Christian Miller ’92 returned to campus in March to speak to students in the Mathematics Undergraduate Colloquium Series. Miller, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics at SUNY Potsdam, is senior director of corporate pharmacy services for Health Now New York, Inc., parent company of Blue Cross/ Blue Shield of Western New York and BlueShield of Northeastern New York. His topic was “Time to graduate … now what?” Also attending the lecture were Dr. Vasily Cateforis, emeritus chair of the Department of Mathematics; Dr. Joel Foisy, current chair; and Dr. Blair Madore, member of the mathematics faculty and coordinator of the colloquium series. Shawn “Fusion” Benjamin ’93 is the senior housing coordinator at Virginia State University. He and his wife, Katrina, currently reside in Richmond, VA. Ilissa Mandelik Miller ’93 has joined tel (x), a U.S. based core interconnection facility provider for the global telecommunications industry. She has worked in the telecom sector for more than 10 years for a variety of companies in both the Unites States and U.K. Jan Fredrickson Thome ’93 continues to teach high school Spanish and French and has been featured in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers four times. For the past 11 years, she has worked as the daycamp director for the Girl Scouts of Niagara County. She is also an instructor at a Bally’s Total Fitness in Clarence, NY, where she currently resides. Beth McGann Winter ’93 just received her M.A. in Public School Administration from Castleton State College. She currently teaches general and instrumental music at the Poult24
P OT S D A M P E O P L E
ney Elementary School in Poultney, VT. Mark Hayman ’94 recently became an associate in the Patent Counseling and Prosecution practice group for the Cooley, Godward and Kronish, LLP firm. He has earned both his Ph.D. and J.D. and resides in Washington, D.C. Cassie Dionne Meyers ’94 teaches 4th grade inclusion classes and was recently awarded the National Board of Professional Teaching Certification. She has also founded a local chapter of the Council for Exceptional Children, a non-profit organization that promotes and helps gifted and disabled children succeed in school. She currently resides in Palm Coast, FL. In its top ten listing for 2006, Time Magazine’s fifth-ranked Web site is the creation of Mykel Ruvola ’94. His Web site, www. finetune.com, is an online music-sharing service that allows people to compile playlists from a library of over two million songs and its free. The site has 40,000 registered users and continues to grow. Ruvola worked for Napster briefly before moving to NextRadio, a company out of Boston that supplies digital music products and services to BellSouth and others. Ruvola and his wife, Ann Brown ’93 currently live in the Boston, MA, area. Kristin Bourdage Reninger ’93 received her Ph.D. in education and linguistics on June 10, 2007 at Ohio State University. She is currently teaching at Otterbein College in Westerville, OH. She previously worked at Lewiston-Porter High School in Niagara County, where she taught and mentored students in GED and English as a Second Language programs. She resides in Columbus with her husband, Donald.
FA L L 2 0 0 7
Wegner makes Carnegie Hall Debut Melissa Wegner ’03 made her Carnegie Hall debut on April 15, 2007, in the Weill Recital Hall as part of the Composer & the Voice series. She was one of eight students in the inaugural class of the Vocal Arts Program at Bard College. After graduating from Potsdam, she received a Master of Music degree in vocal performance at The Manhattan School of Music where she co-founded American Music Productions, an ensemble dedicated to promoting, preserving and creating American music. She studies voice with Patricia Misslin and was selected to participate in Songfest, an internationally recognized summer vocal program in Santa Barbara, CA.
Eric S. Burke ’95 has recently been named middle and high school principal for the Lisbon Central School District. He is also a former director of the St. Lawrence Valley Sportsmen’s Club. Tierney Jayne McKee ’95 is an English and Language Arts teacher for the Sodus Central School District in Sodus, NY. She lives in Newark, NY with her husband, Andrew, and their newborn, Colin Joseph. Aaron Fuller ’97 is the president of Fuller Insurance Agency and oversees offices in Carthage, Canton and Malone, NY. He recently finished his service as the Exalted Ruler of Carthage B.P.O. #1762 and is currently a member of the Carthage Area Hospital Board of Directors. David J. Benstock ’98 is the sales manager at Lighthouse Ford in Copiague, NY, and his wife, Monica F. (Erb) Benstock ’99, is the 9th grade band director in Half Hollow Hills, NY. Matthew Fossa ’98 gave the world premiere of his original oboe concerto in September at the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra. In addition, the Gulf Coast Chorale and the University of West Florida Chamber Orchestra have performed his other works.
Mindy Carlin Cervoni ’99 is currently the vice president of the Administration for Community Services for the Developmentally Disabled in Buffalo, NY. She and her husband, Jonathan, and their son, Noah, reside in Hamburg, NY.
2000s Amanda Haney ’00 spent two years working as a VISTA with the Washington Reading Corps and recently graduated in December 2006 with a Master of Public Administration degree from Seattle University. She is now a public management intern/budget examiner for New York State. Kelly E. Mailler ’02 graduated in May 2007 from Springfield College with her Master of Social Work Advance Generalist degree. Emily Manor Robideau ’02 is the current vocal music director at Salmon River Central School in Fort Covington, NY. Jennifer Walker Chudacik ’03 is the director of the choral department for the Johnson City School District in Johnson City, NY. George Father ’03 joined the U.S. Air Force Band of Liberty in August 2005 and is currently stationed at Hanscom Air Force Base, MA. In April 2007, he was the featured bass
trombone soloist with the group on a New York tour. Elsa Schmidt ’03 was recently admitted to the New York State Bar Association and is working for the Stephens & Stephens, LLP firm in Buffalo, NY. While earning her J.D. at the University at Buffalo Law School, she was awarded Best Oralist in the preliminary rounds of the National Environmental Moot Court Competition at Pace University. Jill DiPaola ’05 currently works as an elementary general music teacher for Massapequa Union Free School District. John Czarnecki ’06 is the sports information director and publicist for SUNY Athletic Conference and works out of SUNY Fredonia. Meaghan Lynn Manor ’07, graduated in May from SUNY Potsdam with a B.A. in communications and thus joins her sister, Emily Manor Robideau ’02, and their father, Jerome “Jerry” Manor ’78, in the SUNY Potsdam Alumni family. She performed for Community Performance Series over the summer and began pursuing a career in communications in the fall.
Class Notes for Spring ’08 issue are due January 2, 2008