Worcester State Magazine

The Making of a Legend

Coach, mentor, and educator

Al Pettway ’94 lands another historic win for the city of Worcester

University Honors Women’s Athletics Champion Ann Ash Zelesky ’73

WORCESTER STATE UNIVERSITY AWARDED AN honorary Doctor of Humane Letters during the 2023 Commencement to alumna Ann Ash Zelesky ’73, a longtime champion for women in athletics.

As a standout student-athlete at Worcester State College, she played on the basketball, softball, field hockey, and volleyball teams. She served as team captain for basketball, softball, and field hockey, earning 15 varsity letters. Her distinguished coaching, teaching, and administrative career includes serving 26 years as associate athletic director at College of the Holy Cross and 14 years as teacher, softball coach, and basketball coach at Saint Peter-Marian High School. Her teams had an overall record of 525-75, winning 16 district championships and six state championships. As a tireless mentor and volunteer, she guided the athletic careers of thousands of young people

and coached multiple youth teams in the city of Worcester. Said Zelesky as she reflected on the honorary degree: “Two thoughts struck me when President Maloney informed me of my award, a deep sense of gratitude for the institution that prepared me for life’s opportunities and challenges and a recognition of the distinct honor in receiving such an award. As important to me, the award reflects positively on the many Worcester State teachers, administrators, coaches, as well as family and friends who taught me, nurtured me, challenged me, and supported me during my undergraduate years and throughout my professional career. I’ve never really looked at Worcester State as an experience that ended on the day of my graduation. The university has always held a special place in my life, and this award speaks volumes about the university’s genuine and unwavering interest in their graduates’ success.”

President Barry Maloney applauds Ann Ash Zelesky as she is awarded an honorary doctorate during the 2023 Commencement Ceremony at the DCU Center May 13.

“ The award reflects positively on the many Worcester State teachers, administrators, coaches, as well as family and friends who taught me, nurtured me, challenged me, and supported me during my undergraduate years and throughout my professional career. ”

—Ann Ash Zelesky ’73

In This Issue

Athletics

20 Worcester State’s Men’s Basketball Goes All the Way to the Top

27 Clare Conway Makes Her Mark in Women’s Ice Hockey

Lancer Nation

32 Alumni Events & Reunion Weekend

34 Worcester State Remembers Robert K. O’Brien ’58

36 In Memoriam

37 Class Notes

40 5 Questions for Andrew Ngo

Honoring the Class of 1894’s Sarah Ella Wilson

22 Cover Story

The Making of a Legend

With two historic basketball titles to his name, Coach Al Pettway ’94 reflects on his start in the sport he loves, his time at Worcester State, and the team he led to the Division I State Championship at North High School this year.

Cover photo by Matt Wright ’10

Photo by Nancy Sheehan

President’sNote

Dear Alumni and Friends of the University,

What an exciting time to be a student-athlete at Worcester State University! During the 2022-2023 seasons, women’s ice hockey, men’s basketball, and men’s soccer won conference titles; men’s ice hockey made it to the conference championship game for the first time in school history; and both women’s basketball and field hockey made it to their conference’s semi-final games. As this magazine goes to print, we’re seeing strong performances from our spring teams as well.

This competitive success represents the culmination of a decade of financial investments in facilities and field improvements that benefitted not only student-athletes but also student wellness in general. From 2011, when the university and the Worcester State Foundation partnered with the city to renovate Rockwood Field, to the multi-year Wellness Center project that culminated with its opening in 2016, to the “icing” of a deal for Lancer hockey at the Worcester Ice Center in 2017, to the 2019 refurbishing of the track and new turf, scoreboard, lighting, and sound system at Coughlin Field, these investments are now paying off.

More important than any building, however, has been the human capital invested in our 20 varsity sports programs and in recreation and wellness. The Athletics Department’s dedicated administrators, led by Athletic Director Michael Mudd since 2014, and their hard-working and award-winning coaches have had an outsized impact on our students’ success. With the sad closure of Becker College in 2021, Mudd and the university saw an opportunity to continue support for a strong program for women’s ice hockey. We enrolled members of the women’s ice hockey team and hired their coach, Eliza Kelley. I was proud we were able to provide a new home for the Becker students, and they have excelled on the ice and in the classroom.

Women’s sports have a great tradition here at Worcester State, in no small part due to three-sport Worcester State Hall of Famer Ann Ash Zelesky ’73. In the wake of 50th anniversary celebrations of the passage of Title IX, which requires parity in school athletics programs, we were pleased to grant Zelesky an honorary doctorate at the 2023 commencement ceremony (see inside cover).

Creating the environment students need to succeed at Worcester State is our number one goal as an institution. From the terms I served on the NCAA’s women’s basketball committee and on the Division III President’s Advisory Group, I learned that varsity sports can help universities attain a more diverse student body and that, in Division III especially, those who play succeed in the classroom and persist to graduation at higher rates than their non-varsity peers. And, as anyone who has attended a Midnight Madness basketball season kickoff can tell you, the school spirit that teams generate helps build Lancer pride among the entire Worcester State community.

Sincerely,

Barry M. Maloney PRESIDENT

Worcester State Magazine, which debuted in 1980 as The Worcester Statement, is published by University Advancement and the Office of Communications and Marketing twice a year for alumni and friends of the university.

Alumni Relations and Engagement

486 Chandler Street Worcester, MA 01602 508-929-8141

Vice President for University Advancement

Thomas McNamara ’94

Assistant Vice President for Communications and Marketing

Maureen O. Stokes

Executive Director of Alumni Relations & Engagement

Tara Hancock, MS ’06

Editor and Director of Editorial Communications

Deborah Alvarez O’Neil

Assistant Editor, Alumni Relations

Andrea Dever

Writers

Allison Coppinger ’23

Rebecca Cross

Nancy Sheehan

Photography

Matt Wright ’10

Nancy Sheehan

Jullian Valadares

Art Direction and Design Complex Stories

Read us online worcester.edu/magazine

Share your comments news@worcester.edu

Address changes alumni@worcester.edu

Woo News

Guild of St. Agnes and Worcester State Open New Early Education Center

The Guild of St. Agnes and Worcester State University celebrated the opening of the new University Collaborative Early Education Center, an innovative childcare center and teaching lab for future educators, in May. The new center, located at 248 Mill Street, will serve 152 children ages 4 weeks to 5 years olds, while also providing space for Worcester State early childhood education majors to work, learn, and observe in real classroom settings.

Community

The iconic 17,600-square-foot building on Mill Street, once the home of Colonial Candle Pin Bowling, has undergone a $7 million renovation to reimagine the space as a light, bright, and colorful learning center for small children.

“The partnership between the Guild of St. Agnes and Worcester State represents a collaborative approach to addressing a community need—both for child care and for an academic role in preparing the workforce that supports child care,” said Worcester State University President Barry M. Maloney. “The new center will serve as a model for innovation in early childhood education in our community and around the state.”

About Worcester State Magazine’s New Masthead

» WITH THIS ISSUE, WE DEBUT A NEW MASTHEAD on the cover of Worcester State Magazine, the first redesign in many years. The new design emphasizes Worcester— a reflection of our community pride and our commitment to serving Worcester as the city’s only four-year public university. We’ve also added “Lancer Nation” to the cover as a reminder that we are all connected as a community of alumni, students, faculty, staff, donors, and friends.

The masthead was designed by Tania Delehanty, a graphic designer and Worcester State’s assistant director of brand and

creative services in the Office of Communications and Marketing. We chose a bold sans serif typeface, a modern interpretation of the lettering around New York City’s urban landscape. Says Delehanty, “The new masthead design is modern and confident, representing Worcester State’s strong and lasting presence in the community. The redesign times nicely with other significant visually driven updates such as the new worcester.edu and other recent brand initiatives to highlight our visual identity.”

—Deborah Alvarez O’Neil, Worcester State Magazine editor

Worcester State alumna Yelitza Garcia ’15 with her daughter Bellamy, 3, and Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care Commissioner Amy Kershaw at the opening of the new University Collaborative Early Education Center.

“ Shields Up” Campaign Set to Rally Fans, Students

» THE WORCESTER STATE ATHLETICS

Department has released a new branded slogan, “Shields Up,” for student-athletes and the community. Shields Up is a creation of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and was designed by the university’s Marketing Office.

The new catch phrase can be used in several ways—for branding or as a cheer in a team huddle or from fans in the stands. The new logo was designed to unify and rally around athletic teams as they push for success on and off the field. Inspired by the Lancers of old, Shields Up aims to be the rallying cry for all Lancers.

“What’s exciting about the Shields Up campaign is that our student-athletes, specifically SAAC, were the ones who came up with the phrase,” said Athletic Director Mike Mudd. “This slogan and logo will hopefully remain a part of Lancer Nation longterm and our student-athletes that attended Worcester State during the 2020-23 timeframe can claim to be the inventors of it.”

University welcomes Kenya’s Ambassador to the United Nations

» THIS SPRING, WORCESTER STATE UNIVERSITY WELCOMED

Kenya’s permanent representative to the United Nations Dr. Martin Kimani to campus. In a wide-ranging lecture, Dr. Kimani called the emerging multipolarity a more dangerous world order that likely will require stronger enforcement of the United Nations charter, which prohibits the use of force against any state’s territorial integrity or political independence.

Dr. Kimani’s visit was organized by the student-led Intercultural Student Alliance (ISA) with support from Assistant Professor Catriona Standfield in the Department of History and Political Science.

“ The old-school framing of stigmatized ‘mental health condition’ needs to shift to ‘human condition.’ We all take turns suffering. Mental health issues are not for ‘those people over there’ that need help. Modern brain science says we are all likely to vacillate in and out of episodes across our lifetime. Mental health issues aren’t an individual problem. We can’t fix them simply by slugging down power smoothies, making vision boards, or rubbing ourselves in lavender oil while we intermittently fast and deep breathe. Society needs to change, to create more humane conditions.”

2023 Commencement speaker Dr. Kristen Lee ’96, licensed clinical social worker, writer, podcaster, and Northeastern University professor

Photo by Matt Wright ’10

FROM LEFT: Dr. Catriona Standfield, Dr. Kimani, ISA President Brandol Ogando Saladin, and President Barry Maloney.

Global

Norms of Violence: Violent Socialization Processes and the Spillover Effect for Youth Crime

By Associate Professor Aimée X. Delaney Routledge, September 2022

When Aimée X. Delaney was in high school, she knew she wanted to go into law enforcement because she wanted to help people. When she started her first job, though, she found the reality was quite different from what she had imagined. “I realized I’m not actually helping people,” she said. “I’m just enforcing the law.”

A couple of job changes later, Delaney was an investigator for the state of New Hampshire, looking at cases of everything from conflicts of interest among state employees to the victimization of children. Two of the cases Delaney worked on during this time resulted in the saving of two children’s lives.

As rewarding as that was, when she decided to start a family, she stepped away from her role as an investigator and went back to graduate school. There, she tried to pursue a line of inquiry that didn’t involve violence, but her PhD advisor at the University of New Hampshire, Dr. Murray Strauss, asked her, “Why would you throw all that knowledge away?” He encouraged her to expand upon her practical expertise by looking at research into violence.

Now an associate professor in criminal justice and secretary of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, she has put her expertise to good use in her 2022 book, Norms of Violence: Violent Socialization Processes and the Spillover Effect for Youth Crime, from Routledge.

Delaney spent more than six years analyzing data from 17,000 participants across more than 30 countries collected during the years 2001-06. From this data, she developed her theory of norms of violence. “Violence is more than just hitting people,” she said. “Violence can be witnessing it, telling people to engage in violence, raising children where violence is presented as an appropriate form of conflict resolution. It’s more than what we might call the cycle of violence, because it’s not necessarily people repeating it; it’s at the societal level, where we normalize violence in the socialization

of children and actually encourage it.”

The socialization of people to violence is one of the key points of Delaney’s argument. “Just because people engage in illicit behavior doesn’t make them bad. Being an investigator, you learn that,” she said. “Sometimes people who engage in violent acts, it’s not that they’re violent criminals or violent deviants.” Rather, those individuals have absorbed the message that violence is acceptable. That message may have been delivered explicitly, by, for instance, being told by a parent to punch a bully, or implicitly, by, for example, simply living in a country that has the death penalty.

Delaney says she defines violence a bit more broadly than some of her colleagues, and not all the acts that she defines as violent—sexual coercion, for example, or spanking children—are considered crimes. She, therefore, spends some time in her book defining violence and theories of crime.

A good deal of the book is spent looking closely at the data Delaney used to construct her argument and delineating differences in actions and outcomes across nations. Of particular note are the many factors that contribute to the normalization of violence over time.

Delaney acknowledges the challenges in analyzing the data. She used multiple areas that could be measured with validity across nations, but sometimes, she said, there was no explanation she could find for a country’s level of violence. “People can come up with anecdotal explanations,” she said, “but there are no statistical explanations. Colleagues will say things like, ‘What about war?’ Well, how do you define war? How do you measure war? Is it a war or is it a conflict? Is it a terrorist act or is it a war? It’s challenging.”

The book received the 2023 Outstanding Book Award (international section) from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, an international association of criminal justice experts that fosters professional and scholarly activities in the field. —Rebecca Cross

Aimée X. Delaney

“ Violence is more than just hitting people… it’s at the societal level, where we normalize violence in the socialization of children and actually encourage it.”

—Associate Professor Aimée X. Delaney

Academic Awards

Extraordinarily Excellent Achievement

New LGBTQ+ academic award named for alumni leaders and awarded to accomplished graduating senior and digital animator Griffin Weber.

By Deborah Alvarez O’Neil |

PHOTO BY MATT WRIGHT ’10

IN THE MAKE-BELIEVE WORLD OF YOUTUBE SHOW Excellent Entities, the endearing little characters undertake some outrageous hijinks and more than a bit of troublemaking as they vie for 1 BAJILLION DOLLARS! There’s the time Moonstone confuses hydrofluoric acid for milk. Oops. And Broomer and TOL break into their friend Chalky’s house to unapologetically drink all his soda. Once during a paintball match, Feather rigs a scary contraption to hurl fellow competitors into space.

One thing that is not allowed: homophobia. In episode 7 of season 2 (dubbed Extraordinarily Excellent Entities), Chocolate Bar learns this the hard way when he makes a shocking declaration to the competitors: “You are all eliminated because you are gay!”

The characters appear crestfallen. Latte’s mouth falls open. Clay winces in pain. Chalky scratches his head, puzzled.

Then Chocolate Bar’s phone rings. The caller announces that Chocolate Bar is under arrest for discrimination and suspended from the show. Gummy Bear will be taking his place. And that’s that.

WORCESTER STATE UNIVERSITY

Photo by Matt Wright ’10

This lovable and spirited animated show with positive LGBTQ+ messages woven throughout boasts some 365,000 viewers and is the creation of Worcester State 2023 graduating senior Griffin Weber. An accomplished and self-taught digital animator and communications major, Weber is the first recipient of Worcester State’s new Negrón Cruz-Audet LGBTQ+ Academic Excellence Award, honoring an LGBTQ+ student with an outstanding academic record. Weber accepted the award in April and graduated summa cum laude in May.

“It means so much to me to be representing my community and to be awarded academically for a lot of hard work. I’ve put a lot of work into college at Worcester State,” Weber said. “I’ve been out and in the community since I was 11. Everyone who watches my show knows I will always stand up for my community. This award really ties into that. It celebrates the community.”

The award was established by Worcester State University Assistant Vice President of Assessment and Planning Sarah Strout and is named for two longtime LGBTQ+ rights advocates, Worcester State alumnus Leopoldo Negrón Cruz, MEd ’16, and Gloria Audet, a one-time Worcester State student.

Negrón Cruz moved to Worcester from Puerto Rico after graduating from college in 1983 and has been working at the Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center since 1986, now serving as the clinical supervisor of the center’s community health workers. As a pillar of Worcester’s public health community, Negrón Cruz has worked at the intersection of HIV/AIDS and the Latine LGBTQ+ community. He has developed, implemented, and advocated for HIV health education and prevention, testing, and support for more than 30 years. In 1989, he created Worcester’s Gay and Lesbian Latino Organization (GALLO), which helped bring people together.

“You are dealing with homophobia in one community and racism and discrimination in another,” Negrón Cruz said. “People were so isolated. We were very successful in our efforts. There were a good number of LGBTQ individuals we were able to bring together in community.”

Among his many other community and activist roles, Negrón Cruz also serves on the board of Worcester State’s

OPPOSITE PAGE TOP: Griffin Weber accepts the new Negrón Cruz-Audet LGBTQ+ Academic Excellence Award from Worcester State University Assistant Vice President of Assessment and Planning Sarah Strout at the April Academic Achievement Awards.

OPPOSITE PAGE BOTTOM: Two of Weber’s characters, boyfriends Broomer and Chalky, stars of the YouTube animation series Excellent Entities. Artwork created by Joseph Pak and courtesy of Griffin Weber.

THIS PAGE: Artwork by Griffin Weber.

Latino Education Institute (LEI). Still, he was surprised when he learned that his graduate school alma mater wanted to name an LGBTQ+ academic award for him.

“It’s a huge honor to lend my name for that award at a public institution,” he said. “When I went to college for my undergrad, this would not even have been a thought. Not only because I went to school in Puerto Rico, but even here in the US, it would not have been a consideration to have an award for an LGBTQ student. LGBTQ wouldn’t have even been mentioned at all. Regardless of who it is named after, it is worth celebrating an LGBTQ award. It’s amazing.”

The award grew out of Strout’s longtime work on the university’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Committee. She took a leading role in ushering in policies that allow student records to reflect their pronouns and chosen names.

In 2021, Strout was heartened to see that the university’s efforts to make the campus a welcoming place for LGBTQ+ students were paying off. Worcester State earned high marks as one of the best colleges in the nation for support of LGBTQ+ students in 2021’s Campus Pride Index. One category the index looks for are academic awards and scholarships for LGBTQ+ students. Worcester State didn’t have any. So, Strout decided to create the award with a donation of $2,500. Her hope is the award will pave the way for the establishment of an endowed academic scholarship, which requires a donation of $25,000.

“The award is for an LGBTQ+ student who has an excellent academic record,” she said. “It’s not just they are active on campus. We’re recognizing that it’s difficult for LGBTQ+ students to do really well in school while managing the unique challenges related to their identity.”

For Weber, LGBTQ advocacy has come through his creative work. In the early days of his show, he said, YouTube wasn’t a particularly welcoming space. With time, he says, that has shifted. Now, he has a huge fan base of people who love to follow his characters on their adventures. By design, all of the characters on Extraordinarily Excellent Entities are LGBTQ.

“I’m making a statement,” Weber said. “There are no straight people. Chalky and Broomer are two guys in a relationship, and they hold hands. I celebrate that these two characters love each other. It’s always been important to me to push boundaries. I’m not going to tolerate intolerance.” Read

“ It means so much to me to be representing my community and to be awarded academically for a lot of hard work.”

—Griffin Weber ’23

The Remarkable Legacy of Class of 1894’s Sarah Ella Wilson

When a long forgotten portrait of the longtime Worcester educator and community leader was discovered at Belmont Community School, Worcester’s education and arts community came together to restore the artwork and honor her life’s work.

By Rebecca Cross | PHOTOS BY MATT WRIGHT ’10

Afew years ago, Assistant Principal Tiana Phillips ’06 was rooting around in a closet during a recent renovation of the Belmont Street Community School when she found a bag stashed in the back. Inside, was a large, framed, painted portrait of a smiling Black woman with gray hair and glasses, pearls, and a blue dress. Phillips was captivated by the strength, warmth, and kindness she exuded. She wondered, ‘Who is this woman? Why is her picture in the closet?’”

Phillips showed the portrait to her colleagues. Kathy Kenyon, the school’s psychologist, was also drawn to it. “When Tiana showed it to me the first time, I didn’t know what it was, but boy, it really spoke to me,” she said. “I looked at her

face, and I could see, here’s a lady who was no nonsense but had a kind heart. You could just see that in her face.”

The subject of the long forgotten painting was Worcester Normal School graduate Sarah Ella Wilson, who graduated in 1894 and went on to be one of the first Black school teachers in Worcester Public Schools. She taught at Belmont for 49 years, until she retired in 1943. Phillips was familiar with the name, as the school’s library is named after Wilson, but she was unfamiliar with Wilson’s life or her legacy. So, she set out to find out everything she could.

She found a slim autobiography of Wilson, Go Onward and Upward, written in 1974 by local author and literary figure the late Corrine Bostic. (Corrine’s son, Steve Bostic ’77, MEd ’86 is a past member of the Worcester State Foundation Board and Board of Trustees and has established a scholarship in his mother’s name for Worcester State students.) From Corinne’s book, Phillips learned of Wilson’s legacy as an educator and community leader. Corrine wrote that Wilson forged “onward and upward” throughout her life despite facing challenges such as racism and sexism. Wilson “clung to her positive life experiences meeting love where it came from,” and made a significant difference in the lives of those she met and her community.

“I became really inspired by her story,” Phillips said. “Especially me being native to Worcester,

Worcester State alumna and Belmont Community School Assistant Principal Tiana Phillips ’06 led the effort to honor Sarah Ella Wilson’s life and contributions in the community.

Online Read Tiana Phillips' tribute to Sarah Ella Wilson and see photos from the portrait dedication ceremony. worcester.edu/magazine

A newly discovered portrait of Worcester education icon Sarah Ella Wilson now hangs at Belmont Community School, where she taught for 49 years.

me being one of the only minority teachers here at the school. So it was kind of a sense of pride and honor. I just felt a connection to her.”

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Sarah Ella Wilson was born in Worcester on April 7, 1873, to George and Elizabeth Wilson, who had been enslaved in Virginia until only 10 years prior. They moved to Worcester shortly before Sarah’s birth with abolitionist Sarah Chase, whom they had befriended in Virginia. They named Sarah—their first child— after this friend.

As a child, Sarah Wilson attended Belmont Street School, where she would later spend her teaching career. After graduating from Classical High School, she attended Worcester Normal School (now Worcester State University), earning her teaching degree in 1894.

The October following her graduation, Wilson started as an assistant teacher at a salary of $450 per year and became a full teacher at the Belmont Street School the following May, with a salary of $500. She was the fourth Black teacher in Worcester, following three other Black graduates of Worcester Normal School: Jennie Cora Clough, Class of 1878; Estella Virginia Rolston, Class of 1883; and Edith Marietta Rolston, Class of 1884.

She was not the first Black woman to teach in Worcester, but she certainly taught the longest—49 years, and in all that time missed only one day of work, according to her biography. She devoted her life to teaching children, never marrying, as that would have meant giving up teaching because married women were not allowed to continue working then. “I am married to my school,” she would say when asked if she would ever marry.

Wilson was active in a number of Worcester organizations, including the Negro Woman’s Club YWCA, the Phyllis Wheatley Club YWCA, a French club, and a teachers’ club. She was the founder and chairperson of the Scholarship Committee for the National Association of Colored Women, and she was active in her church.

“The scheme of operation of all Colored Women’s Clubs is directed always for the benefit of the race …” Wilson said in an article published in the Sunday Telegram on October 8, 1933. “Colored women of education band together to fill the particular community need of others of their racial group.”

Wilson was frugal and saved her modest salary. In 1910, she bought a house in an area of Worcester where no Black people had lived before, despite meeting resistance from the white residents. She bought a car in 1928 and traveled often. She met Frederick Douglass, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Elizabeth Carter Brooks, according to her nephew Clarence Wilson.

“She devoted her life not only to the school but to the community,” Kenyon said. “She was a forerunner in championing Black women’s rights. It’s just so impressive.”

While she was particularly concerned with bettering the situation of Black women, she

looked out for all her students. At the turn of the century, immigrants flooded into Worcester, looking for a better life. Through self-study and extension courses, Wilson learned several languages so she would be better able to communicate with students who spoke other languages. In Bostic’s book, one of these students, John Anderson, recalled how Wilson, his first-grade teacher, spoke a little of his native Swedish and partnered him with a classmate who spoke both English and Swedish to tutor him daily. “It was because of her ability to understand my needs that I got started right,” he said.

Wilson’s dedication to her profession and her love for her students made her the beloved teacher of many. Her biography contains an entire chapter of former students’ and colleagues’ fond reminiscences of Wilson, many of them shared at the 1972 dedication of the Sarah Ella Wilson Library at Belmont School. A photograph taken at the dedication and published in

Generations of Worcester State graduates have taught at Belmont Community School in Worcester. These are some of the current Worcester State alumni who teach there now. BACK ROW, STANDING FROM LEFT: Erika Schmitt Boyle, Christina Faria, Brenda McGinnes, Beth Krow, Patricia Milewski, Kathleen Sundstrom, Jennifer Ruderman, Kelsey Dilling, AllysaBeth Heller, Kerri Plant, and Jillian McMahon. MIDDLE ROW SEATED FROM LEFT: Nicole Barston, Stephanie Montecalvo, Emily Kokansky, Tiana Phillips, Myrna Kanaan, Rachel Economos, Autumn Tata, Amanda Gevry, and Lauren Rock. FRONT

ROW SEATED ON THE FLOOR: Nicole Kunhardt, Diane Smith, and Arena Kreka.

“

I became really inspired by her story. Especially me being native to Worcester, me being one of the only minority teachers here at the school … I just felt a connection to her.”

—Belmont Assistant Principal Tiana Phillips ’06

the biography shows attendees posing with the portrait of Wilson. nnn

No one knows how the portrait wound up in the closet or how long it had been there, but Phillips had been at Belmont for six years at that point and had never seen it. During its time stored away, the portrait and its frame had sustained some damage. Kenyon suggested reaching out to the Worcester Art Museum to see if they could help. That’s how Birgit Straehle, at that time the associate paintings conservator at Worcester Art Museum, got involved.

Straehle visited the school to evaluate the condition of the art and felt Wilson’s pull. “I looked into her eyes,” she said, “and thought,

of the 20th century to make family portraits appear almost like oil paintings. Straehle consulted with the museum’s paper conservator about the photograph’s delicate paper before proceeding.

Ultimately, the treatment of the painting was relatively straightforward—flaking paint was secured, dust and debris were removed, losses and scratches were fixed with conservation grade color, and the frame ornamentation was restored. Eventually the painting and frame were reunited using a custom-made backing board system. All told, Straehle had the portrait in her studio from June 2021 to August 2022, often working on the painting and frame in her free time. “I really took my time to make sure the painting got its dignity back,” she said.

At the same time, Straehle embarked upon an investigation into the portrait’s origins. The blacklight had revealed a watermark with the name of the photography studio that had made the portrait. Straehle followed this clue and a line in Bostic’s 1974 book, which listed the artist as “Mrs. Carleton H. LaPorte.” She found an obituary online for John A. LaPorte, son of Carleton H. LaPorte Sr., “a nationally renowned portrait photographer,” and Irene M. (McNamara) LaPorte, “a well known Worcester artist.”

Feingold wanted to honor his beloved teacher. Though he is not a Worcester State alumnus, he established a scholarship in Wilson’s name at the institution where Wilson received her degree. The endowed Sarah Ella Wilson Memorial Scholarship supports African American students either majoring in elementary education or minoring in secondary education who plan to teach after graduation.

It’s likely that recipients of this scholarship have ended up teaching at Belmont School— more than two dozen of the current faculty are graduates of Worcester State. Student teachers from Worcester State often do their field work there. “We love the student teachers because the university prepares the students so well,” Phillips said. “So, lots of times what will happen is, we’ll have someone do their practicum here, and we’ll say, ‘Hey, we can see the potential in this person, we can see that they’re a natural-born teacher, a hard worker,’ and we’ll ask them to stay.”

‘She needs the care of a conservator.’”

Conservation of an artwork is a delicate and time-consuming process. Straehle took advantage of a museum policy that allowed employees to complete eight paid hours on a community project. Straehle, who has made her home in Worcester since coming from Germany in 2006, was thrilled to do something for a community school with such a rich history in the city.

Straehle took the portrait back to the Fuller Conservation Lab at the museum and examined it carefully. She found some peeling surface material, tenting paint flakes, scratches, and dirt. “Considering that it had spent at least a decade in a closet, it looked pretty good,” she said. In fact, it may actually have been a blessing that it was stored away from the sun.

The portrait appears to be a hybrid of photography and painting, with a layer of paint applied in certain areas of the photograph— a technique dating back to the invention of photography in the 19th century. The technique became increasingly popular in the second half

Several mysteries still remain: Did the studio take the photograph of Sarah or paint over an existing photo? Was the painting a collaboration between photographer John A. LaPorte and his wife Irene? Also unknown is when exactly the portrait was created. Bostic described the portrait hanging on the wall of Belmont School during the 1972 dedication of the library. Perhaps the artwork was created for that occasion?

Those mysteries may never be solved; however, the significance of the portrait—and the woman in it—have inspired a renewed interest in celebrating Wilson’s life nearly 70 years after her death.

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Wilson died 68 years ago, but there are still people around who knew her. Like so many of her former students, Saul Feingold remembers Wilson with fondness and admiration. When the 89-year-old was a kindergartener, Wilson recognized his ability and moved him up to first grade. “I truly believe that decision changed my life,” Feingold said. “It allowed me to graduate earlier, and because of that my life has been very full.”

Phillips herself is an alumna of Worcester State, where she earned a degree in education and psychology. “I really liked Worcester State. I knew that it was a really good school for what I wanted to do. It was competitive, too. They weren’t letting everyone in. They were selective with the students. That was part of why I chose it, too.”

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On June 1, 2023, Belmont Street Community School, in partnership with Worcester State University, held a celebration and portrait unveiling honoring Wilson’s decades of educational excellence and community leadership in Worcester.

“We wanted to give her the celebration we feel she deserves,” Phillips said. Following the reception, the portrait was hung in the school’s main stairwell so, Phillips said, “everyone who comes to the school can meet her. The school has a high minority population, so we really want to make this story known for our students.”

“Our students make the school special,” Phillips said. “They come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. They are very resilient. We come from an area where a lot of our students are in poverty. Some have lives outside of school that are tough, but they come to school ready to learn. They show up, and they never let us down. They make the school. They’re everything.”

It’s a sentiment that would no doubt make Wilson proud.

When AI Chatbots Get A Little Too Personal

Researchers find consumers are less likely to engage with this fast-spreading technology when they anticipate feeling embarrassed.

By Nancy Sheehan

ou’re searching online for a pain relief remedy. A friendly little chatbot pops up with a smile and announces: “Hi there, I’m Emma. I’ll be happy to help you find the perfect hemorrhoid cream for your needs.”

You pause. This is just a little too weird. At some level you know Emma isn’t real, but you don’t want to chat with “Emma” about your embarrassing health issue.

Bye, Emma.

Businesses and medical websites increasingly use AI-powered chatbots to help customers find information and products, but there can be unintended consequences when the search involves subjects that people might find embarrassing.

Research by Lagnajita Chatterjee, assistant professor in the Department of Business Administration and Economics, and her collaborators at the University of Illinois Chicago, where she earned her PhD in 2020, has found that, when conducting an online search, consumers are less likely to use a chatbot when they anticipate feeling embarrassed about the search than when they do not. This effect is driven by a sense of “social presence” while interacting with the technology, the researchers found.

Chatbots create social presence, or the feeling of a human interaction, in the way that they interact with users, respond to their questions, and address their concerns, and also through their design features. Their visual appearance, speech synthesis, discourse structure, and reasoning increasingly make these chatbots seem humanlike, which leads users to anthropomorphize them.

Turns out, that’s not always a good thing.

“It was always assumed that integrating chatbots and AI into any business is a positive, forward-moving thing,” Dr. Chatterjee said. “But the question that we were grappling with is, ‘Is it always good? Are there situations where we don’t want to really engage with the chatbot?’”

To answer those questions, the researchers gave people hypothetical scenarios and asked them to respond as if they were in those situations. Some examples might be people seeking information on personal care products like hemorrhoid cream, information about contraceptives including buying condoms or about sexually transmitted diseases, or financially sensitive information. Study participants were then asked whether they would prefer using an AI chatbot or a more standard search engine for those types of queries.

“And what we find is that people prefer to use the question-based search engine, or, if the only option is to use AI, they don’t want to use it,” Dr. Chatterjee said. “They don’t want to engage with it because of a fear of being judged because they somehow almost feel like the AI has a social presence, like it’s a human.”

Rationally, the research participants know that a

chatbot is not a real person, she said, but such personal interactions with technology are still new to most people.

“There’s a lot of research out there that shows that, as humans, we haven’t evolved to where our behavior has a script for how we engage with computers, so when we are engaging with chatbots and AI, our tendency is to use our judgment about humans and apply that to chatbots and AI,” she said.

Dr. Chatterjee and her collaborators at the University of Illinois Chicago plan further research to understand why that sense of social presence while interacting with chatbots drives the tendency to avoid them when experiencing embarrassment. They also hope to identify design elements that will encourage the use of chatbots among users during embarrassing situations. Their ongoing research is funded in part by a grant from the Worcester State Foundation.

The researchers were surprised by their initial findings, Dr. Chatterjee said. “We had thought that people would probably be like, ‘Chatbots, fine. We are not talking to a human, so we are safe.’ But we have run nine studies at this point, and consistently we got results where people did not want to use human-like chatbots to look for information related to embarrassing things.”

Since just about every business is trying to build a chatbot and other AI capabilities these days, the researchers recommend that they be careful about how they implement this new technology. If the business involves more sensitive products or medical information, they might consider a more mechanical chatbot that doesn’t use a name or express emotions, she said.

“That’s not to say that you absolutely cannot have a chatbot or AI if you have a certain kind of business,” she said. “It’s more to say, ‘Think about how humanlike your chatbot capability needs to be because there’s a wide range, and depending on what kind of business someone has, it’s important to figure out how you want to implement that AI and whether it should be implemented at all.’”

“ There’s a lot of research out there that shows that, as humans, we haven’t evolved to where our behavior has a script for how we engage with computers …”

—Assistant Professor Lagnajita Chatterjee

A Screenwriter’s Life

Worcester native John J. Lynch ’98 has been following the call to write for the big screen since he was kid. His latest short film is winning awards as it shows in film festivals around the country.

By Nancy Sheehan

John J. Lynch took a gamble on an idea close to his heart—and hit the creative jackpot.

Lynch, a 1998 graduate of Worcester State and adjunct faculty member in the English Department, wrote a screenplay loosely based on his life experiences when he was younger. The resulting short film, called The Gambler, is winning accolades, honors, and acceptance into film festivals across the country.

An April showing at the Massachusetts Independent Film Festival in Worcester, which was its first festival screening, was a sellout. Submissions for upcoming screenings at festivals in New York City, Philadelphia, and elsewhere have already netted Lynch several awards. The film is the first solo screenwriting credit for Lynch, who started in TV as an assistant writer on That ’70s Show and also wrote

jokes for Tim Allen and other comedians. Lynch, who grew up in Worcester and now lives in Burbank, Calif., no longer gambles, but based The Gambler screenplay on the exploits of his younger self. The main character, Joe Sullivan, finds himself in a dangerous gambler’s bind—laying a bet with one bookie to pay off another. The 17-minute film involves Joe sitting in a movie theater as he waits for the results of the NBA game that he has placed his do-or-die bet on, another nod to Lynch’s younger years.

“When I was growing up, we had something like six movie theaters in Worcester, and my friends and I practically lived in them,” he said.

Alumnus John J. Lynch met with students at Worcester State to talk about movie screenwriting while he was in town this spring for the Massachusetts Independent Film Festival.

Photo by Nancy Sheehan

His film fixation led Lynch to make movies with friends in his backyard and to guess all the Academy Award winners in a school contest when he was 13. A teacher at Worcester Central Catholic High School called the local daily newspaper about the young phenom, and Lynch found himself on the cover of the entertainment section.

“They did a story about how I make movies with neighborhood kids and took a picture of me striking a pose in front of The Empire Strikes Back marquee at the old Showcase Cinemas downtown (now the Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts). The headline was something like ‘Whiz kid picks the Oscars at 13,’” he said. But he’s not one to take much credit for the feat, even now. “The big movies were Coming Home and The Deer Hunter, so it was a pretty easy year,” he said.

After high school, Lynch’s youthful moviemaking dreams were put on hold as he set out to find a way to make a living. He eventually got a job at a company that made packaging from recycled cardboard. It paid well—no small prize for a working-class Worcester kid. “I was a night foreman on a corrugator machine, which sounds pretty far away from screenwriting,” he said. “But they liked me and wanted to keep me on.”

Still, though the money was good, he found the work unfulfilling. He quit his job and enrolled at Worcester State. He was the first in his immediate family to go to college, so it was a big step, but he quickly sensed he had done the right thing.

“I took a class with Ken Gibbs, a longtime English teacher there, and he was talking about a Thomas Pynchon novel, Mason & Dixon, and he was so excited about the ideas behind it, the philosophy of life behind it, and what the

writer had to go through to create it, and I was like, ‘Yes, I want more of this. This is where I belong,’” he said.

After Lynch expressed his newfound enthusiasm for literature to another of his professors, Ruth Haber, he was urged to sign up for a school-sponsored trip to Worcester, England, to study Shakespeare. “And so, I went to Worcester, England, with Worcester State, and this was my introduction to college—taking all these really cool classes and being flown to England to study Shakespeare.”

His Worcester State experiences led the former night foreman to think outside the box. His Worcester State English professors became role models, and Lynch decided he would follow in their learned footsteps.

But Hollywood and his love of writing led him to follow a different career path, although teaching has remained a part of his life. He teaches an online screenwriting class at Worcester State as well as online courses at Southern New Hampshire University and Santa Monica College. “I think I’ll always be involved with teaching one way or another, which is great because I just love it,” he said.

Lynch moved from Worcester to California after he enrolled in a master’s degree program at Emerson College. He majored in writing, literature, and publishing the first year and then… he took a screenwriting class. The professor, a successful screenwriter himself, encouraged Lynch to go Los Angeles. “And I said, L.A., like Hollywood?’ And he goes, ‘Yeah, you can finish your degree out there.’”

So, Lynch switched majors to creative writing and set off for a new adventure. “I just packed up my car with another graduate student I knew from Emerson, and we drove across the country,” he said. An early success came when he defended his master’s thesis before an Emerson professor who also worked in the entertainment industry. “My thesis was a screenplay, and he optioned it,” Lynch said.

“That’s where people give you money to not show it to anybody else.” It was the first of several movie script options that would keep Lynch financially afloat even though, as is the case with most optioned scripts, the movies never actually got made.

His first job after graduating was as a gofer with the production company for the hit TV show 3rd Rock from the Sun. The company also produced That ’70s Show. A secretary from 3rd Rock intervened to cut short Lynch’s gofer stint. “She said ‘You have an MFA from Emerson? What are you doing being a gofer?’ She made a call and found That ’70s Show needed an assistant writer, and he got the job.

Lynch said he learned a lot in that show’s writer’s room, including that TV wasn’t his calling. “I learned that it’s the same formula every single week. They just put them in different situations,” he said. “It’s the same set-up: two jokes by page three, four jokes by page eight, complete resolution by page 20. Everybody’s happy at the end. It’s almost a mathematical process.”

Instead, Lynch was inexorably drawn to movie scriptwriting, perhaps a reflection of those endless hours spent in theaters growing up. To support himself, he does a variety of writing jobs but always comes back to the movies. “I knew that I really had to be true to my talents as far as what I could produce,” he said. “So, I’ve written three movies and all of them sold, but none of them got made.”

Until The Gambler, that is. “That’s my first sole screenwriting credit after all this time— with just my name and no one else,” he said.

Lynch got an honorable mention at the New York Screenwriting Awards, so he will go to New York this summer to show his latest project around—a full-length script of The Gambler “This summer in New York I’ll be seeing a lot of people and saying, ‘Well, this is what I have. If you liked the short, here’s the feature,’” he said. “I think it has a great shot.”

“ I went to Worcester, England, with Worcester State, and this was my introduction to college—taking all these really cool classes and being flown to England to study Shakespeare.”

—John J. Lynch

John J. Lynch with actor Mark Rolston, one of the stars of the short film The Gambler

Photo courtesy John J. Lynch

CHALLENGES, OBSTACLES,

Miracles

A Cape Verdean-American first-generation college graduate, Dianne Langford James inspires present and future generations to break cycles that hold them back from achieving their dreams.

By Deborah Alvarez O’Neil |

BY MATT WRIGHT ’10

PHOTOS

D

IANNE

LANGFORD JAMES ’03 STEPPED

onto the stage at Worcester State University before an audience of more than 100 high school students visiting campus during Black History Month and offered up a bright and cheerful, “Good morning, everyone!”

The teens mumbled a half-hearted greeting.

Dianne wasn’t having it: “We’re going to do that one more time. Maybe two. Good morning, everyone!”

This time, the kids Good Morning-ed with gusto. “That’s what I am talking about!” Dianne said beaming. “I’m so glad to be here. Before I get started, I want to thank God for allowing me to be here, to be anywhere.”

For the next 45 minutes, Dianne delivered real talk, inspiration, and wisdom that had her young audience rapt, laughing, cheering, and waving their hands with questions. She spoke of the challenges, obstacles, and miracles that led her to college in her 40s and set her on the path to finding her passion. “What is your why?” she asked them. “My why is to change my family trajectory so they can live a better life than I have and I can leave a legacy to them.”

She called for a moment of silence to acknowledge Tyre Nichols, one of the many Black people who have fallen victim to senseless killing. Then, she saluted the pioneering Black women who came before her—Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, and Maya Angelou. She heaped praise on everyone involved in the day’s events—President Barry Maloney, Office of Multicultural Affairs Director Laxmi Bissoondial, Worcester State staff, and most importantly, the students themselves.

“Teenagers, I am so happy you are here…. I’m a firm believer that people don’t really care about how much you know, until they know how much you care. We care about you. I care about you.”

Faith and family

At the top of the mountain that Dianne has climbed are an array of triumphs, each with its own story of resilience, strength, and hope. Remaining clean and sober for more than 31 years. Going to Worcester State University at age 46 to become the first college graduate in her family. Raising three children and three grandchildren. Seeing those three grandchildren all graduate from college. Running two national organizations, BravHERy and Cycle Breakers, LLC. Leading the establishment of a national social-emotional leadership program for teenagers on the East Coast, The Torch Foundation. Working with Worcester County law enforcement to implement violence prevention and intervention programming for youth. Co-founding Worcester’s Yes We Care Teen Academy with Rev. Clyde D. Talley. Publishing her memoir, Breaking Cycles and Building Your Legacy: Finding Redemption on the Road to Recovery, in January 2023 at age 71.

All of it, says Dianne, is by God’s grace. Raised Catholic, Dianne and her family are now active members at the historic Belmont A.M.E. Zion Church in Worcester. “I’m a believer, and my belief is in Jesus Christ. If you don’t believe, just believe that I believe,” she says with a smile. In her memoir, she writes of many heart-rending moments when God carried her through, including the devastating deaths of two of her sisters, Eunice and Frances, both at age 35, a decade apart. “There is no other belief stronger than my knowing God has a plan for me,” she writes. “I saw so many people die, including my two sisters, and I was still standing. How? I still could not

tell you. Nothing but a modern day miracle and the grace of God.”

Her baby sister Frances was in college when she passed away. In her grief, Dianne declared she would finish what Frances had started and for the purpose of changing the trajectory of her family life. “She was going to college, so I said to myself, ‘I’m going to go to college for her and us.’”

Dianne was raising three of her grandchildren on her own at the time and hadn’t been in an educational setting in decades. “My mom and dad didn’t graduate from high school,” she said. “We didn’t have any books in the house that I knew of. I knew nothing about college.”

She came to Worcester State and was informed the enrollment deadline had just passed. “I talked to the academic advisor and told him, ‘My sister has just passed away and I need to do something because if I don’t get into school, I don’t know what is going to happen.’”

A few days later she got the call that she was in and could start classes in business and communications. “I jumped right in with both feet,” Dianne recalls. “It meant that I was literally going to change my family’s trajectory, get a better job,

and show my grandchildren that was the road to go. Education is imperative, it’s a lifestyle. Just the experience of going to college changes you for the better. The world becomes so much bigger. I needed to lead by example.”

The year she graduated, 2003, brought another blessing, marriage to her husband Elijah James. Together, they have a blended family with six children, 21 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. Her memoir is filled with adoring reflections of them: “They are all amazing, unique and a blessing to the world. I pray for them daily and all of their children’s children to come.”

The book also features letters by her grandchildren. In a letter to his Nana, JuVan Langford, the eldest of 21, describes how the grandmother who raised him is the most significant person in his life. “I have so much respect for her because she has made so many sacrifices in her life in order to be able to provide for me and my two young sisters,” wrote Langford, now a Miamibased Abstract Expressionist artist and founder of the multinational men’s health NGO The MENtour. “She exemplified determination and vision by enrolling us in one of the top schools in my area,

though her financial situation did not allow it. She instilled morals in me by keeping me deeply

even

PREVIOUS SPREAD: Dianne Langford James at her church, Belmont A.M.E. Zion Church in Worcester. ABOVE: The Langford and James family at the Belmont A.M.E. Zion Church in Worcester. BACK ROW STANDING FROM LEFT: Dianne’s grandchildren JuVan Langford, Makai Ashton-Langford, Cashius Langford, Nazsirr Langford, and Dashante Mitchell. MIDDLE ROW, FROM LEFT: Grandchildren DuVone Mitchell Jr. and seated DeMarr Langford Jr.’ Dianne and her husband Elijah James, and Dianne’s sister Gail McCarthy and daughter Sonjia Langford. FRONT ROW: Dianne’s daughter-in-law and son, Sacha Langford and Demarr Langford Sr.

rooted in the church ever since I was a child…. On a daily basis I thank God for putting my grandmother in my life.”

Social-emotional intelligence

In Dianne’s telling, her life has been transformed again and again by “Angels,” people who have removed obstacles, opened doors, and supported her aspirations, like the Worcester State academic counselor who stretched a college enrollment deadline. JuVan is one of those Angels. In 2014, he encouraged her to take part in an adult leadership transformational training, Mastery in Transformational Training (MITT), based in California. “I’m like, ‘Didn’t I just raise you, young man?’”

Still, she was intrigued by his description and knew that if the program came with his endorsement, it had to be something special. “The person who enrolls you is assigned the title of Angel,” Dianne writes. “Turns out this was to be a divine appointment in my life.”

The program offered her a safe space for self-inquiry and revelations. “I was discovering where I needed to focus my energy and what it meant to

same time…. For me it was nice to step back. I’ve always had a bit of fear of failure and that’s what the program is trying to help you with: as long as you are putting your best foot forward, that is most important. I’m the kind of person who always says yes to everything, and it puts undue stress on me. It helped me set up boundaries as well.”

Sharing her story

Dianne decided to put pen to paper and share her story, first for her beloved grandchildren and then for all the rest of us. The many who have been impacted by the disease of addiction. All the other first-generation students who might think college is out of reach. Anyone who dreams of a better life for their family. Her memoir begins with a young Dianne listening to her grandfather describe his 1921 journey from the West African island of Cape Verde at age 21. As his ship approached the Gloucester, Mass., shore, he saw what he assumed was sugar. When they landed he bent down to touch the sugar only to find it was cold and wet. “That’s when the captain said, ‘It’s snow, not sugar!’”

actually participate in my own rescue,” she writes. “I was learning the meaning of intention and living a life that is based on results, not reasons.”

Invigorated, Dianne envisioned bringing the program’s social-emotional learning tools to teenagers—particularly inner city kids and their families who cannot afford training programs. The founder of the program pointed her to The Torch Foundation, a dormant non-profit that had been set up to do just what Dianne imagined: open the doors of opportunity for all teenagers at no cost.

With a green light to revive the program, Dianne rebuilt The Torch Foundation with a team and became the organization’s global executive director. She’s currently the east coast executive director and more than 3,000 teenagers globally have taken part and graduated from the Torch training. “When teens win,” she says, “the families win, our communities win, and ultimately our nation and world wins.”

“She is a force to be reckoned with, and that has made it take hold on the east coast,” says her longtime friend and Torch Foundation master trainer Mary Jo Foster. “She is magnetic…. She shows up with these teens ready to see them, embrace them, respect them and says, ‘Be amazing, and I’m not going to settle for anything less.’”

Today, the program works closely with Worcester State University. Workshops were hosted on campus from 2015 up until the pandemic—and at least a dozen Worcester State students have been interns supporting the teen training.

Alumna Maia Shalev ’20, MS ’21 got involved with Torch in spring 2021 and created the Torch internship program for Worcester State students. She also participated as a teen coach when the program moved online during the pandemic. “It was definitely a great opportunity not only for students but for coaches as well,” Shalev said. “You are going through the training at the

Dianne decided she wanted to carry on his legacy “and be another game changer in our family.” Over the span of her life, she found a four-part framework for breaking cycles and building legacy that can transform lives as it did hers: Cycle, Challenges, Choices, and Call to Action. It begins with identifying the cycle of circumstances that gets to be changed—maybe addiction, lack of education, family dynamics, financial bondage—then identifying the price you and others have paid as a result of the cycle, listing the challenges and making wise and informed choices to interrupt those cycles, and finally writing out a plan with deadlines for the call to action.

“First of all, I believe we are all recovering from something,” Dianne said. “There are going to be challenges—people, places, and things. Celebrate the perceived failures, because they are just perceived. They are actually lessons…. It took 20 years for me to do these things. And when I first took responsibility, all of these benefits happened. Cycles were broken. My intention is to give hope and a how-to formula to break cycles and build legacies. If it happened to me, it can and will happen to others.

So now my deepest reflection is, ‘how do we do this with the world?’”

Back in Worcester State’s May Street Auditorium with her enthused audience of teenagers gathered for National African American Read-In and ALANA Preview Day, she asked the youth about their lives. Who has been affected by addiction? Hands went up. She led the young people through a deep breathing and visualization exercise. She encouraged them to see the life they want for themselves.

“I stand here telling you all things are possible,” she told them. “I don’t say this to impress you. I say it to impress upon you—know this: no matter what is happening in your life right now, you can be the change agent in your family. You can be the one who changes the trajectory of your family.

“So, let’s talk about you.”

hat is your why? My why is to change my family trajectory so they can live a better life than I have and I can leave a legacy to them.”

—Dianne Langford James

All the Way to the Top

The Worcester State men’s basketball team had a record season, qualifying for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1994.

Led by Coach Tyler Hundley, the team captured their second conference championship in university history. Here’s how they got to the top.

Highlights of a Winning Season

Individual Accolades

Aaron Nkrumah

Sophomore, #30

• MASCAC Player of the Year

• 1st Team All-MASCAC

Region 1 Rookie of the Year and All-Region 1 2nd Team

• D3hoops.com

• National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-Region 1 1st Team

Nov. 8, 2022: Setting the Stage

The Lancers opened the season at #8 WPI. The Lancers took the lead with 43 seconds left in the game, but ended up losing 73-71. This game showed the potential of this Lancer team against a strong competitor. Says Coach Tyler Hundley, “It set the tone in terms of confidence for the whole season. We rose to the occasion and showed that we were ready to play in a big game.”

Nov. 11 & 12, 2022: Tournament Victory

The Lancers won the Wheaton College Tip-Off Tournament beating Hunter College 111-94 and Wheaton 73-55. Erik Bjorn won tournament MVP averaging 12.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and shooting 80% from the floor. Zion Hendrix made the All-Tournament Team, averaging 13.5 points and shooting 54% from 3.

Nov. 22, 2022: Defensive Dominance

The Lancers defeated Western New England University and held them to 20 points below their season average. This began a Lancer defensive dominance throughout the season. Aaron Nkrumah led the way with 22 points.

Jan. 14, 2 0 23: Beating Our Biggest Rival

Lancers beat Westfield State for the first time since Jan. 14, 2020, tipping the scales in a two-season rivalry. The teams have played each other in the conference championship in 2020 and 2022. Aaron Nkrumah led the way with 23 points and 6 rebounds.

Jan. 18, 2023: Tough OT Win

Ryan Rubenskas

Sophomore, #22

• 2nd Team All-MASCAC

off Conference Rookie of the Year

• Coming

Erik Bjorn (Captain)

Senior, #24

• 2nd Team All-MASCAC

• 1,000 career points

• 1,000 career rebounds (2nd ever in Lancer history)

2 nd 1st since 1994

14

12

Worcester State won a gritty 69-62 OT game to stay perfect in conference play against the always tough and physical Fitchburg State. The Lancers had their worst offensive game statistically, but played inspiring defense and battled all night. Ryan Rubenskas played all 45 minutes and finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds.

Personal Bests

Feb. 4, 2023:

Erik Bjorn scored his 1,000th point. Lancers beat second-place Bridgewater State. Both Aaron Nkrumah and senior captain Zion Hendrix had career high points (30 and 20, respectively) to lead the Lancers to a 75-72 victory.

Feb. 8, 2023: Regular Season Title

Lancers clinched the regular season title with an 80-58 win. It was the first win at Westfield State since 2017. Erik Bjorn led the way with 20 points and 15 rebounds.

Feb. 18, 2023: Breaking Records

Lancers broke the program’s total wins record (20) and consecutive wins record (12), for an undefeated regular season in the MASCAC with a 67-52 win over Framingham State.

Feb. 26, 2023: Making History

The Lancers won their first Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletics Association (MASCAC) title since 1994 and advanced to the NCAA tournament. Erik Bjorn won MVP, grabbing 24 rebounds. He is only the second player in program history to score 1,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds.

78.5 %

By the Numbers

TOTAL WINS

22

N I K A M The

North High coach Al Pettway and players Tahlan Pettway, Joseph Okla, and Ty Tabales hold the Division 1 state boys’ basketball championship trophy Sunday, March 19, 2023.

Photo by Rick Cinclair/ Worcester Telegram & Gazette

COVE R STORY

On March 19, 2023, Worcester State alumnus and the university’s all-time leading basketball scorer Al Pettway made local history (again!) as he coached the young North High School basketball team to the city’s first-ever Division I State Championship. Many were in the stands that day cheering for Al and his kids, including Al’s longtime friend, fellow Worcester State alumnus and former basketball player Steve Bostic ’77, MEd ’86. We recently invited Steve to interview Al for Worcester State Magazine.

Candid and nostalgic, their conversation recounted Al’s life story from playing “crate ball” on the streets of Bridgeport, Conn., to becoming captain of the Worcester State 1994 team that led the Lancers to the NCAA Tournament. Nearly three decades would pass before another Worcester State team would make it to the NCAA Tournament—that was this year with coach Tyler Hundley.

We share Steve and Al’s conversation, condensed and edited for clarity.

N E E G L of a

Cover Story:Making of a Legend

Steve: I thought we could timeline it, going back 30 years. Tell us a little bit about high school and your sports, family, and before you arrived at Worcester State University.

Al: When I went to middle school, I didn’t play any extracurricular sports. I went to see my older cousin playing basketball in a rec league at the local YMCA, and I said, “Wow, this sport looks pretty interesting, and I think I’m going to give it a shot.” So, that was when I started. I was probably 12 years old at the time.

Steve: How many siblings do you have?

Al: Just me and my brother and my mom. My father wasn’t in the picture. I know who he is, but he’s just never been a part of my journey. My mom was pretty sick. I was 10 years old. I was playing almost like a father figure to my younger brother.

Steve: You guys were close.

Al: We were close. I felt like I had to be the protector in the home, since there was no male figure in the home. So it was tough. At 10 years old, you expect to be doing what 10-year-old kids do.

Steve: I was still in Boy Scouts.

Al: I was looking after my little brother and my mom, making sure no one did any harm to her. I became a man at such a young age.

Steve: It was about leadership skills at a young age. After you were exposed to basketball through your cousin, when did you start really getting into it?

Al: I asked my mom if she could give me a basketball. Right around the corner there was a little light pole. I remember taking a milk crate and cutting a hole in the bottom of it and nailing it against the pole.

Steve: So it really wasn’t a hoop?

Al: It wasn’t a hoop, but it was a hoop to me. We used to call it crate ball. We made the little basketball court lines, and played on the street. We’d have to stop, cars would go by, we’d start playing again. Everything else is history. I never put it down.

Steve: I would’ve thought there would have been a basketball court on every corner. Growing up in Worcester like I did, every neighborhood had a school yard and a basketball court. Al: We built a full-court crate because there was a pole on each side. We also had the local Y

where I saw my cousin playing. We did go there, and it kept us off the streets. That’s pretty much where I started playing, right in that YMCA, the Raphola Taylor Community Center. At Harding High School, I made the freshman team. My sophomore year I played JV. I didn’t start, but I made the team my junior year. I was a split, played half of JV, pretty much most of JV.

Steve: Like Michael Jordan.

Al: Late bloomer. My senior year I made the varsity team, but I didn’t start. I was probably the seventh man off the bench. I started some games. Some games, I didn’t, which was really frustrating for me. At that point, I was like, “I want to continue to play this, but I’m not getting any looks from anybody. So how am I going to go to college and play basketball if I’m sitting on the bench?”

Steve: Was the competition strong?

Al: Competition was good, but I thought I was good enough to play. I worked hard. I thought my hard work wasn’t paying off. I was doing everything the coach asked me to do. I didn’t miss practice. I didn’t miss school. I didn’t get in trouble. Other guys were doing the things they

weren’t supposed to be doing, but they were still being rewarded. I was a pretty good basketball player too. I was like, “This is just not fair.”

Steve: You didn’t really have an advocate either. Al: My freshman coach and my JV coach were on the staff of varsity, so they were very supportive. They kept me involved and made sure I didn’t give up. They had what’s called the Top 100 my senior year. The top 100 senior players in the state of Connecticut had the actual shootout in our high school. And then college coaches would come and watch us. That was my first opportunity to play in front of college coaches because there was no AAU. I didn’t go to camps.

Steve: Everything was in person back then, because you didn’t have videos and sites where you could watch the game.

Al: Worcester State’s coach, Tommy Moore, happened to show up and saw me. The next day, I got a letter from him saying that he saw me play and he was interested in me. Tom Moore pretty much recruited me, but it’s interesting because he saw me that one time and that was the only time he saw me. I never saw him in person. He recruited me through phone calls and letters. I never visited Worcester State.

Photo by Matt Wright ’10

Steve: Before you arrived as a student?

Al: Never saw the campus. At the time, Charles Smith was in the NBA and he’d gone to Harding High School. He played for the New York Knicks and created a Charles Smith Scholarship for any senior basketball player going to college. No seniors in my class who played basketball went to school. I was the only one. So the coach gave it to me.

Steve: So what happened when you got to Worcester State?

Al: My cousin drove me up the week before school started. I’ll never forget this. He dropped me off on campus and said, “Good luck.” I’ve never visited the school. I’m 18 years old. I still haven’t seen Coach Moore. So I went down to the gym. Remember the old school? I saw the gym and I said, “What did I get myself into? I cannot stay here.” I didn’t see anyone that looked like me at the time. So when I first came, it was culture shock. My mom had moved down south because she was sick. My aunt took me in when I was in middle school. I called her and I said, “I can’t stay here.” And she goes, “Well, you’re not coming back here.” And she hung up on me.

Steve: At the beginning of the year when you first showed up there were captain’s practices every day. You were playing for two or three hours. Everybody was trying to feel everyone else out, and you were working for your position, really. It helped me acclimate to the school. Obviously, you want to get your degree. Basketball was kind of the vehicle to help you do that, because you needed to do well in school to play.

Al: Exactly. My goal was to get my grades up and transfer. I wanted to go into a higher division. But then there was a roadblock in between. My sophomore year, I met my kids’ mom, and one thing led to another, and she became pregnant. I had my daughter when I was a sophomore at Worcester State. That changed all my plans.

Steve: That wasn’t in the plan.

Al: I wasn’t ready to be a father yet. My sophomore year, I think I flunked two classes in the first quarter. I was depressed because I’ve got all this responsibility and I’m trying to get a degree and trying to play basketball, which is a full-time job in itself, and raise a child. There was an article that came out in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette Sports section that said, “Is he going to be a one semester star and end up back in Bridgeport?” I said, “I’ve got to prove everybody wrong. I’m a fighter, so I’m going to stick this out.”

Steve: How did you manage all of that?

Al: Sidney Buxton and Marcella Uribe-Jennings were huge mentors of mine. The AID program helped me get through college. Without that program, I don’t know if I would have graduated from Worcester State. Two or three weeks ago, Sid took me out for lunch to say how proud he was.

So, I stuck it out. It was school, basketball, and my daughter. I always said that I will never do to my child what my father did to me. I really didn’t have that full-blown college experience because I was a father at a young age.

Steve: That is a lot, but by then you had already stepped into adult shoes early in life.

Al: I remember Coach Moore talked about how usually younger guys tend to follow the older guys. He said, “You are different. You are a leader. The older guys followed you.” I’ll never forget him saying, “I think one day when you graduate, you should work with people because you have an influence on people.” And I’ve been working with young people ever since. He was right. I didn’t see that. He saw that.

Steve: How did you end up at North High?

Al: My goal was to coach prep school, Division III, Division II, which I did. And then to go from Division II to Division I. But then, my son comes, and I’m at Assumption, and I’m working on my graduate degree and working in the public school system. There was an opportunity to coach at North High School, and I got the job. The plan was to go to the high school for two, three years, and then take that route back to college.

But then, I fell in love with the kids. And I actually won in three years. North won a district title in 2005. That was the first time a city school had won a district title in two and a half decades at North High.

Steve: At that point you had been in the community for 12, 15 years. You’re here now.

Al: I wanted to be a school adjustment counselor. I went back and got my master’s in counseling psychology from Cambridge College. I got my license, and I became a school adjustment counselor. Now, I’m working on my administration degree because I’ve transitioned from a school adjustment counselor to the dean of students. That’s my current position now.

Steve: You and I both experienced college as players and students. What’s your take on student-athletes and the importance of athletics?

Al: When I was growing up playing, and I see this in a lot of the guys that I coach, the only thing I thought about was basketball. All I cared about was, “I need to get to college to play basketball.” I was not worried about what to do with my future. So I try to instill in my guys at a young age, because they all love basketball, that there’s more to it than just basketball. You use the basketball to get to where you need to get. If you can get a scholarship, great. If not, you need to have something to fall back on, because the basketball’s not going to bounce your entire life. It’s going to stop bouncing. As much as basketball is important to you, your academics are just as important, if not more important because basketball can be taken away. But your brain, your knowledge, can’t be.

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are literally at the big stage with a chance to make history. Not once did we talk about records. We just kept playing. ”

—Al Pettway

Former Worcester State Men’s Basketball Coach Tom Moore (now assistant head coach at the University of Connecticut) congratulates Al Pettway in 1994 after he broke Worcester State’s scoring record. With 2,205 career points, Pettway remains the university’s all-time leading scorer.

Steve: The reality is, you can’t play basketball without the academics.

Al: You can’t. Right after school my kids have to go to study hall and get their schoolwork done before they go home. And then, they go play basketball. I monitor their grades. I tell them my story. Some of them don’t have a lot of male role models in their life, but they have me. I try to make sure they don’t go through the same things that I went through.

Steve: You didn’t take a traditional path, but you got there.

Al: Considering what I’ve gone through as a kid and not having a male role model there, and mom, let her soul rest, mom not being there, I don’t have any regrets. I’m thankful for my journey because it’s led me to a better path.

Steve: No question. A lot of coaches can’t tell the same story that you do. You have the coaches who grew up in upper middle-class families or even higher, and they went to the prep schools and they had everything given to them, including the camps and gyms. Their story is much different. And the player might look at a coach like that and say, “Well, you don’t know what I’m dealing with.”

Al: I always say, “You never know what people carry in their backpack.” I talk to the teachers all the time about the concerns they may have about their students. I tell the teachers, “Don’t give up on them.” I’ve had people that said to me that I wouldn’t be anything in life. The worst thing you can do is give up on a kid. I see myself as those kids. I was those kids. I tell my kids, you can do anything you want to do, guys. I’m living proof. It’s not going to always be easy for you. There’s going to be some rocky times.

You just have to stay the course, and you’ll be okay.

Steve: Staying the course got you guys to a championship here at Worcester State in your playing days. What was that experience like?

Al: It’s like yesterday. I felt like that was destined to happen. It was four years I’ll never forget. I beat every team in the conference except Salem State. We played Salem State on our floor for the championship my senior year, and we beat them to go to the NCAA tournament in 1994. That was an amazing feeling.

Steve: My mother used to say, “There’s some things they can’t take away from you.” That’s something they can never take away from you. And now, as dean of students, you’re coaching a state championship. That’s in the history books.

Al: The high school championship was the first time in the history of Worcester a Division I team in the public schools has ever done it.

Steve: There’s been some good teams here. They’ve got to the brink, including an old North team.

Al: They’ve come close, but no one’s ever been able to get over the top. For us to do it was an amazing, amazing experience. I knew we had a really good team when this team was assembled in December at tryouts. But my question mark is, how am I going to deal with all these different personalities? Are they going to be able to put those things aside for the betterment of the team? Our home jersey says “Family.” And our away jersey says “Unity.” I talked to them about family. Families sometimes fight, but at the end of the day, families stick together. You guys

have to stick together. We’re not going to do this with one individual. We’re going to do this as a team. We got to the Final Four, playing Newton North again, at Taunton High School to get to the state finals.

Steve: That always makes you nervous because you’re playing a team for a second time. Al: They had just gone to the state finals the previous year, so they had the experience. We ended up beating them again. So now we’re playing Needham. We are literally at the big stage with a chance to make history. Not once did we talk about records. We just kept playing. I didn’t think we would go undefeated in the state of Massachusetts, but we did. We beat Needham to win the state title. We went 23 and zero. Then we became the first team in the history of Worcester Public Schools to ever win a Division I title. That was just an amazing moment.

Steve: I was there for the game, and there’s a point where you knew the game was yours. Al: I knew.

Steve: There was still time on the clock and everybody’s going crazy. And you’re going crazy. You’re getting everybody all excited. Al: I was told you couldn’t throw water on people, but it was the last game of the day. So, I walked in, and they’re dumping ice-cold water on me. I knew at that point, “Wow, we did it.” But it didn’t really hit me until maybe a week later because there were a lot of phone calls. [Celtics President] Brad Stevens called and wanted to talk about what a great job the coaching staff did with the team. Two days later the Celtics put us on the Jumbotron congratulating us as the Division I state champion. And then the city did a parade for us. We’ve been invited to the Hoophall Classic. I don’t know the last public school to get invited to the Hoophall Classic at Springfield College with all the best basketball talent in the world.

Steve: A lot of moments. The sweet thing about winning it is that you can only equal it. You can’t top it.

Al: So where do we go from here? Everyone’s saying, “Your team is young, you have everyone back, you just run it back.” Hopefully we come back with a chance to try to do it again, which has never been done. So that’d be really nice.

Steve: The Al Pettway story.

Al: Be a leader, not a follower. That’s it. That’s me.

Photo by Matt Wright ’10

Athletics

Passion on the Ice

From Worcester State to Team USA, Clare Conway has made her mark on women’s ice hockey. By Allison Coppinger

Worcester State women’s ice hockey player

Clare Conway celebrated her 23rd birthday on January 18 like no other in front of 3,000 people, competing on Team USA in the International University Sports Federation (FISU) World University game against Canada.

The games are among the world’s largest collegiate winter multi-sports competitions, and they were held in Lake Placid, NY, over 10 days at the start of 2023. The women’s ice hockey team competed against Canada, Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Japan.

“One of the coolest moments was wearing a Team USA jersey. I loved having the Team USA jersey with my last name on it,” said Conway.

During the game against Canada, Conway experienced a special moment with a young fan. “A little girl was banging on the glass as my back was facing towards her. I turned around, and she asked for my puck. That was crazy for me to experience that. I used to be her. It was one of the best birthdays,” said Conway.

Conway, who grew up in Billerica, Mass., has been playing hockey for as long as she can remember, since she was about three years old. When her brother decided to play hockey, she wanted to follow in his footsteps. She also plays lacrosse, a sport she picked up around age eight.

Her Division III hockey playing began at Becker College where she tallied 25 goals and 32 assists for 57 points in 63 ice hockey games with the Hawks. When Becker closed, it was

tough for Conway to process since Becker is where she found her first home in Worcester. Worcester State’s Athletic Director Michael Mudd offered a new home for Becker women’s ice hockey players by starting a program at Worcester State with former Becker coach Eliza Kelley. Conway also played a role in getting her Becker teammates excited to come to Worces ter State, Kelley said.

Worcester State’s women’s ice hockey program has had two seasons so far and has won the Eastern Collegiate Hockey Alliance (ECHA) championship both seasons. “Not too many second-year programs have 18 wins,” said Kelley.

Clare has been a team captain for the past four seasons, and 2022-23 was her last season of play at Worcester State. She is known for having “a love for the game and being one of the loudest to celebrate her teammates. She is super tough and enjoys the pressure of playing at a high level. She carries herself with a ton of confidence, the type of player that you notice when she walks into a locker room or steps on the ice,” said Kelley.

Conway finished her Worcester State bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2022 and is earning a master’s in nonprofit organization management. She has experience volunteering and helping at nonprofits and coaching youth ice hockey and events for the Special Olympics.

“Clare has helped set the program up in her two years here at Worcester State. She’s leaving the program having made such a big impact and really has created a legacy for those that will follow behind her,” said Kelley.

“

I loved having the Team USA jersey with my last name on it.”

—Clare Conway

Allison Coppinger is a 2023 Worcester State graduate and writing intern in the Worcester State Office of Communications.

Clare Conway, left, on the ice for Team USA.

Go!

See the

As students begin to travel again for study abroad, they are appreciating the life-changing experiences it can offer.

By Rebecca Cross

World.

The Haedong Yonggungsa Temple in Busan, South Korea. The temple was first built in 1376 by the Buddhist teacher known as Naong.

Photo by Janet Amoako

Seven weeks into Gabby DeAngelis’s spring 2020 semester abroad in the Czech Republic, the COVID-19 pandemic reached Eastern Europe. Within just a few days, a curfew was in place, restaurants shuttered, shops shut down. Her study abroad provider, American Institute for Foreign Study (AIFS), started closing down programs: China first, then Italy. Just days later, they shut down the Czech program.

“We thought we would make it a little longer,” DeAngelis said, “but it spread so quickly.”

One by one, her classmates left the country. At that point, DeAngelis just wanted to get on a plane and get home, but she had arranged her own travel to the Czech Republic rather than going through AIFS, so she had to find a flight on her own. It was an exercise in real-world crisis skills that has stayed with her to this day, and given her the confidence to travel anywhere. It took three days of constant checking for flights and phone calls with her mother back in Massachusetts. Flights back to Boston were hard to get because Logan Airport was closing terminals. She had to go five hours the wrong way to Moscow, then go back 12 hours to New York.

The Prague airport was desolate. The only people on her flight were Russian nationals wondering what she was doing there. “They were like, ‘You’re going the wrong way!’”

DeAngelis remembered, laughing.

The 2022 Worcester State graduate can laugh about it now, but at the time, it was incredibly stressful. She had always wanted to go abroad— it was a must for her college decision—and she

started working in the international programs office her first year at Worcester State University and worked there all four years. “Being sent home from COVID, I was like, ‘This is so terrible,’” she said. “But now I’m not scared to face any travel challenges. I know I’m an awesome problem solver because I made it through.”

Travel shut down

Back in the States, study abroad providers and international offices at universities were scrambling to deal with closing programs and stranded students. “The pandemic took us all by surprise,” said Katey Palumbo, director of Worcester State’s International Office. “The world had never shut down before.” Worcester State immediately canceled their four short-term, faculty-led programs, which 150 students had planned on attending.

For more than a week, parents were constantly calling Palumbo on her cell phone. There was a lot of uncertainty, she said, a lot of tears. One mother, who was in remission from cancer, wanted her daughter to be moved to

a hotel. Another wanted Palumbo to tell her daughter in Greece not to go traveling, thinking Palumbo would have more sway with her. “Panic was creeping into the conversations,” Palumbo said.

Throughout that harrowing week, Palumbo constantly reached out to parents and students to reassure them and help with logistics, and eventually, Worcester State students were home. Then came the challenge of figuring out how to ensure academic continuity. In most cases, that meant online classes. DeAngelis’s cohort finished all their classes virtually, which was a challenge with all of the different time zones—professors were in Prague, and students were on east and west coasts. But all the Worcester State students successfully completed their programs and got their academic credit.

Through the ordeal, Palumbo and other study abroad professionals at other institutions pulled together. “I’ve gotten to know colleagues so much better because we were all a support network for each other, trying to navigate something that no one had experience with,” Palumbo said. “It’s left us better prepared and

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“It’s so eye-opening to experience different cultures, and it can benefit your career development.”

—Gabby DeAngelis

RIGHT: Gabby DeAngelis at the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. A UNESCO World Heritage site, the Acropolis is the most striking and complete ancient Greek monumental complex still existing in our times.

Photo courtesy of Gabby DeAngelis

better connected, which was a positive impact I would not have anticipated.”

Slow, steady rebound

The pandemic profoundly affected study abroad. Prior to the pandemic the number of US students studying abroad had steadily increased from 154,168 in 2000-01 to 347,099 in 2018-19, according to Open Doors. The pandemic affected the second half of the 2019-20 academic year, bringing the total number of students going abroad down to 162,633, with an even steeper decline the following year to a mere 14,549—a 91 percent decline. Only recently have numbers started to creep back up. For the 2022-23 academic year, 83 percent of institutions reported an increase in students studying abroad, though exact numbers have yet to be released.

Palumbo hopes the numbers of US students going abroad will not only rebound to prepandemic levels but surpass them. “As we see our world increasingly become more global, our

US students are at a disadvantage if they don’t travel abroad because they don’t have the opportunity to develop those cross-cultural skills that they can then utilize in the workplace,” she said.

Study abroad has numerous benefits. It’s been shown to improve retention, GPA, and student graduation rates. It also exposes students to different perspectives and different news analyses—including of developments in the US. Many students returning from a semester abroad have remarked to Palumbo that they realized that they were more ignorant of the US and its politics than their peers from a different country.

To make study abroad more accessible, Worcester State helps to support opportunities for travel. All of the 35 Worcester State students who went abroad on short-term, faculty-led programs during the 2023 spring break received $500 scholarships, either through the Lt. Col. James F. Sheehan ’55 Study Abroad Fund or the Corcoran Family Foundation Scholarship. In April, the university received an IIE American

Passport Project Grant that will allow it to support 25 first-year, Pell Grant eligible, diverse students to get their first passport. “We do our very best to ensure that all of our students can have this opportunity should they want it, and it doesn’t have to be cost prohibitive,” Palumbo said.

Studying in South Korea and Chile

Senior Janet Amoako was one of the students who went abroad after programs opened back up. In fall 2022, she went to South Korea during her junior year on a CIS Abroad program, where she was able to take classes that went toward her double major in business and psychology. Amoako had never been abroad before. “I was a little nervous beforehand,” she said, “but people were really nice. I never had a bad interaction.”

Seoul was beautiful, she said, though at times she found the number of people in the city overwhelming. She appreciated the

“Everyone said when you study abroad it will change your life, so I knew it was going to. And it did!”

—Rhea Harigan

LEFT: Llamas belonging to Aymara people, the largest indigenous population in the north of Chile, surrounded by dormant volcanoes and Lago Chungará, the second highest lake in the world. RIGHT: Rhea Harrigan on Elsa Flores’s farm in Putre, Chile, a very small indigenous town in the north of the country.

Photos courtesy of Rhea Harrigan

accessibility and reliability of public transportation and loved the food, which she found much cheaper and more convenient than back home.

A commuter student at Worcester State, she lived on campus at a Korean university and got to experience campus life and made a lot of Korean and international friends. Koreans were very welcoming when it came to sharing their culture, she said. Her friends took her to visit landmarks and encouraged her to try on a hanbok, a traditional Korean dress. She still talks often to the friends she made there and plans on going back to Korea on vacation to see the people she met there.

“After I came back I was more confident,” Amoako said. “I survived on my own for four months. I know now there isn’t anywhere I won’t be able to fit in.”

For Rhea Harrigan, the pandemic actually made her study abroad dreams possible. The senior had started as a nursing major but switched to public health following the pandemic. The new major allowed her the freedom to take courses on a study abroad program.

Since she was also doing a minor in Spanish for health professionals, she chose to go to Chile on an SIT Study Abroad program focused on traditional medicine and public health. It was the most expensive program, she said, but scholarships made it affordable.

Unlike Amoako, who took classes at a university and lived on campus, Harrigan took classes with a cohort of 11 other students and

lived with host families. Her group, in fall 2022, was the first group to do the program in person since the start of the pandemic.

Harrigan found the close-knit nature of the program the perfect fit. She became very close to her classmates and host families. She also appreciated having four weeks at the end of the semester to complete an independent project. “I grew a lot as a person, but also as a student,” she said.“Everyone said when you study abroad it will change your life, so I knew it was going to,” she said. “And it did!”

Life-changing experiences

Whether students head off to destinations rural or urban, live on a college campus or with a family, feelings of self-assurance and wonder are typical. “Study abroad does inform the development of the whole person, and you really can’t understand what that means until you see them come back, and you see them more mature and having more confidence in themselves. It’s a wonderful thing to see. And it informs them for life,” Palumbo said.

Palumbo knows this firsthand, as a former study abroad participant herself. She was one of those students for whom study abroad wasn’t part of her plans. “I was never raised with the expectation that I would go out and see the world,” she said, “but one day I was walking through campus, as luck would have it, and there was information on a study abroad program.” She spent a summer in Edinburgh studying Scot tish history and literature, and that experience largely influenced the trajectory of her life.

The same is true for DeAngelis, who now works at Simmons University’s Center for Global Education. Despite her experience in 2020, she wasn’t deterred from studying abroad and was determined to go abroad again. So, in spring 2022, she closed out her college career in Barcelona.

“It’s so eye-opening to experience different cultures,” she said, “and it can benefit your career development. I really like what I do. It’s an awesome community of people who are interested in the same things I’m interested in, and it’s exciting to be able to steer students in that direction and help them find that as well.”

She tells students who are considering study abroad but are nervous, “You’re not going by yourself. There’s a whole community of people to help you through the process.”

Palumbo believes that Worcester State is in a good place to expand its own short-term, faculty-led programs—the most popular type of study abroad experience for students. In February 2020, the university received a State Department IDEAS Grant for faculty to travel to research locations for future program development. When things started shutting down a month later, they had to put that travel on hold, but, by June of this year, eight faculty have gone on site visits. In addition, the operation of the International Office is more efficient than ever. “The pandemic was the perfect time to look at our current process and dismantle it and restructure it,” Palumbo said. The time to study

“After I came back I was more confident… I know now there isn’t anywhere I won’t be able to fit in.”

RIGHT: Janet Amoako on Jeju Island, the second largest island in South Korea and home to a World Heritage site, the Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes.

Photo courtesy of Janet Amoako

Welcoming Home Our Golden Graduates

Worcester State Alumni Association celebrated the Golden Graduates, alumni who graduated 50 or more years ago, during Reunion Weekend. More than 150 alumni and family members attended, including members of the Class of 1973, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, and a few members of the Class of 1952, the earliest year represented at the celebration. To view the entire photo album visit alumni.worcester.edu/photos.

Photos by Matt Wright ’10

2nd Annual George H. Albro ’65 Golf Tournament

Party on the Eve T

he Class of 2023 graduates and alumni celebrated on the eve of Commencement with lawn games, great food, and dancing with the music of DJ Jason Senior of Fun Enterprises.

Photos by Jullian Valadares for Wright Photo Studios

University Pays Tribute to Robert K. O’Brien ’58

The beloved alumnus, benefactor, and friend is remembered for his leadership, caring, and generosity

Canton went on to win the Next Big Idea, much to his own surprise. An even bigger surprise came when he got a call afterward from O’Brien himself, a business leader and founder of a global company, Health Reinsurance Management Partnership, which along with some 10 other associated companies that O’Brien created, employed more than 300 people. O’Brien had a passion for entrepreneurship, and an even greater passion for supporting talented young people at Worcester State. When he saw potential in someone, he would reach out personally, and over decades he forged many mentoring friendships with Worcester State students.

“Bob personally called to congratulate me and tell me he wanted to invest in the business and take me under his wing,” said Canton ’15, who today is the founder and CEO of Paerpay and one of Forbes’ 2023 30 Under 30 superstars. “I remember literally jumping up and down. Bob was one of the very first people to believe in me. The amount of time and effort he invested in me was priceless. He single-handedly, fundamentally changed my life. That’s where my passion for entrepreneurship blossomed.”

A beloved Worcester State University alumnus and benefactor who touched the lives of many, O’Brien passed away on June 2, 2023, at the age of 88. He and his wife, the late Barbara (Hickey) O’Brien ’57, were among the university’s first major donors, giving nearly $1 million over Bob’s lifetime, even as he committed countless hours of service to the university on various boards.

The university's first major benefactor, Robert K. O’Brien ’58 launched the Next Big Idea, an entrepreneurship competition meant to foster the next generation of business leaders, in 2013. That year, at the very last minute, a sophomore named Derek Canton entered the competition, skeptical that he even had a shot.

“Bob has had an immeasurable impact on Worcester State University,” said President Barry M. Maloney. “He was a cornerstone member of our alumni association, helping us build a culture of philanthropy. More than 100 students have benefitted from his and his late wife Barbara’s scholarships, and several students have started new, successful companies after receiving financial backing via the Robert K. O’Brien Next Big Idea contest. We are truly grateful to have had his engagement and support, and he will be missed.”

O’Brien was born during the Great Depression and grew up in a “cold-water apartment” in Worcester—so named because it offered no hot water. His parents worked hard to provide necessities for the family and passed on their industriousness to their children. In college, he worked two jobs while also taking a full course load. He cooked breakfast at a local diner five mornings a week and drove a taxi every other night, often doing his homework under the dome light of his cab.

Retired Worcester State professor Maureen Stefanini ’58, MEd ’61, EdD went to college with O’Brien. “He worked hard. In the daytime he was delivering for Cushman Bakery. At night he worked for a taxi cab company. He had two jobs and still did well in school. He still managed to get his work done.”

After graduating from Worcester State and establishing himself as an entrepreneur, Bob and Barbara wanted to help hardworking students at their alma mater. In 1997, they established four scholarships in honor of their parents. It was the start of a lifetime of support.

“He was family oriented,” said Stefanini. “They were a good team. They did so much for the college.”

Over the years, they established several other scholarships. After Barbara passed away in 2015, Bob created a new endowment for the Worcester State’s Department of Education, honoring her 34 years as a special education teacher in Worcester Public Schools.

Vice President of University Advancement Thomas McNamara ’94 knew O’Brien for 26 years and considered him a mentor. “He had a great sense of humor,” McNamara said. “He often said he’s failed many, many times—too many to count. But he kept going.”

When McNamara’s father passed away, O’Brien made a gift to honor him in support of a scholarship McNamara created in his parents’ name. “All my memories come back to him caring about family—my family, too—and doing something for someone else,” McNamara said.

The generosity of the O’Briens reverberated for years. They were the first to establish class year scholarships, which planted the seed for other alumni to do the same. Some of the recipients of one of the O’Briens’ scholarships have, in turn, established their own scholarships.

One such person is Nick Monfreda ’00, who received one of O’Brien’s scholarships in 1997. “It was a true honor and a blessing to have had

the opportunity to become acquainted with Bob as both a friend and a mentor over the course of the past 25 years,” Monfreda said. “I was among the first students at Worcester State to receive invaluable financial support from two of the university’s most charitable and compassionate alumni. It is a profoundly selfless act to pay forward one’s own good fortune in order to assist those in need, and Bob’s unwavering dedication to this principle has inspired me to carry on his legacy by endowing a scholarship with the same objective that he and Barbara initiated a quarter-century ago. The aim of this scholarship is to provide aid to students who require some

“He does these incredible things, but he’s not boastful about it. If I live half the life he lived, that would be incredible.”

Another individual whose life was touched by O’Brien’s generosity was Tim Blood ’18, MS ’19, who received an O’Brien scholarship while he was a business major.

“The scholarship was about industriousness,” Blood remembers. “I had multiple jobs and worked within my community, and it really spoke to me. I got to read the stories of Bob and his family and even got to meet them in person at an alumni donor event. It was an absolute honor to meet Bob and his two sons and give a

assistance while they work towards completing their studies. Bob will be greatly missed by the Worcester State community, and his legacy will continue to live on."

In a 2022 interview with the university, O’Brien said it was the students that inspired him to give and support initiatives like the Next Big Idea.

“Worcester State turns out very smart people,” O’Brien said in the interview. “They have as much natural intelligence as any student that goes to Yale Harvard or Brown…. There is a lot of brilliance in the student population—they need to know they have it, and they don’t always know. We need to encourage them to understand that they have all the essentials, and it’s okay to ask for help.”

O’Brien’s generous leadership style also had an impact on those who knew him. “Bob was really good at encouraging but also correcting and giving feedback in a constructive way,” Canton said. “That inspired me in the way that I deal with my employees.”

The two kept in touch over the past ten years. O’Brien made a point of calling Canton after the Forbes announcement to tell him how proud he was. “Whenever I think of Bob it brings so much joy to my heart,” Canton said.

presentation in front of all the alumni donors about the scholarship and its impact.”

The two kept in touch as Blood went on to work in accounting at TJX headquarters. In March of 2023, O’Brien established the Timothy and Rachel Blood Scholarship for Tim and his wife, who graduated from Worcester State in 2018. With O’Brien’s passing, Blood and his wife are hoping to rename the scholarship in his honor.

“Bob illustrated the importance of good works in donation and putting your time and effort into other people,” Blood said. “He showed me the humility and generosity that a person can have, and he demonstrated that. He put his money where his mouth was, and that is really special.”

O’Brien was predeceased by his wife of 57 years, Barbara Hickey O’Brien; son Kevin R. O’Brien; and parents Arlene M. Lanois O’Brien Knight and Robert Ivor O’Brien. He is survived by his son, Brendan R. O’Brien, daughter-inlaw Julie Grasso, and grandchildren Samuel and Gianna; his lady friend, Donna M. Cohen; sister Janet A. Martin and her four children; and trusted friend and colleague Laurie Weil.

Worcester State will hold a celebration of O’Brien later this year.

“ Bob illustrated the importance of good works in donation and putting your time and effort into other people.”

—Tim Blood ’18, MS ’19

InMemoriam

Gordon S. Matheson, PhD

» GORDON S. MATHESON passed away suddenly at his home in Rutland, Mass., March 7, 2023. He was born in Springfield, Mass., November 11, 1942, to the late Malcolm and Mabel Matheson. He graduated from Olivet College in Michigan and earned a master’s degree and CAGS from Assumption and a doctorate from UMass Amherst. He taught middle school for five years and then had a 38-year career as a professor of psychology at Worcester State University, where he was a popular and inspirational teacher and was active in college government and union activities.

Dr. Matheson and his wife, Joline, were inseparable companions, and after retirement they traveled the world, visiting more than 100 countries. He particularly loved New Zealand, the European capitals, and the American Southwest. He never lost his love of learning and recently took great interest in local history. He also was a Boston Bruins fan. He will be remembered as a marvelous storyteller with a brilliant mind and great sense of humor.

Mary P. (Walsh) Moran ’57, MEd ’82

» MARY P. (WALSH) MORAN, 88, passed away Thursday, February 9, 2023, in her home, surrounded by her loving family. Mary was the first baby born in 1935 in Memorial Hospital in Worcester. She was the daughter of James and Elizabeth (McGovern) Walsh of Ireland. Her loving husband of 50 years, Donald “Mickey” Moran, predeceased her in 2009.

Mary loved teaching and inspired thousands of students throughout her career. She was named Teacher of the Year in Worcester in 1992 and awarded the Key to the City. She was president of the Jesse Burkett League in Worcester and co-directed hundreds of high school kids in musical shows at Christ the King Church. She suffered a stroke in 2020, resulting in loss of speech and mobility. Her daughters Maura and Erin were with her every week to enable her to stay in independent living at Southgate in Shrewsbury. Her family are grateful to the Southgate team and all the caregivers helping Mary over these last few years.

Patrick John O’Connor, EdD

» PATRICK JOHN (“PJ”) O’CONNOR, 84, a dynamic high school English teacher and retired professor of education at Worcester State University, died on January 20, 2023, after a brief illness. He was born to Eleanor and Patrick O’Connor and was raised in Worcester. He

Patricia M. (Conlon)

Albrecht ’60

December 16, 2022

Marie A. Arduini (friend of university)

November 19, 2022

Ronald C. Arsenault ’80

January 7, 2023

Cynthia A. Barry ’99

February 26, 2023

William L. Beando ’67, MEd ’74

November 5, 2022

John E. Belton ’88

December 24, 2022

Margaret M. (Toomey) Bennett ’63, MEd ’89

February 21, 2023

Philip D. Berthiaume ’87

February 8, 2023

Mary C. (Whalen) Brigham ’54

December 24, 2022

Margaret A. Brown, RSM, MEd ’61

December 15, 2022

Jo-Anne (Hayes) Carr ’67

December 29, 2022

Andrew H. Creen Jr. ’73

January 14, 2023

John P. Daly Jr. ’61, MEd ’65

November 12, 2022

Margaret E. Donabedian ’97

January 13, 2023

Kathy L. Duffy ’83, MEd ’92

December 12, 2022

Joseph P. Duhamel ’72

November 28, 2022

Phillip E. Dumas (friend of university)

January 3, 2023

Dorothy A. Edgington, MEd ’72

November 11, 2022

Maryann F. (O’Leary)

Firlings ’59

December 5, 2022

Paul F. Ford ’78

November 11, 2022

Howard L. Furhman ’81

January 6, 2023

Charles B. Gareau, MEd ’72

November 21, 2022

Donna L. Gillogly ’91

March 29, 2023

John T. Grady ’60, MEd ’65

November 15, 2022

Leo A. Hamelin Jr. ’66

March 30, 2023

Francis X. Hanam ’62, MEd ’66

November 20, 2022

Charles T. Hannah ’76

November 3, 2022

Theresa M. (Foley) Ingemi ’55

March 7, 2023

Jennifer L. Johnson ’01

December 28, 2022

Helen E. Kangas ’89

February 25, 2023

John J. Kelleher ’78

November 1, 2022

Frances M. (Ciccarelli)

Koliss ’63

February 9, 2023

Elinor C. (Pearsall) Lamberton ’64, MEd ’68

January 14, 2023

Mark J. Lepkowski ’80

December 27, 2022

James P. Lewandowski ’82

January 1, 2023

Craig R. Lindberg ’88

December 17, 2022

Lucy L. (Manning) Linden ’60

December 1, 2022

Eleanor F. (Donahue)

Looney ’55

November 23, 2022

Kathleen E. Sullivan Lynch ’91, MEd ’99

December 21, 2022

David J. Martin ’72

January 4, 2023

James Anthony McDermott ’98

December 26, 2022

Peter J. McDonald, MEd ’79

March 16, 2023

John R. McGinn ’66, MEd ’71

February 7, 2023

Troy Allen Miner ’03

November 19, 2022

Joseph J. Monfredo ’61, MEd ’64

February 12, 2023

Margaret M. (O’Connell) Moynihan ’60, MEd ’64

January 15, 2023

earned a bachelor’s degree from Assumption College and a master’s degree from Niagara University. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve in Parris Island, SC, and acquired an EdD in educational psychology from UMass Amherst in 1977 and completed a post-doctoral study at Harvard University.

He taught high school English for 40 years in the Worcester Public Schools, mostly at

Frances T. (Noonan) Murphy ’57, MEd ’60

December 25, 2022

France H. (Koenig) Murphy ’01

February 25, 2023

Martha A. (Kane) North ’68, MEd ’72

November 15, 2022

Herbert J. O’Connor ’73

March 31, 2023

Dorothy R. Perkins ’69

January 20, 2023

Robert C. Phoenix Jr. ’79, MS ’91

January 7, 2023

Joan L. Piccolo, MEd ’73

February 23, 2023

Kathleen M. Quinlivan ’83

February 24, 2023

Robert J. Quinlivan ’59, MEd ’62

March 14, 2023

Michael T. Renihan ’86

February 3, 2023

Diana Awtry Rogers ’73

December 20, 2022

Christopher J. Rose ’82

January 11, 2023

Charles F. Rososky Jr. ’62

February 17, 2023

Allen W. Russell ’68

November 17, 2022

Thomas F. Scanlon, MEd ’67

March 23, 2023

Robert J. Stairs, MEd ’72

January 8, 2023

Kathleen A. Stasaitis ’93

February 11, 2023

Mark C. Stone ’86

January 15, 2023

Gregory Ulinski ’99

January 28, 2023

James R. Wood, MEd ’03

January 11, 2023

Stanley R. Zytkiewicz, MEd ’66

March 14, 2023

Listing of deceased alumni and friends included in this issue reflects the dates between November 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023, only.

South High School, and then became an assistant professor of education at Worcester State, where he taught until he retired. He was a powerful and impassioned teacher who left his mark on generations of students. He was awarded Educator of the Year in 1995 by Phi Delta Kappa. His interests were many: traveling, Irish culture, the Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics.

Class Notes

THE LATEST NEWS FOR WORCESTER STATE CLASSES OF 1943-2019. For Class Notes from 2020 and beyond visit worcester.edu/magazine

Class of 1943’s Florence Scarpaci celebrates 102nd Birthday

Worcester State alumna Florence “Flo” Scarpaci (here with L to R: Sarah Bjorn and Jenna Beahn) marked her 102nd birthday in May with a celebration that included more than 600 birthday cards, a special visit from the Worcester Fire Department and Worcester State Alumni Association, and a story in the local Spectrum News. Scarpaci graduated from Worcester State Teachers College and worked as an art teacher.

’57

Class Agent: Elaine F. (Curran) Cousineau, MEd ’60

Adele M. (Abood) Millette is excited to be continuing her career in teaching.

’59

Class Agents: Helen M. Fitzgerald, Joan L. (Lavin) Trainor, MEd '62

Bernard A. Consoletti, MEd ’63, and his wife, Regina, welcomed their third great-grandchild— a baby girl whose grandfather, Guy Consoletti ’86, is also a graduate of Worcester State.

’60

Class Agents: Mary C. O’Connell, MEd ’63; Ann M. (Holohan) O’Leary, MEd ’62; Elizabeth A. (Looney) Ouellette, MEd ’62

Ann B. (Cavanaugh) Cone reports that her oldest grandchild out of 18 grandchildren was recently married.

’61

Class Agents: Nancy M. (Fletcher) Bourgeois, MEd ’79; Bernardine C. (Rourke) Strom

V. Robert Pano, MEd ’65, is celebrating 55 years of marriage to his wife, Tania Samarsky Pano, and 14 years of retirement from teaching for 46 years. He reports, “My experience at Worcester State gave me the opportunity to teach at the

Worcester Public Schools and other colleges and universities along with a great experience at the US Naval School of Aviation.”

’63

Class Agents: Dorothy J. Hargrove, MEd ’68 Elaine G. (Sharistanian) Tateronis, MEd ’74, EdD

Jane P. (Koski) Callanan traveled the world and worked in business and higher education. Now she is retired and living in Holden, Mass.

Gail E. (Nielsen) Reichert taught mathematics and science at three different schools and worked as a curriculum specialist. Gail has worked for a publishing company for eight years and worked part-time as a ski instructor in Colorado. Gail has raised two wonderful children.

’64

Class Agents: Jo-Anne L. Cronin, MEd ’68 John F. Monfredo, MEd ’67

Joanne M. (Dintino) Daley, MEd ’68, was appointed to the Board of Directors of Holden Memorial in Clinton, Mass., in June 2022. She is also a member of the Russian Icon Museum in Clinton.

Classmates Karen J. (Lind) McNall and Carol (Mulvihill) Rawson, MEd ’67, recently shared an adventure in Colorado Springs while attending a wedding. Karen reports, “The cog railway up Pikes Peak was opened, so off we went. Surprise, surprise, as the train inched north, the weather changed, and we were in the midst of a snowstorm! We then literally blew from the

train to the summit station for iconic donuts and cocoa. Never too old to pass up an adventure!”

’70

Class Agents: Kathleen (Clifford) Shea, MEd ’74, Hugh Donohue

Hugh F. Donohue spent three weeks in South America. He got to spend a day with penguins in the Falkland Islands, something that has always been a bucket list item of his.

’71

Daniel M. Keeney is tutoring and consulting.

’74

Nancy I. (Lemerise) Boland taught at Uxbridge High School and Venerini Academy in Worcester. She worked at the Greendale YMCA for 33 years.

Elaine R. (Johnson) Hall is still involved in the jazz band at Worcester State. The jazz band includes present students, former students, and many other people from the community. Elaine is a retired teacher and is enjoying traveling. She also enjoys spending time with her 10 grandchildren.

’77

Lynne L. (Poitras) Stig works at St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store three afternoons a week and volunteers for the organization weekly.

Submit Your Class Note Today!

We love to share the good news of our alumni. Please send your latest milestones and accomplishments to: alumni@worcester.edu alumni.worcester.edu/classnote

Please include your full name, including your name when you graduated, class year, home address, email address, preferred phone number, and a photo of yourself.

ClassNotes

’79

Class Agent: Jane Luxton-Boggs

Mary Lou (Ellsworth) Condike has been a published author since retirement. She has stories in five anthologies including two Sisters in Crime North Dallas publications. Mary Lou has an agent who is working to get her a publisher for a three-book series.

’83

Class Agent: Susan A. Baskin-Gronblom

Deborah A. (Mahoney) Abasciano moved to Hilton Head, SC. She has three children and eight grandchildren.

James J. O’Day is enjoying his position on the House Speaker’s leadership team, in charge of the fourth division, after 15 years representing the 14th Worcester District as a state representative in the Massachusetts Legislature. The House is divided by seating arrangements into four sections or divisions; he is the leader of the fourth division. His job is to provide information about issues and details of proposed legislation.

Denise M. Patnod, Lic., Ac., celebrates two decades of a successful healthcare private practice in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Mass. She put lots of emphasis on her studies as an undergraduate at Worcester State and New England School of Acupuncture, now located in Worcester.

’84

William J. Meduski retired to Cabot, VT, after a 34-year rewarding and exciting career with the Worcester Water Department. William and his wife maintain an extensive garden, have an English shepherd, and go skiing a lot in the winter.

’87

Class Agent: Kenneth J. Brissette

Karyn A. (Turbide) Finneron is a retired RN. She was a clinical risk manager for a medical malpractice insurance company and is an adjunct professor in allied health at Quinsigamond Community College. She has also self-published seven children’s books for early readers through middle school since retirement in 2013 under the name Nana’s Stories. Her most recent book is a Celtic fantasy novel for teens. Karyn volunteers in hospice at Notre Dame Health Care and at the Worcester Senior Center, administering COVID vaccines.

’88

Class Agents: Amy L. (Favreault) Benoit, Tina M. (Manoogian) Healey

Amy C. (Batzer) Orroth has had a great career after graduating from Worcester State. She started at Worcester City Hospital and, when it closed, went to UMass Medical Center, where she tried administration for a year. Amy loves teaching and treating patients, so for more than 25 years she has worked at Massachusetts General Hospital. She has gone on a few relief trips to Honduras and Beijing. Married with three children, Amy loves to hike, ski, mountain bike, walk with her Bernese mountain dog, and spend time with friends and family on Crane Beach. ’90

Class Agents: Jeffrey L. Busha, Lawrence “Larry” M. Sasso, MS ’13

Veteran employee benefits consultant James V. Huffman Jr. has joined Alliant Insurance Services as senior vice president within its employee benefits group based in Boston. Huffman has more than 25 years of experience in the field of employee benefits and will focus on designing, implementing, and managing employee benefits solutions for a diverse national client base.

’91

Class Agents: Paul E. Cahill, Lou E. DiMuzio, Daniel M. Harrington, Catherine R. (Foppiano) McGrath, Jeffrey T. Turgeon

Catherine R. (Foppiano) McGrath is a fifth grade English language arts teacher and became a grandmother for the first time this spring with the birth of her grandson.

’92

Donna M. McCarthy, MS ’92, recently retired from AbbVie after 25 years.

Lucinda M. Theroux-Jette, PhD, OT/L, LAc, CFMP, recently achieved certification in functional medicine. She is currently the only certified functional medicine provider in the Southern New Hampshire area. She specializes in preventive care, cancer prevention, early detection of disease and dysfunction, optimal aging and healthy longevity, digestive disorders, and immune dysfunction. ’93

Class Agents: David C. Frederici, John F. Seymour

Lisa M. (Rogers) Morley has been a computer programmer for MEDITECH since graduating from Worcester State. She is now assisting her two kids on their college choices.

’96

Class Agents: Pamela A. (Anderson) Walls, N. Wolf Winset

Franchesca M. Minikon-Reece is currently assigned overseas in Oman for a few years. Her eldest son recently started his undergraduate studies at Worcester State University and is enjoying his experience being in the United States, where he hasn’t lived except for two years in elementary school. Franchesca’s other two children are in middle and high school.

’99

Class Agents: Brandon E. Frencic, Greg V. Nikiforow

Brian T. Murphrey was recently spotlighted as artist of the month in Worcester Magazine.

’01

Class Agent: Shawn Gersbach

Brian Houlihan Jr. recently started a position as northeast SLED sales director at World Wide Technology.

’03

Class Agent: Carrie A. (Stewart) Piermarini

Amy L. (Wilfong) Peterson, chief of staff in the office of the city manager of Worcester was recently named by Worcester Magazine as one of 20 Women to Watch. Amy was promoted twice within the last year, first from communications specialist to senior project manager and then to chief of staff. She is currently serving as interim cultural development officer and was recently appointed to Worcester State University’s Board of Trustees.

’04

Class Agents: David D. Cairns, Michael P. McCarthy

Latasha F. Hughes was awarded one of 66 grants and fellowships from the City of Worcester and the Worcester Arts Council. Winners reflected a wide range of Worcesterbased programs and organizations. Latasha received a $5,000 grant for Mr. Twister, an interactive opera performance and puppetry workshop.

’06

Tara B. (Gliesman) Gunduz coaches the girls varsity soccer team at Dover-Sherborn High School with her husband. This year the team went to the final four in the state tournament. Tara and her husband welcomed their baby girl in July. She took a year off from teaching to be with her daughter, and now she has started a full-time position for her husband’s company, Enjoy Life Education, an educational nonprofit with a fierce drive to positively impact the

world through teen empowerment: www.enjoylifeeducation.org.

Musician and producer Eric P. L’Esperance was one of eight Worcester artists recently awarded a $5,000 fellowship through the Worcester Arts Council. Eric is half of the singer/songwriter duo Ash & Eric.

’07

Class Agent: Brittany N. Rheault

Ann E. Klump is looking forward to traveling with her family to England and Norway.

’08

Class Agent: Brandon Huggon

Ivonne-Marie Mendoza received her master’s in business administration with a concentration in project management from Southern New Hampshire University in 2022. She was named to ALPFA’s 2022 Latinas Rising Star list.

’13

Class Agents: Mary E. Laycox, Jose C. Lewis, Joseph D. Nawn, Colleen M. (McKenna) Sansoucy, Trevor J. Sansoucy

Shawn C. Driscoll is a historian, writer, graduate student, and adjunct professor in history and political science. He is the author of the 2022 book We Are but Your Children: An Oral History of the Nightclub ManRay (Quidnet Press) and co-author of The Grip: The 1918 Pandemic and a City Under Siege (Dutcher and Ellsworth) and has published work in books that cover topics ranging from World War I (They Ventured Far, Dutcher and Ellsworth) to women in Hollywood (Hollywood Heroines, ABC-CLIO). A native of the Massachusetts South Shore, Shawn currently lives in Worcester and is pursuing his PhD in global studies at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell.

Elyce Roy was named by Worcester Magazine as one of Worcester’s 2023 Women to Watch, which highlighted 20 local women who have taken on new roles in Worcester, despite continued bias and barriers faced by female leaders across the nation. Elyce graduated from the Worcester Fire Academy last June and is currently a firefighter for the Worcester Fire Department. She has also been owner of CenterMass Training Compound, home of Crossfit Centermass, on Shrewsbury Street for five years. ’15

Class Agent: Brittany King

Derek E. Canton was named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 and was recently featured in Boston Globe Magazine

Michelle R. Henault is currently a PhD candidate in history at The State University of New York at Albany. She is working on her dissertation, which focuses on cultural and medical understandings of the reproductive body in 18th-century England.

Sean L. Martin went to work in child protective services after graduating from Worcester State then on to grad school for his MSW. He graduated from Westfield State in 2020 and was later able to get his LCSW. Currently, Sean works on a court forensic unit.

Maria R. (Evangelista) Troka traveled to Greece after graduating from Worcester State. There, she met her now husband. Maria got married in 2017 and has an almost two-year-old girl, Eva. Maria worked as a training and development coordinator at DestinationWeddings.com. In 2019, she decided to join the family business and get her real estate sales license.

’16

Bret E. Laurie is a full-time editor and freelancer living in Massachusetts. In 2015, while earning his BA in English with a writing concentration from Worcester State, he began an internship at the art education publisher Davis Publications and in 2016 was hired full time. Since then, he has worked as an editorial assistant, a production editor for several textbooks, and an associate editor for an art education magazine. Bret explores his passion for the horror genre through film reviews and freelance editing projects, including six horror fiction novels for an independent author living in Scotland. Recently, Bret had flash fiction and a short story published in two anthologies from DarkLit Press, a Canada-based small press publishing company. From 2015 to 2016, he worked as the copy chief for the New Worcester Spy. In 2015, he worked in the Worcester State Writing Center as a writing consultant.

’17

Hannah M. (Boss) Maheno, MS, has taken on leadership opportunities in the biotech industry. As a scientist, she developed and qualified a potency assay for a gene therapy product. Hannah presented externally at the CASSS bioassay conference while at Sanofi. In 2021, she accepted a manager role at Homology Medicines, leading a team of five analysts responsible for release testing of clinical AAV material. They introduced automated pipetting systems into their lab and used ddPCR to quantify their vector genomes. She is currently responsible for a lab expansion project as they increase their capacity in 2023. Hannah also has a passion for CMC project management and has been collaborating with cross-functional teams

to map out the development timelines of tech transfers, IND filing, and beyond.

Alison N. Njoroge started a new position as a medical case manager at Palmetto Community Care.

Isaac D. Ofori is currently a student at UMass Medical School.

Sarah (Connell) Sanders, MEd ’17, is the co-author of Small Teaching K-8, recently published by Jossey-Bass, which addresses teacher burnout with a series of low-effort/ high-reward approaches to education. Via clear descriptions and step-by-step methods, Sanders demonstrates how to integrate simple interventions into pre-existing pedagogical techniques to dramatically improve student outcomes.

’18

Jonathan T. Canoy graduated from Worcester State with a bachelor’s degree in history and went on to obtain a master’s degree in education at UMass Amherst. He had the privilege of teaching in a few different settings, including the Springfield Public Schools and a collaborative in Marlborough. Currently, he teaches eighth grade civics in Westborough, and he’s passionate about making a positive impact on his students’ lives. Outside of teaching, he is eagerly preparing to become a first-time father.

Sydney R. Despres and Hunter Paupaw ’19 got married in December of 2022. They are both proud Lancers and former student-athletes.

Michelle E. Fidler recently graduated from the University of Maine with a master’s degree in speech language pathology and completed her certificate of clinical competence. She is currently working in a middle school in Providence, RI.

’19

Fernando A. Ponce is a Salvadoran American freelance filmmaker who has been creating community-focused short documentaries for three years, Fernando’s passion for filmmaking came from having been filmed on VHS by his dad growing up. Home videos truly preserved and captured his childhood, and he wanted in some way to do the same thing for others through filmmaking. Having a deep appreciation for preserving nostalgia, Fernando’s storytelling is told through creating visuals and portraying raw emotions.

5 Questions for Andrew Ngo ’17

AS THE INCOMING PRESIDENT of the Alumni Association’s Advisory Board, Andrew Ngo ’17 is excited to continue building networking and career advancement opportunities for students and alumni. Ngo, a product manager for digital services at Humana, has been an active member of the university community since his years as a business administration and economics major, when he served as president of the Student Government Association. A self-described digital enthusiast, Ngo is hoping to leverage digital tools to grow the university’s growing alumni network. We recently caught up with Ngo to talk about his new role and what’s on his bucket list.

From president of SGA to president of the alumni board you’ve been serving the university from the beginning. What motivates you to be involved?

What motivates me is the ability to create change and positively impact the community. As an Upward Bound student at Worcester

State, I have witnessed the university’s strong position within the community, and I believe there are many opportunities to bridge potential gaps and help students and alumni explore new passions. After all, without exposure, how does one know what they are passionate about?

What’s top of mind as you begin leading the Alumni Association’s Advisory Board?

As an alumni board, our primary objective is to support students and alumni in achieving success. While we are proud of our track record in graduating students, we recognize the opportunity of our extensive alumni network in helping the Worcester State community thrive.

It is imperative that we improve our efforts in serving the needs of first-generation, BIPOC, and women students, as well as other underserved groups. Many Worcester State students, being commuters, tend to limit themselves to opportunities within their communities. We have an incredibly diverse alumni network doing amazing things all over the world. I highly encourage our alumni to reconnect with the university and contribute by providing mentor-

ship to students, speaking on career panels, and guest lectures in the classroom. You have what it takes to provide students with the support and confidence to pursue their passions and achieve their goals. We have a wealth of alumni who are making significant strides in their respective fields, and I believe that every single one of them has something valuable to offer.

Now is the perfect time to get involved as we explore and experiment with new ideas. We plan on hosting hybrid events and in-person events in different cities to reach alumni nationwide. Our goal is to build our presence outside of Massachusetts to enable our alumni and students to have the support networks wherever they go to pursue their passions. We believe in the power of “Lancers helping Lancers,” and it’s time to turn this belief into a reality by taking action. After all, our community is not limited to Worcester, so let’s expand our reach and make a difference.

In this issue of the magazine we’re highlighting students and alumni who studied abroad. Can you share a bit about how your study abroad experience shaped you?

I had the opportunity to go on an alternative spring break trip to Nicaragua and also spend a semester in China with three fellow students from Worcester State. This experience was life-changing, as I had spent most of my life in Worcester and was able to step out of my comfort zone and immerse myself in new communities, environments, and foods. This helped me become more open-minded and adaptable. I highly recommend that other students take advantage of the opportunity to study abroad, which is often overlooked. I have heard other alumni tell students that they wished they studied abroad when they were a student.

What’s your favorite thing about your career? Culture and people. I love working on diverse teams. Diversity enables innovation and provides different perspectives on addressing opportunities. My favorite class at Worcester State was Organizational Behaviors with Dr. Plavin-Masterman.

Top 3 on your bucket list?

One, I want to hit 30 countries before I turn 30. I have eight countries left. Two, I want to work my way up and do stand-up comedy and open mic in the future. And three, I want to live and work overseas in a major international city, like London or Hong Kong, for at least two years.

Photo by Matt Wright ’10

¡Lo Logramos!

» Gissell Hernandez, carrying her daughter Sarai Hernandez, 4, greets family and friends after receiving her graduate degrees on May 12 at Worcester State’s Graduate Commencement and Hooding. Hernandez, who recently accepted a position as a school psychologist with Southbridge Public Schools, earned her master’s of education and education specialist degree in school psychology.

“This degree does not only belong to me, but it also belongs to my daughter, to my immigrant parents, and to mi gente,” Hernandez said. “I am a proud Latina and I am proud to see that the obstacles I have faced, and

continue to face, have not stopped me from moving forward. ¡Lo logramos!”

Hernandez will apply her graduate degrees to advocate for all students with disabilities and ensure they receive all the necessary services and accommodations that will allow them to succeed. “I especially want to advocate for my culturally and linguistically diverse students to ensure they are evaluated and provided support that takes into account their diverse and complex backgrounds,” she said. “I will use my degree to ensure all students have access to the resources they need to succeed in and out of school.”

Photo by Matt Wright ’10

Photo by Matt Wright ’10