the economic development project — many of whom are local artists — brainstorm ways of showing urban teens how they can translate their own love of hiphop into ways of finding peace, love, unity and safe fun.

And WoHH’s Bronx location is the perfect place to launch this type of outreach program, says La Salle, a native of its Mount Eden neighborhood, because it’s home to the people who are vested in its success. They’re committed to success of the music industry.

“These talents, skills and abilities make the potential of our project grow exponentially,” he says.

La Salle fine-tuned his own skills at Manhattan College, where he majored in business. The determined Bronx native fondly looks

James McNally, Ph.D., is director of strategic development for Applied Technology Associates and chairman of the New Mexico Optics Industry Association.

Christopher Ross says, “Color me green!” He is now COO of Green Flash Brewing Company in San Diego, Calif., and soon to be in Virginia Beach, Va.

1976

Robert Cuccinello’s daughter, Kelly ’16, was inducted into Epsilon Sigma Pi at Manhattan College.

Janet Kleinman wrote, Goodbye Russia, Hello America (iUniverse, 2015), which recounts the saga of an immigrant family that arrived in America during the Roaring ’20s. This is Kleinman’s second full-length novel. Prior to her retirement to Florida, she wrote collateral materials for Fortune 500 companies and interviewed prominent Americans for the South Florida Times and the Canadian/international edition of Lifestyles.

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back on his time at the College because of the professors who saw his desire to achieve and were understanding of his busy schedule, when he had a full-time job and was a full-time student. Using what he learned in the classroom and gleaned from his environment, La Salle, through his work at WoHH, is teaching young people about the rhythms he’s been moving to for more than three decades.

“It’s the soundtrack to my life,” he says.

Robert Rupnick, D.C., received the Pope John XXIII Award from the Diocese of Rockville Center, N.Y., for his 25 years of teaching faith formation at Christ the King parish in Commack, N.Y.

firm HDR as vice president and northeast region transportation director based in New York City. HDR is an international company that specializes in engineering, architecture, environmental and construction services.

1978

1981

Natalina Marano is chemistry department chair at St. Lawrence University. “I just spent a summer doing research with a St. Lawrence student at the University of Genoa,” she writes.

Kurt Metzler is living in Allentown, Pa., and is expecting his fourth grandchild in March.

Anthony Venturino, Esq., joined Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP as a partner in the Washington, D.C., office. He brings with him nearly 30 years of experience in patent law.

1979

Peter Zipf, former chief engineer of The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and a 30-year agency veteran, joined Omaha design

Jeff Babka joined NOMi, the in-store marketing and analytics provider, as chief financial officer.

Matthew Gentile started a management consulting firm in 2014. He provides CFO and project control services to the engineering and construction industry.

Philip Gormley was selected as this year’s recipient of the James A. and Marian M. Shea Community Service Award by the Rye City Lions Club. He was honored at the club’s Charter Night Gala Dinner in November. The award was established in 2003 to recognize an individual who lives or works in the Rye community, who has contributed to enhancing the lives of its citizens by volunteering

services of an outstanding nature.

Robert Rodgers, CPA, has been an associate information officer in the financial systems area of a major financial services firm for the past nine and a half years. He still referees soccer on Staten Island. He and his wife, Mary Pat (Walsh) ’82, have three children, Kate (23), Kevin (21) and Kerry Anne (18).

“When the youngest two are away at college, we are empty-nesters,” he writes.

1982

Daniel Murphy, managing director at Scotiabank, was named one of Irish America’s Annual Wall Street 50, celebrating the Irish in the financial industry. In addition to serving as a member of the bank’s U.S. Executive Committee and the Scotia Capital USA board of directors, he volunteers for Hudson County CASA as a court-appointed special advocate for neglected and abused children.

1983

James Furlong was appointed head of Americas and member of the group executive committee of the Belimo Group.

John Genn III joined the Hudson Valley team at Tompkins Trust Company as senior trust officer. He has nearly 30 years of trust administration experience and previously managed the trust departments for Bank of Millbrook and Valley National Bank.

Michael Jacobs is chief product officer for Keurig Green Mountain.

1985

John Banks III was featured in the Oct. 2 edition of The Wall Street Journal for his new role as president of the Real Estate Board of New York. The article presented his down-toearth approach and political adeptness as the keys to getting the job.

Michael Collins was selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2016, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession. He is a senior counsel for Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC in New York, and represents management in all aspects of labor and employment law, including litigation, trials and appeals in federal and state courts, charges and hearings before federal and state agencies and at arbitration.

John Desmarais, J.D., was appointed to the board of directors for BioRestorative Therapies, Inc., a life sciences company focused on stem cell-based therapies.

Jean Spence was elected as chair of the

Clarkson University board of trustees. She recently retired from her role as executive vice president of research and development and quality for Mondel z International Inc., one of the world’s largest snack companies. She currently consults for several organizations as president of JES Consulting, LLC.

1986

John Butler was appointed as new independent director to Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Inc.’s board of directors pursuant to the company’s financing transaction with The Baupost Group, L.L.C. John Fossaceca earned a Ph.D. in systems engineering from George Washington University. His dissertation was entitled, “Application of a Novel Multiple Kernel Learning Framework for Improving the Robustness of Network Intrusion Detection.” He is currently the vice president for technology and product management for Ultra Electronics, 3eTI and resides in Maryland with his wife of 29 years, Donna, who is also a graduate of Manhattan College.

Andrew Jeselson is now an engineer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

1987

Andrew Gyves was recently promoted to vice president, New York sales, for Screenvision.

He started at Screenvision in 2015 as a senior director, national accounts. Prior to joining the company, he spent more than 23 years at CNN, most recently as vice president of sales.

1989

Francis Koch, P.E., is the new superintendent of South Farmingdale Water District.

1991

Annette Hammond is the new superintendent of Gilbertsville-Mount Upton Central School in New York. She came to the district in 2009, where she served as an administrator, including principal for eight years. “We want to ensure that every student has the opportunity to graduate with a wealth of experiences, knowledge and prospect regardless of the career path they choose,” she said in a statement.

Suzanne Sullivan was recognized by New York State Assemblyman Brian Curran at his annual Women of Distinction event, which is held to recognize women from the community who have gone above and beyond the call of civic engagement and outreach to make Nassau County a better place.

1992

Michael Fahey was appointed principal of financial services and legal and regulatory practices for the board and executive search firm RSR Partners.

Michael Martin, P.E., formerly vice president and principal engineer for Marine Design Dynamics, Inc., is the new assistant professor of electrical engineering at Webb Institute in Glen Cove, N.Y. Maribeth (Carletta) Widas is a boardcertified, licensed physician assistant at the Orange Regional Medical Group’s newly established urology department in Middletown, N.Y. Beate Wright joined The Water Research Foundation (WRF), a leading sponsor of research supporting the water community, as executive director of WRF’s Washington, D.C., office. He will contribute to the strategic direction of WRF as part of the senior management team and director of subscribers’ services and communications and marketing, and manage the organization’s engagement with various federal agencies.

1993

Thomas Grech is the new executive director of the Queens Chamber of Commerce in New York. “As the most diverse borough in the world, each community has its specific needs,” he said in an interview with the Queens Tribune. “I am looking forward to working with the leaders in those communities and our members, to help ensure the borough’s economy continues to grow.”

1994

Colleen (Walsh) Arnold was promoted to deputy COO of Aqua America, Inc. After joining Aqua, one of the largest U.S.-based, publicly traded water utilities in 2007 as manager of treatment and water quality, she left the company two years later to pursue the position of assistant director of the City of Wilmington’s water division. She returned to Aqua in her most recent position as manager of water quality and environmental compliance in 2013.

1995

Jerry McKinstry was named new managing director of the November Team, a leading New York political and corporate communications firm.

1997

Lucia Chiocchio is a partner at Cuddy & Feder LLP.

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2000

Gina Callender was promoted to general manager of substation planning at Con Edison in January 2015.

2001

Patrick Oehler joined The Poughkeepsie Journal as a photographer and videographer.

2003

Arthur Alzamora Jr., was named to Engineer News-Record New York’s Top 20 Under 40 young professionals who are making a industry impact in their developing careers.

He is currently senior project manager, supervising a team of more than 30 engineers at Langan Engineering & Environmental Services. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Manhattan and a board member of the Alliance for Lupus Research.

2004

John Easterbrook was awarded a Ph.D. in English and American literature from New York University in September 2015, and recently accepted the position of assistant professor of English (tenure-track) at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, effective in fall 2016.

John Grillo and Megan Solin welcomed their second son, Nicholas Grillo, into the world on Sept. 8, 2015. Nicholas joins his big brother, Jack, age 2.

Thomas McNeil is Brooklyn general manager for Car2go, a new car-sharing service that launched in Brooklyn last October and is expanding into Long Island City and the rest of western Queens. He was recently quoted in the August 2015 edition of Crain’s New York Business in an article, “Little car, big idea.”

2005

Nicole Cividanes, DMD, is currently practicing in Brewer, Maine, and she recently began offering an advanced form of laser surgery for the treatment of gum disease.

Mary (Dudek) Serre is an instructor at Edge Pilates Studio in Duluth, Minn. She recently completed her functional anatomy and Stott Pilates Intensive Reformer certification, along with her current Balance Body Mat certification. She is the women’s club lacrosse coach at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Konstantine Rountos accepted a full-time tenure track assistant professor position at St. Joseph’s College in Patchogue, N.Y.

2006

George Aspras was promoted to associate at Collado Engineering. He previously served as a senior electrical engineer and project manager, and has been a key contributor to the company’s success.

New National Academy of Construction Inductees WITH ENGINEERING ALUMNI recognized all across the globe, it isn’t surprising that Jaspers grace the ranks of the industry’s most distinguished academies. The College can now boast two more members of the prestigious National Academy of Construction (NAC): Thomas Scarangello ’79, chairman and CEO of Thornton Tomasetti, and Tom Farrell ’63, director at Tishman Speyer. Elected to the class of 2015, the two were selected as part of 26 inductees from more than 250 industry leaders, and join an elite group of some 200 members — seven of which are Manhattan graduates.

Scarangello has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Manhattan and a professional engineering mechanics degree from the Ph.D. program at Columbia University. With more than 35 years of experience in the structural engineering of a wide variety of building types, from long-span sports and entertainment arenas and stadiums to high-rise commercial and mixed-use buildings, he has served as CEO since 2008.

Under his leadership, Thornton Tomasetti has delivered an expansive range of services, from the engineering of Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Tower, which will become the world’s tallest building, to resiliency work related to Superstorm Sandy and structural, façade and construction engineering at Hudson Yards. Scarangello is a Registered Professional Engineer in 27 states, the District of Columbia, and Alberta and Ontario,

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Canada; chairman of the New York Building Congress; and trustee of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.

Farrell earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Manhattan College. For some five decades, he has worked around the world bringing major buildings to fruition. In 1995, he joined Tishman Speyer and has played a lead role in several New York City projects. This follows international assignments in London for the Canary Wharf Phase Two project and in Mexico City for the Santa Fe project. While in Brazil, Farrell’s work on the Torre Norte project brought significant changes to the Brazilian approach to project development.

Involved in iconic projects across the globe, Farrell was integral to Nike’s Asia headquarters in Shanghai, the WaveRock project in Hyderabad, India, and the Opernturm in Frankfurt, Germany. He serves as vice chair of the ACE Mentor Program of Greater New York and sits on the advisory board of New Ground, which provides support services for the homeless.

Farrell is a past board member and treasurer of the New York Building Congress.

The National Academy of Construction, established in 1999, is an organization of industry leaders, construction users, engineers, designers, constructors, consultants, attorneys, sureties, and academics who have made outstanding contributions to the engineering and construction industry.

Kristen Dubowski and Michael Barba are engaged. He proposed where they met — at Manhattan College!

Mark Sheeran and wife Pamela welcomed their first child, Mark Austin Sheeran, on Jan. 30. The family is doing great and is getting settled in Mamaroneck, N.Y.

2007

Tim Beck is pursuing an M.D./Ph.D. at Drexel University’s College of Medicine. He is currently training at Fox Chase Cancer Center focusing on cancer cell signaling, predictive biomarkers and drug resistance mechanisms.

2008

Malory Nguyen was named to Engineer News-Record New York’s Top 20 Under 40 young professionals who are making an industry impact in their developing careers.

She is currently assistant project manager for STV in New York.

2009

Steven Rentz proposed to Julianne Wilson in Carl Schurz Park in Manhattan on May 15, 2015. Rentz, who works for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and Wilson, a high school teacher for the Byram Hills School District in Armonk, N.Y., are planning an August 2016 wedding in Pearl River.

2010

King Look, director of electricity supply for Con Edison, was named one of the 50 Outstanding Asian-Americans in Business by the Asian-American Business Development Center. He earned the honor for outstanding leadership and dedication to the New York City and Westchester County communities that Con Edison serves.

2011

Timothy Tully Jr. married his high school sweetheart, Teresa Trapasso, on July 3, 2015. Tully currently works for a heavy civil contractor, and Trapasso is a New York City schoolteacher. The two reside in Throgs Neck, N.Y. Jacqueline Patchen, a nonprofit event producer based in NYC, has embarked on a philanthropic excursion from FebruaryJune. She is traveling to Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and volunteering her expertise in social entrepreneurship, sustainable

infrastructure and donor relations.

Follow her journey on Instagram @WorldWomanWanderlust or at www.worldwomanwanderlust.org.

2012

Susan Fiorentino was elected to serve as president of the All Island Kiwanis Club in Staten Island. “As the youngest president in my division,” she said in a recent editorial on the blog Career Contessa, “I’m looking forward to creating new projects and opportunities so that younger people, especially women, can get as excited as I am about being part of Kiwanis.”

John Forlenza and Jennifer Nygard ’13 are engaged and planning a fall 2017 wedding.

Forlenza is currently a project engineer in Long Island, and Nygard is a second-grade teacher at St. Teresa’s School in Castleton Corners.

2015

Patrick Ruddick joined Walden Associates as a project engineer in Oyster Bay, N.Y.

BIRTHS

2004

John Grillo & Megan Solin, son, Nicholas, 9/8/15

2005

Christina (Hickey) & Nitin K. Sekhri ’03, M.D., son, Alexander Kumar, 7/10/15

2006

Pamela & Mark Sheeran, son, Mark Austin, 1/30/16

MARRIAGES

1997

Swagata Biswas & Matthew Regan, 7/25/14

2004

Sarah Brasell & Brian Donohue, 7/25/14

2006

Karl Vamos & Stephanie Constantinou ’10, 12/5/15

2010

Kristi Capazzi & Michael Fox, 6/19/15 Kevin F. Leboff & Eileen M. Veith, 6/20/15

2011

Nicholas Galasso & Christie Crosby, 8/14/15 Kristen Spiros & Chris Spillane ’12, 7/18/15 Timothy Tully & Teresa Trapasso, 4/3/15

ADVANCED DEGREES

1986

John Fossaceca earned a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering from George Washington University in May 2015.

1999

Dave Wallace earned a Ph.D. in information technology from Capella University in fall 2015.

2004

John Easterbrook earned a Ph.D. in English and American literature from New York University in September 2015.

2007

Christopher Daniti received his master’s in accounting from St. John’s University in May 2015, and became a NYC firefighter in June 2015.

2013

Robert Fiore earned an M.A. in mathematics from Stony Brook University.

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Army Vet Fights Terrorism With World Skills He First Learned at the College

Tyler DeVaney ’10 pictured in Jalrez, Afghanistan, in 2013 on a mission and at his compound, is taking what he learned from the College and the U.S. Army and using it to fight terrorism on a different front.

T

YLER DEVANEY ’10 isn’t one to take things lying down. After a life-altering deployment to Afghanistan three years ago left him unable to walk and expedited his retirement from the U.S. Army, the Jasper realized combat didn’t have to be his only means of fighting the war against terror. DeVaney, who graduated from the College with a bachelor’s in international studies, could improve world relations with the skills he mastered overseas and in school — such as compromise, peacekeeping, diplomacy and friendship — which he could also apply to the job of his choice.

“When I enlisted, I envisioned getting into a combat unit and being deployed over and over,” remembers the Queensbury, N.Y., native who is still recovering from serious bladder, stomach and leg wounds he sustained in March 2013, when a man in an Afghan National Security Forces uniform launched an attack that killed two U.S. soldiers and wounded DeVaney, along with nine others. “When my ambition was cut short, my first reaction was to pursue a career in international studies,” he says.

So he set his sights on a new plan for his future. DeVaney enrolled in the Institute of World Politics in Washington, D.C., where he earned a certificate in counterterrorism. In between his classes, he worked to get back on his feet with the help of a personal trainer, a former Special Forces soldier.

After the Institute, he continued on to the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, where he is pursuing a master’s degree in the field. Since August, DeVaney has been living in Bologna, Italy, for the first component of the program, which will provide him with insight into the corporate financial market and economy. As part of the coursework, he’s also learning ways in which government can heighten surveillance and use technology to track potential terror threats.

This is a danger that his military history has made all too real.

“I saw a lot of things most people won’t in a lifetime,” he says.

When he leaves Europe next year, DeVaney also will be able to speak similarly about his experiences abroad, but the statement will carry a much different meaning. At the beginning of January, just five months after landing in Bologna, he had already traveled across Italy and to Ukraine, Germany, Spain, London, Morocco and France. Next summer, the Johns Hopkins program brings DeVaney to Colombia, 50 N spring 2016

where he will spend two months taking classes before heading to Washington, D.C., for the final leg. At that point, he hopes to be fluent in Spanish. The well-rounded education DeVaney will have received from Johns Hopkins is a product of both his four years at Manhattan and career in the U.S. Army, two experiences that tended to conflict from time to time in some mild teasing from members of his infantry.

“When I was deployed, the soldiers who were only 18 or 19 and just out of high school would jokingly call me ‘college boy,’ but my education really laid the foundation for where I am today,” he says, adding later that the writing skills he developed at the College helped with his acceptance into Johns Hopkins.

Looking ahead to life after school, DeVaney hasn’t yet pinpointed the job title he would like to have but is considering a career in risk management. The draw? It will have him traveling the world to protect its civilians — the same goal that drove him to enlist in the U.S. Army.

“I’m fighting the battle from a different front now,” he says. “You do whatever you can to stop terrorism. That’s what appeals to me.”

Jeanette Settembre ’13 has been a reporter for the New York Daily News since June of 2013. Since then, she’s risen through the ranks, as well as ridden on horseback up the Andes Mountains, dined at some of New York City’s most renowned eateries and, most recently, traveled to Argentina, for stories that have become some of her proudest portfolio pieces.

From Quad Editor to Daily News Reporter

I

N ONE OF HER FIRST STORIES written as editor-in-chief of the Quadrangle, Jeanette Settembre ’13 urged spring breakers to “take advantage of exciting expeditions not too far from home” by visiting downtown music venue, the Village Lantern, and other New York City locales.

Four years after that article and three after her graduation, Settembre continues to sing the city’s praises, but as a print and web features writer for the Daily News. At the famed New York newspaper, she’s reported on everything from Justin Bieber’s first Grammy win to the Santa Fe culinary scene, which had her sampling spicy green chilies and hand-rolling her own tamales. She learned this at the cooking school of a chef who was born and raised in that New Mexico city.

Here in New York, the features reporter and food columnist contributes regularly to “Eats Beat,” a recurring column that showcases restaurants of all cuisines.

Settembre got her start as a Daily News editorial assistant — a gig she landed after paying her dues as an intern. Back then, the Yorktown Heights, N.Y., native was hopping around the city’s northernmost borough collecting material for the publication’s now annual “Savor the Bronx Restaurant Week.”

She also attended an event in Manhattan for the TLC television show, Cake Boss, and trekked down to the Long Island auditions of American Idol, where Simon Cowell and Kelly Rowland were among her first famous interview subjects. Meanwhile, the former communication major was writing for the Quadrangle and balancing her senior year

responsibilities at Manhattan.

“When I was interning, I didn’t wait for someone to approach me with work. I would just pitch stories and ideas, and offered to help the writers in any way I could, so they started sending me to cover things,” remembers Settembre, whose favorite career story she’d rather tell than write.

It’s the one of how she got hired.

“My editor called me into her office and said, ‘We have an editorial assistant position open. Here you go,’” Settembre recalls. “I said to myself, ‘this is my first major journalism job at one of the country’s biggest newspapers.’ I was just blown away.”

Given that her day-to-day at the Daily News includes writing articles about entertainment and food in New York City — two things she’s loved writing about since her Quadrangle days — she has a tough time pinpointing favorite aspects of the job, but can’t deny the joy of publishing an article that fuses the two.

One such piece was published on Feb. 19. Entitled, “Saoirse Ronan may be twirling spaghetti all wrong in Brooklyn,” the Daily News web article featured Settembre’s on-camera interviews with Italian restaurateurs in Staten Island and Brooklyn on the most authentic method of twirling pasta.

The question of whether to seek the aid of a spoon or rely solely on the fork sparked a “carb controversy” that was inspired by the Oscar-winning film.

“I think the actual favorite part of my job is reporting,” she says, after describing the experience of shooting video for the article.

“I love asking questions and just going out and meeting new people. I used to be kind of shy, but this job has really helped to bring me out of my shell.”

As her career in journalism continues to progress, Settembre says on-camera reporting is something she hopes to pursue further, but that writing will always be her first love. Because seeing a piece develop from a middle-of-the-night idea to a feature in a newspaper many New Yorkers read with their Sunday morning coffee evokes a thrill that never wears off.

“I still come home and cut out my stories from the Sunday paper and tweet stories I write for our website,” she admits. “I don’t think I’ll ever stop writing.”

MANHATTAN.EDU N 51

ALUMNI

D

AYS BEFORE PRESIDENT OBAMA announced a new initiative — the importance of computer science in the classroom to thrive in a digital economy — Jim Forde ’86, ’89 (M.S.) was in the White House discussing this same topic.

In January, Forde was recognized as a White House Champion of Change along with eight other individuals, who gathered to discuss advancing computer science education in the United States.

A Champion of Change is someone who is doing extraordinary things in his or her community, and Forde is among that group making a difference in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education. With the focus on increasing access to computer science and improving existing standards, the group was part of a roundtable discussion with Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett, Acting Secretary of Education John King, and U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith.

A first-generation college graduate of Irish immigrants and a science teacher at Cloonan Middle School in Stamford, Conn., Forde was

52 N spring 2016

joined by fellow teachers, students and tech gurus who are making a difference in STEM and computer science. Actress and director Gillian Jacobs and Executive Director and Co-founder of Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls, Meredith Walker also participated in the roundtable discussion.

“I was really happy to represent my school and discuss why coding education is important to kids,” says Forde, whose commitment to educating others about STEM and coding spans more than 25 years as a teacher.

Currently a seventh-grade life and earth science teacher, he also runs a Coding Scratch Club after school, where students can create their own video games.

Forde’s familiarity with STEM and coding education began after attending a WNET (New York City PBS affiliate) National Teacher Training Institute (NTTI) in the early 1990s and it skyrocketed into his passion for encouraging and teaching others about STEM. Today, he boasts about STEM on his Twitter feed @stemnetwork, which has garnered more than 3,000 followers to date.

Recently, Forde was a finalist for the 2016

Stamford Public Education Foundation Educator of the Year, and was also involved in managing the GE Developing Futures in Education grant from 2011-2013. Throughout his career, Forde has worked with a number of educational companies to promote technology, including Stamford’s board of education, where he has taught for the majority of his career. In fact, he was named Teacher of the Year in 1995 while working at Rippowam Magnet Middle School.

Forde says he would not have the career he has today without the early foundation he received at Manhattan College. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in biology and general studies, Forde received an assistantship while studying for his master’s in special education, with which he graduated in 1989.

“I was delighted to learn that Jim’s accomplishments were recognized at the national level,” says Elizabeth Kosky, Ph.D., professor of education and director of graduate special education programs. “He is a very deserving teacher who has initiated many exciting and innovative science and technology programs. I am sure he will continue to impact students in all his future endeavors.”

During graduate school, Forde spent two years working for a cancer genetics laboratory as a technologist. Soon after, he took a teaching position in the Bronx at Astor @Byron, P.S. 723 (formerly P.S. 176), and was a project assistant with Manhattan College’s Eisenhower Science Program. He also taught science and technology at Scofield Magnet Middle School for close to a decade.

“Manhattan College created an environment where I could be successful. I was supported and given lots of opportunites,” Forde adds.

Photo courtesy of Stamford Advocate

Mr. Forde Goes to Washington

In the Line of Duty

I

T WAS 8 P.M. one night in December, just a few days before Christmas, when Joan Lyall finally made it home to the Philadelphia apartment she shared with her then-boyfriend, Garrett FitzGerald ’07. She was working as a speech pathologist at a local hospital at the time. As Joan opened the front door, her thoughts were focused on dinner and how maybe they could get takeout tonight.

But as she stepped into their apartment and dropped her bags on the floor, she looked across the kitchen and into the living room, where she saw Garrett. He was just standing there, takeout already ordered, roses and wine in the background.

“I knew he wasn’t going to propose to me,” remembers Joan, whose birthday was just a few days away. “With Christmas and my birthday so close, I didn’t want my engagement to be in December, too.”

Garrett looked at Joan and told her the good news, “I got in, Joan,” he said.

She immediately raced toward him and leapt into his arms. That was 2014. It took Garrett, who graduated from Manhattan College in 2007 with a mechanical engineering degree, five years to finally get the call. It was from the Secret Service. He got in.

“It was literally watching someone’s dreams come true in front of your eyes,” Joan says.

After graduating from Manhattan College, Garrett immediately got a job working for Boeing. He was considered one of the top engineers in the company, but Garrett wanted more out of life.

“He wanted to do something that would make the world a better place,” says childhood friend Rob Freed. “And so he applied to the Secret Service.”

It was over wings and beer at a local pub that Garrett shared his desire with Joan to leave Boeing after just two years and apply for a position in law enforcement.

“It didn’t really register with me at first,” Joan now says. “But after seeing how hard he worked to get to that point, getting that call, it really meant something.”

Garrett took night classes as he worked toward a master’s degree in computer forensics before he could start applying to the Secret Service.

He had only been an agent for a few months when it happened.

Garrett was working a campaign detail in New Hampshire on Dec. 29 with three other Secret Service agents when an unlicensed driver crossed the median and hit their van head-on. His colleagues didn’t suffer life-threatening injuries, but the driver who hit them died at the scene. Garrett was paralyzed from the neck down.

Now Garrett, who was one of the co-founders of the rugby team at Manhattan College, a vigorous participant in CrossFit and who

worked on 787s, has spent the past two months of his life trying to move his left arm.

He was supposed to marry Joan this March.

“After his accident I asked him if he still wanted to get married,” Joan says. “He looked at me and said, ‘Yeah, of course.’”

So Joan and Garrett, in front of their family, Freed and some of his close friends from Manhattan College, got married in a Boston hospital room in January.

“We had a beautiful wedding planned,” Joan says. “But after the accident, my focus changed. I was marrying the man of my dreams.

Why wait?”

That doesn’t mean they didn’t enjoy some traditional wedding festivities. She and Garrett danced to their wedding song, Thomas Rhett’s Die a Happy Man. His wheelchair was unlocked and pushed

by Joan’s brother and Garrett’s Manhattan roommate, Derek Lyall ’07.

Both Joan and Freed know that if anyone can come back from this type of injury, it’s Garrett.

“People want to know what Garrett’s like and what his personality is like,” Freed says. “I always compare him to Rudy from the movie.

He’s not the tallest, he’s not fastest, he’s not the strongest, but he will outwork everybody. I feel like if anybody can get through this and succeed, it can be him. He’s way too stubborn to stay in this spot for rest of life.”

It’s still too early to predict Garrett’s long-term prognosis, but he began moving his right arm, bicep and triceps. He also now has some movement in his left arm.

“I’m honored to be his wife,” Joan says. “To see where he was and how far he’s come, he has truly inspired me.”

Garrett’s hashtag, #GarrettStrong, and GoFundMe page were started by Freed and Scott Ackerman to support their friend. The page had raised more than $280,000 as of early February. The donations will pay for costs related to his recovery that may not be covered by the government.

Dan Marra ’04

MANHATTAN.EDU N 53

OBITUARIES

INMEMORIAM

Manhattan College records with sorrow the deaths of the following alumni: 1939

1950

John V. Wagner, 10/29/15

Br. George R. Berrian, FSC, 1/26/16 Donald E. Callahan, 1/1/16 Edward J. Gaus Jr., 12/26/15 James V. Russo, 8/27/15 Donald W. Stiglmeier, 3/27/15 John A. Zalud, 5/27/15

1940

Vincent D. Boylan, 2/5/15

1941

Lawrence X. Sullivan, 2/18/15

1942

Henry S. Bylicky, 7/19/15 Albert J. Forn, 12/27/15 Frank J. Harold, 9/1/15 John J. Stack, 5/15/15

1943

Thomas J. Fitzgerald, 1/29/15 John J. Hogan, 12/9/15

1944

Norbert P. Brust, 1/14/16 Richard M. Collins, 10/5/15 The Rev. Ronan Callahan, 9/9/15

1945

Warren H. Gilman, 2/5/15

1946

Louis G. Campenni, 3/2/15 Eugene P. Higgins, 10/20/15 Laurence A. Schaefer Sr., 12/20/15

1948

James J. Bangert, 4/26/15 George P. Moore, 11/21/15

1949

Lawrence Connolly, 1/6/16 Br. Francis X. Morkan, CFC, 10/28/15 William J. Petraglia, 8/29/15 Peter F. Prunty, 9/5/15 Gerard T. Ross, 4/10/15 Vincent J. Vitagliano, 4/30/15 Joseph M. Wall, 3/17/15

54 N spring 2016

1951

John T. Butler, 1/15/15 Vincent A. Coviello, 11/6/15 Anthony J. Cupo, 8/23/15 David A. Lavan, 6/19/15 Neil Moynihan, 12/27/15 William D. Nyland, 4/5/15 Stephen Scalia, 7/17/15 Charles M. Seergy, 9/21/15

1952

Edward G. Brady, 2/5/15 Herbert C. Jardine, 8/26/15 Paul Thomas Kilcarr Sr., 7/24/15 Francis J. Vincent, 2/6/15

1953

Walter J. Christie, 11/22/15 John L. Engberg, 12/24/15 John Patrick Geelan, 9/12/15 Hector R. Giancarlo, 10/28/15 Sr. Gertrude A. Moran, RSM, 12/13/15

1954

Michael J. O’Dea, 9/11/15 Sr. Marcella Anne Sullivan, PBVM, 7/3/15

1955

Brian J. Cahill, 10/13/15 Gerard Lechleiter, 8/16/15 William G. Mulligan, 2/10/15 Bernard J. Ryan, 11/7/15

Terence P. Walsh, 8/13/15

1956

Donald P. Bean, 7/23/13 Donald P. Devey, 10/5/15 Martin J. Kelly, 4/2/15 James M. O’Brien, 4/24/15 William A. Schilling, 9/2/15 Charles C. Scott, 1/8/15 Richard E. Welch, 1/12/15 Gregory T. Thompson, 3/22/15

1957

Joseph Bakutes, 4/9/15 John C. Andrews, 8/8/15 James M. Gallacher, 10/9/15 Robert F. Murphy, 10/12/15 James F. O’Neil, 9/18/15

1958

Philip A. Blose, 11/17/15 Dennis J. Burbridge, 5/24/15 Charles A. Hulse, 3/4/15 Vincent P. McGuire, 2/9/15 James A. Moreland, 2/9/15 Lorenzo Piparo, 7/11/15 Thomas J. Vyskocil, 11/4/15 Fredric A. Wagner, 12/11/15

1959

John F. Murphy, 11/12/15 Denis W. O’Shea, 12/23/14 Francis N. Pellegrini, 3/23/15

James Farrelly, 7/8/15 Thomas C. McFadden, 2/23/15 James R. Tuite, 9/1/15 William Tully, 11/8/15

1962

Robert T. Arco, 2/27/15 Armand F. Della Monica, 11/16/15 Denis E. LaSota, 1/10/16

1963

Charles E. Flynn Jr., 8/6/15 James P. Gaffney, 11/30/15 Robert A. Lynch, 5/16/15

1964

John J. Strano, 9/15/15

1965

William C. McGuire, 3/25/15

1966

Rocco S. Autero, 1/1/15 Carmelo Delgado, 12/5/15 Steven J. Konieczny, 12/22/15 Sr. Anne M. Oakman, CSJ, 11/11/15 Joseph H. Mac Stravic, 8/1/15 John J. Walsh, 9/22/15

1967

John J. Horton, 1/20/16 Donald G. Iram, 2/12/15 Joseph F. Norton, 11/5/15 William E. Plunkett, 1/27/15

Eugene Brozyna, 10/1/15 Sr. Margaret Doherty, SC 11/12/15 Joseph F. Hackett, 10/2/15 John G. Hoare, 10/12/15 Garrett F. Hurley, 1/22/16 Clarence J. Jones, 12/24/15 Henry S. Popowski, 12/31/15

George A. Comas, 7/18/15 James M. Dooher, 8/14/15 Richard A. Esposito, 8/25/15

James G. Elliot, 8/8/15 Ralph J. Giannuzzi, 12/17/14 John R. Goll, 11/7/15

1960

1961

1968

Philip O’Brien Thomas A. Johnson, 12/8/15 Br. Guy F. Roddy, FSC, 1/10/15 Eugene J. Semon, 8/30/15

1969

William N. Cook, 1/24/15 John Francis Josephson, 9/3/15 John E. McCauley Jr., 1/10/16 Robert C. Murphy, 2/11/15

1970

Joseph M. Delisio, 5/30/15 Sr. Mary Ann Donovan, SC, 2/13/15 Francis Guarino, 8/31/15 Joseph P. Procaccini, 10/24/15 The Rev. Gerald P. Ruane, 8/15/15

1971

Frank R. Gerety, 4/14/15 Thomas W. Masterson, 9/14/15 James P. Rush, 12/25/15 William B. Seebeck, 12/13/15

1972

Sr. Eileen Burns, OSF, 10/27/15

1973

Kenneth Carl Leonard, 8/15/15 David J. Moses, 1/2/15 Carl Valenziano, M.D., 7/24/15

1974

Robert J. Broderick, 6/6/15 Sr. Margaret Mary Hanratty, OP, 8/18/15 John A. Lucchesi, 12/17/15 William F. Magee, 11/6/15 Angelo L. Moliterno, 1/17/16 William J. Sontag Jr., 8/23/15

1975

1976 Stephen W. Firsching, 4/9/15

1977

Emma Jean Davis, 9/25/15

1979

Sr. Eufemia Parducci, MPF, 7/7/15 Jeannette J. Wang, 4/4/15

1981

Dawn Bartholomew, 2/24/15 Enda Campbell, 4/16/15

1983

Louise L. Carosi, 4/5/14 John Halpin, 11/23/14 Raymond R. Ocana, 1/13/16

1984

Stephen V. Brooks, 1/29/15 Donald J. Nerz, 11/20/15

1986

John Joseph Stauble III, 12/13/15

1987

Alexandros Antzoulatos, 10/18/15 James K. Herbert, 1/19/16 John Thomann, 7/4/15

1990

David S. Carron, 9/25/15

1992

Mary B. Malvey, 8/4/15 Mary B. McDonagh, 8/4/15

1993

Jean J. Passero, 5/29/15

2000

John H. Mark Jr., 9/4/15

PHILIP V. O’BRIEN, an assistant professor of mathematics at Manhattan College for more than two decades, died on Sept. 2. He was 98.

A resident of West Nyack, N.Y., O’Brien began at the College as an instructor of mathematics in 1961. He retired from Manhattan as an assistant professor of mathematics in 1982.

Thomas Smith, Ph.D., professor of mathematics at Manhattan College, recalls, “He was a dedicated teacher and a constant source of common sense.”

He came to Manhattan after a two-decade career as a New York City fireman. O’Brien, a 1933 graduate of Regis High School, also served as a policeman at the start of his career when jobs were difficult to find because of the Great Depression.

Continuing on his Jesuit educational path, O’Brien earned his bachelor’s degree from Fordham University. Throughout the years, he also earned master’s degrees at both Yeshiva University and the New School for Social Research in mathematics and economics.

He is survived by his wife of 74 years, Helen (Hawe); his children, Sr. Mary Eileen O’Brien, O.P., Vincent O’Brien, Rose Marie Diercksen (James), Philip O’Brien and Margaret O’Brien; and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

2003

Orlando Grober, 9/8/15

Peni S. Berger, 3/1/15

MANHATTAN.EDU N 55

OBITUARIES

Brother George Berrian, FSC BROTHER GEORGE BERRIAN, FSC, ED.D., former director of Manhattan Prep and dean of the School of Education and Human Services, died on Jan. 26. He was 90.

An associate professor emeritus of education, Br. George began teaching on the Riverdale campus, where he served for the majority of his career, in 1953 as a teacher at Manhattan Prep. In 1956, he also joined the faculty at the College as an instructor of American history.

While in the Education department, he taught several courses in school administration and educational psychology.

Br. George was principal and director of Manhattan College Prep from 1962 until 1970. The Prep closed the following year. He then served as director of the graduate division of Manhattan College and later as dean of the School of Education and Human Services from 1986-89.

During his eulogy, Brother Raymond Meagher, FSC, assistant professor of education, said: “The two words that best characterize the life of Br. George are service and loyalty. He was a powerful force for good because he enthusiastically embraced these two important qualities — service and loyalty. Our world is a much better place because he was in it.”

Speaking about Br. George’s tenure at the Prep and College, Br. Raymond continued, “As a person of vision and passion, George

56 N spring 2016

cared deeply about what was best for the Prep and the College. He loved his time at these two extraordinary institutions. He ‘touched the hearts’ of his students by challenging them, supporting them and urging them on.”

Manhattan Prep and College alumnus Joe Genovese ’69, ’73, says: “Brother George was a strong disciplinarian who created a standard at the Prep where education was first and foremost in everything we did. He was the true embodiment of a Christian Brother and lived the ideals of that great quote in the new Kelly Student Commons in his devotion to serving our neighbors. Brother Charles Henry Buttimer would have been proud!”

Br. George began his teaching career in 1947 at St. Augustine School in Manhattan. Between assignments at Manhattan College, he also served at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School, Lincoln Hall, De La Salle High School, St. Joseph Collegiate Institute, and Queen of Peace High School before returning to Riverdale in 1962. He remained an active member of the College community for a decade after his official retirement and spent the remainder of his retirement years at De La Salle Hall in Lincroft, N.J. An integral part of the academic and Riverdale communities, Br. George served on the board of directors at the Methodist Home for the Aged (1991-2003) and was a part of the New York District Team Evaluation of Administrators. He also served on the College Entrance Examination Board, as well as the board of directors of De La Salle Hall in Lincroft, N.J. (1992-2005).

After earning his bachelor’s degree in English and master’s degree in history from Manhattan College, Br. George did graduate work at Fordham University and New York University. He received a fellowship to Teachers College at Columbia University, where he earned a doctorate in 1975, specializing in adult and higher education.

The author of numerous professional publications, Br. George served as a contributing editor to Who’s Who in American Education. He was a member of many professional organizations, including the American Association of University Professors, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the American Association of Higher Education and Kappa Delta Pi, the national honor society for education.

“Uncle George will fondly be remembered by his family as a fun-loving guy,” recalls his niece, Nancy Berrian-Dixon ’86. “He always made us feel he was happy to see us, and always told us jokes because he loved to laugh, and he loved to make us laugh. I got to know him better while at Manhattan and considered him my surrogate dad. We enjoyed each other’s company, and I am forever grateful he was there for me.”

Br. George is survived by his brother Ed; many nieces and nephews; grand nieces and nephews; and grand-grand nieces and nephews. He is predeceased by his brother Tom.

June Dwyer

JUNE DWYER, PH.D., who taught English at the College for 35 years and diligently served the Manhattan community on numerous committees and as chair of the English department, died on Nov. 9.

She was 71.

A professor emeritus, Dwyer began at Manhattan in 1981 as an adjunct, just as the campus was becoming coeducational. She was one of the first female faculty members in the English department.

Dwyer and fellow professor Judith Plaskow, Ph.D., professor emeritus of religious studies, co-founded Committee W to raise awareness of women’s issues on campus.

“June was a beloved teacher and a colleague of great intelligence, wit, competence and good humor,” Plaskow recalls. “She was involved in numerous facets of College life without ever calling attention to herself or her myriad contributions. She and I created the Global Origins of U.S. Society course, which was part of the Arts curriculum for about 15 years, but that was just one of her long list of contributions.”

Dwyer rose through the academic ranks during her tenure, retiring as professor of English in May 2010. She also served as chair of her department and was respected as a mentor to English faculty and students alike. Dwyer was a key member of the Dante Seminar Group, still attending events annually after she retired.

“June was a beloved colleague, teacher and friend, and she will leave an absence that will never be filled,” says Rocco Marinaccio, Ph.D., professor of English and director of the liberal arts and science core curriculum. “The best we can do is to try to fill that absence with our many wonderful memories of June, and, for her faculty colleagues, among the most prominent of those memories is that of her unwavering commitment to her students. Nothing — nothing — ever challenged her belief that they were the most important members of the College, and doing what was best for them was our primary duty and privilege.”

A prolific writer, Dwyer was a known expert on Jane Austen, publishing Jane Austen with Continuum in 1989. She was completing a new book at the time of her death with Lexington Press as part of an echo-critical theory and practice series. It was about iconic places in contemporary American literature: texts, voids and American culture.

She also focused regularly on immigrant literature and ethnic American literature. Dwyer kept the department fresh, often creating new courses, such as Literature and War. Retirement gave Dwyer more time to spend on her lifelong hobby of horseback riding. A resident of Greenwich Village, she also had a residence in Germantown, N.Y., to allow her the time to spend with her horses and garden.

Always the teacher, she worked with autistic children, and used horses to provide therapy that often helps to calm the senses and create a new level of confidence. In addition, Dwyer continued to teach at Quest Learning Community in New York City, providing an intellectual outlet for retirees.

A graduate of Vassar College, Dwyer earned her master’s degree from Columbia University and doctorate from New York University.

She is survived by her sons, Colin and Quetzal; and sister, Anne Iskrant. A memorial service was held at Manhattan College on Dec. 5.

MANHATTAN.EDU N 57

Besalet Basoglu BESALET BASOGLU, DBA, associate professor of accounting, died in August. He was 71.

Basoglu came to Manhattan College in 1984 after years of teaching in the Middle East. He received the College’s Capalbo Grant for Research in various accounting areas in 1989. These grants were established in 1985 by alumnus Louis F. Capalbo ’41 to support faculty research and development in the School of Business.

An author for a number of professional publications, Basoglu co-authored “International Accounting Standards and Selected Middle East Stock Exchanges” for Middle Eastern North African Economies, volume 4, with Ahmed Goma, Ph.D., associate professor of accounting, in 2002.

He served on numerous Manhattan College committees throughout the years, including the Assurance of Learning Commit-

tee. Basoglu also regularly collaborated with colleagues on presentations given at professional conferences.

“Dr. Basoglu was a gentle and kind person, a dedicated teacher and a true professional,” recalls Mehmet Ulema, Ph.D., professor and chair of the department. “He was always willing to help the department, always accepted teaching and committee assignments without any fuss. He was a great ‘soldier.’ We miss him greatly.”

Mary Michel, Ph.D., assistant professor of accounting, adds: “Dr. Basoglu was a kind and patient man, teacher and colleague. He was meticulous, writing thorough solutions to accounting problems in his neat, elegant handwriting.”

A resident of Wayne, N.J., Basoglu earned his bachelor’s degree from the Middle East Technical University in Turkey. He earned his

MBA at Columbia University and his DBA from Florida State University.

He is survived by his wife, Ayperi Basoglu.

Albert Hamilton

ALBERT J. HAMILTON, PH.D., former dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Manhattan College, died on Feb. 16. He was 75.

Serving at Manhattan College from 19801990, Hamilton was instrumental in the development of an updated curriculum for humanistic studies and worked closely with faculty and students to encourage collaborative research programs across a variety of majors. He worked closely with the deans of 58 N spring 2016

all the schools of the College to ensure that liberal learning was the basis of a Manhattan College education, whether students headed into business, teaching or engineering.

While at Manhattan, Hamilton initiated the Faculty Resource Program with New York University, which brought a dozen colleges together to utilize the resources at New York University for faculty who were selected for the program. It enabled faculty to enhance the command of their discipline, explains, Frederick Schweitzer, Ph.D., professor emeritus of history, who served as Manhattan’s liaison for the program.

“Many of our faculty have benefited from the program and a lot of excellent work has been published as a result,” Schweitzer says.

Hamilton came to Manhattan College from St. Peter’s College in New Jersey, where he served as the associate academic dean.

After Manhattan College, Hamilton served as academic vice president at colleges in the Midwest and Northeast.

He was the author of numerous publications, including the book, The Catholic Journey Through Ohio. He also served as writer for a five-part television series Revolution: What, When, Why? (1971).

Hamilton earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Notre Dame in modern European history. A native of Youngstown, Ohio, he retired to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where he continued as a volunteer for a number of organizations, including the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

“Al Hamilton had a wonderful sense of humor, was an enlightened problem-solver, welcomed and enjoyed thinking through tough problems and issues, and was always ready to help,” sums up Bill Horn, vice president for college relations, alumni and development, during Hamilton’s tenure.

“He encouraged faculty in their teaching and research and enjoyed their confidence as an extraordinary colleague, a man eager to promote excellence and share his own exuberant humanity. He had a wonderful sense of optimism that made each encounter special.”

He is survived by his long-time partner, Martin Kaplan; daughters Sarah (John) Magill and Christine (Richard) Turner; sons Brian (Suzanne) Hamilton and Patrick (Stephanie) Hamilton; and 12 grandchildren.

John “Doc” Johnson JOHN JOHNSON, affectionately known as “Doc,” a longtime athletic trainer for Manhattan College and the New York Giants of the National Football League, died on Feb. 28. He was 98.

Johnson worked with thousands of Jasper athletes during his career at Manhattan College, which began in 1947. He helped studentathletes recover and rehabilitate from a variety of injuries, often forging lifelong relationships with them in the process.

The College recognized how key he was to Jasper athletics when they inducted him into the Hall of Fame in 1982. Johnson also received the Distinguished Service Award from the Physical Education department in 1990. Beyond the campus, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) in 1997 and a similar award from the American College of Sports Medicine, a year later. In 2000, the National Invitational Tournament/Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association also honored him with its Distinguished Service Award.

When Johnson retired from the College in 2003, the athletic training room adjacent to Draddy Gymnasium was renamed in his honor for his “unselfish and caring service to thousands of Manhattan College student-athletes, coaches and Christian Brothers.”

“I was so fortunate to have this great man as a mentor and friend,” says Lisa Toscano, Ed.D., professor of kinesiology. “One email I received after Doc died was from a student that graduated just a few years ago who didn’t personally know Doc. He emailed me to offer his condolences. He said he knew that Doc was my mentor and that he shaped my professional life. He then said because you [Toscano] really were a large part of my Manhattan College life and decision to

become a physician’s assistant, in essence, Doc was my mentor too!”

Track coach Joe Ryan ’81 was also a student-athlete during Johnson’s tenure. He recalls Johnson being one of the first people he met after arriving on campus from Ireland.

“My first impression was that he was a very friendly, caring individual,” Ryan says. “When people met him, there was an instant respect.”

Ryan says that Johnson always went the extra mile.

When Ryan broke his wrist during the IC4A’s Indoors in 1980, Doc worked with team physician George Unis, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon, to create a special kind of cast, so Ryan could still run.

“It was state-of-the-art for the time, and it didn’t interrupt my season,” Ryan says.

Reflecting on his return as a coach and working with Johnson, Ryan says: “It was a very rewarding relationship. He is a real part of the history and tradition at Manhattan College. He is held in the highest esteem and respect by all of the athletes over a very long period of time.”

With all that he did at Manhattan College, Johnson managed to also serve as the athletic trainer for the New York Giants for 60 years, becoming the second-longest tenured employee in franchise history, behind the late Wellington Mara, the team’s former owner. Johnson began in 1948, working at the Giants’ training camp, and retired in 2008, after the Giants beat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. While with the Big Blue, Johnson worked with 12 head coaches during his 874 regular-season and 34 postseason games, including three Super Bowl Championships.

The honors for Johnson continued through October 2015, when he joined the New York Giants Ring of Honor in a class that included former standouts Jack Lummus, Chris Snee and Osi Umenyiora.

Growing up in Sea Bright, N.J., Johnson graduated from Long Branch High School, where he played soccer. He went to the Institute of Physical Therapy in New York and worked several jobs before becoming a civilian athletic trainer at an Air Force hospital in Ottumwa, Iowa, prior to returning to New York.

Johnson was predeceased by his wife, Esther; and sister, Alice Welch. He is survived by his daughters, Jeanette Johnson and Laura Watson; son-in-law Richard Watson; and grandson, Richard Norman Watson; his brother David Johnson; sister-in-law Gini Johnson; and several nieces and nephews.

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PHOTO BY CHRIS TAGGART

PA R TING SHOT

60 N SPRING 2016

What do you do when Winter Storm Jonas, one of the largest storms in New York City’s history, drops almost 30 inches of snow on campus? You start a snowball fight! The record-breaking blizzard didn’t stop some snow-loving Jaspers from having a little winter fun on the Quad.