TCNJ Magazine - Fall 2015

M A G A Z I N E

F A L L

2 0 1 5

AQUA CHAMPS Men’s swimming scores two NCAA championships

UP FRONT

What was your most memorable college road trip?

Thanks to everyone who shared stories of their adventures on the open road.

Here are some of our favorites:

WANT TO PLAY ALONG? Check out page 5 to see the question for the next issue, then send your story to magazine@tcnj.edu.

Driving across country Right after my graduation dinner, I headed west in my 2009 Nissan Altima.

Having grown up in the Northeast, I had no idea of the sheer vastness of the western U.S.—nor of the sheer nothingness of the Midwest. (Good God, there is nothing there except corn and soy fields!) In Portland, Oregon, Kunal Jani ’13 (on right, in photo) joined me for the rest of the trip. As we made our way back to New Jersey, we visited Olaniyi Solebo ’12 in San Francisco; Andrew White ’13 in Vail, Colorado; and Marisa Gonzalez ’11 in Fort Worth, Texas. All told I traveled 11,000 miles through 29 states. I needed three oil changes and spent an absurd amount on gas. But I’m certain I will never look back on any experience with the same fondness. —STEPHEN SHIFFER ’13

This is what they had to say...

20

Percentage of respondents who mentioned Florida, making it the most popular destination.

6, 3

FACING PAGE: ILLUSTRATION BY ANNE SMITH. THIS PAGE: HEADSHOT ILLUSTRATIONS BY KATHRYN RATHKE.

States visited and days spent traveling, respectively,

by Carly Martz ’16 and Laura Straub ’17 during an impromptu vacation last spring. “Neither of us had seen much of the northeastern U.S. so we thought, ‘Why not see it all in one weekend?’” says Martz.

17

Respondents who visited Canada last summer to watch the Women’s World Cup: Kelly Feeny ’10, Bri Brennan ’11, Jaclyn Grecco ’12, Annie McCarthy ’12, Allyson Anderson ’13, Kate Landrigan ’13, Amy VanDyk ’13, Sloan DePiero ’14, Katie Lindacher ’14, Kendra Griffith ’15, Carly Dubrosky ’18, Abigail Emmert ’18, Danielle McCann ’18, Julia Orrico ’18, Yota Sfondouris ’18, Christina Stabile ’18, and Elizabeth Thoresen ’18.

Niagara Falls and Chicago with my boyfriend, a former exchange student at TCNJ. We took three Greyhound buses and two airplanes along the way, but it was all worth it. —CHEYENNE WICKHAM ’17

Visiting every NBA arena in North America with my dad. We chronicled the adventure in our book Around the League in 80 Days. —GABE ALLEN ’15

Spring Break '61. After persuading our parents to let us go, Patricia McCaffrey Smith ’62, Joyce Gierisch Linson ’63, Veronica Molitoris McKeen ’62, Dorothy Garofall Forrester ’62, and I climbed into my red-and-black ’55 Pontiac convertible and headed south to Fort Lauderdale.

We put the top down when we hit Florida and were pretty sunburned when we arrived.

—CHRISTINE UHL LATTANZI ’62

1

2

FALL 2015

We innovate.

We inspire. We engage.

THE COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY has long connected

students of ambition and ability with their own potential for success. In the first campaign in the college’s history, we ask you to invest in making a TCNJ education both exceptional and accessible for generations of students to come. Our goal is $40 million.

Learn more and get involved. campaign.tcnj.edu

TO DATE

70%

3

IN THIS ISSUE

features

>14

CROWD PLEASER As senior vice president of business development and strategy for the Detroit Lions, Luis Perez ’86 uses data and analytics to give fans what they want.

>18

OUT OF THEIR MINDS Titles don’t tell you squat about the fluid and intense intellectual curiosity that characterizes our faculty. We’re here to remedy that.

Cover: Photo by Matt Furman, Illustration by Julie McLaughlin

14 8

7

36

departments 01 05 06 28 32 40

34

UP FRONT LETTERS THE PRAIRIE CAMPAIGN UPDATE CLASS NOTES TCNJ X 10

girls we’re subconsciously told not “toAsstand out, not to be heard as often. "

“

KELSEY MARTIN ’12, MAT ’13

4

FALL 2015

LETTERS

TCNJ Magazine VOLUME 20 NO. 1

re: Summer 2015

John P. Donohue David W. Muha Publishers

Renée Olson

MEMORIES OF MISS HILLWOOD

I attended the college from September 1938 to May 1942 and remember Miss Hillwood very well (“Looking Back,” Summer 2015). Few students had cars back then, so that bus was our transportation to Trenton-area churches on Sunday mornings.

CHARLOTTE ANDERSON BAKER ’42

PLUS

R.I.P., Rathskeller

S U M M E R

2 0 1 5

10 summer reads that won’t fry your brain

Men’s swimming scores two NCAA championships

PROOF 5 June 18 FOR TCNJ MK.indd 1

The best professors don’t just teach—they change lives, encouraging students to see things, such as a work of art, an equation, one’s place in the world, in new and exciting ways. Which TCNJ professor has had the biggest impact on your life? Send us your story (no more than 200 words, please) along with any photos or artifacts you have to the address below.

Who can forget Harvey Brazier, the genial man behind the wheel of Miss Hillwood for so many of our off-campus excursions?

For me, one of the more memorable journeys took made the best of hot dog buns filled place in spring with relish and mustard.

1953, my I think Harvey had packed his own AQUA sophomore lunch that day. Smart man.

CHAMPS year, when

ROBERT DE CASTRO ’55 Professor Lois Shoemaker Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday arranged a afternoon during the last half of junior biology field and senior year, health and physical trip to the education majors boarded Miss Hillwood Jersey shore for our Elementary II to be dropped off at local elementary section. The Inn (a former campus schools. We taught one lower- and one dining hall) provided a thermal upper-level elementary class, and were canister of hot dogs then picked up after school for us, along with hours to return to campus. condiments and We had a close connection, Letters from our readers buns. Professor sharing experiences of being are important to us.

Shoemaker asked my teachers and having fun, and Send an email to magazine@tcnj.edu classmate, Walt we were grateful for Miss or write to Elmer, and me to Hillwood’s transportation.

The Editor, TCNJ Magazine, load those items on NANCY F. MUELLER ’53 Office of the bus. All went well Communications, Marketing, and CORRECTION until lunchtime on Brand Management, Our sincere apologies to the beach, when Walt PO Box 7718, Ewing, NJ 08628-0718. the family of Ronald H. and I discovered we All letters are subject to Albert ’62, whose name was each thought the editing for clarity and length, and must include misspelled in last issue’s other had loaded the the name and address of “In Memoriam.” hot dogs. There were the writer, as well as a Images of Cuba before the thaw

M A G A Z I N E

PROPS FOR PROFS

6/22/15 5:08 PM

more groans than laughs as the class

phone number for confirmation.

Director of Strategic Communications and Publications

Tony Marchetti ’96, MA ’02 Editor

Kelly Andrews Art Director

Margaret Kiernan Designer

Susan Cousins Breen Emily Weiss Dodd ’03 Benjamin Gleisser Chris Hann Ryan Jones Joel Keller Melissa Kvidahl Molly Petrilla Dustin Racioppi Contributors

Bill Cardoni Dustin Fenstermacher Matt Furman Guerrero Howe Luke Schoener ’16 Photographers

Tom Froese Allison Kerek Julie McLaughlin Kathryn Rathke Anne Smith Illustrators

TCNJ Magazine is published three times a year (fall, winter, and spring) by The College of New Jersey, Division of College Advancement, PO Box 7718, Ewing, NJ 08628-0718. The opinions expressed in these pages are those of the contributing writers and not necessarily those of The College of New Jersey.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Office of Alumni Affairs, The College of New Jersey, PO Box 7718, Ewing, NJ 08628-0718.

Find us on the web:

www.tcnjmagazine.com

5

Diminished Men,

Diminishing

Returns

N

ATHAN WAS IN HIS EARLY 20S WHEN HE AND

a friend decided to rob an empty house. The job went horribly wrong.

He claims he was waiting in the getaway truck when his partner shot and killed the homeowner, who had walked in mid-burglary. But the friends refused to testify against each other, and both were sentenced to life without parole.

Though the friend later admitted to the shooting, Nathan, now 61, remains in prison. He’s been behind bars more than half his life. He never saw his daughter grow up, and barely knows his grandchildren. He hasn’t walked down the street or driven to the grocery store in almost 40 years.

When he eventually dies in prison, there will be no demonstrators shaking signs that read, “Execution is NOT the solution!” and “Execute justice, not people!” Life without parole doesn’t stir up the same emotions the death penalty does, even though it claims many more lives.

It doesn’t stir up much interest among criminologists either, says Associate Professor of Criminology Margaret Leigey, who’s been studying its societal and economic effects for nearly a decade. With her new book, The Forgotten Men: Serving a Life Without Parole Sentence, Leigey wants to start a conversation about how best to reform a system in which the number of life-without-parole inmates has skyrocketed— from about 10,000 in 1992 to almost 50,000 in 2013. (By comparison, there are currently about 3,000 inmates on death row.) The spike, she says, is a result of dissatisfaction with parole boards and the aftereffects of the “tough on crime” movement of the past several decades.

In 2006, and again in 2011, Leigey interviewed Nathan and 19 other men, ages 50 to 75, serving life without parole*. She wanted to learn what life is like for them, how their sentences have affected them, and how they’ve dealt with growing old in prison.

She says she observed many commonalities among the inmates.

Their physical health was declining. Their connections to the outside world were dwindling. They were sad, lonely, and remorseful. But they were surprisingly hopeful, too. That hope influenced everything they did, says Leigey. It was the reason they exercised, took classes, and stayed out of trouble. “It was almost a survival mechanism,” she says.

Many believed they would someday return home to their families. But when pressed to name someone who had committed the same crime and received parole, they couldn’t.

6

FALL 2015

The experiences of inmates facing life without parole call for changes in US sentencing policies, says Prof. Margaret Leigey.

“I don’t know if it’s good or bad that they have this hope of release,” says Leigey. “It gives meaning and purpose to their lives, but it’s sad knowing their likelihood of getting out is so low. It’s almost like they did all this work, but it still comes down to the seriousness of a crime they committed decades ago.”

Which isn’t to say Leigey is opposed to life-withoutparole sentencing—or even that she wants all her interviewees to be released. Instead, the research has convinced her that the U.S. needs to reexamine its use of these sentences.

“We need to reserve life-without-parole sentences for the worst of the worst offenders,” she says, pointing to findings from The Sentencing Project showing that, in eight states, more than 30 percent of the life-without-parole population was convicted of non-homicide offenses. (Four of the men Leigey interviewed were serving time for nonlethal crimes.)

Then there are the financial implications to consider. It costs about $1 million to incarcerate an inmate for life, says Leigey. That money could be better used to fund inmate rehabilitation programs— counseling, education, vocational courses—and provide services for at-risk children or minor offenders, she says. “I believe in the potential for people to change.”

Citing data from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics that show older inmates have the lowest recidivism rates, Leigey argues that the country should abolish the current sentencing system and adopt what she calls a “modified life-withoutparole” sentence. She points to the European Union as an example. By law in the EU, all life sentences must be reviewed; as a result, few inmates in EU countries die in prison. Pardon boards and governors in the U.S. need to be willing to review life-without-parole cases to see if any of the inmates can be safely released, she says.

Continued on page 8 *

In her book, Leigey doesn’t name the state prison in which she

conducted her research, and uses pseudonyms for the inmates.

ILLUSTRATION BY TOM FREOSE

THE PRAIRIE

7

THE PRAIRIE

Since We Saw You Last…

Diminished Men, Diminishing Returns

ONE FOR THE BOOKS > Campus Town, the mixed-use commercial and residential center seven years in the making, is coming to life. A Barnes & Noble featuring a B&N Café was the first retailer to open its doors this summer. Others scheduled to follow suit include Panera Bread, Yummy Sushi, Red Berry Yogurt, Piccolo Pronto, Mexican Mariachi Grill, and Brickwall Tavern & Dining Room. Those openings can’t happen soon enough for the 446 students who moved into the center’s upper-floor apartments this semester.

Continued from page 6

In her book, Leigey writes of a prosecutor who says he remembers every defendant he faced who received the death penalty, but none of the defendants who received life without parole—despite how serious the latter sentence is. “Life without parole just isn’t talked about very much. It’s not researched very much. And yet the vast majority of the people [serving the sentence] are going to die in prison,” says Leigey.

Next year will mark a decade since Leigey first met Nathan and the other inmates she wrote about in The Forgotten Men. She plans to return and interview them once again.

“I’m interested to see what their lives have been like,” she says. “It was a professional relationship, but I do care what happens to them.”

Eventually, Leigey wants to research women serving life without parole. There are far fewer of them— slightly more than 1,500 in the U.S.—and even fewer in the age range she has studied. “I very much want to interview some of them and compare their experiences to these men’s,” says Leigey.

—Molly Petrilla

INGENIOUS PROPOSAL > Nicole Pieri ’11 and Chris Hallberg ’11 met by literally running into each other at Playfair, the frenetic Welcome Week freshmen icebreaker. “We were running in opposite directions, and I grabbed his arm and almost dislocated it,” says Pieri. Four years of friendship and another four of dating followed. In June, Hallberg brought a legion of family and friends to campus to recreate the couple’s initial encounter; then he popped the question. A shocked and sobbing Pieri said yes, the video of the proposal went viral—and most important, no one was hurt.

SAY HELLO TO OUR LITTLE FRIENDS > With help from several mini-robots—one wearing a tiny hard hat and swinging a tiny shovel—the college broke ground on a new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Building in July. The 89,000square-foot building is part of a $75 million transformation of the campus’s existing science and engineering facilities. It will house state-of-the-art laboratories— including a robotics lab—when it opens in August 2017.

PASS THE JOE, PLEASE > GrubHub, an online food ordering service and purveyor of frivolous college rankings, named TCNJ the 13th Most Polite College in the U.S. The ratings were based on the percentage of orders that contained phrases like “please” and “thank you.” It seems a lot of those orders also included the word coffee: TCNJ ranked 6th on GrubHub’s Most Caffeinated Colleges list.

—Joel Keller and Tony Marchetti

8

FALL 2015

FACING PAGE: NJ OFFICE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (CAMPUS TOWN), BILL CARDONI (PROPOSAL), LUKE SCHOENER (ROBOTS). THIS PAGE: ALLISON KEREK

Winter Wellness

Campus health experts explain how you can survive the season that keeps on giving.

The indoor retreat that accompanies winter can yield sedentary lifestyles and germy close quarters, meaning your next sick day might be just around the corner. But this advice from Professor of Nursing Claire Lindberg and Adult Nurse Practitioner Barbara Clark can help you avoid—or quickly bounce back from—the season’s most common ailments.

Common cold Cluster of symptoms, from coughing and sneezing to congestion and sore throat Avoid it Regular hand washing is key, since it’s hard to avoid touching doorknobs and other contaminated surfaces. And keep immunity in tip-top shape by getting plenty of sleep and eating a well-balanced diet, says Clark.

Bounce back Antibiotics won’t cure a cold, so soothe symptoms with over-the-counter options. Saline spray can do wonders for congestion, and a steamy shower can thin mucus. For a cough, Lindberg recommends adding honey and lemon to a cup of hot water.

Flu Virus marked by fever, fatigue, chills, and body aches Avoid it Get your flu shot early in the season, says Clark: “Contrary to the myth, the vaccine cannot cause the flu.”

Bounce back Recovery can take a week or more, so plan to rest.

“Drink lots of fluids and eat light foods, like chicken soup,” says Lindberg. That can help decrease mucus and open airways.

Norovirus Upset stomach lasting up to three days Avoid it Norovirus can live on surfaces for weeks, so disinfecting is a must. Don’t share towels if someone’s sick, and keep kids from sharing drinks and forks, says Lindberg.

Bounce back Load up on liquids to avoid dehydration, says Clark, even if you have to start with ice chips. “Pedialyte or broths can help replace fluid and electrolytes, but avoid anything sugary, as it can worsen stomach upset,” says Lindberg.

Seasonal Affective Disorder Feelings of depression that arise when the days get shorter Avoid it “Open blinds, get as much outdoor light as possible, and exercise,” says Clark.

Bounce back A tabletop light box can simulate daylight, but consult a doctor if symptoms seem severe.

Aches and Pains Joint discomfort and back pain Avoid it “Cold weather doesn’t cause pain,” says Lindberg. Not enough outdoor exercise does. “At the root of cold-weather aches and pains is a need for activity.”

Bounce back Take a walk. Stretch at your desk. Follow an online yoga tutorial. “Just get moving,” says Lindberg.

—Melissa Kvidahl

9

THE PRAIRIE

Faculty Meeting Can you spot the two TCNJ alumni among this year’s new faculty?

1. Trevor O’Grady, economics

7. Craig Hollander, history

2. Dolores Dzubaty MSN ’95, nursing

8. Jonathan Davis, educational administration and secondary education

3. Jia Tao, computer science 4. Patricia Ehrensal, educational administration and secondary education 5. Ruthann Russo, public health 6. MinSoo Kim-Bossard, elementary and early childhood education

10

FALL 2015

9. Jared Beatrice, sociology and anthropology 10. Richard Baker, economics 11. Courtney Faber, technological studies 12. Laura Bruno, health and exercise science

13. Aimee Stahl, psychology 14. Tae-Nyun Kim, finance 15. Sarah Domire, special education, language, and literacy 16. Angela Capece, physics 17. AJ Richards ’07, physics 18. Anthony Lau, biomedical engineering

PHOTO BY MATT FURMAN

4

3 19. Zakiya Adair, women’s and gender studies 20. Geralyn Altmiller, nursing 21. Joshua Fishburn, interactive multimedia 22. David Wynne, biology 23. Lauren Shallish, special education, language, and literacy 24. Christopher Fazen, chemistry

5. David Murray, 2 humanities librarian 26. Belinda Haikes, art and art history 27. Leigh-Anne Francis, women’s and gender studies 28. Vinayak Elangovan, computer science

5 6

2 1

15

7

8 9 10

13

14

17 16

12

21 22 18 20 19 28

23 24

27 25

11

26

11

THE PRAIRIE

SPORTS >

How They Got Here BILLY AND KATIE BUCHBINDER They weren’t forced into playing tennis, but these siblings from Scotch Plains, New Jersey, were certainly (and happily) nudged in that direction.

The game has been a huge part of their family life for as long as they can remember; that hasn’t changed in college. Last season, Katie (’17) went 13-6 in singles play, while Billy (’16) went 10-6 in singles and 12-3 in doubles.

They’re no slouches in the classroom, either: Katie was a Capital One All-District Academic first-teamer last year, while Billy made Phi Beta Kappa. They took a break from their last season as teammates to tell us what drew them to the game, who’s got the better backhand, and what it’s like rubbing elbows with Derek Jeter.

How did you get started playing tennis?

KB: We both got into it because of our dad. He took it up in college and has always loved playing.

BB: When we were really little, he used to make us play balloon tennis.

We'd hit balloons back and forth in the living room.

KB: He’d have us play Ping-Pong, too.

BB: One year, when were too little to play on a normal Ping-Pong table, Santa put the tabletop on these little bins so we could reach it. Somehow Santa would always leave us PingPong stuff in our stockings.

12

FALL 2015

Did you take to tennis pretty quickly?

KB: I liked a lot of different sports back then—gymnastics, swimming, dancing. But as I got older, Billy would always be playing, and watching him made me want to take lessons. Later on, we’d go to tennis camps, like Saddlebrook in Tampa, for family vacations. Saddlebrook is basically a resort and tennis camp—you go for a week or two, play twice a day, do conditioning stuff. It’s pretty intense.

BB: Those camps were the best. They made you really want to get better.

KB: We’d also see a lot of celebrities down there. Billy has a story— BB: Yeah, one day I was going into the training room to get ice, and I open up the lid to the ice bin, and I hit this tall guy in the elbow. I turned around and it was Derek Jeter. I was freaking out, “I’m so sorry,” and he was like, “It’s no big deal.”

Did you play against each other a lot growing up?

KB: For me, it was probably more with our dad. He wants to hit every day because he loves tennis so much.

I’ll hit with Billy occasionally, but we don’t usually play a match.

So how would you break down each other’s games?

KB: I think Billy’s forehand and serve are his strengths. His backhand is more of a weak point: He likes to slice a lot on the backhand. And he likes to be at the net, so he’s a good doubles player.

BB: Katie likes her backhand; she’s probably steadier with that.

And she likes to grind you down from the baseline. But she doesn’t like to come to the net so much. It’s like there’s a force field there.

KB: (Laughs) We definitely have different strengths.

But still a lot in common, and not only on the court—you’re both chemistry majors and pre-dental.

KB: Our mom is a pediatric dentist, so I always had an interest in it. I would go to my mom’s office when I was little and “help out.”

Our dad is an anesthesiologist, but I knew I’d never want to work in a hospital.

BB: I was always really torn, actually. Even to this day, I think about switching to pre-med. But dentistry is still kind of edging it out.

PHOTOS BY MATT FURMAN

Do you guys have time for much outside of classes and tennis?

KB: Yeah, I’m in TCNJ’s Alternative Break Club—we raise money, then go to places like New Orleans and build houses.

It’s great.

BB: I’ve played piano since fifth grade, but I’ve gotten more interested in music since I’ve been in college. Sophomore year, I picked up guitar, and now I’m hooked. I play pretty much every day, and I’m pretty obsessed with it.

Are there any matches in your college careers that particularly stand out?

KB: My freshman year, I had the longest match I’ve ever played: Three sets, went to a tie-breaker, and I won in, like, four hours and counting. It was a marathon.

BB: I was really sick last year—I had strep and then mono for like two months, and I was out at beginning of the season. When I finally came back, I’d lost like 15 pounds. My first match back, I was doing OK, but toward the end I was just struggling. I had to catch my breath between every point.

Well, everyone else finishes, and the team score was four-all, so my match would decide. I’d won the first set, and it was a second-set tie-break, and I knew if I lost, there was no way I could win a third set. I ended up winning, something like 9-7 or 10-8, and everyone on the team ended up running on the court.

It felt great.

Looking ahead, do you think you’ll continue playing once you’re out of school?

KB: I don’t know if I would still play in tournaments, but I’ll definitely hit around. And I definitely want to go on tennis vacations again, like we used to. I’d love to get back to some of the places.

BB: When I was little, I really wanted to play professionally, so it’s crazy to think this will be my last year of competitive tennis. I want to continue to compete, so I’m going to try to play in some tournaments. And my kids will be playing at some point, definitely.

The game is a big part of my life.

—Interview by Ryan Jones

13

Crowd Pleaser Luis Perez ’86 uses data and analytics to give Detroit Lions fans what they want. >

Interview by BENJAMIN GLEISSER

14

FALL 2015

15

PHOTO: ©GUERRERO HOWE CUSTOM MEDIA

A

s a senior

accounting major, Luis Perez ’86 captained the

Lions baseball team. Today, he’s senior vice president of business development and

strategy for the Detroit Lions.

In the interim, he’s served as

a financial officer for teams in every major sports league: the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Knicks, New York Rangers, and Baltimore Ravens. He talked with us recently about the business of professional sports, the Teflon nature of the NFL’s appeal, and how his family escaped Castro’s Cuba in the 1960s.

You returned to the NFL after seven years as managing director of Modell Ventures LLC. What brought you back to sports?

I had the opportunity to join two NFL clubs, and picked the Lions because it seemed like a cool opportunity to play a key front-office role in the rebuilding of a franchise. It was similar to what I experienced in Baltimore, where we opened a new stadium and later won a Super Bowl. I’ve been in Detroit for four and a half years, and we’ve been able to build a lot here.

What’s your role with the Lions?

I oversee our data and analytics, which we use to know what our customers want. For example, do they prefer a certain beer or a certain seating section? Do they get to the stadium an hour before the game or at kickoff?

Are they buying licensed Lions baby clothes before coming to the stadium? Business decisions need to be based on intelligence rather than intuition. For example, when we’re looking at creating a new space in the stadium, how many seats should we add? What can the market support? Are we better off building an exclusive space for 25 and pricing the seats much higher, or adding 250 seats at a lower price point due to the market’s spending habits?

16

FALL 2015

Ford Field [the Lions home stadium] is undergoing major renovations right now. Are you involved?

Yes, with planning where to spend dollars and how to build spaces within the stadium.

When I got here in 2011, the organization really hadn’t done anything to our stadium since it opened in 2002. We’ve recently been addressing master plans for improvements. I’m involved by providing analyses: How do fans want to consume our product live, and how do we create physical spaces that allow them to do that? The goal is to grow our business and our revenue. We’re not able to do every possible project, so we prioritize them based on business objectives and marketplace data to see what people want, how much they’re willing to pay for it, and how much capital we’re able to raise.

Is public funding being used for these renovations?

While there’s a role for public money, it’s not the lead money it once was. Everything’s done through partnerships today. Thanks to a loosening of league rules about doing business with casinos, we were able to [work with MGM Grand to create] the MGM Grand Detroit Tunnel Club. It’s a new exclusive premium area attached to the locker room tunnel [that allows fans] to be close to the players as they enter and leave the field.

The city of Detroit filed for bankruptcy a little more than two years ago.

How does that factor into the Lions’ renovations?

It’s not so much that Detroit is depressed or a tough market; it’s evolving. New York City, in five to 10 years, will look pretty much the way New York City looks today. It’s really hard to predict what Detroit will look like in five to 10 years. There’s a renaissance going on here— an overwhelming optimism about this market.

Sure, there are questions: How much corporate base will be here? How much affluence?

Whatever we build today is going to have to last 15 years.

Having worked in each of the major professional sports leagues, which is prospering the most?

Without question the most successful league is the NFL. The NBA does some great stuff in terms of marketing, by adding layers of sophisticated data on customers and making decisions based more on science than art.

The NHL and MLB are beginning to move in that direction, too. Those leagues also play more home games, so they have a lot more product

to sell [and can therefore] invest more time and effort into creating loyalty and fan engagement.

But TV ratings for a run-of-the-mill, regularseason NFL game are greater than the numbers for postseason games in other leagues.

Could this change given recent scandals surrounding the NFL, including “Deflategate,” and domestic and child abuse charges against several big-name players?

Those things hurt our brand and affect the way sponsors look at us, but at the end of the day I don’t think those incidents will have a longterm effect on the NFL. The metrics show the marketplace can’t get enough of the National Football League.

You were born in Cuba. How did your family get to the U.S.?

We came on a Freedom Flight in 1968. Fidel Castro told the world that anybody could leave the island, but they had to have a direct relative take responsibility for them in the U.S. So my parents submitted our name for a lottery that would select who could leave.

We won. [Pauses.] Our lives would be so different if we hadn’t.

How so?

I think about that when I look at my children, and think about the opportunities they have.

I wouldn’t have had the choice to attend college. What I did for a living would probably have been chosen for me. In America, nobody tells you how to spend your day or how much you can earn. I was four years old when my dad, Luis, and my mother, Genoveva, left everyone they knew and everything they owned to come to this country because of the opportunities available to their children. They didn’t even speak English. But somehow they managed to raise us. My dad grew to love this country so much. He instilled in me the notion that if you put your mind into something, and you have the proper work ethic, you can be anything you want.

What’s your reaction to the U.S. normalizing relations with Cuba?

It thrills me to think of the enormous opportunity this presents to the people of that island. I have relatives on my mother’s side who still live in Cuba. I’d love to be reunited with them here. I don’t know how that’ll happen, but at some point I hope to get that opportunity.

“

TV

ratings for a run-of-the-mill,

regular-season NFL game are greater than the numbers for postseason games in other

”

PHOTO: ©GUERRERO HOWE CUSTOM MEDIA

leagues.... The marketplace can’t get enough of the

National Football League.

Donec sagittis sollicitudin turpis, semper pretium libero dapibus vitae. Nam sapien enim, suscipit in ligula quis, pretium sodales odio. Curabitur sit amet dictum nunc. Nam vitae odio mi. Vestibulum nec turpis fermentum, accumsan arcu et, luctus dolor. Vivamus mollis ac erat at dakadjf pibus.

Quisque eget laoreet ipsum. Phasellus egestas lacus ipsum, ut lobortis turpis finibus id. Curabitur semper sapien non augue luctus bibendum.

We’re Here to Help. The College of New Jersey, Office of Development • PO Box 7718 • Ewing, NJ 08628-0718. 609.771.2925 . 800.347.9621

17

They’re mum about complex questions that make faculty pull the duvet over their heads in the middle of the night.

They’re all zipped lips about the mad pursuit of a result within reach. But mostly they give nothing, absolutely nothing away about the fluid and intense intellectual curiosity that characterizes our faculty. We’re here to remedy that. Turn the page.

18

FALL 2015

PHOTO BY GREG PARKINSON, MONKEY LOFT STUDIOS

What intrigues chemistry professor Benny Chan? See page 25.

19

A Curious Bunch.

20

FALL 2015

21

Lynn Braender ’82, assistant professor of accounting and information systems

Marci Zane ’03, education librarian

John Oliver ’99, information literacy librarian

Kathleen Fortner Rotter ’72, associate professor of special education, language, and literacy

Ann Marie Nicolosi ’92, associate professor of women’s and gender studies and history

Susan Leonard Mitchell ’76, assistant professor of nursing

Matthew Hall ’00, MEd ’02, assistant professor of special education, language, and literature

Stuart Carroll MEd ’95, associate professor of elementary and early childhood education

John Kuiphoff ’04, assistant professor of interactive multimedia

David Holleran ’95, associate professor of criminology

Jerry Petroff ’75, professor of special education, language, and literacy

Jill Schwarz ’02, MA ’04, assistant professor of counselor education

Colleen Quinn Sears ’01, assistant professor of music

Rosemary (Mimi) Cappelli ’73, assistant professor of nursing

Matthew Wund ’99, associate professor of biology

Jarret Crawford ’03, associate professor of psychology

Margaret Paterson Martinetti ’94, associate professor of psychology

Mind Mapping Throughout the year, faculty lead short-term study abroad programs. Here are a few such journeys.

THE MAGIC OF ARCHIVAL RESEARCH IN CORNWALL Faculty: Michele Lise Tarter, English Inspiration: Her decades-long study of the archives in Cornwall’s Museum of Witchcraft.

Student takeaway: Delve into centuries-old manuscripts by and about witches, the earliest healers, and connect with the past in meaningful ways. Stay in Tintagel, the birthplace of King Arthur; have class discussions in Merlin’s Cave; hike in Druid forests.

HOLOCAUST AND GENOCIDE STUDY TOUR IN CENTRAL EUROPE AND ARMENIA Faculty: Cynthia Paces, history; Morton Winston, philosophy Inspiration: Marking the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Student takeaway: Explore genocide in Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Armenia while examining the relationship between collective memory and national identity.

Cornwall

Central Europe

Armenia

Haiti

Galapagos Islands and Ecuador

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS AND ECUADOR Faculty: Donald Lovett, biology Inspiration: Lovett always marveled at how much Charles Darwin gleaned from his observations on the Galápagos Islands.

Student takeaway: Read Darwin’s works, observe the same things he did, and then come to an appreciation of how evolution explains the existence of the unique species on these islands.

22

FALL 2015

South Africa

NURSING AND GLOBAL HEALTH IN HAITI Faculty: Sharon Byrne, nursing Inspiration: Byrne’s interest in doing humanitarian work abroad led her to participate in several medical missions with Explorers Sans Frontières, a nonprofit that delivers health care to regions of Port-au-Prince still recovering from the 2010 earthquake.

Student takeaway: Examine global health care policy from legal and ethical perspectives, and gain experience providing primary care and health education in a resource-limited environment.

HISTORY OF APARTHEID IN SOUTH AFRICA Faculty: Matthew Bender, history; Mindi McMann, English Inspiration: Bender’s desire to transform the South African history course he’s been teaching on campus into an immersive experience abroad and McMann’s interest in the narratives and ethics of reconciliation.

Student takeaway: Understand what apartheid was and witness how its effects reverberate today.

—Susan Cousins Breen and Tony Marchetti

Pop Quiz

First Seminar* courses allow faculty to explore topics and themes outside their discipline. Can you match the course below to the professor who teaches it?

Answers are on page 26. (No peeking!)

COURSE

PROFESSOR

A. The Beatles and Their World Changes in pop music and society during the Fab Four’s heyday

1. Timothy Hornberger, elementary and early childhood education

B. Trenton Makes Music The region’s contributions to the music that set the world dancing

2. David Venturo, English 3. Thomas Hagedorn, mathematics and statistics

C. Exploring Amish Culture Perspectives of the ultraconservative Old Order Amish

4. Kathryne Speaker, special education, language, and literacy

D. Dance as an Art Form: From Ballet to Jookin The development and influences of dance

5. Kim Pearson, English

E. Economics and Everything A range of timely topics examined through the lens of economic theory

6. Andrew Bechtel, civil engineering

F. Does What We Eat Matter? The Culture, Politics, and Science of Food How our mealtime choices affect the world around us G. The Cultural Phenomenon of Harry Potter From Beowulf to the boy wizard, an examination of literary heroes

7. Amy Dell, special education, language, and literacy These classes, taken by all freshmen, teach critical thinking skills and foster intellectual curiosity.

*

The path to professorship can be circuitous.

THIS PAGE: OCHS, AMTZIS, AND PEARLSTEIN ILLUSTRATIONS BY JULIE McLAUGHLIN

Life rarely unfolds in straight lines. See what twists these three took.

MICHAEL OCHS Mathematics

ALAN AMTZIS Education

LARRY PEARLSTEIN

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Ochs studied chemistry at Haverford College and

Amtzis attended film school and worked in the

Pearlstein came to TCNJ after a long career in the

Celtic literature at Harvard before completing a PhD

industry through his 20s, even starting a casting

high-tech sector, during which he accumulated

in physics from Brandeis. “I basically always followed

company. But as he approached 30, stability

60 patents. After earning a PhD in electrical

what I thought was the most interesting thing to do,”

beckoned. He tried his hand as a chef, but says the

engineering at Princeton in 1987, he became vice

he says. That approach led him to a large defense

12-hour days “diminished my love of cooking pretty

president of engineering at BioAutomation, where

contractor, a solar energy company, and a lab where he

quickly.” A friend told him about working as a special

he helped develop an automated DNA sequence

studied simian AIDS. Later he conducted statistical

education teacher. “It sounded important and fun,”

reader. While at Hitachi, he chaired the

research on cancer at the Fox Chase Cancer Center

he says. He taught (and was later principal) at a

specialists group that wrote the HDTV video

in Philadelphia and Johns Hopkins School of

therapeutic community for kids with drug and

standard for North America. After that, he looked

Medicine in Baltimore. In 2013 he arrived at TCNJ,

alcohol problems. A doctorate in curriculum and

to make another transition. He knew about TCNJ

where he’s teaching statistics courses and developing

instruction followed, and then, in 2005, an offer from

because his wife had received a nursing certificate

computational statistical methods for refining our

TCNJ. “Teaching,” says Amtzis, “feels like the thing

here. “So I knew what a terrific school it was,” he

understanding of cell signaling.

I was supposed to do.”

says. “I am really thrilled to be teaching here.”

—Christopher Hann

23

Inquiring Minds Here’s the TCNJ course these professors would take if given carte blanche.

ANDREW CLIFFORD

DONKA MIRTCHEVA

Economics Don Vandegrift’s American Public Policy, which he co-teaches with political science faculty.

The applied analytical projects his students work on seem fascinating.

DONALD VANDEGRIFT

Economics Janet Morrison’s Ecology and Field Biology The systemic quality of interactions among organisms and their environment seems to parallel the behavior of economic systems. Consequently, examining ideas and models from ecology could provide insight on the behavior of economic systems.

Mathematics and Statistics I took History of Jazz with Michael Conklin.

I got to study a subject I know little about, and witness a great teacher with a passion for his subject.

DEBORAH HUTTON

Art and Art History Cynthia Paces’ Global Struggles for Social Justice It’s been 25 years since the fall of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe and the Tiananmen Square uprising.

Examining what impact those events have had on history would be fascinating.

JANET MORRISON

Biology Deborah Hutton’s Arts of the Islamic World I love art of all types and want to know more about the Islamic world given the current state of political affairs.

DEBORAH THOMPSON

Elementary and Early Childhood Education Elizabeth Borland’s Visualizing (In)equality I’ve always been interested in how photography has been and can be used to study human activity.

A Course Not (Yet) Taken

JEANINE VIVONA, Psychology Poetry. I’ve written and spoken about the language in poetry, especially connections between language as used in poetry and language as used in psychotherapy.

But I don’t know anything about the study of poetry.

24

FALL 2015

KEVIN H. MICHELS, Marketing and Interdisciplinary Business Artificial Intelligence. I developed the School of Business’ Center for Innovation and Ethics, and while AI presents unrivaled innovation opportunities, it also presents ethical questions.

Will AI eliminate jobs? Or alienate us from our work?

ILLUSTRATIONS BY JULIE McLAUGHLIN

A faculty wish list

MICHAEL CONKLIN

Music Cultures and Canons with Piper Kendrix Williams I study African-American culture, and it would be fascinating to learn from someone whose expertise is in the literary canon of the black community.

GLENN STEINBERG

English I’d study 20th-century German history with Cynthia Paces, because I’m interested in the social and political problems of Weimar and Nazi Germany, and the nature of authoritarian regimes. I’d also take any class with Jo Carney, who has a reputation among students as “the best.”

I’d love to learn from her how to be a better teacher.

ELIZABETH BORLAND

Sociology and Anthropology Any Asian art history class with Deborah Hutton I want to hear her amazing lectures and see the diverse images she shows in class. Her History of Photography course also sounds fascinating.

CYNTHIA PACES

History Jo Carney’s Shakespeare class Recently, I read Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies—modern novels set in Shakespeare’s time—and Jo explained what Mantel was doing with language. My colleague has a warmth and enthusiasm for literature, and I would love to see Shakespeare through her eyes.

PIPER KENDRIX WILLIAMS

MICHAEL ROBERTSON

English Introduction to Astronomy with Thulsi Wickramasinghe For me, the best part of Boy Scouts was getting my merit badge in astronomy. I’m ready to plunge anew into the wonders of the night sky.

English Michael Robertson’s The Utopian Tradition in Western Literature I want to expand students’ worldviews on race, class, and justice, and my colleague’s course, in which TCNJ students take class alongside prisoners, would immediately help complicate their perspectives.

BENNY CHAN, chemistry Woodworking. I recently discovered that the engineering school has a course to design woodworking projects and train in the machine shop. I haven’t taken any of these courses since middle school and would love to get back into it.

JO CARNEY

English Any course taught by Jo Ann Gross (history), because I’d learn a good deal about our ever-changing global landscape and because she epitomizes TCNJ’s notion of the teacher-scholar.

DIMITRIS PAPAMICHAIL, Computer Science Number Theory.

It’s just plain fun!

NINA PEEL, Biology Calculus. I neglected math in high school, which was a bad idea. My research students keep encouraging me to take some classes, and I just might when I get time.

25

Compound Interest

There’s no denying the multidimensional talents of TCNJ’s faculty.

THE FICTION-WRITING FORENSIC CHEMIST Professor John Allison had been writing short stories, plays, and monologues for decades when he published his selfdescribed “quirky” first novel, Saturday Night at Sarah Joy’s, in 2013. An avid boater who enjoys sailing Barnegat Bay, Allison donated royalties from the book to Hurricane Sandy relief. “Some people might look at what I write and roll their eyes, but to me it’s an academic endeavor to create something new,” says Allison.

THE GUITAR-PLAYING COMPUTER SCIENTIST

THE GREEN-THUMBED SOPRANO Being a master gardener isn’t unlike being a college professor, says Associate

Associate Professor Dimitris

Professor Suzanne Hickman: Both fields

Papamichail started playing classical

require a love of learning, research, and

guitar at age 9, and later earned a college

teaching. “We answer people’s questions

degree in it. He’s performed in Greece

about turf, trees, shrubs, plants, food

and the U.S., but plays only for fun these

crops, and critters, and our information

days. His favorite musician? Johann

must come from reputable, science-

Sebastian Bach. “Anyone who plays

based sources,” she says. “Educating

music at some point falls in love with

ourselves and the community is our

Bach,” says Papamichail. “His music is

first priority.”

very playful, the way it hides a melody and then revives it. That ingenuity hasn’t been matched since.”

THE BACH-SINGING BIOCHEMICAL ENGINEER Associate Professor Christopher

THE FENCING BIOLOGIST

Wagner sings tenor in The Bach Choir of

Associate Professor Jim Bricker, who’s

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and has toured

been fencing for 53 years, competes in

nationally and internationally with the

tournaments in the U.S. and Canada; last

ensemble, the oldest such choir in the

winter he won silver in the men’s foil in the

U.S. “After a day of teaching, grading,

Veteran 70s & Older age group at the

reading scientific papers, and preparing

North American Cup held in Dallas.

experiments, singing is a release for me,”

“Fencing is called physical chess,” says

says Wagner.

THE SCENE-STEALING MATHEMATICIAN Associate Professor Cathy Liebars has been acting, singing, and dancing in theater productions for so long that she jokingly calls it her “second career.”

She’s picky about what roles she’ll take.

“Ultimately I want to learn something from the parts I play,” says Liebars. Take, for example, her recent role as Hermann Goering’s wife in a staged reading of

Bricker, explaining the attraction. “It’s fun

2: Goering at Nuremberg. “I got to study

and exciting, fulfilling and strenuous.”

German accents and research that period of history.”

Answers to the quiz on page 23: A-2; B-5; C-1, D-7, E-6, F-3, G-4.

26

FALL 2015

—Tony Marchetti

I go to class with a professor.

How Socratic is that?

In the Interdisciplinary Faculty-Student Research Seminar, a professor and a student pair up to explore topics around a theme (this past semester, five pairs tackled “Justice”). Once a week, sustained by bagels and juice, the pairs settle in around a conference table as equal partners in freewheeling discussions of their work. We asked collaborators Steven Thompson ’15 and Michael Robertson, professor of English, what the experience is like.

ROBERTSON: The seminar has been extraordinary in bringing everybody in contact with people with different perspectives.

I, or somebody else, will bring up an issue and Steven will point out, “Well, that’s true from a middle-class perspective. But if you’re poor in this country, your experience is going to be different.”

THOMPSON: The thing I love about the seminar is that in terms

of discussion, nothing is off limits. When we start a conversation it can go in any direction and you don’t have to worry about people being uncomfortable or, more importantly, about people being uninformed. Everybody in that room is very intelligent and, above all, eminently curious.

ROBERTSON: What you identified there is that lack of hierarchy where the professor is the authority and everyone else is the learner.

In the justice seminar, we’re all learners.

THOMPSON: If you have a

ROBERTSON: This seminar is about exposing and illuminating different ideas about justice. It’s not about bringing people toward one, true theory. It’s about a lively, intellectual debate that does not have an easy resolution. It is the most democratic academic space I’ve ever been in. The only comparison I can make: I spent my last sabbatical as a visiting fellow in the Department of Religion at Princeton University, and my only duty was to participate in a weekly seminar of professors and graduate students. This seminar is completely equivalent to the one at Princeton.

—as told to Dustin Racioppi

THIS PAGE: ILLUSTRATION BY JULIE McLAUGHLIN

disagreement with somebody [in the seminar], especially with a professor, you can just

go at it for 20 minutes. And generally the way that breaks down is, nobody emerges a clear winner, but everyone has their understanding of the issue tempered. You are forcibly moderated in the literal meaning of that word. You are left with a more moderate perspective because people force you to look at aspects of an issue that you were not willing to consider before.

27

SINCE ITS ENERGIZING PUBLIC LAUNCH ON APRIL 25,

The Campaign for TCNJ has had a remarkable journey, one filled with warm generosity and a firm commitment to making a TCNJ education both exceptional and affordable. To date, the outpouring of support from the entire TCNJ community has brought us to 70 percent of our goal.

28

The Campaign FALL 2015 for TCNJ News, FALL 2015

innovate. inspire. engage.

NEXT >

HOW A CHECK FOR $250 TURNED INTO A $1 MILLION GIFT

UNLEASHING MATH ON MICE TUMORS

29

CHANGING LIVES

And that modest gift led you to start

This seems like a statement project.

A $1 million gift will make a TCNJ education possible for students of modest means

investing in education.

If so, what’s the statement you’re trying

I have six kids, so it took me a long time to

to make?

say I had excess money. But in 2001, I sent

I believe in Carlos Castaneda’s concept.

the Lockport Women’s Club $5,000. I got a

Your number one responsibility is to make

letter back from an elderly woman who wrote,

sure you’re a whole person—you’re meeting

“Bob, you’re the first person in 53 years to

your needs properly and leading a good life.

ever give back to the women’s club. We’re

If you have family, make sure you’re doing

having an annual meeting and we’d like you to

everything you can to help them live a good

come.” When I went to the annual meeting,

life. If you’re fortunate enough to have enough

I discovered it was their 100th anniversary.

time and bandwidth and resources to help

This summer, the Give Something Back Foundation donated $1 million to The College of New Jersey to help pay for 50 low-income students to attend the college debt-free. The idea is the brainchild of Robert Carr of Princeton, New Jersey, GSBF’s founder and CEO of Heartland Payment Systems, the

your extended family, then help them. It’s

nation’s fifth-largest processor of credit and

based upon John Stuart Mill’s utilitarian

debit cards.

principle—that, basically, is the golden rule.

Your foundation’s gift to TCNJ is part of a

That is best which does the most good for

personal quest to help 1,000 students get

the most people. In my mind, putting kids

through college debt-free. Why this cause?

through college is the best way I know to use

Because I believe people of means should give

my resources. I’m not trying to change the world. I’m trying to change the lives of as

something back, and I think this is the best

many families as we can.

way for me to give back. There are lots of great causes out there. But I think allowing students,

— Interview by Christopher Hann

who would not otherwise go through college,

“

keep on giving.

Golden rule supporter Robert Carr.

“

to do so debt-free is a tremendous gift that will

The way I grew up, people didn’t give money to people they didn’t know.

You’ve talked about the importance of a

I gave them $100,000 to help five kids; each

HOW IT WORKS: Students supported

small scholarship you received when you

received $5,000 a year for four years. That

graduated from high school in Illinois.

worked so well we gave another $100,000 a

by the Give Something Back Foundation

What made that gift so important to you?

year later. That worked so well I started this

A women’s club in my hometown of Lockport

foundation and committed to doing as much

assigned a mentor, who advises them,

gave me a scholarship of $250, and with it

as I could.

helps prepare them to succeed in

How close are you to your ultimate goal

college, and provides assistance in

of helping 1,000 kids?

assessing career and college choices.

came a plaque and my picture on the front page of the local newspaper. It just always meant a tremendous amount to me. Not that $250 puts you through college, just the idea of it—it took me completely by surprise. The way I grew up, people didn’t give money to people they didn’t know.

We already have 247 kids. We just added 150 to that number. We’ll be adding about 150 a

are identified in ninth grade and

Once in college, the program is designed

year going forward. It’s not going to take us

to graduate students in four years free

very long to get to 1,000.

of debt. The first students supported by GSBF are expected to enroll at TCNJ in the fall of 2019.

30

The Campaign FALL 2015 for TCNJ News, FALL 2015

70% 23,115 589 TO GOAL

GIFTS TO TCNJ

STUDENTS AWARDED SCHOLARSHIPS

As of August 31, 2015

FIGHTING CANCER WITH MATH Prof. Jana Gevertz receives second Gitenstein-Hart Sabbatical Prize A specialist in mathematical biology, Jana Gevertz is

the lab, in an effort to boost the efficacy of these

currently conducting research that could help answer a

treatments in clinical trials.

question that’s long plagued oncologists: why do cancer patients respond so differently to the same treatments?

“It is too expensive and time-consuming to keep experimenting different scenarios on mice,” says

In collaboration with an

Gevertz, an associate professor of

experimental biologist in South Korea,

mathematics and statistics. “Once we

Gevertz is working to devise a set of

have mathematical equations we can

equations that describe the growth

trust, all it costs is time.”

and treatment of melanoma tumors

With support from the Gitenstein-

in mice. At a lab in Seoul, mice are

Hart Sabbatical Prize, Gevertz can

being treated with different types of

continue unraveling the complexities of

genetically engineered viruses designed

tumor response to cancer therapeutics.

to selectively kill cancer cells while

Finely tuned enough, these models could

delivering immune-boosting molecules

aid in personalizing cancer treatments to

to the tumor site. The experiments

Mice protector Jana Gevertz.

yield data describing how the size of the tumor changes during and after the treatments.

the individual.

“We miss so much by not

understanding the underlying complexity of these

Using that data, and what is known about the

diseases,” she says. “If we can understand the data from

biological mechanisms behind it, Gevertz and her

an individual patient, we can figure out the best way to

collaborators are working to build mathematical

deliver personalized treatment that will work for them.”

models that can be tweaked and tinkered with outside

—Emily Dodd ´03

Learn more and get involved.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY KATHRYN RATHKE

campaign.tcnj.edu PO Box 7718 • Ewing, NJ 08628-0718 • 609.771.2925 • 800.347.9621

31

CLASS NOTES

Family Album Cami D'Innocenzio ’07 wed Dominick Astino on December 6, 2013.

Angela DuRoss Winterrowd ’02 and husband, Michael: a daughter, Julianna Katherine, on March 8, 2015.

Class notes and Family Album photos are available only in the print edition.

To submit your news and photos, visit alumni.tcnj.edu or write us at alumni@tcnj.edu.

Jessica Reilly ’09

wed Robert Androsiglio ’08 on March 14, 2014.

Sonia Reso ’08, MA ’11 wed David Moticha on August 8, 2014, in Lavallette, New Jersey.

Jennifer Cenicola Ryan ’98 and husband, Sean ’98: a son, Maxwell Henry, on January 29, 2015. Maxwell joins big sister Lucy (age 2).

32

FALL 2015

Denise Elliott Lombardi ’06 and husband, Michael ’06: a son, Nicholas Jack, on May 17, 2015.

1960s Burt H. Perinchief ’60 retired on January 1, 2015, as director emeritus of the music ministry of the Markham Woods Presbyterian Church in Lake Mary, Florida.

John “Bud” Johnson ’66 celebrated his 50th year as a lifeguard last summer. He is currently chief of the patrol in Wildwood Crest, New Jersey.

Nancy Shotwell Woods ’67 was proclaimed 2015 Newton (New Jersey) Senior Citizen of the Year in July.

1970s

Fran Orenstein, MEd ’76 announced republication of Fat Girls from Outer Space as a paperback, graphic novel, and e-book.

Cheryl Nagel-Smiley, MEd ’77 retired from the Plainfield Public School District after 46 years of service that included 10 years at Emerson Elementary School, 33 years at Hubbard Middle School, and three years at Jefferson Elementary School. Cheryl was honored at a retirement dinner last May that was attended by more than 100 friends and colleagues.

Award-winning journalist Donna Brown Clovis ’78 released her new novel, Quantum Leaps in Princeton’s Place, last April.

Becker’s ASC Review named Claudette Ernst Downs ’78 one of the 138 ambulatory surgery center women leaders to know in 2015.

Rich Posipanko, MEd ’79 will step down following the 2015 season as Winthrop University men’s soccer coach, after 27 years with the program.

SEND US YOUR NEWS! Wedding, birth, promotion, anniversary, award, or retirement?

Submit news of your major life events online at tcnj.edu/alumni or write us at Alumni Office, The College of New Jersey, PO Box 7718, Ewing, NJ 08628-0718.

Information in the Class Notes section of TCNJ Magazine was submitted for publication. TCNJ staff members try to verify the accuracy of the information; however, the college cannot be responsible for incorrect information contained herein. If you would like us to correct any inaccuracies that have been printed about you, please contact the editor at magazine@tcnj.edu.

Carolyn McGowan ’82 retired

the Wall Township School Class notes and Family from Album photos District July 1, 2015, where she Frank Ragazzo ’70 was elected are available only in theserved print edition.

17 years as a school chairman of the New Jersey State Lottery Commission in July. Frank was appointed to the commission in 2009 by former Governor Jon Corzine.

Frank J. Campagna ’71 is group vice president at M&T Bank.

Vince Masco ’71 is being honored by Drew University alumni with the creation of The Vincent “Vince” Masco Basketball Endowment. Vince is the winningest baseball coach in Drew’s history, and serves as an associate athletic director.

Warren A. Johnson ’74 and his wife, Judy, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

Peter Crosta ’75 retired on August 1 after serving 38 years in public school music education.

Peter served as both band and choral director at Orange High School (Essex County, New Jersey) for 19 years. He also served as K–12 supervisor of visual and performing arts in the same district for 27 years. Peter lives in Nutley, New Jersey, and is a highly regarded arts supervisor in the state.

Diane Banks Campbell MA ’76 was honored by the Kappa Foundation of Kappa Alpha Psi (KAP) Fraternity, Trenton Alumni Chapter, as a Woman of Achievement on April 11, 2015.

counselor for students in grades K–8.

Will Richardson MAT ’83 was named one of the 67 influential educators who are changing the way we learn by Noodle, an education website.

Ed Hoag ’85 is the library director for the Bridgewater Township Library in New Jersey.

Karen Rostoker-Gruber ’85 is an award-winning children's book author and ventriloquist. Her most recent book, Ferret Fun in the Sun, was published in May by Two Lions.

Robert Vallinino ’85 celebrated his 30th year on the job at Bergen County Academy High School in Hackensack, New Jersey, on September 1. He serves as the bookkeeper for operations of the Hackensack, Paramus, and Teterboro campuses.

Dawn Biondo Calvano ’86 was named Milltown (New Jersey) School District’s 2013–14 teacher of the year for Parkview Elementary School. Dawn teaches basic skills math, and formerly enrichment classes, at Parkview. In September 2015, she moved to Joyce Kilmer Middle School in Trenton, New Jersey, to teach eighth-grade algebra.

John Chorazak ’86 retired from teaching after 27 years, 25 of which were in the Cranford, New Jersey, school district. John and his wife, Margaret Kalucki Chorazak ’87, will be moving from Pennsylvania to the warmth of South Carolina, where Margaret has accepted a position at Greenville Hospital.

Linda DeRoo Merritt ’88 was selected to co-chair the National Association of Neonatal Nurses’ new committee, the Neonatal Nursing Professional Development Pathway Work Group. She is also a doctoral candidate at Texas Woman’s University.

MarySue Lacovara Flaherty ’88 earned her mobile intensive care nurse endorsement from the state of New Jersey. MarySue has worked in the emergency department at Cooper University Hospital for the last 10 years, and was recently promoted to associate clinical director of the emergency department and clinical decision unit.

John A. Ravally ’88 is the new superintendent of the Franklin Township School District in New Jersey.

Christine Gatto Burton ’89 was named superintendent of schools by the Millburn, New Jersey, Board of Education.

Greg Grant ’89 stepped down as head coach of boys’ basketball at Trenton Central High School in New Jersey after five years.

To submit your news and photos, visit alumni.tcnj.edu or write us at alumni@tcnj.edu.

1980s Mike Rossetti ’80 is the new baseball coach for Phillipsburg High School in New Jersey.

Terri Brewer McCall ’81 is a special education teacher in the East Windsor School District in Hightstown, New Jersey. She and her husband, Larry, recently celebrated their 33rd anniversary.

Bob Petrosino ’81 is senior vice president of brand strategy and development for Inspira Marketing Group.

Dee Boniakowski Zampella ’81 was named Somerset County, New Jersey’s Outstanding Citizen of the Year on April 30, 2015.

Robert A. Coulton ’82 was appointed the first public safety director for Bristol Township, Pennsylvania. Robert previously served with the Ewing, New Jersey, Police Department.

33

CLASS NOTES

Girls, rising During her 25th year of teaching, Danielle Krueger Gladysz ’89 was named Teacher of the Year at Sharon Elementary School in Robbinsville, New Jersey, where she has been a special education teacher for 11 years. For the first 14 years of her career, Danielle was an elementary classroom teacher in North Hanover Township, New Jersey.

Cardel Locke ’89 participated in the 2015 Anchor House Ride for Runaways. The seven-day, 500-mile ride raises money for Anchor House, a Mercer County, New Jersey–based nonprofit that helps runaway, abused, and neglected teens.

1990s George Drake MEd ’90 was appointed founding dean of the College of Education and Human Services at Millersville University in Millersville, Pennsylvania.

Previously, George was associate dean of the College of Education at West Chester University of Pennsylvania.

Brian Tanner ’90 is vice president, investor relations and corporate communications, for Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc. Carol Chamberlain MEd ’92 received the Greater Eldridge Park Neighborhood Association’s first Woman of Excellence Award for her work at the Lawrence Township (New Jersey) Health Department and the Lawrence Township Public Safety Advisory Committee.

Jennifer Kirch ’92 was named 2014 Teacher of the Year at Alder Avenue Middle School in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey.

Chelsea Dixon MAT ’93 published the book Bridging the Gap: A Simple Guide to College last January.

John and Alisha HastingsKimball ’93 have been raising money through GoFundMe to

34

FALL 2015

ON THURSDAY AFTERNOONS, KELSEY MARTIN ’12, MAT ’13 LEADS

a women’s empowerment group in which she and 20 participants dissect the pitfalls and pressures of womanhood, muse on meaningful quotations, and expose their deepest feelings and fears.

On Friday mornings, the participants go back to being second and third graders and Martin goes back to being their teacher.

Martin, who’s in her third year of teaching at a public charter school in Houston, Texas, started Rise Like a Girl last year because she wanted to give students “the tools they need to lead powerful and successful lives.” Despite its members’ ages, the group tackles weighty issues: gender roles and equality, body image, insecurities, female empowerment, self-esteem, the importance of having a voice.

“I wanted this club to be more mature than what you would expect from 8-year-olds,” says Martin.

Conversations can range from what the girls see on TV and online—“women's as bodies rather than minds”—to standing up to boys on the playground who insist girls can’t play soccer. “Those things really do affect the girls,” says Martin.

It’s familiar ground for Martin, who says she felt unsure of herself growing up: “I always felt very less than. As girls we’re subconsciously told not to stand out, not to be heard as often.”

She found her voice at TCNJ while completing a double major in education and women’s and gender studies, and later a master’s in teaching. It was also during this time that she became passionate about empowering girls while they’re still young.

Many of Martin’s students come from low-income homes and male-dominated cultures in which the dads typically make the decisions and the moms defer. “There’s nothing wrong with that if everyone is happy,” says Martin. “But there is also another way, and that’s something I want my girls to know.”

She wants to spread that message to girls beyond her school, and is currently writing a 20-week curriculum that teachers and community leaders can use to launch their own versions of Rise Like a Girl.

Parents can get in on the effort too, says Martin, by giving their kids options. Don’t assume your daughter will hate football and love the color pink; give her space to explore and express herself. Then, says Martin, “Let her fly with that.”

—Molly Petrilla

assist rebuilding efforts at Nepal’s Sagarmatha Children Home, which was damaged in last April’s earthquake. John and Alisha adopted their children, Shanti and Sandeep, from the home in 2007.

Michele Lynn Seigfried ’93 is president of the Municipal Clerk’s Association of Mercer County, New Jersey, and is a member of the

Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Sisters in Crime, and the New Jersey Author’s Network. She is the author of three humorous mystery novels and six children’s picture books.

Christian Horvath ’94 won a seat on the Redondo Beach (California) City Council in June.

Michael Raymond ’94 won his

300th career game during his 15th season as the head coach of the Hunterdon Central (New Jersey) High School baseball team.

Jack Stephenson ’94 is president of HealthPlus Amerigroup, which offers Medicaid and commercial Medicare plans.

John Bertang ’96 was pre-

Family Album

Paige Rothmaller wed Timothy Holmes ’12 on April 4, 2015.

Karson Schmidt ’11 wed Kyle Schreiner on August 31, 2014.

Class notes and Family Album photos are available only in the print edition.

To submit your news and photos, visit alumni.tcnj.edu or write us at alumni@tcnj.edu.

Alexis Strozak ’00 wed Billy Horbatt on July 11, 2015.

Caitlin Liguori ’10 wed Sean Stewart ’11 on September 13, 2014.

FACING PAGE: PHOTO COURTESY OF KELSEY MARTIN

Fallon Barbera Mastropierro ’04 and husband, Michael ’04: a son, Anthony Allen, on March 20, 2015.

Anthony joins big brother Ryan Richard (age 2).

Kelly Brennan ’11 wed Robert A. Morris ’12 on April 9, 2015, in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. A dozen TCNJ alumni were in attendance: (left to right): Ian Boyle ’12, Jim Drackwicz ’11, William “Zach” Frederich ’12, Mary Waller ’11, Colleen Duke ’11, Robert Morris ’12, Kelly Brennan Morris ’11, Leigh Mitchell ’12, Victoria Fitzgerald ’11, Christina Hults ’11, Kathleen Notos ’12, Kelly Mitchell ’09.

Lauren Keller Ficara ’10 and husband, Chad ’09: a daughter, Maeve Josephine, on May 23, 2015.

35

CLASS NOTES

Alumnus goes all in on a poker career. It was a good bet. sented with the Ann DeBock Leadership Award by the Myrtle Beach (South Carolina) Chamber of Commerce. John is a lieutenant with the Myrtle Beach Police Department.

Peter Kopack ’96 is superintendent of the Long Beach Island Consolidated School District and principal of the LBI School in Ship Bottom, New Jersey. He lives in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, with his wife and two children.

Sarah Pauch ’96 was appointed supervisor of math, science, and technology for the Readington Township (New Jersey) School District last July. She has worked in the district for 16 years.

Amelia Mauriello Lolli ’97 is a partner at the law firm of Connor, Weber & Oberlies in Moorestown, New Jersey.

James Maughan ’97 joined CLSA Americas as a director.

Michael Ragusa ’97 is vice president and assistant controller of Kate Spade & Company.

Theresa Ricci, MAT ’97 was named the 2015 State Principal of the Year by the Pennsylvania Association of Elementary and Secondary School Principals.

Brendan Prophett ’98 is a college scout for the New Orleans Saints.

Daniel M. Kerrigan ’99 is president of Management Planning Inc., a business valuation and advisory firm.

Daniel V. Madrid ’99 is a partner in Fox Rothschild’s real estate practice group in the firm’s Princeton office.

Matthew Manfra ’99 is the associate vice president for alumni relations at The George Washington University in Washington, DC.

36

FALL 2015

CONNOR BERKOWITZ HAS PLAYED POKER CASUALLY SINCE HIGH SCHOOL, but after getting laid off from his finance job with JPMorgan Chase, and entering a few tournaments for fun, he decided to get serious and turn pro—which to him meant tracking his winnings and losses in a spreadsheet.

That was in January. Six months later, Berkowitz recorded a $487,784 profit after winning the World Series of Poker’s Lucky Sevens Texas Hold ’Em tournament.

The 2012 international business graduate admits being a little nervous in the early goings of the four-day event, held at the Rio in Las Vegas. “The buzz

around the building was pretty overwhelming at first,” he says, in part because the relatively low $777 buy-in attracted more than 4,400 participants.

But Berkowitz adjusted, and as it turns out, felt most confident while at the tables. “During breaks, when I was walking around blowing off steam—that’s when I felt nervous,” he says.

Any reason for nerves disappeared during the final round, in which Berkowitz knocked off a three-time WSOP tournament winner and another player with more than $5 million in career winnings. The 10-1 chip lead he held by the end made the win more surreal than surprising. Still, when interviewed right after the win, he remembers thinking, “I don’t know what’s happening.”

His only splurge since taking home nearly half a million dollars has been to buy a new car: a 2016 Audi A3. He’s saving the rest of his winnings for entry fees and travel costs for tournaments with bigger buy-ins.

As much as the money helps, getting his first WSOP bracelet (the trophy for winning a tournament) is more exciting, says Berkowitz: “It's something I watched on TV when I was a kid, so —Joel Keller for it to actually happen is awesome.”

2000s

David Kricheff ’00 is the new principal for Ironia Elementary School in Randolph Township, New Jersey.

Bill Schindler ’00 is co-starring on National Geographic’s new

anthropology-themed series, The Great Human Race.

Jeffrey Byorick ’01 is one of Consulting-Specifying Engineer magazine’s 40 Under 40 award recipients for 2015.

Kathryn P. Tulloch ’01 opened the Cataumet Coffee House

in Cataumet, Massachusetts, last June.

Christine Casale-Broski ’02 was named the Middle Level Educator of the Year by the New Jersey Association for Middle Level Education. Christine teaches sixth-grade language

Family Album Elizabeth Lackey ’06 wed Jarret Susswein ’06 on November 16, 2014.

Class notes and Family Album photos are available only in the print edition.

Cindy Rogers '93: a son, Zachary David, on December 26, 2014. Zachary joins big sister Natalie (age 3).

To submit your news and photos, visit alumni.tcnj.edu or write us at alumni@tcnj.edu.

Cami D’Innocenzio Astino ’07 and husband, Dominick: twins, Alexa Laura and Jason Dominick, on September 16, 2014.

FACING PAGE: PHOTO BY ANTONIO ABREGO

Madeline Bell ’11 wed Paul Urbish ’11 on October 19, 2014. The couple met in Professor Dan Croft’s reading seminar on Abraham Lincoln during their junior year. Three of their fellow Class of 2011 alumni were in their wedding party: Zachary Heller, Jillian Daidone, and Melissa Ricardo McGrath.

Megan Morgan Stiles ’04 and husband, James ’04: a son, Zachary James, on April 30, 2014.

Jennifer Boyd Baker ’08 and husband, Mark: a son, Mark Leo, on June 2, 2015.

Angela DuRoss ’02 wed Michael Winterrowd on September 1, 2013. Left to right: Amanda Lipko-Speed '02, Kristen Hyland Brahler '02, Jill Moscatello '02, Matt Middleton ’00, Angela DuRoss Winterrowd '02, Barbara Daddino DuRoss '73, Curt Foxworth '02, Jackie Wasneski '02, and Janine Miscia Barboza '02.

Kristie Sharpless ’06 wed Geoffrey Gleason ’08 on July 18, 2014, in Riviera Maya, Mexico. Maria Bolognese Pahuja ’06, Mary Kate Bohlin Morgan ’06, and Samantha Griffiths ’06 were bridesmaids.

Kevin Gleason ’04 was a groomsman.

37

CLASS NOTES

arts at Carl H. Kumpf Middle School in Clark, New Jersey.

Jack Maher ’02 accepted his first head football coaching job at Becton High School in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in July, the same day his first son, Matthew John, was born.

Joe Barchetto ’04 is the new wrestling coach for Morris Knolls High School in Denville, New Jersey.

Michael Bellucci ’04 is Bergen County, New Jersey’s first deputy county administrator.

Caitlin Hull ’04 was appointed director of the public library in Maywood, New Jersey, in June.

She holds a master’s degree in library and information science from Rutgers University.

Bill Laky ’04 is lead pastor at Revolve Church in Cape May, New Jersey. When not spending time with his wife, Gina, and their new daughter, Emma, Bill enjoys the great outdoors, serving internationally, traveling, exercising, reading fiction, searching for the area's best cheese fries, and watching movies.

Elizabeth Hults Elko ’05, MA ’12 published a new book, How the Public School System Stole Petey Guzman’s Life, in April.

Sofia Ojeda ’05 is a weekend morning anchor and weekday morning reporter for KPRC on Channel 2 News Today in Houston, Texas.

Jeel Bhuta ’06 joined The Siegfried Group, LLP as an associate manager.

Dennis Chin ’06 was honored with a Community Catalyst Award from the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance on March 28, 2015.

Kimberly Lowden ’06 received a 2015 Emerging Leader award from the International Society for Technology in Education.

Casey McCullough MAT ’06 was selected as the new head women’s and men’s tennis coach at Rutgers University-Camden.

Rachel Moser ’06 is a K–5 teacher at Our Hope Christian Academy in Ringoes, New Jersey.

This past summer, she completed a six-day immersion program in American history at the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute.

Sean Ryan ’06 continues to entertain audiences as conductor of The Glen Rock Pops, a community orchestra based in Glen Rock, New Jersey.

Matthew Shade, MEd ’06 is the new athletic director of William Tennent High School in Warminster, Pennsylvania.

Julie Sirkin Blake MA ’07 was elected to a three-year term on the Hopewell Township (New Jersey) Committee in June.

Samantha Dango ’07 hosted the fourth annual Afternoon of Song to benefit the Susan G. Komen North Jersey Race for the Cure on May 31, 2015.

Patricia Hewitt EDS ’07 was named the 2014–2015 Counselor of the County for Middlesex County by the New Jersey School Counselor Association.

Michelle Martin Serabian ’07 was named to the newly created position of assistant commissioner of the New Jersey Athletic Conference in July.

Trevor Scholl ’07 has joined Professional Management Associates, LLC as membership and meetings coordinator.

In July, Tammy Tibbetts ’07 was interviewed by Laura Bush on the Today show about her work as president and founder of She’s the First, a nonprofit that provides scholarships to girls in low-income countries, fostering first-generation graduates and cultivating the next generation of global leaders.

Ashley Janosko MA ’08 is the district director of guidance and supervisor of school nurses for the Berkeley Heights Public Schools in New Jersey.

Angela Tecco Reckart ’08 was appointed assistant coach for the cross-country and distance programs at Penn State University last summer. She was previously an assistant cross-country/ distance coach at the University of North Carolina.

Michelle Nugent ’09 opened an exhibition called Creative Commotion at Asian Arts Initiative during the summer of 2015.

Michael Park ’09 completed his MBA at NYU Stern and is currently associate brand manager at Johnson & Johnson, where he has earned several awards, including the James E. Burke Marketing Award, Eagle Award, and Standard of Leadership Award in 2015. He was recently named CEO of New Jersey Young Professionals, the largest social networking firm in the state.

Michael Scott MAT ’09 is a Hoboken, New Jersey, Teacher of the Year for 2015.

Kyle Gilroy ’11 will attend the Georgia Institute of Technology for a post-doctoral fellowship.

Julie Pierre ’11 started a community-supported agriculture program in Camden County, New Jersey.

Connor Berkowitz ’12 beat out 4,421 other players to claim the $487,784 top prize at the World Series of Poker’s $777 Lucky Sevens (No-Limit Hold ’Em) event, held in July at the Rio in Las Vegas, Nevada. See story on page 34.

Chris Brand ’12 finished in 24th place at the World Series of Poker’s No-Limit Hold ’Em Main Event at the Rio in Las Vegas, Nevada, in July. His winnings totaled $262,574.

Mike Denver ’12 was inducted into the Region VI Wrestling Hall of Fame on April 23, 2015.

Michael Lee ’12 is teaching at Monmouth Regional High School after teaching for two years in Africa with the Peace Corps.

Chris Morris ’12 published his first book, North Jersey Beer, about the history of breweries over the past 400 years in New Jersey.

Lauren Russo ’14 joined FEMA Corps, an AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps program, for a 10-month term of national service.

Kelly Coughlin ’15 was sworn in as a member of the police department in New Canaan, Connecticut, last June. She is scheduled to graduate from the police academy in Meriden, Connecticut, on December 16.

Skye Ettin ’15 is director of men’s basketball operations at Princeton University.

Class notes and Family Album photos are available only in the print edition.

To submit your news and photos, visit alumni.tcnj.edu or write us at alumni@tcnj.edu.

38

FALL 2015

2010s Cat Cosentino ’10 released a video project for her song “The Right Way.” Steven Klett ’10 had his poetry manuscript, A Field Full of Mirrors, selected as the winner of The New School’s Chapbook Competition.

Christina Blok ’11 is the CEO and creative director for Muse Monthly, a subscription company that provides customers with a new novel and tea pairing every month.

Alex Cap ’11 was featured in a recital at the First Presbyterian Church of Titusville, New Jersey, where he played works by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, and Gershwin.

Remembrances Bob Cole, founder of TCNJ’s journalism program ROBERT C. COLE, my friend and mentor,

died on August 4.

I say Bob “died” because he would have wanted it written that way. “He didn’t ‘pass away’ or ‘go to his maker,’” Cole once explained to my journalism class. “The motherf**ker died.”

To this day, every journalist who ever suffered under me as their editor knows to use “died” in their writing. And none of them has ever met Bob. At his heart, Bob was a caring man with a love of journalism, a tendency toward meandering storytelling, an insatiable desire to teach, and a vocabulary that would make a longshoreman blush. He spoke with a West Virginian drawl, the kind of accent that suggested a simple view of the world, though only fools would take that as simplicity of intelligence. He was a character, loud and cluttered—his office was appropriately nightmarish—but he never tilted toward caricature. He knew his work. He shared his experience.

Bob taught journalism more as a trade than as a profession. But the skills he taught—and drilled—were transferable to every medium in which I’ve managed: newspapers, online, television, magazines. I came out of my years at the college prepared to succeed.

I also came out with a friend. Bob never left me. As a young police reporter, I made the mistake of using the term “innocent bystander” in a story. That prompted a phone call: “Have you ever met a guilty f**king bystander?” I should have known better.

I also should have appreciated those calls more. It wasn’t until much later that I realized that Bob probably was the only person alive to read every word I had ever put to page. It wasn’t enough to teach me for four years. He had to honor my work with his thoughts and feedback. He continued to teach me, long —Ray Hennessey ’94 after my college stopped cashing my tuition checks.

COLE PHOTO COURTESY OF TCNJ SEAL; DONOHUE PHOTO COURTESY OF TCNJ BONNER INSTITUTE

The author is editorial director of Entrepreneur.com. This is adapted from his article “What the Death of My Teacher and Friend Taught me About Mentorship.”

Patrick Donohue, retired assistant provost for community engaged learning programs and partnerships DURING MY FRESHMAN YEAR, I emailed Pat to ask how I could connect the college’s Habitat for Humanity chapter with TCNJ’s Bonner Community Scholars. Sensing my interest in social justice issues, he invited me to visit and experience the Bonner program, a group of students he led in developing and facilitating communitybased programming for the region. I knew immediately Bonner was the perfect fit for me and joined.

Pat quickly became a mentor and friend, inviting me to help with many projects: running service learning trips for thousands of TCNJ students, or teaching citizenship classes for immigrants in Trenton, for example. His faith in me led me to contribute more than 2,000 hours of community service at TCNJ. But Pat’s greatest influence was motivating me to motivate others. He gave me the opportunity to become a voice for community service, which allowed me to strengthen my abilities as a leader. This summer, I worked for a multinational NGO, Conservation International, in La Paz, Bolivia, providing community-based programming on sustainable development and climate change. I wouldn’t be doing this type of work without Pat's influence.

I will work to carry on Pat’s legacy of providing opportunities for better livelihoods and social justice —Shaun Field ’13 for all. And I’ll be forever grateful for the confidence and abilities he fostered in me.

IN MEMORIAM H. Richard Conover ’40 Marie Hollenbach Hoffman ’40 Margaret “Betty” Gibbs Todt ’40 Helen Boyle Cooke ’42 Dorothy Martin Brogle ’43 William Breckwoldt Jr. ’43 Robert “Bob” E. Morris ’43 Ethel (Fritzi) Frederick Cummings Scott ’45 Beatrice Adams Lawrence ’46 Marian Matthews McKillop ’52 Susan Richard Kastor ’58 Phyllis Stewart Farrington ’59 Gladys Kauffman Metz ’62 Karen Jane Dell ’65 Veronica Cushing Taylor MA ’70 Emery J. Breon ’72 David P. Brownback MEd ’73 Julius S. Soltesz ’74 Joyce Christian Abbott ’77 Edward J. Lowry MA ’80 Marie Selnekovic ’84 John Cotshott ’85 Katherine Ranous Petherick ’87 Sherylynn Barta ’95 Michael L. Zahaczewsky ’00 Emily N. Gadomski MEd ’12

Faculty and staff Robert C. Cole, faculty emeritus Patrick Donohue, retired staff Paul S. Hiack, faculty emeritus Lebern Miller, faculty emeritus Virginia Ann Roberts, faculty emeritus Arthur S. Tiffany, faculty emeritus

The author recently earned a master’s in climate & society from Columbia University.

39

1.

TCNJ X 10

Competition was fierce: TCNJ received 11,337 applications (a record).

10

3.

2.

Among the 1,470 first-year students enrolled are 395 former varsity captains, 42 former class presidents, and 10 sets of twins.

4.

Defying categorization, this class also includes a pageant winner, a licensed pilot, a sailing champ, a bereavement camp counselor, a furniture restorer, a sitar player, and a student who founded a charity that finances low-cost meals for senior citizens living in India.

things you need to know about...

THE CLASS OF 2019 PHOTO BY DUSTIN FENSTERMACHER

GET TO KNOW THE NEWEST GROUP OF FUTURE TCNJ ALUMNI. —Compiled by Emily Dodd

5.

A student from Taiwan made the longest trip to get to TCNJ (7,898 miles), while 10 Ewing residents opted to stay within the township limits for their college experience.

Samantha and Matthew are the most popular names in this crowd, with 20 and 23, respectively.

7.

If you want to know how to get to Carnegie Hall, ask one of the seven freshmen who’ve performed there.

Their answer will likely be, “Practice, practice, practice!”

9.

Can you imagine a world without Google? This class doesn’t have to.

Most of them were born in 1997; Google was founded in 1998.

6.

Biology, nursing, and psychology are the most popular majors for this class.

8.

The Class of 2019 talks. A lot. In many languages (31, to be exact).

10.

Attending TCNJ is a family tradition for the 230 freshmen with a legacy connection (a parent, sibling, or grandparent who is a TCNJ grad).

40

FALL 2015

We’re expecting you.

TWICE

Homecoming 2015 Saturday, Oct. 24

Let us know you’re coming!

Pre-register online at homecoming.tcnj.edu FOOTBALL I TCNJ VS. MONTCLAIR I 1 P.M. KICKOFF

Alumni Reunion Weekend 2016 Friday–Saturday, April 29–30 More info to come at alumni.tcnj.edu Join us for an all-alumni celebration with special gatherings for milestone reunion years!

Any group, athletic team, or reunion class interested in being a part of the weekend is encouraged to email the Office of Alumni Affairs. alumni@tcnj.edu

Hosted by the Office of Alumni Affairs and the Alumni Association 609.771.2598 • alumni@tcnj.edu

41

NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

DIVISION OF COLLEGE ADVANCEMENT PO BOX 7718 | EWING | NJ 08628-0718

PERMIT NO. 658 BURLINGTON, VT

LOOKING BACK

From camping out, to calling in, to connecting online, the way students register for classes has changed a lot through the years. One thing that hasn’t changed is the way students scour the course listings to find their favorite professor to register for whichever course he or she is teaching that semester. We want to know who that professor was for you. Write us at the address at the top or magazine@tcnj.edu.