Quinnipiac Magazine Summer 2017

SUMMER 2017

QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

How Sweet It Is

Women’s basketball coach savors NCAA victories, looks ahead

The Write Stuff

Law school alumnus drawing acclaim for his horror novels

The Perfect Match All 58 medical school grads connect with residencies

FRONT AND CENTER

Students doing internships as part of the Quinnipiac University in Los Angeles program live minutes from the Venice Pier and also enjoy the Santa Monica Pier pictured here.

INTERNSHIPS SIZZLE IN ENTERTAINMENT CAPITAL OF LA For students in the Quinnipiac University in Los Angeles program, the chance to work at television and movie studios, production companies and entertainmentrelated businesses while living and studying in LA yields a semester rich with opportunities. From HBO and Jimmy Kimmel Live to Plan B Entertainment, Brad Pitt’s production company, students are gaining invaluable experience and making connections that lead to jobs. One of the most valuable aspects of the program is the access students have to top executives, many of whom take the time to offer constructive feedback. At least 11 alumni are now living and working in LA permanently. “I couldn’t believe that not only was I able to work at these companies, but that I was able to do so much,” says Brooke Mommsen ’18. Read the story on page 30.

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Contents FRONT

FEATURES

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News 4 HOLT HONORED Lester Holt, anchor of “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” and “Dateline 17

NBC,” received the Fred Friendly First Amendment Award from the School of Communications.

8 MARATHON MAN Professor Thomas Martin and a team of researchers from Quinnipiac and Yale are investigating the link between marathon running and acute kidney injury.

13 ‘TIME 4 TEA’ Students in the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship pitched a smartphone app to Bigelow Tea CEO Cindi Bigelow to help customers brew the perfect cup of tea.

17 High Hoops

As the new head coach of the men’s basketball program, Baker Dunleavy is eager to get started. He brings the experience—and the DNA—to build a winner.

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Sports 14 HOW SWEET IT IS Head coach Tricia Fabbri led the women’s basket-

ball program to its first Sweet 16 appearance this past spring. What’s next for Fabbri and the Bobcats?

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18 The Perfect Match 38 Oh, the Horror!

All 58 members of the first graduating class of the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine matched to residencies, a milestone for the new school. For two of the new doctors, Alyson Cunningham and Venkat Subramanyam, the match was a double cause for celebration when they learned where they’d be going.

School of Law alumnus Bracken MacLeod, JD ’00, is enjoying success as a horror novelist. MacLeod, who practiced law for years, has found swift and critical acclaim for his work, including last fall’s “Stranded,” which was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award. He published a third novel in June.

BACK

Alumni 43 KEEPING THEIR SPIRITS UP After achieving success in their physical therapy and insurance careers, four alumni have poured their hearts into a craft distillery in Bloomfield, Connecticut.

45 YOUR NEWS Check out the wedding and baby photos you submitted and catch up with all the news of your classmates in this section, as well as photos from golf tournaments and other events.

47 STUDENT ADVOCATE Alumni and former orientation leaders reflect on

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Italian studies professor Filippo Naitana teaches the culture and history of Italy by exploring its foods and culinary traditions. From pasta to gnocchi and polenta to risotto, food is a marker of the Italian way of life and also an entrée to learn about the country’s rich history, region by region.

VICE PRESIDENT FOR BRAND STRATEGY AND INTEGRATED COMMUNICATIONS Keith Rhodes ’91 EDITOR Janet Waldman, MS ’09 ASSOCIATE EDITOR Brian Koonz SENIOR COPY EDITOR Donna Pintek STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Autumn Driscoll CONTRIBUTORS Olivia Abel, Nancy Barnes, Adam Durso, Cynthia Greco, Lisa Iannotti, Lauren Kersten, Donna Lougal

DESIGN Pentagram Austin

the lessons they learned from Manuel “Manny” Carreiro, former vice president and dean of students, who passed away in March.

Law

26 Taste of Italy

VICE PRESIDENT FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS Lynn Mosher Bushnell

PHOTOGRAPHERS Kathy Anderson, Chris Flynn, Stan Godlewski, John Hassett, Mara Lavitt, Michelle McLoughlin, Jon Rou, Mark S. Stehle

34 Stable Condition

Occupational therapy professor Donna Latella uses horses to help Quinnipiac students who are veterans work through post-traumatic stress disorder and other service-related anxiety. Although it’s hard to quantify success, Latella said one veteran who struggled with talking to people learned to open up by working with the horses.

Vol. 26, No. 2

55 THE LEGISLATORS Find out what law school alumni are up to, including three freshman state representatives in the Connecticut Legislature.

They joined two other law school grads who are considered serious candidates for governor.

COVER ILLUSTRATION Brian Stauffer

Quinnipiac Magazine is published by Quinnipiac’s Office of Brand Strategy and Integrated Communications within the Division of Public Affairs for alumni, parents and friends of the university.

Postmaster: Send address changes to Office of Development & Alumni Affairs, Quinnipiac University, AH-DVP, 275 Mount Carmel Avenue, Hamden, CT 06518-1908.

Quinnipiac University admits students of any race, color, creed, gender, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, and disability status to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. Quinnipiac University does not discriminate in these areas in the administration of its educational policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs. © 2017 Quinnipiac University Visit us at QU.edu Facebook.com/quinnipiacuniversity Follow us on Twitter@QuinnipiacU Instagram.com/quinnipiacu Pinterest.com/quinnipiacu

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/ News

Photo by Autumn Driscoll

LESTER HOLT HONORED

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Kate Snow, NBC News anchor and correspondent, with Lester Holt, 2017 recipient of the Fred Friendly First Amendment Award.

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Lester Holt, the anchor of “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” and “Dateline NBC,” saluted the courage and resilience of American journalism in an era of bombastic White House criticism in a speech after accepting the Fred Friendly First Amendment Award in June.

“The spirit, if not the practical application of Fred Friendly’s principles, has not been abandoned,” Holt said during a luncheon at the Metropolitan Club in New York City.

“Journalism has excelled —not withered—in the face of a sustained assault on its very legitimacy.”

Since 1994, the School of Communications has presented the award annually to honor broadcast news professionals committed to preserving the rights set forth in the First Amendment. The award bears the name of the former CBS News president and champion of freedom of speech.

Holt’s body of work is widely respected for its integrity, depth and humanity. “It’s the way that he connects with the audience,” said Rebecca Turco ’12, a weekend anchor at WLNE-ABC6 in Providence, Rhode Island.

“You feel like he’s talking to you. Obviously, that’s what you want to develop, that trust with the viewer.”

“He’s a workhorse,” said Christine Romans, anchor and chief business correspondent at CNN. “In an industry where there are occasional show horses, Lester has always been the guy who put in the work, asked the great questions and got it done.”

CAMPUS

SAVING TIME IN A BOTTLE Guatemala is recipient of student-built machine that streamlines eco-brick process

“We scrapped this idea within a week,” says Monferrato.

“One reason was because it was a little too easy; we wanted to challenge ourselves more. The technical concern was that the push-stick only hits the center of each bottle, so it’s not hitting the trash on the outer sides of the bottle.”

Their next idea involved using a centrifuge. This idea was abandoned for several reasons, including high expenses. Their third—and final approach—involved building a contraption that incorporates a three-step process: loading, packing and compressing. During the third step, bottles will automatically tilt to facilitate compression of the garbage. The pedal-operated machine should be able to stuff five bottles in five minutes.

Next, the students headed to the machine shop in the lower level of the Center for Communications and Engineering to build the packing machine. The final step involved testing.

“Unlike in Hollywood, the prototype almost never works,” says John Reap, assistant professor of mechanical engineer-

BY OLIVIA ABEL PHOTO AUTUMN DRISCOLL

When mechanical engineering student Chris Monferrato heard that a Quinnipiac alumnus needed help building schools for poor communities in Central America, he knew he had found the perfect senior capstone project.

The alumnus—Frank Sherrill ’07—a political science graduate living in Guatemala, has been working with others to build “bottle schools,” structures that replace traditional cinder blocks with plastic bottles that community members stuff with non-organic garbage. They are called “eco-bricks.”

The foundations, columns and beams for the buildings are made of reinforced concrete; eco-bricks are attached to a metal frame and anchored with chicken wire to fill the space between structural elements. The purpose is twofold: the schools are cheaper to construct than their traditional counterparts, and Guatemala’s notorious garbage problem is addressed in the process.

But one issue Sherrill has encountered is the amount of time it takes workers to fill the bottles. Monferrato and fellow engineering majors Madison Gegeckas ’17 and Rachel Davis ’18 thought they could help.

“The current fill process involves stuffing the trash in the bottles manually. It takes one person 30 minutes to fill a bottle,” says Monferrato. “We set out to build a machine that could stuff multiple bottles at a time.

It needed to be time-efficient, durable and affordable.”

The students were introduced to Sherrill through David Ives, executive director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute at Quinnipiac. Sherrill, a former Peace Corps volunteer, is president and co-founder of HAZSE, a social enterprise company that works with communities to construct bottle schools.

After investigating the problem and interviewing Sherrill, the trio began brainstorming. First, they investigated using a foot- or arm-operated push-stick to stuff trash into five bottles at a time.

ing, adding that refinement of an initial product prototype represents an important portion of product development.

“The students succeeded in developing a device that works in the workshop. Now, the time has come to work with partners at the Schweitzer Institute and in Guatemala to test it in the field,” he said.

“While we’ve anticipated some issues, there will undoubtedly be more. You have to rethink what you’ve been doing and then modify the machine. This is called iteration, and it is very much a part of design.”

Adds Monferrato: “Something might get loose or a lot of wear could occur. We also want to make sure that the machine is sustainable.”

Now that the device is built, the team plans to give it to Sherrill so it can be used in Guatemala. The students are excited at the prospect of helping local villages thrive. In fact, they have purposely ensured that their machine will not be fully automated because they don’t want to cut out all manual labor.

“In order for this to work, the entire community has to get involved,” says Monferrato, noting that adults and children regularly come together to stuff bottles. “It’s very empowering for them.”

Christopher Monferrato works on a machine prototype that will assist workers in Guatemala who use bottles filled with shredded trash to build schools and houses.

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NEWS STREAM

New York City John L. Lahey PRESIDENT HONORED

President John L. Lahey announced he will retire in June 2018 after more than 30 years at the helm of the university.

Last spring, he was honored by the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy at The Harvard Club in New York City. He received the inaugural Edward Netter Award for Business and Industry. Barbara Netter, ACGT’s honorary chairman of the board and co-founder, presented the award to Lahey. A future issue of Quinnipiac Magazine will highlight his many accomplishments and the transformational leadership he brought to the university.

Levittown, Pennsylvania Mark G. Contreras NEW DEAN NAMED

Mark G. Contreras was named dean of the School of Communications in June. He replaced Lee Kamlet, who retired after serving as dean for six years.

Contreras, the former CEO of Calkins Media Inc., of Levittown, Pennsylvania, brings extensive corporate media experience to QU. He has an MBA from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Chicago. Contreras will lead a School of Communications with 29 full-time faculty members and 1,000 students.

Hamden, Connecticut Class of 2017 COMMENCEMENT

Quinnipiac conferred 2,844 6

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degrees across two weekends and 10 ceremonies in May at Quinnipiac's Sports Center on the York Hill Campus.

Speakers included Dr. Jonathan LaPook, chief medical correspondent for CBS News; Hap Klopp, founder and CEO of The North Face; Michele Norris, former NPR host and special correspondent, and founder of The Race Card Project; and Richard A. Robinson, associate justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court.

Sparta, New Jersey Ashley Darnsteadt ’18 SPECIAL DELIVERY

A School of Nursing student recently aced the ultimate health care exam—delivering a baby girl. As an EMT for five years, Ashley Darnsteadt ’18 (on right in photo depicting an EMT drill) has experience in the classroom and on location. In June, she and her partner responded to a report of a woman in labor in Sparta, New Jersey. Darnsteadt jumped into action and delivered the baby. She also performed an assessment of the newborn and her mother. Darnsteadt earned compliments from police officers at the scene for her knowledge and calm demeanor.

“I always knew she’d make an excellent nurse,” said nursing professor Carol Connery. “This trial-by-fire experience has only confirmed it.”

India Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox MARSHALL AWARD RECIPIENT

A world-sized classroom, as Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox knows, is essential to a Quinnipiac education. It’s why she exposes students to the Oxford Consortium for Human Rights in England and conducts her own Fulbright research in India. These experiences help her teach students to consider cultures, causes and countries

away and raised $218,184 for the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford.

The QTHON, a 10-hour dance marathon, drew more than 70 teams to the Athletics and Recreation Center on the Mount Carmel Campus. other than their own. Since her arrival at Quinnipiac in 2011, the associate professor of legal studies has established the undergraduate mock trial team and the Global Engagement Fellows program. She also earned a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to study developmental ethics. In recognition of her work, GadkarWilcox received the James Marshall Award for Service to the Quinnipiac community last spring.

York Hill Campus Community CAMP NO LIMITS

Quinnipiac’s Center for Interprofessional Healthcare hosted the third annual Camp No Limits, an overnight camp for children and adolescents with limb loss and their families, in July on the York Hill Campus.

More than 60 campers, parents and siblings attended. Campers develop self-confidence, achieve personal goals and form lasting

Hamden, Connecticut Sasha Turner Bryson BLACK LIVES MATTER

Sasha Turner Bryson, associate professor of history, shown below left with junior JoAnne Wilcox, organized a symposium in April to foster conversation and spotlight the final

friendships. In addition to a field day and opportunities to try out the latest in prosthetics, participants attended a sled hockey clinic and professional game.

Ireland Rebecca Abbott FILM WINS EMMY

projects in her class, “Black Lives Matter: Interdisciplinary Perspectives.” Students presented their work before an audience in the piazza of the Carl Hansen Student Center. The keynote speaker was Frank Leon Roberts, a professor of African-American literature at New York University and the creator of a course titled Black Lives Matter: Race, Resistance and Populist Protest.

Hartford, Connecticut Students QTHON RAISES $218K

More than 1,500 Quinnipiac students danced the night

Rebecca Abbott, professor of film, television and media arts, Liam O’Brien, professor and chair of film, television and media arts, and Christine Kinealy, director of Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute and professor of history, won an

Emmy Award in June for their documentary, “Ireland's Great Hunger and the Irish Diaspora.”

The film focuses on the social, political and historical circumstances of the Famine, including detail from descendants of survivors who fled Ireland through Canada or emigrated to Australia.

COMMUNITY

News

MAKING SCIENCE COOL AGAIN Medical students share love for anatomy, chemistry, with middleschoolers

BY OLIVIA ABEL PHOTO AUTUMN DRISCOLL

When carolyn macica first started tutoring middle school students at St. Martin de Porres Academy in New Haven, she was dismayed by the school’s lack of science resources. “They had these very old textbooks— and nothing else,” says the assistant professor of medical sciences. “I thought: ‘But science is so much more exciting and interesting than this.’”

Macica decided to prove her hypothesis. The result was Science Friday, a series of innovative and interactive science programs run by Macica and a dedicated team of Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine students.

Every other week during the school year, the Quinnipiac group heads to the middle school that provides a tuition-free education for underserved children from local families. There, the Netter students run four hands-on projects, one for each grade from 5–8.

Students in one classroom in the 123-year-old red brick building could be seen jumping from box to box on the floor one Friday; each box represented a chamber of the heart. They also exchanged blue balloons at the lung, where they picked up a red (oxygenated) balloon. The fun continued as students jumped through the mitral valve Hula Hoop, indicating how blood flows from the left atrium into the left ventricle.

In an adjacent classroom, seventh-graders were mixing Borax, corn starch, glue and other household materials to create their own bouncy balls. “There is always some cool stuff going on,” says Macica. “The messier and grosser, the better.”

The science lessons definitely are captivating the middle school students. According to Macica, the students are told that they cannot participate in Science Friday unless they finish all their weekly work. And they are not the only ones benefitting from the unique programming.

“I’ve noticed that when we are all done, nobody wants to leave. The Netter students are bubbling over with excitement, chatting and sharing their experiences. It’s so cool; this is what it is all about,” Macica says.

Each experiment usually involves five Netter students, including a leader who has planned the day’s lesson. Macica goes from classroom to classroom, making suggestions and watching everything unfold. Carolyn Dubeau, a medical student from California who is considering a

career in pediatric cardiology, designed the heart chamber game. “The heart is so complicated to understand, and getting kids up and walking and moving is always a great way to be involved in new material,” she says.

Macica says, “There are kids who have told us, ‘I want to be a doctor or a scientist.’ That is not our mission, but it is very cool to hear. It is really important to me that the students and the faculty know we are going to keep coming back. There is so little continuity in these kids’ lives. I want Science Friday to be a constant.”

Kaitlin Renkosiak, a Netter student and former middle-school teacher, ran the bouncy ball experiment.

“When you mix Borax, warm water and corn starch, it starts to form chemical bonds between the components,” she says. “The kids really liked this one because it was so interactive. It also taught them what to do if something doesn’t work. For instance, some of the kids added too much glue and their ball didn’t bounce, so we discussed what they could try next time.”

Last year, Renkosiak made ice cream with the students. “They loved it … they never think about the science behind food or how quickly they can make it using science concepts we learned that day. It’s really pretty easy.” They learned that adding salt to the ice surrounding the ice cream chamber positively affects how the mixture freezes and thickens and stops the ice from melting too quickly.

Paul Montana, a medical student, also coaches basketball at the school. His favorite science experiment was recreating a realistic GI tract.

“For the stomach, we used a plastic bag where they kind of mushed the food around,” he says. “Then, we used panty hose for the small intestines so they could see the absorption of the stuff. The whole thing was quite a mess, but they just loved it.”

Macica recently received funding for a college readiness program. “I want to include QU students who are studying to be teachers; I think that would be a great fit.

I’m always thinking bigger, bigger, bigger.”

Sean Pennetti, a student in Quinnipiac's Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine, lets sixth-grade student Eli'Sha Price listen to his heartbeat during Science Friday at St. Martin de Porres Academy in New Haven.

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RESEARCH

News

MARATHONS CAN STRESS THE KIDNEYS Quinnipiac and Yale researchers collaborate to study how long-distance running affects that organ

BY B R I A N KO O N Z

The face of someone who just ran a marathon is unmistakable. It’s a stirring mix of elation and exhaustion, a mask of honor for surviving 26.2 miles.

During warmer weather, the impact of running a marathon could be even more profound, especially on the kidneys, according to a recent study published in the American Journal of Kidney Disease.

Researchers from Quinnipiac and Yale studied 22 volunteers for acute kidney injury, both men and women who ranged in age from 22 to 63. The volunteers were runners who finished the 2015 Hartford Marathon. The researchers found a possible link between the stress, the elevated body temperature and the decreased blood flow to the kidneys during exertion and a shortterm reduction in kidney function.

Quinnipiac’s research was performed by Thomas Martin, associate professor of biomedical sciences and a 2017 Faculty Scholar; Rachel Pata, clinical assistant professor of physical therapy; and Karen Myrick, associate professor of nursing. They were assisted by students from the School of Health Sciences, the School of Nursing, and the Frank H. Netter School of Medicine.

“There is a physiological reason why you feel so horrible after running a marathon. It’s because your skeletal muscles, your heart, your kidneys, undergo a considerable amount of stress and injury,” Martin said. “From a research standpoint, I’m really interested in how we can better educate runners—not only to improve performance, but also to decrease the injury risk and stress associated with marathon running.”

With more than 500,000 Americans expected to run a marathon this year, this research is both timely and provocative. Although kidney function usually returns to normal within 48 hours of completing a marathon, Martin and the other researchers wanted to know more.

They wondered about the cumulative impact of acute kidney injury on athletes who run dozens of marathons over their lifetimes. They wanted to learn more about the effect of AKI on runners based on age, gender and training regimen after high-intensity marathon running for four hours.

“What we saw in the marathon runners is what we see in a hospital with patients whose kidneys have been 8

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compromised by medical and surgical complications,” said Dr. Chirag Parikh of Yale, a professor of medicine. “It was surprising and alarming at the same time, although the recovery was brisk and prompt.”

The researchers studied blood and urine samples taken before the marathon, within 30 minutes after finishing the event and the day after finishing. They discovered 82 percent of the study’s participants presented for Stage 1 acute kidney injury, a mild decline in the kidneys’ ability to filter the body’s waste.

Parikh and the other researchers studied several kidney markers for their work, including serum creatinine levels, kidney cells on microscopy and emerging proteins.

“Our study, although it was limited in sample, did open the door for a lot of new hypotheses,” said Sherry G. Mansour, doctor of osteopathic medicine and a clinical fellow at Yale. “Whether it’s because of the heat or not keeping up with hydration, we want to dive more into the mechanisms of why some people are affected and others are not. We want to learn more about the transient damage that occurs in the kidney.”

Researchers saw similarities between acute kidney injury in marathon runners and those who do strenuous work in unforgiving temperatures. While the marathon research is promising, Martin said, it’s clear a longitudinal study and a larger sample size is needed for more comprehensive data.

“Over the past few years, I’ve been very fortunate to conduct a number of studies at the Hartford Marathon,” said Martin, who has run three marathons himself. “Studies like this are challenging because of recruitment and because we’re collecting data at multiple sites on multiple days in Hartford and here at Quinnipiac. There are a lot of logistics that go into these studies, but they’re so rewarding afterward because of the impact they have on our students and the subjects.”

Others from the QU community who worked on the studies include Johanna D’Addario, clinical assistant professor of physician assistant studies; Richard Feinn, associate professor of medical sciences; and students David Jou, Rebecca Kingston, Amanda Lafalce, Kelly Malloy, John Martin-Beaulleu Gabriella Narowska and Lauren Yuknis.

With more than 500,000 Americans expected to run marathons this year, the research is timely.

GALLERY

CULTURAL EXCHANGE

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1. Victoria Saha ‘17, left, and Eesha Dave ‘17 perform at the Carl Hansen Student Center piazza during Bollywood Fest, an annual event to celebrate 1 South Asian culture through food, performance and dance. The women opened the festivities by dancing to “Bole Chudiyan,” one of the biggest Bollywood hits of the early 2000s.

2. Yesha Patel ‘20 twirls in her sari as she brings her dance to life.

3. Riya Patel ’20 offers dance interpretations to the songs, “Pinga,” “Cham Cham” and “Ghagra.”

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4. A henna artist created elaborate mehndi hand designs for Quinnipiac students.

5. Margy Shah ‘19 entertains with one of her favorite songs, “Mein Tenu Samjhawan.”

6. Eesha Dave ‘17, who has danced for years and choreographed multiple dances for Bollywood Fest, performs for the last time as a Quinnipiac undergraduate.

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Photos by Autumn Driscoll QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

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Q AND A

News

JULIA BEKKER ’01 Matchmaker assists professionals seeking real relationships

Professional matchmaker Julia Bekker ’01 places three out of five clients in longterm relationships.

A communications degree from Quinnipiac can lead to many careers, but Julia Bekker ’01 may be the only alumna with the job title of professional matchmaker. She’d envisioned a singing career, but took a job as an assistant/event planner for one of the world’s bestknown matchmakers. It changed the course of her life.

The New York City-based Bekker is a contemporary Cupid, working as a dating coach and running her own boutique relationship recruiting firm for selective singles. “I’ve always been a people connector,” says Bekker.

“This is a natural fit for me.”

How did you get that first job? I answered an ad

on Craigslist for a temporary assistant. I was 24 or 25.

I had no idea that matchmakers even existed. The next thing I know I’m traveling around the country with the matchmaker doing bachelorette searches for her clients.

How does your matchmaking service work?

My clients are successful men looking for a relationship; they come to me through my website or by referral. We have a quick screening phone conversation and then go on a simulated date. If I decide to take them on, we sign a contract and get started. I get to know them really well. I go to their homes, I go through their closets. I look at pictures of their ex-girlfriends, ex-wives, kids. We talk about everything.

What about the women? I keep a database of

eligible women; mostly they contact me and want to be added to the list. I’ll approach women anywhere, anytime: on the treadmill next to me at the gym, on the subway, at happy hours. Sometimes the women are a bit taken aback, but in this generation of dating, they know that matchmakers exist and are more comfortable with it.

Do any of the men have unrealistic expectations? Of course! Some of their criteria is deluQUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

Are some of them looking for trophy wives?

No. Most men want someone with a brain and a career— they want a partnership. One of my biggest responsibilities is weeding out gold diggers.

Do you arrange dates? No, I just make the introductions, then I leave it in their hands. Of course I’ll give advice, and I also offer coaching and image consulting if they need it. I worked with a very introverted accountant. I did a whole revamp of his wardrobe, got him to lose weight. He did a complete 180. I introduced him to a woman, and they got married.

What is the cost? Packages start at $5,000 and go

I N T E RV I EW BY O L I V I A A B E L PHOTO AUTUMN DRISCOLL

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sional. Part of my job is being a therapist and resetting a person’s expectations to see realistic possibilities that he could be equally happy with.

up to $25,000, depending on whether or not coaching is involved.

Do you have any formal training? I’m taking

online courses with Impact Coaching Academy and will have certified coaching certifications through them and receive my credentials from the International Coaching Federation. You can be a coach without these credentials, but I want to be as efficient and as authentic as possible.

What is your success rate? I’d say that three

out of five of my clients are in long-term relationships. But to be successful as a matchmaker, you always have to be on. You have to be confident and have the right personality.

You must go to quite a few weddings, yes?

No! I never get invited to the weddings. Nobody wants to take the chance of saying that they met through a matchmaker. I guess it’s still a taboo thing.

What do you think of reality TV dating shows, such as “The Bachelor?” The shows

help remove the stigma and help make it [matchmaking] a cool thing. That said, it’s absurd; you can’t really get to know somebody in that situation. It’s just a game or getting your 15 minutes of fame. I wouldn’t want to do it.

Are you happily paired up? I’m dating some-

one at the moment. I’ve been in and out of several long-term and short-term relationships. I didn’t start to get serious about finding Mr. Right until a couple of years ago. I’m a big believer in not settling and holding out until you meet your best friend and lover.

You were invited to speak with QU students about dating? What did you tell them? I em-

phasized that self-love and internal happiness attract people who are also secure and capable of being good, loving partners. Basically, if you can be happy on your own, you are more emotionally ready to be in a relationship.

SCENE ON CAMPUS

Michael Graham gives a summer trim to a palm tree

Photo by Autumn Driscoll

in the Larson residence hall.

PALMS IN HIS HANDS For 50 years, the palm trees in Larson, Perlroth and Troup halls have been one of Quinnipiac’s most curious and exotic botanical treasures.

To the uninitiated, they are silent sentries growing in residence halls modeled after a Florida shopping mall. Think greenhouses meet residential life, circa 1967.

To groundskeeper Michael Graham, who has spent the last 22 years watering and sustaining these seemingly out-ofplace trees, they are Phoenix roebelenii, better known as pygmy date palms.

“I pop in sometimes and I say, ‘Oh look, they need some love.’

We all take care of them, not just me,” Graham said. “I try to feed them monthly during the growing months when the students aren’t here.”

A few years ago, Graham searched through dozens of palm tree photos to see which variety had “nasty spikes” near the top. “When I figured out they were pygmy dates, I was excited. I learned how to take care of them better,” Graham said.

“We have a little towaround water wagon that we use. We mix in Miracle-Gro, just like you would at home.”

Graham’s green thumb has extended to plantings across the university. He has enhanced the stock flowers with a kaleidoscope of tropical color. “Mike really enjoys his work,” said John Copela, senior superintendent of grounds. “It’s not just the palms—it’s everything he does.”

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SPIRIT

MAD FOR PLAID

Photo by Autumn Driscoll

Quinnipiac Plaid was unveiled in April. The new tartan design serves as a timeless symbol denoting Quinnipiac’s strong sense of community, tradition and national prominence and will be listed on the Scottish Register of Tartans.

“As we considered the elements of our new brand identity, we continued to come back to the idea of connecting our visual identity to what makes Quinnipiac unique,” said Keith Rhodes ’91, vice president of Brand Strategy and Integrated Communications.

“Given Quinnipiac’s strong community, ambition and pride, it is a natural fit to combine our colors with fabric and a pattern to create a representative symbol.”

The new plaid design was more than a year in the making and combines the three university colors—Quinnipiac Navy, York Hill Sky Blue and Bobcat Gold—as well as a touch of gray to provide a modern sensibility and aesthetics.

Rhodes said the university has integrated touches of the plaid into athletic uniforms and special events across campus. Woven scarves and baseball caps will join Quinnipiac Plaid flags, T-shirts, mugs, umbrellas and other official merchandise this fall.

The Quinnipiac Bookstore has some plaid items available now and more coming soon. Visit quinnipi. ac/bookstore to see these items and other Quinnipiac apparel.

Alumni get a 10 percent discount.

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QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

CAMPUS

STEEPED IN INNOVATION Fulbright scholars pitch tea app to Bigelow CEO

News like a bar code. Once a QR code is scanned with a smart phone, the app matches the information to a specific blend of tea. At present, QR codes are not widely printed on tea bag tags in the industry. Tejas Kumar ’16, a frontend developer and graphic designer at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, created the app.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” Dinca said, “but we’re excited about how far we’ve come.” So is Bigelow, who believes the Time 4 Tea app is promising.

“We have to look at the app and see how we could apply it,” Bigelow said. “We don’t have a QR code on every one of our tags. We need to find out what it would take to … just read the foil [packaging].”

For Bigelow, the third generation to work in the tea business, there are striking similarities between her grandmother and these Quinnipiac students. “She liked to ‘speriment.’ My father says that all the time, and then he chuckles,” Bigelow said.

It’s precisely this spirit of relentless curiosity that Professor Norman Gray nurtures. “We take the idea and we commercialize it,” said Gray, the Carlton Highsmith Chair of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. “We do that by taking the idea, and with the student, putting a team around it that includes all the elements necessary to make it successful. Then we can go to funding and raise money.”

Gray said the other option is to find a strategic partner.

Cindi Bigelow, president and CEO of family-owned and Connecticut-based Bigelow Tea, tests the Time 4 Tea app with Ashton Pett ‘15, MBA ‘17, at the Quinnipiac Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

BY BRIAN KOONZ PHOTO AUTUMN DRISCOLL

The whistle of the kettle was unmistakable, an invitation to sip some tea and spend some time with your thoughts. Only this siren wasn’t shouting from a stovetop­­— it was coming from a new mobile app created by Fulbright Scholars at the School of Business.

The app, Time 4 Tea, was demonstrated recently for Bigelow Tea, the Connecticut-based specialty tea company. The timer helps consumers brew a perfect cup of tea by matching the ideal steeping time for each blend.

As part of the app’s beta testing, Cindi Bigelow, the company’s president and chief executive officer, visited the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship for the first time to share her company’s story and to steep a cup of Lemon Ginger tea. She cautioned her audience to never, ever squeeze a tea bag when removing it from a cup, as the bitter tannins will ruin the taste.

The Time 4 Tea app was conceived by Tamara Leskovar, a Fulbright Scholar from Slovenia studying archaeology. After sipping yet another cup of bitter tea that had steeped too long, the avid tea drinker decided her palate deserved better. “I always had to remind myself to take the bag out of the water,” Leskovar said.

A meeting last October with Laszlo Dinca, an MBA student, Fulbright Scholar from Hungary and the executive assistant at the innovation center, changed her tea drinking habits. “Laszlo was explaining what the center does,” Leskovar recalled, “and I said, ‘I have an idea but I have no idea how to do anything with it. Would you be willing to listen to me?’ He said, ‘Yes, of course,’ and we started talking.”

The conversation led to the creation of the Time 4 Tea app. The digital tea steward works by scanning a tea bag tag’s QR code, a crossword puzzle-like design that works

“This is a project that really can’t go to funding, but if we find a partner like Bigelow … we can make it real. That’s the fun part of it.”

The hard part of it, as Bigelow knows, is building a company that can feed a dream and grow it. “I’m an irritant,” Bigelow said. “I drive, I drive, I push. I never compromise, and I challenge you. But I also want to motivate you, and I want to inspire you.”

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/ Sports MID-MAJOR MOJO

By Brian Koonz The evangelist in sneakers leans a little closer, her eyes and her voice sharing a moment 22 years in the making.

There is no script for this testimonial, only a narrative of faith, trust and the kind of success that comes with winning on the biggest stage.

Head women’s basketball coach Tricia Fabbri is the muse of a program and a university. During last season’s historic run to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, Fabbri and the Bobcats emerged as a national storyline, no longer the mid-major upstart with the curious name.

“Our success has continued to brand the university on a national scale,” said Fabbri, who arrived on campus in 1995 as Quinnipiac’s first full-time female head coach. “We’re committed to being a real power at the mid-major level. We’re committed to taking the next steps and continuing to grow our program. That commitment will never stop.”

On this day, Fabbri’s ensemble of pearl earrings and school-issued sweats works perfectly. It’s business casual meets the business of sports. The Sweet 16 party is over, replaced by recruiting meetings, booking home games for the 2017-18 season and integrating new uniforms by Adidas.

“We’re not even 20 years in Division I and look what this university has done,” Fabbri said. “We’re babies in this world of athletics. And yet, [men’s ice] hockey has played in two Frozen Fours, women’s rugby has won two straight national championships and women’s basketball has made it to a Sweet 16.”

Fabbri’s team upset No. 25 Marquette and No. 16 Miami last March before losing to eventual national champion South Carolina in the Sweet 14

QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

16. For the first time in its history, Quinnipiac (29-7, 17-3) ended the year ranked among the top 25 teams in America, reaching No. 23 in the final USA Today Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Poll.

“Looking back, John Lahey was committed to the move from Division II to Division I and what that required in

terms of resources, upgrades and everything else,” Fabbri said from her office at the Quinnipiac Sports Center.

“Once this arena was built, it put us on a whole other level.

It gave us new expectations, but it also gave us new opportunities.”

The next chapter of Quinnipiac women’s basket-

ball isn’t about an encore, it’s about enduring beyond two weeks in March. It’s about trading the newcomer metaphor of a two-tiered step stool for the unapologetic mission of playing deeper into the NCAA tournament.

Whether that climb happens this season, next season, or sometime down

The women’s basketball team

Experience the madness at Quinnipi.ac/sweet16

gives Coach Tricia Fabbri a celebratory shower after beating No. 16 Miami last March to advance to the Sweet 16.

Photos by John Hassett

the road is a question that follows Fabbri like a shadow.

Either way, with most of last year’s Sweet 16 team back this season, the future is promising in Hamden.

“You’re never satisfied,” said Fabbri, who signed a contract extension through the 2020-21 season in June.

“It all goes to three things:

your staff, your schedule and your recruiting. Why we get out of bed every day now is because we want to win that game in the Sweet 16.

“We saw firsthand what that level is. We firmly believe we’ve taken no shortcuts to get where we are. The backstory is six [consecutive] years with 20 wins. We’ve chal-

lenged ourselves every step of the way. We certainly feel we’re a top-20 program. But now, what’s it going to take to become a top-15, top-10 program in the next two years?”

For Jen Fay ’18, a redshirt junior from Long Island, New York, it’s going to take more of the same: absolute effort, universal commitment and fearless poise. The Sweet 16 validated everything for the Bobcats. It was a pinch-me moment, the kind of success you cherish the rest of your life.

“The sky is the limit for us,” Fay said, her grin burning as brightly as those Sweet 16 bulbs in the Miami score-

board. “We’re going to be excited when we see that banner go up. That’s going to motivate us to get back there and get that taste back.

“Obviously, we’re going to have to work even harder because we’re going to have a target on our back every game.

I think that’s huge,” Fay said.

“It’s not going to be the same as last year. We know it’s going to be different. We know it’s going to be harder. But there’s nothing better than being the team everyone wants to beat.”

Sometimes, the alarm for the Sweet 16 rings on the coldest day of the year, when the snow and wind summon yet another 6 a.m. practice.

Other times, the alarm rings during the offseason workouts, when the beach belongs to everyone but you.

For Adily Martucci ’17, who recently signed a professional

contract to play basketball in Puerto Rico, the sacrifices were always worth it. Her leadership helped punch that Sweet 16 ticket to California. Martucci can’t wait to see where the Bobcats go next.

“At this point, we’re in attack mode. We want more. Now, it’s on to bigger and better things,” Martucci said. “Seriously, when you have a team that is set on one goal and is on the same page like us, beautiful things will happen."

She said the Bobcats played with chips on their shoulders last season. “Even Miami, that whole atmosphere—everyone screaming at us, the cheerleaders on the baseline—I was just like, ‘Bring it. Yell some more, please. Go ahead, do it.’ The odds were definitely against us and we didn’t care. We love the fact that we surprised people.”

Aryn McClure ’19, a junior from Springfield Gardens, New York, realizes no one will be surprised anymore. “We know where we want to go.

We know how hard we have to work to reach our goals,” said McClure, who scored a career-high 28 points last March to lead Quinnipiac over Rider, 81-73, for the MAAC championship.

“We enjoyed ourselves at the Sweet 16, but at the end of the day, it was a business trip for us.

If you’re not careful and you’re not focused, you’re not going to have those opportunities.”

No player understands how difficult it has been to build Quinnipiac into a Sweet 16 program more than Carly Fabbri ’18, the coach’s daughter.

“When I think about those teams when I was little, they weren’t always competitive, but as the years progressed, they started making championship games,” said Fabbri, a senior guard. “Now, people all over the country know who we are. I think that’s a testament to how hard my mom has worked all these years.

The Sweet 16 didn’t happen overnight.”

QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

15

SPORTS STREAM

Commissioner’s Cup QU WINS MAAC AWARD

Quinnipiac won the 2017 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Women’s Commissioner’s Cup as the league’s top athletic department. The point system rewards postseason success, and the final standings combine the top six scores for the women’s teams for each MAAC school plus its women’s basketball program. “This honor is a reflection of the hard work and dedication by our coaches and student-athletes and the support that athletics receives from the Quinnipiac community,” said Greg Amodio, director of athletics and recreation. The Bobcats earned MAAC titles in women’s basketball, golf and tennis last season.

Men’s Lacrosse BUSINESS OF SPORTS

straight MAAC championship and played in their fourth straight NCAA tournament this spring. Seniors Rachel Horton, Kelsi Oliphant, Sitilia Rencheli and Sydney Young went undefeated in the MAAC (38-0) during their careers.

Quinnipiac (14-9) finished

the season with a 4-0 loss to Texas Tech in the NCAA tournament’s first round.

Gearing Up ADIDAS ON BOARD

Adidas signed a seven-year contract with the university this spring to be the official athletic footwear, uniform, apparel and accessory brand of the Bobcats through the 2023-24 season.

“Adidas has a phenomenal reputation and a long history of providing an excellent product to college and professional teams,” Amodio said. Adidas is the official athletic footwear, uniform and apparel provider for more than 100 college athletic programs, including Kansas, Indiana, Louisville and North Carolina State.

Women’s Tennis FOUR-TIME CHAMPIONS The Bobcats won their fourth 16

QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

Incoming freshman goalkeeper Keith Petruzzelli of Wilbraham, Massachusetts, was selected in the third round of the 2017 National Hockey League draft by the Detroit Red Wings. He was the 88th overall pick and the No. 2 goalie prospect in North America. Petruzzelli’s selection marks the fourth

Season Tickets ANNUAL BARBECUE

Team USA COACH LENDS SKILLS

Rand Pecknold, head coach of the men’s ice hockey program, was an assistant coach for Team USA at the 2017 IIHF Men’s World Championship in Cologne,

Men’s Ice Hockey RED WINGS GOALIE

Ryan Keenan, a former men’s lacrosse standout, earned his MBA from the School of Business this spring. Keenan split his time between taking classes in Hamden and playing in the National Lacrosse League for the Saskatchewan Rush. Weekends meant flying to games in Denver, Saskatchewan, Calgary, Alberta, and other NLL cities.

Weekdays meant hitting the books. Keenan thrived in both areas, with a graduate degree and a pro contract to show for it.

straight year that a Quinnipiac player has been chosen in the NHL draft. Petruzzelli will enter his freshman season alongside his brother, D.J., a forward.

Germany. The Americans took fifth place this spring after losing to Finland, 2-0, in the quarterfinals. Along the way, Team USA won six consecutive games in the preliminary round.

The athletic department will hold its annual barbecue for season ticket holders Sept.

14 from 5-7:30 p.m. outside the Quinnipiac Sports Center.

Players and coaches from both the men’s and women’s ice hockey teams and the men’s and women’s basketball teams will attend. Season tickets go on sale to the public Sept. 18.

Call 203-582-3905 for more information. Earlier this summer, the waiting list for men’s ice hockey season tickets was just under 300 people.

Women’s Golf PROWESS ON LINKS

Women’s Track/Field BANNER YEAR FOR LEE

Jessica Lee, a junior from Montgomery, New Jersey, became the first hurdler in program history to compete in an NCAA Regional in May when she took 39th in the 100-meter hurdles. “Usually

at the end of my races, I make a big push and that’s where I excel, but today my head said go and my legs were just not cooperating,” Lee said after the event in Lexington, Kentucky. “I would’ve liked to have done better but it’s still a great season and I’m proud of what I accomplished.”

For the second consecutive year, a freshman helped lead Quinnipiac to the MAAC championship as Alexandra Sazhin won the McLeod Trophy given to the top golfer at the MAAC tournament. Sazhin shot rounds of 80, 73 and 78 at the par-72 Magnolia Golf Course at Walt Disney World in Florida.

The Bobcats advanced to compete in the Athens Regional of the NCAA tournament.

For the latest scores and news, visit quinnipiacbobcats.com.

INTRODUCTION

DUNLEAVY HAS BASKETBALL IN HIS BLOOD New men’s head coach recruiting and rebuilding

BY BRIAN KOONZ PHOTO AUTUMN DRISCOLL

The moment baker dunleavy was hired as the new head men’s basketball coach, he brought stature to the program. He had served as the associate head coach of Villanova’s 2016 national championship team.

His father, Tulane coach Mike Dunleavy Sr., is a former NBA player and head coach. His brother, Mike Dunleavy Jr., is a 15-year NBA veteran out of Duke.

Dunleavy knows this is fundamentally a rebuilding job. The Bobcats were 10–21 last season, including a

See Baker's back story at Quinnipi.ac/baker

7–13 record and an eighth-place finish in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

So how does Dunleavy expect to develop a winning program? He strokes his chin for a moment, contemplating the question as much as his response. The short answer will always be recruiting.

“The model I’m most comfortable with—Villanova—is something I believe would work really well here,” said Dunleavy, a first-time head coach. “It will require a little more patience because I want to do most of our recruiting work from high school and build from within.”

With an immediate need for help after losing several players to graduation or transfer, Dunleavy hit the recruiting trail hard after his March hiring. Penn State graduate transfer Isaiah Washington is eligible to play this season. Other players already have committed to play for Quinnipiac starting with the 2018–19 season.

Dunleavy’s offense will value shooters and floor spacing to create open looks, especially from 3-point range.

On defense, the Bobcats will play a versatile, man-toman system that can defend a deliberate offense as well as an uptempo one.

“We were very simple, but very effective at Villanova, which allowed our players to be really confident and aggressive,” Dunleavy said. “I hope that’s what people will see here at Quinnipiac.”

Sports

New men's basketball head coach Baker Dunleavy is eager for the season to begin.

QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

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CLASSROOM

THE PERFECT MATCH

BY J A N E T WA L D M A N I L LU S T R AT I O N B R I A N S TAU F F E R

Venkat Subramanyam and Alyson Cunningham have experienced “The Dating Game,” “The Match Game” and “The Newlywed Game” in that order, since beginning medical school in 2013. “Jeopardy” loomed large for the couple during four days last March, but on the fifth day, they only needed a “Minute to Win It.” They met during orientation at the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine. Thanks to small classes and study groups, their friendship blossomed into love. He was drawn to emergency medicine and she, surgery.

Subramanyam popped the question over dinner in New Haven in January 2017 during the height of the season when fourth-year medical students nationwide interview at residency sites. They set a wedding date of June 9; the setting, Goat Island off Newport, Rhode Island. They made their residency lists together, enrolling as a couple in the National Resident Matching Program, also known as The Match. Now it was up to a computer algorithm to determine where they’d live and work … together or apart for the first years of their marriage.

On Monday of Match Week, both learned they had indeed matched—somewhere—as did all of their medical school classmates. After sighing with relief, they held their breath for the next three days. On Friday, St. Patrick’s Day, they joined their fellow Netter School of Medicine students for a ceremony in Burt Kahn Court, complete with a champagne toast. The news they craved sat in individual “pots of gold” on a table in front. Claiming their envelopes, they gripped them tightly as families, faculty and staff joined them in a countdown to noon, when they and thousands of medical students around the country could tear them open.

Whoops of elation, hugs, kisses and tears of joy erupted from every corner of the room as the students learned 18

QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

where they’d be heading this summer. All 58 members of the Netter School’s first class matched to a variety of prestigious programs, including Yale, Brown, Johns Hopkins, Dartmouth, the University of California at Los Angeles, Mount Sinai and the University of North Carolina. This milestone was perhaps the most significant in the school’s short history.

Participating in The Match as a couple allows each applicant to link their ranked lists to obtain positions in the same geographic location. A couple will match to the most preferred pair of programs on their lists where each partner has been offered a position.

“As we descended down our preference list,” Subramanyam explained, “we listed options as a couple, but some with the two of us apart. For example, Alyson in Connecticut, Ven in Connecticut; Alyson in Connecticut, Ven in DC; Alyson in Connecticut, Ven in Florida.”

Cunningham and Subramanyam opened each other’s letters. “We had been joking about doing that, but once we picked up our respective envelopes, we decided, why not? We are in this together after all!”

Cunningham said. Scanning the news, they quickly swapped letters.

“We just looked at each other and hugged,” she said.

“There was a mutual understanding of shared excitement and relief. We not only matched at the same program— UConn—but also at a very desirable one.”

THE PROCESS

1. Medical students apply to their preferred residency programs in mid-September of their fourth year and hope to interview at these medical centers sometime between October and February.

2. Students submit a list to the National Resident Matching Program (The Match) with their choices ranked in order of preference. Meanwhile, hospitals with residency slots submit their own ranked lists of students they met and to whom they would like to offer residencies.

3. A computer program matches the students to the institutions, taking into account the students’ preferences and the number of residencies the institutions can support, to create the most favorable matches.

The process is blind on both sides.

4. Match Day is the third Friday in March. On Monday of that week, students receive an email letting them know whether they have matched or not. They must wait until Friday at noon to find out where. If they did not match, they can take steps to match to a program that did not meet its match quota.

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CLASSROOM

New doctors Venkat Subramanyam, MD '17, and Alyson Cunningham, MD '17, were married a few weeks after Commencement. Match Day put an end to their anxiety about possibly having to live apart during their 20

QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

residencies.

More photos from Match Day at Quinnipi.ac/matchdayvideo

CLASSROOM

“I put down roots here and I made a lot more friends than I expected to, so I will definitely miss it. Med school was tough, but rewarding.

I’m ready,” says Matthew Abrishamian, who headed to Drexel for emergency medicine.

Photo by Autumn Driscoll

CALIFORNIA CONNECTION

Nicole Gordon, MD ’17, who is pursuing a career in family medicine, was too nervous to open her envelope; instead, her husband, David Bernstein, did the honors. The result? The University of California at Davis. “I’m from At left, Nicole Gordon, MD ’17, headed to a residency at the University of California at Davis while classmate James Fraser, MD ’17, was matched to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.

Below, Eva Amenta, MD ’17,

Photo by John Hassett

“The fact that they all obtained a residency position and matched into many high-quality programs across the country is a testament to the excellence of our students as well as the quality of the education they received at the Netter School,” said Dr. Bruce Koeppen, the school’s founding dean.

Koeppen explained that before medical students can be licensed to practice medicine in any of the 50 states, they need to pass the three steps of the U.S. Licensing Examination and complete at least two years of a residency (usually three or more years in length). Students take the first two exams while in medical school and the third during their residency training.

“If a student does not match into a residency program, he or she can never be a licensed physician,” he said.

The Netter School had no reputation among residency programs, and the underlying fear was that such programs might not want to take a chance on students from a newer medical school, he added. Furthermore, he noted that if a medical school were to develop a reputation for graduating individuals who do not match into residency programs, its applicant pool eventually would disappear.

Twelve percent of Netter graduates are entering family medicine, which exceeds the national average of 7 percent and complements the school’s primary care mission. Subramanyam and Cunningham are among 12 students who matched in Connecticut; 5 matched in other New England states, 13 in New York, 11 in California, 6 in Pennsylvania, 2 each in North Carolina and Texas, and 1 each in Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin.

The couple will alternate work shifts among Hartford Hospital, the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, John Dempsey Hospital in Farmington and St. Francis Hospital in Hartford. They’ll live in nearby West Hartford, where she was raised. Serving as vice president of her class and founding president of the Netter branch of the American Medical Women’s Association, Cunningham appreciated the chance to shape the Netter School’s culture.

Subramanyam plans to specialize in emergency medicine. For his capstone course, he produced and directed a public service video to educate coaches, parents and student athletes about avoiding youth concussions.

points to Texas on the map while her husband, Thomas Johnston, captures the moment. She headed to Baylor in Houston.

California, and this was definitely in my top three,” she exclaimed.

Gordon said family medicine will allow her to maintain long-term relationships with patients versus meeting them briefly in a hospital setting. During one clerkship, she recalled the case of a toddler suffering with a MRSA infection in his leg. “He was screaming with pain. His mother was beside herself at her child’s discomfort,” she said. Even changing his dressing was becoming a nightmare.

“Then the child’s pediatrician came in, and the mom knew him, and all the tension in the room melted. That showed me the power of having a doctor-patient relationship outside of the hospital, with trust built up over time.”

YALE BOUND

An emotional Erin White, MD ’17, was thrilled to land her top choice for general surgery: Yale University. Originally from California, she loves living on the East Coast.

“It was wonderful here; I loved the faculty when I visited the school—and they totally delivered. I appreciate all the support we got.”

BIG CITY MEDICINE

Matthew Abrishamian, MD ’17, learned he’d be heading to Philadelphia for an emergency medicine residency at Drexel University. “Wow, this is the end of weeks and weeks of nerves,” said Abrishamian. “I’m a big city guy, so QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

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I’m happy about going to Philly. I put down roots here and I made a lot more friends than I expected to, so I will definitely miss it. Med school was tough, but rewarding.

I’m ready.”

SURGICAL PRECISION

Echoing that sentiment was James Fraser, MD ’17, who was ecstatic to match to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, where he will do a residency in general surgery. The aspiring surgeon credits surgical clerkship director Dr. Christine Van Cott of St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport for guiding him in that direction.

“I completed my third-year surgery clerkship at St.

Kuo chose emergency medicine because he enjoys treating patients from every socioeconomic status and people from diverse cultures. “In today’s political climate, some people feel health care is a privilege and not a right, and I strongly oppose that view.”

Vincent’s and fell in love with the technical aspects of surgery and the team dynamic that I felt was unique to the specialty,” he noted.

By his fourth-year surgery sub-internship, after he had the opportunity to instruct underclassmen, Fraser uncovered a passion for teaching and mentoring. “There is a unique ability for those in the field of surgery to teach in multiple arenas—in the OR, by the bedside with medical management, on rounds, and in clinic. I really enjoy the challenge of having medical students and team members rely on me for accurate and concise instruction, advice and guidance. It’s exactly what I want to do for the rest of my career.”

Fraser said Van Cott’s love for teaching and passion for what she does resonated with him and motivated him to become better in all aspects of his training. He attributed much of his success to the surgical oncologist.

At Commencement in May, Van Cott addressed the first class to graduate from Netter, reminding them, “Being a doctor is not just a job or a career, it’s your identity.

Do the right thing, and don’t stop asking questions.”

EMERGENCY MEDICINE

Kevin Kuo, MD ’17, knows ER doctors must be prepared for anything that walks through the door, ready to react at a moment’s notice. But the 27-year-old medical student was not prepared for the emotions he’d feel watching a young person fight for his life.

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Last summer during Kuo’s clerkship at Mount Sinai-St. Luke’s/Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, a 20-year-old college student came in with a high fever and a cough he couldn’t shake. A workup revealed pneumonia in both lungs, a higher-than-normal heart rate, and low blood pressure. The ER team diagnosed him with sepsis, a life-threatening complication of an infection.

In a few hours, the patient progressed to septic shock.

When his oxygen levels plummeted, a breathing tube was inserted. And then the young man’s heart stopped.

Kuo’s own heart accelerated as a code was called. The aspiring ER doctor took his turn performing heart compressions, each two minutes in length, as the team toiled for an hour to bring the young man back.

“By my eighth cycle, I was drenched in sweat, my arms were numb, and my hands were sore, but I didn’t want to give up,” Kuo said. “I kept thinking, this young guy isn’t supposed to die like this.”

The moment when the physician in charge pronounced the time of death for the unresponsive young man is etched in Kuo’s memory. He knows it won’t be the last patient he loses.

He officially became a doctor on May 14, when the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine awarded doctor of medicine degrees to him and 57 other members of its inaugural class. On Match Day, Kuo learned that Mount Sinai wanted him back, this time as a resident in emergency medicine.

Kuo’s experience in the ER that day taught him there is more to medicine than treating the patient—someone needed to deliver the tragic news to the young man’s family.

“It made me realize what an impactful role doctors have in this life-changing moment families will remember forever. And I also realized there will be patients out there who, regardless of how much we do, will end up dying anyway.”

Kuo, who grew up in California, said basic medical services were considered unaffordable luxuries for his family. He chose emergency medicine because he enjoys treating patients from every socioeconomic status and people from diverse cultures. “In today’s political climate, some people feel health care is a privilege and not a right, and I strongly oppose that view,” he said.

During his third year of medical school, Kuo spearheaded the creation of the Netter School of Medicine’s Bobcat Community Health Clinic, which is operated monthly during the academic year by seven to 10 volunteer medical students and professors out of the Weisman americares Free Clinic in Bridgeport, Connecticut’s most populous city. The clinic provides underserved individuals with screenings for diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol and BMI under the direction of a licensed physician who also prescribes medicines. More than 70 medical students volunteer during the academic year under the supervision of faculty. This fall, the clinic hopes to offer acute walk-in medical care services to the uninsured.

“We saw the need for an increase in health care access for this community, and I wanted to leave a legacy of impact and service. We visited some sites and asked the medical personnel if they would like assistance from medical students,” Kuo said.

The group was prepared with Spanish interpreters, but was surprised at the diversity of languages spoken by patients, especially those who spoke French Creole,

Photo by Autumn Driscoll

CLASSROOM

which Kuo described as a hard-to-reach pocket within the community. “They had the most need, and they don’t have the access or the ability to seek out care,” Kuo said.

In recognition of his efforts with the clinic, Kuo was presented at Commencement with the U.S. Public Health Service Excellence in Public Health Award, which recognizes medical students who have had a positive impact on public health in their communities. He also received the Gerald R. Berg, MD Service Award, for selfless and compassionate service to the community.

In addition to Mount Sinai, Kuo had clerkships at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, the Netter School’s primary clinical partner, and also at Stanford in California. He was impressed by the breadth of his experiences at each of them. “I couldn’t be happier with my education,” he said. “The faculty and clinicians teaching us were supportive of my endeavors and interests from day one, and I’ve made friends for a lifetime.”

Being a member of the school’s first class, he was a bit

hesitant at first. After all, the school had received preliminary accreditation, but the full certification didn’t come until this past March.

Both his mother and his significant other, Sarah, a teacher in Southern California, flanked him on Match Day as he tore open his letter to learn that the couple would be continuing their long-distance relationship. “She loves New York City, and we will visit back and forth,” he said.

Emergency medicine is at the top of the high-burnout medical specialties, but Kuo said the profession is taking steps to mitigate that now. He’s young and raring to go, but as he grows older, he admits the stress could take its toll.

For today, he relishes the intellectual challenge inherent in emergency medicine. “These patients don’t have a history on record, and if they crash on you, they could die right in front of you. I’ll have to figure out in a short amount of time what’s wrong, make that decision based on the information provided, and let my clinical judgment and instincts take over. The most I can hope for is that I do my best,” he said.

Kevin Kuo, MD ’17, works in the emergency department at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he completed an ultrasound clerkship before heading to Mount Sinai-St. Luke’s/Roosevelt Hospital in New York City.

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WORLD

ITALY IS SERVED

BY D O N NA P I N T E K

Italians love to talk about food. Ask them how to prepare ragù, a slow-cooked meat sauce, and you’ll be regaled with stories about fresh tomatoes from the family garden and opinions about the best way to make it. In fact, in an effort to end this great debate, the city of Bologna passed an ordinance in 1982 designating the ingredients and proportions necessary to create an authentic ragù Bolognese!

But did you know the Aztecs were first to cultivate tomatoes while Italians used them as table decor?

From pasta to gnocchi, polenta to risotto, food is not only a symbol of the Italian way of life, but it also offers a vantage point to appreciate the history of Italian culture and society. A course titled “Italy: A Journey Through its Food, History and Culture,” an elective taught in English, explores these connections.

Filippo Naitana, associate professor of Italian studies, developed the new course. “Italy has an extraordinarily rich culture. I needed to identify an entry point that students would find appealing, rather than intimidating,” Naitana says, adding that food seemed like a perfect choice. “Looking through the lens of food, we also can explore artistic, economic and cultural history.”

Students learn about the extraordinary regional diversity of Italian food—from Piedmont, Tuscany, and Emilia-Romagna to Campania and Sicily—while examining topics such as the connection between diet and health, the impact of the Italian Unification on food culture, the role of cafes in the history of Italian politics, industrialization and gender roles, food regulations, food and the Italian-American experience. The impact of globalization on food production, distribution and consumption also is covered.

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share their own perspectives. “The unit on Italian-American culture is an especially rich opportunity to discuss their own families’ food culture, whether they trace their origins back to the Italian peninsula or not. We look at food culture both as a marker of Italian-American identity and as an engine for social mobility and entrepreneurship,” he says.

Naitana notes that Italians who migrated to the U.S. at the end of the 19th century brought with them recipes and traditions that formed the basis for the pan-Italian food culture we are familiar with today. Many of them supported themselves selling familiar products to other Italian immigrants.

“Countless successful businesses, Ronzoni for instance, began this way. In their new home, Italians both experimented with tradition—creating dishes such as spaghetti and meatballs—and stayed grounded in it. In fact, Naitana notes, the ubiquitous backyard gardens in Italian-American communities connect them with a practice that dates back thousands of years. Romans prized having a garden (“hortus”) of their own to grow vegetables, fruit and grape vines: it provided them with delicious produce but also gave them a sense of place and permanency. “Hortus” means enclosure (often it literally surrounded the home). Homemade wine is also a part of that tradition.

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The Fishmarket in the old town of Catania, Sicily.

Tomatoes on previous page in a Bologna, Italy, vegetable stall.

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WORLD

In Italy, food preparation is a labor of love.

Nothing is rushed. Meals are meant to not only nourish the body, but also please the palate.

There is a strong link between food and value systems, Naitana explains. The Romans, for instance, firmly believed in the old maxim, “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are.” The diet staples of ancient Rome—bread, wine, and olive oil—were products of the earth, and this illustrates the values associated with their culture: to cultivate the soil, to improve it, was considered a sign of civilization.

Even at the apex of the Roman Empire’s military conquests, the citizen-farmer remained the Roman ideal. By contrast, a diet based mostly on meat and animal products—such as that of the Germanic tribes—was considered barbaric. Meat was consumed sparsely and was always associated with ritual sacrifice. Because ancient Romans perceived little nutritional value in meat, it was a pleasure mainly reserved for banquets and for impressing honored guests, Naitana says.

The advent of Christianity brought important changes in the Italian diet, while further strengthening food symbolism. The church imposed the liturgical calendar on its faithful, dividing “fat” or feast days from “lean” ones, in which no meats or animal products could be consumed. Oil, bread and wine—staples of the Mediterranean diet since ancient times—were conferred sacred status in the Christian Mass and sacraments, and olive oil and bread also were substituted for prohibited foods during periods of fasting.

The consumption of food and wine traditionally was connected to social status. During the Renaissance, Naitana notes, banquets were a privileged opportunity for wealthy and influential families to display their power through extravagant meals incorporating art and performance. He said the rituals surrounding eating and interacting with others at the table also was significant and often understood as an art, and so it is no coincidence that table manners featured prominently in a best-seller of the Renaissance: Giovanni Della Casa’s iconic treatise on polite behavior, “Il Galateo.”

The food we now associate with Italy evolved over a long period of time, and its history is intertwined with trade, conquest and even demography. Naitana shared that the Romans already prepared a version of what today we call lasagna. But it was during the Middle Ages that the great variety of shapes and sizes of pasta developed, as well as the custom of boiling dough in water rather than baking it.

Al-Idrisi, a Moroccan-born geographer at the court of Norman King Roger II in Palermo, wrote in his “Tabula Rogeriana” that dried pasta was produced in the Sicilian town of Trabia and exported in large quantities across the Mediterranean. Oranges, lemons, pistachios and sugar cane were brought to Sicily from the Arab world. Corn was grown in North America for thousands of years before it came to Europe, and potatoes originated in South America.

And yet where would Italian food culture be today without the triad of pasta, gnocchi and polenta?

Bread played a crucial role in Italian food culture since antiquity, and it also exemplifies regional diversity. In Ancient Rome, bread was the symbolic food of the citizen-soldier—and thus a marker of civilization—as well as a tool for political propaganda. When in “The Divine Comedy,” Dante wrote, “You shall come to know how salt is the taste of another’s bread,” he was referring to the bread of Florence, which traditionally is unsalted, and also to how difficult it was to live in exile, part of which meant eating salted bread.

Long ago, a salt tax was imposed in Tuscany, and the bakers rebelled by not using it.

Nor is bread the only example of the Tuscans’ talent for creative adaptation: Tonno del Chianti (Tuna of Chianti), is an ancient recipe that features pork that is salted and marinated, then poached to mimic the taste of seafood.

Cacciucco, a popular fish soup, was invented by the fishermen of Livorno, who were looking for a way to use the smallest fish from their catch. Lampredotto is a typical Florentine sandwich, made from a cow’s stomach, boiled and served with a green sauce: it is a daily staple found at the Mercato Centrale in Florence, which features not only market stands selling fresh produce, but also booths where you can buy a sandwich and dine at one of its rustic tables.

“This is another example of how food in Italy really brings people together, especially from different economic strata.

Everyone comes together to enjoy the same food. They share the table and enjoy a conversation,” Naitana says.

In Italy, food preparation is a labor of love. Nothing is rushed. Meals are meant to not only nourish the body, but also please the palate. A big part of its extraordinary quality comes from making everything from scratch, using fresh ingredients that are both regional and seasonal. Much attention to the wisdom of these practices has been brought by the so-called “Slow Food Movement,” which originated in the 1980s and has taken hold across the world.

The “Slow Food Manifesto,” published in 1989, exhorted Italians to “rediscover the flavors and savors of regional cooking and banish the degrading effects of fast food.” In the case of founder Carlo Petrini and a number of the movement’s original members, opposition to fast food wasn’t mere theory: in fact, it was a protest against the opening of a McDonald’s franchise near the Spanish Steps in Rome.

Jade Starace ’17, a sociology major and 2018 master of arts in teaching candidate, said the course allowed her to compare the Italy she’s traveled through with the Italy portrayed in the assigned reading.

“Learning about dishes from each region gave me the chance to think back to my experiences traveling in Italy with my family, as well as studying abroad. I was able to reminisce about the delicious dishes that I had tried,” she said, adding, “Professor Naitana even brought in Italian breads and mozzarella for us to taste!”

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CLASSROOM

MAKING IT IN LA

BY OLIVIA ABEL

Jacqueline Gallagher ’16 has a life many recent college graduates would envy. The Massachusetts native lives in the hip Wilshire neighborhood of Los Angeles and works as a casting assistant at Fiorentino Casting and Aufiero/Horn Casting, agencies that find talent for an array of TV and film clients. She spends her free time biking on Venice Beach.

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tions career development team lend a hand.

“The program is expanding, and we’ve been making wonderful connections with companies and movie studios,” Cherilus says.

While the program offers a taste of the working world and the chance to forge valuable connections, it also lets students experience the culture of Southern California.

“We offer an invaluable experience outside the Northeast corridor, which is where the bulk of our students are from,” says Terry Bloom, associate dean of the School of Communications.

Students are housed in a corporate apartment complex in Marina del Rey, just a five-minute walk from the Pacific Ocean and a slew of trendy shops and restaurants. “It’s an ideal location; we’re in the middle of everything,” says Cherilus, who plans social activities for the students, including hikes to the famed Hollywood sign and visits to Catalina Island, Disneyland, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Warner Bros. lot.

“The first weekend I always take the students on a fourhour bicycle tour around Venice, Santa Monica and Marina del Ray. It’s an amazing ride,” says Cherilus, who lives in Mar Vista, just two miles from the students.

Functioning partially as a de facto den mother, Cherilus makes sure that students are not too frazzled and fields calls about everything from their rental cars to roommate disputes to how to treat a sunburn. He says his job as a resident assistant at Quinnipiac prepared him for his role. His

Jacqueline Gallagher ’16 prepares to videotape clients at a Los Angeles-area casting agency.

Photo by Jon Rou

Gallagher credits the Quinnipiac in Los Angeles program, QU in LA for short, for giving her the tools she needed to land that job, including a familiarity with the area. In fact, she liked the program so much that she enrolled twice, spending both Spring and Summer 2015 there. It was her boss from an internship at prominent film company Blumhouse Productions who called Gallagher with a job offer. The only caveat? They needed someone to start the following week.

“I packed up my life and started on Monday,” says Gallagher. “The rest is history.”

Gallagher puts in long days, but regards her colleagues as family. “We work hard together and stay late together,” she says. “I’m either reading with the actors or running the camera.”

Now entering its fourth year, QU in LA enables students to spend a semester or summer living, studying and working as interns in LA, the entertainment capital of the world.

LA-based program director Jameson Cherilus ’12 notes that 112 students have completed internships through the program; 12 of them, now alumni, call Los Angeles home.

Companies where students have interned include HBO, William Morris Endeavor, Plan B Entertainment (Brad Pitt’s production company), Montecito Pictures, ID-PR, Television Academy, Nickelodeon, UCLA Hospital, Fox Sports West, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Sports Illustrated and H2R Productions. While the students need to secure their own internships, Cherilus and the School of Communica-

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Matthew Kravitsky ’18 reads a script at the Montecito Picture Company, where he interned last spring. After reading books and unsolicited scripts, he would share his opinions with producers.

Brooke Mommsen ’18 with

first job out of college was in the Entertainment Marketing Department at Creative Artists Agency, where he learned how the entertainment industry works.

One of the best features of the program, he says, is the access students have to some of the top-level executives in Hollywood, most of whom take the time to provide constructive feedback. “I meet with at least three executives a week … I have a lot of Hollywood connections and know many people in power positions who want to give back to students,” Cherilus says.

Brooke Mommsen ’18 chose to head to the West Coast in Fall 2016, partly because of the $2,000 tuition discount during the fall semester. She also thought it might be easier to land a competitive internship at that time of year. She ended up with two placements, spending three days a week at the Montecito Picture Company, producers of “Ghostbusters” and “Baywatch,” among others. She spent the other two days at Eclectic Pictures.

“I couldn’t believe that not only was I able to work at these companies, but that I was able to do so much,” Mommsen says. “I did script coverage, I called agents, I worked with the casting department. Between the two internships, I probably read more than 70 scripts. I kept showing them that I was ambitious, and they reciprocated by giving me more tasks to do.”

At Montecito, Mommsen developed a close working relationship with producer Ivan Reitman, who first gained fame by producing “National Lampoon’s Animal House” and then went on to produce and direct “Stripes” and “Ghostbusters,” among other blockbusters. Reitman appreciated Mommsen because she knew how to use the scriptwriting software Final Draft. “Working with Ivan was a very cool experience. He asked me what I thought about the scripts, and he took what I said to heart.” He has asked Mommsen to touch base after graduating.

In fact, while working on a script for a soon-to-be released film, Mommsen pointed out that a scene involving several teenagers didn’t seem realistic. “Ultimately, that scene was rewritten to include more teenage banter.”

the Ghostbusters vehicle parked behind the Montecito Picture Company on the Sony Lot in LA.

Photo by Chris Flynn

In her spare time, Mommsen shot a 15-minute film as part of an independent study. “Two Tails of One City” investigates the economic disparity between one side of LA and the other, told through the lens of a Downtown Dog

Rescue. Her documentary placed second in the New Haven Documentary Film Festival for the Student Competition category this summer.

Like Mommsen, Kayla DeStephen ’18, a film, television and media arts major, was able to work closely with Harlan Freedman at FJ Productions during the Spring 2017 semester. In fact, she occupied the same office as Freedman, a prolific creator and producer of reality TV shows, documentaries, commercials and webcasts. This proximity allowed her to absorb Freedman’s knowledge on a multitude of projects.

“He took the time to explain everything to me,” she said.

DeStephen worked mostly on casting for a variety of reality shows. She conducted 40-minute Skype interviews with prospective participants and edited them to 3 minutes. “All my editing skills came from QU,” she says. “I saw the other interns struggling. I was definitely able to do things faster because I knew the software already.”

Bloom is not surprised that QU students are landing top internships. “Our students come to the table with skills that can be put to work right away,” she says. “It’s a reflection of our curriculum, which is very real-world based. We are looking at growing our network of opportunities for our students, particularly in our newest programs: graphic and interactive design, and advertising and integrated communications.”

In addition to their internships, QU in LA students take online classes and many of them take a weekly class, Media Arts & Culture in LA, that is held on Tuesday evenings at their residence.

Matthew Kravitsky ’18, a film, television and media arts major, followed in Mommsen’s footsteps at Montecito last spring. His job was to read books and unsolicited scripts and then offer his thoughts to producers about which ones might make good movies, including a graphic novel that may end up as a miniseries for TV. He plans to write and direct a full-length feature film, then sell it in LA. “I’ve been to the Sundance Film Festival with Quinnipiac, and I ask every director how to get started in the business, and they all say, ‘Direct a movie!’ It’s simple but true. I would take any job in my field and make my stuff on the side.”

Kravitsky was able to connect with Quinnipiac alumni in the area including Malcolm Garvey ’16, a filmmaker who was shooting a music video and invited Kravitsky to be on set, assisting with equipment. Garvey had an internship with H2R Productions via the QU in LA program in 2015, and the company hired him after he graduated. “It’s been my dream to work in LA since I was a kid,” he says.

He’s since branched out into freelance work, enjoying the variety of projects and the chance to work with different people. “A full-time job provides security, but I love the options freelancing provides. You set your own price and get paid what you think you are worth.”

Besides hands-on experience at H2R, Garvey observed how the small company’s founders generate work. “It’s one of the most important things I’ve learned. You can be good at what you do, but it means nothing if you don’t build your network. People like to work with people they like.”

Garvey notes that people like himself with the skills to produce, shoot and edit—“to deliver the entire package”—are in demand. “Whether it’s a music video, a commercial, or a social media video, I’m a one-stop shop.” Sometimes, the compensation for a project can be low, but Garvey is passionate about doing work he really loves. “If you get known for producing a certain level of quality, the money will follow,” he says.

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OUTREACH

BACK TO STABLE

BY OLIVIA ABEL PHOTOS AUTUMN DRISCOLL

Occupational therapy professor Donna Latella was in a serious car accident in October 2015. “That day was my 28th wedding anniversary, and a car ran a red light and hit me at top speed. I thought I was dead,” recalls Latella.

Besides totaling her car, she suffered a back injury and later, post-traumatic stress disorder. “I became afraid to drive,” she says, adding that her injuries also made it impossible to pursue one of her favorite pastimes: horseback riding. Still, Latella found herself heading to the stables where she boards her four horses. “I realized that I was taking comfort from just being with the horses,” she says. “I didn’t need to be riding.” From that realization, an idea was born.

People with PTSD may experience nightmares, flashbacks, memory loss, insomnia, avoidance of social interactions, fear, depression, addiction, decreased concentration and other symptoms. Latella is certified and has taught therapeutic riding to people with physical and developmental challenges for many years, but she wondered whether people suffering with PTSD and other mental challenges could be helped by working with horses on the ground. “A lot of people aren’t aware that this, too, can decrease stress and increase confidence.”

Latella put her theory to the test by developing Heroes and Horses, an innovative equine learning program to help Quinnipiac student veterans cope with PTSD or service-related anxiety. Five occupational therapy students assisted Latella as part of their capstone course.

For six weeks, four veterans spent two hours every Sunday at the JC Eventing Barn in North Haven, Connecticut, grooming, walking and caring for horses. Although it is difficult to quantify success, Latella said one of the veterans disclosed how it has been difficult talking with people, but he found it was easier to communicate with the animals. “That was very significant,” says Latella, who began the program by educating the veterans on safety techniques and body mechanics. Therapy horses have exceptional levels of tolerance and gentleness and are generally well-mannered and in good health.

Jakob Loren was diagnosed with major depressive disorder while serving in the U.S. Air Force. He began attending QU in Fall 2015, where his symptoms continued.

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“I had no previous exposure to horses, so I wasn’t sure what to expect,” he says.

“We began each session by brushing the horses, then we usually walked them around a bit; sometimes we’d set up a course,” says Loren, who is studying finance. “The most interesting thing is that if you were agitated, the horse would be more irritable, but if you were calm, the horse would be calm, too. I think anybody with depression, veteran or not, can benefit from this program.”

Latella notes that most of the horses they use are older (horses often live into their late 20s or early 30s), and some are therapy-certified by Pet Partners. “Of course, no horse is spook-free, but we only work with horses that are considered safe,” she points out. Her primary therapy horse is 27 years old. “We call him Steady Eddie, and he has lived up to his name.”

Although it is difficult to pinpoint the reasons why equine therapy works, Latella explains it this way: “A horse is a 1,200-pound animal. When you can bond with an animal that is so large, an animal that could otherwise make you feel scared or overpowered, it can be very empowering.”

Eulogio Valentin Jr., who is scheduled to graduate with a mechanical engineering degree in 2019, served in the U.S. Army for six years, including deployments to Korea and Cuba. He didn’t know what to expect from the equine program, but ended up appreciating the experience.

“Something as simple as grooming ended up being really relaxing and calming,” he says.

He found that Minnie, the horse he worked with, seemed to notice subtle mannerisms of hidden stress. “The program was a real help with just releasing stress from the school week, from studying for exams or getting overwhelmed with the work load. It was a chance to live a simple life for an hour … to just stop and smell the roses.”

Maureen Friedly ’16 graduated with a health sciences degree. She suffers from crippling anxiety years after being sexually assaulted while serving in the U.S. Marine

Eulogio Valentin Jr., a veteran and mechanical engineering major, with Steady Eddie at the Heroes and Horses farewell ceremony.

Valentin found grooming horses to be a relaxing and calming experience.

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OUTREACH

U.S. Marine Corps veteran Maureen Friedly ’16 says goodbye to the horse she cared for as a participant in the Heroes and Horses program last spring.

Corps. “It can be hard to find a program to help; most of the programs are held at the VA Hospital, and I have a young child and find it hard to get there. Also, I haven’t been officially diagnosed with PTSD, so many organizations won’t accept me.”

Friedly, who started riding horses at age 6, is the only participating veteran with previous equine experience. “I was able to teach the other vets a couple of cool things,” she says, adding that the fact that the program was free and she could bring her 3-year-old daughter, Arlette, sweetened the deal. “They would pair my daughter up with one of the mini-horses,” she says. “She talks all the time about going to the barn to see her favorite horses, or ‘her friends’ as she calls them.”

At one time, Friedly was interested in a career in large animal veterinary medicine. Instead, she recently started a small farm with her husband on their 1.25-acre property in Middletown, Connecticut, after realizing that it better reflects her current interests. But she did find the program helpful. “It was a really nice way to decompress from the week and feel refreshed for the next week,” she says. “It was nice to get away from the rest of the world for a little while.”

In fact, Friedly was so comforted by working with horses again that she is preparing to own one herself. “My dad’s wife has a quarter horse named Legacy that she can’t take care of anymore. So, she is giving him to us, and I have a neighbor who boards horses. We are just making sure that financially, we are ready to have him come.”

Latella believes this work is valuable and is working toward a special board certification in equine mental health practice through the University of Denver. She is hoping to obtain grant funding to extend the program into the community.

Megan Perez is one of the five occupational therapy students whose capstone course project involved setting up the program under Latella’s leadership, working with the veterans and the horses at the stable, and trying to quantify the benefits of their work. Ultimately, the students hope to have a research study published in the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) Journal. Perez has found the work so inspirational that she hopes to land a job working with veterans after she takes her board exams early next year.

On the sixth Sunday of the program, Latella and the students planned a final ceremony at the stables for the veterans, their friends and family. Latella and her husband, Domenic, a Navy veteran, and OT student Lydia Anderson opened the program with choreographed routines on horseback, set to patriotic songs.

Afterward, Friedly, Loren, Valentin and Alex Hartman, a veteran and game design sophomore, participated in a “journey walk,” leading horses over small obstacles around the ring.

But the most touching part of the day came when the veterans were asked to take chalk that had been soaked in water and write a single word that summed up their experience right on the side of their horse. “It took a few minutes for the words to show up, but then we saw them,” Latella shares.

“One veteran had written ‘Respect.’ Another had written ‘Release.’ It was so symbolic. It was beautiful.”

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CAREER

OH, THE HORROR!

BY BRIAN KOONZ I L LU S T R AT I O N S I M O N P E M B E RT O N

As a student, Bracken MacLeod, JD ’00, reveled in the grip of a good story. He loved connecting the dots of a winning argument and drafting an airtight tale with his words.

“Trying a case isn’t about setting out a series of objective facts on the table and letting a jury pick them up and come to a conclusion,” MacLeod said from his home in Framingham, Massachusetts. “Trying a case is really about telling a story and making sure the narrative you tell is the most compelling.”

Or, as MacLeod likes to say, “Scratch a lawyer, find a writer.”

After working as an estate litigator in Boston and hanging out his own shingle for nearly a decade, MacLeod, 47, found a long-lost muse in his keyboard six years ago.

Instead of telling stories about his clients, he began telling stories about death and darkness.

And he was good at it. Really good.

The attorney-turned-author has enjoyed swift and critical acclaim writing horror novels, including last fall’s “Stranded,” which was nominated for a 2016 Bram Stoker Award for superior achievement in a novel.

Stephen King and Anne Rice are previous winners of the coveted Stoker awards.

In “Stranded,” MacLeod employs themes of isolation, 38

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CAREER

“I didn’t want to be that dad who works all the time and says, ‘Man, I wish I had more time to spend with my kids.’ The decision was a no-brainer.

I closed my law office so I could raise my son and follow my dream.”

Author Bracken MacLeod, JD '00, at his Massachusetts home. His third novel was published in June.

paranoia and terror aboard the Arctic Promise as the crew contracts a virulent illness that consumes their bodies as much as their sensibilities.

“I was writing ‘Stranded’ in 2015, the year we got over 9 feet of snow in Boston in like six weeks. Every other day, it felt like we got another storm,” MacLeod said. But it wasn’t until MacLeod pulled on his boots and turned up his collar that research and reality collided—and nearly brought him to his knees.

“In the outline I gave my editor, crew members walked across the ice in knee-deep and thigh-deep snow toward something in the distance that was miles away,” said MacLeod, who has written creatively for most of his life.

“I went outside one day [after one of those 2015 storms] and walked around my house to dig out the vent tubes for my furnace—maybe 50 yards—and I was completely gassed. I didn’t get to go to the Arctic, but I got the next best thing.”

While at Quinnipiac, MacLeod’s social conscience guided his work. He was consumed with helping the less fortunate and fighting for their rights. An internship down the street at New Haven-based Connecticut Voices for Children only amplified his commitment.

“I came out of law school ready to slay dragons in the public interest and work in a field that would benefit children, particularly,” MacLeod said. “But those jobs are few and far between. Those organizations are often very underfunded because they’re competing for the same grant money.”

MacLeod, who passed the bar exam on his first try, began his career at a large, traditional law firm. He was gainfully employed and immediately respectable, but the element of passion was conspicuously missing from his work week.

“My first job out of law school, I worked in downtown Boston as an estate litigator. It wasn’t the work I had trained to do and had hoped to do,” MacLeod said. “It was a lot of fighting over rich people’s money. I found it very dissatisfying emotionally and very acrimonious.”

After 18 months, the acrimony ended with little fanfare and a pink slip. Haunted by his monthly student loan reminder, “Sallie Mae waits for no one,” MacLeod opened his own practice in Massachusetts.

For the next nine years, he practiced personal injury law and real estate law. Rather than slaying dragons or championing causes, he found himself focusing on billable hours to make ends meet. And that was never going to be enough, not for the horror writer stirring inside MacLeod.

“I had stopped writing in law school and grad school because I just didn’t have the time,” he said. “Around the time I left the downtown firm, I strongly felt that this piece of my life was missing.”

MacLeod’s wife, Heather, is a research scientist for a pharmaceutical company. When their son, Lucien, was born in 2011, they sat at the kitchen table and crunched the numbers, comparing the costs of child care and other expenses to the loss of MacLeod’s law income.

“I didn’t want to be that dad who works all the time and says, ‘Man, I wish I had more time to spend with my kids.’ The decision was a no-brainer,” MacLeod said.

“I closed my law office so I could raise my son and follow my dream.”

MacLeod’s third novel, “Come to Dust,” was released in June. It tells the story of a 5-year-old girl who comes back to life along with children from around the world.

The implications of “Come to Dust” grow hopelessly entangled with a beyond-the-grave bond between a girl and her uncle that neither is willing to give up. The relationship, more powerful and more profound than any memory, is based on a real-life loss for MacLeod.

“I wrote the first half a few years ago and the second half last year. I started writing it after a friend [Bob Booth] asked me to write a novella for a project he was doing,” MacLeod said. “He got sick and I was rushing to finish it before he died, but it didn’t work out that way, and I really struggled with finishing it. It was just too painful. I clicked save on a thumb drive and just set it aside … I took it out again last year after I was offered a book deal. You can’t turn down a book deal. But I’m nervous about this book because it’s so personal and it’s wrapped up in all these feelings. I really want people to like this book, but you can’t write for everyone.

You just can’t.”

In many ways, MacLeod’s views on writing are the same as practicing law. Without a purpose, the results are cold and uninspired. MacLeod has always known that truth.

“I had an early love of scary things. I remember back in grade school in the ’70s, I was about 10 years old and we had to write a Christmas story,” he said. “So I wrote this horror story about Santa fighting the alien from H.R. Giger’s ‘Alien.’ I loved it, of course, but my teacher hated it and called my mother.”

Even then, the little boy with the unusual first name— his mother named him after a strong, Scottish surname —understood that horror was in his soul, if not his pen: “It’s who I am. It’s who I will always be.”

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/ Alumni PUTTING AT THE RIDGE

The par-3 eighth Photo credit Mark S. Stehle

hole at the Ridge

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at Back Brook in Ringoes, New Jersey, site of the annual President’s Cup Golf Tournament, is breathtaking.

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The annual President’s Cup Golf Tournament took place June 12 at the Ridge at Back Brook in Ringoes, New Jersey.

The spectacular private golf club was built

by Joel ’77 and Pamela (Dispoto) Moore ’76 in 2002. This marks the eighth year the tournament has been played at the Moores' club. The event raises funds for scholarships.

The winning team, with a low gross score of 70, was composed of Bill Connolly, MBA ’90, and his guests, Matt Montana and John Lavy.

Low net score winners, with a score of 54, were Kevin Smolar ’16, his father, Tom Smolar, and guests Bill Roberson and Mark Grenon.

The Ridge was selected as the site for the American Junior Golf Association’s POLO Golf Junior Classic in late June. “We were honored to be hosting this prestigious junior tournament in which 132 of the top junior golfers in the world competed,” said Pam Moore.

Golfstyles Magazine has described the Tom Fazio-designed course as having “everything that a player could want in a private golf experience: a world-class design, perfect conditions, fine practice facilities, a fabulous clubhouse and a staff that caters to your every need.”

CAREER

KEEPING THEIR SPIRITS UP Alumni quartet opens craft distillery in Connecticut

Alumni deals, there were details—supremely important details— to resolve. Where would the investors open shop? How would they limit expenses and grow revenue? How would they distinguish themselves and their spirits?

“As we researched whether we should do this or not, we toured the country visiting other small craft distillers,” Behnke said. “Everybody felt like it was a rising tide that lifts all boats: ‘Hey guys, if you do this, we all benefit if you do it the right way.’"

BY BRIAN KOONZ PHOTO AUTUMN DRISCOLL

Before the handmade gin was bottled, faith and courage were the tonics that flowed at Waypoint Spirits in Bloomfield, Connecticut, not far from Bradley International Airport, but quite far indeed from the bindings of convention.

The ambitious start-up distillery represents the dream of a group of core investors, including four Quinnipiac alumni: Alan Balavender ’86, Peter Behnke ’90, Mark Gombotz ’95 and Matthew LeBlanc ’04.

It’s one thing to enjoy a cocktail at home. It’s quite another to develop and market custom spirits that change the game. On this summer day, the juniper berry and citrus peel aroma of Wintonbury Gin rises from a stainless steel pot. The small-batch gin is one of several products bottled by the two-year-old distillery.

“A lot of people talk about doing something like this, but to actually pull the trigger and do it, that’s a little different,” Behnke said. As LeBlanc fills 750 ml bottles— four at a time—Behnke and Balavender seal the deal with stoppers and shrink wrap.

Although they all have day jobs, the friends enjoy being part-time stewards of this distillery, which can yield up to 1,000 bottles a day.

“All of us—not just the Quinnipiac alumni—are people who have been reasonably successful and wanted to come together to do something really interesting and really fun,” Behnke said.

Most people are familiar with Bacardi and Absolut, but the shelf space allotted to craft distillery products is relatively small. Waypoint Spirits wants to change that with a robust portfolio of Wintonbury Gin, Labrador Noon Vodka, Man Overboard Spiced Rum, Spicy XIII Vodka, Goodman Coffee Liqueur, Honey-Habanero Whiskey and Special Batch Whiskey.

“At this point, our sales are enough that there’s always an order being filled,” Behnke said. “We’re always replenishing something, and it’s often some of everything—the distributors usually want a pallet of this, two pallets of that, half a pallet of this. We have cases of Spicy XIII bottled up and ready to go. Today, we’re working on gin.”

Waypoint Spirits is one of about a dozen craft distilleries in the state. “The moment we opened our doors, we were the biggest distillery in Connecticut,” LeBlanc said of Waypoint’s 10,000-square-foot facility, which boasts an intimate tasting room and a generous space for functions and food trucks.

But before there were tastings, tours and distribution

Behnke said it’s pretty simple. “If you’re a good partner for the environment and you’re a good partner for the economy—bringing in jobs and cool products to the marketplace—it raises the awareness about craft spirits.”

In some ways, the foundation for Waypoint Spirits was laid in the ’90s, when Balavender, Behnke and Gombotz earned physical therapy degrees at Quinnipiac and went to work for Balavender’s older brother, Hank, a 1974 Quinnipiac alumnus who owned a physical therapy practice in Farmington, Connecticut.

Today, Alan Balavender is president of Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine Centers with 19 locations across the state, and Gombotz works for Select Physical Therapy as its regional director of operations for 35 offices in Connecticut. LeBlanc and Behnke work in medical malpractice insurance for Integro Insurance Brokers as principals.

“The intimacy of the school and the opportunity to make lifelong friends was huge,” Balavender said.

For LeBlanc, who earned a public relations degree, the chance to buy into Waypoint Spirits was too good to pass up. “When people ask me what I do, I don’t say I’m an insurance guy,” LeBlanc said. “I like to tell them I own a distillery.”

Quinnipiac alumni Matthew LeBlanc ’04, Peter Behnke ’90 and Alan Balavender ’86 fill gin bottles at Waypoint Spirits in Bloomfield, Connecticut, a craft distillery they helped launch with fellow Quinnipiac graduate Mark Gombotz ’95.

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Alumni

FORWARD MOMENTUM Doctor’s book helps children understand limb loss

BY NANCY BARNES P H O T O K AT H Y A N D E R S O N

Dr. julie (zitterkopf) larson ’06 has conquered one more obstacle in her quest to ease the way for individuals with disabilities. Last year, Larson, who specializes in physical medicine and rehabilitation, wrote “I Have A Doll Just Like You!” to answer children’s questions about people with missing limbs.

The fictional story features a child named Scotty, who was born without part of his left arm, and a young girl named Maggie who befriends him despite his obvious difference.

It concludes with a glossary of terms on limb deficiencies and also what Larson terms discussion starters on the subject for parents and teachers with the goal of teaching children that people come in all shapes, sizes, colors and abilities.

Larson, who double-majored in history and health science studies, traces her career choice to a QU course titled Illness, Disease and Disability, taught by Kathy Livingston, professor of sociology.

“It was an eye-opening experience that all the activities I enjoyed were not accessible to all people,” she said.

She noticed that the shops and restaurants in downtown New Haven lacked accessibility because many had one or two steps.

Eleven years later, Larson has found a niche as medical director and chief of staff at the 27-bed North Oaks Rehabilitation Hospital in Hammond, Louisiana. There, she spends 20 percent of her time in administrative duties and 80 percent in direct patient care in the hospital’s clinic.

A Nebraska native who has an MD from Creighton University School of Medicine and a master of public health from Dartmouth Medical Center, she completed her residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Kansas University Medical Center.

She assumed her present position last fall. She is married to a physician who is doing his residency in radiology, and the couple expects their first child in September.

She was motivated to write the book after spending an evening with a 5-year-old boy who asked her what she did. She told him she worked with children with disabilities. When he asked her what kind of disabilities, she told him that some children are born missing an arm or a leg. Why, he wondered?

Thinking quickly, she told him that children who are missing limbs could show the world that they can do everything with fewer limbs than their friends have.

She went home that night and searched online for a 44

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children’s book explaining limb deficiencies but found none.

“There’s a special place in my heart for people with limb loss,” Larson said.

“They don’t let it stop them. They’re unfazed by it.”

Larson let nothing stop her when, at 17, she broke her hip and spent 1½ years on crutches, managing to participate in a 5K race and also enjoy hiking during that time period.

“Activities can be modified,” she said. She noted that the field of rehabilitation medicine has experienced advances in technology that have produced liberating medical equipment. The prosthetics her clients use are increasingly lighter, affordable and more lifelike.

Proceeds from the sales of her book, which features watercolor drawings by Jacqueline Kerr, will send children with limb loss to special camps, such as the Camp No Limits that Quinnipiac hosts every summer.

“I sent Dr. Livingston a copy of the book with a note, thanking her for being such an inspiration in my life. I am so thankful to QU for requiring students to take a broad curriculum—if it weren’t for the mandatory sociology requirement, I may have never taken her class,” Larson said.

Nicholas Grande, 13, practices walking with his prosthetic with Dr. Julie Larson ’06, who has written a book to answer children’s questions about people with missing limbs.

CLASS NOTES 1965 THOMAS HICKEY has been actively involved with the game of baseball since playing at Quinnipiac. Tom joined the National Adult Baseball League at age 51 and played until this past year when he retired at age 75. During those years, he also managed the Ventura Red Sox for 13 seasons and guided the team to consecutive championships in 2005, 2006 and 2007. He also was a member of their board of directors.

He was inducted into the league’s Hall of Fame in 2010.

Tom also has enjoyed playing softball with his two sons. He lives in Ventura, CA. 1966 ANN (CROWDER) HERRICK of Eugene, OR, released her latest children’s novel, “Boss of the Whole Sixth Grade.”

1973 ISMAEL “ISH” MARTINEZ JR. of Fishkill, NY, published a book titled “Las Villas of Plattekill and Ulster County.” The book explores the culture surrounding Hispanic summer resorts in New York’s Hudson Valley from the 1940s through the 1980s.

ROBERT MITCHELL is the assistant dean for diversity

relations and communications at Harvard University.

He recently received the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations Distinguished Administrator Award for “excellent contributions to communicating Harvard issues of diversity and the ethno-cultural programs.”

He lives in Cambridge, MA.

ters between Palm Springs, CA, and Pass-A-Grille, FL.

1974 JANET (KIPPHUT) AINSWORTH ’74, JD ’84, has worked with the state of Connecticut as a staff attorney for the past 25 years, 21 of which were spent with the Connecticut State Police. Janet also volunteers for several nonprofit organizations, including the Appalachian Mountain Club, the nation’s oldest outdoor recreation-conservation association. After nearly a decade in a variety of volunteer roles with AMC, Janet recently joined the board of directors. She lives in Guilford, CT.

1983 JILL (ADELMAN) ASCH of Morganville, NJ, accepted a new job as a certified industrial hygienist for Hillmann Consulting in Union, NJ. Jill previously worked at Con Edison. She and her husband, Gregg, have been married for more than 33 years. They have three children and three grandchildren.

WILLIAM “ZIM” ZIMMER and his wife, Debbie, celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on June 18, 2017.

They met their freshman year at Quinnipiac and are the parents of three soccer-playing boys. Bill coached soccer at Princeton and Yale University and is now semi-retired, living most of the time in Rehoboth Beach, DE. He splits his win-

1975 STEPHEN ROVENGER of Levittown, NY, is retiring after 41 years. He and his wife, Jill, have been married for 35 years. They have a son, Greg. They will be moving to Mooresville, NC, after their new home is built.

TAMARA HAYDEN of Blue Bell, PA, together with members of the First Presbyterian Church of Ambler, PA, completed a one-year project to bring a sustainable clean water system to a community in the Artibonite Valley of northwestern Haiti.

Tamara and the FPCA team worked with Living Waters for the World, an organization that partners with mission teams to provide clean, sustainable water to communities in need.

NANCY (CIRASUOLO) KEARNS of Branford, CT, recently published a book,

“Embrace the Shift,” which is about following one’s instincts to make every moment count.

1985 JOHN HAGAN of Long Beach, CA, joined Nexen Tire America as executive vice president of sales. He will lead Nexen’s internal and external sales teams and be responsible for replacement market growth.

John previously worked for several big name tire companies for the past 28 years.

1986 JOHN CROSBY of Dallas, TX, is head of commercial underwriting and portfolio management at Capital One. He joined the firm as chief credit officer in 2015, when the firm completed the acquisition of General Electric Capital's Healthcare Financial Services lending branch. His responsibilities include the management of Capital One’s commercial banking portfolio underwriting activities. He will be based in New York.

1987 J. BROOKS MARSTON of Duxbury, MA, is the chief operating officer at Cantella & Co., a national broker/dealer located in the financial district of Boston. Brooks previously held positions at Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, Pershing LLC and Fidelity Investments.

Photo by Autumn Driscoll

1990 PAUL ABBATE is executive assistant director for the criminal, cyber, response and services branch of the FBI. He oversees all FBI criminal and cyber investigations worldwide, international operations, critical incident response and victim assistance. He most recently served as the assistant director for the Washington field office, and has worked for the FBI since 1996.

The team gross champions at the Alumni Golf Tournament held in July at Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Connecticut, from left: Gary Henderson, Michael Siciliano, Burke Henderson '04 and Taylor Henderson '07, along with Brett Amendola ’91, president, Alumni Association Board of Governors.

LINDA WOOSTER, MBA ’90, of Bethany, CT, recently was inducted into the Connecticut Collegiate and Scholastic Softball Hall of Fame. Before retiring, she served Quinnipiac’s athlet-

ics department in multiple roles including coordinator of women’s athletics, senior woman administrator, sports information director, associate professor of physical education and associate director of athletics and recreation.

1996 SEAN GORDON of Hoboken, NJ, recently was hired as line producer for the History Channel’s new television series titled “FBI Most Wanted,” which is tentatively scheduled to premiere in late 2017. Sean recently wrapped production for a reality series called “Return to Amish,” which is currently in its fourth season on TLC. PAULA MILLER of North Haven, CT, the director of tennis and the women’s tennis coach at Quinnipiac since July 2014, was named MAAC Conference Women’s Tennis Coach of the Year for the third straight year. The team has won four consecutive MAAC championships since joining in 2013, with an undefeated record of 38-0.

1999 K. SARA ROBERTSON ’99, MS ’00, of Dumfries, VA, earned PR Professional of the Year at the Platinum PR Awards in 2016 from the National Education Association.

JAMES “JACK” SQUICCIARINI and his wife, Jennifer, announce the birth of a son, Domenico James, born on Feb. 7, 2017. Domenico was welcomed by his big sister, Lauren, 14 months. The family lives in Amityville, NY. 2000 MICHELE BELVAL, CER ’00 of Oakville, CT, was awarded the Arlene Sheehan Memorial Scholarship from Apple Rehab. Michele is a senior rehab director with Apple Rehab.

She is pursuing a master’s degree in health care management at Southern New Hampshire University.

KATIE (MCLAUGHLIN) MOLONEY ’00, MS ’11, joined NBC as the digital Class notes continue on p. 46

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CLASS NOTES

supervisor for Harry Connick Jr.’s new talk show “Harry.”

Katie previously worked at CNN in Atlanta. She was named one of the Irish Echo newspaper’s 40 Under 40, and was recognized at a ceremony in February. She lives in New York.

accepted a Global Trade Award presented by Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker on behalf of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts for demonstrating excellence in international trade and setting the standard for global business.

2001 KENNETH SCOTT GRIFFIN, MS ’01, of Hamden, recently ended a long career in newspapers and became the public relations and marketing specialist for Cooperative Educational Services, a regional education service center based in Trumbull, CT.

ERIN O’MARA of Oakwood, OH, was awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor of psychology at the University of Dayton in Ohio.

DUANE SCOTTI ’01, MPT ’03, recently completed dual doctoral degrees from Nova Southeastern University: doctor of philosophy in physical therapy (PhD) and doctor of physical therapy (DPT). Duane has been a member of the full-time faculty at Quinnipiac University in the physical therapy department since August 2016, and now is a clinical assistant professor of physical therapy. He lives in Cheshire, CT. 2002 CLIFFORD LYNCH served as the grand marshal of the 2017 St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New Haven after serving many years on the parade committee. Clifford also has been involved in numerous organizations celebrating various aspects of his Irish heritage. He is a funeral director with the Iovanne Funeral Home in New Haven. He lives in Woodbridge, CT, with his wife, Shannon.

CHRISTOPHER NEIDIG ’02, MS ’04, of Hamden, joined the School of Business at Quinnipiac University as the director of online master’s programs. Christopher is the program director for the online graduate organizational leadership and business analytics programs.

2003 CHRISTINE (ISACCO) ALBONE of Newport, RI, is a marketing manager at Riverdale Mills Corporation in Northbridge, MA. She and her colleagues recently

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GINA DISANTI REYNOLDS and her husband, Keith, announce the birth of their son, Blake Keith, on March 14, 2016. The family lives in Fairfield, NJ. 2004 JESSICA CAMERATO of Philadelphia, PA, is the Sixers Insider for Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia. She covers all aspects of the Sixers games, practices and news for CSNPhilly.com and appears on CSN Philly’s numerous television programs to provide insight and analysis. Jessica began this role in January 2016 after working in the Boston sports media market since 2005.

AMY (PLOURD) CRAIN and her husband, Rob, announce the birth of a daughter, Madalyn Mary, on July 8, 2016.

Amy is a marketing specialist for Amica Life Insurance Company, where she focuses on lead generation and process improvement for the company. The family lives in Omaha, NE. MICHAEL KATAJA of Southington, CT, married Ashley Weber on June 3, 2016, at the Barns at Wesleyan Hills in Middletown, CT. In April, Michael was promoted to senior content editor in production operations at ESPN. The couple is looking forward to moving into their new home in Prospect, CT. IRENE SEGUIN, MS ’04, of Bethel, CT, is the new director of institutional advancement for the Child Guidance Center of Southern Connecticut. Irene previously worked as the vice president of donor development at the United Way of Western Connecticut, as well as in development at the Storm

SAVE T HE DAT E

A LU M N I WEEKEND NOVEMBER 3–4, 2017

AlumniWeekend.QU.edu

King, Marvelwood and Forman schools.

ALDEN WITMAN of Natick, MA, recently obtained his Certified Financial Planner® certification. Alden works at The Harvest Group in Boston, as a wealth management advisor. He develops financial plans, performs investment research and handles compliance issues and online services.

2005 ELISSA (PELLAND) CARROLL and JUSTIN CARROLL ’05, MHS ’07, of Stratford, CT, announce the birth of Kennedy Rose on Dec. 13, 2016. Elissa is director of Student Affairs at Quinnipiac’s Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine.

ELIZABETH (HAMLIN) MCVETY and her husband, BRIAN MCVETY ’06, MAT ’07, of Beverly, MA, announce the birth of a daughter, Hadley Constance, on June 24, 2016. She was welcomed by big sister Nora.

HELEN RIDLEY ’05, MS ’10, of Lynn, MA, a former team captain and 1,000-point scorer for the Classical girls’ basketball team in Lynn, MA,

is now the assistant coach for her former high school team, the Rams. Helen was team captain in her final season for the Bobcats and later coached for Quinnipiac, as well as the University of New Hampshire.

2006 JOAO ALVES ’06, ’09, of Riverdale, NJ, announces the birth of a daughter, Amalia Lefebvre, on Oct. 5, 2016.

MARK ANTONUCCI of Gilbert, AZ, was promoted to chief of staff for the Arizona State University Foundation.

His new position closely follows his doctorate work in leadership, governance and university design.

JULIE (ZITTERKOPF) LARSON of Metairie, LA, has published a children’s book, “I Have a Doll Just Like You,” which was inspired by her career-long devotion to children and adults with disabilities.

Proceeds from the book’s sales are being used to send children with limb differences to amputee camps.

Julie is medical director and chief of staff at North Oaks Rehabilitation Hospital in Hammond, LA.

FABIO LONERO of Newington, CT, has returned to WTNH News 8 in a new position as a marketing and promotions producer and writer.

SCOTT SHILLET of Glendale, CA, joined Warner Bros. as the senior franchise manager for Harry Potter.

APRIL (TABERNA) SPALLINO ’06, MAT ’07, and her husband, Mike, announce the birth of a daughter, Lia Gabrielle, born on June 26, 2016. She was welcomed by her big brother, Michael. The family lives in Roseland, NJ. 2007 SARA FIORE ’07, MS ’09, of Florham Park, NJ, married Kyle Post on Dec. 31, 2016, at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Essex Fells, NJ. LAUREN (FIORE) LORDI ’09 of Florham Park, Sara’s sister, was matron of honor.

MICHAEL HACKU ’07, MS ’11, of Newton, MA, attended Super Bowl 51 in an unusual capacity, as the New England Patriots' digital content coordinator and primary administrator for Patriots.com and GilletteStadium.com.

Class notes continue on p. 49

REFLECTIONS

FORMER DEAN PUT STUDENT WELFARE ABOVE ALL Manny Carreiro made lasting impressions on all he knew

Alumni and friends established the Dr. Manuel “Manny” C. Carreiro Endowed Student Leadership Scholarship, which is awarded annually to a current student leader in residential or student life. In 2014, the university’s annual student leadership conference was renamed the Dr. Manuel C. Carreiro Leadership Institute.

Venturelli is the youth program officer for the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, an organization he became involved with through the Albert Schweitzer Institute at Quinnipiac. He also works for The College Board managing grants for the international admissions team. Speaking at a memorial service for Carreiro at Quinnipiac, Venturelli said Carreiro’s legacy was growing the student affairs program so that every student

BY J A N E T WA L D M A N PHOTO MICHELLE MCLOUGHLIN

“Call the handsome dean in the bow tie if you need help.” Former orientation leader Elissa (Pelland) Carroll ’05 recalls the late Manuel C. “Manny” Carreiro saying those words every summer as he gave his orientation speech. And it always elicited laughs.

Carreiro, former vice president and dean of students, passed away March 22. He mentored thousands of Quinnipiac students during his 32-year career. Members of the university community remember him best for his warmth and genuine concern for the welfare of students. For many, he was the inspiration for their careers in higher education.

Carroll is one of those. Once a homesick freshman, she is now director of student affairs at the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine. “Manny was the life of any party. He lit up a room everywhere he went,” she said.

She remembers him for his passion for helping students.

“It didn’t matter if you were one of 4,000, you were the one he focused on and made time for. He was interested in what you were doing and what was going on in your life,” she said.

In addition to serving on the president’s cabinet, Carreiro oversaw residential life, campus life, career services, athletics, student health services, counseling and campus ministry. He retired as the senior adviser to Mark Thompson, executive vice president and provost. In a memo to the Quinnipiac community, Thompson described Carreiro as a role model for colleagues and students alike.

“He earned a reputation as an expert in a wide array of student affairs areas; as a result, he served on multiple national and international accreditation teams and delivered keynote addresses regarding student development at conferences across the country and abroad,” Thompson wrote.

As Student Government Association president from 2009–11, Louis Venturelli ’11 met with Carreiro weekly.

They’d talk business, but Carreiro usually would transform the chat into a wisdom-imparting session that Venturelli valued.

“He’d draw upon his experiences growing up in Portugal, where he walked on dirt roads with no shoes, and he’d encourage us to be thankful and appreciate everything we have. He empowered students to live and lead their best lives,” Venturelli said.

Upon Carreiro’s retirement in 2015, alumni, colleagues

has the opportunity to define him or herself as a leader.

“He established an unmatched student orientation program … where families truly feel comfortable leaving their kids at Quinnipiac,” he noted.

Austin Ashe ’03, former associate director for student and young alumni relations at Quinnipiac, met Carreiro as an orientation leader and also worked in Carreiro’s office as a graduate intern the summer after he earned his bachelor’s degree. “As a student, I knew him as a friendly guy, warm and available, someone who would always make time to talk with me.” Ashe earned a master’s in student personnel administration at Springfield College and kept in touch with Carreiro, who liked to follow the career paths of alumni who were working in higher education.

“When he would ask you to do something, you did it because you trusted him. He had an innate energy and passion and real confidence about him,” said Ashe, who moved to the Boston area and works as assistant director for student and young alumni relations at MIT while he pursues a PhD in higher education administration at UMass-Boston.

Carreiro believed that the most important way to gain students’ trust was to always be honest and truthful with them, according to Monique Drucker, vice president and dean of students.

“Manny had intense personal integrity. He showed me what it truly means to put the student at the center of all that we do. He had an enormous heart for our students and our work,” Drucker remarked.

Jon Kroll ’03, left, Conor O’Brien ’06, center, and Austin Ashe ’03 sport bow ties to honor Manuel “Manny” Carreiro (in photograph) during a retirement celebration for Carreiro at the Rocky Top Student Center in June 2015. Carreiro, the former vice president and dean of students, passed away in March 2017.

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CAREER

Alumni

DIGITAL FOOTPRINT GROWING Prolific Interactive on upwardly mobile track

BY ADAM DURSO PHOTO AUTUMN DRISCOLL

As ceo and co-founder of Prolific Interactive— a mobile product agency based in Brooklyn and San Francisco—Bobak “Bobby” Emamian ’09 has taken his company from underdog, two-person startup to rising star of Brooklyn’s Tech Triangle in just 7 years.

Prolific’s success even earned the attention and respect of Omnicom global digital design agency Critical Mass, which acquired a minority stake in Prolific in December 2016.

“They’ve built some of the best digital experiences out there,” Emamian says. “Their support system will help us grow a lot faster and a lot smarter.”

The idea for Prolific began forming on Quinnipiac’s baseball diamond. While members of the Bobcats baseball team, pitcher Emamian and catcher Eric Weber ’09, Prolific’s co-founder and chief experience officer, built their first official iPhone app for Quinnipiac Athletics. The app gave users access to game schedules, live scores, news, photos and player statistics.

“I remember downloading it on our phones and having that ‘wow’ feeling,” Emamian says. “That was the point Eric and I realized we really could do this. It was exciting.”

Immediately after graduating, Emamian and Weber set out to build their company. The duo hit the pavement, knocking on the doors of every business they could find along Route 10 in Hamden. Their first official job was a website for a local landscaping company, a project that grossed $400.

“We had just graduated college, so being poor was nothing new to us,” says Emamian, laughing.

With encouragement from Dale Jasinski, associate professor of entrepreneurship and strategy, and entrepreneur Michael Germano ’06, Emamian and Weber moved their operation to New York City in 2010.

They eventually saved enough money to open their first office, a 1,500-square-foot space in Brooklyn’s prestigious DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) neighborhood, a hub for technology startups and the corporate headquarters of such companies as Etsy, VICE, West Elm, Carrot Creative and Huge.

“That was it,” Emamian says. “We put it all on the line and didn’t think twice.”

Prolific’s big break came in 2012 when developing 48

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a mobile app for ModCloth, the online indie clothing retailer based in San Francisco. The app allowed ModCloth’s customers to purchase products from their mobile devices, technology that was still new at the time.

“We saw then that we had the tools, the resources and the right people to try anything we wanted,” Emamian says.

The success with ModCloth would lead to a string of even bigger clients, including Saks Fifth Avenue, Sephora, Gap, Lilly Pulitzer, American Express and lululemon. With a workforce nearly 150 employees strong, Prolific recently was recognized by both Inc. 500 and Crain’s as one of the fastest-growing private companies, and by AdAge as one of the best places to work in 2016.

Prolific’s rise, as well as its high level of employee satisfaction, could be traced to Emamian’s leadership style. He promotes an inclusive work environment, as well as a “one team, one company” culture.

“We value our team very highly here,” he says. “Without them, we’d be nowhere.”

In a world where companies are bought and sold every day and talk among CEOs is always about what’s next, Emamian prefers to think in the present, investing in his company’s space, creativity and workforce.

“Money and revenue aren’t always indicators of a purpose, of being passionate about what you are doing,” he says. “When you get to that point when you operate with a big purpose, selling doesn’t enter the equation.”

Outside of the boardroom, Emamian focuses on a new passion project: building support for a state-ofthe-art baseball field for Quinnipiac. While still in its idea phase, he approaches the project with the same singular focus and tenacity he had as a first-time entrepreneur.

“Today is still day one in my mind,” Emamian says.

“Whether I’m in San Francisco or Brooklyn, it feels exactly the same. We’re still on the hunt.”

Quinnipiac alumnus Bobby Emamian '09, co-founder and CEO of Prolific Interactive, watches the Quinnipiac baseball team play Fairfield University in May.

CLASS NOTES

MICHAEL VITALI ’07, JD ’11, of Wallingford, CT, merged two legal practices in November 2016. The new law firm, Flanagan, Vitali & McManus, focuses on civil litigation and insurance defense practice.

2008 CRISTINA CAPELA and Ray Tejada were married on Nov. 26, 2016, in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

Cristina and Ray met while working at the Norwalk Police Department in CT. STEPHANIE MAKOWSKI and Luke Schoen were married on July 23, 2016, at the Waveny Mansion in New Canaan, CT. ALEXANDRA CAVOTO ’08 was the maid of honor, and BRITTANY TORRES ’08 and JENNIE SEAL ’08 were bridesmaids. The couple lives in Wilton, CT. LINDSAY (O’BRIEN) ROUSSO and IRVING “LOUIE” ROUSSO ’09 announce the birth of a son, Preston Irving, on Jan. 21, 2017. The family lives in Larchmont, NY. 2009 JASON CAPLIN of Fort Washington, PA, was promoted to senior manager, financial planning and analysis, at Apple Leisure Group.

AMANDA CHERLIN married Bridget Spillane on Oct. 9, 2016. The couple lives in Levittown, NY. STEPHANIE SAUCIER of Newington, CT, earned a competitive fellowship position in cardiology at Hartford Hospital. She currently serves as a thirdyear resident physician in the primary care internal medicine program at the University of Connecticut.

MICHELE TRUGLIO ’09, MAT ’10, of Ramsey, NJ, married Christian Grissoni on May 13, 2016, in New Jersey. HANNAH (FARRELL) LANCASTER ’09, MAT ’10, ALEXANDRA (KOZINSKI) FILIACI ’09 and JESSICA PACHECO ’09, MOT ’10 served as bridesmaids.

2010 JENNIFER ACOSTAMADIEDO of Katy, TX, was matched

into an internal medicine residency at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in Chicago, starting in July 2017.

JENNIFER DAUPHINAIS, MAT ’10, received the dean’s grant for student research at Columbia University for the 201718 academic year. She is an EdD candidate in the Department of Curriculum & Teaching at Teachers College. She is an adjunct faculty member in the MAT program at Quinnipiac’s School of Education.

ALLAN HOVING, MS ’10, of Westport, CT, is a digital marketing manager at Verve, a mobile-advertising company in Silicon Valley.

Allan was awarded a U.S. patent for interactive commenting in 2013.

ALICIA NOONAN, MSN ’10, of Uncasville, CT, works as a hospitalist at Backus Hospital in Norwich, CT. KATRINA (LENNON) SZAKOLCZAI ’10, MBA ’11, was promoted to communications manager at PAE, a government contracting company headquartered in Arlington, VA. LISETTE TEMPESTA and DEREK HOFFMAN were married on Aug. 6, 2016. The couple lives in Greenwich, CT. JILLIAN TRUFAN and KENNETH BREW were married on May 14, 2016, in Middletown, CT, surrounded by their loving family and friends, including 50 Quinnipiac alumni. The couple lives in Norwalk, CT. 2011 NICOLE PELLOWS and CHARLES FISCHER ’09 were married April 30, 2016, in Red Bank, NJ. The couple lives in Oceanport, NJ. MELINDA SCHOEN, CER ’11, was recently welcomed by the International Nurses Association with her upcoming publication in the Worldwide Leaders in Healthcare. Melinda is an independent nurse consultant and president of Schoen Consulting, LLC in Wallingford, CT.

2012 CONNOR GILLIVAN of Orlando, FL, and NATHAN HIRSCH ’11 of Winter Park, FL, built two, multi-million dollar businesses and were recently featured in an article on influencive.com that Connor wrote.

MICHAEL GLAICAR ’12, MBA ’13, of Farmingdale, NJ, and his wife, Alyssa, announce the birth of a son, Jack Michael, on Oct. 14, 2016.

SCOTT PEARL, MS ’12, of Hamden, is finishing his general practice dental residency at Montefiore Medical Center and is joining his father at Pearl Dental Care in Hamden.

EMILY MCGRATH of Concord, NH, married Brian Pritchard on Sept. 17, 2016. Several Quinnipiac alumni were in attendance, including LAURA CIALINO ’12, DPT ’12; CHRISTINE NELSEN ’12; FRANCESCA GUASTAFERRO ’12; ANNA DIDIO ’12; ERIN FINNEN ’12, DPT ’15; JULIE DELLACORTE ’12; and AMANDA CHIPKO ’12.

SABA SHAHID ’13, MHS ’15, of Worcester, MA, married Chad Moir on Jan. 19, 2017, in Southbury, CT. Since graduating, Saba started her own business, The Art Cart, which is a creativity and movement program for people living with “the inability to smile” as a symptom of their medical condition.

2014 MATTHEW BLOOM of Somerville, MA, works at National Grid as a technology scout for the Corporate Strategy & Business Development team. He is also pursuing a master's degree in technology management from Georgetown University.

LAKIA GODFREY of Niantic, CT, recently completed her master’s degree in biomedical sciences with a concentration that led to a certificate in oral biology.

LaKia received an academic merit scholarship and will be a first-year dental student at The University

Maxwell Quinnipiac Nast was born in San Diego on May 1, 2017. Quinn, as he is called, is the son of Dr. Kelly Nast ’06 and Rud Nast ’05. The alumni say they named their first-born son for the place they met and had wonderful experiences. He is also named in honor of Kelly’s late grandfather, Jay Maxwell Wright, who donated his body to the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine’s anatomical gift program. Quinn may be the first person legally named in honor of this university.

of Pennsylvania starting in Fall 2017.

JENNIFER HOLT of Middletown, CT, has joined the board of directors for Hartford Food System, which aims to alleviate hunger and promote nutrition and sustainability.

AMANDA KALETSKY, MBA ’14, of Norwalk, CT, was promoted to manager of marketing services at OperationsInc, a human resources outsourcing and consulting firm, in January 2017.

KATELYNN LUCYK of Pompton Lakes, NJ, recently won the Success Academy Charter Schools’ Academic Achievement award, which recognizes the teachers who inspired their scholars to perform at the highest academic level across all 41 Success Academy schools.

2015 RACHEL COX of Ridgeland, MS, was awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Senegal. Rachel has been teaching French through the Teach for America Program in a middle school in Mississippi.

2016 JONATHAN HAMMER of Monroe, CT, has worked at World Wrestling Entertainment in the music department since July 2016 as an executive assistant/ licensing coordinator.

MEGAN MAHER of Sleepy Hollow, NY, is working as a photography intern with the New York Mets, as well as part time as a digital marketing coordinator at the Wildlife Conservation Society, while finishing her master’s degree in interactive media at Quinnipiac.

LAUREN MOCIK of North Arlington, NJ, has attained her Holistic Baccalaureate Nurse Board Certification.

2017 STEFAN HELD, MS ’17, of Manhasset, NY, is the director of social media strategy at Wpromote – The Challenger Agency, a digital solution provider.

SUSAN TOUPONSE, MBA ’17, of Watertown, CT, accepted the position of director of development and marketing at Fraser Woods Montessori School in Newtown, CT.

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WEDDINGS

1. Emily McGrath ’12 and Brian Pritchard, Sept. 17, 2016.

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2. Cristina Capela ’08 and Ray Tejada, Nov. 26, 2016.

3. Michael Kataja ’04 and Ashley Weber, June 3, 2016.

4. Stephanie Makowski ’08 and Luke Schoen, July 23, 2016.

5. Michele Truglio ’09, MAT ’10, and Christian Grissoni, May 13, 2016.

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6. Amanda Cherlin ’09 and Bridget Spillane, Oct. 9, 2016.

7. Sara Fiore ’07, MS ’09, and Kyle Post, Dec. 31, 2016.

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8. Lisette Tempesta ’10 and Derek Hoffman ’10, Aug. 6, 2016.

9. Nicole Pellows ’11 and Charles Fischer ’09, April 30, 2016.

10. Saba Shahid ’13, MHS ’15, and Chad Moir, Jan. 19, 2017.

11. Jillian Trufan ’10 and Kenneth Brew ’10, May 14, 2016.

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BIRTHS

1. Jack Michael Glaicar, Oct. 14, 2016, son of Michael Glaicar ’12, MBA ’13, and his wife, Alyssa.

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2. Felix Hanlon, June 28, 2016, son of Stephanie (Norris) Hanlon ’11 and her husband, John.

3. Hadley Constance McVety, June 24, 2016, daughter of Brian McVety ’06, MAT ’07, and his wife, Elizabeth.

5

4. Lia Gabrielle Spallino, June 26, 2016, daughter of April (Taberna) Spallino ’06, MAT ’07, and her husband, Mike.

5. Savannah Kuchyt, Sept.

29, 2016, daughter of Charity (Stout) Kuchyt ’07 and her husband, Michael.

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6. Preston Irving Rousso, Jan. 21, 2017, son of Irving “Louie” Rousso ’09 and his wife, Lindsay (O’Brien) Rousso ’08.

7. Blake Keith Reynolds, March 14, 2016, son of Gina (DiSanti) Reynolds ’03 and her husband, Keith.

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8. Domenico James Squicciarini, Feb. 7, 2017, son of James “Jack” Squicciarini ’99 and his wife, Jennifer.

9. Amalia Lefebvre, Oct. 5, 2016, daughter of Joao Alves, ’06, ’09.

10. Kennedy Rose Carroll, Dec. 13, 2016, daughter of Justin Carroll ’05, MHS ’07, and his wife, Elissa (Pelland) Carroll ’05.

11. Madalyn Mary Crain, July 8, 2016, daughter of Amy (Plourd) Crain ’04 and her husband, Rob.

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Alumni IN MEMORIAM 2014 Ruth (Clifford) Collins ’44 Daniel Firment ’72 Toby Moore, JD ’86 Constance (Clerkin) Mowry ’37 Trina Solecki, JD ’80 Irene Visintin ’68 Sharon (Cunningham) Willis ’90 2015 Barbara Brockett ’88 Donna (Terrill) Deitch ’87 Theresa (Langlais) Knowles ’49

CALENDAR

Denise (Bartoo) Rocco ’73 Charles Seefahrt ’59 2016 Stephen Bertucio, JD ’92 Pauline (Chidester) Carr ’38 Gerald Cohen ’54 Irwin Cohen ’53 Alfred Correia ’63 Deborah Ann Cote-Giove ’83 Priscilla (Rice) Deacon ’46 Emil DeGregorio ’53 Richard Godbout ’75 Richard Hennessey ’61 Kenneth Hipp ’69 William J. Kelly III ’81 Charlotte Kenerson ’64 Elisabeth (Gilbert) Koch ’46

gift shop will be on display.

Tickets: $45 or $325 for table of 8, visit ighm.org September 14 Alfred P. Stiernotte Lecture, 5 p.m., Mount Carmel Auditorium. Professor Seyla Benhabib of Yale will discuss, “Reflections on Hannah Arendt's ‘The Right to have Rights’: On Migrants and Refugees in Political Thought.” Free.

August 19 Men’s ice hockey alumni game, Quinnipiac Sports Complex, York Hill Campus. Kids’ game at 9:30 a.m., alumni game at 10:30, reception at noon in the University Club. Free to alumni and their families.

Register at Alumni.QU.edu

September 16 Men’s soccer alumni game, 10 a.m., Soccer and Lacrosse Complex, Hogan Road. Free.

Register at Alumni.QU.edu September 24 Annual Field Hockey Alumnae Game, Field Hockey Complex, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Hogan Road, Mount Carmel Campus. Cost: $15 per person, includes allyou-can-eat pizza.

August 20 Afternoon Tea, 1-3 p.m., lawn of Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum, 3011 Whitney Ave., Hamden. Enjoy teas, finger sandwiches, small plates and desserts, and live harp music.

Cheryl Kling, author of “Nature’s Royal Tea Party,” will sign books, and Solvar Irish jewelry from Lucky Ewe Irish

October 6 Whiskey Tasting, time 6:308:30 p.m., lawn of Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum, 3011 Whitney Ave., Hamden, visit ighm.org October 10 Lecture by Sarah Lohman, food blogger and author of “Eight Flavors, the Untold

William Lanzoni ’48 Joseph L. Palazzi ’69 Philip Leighton ’41 MacKenzie Kate Malone ’14 Linda Marquis, JD ’89 Estelle (Malone) Marren ’48 Ralph Mongillo ’48 James Muldoon Jr. ’71 Robert Noyes ’63 Joseph Pascale ’52 Frank Perrotti Jr. Kurtis Piantek, JD ’08 Edward Raymond ’56 Michael Rome ’69 Joanne (Johnson) Viola ’64 Gary Wilson, JD ’92

2017 Ruby Bailey (former faculty/staff)

Manuel Bonilla (former faculty/staff) Arthur Caldwell Jr. ’77 Joseph Carbone ’76 Manuel C. Carreiro (former dean of students) Nancy Colleran ’46 Julia (Prete) D’Amato ’50 Loretto (Whalen) Fitzgerald-Walsh ’39 Thelma (Christensen) Gabriel ’67 William Gandle ’47 Diane (Botti) Guarino ’78 Hazel (Crew) Heap, MHS ’76 Robert Keener ’03 John “Jay” Charters Lent Sr. ’80 Oral Martin ’88 George Mastroianni ’61 Barbara Mattson ’48

vs. Colgate on Saturday with a tailgate party before Saturday’s game, York Hill Campus; and class dinners for 25th and 50th reunion classes on Friday. Register at Alumni.QU.edu

Story of American Cuisine,” 6 p.m., auditorium, North Haven Campus, 370 Bassett Road. Free.

October 12–14 Theater program presents “Doubt,” a play by John Patrick Shanley, 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 2 p.m. matinee Saturday, Quinnipiac Theater Arts Center, 515 Sherman Ave., Hamden. Tom Schwans, adjunct professor, directs. Tickets: $15, and $10 for students, seniors, faculty and staff, at brownpapertickets.com

November 2 Singer-songwriter Declan O’Rourke of Dublin performs, time TBA, Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum, 3011 Whitney Ave, Hamden.

November 3 Alumni reception for School of Law graduates, 6-8 p.m., Lynne L. Pantalena Law Library, 370 Bassett Road, North Haven.

Complimentary. Details: 203-582-4506.

October 13–15 Parents and Family Weekend events take place on Quinnipiac’s 3 campuses.

October 21 Family Day at Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum, noon-5 p.m., 3011 Whitney Ave., Hamden visit ighm.org

Carol (Frisa) Mauriello ’71 William Mavrides ’48 Robert McDermott ’77 Debra (Cohen) McKean ’82 Wendell Francis Moore ’68 Theodore Ogorzalek ’80 Lucille (Bardo) Rice ’42 Dean John Robertson ’99 Francis Rubino ’62 Winslow Scott ’55 Jo-Ann Sensale, JD ’90 Rosanne (Barrett) Singer ’81 Matthew Singleton, MHS ’06 Gayle Tiedemann-Grillo, MAT ’02 Lawrence Waterbury (former faculty/staff) Joseph Yotch (former faculty/staff) Peter Zeidel ’66

November 3–4 Alumni Weekend: Features men’s ice hockey game vs. Cornell on Friday and

November 9–11 Theater program presents “The Imaginary Invalid” by Moliere, 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 2 p.m. matinee on Saturday, Quinnipiac Theater Arts Center, 515 Sherman Ave., Hamden.

Tickets: $15, and $10 for students, seniors, faculty and staff.

November 17 Koskoff Symposium focusing on the legacy of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, 9 a.m, Ceremonial Courtroom, School of Law, 370 Bassett Road, North Haven. Details: 203-582-3203.

Visit Calendar.QU.edu or QU.edu/events for details or call 203-582-8610.

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LAW SCHOOL CLASS NOTES 1984 JANET KIPPHUT AINSWORTH ’74, JD ’84, of Guilford, CT, has been a staff attorney with the state of Connecticut for 25 years. Janet volunteers for a number of nonprofit organizations, including the Appalachian Mountain Club, the nation’s oldest outdoor recreation-conservation association. After nearly a decade in a variety of volunteer roles with AMC, Janet recently joined the board of directors.

ROBERT GROSS of Potomac, MD, was promoted to senior trial counsel, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, Torts Branch, Aviation and Admiralty Litigation, in Washington, D.C. 1987 THOMAS PARRINO of New Canaan, CT, co-founded Nusbaum & Parrino, a Westport-based law firm. The firm has been ranked by U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers as a 2017 Best Law Firm in the category of Metropolitan Tier 1 Stamford for family law.

1989 RONALD LORICCO SR. of Woodbridge, CT, was appointed to the board of directors at Paymeon. He practices in the areas of civil litigation, insurance defense, criminal law, estate planning and administration and workers’ compensation.

MICHAEL T. VAN DER VEEN of Exton, PA, founder of the Law Offices of Michael T. van der Veen, was selected to the 2017 Pennsylvania Super Lawyers list. Suburban Life magazine named him a “Justice Seeker,” and 2016 Top Attorney in the area of personal injury law. He also was named one of the 2016 Top Ten Criminal Defense Lawyers in Pennsylvania by the National Academy of Criminal Defense Attorneys

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and named to the National Trial Lawyers List of Top 25 Motor Vehicle Attorneys.

1990 CECILIA CALABRESE of Feeding Hills, MA, has been elected to the board of directors of the Massachusetts Municipal Association.

1992 JOHN L. CORDANI of Wolcott, CT, was nominated in May by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to a judgeship on the Connecticut Superior Court.

John is a partner with the law firm of Carmody, Torrance, Sandak & Hennessey, where he specializes in intellectual property and patent litigation. He previously served as vice president of the legal division of Platform Specialty Products Corp.

CHRISTOPHER J. LUTZO of Fairfield, CT, has been named general counsel for Staffing 360 Solutions.

Chris has practiced for more than 25 years, with a particular emphasis in the areas of compliance, business operations, financial transactions, mergers & acquisitions, and securities law. He previously worked as assistant general counsel at Smith & Wesson Holding Corp.

SHARI MURPHY of North Branford, CT, was nominated in May by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to a judgeship on the Connecticut Superior Court.

Murphy is a partner at the law firm of Keyes & Murphy in Branford, CT, where she has a general practice with a concentration in personal injury litigation, defense litigation, family law, wills, trusts, estates and real estate. She also serves as practitioner in residence at the University of New Haven in the Department of Legal Studies, where she has taught courses on civil litigation, legal investigations, and trial advocacy.

1993 ROBERT MCCORMICK of San Francisco, CA, joined the firm of CamberView Partners as a partner in February. He has served more than a decade as chief policy officer of Glass Lewis, overseeing analysis, editing

and voting recommendations of management and shareholder proposals at public companies. Prior to joining Glass Lewis, Robert led proxy voting at Fidelity Management and Research.

1996 ANTHONY MINCHELLA SR. of Middlebury, CT, has been appointed a 2017 James W. Cooper Fellow to the Connecticut Bar Foundation. His firm, Minchella Law, is located in Middlebury, CT. Tony has been AV rated by Martindale Hubbell for the past several years, and has been recognized as a Super Lawyer in business and employment litigation since 2010. He also is an adjunct professor of law teaching Connecticut Civil Procedure at Quinnipiac School of Law. 1998 CHRISTOPHER SOCHACKI of New Hartford, CT, is an associate at Cramer & Anderson. He is also a certified EMT and paramedic who works part time for New Britain Emergency Medical Services and volunteers in multiple roles in New Hartford, where he lives with his wife Julie, and their two sons.

2000 WILLIAM BOLTREK of Fort Myers, FL, has been elected a stockholder of the Henderson, Franklin, Starnes & Holt law firm. Bill relocated from New York to join the firm in 2013. He focuses on insurance litigation, helping his clients minimize risk, damages and cost in the defense of personal injury cases, based on early investigations and examination of the evidence.

He handles cases involving motor vehicle accidents, slip and fall, premises liability and tractor-trailer accidents for insurance companies, municipalities and private clients. He also represents health care professionals in medical malpractice and licensure matters.

2003 WALTER M. SPADER JR. of North Haven, CT, was nominated in May by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to a judge-

ship on the Connecticut Superior Court. Walter has served as an attorney at the Marcus Law Firm in North Branford, CT, since 2003, where his areas of practice have included bank and tax foreclosures, commercial and residential real estate transactions, criminal law, and planning and zoning issues.

missions across the state and brought and defended zoning appeals before the Connecticut Superior Court.

She is on the executive board of the Milford Land Trust, is former vice chair of the Conservation Commission and is the founder/director of the Milford Trick or Trot 5K for the Hungry and Homeless.

2004 BRIAN WHEELIN of Fairfield, CT, has been elected a partner at the law firm of Robinson & Cole in Stamford, CT. He is a member of the firm’s business litigation group, where he focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation in the firm’s Stamford office. He has first-chaired cases to verdict as well as argued appeals before the United States Second Circuit and state appellate courts in Connecticut and New York. Brian represents both individuals and companies in commercial litigation matters encompassing business torts, contract breaches and disputes related to employment, real estate and intellectual property. Most recently, he was recognized as a New Leader in the Law by the Connecticut Law Tribune.

ALAN DE PETERS of East Amherst, NY, has been named partner at the law firm of Trevett Cristo in Rochester, NY. He is an accomplished trial lawyer with experience across a comprehensive range of practice areas, including insurance defense and coverage litigation, commercial litigation, personal injury and landlord and tenant law.

2005 KRISTEN L. ZAEHRINGER of Hamden, an attorney at Murtha Cullina, has been appointed to the Federal Grievance Committee by the Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut.

She will serve a three-year term through Dec. 31, 2019.

She is a member of the Murtha Cullina litigation department and labor and employment practice group.

She recently received the District of Connecticut 2016 Pro Bono Award.

2007 DANIELLE BERCURY of Milford, CT, is a senior associate at the New Haven-based law firm of Brenner, Saltzman & Wallman.

She focuses on real estate and land use work, and has appeared before planning and zoning boards and com-

2011 MICHAEL T. VITALI of Wallingford, CT, successfully merged two legal practices in November 2016 to form the new Wallingford-based law firm of Flanagan, Vitali & McManus focusing on civil litigation and insurance defense practice.

2013 JOSHUA ELLIOTT of Hamden, a Democratic businessman, won the election for the 88th District House seat. He is an owner of The Common Bond Market in Shelton and Thyme & Season in Hamden.

2014 KRISTINA PORTER of Bridgeport, CT, joined the firm of Carroll, Curseaden & Moore in Milford, CT, as an associate. She practices in the areas of residential and commercial real estate, land use and zoning, landlord/ tenant law and dispute resolution, and business and nonprofit formation.

2017 SHELDON R. POOLE, an associate at Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, received the George J. and Patricia K. Ritter Pro Bono Award from the Connecticut Fair Housing Center for a pro bono case he handled for the firm with one of the other partners.

CAREER

LEGISLATIVE CONNECTIONS Five law alumni serving in Connecticut government

BY BRIAN KOONZ PHOTO AUTUMN DRISCOLL

Quinnipiac’s presence in the Connecticut Legislature increased with this year’s class of freshmen state representatives. The newcomers joined two School of Law alumni who are widely regarded as potential candidates for governor in 2018.

There are now five School of Law graduates serving in Hartford: Senate Republican President Len Fasano, JD ’84, R-North Haven; House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, JD ’92, R-Derby; state Rep. Stephanie Cummings, JD ’12, R-Waterbury; state Rep. Josh Elliott, JD ’13, D-Hamden; and state Rep. Craig Fishbein ’98, JD ’01, R-Wallingford. Additionally, Klarides’ sister, Nicole Klarides-Ditria, R-Seymour, also was elected to a House seat. She earned a business degree at Quinnipiac in 1990.

All of them experienced grueling, coffee-fueled, latenight sessions in search of a bipartisan state budget.

Fasano and Themis Klarides, the state’s top-ranking Republicans, want to change that routine. Klarides, the first woman in state history to lead the House Republicans, believes her education and advocacy have prepared her well to help direct Connecticut’s future.

Is she considering a gubernatorial run? “I would love to continue serving this state in whatever way that I, the people of this state, and my colleagues think best, whether it’s as governor or [GOP] leader,” she said.

Fasano, a veteran of 17 years in the Senate, also is weighing a run for Connecticut’s highest office. “You never say never, of course. Certainly, I would think about it,” Fasano said. “But it’s a huge family commitment. We’ll see what happens in the next few months.”

Fasano credited the law school’s faculty for preparing graduates to help others in the courtroom, the Legislature or both. “One of the most important lessons that I learned was that policy is such a critical aspect of law,” Fasano said.

“Perhaps you can go even further by changing policies that may need to be changed because they are arcane, or they need to be changed because we need to look at life differently.”

Elliott, a freshman state representative and the lone Democrat in the group, has used his degree in business and politics. Whether he is navigating local planning and zoning regulations or the debate over turnpike tolls and infrastructure spending, he’s learned how to

Alumni advance the causes his constituents care about most.

“Quinnipiac is really good at developing strong talent for what’s needed in Connecticut in terms of knowledgeable law,” said Elliott, owner of The Common Bond Market in Shelton, Connecticut, and Thyme & Season in Hamden.

“I was the president of the Society for Dispute Resolution, and a lot of what we focused on was negotiation, mediation and arbitration. There is a direct corollary between the skills I developed through the society and what I bring to Hartford,” he said.

Cummings, another freshman state representative, was a member of the Society for Dispute Resolution as well. “At Quinnipiac, we learned to think across the aisle and to not take things personally,” said Cummings, who also serves on Waterbury’s Board of Aldermen.

“Just because we’re having a dispute over an issue, it doesn’t mean I disagree with your intent.”

Cummings noted that negotiation is one of the most important attributes for lawyers and legislators alike.

“It’s important to look at the totality of issues, not just one side of them. The practice of law really teaches you to argue the facts, not the emotions.”

Fishbein, who once hired Cummings as an intern at his family’s law practice, has witnessed the rewards of giving back in Hamden as well as Hartford as a freshman legislator. “I’ve taken in a number of Quinnipiac interns. I’ve seen the caliber of students increase during that time, including Stephanie. We worked in the trenches together,” Fishbein said.

“I never intended to get into politics. But about five years after I graduated law school, I felt like I needed to get involved,” he said.

“Now, I hold two positions—I’m on the Town Council in Wallingford and I’m a state representative.

Quinnipiac had something to do with that.” ​

Quinnipiac alumni and state legislators are shown inside the House Chamber at the Connecticut state Capitol.

From left are state Rep. Josh Elliott, JD ’13; state Rep. Stephanie Cummings, JD ’12; state Rep. Craig Fishbein, ’98, JD ’01; Senate Republican President Len Fasano, JD ’84; state Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria ’90; and House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, JD ’92.

QUINNIPIAC MAGAZINE

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GOOD TIMES

1. Chris Malico ’10, in hat, and friends cheer on four former Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey players at the Bridgeport Sound Tigers game in February.

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2. Cara Constantini-Parker ’05 with husband, Jason ’05 and son, Chase, at an alumni reception before a Red Sox game in Fort Myers, Florida.

3. Quinnipiac alumni and current Bridgeport Sound Tigers players, from left, Connor Jones ’13, Kellen Jones ’14, Travis St. Denis ’16 and Devon Toews ’16 signed autographs for Quinnipiac supporters after their game against the Hershey Bears in February at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport.

4. At the President’s Cup Golf Tournament in June at The Ridge at Back Brook, Ringoes, New Jersey, from left: David Nelson ’81, QU trustee; Dennis Flanagan ’72, QU trustee; Baker Dunleavy, head men’s basketball coach; and Rick Ryan, director of corporate relations.

5. Jessie Gallagan ’06 with School of Business Dean Matthew O’Connor at an alumni reception following the first day of the G.A.M.E. (Global Asset Management Education) Forum in March at the Midtown Hilton in New York City.

6. Hundreds of alumni joined faculty, staff and parents in the line of march at the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

7. Briana LeMay ’17, recipient of the Johannsen Family Endowed Scholarship, with Pat Johannsen ’62 at the 2017 Scholars Luncheon.

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